Before the Blog: Into The Woods

Oh my, the year is almost over and this is only the second installment of the Latest News! It seems to one of those "the cobbler's children have no shoes" situations - I've been staying busy working on other people's websites and haven't touched our own.

In addition to working fulltime, my feelance business is going quite well, even if it does keep me away from this site; I've got several paying clients now and is developing a nice little "niche" market in the LGBT community.

Back in July we said it would be "hard to top" the Melissa Etheridge concert in TownEverybodyLoves but, guess what - the BigCityThreeHoursAway show did top it!

This time we knew what to expect and shortly before the show started, we snagged a couple of empty seats near the front, right on the aisle she'd be entering through. Sure enough, she touched both of us on her way by, and we just fell right in behind her, slipped through the semi-blockade at the front and ended up right in front of the stage again!

The stage wasn't as high as it was in TownEverybodyLoves, so this time we were literally up against it, and again we got "high-fived" at the end of the show. And, of course, again, we were giggling like a couple of kids! It doesn't look like Melissa will be touring again anytime soon, but when she does, we'll be there - we can't wait to see how we'll top the last two shows!

In September, I finally convinced Shrike to go camping with me. We went to Funny Name State Park in TinyTownNamedAfterAGuy with an area LGBT camping club for their Women's Weekend.

After all the bitching and moaning during the planning period, the best I was hoping for out of Shrike was maybe a "well, it wasn't that bad, but I'm still never doing it again."

We decided to wait and go up Saturday afternoon, because the weather was bad Friday night, and then had car trouble on the way up Saturday. By the time we finally got there, I was thinking she'd be lucky if Shrike didn't leave me in the woods for the bears.

We did manage to get our tent set up without too much trouble and settled in around the fire with 13 other lesbians, only two of whom we'd met before. After a few hours of sitting around and talking, Shrike turned to me and said, "Ok, FINE, I'm having fun."

I was considerably relieved by this, but not too surprised. However, I was floored the next morning when Shrike started making comments like, "You know, we really need a bigger tent," and "I think we should get warmer sleeping bags before we do this again..."

Again? She's planning to do it again?!? Yep, It seems that I've converted Shrike into a camper - I'm not quite sure what I get for that, though - a marshmallow stick, perhaps?

I've even caught Shrike surfing online camping supply stores - I suspects that perhaps it's the gear and gadgetry that is the attraction.

Whatever it is, we've ordered those warm sleeping bags, and we're looking forward to spring when the next camping season begins.