Back from the bland...

I spent a day in Lincoln and then a day in Omaha, in Nebraska, and Oh, My, God, are those places shabby as hell. Chunks of concrete missing from overpasses. Ragged streets. Weeds everywhere. Some of the most insane street layouts. And even a couple of places where I'd have sworn I was driving through Newark, NJ, the way one-way lanes fronted by old buildings were crushed against a lower-level freeway.

The only place I found that might be interesting, once I was done with the job, was the Gerald R Ford Home and Gardens...and it was closed and the garden was minimal. It's more like a monument to the state's governors and all the presidents of the US, ending with Obama. I tried to find a book store using Google Maps, and all that came up were one in a university near downtown Omaha and a Barnes & Noble out in a suburb.

I went to the B&N, and at least it was workable. I needed a book to read on the trip home because I'd finished the Grant Atherton while flying there. Found an Agatha Christi mystery I hadn't heard of and was supposed to be the inspiration for Kenneth Branagh's latest Hercule Poirot film, A Haunting in Venice.

Christi's book is titled Hallowe'en Party and is set in a village north of London. A thirteen year-old girl claims she saw a murder, then she is murdered during a Hallowe'en party, soon after. Branagh's movie is set in Venice and looks like a horror/ghost story. Absurd.

I truly disliked his take with Murder on the Orient Express and ignored his redo of Death on the Nile. Guess I'm ignoring this one, too.

I'm feeling better and better about returning to A Place of Safety. It won't be great literature; I don't have that fine a command of the English language. That said, I think I'm telling Brendan's story the way he wants it, and will continue to do so in parts 2 and 3. Having a bit of distance from it and reading other people's work is helping me settle down.

I may not be able to do better than them, but I know I'm just as good.