Category Archives: Weather, Seasons, & Celebrations

The Weekend

The signing was uneventful; not bad but not really classifiable as good, either. There was going to be mead served by the store to celebrate, which was a lovely idea, but when the bottles were opened the contents unfortunately proved to be undrinkable. I appreciated the thought, though.

There were about a dozen people who stopped by so that I could finally sign their books, and/or to congratulate me. I’m told the books sold lots during the day, but by the time of the signing the crowds had vanished, leaving the store remarkably empty. Thanks go out to Sandman7 and Talyesin, who were waiting for me when I got there and whose moral support was invaluable, otherwise I probably just would have turned around and gone home. Which would have been a pity, really, because Jteethy and Pasley and t! and Jan and Mousme all showed up later too, and of course HRH and Liam made an appearance. As the only one I was expecting was HRH, the presence of friends made me feel nice and warm inside. The staff were wonderful and supportive, too.

There’s something about the month of September that I simply love. Maybe it’s that particular quality of golden light. Maybe it’s the crisper evenings, or the need for a light cardigan during the day. Whatever it is, I feel more relaxed and happy throughout this month than during any other month. We took the light coverlet off the bed yesterday and put on the fluffy, snuggly eiderdown quilt, buttoned into the denim duvet. And we did it just in time, too, because the temperature went down to a brisk eight degrees last night. We also took the air conditioner out of the kitchen window, so the kitchen has full light again, which really makes a difference in the morning.

Friday night Blade came downstairs, and spent more time unscrewing the dozen finicky little screws holding the two halves of the router together than unplugging the fan. We were so tired that the actual microsecond of unplugging it was remarkably funny in contrast to the lengthy lead-up, leading HRH to peek into the office because we were laughing so hard. It was a very small fan to be producing the huge threatening rattle that it had been. Now my router is silent and stealthy, because it has no moving parts. While Blade worked on that, I opened up the tower casing and turned it so I could see the motherboard. “See that?” said Blade, pointing to the RAM with the screwdriver. “Take it out.” I did. “Now plug the new one in.” I did. It was being a bit stubborn about snapping in, so Blade gave it a extra push, and there it was, installed. I closed up the case and started the computer, and I had a functional system that didn’t get nervous when I opened more than two programs simultaneously. I know more about the innards of computers than I give myself credit for knowing. “Next time you want a new computer,” said Blade, “I’m just going to throw a bunch of computer components and a screwdriver into a room with you, and close the door. When you come out with the computer, you’ll get a prize.” I just like having Blade around so that if I try to do the wrong thing, he’ll stop me.

Right. To work.

Potpourri

My router is suspiciously subdued today. I think it heard me threatening to smash it, and has been cowed into more appropriate behaviour.

I think of all sorts of deepish things to muse about in journal entries as I lie in bed falling asleep, and then when I get to the keyboard the next day I can’t remember a single one of them. Maybe I wanted to talk about how it seems as if with a turn of the calendar page from August to September, fall arrived: cooler temperatures, sleeping with the window almost fully closed at night, the need to wear socks and therefore loafers again. I’m mildly irritated that I didn’t even get to wear the four new camisole t-shirts I bought in early August, back during the last humid heatwave. Or maybe it was something else about clothes, such as how those new smallest-ever size jeans I got in July are now too big for me somehow, after washing them twice. I’d like to have clothes that fit properly; I don’t think it’s too much to ask from life. I think I need to re-evaluate my personal style, too, since I look at most of the clothes in my drawers and go “meh” a lot of the time. (This may have something to do with the fact that my clothes last forever, so I don’t buy clothes very often. Plus I’m not a fan of fashion in general. The contents of my drawers date back from an average of about six years ago.)

I have no idea what I’ll wear for the signing on Saturday. A t-shirt and jeans won’t exactly cut it, and all my good pants are a size too big for me. Oh, there’s a cord skirt I got to wear all of once before I got pregnant, and if I wear my brown sweater with it then I can dig out my funky brown cord lace-up boots, too. Well, there we are, then. Assuming I’m in the right kind of mood on Saturday, that is. I reserve the right to change my mind depending on how I feel when the time comes to get ready.

Since none of last night’s deep thoughts are making a comeback, I tell you instead that I bid farewell to the medium auburn hair I had all summer as a result of the highlights my stylist put in in mid-April. Since my hair is a mess of curls, no streak stays well-defined as a streak; they merge with the rest of my hair, creating a blend between my base colour and the highlight, which in turn lightened through exposure to sun and wind. It was a lovely colour and I enjoyed it for the summer, but I was never fully convinced it looked quite right. So today I coloured it all a basic mid-brown (and let me take a girly moment to say that Garnier 100% Color is the best product I’ve ever used in terms of ease of application, because my hair is usually nightmarish to get hair dye through and this went on in moments). It’s a mild relief to be a proper brunette once more.

