Saturday I arrived late but managed to squeeze in an hour to visit N. and Eric and their new baby Zoe. I know two Zoe's now! This one is blissfully huge for a preemie, and looks quite healthy. We are very glad. N. actually came to my reading, along with Lynn and Carol and Paul and Marcia and Natasha Saje (who I teach with in Vermont) and two other folk I didn't know. A small but congenial group, and Paul gave a funny introduction of me where he talked mostly about my cooking. I read "Tightness in the Chest," for a change, and it was a pleasure to read (and not too long). I'll read it again. Afterwards we went to the Desert Edge Brewery and ate (I don't recommend ordering Thai food in a Utah pub; I was craving chili, but it was so clearly a mistake nonetheless) and drank.
The next morning, slow laziness, then lunch at Cucina, with Paul and Marcia and Doug and Beth and Erin and Sarah and Carol. Somewhere in there I heard that Sarah had gotten married (happy), and that Heidi and Aric had gotten divorced (sad), and that N. had taken second place in the Utah Arts Council novel contest (happy), and also some very big news that I'm not sure is public knowledge yet so I won't specify. But it's very good. And it was good seeing people and catching up -- it's hard to believe that it's been a year since I last saw these folks. Strange. When I was in grad school, I saw them every other day...