Summer at the Oregon coast

Been away for a few days for a family trip to the beach. It was wonderful: a little windy at times — by “a little”, I mean sandblasting, but the southern Oregon coast is wild and scenic, which means bring a jacket — and it was beautifully sunny.

Did a little hiking, a little tidepooling, a little rock collecting. Monster Girl was completely wiped out, and so was I. All that fresh air!  I love summer.

At the overlook

Selfie with sea urchin

Sleepy dog

End of Summer

What I Did On My Summer Vacation
By Jessa Slade

My summer started with a family road trip to bury my grandfather with full military honors at Arlington Cemetery. He has a lovely spot next to an apple tree with a peek-a-boo view of the Washington Monument.

Although the reason for our gathering was somber, we had a wonderful reunion with the whole clan where we spent several days at a cottage on a back channel of Chesapeake Bay, harassing the blue crabs and eating Maryland Madness ice cream (lemon ice cream with raspberry swirl, chocolate chips and white chocolate; yes, sounds like madness, but tastes like summer).

Speaking of tastes of summer, I returned home to the first cucumbers of the season. Being a lazy homemaker, I invented this great pickle recipe:

• Take 1 cucumber.
• Slice it thin.
• Put it in an empty jar of store-bought pickle juice.
• Let sit for three days.
• Eat.

This only works two or three times before you leach all the flavor from the pickle juice. As lazy recipes go, I think I’ve hit a new personal low.

The pickle juice had only just gone bland when I departed for two reader conventions: RomCon in Denver was a laff riot with events like Build-A-Hero (pictured below, where I contributed the rippling abs, thankyewthankyewverymuch) and Authors After Dark in Philadelphia.

AAD, which is geared specifically for paranormal readers, is in NEW ORLEANS next year! On Bourbon Street! A seven minute walk from Cafe Du Monde beignets! You’re coming too, right?

Scarcely had I returned home (again) when I left (again) on a long weekend writing retreat up in Washington state.

To prove I was working reeeelly hard (shuh, right):

And now I am back at my computer (again) ready to work hard (really, this time).

At the end of the week, Random.org will choose a winner from our newsletter subscribers. If you are already subscribed, just say hey. If you aren’t signed up yet, you can do that from the upper left corner, right up there, see it? One winner will get a party pack of Laurie London, Erin Kellison and Elisabeth Naughton. And I bet I can find some goodies for two more winners too, so go sign up.

We’re glad to be back! How about you? Eager for the change of seasons, or are you clinging to summer with both hands and all ten summer-pedicured toes?

Crossposted at Silk & Shadows

Currently working on: A new world
Mood: Adventurous

So I’ve been writing hard for awhile. This is not noteworthy, really, since writing is what writers do. But because I’ve been writing hard, I’ve let a few other chores slip.

This is one of three dust-apatosauruses I found under the bed. I’m not proud of my lax housekeeping skills (actually, I am, kind of; you think just ANYbody can manage a herd of dust-apatosauruses?) which is why I finally dragged out the vacuum cleaner (pictured here for scale) to tame the beasts.

[Editor’s note: No dust-apatosauruses were injured in the cleaning of this house. All dust-wildlife was released into the wild.]

Is it just my imagination — which I admit runs rampant on occasion — or does it seem to you that we’re all busier than ever? My brain is constantly humming with to-do’s and deadlines and wish-lists.

Really, the bees in my poppies got nothing on the buzz in my head.

Which is why I’m taking a summer vacation. I’ll be back the first week of September, fresh and spunky, maybe with new notebooks and first-day-of-school shoes.

In the meantime, I will be frolicking in the misty fields like Nils Blommer’s Meadow Elves:

Nah, actually, I’ll probably be writing like fiends. Because that’s what writers do.

See you in the fall!