All right. I’ve had lunch, there’s tea, I’ve eased back into writing by journaling… let’s see how much I can get done on the last two chapters of ESTC.

The Sum of the Weekend

Days on “holiday”: 4

Days spent travelling: 2

Days actually spent somewhere else not moving, and thus days theoretically defined as “vacation”: 2

Number of days required for everyone to recover from a day of travel: 1 (you do the math)

Nights of decent sleep: 1 for Mama, 2 for Dada, 2.5 for Liam

Excellent meals: All of them

Number of stupid tropical storms that ruined two or three weekend plans: 1 (damn you, Ernesto)

Hours spent in the car on the way to Oakville: 8

Stops on the way: 3 (1 major for Liam’s lunch, 2 minor leg-stretching)

Hours spent in the car on the way home: 7.5

Hours spent parked on the 401 around Napanee: 1.2 (We’re not sure how that math works out either, but that’s the way it happened. We think we bent time because all three of us were hating the car so much by that point.)

Stops on the way: 2 (1 major for Liam’s lunch, one for leg-stretching and a Liam snack)

Number of cars seen and commented upon by Liam: 1,892,459,386

New teeth this weekend: 2 (thank every single god out there, those damn lower molars are finally OUT)

New word: “Home.” (Said very gently but seriously while looking deeply into my eyes, little hand patting the armchair.)

New accomplishment: Going up the grandparental staircase alone to the second floor. Several times, in fact. Usually chasing a cat. (Coming down, still not so good.)

New clothes: 2 shirts, 2 pants, 6 pairs of socks, 1 two-piece snowsuit

New lace-up shoes: 0

New soft slip-on shoes: 1 (They have FISH!! on them and they are teh awesome. Liam chose them himself, although now every once in a while he trips because he’s looking at his feet and saying “fish!”.)

New people Liam met: Smiley little cousin Saya! (Oh yes, and her cool parents.)

The average price we paid for a litre of gas: 86 cents

Cool things: The squirrel that came right up to the back door and climbed the screen, close enough to touch (if Mama had so allowed, she ruins everyone’s fun); the wooden cat on the hearth; the horse brasses; the toy basket and the new Fisher Price Corn Popper walker toy that Liam spent more time swinging around like a club to shake the little balls than actually walking with.

ESTC, Liam, Etc

Again, got next to nothing accomplished work-wise yesterday. I think I’ve figured it out. If there’s a lot of stuff scheduled, even if the schedule gives me a clear two hours to work, then I still can’t settle down because I’m too stressed by the pile of stuff that has yet to be done at some other point. I’m busy thinking, “Oh no, I only have two hours in which to accomplish X amount of work!”, and despite correcting myself and recasting the thought in a positive light, I still can’t just get it done, and end up with half the amount of work I needed. The stubborn sinus headache on its third day didn’t help either.

But, for the sake of consistent records:

Total word count, ESTC: 14,421
Total words, Wednesday: 746

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
14,421 / 50,000
(28.8%)

And again, even though I’ve produced under the daily quota two days running, I’m ahead of where I need to be as of the end of Friday to be on schedule. I’d really like to have two working days in a row, so that the momentum I finally gather by the time I have to stop is actually carried over instead of dissipating during the next day when I have the boy at home.

Speaking of the boy, I think we’ve finally hit the toddler on again-off again appetite thing with Liam. For the past two or three days he’s had a surprisingly low appetite. Then this morning, he ate two bowls of Cheerios and milk, plus half a freshly-baked banana muffin, and chased it all with a half-cup of milk before passing out for his morning nap. The cereal and milk thing is new; he refused his oatmeal on Monday and I was desperate to get something into him before sending him to daycare. So I poured Cheerios into a bowl — so what, he’d seen this before, we do it all the time — and then poured milk over them. His eyes boggled, as if he was trying to figure out what I’d done to his perfectly innocent snack. Then I produced a big-person spoon for him to use. It was a hit; he ate up the entire bowl. He also has a cold, which isn’t surprising considering that about three of the people he deals with on a regular basis also have colds. And those bottom molars are really giving him a hard time. Things are tough for him right now, and he’s been taking it out in a most uncharacteristic fashion on his caregiver and his playmates, with hair-pulling (where did that come from?) and pushing and the occasional bite when he’s really frustrated.

HRH had a day off yesterday, which he spent doing a glorious amount of nothing as he deserved, apart from taking the car in to the garage. (Four new brakes, one new tie rod. Yikes.) But the car drives beautifully now: steering and braking are creamy and thick and smooth. Like a good milkshake or something.

