Sunday, May 29, 2005

Memorial Day

It's not quite Memorial Day yet, but I'm heading for the graves today with my grandmother and aunt. Glad to get it over with a day early, and can spend Monday in peace.

I can stand the visit. I don't get depressed or start thinking about my mortality. I do that anyway on occasion, but going there doesn't bring it on. And I certainly don't want to forget those who've passed on, but for the ones I've known, I would rather remember their lives than where the bones rest. I don't know about an afterlife, but wherever they are, they're not there.

Which, considering how my mom felt about geraniums, it's just as well if she doesn't look in on her resting place. For some reason, geraniums appear to be the flower of choice. I see some pansies, too, and a few other things. Well, you have to go with what's blooming in New England at this time. And my nana likes geraniums best because they're hardy and practical and can be taken and planted in your yard after the deceased (and their visitors) are through admiring them.

When I remember my mother, I remember her reading. I remember how she taught me love of reading. Not just by reading to me, but by making time in her day to read her own books. I had to amuse myself while she was doing something she clearly enjoyed. When I was older, I was busy with my own reading. We had different tastes. She liked Regency romance, I like mysteries. When I was a child, I read the classics -- Little Women, Treasure Island -- which she had read a long time before. And contemporary children's books-- The Phantom Toll Booth, A Wrinkle in Time, etc, which didn't interest a middle-aged woman.

But we both liked humor. Sometimes, in romances and mysteries, there are funny parts. One of us was always finding the other one, finger holding the place, to read a passage. Like in a Charlotte MacLeod mystery where the main character's cousin, who's looking after an eccentric(and rich) elderly relation, tells her about the old man's plans to clean up Boston Common. By providing diapers for the pigeons. The cousin rants that it's the old man who thinks up these things, but it will be him out on the Common holding talcum powder and chasing after pigeons. My mother ended up reading a few of MacLeod's mysteries.

We took turns reading some humorous books out loud even when I was well into my teens: Erma Bombeck, Jean Kerr, Phyllis Diller, Sam Levinson, P. G. Wodehouse. There where more, but these were our favorites.

So, when I go out to the cemetery tomorrow, I'll be thinking about how to place the flowers so they don't tip over. I'll think about the dead when I'm doing or seeing something that they would have enjoyed.

Friday, May 27, 2005

Weekend

Three day weekend and feeling better than I have in over two weeks. I should be able to get eight hours of unbroken sleep instead of waking up coughing several times. The sun came out today for the first time since last weekend, and may be out a little bit every day even though there's a chance of showers each day also.

I signed and sent out the release form to Brian. The book should be out by summer, and hopefully there will be good news about the Destroyer series shortly after.

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Better

One week later. My cold is still here, though it's improving. My senses of smell and taste are still almost non-existent. It's been almost a week; I've never had that go on for so long. Still coughing.

I have a new car: a 2001 Nissan Altima. Picked it up yesterday. So far, it seems to be a pretty good car. It's been well-maintained. I just have to get used to a four cylinder engine. My Tempo was six cylinders; even though it was running poorly, it still had more power than the Nissan. When I got up to speed, it stayed there longer without me having to put my foot back down on the gas. On the other hand, when I was on the highway, I was going over seventy without realizing it. The Tempo always used to start to shake over 65, sort of like the Enterprise in the original series when it would go past a certain warp speed and Scotty would call up from Engineering. "Captain, she canna take anymore!"

New Blood is almost ready to go. I'm afraid I'm holding it back now. Brian emailed a release form to print and return via snail mail. With everything going on last week, I never printed it out. It'll have to wait for Monday now. I don't have a printer at home, so I'll have to do it at work. But I'll have an envelope ready and mail it out the same day.

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Sick

Just goes to show, when you get lazy writing and think you can get back to it in a few days, then you get sick and can't do anything much at all.

Felt bad since Tues, but didn't come out to be a head cold until Fri. I've spent a miserable weekend sneezing, with my eyes running, and a sore throat too.

To make things worse, the car developed problems yesterday, and is at the garage waiting to get looked at tomorrow. The only good thing is I've got enough food in the house to get by for now. It was running fine until I spent $22 on gas yesterday, then leaving the gas station it couldn't accelerate and was making a ghastly noise. Sears was close by, but they don't handle engines, so I was off to my city, taking the back roads at 25mph, and managed to ge to my usual garage. Probably the transmission. When I put it in park and revved the engine it sounded fine (at first I thought putting gas sent some dirt into the fuel line, but then it would have affected the car even in park).

So, I'll be on the bus tomorrow, and I doubt I'll have a car when it's time to go home. If it's too expensive to fix it would be better to buy a new (used) car. I hate change, but I hate not having a car more.

Monday, May 09, 2005

Breather

Haven't been writing for about a week now. Not just here; I haven't been posting on my Live Journal or finishing my chapter or writing a new story. I don't even have a reason. I don't feel depressed or blocked. Maybe it's just my general goofing off and fooling around.

One place I have posted is at Destroyerclub, but that's more like talking. We're not posting profound posts about the Destroyer and there isn't any news. I think we all needed a breather after the discussions about the latest book got a little too intense. New Blood should be coming out within the next month or two. That will be exciting! Also, I'm hoping to get a regular chat session going, if we can decide on a day and time.

This is a good beginning, but I really have to get back to the fiction!