
They had no idea what hit them!
Everything’s been cray-cray lately so my peeps and I thought we’d up the anxiety and fly from Minnesota to Oregon to invade – I mean VISIT – Lori L. Lake for a week. (Don’t worry, we wore masks on the plane and social distanced and Lori sent us beekeeper suits, so we seem to be fine. We’ll see if SHE ever recovers . . . bwahahahahaha.) We were forced to wear matching shirts with anti-Covid hexing qualities . . . but mostly so people would remember who this cool six-pack was when they file the police report.

We climbed mountains – Mt Hood, St Helens, and Rainier – saw the daytime protesters and fantastic downtown Portland art, ate at a LOT of food carts, and bought books at the Powell’s in Beaverton the very day it reopened from the lockdown. We saw a bunch of local sites including the Witch’s Castle (research for my next Shay O’Hanlon book, Shanghai Murder, which is set in PDX), and toured the Pittock Mansion, built in 1915 by a rich newspaper dude, up in the SW hills above Portland.

I was totally jazzed by the mansion, but Lori and I were most captivated by the zillions of flowers on the grounds! Except for the rose, we don’t know what the hell any of them are called, but they sure are purty! We scampered all over the paths, doing our best to avoid the pesky molehills popping up here and there, and we shot pictures of over two dozen flowers! Now that we’re surely halfway to master gardener photo status, we’re thinking we should write a gardening book!

Speaking of Lori . . . the real reason I went out to visit was to force – I mean, convince! – her to take over the 2nd Monday blog here at W&W since I’m buried under an avalanche of obligations. Bye-bye from me, and next month say Hello to Lori who is the one who got me into this crazy writing thing. Yes, you can blame her! (She’s used to it.) Lori has been publishing lesbian novels for about 50 years, so I’m looking forward to finding out what she plans to write about here. For all of your sakes, I hope she manages to be at least somewhat entertaining, not all serious and English Teachery.

In honor of Lori’s hostile takeover — whoops! I mean gracious acceptance of the grave responsibility of writing posts here — she’s giving away a free ebook of the GUN SHY 20th Anniversary edition to the funniest comments people post below that wish me goodbye. Be sincere. Be kind. Be complimentary while also hilarious. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to comment before this post sizzles away like in Mission Impossible. BTW, I’m sneaking this in toward the end of the post just to see if anyone actually reads all the way through! Don’t fail me now!
It’s been a pleasure goofing around here for all these years, what is it–maybe 15? 20?, and thanks to Jove and Andi and all the fine women who got this insane cuckoo bus rolling on the dirt road. They seriously rock!

Thanks also for the kind comments and messages from all you who read this blog. You are the ones who make it all worthwhile.

Hasta Lasagna! Don’t get it on ya!
Have some big fun!
Jessie, who now needs to fly back to Oregon, further research, you know? Heh heh…
Bon Voyage, Gratzi & Good Luck in your next Adventures.
Remember It’s a small world, Covid’s everywhere,
It’s a small world, be sure to wear your mask.
It’s a small world, you must socially distance.
It’s a small, small world. 😷
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Great reminder, Lynn! I love it!
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Jessie, I will miss your column but am really looking forward to your new book.
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Claire, keep an eye out for Lori’s posts. You never know when I might sneak in, and Lori can be very amusing! Giveaways will continue, and so will thoughtful posts. Hugs from afar!
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I will miss your column very much indeed.
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Hey Lainie! Thank you for the kind words! I’ll still bounce by once in awhile, and I KNOW Lori will be quite entertaining! Hugs to you and Lee!
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A priest, a minister, and a rabbit walk into a bar. The rabbit looks around and says, “I might be a typo.” 🙂 I look forward to the next few months.
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Good one, Cheryl! LOL!!!
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Well, goldangit. You are always a spark of sunshine. I want blogs from both you and Lori.
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Lee, you warm my little heart. I’ll still pop by here and there…can’t get rid of me completely! Besides, Lori has way bigger thoughts in her head than I do, so I know she will entertain! They don’t call her Loquacious Lori for nothing 🙂 Love you, Lori!
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I like Lori and will read her column of course, and I hope she doesn’t get offended, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO you can’t leave me!!! (excuse me while I go sulk in the corner for a while.)
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Allison! I promise I won’t be gone forever. You are adorable!
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Enjoy your time and don’t forget to water the flowers.
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Sage advice!
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Had I known you were in town, I would have taken you on the trails in Forest Park–nah, I wouldn’t have just left you there–really! But seriously, if you come back, you might want to check out the Shanghai underground tunnels in Old Town for research.
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I’d have gone with you AC! And I have been on two of the Shanghai Underground tours! One was great and the other iffy. But super helpful for Shanghai Murder!
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I’ve heard that about the tours. A friend of mine took one of the tours. She always takes loads of photos and one photo really looks like a ghost is in the photo. True thing. She didn’t notice it until she was going through her phone the next day. It’s creepy and very fascinating at the same time! But an interesting tidbit for a story. 😉
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Roses are red
Violets are blue
It don’t always be like that
But sometimes it do
Thanks for your words that never failed to brighten my day.
Enjoy the quiet while you can.
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Aw Laurie! I love the rhyme 🙂 I’ll certainly enjoy the quiet, what peeps of it I find!
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Best of luck to you, Jessie! And welcome, Lori! I’ll miss your posts, Jessie, but Lori is a fantastic writer, so I know you’re leaving your slot in great hands!
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Caren, thank you! I feel good about this handoff, and Lori will let me pop back in whenever I want 🙂
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One day a policeman is sitting on the side of the road, and he sees a car driving by with three penguins sticking their heads through a sunroof. He pulls the car over and says, “Hey! You need to bring these penguins to the zoo immediately!”
“Yes, officer. Absolutely, officer. I’ll do it right now, officer,” the woman says.
The next day, the same police officer is sitting on the side of the road and sees the same car driving down the road with three penguins sticking their heads through the sunroof, but now they all have sunglasses on. He pulls the car over and says, “Hey! I thought I told you to go to the zoo yesterday!”
“I did, officer!” the woman said. “And today I’m bringing them to the beach!”
(Now replace “three penguins sticking their heads” with “Jessie sticking her head” and “the woman” with “Lori”)
I guess the sunglasses didn’t fool anyone.
Sorry to have missed you on your trip! We’ll miss your witty blogs. Also, those are some pretty flowers. Thanks for sharing the photos.
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Jazzy, that is a fantastic story! I think the wit might be taken over by Lori, so I’m pretty sure the change will please most folks 🙂 Next time I’m out there we will have to hook up!
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Limerick for Jessie
There once was a gal named Jessie
Who decided to blog lessie
Her readers did pout
But THANKS we did shout
We’ll miss you but, God Blessie 😜
Enjoy your time,
Sandi
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Sandi! I love that!!!!
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