The stylist cut two inches off my hair yesterday. I can’t tell, apart from the bottom being neater and less tangly. This is a good thing. And I got new bubble bath and scent and stuff, too. I had the choice last night to either pull out my notebook and do something for August Writing project, which I haven’t done in four days because of schedule and stress and exhaustion, or take a bath instead. I took the bath and went to bed. It was the right choice.

Maggie is doing quite well, thank you everyone for inquiring.

Lovely weather we’re having, yes? Days in the low 20s, nights in the low teens… terribly civilized.

What We Did On The First Sunday Of August

Ever since I can remember, the first Sunday in August has been the Highland Games.

I’ve remembered it too late to schedule it in over recent years, or we’ve been busy, but this year we made it. We packed up both godfamiles, and off we all went for an afternoon out in the gorgeous sun. There wasn’t a spot of humidity anywhere, and there was a decent breeze, thank goodness.

HRH wore his kilt — of course — and Liam wore the tiny kilt that my grandfather got for me from Edinburgh when I was a wee little thing. They stopped a lot of traffic.

Liam loved the massed bands; he loved the drums and the pipes (not a surprise at all, considering his heritage and the cousins who play both); he loved all the dogs he saw; he smiled at and charmed just about everyone he met. He reached for a total stranger to cuddle with her, but it was fine, because it turned out that she was the wife of one of the members of Salty Dog, a local Celtic band that HRH used to hang out with lo these many years ago. And she was more than happy to cuddle him a bit before heading off to the beer tent where the band was striking up. He absolutely was not interested in napping, or eating that much; too much to see! to do! to hear! The one thing he wasn’t happy about was the cannon that was part of the opening ceremonies. He’d been fine through the display of musketfire, but when they fired the cannon he was looking the other way. The sudden sharp sound surprised him more than anything else, so there was a bit of angry crying. But after he’d cuddled with each of us and had a bit more milk, he was fine and interested in the bands marching onto the field.

I came home with badly sunburned shoulders, despite the amount of sunscreen I slathered on before departure. But apart from that, it was a wonderful wonderful day, one of the best I’ve had in a while. The massed bands at the opening ceremonies were, as always, worth the $10 admission fee alone. And it felt really special to bring my son to his first games, as I’d been brought to too many to count while growing up.

Liam Update

Almost a full two months after the fact, there are finally pictures from Liam’s birthday weekend up:


Liam’s First Birthday Weekend Extravaganza!

You may notice the page looks a little different from the earlier photo albums. Someday I’ll get around to recoding the old ones to match the new design and the new site. You know, in all that spare time I have.

Lughnassadh

Happy Lughnassadh, everyone! Yes, it took me a while to understand why I’d had an odd desire to bake bread over the past week, what with the ridiculous heat and humidity, but when I finally clued in yesterday I cheerfully whipped up a batch of my herb bread. Every single herb in it came out of the back garden. Rosemary, lemon thyme, oregano, onions — everything. And I made it with whole wheat flour, because it’s what I had. I’ve never used entirely whole wheat flour for it before; in the past I’ve blended one-third whole wheat to two-thirds white, but the recipe creates a heavyish bread to begin with so I wasn’t drawn to replacing more. The whole wheat flour made it even heavier, and added a nice nutty flavour. It’s definitely something I’ll need to be in the mood for, though.

I got my contracts in the mail today, both for ESTC and the series editorship. So hurrah, it’s poring over dense prose tonight with a pair of glasses and a pencil to make sure all’s in order before I sign them and ship them back.

We had a tremendously violent storm last night, which was exciting once we’d unplugged everything and HRH had done his weather-thingy to stop the funnel cloud from fully forming a few blocks away. (Yeah, not so fun, looking off your back porch to see the clouds circling like that, and feeling the downdraft begin. Good thing I live with a weather god.) Our upstairs neighbours brought down ice cream and cream soda and frozen raspberries for floats, and after everyone had provided HRH with the energy necessary to fight the bad things off without totally killing himself, we all sat in the kitchen to drink them by candlelight while we listened to the storm play out. Lots of mess and damage around the island, we noticed this morning. Some parts of our borough still don’t have power.

This morning Scarlet and I took a short trip out to an art supply store in the East End we’d never visited before, and I finally came home with candlemaking supplies. It’s good, because I’ve been dying to pour new candles to use while I write this book; it’s important, for some reason. I have vegetable wax, since they didn’t have beeswax beads and I didn’t feel like hacking at a beeswax block. I’ve never worked with it before, but I’m looking forward to trying something new.

Okay. I’ve done work-related research and correspondence, and some adjusting of my TOC, and a brief look through the contracts. Time to get going on the MS itself.