Summer is over good and proper, it seems, the kids are back in school, so it’s time to start the lessons again, right? Right. That aside, where have I been and what have I been / am I up to? Let’s see…
We made it across the border for the first time in two years, so finally got some long overdue family hugs and fun trips. If you ever make it to Vienna, try the free fall tower in the Prater. They’ll drag you up 85 meters (almost 279 feet), excruciatingly slowly, making you regret having made the stupid decision to get on the damn thing in the first place. Then they’ll spin you around, still in slow motion, so you get to admire the view, well, the part you can actually see of it through the cloud of choice curses you’ll be emitting… and then they’ll let you drop. At a speed of 180km/h (about 112mph). And however big your lungs are, they won’t be big enough for that scream, so you’ll scream, breathe in, and scream some more. I skinned my knees when I collapsed and kissed the ground afterwards. I’d do it again.
The family aside, one thing I really missed during those two years was a tradition I started a few years ago – to always read a Diane Dickson book whenever I’m relaxing on my parents’ terrace. Sure, I could have always read one on my own terrace, but it wouldn’t have been the same. Which means I had quite a bit of her work to catch up with. She writes the perfect holiday books – crime stories, nice little whodunnits, nothing too sophisticated or challenging, but with fine little twists, careful detail, sharp-eyed observations of society’s fails and fallacies, and all of it written in the style of a Miss-Marple type old lady telling you a gruesome, gory tale by the fireside, with a smile.
What about my own writing, you may ask… admittedly, I didn’t do all that much work over summer. There was just too much, well, summering to do. Also, we’re taking the kids on a LARP for the first time, so there was some crafting and sewing to be done as well. So far, I’ve made a cape, two tunics, two pairs of leather vambraces, one leather armor, and a few other things I can’t remember offhand, while the husband is helping the kids with making their own sword and wizard staff. Either way, I’m still editing my epic fantasy monster, and there’s a bunch of short stories growing at the back of my mind, so something’s gonna happen sooner or later.
As promised at the beginning of this posting, though, I made this. Enjoy.
Angelika Rust 