It was a marvelous honeymoon! It flew by, though at the same time, it was quiet and relaxing.
Though we expected rain the whole time, Wednesday was actually pretty and sunny, so we went for a hike up Turtleback Mountain. We are soooooo out of shape, but the exercise felt good.
Then it DID rain the rest of the week, so we stayed inside by a roaring fire and played cards and worked a puzzle. You know, like one does on a honeymoon.
Thursday evening we had planned to splurge on a fine dinner out…only to be thwarted, in the best possible way. That is to say, we had an amazing dinner, complete with celebratory dessert–
–and when the bill came, all it held was a note from my parents, wishing us a happy honeymoon and me a happy birthday. Thank you, generous parents! 🙂
Friday morning, my actual birthday, we slept in a bit, then I picked up my phone and said, “All right, let’s see all the Facebook birthday wishes.” (I love all the Facebook birthday wishes, if that’s not clear!) 🙂 I opened my email and indeed there were many many many wishes…but mixed in with them was a little note from John Scalzi, with a link to something, wondering if I’d seen it yet.
Well the link was a pretty dang amazing thing!
Yes, Our Lady of the Islands did not just get a gorgeous, starred review from Publishers Weekly, but they also named it one of the best books of the year! Not a bad birthday present at all. It’s STILL sinking in; I still can’t quite believe it. (And I am still sad that Jay did not get to see this. He would have been so, so pleased.)
So, I’ve been kind of walking on air since then. And organizing a few signings/readings, which I will tell you about when it’s all worked out. I’m putting together a little West Coast tour. Except for southern California. At least so far. 🙂
Friday afternoon, we did some shopping in town, including viewing the famous Pig Heads in the Island Market butcher shop:
That evening, the innkeepers hosted a party–for my birthday, and Mrs. Innkeeper’s birthday, and Halloween, and our wedding. We told folks to come in wedding clothes, and a lot of them did!
Miss D (on the left) is in charge of costumes for the local theater; but Miss M (on the right) is wearing her actual wedding gown from fifty years earlier! I’m impressed. I only fit into mine because it had only been a few weeks. 🙂
The food was thematic too:
That’s a birthday cake on top of a Halloween cake on top of a wedding cake. (Plus, naturally, the Cake Topper Couple.)
And these are some scary, scary eggs:
Then it was Saturday and we came home! And have been noses-to-grindstone ever since. Orycon is this weekend, and we’ll be selling things in the dealer’s room. Including a few early (very early!) copies of Our Lady of the Islands….Publisher Jak has sent me a few and said it’s okay to sell them, so if you want to read it before December 9, come find us! We will also have prints and note cards with Mark’s art, and other books (ours and others’), and I don’t even know what all else, but it will be marvelous.
And that’s enough news for now, I think!