Chilly, damp, and nice to be inside
it would be nicer if .Mac hadn't just gone on the fritz, taking my email messages and possible book sales hostage, but at least the internetz aren't broken this time, so I can go to each site and check for orders.
I've spent the last weeks coping with holiday sales, shipments, uploads and cataloging, planning to sabbatical trip up the coast (more on that in a minute) and obsessing over Bpal swaps and sales of unwanted scents. I've loved almost all of the Halloween (mmm, Pumpkin Patch...who knew?) and Yule flavors, but some of the other limiteds have been less successful. I have finally picked up the knitting again and after multiple do-overs, am halfway through the hideously complicated border of the front of the sweater I started in the spring, as well as returning to the variegated pullover and starting a knitted cap (because I need something small to finish, dammit!). This week I finished Tuchman's The Proud Tower, gulped down a quick Diana Wynne-Jones and and tentatively started on Ruskin's The Stones of Venice. I'm not sure about it, but his watercolors of the buildings are delicious.
B has been eagerly awaiting this trip since we got back from Houston as this is one of the main reasons for taking the sabbatical in the first place...leaving home for a lazy trip along the coast. Wednesday morning I'll put all the online listings on hiatus and we'll head out. We're booked for two separate B&Bs, one near Mendocino, one in Port Orford, Oregon, both with beach access for strolling and picking up stones and possible biking opportunities for B. In between we'll spend Yule with K&C in Bodega Bay where they are also escaping from the family for the holidays. I expect it to be lovely and restful. The plans extend as far as New Year's Day, when we'll be in Portland with
rainkatt and SL, bringing many varieties of bubbly with us from the less taxed climes, as well as all the spare Bpal bottles and imps for consideration. After that, we have made no plan, but can wander further north toward Canada or straggle back home, as the spirit takes us. it's a bit unsettling not to know when we'll be here again, but I think it will be good for me.
The desk is piled high with picture books in desperate need of having their dust jackets wrapped so they can be shelved, but there are other piles of books on the floor that need to be researched, pried and entered into the database...no rest for the wicked. I suspect the NY resolution will be to look for the surface of the desk and see if I can make it look like this again.
Off to the kitchen where the pellet stove is burning. Best wishes to any and all readers (all two or three of you) for a New and Improved Year in 2008....and Happy Rest of Holidays!
I've spent the last weeks coping with holiday sales, shipments, uploads and cataloging, planning to sabbatical trip up the coast (more on that in a minute) and obsessing over Bpal swaps and sales of unwanted scents. I've loved almost all of the Halloween (mmm, Pumpkin Patch...who knew?) and Yule flavors, but some of the other limiteds have been less successful. I have finally picked up the knitting again and after multiple do-overs, am halfway through the hideously complicated border of the front of the sweater I started in the spring, as well as returning to the variegated pullover and starting a knitted cap (because I need something small to finish, dammit!). This week I finished Tuchman's The Proud Tower, gulped down a quick Diana Wynne-Jones and and tentatively started on Ruskin's The Stones of Venice. I'm not sure about it, but his watercolors of the buildings are delicious.
B has been eagerly awaiting this trip since we got back from Houston as this is one of the main reasons for taking the sabbatical in the first place...leaving home for a lazy trip along the coast. Wednesday morning I'll put all the online listings on hiatus and we'll head out. We're booked for two separate B&Bs, one near Mendocino, one in Port Orford, Oregon, both with beach access for strolling and picking up stones and possible biking opportunities for B. In between we'll spend Yule with K&C in Bodega Bay where they are also escaping from the family for the holidays. I expect it to be lovely and restful. The plans extend as far as New Year's Day, when we'll be in Portland with
rainkatt and SL, bringing many varieties of bubbly with us from the less taxed climes, as well as all the spare Bpal bottles and imps for consideration. After that, we have made no plan, but can wander further north toward Canada or straggle back home, as the spirit takes us. it's a bit unsettling not to know when we'll be here again, but I think it will be good for me.
The desk is piled high with picture books in desperate need of having their dust jackets wrapped so they can be shelved, but there are other piles of books on the floor that need to be researched, pried and entered into the database...no rest for the wicked. I suspect the NY resolution will be to look for the surface of the desk and see if I can make it look like this again.
Off to the kitchen where the pellet stove is burning. Best wishes to any and all readers (all two or three of you) for a New and Improved Year in 2008....and Happy Rest of Holidays!