Friday Snippet #17

This will most likely be my last snippet from this, as I'm getting pretty far into the story. I haven't finished it yet, but when I do, I'd be thrilled if anyone wanted to read the completed draft. I hope you like it.
Here is the list of characters:
Grace- witch Caitlin-shapeshifter(aka Shadow)
Caerwyn- Caitlin's twin(aka Smoky) Laura- Grace's Teacher
Dr. John- also Grace's teacher (married to Laura)
Bronwyn and Brychan- Caitlin and Caerwyn's parents
Angharad- Caitlin's sister
Ellen and Cordelia- owners of the Bell and Candle Bookshop

“Okay, let’s get started. For this, why don’t you lie back down on your little nest in the kitchen? Owen, if you could close the drapes in the dining room? Before you lie down though, I need you to take your clothes off. You can put on this robe here.”

“Okay, here goes.” And stepping out of my clothes, I pulled the robe on, tying it shut before lying back on the stack of cushions Owen had brought down for me.

“Now what?” Owen asked, sitting beside me and letting me lean against him.

“Now I check for booby traps. And hopefully counteract any that are there.” Opening her bag, Ellen pulled out several candles in a variety of colors: red for health, strength, and courage; orange for attraction, adaptability, and encouragement; yellow for protection; green for healing; light blue for health, patience, tranquility, and understanding; violet for healing, peace, and spirituality; and one white candle by itself because it was Monday. Owen and I both sat and watched as Ellen walked around the room setting up the candles and then lighting them.

“I’m going to start by drawing off any negativity around you,” Ellen explained, sitting down next to me on the other side from Owen. “If you could open your robe?” I did, and she sat forward shaking her hands as she did so and started the ritual. Taking several deep breaths, she placed both her hands on the side of my head and ran them down the sides of my body all the way down to my feet, just barely touching my skin as she did so. Reaching my feet, she took another deep, cleansing breath, shook out her hands and started again. Seven times, she did this. After the seventh time, she sat back on her heels, shaking her hands out and smiling.

“Somehow, healing others always makes me feel like I’m healing myself. Now, let’s look for booby traps.” Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a small wooden cup, a small bottle, as well as a baggie full of rosemary stems. Filling the cup from the cup, gathered the rosemary into a small bundle and dipped the tips into the water. She then shook the sprigs so the water sprinkled over me.

“I’m working with a lot of supposition here.” She explained what she was doing as she did it, repeatedly dipping the sprigs into the wooden cup to replenish the water. “I haven’t dealt with too many curses or booby traps. I figured whoever had set the booby traps did not have your best interests at heart, and in that case the holy water might react to the presence of any ill intent.” Sprinkling the water on the top of my head had no effect. Neither did sprinkling it on my face, or my throat, but then we didn’t think there would have been as Ellen hadn’t found any booby traps the other day.

Sprinkling the water over my heart produced a single rune: an inverted pertho. Ellen took one look and jumped back, sitting on the bare floor and giving a whole body shake ending with a vigorous shake of her hands. “Well, I’d say we found some definite ill will. An inverted pertho. If this were a reading, every interpretation I’ve ever read says if you pull an inverted pertho to stop immediately, that fate is preparing to deal a crushing blow. I’d say dying would have been a crushing blow. Now, let’s check the remaining chakra.”

“Which ones are left?” Okay, so I was ignorant. Sue me. I wanted to know, and asking seemed easiest.

“There is one at the solar plexus, the sacral chakra, and the base or root chakra. May I?” Sprinkling water on solar plexus, and the chakra between my legs didn’t reveal anything, but some of the water had dripped onto my stomach revealing patches of runes. Sprinkled with water my stomach was covered with inverted runes. “Let’s see what we have here: this one is Uruz which inverted means rough times ahead, the thorn is Thurisaz which inverted means danger such as malicious and determined enemies…”

“No. You don’t say.”

“Sarcasm will get you nowhere, young lady. Let me finish. Inverted Ansuz, Kaunaz, and Tiwaz mean in order losing the ability to communicate, the fading of the light of enlightenment, and lastly betrayal by a man.”

“All very interesting but I’d like to know what they were supposed to do.”

“I think I can answer that one.” Ellen sat back, rubbing her hands down her arms all the way to her fingertips, as if washing off some remnant of my problems. “Somehow it has tied the lower three chakra together and interrupted the energy flow as well as the chakra’s primary functions.”

“Which are?” Owen asked that one, drawing designs on my arms with a fingertip, sending lovely shivers up and down my body.

“The solar plexus controls mental functioning, power, control, and the freedom to be yourself.”

“I can see that, it’d be hard to think it someone knocked the wind out of you.” Owen smiled, tickling my ribs.

“So the sacrum would control, I’m just guessing here, sexual energy?”

“Doh,” Ellen laughed, sticking her tongue out at me. “Not only that, but also emotion and creativity.”

“And the root chakra?”

“Security, survival, and instinct.”

“And what would interrupting those functions do.”

“Well, I think we saw a good example yesterday. I’d say that your mental functioning as well as your instinct for survival were seriously impaired. Wouldn’t you?”

“I wonder what else they were planning on using this for.” Owen had wrapped me in his arms, both of us feeling seriously wigged by the severity of what we’d discovered. “They must have had more than one plan.”

“Maybe something that combined control and emotion with sexual energy?” Ellen shrugged apologetically. “I could come up with dozens of possibilities here, but it would all be pure speculation.”

“That’s just scary.” I shuddered, holding onto Owen’s arms as if he were my favorite teddy bear. Oh wait, he had been. “So how do we get rid of it?”

“I wish we could find out how they got painted on your stomach, don’t you?” Owen leaned into me, resting his head on top of my own.

“Hell yes, but right now I’m more interested in getting them off.”

“Okay, here’s my plan,” she began, rooting around in her bag and pulling out a variety of small bottles and jars. As she explained her plan, she also showed us which jar and bottle we needed at each step. “First, we’ll wash the affected areas with holy water,” she held up a small clear glass bottle with a moon and star on the front of it, “then rub anointing oil on them. I’ve made this myself but you might want to start making your own.” The bottle she held up was a delicate hand-blown shell shaped bottle of a deep cobalt blue. “Lastly for good measure, I’ll give you a mixture of cinnamon, geranium, peppermint, and rosemary.”

“I’ll not only be safe, I’ll smell like a bakery.”

“You’ll be safe, that’s the important thing.” She was serious when she said that, but I was happy to see the smile flitting around the edges of her mouth. If I could make her smile I knew we could get through this.

