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Happiness is Lunch with Friends

Pat Gaffney, Cathy Maxwell, and I had lunch together this week and laughed like loons the entire time. We’ve known each other for decades, survived writers conferences and publishing together, and just really like each other. It’s been rough here for a while, but lunch with Cathy and Pat cleared out the cobwebs and dusted off my happiness. Such good people, such a good time.

What made you happy this week?

65 Responses

    1. Oh, I love her suspense work! Molly Burke is a character I still think about, however many years later! I do not know why I have not tried her romance work, but am going to add it to my list because I am sure it is excellent

      1. I love all of her books, but my two favorites are ones she originally wrote for Silhouette Intimate Moments as Kathleen Korbel: A Soldier’s Heart and A Rose for Maggie.

  5. DH and I went to my SIL’s mother’s funeral. It was a lovely celebration of a beloved wife, mother, grandmother and friend. Both my nieces were there from the US and I was happy to spend a little bit of time with both of them during the afternoon.

    My big happy this week is finally getting my tattoo. It was my belated BD present to myself. It’s a single peony on my left forearm. One of my favourite flowers and a tangible reminder of the importance of flowers in my life. The person who did it was really good at her job and supporting a female-owned business in a make-dominated field was a bonus.

  6. Happiness the last few weeks has been some Mother Daughter time (my mom and myself).

    We got season passes to both the local theater and to the symphony, and have so far enjoyed 1 show of each.

  8. Happiness is playing Dominion (a deck-building card game) with my family. We sat around the dining room table last night and played together. We all enjoyed ourselves. So great having adult kids who enjoy spending time with us!

  9. I’m so glad you moved to a place where you can have lunch with friends! Sorry about the tough week. I feel you.

    Happiness is that after my cat Harry Dresden stopped eating (he often goes through phases where he has to be nudged or tempted, or only eats some of his food, but usually 3 days of hairball meds fixes that, and this time it didn’t), and I took him to the vet, he is doing just fine. X-rays were clear, and some fluids and one dose of an appetite stimulant later, and he’s eating like a champ. Apparently he just needed me to spend $300 on him at the vet, and make myself crazy, and he’s cured. Cats.

    Not so much happiness is my plumber coming to do the yearly purge of the hot water heater on Friday, and it not working since. No idea why. He was here yesterday, and is on his way back today. In theory it isn’t old enough to die, and it was working fine until he emptied the water out and refilled it, but who knows. So I guess happiness is a plumber who works on weekends, and will keep going after the problem until he fixes it.

    REAL happiness is my beloved agent selling the audio rights to the first four Baba Yaga books (the 3 I got the rights back for, and the 1 I put out on my own), plus the novella collection. Huzzah! Tantor had originally only bought the first two, so I gather those will be put out again, and the rest will be read by the same person. Either way, people have been asking me for audio for the rest for ages, so this was a real happy. (Not to mention that the money, although not a lot, is definitely going to come in handy.)

    This afternoon the witchy gang is coming over for Samhain (Halloween) and doing a ritual. The weather is going to be cool but clear, so we should be able to have a bonfire and be outside for the ritual, although we’ll probably come back in for our feast. Happiness is witchy friends and decent weather.

    7. Hurray for the audio-deal! Then I might finally get to read these. 🙂
      Wish you and the witchy gang a lovely, lovely Samhain-celebration!

  10. Happiness is reading a really good book. I reread RS this week and finished VNF before I could sleep last night. You really hit this one out of the park! I’m happy and satisfied, but already impatient for more. Thank you for creating another place and people I love!

  11. Very Nice Funerals arriving today so I’ve paused my annual Pratchett re-reads .Have just started re-reading Rocky Start to get me in the mood,or really just because I want to.

    1. I’ve been reading the entire Discworld series to my wife. We’re currently on our third read where we’ve been going through by type (Watch, Witches, etc.) but when I finished Hat Full of Sky I had to break off for VNF.

  12. The Baseball World Series made me happy this week: two evenly matched, amazing teams facing off against each other was wonderful and helped to tune out some of the nerve racking world events around us. But seeing Freddie Freeman’s (an overall Nice Guy) historic grand slam walk-off win on Thursday night made me specially happy — and watching this young man run almost immediately to his dad to celebrate just made me cry very happy tears.

