away from myself

I'm in Seattle for a long weekend right now, and am having a very nice time just relaxing and not doing a whole lot. Went to a great used bookstore with my friend K and her husband B, and bought too many books, darn! I have to say, overall, this has been a good reading year. I mean, I always like the books I finish, but this year I have read a lot of books that I love. The kind of love that means I shove copies into other people's hands and say "You've GOT to read this, it's so amazing!" So that's great. I know that I'm super behind on my book blogging these days, but today I just can't be bothered. Eventually you, dear readers, will find out what books have occupied my (small amounts of) spare time, but today is not that day.
Last night I went to the wedding party for a couple of good friends of mine, and it was lovely. A few other friends were up from Oregon for it, so I got to catch up with them, and there was good food, good wine, great company, all in a lovely backyard with music and candlelight and a gentle rain. It was perfectly lovely.
There's a lot in my head right now. Story ideas, dream fragments, books I'm reading . . . K and I have stayed up late drinking wine and talking both nights I've been here so far, so there's a lot of those conversations tangled up in my head too. Serious illness and history and people and relationships and books and just big life concepts. It's great, but my head feels a little overly full. (The wine hangover probably isn't helping that, either!)
The end of summer is approaching. Only a couple more weeks of summer hours before work goes back to normal. Only several more weeks until the weather really starts to cool off, and after a couple days in Seattle I'm REALLY ready for the humidity to go away in New York.
This fall promises to be fairly quiet. Not a lot of travel, not many houseguests. Just me, my partner-in-crime, and my writing. Of course, things never turn out that simply, do they? Still, I'm looking forward to it.
Anyway. I should probably go wake up K from her nap and start talking about dinner plans. Getting hungry already! Have a good Sunday evening out there, everybody.