We have achieved Empty Nest! On Tuesday E and A drove two fully loaded cars to Rhode Island where A met his new roommate for the first time and settled who got which bedroom in the apartment A rented. The place is a real dive (though everyone assures me it's been cleaned up since I saw it), but the price was right and the location could not be better. It's only a five minute walk to campus! The apartment has two floors. The basement rooms are so low-ceilinged that A hits his head if he goes on tip-toe. The bedroom on that level is minuscule and claustrophobic, but luckily A's (shorter) roommate is taking it. To counter that, he gets the downstairs bathroom, which is larger and nicer. The kitchen is down there as well. Upstairs is a nice, small front room, which will be the roommate's study area. A's part includes a tiny walk-through bathroom, a tiny, dark, back room, and a decent-sized bedroom, all on the upper level. Definitely "student" housing. A is very excited and is really looking forward to some of his classes.

Thursday, E and I drove K to Mount Holyoke. The day started well. As we wandered around her dorm looking for the stairs, we noticed one of the function rooms was labeled "Slytherin Common Room". Another was labeled "Huffelpuff" and the biggest one with the grand piano was "Griffindor". The elevator was clearly labeled "Room of Requirement", and the dorm rooms had not only the girl's names on them, but which house they were in. On the third floor we found an otherwise unmarked door, behind which were strange humming noises. A boiler room? It's sign read "Department of Mysteries". At last we found K's room, and she was delighted to learn that she and her roommate were Slytherins. The building (and furniture) are old, nothing like the new things A had in his freshman dorm, but the room was actually spacious! It's at least 12' by 18', which is really nice for two. Plus it's a corner room with windows looking two directions toward campus with a nice tree just outside. What really surprised us is that there were two walk-in closets with floor to ceiling shelves! The closets lock with the room key, so K feels like she has a safe place (and plenty of room) for her things. There is also a small room with a sink and microwave just around the corner from her room, and the bathroom has been modernized and was very nice. Anyway, we are very happy with the dorm and room that she was placed in.

Naturally, she forgot stuff, and after seeing the room more things came to mind, such as a step-stool to help her reach the high shelving in the closet. I took her shopping while E spent hours and the usual amount of frustration trying to set up her computers and phone. He FINALLY got her desk computer working, but we never did get her netbook online (she has to take it into the library and have them do it), nor were we able to acquire a working phone number for the jack in her room. If she hadn't had the cell, we would have had no way to reach her, nor her to reach us. We were all exhausted, her period was rampaging, and she was close to losing it as time for us to leave approached and we went down to eat dinner. Then her One Card (which is both her dining pass and the entry key to the buildings) didn't work. She hurried back to the office where she'd got it, but they were closed, and Public Safety couldn't help, because they loaned their machine to the office that was closed. That meant K had no way to eat or to get into her dorm!!! Yes, they did give her food, but this was the straw that broke the camel's back. We had to leave with K in tears, terrified of being locked out and alone. So far, other than the resident assistants, there appears to be no other students in her building. She kept saying she wanted to go home.

This morning was little better. She woke me up to share her misery with a call on her cell phone, and sent several messages of woe via computer. However, she DID get her card fixed, she DID attend all the activities, and she took care of herself by deciding to forgo meals and just take some food up to her room and rest during lunch and dinner instead of trying to deal with the stressful dining hall. We are hoping that when her dorm's dining hall opens next week she will have a better alternative for mealtime. Skipping dinner meant she was able to get a PM to me through Gaia before the evening activities started, and I was finally able to phone her on the land line, as E had tracked down the right number by calling the school. Talking to us about her day (without worrying about using up her minutes) helped K calm down and see that it wasn't all bad, and when we hung up she sounded a lot better. It helped her to know that she wasn't cut off, and she was looking forward to meeting with the Lunar Howling Society in the amphitheater tonight to howl at the moon.

Wow! We all went last night to see the Cirque de Soleil. What a wonderful show. A was eager to go, as he, like me, had heard good things about it, but E and K were less enthusiastic, especially as E does not much like circuses. This one is different. E was so enthralled he bought the CD at intermission, and today I've been enjoying the haunting music. So see it if you ever have the opportunity. Some of the acts were breathtaking. Literally. The show we saw was Allegria.

