Stay-cation...

is a descriptive word. The first time I ever heard it was in an episode of Corner Gas - the one where Brent sits in front of the gas station in a lawn chair, communicating with people only by means of a verbal postcard from wherever he imagines himself to be. Mallorca, for instance. The locals are used to his annual stay-cations, but newcomer Lacey, proprietor of the Ruby, a cafe adjacent to Corner Gas, cannot wrap her mind around Brent's non-travel arrangements. Okay, Canadian humor aside, it's a mildly entertaining show and stay-cation is a great word.
Summer is incredibly slow in my business and I've been taking advantage of the phone not ringing and people not making appointments - or keeping the ones they do make for a stay-cation of my own. I had two days of solitude this weekend; I re-read Busy Bodies by Joan Hess - thinking it was a new release. I couldn't remember having read it before anyway, although I am sure I did. Her latest, Mummy Dearest, was pretty good; Claire Malloy has married Peter Rosen and they went off to Egypt for their honeymoon, taking Caron and Inez and intrigue right along with them. I admire her writing style and her plots are intricate while the action is funny and fairly lighthearted - well, except for the murders. I can't wait until her next Arly Hanks / Maggody book comes out. That series is even funnier than Claire and her gang.
Today, as soon as I finish this post, I am off to WalMart for a few essentials and then back home to my stack of books, one of which promises exotic locales, intrigue and an untimely death or two. What's a stay-cation without vicariously solving a murder?