“So do we do this now?”

“Actually, I’m going to leave all of that to you two.” Ellen handed the necessary bottles to Owen. “Performing this kind of healing has an effect on both the healer and the one receiving the healing.” She smiled shyly and blushed as she said that. “So I’m going to be a good wench and go help Cordelia open the shop. Take your time, Owen. We can handle things for a while.” And packing her back, she gave me a hug and a kiss before following Owen out of the kitchen and to the door.

“So now what, do you want to go upstairs and do this? Or stay down here.” Owen was back, looking at the bottles and jars Ellen had left us.

“Let’s just stay here, and get these off of me, so I can take a nap?” I was still tired from the day before.

“Certainly,” Owen smiled; pulling open the robe that I’d tied shut. Reaching out, he slowly rubbed his hands up and down my arms, making me revel in his touch. I don’t think either Cormac or mum was aware of this, but growing up I’d known his body almost as well as I knew my own, even before we were lovers.

The nice relaxing stroll down memory lane was shattered by the icy cold water splashing across my stomach, which started burning where the inverted runes had been drawn. “Let me know when the burning starts to fade.” Owen handed me two dish towels to keep the water dripping down my sides from soaking the robe. The runes started itching, then burning, and then felt like they were on fire they were so hot. They were even hot to the touch (so I know it wasn’t all in my mind).

The next bottle of holy water felt hot, as if the heat from the runes had warmed it. The third bottle, however, had me gasping in shock. It felt like it had just come out of the freezer. As soon as he heard me gasp, Owen stopped pouring the water over me, after making sure that both areas had the same reaction, and instead handed me a warm towel to dry off.

“That was the hardest part, according to Ellen,” Owen sighed, sitting back and resting his head in his hands. Watching me writhe in pain had not been easy for him. None of this had been easy for him: for either of us really. But he chose to stay, and I was very grateful.

Struggling out of the cushions until I was sitting up, I put my hands on his shoulders and pulled myself forward until I was sitting in his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck, whispering into that soft sweet-smelling spot just below his ear, “Thank you for helping me with all of this, I couldn’t have gone through any of this without you.”

“So you don’t think I’m the man that’s going to betray you?”

“What? You? Not only no, but I’d say hell no.”

“But I’m sitting with you, and I keep thinking about Caerwyn…”

“And I’m sitting with you, and thinking about Caitlin, and Caerwyn. How mixed up is that? All I know is that we’re ass deep in some really weird shit, and I need you to see me through.”

“And I don’t think I could make it without you either.”

“So we get through this weird shit, break the curse so we both can see Caitlin and Caerwyn, and then figure this whole thing out.”

“Who knows? They might tell us we’re both daft and that they have decided to run away with the milkman.”

“We’re good?” I smiled as Owen nodded, then shook his head in wonderment. “Now, let’s get this thing done so I can take my nap and you can get to work. Sound like a plan?”

“Sounds like.”

Lying down once more on the cushions, which I later found out belonged on the garden furniture, I settled myself, watching Owen as he took the bottle of anointing oil in his hands and rubbed the bottle slowly back and forth, letting the glass bottle absorb his body heat. Pouring the oil into his hands he rubbed them together before rubbing the oil on my stomach, slowly and gently. As with the holy water, he didn’t just rub the spots that had had the runes drawn on them, but instead rubbed the oil over my entire torso. He even rubbed my shoulders, my neck, and under my arms.

Feeling his hands on my skin, knowing it was my sweet Owen doing it, was amazing. The oil was warm. His hands were gentle and soft. And the massage was sensual, and relaxing, and soothing, and calming, and tranquil, and peaceful, and comforting, and restful, and…

I heard Owen’s gentle chuckle, and felt him bend down to kiss my forehead as he whispered, “Sweet dreams.”

Thursday 13 #24

Thirteen Places I'd Like to Visit in England, Wales, and Scotland

I'm not sure when this will happen, but I've started planning my next big trip: England, Wales, and Scotland (Yay!). So I thought for this weeks TT I'd list 13 places I'd like to go on this trip. This list is not in any particular order.

1) Bath (the Abbey, the city, the Roman Baths)
2) Stonehenge (I turned 21 there- reason enough to go back, no?)
3) St. Ives- beautiful light, great hiking trails, and a branch of the Tate gallery (if you click on the link and look at the picture- I don't remember any of those buildings being there-sigh).
4) Isle of Skye (and hopefully the Northern Lights)- didn’t get that far north the last time, but I intend to).
5) Lake District- my idea of heaven. With flowers. And poetry. And great walking. 
6) Edinburgh (and of course, the Castle)- saw the castle last time but only spent one measly day in the city (long before J.K. started creating Harry’s world).
7) Hadrian’s Wall-milecastle forts, housesteads, and more great walking.
8) Rosslyn Chapel (yes, I read the book- and enjoyed it- but the pictures of the building in the movie did it for me- gorgeous picture).
9) Hay-on-Wye- 30 used bookshops in one town, what’s not to love.
10) Oxford- Yup, gotta go. I’d love to see the Bodleian Library, but I don’t think it’s open to the public.
11) York- city walls, Roman buildings, the River Ouse.
12) Loch Ness- yup, we’re looking for Nessie.
13) Inverness-another great place to walk.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!




The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Poetry Monday

My first book, which is sitting, lost in a slush pile, is a fantasy full of magic and pirates and mad gods and adventure, and while working on it as well as the beginning of the second book, I started working on more of the back story. I also started writing the myths and legends that frame the world view of these people. Here is one of them. I hope you enjoy it.

In the beginning came words: Names. People names, place names, thing names. Names for the animals and plants the people knew and saw and discovered. But the people remembered the elements. Some people remembered the earth that formed them and they named the trees and the grasses and the animals of the plains. Others remembered the water that shaped them and they named the fish in the seas, the shape the water took as it flowed down the mountains and over the plains and into the endless sea. Those that remembered the air that inspired them named the birds that flew and the plants that grew in the high places. Those that remembered the spark that lived in their hearts gave names to those creatures that lived in and around fire, as well as the emotions given to them by their own spark.

The names they gave the plants and animals around them also shaped the thoughts of the first people, and this made some people nervous, particularly those who did not have the drive to name or to explore or to discover. Life was as close to perfect as it could get in those days, people still disagreed but there was no enmity or hatred or violence.

And those days would come crashing to an end.

