She Laughs at the Days

One of the awesome things about the internet is that it makes it possible for you to be friends with so many people you might not meet in real life. Like a former rocket scientist and aerospace engineer turned speculative fiction author.

I have thoroughly enjoyed everything that I have read that Susan Kaye Quinn has written. If I were to get around to writing the novel in my head, I would try to make it the kind of story that changes you in some way, makes you more free, more aware, or at least, makes you think different when you've finished it. Susan comes pretty close to that in her writing. All of the things I have read by her were for older teens or adults, and not something I would give to my kids to read yet. So I was delighted when she announced she was releasing Faery Swap, a fantasy story for middle grade readers. Then she said she was taking the book on a blog tour and asked for reviews.



Well, I just happen to have a voracious middle grade reader in my house. Who better…

You guys, I have a confession to make. I'm a little embarrassed about it, to tell the truth. I'm worried you won't understand. Plus, I feel like I should be able to do it all myself. It's my mid-western, self reliant, up bringing I suppose. But it's time to come clean, literally. I've hired house help.

I know. I live in a big house in the country, and now I have people cleaning my house for me. Next I'll be sipping mint Juleps on the porch while fanning myself with my big hat. (Actually, that sounds good. I just put mint into my garden. I'm going to have to do that when it grows enough.)

But here's how it happened. We had a big party here at Christmas time. We invited pretty much the whole city to come to our house for festive things like cookie decorating, and hot chocolate, and singing. You know me, it's not a party without singing. Not too long before I went and bought new glasses, finally laying to rest the lenses I had been using since 2004…

If you want to adapt quickly to a subtropical climate I highly recommend showing up 7 months pregnant at the height of the hot season and living without air conditioning. Half an hour after Dek was born, just after I got out of the shower, I felt something I had almost forgotten existed, a chill. It was still pretty warm out, but that early morning air for the first time felt comfortably cool.



In rainy season, when we moved into our house, I was reveling in how pleasant the weather was and how comfortably cool I was feeling. An expat I had just met was telling me her problems with getting her air conditioner fixed and I commented that it was lucky it wasn’t very warm right now. That’s how I found out that it was still super warm for her, and she had been in Thailand way longer than me. So I felt pretty awesome because I had been worried about the heat and adapting to it before we moved here.

It turns out that the thing I find more difficult than heat is bugs. Not big interesting looki…