So what good thing happened for you this week?
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
47 Responses
Yesterday was a peetty good day – my hubby’s birthday.
We had an early lunch at a cute Vietnamese vegan joint and shared as usual. The waitress was lovely, my dd fell in love with the tumbler her lychee homemade lemonade was served in, afterwards we all fell into a food coma.
I spent quite some time in the garden, listening to an audiobook while the cat who’s adopted us snuggeled up on my chest and slept, her head almost under my chin. For the duration of the whole Canada vs Marocco game (she soothed the disappointment). She chooses herself if she wants to come near (we never just puck her up to snuggle) so I see it as a huge honour to have been chosen. To be trusted so much.
And, also something I’m grateful for: when evening came, it really cooled down.
Awww, that sounds delightful!
Also, I’ve come across the rec for this book, Stitched, about a group of elderly competitive quilters:
https://www.torreyhouse.org/stitched-mccann
Due to be out in September. Quilting is an artform, as demonstrated by some of our Arghers – I’m in awe of what Nancy et al. show us every now and then!
Had a lovely get-together last Sunday with eight women I was at school with, a couple of whom I hadn’t seen since then. We celebrated surviving & turning seventy – & having lived interesting lives, despite the school’s low expectations for us. One close friend stayed with me and we had a great day together on Monday. I’m now in York, celebrating with my two closest friends from university. We’re going to see some of the medieval mystery plays in street performances this afternoon.
I’m still in Ohio, which I had planned to leave yesterday and might have to stay in for 2 more weeks (!). My mom’s doing really well – walking with a walker, can do a few steps if she has a handrail, etc – in skilled nursing and should come home this week. The nursing place isn’t great at communication, which is frustrating. She’s starting to care what they feed her and advocate better for herself, so the initial exhaustion/depression at losing some of her independence is easing (she won’t be able to drive for a while and can’t go down in the basement to do laundry)
I miss my house and family and cats, though. I’m still working remotely here, so at least I’m not burning through the PTO. I take more breaks than strictly allowed. Like, why do I hear Dad going outside this time…
Phyllis, you both have my sympathy. I hope recovery goes forward and she can get some help when she leaves the Rehab. You’re a good daughter!
I’m on Lake Ontario at a friend’s camp with three of my closest friends and two husbands (theirs, not mine). We’ve been taking mini vacations together for over 20 years, so it’s all pretty relaxed.
The lake is beautiful and it was cooler here than home, which was nice. Lots of good food and the folks on either side of us set off a LOT of fireworks last night. I don’t feel like I can celebrate the country this year, but I can definitely celebrate being with friends at the lake.
As a bonus, yesterday we went into a nearby town, Cape Vincent, and found a lovely local bookstore, complete with shop dog and cat. I was invited to come do a signing if we return next year.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DaZB9f1lBKL/?igsh=Y212ZzU0Y3VhcXMz
My brothers and I got together for a zoom call on Friday to celebrate my mom’s birthday. Warren had created a slide show of pictures of our family as we were growing up, and put a song to it. A lot of effort. We all cried. It was actually a good moment.
That sounds amazing!
After 8 days, we got our AC back. This makes me very happy. The outside temps have cooled slightly and the humidity has dropped significantly, which helps make it more comfortable. Our hot water tank is now properly venting outside, rather than inside which is reassuring.
Despite the heat, I made scape pesto from my own garlic scapes. Basil is slow so I bought some from a local farmer. I also made a delicious heritage tomato galette with goat cheese. I was testing the recipe before my book club meeting next week (expect the pastry will be easier to manage when it’s not 28C in my kitchen). My garden is extremely happy after the 118 mm of rain we received on July 1 (nearly 5 inches). Snow and snap peas are abundant and my tomato plants have grown a foot since last week.
Saturday evening my eldest daughter and I enjoyed watching thunderstorms roll across Lake Michigan. The lightning show was fantastic.
Yesterday, July 4th, I woke up at 5 am and started the laundry. Sitting on the deck with the 1st mango lassi I’ve made in years, I opened the Merlin bird app. It identified 17 different species of birds singing and calling around me. In addition, the hummingbird buzzed at me because I was too close to his feeder. A friend showed me the Picture This app, so I knew that the field of wildflowers below me included black-eyed susans, eastern and threadleaf bluestar, yarrow, goldenrod, mountain mint, bergamot, and more. Later, I read Remarkably Bright Creatures, recommended here. Hot dogs and fresh corn for dinner. I haven’t had such a peaceful day in a very long time. I will treasure the memory.
In 1976 I was with friends along NYC’s West side Highway on July 4th, watching the tall ships sailing by. The crowd was huge, friendly, unified. Unforgettable.
