Thanks so much for all the comments, emails and phone calls that poured in after that last entry. You guys really are the best.

Nika's illness feels like a terrible, nightmarish rollercoaster ride - she starts getting better, the rollercoaster goes uphill, everyone's thrilled and relieved, then the ride swoops down and suddenly the vets are all reminding us that this condition sometimes turns out to be impossible to treat, so we shouldn't get our hopes up, etc., etc.... She's scheduled for another dermatologist appointment on Wednesday morning, so until then we just have to hang on and deal with the worries as well as possible.

And it really helped to be reminded of what a great community we have supporting us.

This weekend has been a lot better, especially because Patrick and I have both been able to be home at the same time, unlike most of the work-week. We took a beautiful long walk through the valley yesterday, and I started writing a new project that is totally different from anything I had planned. (Actually, just to feel safe enough writing something so different from what I feel like I ought to be writing next, I had to write "A Novel by Amy Campion" at the top of the first page of Chapter One, to give myself permission to break loose!) It's set in Paris near the end of the 19th century, with shapeshifters, gaslight, opera and assassins, and it's an awful lot closer to "paranormal romance" than my usual "romantic fantasy"...but I'm having an awful lot of fun with it, and it's a great escape.

Happy weekend, everybody.