At last K's graduation pictures are here for you to enjoy:



Can't see the pic? It's friends-locked. Get a live journal account and have me friend you to see. Just click on sign up. You don't have to put anything in your journal, but you need an account to get into friend's locked material. More pictures can be found here.  The thumbnails don't show the entire photo, so click on each one to see it properly.

Yet another cold rainy day. Where is summer? In between horrible thunderstorms, we had one glorious sunshiny morning--for K's graduation. What luck! Pics to come. Have downloaded from the camera, but not gone over--too wrapped up in Gaia. K and I have been meeting online to adventure, and I have been having so much fun. Love my little avatar! I really enjoy shopping 'til I drop, especially when the clothes actually look good on me and I don't have to spend real money. Guilt free indulgence! What more could I want? Besides, I get to slay evil pink garden flamingoes. Anyone else want to come play?

In real life E's dad continues to improve, but slowly. Can move right shoulder and is gaining strength on left. Can hold book, but not feed himself. My heart goes out to E's mom. This is the season of weddings and deaths. The last six months have seen us invited to four weddings (all of which were too far away for us to attend) and two relatives and a friend's husband have died. Not to mention the four major health catastrophes. No wonder I want to escape to a fantasy world where the worst that can happen is I lose an auction or get dazed.

Finished all my writing chores, but no forward work on writing. Am reading Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, and what he says makes a lot of sense, but is very discouraging in terms of my current books. Tamarind's Tale has promise, though I need another rewrite, but Troll Wives is a mess and would sink my career if it ever actually got started. Hope to get some ideas for it at TNEO, but suspect I won't get much done until fall, after the kids are gone. Perhaps I should just plan to take the summer off and play. At least I've been working on the tabards for the ren faire next week. Got the designs on eight or nine. My goal today is to actually finish some. We'll see. At least I've made substantial progress!

At least, belated in my opinion!  K has never won any sort of award for English, despite years of A+'s and gushing teachers, but finally, her senior year, she won the department award for Academic Excellence in English Grade 12, and received a nice plaque.  Very nice.  Graduation tomorrow, hope it does not rain!

E's father still improving, but slooowly.  Strength returning to left side, some movement of shoulder on right, plus when he attempts to lift his leg, staff can feel  muscles rippling under his skin--a good sign.  I am much encouraged.  His wife, L, is putting in place arrangements for him to come home.  She called and we got to talk a long time.

Finally got to talk to my niece, S, and nephew, D, on the phone while they were up in Alaska to support their mom.  It was so good to hear their voices, and everyone was doing better than I feared.  My sister, L, is still in that numb state of shock that allows one to function, but is exhausted.

My mom seems to be doing a little better, too.  At least her physical health is good.  Still a lot of trouble with the short term memory.

Meanwhile, I have been sucked into the virtual world of Gaia Online, and am having trouble focusing on anything else.  Have done NO writing since returning from MI.  I have, however, finished my round two critiques, and my round three submission, which is due tomorrow.  What I have not done is finish my synopsis, which is also due tomorrow.  Have started it.  Will finish or bust!!!

This weekend E and I went to Across The Lake in Vermont, near the New York border.  What a fabulous event!  Imagine over a hundred experienced English country dancers (I counted 110) in a beautiful dance hall, with Bare Necessities playing and a good caller teaching us challenging, beautiful, and mostly-new-to-me, dances.  And that was just the afternoon practice session!  They had another hall for those less sure of themselves where they went over the dances for that evening's ball so the minority wouldn't slow the rest of us down.  Next there was a 10 course Chinese dinner where about 70 of us gathered and sat at tables for 10.  We met a neat couple from Ohio (?) that were hardcore SCA members and a lot of fun to talk to.  We discussed using a giant trebuchet to fling cabbages at a boat made up to look like a dragon in some lake.  Then, finally, the ball, where we all returned in our beautiful gowns, tuxes, colonial garb, kilts, or whatever to find the hall redecorated with flowers, plants, and fancy dance shoes to whirl the evening away.  Refreshments included florentine cookies that had been flavored with cherry (good) and cranberry (divine) and all sorts of other delights.  The ball room held about 150, and while it was definitely full, it was not overcrowded, just slightly tight.  We met dancers from VT, MA, NY, NJ, OH, PA, and Canada as well as a good sized contigent from NH.  What an event!  We will definitely be back next year.

