A Day at Home

This is Jacob with his pal, Clifford. Clifford's a stuffed cheetah, but Jacob thinks it's a "puppy" and spent much of the morning riding Clifford and falling off with great glee. Jacob spent the night last night, and we had fun though he was given to fits of occasional screaming for no reason. A long hug and a few loving words, and he was back to himself. But this morning, he woke up screaming again (luckily not till 7:30). We think it's two-year molars.
It was a great day to stay home. I was sleepy and draggy for no reason--slept as long as usual, my right foot really hurts (tendonitis I guess), and this morning my stomach was off. Besides that, it's at least 101 outside, and there's something psychological about it--but when they predict temperatures over 100, it gets hotter. It's very hot and very still tonight. After Jacob's parents collected him, I ran to Central Market and haven't been outside since except to feed the dog and water plants. A two-hour nap greatly helped my sleepiness, but I still feel very lazy. When I went out to feed Scooby and clean up his yard, he cringed when I picked up the scoopers. I guess he remembers my spectacular fall of a few days ago.
In Central Market, I ran into Fred Erisman who told me he'd read the first four chapter of the new mystery and liked it. He thought the characters were developing, the dialog was good, and, when asked, said he thought it wold be better than the first book in what I hope will be a series. I've noticed that some writers I read get better after their first books--maybe you sort of get into the characters. Anyway, when Fred said that, I told him I was going right home to work.
And I did. I reread the last chapter I've written and wrote about five pages on Chapter Six--wow, a long way to go! But the new material pleased me. The traditional wisdom is characters take over and tell an author where the story's going. That sure happened today--I had no idea Kelly was going to stubbornly pick a fight with Mike, but she did. I'll work more on it tonight.
Just cut back my basil--Jay next door told me to do that, but it was so lush and lovely I hated to. But I made fresh pesto that is delicious. Now I'm going to pan fry a trout fillet for supper--an experiment for me.