June Gloom

My work requires that I speak to people all over the U.S. and Canada. Yesterday, someone in Quebec told me the temp was 38 degrees, Celsius (about 100 degrees, Fahrenheit) and humid. I’m surprised by how many people in the U.S. haven’t heard of June Gloom, which is now.

June Gloom means gray mornings, clearing somewhat during the daytime, if we’re lucky. But the gray pushes back, late afternoons.

Here’s yesterday afternoon, as June’s Gloom fills the Los Angeles Basin, just over that hill.

It takes longer to reach “the other side of the hill,” the San Fernando Valley, where I live. But here it is, this morning.

 Soon, the days will be clear and sunny, cold June Gloom gone. 

- PJ

Auto-response and France

One auto-email response received; they’ll contact me if they want to publish my submission. If my US options deplete, there’s always UK newspapers and magazines. With France so close, the UK may present greater interest in articles on France.

Speaking of France, opportunity presented itself, in the form of airline seats, using miles, and this morning we booked. Alsace, here we come, in September. This trip will make obsolete the statement I make in Half Italian that I’ve not yet been to Northeast France.

No Amalfi Coast, this year. Flights to Italy seem harder to come by than Paris. No complaints here. 

- PJ

Chopped and sent

All three articles are chopped, the last two submitted to Boston Globe Magazine and The Washington Post. Now the wait, since these are exclusive submissions. I'm restless.

- PJ

Chop, chop, chop

My writing is already somewhat dense, but reduction is needed on the three articles I mention in my last post, if I’m to meet newspaper and magazine word limits. So I’m chopping left and right. A bit of flow was lost on one article, perhaps a bit of grace, but the story remained intact. And chop I’ll continue to do, until my material meets what’s requested. Compliance is part of an accountant’s job.

I made one submission today, to the New York Times.

- PJ