I’m baaaaack.
That’s right. As threatened promised several weeks ago, I’m back from Ellid Book Review Hiatus Summer Tour, rested, rejuvenated, and rarin’ to go. It’s going to be a good fall, at least in terms of bad books, and it is my sincere hope that those of you who missed these diaries won’t be disappointed.
As for those of us who dwell beneath the sheltering roof of the Last Homely Shack East of the Manhan, we’ve experienced the following:
- A sudden and very unexpected invitation to participate in a Very Special Project that cannot be revealed until next May (me).
- Vaccinations (Diamond Girl, who wailed like she was being slowly minced from the tail up all the way to and from the vet).
- Random people recognizing me on the street, at the farm share, and in the coffee shops of the Pioneer Valley because of my run on Jeopardy (duh).
- Shedding enough fur during the dog days of August to construct another cat out of felt (Gil the Wonder Cat).
- A birthday of freebies courtesy of Redbox (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them holds up extremely well), East Heaven Hot Tubs (the best spa in Northampton, still going strong over thirty years later), Herrell’s ice cream (the Hearts & Flowers flavor is delicious), and Captain Candy (Regal Crown Sours live!) (me, and anyone who really thinks the Double Felinoid would enjoy a hot tub? HAHAHAHAHAHAH, no, not really).
- New airbags and an oil change (Sapphy the Wonder Car).
- Made vast quantities of zucchini bread, cole slaw, salsa, and chili courtesy of a farm share (me).
- Several blood donations (me — gotta earn my Big E tickets somehow!).
- The end of one of the most appalling comic book storylines in at least a decade (take a guess).
- A second viewing of Wonder Woman and the sincere wish that I had the figure to wear the costume without looking like an idiot (me)
- Expelling numerous hairballs during the dog days of August (Gil the Wonder Cat)
- Several weeks of local celebrity after my Jeopardy win splashed my grinning mug all over the local newspapers, including a woman walking up to me in a local bagel shop while I was finishing my breakfast and saying how much she’d enjoyed seeing me on TV (me).
- Best of all, just this past Tuesday I received my winner’s check from Jeopardy, which enabled me to clear my credit card debt, book a trip to Germany and London, acquire some gorgeous silk/wool blend yarn to make a lacework shawl, and finally purchase one of these because I feel like it.
And oh yeah, I read the book I’m reviewing (surprisingly funny) and have done much work on the review itself.
As much fun as all of that was (or not, depending on whether one asks Diamond Girl after her visit to the Place of Torture and Fear or me after I stepped in a Norwegian Forest Cat hairball that looked distressingly like a dead mouse), it’s all in the past except for my upcoming vacation. The nights have already started to get cold, the leaves are beginning to turn, and the sun is setting earlier and rising later.
In short, it’s fall, and it’s time to go back to work. And we all know what that means….
Alert readers will note that the following list is slightly different from what I originally posted in July. That’s because plans have changed, life has been lived, and the dates of certain events have been confirmed. Most important, I will be going on vacation a week earlier than I’d originally thought, which means a shift in the dates when I’ll need a substitute of some sort. I also confirmed my attendance at the American Quilt Study Group annual Seminar in October, so will be publishing a quilt-related rewind while I go get my quilt history geek on.
So...here is the lineup for September, October, and November of this problematic year. I found some astonishing horrible books during my hiatus, and if you’re silly enough to read these diaries, soon you’ll know all about them, too:
9/16 — Christian “Science”
9/23 —The Sparks of Romance
9/30 — Lil’ Stevie B’s Bestest Most Favorite Books!
10/7 — Surrounded by Acres of Crabs
10/14 — The Weepy Castrati of Signora Rice
10/21 — Hidden In Plain View: A Case Study (aka, AQSG rewind)
10/28 — The Star-Spangled Golem vs. the Alt Right
11/ 4 — Erasing the Lady
11/11 — Vacation — substitute needed since I will be in Heidelberg and will be jetlagged out of my mind, not that this will prevent me from venturing forth in quest of wool shops to purchase gorgeous German sock yarn
11/18 — Vacation — substitute needed since I will be flying home that day from London and will be in no shape to write anything except possibly my signature on the customs form
11/25 — Seven Women + Thirty-Five Feet of Hair = Profit!
%%%%%
Can any of you guess what some of our future diaries are actually about? Are you glad I’m back? Do you care? Have you noticed? Come on down and speak your mind, I’m tough enough to take it….
%%%%%