Saturday Six 8/20/11

Here are a few things I love this Saturday:

1) Rain.  I know.  I know.  You're so tired of rain.  You love the sun, the beach, the sweaty heat of summer.  Not me.  I love the smell of it, the rumble of thunder like a growly, atmospheric hungry stomach, the cloak of gray that it wraps the world in, letting only the bright green of the trees and plants come out to play. I love rain because it gives me an excuse to curl up with a kitty and a good book on the couch.

2) Speaking of Good Books...Paper Towns by John Green.  I can't believe I haven't read this book before now. I'm not done with it yet, so I won't slide a review here, but you can bet I'm enjoying the ever-loving snot out of it.  Oh!  And remind me to tell you about Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach - another must-read!

3) Strawberry Pie. I just made my last strawberry icebox pies of the summer this week, and I'm going to miss them.

4) School Supplies/Office Supply Stores.  Oh, yes.  I could flip through folders, sift through staplers, moon over magnetic strip mounting tape, and plunder the pen aisle all doggone day.  You know you love it, too!  Did you know Sharpie makes erasable pens now?  You can get 2Gb flash drives for under ten bucks! They have everything a teacher or student needs to start the school year!  It's like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory this time of year - a brightly colored land of enticement.

5) Coffee.  This will probably re-cur in this section of my blog.  It should be widely known by now that I am a coffee-holic, and I 'm a coffee snob as well.  (No, McDonald's new coffee really ISN'T as good as Starbucks - you will never convince me of this.)

6) Hearing/Reading about what other writers are doing:  This week, one friend is at a gaming convention, another is being a hero for her family, another is attending an online writing convention, yet another is struggling with the line-edits to a new book, and many are preparing to return to school as either teachers or students.  Yes, all of this does prevent me (for a few moments) from doing my own writing.  But just like at school, where I'm constantly getting updates from my students about their writing, it inspires me to continue on with my own.