I meant to post this earlier, but, now’s as good a time as any. Despite the sadness of my cousin dying a few weeks ago, there is a bright spot, which is that I got to reconnect with another cousin, Cathy.

Cathy is actually more like my older sister than any mere cousin. She was my best friend, babysitter, playmate. She inspired me, let me babble, answered all my questions, taught me how to use a Super8 camera, and gave me my first bra. We used to sing together, we used to catch lightning bugs together, and I haven’t seen her since my grandmother’s funeral in 2001.

I miss her.

Her kids were all toddlers the last time I saw *them*, and she was still in college. Now, the youngest is fourteen, and Cathy’s a real estate agent, and as many in that industry are right now, struggling a little.

But she’s fierce.
And I know she’ll survive.

I’ve made a personal resolution to call her once a week.

Just to keep in touch.

* * *

In other news, Aunt Peg is improving.

Appetizer
Name a great website you would recommend to others.
Other than this one? I heartily recommend you check out my book blog, Bibliotica if you’re any kind of reader, and if you like to write and want more prompts and projects to help stretch your writing muscles, visit CafeWriting.

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 as highest), how often do you dream at night?
10. I dream every night, but I don’t always remember what the dreams were. Last night, though, I dreamed I was shopping for wedding bands with Beetlejuice and Data (geek, much?), and they were fighting over which one of them I would pick – magic vs. technology – until I reminded them that I HAD a husband, thanks. Even if he is still away. Le sigh.

Salad
Did you have a pet as a child? If so, what kind and what was its name?
I had a mostly white poodle-mix with a faint brown spot in the middle of her back. Her name was Taffy, and we kept her in a lamb cut, not a poodle cut. Note to self: next dogs will have curly, non-shedding poodle hair.

Main Course
If you had the chance to star in a commercial, what would you choose to advertise?
I’d do a PSA about the spaying and neutering animals, or getting them from rescues and pounds rather than breeders or pet stores.

Dessert
What is your favorite kind of hard candy?
I live for peppermint stars, because they’re sweet and refreshing, but I also have a special fondness for butterscotch buttons, and those little round tins of fruit drops – usually lemon or raspberry, but sometimes coffee – remind me of my grandfather.

I’ve mentioned before that when I’m writing, I like to have movies going on in the background. DVD’s of television shows work well, too, because one disc is good for three or four hours and there are no commercials.

Over the past few weeks, my “writing companions,” have included the second season of Forever Knight which not only featured an entire episode that kept calling back conversations about Scottsdale real estate, as well as some great commentary from Nigel Bennett and Geraint Wyn Davies, the entire 10th Kingdom miniseries which featured Scott Cohen (Max Medina in season one of Gilmore Girls as the Wolf, with dirty tail-stroking subtext, and, in honor of the season, another viewing of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, as well as my old standby The West Wing in which I’m half-way through season six, and finally own season seven, but refuse to watch it til I’ve finished six.

With the exception of Beetlejuice all of these choices are very conversation-heavy, which I like. It’s the cadence of human conversation that keeps me in the groove. Music or dance or too much action, and I get distracted.