Hello lovelies.

I’m in New York this week. I thought about flying out on Friday so that I could catch Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer in the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, but decided that, more than anything, I needed a kid-free, work-free day to rest and recharge. By which, of course, I mean fold the 4 baskets of laundry, clear out the dishes in the sink, prep the fridge for a week away from home, and clean up all the clutter left by Hurricane Z.

1. Take a hike. I’ve been exploring the trails around Mt. Diablo with Meetup groups, as I’m downright terrified of getting lost. This is an entirely rational fear: 9 times out of 10 I’ll exit a restaurant or store and start walking in the opposite direction from where I’m parked. I can, however, read maps. Really well. I don’t even need street names, just a sense of where on the map I am, and I’m all set. I used the AllTrails app when I took Zanna to Rock City and it was  soid. Yesterday I did my first solo hike, at Shell Ridge, and really enjoyed being able to wander at my own pace and stop for photos without losing the group.

2. Space matters. A few months ago, I made a deal with myself. If I could write for thirty days straight—poetry, stories, novel, blog, anything—I would buy myself a laptop. It didn’t work. It didn’t matter if it was morning, afternoon, evening. Sitting down to write felt like a chore, something I didn’t want to do. I let it go. I got the laptop anyway. I started writing. And realized something critical about my writing process. I don’t write at a desk. I can, but I dislike it, especially since I started working from home. I find it extremely hard to make myself sit down in the same place where I’ve been or will be working all day. So I am once again trying to get back into the groove of writing (almost) every day. As part of that, I’m participating in the Clarion West Write-A-Thon this year; you can find status updates and brief excerpts from my novel here.

3. Just like Sugar. I started making an effort to avoid refined sugar this week, after a week in Europe of eating way too many sweet things. Nothing crazy, I’m not throwing out the bottles of salad dressing and stir fry sauce, just an effort to eat fruit instead of chocolate when I need an afternoon pick-me-up. It has been surprisingly easy, and I’m already starting to see a change in my taste. Z only ate half her chocolate chip pancake Thursday morning. I picked it up and started to finish it without even thinking (eating your kid’s leftovers is apparently one of those universal parenting things) and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the semi-sweet chocolate chips in there tasted surprisingly gross.

4. Silence in the Library. I finished the audiobook of The Library at Mount Char today. The novel is brilliantly executed, impossible to describe, and definitely worth a re-read or three.

5. The edge of solstice. I’m loving the slow rise into summer, with the hot days sprinkled among the perfect spring ones. The zucchinis are growing, the tomatoes are starting to turn red, and the compost is getting that fresh turned earth smell. The chicken coop is about ready to go, and I am so looking forward to fresh eggs in the mornings.

Links and Things

I’m in love with this Star Wars/Resistance T-shirt and wish they offered them in kid sizes.

Seriously considering backing J.A.W. Cooper’s latest Kickstarter. From the campaign description: “Pastoral is a romp through subject matter that makes me supremely happy. I refuse to intellectualize it further than that. Expect humor, expect sensuality, expect chickens, expect all three in one image. If that sounds like a damn good time to you I think we will get along famously.”

Things aren’t looking great for the little Rover That Could—a 14 million-square-mile dust storm may put an end to Opportunity. “The rover has proved hardier than expected by lasting nearly 15 years, despite being designed for a 90-day mission.”

Loving my new laptop, hating how intrusive Windows 10 is. Here’s a handy guide to disabling the anti-privacy features.