Read 'Til You Drop

So, I was in Chicago on business this week, and I lost my cell phone.  I've had a phone now for a decade or more, and I've never lost one before.  I tried to tell myself that this loss was not my subconscious, suiting me up for an IPhone replacement, now that I've joined the Apple Cult.

I tried to find my phone.  I called it a half dozen times.  I left myself a voice mail, telling whoever listened to phone me at home.  I retraced my steps, going to the restaurant where I'd met a sales rep for breakfast.  (Lou Mitchell's - site of an amazing feta omelet, a welcome-greeting donut hole, and a mini box of Milk Duds! - who could ask for a better breakfast?)  I checked my office.  I called the hotel, on the offhand chance that I'd left the phone in a cab, and a driver had found it soon enough to connect it up with picking me up from the hotel.

 No phone.

I flew home last night, and when I walked in the door, I had a message on the house line.  My not-really-a-cousin-but-I-call-her-one-because-we-have-the-same-last-name, Sister Ann Marie, had phoned.  She's a nun in the Felician Order, and she lives in Chicago.  We had dinner together on Monday night.  She had called my cell to wish me a safe trip home, but instead of reaching me, she got Bill.

Bill, the guy who runs the pizza joint in the Sears Tower, where I grabbed a forgotten slice between meetings on Tuesday afternoon.

Bill, who had found my phone, but had not answered any other calls to it, because he was afraid he'd be invading my privacy. 

Bill, who answered a nun's call out of the blue, and told her that he had the phone waiting for me in the Sears Tower.

Sister Ann Marie was going to drive over and get it then and there, but then she realized that one of my coworkers could just take the elevator down from the 80th floor to retrieve it.  My phone is winging its way back to me, even as I type.

It's enough to make me turn to St. Anthony , the next time something goes missing!

Mindy, pleased that her silly little cell is heading home.

So, last week, Mark and I decided that we needed to have a get-away weekend.  We used to head out of town on a regular basis, taking in some local small town or whatnot, but with all the travel I've been doing in my day-job, we've sort of curtailed those adventures.  Last weekend, we headed down to Richmond.

Richmond, for those not in the know, is the capital of the commonwealth of Virginia.  It's about two hours south of us, an easy drive, straight down the interstate.  I'd driven through Richmond dozens of times, and I met with an expert witness there years ago, when I was litigating the Case From Hell, but I'd never stopped and spent any time there.

Upon arriving, I feared that we had made a Big Mistake.  We were staying at a Marriott in the middle of downtown, and it seemed like we might be the only guests in the entire hotel.  We awakened a cadaverous bellman to get a city street map before we headed out to explore the local sights. 

Leaving the hotel, we immediately took a wrong turn and were in the Wrong Part of Town.  We walked down an entire block of boarded up storefronts, where the only people on the street were ones looking for trouble.  We scrambled back to the main drag, but the entire city felt abandoned and dangerous and sad.

We walked around the Capitol (designed by Thomas Jefferson), and headed down to the Edgar Allan Poe museum (interesting, but tiny and poorly maintained, and not holding a lot of stuff).  The Poe museum is in the bottom lands, so we had a steep hike back to the hotel.  Just before we got to Mother Marriott, we walked by the John Marshall house, so we went in for a private tour of the home of the 19th century Supreme Court justice.  The tour was actually very good, and we learned a lot about Richmond history, John Marshall, and relatively-early colonial life (even though we've studied a fair amount of it in the past.)  We headed back to the hotel to rest for a while before dinner.

We came downstairs, ready to brave the rough streets for dinner, to find the entire setting had changed.  The lobby was *filled* with people, including dozens of guests at a black-tie event that overflowed the ballroom.  We couldn't get our car out of the parking garage because there were dozens of cars waiting to leave, and every slot was filled (we'd been - literally -the only car on the entire floor of the garage when we arrived.)  We walked seven short blocks to a highly-recommended restaurant, arriving at 6:30 to find that there was an hour wait to eat!  We backtracked to another restaurant, also highly-recommended by a friend, and had a lovely meal in an elegant but comfortable setting.

Sunday morning, we headed over to "The Fan", a neighborhood of turn-of-the-twentieth-century houses.  We ate gigantic breakfasts at Joe's Inn, yet another highly-recommended place (which, it turns out, Mark had frequented decades ago, when his best friend lived in the neighborhood.)  We wandered around and looked at the beautifully decorated townhouses before driving down Monument Avenue.  We wrapped up our Richmond visit with another solo house tour, this time of the John Wickham house.  (Wickham was another colonial magnate - one who believed in showing off his wealth.  His home was an absolute contrast to the Marshall home, and I'll remember it most for the fact that there is scarcely a straight line inside its federalist facade.

