Loud and Playful

Maybe I'll get a run in today.  It may not be raining today...but I don't want to jinx us, now, do I?  So we'll see. The birds around my house, particularly the phoebes, are loud and playful today.  There was a fat hawk up in the pine trees around my house yesterday and the robins were quite upset about it--yelling at it and dive bombing it.  I went outside to see what in the world was going on and it flew into the backyard, the robins still chasing after it. 

I had a great time at the Crackskulls reading Thursday night.  Let me tell you, Newmarket is a cute little town!  I took my friend from work, Diane, with me out to dinner beforehand at a place called Popper's At The Mill and it was fabulous.  I eat meat, so for those vegetarians out there you may want to skip this part.  But we had pate that was so delicious with their homemade mustard and a pickled egg with crusty French bread--yum!  Then we had a duck confit Panini and a duck confit quinoa salad.  I'd never had quinoa before but it was really good, especially with that duck. 

It's funny but while we driving in the rain, looking for a place to park, I inadvertently took an illegal left out of the Mill's parking lot and got stopped by the police!  But the officer was very nice and kindly pointed out where I could park for free.  I only got a warning--phew!

There were a handful of people who braved the rain to come out to the reading.  And most of them read their own or other's gorgeous poems beforehand.  Then I read.  I didn't have to explain my bird references about who Audubon was or what a birder's life list is as they all seemed to be birders themselves.  So that was nice.  But I highly recommend going into Newmarket some time this summer and walking around the town.  Very cute.  On my way home, I saw a red fox darting across the street.  We stopped and looked at each other briefly. 

Oops!   I almost forgot to say thank you to Jenn Monroe for inviting me!  Thanks Jenn!

So I think that I can now tell you that my chapbook, Her Vena Amoris, has been accepted by Red Bird Chapbooks and will soon be published!!!  I'm so happy with them--they are great people to work with and their books are just gorgeous.  Go buy one (such as Donna Vorreyer's The Imaginary Life of the Pioneer Wife) and see!

Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend and the sun, if it really does still shine.