Road Trip
It's been four years since I've had a vacation. I almost got to take one this week - and I apologize (as usual) for being dilatory about posting, because I was prepping to take a road trip to visit friends. I arranged some rather complicated scheduling of who was going to be home when, turned in my manuscript, tidied my house so the cat-sitter wouldn't think I'm a slob, arranged car rental because I don't want to worry about engine-trouble halfway between East Jesus and Mordor, arranged massively long playlists, re-arranged my research appointment and had the requisite number of nightmares about getting lost on cliff-tops or the cats escaping. Late in the afternoon of the day before my departure (which was scheduled for 9 a.m.), about an hour after I had cleaned out the refrigerator, horrible noises from within the walls informed me that the air conditioner had died. (Or that something extraterrestrial was attempting to materialize in the laundry-room). For a number