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Instead of getting all bitter and sad about today, Mother's Day, on a day when I have no mother, nor do I want to be a mother, I decided to scan some photos I found when cleaning out my office. Seems appropriate to put them up here.

 

During the trip we took together to Italy. Good god, this was 2001. Nine years ago? Wow.

 

This is my favorite boat in my favorite town. It's always parked here, and over the years and trips, I always snapped a picture of it. Mom had it made into an oil painting for me by an artist friend of hers, Chet Hill.

 

 

We were in Venice for the highest acqua alta I'd ever seen. We bought boots and felt like locals.

 

I kind of dropped Mom in the water, though, when we were scrambling from one walkway to another, and she was FURIOUS. She was wet all the way up to her hips. She wanted to go back to the hotel to change, but I talked her into letting me buy her prosecco at the most expensive place in Piazza San Marco, and suddenly, she was all giggly smiles and wanted to go on tromping the streets.

We looked for parts of the wonderful book, Miss Garnet's Angel, and found them (like the Levantine Camel).

 

She loved the view from our hostel in Siena.

Wrong train, wrong stop, wrong city, completely lost. Whatever. We didn't mind.

 

I've always loved this photo, taken in Murano on a different trip.

RANDOM PHOTO FINDS:

There's a rose floating in the acqua alta below (didn't scan as well as the photo came out).

 

Me, Marco, Franco, and Luigi (an old gondolier).

 

In Murano

 

OMG, this picture cracked Mom UP. It was the only vaguely ribald joke I ever heard her make — this trip to New Zealand wasn't long after I'd come out as liking both boys and girls, so she saw this sign and made me go stand under it so she could take a picture. She was giggling the whole time. As was I.

 

My favorite sheep picture I ever took. In New Zealand. I am actually lying on my stomach in the middle of the road to get this — somewhere Christy or Beth has the photo of ME doing that.

 

And one of me with Mom. I love this one. Safety, happiness, all of it.

Sigh. I'm going to frame some of these and put them up in my office today. I was going to garden, but it's been pouring, oddly enough. And then back to work tonight. My (working) vacation is over, and it's back to the grind. It's all good, though. Good to have a job, good job to have.

I miss Mom, though, dammit.

I have a new office! Okay, it's still the old one, but boy howdy, did I clean it up and out. I spent 7 hours today working HARD.

And this is true: I'm a neatnik. Things have to be in their place. Ask Lala. But no one would have been able to tell in the last three months. I've been working so much that the office, already cluttered, just got worse and worse, and I literally didn't have time to fix it.

But this week, I vowed I'd clean, but good.

And because everyone loves a before shot or two, here's

BEFORE:

 

Oh, God, I'm actually embarrassed. Suitcase from the weeks gone, still not unpacked. The ball I never sit on. The bike covered in sweaters. Let's move to the next one.

There's actually a printer under all that crap, and I had to use it yesterday. This is what it looked like AFTER being used. Sigh.

 


Dumping zone. Nothing more needs to be said. 

But now? After working all afternoon? My office is AWESOME.

 

I like that I put the wheeled things together. Hee.

 

 

I have room! Space! Order!

Just in time to start working again on Book Three (Book Two is out of my hands, with the copy editor.)

There really isn't anything as satisfying to me as putting things to right. You would not, however, know that when I'm doing it. There's isn't a bigger whiner-slash-grumbler than me. I walk around the whole time, moaning about how difficult everything is (I carted almost everything out into the living room at La's suggestion, and every time I thought I was getting anywhere, I'd remember all the crap that was still in the living room. I decided we would just have to move).

But it's done now, seven bags of garbage outside, four for donation, three for recycling. (I even threw away a few UFOs — acrylic nonsense that I had no reason to hang onto for this long. That felt good.)

That noise you hear is me sighing in happiness. Ahhh.

Hey, I'm on my way home! And I'm blogging today over at the PensFatales (a picture of me on a pool table is over there)…. Come say hi over there, since I'm not home here yet.

Did you know that Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland are really close to each other? Dude! It was the weirdest thing, driving through all four in five hours. In California, I can get to the other side of Oakland in the same time (almost).

Just a quick post before hitting the Super 8 sheets (MAN, does Maryland smell good right here — woodsmoke and trees and something delicious blooming), but today's signing was great fun. The highlight was this:

Crystal was DARLING. She held my sock (photo idea a la Yarn Harlot), and she made my day. Oh, and reader Kate coming by! (We didn't do a picture, but it was great to meet her, too.) 

I am so lucky.

And sleepy. Bed now. More driving and then Maryland Sheep and Wool tomorrow! WOOT!

Just a note, if you're planning to come to the signing on Saturday in Columbus (see here), I should make it clear that it's NOT a reading, it's a whole huge room of 300 authors (see here for list), all signing their books. And there's a five dollar cover charge. I just wouldn't want you to drive a long way to say hi, and then find out there are lines and charges. And no reading.

However, I would still LOVE to see you and say hi, iffen you wanna come by.

1. Stitches South was awesome. I met approximately one bazillion knitters, and sold a bunch of books, and spent time with the amazing Carolina Homespun booth (Morgaine, Lann, and Nada), and grinned like a fool-idiot for hours at a time. Best parts? When strangers who hadn't ever heard of my blog came up to me and told me that they'd loved the book. One woman told me she'd forgotten to pick up her kids at school as she raced to the end of it. Heh. And I met long-time readers who felt like old friends. Oh, yay. Loved it.

2. Saw the gang.

Look how cute the twins are with their babies, one out, one in. ADORABLE.

3. Hotels rock for sleep. I had one rough night (and the convention center kept giving me killer headaches that would almost morph into migraines and then get chased away by sleep), but for the most part, I sleep so well in hotels. Especially in this Best Western in Columbus (near the airport). Dang, this is a fine, cheap Pricelined hotel with a huge, comfortable bed, pretty furnishings, not-too-stale air, and a shuttle driver (Frederick) who puts all the others to shame (and he's a writer!). But today I move again, to be closer to the Romantic Times convention.

4. Today I get to go yarn-crawling with editor Theresa Stevens of Red Sage. We're making a tradition of it, convention-wise, and I think it's a very fine thing to do. And she rocks.

5. I am so glad we don't, have never, and never will have a TV in the bedroom. I learned last night how fun it is to flip channels (I NEVER FLIP CHANNELS) and watch dumb TV in bed. No wonder so many people do it! I'd have a serious TV problem if there were one in the bedroom. And there's nothing like falling asleep in front of Hoarders to stir up dreams of chaos. (Can't wait to get home and tear apart and reorganize my office. I will finally do it, I swear.)

6. Just ate free breakfast from downstairs. I never knew eggs could come shaped like that. 

7. More adventures coming!