Toba, son of Nami and Maré, was insanely jealous of the people, and of anything that stole Maré’s attention from him, for he thought that she should be all his. She, of course, did not agree with him and insisted on paying attention to her mate (Nami), her other children (Eala, Shala, and Inish: Toba’s brother and sisters), as well as those people she and Nami had created. Toba got so jealous that he blew his top, and his temper tantrum caused a volcano in the southern sea to obliterate itself. Smoke and ash were blown into the atmosphere so far and wide that the sky looked like flames, the stars were blotted out at night, and for the first time the people felt the breath of frost on the air.

Time past, the moon waxed and waned, but the breath of frost never left, instead it got colder and colder. Snow fell, the rivers and streams froze, and the people learned to built huts, and smoke fish, and build small fires to warm those huts. The snow continued to fall until, when the spring came, in the high places of their world the snow did not melt, but changed. As the snow continued to fall, the snow became ice, became glacier, until rivers of ice inched their way down from the high places, gouging the land as they passed.

Nami and Maré knew that if their people were to survive, they would have to separate: that they were too numerous for one area of land to support. They divided their people into twelve groups and led them off to their own patches of ice-free land. Travel was hard between these groups, but the adventurous, the discoverers, the explorers, and the descendants of those who had named the things and people in their world made the trips and kept the twelve tribes aware of each other and passed news. They also brought youngsters from one tribe to another, allowing the children of the different tribes to meet and marry, promoting peace between the tribes and preventing inbreeding.

Those who traveled between the tribes also remembered the elements: those who remembered the earth that nourished them, they became the scholars and historians, writing of what life was like before the snows fell and why it started; those who remembered the water became the navigators who led them safely over the rivers of ice to the other tribes; those who remembered the air learned to send their thoughts to others; and those whose hearts remembered the fires that warmed them all became the poets, the storytellers.

The Bards.

Friday Snippet #16

This is the scene that follows the one from last week. I'm sure there is more to say, but it is late, I am tired and I can't think of it. Oh, the cast of characters:

Grace- witch Caitlin-shapeshifter (aka Shadow) Caerwyn- Caitlin's twin (aka Smoky)
Laura- Grace's Teacher Dr. John- also Grace's teacher (married to Laura)
Bronwyn and Brychan- Caitlin and Caerwyn's parents Angharad- Caitlin's sister
Ellen and Cordelia- owners of the Bell and Candle Bookshop

Enjoy and let me know if I've forgotten to add someone to the cast list. Thanks.

I woke to the feeling of warmth. Cocooned in soft warm sheets and fluffy warm blankets with a solid warm body against my back, it took me a while to realize that I couldn’t remember how I’d come to be there, nor did I know exactly where there was. I suppose I should have been worried about where I was or how I had gotten there, but frankly Scarlett… I was warm and comfortable, and didn’t feel up to questioning it. So I rolled over, and snuggled into the warmth of Owen’s chest, enjoying the feeling of his arms around me, and tried to fall back to sleep.

“Gracie, I know you’re awake.” Evidently Owen had other plans. “Come on, look at me.” He started rubbing his hands up and down my back, which felt really nice, and then up and down my arms, with small circles on my shoulders and along my collar bones which felt even better. One of his hands had just cupped one of my breasts, which felt great, when a vaguely familiar voice whispered, “Do you think we should leave? Give them some privacy?”

“We have company?” I tried to whisper but it came out as this hoarse, froggy squeak, of all things. Someone found it amusing, I heard one snort, one cough, and felt Owen’s ribs shake as he tried to laugh quietly.

“I hate to break it to you, babe. We are the company.”

“Then we probably shouldn’t be making out on their… Um, Owen? Where are we?”

“Inside our store.” And somehow I knew that this was Ellen speaking and could even hear the smile in her voice, I opened my eyes and found out I was right. She sat down on the edge of the large lounge we were on, and took my hand, looking at me very seriously. “How are you feeling? You gave us quite a scare there. We walked into our courtyard and you were sitting there covered in snow… You didn’t even have the energy to shiver. Can you talk about it?” Somehow I knew she was counting my pulse and my breaths.

“I was running errands,” I had to think about it, and quite honestly I almost wasn’t up to it. “I wanted to give Owen as much time with Caerwyn as I could. I had finished my shopping pretty early and decided to come and visit you. The store was closed but figured that you wouldn’t mind me sitting in your courtyard.”

“In the snow?” Cordelia asked, sitting down on the lounge on Owen’s side. She had been adding another blanket on top of us when I woke.

“It hadn’t started at that point. It was getting cloudy, but no snow. I was just going to sit for a moment and catch my breath, and the minute I sat down I felt this overwhelming sense of despair and abject abandonment. It was so bad; I just kind of went away. And I guess that’s when it started snowing.”

“Did you feel that bad before you sat down?” Ellen had somehow perfected Dr. John’s talk-them-down-off-the-ledge voice. I couldn’t get too insulted though; they’d probably talked to Dr. John and Laura and knew that I’d actually been on the receiving end of that voice a time or two. Not that I was suicidal, that would have taken more energy than I’d had during those times. This however, was not one of those times, and I told them so.

“No, I was missing Caitlin and everybody at the farm, and thinking I should call Mum and Cormac when I got back home. But it wasn’t overwhelming me.”

“Have you ever ‘gone away’ before?” Ellen asked in her own voice, for which I was profoundly grateful. If she’d kept up with the kid gloves, I would have been pissed, and it’s very rude to get pissed at someone who just saved your life. I think I read that somewhere.

“Yeah.” I shrugged. I so did not want to talk about it, but I realized they were only trying to help. So I went on. “Only a couple of times, though.”

What, you wanted more?

“May I check something?” Ellen asked, cradling my hand in both of hers. “It won’t hurt, but it might seem strange to you.”

“No, I don’t mind.” Something told me that I could trust her and that she would never hurt me intentionally.

“Could you sit up a bit?” With her help, and Owen letting me lean against him, I was barely able to sit up, but I did it. Ellen let go of my hands and cupped my face in hers, looking carefully into my eyes she reached up and kissed the top of my head, looked into my eyes again and then kissed my forehead between my eyebrows, looked into my eyes again and then kissed my neck right at the larynx, looked into my eyes again and then lowering the blankets covering me slightly, she kissed me right above my heart.

Or rather she tried, but as she lowered her head to kiss me a jolt of static electricity jolted us both.

“Well, that was rather unexpected.” She sat back, absent-mindedly rubbing her lips. “It seems as if who ever put this curse on you also laid some pretty serious booby traps. And they either know you, or have access to someone who knows you.”

“Why do you say that?” Owen asked, pulling the blankets up around us both and hugging me to him.

