MERKIDS OF ASHLAND

REMODEL UPDATE

There's a lot of info I could leave here, but I'll keep it short since I'm going on week six without a kitchen. The tilers are laying slate tiles in the laundry room and kitchen today and tomorrow. Then we have to seal it, which will take another 3 days to fully dry. I might be able to install cabinets before that, but have to make sure nothing gets the floor wet or too dirty.

It's going to look amazing. It's taking a lot of patience.

Navel Contemplation

You wanna know what's good about inny belly buttons? You can hold water in them. -Aubrey, age 7

DANE LEAVING A PHONE MESSAGE FOR HIS BUDDY

Um, hi? This is Dane? And I'm, um, home today? And I'm wondering if I can have a play date with Avery? [Pause] That's all I'm really wondering about. [Pause] The End. [Pause] Um, goodbye. [Pause] I hope I can see Avery today. [Pause] Okay, bye.

R.I.P., Frank McCourt, with your angel on the seventh step.
1930-2008

Angela's Ashes was an inspired gift to his readers -- and was the subject that saved me when I wrote my first Masters paper. I met him in 1999 at the Associated Writer's Program conference in Buffalo, NY. I was giddy when I met him and told him I'd written my first grad school paper on him and the Angel on the Seventh Step. He was quite sweet in his response when he said, "Well, you probably know more about me than I know about myself."

Aw... May the road rise up to meet you, Frankie M.

ANYBODY STILL READING THIS???

Whoa... Took a long blogging break -- settling into life with no kitchen (four weeks now), teaching Sticky Slippery Messy Mix-y Textures Camp at ScienceWorks last week, and traveling north to Astoria for a writing workshop and south to San Francisco for King Tut -- so I'll just ease myself back onto the scene with this mini-update:

We went to Britt Fest last night and had front row (FRONT ROW!) seats to the Cowboy Junkies. Here's Dana and me with our new best friend, lead singer Margo Timmins: