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Oso loves his purple monkey. And he loves to play fetch. When you throw the purple monkey he fetches but he doesn't want to give the monkey back. He still wants to play fetch though. So it's up to you to figure out how to get that purple monkey when he's not looking or otherwise occupied. I feel bad I can't walk him right now. But he's OK with fetching the purple monkey. And I got to thinking about my WIP and how there's so many things I want to change, so many things that need work. How overwhelming it can feel. How some days you think you just can't write. And then I thought about the purple monkey. That I can do what I can to improve the story. Find little ways in. Because it's OK to play with the purple monkey if you can't walk the dog.

I'm excited because a local spot opened up at Asilomar and I'll get to go this year. It's especially nice since the conference is in butterfly town and I'll get to see some pals from last year. Yayyy!

that the boy gets fixed. It's a little emotional around here. Thought he'd have puppies but it wasn't meant to be and now that he's a city dog and on a tear with deer [who knew he'd have so many more here to chase than he had in Big Sur] and been arrested [a few times] for meandering, well, there's only one thing to be done. Felt a little bit sorry for him as he left for the vet this morning. I took care of all the spaying, hubby handles neutering. Liz, the animal control officer in town, was pretty understanding consider the amount of times the boy got out. Oso's been on one adventure after another since we hit the road. The road can be hard on a dog.

Here's a shot of one of Oso's proudest moments.

mostly because we have no idea where our other blender is [probably in a box in storage in LA]. So far all I've done today is to wake up and have a cup of coffee and write a little bit. Joe made a great breakfast and I went back to sleep, so did Mx [she's still sleeping]. Joe's outside smoking a cigar and setting up a grill. We're BBQ-ing some gigantic T-bones and giving the blender a whirl with a few margaritas. Oso escaped again a couple times last night, even though we've repaired our white picket fence. Yeah, we have a white picket fence:) Oso has figured out how to get out of it pretty easily. So the first knock at the door was our neighbors who said Oso was chasing their cat. Hmmm. Bad dog, but, really who can blame him? The whole cat-dog relationship being what it is. And then the next knock at the door came from some folks who found him cruising around Central Ave. Guess he decided to go for a little walk. Good thing I had those new tags made up with our new address. Tom Petty was playing a minute ago, now it's R.E.M. I love Sundays.

Click here if you'd like to guess what's Fact or Fiction this Sunday

Last night before bed Oso ran laps around our deck. We had no idea what was going on. It was so unusual for him to be lapping the large deck that runs the length of the house. He'd never done it before. We slid open the glass door and took a few steps outside. And there, sitting on the corner of the railing farthest away from us, a corner that sits easily twenty feet off solid ground, was a fat gray cat. I don't like using the word fat to describe her because she had a the kind of self-confident personality and depth of character that makes her so much more than her physical attributes. But for the visual, that's what she was. And with all of Oso's carrying on, with all of his running up to her to faze her and make her leap, jump, arch her back, do ANYTHING, there she sat. Her only reaction? Blinking her eyes. She simply confounded Oso. He didn't get her at all. And after a fair bit of more running around the deck. More running right into the very corner she so capably occupied, he stood at attention and simply stared. Then, before long, he laid right down beside her, curled up in a ball and fell asleep. They made fast, unlikely friends. So, who were you rooting for? Are you a dog or cat person? Or a bit of both?


Today's question.

My dog crashed a wedding last Saturday. And a few days ago, he took a little walk down Hwy One.

Bad. Dog. But, not really.

See he's sad and he needs a lot of attention and he's not afraid to show it. His buddy and big brother hasn't been able to play with him.

Why?

Because a few weeks back when fog gave way to sweltering nights on the California Coast and when we discovered we had another pet, a bat we named Vlad [but I won't go into that], Oso and Joe [my husband] were doing what they always do. Wrestling on the floor, playing and hanging out. Oso, although he's a 75-pound dog, thinks he's a lap dog, so he would at some point crawl into Joe's lap which made Joe decidedly uncomfortable in the heat, but, well, it's Oso's thing.

When the heat subsided, poison oak flared. Wow. Joe had it bad, bad last year and he's got an amazing case of it again. And so, Joe can't pet toxic dog who we nicknamed Gozer in our horror at what a cute, toxic-laced-furry form The Destructor chose. And so it's been weeks of very little petting and wrestling and been a general lap-dog-free zone. Poor guys. Since then Oso is glued to me. He doesn't want to go outside and sleeps all day inside. And, when I have let him outside he's run away. Whenever the phone rings my heart skips a beat thinking it will begin, "Hi. I've got your dog here..." So, my poor hubby is hopped up on steroids, barely able to sleep at night, and I've got a depressed dog. You might wonder what the upside is. Is there one?

