What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk.  Head over to Jaime's page for links to find out what's up with everyone else. Here's What's Up with me.
What I'm Reading
This week, I read Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson. I posted a review of it yesterday as a part of the YA book club.
What I'm Writing
I was out of town this past week and didn't get a chance to do any writing. I did do quite a bit of thinking while I was gone though. My musings included figuring out how to rework a couple of scenes that have been bothering me. So hopefully this next week the writing that I do will be extra productive.
What Else I've Been Up To
As I mentioned above, I was out of town last week. I went to Colorado to visit my aunt and uncle. It was a very bitter sweet vacation. My aunt and uncle used to live in a cabin in the woods near Colorado Springs. My uncle had a large collection of unusual toys that matched well with my husbands unusally toys, so Colorado has become a regular vacation destination for us.

Unfortunately, my aunt and uncle's house and all their toys burned down in a forest fire back in June. We had been planning to visit them in early July but pushed our visit back to late August after the fire. During the week we were there, we helped them sort through some of the ashes and loaded old treatures into scrap piles to be recycled.

My aunt and uncle saved their cat, their computer hard drive (which had a few photos on it), one box of important documents, and a hand full of clothing. That's it. Everything else they owned is gone. Even the trees that used to cover their mountain home are gone. As we were there, news reports were all focused on the wildfire currently raging in California. It's sad to think that this is happening to someone else right now.

But it was still good to see my aunt and uncle, and they are doing remarkably well. They're old enough that they've accepted it's not worth it to rebuild. So they're starting to look at new properties to buy. Last year, when I got sick, I came up with the new philosophy that anything that doesn't kill you makes you still alive. That appears to be just as true for fire as it is for serious illness. My aunt and uncle are still alive, and it was still enjoyable visiting them, even if they didn't have any unusual toys for my husband to oogle over.  
What Inspires Me Right Now

One of my CP's lives in Denver. I was able to take a quick break from my manual labor vacation to visit with her. Meeting one of the real live people who's words I've enjoyed for years was a fun break. It was also a sorce of inspiration, because the words I write I write for real live people.

So What's Up With You?