    1. Christina, did you see that after the big wave of hockey romances and a few successful baseball books maybe/hopefully starting a new wave, the first cross over romances start to come out?
      I’ve started to dive into the new JJ Mulder (her bookes hadn’t grabbed me in the past). One MC a hockey player, the other a baseball player, both still at college. So far very good though I’m not far in. But I thought of your comment last GBT about the tight knit teams, so…
      No chance to root for a local team, and I know absolutely NOTHING about the game.

      1. Oh great that sounds like would be right down my alley! Thanks Dodo, I will check it out! I haven’t found many baseball M/M stories other than KD Casey and a few that were DNFs (don’t remember the authors and am now wishing I’d taken notes…) I’m always on the lookout for them now.

        1. I’m not far in and so far, no hockey nor baseball is played, but I do keep my fingers crossed this story works as the last books I’ve read were no winners.
          I’ll get to the KD Casey soon, as Unwritten Runes peak my interest.

  13. Happiness is having a warm house, again. It was very cold this morning. I had tossed the old furnace filter when the tune-up guy said it was gross, and ordered new ones. Somehow I got the wrong size, although the size listed was correct. Who needs a “slim fit” furnace filter??? I reordered, and they are very late in arriving!! So I got dressed as soon as I got up, drove to the big box store, bought a filter of the right size, and put it in. Now the cats, dog, and I are comfy, again.

    I read Very Nice Funerals, and it was excellent, for a book with no funerals in it, despite much death. (?) I will say no more. Read it!!!

  14. This morning after cleaning the bottom of the oven (chicken and dumplings overflow) from last night’s dinner I made a tortilla and egg bake from a recipe I saw on the internet. It was really a quiche made with a tortilla shell instead of pie crust. Plus all the fixins’ eggs, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, spinach, red and green peppers, ham and kitchen sink.

    Through the wonders of Amazon Prime we were able to get a lift chair and transport chair within two days. Then one of the VNA nurses told us about a free service that we can get equipment locally, so my son and I went and picked up a wheelchair and a ramp. Will try both out and if they don’t work for my husband, it is an easy return.

    I on the other hand took a tumble last Monday night. There are two ways to get out of a chair. One ladylike and graceful and two with a purpose. Two was the one for me. I tripped over the rug and landed first on my knees and then faceplanted on the carpet. I’m ok except for the bruises from my knee down, even on my instep. Who knew! I just can’t imagine what a football player looks like after a game or any rough and tumble sport.

    1. My sympathies on the fall!

      Well, we bruise more easily after a certain age. I think the football players recover faster. In my case, besides a leg bruise from who knows what, the bruise on one hand from where a nurse merely tried and failed to insert an IV line ten or so days ago is finally almost gone today, while the bruise on the other arm from where the line ended up actually going is still easily visible, although much improved.

    2. Do you take pain killers? Or fish oil? Those tend to thin the blood and cause you to easily bruise, too.

    4. Ouch! Hope the bruises will heal up quickly. Sending strength to you and the husband, hope figuring out all the practicalities will go smoothly and without any returns needing to happen on things bought. That sounds like extra hazzle you don’t need right now.

    5. Sending quick debruising wishes, Mary. I am sure that was an awful shock.
      When I tripped & face planted (due not noticing a crack in the pavement), several years ago it surprised me how much it rattled my confidence in my body for quite a time. So do take care and be gentle with yourself.

      1. Thank you so much for the well wishes. It is always a surprise to me how quickly I have one thing on my mind and my body takes control and puts me in another direction. I really have to learn to pace myself.

  15. Had fun exploring York with a friend this week – the weather was excellent, and we enjoyed discovering details tucked away in odd corners. Checked the greenhouse this morning and discovered the anemones I’d planted a year late and given up on have sprouted, so should have some vivid colours next spring. Plus the tomatoes are still producing!

