On Writing Retreat Again

This week I'm in beautiful Gloucester, Mass., for a few days to get away from it all and try to wrap my head about this elusive book. Allysen set me up with a B&B overlooking the harbor. Here's the view from my window:

Not bad, huh? The waterfront is actually a lot closer than it looks in the picture. It's about a five minute walk. The Cape Ann Brewery and Pub is a ten minute walk. (Their fish & chips are good; their beer is excellent.) My next seafood foray will probably be Gloucester House Restaurant, tonight.

When I drove in yesterday, there was an enormous honking cruise ship anchored in the harbor. Here's a fuzzy picture of it (I really should set my cell phone camera to a better resolution, if I'm going to keep using it for these things):



When I got back to my room, I hopped online to marinetraffic.com, where you can identify just about any ship anywhere in the world at any given moment. You just zoom in on the map, click the icons, and learn—for example—that this cruise ship is called the Eurodam, and it was anchored, but ultimately en route to Bar Harbor, Maine. Indeed, shortly after I took this photo, it moved out of the harbor and headed north.

Writing-wise, it's taking longer than usual to settle in. My mind is still all over the place; but slowly, slowly, some important issues about the story are starting to ooze back into focus. Here's hoping it all comes back soon.

25 Years and Going Strong!

A few days ago, Allysen and I celebrated our twenty-fifth anniversary! She took a half day off work, and we went to Massage Envy on our moped/scooters and got hour-and-a-half full body massages. What a great way to relax! That evening we took a couple of gift cards Allysen's brother and sister-in-law had given her a while back, and visited a very classy restaurant in downtown Boston, called McCormick & Schmick's Seafood. Fabulous food and great service. (We also mutually agreed not to step on the scales the next day.)

In a stroke of genius, as we were walking back to our car past historic Faneuil Hall, I asked a woman who was taking a picture of the hall to snap an anniversary photo of us, using  my cell phone camera. Then, in a stroke of idiocy, I forgot that on this stupid Motorola phone you have to press a couple of buttons to tell it to save the picture. So... fffft... no picture to commemorate the event.

Nevertheless, we had a wonderful celebration, and we're looking forward to the next twenty-five years. Here's looking at you, kid!