...and what he said, as we sat on the runway in Punta Cana, was that we didn't have enough fuel to get to Newark, our destination.  Whaaa???!!  Wouldn't you think United Airlines would plan better?  He had to go to another destination in the Caribbean, to refuel, thereby jeopardizing the connections of many passengers, including us.

But we eventually got home, with memories of a lovely vacation (view from the hotel room):

....and now my German family has returned to Germany and my granddaughter back to the Gymnasium she attends.  Me, I ended up sick...I think from too much Airplane Air these last weeks...but revved and dosed myself up to head last Friday to Spokane for their annual quite spectacular GET LIT! festival.  Several days of workshops, panels, readings, etc...many, many things going on. I missed most, alas, holed up in my hotel room with a throbbing head and drippy nose.

On Saturday night I did a reading from SON at the Bing Crosby Theater

and was followed by a stunning, standing-ovation, one-woman performance of THE GIVER by actress Mara Stephens of American PLace Theatre in NYC.

MARA STEPHENS

Headed home, still sniffling and swigging Sudafed, I was to change planes in Minneapolis /St. Paul, only to hear another: "Folks, this is your captain..."

Not surprising. The weather there was VERY ominous..

and we had to wait through some hefty and violent thunderstorms before we could take off.

But now I am home again, still slightly sick but on the mend, I think. And summer weather yesterday, almost eerily so: 90+ degrees.

Here is Alfie in the yard, glad to be home from the kennel, and me glad of his company (and that of Lulu).

Next? Minneapolis/St Paul again, next Wednesday...this time for the opening of The Giver opera there. Between now and then, some rest and recuperation here at home. I'm reading...and loving..."The Snow Child", a great book for hot days, set as it is in Alaska in winter.

And now I'm talking with my friend Kay and our travel agent—about this coming winter's trip. Two years ago we went to Easter Island. Last December, Guatemala.  We have a new and exotic destination in mind but I'll hold off talking about it until it is firm.