It rained today!

*Happy dance*

Yet - disturbing news on the family front has me worried and distressed.

Last week, the 5-day weather forecast showed three days of rain coming. Then it went down to two days. Then the rain forecast disappeared, replaced with sunny days.

Yesterday, the 5-day forecast showed rain starting on Tuesday and going through Thursday. Today, it shows sunny days until Thursday. Tomorrow, will we see that the whole week will be sunny?

WHEN is the rain going to start???

I'm tired and sort of out of it, right now. But let's see...

The writing workshop went well - in fact, it was delightful. The speaker was Janis Cooke Newman, a local writer who works at www.sfgrotto.org.

She's the author of :


and:



I bought "Mary" - an historical fiction based on Mary Todd Lincoln. I'll let you know how I like it, but it sounds fascinating...

I didn't learn anything earth-shattering during the workshop, but did pick up some motivation to do things like daily writings from the perspective of my characters. I'm desperate to get my books electrified, and this is one way to do it.

I hope.

So I'm going to try devoting ten minutes a day to a character - tell me what you want, what you think, what you feel... make me want to write about you, damn it!

Unless it turns out to just waste time, this kind of exercise can only help. I'm a very character-driven author. I'm either in love with my characters, or I'm.... not. If not - or if I get bored - I have trouble writing. So spending a bit of time each day with someone should be a way of recharging the relationship. Or will convince me to end it altogether.

In other news, we saw "2012" today. Go just for the special effects, suspend all disbelief, and have fun. There's no other way to see it.

This reminds me that I'm trying to keep track of movies we've seen, but I keep forgetting to mention it. But this weekend, we watched "Pi" (Netflix) - do yourself a favor and NEVER watch that...

While in Missouri, we watched "Astro Boy," which was a lot of fun. Kid movie.

Four adults, one kid. We went to see the kid movie. You know how it works.

In Virginia, we watched "The Invention of Lying." You have no idea how hard it was to remember the movie - we could remember going to the theater and sitting there with popcorn... the day we went, who went with us (my sister-in-law), the route to the theater, even where the bathrooms were... but we could NOT remember the movie we saw.

This either means we are truly losing our memories, or the movies just are not that memorable. The jury is still out.

We plan on seeing "Men Who Stare at Goats" next weekend. Rick's dad is visiting and he thinks he'd like that movie. We think we'll like it, too, so it's on the agenda.

In the meantime, I have lots of cooking to do.

I have spent the week dedicated to Catching Up. Not quite there, yet. But I don't really care, either.

I have managed to create two sets of calendars for family Xmas presents. These have become a tradition that the recipients seem to to look forward to every year. They are family photo calendars that I make on Shutterfly, using Events from the Current Year. It's always a lot of fun. I never have enough photos of my husband's nephews - I think this both-parent's-working, two-kid family is too busy to take many photographs and upload to the computer and email off to people. My stepson and his wife are not any better about taking pictures of their daughter. I end up using the pictures that Rick and I take during our visits to everyone. This year, we have the photos from the vacation just ended, and last year's Xmas pictures.

I am amiss myself this year - I was in San Diego in June and we did spend some time with Rick's family. But the visit was mostly to help my daughter when her son was born, and I simply never thought to take pictures of the nephews when we saw them. I'm not happy about that.

Tomorrow, I'm attending a writing workshop for a few hours, on the topic of plotting and character-building. I'm looking forward to that. Hoping that SOMETHING will give me ideas on how to do that elusive thing: finish a novel.

Next week, my father-in-law comes to visit for a couple of weeks. My daughter in San Diego is coming for Thanksgiving. Yay! We get to see the baby again! And I've finagled my son-in-law into tending bar and creating a special cocktail for us. He's a top-notch mixologist.

No, I'm not doing NaNo. Never have. I do understand the appeal, but I'm generally underwhelmed with the idea. Life is stressful enough.

We got in late Monday night. I was so happy to see my bed.

Yesterday, I cleaned the frig (since it was practically empty), unpacked, did laundry, and ate lots of vegetables. Veggies are a rare thing when visiting the family. I have to catch up.

We had travel issues with Delta, who kept changing our flights and forcing us to stand in four different lines to get tickets canceled and reissued. Very strange. And don't even talk about baggage fees. We've GOT to learn to travel light.

Did I mention that there is a grandchild in Missouri? The only girl:



She gave Rick a run for his money in a pillow fight. I got it all on video.

She'll have a brother in a couple of months. It never slows down around here.