  16. Cousin came for a visit. Dh travelled with him to see his daughter in an addiction program. Dh said it was so moving to see the change, the joy and beauty visible on her face. The best happiness. Yesterday was a selfish day; reading VNF, napping, reading, not cooking, minimum chores, lazing around, and more napping. I needed it.

    Finished VNF last night. Was hoping favourite characters were safe from harm, they were even through the stuff, more insight, addressing PTSD, and familiar storylines. Jenny and Bob have done it again. The Honey Pot Plot is another “can’t wait” to read. The two bonus chapters at the end of VNF are excellent.

  17. Last week was a tough week at work – many positives, but a couple of tough, knotty issues between colleagues, and some child protection complexities. So what made me happy was having Zazie the dog in school with me, putting her in the car on Friday afternoon and driving the 8 hours between Luxembourg and London belting out some new and old favourite songs, from Paris Paloma’s Labour to American Pie as the sun shone.

    Today I went into Kew Gardens with my mother-in-law, walking gently as she is 92, both laughing at the Halloween walk they have prepared with ghouls and spiders, skulls and eyeballs emerging from casks of green goo, skeletons in carts and coffins and gibbets, the sky blue, glorious leaves on the turn and the air crisp.

  18. Survived a four-hour marathon front-yard cleanup spree yesterday and spent the rest of the day watching Skate Canada International from Halifax, a city that is now on my must-visit list. Two more events to watch today.

    Got some progress photos from parent – the basement apartment has leaped forward despite dire warnings from contractors about workflow in view of post-Hurricane Helene jobs. We have walls, ceiling, floor, cabinetry, countertops, lighting, and – I believe – functional sinks. Next up: the toilet. And then we’re at the point of buying kitchen appliances. Which means out September 2025-ish target date for the move is still holding.

  19. I have had to dig a bit this week to find blessings to count beyond the obvious stuff, not that any of that (warm, fed, roof over head, in fairly good mood, etc.) should ever be forgotten!

    I’m happy that I seem to be getting a bit of my stamina back, finally.  A week after my procedure, a rather short grocery trip on Thursday was enough to wipe me out to the point that I finally felt semi-normal only on Saturday afternoon.  (This is within the range of normal expected aftereffects.)  I have to go out again tomorrow for a medical appointment, but that will involve mostly sitting, so hopefully it won’t wipe me out as badly. 

    I made non-trivial donations to the national Democrats as by far the less-bad alternative, and may feel a vague sense of duty done, but like others, I’m still worried about the election and the country and the world.  How can so many people be so misguided?

    I still haven’t got my ballot filled out and dropped off, but that should come soon, with some stamina recovered, and I’ve got time yet.

    I enjoyed VNF (and plan to reread it carefully soon), and in my enforced leisure I knocked off a few more of the Lord Julian novels, which I continue to find enjoyable but slapdash. I sure hope Burrowes was more careful as a lawyer than she is as a historical novelist.  But I’ve fallen behind my daily page quota on Dune, which so far I find mildly readable at best.  I’m seriously considering jumping ahead a hundred pages or so in hopes of an improvement.  I don’t feel an absolute obligation to finish every book club book, but I try harder than with casual reading.  (I did read Dune soon after it came out, and I recall no problem getting through it then, although I was less impressed than a lot of folks at the time.)

    2. In fairness to Dune: I pushed on to where the pace picked up for me and am now ahead of my daily page quota.

  20. Happiness was Book Circle today where everyone brought some form of carbohydrate. We don’t organize the potluck aspect of Book Circle so sometimes these things happen.

    1. I was serving a country parish when beef prices skyrocketed one year, and we had a potluck, which consisted of multiple varieties of beans, and other veggie and fruit dishes. We all laughed about it, and the beans were really very good.

  21. Happiness this week was cooking the dh’s birthday pie. Two weeks late, but it’s done. 😀 Also, the release of VERY NICE FUNERALS, which is every bit as wonderful as ROCKY START, and I’m only 2/3rds in. An overly familiar starling at my local cafe inviting itself to a patron’s chicken salad sandwich – while the guy was eating it! Better yet, everyone involved laughed with delight, including the owner of the pillaged sandwich. Those reactions made me very happy indeed. 😀

  23. Happiness this week was the release of Very Nice Funerals. I had forgotten the date so when Bob sent out the reminder, I was thrilled. I woke up at 3 a.m. on 10/25 and downloaded it immediately. The waking up at that time is not unusual but I usually make an effort to go back to sleep but not this time! I enjoyed the first read but I enjoyed the second slower re-read even more.