I won’t be around for the 300th July Fourth. I hope that the despair I feel now for my country won’t be realized, that somehow we will change the direction of things and retrieve the values and policies that have been too easily dismantled.
Elizabeth, that sounds lovely. I sat outside yesterday and enjoyed seeing and hearing birds, and watching a hummer sip from my feeder.
Elizabwth, In 1976, I made the mistake of deciding to travel from Princeton to Philadelphia for the festivities, which were okay but unspectacular, rather than going about the same distance to New York City, where the Tall Ships proved a huge hit.
I’ve also been struck by how much bigger a deal the 200th anniversary looked to me than the 250th. It wasn’t that the country was in hugely better shape, being just past the loss of the Vietnam War and Watergate. But now we actually have an administration, a Congress, and a Supreme Court that anyone with sense can see are actively harmful, and even those without it can see have not been conspicuously successful, so there is not a lot in the immediate past to celebrate. Nor, of course, did the weather east of the Mississippi encourage much celebration on Independence Day.
It seems to me that the whole thing has been more low-key than the 200th, although that conclusion may be subjective.
Good summation, Patrick.
Fifty years ago, we had Walter Cronkite on CBS News starting a year before with a segment each night he was on leading up to the Bicentiannal. I think it was on the lines of what happened that day two hundred years ago. We were all pumped up. I can remember going up to the hill from my house with my family including my parents to watch the tall ships coming into Boston. Not sure if it was the same day, going back up the hill to see the fireworks over Boston. Only because my parents weren’t there. Also, fireworks from surrounding towns.
Elizabeth, However, possibly out of unfounded optimism, I don’t feel despair for the country. I think the mood will turn.
Thanks to you folks for your thoughts!
My friends and I didn’t celebrate the 250th. We celebrated the eventual return of sanity, and the country we loved. And possibly (coff) looked forward to celebrating the absence of the insanity-in-chief.
I took Thursday off to give myself another 4-day weekend. DH & I drove over to Hendersonville to do a personal-business errand which took no time, and he’d brought along his camera, so we found what’s billed as the largest city park in western North Carolina and had a brief walk outside (brief because even in the shade it was 85 degrees and bugs were hungry). We’ll return in the fall, for sure. From there, we went to ‘historic Main Street’ and the visitor center, which had lots of good promo material for local sites and activities. Now that we’re fully settled in and starting to look around, a list of things to see and do is welcome.
Yesterday there was a gathering on the cul-de-sac, where we made an appearance and chatted with a few people before I fled back indoors. Later, per tradition, DH & I watched ‘Independence Day.’
This morning DH and I walked the 1.5 loop in our neighborhood even though it was raining. The weather wasn’t going to improve significantly so we just went and got soaked. It was strangely satisfying.
My dear sister and B-I-L hosted their annual 4th of July picnic. It was pleasant and the pot luck salads were great.
I worked Friday because work needed me, so I have Monday off. It feels like a particularly “extra” day for some reason, and I am enjoying it in advance.
I helped raise $180K (likely to rise significantly before the end later today) for voting rights/access in the Romancing the Vote auction! You can see some of my quilts there, including these quiltlets in the flat-fee, Buy-it-now category. https://www.32auctions.com/organizations/74830/auctions/200913/auction_items/7036267
That’s a current happy, but I’m also eagerly anticipating a future happy, one that I can anticipate for several weeks: my pepper plants are just covered with tiny fruits that set before the recent heat wave prevented any more setting for a few days. I ADORE peppers, and the home-grower varieties, or even standard varieties but picked fresh, are SO MUCH BETTER than the grocery store ones.
It’s good to have future happies to look forward to!
Very nice, Gin!!
That’s wonderful. I meant to donate, but time got away from me.
P.S. The total is now at about $230K and is likely to rise well over $250K due to some after-auction extras!
I’m in San Francisco to help celebrate a fellow writer and dear friend’s 80th birthday. A couple of dozen of her friends flew in from all over the country. We had dinner and then watched fireworks over the bay. It was lovely.
Hope you enjoyed the fireworks — even though the low marine layer of fog meant that those blasting off the Golden Gate Bridge (only like the 3rd time in history) weren’t as exciting as planned.
I had Wednesday off for Canada Day, so Tuesday felt like Friday, and I also booked Friday off, so Thursday also felt like Friday, and I like work weeks with few work days.
K2 and I drove 2hrs down a gravel road to visit my dad. He winters South and works his way up to us in the summer (retired into his camper), so we went to where he’s currently camping, which was a spot we went to often when I was a kid, so that was interesting. K2 got to river fish, and I got to knit and chat under the awning (it rained a bit).
Thursday was a meet-and-greet for a Writing Festival that is all of July!