So what did everyone think of V? Will you keep watching it? I haven't made up my mind, yet.

His first Halloween:

Goin' fishin'...

You probably won't get the thrill I experienced when I saw this, but I dare you to say he's not adorable:



The whole family did Wizard of Oz:



I'm still waiting for the OTHER grandson's Halloween pictures.

Shenendoah was amazing. Here's proof:




It wasn't all color and joy. But I think this is just as beautiful and incredible:



Anyway, it was lovely, and we got to hike in the rain and fog.

Sigh.

Yesterday, we hopped over to Shirley Plantation and I got to meet kitsch_witch who was signing her book. I love meeting LJ friends. Hi Beth!



This Virginia humidity does strange things to my hair.

You might remember our Australian Shepherd, Cissy, who died about a year ago. Cissy had the most amazing ability to injure herself every time something major was happening. Weddings, company, whatever... she'd be there with a bandage on a leg and a collar on her neck.  For our wedding, I tucked flowers into the collar, so she'd look pretty.

Well, my sister-in-law's collie managed to carry on the tradition, by breaking her toe a couple of days after we got here.


You might notice her bandage has her all ready for Halloween.

Tonight is spaghetti and a Monopoly game.

Go ahead, laugh. I know I'm old.

I'm off to visit a haunted plantation and meet kitsch_witch, who is signing her book on  - wait for it -

Haunted Plantations of Virginia.

We've arrived safe and sound in Virginia, and have proceeded to play with the dogs, avoid the bird, and hang out in the backyard in our barefeet, sipping wine and chatting with the relatives.

Yes, The backyard.

In Virginia. In late October.

See, that's weird to me. But I'm an East Coast neonate, so whatever I think I know about it is probably wrong. I always thought it got COLD in the Fall, with rain and the threat of snow.

But nay. At least, not this year.

Temps have been in the 70s, and the humidity is even higher. That could be downright uncomfortable, but it HAS been breezy, and that's helped. In fact, yesterday was quite lovely. We took the dogs (a collie and a german shepherd, both come to above my waist), for a walk in a neaby park, with a reservoir and lots of trees. The trees were in their showing off stage and it was wonderful.

Today, we head up to Shendandoah National Park, and we have some slight hope for more autumn-y weather up there. Should be in the 60s at least, and we have a good chance of seeing spectacular color. We're staying overnight at a lodge somewhere, and will do all we can to get in a couple of hikes.

I love the mountains, I love autumn, and I can't wait.

Packing for Virginia
Housework
Yardwork
Catching spiders
Installing smoke alarms

Last night we watched Sunshine Cleaning, courtesy of Netflix.

Today, we saw Where the Wild Things Are. I liked this, although it's weird as a kid's movie. Kind of depressing. I know we had the book when the kids were little, but I don't remember it.

Tonight, we watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona. THAT was fun.

And just for the heck of it, a picture:

Not much accomplished this week, although I have done a bit of writing. Did about 10,000 words in a new story, which has been fun.

We're going on vacation in a few days - Virginia and Missouri. I know you're jealous. You'll just have to get over it.

I'm taking the laptop, although I don't know what the internet situation will be.  I'll try to stay in touch. For now, as you can imagine, I'm in a tizzy trying to get everything ready. And poor Rick is working overtime to get his projects in some kind of order so he can be gone for two weeks.  He has it much tougher than I do.

We did have plans for an astronomy lecture tonight, but I don't think we'll make it. Ah, well.

Maybe I'll make a chocolate cake. THAT should cheer us up.

Now this is interesting. There's a post over at another blog about the Walmart/Amazon tug of war on book prices. The post is okay. It's the anonymous comment that's fascinating:

"I have to keep this anonymous because I work for a Walmart.com supplier. However, I would like everyone to fully understand the implications of "Lower Prices". What this means is that in order for manufacturers to sell their products at the Walmart demanded price, they have to cut quality. I will tell you in all honesty that we make 2 sets of products, the crummy Walmart version and the nice version that everyone else gets, and I am sure we are not the only manufacturer who is forced to do that." (Emphasis mine)

There, you see?

Cheaper is not better. It's not even equivalent.

But we're so hooked on consuming, that we must have cheaper prices, so we can keep on consuming. Otherwise, we'd have to ... oh, I don't know... choose between one thing or another, instead of having it all.

I admit I don't like clutter. I'd rather have a few very nice ... whatever... than a houseful of crappy stuff. I'd rather have things I actually use and enjoy. I'm not interested in the rest. And believe me, there are things I'd like to have, but I can't afford them, so I don't have them.

