Long time no see

I haven't written in several weeks and when I looked at the calendar, this all made sense to me. The past six weekends, we have either traveled or hosted guests. As you can imagine, I felt a little overwhelmed and tired. Also, my web host/server moved and my username changed but it took me a little while to figure that out.

Things have now resumed to "normal."

Recent news: our daffodils and azaleas are blooming. Also, a bush that Nate and I are trying to figure out the name of. I will try to post pictures later because they are lovely. Update: Nate says the bush is called plum delight.

Last week, I went to the AWP conference in Austin. These days I don't have a writing community or a group or anything so it was nice to be around writers again and to hear plenty of conversations about writing. However, it was also a reminder that many writers are full of shit (myself included, probably). Half the time I think, why are we talking so much? Why aren't we just writing? But the panels and readings were fun and I got to partcipate in writing talk, which I hadn't gotten to do in a while. That was nice, writing/conversation bullshit or not.

I also got to hang out with Joi, Kit, and Enzo and also the Cicada Oaks Stulls (shout out to my homies!). This was all good. I drank a little too much, congratulated one of my old undergrad profs who was getting a lifetime achievement award thingie (who remembered me despite the passing of many years), and visited the new Whole Foods in Austin. That place is awe-inspiring. Also, I saw Oscar Casares. He is one tall Mexican. And Walter Mosely and a few other people who, when I saw them, I wondered ... who is that? How do I know them? And then I realized I just recognized them from their book jacket photos.

I still miss Austin and after visiting I now understand why. I miss the nature, walking around, all the hippies, and my friends. But I also think I'm in Dallas for a reason, maybe to learn something, and the truth is I love our house and our 'hood.

Except ... we got toilet papered the night we came back to town. Part of me thinks this is just karmic retribution for all the similar things I did as a young hooligan. I did worse, actually, and as Nate and I were walking around our front yard surveying the damage, we both said, "amateurs." We know the technique, see, and these kids obviously were novices.

But. But. They stole our garden gnome who, despite costing a mere 99 cents (scored during an off-season sale), we both had an out-of-proportion attachment to. The fact that we were both so bummed out about a missing 99-cent gnome helped us come to a realization. We are no longer the people who steal garden gnomes. We are the people who BUY garden gnomes. Cheap garden gnomes, but still.

Also, we were thankful they hadn't crushed any of the six new plants we had just put into the ground mere hours before the perpetrators had their way with our trees. In a word, we are old. And that's ok. But we miss our gnome.

I hope they send us pictures.