Archives - Weekly Update

Thanksgiving, which I have nicknamed the "chop chop chop" holiday, is here. Seriously, I feel like Thanksgiving prep means knives, many knives. For me that also means bandaids, many bandaids, since no matter how hard I try, I am a total klutz with knives. I also am a very messy cook. I start out very organized with good intentions of washing each pan and utensil as I use it, but as the day progresses so does the mess. We have a dark tile floor that by later today will be streaked with flour, then of course some liquid will hit that and we will have the start of....paste on the tile. At least I know what lies ahead.

It's Friday and I am...on an airplane. I am headed to San Antonio for the National Council of Teachers of English conference. The flight is early enough that I think I will be able to get the egg/cheese biscuit sandwich. Actually I got bumped up to first class, which is lovely. Maybe they have some special version of the egg/cheese biscuit sandwich in store for me here. I am wearing my teal cowboy boots because, after all, it's Texas! I came pretty close to JUST packing the boots, but somehow ended up with three more pairs of shoes wedged into my bag, just in case. These boots are my version of ruby red slippers and one of the few reasons I do not mind that the weather turned cold this week.

Okay...I need to stop humming the Will Smith song that comes into my head whenever I fly down to Miami. I am sitting on a plane writing this on Wednesday morning on my way to the Miami Book Fair, which I will be attending for the fourth year in a row. I took a later flight than usual this morning and thus had a turkey sandwich instead of Continental's egg/cheese biscuit that I confess I am quite nuts over. I know, I truly need a life. I know I have been flying a lot when once again I saw my favorite flight attendant, Genevieve, and we chat knitting projects and books. She recognizes me by my pink multi-colored poncho...and my clicking needles. I am knitting a sweater and am on the last sleeve. I have ripped both sleeves out twice, which is rather sad, but the proportion would have fit a BAT if I left them the way they were, which is rather pitiful. I joke as I sit on the plane that I am in the last few moments of straight hair before the Miami humidity wreaks havoc and creates waves/frizz/curls. A few years ago I saw Adriana Trigiani when she was on a tour that took her to the south. She told me she had one bag just with hair products in it. I completely commiserated with her.

I am glad we got that extra hour this week since we sure needed it. The good news: the election is over. Now everyone can get back to whatever they were doing two years ago before all this started. I hope we can remember what that was. I got a very humorous note from Jean, a reader in Iowa, last weekend where she said, “If you think you are tired of politics you should live in Iowa where it has been going on for two years.” Memo to self: Do not move to Iowa.