The news from the foot specialist is that I have a very bad case of plantar fasciitis.  There is a large pocket of inflamation with an accumulation of fluid under my heel where I injured it, swollen to twice the size it should be.  I am thankful I didn't tear a ligament or need surgery.  He is making me wear lace-up, supportive shoes whenever I walk (even just down the hall to the bathroom--no bare feet), along with a foot brace to take my weight off my heel during the day, and a different foot brace to keep the plantar area stretched out at night.  Additionally, I must ice the area four times a day, and he's put me on prednisone (an evil, evil drug) to reduce the inflamation.  He really wants me to stop walking and stay off my feet, but he did allow me to go to the dance and walk some to try and keep off the weight.  Of course I couldn't wear sneakers to dance in, for fear of twisting my ankle, but the shoes I ended using work out all right, and I danced without pain!!!  Also, my feet felt fine the next morning.  I see the doctor again in three weeks.

I took my baby on the trip and got two critiques completely finished and typed up, one on the drive there, and the second on the drive back!  The line edits were easy enough to do with paper and clipboard, but my baby allowed me to type the final report in my lap while E drove.  I feel all high techy and stuff.  Plus we paid an extra $3 to get wireless at the motel, which allowed me to check my mail, play a little Gaia, and let E check Google maps when we decided to go to the Sunday Brunch part of the event for breakfast.  (He hadn't brought the GPS.)

My brother-in-law, D died night before last.  Too upset to write yesterday.  My heart goes out to my sister, L, who is watching the world fall down around her family.  She is under so much stress.  First her daughter, S, breaks both arms and her son, D, develops a rare cancer on his leg, and now this.  Not to mention our mom struggling with her short-term memory and heart failure.  When is it all going to end?

Maybe I should have named this journal "Triumps, Treats, and Tributes" or something else positive.  I really didn't expect to have so much bad news to report.

On a more positive side, I heard that Uncle J, who could not walk unassisted for months after his stroke, was able to dance at M's wedding.  (Our mutual neice on E's side of the family.)  Also, E's dad, R, has developed more feeling on his right side, and almost enough strength on his left to feed himself.  E ran in a 3k race yesterday, and I walked to the end of our street to cheer him as he ran by, then A (who had driven) and I jumped in his car to rush down to the other end of our street to cheer him on again.

The mixed news is that I've discovered an addictively fun new online computer game, and K and I are once more fighting over the computer.  My baby is too small to handle the graphics (and is not powerful enough for this type of gaming).  The bad part is that I've fallen one day behind in my TNEO critiques and have done no real writing since getting back from MI, not even the TNEO revision.  Must do SOON.

Finally, in a couple of hours I see a foot specialist for the pain I've had in my heel since NEFFA.  Hope I don't learn anything bad.

K decided she did not want her hair up, did not want pretty sparklies in it, did not want eye make-up . . .   So, I did some fancy roping and coaxed her into a single black flower, here:

( see pic )


She did let me put a little blush on her cheeks to give her some color.  Getting ready went calmly.  She opted out of the $$$ spider necklace and went for a fancy black and diamond  pendant of mine with matching earrings and added her own over-the-elbow fingerless gloves and my enormous spider ring.  Very goth/renaissance, and very lovely.  I had E get her a purple orchid wrist corsage, and it went beautifully with her dress.

( see it here )

So glad I suggested the wrist thing.  There was no good place to pin it on her dress, and it was much easier to manage with her coat.  I lent her my black velvet dress coat as it's been cold the last few days.  The corsage surprised and pleased her.  She was stunned to receive a real orchid.  As a final touch we made her dad dress up in his tux to act as her personal chauffeur.  The phone just rang for her to be picked up.  She made it to 10:00, so things must have gone okay.  She only took her meds a half-hour late, and usually they knock her out by 8:00, and by 10:00 she's in bed.  The dance goes to midnight, but I had a feeling she wouldn't want to stay.  A did stay at his, but came straight home after, spurning a last minute invite to a post-prom party.  (Which made me glad, as he drove himself.)

