The wheels of publishing grind so slowly that I dug my scissors and glue stick out of the bottom drawer and made my own book. Actually, it really helps in planning a book to be able to turn pages, rather than simply looking at a book layout or scrolling through pages on screen.

Winter Sun

Ocean Beach   5:38 pm

Sticks

Ocean Beach   5:23 pm

Yeah well so what. We were having an argument in the car on Valentine’s Day.

We had decided beforehand that more than anything else, we wanted to walk on the beach on Valentine’s evening. And that after our walk, we’d pick up some of those fat sandwiches from Ocean Beach Deli. We planned to take them home and open a bottle of prosecco, and have coffee and chocolate for dessert.

I had suggested watching Manhattan. We had just seen La La Land and hated it, and I wanted to watch the same kind of movie – a romantic one – only one that was really good.

But after walking we were both tired and said things to each other that didn’t sound loving. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” I said finally, meaning “I’m giving up on this Valentine’s Day, for sure."

There were no places to park on the street but when we turned up Balboa there was a tiny space right on the corner. We went back and forth about whether the car would block the crosswalk or not. I said I’d stay in the car in case it did. But then I changed my mind because I wanted to go in and take a fresh look at the menu.

When we walked in the deli, there were these six guys squashed into the corner by the window. They were playing Blue Monk. Then they played Nature Boy. Then they played Last Time I Saw Janine. We experienced a spiritual whiplash. Tom changed the status of our to-go order and we sat down with our fat sandwiches and a couple of glasses of Champagne and had a Happy Valentine’s Day.

Sky

Ocean Beach   5:09 pm

Ocean Beach   5:13 pm

Ocean Beach   5:29 pm

Kitty

 

Old Friends ...

Susan, Ben, Ida, Brandon, Keene, Faith, and you-know-who.

... and some little new friends.

And today, we actually took a walk outside for the first time in ... two weeks? I shot this picture just to prove it. Take good care of yourself and don't catch whatever it was we caught.

I Ventured Forth Today

I'm all well. I went to Safeway, Walgreen's, and the gallery. It was a wonderful experience – I even found Walgreen's enchanting. The cat is a detail from a painting I saw this afternoon by Jimmy McCullough.

About that Cover...

I just received this email from my art director: So we just got out of our cover meeting where we shared your darling color sketch, and while the room did agree it is darling, they also felt it read too young for a chapter book—they thought it felt picture-book’y. BLAST! ....

But doesn't it look great? Lauren added the type and the spine and stuff. Stay tuned, we'll be starting on another one soon. And just in case you ever get the wrong impression, it's not easy being me.