A post about mostly nothing

Wow, two days in a row!  I rock!  Not that I have anything to write about, really, but that's never stopped me.

 I see that a truckload of live slime eels, destined for the fish markets of Korea, overturned on the Oregon coast highway yesterday, blocking traffic for several hours.  The fire department had to hose the mess off the highway, since the eels, when stressed, emit a thick, viscous slime which made the road too slippery to drive on.  The attending police officer said, "It definitely has a marine - a sea life, smell."  One of the firemen said, "It wasn't too bad at first, but as the afternoon went along and the hot sun got everything . . . It's pretty rank by now."  when I start feeling sorry for myself, I will remember that I do not have a truckload of slime eels overturned in my driveway, festering in the July sun.

I have been binge watching "The Great British Baking Show."  It makes me hungry, and it inspires me to attempt things which I am in no way capable of producing.  These expert amateurs make it all look so easy.  "Maybe," I think, "I should try chou paste.  Cream puffs would be lovely for the next tea party."  Then I remember that my piping skills are nill, and I realize that you can't just slap random-sized blobs of paste down on the cookie sheet with a spoon and expect to get uniform, airy, crispy pastry shells.  "Well, maybe a Victoria cake," I think.  I look it up, and discover that all the recipes are in grams and liters, they even weigh the flour and sugar, and ". . .the cake should have a light, even crumb."   ??? What does that mean???     Oh, and what's a moderate hot oven in degrees Fahrenheit?  I might just stick with Betty Crocker box mix.  That way, I can be sure of turning out a perfectly acceptable if pedestrian cake, rather than attempting something awesome, and producing a magnificent failure.  Still, my friends are kind enough to eat just about everything I serve.  I figure, if I serve enough things, one of them is bound to work out.  Three cookies, a cake, a fruit and a savory.  If nothing else, the tea goes over well.

The tea parties are a joy for me.  I get to use my collection of china and linens.  I get to try new recipes.  I am motivated to clean the house at least once a month, and I just revel in the music of many happy women having a good time together.  The house gets filled with good vibes, people I love have a good time.  The only down side is that Kyle feels obliged to flee the premises.  What could  be so scary about twelve to twenty women of a certain age, gathered to chat and nibble?

I have been sewing, knitting and . um . well, . that's pretty much it.  I finished my story about Lucifer and the Salamanders, have had it edited (God bless you, Lynn) and am bracing myself to go for the revisions.  It might just be quirky enough to actually sell, if I can drive myself to start submitting again. Groan - the query letters, the rejection slips, the synopsizing and pitch crafting and all the intensive labor of of finding a publisher.  Still, it is a pretty good story.  Grace, redemption, and salamanders. Who wouldn't want to buy the book?