Sneak preview of upcoming novel.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Numbered List1. I love my kids. I had a good weekend with them. (This was my allotted weekend in the midst of their 8-week summer visitation with their dad.) We had fun.
2. Austin is so very hot and dry. Houston is hot, too... but Austin is hot and dry. When people say, "but it's a dry heat," I understand them to mean, "but you will be in hell."
3. I am a little bit psychic. A year ago, my boyfriend took me canoeing on Town Lake in Austin, Texas. We had fun. On the canoe, he said to me, "You should do this with your kids." At that moment, I had a vision of myself with one kid in one canoe, and my other two kids in another canoe. In my vision, the other two kids argued and caused their canoe to flip over. I told my boyfriend of this vision and he refused to see it as any kind of portent. So... it's a year later, and that's exactly what happened Saturday. I took my kids canoeing, and the ones who weren't in my canoe argued. They decided to switch places, then flipped their canoe over, ruining a watch and a cell phone in the process. They were okay, thank gosh. They had life jackets and swim way better than me. Plus, maybe they learned a lesson about arguing while on canoes.
4. At a Fuddruckers*, on Sunday afternoon, I realized that I was happy.
(*Fuddruckers is the name of a hamburger place. Of course everyone renames it nasty things.)
5. Last Saturday I wrote the best poem I've ever written in my life, and that was nice.
6. I'm very excited about buying paint this week. I am going to buy paint for my new house this week! And then, on Sunday, my house's living room and kitchen will get painted!!!
7. I'm very, very, very excited about the tile I will buy for my kitchen counter sometime soon. But not quite as excited about finding out what's under the current veneer/particleboard that is my kitchen counter. Still - finding out will be an adventure, and tiling the counter will be the adventure's reward. 11:38 AM #
Comments:
For me, no place in Texas east of Ozona can qualify for a dry heat. West of there, sweat actually works. I find Austin is still too humid to get that evaporative effect that makes "dry heat" bearable.That being said, you go too far west (to someplace like Truth or Consequences) and dry heat turns into "oven heat". I have never been to anyplace where the sun was as bright or as hot as in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. It seemed so much closer too, as if it was right over my head.
# posted by
R.T. Lemur : 1:48 PM
RT: I believe you. You're describing hell to me, because I've never been west of Austin in my life. (Unless Wimberly or Dallas are west of Austin.)
I know Austin's not that dry in the grand scheme of things, but I'm so used to humidity. When I first went up to Austin to attend UT, I spent the first month with flaking skin and bleeding lips, because I just couldn't hang with the dryness.
Dat went to Phoenix a while back and said I wouldn't have believed it. I don't want to believe it. I want to stay around the edges of the country, near the sea.
(P.S. I bet they call it Truth or Consequences because it's so horribly dry.)
# posted by
Gwen : 2:08 PM
House! Tile! PAINT! What is more fun than the paint? Nothing, that's what.
I'm a little excited for you, too.
# posted by
White Trasherati : 4:01 PM
I know what you mean about the dryyy heat. I moved from Seattle (near sea level and humid) to Wyoming (7200 feet and like 20% humidity). The hot, dry winds are not fun.
# posted by
Kaijsa : 4:03 PM
You know I want to see that poem.
# posted by
Marigoldie : 9:31 PM
White T: I have a small array of paint chips in my purse. They represent my walls, my accent colors, and the terracotta floor in my kitchen. I think about them all the time. So - yes, what you said, definitely.
Kaijsa: Exactly. But why did you move to Wyoming? Also, was it dusty? Central Texas is very dusty.
Marigoldie: I'll send you a chapbook. I'm not brave like you, to put a poem online. :o
# posted by
Gwen : 10:14 PM
Happiness is such a blessing and I'm so glad you're experiencing it now. You deserve every bit of it.
# posted by
tina : 9:28 AM
I was in Vegas a few years ago in July and it was like 110 degrees or something. It felt just like being in an oven. Weird.
My Dad just told me this week that you can buy other people's custom paint that they didn't pick up at Lowe's or Home Depot or something for very cheap. My house is all painted but I thought I'd mention it, in case you hadn't picked out colors yet.
# posted by
Joanne : 12:30 PM
Hi Gwen,
Oh my goodness! That would have scared me to death to see my kids over turning a canoe!
I'm glad they are both okay!
Janice~
# posted by
Janice : 2:48 AM
Yayyyyyyyyyyy Gwen is painting!!! whahooooooooooooooooo for you!!!
We are so happy that you are happy, trust me!!!
Cant wait to see pics!!!
Hey koolio about the dogs, and YES, if anyone can and will do it and do it up right, it will be you!!
# posted by
pixielyn : 7:31 PM
Tina: Thank you, sugar booger.
Joanne: Awesome. I'll look for it. I want green and salmon, but green is so common now it's totally worth checking.
Janice: Thank Godfully, the water wasn't deep where they flipped. But I was a little scared. I never rowed faster in my life than I did to get my boat next to theirs. Also, there were a few boats of nice people near by, and they immediately offered help, so it wasn't too scary.
Pixie: Thank you. Your last sentence made me go, "Yeah... YEAH!"
# posted by
Gwen : 3:54 PM
Yes, very dusty. I moved here for a job, back in March. Seattle is knee-deep in librarians, so had to leave. At least I'm still in the west!
# posted by
Kaijsa : 2:27 PM
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