Blogging on the Bus

I'm on my way home to Portland with my sister, after spending the better part of 5 days in Seattle. My sister (who lives on the east coast) had a convention there, so she flew into Portland and we drove her up, spent a couple of nights, drove home, then I turned around the next day and caught the bus back up there.

I brought The Lemon Tree along with me to read but I'm having a hard time getting into it. I expected it to read more like fiction, but there's a ton of historical background that needs to be covered in order for the story to make sense. I'm hoping that once I get further on, it'll go faster. Book club is Tuesday and I'm still on page 31. My time in Seattle seemed better spent walking around looking at things, writing, and researching agents, than reading. Oh, and making a nice fountain for the hotel:

Hotel Max, where my sister and I stayed after my family went home, has a very nice lobby. A low table near the front desk holds a lovely glass water dispenser with lemon water in it. (Also: free gumballs! Because they're a quirky, artsy hotel.) My sister was asking a question at the front desk and I decided to pour myself a cup of lemon water. I did so, then turned around to listen to my sister's conversation with the clerk. After a moment I noticed the sound of gently trickling water behind me, and thought to myself, "I didn't know they had a fountain . . . "  Well, they did now! The "fountain" was the water dispenser, which I apparently had closed in a special way that allowed the water to gently trickle all over the floor of the lobby. I quickly snapped it closed for real, and one of the doormen appeared with a towel to wipe up the puddles all over the table and floor.

Really, the fact that I'd gone without spilling so much as a drop of water, for three full days, made it feel like I hadn't truly arrived in the city at all. So it was a relief to have that over with.

Maybe I should post my new lemon fountain craft idea to Pinterest?