Devon's New Book

I skyped with Dave and Devon yesterday, and they showed me her new book. And her next book, based on her dissertation, will be finished by the 1st of September and published next year. Dave said he'd bring us a copy when he comes to visit at the end of the month.

Blogging

Sorry to drop the ball with blogging recently. I'm working more--24 hours client contact per week--what I consider full-time and a bit more than I prefer, but I'm trying to save for my half-year off in 2011 when we're at the Palace Court BYU London Centre from July-December. And gardening, and cat issues, and lots of family stuff. I have some photos--I'll get to them soon.

John Teaches Wilderness Writing

We went to a very nice meeting of the Central Utah Writers Project at Daniel's Summit southeast of Heber City. John taught a mini-version of his wilderness writing schtick, including the coyote trap (above). It was fun to see him in professional action.

Here is Strawberry Reservoir, in the distance:

Writers Group at Greenjacket

We read John's new polygamist murder mystery, set in Rush Valley. People give feedback in the casa verde (above) after dinner. Val makes pancakes on Liz and Al's lawn in the morning (below):
Breakfast:
Dennis gets his beard back:
Looking at the dugouts:
Writers group:
John and I visited the graves of our people at the Vernon cemetery. Below is John at his father's grave. Lucy's is behind. She would be 20 years old this year.

News From the Dark Side

For those interested in preternatural issues, my avatar/character/delusion(?)--Claire R. Wallace, Ph.D.--has been posting* more frequently. It's amazing how parallel our universes are.

*Credit to Nicolle for the faery pix

Writers Group

...tonight at England's cabin. After potluck dinner, we read and discussed an article by Bruce (below, with Mary) on Joseph Smith, Gene England, logic, and Mormon literature. It was fun, as always. It's great to have Val and Dennis back from the Ukraine.
Dian and Charlotte:

Dennis and Valerie:

Bruce, Roland, and Donna:

John and me:

Vampire Update

I think I have finally figured out the climactic scene in "Blood Practice"--the encounter with the demon. All along Claire has been both too passive and too reckless, characteristics which don't usually go together. And in the end, what does she do? She doesn't even rescue herself. But I didn't want her strength to be fighting, and although there's plenty of bloody action in the story (at least in the last third) I didn't want the whole thing to hinge on violence. I want her courage, her curiosity, her openness, and her integrity to make the difference. And maybe, finally, after twenty revisions, I've made it to the answer.

I'm giving the second draft of the demon-zombie encounter to my SF group next Tuesday (the first draft I gave to John, who said, "this is pretty skimpy"). We'll see if it works.

Amy noticed...

...that I haven't been posting much lately. Part of that is because I've been actually working, but part of it is also that I've started two new blogs and begun working on my psych website. You're invited to check them out:

Beowulf to Virginia Woolf: Walking the UK for past, present, and future students;

Claire R. Wallace, PhD, Preternatural Psychologist relating to my (ahem) other career, and

Karla Bennion, PhD., Psychotherapy and Evaluation, my professional website, which also contains a blog.

You are welcome to leave comments and suggestions on any of them.

News of the Week 9/14/08

I love the fall. The excitement is remembered from childhood--getting new clothes and shoes, going back to school, the October deer hunt at Orderville and Bob Creek, then Halloween and the rest of the holidays. I don't go back to school anymore, or hunt deer, but the excitement is hardwired in.

What I appreciate more now about September is that things settle down after a chaotic summer. With John and Chris taking summers off, I don't have a regular routine until they're both back in school. I love mornings sitting in a clean, quiet kitchen with the cats, the sun edging in the south windows beneath the eaves, eating a ripe pear or a peach from our trees (my schedule allows about one day per week of doing that).

THS was out Friday, and Chris' band, Red and the Rovers (check out his Facebook and MySpace pages) played a house/pool party. He tells me that I have to sign onto Facebook and MySpace to see and hear his publicity, so I guess I will. He says a lot of kids at school recognize him from online, and some tell him he has a good voice because they've heard his samples or demos or whatever they're called.

The RS counselor over Sunday lessons came by today to give me feedback from sisters in the ward, saying that my lessons may be too challenging and leave some upset and worried about my testimony. I can see that, and I'll change what I can without saying things I don't believe or boring myself to death. It may be, however, that I'm more suited to playing the piano than giving lessons. And I haven't even mentioned the Heavenly Mother! I used to joke that if I was ever desperate to be released from a calling, I would just start an opening prayer like this, "Dear Father and Mother in Heaven." (In the end I just ask to be released, however, and then it's quite a long time before I get another calling.) This morning I felt like protesting that I would like more lessons like the ones I give, but as Julie said, this isn't actually only about me. It just seems a shame to have lessons (as is often the case) where it is more interesting to write out the weekly grocery shopping list than listen to what's going on in Sunday School.

