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I did no work-work today. None at all. I wanted - and needed - the break.
And it was a very nice break. I got up at 9, left about 10 am or so for McMinnville, and stopped at my favorite used clothing store. Found three pairs of pants that fit me in just about an hour (this is pretty much in the 'miraculous' category, really). I drove around McMinnville a bit, and saw the Dairy Queen I used to get my treat at after I'd been good at the dentist. (Rewarding a child for good behavior at the dentist with an ice cream cone may be a bit odd, but it definitely worked.)
Stopped in downtown and wandered in and out of stores. My gods, what a mixed collection of weird places. The first place I wandered into was sort of a catch-all, a lot like one we had in Newberg when I was growing up. I would have loved to stay and browse and maybe buy, but unlike the one when I was growing up, this one had a cafe up on the second floor. And whatever they were serving, it stank awfully. If I had been hungry, that would have fixed it.
There are three bookstores within a couple blocks there. I wandered into two of the three. At the used book store (the second one I hit), I picked up a couple of books. At the other one, I stared in flat disbelief. This isn't a bookstore, this is...I don't know what it was, honestly. Soon to go out of business, most likely! Good grief. Largeish store - as large as the used book place I went into, maybe a bit larger. But decorated for space. Massively. I kid you not, I could have taken all the damn books they had in the place and shelved them, accessibly, in a 10 x 20 room. Which this was considerably larger than. With one or two chairs, and a three-table "cafe" in the back, and "country-style" decor that looked, generally, like it had been picked and matched by someone with no taste whatsoever. Good grief.
I also stopped at Incahoots, a store I've enjoyed for a long time. It's a bit eclectic - the front part is plants, then there's a bit of coffee, and then there's the "stuff". The stuff varies from visit to visit (I go once a year or so, so it's not like it changes constantly), as does the layout of the Stuff Area. They seem to have organized it a bit better; there was more stuff, but the room seemed neither larger nor more cluttered by it.
This time there were books, journals, cards, postcards, fairy oracle cards (in the same section as the Zen and meditation books), long scarves, incense, candles, candle-holders, perfumes.... About normal, but the type of whatever you encounter varies (and the book selection definitely changed, as did the size of it).
I left with two of the perfumes - a vanilla, which will be too sweet for me in some moods but I will like in others - and one they call amber, which smells musky and incense-ish, if that makes any sense. I suspect, in the wrong mood, I would find it smothering, but today it quite suited me.
I also stopped at the shopping mall, and went to the health food store, where I picked up some (inevitably, expensive) maple sugar candy. And to the pet store - fish food for the fish at work, and more toys for the kittens.
Then I drove all over the countryside around my parents' house, taking pictures from the car. A goodly number are as blurry or dim as you could expect - I would pause, snap a shot, and go on. No time to aim, etc. - very few times was I able to find a shot and a place to pull off in anything resembling close proximity. But some of the shots are good (considering how they were taken), and I may upload a few tomorrow, depending on my energy levels.
Then I stopped at my parents' place. I'd meant to call beforehand, from town, but I'd kept circling closer to them and realized I'd have to drive 15-20 minutes in, call, and drive back out. So I hoped they would just forgive my dropping in - I figured, at worst, I'd drop off the baking sheet and cat toys, and take off.
Dad was around, so I gave him the stuff, and we talked about this and that for an hour or more - quite pleasant. Most of it spent watching Amazing Kitten Acrobatics. One of the new toys was a 'fish' stuffed with catnip, which I thought would provide some amusing images and certainly got a great deal of enthusiasm (probably because it was new, and a different type of fabric, but I'm only guessing). The other toys were three felt-ish 'mice' stuffed with catnip. These I grabbed because they're designed to be refillable (with a velcro clasp - there's a dual bag - so the catnip can sift out, but only slowly, I would assume).
The kittens went ballistic. Especially Spot. It was quite fun to watch. And I got to hold Babe and Flower and Spot at varying points, and pet Basta (an older cat; not one of the kittens, but a dark-black, sleek, bulky huntress - who will happily drool all over you if you pet her right...). I took some photographs of the house and the area around it before I left, in the sunset light. It looks different with all the trees down; it looks different, and yet it doesn't. I suppose that seeing the photographs my dad took prepared me somewhat.
And boy, am I glad that I am not the one who has to chop all that wood....
Came home, then. Stopped at the fabric store (I'm going to try to make even-more-indestructible kitten toys). And I've spent this evening hanging out with friends, chatting, and rereading Mercedes Lackey books.
To which I must add: dear gods, woman, stop slaughtering your damned continuity! The new book, Take a Thief, was excellent. So are the older books. But they appear to be set in slightly-alternate universes, with differences in how money is handled at the Collegium, and differences in Skif's background. (No, I won't spoiler. If you're curious, the earlier money reference is from Arrow's Flight, and the earlier reference to Skif's history is in Winds of Change (where it, admittedly, only gets a couple paragraphs - but it's a confidence that Skif gives to someone else while we're in Skif's brain, so it's really hard to reconcile with the completely different history we see him living in Take a Thief). Both explanations are, in each case, perfectly fine and appropriate to the story. They just bear insufficient resemblance to each other. Hmf.
I'm still rereading. I suspect I'll continue through the storm books, at least. I hope I don't find too many more discontinuities. I've already found a couple within the Winds series. Somewhere in here, I've started reading these things closer, and they don't quite stand up to it.
But they're fun. They're definitely fun, despite that. Old friends, you know.
And now it's time, and past time, for me to sleep. Tomorrow will be a mix of work and play, I think.
