Mother Nature is not being very kind at the moment. We here, in my corner of Canada, are fed up with the likes of winter and bundling up just to get out of bed, never mind to go outdoors. The mercury is waaay down the thermometer and when you add in the windchill factor we've had to endure the likes of -36C lately. It's uncalled for!
Thankfully there are plenty of things to distract me from the icicles hanging down from the eaves and mounds of snow threatening to block our view out the windows. Yesterday, I finally finished my epic reading adventure of
The Moonstone. There were moments when I wavered but they were fleeting. Far greater were the moments when the book was barely off the end of my nose as I raced through paragraphs of suspense dying to find out what would happen next. How Wilkie Collins mapped out such a complex web of characters, multiple narrators, intrigue, laugh-out-loud humour, and romance while under the influence of so much opium he needed to string along four doctors to acquire it - is beyond me. Reading
The Moonstone with a group of colleagues from two branches of the library was my brilliant idea of a way to fend off some of the winter blues. We're meeting this Friday to see how everyone got on and I'm a tad worried since there hasn't been much said about the whole thing this past month. At least people don't seem to be avoiding me in the staff room which has to be a positive thing....right?
Another exciting occupation to help me forget the frigid weather is planning my trip to London. Despite the fact that I keep telling myself I will spend more time sitting on park benches in beautiful leafy squares simply people watching or reading a book - I want to go everywhere! Persephone Books will be having their Teatime Reading Group, the Imperial War Museum is featuring an exhibit
Fashion on the Ration, the Dulwich Picture Gallery will be showcasing Eric Ravilious, Elthan Palace is hosting an Art Deco fair, Emily of EmilyBooks runs a book group with a ramble that I must email her about, and a day in Cambridge is on my itinerary, not to mention my date with
Mary in Regent's Park and Bletchley Park is a possibility. If you see a blur of a woman whipping about London this May - it's me.
Speaking of London, my neighbours have just returned home from a trip there to visit one of their daughters. Lucky for me, I am their chief cat-sitter; with a fairly new kitten in the house it was such a delight to spend lots of time playing with him. Lucky for my neighbours, my rates are ridiculously low. When the house keys and instructions were dropped off I handed over a piece of paper with my fee request - a copy of
A Scream in Soho by John G. Brandon. It's one of the mystery titles reprinted by the British Library; set in London during the early days of World War II it ticks a lot of boxes and will hopefully be a fun read. Anything to take my mind off of this....
...it's so cold that the thunderous Niagara Falls has become a frozen work of art.....sigh.