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We woke bright and early the next morning, after sleeping quite well in the back of Strontium. Since our last road trip, where we fought with a leak-a-licious air mattress, we decided to go basic, cheap and old-school. We went to the thrift store, bought a twin mattress in decent shape for $25, shoved a few pillows into the gaps around the doors and wheel wells, tossed our full-size pillow top

We've spent the last week deep in the various wildernesses of Montana, attending a family reunion on my Mother-in-law's side of the family, slogging through Yellowstone National Park and spending an all too brief time at a set of rustic cabins in an area that will some day be discovered by Eastern explorers and incorporated into the United States. It was an interesting trip.We left bright and

Yesterday, after scurrying about all day on errands, etc..., I decided, dang it, I'm going for my run even if it's raining and nearly dark outside. So I hopped into my running gear grabbed a flashlight and ventured out jogging happily past the national park gates, closed to traffic. The gates open at sunrise and close at sunset. No words for the beauty of a stormy sky with enough clearing in the west to make the purple darkness that much darker. Large raindrops caught the unnatural light sparkling silver like Christmas decorations. A person had paused down the way on the deserted road. Pretty soon the woman with a white pooch emerged from the darkness.

"Hello." I said all cheery on a high from getting my butt out to exercise.

"Hi. How far are you going?"

I paused to talk, something I don't usually do on a run, I must admit. "I usually run on the dirt trails, so much kinder to my knees, but with this storm I'll stick to the road. Probably run to the ranger's building and back."

"Oh, because something, um, something big is out there."

"Like a deer?"

"Ah, I don't know. You saw me standing there right?" She pointed down the winding road. My scrappiness sunk into my stomach.

"Yes, I did."

"You know how sometimes you just have to go with your gut?"

I nodded. "Yup."

"Well, that's as far as I got. I decided to turn around. My dog pointed too, like he saw something out there. I heard something else but when I turned around it I knew it was human, you running."

"Oh, ah, sorry about that." I wasn't turning around. I was out and loving life and while seriously creeped out I wasn't going to go back home without getting my run in. No. Way.

She saw the determination in my eyes and said, "Yeah, you know people get that feeling for all kinds of reasons. Maybe I left the stove on, or, maybe a light. Anyway, it will be great you all alone out there."

"Yeah, well, take care," and we parted ways. I mean, seriously what a buzz kill. And of course I was freaked, potential headlines running through my head: 'Nice gal eaten by something big in the Santa Monica Mountains' but I turned my flashlight on and kept running. I didn't run as far as usual, but something is better than nothing and after I ran through all the possible headlines in my head, I didn't feel scared at all just awed by the beauty of the passing storm.



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On a lighter note, I ran out of hot Paprika. Now, a lot of people don't even know that there are two kinds of Paprika, unless you were brought up on Bohemian cooking outside of Chicago. But, there it is. I was all set to make Hungarian goulash after my run but discovered that little black bugs had infested my hot Paprika. Another casualty of life on the road. Dang.

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Our VHS died, a while back I think. Not being home very much this year I truly didn't miss it, until the other day. All our Christmas movies are on VHS. So yesterday I joined the 21st century and bought DVDs of some favorite movies. Can't wait to watch them.

October's been a crazy-busy month for me, and it's not even close to over! Will November be different? I'm not sure. I'll be working the usual weekend days at the library. I'll be taking a trip to Michigan for my dad's retirement and my oldest friend's wedding reception. And there's that whole Thanksgiving thing.

And even though after doing National Novel Writing Month in 2006 I resolved never, ever to do it again because of how exhausting and stressful it was, in the past week I've begun to reconsider. "Wouldn't it be a marvelous way," I'm asking myself, "to jump-start this new idea I've got?" The jury is still out, but if I succumb, I'm going to reel the blogging back.

I've also been thinking for a while that I'd like to take a break from reading children's and YA lit in my free time. I'm thinking November would be a good month for that, too. A couple of months ago I bought two of my favorite "adult" books, My Name Is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok, and The Hundred Secret Senses, by Amy Tan, with the intention of rereading them. And half a million people have recommended I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith. And at some point I wrote down Little, Big, by John Crowley, because I heard about it somewhere. Any other grown-up books I should add to that list?

And getting waaaay ahead of myself, I've started thinking ahead to maybe road tripping through the North Central U.S. next spring. Before we got sidetracked by our trip to England (which was lovely and novel, and I absolutely don't regret it), I had my heart set on driving across North Dakota and visiting Teddy Roosevelt National Park, dipping into eastern Montana and Wyoming, and circling back through South Dakota. Or the other way around, I'm not picky. The Crazy Horse Volksmarch coincides with my birthday, which seems just too perfect to pass up. Hmmm...