And it was a very nice break. I got up at 9, left about 10 am or so for McMinnville, and stopped at my favorite used clothing store. Found three pairs of pants that fit me in just about an hour (this is pretty much in the 'miraculous' category, really). I drove around McMinnville a bit, and saw the Dairy Queen I used to get my treat at after I'd been good at the dentist. (Rewarding a child for good behavior at the dentist with an ice cream cone may be a bit odd, but it definitely worked.)
Stopped in downtown and wandered in and out of stores. My gods, what a mixed collection of weird places. The first place I wandered into was sort of a catch-all, a lot like one we had in Newberg when I was growing up. I would have loved to stay and browse and maybe buy, but unlike the one when I was growing up, this one had a cafe up on the second floor. And whatever they were serving, it stank awfully. If I had been hungry, that would have fixed it.
There are three bookstores within a couple blocks there. I wandered into two of the three. At the used book store (the second one I hit), I picked up a couple of books. At the other one, I stared in flat disbelief. This isn't a bookstore, this is...I don't know what it was, honestly. Soon to go out of business, most likely! Good grief. Largeish store - as large as the used book place I went into, maybe a bit larger. But decorated for space. Massively. I kid you not, I could have taken all the damn books they had in the place and shelved them, accessibly, in a 10 x 20 room. Which this was considerably larger than. With one or two chairs, and a three-table "cafe" in the back, and "country-style" decor that looked, generally, like it had been picked and matched by someone with no taste whatsoever. Good grief.
I also stopped at Incahoots, a store I've enjoyed for a long time. It's a bit eclectic - the front part is plants, then there's a bit of coffee, and then there's the "stuff". The stuff varies from visit to visit (I go once a year or so, so it's not like it changes constantly), as does the layout of the Stuff Area. They seem to have organized it a bit better; there was more stuff, but the room seemed neither larger nor more cluttered by it.
This time there were books, journals, cards, postcards, fairy oracle cards (in the same section as the Zen and meditation books), long scarves, incense, candles, candle-holders, perfumes.... About normal, but the type of whatever you encounter varies (and the book selection definitely changed, as did the size of it).
I left with two of the perfumes - a vanilla, which will be too sweet for me in some moods but I will like in others - and one they call amber, which smells musky and incense-ish, if that makes any sense. I suspect, in the wrong mood, I would find it smothering, but today it quite suited me.
I also stopped at the shopping mall, and went to the health food store, where I picked up some (inevitably, expensive) maple sugar candy. And to the pet store - fish food for the fish at work, and more toys for the kittens.
Then I drove all over the countryside around my parents' house, taking pictures from the car. A goodly number are as blurry or dim as you could expect - I would pause, snap a shot, and go on. No time to aim, etc. - very few times was I able to find a shot and a place to pull off in anything resembling close proximity. But some of the shots are good (considering how they were taken), and I may upload a few tomorrow, depending on my energy levels.
Then I stopped at my parents' place. I'd meant to call beforehand, from town, but I'd kept circling closer to them and realized I'd have to drive 15-20 minutes in, call, and drive back out. So I hoped they would just forgive my dropping in - I figured, at worst, I'd drop off the baking sheet and cat toys, and take off.
Dad was around, so I gave him the stuff, and we talked about this and that for an hour or more - quite pleasant. Most of it spent watching Amazing Kitten Acrobatics. One of the new toys was a 'fish' stuffed with catnip, which I thought would provide some amusing images and certainly got a great deal of enthusiasm (probably because it was new, and a different type of fabric, but I'm only guessing). The other toys were three felt-ish 'mice' stuffed with catnip. These I grabbed because they're designed to be refillable (with a velcro clasp - there's a dual bag - so the catnip can sift out, but only slowly, I would assume).
The kittens went ballistic. Especially Spot. It was quite fun to watch. And I got to hold Babe and Flower and Spot at varying points, and pet Basta (an older cat; not one of the kittens, but a dark-black, sleek, bulky huntress - who will happily drool all over you if you pet her right...). I took some photographs of the house and the area around it before I left, in the sunset light. It looks different with all the trees down; it looks different, and yet it doesn't. I suppose that seeing the photographs my dad took prepared me somewhat.
And boy, am I glad that I am not the one who has to chop all that wood....
Came home, then. Stopped at the fabric store (I'm going to try to make even-more-indestructible kitten toys). And I've spent this evening hanging out with friends, chatting, and rereading Mercedes Lackey books.
To which I must add: dear gods, woman, stop slaughtering your damned continuity! The new book, Take a Thief, was excellent. So are the older books. But they appear to be set in slightly-alternate universes, with differences in how money is handled at the Collegium, and differences in Skif's background. (No, I won't spoiler. If you're curious, the earlier money reference is from Arrow's Flight, and the earlier reference to Skif's history is in Winds of Change (where it, admittedly, only gets a couple paragraphs - but it's a confidence that Skif gives to someone else while we're in Skif's brain, so it's really hard to reconcile with the completely different history we see him living in Take a Thief). Both explanations are, in each case, perfectly fine and appropriate to the story. They just bear insufficient resemblance to each other. Hmf.
I'm still rereading. I suspect I'll continue through the storm books, at least. I hope I don't find too many more discontinuities. I've already found a couple within the Winds series. Somewhere in here, I've started reading these things closer, and they don't quite stand up to it.
But they're fun. They're definitely fun, despite that. Old friends, you know.
And now it's time, and past time, for me to sleep. Tomorrow will be a mix of work and play, I think.