We left before taking in a few more tourist sites; we'll likely fold them in while visiting friends who live in the Richmond suburbs.  The entire drive home, we talked about the contrasts in the city that we saw, and the sadness of an urban environment almost completely destroyed.

Good, bad, and discovery - not too bad for a getaway weekend.

Mindy, glad to have a few more days out of the office, to take care of getting personal and writing life in order

I'm back in Chicago for the rest of this week, attending a corporate retreat.

At the Four Seasons Hotel.

Where, when I went to check in, they informed me that they no longer had "executive king" rooms.

So they upgraded me to an executive suite.

With views of Lake Michigan from one room (yes, room!), and a towering view of downtown from the other.

I really hate being away from home.  But if you've got to be away, this is the way to do it...

A question, though, for all of you folks who come from parts of the world where hand-held showers are the norm -- why?  Why do you prefer them?  What advantages do they offer?  (Is it solely that you have more access to the dangly bits?) 

Mindy (who would make an ocean of the bathroom, if she actually used the hand-held option in this shower...)

Well, it's been far too long since I've posted - I'll blame that on yet another stint of crazy travel.  This time, it was a three-part trip:

New York:  Working at the day-job, for a quick, one-day trip.  I got an incredible amount done, but ended up staying past the 8:00 closing time at the front desk, which necessitated some creativity to escape the clutches of the McGraw Hill building....  I succeeded, though, so that I could catch my flight to...

Dallas:  (After sitting next to agent, Kim Whalen, on the plane)  I worked at the day-job for the first day, helping some folks settle into our newest office.  Then, I shed my librarian disguise and attended Romance Writers of America's annual meeting.  Highlights included:

• Rooming with the incredible Maria V. Snyder (check out her "Study" books - POISON STUDY and MAGIC STUDY) and Nancy Yeager
• A great session presented by three people, including one very cute guy from Amazon, on using Amazon to promote one's books
• Another great session by Julie Kenner on writing to high concept
• The Harlequin party - especially watching the flow of estrogen around the very cute guy from Amazon
• A wonderful career-planning session with my agent
• Some great book-directed conversations with my editor

Then, I headed on to...

New Orleans:  I attended the American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting, including making a presentation to a couple of hundred people about library budgeting.  New Orleans was hot, humid, and still very much in the throes of recovering from Katrina.  Non-library highlights included:

• Spending three (three!) uninterrupted hours at Mother's Restaurant, eating great Cajun food and talking with my Library staff
• Fantastic additional meals at Mulate's (including blackened, grilled alligator!), Muriel's, and Palace Cafe
• Beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde on three different occasions
• Lying in bed, listening to torrential rain falling outside my hotel window
• Talking to the staff at Kinko's, while I waited for copies of my presentation handout to be made, and hearing about how Kinko's let all of their Katrina-relocated employees work at stores in their relocation cities, until they were ready to return to New Orleans
• Listening to my cab driver speak very excited Creole into his cell phone and realize that I could recognize about half of what he was saying (but was utterly mystified by the other half!)

Enough!  I'm back (but heading out on the road again on Tuesday.)  I hope to do a better time with updates...

Mindy (whose LJ reading will be sparse until she has finished HP7, which she won't be able to start until she's finished rereading HP 5 and 6!)

In the Hamlet production that we saw last week, the Gravedigger was a dead ringer (pun intended) for Willie Nelson.  So, perhaps it's not unusual that I have Willie's song running through my head...

I'm back on the road for business.  Tomorrow, I head to Dallas for the Romance Writers of America annual meeting and then it's on to New Orleans, for the American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting.  Anyone going to be at either (or both!?!) of those events?

I suspect that my reading of my Friends List will be spotty at best, but I'll post when I'm back online more consistently so that all of you can point me to the words of wisdom that I missed...

Mindy, who never thought it would be cooler in *Dallas* than at home!

OK, OK, I am having trouble coordinating posts from the road.  Here are the snapshots - I'll gladly elaborate if anyone wants more than these glimpses!

Kansas City:  Scary, creepy guy following me as I wander around the Plaza shopping district on my own, at twilight.