“The booby trap was focused on your heart chakra, which is where you are most vulnerable right now, missing so many people as your are. That’s why when you sat down you were overwhelmed with emotions. The question we need to answer is how well does he know you? We need to know if he knew you’d had disassociative episodes in the past. If he does know, you may have to keep someone with you almost constantly. Causing you to have one during a blizzard is only one way to use them against you.”

“Because if he does, he can send something that causes me to have an episode like I just did, and then send something else while I can’t do anything about it. Like the snow?”

“I doubt he sent the snow,” she smiled but very generously did not laugh at me. She was serious when she explained, though. “He did set the booby trap so you would be caught outside and at risk for hypothermia. If we hadn’t come along when we did, you could have died.”

“Did you call Owen?”

“No, he met us at the entrance to the courtyard. Seriously underdressed for the weather, I might add.” Cordelia turned to Owen, looking confused. “You never said what brought you out.”

“Caitlin. She was absolutely convinced that something was terribly wrong with you, and that you needed me right that minute. So I threw on some clothes and came here.”

“So she can’t talk to you or see you, but she knew you were in danger? That could work to our advantage. It could at least allow you a small margin of privacy.”

“But right now the only question we should be asking is- do you want to stay here, or go home and get in your own bed? You need lots of rest, and hot tea, and perhaps a nice warm bath.”

“Home, please?” I tried not to whine as I looked back at Owen, but I suspect I looked rather pitiful. But he just smiled and nodded.

My clothes were soaking wet, so I ended up putting on one of Owen’s new pair of boxers, my new jeans, and a couple of the shirts I’d gotten for him. Ellen helped me dress, so that Owen could put on his own clothes.

Did I mention neither of us had had anything on?

Again?

Somehow given the choice between staying dressed and freezing, and being naked and warm, the absence of clothes didn’t seem like such a big deal. Warm is good. Warm is very, very good.

Thursday 13

Thirteen Movies I'd Like to Get on DVD

I had a friend over for Taco Night, and we played some on my playstation and then decided to watch a video, only to find out that my VHS player had died (after 8 years and much use). This means if I want to watch these movies I will need to get them on DVD, thus the list. I was going to post the covers with the movies, but I've been trying for a long time, and getting nowhere and I've got a wicked headache, so the list will have to do for now. Good night, all.

1) Princess Bride
2) October Sky
3) Deep Impact
4) Jurassic Park 1 & 2
5) Volcano
6) American President
7) Fried Green Tomatoes
8) Hunt for Red October
9) The Love Letter
10) The English Patient
11) Nell
12) Notting Hill
13) Shakespeare in Love

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Poetry Train Monday

Sorry, I've got nothing new for you today. I worked this weekend, and spent time with friends. I'm also doing the 70 Days of Sweat with Sven, who will not be pleased with me this week, my word count is pathetic, but at least it is some improvement (the numbers don't show that I cut out about a thousand words and have started tightening things up which will cut out about another 2 or 3K, at least). But such is life, at least the summer (and the three summer reading programs I was running) are over and life can go back to normal (sort of). Anyway, I thought I'd share this poem with you, it was written by Carl Sandburg and if I'd been able to go home I would have taken several lovely walks in the woods around his home. Enjoy.

Home Thoughts
by Carl Sandburg

THE SEA rocks have a green moss.
The pine rocks have red berries.
I have memories of you.

Speak to me of how you miss me.
Tell me the hours go long and slow.

Speak to me of the drag on your heart,
The iron drag of the long days.

I know hours empty as a beggar’s tin cup on a rainy day, empty as a soldier’s

sleeve with an arm lost.

Speak to me …

Friday Snippet #15

So I intended to post this last night, but there was a late night thunderstorm and the internet was acting up (although I'm not sure if the former caused the later). I could see my blog just couldn't sign in or even read the comments (sigh).

This week's snippet follows last week's, but not immediately after. This is the next morning, though. Hope you like it. I won't be around to everyone else's snippets until tonight I'm going to Williamsburg to go shopping (outlet malls *g*), so I'll read them when I get back.

Sitting at the counter with Smoky and Shadow perched beside me like a pair of sphinx, I diced onion and left-over boiled potatoes, and sliced some of Brychan’s bread while Owen brewed a pot of coffee and cooked the bacon before pouring the soon to be scrambled eggs into the bacon pan.

“Where’d you learn to cook?” I asked, walking into the kitchen. Taking some of the bacon grease Owen had saved, I heated the fat before adding the onions along with pieces of the bacon and sautéed the lot before adding the potatoes.

“Cormac taught me a few of his secrets, and got me interested in learning more.” He smiled at me as he said this. We both had been taught a great deal by Cormac, much more than just a love of cooking, which in itself was a gift. “It’s a skill that’s helped me out many times, especially at school.”

And taking the eggs off of the stove, he began making plates of food for the four of us. Generous helpings of eggs were joined by strips of bacon and a healthy serving of the potatoes. The kitties got some of everything but the toast and the coffee.

“Was it a military school? Like you were afraid it would be?” With the food served, I made us each a mug of coffee.

“No, unfortunately, where they sent me turned out to be some sort of paramilitary/cult school. That’s where I learned more than I ever wanted to know about Hell Hounds, and then some.”

Putting the mugs down next to our plates, I wrapped my arms around his waist. “I’m sorry they sent you away and wouldn’t let you stay with us. We all wanted you to. You did know that, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I knew.” He sounded wry and was tense when I first hugged him. But after a few minutes he started to relax, draping his arms around my shoulders and hugging me back, before leading me to the counter where our breakfast awaited us.

It was very distracting, to say the least, to sit at the kitchen counter and watch two young cats making their way daintily through plates of eggs, bacon, and potatoes. But taking up my fork, I ate a bite of the eggs and was soon making my way through my share of the meal.

The food was delicious and I ate like I hadn’t eaten in days, but even with the good food and Owen’s comfortable, and comforting presence, I could no longer ignore my feelings. I knew that Owen would have disagreed if I told him, but sitting there between him and our two cats, I felt like a third wheel. All I could think was that if I weren’t there Owen and Caerwyn could be together and Caitlin and Caerwyn would be able to shift out of their feline forms and have a chance to eat enough to keep both forms healthy.

“I need to run some errands; do you want me to pick up anything for you while I’m out?” Once I decide on a plan, I usually want to just go with it, and this was no exception. Besides, being this close to Caitlin and not being able to see her or talk to her or hear her voice made me feel more apart from her than if we were far apart but could talk on the phone.

