The Week That Was

You know that sensation that prickles your skin just before a real gully washer splits the skies and fills the streets with rainwater? You know that pungent, coppery smell just before the earth and the heavens are bridged by electricity?

We're just about there. Not quite, but just about there. The storm clouds have massed. The temperatures are dropping.

Jeanne's having a couple of contractions each day. Officially, we're still looking at three weeks, but our little girl could come any time. Like I said before, it's danged exciting. Jeanne, by the way, is amazing. She and I took a two-mile walk a little bit ago. Her spirit, attitude and strength are inspirational. I'm looking forward to watching her parent the little gal, to be honest.

In terms of the last week, I went back to work. I've got three delightful groups of students at the college, and I'm looking forward to reading some good student writing in the coming months. It feels good to be back at a place so filled with positive energy.

I had a great week at the word processor. The prose flowed well, and I had a lot of fun. I received a pair of very kind personal rejections (with an offer to re-submit upon revision) and two form rejections on short stories.

Jeanne and I hosted seventeen at the house last night to celebrate the birth of Delaney Finch, the daughter of one of my colleagues at the college. It was a lot of fun, and now I know a little more about roasting thirteen pounds of skin-on pork. I made two types of pulled pork (apple cider mop and mesquite smoked) and two types of homemade barbecue sauce, as well as a mess of baked beans and some homemade coleslaw. Friends brought cake and ice cream. They brought homemade beer and oranges plucked from their back yard.

It was a nice way to spend a Saturday, and Jeanne and I feel very fortunate to have forged the relationships we have here in Florida.

I hit the Jacksonville Public Library's mondo used book sale today and nabbed a grocery sack of books for the mere pittance of ten clams. I fit nineteen books in that sucker, all but three of them hardbacks. I was able to grab a couple of Dave Robicheaux novels by James Lee Burke. I wouldn't have known to look for them if I hadn't seen the fine film Into the Electric Mist last night. Review forthcoming later this week.

We hit 82 today in Jacksonville. I ran the bridges downtown, heading down the waterfront, where Hooters was packed and folks were drinking margaritas at Cinco de Mayo. The sky was clear and the water was glittering and I was running back over the Acosta bridge when I looked down and saw a large woman sunbathing with her top off on a yacht that was puttering down the river.

Huh. Florida.

All in all, it was a good week, and I'm pretty excited to see where this week takes me. We're covering some great stories in lit. class and watching On the Waterfront in the film class. My buddy Kris Schaub is flying in from Oregon to get waxed in three rounds of golf.

And maybe, just maybe, the clouds will split and we'll have a new addition to the Powell family.