Dreaming in Austin

I've been in Austin since Sunday. Came down from the Dallas/Fort Worth area after moving furniture for the son (who'd better move it out of his grandparents' garage right quick) to a conference downtown for the fella...ate way too good while he was conferencing. Then Tuesday, I drove all the college board members who came to the meeting (and the fella) to the airport to fly back to the panhandle. And I drove across town in the bus to the parents' house.

My Mama is starting to have trouble remembering things. I wouldn't worry if she just forgot names (I've never been able to remember people's names either), but she forgot that Daddy called while he was out yesterday afternoon, and was worrying about where he was even though he'd called to tell her. She's not bad yet, but now I'm worrying. Anyway, we have had a good time. She took me down to "her" shoe store--a "real" shoe store, where they measure your feet and find shoes to fit your peculiarities. Which in my case are a wide square-across-the-toes foot with a very high arch, and a big toe knuckle with arthritis in it. And after only four tries, we found a nice pair of black dress shoes that didn't kill me when I put them on. Paid more for them than I have ever in my life paid for a pair of shoes, but for shoes that don't commit murder, that's important. We did have to hunt for the shoe store for a while because Mama couldn't remember exactly how far down Burnet Road it was, but we did eventually find it. ;)

I'm using Daddy's computer to post this blog. He was in on the very birth of computers, worked on them when they took up the size of a big room and required punch cards to run a program--and the punch cards were an improvement from earlier data input. So he doesn't have a problem working on aged equipment. Actually, Daddy's stuff is newer than my father-in-law's computer. He's still working off Windows 3.1, I think...we keep threatening to get him a new computer, but he resists mightily. If I were at the in-laws, I would not be blogging. And I have a chance to get to the computer, because my brother just gave him a new hand-me-down laptop. It's probably five years old or more, but it's newer than the one he had before, so it's a new toy, and I get to play with the desktop. :)

Anyway, the World Fantasy Con starts this afternoon, and I'm all excited. I've never been to a fantasy conference before, ever, so this will be a really new experience for me. I will be the gray-haired granma wandering around goggle-eyed. And I'll get to read from one of my books in a group reading, so that will be fun.

I doubt I'll have time to blog during the conference, but if I do, I'll be here. Otherwise, I'll report when I get back home on Tuesday. The conference goes through Sunday afternoon some time, and it takes all day (between 9 and 10 hours) to drive home from here (even tho we are on the north side of Austin), so I'm not leaving till Monday a.m., so I can get home before dark. And maybe stop off in Waco to visit the boy. Yeah, I'm staying free at the parents' house--they're only about 10 or 15 minutes from the conference hotel, so I can do this one cheap. :)

Later--