The voices in my head known as the characters of Halcyon House are feeling very chatty lately. Which means progress on the story. Which means it might get done sooner. Which means...I might actually finish something.
*gasp!*
Before I get too carried away with my authorial dreams (and not get anything done because of said daydreaming), I'm going to just talk about something else that interests me at the moment. Because I'm not going to jinx this new flow of inspiration.
To be precises, location. One of my newest dreams is take a trip to the Pacific Northwest (Portland, Seattle, Ashland, etc.) to take a gander, as it were, up there. My family went up to Albany, Oregon last June for a cousin's wedding, which was the first out-of-state trip we've taken for any events in matrimony. I was prepared for overcast, cloudy days constantly, but what I was not prepared for was the overwhelming... green-ness of the place. I've always loved trees. I've always loved rolling hills and meadows. Oregon has these attributes in abundance. I felt like I had just found a second home. I mean, I really loved the place, even just by driving through it and looking at the scenery. It was gorgeous and beautiful and... well, perfect. For a unabashed nature addict like me, anyway.
We got to stop (all-too briefly) in Ashland, Oregon, where the famous Shakespeare Festival takes place every summer and now my new goal is to see a play there...Much Ado About Nothing (or anything by Shakespeare, really...except a tragedy) would be awesomesauce icing on a very sweet cake. My best friend Jamie, who shares my love and appreciation of theatre and is also an accomplished stage manager and make-up artist in her own right, got to see a production of Pride and Prejudice there last summer with her mother. I have already sworn to go see it again with her and our friend Kirsten, because if there's one thing we all love, it's Pride and Prejudice and some gorgeous costumes.
And on top of that, Ashland had vintage bookstores all over the place. Seriously! It seemed like every time we turned a corner, there was some quaint old shop with a glass-plate window that said Books in curlicue writing. In other words, absolute heaven for me. My poor father, though, threatened to go mad after wandering around for only an hour. So you see why I must go either by myself, or with fellow bibliophiles.
So, after leisurely perusing Ashland, I'd like to saunter on up to Portland, where there happens to be a college that I'd like to check out while we're there, so to prove that I actually have a purpose for this jaunt of mine, and I'm not just being frivolous. After checking out Portland, Seattle. I've heard some very nice things about how green and pretty it is, as it's called the Emerald City (hence the current post title). It's also the farthest thing from everywhere else my family has ever visited, meaning either Texas, New Mexico, Arizona or Mexico itself. (And once, Utah, Nevada and Wyoming.) And to those of us who have regularly visited all those places, we all know--it's flat. It's scrubby, with the occasional cliff or plateau to punctuate the dreariness. It can be as hot as Hades in the early spring. So the Pacific Northwest seems like a nice change of pace after driving through all those places for nineteen years of your life.
There you have it. My newest ambition for travel plans. And next blog entry, I may actually put something down that has to do with my writing!
Over & Out,
Rachel
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