Miss Me?

I feel bad about not blogging more this week, but a houseguest and a headache (unrelated--though the guest wasn't, it was my mother-in-law) prevented me from posting. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Aforementioned headache was also my excuse for not having any new writing to bring to writers group last night. I'm still really struggling with the God essay, but I at least decided to break it up into chunks, and try to attack it in pieces. Maybe a whole will emerge eventually that way. But as we gleefully planned for our writerly retreat a week from today, I felt sure that the writing muse will be showering inspiration upon me, and I'll produce much more that mere blog entries next week. Well, I did I write several work-related pages in the last couple of days, and I don't feel so guilty if I count them.

We spent some time jawing about our blogs last night, so I've spent the last 63% of my battery poking around the blogosphere (Opinionistas is a new one I really like, probably because it's a peek into my New York past and a simultaneous peek into M's future), adding a site feed (Julia!), and digging a bit deeper into my reader stats. Which are quite interesting. Betcha didn't know I was keeping track, did ya?! I'm hiding my stat counter, but now the secret's out. Oh well, I hope you come back anyway.

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My fortune from earlier this week: "Get your mind set in the path it should follow." How can I get my mind set if Fortune doesn't tell me? Another fortune cracked today in a stale (sadly) cookie: "You will inherit some money or a small piece of land." That's more like it!

Rob, however, is more robust: "I hope you will take aggressive action to avoid falling victim to misplaced priorities in your personal life. Don't you dare let trivial spectacles divert you from healing the sorest spot in your world." Yes, I have much to not-blog about. (See, I have drama. I just choose not to share publicly.)

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We had a nice time with M's mom earlier this week. We decided to drive home through San Francisco after picking her up in Oakland. Driven predominantly by hunger, we stopped near Fisherman's Wharf for dinner. We weren't dressed for the chilly SF evening, but had a lovely view of the bay from a sorta swanky McCormick & Kuleto's, a seafood joint in Ghiradelli Square. Which we weren't dressed for either, but they tolerated us. We spent the next day sprawled in various locations (mostly the deck) and chatting, but went on an evening drive to take in the wine country air. And it was beautiful, particularly Westside Road in the ever-goldening light--the oak-bordered vineyards with dark grapes dangling like fringe from the vines, which are now being trained so the branches are always reaching upward, in vain. The old vines, thick as small tree trunks, sprout their vines like wigs or fountains, fruit bunches harder to find among the domed spray of perfect green leaves.

We used her visit as an excuse to break out as many wedding gift items as possible:


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What is it about empty chairs, the sight of them arranged around a pool or dining table? Are they the embodiment of embrace? Or emptiness?

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My uncle sent me the photo, below, of his newest creation:

It's hard to see in the photo, but the sail is 3-D, jutting out perpendicular to the plane of the window. How great is that? He's a wonderful, precise woodworker, too.

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A sign that summer ends soon...