Kansas City:  Heading into Barnes & Noble to sign stock (and avoid scary, creepy guy).  SCG follows me up to third floor, but then stops to look at stock.  Might have been book-hunting all along.

Kansas City:  Take stock to customer service to sign.  Store clerk *gushes* about her love of the Glasswrights series.  Glow.

Kansas City:  Take "shortcut" back to hotel; end up blocks away, at entrance to hospital, at 9:00, in dark, with many frequent over-the-shoulder glances for SCG.  Enter emergency room (only open door to hospital.)  Triage nurse calls hospital security to return me to hotel in hospital van.  Feel foolish, but grateful, all the same.  Chat with security driver about his goal to become a city policeman.

Kansas City:  Great day in the office, meeting new coworkers.

Kansas City:  Amazing dinner at Grand Avenue Cafe (just off the Plaza), a family-owned restaurant with incredible food, that knows how to welcome a single diner (seat her at a kitchen-view bar counter, ply her with free desserts, and chat with her just the right amount throughout a dinner.)  Iron Chef without the "ew" factor on so many of the dishes...

Chicago:  Cab drive from Midway with cabbie who is right out of some Sopranos-ish drama, who spends ride on his cellphone, discussing how he'll get his sister's car back from the guy who stole it, or he'll release pictures of the guy, mid-affair, to guy's wife.

Chicago:  Luxuriate at the Peninsula, where they carefully track my room, newspaper, and life-in-general preferences for when I check in.

Chicago:  Recover from long day at office with Toffee Dark-Hot-Fudge Sundae at Ghirardelli ice cream parlor.  For dinner.

Chicago:  Finally have one flight leave airport on time!

DC:  Visit with brother- and sister-in-law at family BBQ.

St.  Louis:  Visit with yet more new-to-me coworkers. 

St. Louis:  Eat dinner at Top of the Riverfront, a revolving restaurant that teaches me that Ralston Purina is headquartered in St. Louis.  Enjoy great views of Gateway Arch, baseball stadium, bridges across the river, etc.

St. Louis:  Return to room for quiet evening and jump at sound of fireworks (Scott Rolen homered.)

For those of you in any of the above-listed city, I wish I'd had time to check in, but I've been running ragged just trying to get the day job stuff done.  Next time...  This evening, I head out to San Francisco for yet another whirlwind stop...

Mindy, spinning, spinning, spinning

While in New York for BEA, I was able to take in a few sights around New York.  Because this information is getting dated even as I type, I'll reduce it to a few snapshots:

TALK RADIO - We went to see Liev Schreiber in this incredible play about an acerbic talk radio host who is spiritually dying every single moment that he's on air.  Schreiber was *superb*, it was the sort of performance that leaves you feeling wrung out, wondering how he can possibly press the "restart button" to do another show the next night (or twice in a day, on matinee days.)  Well worth the ticket price (especially with half price tickets from TKTS!)  We were five rows back, which let us see facial expressions perfectly.

COOPER HEWITT - We went to two exhibits - the Design Triennial, which showcased design successes in a huge variety of fields (architecture, clothing, electronics, etc)  Some were interactive displays, some were simply breathtaking.  All were interesting.  The second exhibit was the perfect "compare and contrast" - it was called Design For The Other 90%, and it was about high concept design for the world's poor (things like a water carrier, shaped like a barrel with a hole through the long axis so that people can roll gallons of water rather than carry them.)  It was stunning to see cost-effective ingenuity.

NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY - We prowled through the building, gasping at the public reading room and playing a little with the electronic resources.  We are such geeks!

We also got to see my brother-in-law, eat at a couple of great (but not chi-chi) restaurants, and generally have a great little vacation around the business of BEA!

Mindy, really heading into the day job now!

After I took the bar exam, I traveled internationally for seven weeks with my college roommate. For a couple of weeks before we left on the trip, my mother called me on what-I-remember-as a daily basis (it was probably once or twice), with Helpful Hints to assist us in our travel. Once my roommate and I reached Europe, we returned the favor, sending home one postcard for every day that we traveled, recording our day's journeys and summarizing with a helpful hint for the day.

I think that I'll have ample opportunity to apply those hints in the days/weeks/months to come.  Yesterday's Travel Tip:

Make sure your cell phone is charged before you travel. And if your cell phone is the same as another device you carry (Blackberry, Treo, etc), consider whether you'll have enough juice with your phone to handle long emergency waits with travel agents, etc., if your device is being used for other purposes.