“Do you want some company?” Owen looked up as he asked, as if he expected me to say yes.

“Thank you, but don’t you already have company?” I looked pointedly at Smoky, who looked up from his plate long enough to wink at me before devoting his attention once more to breakfast.

“You stay here,” I assured him when Owen started to insist, “Spend time with Caerwyn, you two deserve it. Really.”

“If you’re sure…”

“I am. I have to go upstairs and get dressed, and if you have your list ready when I get back down I’ll pick up whatever you need.” I figured his list would be mostly basics, and when I read it I was right, but adding his list to my list didn’t add that many stops to my shopping trip. I quickly jotted down where I was going and what to get at each place before heading out.

The air was bitter cold, and the sun’s light seemed very weak indeed as I headed out. First on the list were the necessities: the chemist for toiletries for Owen and school supplies for myself, then a discount place for boxers for him and warm-up pants for both of us, as well as a couple of pair of fleece lined jeans for each of us. Neither of us was prepared for the temperature to stay this low for any length of time.

I would like to tell you how I walked all over London that day, but the truth of the matter was I stuck pretty close to home. Everything I needed I could find in my own little slice of heaven, including a Starbucks, which went a long way to thawing me out.

I had finished my shopping in almost record time, and wanted to give Owen and Caerwyn as much time as I could, and so I decided to go visit the Bell and Candle to reintroduce myself to its proprietors. The sky was getting dark as I entered the mews, even thought it was only just approaching noon. I was disappointed to realize that they were closed on Sundays, but thought that they wouldn’t mind if I sat and enjoyed the quiet and the stillness of their garden.

Laying my packages on one of the benches, I sat down on the other to enjoy the peace and quiet, and was engulfed in a feeling of total despair and utter desolation. The pain and loneliness were so painful it actually hurt to breathe. I pulled my knees up, wrapped my arms around my ankles, resting my forehead on my knees, and lost track of everything in the wake of the despair and aloneness that was beating me down. I didn’t even notice that it had started to snow, or started to accumulate. The last thing I remember is hearing two vaguely familiar voices calling my name and then darkness.

Help!!!!

Help! I've lost my comment button and can't figure out how the bleep to put it back. I've tried the Help button and it keeps telling me to look for text in the HTML in the brackets, which aren't in my HTML Template. I tried to copy and paste the Comments allowed, but again it doesn't tell me WHERE to post the bloody thing. I've tried every thing I can think of to fix it. HELP!

I just found it again. Never mind. It's been a very (very) long day. Good night all.

Thursday Thirteen #22

Thirteen Things I Remember as a Kid I was stumped for a topic and trying to procrastinate, when I saw Shiloh's TT and borrowed her idea (I didn't think she'd mind- our lists are quite different). 1) I broke my nose when I was four (earliest memory? I’m not sure). 2) My brother and I taking a walk when we were visiting my grandparents, getting lost and ending up halfway down the mountain (they’d told us not to cross the street but the road curved so much that to get back either would have been all the way up the road we’d come down or cross the street and cut the trip in half)- again I was four- he was eight (I was the one that knew we could get back by crossing the street). 3) In third grade, a girl in the safety patrols was struck by lightning and killed (somehow I don’t remember it from that year, but from hearing about it the next year), what I do remember was she was walking home in a storm and carrying a metal lunch box. 4) Breaking my arm when I was nine. 5) And again when I was ten (same arm. yes, I was a graceful child, wasn’t I?). 6) Reading the Hobbit at ten, and the Lord of the Rings not much long after (that summer in fact, if I remember correctly). 7) Taking a field trip in fourth grade (and again in fifth) to spend a week in the Florida Keys in a program called Sea Camp- where we did lots of swimming, studied plankton, and explored mangrove swamps. 8) Spending a month at the beach, with my arm in a cast (see #4). Not allowed to swim, but only wade in the shallows (I had learned to swim practically before I could walk). 9) Borrowing my sister’s romances: I remember reading Ashes in the Wind by Kathleen Woodiwiss and Devil’s Desire by Laurie McBain (in Middle School?). 10) Going to summer camp after 6th grade and coming face to face with my very first real live, up close (and very tall) horse. The hardest part was getting on the bloody thing when the stirrup was up roughly equal to my shoulder (I have short legs-which didn’t help). 11) Getting to visit a school friend who had moved away and spending a whole month with her and her family and then flying home (she lived in the country and had her own horse- I lived in south Florida and had a sea grape tree in our front yard). 12) My mother catching me reading my sister’s romances and just saying, “I can’t believe you’re reading those.” 13) Getting glasses in sixth grade, and suddenly realizing why I’d never been any good at softball or tennis (watch the ball? Yeah right). Links to other Thursday Thirteens! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Monday's Poetry Train

Okay, I wasn't sure if I should post this, but I'm going to go ahead an do it (be brave, right?). The inspiration for this came from the blog, Nothing But Red. It's not a happy poem, but I hope it moves you. I seem to have the seeds for several more poems coming out of this, I'll try to do better next time.

Nothing but Red

You colored my world
With cinnamon dreams
With sky blue hopes
And sea green schemes.

You raised me on tales
That revealed to me
A rosy-fingered dawn
Over a wine-dark sea.

You said life was a rainbow
The future a gem
But you never told me
It was meant only for them.

Your boychild was given
Life’s golden key
That closes the cage
You built just for me.

But when I would protest
And when I had fled
You colored my death
With nothing but red.

Friday Snippet #14

Plotwise this week's post follows snippet #12, not last weeks (which was the revised episode of the curse). I think this might give some answers (as well as new questions- don't want everything answered yet, do we?). I've started writing again (yay) after my two week dry spell, and there's a lot that's going to happen, very soon. I'm hanging cliffs left and right, there are new characters, and we're bringing in "the big boys". Enjoy.

“What’s in the bags?” See, I found something to say after all. Walking down the street, I had suddenly realized that Owen was carrying two extra large canvas totes with dark green handles and bottoms: evidently Bronwyn shared Laura’s fascination with all things L.L. Bean. I reached out to take one, and he handed me what I somehow knew was the lighter of the two.

“This,” he raised his bag with a big grin, “is mum’s two-alarm chili, mum’s chicken and dumplings, and last but not least mum’s comfort casserole. It’s kind of like lasagna, only with skinny noodles and with sour cream and cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella. It must be good; Bronwyn had to fight off the whole crew when she packed our bags, including Brychan.”

“What’s in my bag?” I asked, smelling the aroma of fresh baked goods.

