Jewel Day Spa Book Signing TONIGHT

Just a reminder for those in the area that tonight from 7-9 PM, Jewel Day Spa at 1004 N. Elm Street in Greensboro (corner of Elm and Bessemer, across from Cobb Chiropractic) is celebrating their one-year anniversary with an evening of Women Authors & Wine. Yours truly will be there for a reading and book signing along with Greensboro authors Pam Cable and Nicole Hayes. Free admission, food, wine, house tours, and hand and chair massages.

We're expecting a huge turnout. A lot of press went out and the last three days I've had people coming up to me to say they'll be there. Usually what happens is I'll say something to remind people and then they're like, "What? Oh, yeah. You sent me something about that, right? Uh, yeah. We'll try to be there." So it's promising that people appear to have it marked on their calendars.  

I need to spend part of today getting ready. There's a lot of stuff that needs taken to these events. Folding table, tablecloth, books, cash box, change, signing pen, cat knick-knacks I use to decorate my table, easel, sign, bookmarks, cards and I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting.

I haven't even looked at my book to decide what story I'm reading. Something short. My take is people come to these events less to hear authors read and more to mingle and enjoy the ambiance. As long as the threatened thunderstorms hold off, we'll be in good shape.

If you're in the area, please stop by! It's going to be much fun!

Bird Feeders

I like birds. Blair likes birds. Our cats seem to enjoy our feathered friends through windows so it seemed a logical progression for us to buy a bird feeder.

We really did it for the cats. I read yet another article about entertaining indoor cats and while we draw the line at turning over a room for their own private romping room, I was willing to shell out the 20 bucks for a feeder and birdseed.  

We went out 2 weekends ago and spent a good twenty minutes comparing the features of various feeders until we came to our senses, grabbed the cheapest one and bolted. But it appears all is for naught as area birds appear to have joined forces in one massive boycott of our feeder.

I've never heard of such a thing. If I throw breadcrumbs in the backyard I have to run inside to avoid the ensuing feeding frenzy. But we have a feeder full of seed right outside our library windows and it hasn't been touched in a week. Even the squirrels avoid it. I don't know if we've personally insulted the creatures of nature or if there's simply better grub offered elsewhere, but it's hard not to feel the snub. 

And our poor kitties. There's no hours of enjoyment of watching birds outside the window as I'd envisioned. Instead it's the same old, same old.

Now it's just a battle of wills. I refuse to change the birdseed until they eat what's there.  Come winter, they'll be begging to use my feeder. So HA! Take that birdies! 

(p.s. Please tell your bird friends there's free food at the Harris house). 

The Things Kids Notice

My grandmother on my Dad's side passed away last month.  Blair and I were actually at the airport on our way home from England when it happened. Yaya (Greek for "grandmother") was 80 and had been suffering extremely poor health for years, so it was a blessing when she was released.  But Yaya had lived the last twenty some years with my aunt and uncle, most recently at their condo in downtown Chicago.

This past weekend my sister and her husband took their son Jake, who will be 3 in October, to my aunt's house for a visit. Jake walked in the front door and ambled through the kitchen to the living room. He stopped in front of the chair where Yaya always sat. "Where is she?" he asked, pointing to the chair.

My sister was dumbfounded. It just hadn't occurred to her that he'd remember or notice Yaya wasn't there.

Since I'm rarely around kids, I'm always amazed at what they pick up on. One of my favorite stories about my niece Katlin is when she was right around Jake's age, 2 or 3, and we were visiting Blair's parents for Christmas. Katlin picked up a glass and I said, "No honey, put that down. That breaks very easily." And Katlin looked at me and said, "Fragile?"

Uh--yeah. But how did she know that?? Turns out her aunt and grandmother had been telling her that a lot of the glass ornaments on the tree were "fragile." And she remembered.

Visiting Trisha this weekend, her 8-year-old son Max introduced me to one of his friends. "This is my Aunt Dena. She lives in North Carolina." The friend, also 8, turned to me and said, "Wow. That must be really nice for you."

It was such an adult thing to say I almost expected him to follow up with a polite inquiry along the lines of, "So what are the property taxes like out there?" 

Katlin (now 11) comes to visit this weekend and thanks to my wonderful blog readers, I have a myriad of suggestions with which to entertain her. I'm looking forward to spending time with her. I had much fun hanging out with Max this weekend.  (Oh!  One last cute comment. I asked Max what he wanted to be when he grew up. "Ninja," he replied, not even looking up from his video game. I looked at Trisha. "Yeah, we've got no backup plan for that one," she said.)

Check me out, all hanging out with kids. I'll probably need a pitcher of martinis come Monday but at least I'm going into it with a positive attitude!

Everyone have a great day!

I'm Back!

Back from lovely Cincinnati, Ohio and 4 days spent with my best friend Trisha. We had great fun (other than the fact that we spent yesterday at the pool with her son and my skin is so fried my clothes are sticking to me). 

Friday we drove to our alma mater, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. (My favorite T-shirt: "Miami was a University when Florida still belonged to Spain.") The campus itself doesn't change. Beautiful brick buildings, slant walk, the Upton Arch where it's said you will marry whomever you kiss under the light there. 

Uptown had changed quite a bit, with several of our favorite pubs no longer there. (A moment of revered silence, please, for Hole In The Wall and Attractions.) But enough was still the same that we felt not too far removed from our time there.

We visited our old dorm, McFarland, on South quad which is where Trisha and I met our sophomore year. Being summer, the dorms were locked. But I spied an open window at basement level and was all ready to climb through and open the door for Trisha.  Saving me from breaking and entering, however, was a staff woman who exited the dorm and agreed to wait the 5 minutes it took for us to race upstairs and visit our old rooms and the hallway where so much of life took place sophomore year.  We also ran into the bathroom and screeched at the community showers where we used to bath and which haven't changed a whit in the 15 years since we left them. (Communal showering...sounds bizarre now, doesn't it?)We visited the apartments we lived in junior and senior year then headed to Skippers for beer and the best fries in town.

We packed a lot into one weekend. More shopping then two women need ever do, LOTS of eating, no exercise, one pool party, one fine meal out, bowling with Max, having friends over, walking her ENORMOUS and perpetually shedding 70-lb Huskie (Bear), 3 Starbucks visits, 2 grocery store runs, 1 video rental, and other miscellaneous moments.  

As with any vacation, it seems like you lost double the number of days you were gone when you return. So I'm off to go through a stack of mail, miles of e-mails, and try to reorient myself to this whole "work" thing again.

Happy Monday.