Morning garden

I've gotten in the habit of taking a look around the garden when I get up, before the heat hits. I love the morning solitude, and the fragrance of growing things helps ground me before I jump on the computer. Above: morning dew on mint leaves this morning. Below: baby tomatoes on the vine. I'm crossing my fingers very hard and hope they're still around when I get back from the SCBWI conference in L.A.!

Cottage Weekend

Sunset at the cottage. Photo taken on my iPhone.

Spent the weekend at the cottage with Jeff. It was the first time in years (possibly seven years...we were trying to remember) that the two of us have had time alone up at the cottage together. We spent the weekend reading, napping, and swimming.

I read TWO ENTIRE BOOKS on Saturday (SCARS by Cheryl Rainfield and WONDROUS STRANGE by Lesley Livingston), sitting on the dock in the sunshine, with a breeze coming off the lake. Both books were very good.

Played a game of Race For The Galaxy as well as Smallworld with Jeff, the latter game on the iPad. One of my goals for Race For The Galaxy is to be able to play this game at BGG.con without being quite as lost as I was last year.

PERFECT weather. Jeff and I had both braced ourselves for a sweltering weekend, but the temperature eased off the recent hot spell. I even needed an extra layer in the evening (!).

Wonderful, wonderful weekend. Which is good, since the coming week is going to be incredibly busy as I get ready for the SCBWI conference out in L.A.

Yet another reason I'm glad I joined Twitter: Torkidlit

Photo by Cheryl Rainfield, author of the newly released SCARS.

Had a TON of fun at the Torkidlit tweetup earlier this week. The Toronto Middle Grade and Young Adult Writers' Group was founded by Claudia Osmond (in above pic with me), who contacted us through Twitter and organized the very first in-person gathering ("tweetup").

We've been meeting every month since then, and you can read my report with photos: Torkidlit Tweetup: July 8th, 2010.

You can also follow Torkidlit tweets by searching for the #torkidlit hashtag on Twitter. You can find out more about the group at the Torkidlit website.

My husband, Cat Rescuer! And a question for you cat owners out there...

Jeff  rescued a cat from underneath a neighbour's car yesterday morning.

This may not seem like a big thing to most of you but then again most of you might not realize that Jeff is NOT a morning person and is also not a cat person (like me, he's allergic).

But let me start from the beginning.

Yesterday morning, I went out to do some weeding in the front garden. For some weird reason, I've fallen in love with weeding lately. No, don't bother inviting me come over to weed your garden because I've plenty to enjoy in our own, thank you kindly.

Anyway, I was eagerly heading down our front driveway with my styrofoam knee pad and garden gloves in hand when I noticed our next door neighbour's feet sticking out from underneath his car. One of the things I love about our neighbourhood is the fact that although we neighbours are friendly with each other, we respect each other's privacy. So although I was curious (I hadn't realized my neighbour was into car mechanic type of stuff), I didn't say anything and just kept walking by.

But then he said, "Are you good with cats?"

Apparently a cat (who was wearing a collar, and a leash dragging behind it) had climbed up INSIDE the bottom of our neighbour's car and had gotten himself trapped up inside the frame. Our neighbour's son happened to notice part of the red leash lying outside of the car on the driveway the next morning and decided to investigate.

Good thing, else things might have gotten messy if the family had decided to go anywhere in the car. Our neighbour had taken the leash off, which seemed to have gotten tangled around part of the frame, but the cat was still wedged up inside the car,  unable to turn around.

I'm not particularly good with cats but I do find that my friends' cats find me attractive, probably because I'm trying to ignore them because of my allergies. Cats don't seem to like being ignored. It's like they're thinking, How dare this lowly human not recognize my overwhelming cuteness? Why is she not fawning over me? I'd better turn up the charm.

So I put my knee pad down on the pavement and lay on top of it to peer under the car. All I could see was the tip of its tail hanging down. Eek. Was it even ALIVE? I tried coaxing it out with my best "hey kitty kitty" voice" and the tip of the tail curled a fraction of an inch. *Whew*...at least it was still alive.

Nudged it gently with the end of my Swiffer mop, but the cat barely moved, though I could see its face now. Its eyes were half-closed, and I could see its tail curled again a little bit, but that was it. Poor thing...I figure that it must have tired itself out during the night.

By this time Jeff, who had been sleeping in because of a late gaming night, came out to investigate. Can't imagine what was going through his mind when he saw me lying on my stomach on our neighbour's driveway, the top part of me underneath their car, apparently talking to myself.

When I gave up, he gave it a shot as well. He managed to wedge himself further under the car and was actually able to touch the cat. By shifting around and gently pushing the cat, Jeff finally managed to nudge the creature's hindquarters out. By this time, the cat had evidently decided it had had enough of the whole situation and was making more of an attempt to get out as well, and a short time later, it finally dropped to the pavement.

Without a thank you or disdainful glare, it just casually strolled away. Maybe it was just too embarrassed and was already pretending the whole messy affair never happened. I've never been able to understand cats.

Meanwhile, Jeff was dirty and had a bad crick in his neck and shoulders from trying to reach and then manipulate the cat. As our neighbour went to call the Humane Society and tell them they didn't have to come over after all, and as Jeff and I hurried to get ready for friends who were arriving within the hour for brunch, I couldn't help thinking, WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT CAT THINKING?

So my question to your cat owners out there is the following: Why on earth would any cat want to climb up inside the bottom frame of a car? And with all the grace and physical agility possessed by most cats, how on earth could they climb into a space they couldn't get themselves out of?

I just don't get cats.

My comics on Writer Unboxed

For those interested, I post a writing-related comic over on Writer Unboxed twice a month, on the first and second Saturdays. Writer Unboxed is a group blog about the craft and business of genre fiction.

Contributors include Allison Winn Scotch, Ann Aguirre, Anna Elliott, Barbara Samuel, Donald Maass, Jael McHenry, Jan O'Hara, Jane Friedman, JC Hutchins, Juliet Marillier, Ray Rhamey, and Sophie Masson. I'm a fan of many of these writers, so was thrilled to be included. :-)