I moved in to my apartment in Archers Beach yesterday in the midst of the rags of Hurricane Isaac. It made for a damp occasion, but at least I didn’t have to carry boxes upstairs. Steve joined me in the late afternoon, and we went food shopping. After 32 years of shared living, it’s hard to know how much one person will use/eat. Ah, well, there’s Ahz’s Market, after all, if I run short.
Today started with breakfast at Michele’s Garden Cafe, then a short walk on the beach before Steve headed back to the Confusion Factory, the cats, and the work in process. I tried out several office situations and have identified the recliner, the breakfast bar, and, if needed, the kitchen table as writing zones. Good thing Ox is mobile.
It’s amazing to me how thin of company we are. The town really does shut down after the Season (defined on the far side by Labor Day), and the only people who are left are a few hardy tourists and…the people who live here. The nice thing about that is that the people who live here tend to assume that you must live here, too.
I also love being in town, so I can walk. Six miles and change today — and not all of it on the beach.
I posted some pictures of the day here.
I love shore towns in September; the weather is still nice and the beach is empty.
Your pictures make me homesick. I grew up spending summers on Drakes Island, which just outside of Wells. The beaches look the same. I love Carousel Tides because you invoke the spirit of the Beaches. Drakes Island Beach has a Jetty (I can remember being built), which has changed the beach alot. I went to sleep to the sound of the dredge in Wells Harbor and spent my days playing on the beach and in the surf. It’s been 40+ years, but I can still hear the dredge and surf in my memory.
When we got the beach every summer, the first thing we’d do, before unloading the car, was go say hello to the ocean, just like Katie did. As an adult, the times I’ve visited, I still go say hello first thing.
Have a wonderful time in Archer’s Beach.
So is this a writing holiday, for serious atmosphere?
I got involved with Life, Interrupted here…
Writer’s Holiday, yep. I have two more Carousel books due in the first half of 2013 and have to get the details right, seeing as I’m writing mundane fantasy set in a more-or-less real place. Price of gas being what it is, it was cheaper to find an apartment for a month in the off-Season and stay here.
Hope your life is smoothing out. I saw you were busy reissuing the Nuala books — in paper?
You know, Sharon, after I read Carousel Tides my first thought was “I hate you”. I have read all the Liaden novels as they’ve come out, and I couldn’t put the damn book down as I read it. As I can’t put any of your books down. I am so looking forward to the new Carousel books coming out in 2013 … and wish you the best in your new home!
p.s. I was glad to see the picture of Socks on your writers page … my sister in law was his breeder (I think), and you and Steve signed a number of book plates for me, for your books, which she and my wife gave to me for Christmas that year!