slow news days

Been sick and busy the last while, sorry about the radio silence.

We hit two library sales last month and both yielded varied, delightful fruit.
The El Oh sale is cheap, long on 'stock' (good books that aren't worth selling on line- these go to the store for trade credit) and thin on net books as a percentage.
We still made out fine- bought ~10 boxes of books, listed roughly two boxes and have already sold enough to pay for the sale and generate a profit.

Yesterday was our first trip up to the Cambria sale, and I was impressed. Lots of specific, oddball stuff- prime territory for good net books. Relatively expensive- we spent the same amount on half as many books. Lots of good stuff for the net though- happy customer, will visit again.

Getting there was slightly nightmarish- they held it at the vets hall on the same day they close down the vets hall parking lot for a Farmer's Market. And their web site lied about the time, so we showed up late. The wife ended up dumping me off at the front door and parking in the sticks.
Fortunately there weren't many scouts & dealers at the sale so we still did fine.

Then it was home to wrangle up a BBQ for the Youngfriends(tm) & Timmy, Burl & Fiend. This was my first turn at the grill, Uncle Timmy having handled the honors for Fuss's birthday.

There were some expected first timer pitfalls. A deficit of coals I left too long in the starter, necessitating an emergency run to the store (thx MEGGSIE), some adventures preparing the chicken breasts for their payload of sun dried tomatoes, basil & goat cheese, and an unfortunate collision between my majestic ass and Meggsie's paint stand, which shattered her "creepy doll head" (Devra's description, not mine) and blew up the pot with her new Monkey's Paw plant.

Omelets & breaking eggs and all that.

The gals had been painting, and while inspecting their latest the talk turned to inspiration and creativity, and how much of it they both felt while working on the patio. I thought mom would like that since her outlets were mostly blocked, by circumstance & temperament.
When we moved in, the guy downstairs had locked the patio door, walled it off behind boxes, and buried the patio itself in a startling array of junk. The lock was frozen solid- I had to replace the knob to get it open.

I'm not big into feng shui, but c'mon now.

Now it's the place where plants and paintings grow, where Meggsie plays her piano while the Fiend dances around the living room and we drink beer outside, in mist suffused with warm light from the windows and open door and cascading notes ring the muffled air.

A tide of fresh garlic bread smell poured down over the deck from the oven upstairs, crashed into the rising scents off the grill and swirled together like a wild Van Gogh night sky.

I moved the food around the fire, listening, watching.