Babes in Coyland...

Sunday, I took the time to pay a visit to my sister and finally see my niece. The older I get, the longer the trip out to No Man's Land becomes. She and her husband may not live in a region void of civilization, yet there's a certain feel to the Ohio Valley. And the sudden blooms of McCain lawn signs mark a definite departure from the solace of suburbia.

I never did hold Sydney. Partly out of that uncomfortable fear I have when it comes to babies. it may sound odd for someone who deals with ghosts and hauntings to be frightened of a small, living creature yet it's undeniable. Fear may not be the best word. Perhaps lack of comfortability. Her being so young, I wouldn't want the weight on my shoulders of something happening. A tumble from my lap. Making her cry for an unknown reason.

I still have flashbacks to my teenage years when I babysat a week-old kitten for a night. The sheer panic and misunderstandings between our minds. Never being able to soothe the creature. Within an hour, the time was passed with the two of us simply sitting and crying—neither knowing what to do about the other. Parenthood and child care can be a nerve wracking and stressful experience in every form.

She was, perhaps, one of the most serene and laid-back infants I have ever encountered. She cried a few times for mere moments, only to voice her disapproval of her position or lack of a bottle. I must have been in the presence of colicky babies in the past, for this was a definite departure from what I knew to be the norm. Or maybe it really does depend on the parents.

The subdued evening was quite pleasant, though my mind was as always running in a thousand directions. I arrived home with enough time to get a few minor things finished before turning in for the night.

My redesigned website, Queer Paranormal, is off to a decent start. There are still many pages to type out and fill in, but the basics are at least taken care of. It will take time to fill out more fully and figure out what is best-suited for some pages, but I'm in no rush. The Cafepress merchandise marketplace has undergone a transition as well. Some images need a bit of work, but I'll toy with them as the time becomes available.

Otherwise, research has slowed to a horrifying crawl. Some place names are quite common so it may take a while to sort through them all and distinguish the correct business from the others. Finding enough research for some locations is proving a definite challenge as well, so I may have to depart from my plan of writing chapters sequentially. And then there's everything else happening at once.

Time is proving to be the most valuable commodity.