Cliff Jumping Dog and a New Itch

I've been waiting for Fai to put pics on the computer, but they'll just have to come later.

Monday Fai thought he had an ear infection, so he called out of work and made a doctor's appoint. The doctor couldn't see him until after four, so we had the whole day together. It was unusually warm, it made it up to 68. So we loaded up the kids and the dog and headed to the State park near our house. Because we are in a Honda Accord at the moment, Langston (the dog) had to ride in the floorboard between my legs.

I put Nadira in her sling, and we went down one of the walking trails. The park was desserted except by the river where people were fishing. So once we were well down the trail, we let Langston off his leash. He looked like a horse galloping through the leaves and the undergrowth. Then we came to a deep ravine. A sign said it was from where the railroad had cut a path through a big hill. The railroad was long gone, and what was left was an almost verticle drop of at least fifty feet. We followed the path along the edge up to a sort of look out point from which we could see the river. As we started back, Langston walked right along the edge. And then he fell. We rushed over to see Langston calmly walking on the bottom. He saw us, wagged his tail, and ran up the steep wall. We were amazed. We walked on, Langston still near the edge. Suddenly he just jumped off. In this area, however, the wall of the cliff was clay. Before it had some stuff growing on it and trees and leaves and things to get a foothold on. Now it was just clay. Langston tried to scramble up for close to half an hour. He'd start up, chunks of clay flying off behind him, and then slide back to the bottom. Finally he followed me back to an area with footholds, and he made it up.

It was a wonderful, beautiful day, the kind in which nothing mattered but being together. It was a two mile walk. We also played at the playground and walked along the Potomac.

That writing itch, it's back. Still no publisher for the first book, but I've almost finished my character sketches for my new book. Three more to go. Then I'll do my outline, then my working outline, then I'll start writing! It's hard now with two kids and Faiyaz on a somewhat regular work schedule, but I'm sneaking in a minute or two here and there. If Fai gets done everything he needs to at work today, he's going to take over with the kids all tomorrow, after church on Sunday, and all Monday for me to get a jump-start on my first draft. I'll only have to stop to eat and feed Nadira. He offered to give her bottles, but then I'd still be stopping to pump, so I might as well feed her, right? Well, that's if he gets everything done. If he doesn't, then he'll have to go to work tomorrow and all, and it'll just be me and the girls. Either way, I'll find the time. This book is going to be YA, a genre I didn't think I'd write in, but I've got a good idea and I think it'll be fun to write. Just doing the character sketches has been a blast. And my sister, who is turning 15 this month, has agreed to read it when I'm done, so I'll get the opinion of my target audience. :) So we'll see how this goes. I love this writing itch! This all-consuming desire to get it down and get it down just right.

So that's all. I'm now planning a bungy-jumping trip for Langston, he liked cliff diving so much I'm sure he'd love it!