We had our writing group up the canyon at Charlotte's cabin tonight, and read Charlotte's memories of life with Gene and their kids. Her submissions this month revolved around house keys and cars, and were very funny. We got on a roll of telling car stories, and laughed for about three straight hours. This was after an initial 30 minute moan session about the state of American politics, so we needed the laugh endorphins. John and I took some of the bottled white grape juice from last week to cut with tonic water, and it was a very good and elegant drink to go with whole wheat pasta and homemade tomato sauce.

My SFF writing group is evolving. Isaac got married this week and is taking some time off, and Brandon is swamped with his Robert Jordan finale and says he won't be back until after the New Year. Dan is going to take a break from writing after we're through with his serial killer story. So they've invited another group member and moved to Janci's house. I just realized I haven't sent my submission yet for group on Tuesday. I guess it's too late. My goal is to work up to three half-days per week to work on stories, but so far I haven't even made it to one.

Maybe with the settled, structured, September schedule...

July 28 When Literary Enthusiasm Goes Too Far

Furze Swann took a captive coach-load of conference participants on a 5-hour death march around Tess sites. We drove miles and miles past the big and little dairies, listening to Furze read passages describing cows and barns and sheep fairs and hillsides, as our poor driver maneuvered past tractors and lorries. Here is the Wool Bridge, over which Tess and Angel walked after they married, and the site of their first fatal night together (fictional, of course). Hardy fans are as insane as any others, if not more so--we clustered around Furze as he pointed out relevant geographical spots from Bulburrow heights, and the day grew more and more hazy and hot. The air conditioning was inadequate, particularly in the back over the engine, where John and I were sitting, and feeling myself dehydrate (stupid blood pressure meds) I soon drank both my bottles of fluid. Four and ½ hours later, and no toilet in sight, the back row staged a mutiny, and the warden of the next church site (Rampisham Church, where Hardy accomplished his architectural apprenticeship by restoring the bell tower) allowed us to use the bathroom in his home.

Poetry and Celebrity

I walked into town for the readings at the United Reform Church on South Street. Furze Swann (“Furze” is such a great name--it is the old-fashioned Dorset version of the ubiquitous, thorny, yellow-flowered shrub called “gorse” in the rest of the British Isles) arranged more or less parallel pieces from his three favorite poets: Thomas Hardy, Edward Thomas (a WWI poet I‘ve never read), and Robert Frost. The readings were by three Royal Shakespeareans--Oliver Ford Davies, now playing Polonius in Stratford, Cheryl Campbell, and Harriet Walter, who played the brother’s greedy wife in Sense and Sensibility and my favorite, Harriet Vane in the BBC’s version of the Peter Wimsey stories. So I had my usual little thrill of celebrity insanity--I walked past all three on my way to the toilet after the program. (I’ve never actually touched a celebrity except my first, when Alan Rickman bumped into my knee at the Lyttleton Theatre on the south bank clear back before Harry Potter. I realized then that I had as much crazy fan girl makeup in me as anyone did).

News of the Week 7/20/08

The summer is flying by. Amy and Jamison moved into his mom Debbie's new house in Lindon this week, and we were sad to see them go. They will be able to stretch out a little there, I think, and more easily visit with Jamison's brothers from back east who are here on holiday. It was great to get to know Jamison better, and he certainly saw us at our normal condition, whatever that is (bathrobes, messy house, kitty crises, and all). Amy's working hard on the Chicago move. We're both so busy that we don't see or talk to each other much--I'm really going to miss her when she leaves next month.

Chris bought a used PlayStation and Guitar Hero III, and he so far hasn't done anything else this week. He says he's getting tired of it and might trade it back at GameStop at the mall for the money minus 20 percent. His way-cool pedal came, but he's still waiting impatiently for the guitar and amp to show up. He has to make up a foods class online before school starts (August 18), but he just growls at me when I mention it. Actually I think it would be fun. He is a good cook and interested in eating well. Maybe after he trades in Guitar Hero... I made him a copy of the car key, which he carries around on his belt loop, and uses to start the car if I leave him alone in it for a second. He is excited for drivers ed. I tried to warn him

but he doesn't listen.

John spent the end of the week at the Green Jacket ranch, cowsitting for Liz and Alan. He said it's still beautiful and green, because of the slow start to the season. He came back sunburned and tired, and said it was harder than he thought but he enjoyed it. I shouldn't complain about our little garden--what a huge job the Mitchell's have!

Chris and I missed the Vernon reunion last night, mostly because I am trying to finish the six psych evals I must send off before we leave for London on Friday. At least I've already done all the testing. I only have two more feedback sessions and then the writeups--oh, and a collatoral phone interview tomorrow with a family member for one of them. Five of the evals are for Voc Rehab and one is for the care center in Lindon. I am a slow report writer. Any kind of writing is a nervous business for me. I bite my cuticles and jiggle my feet and get up and pace and am very easily distracted away from actual work.