Well, yes. And, no.

Oso has brought a whole bunch of new people into my life. People I wouldn't have otherwise met had he not gone galavanting around. He's gotten to be the talk of Burns Creek if not the South Coast. I met a great gal from Santa Fe, NM today when I took Oso out for a walk. I didn't need to explain why Oso was on such a short leash. She'd heard about him running away. She shared the wonders of Yapala, Mexico with me and I shared the wonders of Pie Town, NM with her. We got out the map to see our future destinations. On her ride back to New Mexico she thought she'd stop for a piece of pie in Pie Town, a place she had never heard of. Which is why she brought up Yepala, a place I'd never heard of, in the first place. Ladies hawk pieces of pie on the beach in Yepala. My kind of place:) This led to a discussion of what pie I was making this weekend and how different siblings can be which segued into our birth order and the karmic nature of things. Then there was the guy Mack Murphy who called and helped Oso find his way back home, and the young girl Chrissy who called to say Oso was their newest wedding guest.

Thanks Oso. That was cool.

I guess he thinks I should get out more, meet more people.

There really isn't anything cool about poison oak. Especially coming down with it when Joe did as he winds one job down and starts another. It is kind of tripy seeing Joe up at 3AM and not me. But not fun. Especially when he works all night.

Here's hoping these two can get back together again soon. That the poison oak goes away fast and that Oso and Joe can play and wrestle again and one day very soon I'll find Oso asleep on Joe's lap.

1. This week my daughter got her first job out of college! Wooo-hooo! She’s excited and so are we. And…she decided to stay in San Francisco. Feels like home.

2. Hearing my dad say that he’s got seven more years after his pacemaker surgery this week.

3. I love, love, love the library. But you knew that. I hadn’t been in quite some time. Travels kinda got in the way. And, I mostly go when I’m writing, editing a mms. So I’m happy to say I’m on to my next novel. One I’ve written years ago but will be finishing, revising over the next few seasons. I like Stephen King’s idea of looking at writing books with the seasons. My last novel got me through Winter and Spring. This novel will be my Summer and Fall project. I love that Stephen King has a raven perched on the long vertical in the “h” on his logo on his website.

4. I love, love, love AAA. It’s amazing. I walk in yesterday, ask for help planning our road trip to Mt. Rushmore and get a great route and lots and lots of helpful maps and books---all because we are members. Love it. Among my treasures are…A map of the United States with our route mapped out in an orange highlighter [with cute arrows to let me know which way we are headed], maps of all the states involved PLUS a special “California’s Mother Lode Guide Map,” and “Yellowstone Grand Teton National Parks” map. And the AAA Tour books for all the states on our trip [and a few that aren’t but we may stray into]. So cool! If you are ever in the need to go anywhere, stop by AAA.

5. I love when Oso gets dusted with mustard on our morning runs. The yellow dust sprinkles beautifully over his black shinny fur. We met two new friends this morning: Blarney, a poodle [he got him on St. Patrick's Day, and Daisy a large hound, I think she was a Mastiff. And ran into our old pals, Yoggie and Rudy.

Inspired by our road trip yesterday, here's my Friday Five:

1. 5 Hours on the road-a skunked, very cute dog surfs Hwy 1 shifting his weight from side to side on the snaking turns and needs to lick my hands and forearms to keep himself feeling well. We think he likes the salt. When he sees cows he loves to bark, this time in my ear. OMG! I lept out of my skin. For a full 20 miles I tried to get my heart to stop racing.

2. Discussions while on the road always take interesting turns. And, I don't know why exactly, but long about Santa Maria I asked Joe what his top three all-time favorite detectives were--TV or movies. Hmmm. This lead to a break down of the category. Favorite Private Dicks or Cops [solo], Favorite Cop Duos, and Favorite Ensemble. And the winners go to, well, who am I kidding, these were tough calls and at least one hundred miles of conversation....:

Private Dicks/Solo Cops:

1. Dirty Harry
2. Colombo
3. Jack Nicholson in Chinatown

Cop Duos:

1. LA. Confidential: Russell Crowe & Guy Pearce
2. The Negotiator: Kevin Spacey and Samuel Jackson
3. Lethal Weapon: Danny Glover & Mel Gibson

Ensemble:

Believe it or not, we couldn't nail this one down more than our top picks. Joe's fave? CSI...Me? Hawaii Five-0. And curiously, I could remember Jack Lord's real name but not his name on the show which I googled--Steve McGarrett. [Yes, it's sick. The things I'll do to avoid editing my outline for one of my novels. *hangs head in shame*]


3. Speaking of Guy Pearce....I loved, absolutely loved Priscilla Queen of the Desert [a great road trip movie, BTW] and recommended it to my folks once upon a time. They are still saying how much they hated that movie.

