Had a good day yesterday. I cooked one curry, but mostly I read -- first finishing off Ted Chiang's collection, Stories of Your Life, then going further into Conjunctions 39. Both collections had stories recommended for the Tiptree, but I kept reading, because they were just good. Especially Conjunctions -- the stories in there keep blowing me away, one after another. I adored Gaiman's "October in the Chair", which is just charming. Reading it made waiting for Mirna's delayed (only by half an hour) flight much less painful. I really recommend this anthology highly to anyone interested in speculative fiction today. (Susan and Jed, this means you -- I think you'd really enjoy it.)
I took the train up to meet Mirna; it was snowing, and I'm still a pretty skittish driver. We mostly chatted about hospitals on the way back; she's interviewed at lots of them (my smart little sister!), but is leaning towards either New York or Chicago as where she wants to live. Probably New York, but I'm tempted to try to seduce her with the pleasures of Chicago. I can't try too hard, since I'm not positive I'll be sticking around here, but if I do, it'd be great to have her around. She's really good company -- smart and funny and articulate and sweet. I have the best siblings ever.
When we got back, we dropped off her stuff -- she liked my place! Specifically, she liked my decorating. I was very pleased; she's the stylish one in the family, the one with the impeccable taste. I think she was expecting me to go more foofy or over-the-top somehow. Heh. I probably would, if Kevin didn't restrain me. :-) He was just asking me the other day if we needed quite so many tchotchkes on the tables... Mirna brought us an addition to our decorating too -- a pair of tall black wood candlesticks, perfect for our dining table. We immediately put tapers in them; we'll light them tonight. She brought us tapers too, in a lovely apple-green, and a little gold mesh wine bag. Really raising the bar on the hostess gifts, here -- it'll be a challenge to match this the next time I come visit her.
Kevin was actually out when we got home -- he's doing some go workshop all weekend, so he won't be around much. We went out to Artopolis for soup and salad and sandwiches and wine; we ordered more than we could eat, but it'll make a good lunch today, so no worries. She filled me in on some more of her life there; it was really fun. She and I don't seem to call each other up and chat much -- we should try to do that more. I like knowing more about what's going on with her. After dinner, we just watched sit-coms until Kevin came home, then all collapsed with the tiredness.
I'm getting closer to my family these days; it's nice. There was a big rift for a long time over Kevin, and the writing, and such. But we're all older and mellower now, and it's nice to see time patching up the gap. It's all a bit tentative at the moment (if we stay with the gap analogy, you can imagine a mage constructing a bridge out of air -- you can't see it, you just have to step out onto it and trust that it's there), but so far, so good. Hopefully, it'll just get better from here. I'm a big fan of family, and cultivating personal connections.