ROBIN HOBB

Another cold day in the Pacific Northwest!  My dogs like to get me up early.  Being poked with a nose at 5 AM is not unusual.  But more often they allow me to sleep until 6.  I've found I don't mind getting up so early.  The night sky is still full of stars, the house is quiet and it's a nice time for a hot cup of coffee and planning out the day.

The usual chores: Fill the bird feeders, feed the chickens, ducks and geese.  A walk down to the river.  

Than, a drive up to Seattle and University Book Store. Traffic was bad, as always.  It was so good to see Duane back in the store!  He has been gone for weeks due to a foot injury.

I was startled by the transformation of the basement.  The store is 're-expanding' into it's old space, and the lower level is now full of all the addictive things that writers lover:  Fancy pens.  Markers.  Sharpies in all colors. Notebooks.  Cute notebooks, serious notebooks.  Write In The Rain notebooks. Moleskines.   Paper.  Lots of kinds of paper!  And art supplies of all kinds.  Brushes, paints, stuff I don't know the names of.  In short, a wonderland. A visit is recommended if you are in Seattle.

Not to mention all the books on the main floor!

Then we went to the new book signing room, and I tried not to be cowed by the immense supply of Bridgerton books just waiting for Julia Quinn to come in and sign.  But there were also two rolling carts full of books for me to sign and personalize, so my ego was restored.

I will probably make the trek again in March.  As mentioned earlier, if you desire an autographed book, you can order one from University Book Store and request a signature in the comments section.  They will hold it until I can do a signing, and then mail it on to you.  No extra charge for the signing, but sometimes you do have to wait a bit to receive it.

We fought traffic all the way home.  So, that was my day.

Tomorrow?  More work on my Writers' Refuge.  It's coming along nicely, I think.

Some months back at a convention, I had the pleasure of chatting with Kasey Lansdale about a new project called PandiPress.  I like to receive 'real' mail and even more I like to receive surprise boxes of wonderful things.  So, trusting to Kasey's good judgment, I signed up and subscribed to get PandiPress boxes.  This is my first one to arrive.  It had coffee in it, which I'm drinking right now, and lemon cookies that I hid from myself, a postcard, a bookmark, a cut out and two books.  One is a 'flip book' similar to the old Ace Doubles (showing my years here).  A flip book isn't the one where you thumb the corner of the pages and see a tiny animation, although those a great fun, too.  This is one where there is a story by Joe Lansdale (Hyena in the photo.)  And after you read that, you flip the book upside down and look, there's another story. The other book is Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman.  This will be my first reading venture into his work, but that's really the fun of a surprise box in the mail. So all good stuff and I'll be digging into that!

Today I amused myself by beginning the tediou task of gathering up my tax numbers for the tax organizer from my accoutant.  No, I don't keep track of it all year.  Yes, I know there are software programs I could use.  I am an old dog refusing to learn new tricks.  No matter how easy they are for someone else.  

Fred is busy setting up our new beehive, and tonight we will order bees.  Last year, I got few plums, and had to hand pollinate some of my squash and pumpkins.  You can hand pollinate tomatoes and cucumbers with a tiny paint brush and a lot of patience.  Instead, we are attempting the great bee experience. I will be keeping everyone informed of how it all turns out. 

Dogs and I went for our usual stroll down to the Nisqually River.  No rotting salmon this time, just a very nice walk.  Came back, and got beat up by a hen who thinks this is a good time of year to hatch some eggs.  Nope.  But given the stte of eggs and poultry currently in the US, I may let her hatch one batch when spring is here. She's a mean old thing.  Not a peck.  She grabs a beakful of flesh and tries to slice through the skin to the meat.  Not fun but she will be a great mother to chicks.  

I continue to make progress on my PAY IT FORWARD space in the old dojo building.  Andrew and Faire dropped by to offer useful sugggestions which I am acting on.  One of the tables will be at a height for those who like standing desks.  And I modified the lighting from my personally preffered  BRIGHT LIGHT EVERYWHERE to a calmer, gentler illumination.  Also added another couch and comfy chair, a Keurig coffee maker and an electric kettle for tea.  If you are wondering what I'm talking about, go back a few blogs.  It will be a writers' refuge where creative people can find a couple of undistracted hours to write. And maybe eat a cookie and have a cup of tea.

Anything else exciting in my life?  Hm. Well I will go up to University Book Store in Seattle on Wednesday the 29th to autograph special order books.  If you want a signed Hobb or Lindholm book, visit their website and order a book.  In the commens section, put down that you want it signed.  That's it, no extra charge.  

Upcoming cons I plan to attend.  Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, and Seattle Worldcon.  I will attempt to attend Celsius 232 in Avila, Spain, but only if my health and stamina continue to recover.  I might drop in on Norwescon over Easter weekend.  We will see. 

Well, I guess that's about it.  Time for me to go get some story words typed down. Thanks for dropping by!

Well, my friends, here we are in a relatively calm and quiet place.  I've got a hot cup of tea.  If you do, too, so much the better.

I am planning to blog here a lot more often, possibly even more than once a day.  If you have followed me here from somewhere else, then I wonder why.  What are you hoping to find here?

I will be blogging about everyday things: planting gardens, writing books, feeding chickens.  But I will also be letting people know about things like upcoming convention appearances, books I read and enjoyed and cute things my dog said.  So all the things that I might otherwise post on social media sites are going to be here, instead.

Will I still post on X, Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky?  I will probably go there to see what friends are posting, and I may 'like' or comment on a post.  But for the most part, I'm going to be right here.  

So, what have I been up to today.  I did two loads of laundry.  I went to Home Depot, where they are out of the hanging light fixture I wanted.  I bought an electric kettle and a Keurig coffee pot for the new project in the old dojo buildinlg.  I updated the auto-pay for my Medicare advantage account, as the price has gone up.  I filled my bird feeders, fed the chickens, fed the three geese I own and the 30+ wild ducks I do not own.  Broke ice out of the chickens' water dish and refilled it.  Scheduled a medical appointment for my older sister that I take care of.  Moved money from savings to checking.  Swept the floor.  Fixed the vacuum cleaner that was acting up.  Fed a cat and two dogs.  And I brought the recycling bin down from the edge of the road, and checked my mailbox for mail.

  Oh, and I walked the dogs down to the Nisqually River, where we found an extremely stinky and rotten salmon carcass.  In an act of supreme cruelty, I pushed it back out into the water, denying my dogs the opportunity to roll in it and perhaps get salmon poisoning.

Such is my exciting life.  Here, it is 4 PM and soon I have to make dinner, which will be exciting hamburgers.  Cooking is not my favorite thing.  In fact, I would give up eating dinner forever if I never had to cook it again.  Becasue I don't enjoy cooking, I'm not a good cook.  Thus all my children were forced to learn to cook decent food for themselves at an early age.  it's a tactic I recommend to parents everywhere.

Things I am excited about.  My garden seed order should arrive soon.  And soon I will be opening my Pay It Forward space in the old concrete building in McKenna.  But that really merits a blog of it's own, and as soon as I am ready to launch it, you will read it here.  

Thanks for dropping by!