Today’s my 50th birthday – I’m pretty happy to be here to celebrate it, given the alternative.  Spent the weekend at a quaint Green Gables type house on a white sandy beach in Port Joli – probably one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been; my dream house, in fact.  It was cozy and we had lots of fun; hiked the Keji Seaside Adjunct and saw dozens of seals basking in the warm sun. The weather cooperated completely; it was warm and sunny the whole time.  I’m thinking ahead to an author pic for A Hare in the Elephant’s Trunk, so Nance took several photos of me on the beach, all of which were horrible.  I see now why writers sometimes use photos of themselves as children in books – we were all much cuter as kids! Peter said he presented the book at a Fitzhenry & Whiteside sales meeting last week, and it was well received. I’m looking forward to seeing the cover image they’ve chosen and to reading the manuscript one final time after the copy editor has finished with it.

It’s been a week since I left my job at NKEC. I still think about the students, but I’m already feeling more rested and able to focus on the rest of my life again. Today, Shannon took me out for breakfast, then Liam took me out for lunch, so I’ve been duly pampered.  Tomorrow I’ll head out to the cottage by myself (to await the Aliant person who is coming to hook up the internet for us, sometime between 8 am and 5 pm on Friday!) and hope to get into some writing while I’m there.  I took a giant book out of the Acadia library today about the Montbeliard settlers (my Mingo family included) who arrived in Nova Scotia in the 1700s from Europe. I’ve always been interested in writing something about that voyage from a kid’s point of view, but I’m sure I’ll be challenged to find much relevant information. I’m also thinking about writing something else for the Korean language school (JLS) – this fall they’ll be looking for longer works (10 – 20,000 words).  I also had a university student contact me on the weekend with a series of questions about being a writer – it was interesting to reflect on my writing life while answering her questions via email.  Usually, I just write, but I don’t think about the process all that much.

Two hours of American Idol to sit through tonight – my money is on Crystal Bowersox!