But since I'm just that way, I suspect it's not fair of me to shake my finger at other people. If someone doesn't give a damn about quality, why should I care?

Another commenter explains it:

"... It is a tactic Walmart has used for years. They place an order for a product that requires a minimum quantity from a supplier. Said supplier ramps up production (for goods, this means that they may invest in capital equipment and take out loans to do so). Walmart's buying power is such that their order may easily be 40-50% of the suppliers sales for the year. Great.

Next year, Walmart says "We'll order the same amount as last year but this year we are only going to pay you 60% of what we paid you last year. Take it or leave it." Supplier now has to take a bath in excess inventory or live with it. In a former professional incarnation I saw more than one small vendor lose their shirts doing business with Walmart..."

That's why.

These companies don't have the cash to build for Walmart and build a better-quality line for everyone else. So they either go out of business or just build the crappy stuff.

Which frankly, makes everything else MORE expensive for the rest of us, since there are fewer manufacturers to build the good stuff. Add to that, the fact that I want to buy from a manufacturer who provides livable wages and benefits for the workers. Oh  - and who also is not dumping his polluted waste water into the river or burying his mercury-laden slag where it seeps into the groundwater.

Damn. Don't I realize how much I have to PAY for that product? What the hell is wrong with me?

Granted, I'm not sure how this problem will affect books. After all, you can't get much cheaper quality than a paperback book. Worse binding, I guess. Paper that tears, ink that smears. It could get worse. Or the publisher will just lay off all the copy editors and the books will be laced with grammar and spelling errors, and with typos.

Oh. Wait.

Well never mind that. I will confess that I have a library that's half full of paperback books. So in this case, I'm already buying the cheapest product. (The other half of the library is - yes - hard covers. But I have been known to "wait" for the paperback version to come out before buying).

What will happen is what Eric points out in his blog post: small bookstores, and even the big stores like B&N and Borders, can't compete with $8 books from Walmart, Amazon, and Target. They'll go out of business and we won't have ANY bookstores anymore.

But the publishers will lose tons of money when Walmart demands a discount. Can the product be made more cheaply? Can the publishers all move to China? Or do they already print the books there?

I don't know. It's possible that if Walmart makes the discount demand, the publishers will just shrug and walk away, returning to the bookstores as distributors. That will be all right, provided the bookstores have held on long enough. But Walmart can hold out a lot longer than the bookstores, methinks, before demanding that discount.

So what happens? Do the publishers just go out of business?

Then what?

This is REALLY graphic, but it's amazing!

I had a mammogram today, which is bad enough. But it's left me with a pinched nerve in my neck, which makes my ear, jaw, and shoulder hurt.

I am NOT HAPPY.

But in brighter news, I just received my SIGNED! copy of Fledgling by Sharon Lee rolanni and Steve Miller kinzel . I read the serialization when they put the first draft online, so I'm stoked about reading the final product.

Yesterday was a near-perfect Fall day. Cloudy, cool, a little windy, the air smelling faintly of promised rain. We did some chores - Rick cleaned out rain gutters, I cleaned and put away the cushions on the lawn furniture. It was so nice to be outside.

Oh, and I had to kill another black widow. The fun never ends.

After lunch, we decided to reward ourselves with a walk. But where?

The resevoir again? Yeahhhh.... okay, but - how about we walk downtown and partake of the Art, Wine, & Jazz Festival? It's a two-mile walk one-way. We'll get our exercise. And I promise I won't buy anything.

Please?

This is not really Rick's thing, but he agreed. He's such a sweetheart.

We had fun. We both did, honest. I didn't buy anything, but Rick sprang for a drink package, giving us four drinks of either beer or wine. I started with a beer since I was hot from walking. Rick got a California cab, and we mosied over to the music stage to find a seat. We did walk around, but mostly we sat and enjoyed the blues bland, who were pretty darn good. The Delta Dogs. I even liked their rendition of Mustang Sally, and I hate Mustang Sally.

We went through two more glasses of wine (one each), which is more than we usually have at one go. But there's something to be said for alchohol and walking. I guess it gave us energy as it converted to sugar, 'cause the walk home was easy.

But it left me a little shaky, so I got dinner going right away - broiled salmon, steamed chard, and a salad. Then a warm bath to settle the rest of the shakes, more chores to get the trash out to the street, then bed.

Yep. A good time. 

As of today, I have two partials and one full out for Shipbuilder.

THAT is a record, folks, so I have to think my marketing nudge about the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking, is getting their attention.