Lockhart, E., Sarah Mlynowski and Lauren Myracle. How to be Bad. 2008.

Three girls go on a road trip to see one of their boyfriends who has gone off to college. Jesse works at the Waffle House with the other two girls. Her mother has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. She is a very strict Christian and judges others around her for their choices. Vicks' boyfriend Brady just went off to college a few weeks earlier and the only time he has contacted her so far was with one text message in the middle of the night. Mel, a rich girl and hostess at the Waffle House, just moved to Florida from Canada and doesn't have any friends. She gets invited on the road trip because she offers to pay for it. All three go for different reasons and by the end they learn about themselves and each other. Along they way they have some adventures and break a few laws.

Recommended for fans of these three authors. The book is really about female friendship, so fans of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants should enjoy this one too.

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.

Selecting ten top moments was more difficult than deciding which tent to go to during Coachella. No it was harder. It was more like leaving the parking lot on Friday night but we won’t go there. The moments that didn’t make the top ten I fully expect to blog about all week. Have to say it was a MG/YA fantasy writer’s paradise, right down to the couple sometaneous [a new word I invented combining sometimes and spontaneous] versions of “Pure Imagination” from favorite author Roald Dahl’s book-turned-movie Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.

On a side note: Why do I have so many bruises? I keep bangin’ the heck out of myself. Maybe that comes from being a wanderer lately. Had ‘em even before the festival. I have no idea why…but there they are. I guess maybe we all go through bruised phases.

Coachella 2008 gallery of pics here. I am very happy that, as a notably awful photographer, I actually snapped a few decent concert shots.

So here goes…the Coachella 2008 Top Ten Moments [first five of the ten anyway]



Number 1: Prince on Saturday Night

I am convinced that Jimi Hendrix died and came back as Prince. BLOWN AWAY. Hands down the best guitarist I’ve even seen live, ever, including but not limited to all the blues I’ve seen over the years at Kingston Mines and Chicago Blues and Buddy Guy’s. Prince’s sick heart-felt cover of Radiohead’s CREEP riveted the audience and spoke to every person who has found themselves on the not-good-enough side of love, in short, everyone. Seven was amazing, took me to another planet entirely. Funk, funk, funk….



Number 2: Dancing with Joe to Bond Do Role

Fresh from a soak at the DoLab we boogied hard in the triple-digit heat to the Brazilian beat. Julia Cameron call’s this “filling your cup” in The Artist’s Way. Way too tame an expression for what happened to my cup at Coachella. My cup boogied, expanded, filled, spilled over, vibrated to amazing bass riffs and learned a lot about letting go.

Number 3: Joe and I almost got swept up in the mosh for Flogging Molly

I had to move back ‘cause the bass vibrated my chest so bad I thought it might explode. Joe handed me his hat and the backpack and joined the mosh where he swirled around and around with the other moshers to the Guiness-infused rock, the recently-wed lead singer Dave King confessed he’s more of a marathoner these days that a chugger. Joe left the mosh with the biggest smile I’ve seen this year.

Number 4: Venturing into the Sahara Tent and discovering Aphex Twin

I’ve never been to a rave before [read: I’m old] but this is what it would be like, less the ecstasy buzz of course. Here’s the scene. Lasers paint the crowd and tent in circles of green light and strobes flicker sometaneously. Humans dressed as giant plushies dance on stage. Yes, I said giant plushies. On a total side note, have you ever heard of plushie love?Kinda strange. But anyway, Aphex Twin was all good, dancing pandas, Dalmatians and techo, Oh my!

Number 5: Fatboy Slim took us on a tour of our imagination a la Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory



Fatboy [who is really skinny] started his set with an image of a clock on crack and said “Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls hold your breath make a wish and count to three” and went into a dance mix of Pure Imagination all the while flashing images of OOOmpah-Loompahs behind him.

Like the song says: "Want to change the world….there’s nothing to it.”

He lit into a chest exploding bass-heavy dance party that I still feel as I type that included PraiseYou.

More manana amigos.

Party on!

Quick quiz: when you read a headline like the one in the New York Times today Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web do you think that the libraries involved are

a) sticking up for free access to information
b) prohibiting free access to information

Now read the article and tell me if you feel the same way. The article was also published in the International Herald Tribune with the title Research libraries close their books to Google and Microsoft which was where I read it at FreeGovInfo yesterday.