Thinky Thoughts 85: homecoming edition
So, between last post and this one there was a road trip, and it was awesome. Much goodness happened. Visiting friends, seeing local sights, playing a co-op card game for hours and hours, petting cats other than Pippin, reading & playing The Catsing Games (tm) to my heart’s content guilt-free, because we have unlimited data and we were On vacation. Megafun. But also exhausting. It was FOUR STRAIGHT DAYS OF PEOPLING bookended by 12-hour drives.
Whew. Now here it is, Friday again already, and I feel like I’ve done nothing since I got home. So I’mma write about the trip. (Be not afraid, I shall not go into Full Travelogue Mode! I did write down details from every day of the trip, but will not inflict that minutiae on anyone else.)
We only had an hour of rain total, mild drizzle at the end of the homeward trip. That’s nothing compared what we’ve slogged through on some trips, so no complaints. The wind was pretty wild for the first quarter of the outbound trip. which was a bit nerve-wracking, but it made for some excellent drama skies. And we passed through two areas showing Big Damage from tornadoes from the previous night, so we got lucky with our trip timing.
Pippin was pretty anxious about our departure (racing around the house, dropping toys on top of the luggage, shoulder-checking us any time we moved towards the door) so we were kinda concerned about how he would act when we got home.
I am pleased to report he wasn’t nearly as frantic as last time we went away for more than a day. He greeted us at the door, did lots of chirping and stropping our legs, and he insisted on being held between me and Spouseman for a big ol’ family hug, but then he was done. He happily supervised unpacking, quality-tested the carrying capacity of all laundry baskets, accepted treats, and went right to sleep.
He likes the house+catsitter, and we weren’t gone nearly as long as our previous two trips. Both those factors clearly kept him calm.
Next came the Unpackening. I learned the hard way from my many Borders business trips that I MUST unpack immediately on arrival or else resign myself to food rotting in forgotten bags and clothes rotting inside forgotten luggage for weeks.
Problem is, unpacking is hard and boring and tiring, all of which are like anti-catnip for my brain, and after travel, the only thing I want to do is collapse on a couch.
My trick? I refuse to think “I am home” until I am fully unpacked and the laundry is sorted. Since Spouseman does the driving, his responsibilities post-door-unlocking are to get his own bags indoors and opened up. Then he looks through the mail and decompresses while I take care of “the rest.”
“The rest” is just following the foundational “Surviving Life With ADHD” principle: NEVER PUT IT DOWN, ONLY PUT IT AWAY. Luggage was emptied into hampers and stowed in the closet, first load of laundry went into the washer, road snacks got sorted into fridge & pantry, road mugs went into the sink, souvenirs etc got unwrapped and filed away, second laundry load got started, and the first load of laundry went into the dryer.
THEN I was also home. I took a nice hot shower and collapsed on the couch with beverage while Spouseman—now rested enough to function again— did Needful Food Things for both of us.
I’d like to say I did nothing yesterday or today, but I activated a new iPass transponder, paid bills, caught up with friends online, did a bunch of House Chores, took stuff to a friend who’s dealing with a new round of Covid before really recovering from the previous one, picked up holds from the library, and started a new TV series. (Shakespeare & Hathaway. Cozy British PI show. So far, so good.)
I also did a lot of existential pondering. You know the kind I mean. The Current State Of the World, the huge historical hole ‘Murica is digging itself into with every passing day, the abysmal conditions too many people are living in, the rising fascist flood, and so on.
But that goes on a different blog, when I write it down at all. I wouldn’t mention it at all, except that I think it’s important to be honest about ALL the things, not just report the happy things, or the funny ones, or just the Writing stuff.
Speaking of writing, I’m still putting down Rollover bits about Izzy and Nora dealing with a stray cat and other low-stakes crises while they bond into a friendship that may Go Important Places in some future plot.
And in true bury-the-lede fashion, here’s the biggest writing newsL I heard from my writing partner about the cozy-ghost-mystery novel we wrote together. He’s been shopping it around for the last—good golly has it really been three years? Yup. Wow. Evidently it’s gotten nibbles twice, but the publishing industry is chaotic, and things kept ending up stalled. Recently things got moving again, and now we’re seriously at the “find a pen name, start outlining two more books and dig into writing the sequel” stage.
Which is pretty exciting. I like Deena, her small South-Central Illinois town full of characters, her retired Malinois doggo, and her crochet, ghostly great-great-great grandfather the Ghost Town Mayor. Rolling around ideas for book two has been the happy part of my recent pondering.
So. Anyway. That’s what’s happening in my life.
Time for pics o’ the week!
Pippin feeling needy when we went out for a walk.
One of the many cool things we saw on our road trip. This is a monument at Chickamauga National battlefield. Not shown: The swallow’s nest in up near the top of the stairwell. It was full of adorable peeping chicks. (We did not approach, but they were visible and audible from the stair.
Pippin is King Of The Laundry Basket
Until later!
What’s on your bookshelf?
This is the part where I talk about my books.
Relics From A Traveling Show
The newest of the new! A collection of all my short fictions in one handy volume, available now from your favorite booksite or local shop.
Or! OR! if you like your local library, you could request a purchase. Free for you, sale for me, everyone wins.
Most libraries need the following info for ordering print books:
Title: Relics From A Traveling Show
Author: K. M. Herkes
ISBN: 9781945745201 (paperback)
Every library system does things a little differently, but most want their collections to serve their communities, so most of them are very responsive to patron requests.
If you like novels more than short stories, I recommend my series The Rollover Files for hopepunk tales of about an alternate world where moms with midlife crisis superpowers have been saving the world and making the military nervous since 1943.
I also have a completed, quirky slow-burn science fiction thriller duology with a romance chaser: The Stories Of The Restoration.
All my titles are available from Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Hoopla, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Overdrive and many other fine booksellers.
Support your favorite independent bookseller! Find a local shop via Indiebound
Be a potato.
" Fear is strange soil. Mainly it grows obedience like corn, which grows in rows and makes weeding easy. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground."
Terry Pratchett (Small Gods)