Girlfriends

Girlfriends. The kind that go back to diaper days with you, or drinking too much the first time, or your first trip to Planned Parenthood. The ones you told when you were pregnant and didn't want to be, the ones you cried with after the miscarriage. Somehow, they understood.

Over my last vacation i got to see two of them. Anne, my artist friend who had the foresight to convene the playgroup that was my sanity when my kids were little. It was good to connect to them each in their own way

Anne shared her art with me, as she has done for 20 years now, inspiring me to pursue my own. For an artist, she is the practical one. I remember learning about "complete proteins" from her, and when i asked her if she wanted to go on a trip with me, she said yes. I said, "when" and she said, "Next summer." Perfect answer, yes?

And Deb, whose business has consumed her life, in that way that is much like being in love, where you hate it when you aren't doing it, but you can't wait to do it again. Perspective, one of those things that keeps balance. Deb, my neighbor for just enough years to make it feel like forever. Her mother said of our neighborhood... it only happens once in your life when you are all young and like each other. Enjoy it.

back from the lake

The lemony light of late summer in houston is deceptive. It seems calm and fragrant and welcoming from indoors, but as soon as you go outside the air feels thick and heavy, as though walking into a sauna with too much light. The plants with full sun fade with sunburn, the water is too warm to refresh. It is still here, no one ventures outside except in the early morning or the late evening. A time of reflection before the renewal of fall.

I have just returned from vacation and started taking calls again today; the phone has been ringing all day and i am glad for that. Nothing quite as scary as coming back to work caught up.

A new client advised me that the law site is down, i will need to check into that.

Lake Shore Lit has reverted to the five year plan. The general scheme involved writer's workshops, writer's in residence and small press publishing. Because the site I liked best was a restoration project with three floors, the first floor being retail, I'd been considering a satellite bookstore through the summer months as the town is mostly populated by summer people. However i don't think working with B & N is feasible on that basis, and the wonderful independent closed down under the shadow of the giant, i'd have to recreate the wheel. I am hoping to learn more about that end of the project from ABA.. in this instance the American Booksellers Association.

I got a whole list of needy artists from TALA today so that part of the new venture is proceeding as planned. There is so much to learn, and it is good to be able to combine my two worlds for a change.