Yesterday afternoon, at 5:05, I was supposed to fly out to Chicago, to report at the office for my first day of work, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, at 9:00 a.m. Alas, I got to the airport, only to find that the travel agent had scheduled me to arrive tomorrow evening, at 7:30 p.m. Um, I don't think that would make a great impression on my new boss.

After a call to the travel agent (and a 20-minute wait with atrocious hold music), I was rescheduled on a flight for a 7:55 p.m. flight last night. I could have gotten on yesterday's 5:05, but that would have cost an additional $500 (for a ticket that was only $240 originally.)

I used the extra airport time as constructively as I could - once I could check my suitcase (yes, I needed to check luggage because I'll be gone till Thursday, dressed in grown-up clothes the entire time), I spent half an hour walking the terminal, getting some exercise and smiling nicely at the TSA personnel who must have thought it strange that I was repeating my path, end-to-airport-end, twice. Then, I went to Legal Seafoods and ate a lovely salmon fillet, remembering to substitute a green salad for the coleslaw (I've never been a fan of coleslaw...)

I'm staying at the incredible Peninsula Hotel, basking in the luxury.  This morning, my room service breakfast arrived, and the waiter asked my permission before doing anything.  "May I come into the room?"  "May I set up the table here?"  "May I shift the coffee table?"  "May I place your teabag in your hot water?"  It almost made me giggle - all I could think of was the 1980's Antioch Sex Code, where the university told students that they needed to ask each other for permission before moving on to each new phase of sexual exploration...

OK - off to the first day at the new job!

Mindy, sated with berries and tea :-)

Well, you folks probably didn't even realize I was gone. But I have been - out of town, on Bainbridge Island, Washington, celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. Highlights of the trip:

- Meeting my six-month-old nephew, Jake, who was sunny and cheerful throughout our entire visit (especially when he got to bounce in the seat-suspended-in-the-doorway toy.)

- Catching up with my parents, my brother, and my sister-in-law

- Visiting with our friends, Pete and Shirley, and their family

- Spending a day in Seattle, bouncing between book browsing at Elliott Bay Book Company and the Seattle Aquarium

- Driving through the wilds of Bainbridge Island and marveling that the entire forest there has been built up in less than 100 years (when the island was clear cut for timber)

- Chocolate mint ice cream at Mora's, on the Island.

- Eating more turkey than anyone girl should consume in a 24-hour period. (I had to, though. I knew I'd be deprived of extensive leftovers, due to our travel schedule :-) )

In any case, it's good to be home and settling back into the routine of normal life. I hope you all had wonderful holidays, if you're of the American sort! Anyone want to share tidbits?

Mindy, back in the groove

So, we spent the past weekend in Pittsburgh, and we had a wonderful time.  Everyone we met was incredibly friendly and helpful - and they all seemed surprised that we out-of-towners were vacationing there!  (Of course, we encountered a lot of surprise at our offices, when we said where we were going - shock and dismay that anyone would go to *Pittsburgh* for a getaway weekend...)

The ostensible reason for our trip was to watch the Washington Nationals play the Pittsburgh Pirates in PNC Park.  We had *great* tickets for the game, and we loved the park (especially the walk over the pedestrian-only-on-game-days Roberto Clemente Bridge.)  Yes, the Nationals lost, but we survived the heartbreak.

On Saturday, we went to the Andy Warhol museum.  There was an exhibit on "The Body Politic" about political statements made my 1960s downtown artists, and another on "The F Word" - feminist art in the past three decades.  The remaining five floors of the warehouse-type building were dedicated to Warhol.  Interestingly (to this former copyright lawyer), we could take photographs of any of the Warhol works.  (And yes, all the ones you've seen before were there - Campbell soup cans, Marilyn, Jackie, Elvis...)

Having obtained enough culture for the day, we spent the afternoon on the Strip, a gentrifying neighborhood of warehouses, with lots of little stores, restaurants, etc.  We had amazing ice cream sundaes at an old-fashioned, family-run ice cream parlor, and we stocked up on Penzey's Spices on the way back to the hotel.  We ate dinner at Lidia's Pittsburgh (very good Italian food, on the upscale end of the spectrum), and then we collapsed in our wonderful, air-conditioned hotel room.

