Starting Over has a cover

I'm thrilled with this one. What do you think?

Heading for Home

It's our last day of vacation. It's been wonderful. Soon, we'll be on our way back to heat and humidity. And work. And going through two weeks of accumulated mail. But not too much laundry, as I managed to do most of it while we were with my son.

A brief recap of our last couple of days. After our day at Garden of the Gods, we did a mass-celebratory dinner to cover all the significant events for our kids – recent birthdays, anniversaries, new pregnancy. The choice of restaurant was left up to the kids, and we ended up at The Craftwood Inn, a very elegant spot in Manitou Springs. The menu was exotic and we did the whole shebang, from appetizers to dessert. Save your pennies (for a long time), and give it a try if you're ever in this part of the country. (I had the wild game birds.) Even my formerly non-adventurous eater daughter ordered something new.

Thursday, we met our daughter in downtown Colorado Springs for lunch. I recommend the Ritz Veggie Stonehearth Pizza. (Yes, we've been eating way too much on this trip!). Afterward, my husband and I went to the Cheyenne Mountain zoo where he tried out the lens he'd borrowed from our son.


The evening was spent at the Sky Sox game, where my daughter-in-law's company was holding its annual picnic. Food paled in comparison to the previous nights.

The morning's challenge: packing. As always, we take home more than we arrive with. We did ship the pottery home, but my other daughter who had been visiting prior to our arrival left a wonderful bottle of single-malt Irish whiskey, and my other two kids each gave me a bag of Mother's Iced Animal Cookies, something I got hooked on in college and can't get in Florida. My husband got about four pounds of coffee from the local Firedance Coffee Company. He's hooked on their Snickerdoodle.

Next post will be from Florida.

Live Meetings

In this electronic age, our friend/acquaintace base far exceeds people we actually meet, so it was a pleasure to hook up with another Cerridwen Press author, Lise Fuller, and her husband for dinner the other night. Lise and I met on chats, and have exchanged a few chapters for critiquing. Her husband's been a most kind and generous source of information for the book I'm writing.

Lise and I met again for coffee the next morning and did some book brainstorming. I'm looking forward to continuing working with her.

Later, my husband and I went to Garden of the Gods.

More Travel

We left Albuquerque to visit with a former colleague and his wife who retired to Pagosa Springs. Once we got past Santa Fe, the drive was spectacular. Being a Floridian for many, many years, the desert and mountains provide a welcome change. In additon to the scenery, there were all sorts of critters to identify (remember, my husband is a scientist, and everything must be named). Marmots, deer, pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs, as well as assorted birds and I'm sure I missed some. When he checks in to read this, I'm sure he'll point out what I forgot.


After a short lunch stop at an all purpose store (organic food, hardware, earthworms, etc.) and having the most humungous and delicious burrito ever, we abandoned our hosts written directions and relied on the GPS. Until this point, my husband had simply loaded the maps into the gizmo, no waypoints. So, we knew where we were, but not how to get where we were going. Once he loaded their address as a waypoint, he no longer said, "I think we were supposed to turn back there." On our arrival, we were greeted in their driveway by three mule deer and spent the afternoon admiring their mountaintop home, good food, and a lot of talking and catching up. I think we haven't seen each other in about 20 years.

Next morning, we packed up and headed for Colorado Springs. The weather was rainy and cloudy, and we were high enough to be in the clouds.

We traversed Wolf Pass, and once we got to the other side of the mountain, the weather cleared.



Since our son wasn't going to be home until after 5:30, we detoured to the Sand Dunes National Monument.

Leaving Albuquerque and Customer Service

We left Albuquerque with only about an hour's worth of glitches. Communication is such a problem sometimes. I called and requested a bellman to help with our luggage, and confirmed that the hotel van would take us to the car rental place. "No problem, I'll send someone up right away."

I'm one of those who thinks 20 minutes isn't 'right away' so I called again. "Sorry, I'll get a bellman right to your room."

Ten minutes and one more call later, a bellman arrives and asks if we're parked out front. I tell him the hotel is giving us a ride to the car rental place (2 miles away according to Avis), and he says, "We don't do that."

"I'll talk to the front desk," I say, and the clerk assures me there will be no problem. Not sure how happy the bellman is, because it took him short of forever to pull the van around and load the luggage. He said he wasn't sure where the Avis place was, unless it was in the Hilton, and I told him that sounded right, since the rental information said "Avis Hilton" on it. He also had a brochure stuck in the console with "Avis Locations" in bright red letters. I suggested he could confirm it on that list. He said, "That's for Enterprise." I work with an Adult Literacy Program, and perhaps this man could avail himself of some local services, although I didn't mention it to him.