I signed up to volunteer/take part in a LOT of the workshops and writing salons, and my goal is to actually start writing. July is all about me now that the kids don’t have school (and they can fend for themselves re food & busing around etc.) and my Work workload is not rife with deadlines.
The meet-and-greet was fun, if not hugely out of my comfort zone; I’m not a fan of crowds and there were 40+ people there that we had to move around and talk to in order to check off a bingo card (who writes romance, who hates semi-colons, etc.). I had fun, and I put myself out there, but I also slept in until 11am the next day. . . .
Our name tags were “my name is _____ and I write ____”, so My name is Natasha and I write Grocery Lists.
My goal is to write more than lists this month!
Our local July 4 parade had all the classics–marching bands, village officials in cool old cars, Little Leaguers pelting each other with candy–plus some weird stuff: kids trailing ribbons as they ran through random polka dancers, a really bad Elvis impersonator, a burlesque dancer wearing a live snake. And the rain held off til the end.
It’s great to get this post today, Jenny!
Yesterday was a good day. I hung a lot of pictures, enjoyed sitting out in my courtyard, birdwatching and bird-listening, and my son and DIL had me over for fried beer-battered halibut, which is delicious!! It fits my pescatarian diet, and they like it, too, so it was a great time. We also got to see some jets fly over, which was loud and exciting.
Another good thing, Kali has stopped barking at 4:45 am at a guy and a dog who walk by just at dawn. She somehow hears them. I put her in her crate all night one night, and then locked her in my bedroom for several other nights. The cats were very perturbed about this, because they like to sleep on the bed, and prefer not being imprisoned in my bedroom all night. But it worked.
It’s been a rough week, we have no AC, and a house that doesn’t give up heat once it gets in. So it’s been five days of a house in the low 90s. I am not good at all with heat, so we’ve been eating cereal and takeout, and sitting in front of a fan. Morning walks out by the ocean and petting other people’s dogs have been the highlight. I got my dad out to some meals to cool off, but he didn’t want to go out much. I couldn’t even read the books I checked out for the event. Argh.
However, today is a lovely, lovely, (LOVELY) day in the 70s. I am renewed! But will take a rest day anyway.
Last night I channeled surfed until I found the Boston Pops at the Esplanade for music and fireworks. There were Patriotic themed drones before the fireworks with an awesome display.
I had a break through with my characters for the book I want to pitch after I finish the current one. The characters were flat and lifeless but I did some brainstorming (writer friends are the best!) and now they’re coming to life. Still need a plot and to figure out how to keep them in proximity of one another long enough to fall in love but one step at a time.
When I crit romance queries, I see a lot of authors who forget about the proximity element. The story has a cute meet, but either there’s no reason why the h/h can’t just start dating/etc. right then and there, or else there’s no real reason why the h/h can’t just go their own ways after the meet. A lot of workshops talk about the first issue (no conflict), but at least as far as I know, hardly anyone talks about the importance of having a reason for why the h/h have to stick around and work out the conflict.
Gin, totally true! I need a logical reason why they need to stick close enough to work things out.
We watched the 3rd Enola Holmes and it was so good!
I worked the holiday as always. The double time will be appreciated as we are going on a road trip to a family reunion soon.
50 years ago I was under the Arch in St Louis with more than a million people listening to a free Elton John concert. It was fabulous!
So far so good on my GLP1.
The dotter once again requested that I stop enabling my chocoholic grandkinder, so I’ve switched to supplying our mutual potato crisp habits. Yes, that means Pringles. I tend to hoard the flavors I prefer and share the “Pizza” and “BBQ” and “original” cans. For lunch I had “sour cream and onion.”
I finished rereading “Book of Firsts” and segued directly into “Four Kings.” I’ve mentioned how much I love authors who stretch or challenge my vocabulary. The word for today was FRIAND…
…and the illustration accompanying the definition looked like a tasty cupcake or muffin, which in turn made me think about muffins vs donuts. Mika has herself three donut-shaped muffins.
I was looking at my gardens last night and thinking that I should retire some of my excessive number of Sprouts. I’m already not using the Levalo Brand Sprouts, but that still leaves me with eleven AeroGarden Sprouts. Partial disclosure, I’m already limiting usage to a single plant per unit. Three pod holes per unit; one covered, one with a plant, the last with a level indicator. Even so, I have more cherry tomatoes ready to harvest than I can immediately use. I did just plant more lettuce.
I just read a post about a study of seniors, their eating habits, and alzheimers. It turns out that the people who ate green leafy vegetables every day had healthier brains. Good for you, Gary!
I can look forward to being a green leafy vegetable? No, I read that wrong. It’s all the tomatoes.
