75,000 words!

Hooray!

Where I'm working

It's so lovely to sit in the sunny dining room (with Mink) and type away. Also, my chair is right next to the fridge, which can be handy but can also be fatal, depending on whether we purchased anything particularly yummy with our groceries.

I'm still embroiled in the first draft, which means that all my words are used up and blogging is tricky. Sometimes I feel like I have a quota of words that I can use each day and, if I'm working furiously, I run out. So LOML gets monosyllables when he gets home, my brain feels like a wrung-out sponge, and I struggle to remember words like 'marmalade.'

Perhaps Mink should start a blog.

Birthday barbecue

To round off my birthday week (yes, it has become a full week now), LOML and I joined forces with our friends Sandhya and Gaurav to have a picnic in a local park. Gaurav's birthday is the day before mine, so it seemed like a good idea! We had a lovely day, complete with a margarita machine and a barbecue lunch catered by Rudy's.

The famous margarita machine.

Rather a lot of tequila goes into it.


Festivities!

Filling up the tequila vat ...



Me and LOML!


Just a couple of the Rudy's "fixin's" that came with the barbecue.

Furry friends were invited too.

Gaurav.

LOML making NZ proud.

Matching the tablecloth.

Iced tea!

Cutting up my vodka-spiked watermelon (inexpertly).

Brisket!

The aforementioned vodka-infused watermelon.







Dogs aplenty!

More pictures from the brewery tour!

Photos above courtesy of Sandhya Ganesha.

Literary kiterary

The lovely Lucille sent me an email today recommending Writers and Kitties, a site celebrating the bond between writers and their cats. I just love it! And it's wonderful to see some of my favourite authors represented there. As Patrick Evans, my once-upon-a-time MFA advisor says, "Every cat should have a writer."

Allen Ginsberg.

Colette.

Doris Lessing.

Francoise Sagan.

Ernest Hemingway.

Neil Gaiman.

William Carlos Williams.

William Faulkner.

Birthday continues!

Yes, I am spinning it out well beyond reason, but LOML was away in California for my actual birthday and so we celebrated today! He treated me to brunch at Kerbey Lane, followed by a vintage shopping expedition and a second brunch (linner? But we had breakfast food again. Like hobbits) at Bouldin Creek Cafe. This year might just be the best birthday I've ever had. Thank you, LOML (and Texas).

And, even though I was the one on a vintage spree, LOML found a treasure - a vintage Stetson, complete with hatbox! I can't wait for it to make its virgin voyage atop his head.


Kerbey Lane! The current pancake special is Lemon Poppyseed, and I highly recommend them.






Post-shopping Second Breakfast at Bouldin Creek Cafe.

A birthday present from Sandhya - mini-Mink.


We bought Mink a wee present too, and met a Texan cousin of his in the store.