Peg Kerr's Journal

I've been home for the past two weeks on vacation. I think I mentioned that Fiona and I had planned to take a trip to England, but that got put on ice when Fiona got her new job. So I've taken the time off (use it or lose it) and I have...not been in England.

I'm trying not to sulk too much, but that's been a bit of a challenge.

I've taken a few little day trips, as depicted in last week's card. This past weekend, Eric and I went to a bed and breakfast, and I did a half-day trip to Stillwater. But of course, my inner Puritan has looked at the fact that two weeks has been cleared on my calendar and reasoned, "Excellent, you can get to WORK and get things done. SO MANY THINGS."

But there's the heat and the fact that there is such a plethora of projects. And my inner sulk because, as noted, Not in England. Ongoing sleep issues. So my attempt to move things forward has been inching along at best.

I have continued working on clearing Rob's stuff out of the house, which is, as always, emotionally difficult. I've binned a number of books (library books so not worth anything to anyone) and I pulled out Rob's ties and sorted through them for donation (and had a good, hard cry before driving to drop them off at ARC Value Village).

I've been calling contractors trying to figure out how to get my foundation repaired (one of the contractors has the distinction of standing me up twice in one day. I will not be hiring them). I've been doing financial bookkeeping in preparation for updating my will. I've been working on the Special Project--oh, what the heck. My employer doesn't read this.

I'm job hunting.

So that's what I've been doing for the past two weeks. Inching along in various attempts to make my life better. But it feels as though progress, collectively, is so slow that it's hard to see any forward momentum without squinting hard.

Lower half: neckties on a bed. Upper half: the side of a house with a gap in the foundation facade by a door. Center right: an inchworm inches its way on a stem. Just underneath the stem is the logo for the website JibberJobber. Center left: a box packed with books. Upper right: the words "Last Will and Testament." Upper left: the logo for the website Angi.

Inching



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This weekend was just wonderful. The girls and I went with my mother and my sister Betsy to stay with my Aunt Susie (my mother's younger sister) at Washington Island.

The Sisterhood retreat From the left going clockwise: Fiona, Aunt Susie, Betsy, Mom and Delia.

My mother's family has owned property on Washington Island for over a hundred years. Mom's family grew up spending their Julys on the Island. In fact, her father had also spent his summers there as a boy. I believe the first in the family to buy property was my great grandfather. Besides the cottage called "the Big House," the property also included a small boathouse, which was eventually turned into a little artist retreat by my great aunt Katherine Evans. My grandfather's family (the Floyds) and my great aunt's family (the Evans) split their time at the Big House, with the Floyds visiting in July and the Evans in August. My mom and her four siblings all had shares in the cottage, with their cousins, but the Floyd shares eventually were sold to two of the five siblings, my two uncles, and they passed them down to their children. The Evans, too, eventually concentrated their shares in just some of the descendents' hands, and the shareholders (now the fourth and fifth generation) have formed a LLC which manages the Big House property. At one point during the weekend, we went over and visited the Big House, where Mom's cousin Kate Evans showed us around. That was great fun. The bathroom is papered with newspaper advertisements from the early 1900s that they discovered when they removed the old cedar shake siding. The boathouse was particularly special: Kate's mother Aunt Katherine was a children's book author, and her delicate, whimsical art work was featured throughout the lovely little artist retreat cottage.

My aunt Susie, however, bought her own house on the island, where she has spent some of her summer months, and that's where we stayed this weekend. Betsy has come up every summer to spend a long weekend with Aunt Susie for the past twenty years, and two years ago she invited the girls along. This year, I was invited too, and I was just ecstatic to be included.

Every year, Betsy said, her visits with Aunt Susie has had a theme, and this year, the theme was sisterhood. We had three generations of sisters: ( my mom and Aunt Susie )( my sister Betsy and me ) and ( Fiona and Delia )On Washington Island, time slows down. There is no internet, and we don't watch TV. (a sign at the Albatross, the local burger joint, explains the idea well: ( here, you are 'north of the tension zone.' )

So we just relaxed and talked over cups of coffee, on Susie's deck overlooking Lake Michigan. ( Fiona did puzzles )( Delia doted on Susie's dogs ) and started a weaving project. There's a wonderful store/school for a huge variety of fabric arts that takes place on the island, and ( Delia got a book on card weaving and had a lot of fun with it )( I did soul collage and made three cards )We visited the Red Cup coffee shop, a variety of the little shops (Delia was delighted with the consignment artwork at the little shop called "What Do We Do During the Winter") and ( stopped at the Albatross (a necessary pilgrimage) )( We also stopped to see the beautiful Stavkirk Church, a replica of a church built in Norway in 1150 A.D. )

It was just a perfect weekend. Mom and Susie told family stories, and it felt so right to be in this place that has meant so much to our family.

Mom's been coming to the Island for over eighty years. This weekend, as the ferry slipped away from the dock, I totally understood why.

where we had a simply splendiforous time. The girls were extremely satisfied and we count it as an entirely successful vacation.

Infinitus was held at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. I moderated the luncheon panel on Friday, about fanfiction. I was able to relax and enjoy the conference more once that obligation was over. The panelists all seemed to think it went quite well. There were papers delivered about the books, but a large part of the draw, of course, was the newly opened park. On Friday night, there was a special event held privately for about 1500 of the conference attendees who were fortunate enough to score tickets: a private party, just for us, held in Hogsmeade, between 10:00 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. (well, actually about 2:00 a.m., when they turned out all the lights in order to convince us to go home). We went through the shops and did the tour of the castle, which culminated in the signature ride: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The queue for the line snaked through the castle itself, which was great fun: you got to see Dumbledore's office, the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, the Mirror of Erised, the Gryffindor Common Room, etc. There were amazingly convincing moving talking portraits on the walls, occasionally squabbling with each other. It was just so much fun, and then the ride was worth the wait. You actually felt as if you were really flying!

Fiona and I went on the ride that night, but Delia and Rob didn't get a chance to do so before they shut down for the night. At the end of the evening, we got into a conversation with the Sales Manager for Orlando, who was in charge of keeping our group happy. She offered to take my family on a private VIP tour of the park the next day (!!!!).

So the next day, Saturday, that's what she did. She couldn't have been nicer. The daytime crowds were much bigger, but with her accompanying us, we simply walked to the head of all the lines. She gave us her employee discount in all the shops, too, so we happily explored Honeydukes and Zonko's, and each bought souvenirs to take away with us. We had lunch in the Three Broomsticks. She gave us complimentary Chocolate Frogs when she dropped us off at the hotel again. It was a truly incredible day.

Besides the papers at the conference, there were Wizard Rock performances, and the video premiere of A Very Potter Sequel. Which was hilarious! Fiona and I also saw the musical performance of The Final Battle, which was composed by Lena Gabrielle of The Butterbeer Experience.

The girls had a great time in the vendors room. They'd been saving for awhile, and we gave them some money, too. Fiona finally settled on her house--she's a Slytherin--and got a set of robes. Both girls got posters for A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel and got the cast to sign them. Fiona also got a wand (Sirius Black's, very striking). Delia's wand was sold out in the park (she wanted the Elder wand) but she plans to get it later.

It was wonderful to see so many friends at the conference. The girls, of course, had people greeting them everywhere, as they were recognized from my Livejournal. A real highlight of the week was finally meeting aome for the first time.

Sadly, we had to leave eventually. We drove back to Minneapolis, stopping to do college visits at Beloit College, Lawrence University and Eau Claire University (of Wisconsin) along the way.

I have to go back to work tomorrow. Wah.

Best. Vacation. Evah. Sincere thanks to HPEF, which did so much to enable our family to go.