Thursday Notes: #7
Breaking the Long Silence; or, Something of an Account of the Last Few Months
Greetings loyal readers! As you probably know from the Book of Face, my life got very busy and distracting and intense and enjoyable and also very, very sad.
So as not to bury the lede: Mom died on Friday, July 13, in the early hours of the morning. I was there (asleep in the next room), as were my brother, and my stepdad, and my stepdad’s twin brother, and my dear Auntie (Mom’s older sister, who had just arrived from Italy hours earlier). We all held hands and stood in a circle around Mom’s bed, crying and saying words and trying to believe she was really gone, and also being grateful that she was no longer suffering.
This is the picture Stepdad chose to use for her obituary in the newspaper. I just love it; it’s way back from when they were first dating (but just LOOK at her, she knows she’s looking at the man she’ll marry and love for the rest of her life). It was taken in the house we rented before they bought the house they moved to the moment I went to college (feeling very confident that I wouldn’t come back!). 🙂 Even though it was a rental, she sewed those curtains; and look at those house plants I even remember her choosing the right rug for the living room!
I guess I know where I got my nesting instincts.
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But, to take events in order: first, Mark and I went to Italy, for the wedding of my cousin. We had a marvelous time–Mark had never been to Italy–so we took a little extra time for sightseeing in Venice, and for visiting my Auntie in her little village. (That’s her front door, and her little black cat.)
We were worried about traveling so far away, with Mom’s situation as it was, but it worked out. We flew back to the States at the end of June, and then instead of coming home I just went straight there, so I had two weeks with Mom. That was hard, but good; I’m so glad I got to be there.
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Venice really does look like that.
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After Mom passed, we went straight up to Mark’s mom’s house (also in California), where she had been sorting through stuff in preparation to finish her move to a retirement community in Anacortes (just an hour’s ferry ride from here). That…took some time. 🙂 We filled up one car, and I drove it home after a week or so. Mark stayed on for several more weeks, so I was home alone. Ah, peace and quiet and productivity! Except…I promptly came down with a terrible summer cold, which ultimately sent me to the doctor for codeine cough syrup.
Mark and his mother eventually finished up at the house, filled her car to the gills (including an extension ladder that ran from the hatchback door to the dashboard, caging driver and passenger from one another), and they made the two-day drive north.
The house soon went on the market, got multiple offers, and it’s already in escrow! We’re pleased, and relieved. It’s in a remote area where we’d seen many “for sale” signs that lingered and lingered.
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So at last, Mark and I are both home. But by now most of the summer is over. While we were gone, deer invaded the garden. Rats invaded the basement. Raccoons invaded the bird feeders. Duckweed invaded the pond. Fortunately, the carpenter ants that invaded the house had the courtesy to do so just BEFORE we left for Italy, so we were able to evict them, no harm done (to the house, anyway).
Sadly, the ambitious writing schedule I’d set for myself this year is…kind of in tatters. I’m supposed to be working on the third Orcas book right now, followed by A Sword in The Sun–book two of the Nightcraft Quartet.
I’ll get back to my writing, I know I will. I always do. In fact, sitting down and writing a newsletter or two is my way of easing back into the practice. So far, though, all I’ve been doing is freelance work. And gardening (with its attendant pest-abating). And houseguests. Lots of houseguests. Which we love–entertaining is one of our favorite things. We’ve run a bed & breakfast, and we almost bought a hotel, you know. But this introvert, at least, needs a little more space to get her work–and writing–done.
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And of course–guess what?–we’re traveling again next week! A driving trip to southern California, for some important family business (and seeing dear friends, as long as we’re there). So now I am going to figure out how it works to schedule newsletters in advance. Because I have other stuff to tell you about, and this one’s getting a bit long. Fingers crossed! You’ll either hear from me again in a week, or…once we get home. 🙂