Mico Sorrel, after cutting off long hair at age 26

L-R: Lori L. Lake, Jazzy Mitchell, EJ Kindred, Sandra de Helen, Tairi Blair, Mary Mandeville, and Linda Vogt (who also served as the emcee)

Last year I met Teri (who is writing as Tairi Blair) at the Left Coast Lesbian Conference (LCLC) in Oakhurst, CA. We were immediately drawn together, and our relationship has grown to the point where she moved up to Portland in March, and we're settling into a house together. I haven't been this happy and content for sooooo long. She has a great sense of humor and she's wicked smart. Plus she puts up with my goofy hijinks. Here's hoping we have another 25 or 30 years together!

Down the Covid drain, that is! I managed to make it all this time and never got the Plague -- and I suddenly came down with it earlier in July. REALLY sucked, too. I didn't get to go to GCLS in NY. Total bummer. For the last week-plus, the things in the picture below have been my close friends.

We had an unusually vicious snow and ice storm two weeks ago, and down came the best shade tree in the neighborhood.

	Here is the view of my house around 10PM, about thirty minutes after the tree fell. We heard an ENORMOUS crash-thud, and the whole house shook. It took a bit of time to gather up warm outdoor clothes and manage to slip and slide out the garage door and into the yard. The ice was treacherous. I can't believe neither of us fell. The tree was definitely VERY up close and personal, but unbelievably, no windows were broken!
The tree smacked down on the deck, crushed the corner of the roof that juts out over the stairwell to the lower level, bent the fence (which you can't see in either picture), took out the gutter along half of the back of the house, and smushed the soffit--though so far <crossing fingers>--it's not leaking. Big expensive mess! I have a $1,500 deductible on the ol' homeowners insurance. OUCH!!!

Sure hope I get a reeeeeeally big tax return!

Gosh - I forgot to post this previously. Whoops! I got a chance to read from my upcoming novel, Adventures Unlimited (again!), and Natty Burns read from her horror/sheriff/love story, The Rustle of Leaves. And then we talked books, writing, naming tactics, creating plot lines, and a lightning round of "Do You Prefer..." This was so much fun! Nat is a hoot, and our interviewer, Jazzy Mitchell, poked a lot of fun at us. You can listen to us here:

INTERVIEW LINK

I dipped my toe into the pond of DNA and Genealogy - and fell in headfirst all the way to the bottom of the ocean! I found a whole lot of stuff about my forbears. Because I descend from Sir Jerome Weston (1550-1603) who was a Knight of the Realm, High Sheriff of Essex, and Judge of Common Pleas, it turns out Elizabeth II, former Queen of England, is my 11th cousin/once removed. Whoa . . . . who knew!?

I have known for years that aviation's darlings, the Wright Brothers, were my first cousins/4x removed, but who knew that Lucille Ball is my 10th cousin, Rosa Parks is my 12th cousin/1xremoved, and Babe Ruth is my 10th cousin/3x removed! (A Visionary, a Fighter, and a Slugger.)

Alas, Shakespeare does not fall into the equation. But Charles Dickens is 8th cousin/6x removed and Jane Austen is 9th cousin/5x removed. I couldn't find out about Virginia Woolf, but she was so depressed and killed herself, so although her writing was amazing, she is not a very good example for me.

Susan B. Anthony is 6th cousin/5x removed, John Wayne is 10th/1x, Muhammad Ali is 9th/1x, and Elvis 8th/1x. Even Abraham Lincoln is in my bloodline: 6th cousin/5x removed, and George Washington (no wonder I have bad teeth!) is a 2nd cousin/10x removed.

How fascinating to learn I have common ancestors with so many people who made history. And following along with the fact that my DNA shows no Asian, Native American or any American blood, it's fascinating that some of my ancestors brought important Black figures into this world and I am tangentially related to them. Wow.

Mind = Blown. Officially!