Hope Is A Thing Without Calories

I just spent a wonderful, albeit fattening, weekend with three close friends, a mini-vacation in Amherst, MA. We stayed at the Black Walnut Inn (which was really nice and very comfortable and served delicious breakfasts), and we saw sights, the first, and best of which was Emily Dickinson's house (and her brother's conveniently located right next door house too). I have had some wonderful docents in my day (since I like going to historical houses, and that's where docents tend to be found), but the one we had was perhaps the best docent ever. He was articulate and knowledgeable and happy to answer questions and he even answered more of our questions in the gift shop (of course it could be he was dazzled by our charm and beauty, as we were with his).

For someone who wore white all the time and did a lot of baking, Emily Dickinson lived in a hotbed of sexual activity. Granted, it wasn't her hotbed, but it sure made learning about her a lot more interesting.

We also went to the Smith College horticultural gardens, where I practiced my flower photography skills.



I really like this picture I took of peonies, which has a real "A peony is a peony is a peony" quality to it.



The most expensive thing I bought was a pair of socks (the pair I had on kept slipping), but we did some window shopping, although when it came to ice cream and candy we smashed the metaphorical window and actually shopped.

It was great to spend time with friends and get away from home and reality for a couple of days, even though it meant I couldn't see Rafael Nadal and his rippling muscles win the French Open. And Scooter has been even more of a lunatic than usual since I got back. And the scale broke when I stood on it this morning.

I noticed when I logged on to Blogspot that this is the 499th entry I've written on this blog. I think I'll wait for something to announce for #500. My agent is reading The Offering and my publisher has been reminded a few times that they really should make up their mind about The Shade Of The Moon, and you never know what might happen that's worthy of a blog entry.

So in the meantime, thank you again for answering my birth order poll and for all your comments about birth orders, and for committing to memory all previous 499 blog entries, starting, of course, with the first !