4. When Thursday comes 'round I always feel like I got my butt kicked by the week before. Ah...life on the road.

5. At this point, my little brain can only wrap it's head around making plans for no more than a week at a time. So much so, that even the mega road trip Candy and I are planning is being taken day by day with the caveat that we can fly back home at any time. [call it the road trip version of a three-ringed circus safety net, I often see the parallels between great road trips and three-ringed circuses:)].

Our dog decided to celebrate Earth Day by getting skunked early this morning. He's been a real rascal. It's the second time in a month. Last week he jumped off a deck that was under construction to chase a deer. He's doing better now, a pulled muscle gave him a little bit of a limp that day though. He had to go on an anti-inflammatory and lay low all weekend, which worked out well because Joe was sick and laid low all weekend too. Oso is funny because he sniffs his treats like they are poison before he will eat them, but takes the medicine like they are treats.

BTW–Tomato juice doesn't get the skunk out but cider vinegar does! Skunk remedies being one of the things the girls and I chatted about around the pool in Vegas. We took Oso to Petco for the de-skunk treatment, but we plan on having cider vinegar, Dawn, baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide at the ready since he seems to enjoy playing with skunks and getting skunked.

Today is the beginning of another move for us. We are bugging out of the Cottage and headed for the Coast House. Moving the office stuff first.

In other news: COACHELLA here we come! Prince was added as the headliner on Saturday so I'm psyched. I've always wanted to see him in concert. Looks like it will be a hot one in the desert.

Candice takes off for Hong Kong late tomorrow night. Mx is feeling better every week, mono is loosening it's grip a little. Only three weeks left until her first year of college is over. Around four weeks until Candy graduates from college and we head up for a little celebration in Napa.

Any of Penny Vincenzi's novels offer romantic reading for Valentine's Day, and the new paperback edition of Almost A Crime is perfect place to start. Last year's The Dilemma is also a great page-turner - Penny's debut novel published in 1996 and only brought to American readers by The Overlook Press in 2007. This October, Overlook will publish An Outrageous Affair, perhaps her most sensational family saga yet. This tale moves from wartime England to fifties Hollywood, from glitzy Madison Avenue to London's theatrical aristocracy.

Christmas is only a few days away, and The Winged Elephant has a few suggestions for last-minute shoppers: Church Signs Across America is a great gift for everyone in the family - a guaranteed chuckle on Christmas morning. For kids, we recommend Beastly Feasts, the magnificent collaboration between Robert Forbes and illustrator Ronald Searle, and the new collector's edition of Emil and the Detectives, which features a new introduction by Maurice Sendak. For avid readers looking to spend the holidays curled up with a great novel, don't overlook Susan Hill's The Pure in Heart, Penny Vincenzi's The Dilemma, or Second Sight by Charles McCarry.

From the website Bookreporter.com comes a terrific review of Penny Vincenzi's The Dilemma: "The Overlook Press was the first American publisher to introduce the novels of Penny Vincenzi, a bestselling author in her native England, to American audiences. Although U.S. readers have yet to give Vincenzi the attention she deserves, her most recent novels have garnered the attention of a major U.S. publisher, Doubleday. Overlook Press, however, has continued its efforts to bring Vincenzi's backlist to American readers, and their latest endeavor is to release Vincenzi's debut novel (originally published in 1996) to the United States for the first time . . . The Dilemma is Vincenzi's debut novel, and readers already familiar with her subsequent fiction will notice how many elements of her successful novelistic formula have their genesis here. The quickly-shifting plotlines, the burgeoning cast of dozens of characters whose disparate lives soon become entangled for better or for worse, the oblique references to economic and political issues --- all these hallmarks of Vincenzi's more recent novels can be seen in The Dilemma, which is a hugely entertaining and even captivating read. Once American fans discover Vincenzi, they'll want to read everything she's written, and reading her debut is the perfect way to trace how Vincenzi skillfully developed the fiction-writing techniques that have served her so well in her many bestselling novels to date."

Penny Vincenzi's The Dilemma has finally reached American shores (and bookstores), and it's currently on top of the Overlook bestseller list!