Dear Slicers,
How’s it going? We’re in double digits like champs! Thank you for reading my posts. The seem blah this week, but it happens. For the 7th consecutive year, I haven’t planned a theme or focus like other slicers. On second thought, fly by the sesat of your pants is a plan. Anyone else with me?
Some of the plans I’ve noticed (I wish I had time to read them all) are those from Carpe Fabula, Pedaling Poet, and Horizon 51. Ryan Graybill’s Phoning Home to 3rd Grade led me to Carpe Fabula’s school reflections. Both Ryan and his pal have taken me back to my own school memories. Thanks, you two! Sharon Roy of Pedaling Poet is not only a first time slicer, but she’s also reading War and Peace and rewriting in haiku, a chapter a day. Wow! Chris Margocs of Horizon 51, who invited me to SOL, pairs her slices with daily walks. Check them out.
Connection story: after reading one of Sharon’s posts, I discovered we live in the same area. Small world.
I’m on staycation mode this week. SXSW has downtown Austin crammed with visitors, and while I welcome their presence, I’m staying away. I no longer have patience for large crowds. It has also become something completely different. Gone are the days where you’d line up at a bar, pay the cover, and see an up-and-coming band. You. might even buy a CD, have it autographed and see them at the Grammys the following year. “I saw them before they were famous!” I didn’t line up outside of bars during spring break at SXSW though—I was underage and didn’t run around with the fake ID crowd—but that’s what it was. Now it’s a big celebration of people who can drop over a grand for a conference badge to listen to a bunch of tech, movie, and music execs, stars and influencers. It’s where the unknowns came to become known, but now they seem overshadowed by the big names. That was the whole point.
There are some family-friendly *free* events, but it’s too much work orchestrating an outing of that magnitude. I’ll visit other places instead. Maybe. I’m currently mulling over the tile my husband and I chose for the kitchen backsplash. We didn’t bicker much about it, so I’m second guessing myself, wondering if I should visit more tile stores tomorrow or let it be. Maybe the tile chose us.
I’m enjoying sleeping in, morning puttering, and not having to worry about having to be anywhere but here. Call me a homebody.
Heading into week 3, what are you looking forward to writing or doing? Here’s to another week of slicing!
Be well,
-Alice
P.S. I’m currently reading The Space Between Here and Now, a YA book about time travel. I’m beginning to see a pattern. What are you reading?
Nerds Beget Nerds 
Dear Alice,
Ah, thanks for the shout out and the hand-written letter, Alice. I’ll have to check out the other slicers you mention.
We are in the thick of the SX crowds here. Yes, it’s much more corporate now.
Still reading War and Peace, Midnight’s Children, and Wolf Hall as slow reads with Simon H of Substack. Also still enjoying the beautiful sentences of Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny which I’m reading with my in-person book club. I’m enjoying all of them, but also missing my usual diet of self-selected contemporary literature.
Enjoy your break.
Take care,
Sharon
LikeLike