I’m back at Oscar Scherer State Park, the closest state park to R in Sarasota for the holidays. I love this place. I think serious campers might take issues with some aspects of it — it’s almost always possible to hear traffic noise from the nearby highway, my site is small and sloped — but it is so beautiful at sunrise. Equally so after dark, when it is truly dark and the stars are bright in the night sky. Dark nights, plus CostCo ten minutes drive away — my version of paradise.

I set up after dark on Sunday and didn’t do the best job of it, but I told myself that it didn’t matter because I’d go to the grocery store on Monday and do better when I came back. Better, in this case, equates to not sitting on the worst part of the slope, making the driver’s side higher than the passenger’s side. It’s not a big slope, it’s not the kind anyone would care about if they were just parking, but it’s noticeable when you’re living on it. Round items placed on the kitchen counter roll right off. (In other words, don’t spill the blueberries!)

But on Monday, I decided I didn’t really need groceries yet. Tuesday, I decided the same thing. Pretty sure that I’m going to make the same decision again today. I’m feeling so utterly cozy and content. Knitting and walking and listening to music and writing and reading and thinking and admiring the beautiful place I get to be in. It’s cold by Florida standards, in the 40s when I walk Z in the morning, but then warming up to the high 60s in the afternoon, so I get to eat my lunch and dinner sitting outside in the sunshine, the dogs on their tie-outs, and then snuggle up under my blankets when I go to sleep at night.

Writing yesterday did not go well. I got bogged down on something stupid, but meaningful to me — the description of Grace’s office — and didn’t make any progress at all. But the story is becoming the thing I think about falling asleep, the thing I think about when I wake up in the middle of the night, the thing I think about when I wake up. That was how Ghosts was. I was in the middle of so much back then — grad school and grief — but half the time my head was in Tassamara. It was a lovely place to escape to. Right now, I’m not feeling like I need to escape — I’m loving where I am — but the worlds are blending together. After the holidays, if I’m not finished yet, maybe I’ll go up to Ocala and let the worlds truly blend.