Gettin' cold here in these parts

And I know for my friends on the East Coast, and those folks in Minnesota, complaining about 40 degree weather will just be mocked and scoffed at. But..I'm a West Coaster and dammit, it's getting cold here in these parts!

I'm sitting here in Gwen's cozy house tho, having enjoyed a fabulous pre-Thanksgiving turkey dinner (but mine was with eggs and toast and spinach - the fun trimmings will wait until Thursday). Gwennie will be gone over Thanksgiving, but she felt the need to cook a big 'ol turkey and I got to enjoy the spoils.

Today was my first real "Monday" since I've been home. I got myself up and out of the house early in time for my old home group meeting and then went to a coffeeshop down the street where I worked for about 4 hours, drafting and sending a query letter here, looking for submission placements there. I also started work on a story about my time on the goat farm. My brain has defogged considerably in the last few days and I've enjoyed wrapping my head around something more tangible than whether I'm gonna have eggs and toast or beans and tortillas. Or both. I continued the work later in the day and am dearly looking forward to one of my queries finding interest in an editor's hand.

In other news...

Patrick from the Walk is here in Portland (this guy)


and I had a chance to catch up with him last night - so nice to see him and share stories of what we and everyone else has been doing. He'll be here all week, so I look forward to seeing him again.

Also got to spend time at Lone Fir yesterday - it's so nice to revisit my old comfy places. I have found a new love for Portland and her sweet, goofy tribe of inhabitants.

Yesterday afternoon I was walking down Burnside near the Laurelhurst, and this trio of hipsters were standing on the corner, talking the talk. One of them, a lanky guy in a stripey scarf and pointy wool hat, blurted out suddenly,
"Hey you guys, look at my reflective tape."
And everyone turned (me too, since I was right there) to check out his bike, which had a strip of bright orange tape down the crossbar, but he had meticulously carved out "flames" all the way around it. It was funny, and there was something so sweet about his enthusiasm for his idea and execution, that it just made my afternoon.

So, there you have it.