Dogs, books, You-Tube, agents

'Twas a dark and stormy night . . . only it really wasn't. It just grew suddenly very dark about 5 p.m. and looked threatening. The wind blew, and I know there are storms to the north of us but not here. Still, Scooby, who spent the afternoon inside because it was so very hot, refused to go out. When I finally persuaded him (with a leash) to eat his dinner and promised I'd bring him in at any sign of thunder or rain, he went--and promptly peed a lake, which I knew he had to do. But now he's done what I call his "I'm mad at my mother" trick. I keep his dish on the top step outside the back door--so easy to refill. When he's feeling vengeful, he pulls it down and puts it out on the lawn so I have to go fetch it. And tonight he didn't even eat all his food--it's scattered all over the back steps so I can slide on it in the morning. So far, it hasn't shown any signs of storm, but he's safely in again.
Today at a book luncheon at TCU I presented three books that have recently enthralled me (I may have talked about them here already): The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which gives along with much enjoyment a real and chilling history of the Nazi occupation of the channel islands off England's coast during WWII; but it's more than that--it's a story about a people surviving, a writer becoming interested in them and finally travelling to Guernsey, all told in letters. It's truly warm and wonderful--and I was amazed only two people in the room had read it. It's been very popular.
The second one also used letters to tell part of the story: Comfort and Mirth, by Lori Swick (TCU Press) is the story of a young bride, moving from Seattle to Austin, Texas, where her husband will teach philosophy (that relates to the title and their ongoing debates about what is happiness). Camille is an herbalist and we learn about herbs through her, but we also learn about racial issues in Austin in the first decade of the twentieth century, women's rights movements (and a good bit about Elisabet Ney), and the treatment of the mentally ill, which was appalling. People found it Sunday entertainment to go watch the inmates of the institution for idiots and the insane (or some similar title). In spite of all that, it's a gentle novel, about one determed women's process of maturing. We learn much of the story through her letters home to her mother. The ending is a real surprise.
And the third was The School of Essential Ingredients, about which I earlier blogged at length, so I wont go into it here except to say it's a book that I hope stays with me a long time.
Last night I got the You-Tube video of the session of me making southwestern tuna salad. Of course, I thought it was awful--I looked frumpy, I forgot to take my monitor off, my shirt was hiked up over my rump. I couldn't get any audio but I got it today at work. I've had several emails from kids and friends saying I should be the next Food Network challenger--aren't they nice? Here's the link if it works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlqu_40w468. Which reminds me, I really got hooked into the recent Food Network Challenge and was rooting for the young woman who won--she was the only one without professional cooking experience. Her show debuts Sunday at 11:30 and I'll watch--unless Sue and I work it out to go to see Julie and Julia at the 11:00 am showing.
I've spent tonight rewriting a contract for the press. We don't often have to deal with authors who have agents, so it's always a shock. In this particular case I thought I was doing the agent a courtesy by sending him a draft of the contract. He hacked it up in ways I couldn't possibly accept, and I said I guessed we'd have to step aside. Then the author said he had told the agent to conform to anything we wanted--he really wanted TCU Press to publish his book. That was a big ego boost, since he's a well known author. So tonight I rewrote the contract, laboriously including as many of the agent's changes as I could accept. I really tried to be appeasing, so we'll see what happens. We'd like to publish the book--it's good, and the author is well respected. See how I'm still hooked to the press? Spent the morning there in staff meeting and then doing odds and ends. So far it's an arrangement I like a lot.
But tomorrow, nothing on my calendar until lunch--I can sleep late!

