Thanksgiving was wonderful. As usual, I spent the afternoon stressing and getting totally frazzled over how the house could possibly get clean enough in time, how we could ever possibly get the cooking done on time, etc., etc...and then the first guests arrived, and I relaxed and had a wonderful time. (The house was clean by then; dinner was almost finished, and it was easy to get it finished while we drank wine and socialized, which is a much more fun cooking atmosphere anyway.) I love my friends - I just wish more of them from around the world could make it to Leeds for Thanksgiving every year!

And then we went to Settle, in the Yorkshire Dales, for the rest of the weekend, and I was completely blown away by the beauty there. The Dales are so wild and bleak and dramatically gorgeous - it's not at all the typical image of England (green, peaceful, pretty, calm). I love the Dales. And the best part of our trip was realizing that this incredible area is only an hour from where we live - so we will definitely be going back soon, even if only for day trips.

(However, if anyone is thinking about staying there, DO NOT stay at the Hart's Head Hotel. Our bed literally collapsed under us the first night as we were sitting on it watching TV, and not only did the landlady not apologize at all to us, she strongly insinuated that we Must Have Done Something to Cause It and Put Her To So Much Trouble. Horrible. Luckily, we spent most of the weekend outside the hotel!)

Now we're back to work and normal life, sigh...but I'm listening to a Christmas album on headphones as I type (yes, I am that cheesy!) and it's making me happy. Also, I just saw the Tangent review of Grendelsong Issue No. 1, and they gave a really nice review to my Elizabethan story "Ivy and Thorn". Mmm, lovely to read. And now to try to do some honest-to-God new writing...