A Day of Firsts and Lasts...

Quiet Saturday. Wrote early, dressed, and gave the lawn its first mowing of the season. After, brought the mower in for an oil change and blade sharpening. Met with Vern the bricklayer about having a fireplace built on the back patio, then went off to Walgreens to get a shingles shot. Quiet afternoon, putting the last edits to “The Catch.” Cleaned up the office, came home and read a little from Lord Jim. Salad tonight. And wine. Feel like sitting on the porch swing and watching the sun go down. Beautiful day. Tomorrow’s supposed to be just as good.

Stocking the shelves...

Up early, long morning of notes and revisions. Drove across town to the Bookman store later in the afternoon and picked up ten books (Lord Jim. The Golden Bowl. Stories of John Cheever. The Virginian. A collection of short stories by Joyce Carol Oats, and a couple of Philip Roth novels. Been trying to replace the paperback titles in the library with cloth bound copies. That and preserve the clothbound editions that have been flatsigned.

Beautiful day, 60s. Sky a piercing blue. The peak looks magnificent as it always does this time of year. Fierce, snowcapped, jagged. Glad to get out for a short walk. Hoping to spend some time in the yard tomorrow, maybe cleaning the garage. Have wanted to clean the garage since the construction began on the kitchen last spring.

Finished the O’Nan book last night. Don’t know exactly why, but it really got to me. It wasn’t the writing, which was fine and serviceable, as much as it was imagining the demise of a man who still had so much to give. As soon as I finished it, I was determined to pick his short stories off the shelf downstairs and leap into them, headlong. Too many books, as they say, and too little time.

Hamburgers for dinner tonight, hot off the grill. Beer and chips with family. Splendid Saturday, just splendid.

A lovely shade of green.

St. Patrick's Day. Read "Leda and the Swan" today while eating a corned beef sandwich. Going downstairs now to drink my last Guinness. If luck holds, John Huston's movie version of The Dead will be on television tonight. Here's to my people, alive and otherwise. Erin go bragh!

Typical Monday...

Summer came on in a big way today. High seventies. But the sky was blue—that deep, beautiful Colorado blue, and that made everything all right. Rain tomorrow. And the day after. Temps are supposed to get no higher than the twenties, but that’s hard to imagine after today.

Didn’t get much work done at the office. Too many interruptions. Got in a nice walk this afternoon, though, and was able to do a little reading later.

Tired. Hope to manage a good night’s sleep and wake early. Get some revisions in place and a new manuscript in the mail. Till then.

Sundry Sunday doings...

Dinner tonight with family. An early St. Patrick’s day soiree. Corned beef, boiled potatoes, cabbage, and soda bread. Harp and Guinness to wash it down. Splendid company, splendid time.

Beautiful, sunny day today. Cloudless blue sky, temps in the 60s. More of the same tomorrow. Got a bit of fiction writing done this morning, then turned the pen to my Amazon review of James Hanna’s new story collection, Call Me Pomeroy.

Read a few more pages of West of Sunset this afternoon before lying down with the boys and taking a short nap. Will delve in further this evening when it’s time for bed.

Spoke to the folks for about an hour last night. Good to hear their voices. Looking forward to catching up with them in person next week.

Thursday, 10:33 pm...

Long day, short entry.

Commercial work at the office, a bit of reading and research at home. Weather cooled,  predictions of rain tonight and tomorrow. 

Looking forward to getting a some writing time this weekend. Need to step things up.

A quarter of the way into S. O'Nan's West of Sunset. Not what I expected, but enjoyable nonetheless.

 

The shoe-leather express...

Did some research early morning, went to the clinic for an orientation class late morning. Spent the afternoon at home, working on small things. Took a long walk later in the afternoon and paid a visit to the Pioneer’s Museum.

New display there featuring artifacts from the Waldo Canyon fire. Caught a bit of it, but didn’t stay long. The feelings are still too fresh.

Started Stuart O’Nan’s West of Sunset tonight. Think I’m going to enjoy it. 

A day in the sun...

Felt like spring today. Temps near 60. Worked at home all day, got in a long walk downtown this afternoon. Still a little snow hanging around, but nothing to speak of. Looking forward to kicking back and doing nothing tonight.

Time change, weather change...

Up late last night entertaining clients from out of town. Dinner at the Broadmoor’s new Italian restaurant. Ravioli, outstanding. Saltimbocca—eh. Went to bed a little after midnight, got up early to go to the office. Finished a reader’s draft of “The Catch,” then went to work making notes on the new novel I want to start. A lot of work ahead.

Got in a walk late this afternoon. Felt good to be outside. Temps had warmed, and despite deep patches of snow here and there the going was easy. Not sure what the forecast is—or if I’d believe it even if I did know—but have my fingers crossed for a spell of nice spring weather.

Thawing out...

