I was on track to post every day last week, but then California began burning, and I got, welp, let’s say, distracted. If you follow wildfires like I do, the Watch Duty app (app.watchduty.org) is free & pretty amazeballs. The organization behind it is totally worthy of tossing a few dollars at, too, if you have them to spare.

While not watching chunks of LA go up in smoke, I mainly did active things. All the midwinter holiday decor came down except the happy brightly-lit green trees, which will likely stay up until Valentine’s Day. I organized my office closet, and even went through my Fabric Stash. The big win was finding winter scarves I squirreled away last spring before The Flood & Renovation Adventure began.

I also made a big batch of oatmeal for using in other things, taught Spouseman how to make rice in the rice maker, and processed the last half-peck of autumn apples that were left in the fridge.

Then Friday afternoon friends visited, resulting in much wonderful chatting, con planning, admiring of crafts & reading progress, and general catching up. We forgot about eating until late, and no one wanted to get takeout in the snowy evening, so we cobbled together a delicious dish from random foods on hand in the kitchen.

And by we, I mean my friend Deb whipped up skillet fried rice, and now I know how to make it too. I chopped veg and played sous chef, and friend Taia provided supervision (NECESSARY when 2 ADHDers get to experimenting with fire…) plus got the table all cleared & set for a fine meal.

We had baked apples as our side, a nice little sweet to go with the savory rice.

About those baked apples. This is what they look like. I serious do nothing but peel, quarter & wash them, then sprinkle with nutmeg and cinnamon and bake them. This batch was all Melrose apples, which hold their shape really well, so they baked for 55 min at 350 degrees.

This weekend has been all about baking. I made two batches of cookies, a bunch of oatcakes, and more apples, plus did an herbed-up spicy pantry pasta casserole from Banzai pasta, frozen chicken breasts, a jar of sauce and a log of goat cheese. It’s a ridiculous easy way to get 3 days of dinners for the two of us.

It’s Chores & Errands week upcoming, so having a couple of suppers planned make things that much easier. What’s on tap: final (I hope) surgery followup visit, monthly supplies restock, Big Laundry, and a couple of long overdue tech replacements.

Mainly I’m gonna look at new phones. Not guaranteeing I buy one right away, but my “new” phone is a five year old model that’s no longer holding charge. So it’s time to begin the hunt.

I hate the kind of shopping where I need to buy things. But oh, well. I need, therefore I will shop.

Other things going on….not much. I’m into season 3 of StarGate: Atlantis, which has baby Jason Momoa in it, and is totally okay. My main observation is that someone in the writers room was clearly working through some issues about being smart and unpopular in school. I’ll probably write more on that topic at some point. And the utter lack of strategic thinking of all the characters is, um, somewhat hard on my suspension of disbelief.

But I’m enjoying it all anyway. It’s pretty, brain-free, and wholesome at heart despite its shaky moral underpinnings, and goodhearted is what I need these days.

Next up in viewing will be Elsbeth, I think. Severance season 2, too, but that will be relentlessly grim, so a happy, goofball mystery series should offset it.

And there’s other writing going on too, in fits and starts. And that feels good.

Now, if only the finished books got to more readers.. But that’s a mope for another post.

Onward into the week we go!

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