Sunday, we decided to go to Fallingwater (on the theory that we could very well return to Pittsburgh for pleasure or business, but we wouldn't likely have the time or inclination to take the hour drive south to the Frank Lloyd Wright house.)  We were both enchanted with the house, the tour, the grounds -- everything about it.  I've been lucky enough to see a number of Wright homes (in Oak Park, at Taliesin West, just outside of DC, a Usonian home that was built behind the American History museum one summer, etc.)  But I had never seen one designed for wealthy people, for owners who knew and appreciated art and who had specific ideas of what *they* wanted.  The tour takes you through the entire house *and* the guesthouse.  I look forward to going back in a different season, to see how much the weather and environment change the view of the house.

So, that was my weekend.  (I spent yesterday at one of our branch offices at work, lifting far too many books.) 

Tell me what you've done lately that is different.  Or wild.  Or wonderful.  Or mildly intriguing :-)

Mindy, who would rather be back out on the road...

So, I'm in New York on business, meeting the librarians at my new-and-improved merged-law-firm employer.  So far, everything has gone very well.  I've learned a lot about how they do things, and I've explained a lot about how we do things.  When there've been differences, we've listened to each other, and we're threading our way through to finding "Best Practices" (although none of us are business school wonks, so we don't call it that.)

But most of what I've done in New York is eat.

When I arrived at the office, the head librarian took me to a deli just around the corner, for lunch.  Now, we don't have a decent deli in DC - not those places where you walk in, and the air smells like dill pickles, and waitresses serve up sandwiches that are so high, you *have* to split them into two open-face sandwiches.  While I'm not a fan of more exotic deli fare (tongue, for example), I love a good corned beef sandwich.  And I wasn't disappointed with this one.  Or with the French fries that my colleague suggested that I order.  Or with the cheesecake for dessert.  (Note that each of these servings was enough to satisfy several small families...)

And then, last night, I met up with a former housemate.  At an Italian restaurant, Becco.  The Caesar salad was exactly the type that I love - lemony and parmesan-y, without a creamy dressing.  And the veal chop was superb.  And the mashed potatoes were brimming with flavor.  And the asparagus snapped when I cut it.

When the waitress brought dessert menus, my friend looked at them and then looked at me.  "You know," she said.  "I don't think that I'd enjoy any of these $7 desserts seven times as much as I'd enjoy a sundae at McDonalds."  And so we walked back to my hotel, finding a convenient Mac and Don's three uptown blocks away and concluded the day's feasting with caramel sundaes (with the slightly scary packets of "granulated peanuts" sprinkled on top.)

This morning, I've had a cup of black tea.  No cream.  No sugar.  And I don't know that I'm going to eat a bite all day.  (Yeah, yeah, I say that now...)

Mindy, off to the New York office!

Well, Writing Marathon is over. I completed 5 chapters, for approximately 20,000 words. I met my targets precisely - I knew that this Marathon was a bit more limited than past ones, because I had a full roster of activities on both weekends.

Most importantly, though, I have 20% of the book under my belt. It's always easier for me to go on, with some "ballast" laid.

As for the weekend activities - we spent the past one up in Baltimore. Following our baseball draft, we drove up to Charm City. After grabbing burgers at Five Guys (a small local chain, featured in GIRL'S GUIDE!), we went to the Maryland Science Center - a wonderful science museum with dozens of hands-on learning opportunities. (The star attraction, for us, was the table that displayed satellite imagery of the world, which could zoom and travel, merely by tilting the table.) We had dinner in Little Italy - I should have been taking notes for a novel, because the people were *straight* out of Central Casting.

Yesterday, we visited Babe Ruth's birthplace (a well-done small museum), and we attended the opera DEAD MAN WALKING (the ostensible reason for our trip north.) I'm not a huge opera fan, but it's always interesting to see different theatrical interpretations.

So? Did other people have charmed weekends? Get a lot of writing done? Have important, exciting, or interesting things to report?

Mindy, back into the normal swing of life

By yesterday afternoon, the weather had cleared enough that I could go for a walk along the beach. I traipsed out toward The Point (an outcropping of rock into the ocean, which is my usual goal for my long beach ramblings down here - it's far enough that I actually am amazed when I turn around to walk back; I question whether I'll make it, but of course I do, because I'm really quite a wimp, and it's not *that* far...)

Alas, the tide was so high that The Point was covered. Still, I managed to get almost all the way out to where it would have been.

And, on the way back home, I leaned into the strong wind. And I thought. A lot.

And now, I have a whole new character, a whole new world, and a problem-to-be-solved for a new fantasy series.

