Take a Walk...

Okay, Roxie has this lovely picture posted of a most 'prosperous' kitty cat that totally cracked me up-- and I was thinking that I missed my cats.

No, not really my cats, just the cats I see on my daily walks--the ones I haven't been taking. There's this one cat--he's all black, and all furry and all love sponge, and I have learned from prior experience that he will run in front of my feet if I don't pick him up in front of his house, walk him four houses down (past his territory) and drop him off. If I don't walk him far enough, he'll follow me to this cut off point--we do know each other. Anyway, I miss him, and his poly-dactyl punching bag (every cat circle has it's hierarchy) and I miss my neighborhood--even the big gang house where young men strut in their red and white because they are truly the first and only teenagers since the Capulets and Montagues who have found themselves dispossessed and devalued by a system they don't understand.

So tonight, with a scant 99.8 fever (hey--it's an improvement) I took a teeny walk. Considering that six weeks ago, I would have gone a mile and a half in about twenty-five minutes (okay, there is a hellific hill) I was depressed to go, like, less than an eighth of a mile, but I still got to remember things like pre-sunset stillness and thick yellow sunlight and the sound of kids playing pick-up basketball, and that was nice. (It's funny--on one of my last full walks I walked by one of these games...there was a uniform line of cell-phone/keys on the stones behind the basket--sort of a new twist on an old sound...) And it was wonderful, if brief, and I feel a little bit energized, and maybe a little bit like scary words are just scary words and the rest of the scaryness can wait until I have something real to be afraid of. I'm really too old to be afraid of the boogeyman, right?

Besides--if absolute worst comes to absolute worst, I will never have to sit through a staff meeting again...I mean, there really is an upside to EVERYTHING isn't there?

Anyway...I finished one sock for the kid who hates me (maybe someday I will be able to explain why I'm doing this...) and it came out FABULOUS and I'm calling it Toxic Lemonade. I will post pictures. I'm about to finish one of the fingerless mitts for my TA--I'm calling it "Chocolate Tunafish" and if my pride can take the blow, I might post pictures of this too. When I'm done, I'm knitting whatever the @#$%I want for whomever the @#$% pops into my head with whatever yarn jumps up and bites me on the ass. Amen.

Oh...on the kid front...my babysitter told me today, "Ladybug is really getting her own personality, isn't she?"

To which I replied, "She's incredibly princessy, isn't she?"

"Oh yeah. That's the perfect word for her--princessy."

Ah...watch what you name your children, people--name a kid after the last Elven princess of middle-earth, and suddenly she thinks she rules the world. (Someday I will re-explain how all of my children have lived up to their unusual names. I love the story--it sounds like Goddess laughing.)

Oh yeah--on the book front--PNR (Paranormal Romance Magazine--it's an online thing) featured Bound on their "Contemporary Urban Fantasy" page with other books in the genre and suddenly my sales have gotten pretty good--and I'm quietly pleased--bless them, they rock, and their staff is so nice about adding you to their author list etc. Dee Gentle is the nicest person ever. (She's the one who e-mailed me to tell me I was going to be one of the many books on the layout...) Anyway--that's exciting and I'm going to revel a little...

And Bitter Moon is still foremost on my mind...I want to finish this book like you can not believe--to bad I'm only half-way through. I have faith that this book is the one that could get me an agent and a publisher--and even if it doesn't, I have faith that it's important and good.

All told, a little faith, a little hope--really, what else do you need?