Well, back at last in the land of adequate computer access--aside from Southwest's delay in sending my suitcase with pj's and contact solution, leading to a less than comfortable night, I'm happy to be here. My son's kitties have grown and are following me from room to room--still very playful and jolly, small and sleek. Very different from the floofy and placid Mop, although she follows me around too. She's happy at home with her very own housesitter. No guilt! I believe in open relationships when it comes to cats.

Chicago was great (except that I was too overscheduled to be able to catch up with oursin (sob!)--there's now a fine farmer's market in Lincoln Park on Wednesdays, with live bluegrass and many moms and babies, to say nothing of much fresh asparagus, as well as morel-flavored cheese! We saw Fiorello!, cleverly staged at a very small theater, and ate deliciously sinful things (coriander flavored vodka and asparagus dumplings, followed by an incredible layered chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce, accompanied by a pot of Yunnan tea) at Russian Tea Time.

I've had a few other entertainments I'll recommend:



12 and Holding was definitely worth seeing, though I'm not sure I'd agree with a Chicago reviewer who called it "uplifting." It's about 3 kids (12 years old of course) who're coping with dysfunctional parents and the death of the twin brother of one of the kids. It's believable, well-acted, well-paced, but horrific--not just the occasional physical stuff, but the psychology of parents who have no clue of the damage they do their children because they're so consumed with the obsessions in their own lives. The kids act out of better motivation, if with tragic or almost tragic results. Directed by Michael Cuesta--I don't know the actors, though some of you may.

You may have already read Patricia McKillip's The Book of Alix Wolfe but it was new to me, and delightful. McKillip handles language so beautifully, and reworks so many fairy tale/myth themes so well (Cinderella, the Fairy Queen, Merlin, the Ugly Duckling, etc, etc) that I kept feeling that I was reading some unknown classic--which it should be! She's particularly good at sustaining< scenes of pure fantasy, which most writers don't manage well (even Tolkien did things like Gandalf's battle with the Balrog in abbreviated retelling). I already loved her retelling of Tam Lin--will definitely seek out more of her, here in the land of wonderful used bookstores.

Amazon is certainly convenient, but nothing takes the place of wandering through musty shelves of tattered old paperbacks and spying some intriguing title, trying to read the crumbling yellowed pages in the dim light while an old cat twines its tail around your ankles. Clicking "search" always finds you what you want, but what about the thing you don't know you want until you find it?

ETA: One nice piece of family news--my nephew (JP of The Story Game) has sold a story! Not for much $$ but it sold, to Shimmer Maybe there can be some kind of reverse lateral genetic transfer and I can get some of his talent. But I'm so delighted b/c he really does write well, and works at his writing. And this was his very first sale, so it really encourages him to work even harder. Greatly enjoy days athe beach with him and his lovely C, who writes romances (at 1200 words in a couple of hours!). We get to combine good family/beach time with a little mini writer's retreat, inspiring each other by getting out the old computers for a few hours even when the sun is lovely and the kayaks call, and then nice evening chats about writing.