Mom Camp III

Here we are at Mom Camp.

Well, not this pic. This is the grandkids -- and several hundred kids all at the same camp. But because they are, we have Mom Camp for the third year running.

It's the week my daughter and I look forward to all year, when her daughter and whichever cousins are the right age (only one this year) go to our local university sports camp from 8:30 in the morning until 9:30 in the evening and she and I get to enjoy each other's company.

This year Mom Camp has taken a slightly different spin because our side-kick and honorary member, my cousin's 16 year old daughter, isn't here to join us. She thought the Naval Academy at Annapolis was a better alternative. Some people really have no idea about what constitutes A Good Thing.

So it's just been the two of us -- and she had to give a final and do some preparation for fall classes, and I finally have my revision letter. So the mornings at Mom Camp are filled with WORK (and occasional breaks for tea and the Tour de France).

The afternoons, however, we've been doing fun stuff -- and napping. As a rule I don't nap. It usually makes me feel worse than I felt simply tired. But I've been fading in the afternoons so far this week, so I haven't fought it off or 'played through' it.

Last year, you may remember that we had a crisis on the first day of sports camp when the elder child knocked out his teeth. This year -- so far -- no one has done anything untoward. At least no one we're related to.

But the week is early yet. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Hard to type that way, but I feel it's safer.

The revision letter was very useful. I'm blessed with an editor who has both a grasp of what the book needs and what I do well. And she's probably the only editor for Presents who has ever told ME to make my hero nicer.

Nicer?

Hard to imagine. McAllister heroes ARE nice. They could hardly be nicer.

And yet, I understand what she's saying. When they brood they can get surly and annoying -- and she wants Demetrios to stop being quite so surly.

No problem. I can do that. It's the surly bit that I have trouble with (maybe that's why it didn't work).

I'm very glad she knows what I can do -- what my voice requires -- and encourages me to do it. Don't know how much of it I'm going to be able to finish this week, but if I don't get it all done (and that doesn't seem likely), it will come along with me on our trip west.

I wish I could leave it here for Mitch and Micah and the dogsitters who are living with them, but I can't expect them to do revisions for me, too.

People are beginning to gather in Washington, DC for the RWA National conference. I've had emails from a couple of friends who've arrived today and spoke with Anne Gracie who is in New York visiting her editor and agent before the conference. I envy them the trip, but I have plans of my own for NYC coming up in the autumn.

But more about that later. In the meantime, I'm off to revise chapter three.

Happy Anniversary to Kate Walker and Mr Kate Walker who are, even as I write this, winging their way to Washington. Hope you and the mister enjoy the conference, Kate.

If you were at RNA, did you have a good time? What was the best part? If you're on your way to RWA, I don't expect you'll have time to comment, but I'd love to hear from you about the conference and what you learned.

Don't forget, if you haven't entered Sol's contest, you have until July 16th to do so. Send entries from the contest webpage, please.

Cover's Coming!

I got the cover for the Mills & Boon Modern hardback of Antonides' Forbidden Wife in the post the other day.

Actually, not just the cover, I got the books themselves. It seems ages ago since I wrote PJ and Ally's story. So long ago that I had to stop right in the middle of Mom Camp -- well, really right in the middle of doing the laundry -- and read it (so did my daughter) to be sure I still remembered it.

I do.

I even remembered how it ended. Also discovered that the suggestions my editor made did, as I'd suspected, make it a better book.

I have to scan the cover, which I haven't done yet, before I can post it. But stay tuned. It will happen in the next day or two. Right now I'm up to my eyeballs (I was going to say up to my teeth, but given the teeth issue this week, that seemed to be tempting fate) in kids and laundry.

We are also going on a boat ride tomorrow at the end of Mom Camp, which should be fun.

The kids are coming along. And then we're celebrating the almost 8 year old's birthday (for next week) and doing more laundry.

Mom Camp on the road

We took Mom Camp on the road yesterday, going to Galena, Illinois for the day.

Galena sometimes calls itself "the town that time forgot" because for about 100 years no one except the locals seemed to know it was there.

But then people from Chicago discovered it was a nice distance for a weekend getaway. And then more people discovered it was a step back into what small-town America used to be like (ideally) and they came.

It's also where Ulysses S Grant lived before heading off to fight in the Civil War, so there is a local "Grant's Home" claim to fame. In other words, there's lots of stuff to see and do and antique shops galore to prowl around in.

These days it's pretty much wall-to-wall tourists during the summer months.

We went there last year and wandered around, had a great lunch at Vinny Vanucchi's and wandered a bit more. So this year we did the same.

