Yes, we'd like a tankful of travel karma. puhlease.

I really thought we topped off the tank when we did the Atlanta trip a few weeks ago, and really, in retrospect, this wasn't quite as bad. We surely have an overflow at the moment and this is a good thing as the knitting anniversary cruise is right around the corner.

The first leg of travel yesterday required some fellow bloggers to drive us to the airport on their own way home. That was smooth as silk. Nice weather. Pleasant conversation mixed in with closed eyes (not the driver's) and little traffic. Smooth.

We were dropped at LaGuardia ahead of schedule and experienced a very short, just two parties, but also slow line at check in. We found our gate and left on time. It's all good. It should be said that on the way to the Northeast, we flew through O'Hare with zero delay. In the winter. This was an area of concern but all was smooth.)

When we got to the Big D, we arrived at gate C21. We had been told our next flight was at C36. Farther than I want to walk? Yes. Insurmountable? No. We trekked down to C36 only to see that we had been rerouted to C8. Insert a medium and everforth increasing sigh.

To get to C8 you need to take the Inter Terminal Train(ITT) as the section of terminal we were in began with C21. We find the train around the corner. It's still all good at this point.

As we arrive at gate C8, we hear the announcement and the comedy begins. We have now been delayed about half an hour, a good thing because the announcement routes us back to gate C29 via ITT. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee...

We arrive at gate C29, and the monitor at the gate says we are to go to D15. I am not exaggeratin her for a second. Not even a teeny stretch of my imagination. The string of monitors showing departures still says C29. What to do?

There was an airport kiosk stafed by the Airport Ambassadors, retired volunteers. Sandy was most helpful (and I am betting a snarky older wiser lesbian with her Indiana Jones dykish hat on and maybe a qat somewhere on her person) and called the automated airport system which confirmed D15. At this point hear the clearly audible sigh and color eb and I a little resigned that we are getting home l.a.t.e. "Get over it," said Sandy, "it's good for you!"

Off we went to D15. The silver lining was that there was to be a further short delay and eb got to sip a lovely Malbec while we crunched on some bagel chips(not from Trader Joe's) and pine nut hummus. The international terminal (Why D in the Big D, of course) has all the good restaurants.

Once we arrived back in H-town, a mere 42 minutes after take off, it was again smooth sailing.

Blogfest? Awesome.
Good friends? Way awesome.
Tankful of travel karma? Priceless.

Not. Quite. Right.

I just resized about 35 photos in Photoshop for the March issue of EB's magazine. I was on oh, maybe the 32nd one, and I had a weird sense of time revolving around me. I can't really describe it beyond something not being quite right. It wouldn't surprise me at all if EB goes to use these(hopefully not at the last minute), and she says to me, "Baby? Exactly what the fuck happened to all these lovely construction photos? Do them again. Please"

As I am typing my hands are a little shaky. Like the fingers aren't mine and they don't quite know what to do beyond hovering over a key my brain wants them to land on. It is a slow motion sort of thing where deliberate concentration is required for my brain to think each letter on its own rather than think in words. Disconnect.

Must be time for a vacation. I predict I will be better in exactly two days.

Final selections for the Great Lesbian Book Purge

Herein lies the final selections of the Lesbian Fiction portion of the book purge. Any not claimed by Wednesday at 4pm are going, going, gone.

Brooke, Gun...Sheridan's Fate

Maddison, Lauren...Deceptions
Mickelbury, Penny…Keeping Secrets
Mildon, Marsha…Fighting For Air
Miller, Carlene...Killing At The Cat
Miller, Carlene...Mayhem At The Marina
Miller, Carlene...Death Off Stage
Miller, Carlene...Reporter on the Run
Miner, Valerie...Range Of Light
Miner, Valerie...Blood Sisters
Minns, Karen Marie Christa…Virago (a lesbian vampire tale)
Moore, Maureen…Fieldwork
Morell, Mary...Final Rest
Murphy, Patricia A…Searching For Spring


Newman, Leslea…Girls Will Be Girls
Nonas, Elizabeth…For Keeps
Nonas, Elizabeth…A Room Full Of Women

O'Brien, Meghan...Infinite Loop
Obejas, Achy…We Came All The Way From Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?
Otto, Whitney…The Passion Dream Book


