I’ve been putting off getting back to work on the book, but I now I have to since I have a new car sitting in my driveway, and a new crushing debt at my bank. Why do I have a new car? Because my old one died. Horribly. Monday morning I was awakened by the godawful blare of a car alarm, which never happens in my neighborhood. We barely have cars. I looked out the window but there was no one around Agnes (my car, named after the book that purchased her). After about five minutes, she stopped and I thought, “Maybe it was just a burp in the system. Three burps later, I was driving to my service people (who are very good), where I had one of those conversations with somebody who was trying to downplay the problem and promising to fix whatever it was. While I tried to make him understand how awful it was, Agnes went off again. He understood. An hour later he came in and said, “I have very bad news,” and told me Agnes was dead, not just because of the burps from hell but because her brake line was almost rusted through along with everything else under the car. (Did I mention I bought Agnes new in 2006. Bob and I toured in that car. I loved that car. I wanted to be buried in that car. And now she’s at the junkyard, but I don’t think she cares because she’s dead.). Continue reading →