    As the second book in a series, it serves both as a bridge to the next book but also as a stand alone arc of its own. I thought it succeeded magnificently. In the first book the characters of the town are outlined but most of the focus is on Rose, Max, Poppy, Maggs. This time more of the characters mentioned or introduced in the first book are drawn with shading or more detail and backstory. Poppy, whom I found somewhat intimidating in the first book, became more relatable in this one.

    Looking forward to the next one!

  24. I cast my overseas ballot in the US election (I vote in a swing state, so super important). Then, I realised that election stress was driving me crazy, so I declared a moratorium on news of all kinds. Three days without looking at any news has been blissful.

  25. Happiness is friends that make you so happy just by being them that you wanna sing. This happened to me Thursday. Just hearing their voices via voice-messages made me so happy and grateful to have them in my life, and I kept singing happy songs for a good while after replying to them in kind. Such joybringers.
    A sleeping calico demon (Triple) all over lap is also a happy. And to get such positive feedback on the baby-blanket I posted earlier this week. Also that posting it got me the request to knit another one, for cats. Managed to find a book to break my reader’s block with, and that’s a happy as well.
    Yet another happy is noticing how Matcha keeps growing more relaxed and on-lap-snuggly, and also how she seems to use her voice more and more to communicate with us. She’s really smart when it comes to problem-solving or puzzles and similar, but her cat-human communication is a bit lacking. It took her 1.5 year, for instance, to figure out that if she meows at the back door (or in her case it’s usually underneath the bahtroom window), we come and let her in, but she’s really got the hang of it now. Or how she comes to stand at my feet when I play guitar and questionmark-meows at me until I lift her up onto my chair and she snuggles up against my side or back to listen until I’m done. Happy.

    1. Shass, aren’t cats wonderful? They can be very intuitive. At this time of year, I especially appreciate how warm they are, too.

  26. Went to a great rally today with PA Gov Shapiro, Adam Kinzinger and Christine Todd Whitman. And met up with the usual suspects. The weather was beautiful;m the location rural; the speeches inspiring. And I wish I could relax.

    Pixie has been taking me on very long walks since the weather has cooled. Not sure how I feel about that!

    Now for some VNF.

  27. Midday on Friday I got a text from a friend asking if I had plans for Saturday evening and if not did I want to drive 4+ hours to go to a food event since they had an extra ticket. I did. So I finished up my deadline, packed a bit randomly, picked up a prescription (big drama (not mine) at the pharmacy), and was on the road by 3:30pm. Very fun and unexpected fall weekend!

  28. Drove a friend to a California Garden and Landscape History conference a hundred miles up the coast at Laguna Beach where John and I lived in the early 70s during the nascent land preservation movement. Startling how many of the old guard activist speakers we knew from those days, and how much we remembered and were a part of that movement. Discussion in the car was of the coming election–we’ve all voted–and startling conversation in how far we’ve progressed in plans to live elsewhere (for us Western Australia or Norway, Nancy will go to Madeira) if the election results go awry. Before we hit the road, I submitted a garden book review for the magazine and a shoulda-been footnoted letter to the editor on saving our town’s specimen tree park. Perhaps the intervening 50 years since dear Laguna have changed us not so much.

    Each year at the concluding dinner, I rise, glass in hand, to toast our departed founder Bill Grant. Followed the script this year–and then for the life of me when the time came I could not remember dear leader’s name, just total blankness. Thankfully, the group called it out, saving me, and my hope is they thought the lapse part of my ongoing comedy act. Ya think? hmm.