Pass, Gail…Zoë’s Book
Pass, Gail…Surviving Sisters
Pena, Terri De La…Margins
Perry, Roz…Rose Penski
Pincus, Elizabeth…The Two-bit Tango
Powell, Deborah…Houston Town
Powell, Deborah…Bayou City Secrets


Ravenwolf, Silver…Murder At Witches’ Bluff
Redding, Maggie…The Life and Times of Daffodil Mulligan
Richardson, Tracey...Last Rites
Richardson, Tracey...Over The Line
Richardson, Tracey...Double Take Out
Ross, M.E...The Best Laid Plans
Rule, Jane…The Young In One Another’s Arms
Rule, Jane…This Is Not For You
Rule, Jane…Outlander


Sackville-West, Vita…All Passion Spent
Sanders, Lauren...With or Without You
Sarton, May…The Small Room
Saxton, Carmen Mercedes…Conversations in the Dark
Schulman, Sarah…Shimmer
Schulman, Sarah…After Delores
Schulman, Sarah...Girls, Visions and Everything
Scofield, Sandra…More Than Allies
Scoppettone, Sandra…Gonna Take A Homicidal Journey
Scott, Claudia…Lesbian Writer: Claudia Scott
Scott, Melissa…Dreaming Metal
Scott, Rosie…Glory Days
Shacklady, Helen...The Lacquered Box
Shapiro, Lisa…Sea To Shining Sea
Sien, Bettianne Shoney…Lizards/Los Padres
Sims, Elizabeth...Holy Hell
Sims, Elizabeth...Damn Straight
Sims, Elizabeth...Easy Street
Smith, Shelley…The Pearls
Smith, Shelley...Edge of Passion
Sommers, Robbi…Kiss & Tell
Sommers, Robbi…Behind Closed Doors
Sommers, Robbi...Getting There
Sommers, Robbi...Pleasures
Stewart, Jean…Emerald City Blues
Stone, Lauren...Bait
Stores, Theresa…Getting To The Point
Sumner, Penny…The End Of April
Swallow, Jean...A Woman Determined


Taylor, Sheila Ortiz…Faultline
Taylor, Sheila Ortiz…Southbound
Taylor, Sheila Ortiz…Spring Forward/Fall Back
Taylor, Jena...The Last of Her Lies
Tomaso, Carla…The House of Real Love
Tulchinsky, Karen X…In Her Nature


Vole, Zenobia…Osten’s Bay


Warren, Patricia Nell...The Beauty Queen
Watts, Julia…Phases Of The Moon
Welsh, Lindsay…The Best Of Lindsay Welsh
Wiese, Deborah…Hodag Winter
Wilhelm, Gale…We Too Are Drifting
Wings, Mary…She Came By The Book
Wings, Mary…She Came In A Flash
Wings, Mary…She Came Too Late
Wings, Ocala…Singin’ The Sun Up


Zaremba, Eve…Beyond Hope
Zaremba, Eve…Uneasy Lies
Zaremba, Eve...White Noise

Who has to have one?

by Sarah Mundy

2 pics for Friday

I am still sifting through my father's negatives of 50 or so years ago, and today, these two brought a chuckle. What is that woman thinking as she helps her *friend* with her garter? Is it a woman? Drag, anyone? Don't you just covet that sweet suthahn belle hat? (Weese, you know you want the whole ensembele!)I am glad the woman in the chair is wearing a solid color, because any pattern competing with that chair, even though I want it, might make me have to sit down. And put my hand on my hip doing so.

Woo.

book purge...part deux

It will be next weekend before these are gone. I decided that rather than deal with ebay, I am taking them to a local used bookstore and I will be happy with whatever I get. I went through and pulled ones I think I might actually read again, or ones I am partial to and not ready to purge yet. Suzanne and Ann get first crack at them because they commented an interest, and because I will see them this month so shipping is not an issue.