Dave and Devon sent photos around of their new loft in Philadelphia, where they will move on Sept 1. Maybe since Dave doesn't have a family blog, I will have to post the pictures here:

Dave is starting up a law practice and (as he said in his last message) blogging as the immigration specialist at this site beginning next month. Pretty exciting.

Rob and Nicolle are still deciding what exactly to do, I think. Last time I spoke on the phone with Rob, Nicolle was working at Tocanos in SLC, but I'm not sure how permanent that will be. Rob helped me build a new web site, Karla Bennion PhD, which is still sort of in the beta-phase until I get some photos and more text.

Next thing on my tech list is to invite J.Lynn over for lunch and have him help me order a new desktop, as my poor little 6-year-old Dell Inspiron laptop is totally outdated. The monitor went out, and I have it hooked up to a $10 used monitor from DI. My 2" by 4 and 1/2" external hard drive has more storage space than my main computer. (But the ASUS is sure fun. I took it to my office the other day and got onto somebody's unsecured wireless--should I feel guilty about that? is it dangerous? I take my 2 gb data stick with me and have every text file I've ever written in my life with 99% of the room to spare.)

Well, speaking of text files, I'd better get to the psych reports. My RS lesson went well today--this time I only had four questions and by pushing it a little got to three of them before the meeting was over. We do have a talkative congregation, which is good of course. Makes my job easier.

News of the Week 7/13/08

Not too much drastic has happened this week, which is good. John goes into his office MWF to read independent study lessons and graduate theses, as well as (most importantly) play basketball with his faculty group at noon. He also goes swimming with me--three times this week!--at the RB pool. I'm only up to 12 laps (1/3 mile), but he does 18 and has time to sit in the sauna before I get out of the locker room. What a patient man.

I'm riding my exercise bike every weekday morning, since the big scary ultimatum from my MD. Jamison rides it too--I'm glad we have it for both our sakes. I work two mornings a week (well, noons, actually, about 11:30 to 1:30) at the Alpine Valley Care Center in Lindon, doing evals and visiting with elderly patients with various problems, from strokes to MS to dementia. It has been much more interesting than I anticipated at first. The end of life is in many ways as important and varied as the beginning, and, since it happens to all of us, there's no reason to avoid talking or thinking about it. I remember after Lucy died how differently I felt about death. I think a lot of my reaction then was due to the blow of her death, but this time it feels like I'm regaining some of that objectivity, or maybe just increasing my comfort level with the idea of getting old, dying, and then being dead. The patients I visit with talk about their own deaths with equanimity and often impatience.

I see private patients at my office in Orem on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and evenings, with sometimes an emergency appointment on another day. Betsy has helped me get on more insurance panels, and I'm doing a lot of testing and therapy for the Utah State Office of Rehabilitation. Right now I have plenty of work, and I'm trying to figure out how to do it more efficiently. Especially the report-writing. Not taking time out for blog posts might help.

I'm also still going to my weekly SFF (science fiction/fantasy) writers group on Tuesday nights. I haven't really worked on my vampire novel for ages, however. I know what needs to be done, I just haven't figured out how to write the way John does, in between and around everything else. I'm excited about the next story, which is Mormon werewolves. Betsy helped me order a new mini-laptop online (an ASUS ordered through Costco, 9" monitor, 12 Gb, Windows XP loaded, 2.18 lbs, but I'll spare you the photo) and I'm looking forward to spending time writing during our trip to England in a couple of weeks, while John's at his Hardy conference. I have a little portable 26 Gb hard drive and a bunch of 2-4 gig data sticks to go with it, so I should be able to take all the photos I want. It can do internet too, so I'm hoping to figure out how to blog from there. Maybe our B&B or wherever we're staying will have Internet access. John wants to go to Cornwall and the fen country (maybe stay in Cambridge, Coventry,and/or Nottingham) as well as Dorset on this trip, rather than spending any time in London. It looks like we might be deciding what we'll do after we get there.

Yesterday we went up to SLC, the Aves, to visit Brett & Betsy and Rob & Nicolle, and I forgot my camera! The babies were sleepy anyway, but with them living so far away, any chance at photos should not be missed. Rob is building me a psych blog. I bought 5 years of website server and 4 years of domain name (or the other way around, I can't remember) for a little over $200. We looked at a few local psychologists' web sites, and Rob was not impressed. That's the other thing I should be doing instead of blogging--getting the info together to send him. Oh well.

John, Chris, and I went to Hell Boy 2 yesterday, and it was a lot of fun. I can't resist sending you the Barry Manilow video that goes along with it. If you are into demons, fairies, elves, governmental bureaucracies, and Armageddon, this movie is for you.