  29. Happiness was my retirement party this week (I do not actually retire for another two weeks but ‘Management’ decided it should be Thursday this week!! (I am on annual leave until the actual day so I guess they thought no one but me would notice). Great turn out of colleagues, ex-colleagues and colleagues that I consider almost family. There were presents (including some vouchers for a hotel chain), balloons, banners, a sash for me to wear, speeches, cards, and sooo much cake (which I got to bring home – my freezer has never held so much cake!). There were very kind words, and loads of hugs, though I did kinda have to ask some of the men for hugs, but then some of the men asked me for hugs too so it balanced out – isn’t it wonderful that consent is now normal. It was a lunchtime thing and I was home late afternoon. As it was in the office there was no alcohol (Nosecco was surprisingly great) I had no hangover and that felt pretty great too.

    The blog saying that VNF was available was also a happy – it is on order now, and looking forward to a selfish day to read it.

  30. Happiness is my nephew and niece-in-law welcoming twin bundles of joy last week, especially after the passing of their first twins a year ago after a premature birth.

  31. Happiness is a nebulous thing. I am back at work and I am feeling ok, even though I was struggling to unwind during my vacation. Apparently some of it sunk in. I will take the glow while I have it and not ask too many questions.

    Yesterday I finally stopped procrastinating and framed all of the little drawings that I am taking to my annual show at a local restaurant. It’s going to be a cash and carry show, everything priced at $20, because it has been a hard year and being able to afford art is rare for me and always makes me happy. Also, I would not be displeased with some sales. Sometimes its the small purchases that keep you afloat. I still have to wire them to hang and tag everything, but the first part is over.

    I also did a good hard purge of some of my clothes and I am still enjoying the feeling of having the extra dead weight shaved off. I’m hoping to keep going through my closet, now that the drawers are done. We won’t talk about the shoes.

  32. I voted early Saturday, the first day here for early voting. Yesterday, I was invited to my ex husband’s nephew and wife’s gender reveal (although we are divorced, the family says I am still family 🥰). It’s their first child and to my surprise, I guessed it correctly. They are having a girl and are very excited. It took up a good part of the day since it was over a 2 hour drive to get there, so when I got home, I sat down and watched the last two events of Skate Canada (thanks to a subscription to Peacock, I can watch reruns up to 72 hours after the event concludes). I finished up the day with continuing my reread of Rocky Start. I am tempted to skip to the end so I can get started on VNF, but I want to refresh my memory of all the events that occur so I will continue on with RS.

  33. Happiness is a rainy, and then sunny, autumn walk through a hundred year old neighborhood with huge trees and gorgeous homes.

  34. Happiness is creating with friends. We did a pottery thing last week and are going back today to paint what we made.

  35. Productivity — I got a lot of family work done this weekend. It’s always easier when DH is traveling.

    The Dodgers leading the World Series. 3-0. It would be great if they sweep. (But right now the Yankees got a grand slam so not looking good for that.)

    Kamala Harris drawing a very large crowd for her closing argument speech. And the release of an academic poll with over 70,000 voters (40,000 likely voters) so much much larger sample and more likely to be accurate, taken throughout October, that has Harris ahead by 5. Its National so that doesn’t really tell us what will happen in swing states but it has her doing significantly better than usual polls.

    I went to a memorial service today for a woman who died youngish ( 60?) of a bee sting, which is awful—leaving two teens. Her wife told me she reads my Facebook political analyses when the world gets her down. It makes me happy that she likes them and that maybe I can give her a little light at a terrible time.

    I have killed many invasive grape vines and saved trees. Next; fishing boots and I wade in the creek for a second time to get the ones I can’t reach from the banks. I feel intrepid.

    Mom still is not driving.

    DH was able to get major steps completed for the divorce of his friend with dementia and doesn’t seem too stressed by his week visiting him.

    Also, I announced by text while DH was sleeping (5 hour time difference) that either he buys a new scanner or I do and he agreed. He has been coaxing it along for years to my frustration and I’m afraid I just lost it after one session too many … he is a gadget guy so he likes picking out gadgets but he also prides himself on home repairs and Jerry rigging problems so he didn’t want to get a new one. But it’s (high) time. Past time.

About the Author

Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and co-author of twenty-three novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies. She lives in a cottage in Pennsylvania, where she often stares at the ceiling and counts her blessings.

Find out more about Jenny’s published works by visiting JennyCrusie.com

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