Had a happy time on Friday. Fifty years ago the township was really into the Bicentennial. A committee organized a parade and had a contest for a motto. And they buried a time capsule to be opened in 2026. Unfortunately, water had gotten into the vault. Our township officials had opened it earlier so they were able to dried out and salvage some of the items.
There was a lovely ceremony with some music, a few short speeches, cupcakes and promises that when they rebury it, a proper, watertight capsule will be used. The only downside was the heat.
And I spent several hours on the Fourth with the local Democratic Club at our town p[ark. There was music and food trucks and a sparser crowd than other years. The heat! It was a nice time.
Then home into the air conditioning with a pizza crust for Pixie. Unfortunately, the symphony and fireworks were called off due to storms. Although the rain didn’t stop the local neighbors from their displays.
Despite the current political climate, it was a pretty decent Fourth.
I’m happy to be nearly at the end of the two month guest and not have lost my patience. They start moving in to their new home on Monday and I am cautiously optimistic that houseguest will start sleeping there Wednesday although who knows when all her stuff will be out of here. These last few days are hard because 1) it’s become clear they are mismanaging the move badly (our guest pulled an all nighter the last two nights to pack up foster daughter’s boyfriend’s kitchen, and is planning a third one, they moved the initial pack up of his apartment by movers earlier from Monday to Sunday for unclear reasons and I suspect costing them a hefty additional fee and now they moved it back to later on Monday) 2) we got an unexpected request to put foster daughter and boyfriend up for three nights during the move and if we hadn’t agreed they would have stayed in a hotel 3) they had to take out a loan for this move. And I am beginning to think this bodes ill for their future as a household too, both financially and logistically.
On a brighter note, my garden and our AC are holding up in the heat, we bought lots of fun foods at the farmers market, we are cooking lots of fun summer meals, I am drinking cold sorrel soup daily, we are having fun watching the World Cup, baseball and the Tour de France, we went to a lovely barbecue yesterday with my favorite cousins, and I had a nice call with DS and another with a good friend.
Also, I have been slipping off our leather couch because it’s uncomfortably soft while watching sports and I realized that the seat cushions have a zipper! So this week I will see if I can just get new foam inserted.
I am so glad the guest is actually moving out more or less on time. I confess I was worried about that. Deadlines have a tricky way of being flexible for some people.
I’m sorry they seem to be making poor money choices. I would find that stressful in a relationship. Hopefully they will sort themselves out eventually.
Me too. I did check local law to make sure we were not giving her any tenant rights .
And her stuff isn’t out yet but a lot is in our front hall ready to load into her car.
Finally managed to get a flu vaccine after weeks of not managing it (I need the next day free for recovery!) and the pharmacist offered me a COVID vaccine as well when I didn’t think it had been long enough between jabs for me to be eligible again so that was a bonus.
Then went to see, with a friend, some bagpipers parading down the main street, which was just lovely. I rather like bagpipes played in the open air. And it was just nice to see people who’d obviously practised and are proud of their skills and heritage, getting to do their thing in front of an appreciative crowd.
One weekend when both my next older sister and I were visiting my parents, my sister got a call from a traveling lighting guy she knew. He was crossing the country with a band from the British Grenadier Guards and some of the Royal Scots Pipers. Did she want to meet him for a drink after the show? My sister said that she was planning to spend the evening with me and he told her that he would leave a pair of tickets for us at the box office. I hadn’t been to see a marching band of any kind in years, but we decided to give it a try.
The Grenadier Guards were first and although they played very well, I was not completely enthralled. And then the drummers and pipers came on for their half of the program. They marched on with only a drum or two to keep them in step and their kilts swaying and they were quite a sight. A woman in the row behind us said in a very clear brogue, “Now that’s what I call a BAND!” And after I heard them play, I had to agree with her. We weren’t outside, but a large auditorium was the next best thing.
DH’s family is from a small town in NC, so we’ve made a tradition of going to see the fireworks. This year, a little different since his mom passed, but we still kept the tradition going. It was a lovely display. And it made me happy!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Dac44HFloM8/?img_index=1
I also finished up the quilting on my show quilt, so I’m putting on the binding. That makes me happy too!
Best of all, we had a rollicking thunderstorm that put down a lot of water yesterday evening. We’ve been without for quite some time, so this makes me think we’ll get out of the drought soon!
I spent the week on a schooner in Maine, the one that my younger kid is working on for the summer. I brought the older kid as a thank you for helping my mother move into an extended care facility, and there happened to be an extra bunk available so I took that one. It was nice to be able to hang out with both kids on a boat, even while one was working SO hard. We had glorious weather, and participated in the Great Schooner Race, and our boat won (I did not expect that) and we had SO MUCH FUN. It was a very good week.