Catching up

I have been sadly neglected these Blatherings, I know. The main reason: writing and prepping for the annual summer conference of the Society of Children's Book Authors and Illustrators. Also, because I've decided to move most of my writing-related posts to Inkygirl; I'll be posting my SCBWI conference reports in Inkygirl, for example.

But there's so much other stuff I have to catch up on. Like the fact that critters in our garden have continued to ravage my plants! And that friends and family have now spotted my cards in shops in Vancouver, Toronto and Paris! (I'll post addresses of those shops soon) That I'm more in love with my iPhone than ever! That I've upgraded to Corel Painter 11! So much more.

First, though, I need to finish unpacking and reorganizing my office. The latter still looks like a whirlwind of chaos just rampaged through. Meanwhile, I am so SO looking forward to not travelling for a while. The trips have been enjoyable, of course, but right now I'd like to go back to my Office Cave and get back to my regularly scheduled program.

Back in Toronto

Above: I love the fact that I visited a place where I needed a GERT and Dosimeter for entry.

Jeff and I are back home. We had a momentary panic at the airport when we were told that our main checked bag came in over the weight limit (due more to stuff we were taking home for people rather than souvenirs :-), but Jeff redistributed the contents of our bags and the rest of our trip home went smoothly. Thanks to Walter for picking us up at the airport!



I have a ton of e-mail to catch up on, so if you have something urgent that needs answering sooner than later, please do put "URGENT" in the subject header.

Today's photos: some of the signs at the Stanford National Accelerator Laboratory. Looking into the heart of an accelerator was one of the highlights of our California trip. Many thanks to my father-in-law and his friend for making the special visit possible! Bonus highlight: We had lunch in the SLAC cafeteria, and Martin Perl was at the next table. Perl won a Nobel Prize in 1995 for the discovery of the tau lepton.

Chocolate and earthquakes and filk conventions

(Photo above is of one layer of the amazing Chocolatierblue.com gourmet organic chocolates that Joey let me try. If you're in the Berkeley area, you should definitely check out Chris Blue's shop - 1964 University Ave, Berkeley, CA.)

I thought someone was shaking my bed this morning, but it turns out to be a minor earthquake, woohoo!

Consonance was (and is) way fun. More later.

Back from NYC

I had a wonderful, WONDERFUL time in New York. Many thanks to our friend Arline for hosting Jeff and me, and I enjoyed hanging out with Arline, Harry, Jean and Jeff before and after the SCBWI convention.

As for the convention itself -- WHOA. I am -so- going to attend this convention every year if I can possibly swing it. I found it incredibly inspirational in many ways, and everyone was super-friendly. I'll be posting a more detailed report in Inkygirl: Daily Diversions For Writers soon.

After a week of jury duty and our NYC trip, I am WAY behind in e-mail so will be spending the next while catching up. If you've written and haven't received a response, that's probably why; I hope to catch up by the end of the week. If you haven't heard from me by Friday and are still expecting an answer, please feel free to nag me!