First of all, thank you SO much to everyone who's welcomed me so warmly back into the blogosphere! My heart cockles are feeling all warm and fuzzy, and not at all a mold-spore kind of a fuzzy but a happy tickly peach-fur kind of fuzzy! Seriously, though . . . thank you all for the nice welcome!

Some of you have also mentioned how ginormous The Bean has become and yes, he is sort of a big plush squishy bear, isn't he? Sometimes I like to tell him that he's a Beanapple (makes no sense, but it's fun to say), or that he's a Giganto Mutant Mung Bean (also incredibly stupid but very fun to say as well). When you compare Before and After shots, it's really amazing to think how big he's grown--particularly since he started out so sick and frail, due to having been an abandoned kitten who was found running around outside in Yankton, South Dakota, with winter coming on. In an amusing turn of events, Yuki now sometimes likes to just sit atop The Bean and use his cushy girth as a Flotation Device in the unlikely event of an emergency water landing.

I can't believe that it's August already, but I know it must be true because I have an uncontrollable urge to purchase school supplies . . . I suspect that I'm genetically hardwired to do so. Also, the ebb-and-flow chorus of cicada song at night has slowly started to taper off and give way to the rhythmic, sleigh-bell jingling of crickets. The summer always goes by so quickly. I have a few more weeks of uninterrupted writing time, though, and I'm going to make the most of them.

I've also been working on planning this conference, which may have me wailing, tearing out hear, and gnashing my teeth come late October.

In the meantime, I'm back to the guilty pleasure of watching the Gilmore Girls Tuesday night marathon. Tell me . . . is it reallyreally wrong that sometimes I reallyreally want to be a Gilmore Girl too?

Lee Ann,

I love the cat pictures! (we have 3 cats)...I like your blog...hopefully we can get some more poems from you in the future! (I publish In the Grove...we loved your poems in the last issue!).

Cheers, Lee Ann.

Lee

I knew it'd be worth it to keep calling in...

A truly welcome back.

yes it is wrong to want to be a gilmore girl because they are not real, it's a tv show, with scripts and plans. Life isn't planned much-- it just happens.

What? The Gilmore Girls aren't real?!?!

Funny how many of us don't outgrow the August school supply shopping ritual. Some differences though--With computers and all, it's alot more expensive these days with your ink cartridges and CD-R's etc. etc.; and related to this: I wish my mom was still around to buy me everything I want!

No, it's reallyreally wrong that I want the job of recording those "La la la la las" that serve as incidental music in every episode.

Welcome back, and congrats on the Bloom acceptance; I just got one, too, and loved that they call instead of writing--no Facing The Self-Addressed Envelope of Doom Moment necessary.

Emily, oh yes . . . the intermittent "La la la la las" must have some subliminal crack-cocaine-like effect on my neural system, I think. They're damn irresistible. Sometimes I sing along. It's scary. And congrats on the Bloom acceptance . . . will definitely keep my eyes peeled for your poem!

How nice to meet you too, Academic Coach!