“Da’s chocolate chip butterscotch brownies, Da’s Banana Bread, and two loaves of Da’s whole wheat bread. They really do love you, you know?” He looked at me seriously. “This curse has them all shaken, but don’t ever think that they’re going to just forget you and leave you like this.”

“I know.” I smiled wistfully, sighing as I wished on a field of clover. Somewhere in that whole field, there must have been at least one four leaf, don’t you think? “I feel like I’ve known them my whole life.” I paused for thought, trying to ask my next question without insulting the only person I could talk to. I shouldn’t have bothered.

“I don’t know why I wasn’t affected,” he answered, laughing at the look of utter disgust that I must have worn. “Don’t worry, I’m not reading your thoughts. I don’t have to. Just read your expressions as they show up on your face. I’d love to play poker with you; I doubt you could bluff your way out of a canvas sack.”

“I’ll have you know, my inability to play poker has nothing whatsoever to do with my inability to bluff but my inability to give a dam about a card game. I usually stop paying attention somewhere between ‘hit me’ and ‘go fish’.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Owen asked, following me to the top of the double decker bus that would take us back into town. “This part of the trip’s going to take a while. Now is as good a time as any to talk. Any questions?”

“Banishment?” I started with the first thing that popped into my head, “I don’t know why, but for some reason I’m picturing those scenes in movies when someone is banished and everyone around them starts turning their backs on them, literally turning around so all they see are backs.”

“Actually, according to my teacher, banishment is one of the most powerful old magics still alive in the world. And what those scenes in the movie were doing was recreating the ritual that was used to set the magic in motion. Only I gather the effects of the ritual were more like what happened to you.”

“Who taught you about this? Someone in that school they sent you to?” Watching him squirm, as if those questions made him uneasy, I had a flash of understanding, and I knew. “It was Cormac, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. The drive home when he picked me up usually took several hours, and we had plenty of time to talk. He taught me lots of things on those trips, and told me lots of what I thought at the time were just stories, but now I know were so much more: including the story of the Banishment.”

“I wish he’d taught me some of this, told me those stories.” I can admit it now, I whined. I was so jealous, I could have spit.

“I think I know why he didn’t. And I have to say that in his position I might have done the same thing.”

“Alright, Einstein, tell my why he told everything to you, and not to me.”

“You were just a little bit of a thing; you were as open and trusting as a ray of sunshine. You could no more keep a secret than you could fly, which meant that everything you learned you shared with everyone: from tying your shoes to memorizing all the kings and queens of England to going peepee on the pot. And yes, I actually remember when you told me that, it was big news in your world, and you shared it with everybody.”

“And there were people in my life that didn’t need to know he’d been passing on his knowledge?” I was trying hard not to blush, and failing miserably. I’d told him I could go peepee on the pot? Oy.

“Oh yeah, from the very beginning, there were. And these stories would have been just the sort of knowledge you would have been dying to share with everyone.”
I could see that, it just about killed me, but evidently Cormac had known what he was doing. Not that I wasn’t going to give him a smack on the arm the very next time I saw him, but I could understand. I guess.

‘Now you know how I felt all those years.” Owen’s words broke the silence, and knocked me on my ass.

“I’ve always known. I just couldn’t do anything about it.” Leaving my seat, I climbed into his lap, holding him in my arms and cradling the back of his head in my hands. “Letting you go back to those people who never loved you as much as we did, broke my heart. Every damn time. And Cormac taught me that loving you and letting you go wasn’t have as hard as what you went through, but coming to us was what made it bearable for you, so we had to just suck it up and do it: if we truly loved you. And I always have.”

We were quiet the rest of the trip to Dr. John and Laura’s house, but it was a comfortable silence. Sitting side by side on the bus, I held his hand as I tried to think of other things: working on the garden for Laura, working on the projects she had assigned me, how I was going to fall asleep without Caitlin beside me, anything but the reason that she wasn’t here with me now.

Owen, from the look on his face, was thinking about Caerwyn. He had that look, part wonder, part joy, that said that he had felt Caerwyn’s growing affection for him and was amazed by it: like a child who had never had a Christmas suddenly getting everything he’d ever wanted.

“You can go back, if you want,” I offered, hoping he’d refuse but wanting to give him the option anyway. “I know what it feels like to miss someone that much.”

“Thank you, but I kind of have to stay in the city.” He blushed shyly; very happy about something as he explained. “I’ve got to go shopping and then go to work. I’m starting a new job Monday, one that Bronwyn helped me get, in fact. It would take too long for me to get there from the farm Monday morning.”

“Cool, where’s the new job?”

“The Bell and Candle Bookshop, over on…”

“On Cloister Mews, off Leicester Square.” I interrupted, jumping in my seat in excitement. “That is too cool. Laura took me there. That is the coolest bookshop. I could do some serious buying in there.”

“Yeah, I’ve been there a few times when I managed to get away from the hounds, and the owners are both really cool ladies. Would you like to go with me Monday? They might be able to help us out of our current predicament.”

“That would be great.” And for some reason, I felt hopeful. I even managed that bloody lock on the first try.

I managed to hold onto that hopeful feeling as we unpacked our goodies, took our afternoon tea out into the garden, through dinner, and up until the time to go upstairs to bed. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, I turned to Owen, who stared back at me looking as lost as I felt. The thought of spending the night alone was more than I could bear. I just knew the nightmares would come, worse than they’d every been, and with no one to help pull me out of them I would be trapped, reliving over and over the terrors of my life.

Taking a deep breath, I held my hand out to him, and with his hand in mine, I slowly climbed past Dr. John and Laura’s floor, past their guest rooms which neither of us felt like disturbing, up to the top floor and my room.

Opening the door, I let him go in before me. He looked around, a smile growing on his face, and I shared his happiness. They had created this room for me, and even with them no longer here, I felt it. They cared for me and wanted me to be happy. They had made a home here for me, for as long as I wanted it.

Profoundly touched, I turned to look out the window, and froze. Sitting on the ledge, plastered against the closed window, sat two cats: huddled together to stay warm looking up at the rain as if it were a personal insult.

