So my weekend has been a little hectic, but today, a bit slower and more my pace.  First there was apartment hunting for a friend in the neighborhood (an endeavor that made me happy that my finding this apartment 14 years ago pretty serendipitously), then yesterday amazing waffles downtown and entire afternoon in the studio.  Today, sleeping in, the much elusive almond croissant and some time to devote to putting the final touches on the new full-length manuscript.  I am finally feeling better and more in control of things and trying not to let summer get bogged down in the details and slip by too quickly.  This week I have a some more work to do and some boring things like vet trips, but then I am off work for an entire week of summer festivities and perhaps a bit of reading and writing.  With salvage in the can, I can turn my attention to the creepy motel manuscript.

the day after the longest day

The latter half of yesterday was stormy and cloudy and punctuated by a huge fog bank that moved over the city, so the day seemed much shorter than it should have been. But I am still surprised by the earliness of mornings, how soon I wake up at sunrise, even if I just roll back over and burrow under the covers for another few hours.  Most of the weekend has been either making books or napping, but there was also some painting this afternoon, some botanicals I'd been thinking of trying out.  It was foggy again today and a weird diffused light that reminded me more of winter than summer, but I am grateful for the mild weather even still.  A couple more weeks of work and I will be headed away to Rockford for a week that will be filled with 4th of July festivities, a wedding, and hopefully just some quietness.   I've been burning straight through since January without a real break (AWP was a trip, but that was exhausting than my usual routine. )  In the  meantime, there are projects to print and books to release and orders to get out the door.  I have been moving a bit slower since I am not 100 percent on the health front just yet..so there is so much to do..

So it's been an uneven week, full of  awesome things like tiny kittens and new dresses and not so awesome things like a brutal bout of food poisoning.  But I am on the mend and back at work after a couple of bad days, the worst of which, outside of the intestinal distress, was the tiredness that seemed to sweep over me and knock me out at weird times.  I am working on getting caught up in the studio since I only have about an hour of good solid work in me before the legarthy slides into me like mercury.

But it's been rather mild and temperate in terms of weather, no blistering heat or humidity, which is nice.  The beginning of summer always makes me want to be a child again.  Those camping trips where we slept in tents and told ghost stories around the fire.  The long days in the boat where me and my sister spent our time occupied by coloring books and Archie comics and cap guns and decks of cards.  When the winds off the water, the smell in the neighborhood immediately snaps me back to our all of those Wisconsin weekends. My mother said recently that when we lived in town, they would be out the door on Friday and gone every weekend til Sunday night, either to my grandmother's RV slip at Lake Wisconsin or up to Black River Falls.  There were other places, other camp grounds, many of which I forget the names of.  Even later, we did a lot of camping 45 minutes away or so in Rock Cut State Park, both with a camper and without.

All of those trips seemed like the closest to real vacations, to any sort of letting go of real like drudgery.  Even my mother, who rarely indulged in leisure time would spend hours reading True Story magazines on a trifold chair.   I would hole up in the top bunk of the truck camper with trashy teen novels and a notebook and try to write things.  Despite the work of "roughing"it, it was rather peaceful.

Another week. another dolla. Well, not so much dollas, though I did have a little bit extra after payday last week and bought a couple dresses, a cardigan, and have finally am venturing into the 21st century and getting a touchscreen phone (to replace my Samsung Blackberry knock-off).  Otherwise, the weather has been vascillating from hot & muggy to rainy and cool.  I am, however, on the verge of finishing up another full-length project as well as ghost landscapes (which finally has found its footing.).  I'm still uncertain on he the final title, and uncomfortable with the working title, so we'll see what happens before I start sending it out. I need to spend some quality time with ordering with that project this weekend, as well as doing the printing on lunarium, which is ready to go and  which keep getting pushed back because of book orders (a good problem to have, but I am swamped with new books and author copies and paper from one end of the studio to the other .)  I've been trying to take more photos, though (see above) as well as scanning in some old faves...(and the amazing cute coat action therein..)