Mindy, who loves beach retreats for creative nurturing

You know, a lot of people don't realize the powers they have. They don't realize that they can control the world around them. They don't realize that they can shape their environment.

Me, I use my powers for evil and not for good. I travel to Florida, and I stay with friends, and I make the weather change from sunny and gorgeous to overcast and windy and rainy and blah.

It's a good thing that we all like each other's company. And, as one of my friends said this morning, as we braved the wind for a walk on the esplanade, "It's not like we usually do anything here anyway. We drink coffee or wine (depending on the time of day), and we talk."

We talk a lot - we're all involved with writing or theater or the arts or whatever.

Actually, not a bad way to spend a long weekend...

Mindy, enjoying the retreat from the "real" world

Mark and I spent the three-day weekend on Maryland's Eastern Shore, in the small town of St. Michael's. We were staying in a cottage at an inn where Robert E. Lee slept (I'm sure George Washington would have, if he'd traveled that way.) What a wonderful escape (despite gale force winds for the better part of the weekend!)...

On Saturday, we spent most of the grey-and-gloomy-but-not-raining day ducking into the little shops that line the main street of town. It was interesting to see snapshots of summer life during this off season - one closed-for-winter shop had a sign in its window proclaiming that it did NOT (the sign was quite vehement) agree with the horrific parking rules and regulations passed by the town council. We never did find out what was so horrific.

Saturday night, we went to the one bar in town, to watch the Redskins football game. I felt like an anthropologist on assignment - strange to say, but I had never just hung out in a bar, drinking beer, and watching a game on the tube. (The game did not go well for the 'Skins, but the fried calamari and Stella helped us to survive...)

On Sunday, we took a walking tour of town, following a printed guide that pointed out architectural details, historic points of interest, etc. We spent the better part of the afternoon at the Chesapeake Marine Museum (which I thought would be pretty boring - a quick walk-through, even for this museum fanatic - but which turned out to be quite interesting.) I loved walking through the lighthouse. They had the lighthouse keeper's diet on the wall (food was delivered by contract) - the man ate 12 pounds of potatoes a week! Mark and I survived near-disaster when the restaurant where we'd planned on eating dinner proved to be so popular that we could not get in without a reservation - and every other restaurant was closed in the off season. (We drove back toward a bigger town and feasted on pizza.)

On Monday, I woke up with a magnificent idea for a Red Dress novel. I scribbled down the inspiration (no time to do more - I have a novel to write before I can even think about this new idea!) and then we drove down to Tilghman's Island. We'd been told that it was a quieter, less-developed St. Michael's. It was, um, even quieter than that - it was *tiny*, with a handful of fishing boats and not much else. We were actually pleased that we'd decided to stay in St. M's instead of on the Island.

And then, sigh, we drove home (although I did make some killer finds at the LL Bean outlet on the way.)

Mindy (who can now reliably recognize a skipjack, thank you very much!)

We just got back from an overnight trip to Colonial Williamsburg. (Yes, this is the second time that we went there this year. I did some research for GIRL'S GUIDE back in October, and we purchased passes that are good for a year, so we decided to go down to see the Christmas decorations.)

It was unseasonably warm in Virginia's former state capital; we walked around without coats last night. We attended a Grand Illumination - a fife and drum corps marching down the main street, lighting torches in front of the major buildings. (Alas, we were there with several thousand of our closest friends...) We also strolled from building to building, enjoying the Christmas decorations (wreaths and swags, with all sorts of flora worked in.)

Since our visit was rather spur of the moment, we had made no dinner reservations, but we lucked into a table at the Blue Talon Bistro, a wonderful bistro in the French manner, just outside of the historical park. Our food was wonderful, and the people-watching was sublime.

This morning, fog was turning to drizzle, so our thousands of fellow visitors made themselves scarce. (Actually, it was very strange - as if the majority of the world had been raptured.) After a *huge* breakfast at one of the numerous pancake houses in town, we went back to the historic village. We toured the gaol (where prisoners had non-flowing-water toilets, apparently so that they could not fling chamber pots at guards), the Presbyterian Meeting House (tiny and fireplace-less and rather grim), and the apothecary shop (where I learned more details about some of Jane Madison's magic). We also took in more of the house decorations (and this time, the batteries in my camera were fully charged!)

All in all, a great little mini-vacation, and I'm back at home, full of writing ideas. Good thing, too. Tomorrow, I delve into GIRL'S GUIDE edits. Really. No more playing. This is serious work.

Mindy, who doesn't even really believe herself.