OK, so we're in the right place. My husband waits in the lobby with the luggage and I wend my way through the hotel to find the Avis desk. The attendant says there will be a short wait because he sent my car back to the airport by mistake. The other attendant is on break, and she will know. I ask why he can't just give me another car, but apparently there are only select few cars allowed to go one way out of state. After a bit, the woman comes back and says, "It's here," and gets on the phone, ignoring the obvious fact that the other guy doesn't know what he's doing and I'm standing right there. Eventually, we get everything straightened out and he says he'll bring the car to the lobby.

Ten minutes and no car later, I go back, and the woman tells me he's on his way and goes back to making phone calls.

When the car does arrive at last, he apologizes and says he had to re-clean it, and if we're ever back this way, he owes us a free day. I ask why he doesn't just take it off our rental, and he says he would if he could but since we're returning it in Colorado, he can't do that. Seems to me that Avis is a pretty big company, and a phone call or email to the Colorado Springs Airport would be simple enough.

More another time on the trip to Pagosa Springs through breathtaking scenery.

Last Day in Albuquerque

We hit the road in the morning and won't have an Internet hookup for a few days. Next time I post, it'll be from Colorado. Thank goodness I won't have to type "Albuquerque" anymore!

Here are the pottery bits we bought at the silent auction last night.

Albuquerque, Day 6

What I'm reading: Perilous Passions by Teri Thackston

The biggie today was the weather. Tornadoes, hail, rain—not much of which hit near the hotel, but several conference attendees had gone out sightseeing and hiking. One gentleman said he'd been about 3.5 miles down a trail when he saw the storm approach. He turned around and made the return trip at top speed, but had to deal with hailstones the size of marbles, and the temperature dropped from the upper 70's to the upper 30's. From my hotel window, I could see the stormclouds and bands of black rain over the mountains.

The conference event was their closing banquet. For a change, it was located in the conference hotel, which was 'off site' for many attendees, but for me, it meant I wasn't held hostage until the bus service kicked in. It also meant that instead of partaking of the cash bar, I could get my drinks free at the "manager's reception" and then mosey down to the banquet site for their hors d'oeuvres. Not a bad deal—and the first time I've seen a table full of chocolate as part of the opening food offerings. They provided little bags, and I took full advantage.

The silent auction had some nice pottery, so this year we not only bid, but hung in there and won 3 items. Usually, my philosophy is that if I place an early or mid-time bid, it's doing my part for the fund-raising by raising the stakes, but don't have to spend any money. If I can get pictures, I'll post them, but it might be a few days. Tomorrow is our last full day, and it's likely I won't be posting until we settle in with our son in Colorado Springs on Wednesday.

I've been reading Lise Fuller's books while I'm here, and she also lives in the Springs—we're planning to hook up, which is always great fun. I love meeting my internet friends face to face.

Albuquerque, Day 5

I've had some requests to see what I bought in Old Town, so here's a picture of my "bling."

I tested the print from your room service and although it's very slow, it did work. The front desk staff has been very helpful, and after yet another series of internet issues, someone listened enough to print up flyers for distribution explaining the changeover of service providers. Apparently my explaining that hotel guests actually look at the information in the guest services directory, and when the policies don't match, it creates frustration and even … gasp!...complaints.

My hotel 'rule' about maid service held true yet again. At 3:15, she still hadn't come to the room, but her cart wasn't far down the hall. I took my laptop to the bar and worked on my 'real job' as well as edits on my short story and another chapter of line edits on the novel. My husband joined me and we shared a Guinness. Since the vans were picking us up for the zoo picnic at 5, at 4:30 I went upstairs to get ready. Yep – the maid was in the room. So far, she's come as early as 10 am, and as late as 4:15.

We did get to the zoo for the picnic. Everyone was very friendly. Or was it my shirt?

And when we got back to the hotel, I had a sneak preview of a review for What's in a Name? Once it's official, which is supposed to be tomorrow, I'll post it on my website.

Albuquerque, Day 4

Hotel stuff. Since I’ve been to Albuquerque several times, I had no problem being a hotel hermit for the day.

As I mentioned yesterday, the bed here is the standard mattress and box-spring variety. My husband is probably unaware that he was tossing, twitching and snuffling shortly before five a.m. as he sleeps through everything, even his own sleeplessness. I, on the other hand, don’t. So, by the time he got up at a little after six, there was no way I was going to get back to sleep. I gave the fitness room a shot, and took a spin on the recumbent bike. I brought my e-Bookwise and iPod shuffle to help pass the time. I could still feel the difference in altitude and accepted the default 20 minutes on the machine rather than my usual 30.

Another hotel “rule” that’s been holding true is that no matter when you come back to your room from somewhere else, the maid will be cleaning it. It happened after our excursion Tuesday when we were ready to flop onto the nearest flat surface, and again today after I decided to work down in the atrium for a while. The fact that I didn’t go anywhere yesterday seems to help prove the point; I ended up having to call to get the room serviced because nobody had shown up by 3:30 in the afternoon.

