Archives - Weekly Update

When we left off last week, we were gearing up for our office move. On Monday night, everything was disassembled and trucked over by the movers one block to the east and two blocks to the south. Then my husband, Tom, Greg and I whipped into reassembly mode; Tom thinks he has set a record for desk assembly! A few tweaks on Tuesday, a lot of unpacking, and everything was in its place for the staff to return on Wednesday. Yesterday, Annie, one of our terrific summer interns, did a brilliant job of organizing my Bookreporter.com Bets On books, going back to my 2009 selections, on my shelves, before she headed out on a backpacking trip. This is one of the things I would vow to do and never get around to it, so I am grateful to her for doing it. The “before” picture is above!

When we left off last weekend, Tom Donadio and I were ThrillerFest-bound. We both had a great time catching up with author pals and meeting new ones. Through the years, so many of these writers have become friends, and getting together means we were catching up on life (including what our kids are up to) as much as we were talking books.

Out with the roses. For the last four summers, I have battled Japanese beetles that have feasted on our roses. The pattern goes like this: The roses are amazing in April, May and into early June. Then, no matter what I do, the beetles win for two months, though I pluck hundreds into soapy water, and then the roses flower again and are stunning in September and October, and often into November. The invasion this year has pushed me over the edge. They are now consuming the leaves from the rhubarb as well. The rhubarb leaves are poisonous to humans, but clearly are a delicacy to the beetles. So, away the rose bushes will go, as I think they hold the magic elixir.

What a nice long weekend I had. I felt like I had been off a month, even though I spent Saturday in the office packing up for our move. It is much easier to get things done for the move when I am not trying to work as well.

It is quite amazing how much one can collect in 21 years! A whole lot of throwing out has been going on, along with a whole lot of organizing. My lists have lists. We are moving the lights and fans from our present office to the new one (I really like these and selected them when we designed the space). Picture my call to the moving company --- “Can your movers work in the dark?” --- as I want to move these in advance of the furniture.