The Bookish Frogs, a community support group for TCU Press, gathered for a pot-luck happy hour tonight, celebrating the Texas Small Book series. It's truly a joy to spend time with people who love books and love talking about them. We had amazing appetizers, mingled, signed a few books--some authors signed several--and had a good time. My longtime friend, Margie West, and her husband, Jack, hosted the event at their house, which was appropriate since Margie designs all the small books--and they are works of art. They sell for $9.95, a pick-up price, and are 4-1/2 x 6-1/2, 96 pages, on all kinds of Texas subjects. Newest in the series is Melinda's book, Texas Wineries, and she signed quite a few. I have contributed two to the series: Great Texas Chefs and Extraordinary Texas Women. My favorite appetizer? Either the spanakopita or the hard boiled tea eggs--they were so gorgeous!
Spent some of the day working on where to submit my mystery. I've decided to go ahead and try to market the first book in the proposed series. At lunch today, Fred convinced me (I was already leaning that way) that it was too good to put aside, so I've been researching agents to submit it to. Fred suggested I set my sights a little higher, and I think he's right. I tend to think publication with a major house is beyond my reach, but I have to remind myself I'm a good writer with several awards to my credit. I can outdo some of the published books I read--so my sights now are not on small publishers but on an agent. I have to rewrite my query, but having been to the party, had a bit more wine than usual, and eaten sporadically, I think I'll just go back to reading the manuscript that has been submitted to TCU Press.
I did take my car in today, and I think the service department is embarrassed that in ten months and countless trips they haven't been able to fix my convertible top. Today I had five men taking care of my needs, and the service manager offered me a loaner, something that's never happened with my years of VW service. The service assistant assigned to me has called three times, the last time to say they had to order a part. Maybe it will get fixed this time. Meanwhile I'm driving a Jetta--the frame is much different than my bug convertible, and getting into the car at the dealership I banged my back hard--and most painfully--on the door frame. Getting out, I banged my head on the frame. I will be much more cautious now. The bug barely fits into my 1922 garage, so I haven't tried the Jetta--besides I left the automatic gate opener in my own car.
Showing posts with label VW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VW. Show all posts
Monday, November 09, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Rainy day, dentist, car repair--not my best day
The gloomy, rainy weather continues. I hear all the lakes and reservoirs except one are full, so as far as I'm concerned it can stop for a while now. By this weekend, it is to be 70 and sunny, which will be welcome. Today was made even gloomier because I had to go to the dentist, something that really does make me anxiious and caused me to wake at 4:30 this morning. Three cavities, small, but the drill is the drill. Then I took my car in once again to be repaired--for the last time I hoped. The VW driver brought me home, and the day was mine! I worked, napped, read emails--good indoor rainy day staff.
This morning I had breakfast at the Old Neighborhood Grill with the Book Ladies--this was once an active group with some ten or twelve ladies at breakfast, all of whom had careers dealing with books, from authors and booksellers to librarians. This morning there were only four of us. Our numbers have dwindled due to age--some have moved to assisted living and are unable to drive, others have moved away, some have decided 8:00 a.m. is too early, and we've lost a few over the years to death. Sometimes we visit about books, but the talk is just as likely to veer toward grandchildren, cooking, and, oh yes, politics. We're a bunch of liberals, and one bookseller actually stopped coming because she's a conservative and our talk made her uncomfortable. We promised to keep our mouths shut--a difficult promise--but she never joined us again. This morning it was a pleasant way to start the day. I always order a simple breakfast--one egg over easy and whole wheat toast, of which I ate only one piece. But I had butter and marmalade with my toast, and my goodness those Weight Watchers points add up quickly. I really wanted pepper pot soup for lunch--good on a cold, rainy day--but instead I made a tuna salad out of chunks of tuna, tomatoes, baby carrots, watercress, a slice of red onion, and whisked together a vinaigrette rather than a mayonnaise dressing. For all my efforts, I went 2.5 points over my daily limit today, but I feel it was all healthy--except maybe for the mayo on my slice of chicken loaf tonight, but it was low-fat mayo!
Editing this friend's manuscript takes me back in time--to Iowa, where he grew up and I went to college for two years; to Kirksville, Missouri, where he and my ex- were in osteopathic school together; and to earlier times in Fort Worth when they first moved here. I've had another deja vu experience through Sisters in Crime recently--one writer mentioned that she had grown up in the Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago, so I emailed her to say we had that in common. Turns out she even went to the same school I did--Kenwood Grade School. When you "graduated" from eighth grade, the class processed to "Pomp and Circumstance," to which the school had put new words: "Goodby to you, Kenwood/We will remember your name/For you've led us onward/Toward the halls of fame." Well, I may have gotten a few words wrong, but that's close. Anyway, it ruined the song for me, because now every time I hear "Pomp and Circumstance," all these years later, those words go through my mind.
More storms tomorrow!
This morning I had breakfast at the Old Neighborhood Grill with the Book Ladies--this was once an active group with some ten or twelve ladies at breakfast, all of whom had careers dealing with books, from authors and booksellers to librarians. This morning there were only four of us. Our numbers have dwindled due to age--some have moved to assisted living and are unable to drive, others have moved away, some have decided 8:00 a.m. is too early, and we've lost a few over the years to death. Sometimes we visit about books, but the talk is just as likely to veer toward grandchildren, cooking, and, oh yes, politics. We're a bunch of liberals, and one bookseller actually stopped coming because she's a conservative and our talk made her uncomfortable. We promised to keep our mouths shut--a difficult promise--but she never joined us again. This morning it was a pleasant way to start the day. I always order a simple breakfast--one egg over easy and whole wheat toast, of which I ate only one piece. But I had butter and marmalade with my toast, and my goodness those Weight Watchers points add up quickly. I really wanted pepper pot soup for lunch--good on a cold, rainy day--but instead I made a tuna salad out of chunks of tuna, tomatoes, baby carrots, watercress, a slice of red onion, and whisked together a vinaigrette rather than a mayonnaise dressing. For all my efforts, I went 2.5 points over my daily limit today, but I feel it was all healthy--except maybe for the mayo on my slice of chicken loaf tonight, but it was low-fat mayo!
