Thanks for the fish

when he sung “Be it e-ever so humble, there’s no-o place like home.” I guess it’s possible somebody said that before bugs did, but whatever. It’s good to be home. I have to admit, I forgot how gorgeous it is here. I was sort of getting into that jealous vacation mode where I wanted to live in San Francisco, or by the Pacific Ocean. But, other than that little thing called winter, Maine is just as pretty. And I came home to autumn leaves… I love the woods in fall! So pretty. Right now, I’m re-acclimating to normal life. It’s tough, man. Laundry. Bills. The specter of work. blech! But it’s nice to be drinking martinis out of my own glasses, with my cats, and my piano, and my ‘puter.

It was a pretty kick ass vacation though. I’ve been on some pretty damn good vacations, but this was as good as anything Europe or the Caribbean can throw at me. California is an amazing place… so much to see. I don’t even know where to start. I guess I can’t cover it all today, so I’ll just weave it into my posts for the next month. We saw yosemite and it was incredible. It looks just like the photos, except the photos don’t really give you a good idea of the scale of it all. It’s kind of surreal. We stayed at a great place right outside the park called Tenaya Lodge. Great atmosphere, nice rooms. Then, I really wanted to see Muir Woods (and secretly wanted to go over the golden gate bridge again), so we left Yosemite early and drove back to SF. We got to Muir Woods and it was nice. Very nice ambience. I wanted to compare the giant sequoias to the redwoods. I think the Sequoias are better. : ) Then we drove across the bridge and got stuck in SF rush hour. J was a little pissed, but I got my pictures of the bridge. If I could fall in love with an inanimate object (and I think I already have) it would be the golden gate bridge.

Anyway, I bought a book at the airport called Skinny Dip by Carl Hiassen. He was on my list of authors to read. Trashy? Perhaps..Good? Definitely. Hey, can’t read Shakespeare all the time! (Ok, I never read Shakespeare, but he’s on my list too.) Love it! Very Tom Robbins-ish, who I also love but haven’t read in years. I’m addicted to this book. I can’t stop reading it. Also finished my plot and structure book. It was really useful. Often I read interviews with authors and they say “do it this way” or “do it that way.” and then I always second guess myself about what process I should be following, or I feel like I should be doing something totally original. This book says, “these are techniques you can use. These are formulas that work. Use them, use part of them, or do it your own way.” I like that. I’m excited to get started. I’d like to do more preplanning before I start because even though I have a general synopsis, there are still a million possibilities. It’s so hard to narrow it down. God, I hate committment!!! But I’m going to work on structuring it out and working out the major scenes and then work from there. I’m getting really motivated about it.

My garden is a mess. I should weed and mulch but I figure it will all be dead soon anyway. Die weeds die! I ordered a shitload of bulbs and now I’m really regretting that, as I’ll have to plant them all. : ( I’ve just so over gardening right now. Oh! (totally unrelated thought) I saw a giant raven at Yosemite (along with a coyote). Freaky. But maybe an omen… lemme look in my book… aha! “Arcane knowledge… telepathic energy.” Synchonicity baby. How about coyote… “Curiosity..intertwining love.” Black bear? “Conservation…timing… nurturing creativity.” Deer? “Solidarity..gentle action… cooperation.” Yeah, I saw a shitload of animals. : ) Here’s a few pics.

Black bear.

Yosemite

Big damn tree.

The love of my life.

Big damn bird… stalking me. koo koo! Well, I took about 400 pictures, but I guess I’ll stop here.