Lazy day, lazy entry. Up late, two cups of coffee and a shower later, off to the bank to open a new business account. Forty-five minutes later, away to the office to do a little story research. No writing, no revising.

Came home around 1:00 and went downtown for a cup of coffee and a scone. Did a little grocery shopping for tonight’s dinner (chicken Valeria), read pages from the Pomeroy book (more about this later), and took a long nap with the kitties.

Day was warm and sunny, like yesterday. Hopes of snowshoeing went by the wayside, as all the early week’s precipitation has melted or turned to ice.

Saw a new exhibit of retablo’s and santos at the Fine Arts Center yesterday. Impressive. Grabbed a promotional flyer to mail to the old folks. They won’t get up to see it, but mom will enjoy reading about it.

Ups and downs...

Can’t recall a spring when we’d had this many snowfalls so close together. Looks as if we’ll get upward of a couple of inches tonight. Not thrilled about shoveling the walks and drives again tomorrow, but happy the mountains are getting the moisture.

Finished “The Laughing Monsters” last night and immediately wanted to read it again. Johnson is my kind of writer—a realist with a sharp sense of humor, and the power to set off lyrical pyrotechnics when you least expect them. I love his work. I hope he lives a long time, and never stops writing.

A new HVAC unit was being installed on the office rooftop this morning. Lots of banging and clanging but managed to pull together a halfway decent revision of “Desperado” anyway. Can’t decide if I should try and shorten the piece (it’s coming in at close to 9,000 words), but feel I need the back story to make the direct action credible. We’ll see. One way or another, it needs to be wrapped up.

Need to get the new pieces in the mail. Year started out slow and has all but ground to a halt. No word on stories that are out. Nothing moving forward. Nothing at all. 

Captive Among Cats...

Snowing. Again. Payback, no doubt, for the long, beautiful Indian summer we had. But no worries. The forecast looks cool enough to hold all the white together, and that means at least one day in the mountains this weekend.

Spent the morning taking another pass at “The Catch,” cleaning up the last few graphs. Still feels good. Stayed in this afternoon, fighting off a cold.

Prepped cordon bleu for dinner, but Mr. Fat Cat is sitting in my lap blocking my way to the kitchen, and his accomplice in crime, Tuckleberry, is guarding the bedroom door. Who knows if there’ll be any dinner at all.

All according to plan...

Quick entry. Typical Monday, slow out of the chute. Got to the office later than planned, but made the most of the morning. Put in some good revision time on “The Catch,” and expect to have a good reader’s draft in hand before the end of the week.

Weather glum. Not sure if there’s more snow in the immediate forecast, but wouldn’t be surprised. Hope to make it up to Mueller this weekend to do a little snowshoeing, so if we’re going to get dumped on again, please make it Thursday.

Almost finished with The Laughing Monsters. Enjoying it. Need to get back to the Pomeroy book, too, so I can get my review written. But one thing at a time, right?

A whiter shade of pale...

Late to bed, early to rise. Saw a small herd of elk while having coffee in front of the fire. Said goodbye to the cabin a few minutes before eleven, and headed home through Boulder Canyon.

Day was overcast and foggy, but the roads were clear for the most part. Lots of snow in the forest, much of it still clinging to the pine boughs. Stopped at the Bald Pate Inn to have look-see, even though it was closed. Took a few snaps and drove on.

Stopped at a little dive called the Millsite (somewhere outside Nederland) for lunch. Proprietors seemed surprised to see customers. Place was an old log cabin, heated by woodstoves, and so cold inside you had to eat with your coat on. Our server (the owner?) was a pretty woman in her fifties or sixties. She wore red lipstick and a black ski band over her ears. Clomped around in heavy black boots. Had soup and fries. Soup went cold pretty fast, but the fries were good. No exaggeration to say it was warmer outside than in. 

Got coffee in Boulder at Starbucks. Drove through from there. Came home to happy kitties and a warm house. Looking forward to a quiet evening of wine and pizza. 

Notes from Estes Park...

Ignored the DOT and drove up to Estes Park last night. Found a cabin on the river.  Roads snowy, but not the hard pack and ice the weather reports carried. Spent the night by the fire, drinking wine. Later, went outside to listen to the coyotes yammering on the mountainside.

Up early. Finished a good draft of the Christmas story I’ve been working on—tentatively titled “Visions of Sugarplums”—then drove up to the park to do some snowshoeing. Park was closed, so headed back into town to do a little sightseeing. Had lunch at the Stanley Hotel, (Burgers, fries, and a nice tall Guinness.)  then spent the afternoon kicking around town, window shopping.

Cold day. Nine degrees, and a haze of snow over the peaks. Sky white since 10:00 this morning.

Looking forward to more time in front of the fire tonight, and a safe drive home tomorrow. Came across a herd of mountain goats browsing near the road on the way back to the cabin. No elk, yet. A small rabbit’s been parked under a pine bough near the river the whole day. Seems to like it there.