Tag: The Sonnet Lover

Alabama really is beautiful—it’s not just a slogan on a license plate or the Welcome to Alabama signs.

I am exhausted on Sunday night and about ready to go to bed for the night. Tomorrow we’re picking up my aunt, driving south to pick up another aunt, and then it’s on to Panama City Beach, Florida. I’m only staying until Wednesday morning—have to get back in time to pick up Sparky before heading home and settling into my reality again. I’m not sure why I am so tired, honestly. Maybe it’s residual from the drive and traipsing through graveyards all day. We visited a lot of the graves again today, but mostly stayed out at the graves of my maternal grandparents and my uncle who died young. I barely remember him, but I know when I was a kid I adored him. He was eighteen when he was killed in a car accident, and his funeral is the first one I remember attending. Dad does a lot of this stuff because it was always important to Mom, which is why we spent most of the day with her parents—because that’s what they would do when she was alive, and he sees this as another way of honoring her. I may keep it up on a lesser scale if I outlive Dad; but it would only be for Decoration Day rather than four times a year.

It’s now Thursday morning back in New Orleans; obviously I didn’t finish this while I was away, did I? I drove back yesterday morning without incident, and was pretty tired. My own bed felt marvelous, and I slept like the dead last night, too. Paul had gotten back Tuesday night, and had picked up Sparky from the Cat Practice before I got back to town. I unpacked, washed my clothes, and still have stuff to put away and grocery lists to be made and errands to run and all that jazz. It was a nice break, and it was even nicer to be unplugged from the news for several days. I did catch up on it when I got back–not completely, but at least what’s been going on the last day or so; there’s always so much, and it’s seeming more and more like we keep sliding back on everything as the days pass. Again, I am old, so I am not sure how much longer I have to deal with any of this nonsense’s inevitably bad outcomes.

And people wonder why I never wanted children.

I also had a lot of creativity sparked while I was gone, and I scribbled a lot in my journal yesterday, too. I listened to Alafair Burke’s marvelous The Note (more on that later) during my driving time, and got started on Carol Goodman’s equally wonderful The Sonnet Lover (and in an eerie turn of events, I opened the book on Kindle to scroll to where I had left off, but Audible and Kindle had worked together and communicated somehow so that that was where the book opened. Yikes). I also was remembering a lot, and of course, reminiscing with the previous generation (what’s left of it, anyway) helped with that a lot–which also helped with the creativity flowing. I cracked the shell of another book idea I’ve been wanting to write for several years now, which felt amazing, and yes, I wrote down notes on it as well. (It also helps jog my creativity to read excellent writers, which is another reason I’ve always loved to read so much.) I also had some thoughts about another Scotty book, which is always fun, and I also thought about the book I’m currently writing.

And I really do want to write more about Alabama, too–and the panhandle beach towns.

I have a million things to do today, including figuring out what we need to get in term of groceries and so forth–yesterday was also Pay the Bills Wednesday, so I have to do that this morning, too. I have prescriptions to pick up, and the mail, and…and… and…so much to do. I have to make an appointment for labs to be drawn tomorrow for two doctors as well. I definitely need to make a list. There’s a lot of chores that need to be done around here, too. I also have to update my check register. Sigh. There’s always something, right? The car also behaved marvelously on the drives, which put over a thousand miles on my car. That’s a lot of driving over less than a week, but the books made it a wonderful experience, and of course, Alabama is really gorgeous to drive through.

But I am glad to be back home, glad to be getting back to the normality of every day life, and glad I have a needy cat to sleep in my lap. I am going to try to finish reading the Goodman this weekend, and I am going to try to do some writing in the meantime as well.

And on that note, I am going to head into the spice mines. Have a lovely Friday Eve, everyone, and I’ll be back in the morning. Till then!