marthawells

It can be told: we have a deal on the house. Papers are signed. Now to just get through the process.

Now to help the kids deal with leaving friends.

Originally published at www.dianapfrancis.com. You can comment here or there.

Memorial Day Weekend approaches. Today, it’s sunny, but windy and *cold*. Outlying areas could drop to mid-30s tonight, and folks at the hardware store were talking about a possible freeze even closer to the lake. I hope not–tomatoes and basil are in and they’re not going anywhere. We received some much needed rain over the past few days, about 1.5 inches, but the accompanying wind blew the blooms off a couple of the crabapples. The prairiefire is still hanging in there, but it’s lost about half its flowers. Petals all over the lawn, like pink snow.

In more conservative times (back when we were Zone 5), Memorial Day was the planting weekend around here. Now it’s a few weeks earlier seeing as we’re now Zone 5.5, but this weekend will make that a lie. 60s. Cloudy. 40s/50s at night. I ran the furnace this morning. A few days ago, I was running the A/C. I know–spring in Illinois. But it’s getting a little late for this.

Harvested a handful of mesclun for the dinner salad. One bright spot amid the chill.

Hit the hardware store on the way home. Bought some pink and white petunias in a basket, and a lime hydrangea (pale green flowers that turn pink as they age) for the shady side of the house. Some solar lanterns to hang about the backyard. Gaby had a grooming session–bath and summer clip–and looks very spiff.

I’m taking off Friday. Looking forward to the long weekend, even it stays cloudy.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

So, this morning I ran away from home. Well, ish. I parked myself in a coffee shop for a few hours. I like Epoch quite a bit now. It's changed, or maybe I have? The music isn't as loud as it used to be. The 'twenty-something meat market' atmosphere is gone too. It's now... comfortable. The food kind of sucks--it still tries to hard to be hip. So, your options are sweet crap or veggie stuff with the odd high calorie/high carb non-veggie item. Unlike the FlightPath, however, I can reliably get a table or seating, if I'm there at a specific time. Also? The vintage clothing stores in the area have replicated. There are now enough on the street that the area has become something of a 'vintage row.' I love that.[1] It's inspiring. That said, I got in 1200 words today. That's a respectable amount--especially considering there was a lot of editing going on. I'm happy with how the story is working out too.

Meanwhile, the garden progresses. I've got sweet corn, pumpkin, and beans planted. All but the beans have sprouted. (they were the last in the ground.) With the exception of the chamomile and the dill[2], the herbs are growing nicely. And my morning glories are sprouting up all over the box window pot. (They're about 5" tall now and I can see them over the rim of the box from my writing window.) No blooms yet. It's early days. It's funny to think I used to kill everything I touched. I guess growing things takes practice like anything else. Dane loves to laugh at me because I visit my plants multiple times a day.

All in all, there's not much else going on. I'm percolating a couple of longer, more serious posts: one on the current state of the U.S., and it's infrastructure. Another about feminism that will be a guest post on another site.

-----------------------------------------

[1] Plus, there's a vinyl record store that carries refurbished turntables. I'm so wanting one.

[2] They aren't dead yet.

After a delay that was making me twitch (and no, I don't know why there was a delay), TRICKS OF THE TRADE (Paranormal Scene Investigations #3) is available digitally in the UK!

Book 4, DRAGON JUSTICE, will be available 1 June.

*throws confetti*

(and while you're there, check out the short fiction of DON'T READ THIS BOOK and DRAGON VIRUS!)

Thanks to  reader Catherine Sharp for the news!

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