More pics available to Friends ( here )

Back when I was in high school, I made my own ball gown for my senior prom (backless, slinky panne velvet in rich maroon), but it just wasn't done to do your own hair.  Besides, what would I have done with it?  My hair was long and straight and plain brown, exactly like it is today except for no grey and twice as thick.  Everyone back then got their hair done up in fabulous curls piled on top of their heads, and I wanted something that they called 'barrel-roll curls' or somesuch.  Well, prom day came and I showed up at the beauty shop and they panicked.  Apparently, my hair was too long to do in that style, or for that matter, any style the stylists were familiar with.  Well, they did get it up, and it did look nice, but afterwards it took my mom over an hour plus a bottle and a half of hair conditioner to comb it out.  Yikes!  I vowed never again.  Eventually some wonderful people published various books on braiding, and I learned to put my hair up in a French braid, and underbraid, flip-through, or rope, all of which look nice and don't cause a crisis after I go out dancing.  Unfortunately, some of the more difficult combination styles are impossible for me to do on myself, and my daughter never took any interest in learning how, nor in allowing me to try cool stuff on her long, beautiful, wavy, blonde river of hair (that puts mine to shame).

Well, tonight's the night.

Seven years ago, a neighbor paid me good money to braid her daughter's hair for her senior prom.  (Now that I think of it, that just about covered the cost of all those books!)  The girl was going to an all-night party afterwards, and wanted an elegant, beautiful hair style that was garunteed to stay up, even if she danced 'til dawn.  Her sisters and i spent an hour or so messing around with some French braiding, flowers, etc., and the results were stunning.  Her mom reported that other than a few stray locks, the 'do' was still up at dawn, looking good, and, no, it was not difficult to comb out.  Meanwhile, K keeps meeting up with various school personel who can't keep their hands off her hair, and whom she is far more likely to indulge than her mom.  She regularly comes home with her hair in a lovely French braid after going to school in a ponytail.  So, lo and behold, she wants me to do her hair for prom tonight.  (That's a whole 'nother story.  K does not have any friends or dates, but decided that, as a writer, she needed to have the prom experience and bought a ticket to go by herself.  A went alone, too, but I now know that he didn't date because he was gay.  He had a good time at prom, and has urged his sister to go.)

The downside is that K has never given me the opportunity to practice, and wants an extremely challenging style.  Worse, the combination she picked is not technically possible.  (Half her hair would have to suddenly start twisting in the opposite direction halfway through.)  Without the chance to practice alternatives, I'm not sure what to do.  Still, I am looking forward to the challenge.  I just hope she doesn't flip out with anxiety and start screaming at me.  I want to add ribbons or jeweled barrettes or flowers, but first I have to nail down what jewelry she's wearing.  She wants to wear my $400 spider necklace, but I have a couple of other alternatives and will need to coax her into trying on her dress to see what she likes best.  I hope the dress still fits; it's been awhile since she last wore it, and she hasn't bothered to try it on.   The dress is one I bought for $$$ for myself several years ago, only to be crushed that it was too small and too short.  Fit her perfectly.  I'm jealous every ball she wears it to.  Sleeveless black  stretch velvet cut in princess lines, with lacing up the bodice over a black brocade inset, and purple godets set into the skirt to give it flare.  Very gothic/medieval, comfortable (just pops over the head), and sexy, despite a modest cut.  When I gave it to her, some five or so years ago, she said she'd wear it to her senior prom, and so she is.