Editing this friend's manuscript takes me back in time--to Iowa, where he grew up and I went to college for two years; to Kirksville, Missouri, where he and my ex- were in osteopathic school together; and to earlier times in Fort Worth when they first moved here. I've had another deja vu experience through Sisters in Crime recently--one writer mentioned that she had grown up in the Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago, so I emailed her to say we had that in common. Turns out she even went to the same school I did--Kenwood Grade School. When you "graduated" from eighth grade, the class processed to "Pomp and Circumstance," to which the school had put new words: "Goodby to you, Kenwood/We will remember your name/For you've led us onward/Toward the halls of fame." Well, I may have gotten a few words wrong, but that's close. Anyway, it ruined the song for me, because now every time I hear "Pomp and Circumstance," all these years later, those words go through my mind.
More storms tomorrow!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
A dull day turned good
One of the chores I hate most in the world is taking my car in to be repaired. But today it was time. The convertible top wouldn't go all the way down, and then, wouldn't come up. If I let it sit, off, for an hour or so it would behave, but I couldn't take the top down to go to the office, grocery, etc. I'm afraid someone will steal my handicapped sticker and that funny fake daisy Megan gave me. What's the use of having a convertiblel if you can't take the top down? The dealership has "fixed" this problem three or four times, but the last three times I tried, no deal. So I took it in today and mentioned that the button that puts all four window down at once stopped working a few days ago, and the things that tells the temperature only worked when I was stopped. When I accelerated, it began to flash the way it does when the top isn't securely down.
Then I came home to a dull day. I wandered, not quite sure what I wanted to do. When I came home last night, e-mails cancelled both my lunch and dinner dates for today (my brother suggested I read my horoscope). Called my neighbor to see if she could do lunch, but she had a conference call from 11:00 until 1:00; called another friend but she had plans. I folded the laundry that had sat in the dryer until it was well wrinkled and then decided what I wanted for lunch was salmon croquettes, so I made them and put them in the fridge. Watered the plants on the porch, did some other chores, promising myself I'd settle down after lunch. Well, then, work hit--a proposal for a mss., a reader who said he'd read another manuscript, an e-mail from my boss about Google, and several other small things--a Google permission from an author and stuff like that. So I dealt with all that, ate a salmon croquette with fresh asparagus and grape tomatoes, and settled down to the manuscript I'm reading.
This evening Betty, who didn't seem to mind that I'd cancelled our dinner for tonight and then rescheduled it, picked me up and took me to get my car--which isn't fixed. They can't figure out which switch it is, but the temperature indicator and the window button now work, so we're making progress. I have to take it back next Tuesday. Betty and I had dinner at Mac's on Seventh, a place she's mentioned a lot and one that's close to the VW dealership. We split a Caesar salad--too much red pepper for me, and I had the scallops appetizer with a dab of a wonderful corn/avocado/lemon salsa, and we split bread pudding (soooo good!) and split a second glass of wine. Felt like we'd splurged in calories and money, but I came in under my Weight Watchers points for the day. I will say that a single serving of bread pudding costs a devastating amount of points! This morning I should have weighed, but I was in such a rush to get the car to VW that I forgot--best, since I'd eaten at Joe T.'s the night before. I'll weigh in the morning.
So now more acquisitions work and then back to the manuscript, feeling happy and full. Retirement is good.
Then I came home to a dull day. I wandered, not quite sure what I wanted to do. When I came home last night, e-mails cancelled both my lunch and dinner dates for today (my brother suggested I read my horoscope). Called my neighbor to see if she could do lunch, but she had a conference call from 11:00 until 1:00; called another friend but she had plans. I folded the laundry that had sat in the dryer until it was well wrinkled and then decided what I wanted for lunch was salmon croquettes, so I made them and put them in the fridge. Watered the plants on the porch, did some other chores, promising myself I'd settle down after lunch. Well, then, work hit--a proposal for a mss., a reader who said he'd read another manuscript, an e-mail from my boss about Google, and several other small things--a Google permission from an author and stuff like that. So I dealt with all that, ate a salmon croquette with fresh asparagus and grape tomatoes, and settled down to the manuscript I'm reading.
This evening Betty, who didn't seem to mind that I'd cancelled our dinner for tonight and then rescheduled it, picked me up and took me to get my car--which isn't fixed. They can't figure out which switch it is, but the temperature indicator and the window button now work, so we're making progress. I have to take it back next Tuesday. Betty and I had dinner at Mac's on Seventh, a place she's mentioned a lot and one that's close to the VW dealership. We split a Caesar salad--too much red pepper for me, and I had the scallops appetizer with a dab of a wonderful corn/avocado/lemon salsa, and we split bread pudding (soooo good!) and split a second glass of wine. Felt like we'd splurged in calories and money, but I came in under my Weight Watchers points for the day. I will say that a single serving of bread pudding costs a devastating amount of points! This morning I should have weighed, but I was in such a rush to get the car to VW that I forgot--best, since I'd eaten at Joe T.'s the night before. I'll weigh in the morning.
So now more acquisitions work and then back to the manuscript, feeling happy and full. Retirement is good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)