'Honour' "Honor"

overcast, light snow, mild, temps about freezing

I have no idea what it's like out - haven't been beyond the threshold, expect to yell at Tony as his snow-blower roared. Wanted him to come in and have a coffee. Besides that, I've barely been off the sofa. Great day.

My brother Doug arrived from Toronto with the whirlwind that is his dog, Buttercup. The Hound from Hell. Actually, BC is joyous, with a tail like a thick whip - that goes constantly. She also levitates. She managed, when our backs were turned to eat a package of hot cross buns, some bread and a pita. Carbing up. Does not bode well.

Having Doug here is such fun - we laugh until no sound comes out. over lunch I thought Michael would be permanently red he was laughing so hard...at Doug's description of traveling with our mother.

Nancy came by this morning to fix Doug;s computer, which he brought from Toronto for her...we only trust her, and she was fab - fixing it in an hour or so.

Doug went off visiting, Michael watched the Olympics and I spent most of the day going over the copy edited version of BURY YOUR DEAD. Quite daunting at first...a huge pile of pages, covered in red. But then I realized most of the red ink was to Americanize the manuscript. I write dialogue using just one quotation mark, '. but in the States they use two, ". and, of course, there's the spelling. Draughts, drafts. Honour, honor. It's extremely interesting to see the differences, but as I said, disconcerting to see all that red ink.

But there were also extremely interesting issues of time and dates and other things that demanded attention...and some references that needed further research. I like this part of the process...especially this year when it happens when I'm not yet writing the next book. I find it very difficult to write one book in the morning and edit another in the afternoon. Besides the always present issue of being way too lazy to want to work that hard.

We're having a relaxed dinner at home tonight...cheese, pate and baguette - carrots and celery, hummus and tatziki by the fire...then probably off to watch a bit of the Olympics. I've lost a little track of what's happening. Big game tomorrow night - Canada vs the US at hockey! Mary and the kids are there. Doug keeps getting texts from his oldest son, Brian, to say how much fun they're having at the Olympics. They saw Robinson get the gold in skeleton yesterday, and heard a live band and just got back from skiing themselves at Whistler. Sounds like the trip of a lifetime.

Did I mention I stayed on the couch all day? And....loving it.

Thank you too for all your beautiful comments after yesterday's post. I really, really appreciate it. Your support means so much to me.

Speak to you tomorrow!