The food was possibly even better than last year. The wandering was just as enjoyable, though I don't quite know why Galena is always so much hotter than Iowa (at least where we live). Maybe the breeze just doesn't blow down Main Street.

Anyway, we had a great time. And no one lost any teeth.

Today is Micah the dog's 6th birthday. We are celebrating with Greenies and rawhide sticks. He's quite pleased as he thinks food of any sort is cause for celebration.

And then we are making Jeremy Jackson's sinfully rich Chocolate Sink Holes to be shared by those who join us after dinner tonight. Dinner itself is going to be at the local Japanese restaurant. I love watching someone else cook!

We are not getting any slimmer this week, that's for sure. Maybe next year Mom Camp will have to be Anti-Fat Camp.

My daughter has gone off now to revisit the Girl Scout camp she attended for many years. As a leader herself, she's intrigued to see if her memories reflect at all what the reality is.

"I remember it being soooo big," she said the other day. She's afraid it will be far littler than she recalls.

Doesn't matter. The memories are big and have lasted a lifetime.

Did you go to camp? What do you remember? Have you been back to see it as an adult? How did it compare to your recollections.

My husband has wonderful memories of a camp he attended every summer in western North Carolina. He became a counselor there when he was old enough. I never went to camp. But I remember watching Spin and Marty and thinking I'd like a camp like that!

Teeth? What teeth?

So Mom Camp started Sunday afternoon.

We stuck the 8 year old and the almost 10 year old in their respective groups and adjourned to take deep breaths and watch Wonderfalls (which is as good the umpteenth time around as it was the first).

And then life happened.

The phone rang. It was the almost 10 year old's mom. The camp nurse had called her to say that, um, they were playing volleyball (the almost 10 years olds, not the nurse) and, well, it seems that in the process, someone knocked three of his teeth out.

Say what?

Three teeth? Just like that? When he'd only been there five hours?

Not to mention that his major sport is FISHING.

No matter. They don't start majors till Monday. And anyway, they're out (the teeth). Baby teeth, they think. Subtext: they hope.

Call the dentist, my daughter, the athletic training professor said. I called the dentist.

Dentist said, "I want to see him. Now. Go get him and meet me at my office."

So I did.

And happily for all concerned, they were baby teeth -- and no, he doesn't really have any to speak of on that side of his mouth now on his lower jaw, and yes, the other kid with the flying elbow said, sorry, and it doesn't really hurt that much, and can you please bake cookies tomorrow?

So things are pretty much back to normal. His aunt the athletic training professor baked cookies this afternoon, and this morning he went cheerfully off to fish (and bowl and play basketball).

And we are all waiting with bated breath in case the nurse calls again, as the 8 year old is actually majoring in volleyball.

Mom Camp

Last year while two of my grandkids were attending the local university's sports camp, my daughter and I and my cousin's daughter held our own camp.

We called it "mom camp" because two of us were moms and we were definitely looking for a break. The third got sucked in by proximity, and is the better for it.

We all enjoyed it so much that we're about to do it again. The cousin's daughter arrived today, timing her plane's appearance for the few minutes between thunderstorms. Clever girl, that one. And she and I are making plans for the week.

My daughter and granddaughter arrive on Saturday. Mom camp will officially begin on Sunday once the kids are deposited at kid camp.

But we're getting a head start. We're lining up books to share and DVDs to watch and places to go and recipes to make. Last year we tackled several out of Jeremy Jackson's Desserts That Have Killed Better Men Than Me.

And let me tell you, Michelle Styles -- and whoever else is listening -- that book is definitely up there among the Twyla Tharp books that you should own.

Maybe not on the same subject. But Jeremy is a man who loves his recipes.

And I gather that, just as Twyla hails the cab everyday as a part of her routine, Jeremy takes his turn in the kitchen with regularity.

Judging from the recipes we made last year, they are worth the effort. If you want a break from Twyla or Save The Cat or writing your own manuscripts -- or doing whatever you're doing -- Jeremy's book is worth a look.

We are also deep into watching the second season of Foyle's War. Yes, we know the fifth season is on television right now. But we can't ever seem to get an hour and a half at the right time when people aren't calling on the phone or the local weather demons aren't busily scrowling warnings past so much of the screen that you can barely see Michael Kitchen (who should not be missed).

So we are watching the DVDs. Great stuff.

So . . . we've got recipes. We've got DVDs. I've got some good books which I'll share with you as I share them with the rest of the mom camp gang. We'll go to the museum one day and shopping nearby one day.

Anyone got any really great suggestions? We'd love to hear them.

If you had a whole week to do what you wanted -- within reason and you can't travel for it -- what would you do?