“What are you doing here?” I cried, running to the window and pulling them through the narrow space I could make without endangering either of them.
Gathering Shadow and her twin Smoky (so named, according to Bronwyn, for his childhood penchant for rolling in the fireplace, sometimes without checking to make sure the ashes were cold), I held them both in my arms, carrying them both to the bed and wrapping them in the blanket I kept folded at the foot. Warming them up I realized that Smoky was wearing a collar, something I’d never seen Shadow do.
Looking closer I realized it was a piece of paper, and that they must have written us a note. Carefully unfolding it, I read it aloud to Owen:

Dear Gracie and Owen,
I know we agreed to stay away until we find a way to break the curse, but being apart from you made Caitlin feel like pulled taffy. Saying good bye to you both did let us find one thing out. Seeing you as cats was no problem, but once with you none of us could shift back to human, even mum and da. I guess whoever cursed you didn’t know about us. Something to think about, maybe?
Anyway, I promised to keep an eye on Caitlin and keep her safe, and it felt wrong to be away from you, so here we are. Maybe we can weaken the curse enough that I can shift with you there, Gracie. We just wanted to let you both know that we love you and that you’re not alone.
Caerwyn


While I was reading, Owen had joined me on the bed and was holding Smoky like he was the last real thing in the world. Shadow was in my arms, plastered to me like she had Velcro paws, and I held her listening to her purr and felt that maybe there was hope, and thinking so wasn’t a fool’s dream. We slept that night, Owen and I, side by side, each of us with our cat curled up against our legs.

Thirteen Things I Learned about Colors I was doing some research on the names of colors and came up with some interesting trivia and decided to share. 1) Khaki comes from the Urdu word meaning dusty and is actually a sandy brown with no green in it at all. 2) The word green and the word grow both come from the same Germanic root. 3) The word red is related to the Greek eruthros (and where we get words like erythrocyte, which means red blood cell) as well as to words like russet, ruby, ruddy, and rust. 4) The word puce actually means “flea colored” (from the Latin pulex via French). 5) The word taupe comes from the French word for mole (although wikipedia doesn’t clarify if they mean beauty mark mole or burrow in the earth mole). 6) Beige comes from the French name for a type of woolen fabric usually left undyed 7) Ecru in french means unbleached 8) Maroon comes from the French name for the sweet chestnut, whose fruit is that distinctive brownish-red color. 9) Orange the word for the color was originally narangah the Sanskrit word for the fruit, which became the Persian word narang and the Arabic word naranj, until it became orange in French, in part because the town of Orange in south-eastern France was once the center of the orange trade. 10) Mauve comes from the French word for the mallow plant, whose stems were purple. 11) The word vermillion means “worm colored” because of the mistaken belief that the dye was produced by a worm (it’s an insect). 12) The word scarlet actually refered to a high-quality cloth which may have originated in Persia, and could have been blue or green as well as red (the more common color) “So Will Scarlet of Robin Hood legend may just have been well-dressed.” 13) The fuchsia plant, with its purple-red flowers, commemorates the sixteent-century German botanist Leonhard Fuchs, “though delicately re-pronounced to spare the blushes of the innocent”. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Monday's Poetry Train

Okay, here is today's contribution to the poetry train, hope you enjoy it. I have to run some errands but I'll be back to check out everyone else's poems.

The First Day

I stood in the doorway,
Nervous excitement
Making me jittery,
Okay that might have been the extra large
Frappaccino I’d had getting ready.
Looking down, I worried about
My clothes, would they understand
This summer uniform?
I had my gear beside me,
Everything I’d need for today.
I’d stayed up late planning
what to bring with me, what to wear.
The clock chimed.
It was time.
Grabbing my paperback in one hand,
My iced tea held securely in the other,
I opened the screen door
Stepping out onto my deck.
Settling into my long (long) neglected
Beach chair, I sat back with a sigh.
Let the vacation begin.

Friday's Snippet #13

Okay, so I was originally planning to go on, but since there was such confusion over the curse I would post the revised version of that snippet and hope this time it showed how the curse worked and affected my characters. So here it is. I'm starting where Laura explains the projects she wants Grace to work on. Please let me know if this makes more sense now. Thanks.

“I’ve got a couple of other projects for you, Gracie,” Laura began, waiting for the four of us to finish our breakfast and clear the table for Bronwyn. “You don’t have to start on them today, but you might want to start thinking about them.” As she said this, she laid on the table a bag of rocks and a deck of cards, and explained.

“I think we might start with these. The rocks are rune stones, or will be when you’re done. You can buy rune stones, but they work better when they are made by the person who is going use them. And this is a deck of Tarot cards, this deck is mine, but back at the house I left a package in your room of heavy paper cut to size so you can make a deck of your own, I want you to research some of the various decks available and then design your own. I don’t think that divination per se is one of your talents; I do think that these will make excellent meditation tools for you. Even back in college you seemed to be able to make intuitive leaps that followed you own internal logic, and I think these will help you.”

“Design my own deck? How?”

“There are four suites in the minor arcana and then the major cards. Take a look at how the other decks use different symbolism, and find a symbolism that is meaningful to you.” And she tossed the deck to me, setting off a chain of events that would change all our lives.

I caught the deck before it hit the table, and felt a small jab as something sticking out from the box pierced the tip of my ring finger. Opening the box, I pulled a small thin needle from the business end of the box. My brain was working as fast as it could, but my thoughts were coming very slowly and is if from a great distance. My stream of consciousness had become a string of random non sequiturs.
A strange lassitude washed over me. I watched silently, almost idly, as three drops of blood dripped from my finger to the table top: those three innocent drops that triggered the curse, but when it had been set and by whom was a mystery. The most frightening thing of all was that through it all, Owen was sitting beside me looking as if his heart were breaking.

“It’s called Banishment,” he explained, and somehow I knew that they could hear him as well. “It’s a nasty piece of work. In this case, I’m guessing it was triggered by the three drops of blood, which also gave it enough power to set it in motion. It’s not really a curse, but more of a trap. It takes your own powers, pours them into your shields, and uses your own shields to isolate you. The shielding being erected around her is so complete that you won’t be able to hear her or see her or speak to her. And she will not be able to see you or hear you or speak to you either.”

“How do we break it?” Caitlin asked, fighting back tears.

“I don’t know,” He admitted. “Until I saw the blood, I didn’t even know it had been set, let alone triggered.”

Looking over at Caitlin, it was suddenly too much and I had to try and reach her.
Pressing against the shield, I reached out and hugged her for all I was worth, stretching until I could rest my forehead against hers. The pain that ran through my head was worse than anything I’d ever felt before, but I ignored it as long as I could to hold onto Caitlin and let her know that I loved her and that I would find a way to break this curse.

“Is this harming Gracie?” Laura asked, looking at me shocked, “She’s bleeding!” Sitting back, I wiped my face with my napkin to find that my nose was bleeding and I was somehow crying blood.