She's worn it to several English Country balls, so it doesn't have the allure of the new, though no one from her school has ever seen it.  The other day K remarked that all the other girls at school could talk about was what thery were going to wear.  She didn't get the excitement, and was surprised to learn that none of them had ever had the opportunity to wear a fancy gown before.  K is not particularly excited, and doesn't expect to have a good time since she's afraid no one will talk to her and there won't be any real dancing.  She doesn't even plan to wear make-up.  (I'm pushing for a little mascara, blush, and eye-shadow.  Or possibly sparkles?)  This girl does not know how to enjoy getting ready for an event--but alas, when no 'date' is involved what's the motivation?  At least she's going.  I would not have been brave enough to go without a date to mine, and in fact, had to haul along a sub-standard underclassman new boyfriend, as I'd just broken up with the one who knew how to do things right.  The new guy didn't have nice clothes, and spray painted his sneaker gold so his shoes didn't look completely awful.  (At least he tried!)  No dozen red roses or elegant dinner out with him.  Ah, well.  I hope K manages to have a good time despite herself.

It's been almost fourteen years.  He'd be twenty-two now.  With K and A heading off to college/grad school, we've been dealing with a deluge of medical forms, and not only has my memory failed me, but our doctor's office has mislaid some of their records.  Thus I headed for their baby books to look up my records of certain immunizations and childhood illnesses.  Luckily I was able to find everything they needed.  (Yay, me!)  However, that led me to paging through all three of their baby books, looking at the pictures and reading some of the journal entries I wrote so many years ago.  With his blue, blue eyes and white-blond hair, Perryn started turning heads, and someone commented that he'd be a heartbreaker in high school, and I wrote it down.  Well, my heart broke all right . . . just not the way we all hoped.  So sad.  He was so brilliant, so good with people, so darn stubborn--what a waste.  I wanted so much to see how'd he'd grow, who he'd become.  Instead, he's forever a lost child.

We got to speak to E's dad on the phone today.  R sounded good, like himself, which I found very comforting.  His granddaughter L was with him.

It's time to put up your greenbacks and buy my story.  It can be found at: http://www.specmystery.com/  for the lordly price of $3!  Ping is in issue #2 of Speculative Mystery Iconoclast.  (the title no one can remember...)

I can has purple shoes!  Hours of labor spread over three days, and I finally managed to dye a pair of sandals purple to go with all my purple clothes.  FYI, I advise that if you should choose a pair of shoes to dye, don't pick strappy sandals.  The straps were lined with a different color of leather, so all the edges had to be carefully and tediously hand-painted.  At least this time I didn't spill dye all over my kitchen table.

I can has pictures, too!  Here is the wisteria blooming through an overhead lattice just outside the sliding glass door at the back of Cousin C's house:

( One pic, )

I took hordes of pics of Meijer Gardens.  There were many strange, and sometimes carniverous, plants.
( Many pics, )

There were neat water features, mazes, a labyrinth, sleepy dragon statues, and the American Horse, otherwise known as the DaVinchi Horse.
( Pics not to be missed! )

And finally, another cool garden sculpture, the last one we saw that day:

I really can't believe the appalling amount of bad news lately.  It's getting so I don't want to answer the phone.  My mom is doing fairly well, but continues to be confused easily, leaving my sister, L, and I uneasy as to her safety.  E's dad is doing somewhat better, and has been transferred to a facility where he is undergoing intense physical therapy.  Meanwhile, E's mom, L,  is back at home, trying to cope and get things organized.  E's brother flew out for a few days to help, and bought her a Jitterbug, which I suggested.  Naturally E's parent's cannot go to M's wedding.  I feel awful that L must miss seeing her first granddaughter marry.  (Of course, we can't afford to go either, which is really too bad, and one of the things I hate most about living on the East Coast.)  This is too much like my mom missing H's wedding.  I know H really wanted her great-grandmother to attend, but she just wasn't up to it.

Meanwhile, on my side of the family, my nephew, D, had a sore on his leg that they first thought was a spider bite, then ringworm, but instead turned out to be a rare form of cancer.  I don't know much more than that, but am told it's a type that does not spread easily, buy often recurs.  As if that wasn't enough, his sister, my niece, S, fell off her horse and broke both arms!  I honestly don't know how she's going to manage.  At least it wasn't her spine.

A came home from work early today, with bronchitis.  He will be contagious 48 hours, so must miss reunion at Wesleyan.  I hope K doesn't catch it.  She has been in a bad mood since I got home, and has lashed out at me so viciously, I am still reeling inside.

