The Highs and Lows of an Inheritance

It's been a mixed week. Some time ago I shipped two of Dad's statues to a buyer in Florida via UPS, and they both arrived broken. I gave him a full refund. They were insured, but the UPS will only pay 25% of their value since the recipient refuses to return the pieces, which he has since glued back together again and given to his mother. Not much I can do about that. I hope at least that she enjoys them.

On the other hand, the Wisconsin Historical Society has brought out a very handsome publication featuring Dad's murals for the 1948 State Fair. You can see it at http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/statefairmural/ As I probably said before, these murals are huge, 12x28 feet each, and they found nine of the original fourteen back around 1999. Dad and I were there when they unrolled the first of them. Just restoring them cost a fortune. Anyway, I had the original sketches, which Dad had displayed in his studio to the day he died, and the Kohler Foundation has bought them to restore and gift to the WHS. I'm pleased about that and think that my father would be too.

Now a Chicago gallery proposes to take my entire collection of Dad's work on consignment. I feel ambiguous about that, afraid to let go and yet what good are they doing anyone here?

I wish Dad were still alive. He died in 2000 of colon cancer, which is quite treatable if caught early, which he didn't. His mother died of it too. You can bet that I get checked out regularly.

Meanwhile, I've sent a short story to Baen for, I think, their December website. I ended up with one from Patches' POV on the Jame's last night in Tai-tastigon, although I've kept all of your other suggestions for future consideration.

Now I'm wrestling with the next novel, specifically trying to figure out how to interweave Tori's dreams about his past in Kothifir with Jame's present there. Seems I've been stuck here before. This is going to be one complicated story.