See Spot Fly, Eh? -- Robin

Yep…that’s me! I spent the last week being an official tomboy. We went fishing at a lodge in northern Saskatchewan (which I think was pretty close to Santa’s workshop at the North Pole). And though I enjoyed being a tomboy for a week, I also missed having nice nails.

Here are some highlights from our trip:

• It took three planes, a 200-mile drive, another plane ride, and then a 45-minute drive on a bumpy dirt road in a school bus to get to the lodge.


• When we got there, my stomach was so nauseous from all the bumpy rides that I almost didn’t stay out fishing the first day. But I was the first one in the group to catch a Walleye, and suddenly…I was healed!


• The second day, I caught a Northern Pike as big as my boy.
• Then my boy caught a Northern Pike even bigger than that.
• I decided to stop being a tomboy on the third day and have a “girls day off.” I stayed at the lodge by myself and read a book (finished Devilish, by Maureen Johnson, my new favorite author), then I had a hot stone massage, ate lunch in the huge dining area by myself (I swear it was just like The Shining…redrum, redrum…), then I went back to my cabin and wrote the first chapter of my new middle grade novel. I topped the day off with a peanut butter cookie and two Diet Cokes and called it the best girls day off ever!


• On our trip home, we were stuck in the Minneapolis airport for six hours. Which was a bummer, but when we sat down to wait for our flight to Los Angeles, we realized…we were sitting next to a celebrity!


It was the Target dog! Her real name is Nikki and she is very nice. Nicky had her own seat in first class (by the window, of course). Just as we were about to take off, the pilot announced that our plane was given permission to take off in front of eight other planes since we had a “special passenger” on board. Can you believe we got to take off earlier than the other planes…all because of little old me!?



Nah, she really was a special dog. Except that my husband kept commenting on how odd it was for us to spend a week in isolation in beautiful Canada, only to come back to the States to sit around an airport and idolize a dog that represents the best in commercialism. I was like, “Um, sure, honey. But she’s so cute! Now let’s get to Target so we can buy light bulbs and lawn furniture!”

It’s good to be back. I missed you, Mermaids!

- Robin