To totally change the subject (and end on a happier note), I am dyeing a pair of sandals purple, and so far, so good.  Oh yes, and one piece of good news, A's application to the history department at the University of Rhode Island finally went through, and he has been accepted for the dual degree program in History and Library Science.  Yay, A!

The conference is over.  I weep many copious tears (in a redundant manner).  I had such a good time!  dendrophilous and I even won the last game of Cranium.  We snuck in an extra critique the last night, so the final morning was entirely free.  We elected to sleep in and go out for brunch.  Then sylvrilyn  uploaded all my pics so she could post them for everyone.  (kaiweilau  copied them, too.)  I will not forget the lampspider:

( see the dreadful beast! )

which gave me the creeps on our first night.

The awesome house we stayed in

( excellent pic )

Or the gorgeous view we were forced to suffer every day.  (And night!)

( oh, the agony! )

I hope fairmer  holds the conference again.  It truly was awesome.

Tomorrow, Cousin C's house and Meijer Gardens.

The other two nights of this conference, I pretty much had the place to myself when it got late, but tonight (or rather, this morning) almost everyone stayed up.  Missed making any phone calls, as was busy playing Cranium until almost midnight.  Good game.  Especially L's charades and S's blindfolded drawing of a lipstick that looked a lot more like a depiction of a certain portion of male anatomy.  Which he drew next to an easily recognizable pair of lips.  Needless to say, his partner did NOT guess the correct word, and many of us had to be scraped off the floor and given analgesics for the strange pains in our sides.

Again walked almost not at all (barely over 3,000 steps), despite much better weather.  However, my foot is a lot happier and isn't hurting anywhere near as badly.  Excess calories continue to pile up.  In addition to more pie and s'mores, today there were fresh donuts.  I mean, where is it going to end?  Poor kaiweilau  had to be pulled down from a sugar high (which we accomplished by moving up her critique session.)  Since we finished all the evil critiquing stuff early, we are now forced to do nothing but play and have a good time for the rest of the conference.  Of course we are going out for brunch, because naturally, we have not had enough to eat.

My baby continues to do well, and I managed to take pics of everyone and get one good group shot using a timer so I could be in the picture, too.  I posted them on our group site for everyone.  I'm actually feeling halfway competent about my computer and photography skills.  Will add a sunset pic tomorrow.  Will leave the house to kaiweilau, who is settling down from the sugar now, and almost back to normal, except that she is not asleep.

What?  You say I posted nothing about my own torture session critique?  Why bother?  They all said the book was perfect, and it would be a shame to change so much as a comma.  WHAT?  You doubt my veracity?  Well, okay.  There are problems.    Still.     And I don't know how to fix them.  I don't know if I CAN fix them.  I am finally becoming convinced I should try to fix them, BUT . . .    We shall see.  Will go up now and look at the bleeding wrecks of my manuscript.  Then I will try to sleep.

(Someone tried and failed to draw a belly dancer for Cranium tonight.  Too bad it wasn't a charades; bet I could have done THAT.)

Woke up to rain.  Critiquing went well.  (Of course it went well; it wasn't MY baby being torn apart by hyenas!  We were all too well behaved for the moderating to be a chore, and L had a timer to make it even easier.  Speaking of babies, the netbook is really working out well.  I was able to take notes on it when it was my turn, and then email them to the author (who was sitting next to me!)  I've used it on and off all day on one charge, and currentlly (1:28am) have an hour and 44 minutes remaining.  The cottage is all wireless, so I can sit anywhere and check my email, facebook, livejournal, etc. (letting the others vie for the chairs next to electrical outlets).  I LOVE my baby!  (Plus it's cute.)

For dinner kaiweilau  kindly offered to cook for all of us, so when we shopped, we all chipped in on "community food" as well as our personal stuff.  She made a chicken curry (using two of the other women to help chop up stuff) then the remaining woman and I washed pans and filled the dishwasher.  One of the guys put all the leftover food away, and the other hauled out the trash and finished up the worst pan with all the caked-on stuff.  So I didn't starve.

