On Becoming a Recluse

I'm afraid I'm becoming a recluse. I"ve essentially stayed home the last three days with no human company except Jacob after school and his mom's breezy quick visits to pick him up. Did eat dinner with Aunt Betty last night--Jacob was a bit offended he wasn't going. We went to The Tavern on Hulen, and if you live in Fort Worth and haven't been there, I heartily recommend it. I've loved everything I've had. Last night, it was a Maytag blue cheese burger (shades of my mom, who loved Maytag) cooked just the way I like it--charred on the outside, really pink on the inside. Brought half of  it home for lunch today and it was even better.
Back to the recluse business: I forced myself to go to the grocery this morning, a necessity, but sent last-minute regrets to join two friends for lunch. I was just too comfortable being home. I've spent the days checking final edits on No Neighborhood for Old Women and filling out an art sheet about the cover--I do wish I had an idea, let alone an inspiration about how the cover should look. I love the cover of Skeleton in a Dead Space and hope this one will be as wonderful.
I've also been reading Lucy Burdette's first novel in her Key West culinary series, Appetite for Murder. I really want to write a culinary mystery--have one in the works but need to work more food into it. Meantime, I enjoyed this one thoroughly--mention of conch fritters brought back the days when we visited Colin and Lisa in the Caribbean.
What I didn't do: taxes. I keep eyeing all the records I've collected over the past year with distaste.
It was particularly easy to stay home because two days this week the weather was cold and rainy. Today, it was cold but sunny and gorgeous. One friend posted on Facebook that she had the top down on her car. I wasn't quite that brave.
Being a recluse has its downside: yesterday I read a post on the neighborhood email warning of a new scam whereby a Hispanic man comes to the door to tell you he's doing work for your neighbor and would like to meet you in the backyard to discuss how it will impact your property. While you're in the back yard, his accomplice rifles the house. They target elderly women home alone in the day--hello! that's me! I immediately threw the deadbolt, put on my monitor and felt under seige, all of which Jordan thought was excessive. "You're not going to open the door anyway. Are you?" Betty told me they had hit fairly close to her house, in a neighborhood where I lived many years ago. Today the scam is all over the TV news, so I guess maybe their game may be winding down because lots of people are alert to it. I'm still on the lookout. I think I thought with the monitor I could be the local heroine, press it to call 911, and bring the law before they had a chance to escape!
Today was a good day to hibernate for another reason: no school. I didn't have to plan my afternoon and nap around picking up Jacob at three. Monday is a holiday too, so I have a four day weekend--sort of.
Tonight I have the cleanest drivers license and credit card in town--put them throiugh the washer in my jeans pocket. I'm constantly losing them because I don't like to carry a purse to the grocery--caution again, inherited from my mom, so I put them in my jeans and then forget when I get home. Once this resulted in my standing in line at the airport without my drivers license--my TCU i.d. card got me on the plane but I swear I thought they were going to keep me in El Paso! Some lessons seem hard to learn. Hmmm. I wonder if washing de-magnetized the credit card?
I will get out in the world this weekend, and next week looms busy with a day trip to Granbury, overnight house guests and a dinner party. But I sure have enjoyed these three days, good naps, reading, what retirement should be.

Getting lost in another world

Every Christmas Jean Walbridge and I exchange certificates for the flowers of the month at a local florist. This month I couldn't go with Jean to get them and the month was running out, so she picked mine up. They gave her extra roses and she shared them with me. This one is in full bloom and so beautiful it needs to be shared. I love having fresh flowers in the house!

I'm almost through with what I think is the final edit of Skeleton in a Dead Space before I send it to the publisher, but of course I know there will be more edits to come after an editor gets his or her hands on it. Still, by now I know the people and places of the novel's world so well that I get immersed in it. Familiar places, yes, since it's set in the neighborhood adjacent to mine and makes mention of restaurants where I regularly go. But also those fictional characters have come alive in my mind like old friends--I hate to leave them when I move on to other tasks. And the things I might worry about in my daily world fade when I'm in that fictional world. I hope readers will feel that way about these people and the world they live in. And I hope I can keep on creating mysteries with that feel. I'm having more fun with this writing than I think I've ever had before with projects--again, maybe that's because I'm more relaxed now.Anyway, the world is good.
Today I went to an estate sale at the home of the parents of my good friend Kathie. She and her mom were in the antique business, and her mom had many things she had bought for re-sale. She certainly had an eye for the interesting and old. I was fascinated by antique cooking tools, gardening tools, and a large collection of boxes. Jeannie kept going back to stare at a wall-mounted drying rack for clothes. But we both left empty-handed and then went and bought me an expensive but good mattress, which I really need.

We had lunch at The Tavern, where Betty and I had enjoyed brisket tacos a couple of days ago. Today I had a Maytag blue cheese burger, and Jeannie had a New Mexico burger. Both excellent, and we were both good and ate only half. I had the other half for dinner, and it was still delicious.

Back to Skeleton. Coming up to the climactic scene, which always scares me a bit, even though I wrote it!

Life in the big city

I ran a thousand and twelve errands today--well, not really, but it seemed like it. Breakfast with a friend, the office to wrap a book for mailing, the post office (whooppee! my passport is not expired!), Central Market, the vet for dog and cat food, and finally gas--figured I'd get it now before prices went any higher (should have gotten it last week). My VW can go a long time on a full tank of gas, with the local errands I run. But as I did all those errands and was cheerfully greeted as a friend in the breakfast restaurant, the office, the vet, even Central Market, I thought about the prediction that Fort Worth may grow bigger than Dallas. I don't want that, thank you. Oh, I know civic leaders boast about population growth, attracting new industries, etc, But I like Fort Worth just the way it is; maybe I even liked it better twenty years ago--though we sure do have more restaurants to choose from these days.
I moved to Fort Worth in 1965, as a fairly new bride. It was a small city then, but we were told not to worry--we'd be going to Dallas for restaurants and entertainment. We never did. We had come from a small college town in northeastern Missouri--12,000 I think if the schools were in session. The arrival of the Dairy Queen was as big deal! There were two, maybe three, restaurants where we liked to eat. My ex was a Bronx boy and I grew up in Chicago, but we thought Fort Worth, with two classic restaurants, several country clubs, and a really friendly atmosphere was just about the perfect compromise between big city and small town.
Today, Fort Worth is still a small town to me in many ways, but  that's because I don't live all over the city. Most of my doings are in my own corner of inner southwest Fort Worth, around TCU. I eat in restaurants where they know me, I shop at stores where they know me. I tried a new cleaners the other day and found the owner had gone to school with my oldest son. It's a very comfortable world. Oh, yes, I venture afield some, and that's fine, but I like my small world. A friend of mine always says there is no six degrees of separation in Fort Worth--two at the most. You always run into people who know people you know, and the connections are fun and funny. A friend of my daughter friended my by-marriage-sister-in-law (I guess that's what she is) on Facebook and asked how Patty knew my daughter. Patty replied that we're all related by marriage. Small world.
Will population growth change Fort Worth, or will I still have my small corner of the world? I don't know, but I view the construction of the new tollway with concern and trepidation. I don't want it to change my back roads around town.
And speaking of restaurants, Betty and I tried The Tavern on Hulen tonight. The menu is different--pork nachos, brisket tacos, a BLT salad with blue cheese, a crab cake salad--so many choices we were hard put. But we split the brisket tacos, with black beans and guacamole so good we asked for an extra side. Moderately priced. And the crowd was our age--saw several tables splitting entrees, so we were right at home. We agree we're going back. The waitress tells me it is not a chain, although the owner has two places in San Angelo.