Grae, Camarin…The Secret In The Bird
Grae, Camarin…The Winged Dancer
Grae, Camarin…Wednesday Nights
Griffith, Nicola…The Blue Place
Guess, Carol…Seeing Dell


Haddock, Lisa...Edited Out
Haddock, Lisa...Final Cut
Hartman, Melissa…The Sure Thing
Haslund, Ebba...Nothing Happened
Hayes, Penny…Grassy Flats
Helms, Kristie...Dish It Up, Baby!
Hill, Linda…Class Reunion
Hodgman, Helen...Waiting For Matindi
Hoffman, Lauran…Bar Girls
Horn, Phyllis…The Chesapeake Project
Horn, Phyllis…Lodestar
Hull…Last September


Johnson, Barbara…Strangers In The Night
Johnston…Gullibles Travels
Jones, Frankie J…Captive Heart


Kallmaker, Karin…Paperback Romance
Kallmaker, Karin…Car Pool
Kallmaker, Karin…Touchwood
Kallmaker, Karin… Painted Moon
Kallmaker, Karin...Making Up For Lost Time
Kallmaker, Karin...In Every Port
Knight, Phyllis...Switching The Odds
Knight, Phyllis...Shattered Rhythms
Koertge, Noretta…Valley Of The Amazons


Lambert, Mercedes…Soultown
Lang, Elizabeth…Anna’s Country
Lipman, Elinor…Into Love And Out Again
Logue, Mary…Still Explosion

MacGregor, KG...The House on Sandstone
Maiman, Jaye…Crazy For Loving
Maiman, Jaye…Under My Skin
Maiman, Jaye…Someone To Watch
Maiman, Jaye…Baby, It’s Cold
Maiman, Jaye…Old Black Magic
Maiman, Jaye…Every Time We Say Goodbye
Maiman, Jaye…I Left My Heart
Maney, Mabel…The Case Of The Good-for-nothing Girlfriend
Marcy, Jean…Cemetery Murders
Martin, Valerie...A Recent Martyr
Martinac, Paula…Home Movies
Martinac, Paula…Chicken
McCarthy…Cast A Cold Eye
McConnell, Vicki...Mrs. Porter’s Letters
McConnell, Vicki…Double Daughter
McDaniel, Judith…Yes I Said, Yes I Will
McDermid, Val...The Last Temptation
McKay, Claudia...The Kali Connection

Needles and Herbs

Yay, we just got airfare for the cruise!! Whoopeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

Long time no blog. It's so sad. Last week I had to rush off to Atlanta to save the day for my company. On the flight home we had to sit on the runway in Atlanta for 3 hours only to be let back into the terminal for an hour, only to sit on the runway for another hour before our measly 2 hour flight home. Can you say germs?

In general, I don't get sick. My disease aside, I am fortunate to have relative good health. There was a terribly insidious bug on that plane. As we sat there breathing the anything but pure germ infested air, I could feel my throat getting dryer by the minute and before the end of it, it was on fire.

Thursday was lost to travel. I tried to work on Friday but was battling a high fever that Tylenol was having a hard tiome maintaining. I couldn't concentrate and after an hour or so I went home and stayed in bed all day with Nikita (EB totally unserstands). On Saturday I worked at JCP for 4 hours and it wore me out. My fever was still hanging around, but Tylenol every 3.75 hours took care of it.

On Sunday, I felt better, but if I did anything more than walk to the couch from the bed, I was unable to catch my breath. I had the good fortune to look at two DSW coupons ($10 each that could be used together!)to see they expired when? Not the 10th, but the 3rd. I took my skankhobralessputabaseballcapon ass to DSW to use my xmas gift card before those coupons expired. I got 3 new pair o shoes and spent less than $15. Gotta love gift cards. And coupons.

I'm here to tell you about it, so yes, I lived, but that trip to the shoe store just about wiped me out. All in all with this bug, I was even too sick to knit. That's just shy of requiring hospitalization, y'know?

Now back to my disease for a minute. I have been dealing with the niceties of Crohn's (or *just* IBD or UC depending on the doc) for about 3 years now and I am beginning to get a bit put out with it all. Various meds that after insurance still come in at about $100 a month just aren't cutting it. For $100 a month I want better results dammit.

So we have a friend who has gone to school for Traditional Chinese Medicine. I asked her some questions, she sent me some links...I am almost ready for the needles and herbs. Do any of you have any direct experience with this? Talk to me people!