Visit With My Niece

Our niece came for a visit this weekend and we had a blast. I should invite an 11-year-old into our home more often because we surely do more fun things when we have one around.

I picked her up late Friday so we ate out at Chinese buffet then came home and the three of us played hours worth of UNO and JENGA and cracked up laughing the entire time.  After board games Blair went to bed and I stayed up with her to watch Herbie Fully Loaded which is an excellent movie, btw.

Saturday we went kayacking on the Dan River. I was a little worried as my niece ran into a tree with her face within the first 3 minutes. But she soon had the hang of it and was moving like a pro.  We were on the river just under two hours and had a nice burn on our legs to show for it. 

After the river we came home to shower, grill out, and then went to see Monster House. This was NOT an excellent movie and my advice is not to waste your money.  (More on this in tomorrow's blog)

We came back home and all three of us were so exhausted at 9:30 that we fell into bed.

I got up early Sunday and went running, then came back and K. and I spent 3 hours in the kitchen making homemade banana-walnut loaf, a 2 layer-jam and buttercream cake, cucumber sandwiches, cheese and fruit tray, and hot tea. We had a ball, got flour everywhere and--miracle of miracles--everything tasted really good.

I will say this about the weekend--I don't have the energy to keep up with a pre-teen. After everything we did, she'd ask, "So what do you want to do now?" She's perfectly capable of entertaining herself and once or twice I told her I just wanted to sit and read and she went and got her book and read with me, but my--they have energy. Two hours on the river--"What do you want to do now?" Three hours of board games - "What do you want to do now?"  Four hours in the kitchen--"What do you want to do now?"  Here's my answer: SLEEP!

But really, we can't wait to have her back.  She's got a wide range of interests and is actually interesting to talk to and hold conversations with.

Thanks again to everyone who offered ideas on things for us to do. I'm holding the pottery and plays in reserve for the next visit. That way I'll have an answer to the question, "So what do you want to do now?" when it arises.

Cheers! - Dena

Jewel Day Spa Event A HUGE Success!

I had so much fun last night at the book signing. As we'd hoped, the place was packed.  Nicole (owner of Jewel Day Spa) had ordered food for 200 people and I do believe that many may have shown up. It was a beautiful if humid evening and I sold double the number of books I'd hoped to move.

There were a few fun moments. My Greensboro writer's group, the WGOT, has about 13 different subgroups and so I'm always meeting people who belong to the group whom I don't even know. One lovely woman from Novel III stopped and introduced herself and we made plans to have lunch later in the month. She asked to buy my book but when she went to pay, discovered she only had $8 on her instead of $10.  "That's okay," I said. "I know you're good for it."  I went to sign her book for her and joked, "Now I'm just going to write in here, 'You owe me two dollars.'" That got us laughing and coming up with other inscriptions. "I hope you enjoy this heavily discounted book." "I hope you don't feel guilty reading this book, realizing you still owe the author money."

I spoke with another woman who does feral cat rescue and who is fostering 19 cats in her home.  I sold her my book at wholesale price. A small reward for such magnificent work.

The other two authors there did as well if not better than me in sales. People showed up ready to buy books and many moved from table to table, buying each of our books one after the other. (We love those people. Thank you!)

A portion of my sales go to Happy Hills Animal Foundation (& oh my God, click on the Happy Hills link and look at the Adorable cat there on the home page) and Pam is donating a portion of her proceeds to the Greensboro Women's Resource Center (WRC). I didn't realize it until the end of the evening, but the company who set up the wine booth is also donating a portion of their proceeds to the WRC. So many good things happening last night.

Now I need to ready myself for our niece who arrives tonight for her weekend stay.  Getting ready will mainly involve my taking a nap, so I best get to it.

Many thanks again to everyone who made last night's event a success.

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).