I spent most of the day on the final run-through of my yet-to-be titled short story and final edits of Starting Over. On the mouse pad in the room, there was an ad that said, “…remote printing allows you to print remotely from your suite or from nearly anywhere you have internet access…” and gave a URL. I found it intriguing and checked out the website. According to the site, this hotel is part of the program, and all I had to do was create a passcode and then upload a document to their system. According to the site, the pages would be printed and waiting at the front desk.

This sounded a little too generous, especially for a hotel that charges $10/day for internet access and doesn’t have the wireless it advertises in all the rooms yet. I called the front desk and the manager on duty had never heard of the service. He thought they’d print 10 pages for free at the Business Center if I brought the doc on a flash drive, but I read him the blurb from my screen, and he said to give it a shot, because he wanted to learn the system. (The hotel’s only used this new provider for 6 days). So, I cut 3 chapters from my manuscript, figuring a hard copy would give my eyes a break from the laptop screen, and sent them through the system. I planned to read them while I partook of the evening’s happy hour (which they call a ‘manager’s reception’).

The manager wasn’t at the front desk, but the young fellow on duty wanted to check out the system, so we went to the Business Center and found … nothing. The computer provided a link from the desktop to the site, however, and my document was listed as available to print. Nothing happened. The guy tried a bunch of different things, and although the computer said “printing”, it still didn’t appear. He promised to check with the manager, so I took my e-Bookwise to the bar and read some more of Lise’s book while I had my Margarita.

After I finished, I went back to see if they’d found anything, and the manager said he could no longer find my document in the system at all. He was very apologetic and deducted the internet fee for the day from the bill. I said I’d go back upstairs and resend the document, but he wanted to see things for himself first, so we went back to the Business Center and he pointed out a box kind of like an oversized keypad for debit card transactions that said, “enter your 6 digit passcode” which the other clerk hadn’t seen. We punched in my number and … nothing. But on the table was a stack of papers, and the one on top was the cover sheet for my file. Somewhere during the hour, it had wound its way through the system, and someone must have been in the room to remove it from the printer and stack it neatly on the table. (The Business Center is just a room with 2 computers, a printer and a fax/copy machine—no personnel).

So we all had a great time and everyone learned something new. There’s no charge for the service, and I think I’ll give it a shot with 3 more chapters tomorrow. I spent the rest of the evening in the room and enjoyed the sunset over the mountains from my window. Mountain views aren’t possible in central Florida!

Albuquerque, Day 3

What I'm reading: On Danger's Edge, by Lise Fuller

What I'm writing: Edits for my August release, Starting Over.

Awoke with leg muscles reminding me of yesterday’s walk. Breakfast, then back to the room while my husband went off to the board meeting, which was in the hotel.

The hotel spa definitely provided a pampering break. My deluxe pedicure: “Feet and legs are deeply cleansed with papaya and pineapple enzymes while imputities and dead skin cells are gently polished away. A revolutionary caviar, lemon and chamomile mask is applies, leaving skin visibly brighter and supple. A full pedicure is performed."

When I got there, I was offered water or tea (I chose mango chamomile) and a brief wait in the ‘relaxation room.’ I settled into the massage chair, the receptionist placed a lavender scented heated wrap around my neck, and I let the tech do her thing. That ‘mask’ mentioned above includes 10 minutes of plastic-wrapped feet in heated booties while you do—absolutely nothing. When it was over, I took my “I’m Really Not a Waitress” toenails back to the room.

The wind was so strong yesterday, they took the flags down. Windows rattled, and the whistling sounded like horror movie sound effects. The conference provided University vans to shuttle people to and from the icebreaker, and will run daily. Maybe someone realized the 1 kilometer (0.6 miles, give or take, for those metrically challenged), from hotel to campus, which was the distance published in their program, was actually more like a generous mile and a half. We ran into a bunch of my husband's colleagues, and I met a lot of new friendly faces who liked my "Will Sell Husband for Chocolate" tee-shirt.

Trials and tribs of the hotel life, in no particular order:
Hearing train whistles until well after you want to go to sleep.
Different selection of TV channels – no ESPN2, so no French Open Tennis.
Sharing a bathroom – something we haven’t had to do in 10 years or so.
Broken electrical outlet (but repaired within a reasonable amount of time)
Less potent hair dryer.
Hotel boasts wireless internet, but it’s not in all the hotel rooms yet, so I’m anchored to the desk.
Desk chairs are not office height. Sitting on one of the throw pillows from the sofa, but it’s still not quite right.
Changing the fridge settings to keep the ice cream solid meant the bottled water we bought froze.
Different bed – at home, we have a tubular waterbed system, so very little motion is transferred when one person turns over. Here, every twitch resonates through the mattress.

On the plus side:
Great breakfasts are included.
Free booze at night is included, along with prickly pear lemonade and jumbo cookies, plus the ever-present tortilla chips and salsa.
Someone else cleans the bathroom.
Someone else makes the bed.
Someone else deals with dinner.