Of course, eating left over pie for breakfast and more (nuked with ice cream) for snack helped with the not starving.  I also did not walk, on the theory that I needed to rest my foot and the weather was icky.  Barely made 2,000 steps.  I will bloat up like a balloon.  Worse yet, we all had gone crazy at the store and bought stuff for s'mores, as our hostess, fairmer , said we could have a fire.  So who cared if it was rainy-ish?  We all roasted marshmellows (even L, who had never eaten a s'more!) and then sat around playing a game called Cranium, which was fun.  Alas, kaiweilau and I did not win.  I ate three s'mores.  So today was the black hole that swallowed all my good intentions to exercise and eat wisely.  I hope I survive this weekend without going into a diabetic coma.  I am making no attempt to write, but am having a great time.

It's raining, so not the best pictures, but here's the view from my room:

( See lots of pictures )

Last night I curled up in bed with my headphones and laptop, snuggling under a soft blanket while I listened to music and reread the stuff I had to critique the next day.  Imagine my chagrin when I pulled off the headphones and realized I had them plugged into the wrong hole, and the music had actually been coming out of the speakers on my laptop all along.  I apologized the next morning, but it turned out I had it so low that everyone went, "What music?"  Whew!

Now consider this.  We have five women bunked upstairs in three bedrooms.  (Yes, we had to carry our luggage up.)  We are sharing a very tiny bathroom.  The two men are sharing a large room downstairs (no, they did not have to use their bulging muscles to carry their luggage anywhere, they ROLLED it.  I saw) complete with private balcony.  Their bathroom is at least twice as large.  What is wrong with this picture?  [Actually, I am VERY happy with the accommodations; they are WONDERFUL.  I even slept for a few hours, and managed a little melatonin-assisted dozing in the morning before we got started.

Wow!  What a lake!  (Will post a picture tomorrow.)  Arrived in one piece.  Could not figure out how to log onto the internet at Logan.  For some reason I wasn't finding the page that lists networks.  Couldn't find it here, either, but kept trying and here I am.

Flights uneventful and on time.  Detroit is a huge airport, complete with monorail like Phoenix.  My cousin, C, met my plane at Grand Rapids.  So good to see her!  She took me out to lunch at a cool bookstore, and then we browsed.  Didn't buy anything (yet) but saw a couple of books A would love, and a lot of neat kid's stuff.  Also an amazing book on African tribal decorations.  Then she took me to a pie place which she said was part of a local chain (sort of like Marie Callendar's only based here.)  I bought a "Mountain Berry" pie which was supposed to have raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries.  Then she dropped me off back at the airport where I quickly found the guy, L, I already knew from Odyssey.  I had just missed a call from the project coordinator, fairmer .  When I called her back, fairmer said she had just driven by and not seen us (no doubt because L and I were inside).  We went out, and just before she made it back, the other girl showed up, so we didn't really have to wait at all.

So far everyone in the group seems really nice, and I'm looking forward to the conference.  We are in a FABULOUS place.  It's a very old house set on the end of a narrow peninsula that sticks out into Gun Lake.  The house is right on, if not actually over, the water, which surrounds us on three sides.  I have a room to myself with a nice view.  (The three women who are sharing a room got the great view.)  While we were waiting for the last member to arrive, the rest of us took a long walk around the area.  We found yellow lady's slippers, and a pink trillium blooming.  Very nice.  We then all went out to dinner and from there grocery shopping where I made poor L buy vanilla ice cream to go with my pie.  The other girl who flew in, kaiweilau , has offered to cook for us if we wash up, so it looks like I will not starve.  We all bought our own food, plus community food that everyone wanted, such as the ingredients for dinner and for s'mores.  fairmer says we can have a fire.  Then we all came back and had pie and ice cream (except for one poor woman who has food allergies and can't eat wheat or sugar amongst other things).  Anyway, the pie was excellent, and everyone liked it--thanks, C!  So far the only downside is clouds of gnats and mayflies.  I'm really, really, glad I bought bug spray.  We plan to meet in the living room where we can sit in a circle in comfy chairs and sofas surrounded by windows overlooking the water on three sides.  How I will suffer!

Tomorrow, when I have some time, I will take pics.  My foot is hurting pretty badly, even though I haven't even walked 10,000, because of carrying heavy luggage and groceries.  My foot did NOT like the extra weight.  Now to review the books for tomorrow.