Rambling, and a book recommendation

Time has passed and my wine festival sunburn has faded to a pinkish tan on the back of my neck. My skin is not designed for direct exposure to sunlight. I should hide during the day and only scuttle out from under my rock when the sun is low in the sky. *grin*

Glancing out my window just now, I see four shirtless young men in short running shorts exiting the house across the street and strolling off down the sidewalk. I'm not sure if they are heading out for a run and are just warming up with a bit of a walk first, or if it is laundry day over there and the shorts were the only thing they have that is clean. They weren't giving off a crazy runner vibe, so I'm guessing some sort of low-key exercise in the park down the street.

When I find myself sitting at my desk, watching people through my window, I sometimes wonder if this is how nosy old ladies get started. Will email and blogging change the spread of gossip? I think of how much information some of my older relatives spread just by word-of-mouth and wonder how much more dangerous they would be if they didn't fear computers. (Of course, spreading information in a written, public forum does make it easier to organize and verify. News in my family often gets distorted like a childhood game of Telephone.)

Speaking of family news, I forgot to post a link to my uncle's book when it came out last month. Dream-of-Jade: The Emperor's Cat was written by Lloyd Alexander (the author of The Black Cauldron and other award-winning books) and illustrated by Brent Burkett, my very cool uncle. If you are shopping for a child and want to give a well-written book with awesome illustrations that all ages will enjoy, please consider Dream-of-Jade (If you want to search for it on your own, the ISBN is 0-8126-2736-9)

Was that too blatant a promotion? It really is a good book.