Murder in a cozy library

rain, temps 20

Wouldn't you know it? They're in the middle of a drought here - haven't seen rain in a month. We arrive and it rains. Forecast is for rain and storms tomorrow as well. happily we don't care, and it's clearly needed. In fact, all we really want to do is swan around the hotel, sit in a rocking chiar on the wide verandah and read Gourmet magazine.

And eat.

We woke up this morning to the mournful sound of a fog horn and the clopping of horses hooves beneath our window. At breakfast we sat by a window and had coffee, omelettes, hot oatmeal with brown sugar and a banana and strawberry smoothie. for lunch we had nothing.

Then spent the morning walking all over the nearby village. The Grand Hotel closes in mid-October, and the water freezes in January. There are about 350 fulltime residents of Mackinac Island who have to figure out how to live with isolation, turn of the century transportation and each other throughout the winter. I'd love to try. Need to work on convincing the Mussers (who own the Grand Hotel) that the only thing missing is a Writer in Residence.

It's now thunder, lightening and pouring outside. My event at the local library starts in about 40 minutes. Sounds a bit like my last tour where a snowstorm hit almost every venue. Well, no snow so far.

We visited the library on our walk. It's right on the water's edge. There's an open area in the centre of the library where they've set up chairs for my talk. Right in front of a huge open fireplace. And on either side of the fire there are doors that open to a small deck, and the great lake beyond. I'm not sure I've ever seen a more magical library.

Must be off. We think we'll take a taxi, which of course is a horse-drawn carriage.

Hope you're enjoying this trip as much as I am! I'll tell you how it went tomorrow.