Intese - but good - week
This was a busy week, but everything fell together nicely so not complaining. Indeed, I had may strokes - big and small - of incredible fortune.
One, I finally wrapped up a story (really stories) on school facilities. It was my most ambitious project to date in my career. Two stories, plus a quasi story/sidebar. Getting good feedback so far.
Gathered information on what should be a couple fun stories, one on the history of a park, and one on a cool adult program.
More fortuitous for me, though, is we had two fierce storms come through: one on Tuesday late afternoon and one on Thursday evening. Tuesday's storm produced four tornados, and there are a lot of people without power and may not get it back until mid-week next week. Thursday brought massive flooding to a part of Cuyahoga Falls and Akron, the likes that haven't come through here in around 20 years. Streets became rivers, I heard stories from friends getting stranded, one friend was at a concert when the deluge hit. Thankfully the friend she was with had a Jeep. Both storms missed where I live. Indeed, Tuesday, there were some wind gusts, some ominous clouds and a bit of thunder and rain. Thursday we got a lot of rain, noted a lot of thunder and lightening, but nothing atypical for a summer thunderstorm.
Went to a lovely ceremony yesterday, where the family of a colleague unveiled his headstone. It's really nice- different but without standing out too much. Classy design, with a lovely inscription. Roger, you would have been proud!
Humid, but at least sunny yesterday. Grass is really green now! I've noticed the leaves have started to change on the trees. It's subtle, a small patch of yellow here, a bit of orange and brown there. This summer just flew by! Schools have started or will be starting shortly. Some stores have already put out Halloween candy- that is just a BIT much. Hoping for a lovely fall and another winter like the past one.
Went with a good friend to see a production of "Othello" last night. Wow! It was just amazing, a lot of energy and tension. Ending gave me goosebumps.
Speaking of fall, seriously mulling the possibility of visiting Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow next fall, for both fun and research. We shall see. Novel is coming along well, about halfway through another serious round of edits, plus I found some excellent resources that are helping already!
Also finished some books, which shouldn't be a surprise.
147. The Purloined Letter, by Edgar Allan Poe. An interesting mystery, and the idea of the setup was novel for its time. Basically, a letter is stolen, and the thief is known. But now the police need to retrieve that letter. Problem is, they can't find it so the prefect turns to Dupin for help. It's a bit slow and meandering in the middle but a good tale overall from the man who basically invented the mystery genre as we know it.
148. Bartleby the Scrivener, by Herman Melville. I wasn't sure I was going to like this one, because I could not get through Melville's Moby Dick, even though I really wanted to like his magnum opus. But this longer short story was a treat that could provoke interesting deliberations. A lawyer in a prosperous office hires a scrivener, or someone who writes out copies of cases. The scrivener, Bartleby, is a puzzle from the start but at first proves to be a diligent worker. But over time, Bartleby stops doing his work, and in such a passive manner the boss isn't sure how to handle it. The ending is rather sad but there are so many questions: why did Bartleby decide to stage this revolt? Was anyone at fault.
149. An Angel in Disguise, by T.S. Arthur. This one did not age well. The mother of several children has died (and is not seen kindly by the neighbors, who I get the impression never tried to help). Her healthy children go off to homes where they can be made useful and put to work, but no one knows what to do with the one sickly child, and the neighbors debate whether to dump her off at the local poor house. It comes off as ableist and "inspiration porn," not to mention the issues of forced child labor, and the fact that the other children were adopted because they could be used for labor.
150. Killers of a Certain Age, by Deanna Raybourn. Funny story- when I went to go pick up my copy at the library, I was told I was the third person to pick up this book that day. I can see why- it's great! Fantastic summer read, with a good blend of humor (I lost it with the French poodle app icon and message) and action. I am so, so hoping a good director/producer team picks this up and turns this into a movie. Oh please let this happen. In this story, four women who have been working for 40 years as trained assassins are all retiring, with the agency pitching in for a celebratory cruise. They quickly find out that they themselves have been marked for death, and have to figure out who and why. Who is unveiled quickly, but all the pieces of why left me guessing to the end. A fun and funny book, loved it!
151. The Murders in the Rue Morgue, by Edgar Allan Poe. I remember reading this in either middle or high school, so I do recall the conclusion. Still, it was worth a re-read. The story meanders a bit but it is an interesting look at what launched the modern detective story. Here, the reader first meets Dupin, a well read and observant man who manages to piece together clues that have alluded the police after a horrific double murder.