weekend break

All in all, the weekend was quite nice. My best friend arrived from Boston on Friday evening; we spent that evening hanging out, cooked dinner on Saturday, and had a long lunch today with a large group of people whom we know from our alma mater. Tonight she left to join her husband, who came into town today. Between our activities, I relaxed and enjoyed the warm days -- we have been in the 80s, which is unusually hot for San Francisco in July. I bask in hot weather and sometimes feel the lack of real summer days here. I also finished a delightful book, Catherine, Called Birdy, which is the tale in diary form of a fourteen-year-old girl in Medieval England who is determined not to marry unless and until she wishes, despite her father's efforts to find her a husband. It's written for preteens, but I found it more than readable at an adult level. The main character is strong-willed, thoughtful, and very very funny. Definitely recommended.

In the end, though, I couldn't stay away from the work entirely. My houseguest was gone for much of Saturday with another friend, and went to bed much earlier than I on both nights, so I did end up spending some time writing after all. Ten is basically finished and Eleven is partly drafted. I will hold posting anything until tomorrow, though. Ten needs to season over one more night at least, and we did all say we'd be taking the weekend off!