“Only because she was fighting the shield, if she lets it surround her it won’t damage her.”

The people around me were slowly going out of focus, like my contacts, or my eyesight was failing. And though I could tell that they were talking to me, I couldn’t hear the words and then I couldn’t hear their voices. The most frightening thing of all was that through it all, Owen remained sitting silently beside me.

While I could still see them, however unclearly, I looked over at Laura. She was looking back at me, staring into my eyes and saw my fear and my determination in them. The fear was winning as I lost the ability to see them.

Laura’s eyes were the sight that followed me into exile and loneliness. Knowing what I know now, the eyes I should have been staring into as the world changed before me were not Laura’s but Bronwyn’s. But foresight is evidently not one of my talents.


“Now what do I do?” Sunk in despair, I had forgotten that Owen was, for some unknown reason, unaffected by my Banishment. I asked the question rhetorically, not expecting a reply from the seemingly empty room.

“We’re going back to Dr. John’s and Laura’s house.” Owen answered calmly, smiling sadly as I jumped to hear his voice. Taking my hand in both of his and holding it, he sought to ease my pain. “The curse shouldn’t affect anyone we meet there, so we should be safe. They’ve convinced Caitlin to stay here, though she wasn’t happy about it. Dr. John and Laura are going to help us research how to break the spell, and we can work on it in the city. And Bronwyn and Brychan are not without resources. They’ve promised to help as well.”

“We?” I know. That word gave me more hope than any two letters have the right to, and I was probably an idiot for feeling so hopeful, but I did so there we were.

“You didn’t think I’d leave you to face this alone, did you?” Owen smiled sadly, “That would be a miserly thank you for saving my life, don’t you think? Besides, I promised Cormac I’d take care of you, and I don’t think there was an expiration date on that promise.”

“When should we leave?” Now that I had a plan, I was anxious to get going, even if it did amount to running away. Staying here, at Bronwyn’s farm was just too painful; with everyone that I loved in London out of reach to me, even if we were in the same room.

God, I hoped they’d left, gone in the kitchen, something. I needed something to think about, something not related to all of this, to help me not fall apart. Owen was talking and I latched onto his words like a drowning woman.

“I’d like to take a quickie shower and borrow some of Caerwyn’s things and then I’ll be ready.” Owen’s serious, sad eyes grounded me somehow, made me able to think and not fall apart.

Not wanting to be alone, I followed Owen back upstairs and into Caerwyn and Caitlin’s suite. The room that had been their playroom was set up as part exercise room and part study: half was filled with mats for Tai Chi and Yoga and the other had two desks, each with its own laptop and rows of shelves with a variety of books. Browsing their books, I was amazed at the breath and depth of their reading material, in several different languages: English, Irish, Welsh, French, German, Finnish, and even Latin and Greek. Pulling several books from the shelves, I added them to the growing pile of things I was taking back with me, made myself comfortable and started to read while I waited for my sweet boy.

I suspected that his shower had more of the quickie about it than quickie shower, but who was I to argue when he was leaving this comfortable place, and the charming young man he’d just met, to go with me and help me with the difficult path I faced.

And we had been apart for so long that I was no longer sure what we were to each other. Or what we could be. I didn’t know what I felt for Owen, I didn’t know where Caitlin and I fit, I didn’t understand how I could feel what I did feel for Owen and yet not feel jealous of what Owen obviously felt for Caerwyn. I quickly realized that thinking too much of people I couldn’t be with would have me sobbing, but I also realized I would have to tread carefully with three other hearts and souls somehow so bound up with my own.

Good News, Bad News, and a Big Waaah!

The good news: it's not the clutch. The bad news:it's just as bad. Actually it's the cable that runs from the stick to the transmission, so I've got to replace that and a clip. For $600. Which leads to the big Waaaah!: I can't go home. At least not now. So my vacation has been postponed, hopefully only until September. The budget just took a swift kick in the ass, and the next two weeks will be tight (not Ramen Noodle tight, more like lots of tuna fish tight). I might see about going to Williamsburg Saturday though, see friends and maybe do some clothes shopping). But damn, Saturday's my mum's birthday and I wanted to be there (and go camping with the sibs). Waaaah. I'm gonna go take a nap now. Sigh.

13 Books I'm Taking with Me on Vacation Well, it might not be as bad as I’d feared. The towtruck guy doesn’t think it’s the clutch but the shifting stick that has come disconnected from the transmission (it’s in gear, unfortunately the gear it’s stuck in is Reverse). Either way I’m not leaving until Friday. Here is my Thursday 13. As promised, and not in any particular order. 1) The Da Vinci Code (by you know who *g*)- I know, but I keep catching the movie on TV and now they’ve got me curious. 2) Young Miles- Lois McMaster Bujold- Actually an omnibus that has the first three Miles books- lent to me by a friend and came highly recommended. 3) Moon Called- Patricia Briggs- Lots of blogging going on about this one. 4) Prince of Wolves- Susan Krinard- a different friend recommended her to me. 5) Stray- Rachel Vincent- looked interesting plus several blog mentions 6) Kitty Takes a Holiday- Carrie Vaughn- Read the first two and quite enjoyed them, looking forward to seeing what happens next. 7) Murder in Little Italy- Victoria Thompson- This mystery series totally rocks. Set in late 19th New York, great setting, wonderful characters. I’m actually rereading this one to get ready for… 8) Murder in China-Town- Victoria Thompson- I’ve been saving this for a special occasion *g*. I’ll try to read it slowly (yeah like that’s gonna happen). 9) Murder on the Ballarat Train- Kerry Greenwood- Set in post WWI Australia with a very cool main character, Phryne Fisher. I’m rereading this one to lead into… 10) The Green Mill Murder- Kerry Greenwood- haven’t read this one yet. Nor… 11) Death at Victoria Dock- Kerry Greenwood- this series makes me want to go visit down under. 12) Research Books- cause I’m always needing research books especially with… 13) Mine- Don’t know how much I’ll get done, hopefully enough that Sven doesn’t beat me when I get back. I’m coming back either the 11th or the 12th, but I’ll try to sneak in some internet time while I’m away. I’ll also be posting my Friday Snippet tomorrow, so I’ll see you then. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Murphy's Law- the Ann Amendment

Once again I have been smacked by Murphy and his infamous laws. Last night, at 9:15, as I was leaving my dayjob, I had just backed out of my parking space, went to put the car in first, and a big nothing. My clutch died!!!!! So now on the day before vacation, I have to have my car towed. Waaaaaaaah. pffft. Now I've got to go to work. Bye.