Whew--retirement! And food, books, and friendship

Yesterday I was so busy I had no time for my daily workout or for blogging. I had to get up at 6:30--a real pain since I'm not used to sleeping until about 7:45. Went to the office, after hurried stops at grocery and pharmacy, for a 2-1/2 hour staff meeting--still can't believe it! Then I had to rush around to get things done so I wouldn't have to come in another day, took a lot of work home with me. Went to lunch with a visiting author who happens to be married to someone I knew a long time ago--delightful. I took them to Ellerbee's, my new favorite spot, and I had a tomato, lemon aioli, basil sandwich on bread that had some kind of cheese and flecks of prosciutto in it--delicious. Maybe my new favorite. Came home to emails that I hadn't looked at all day--Sisters in Crime, and their sub-group, AgentQuest, are most helpful sites but they can absolutely drown you in emails. It was four o'clock before I took care of all that--and a few business emails--and took a quick nap, waking up at five to realize I had company coming at 6:30. Fortunately dinner was easy--leftover chicken loaf, asparagus I would roast in the oven, and a salad.
Jeannie and Jim came because I had questions for Jim, my financial advisor--and he reassured me I'd done the right thing getting out of a money market fund. They loved the salad, which is so easy: you rub a good wooden bowl with garlic, then with salt and dry mustard. Put some blue cheese (I like quite a bit) in the bowl. When ready to serve, mash the blue cheese in vinegar, plain old apple cider viengar, with a fork and then stir in olive oil, sort of according to the traditional wisdom of 2 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. (Sometimes when Jordan does this, because she loves it too, she gets it so tart you sort of pucker when you eat it!) Then just tear up lettuce in the bowl and toss. I should have made twice the amount I did last night.
By the time I got the dishes done, it was too late for serious work, so I finished re-reading the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society--I rarely re-read books but I found this as delightful as the first time. Next week I will also talk briefly to a TCU book group of The School of Essential Ingredients and Comfort and Mirth, a TCU Press title that I just adore, set in the early twentieth century in Austin, with a newlywed central character who is a herb gardener. There are threads in it of women's rights, racial discrimination, treatment of the mentally ill. Some of the story is told by a narrator but lots of it is in letters Camille writes back home to her mother. in Seattle The ending is truly a surprise.
Today was much less hectic--I cleaned out files in the morning, because when I got my TIAA-CREF (retirement) files out to talk to Jim, I discovered I had papers going back to 1985, clearly not needed now; then I cleaned out a file of Colins' early medical bills, etc. --when his Crohn's was diagnosed. But there were a couple of priceless letters from him, including a postcard when he first moved to Grand Cayman, in which he wrote, "I'm sorry I haven't written sooner but I've been busy with the ladies. I miss you. I miss my dog. Please give Cisco a hug for me. I'd send for him, but I spend all my money on booze." How to push your mother's buttons!
Lunch with a good friend was a delight and I spent the rest of the day napping and working. Now going to give up and read.

A low-key birthday

This is me in the infamous DKNY pajamas Jordan and Megan gave me for my birthday, which I am forbidden to wear out of the house. It's okay, Megan, we had dinner at home. I think they're really cute and great lounging pjs for entertaining. I will probably wear them on the porch, but maybe I won't tell Megan. You'll notice I have a glass of wine handy.

I am 71 today--hard to believe. My brother called today and said that made me six years younger than he is, but when he has his birthday in March, I'll only be five years younger. I explained to him that he had it backward. We are six-and-a-half years apart. Today was a low-key birthday. I was at the office by 8:15, after a hurried trip to the grocery and then home to drop off the groceries. Staff meeting and then I worked all morning. It felt different--I have been so relaxed, and I didn't truly feel that way this morning. But Jim, Susan and Melinda took me to Cafe Aspen for lunch, which was delightful. Came home, worked a bit, napped (I swear I'm sleeping off years of work), and Jordan and Christian and Jacob came for supper. We ate leftovers from the weekend, and I sent the rest home with them. I am not making tamale pie again for six years! I had ordered a size 10 pair of pants that came today and they are just an inch from buttoning--I'm not going to return them. My goal is to fit into them. Jacob arrived in the bad mood he often is after day care, but he brightened very soon. It was fun, they went home early, and I am at my desk with a world of work to do, so much so that I don't know where to begin.

In early August I am to briefly review three books for the TCU "What's On YOur Bookshelf" group, so I need to bone up on the three. Those I've chosen are: The School of Essential Ingredients, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society (that book has done so well I can't believe there's anyone who hasn't read it), and Comfort and Mirth, pubished by TCU Press. Lori Swick, the author of the latter, was here this weekend, and we had a brief visit on Friday before all my family arrived. She did some signings, and there was a Bookish Frog potluck supper on Sunday night which everyone apparently enjoyed a great deal. I wasn't there, because I still had kids in town. But I love that book and recommend it--set in Austin, Texas, in the early 20th century, it is a gentle novel, sometims epistolary, that deals with women's rights, racial discrimination, treatment of the mentally ill, and through it runs a thread of herb gardening. I absolutely loved it.. And I found the author to be outgoing, a delight to visit with. Read it, please.