Death, where is thy sting?

overcast, drizzle, temps 5

A typical April day here. But actually, perfect. It feels and smells like spring. Fall is often described as musky smelling, but I find spring more so. Fall I always find smells quite sweet, as all the leaves and pine needs warm in the sun. But in the spring they've all sort of fermented and turned to mud.

You can see why I don't write travel brochures for Quebec.

Ah, to be in Montreal now that April is here. Smells like fermented mud. I can just see the poster too. Actually, choosing to concentrate on the mud is a kindness for Quebec in spring.

We have had a very embarrassing infestation of fruit flies off and on since late summer, early autumn. Right by where we keep the small compost container in the kitchen. We put on our thinking caps and came to the conclusion the fruit flies might be from, just might, the small compost container. In the kitchen.

So we bought a new container. Still flies.

We put all the fruit in the fridge. Even more flies.

Got rid of all food on the counter, including oils and vinegars. Even more flies. It was as though they were being born out of thin air. A miracle, of sorts. Virgin births. In our kitchen.

thankfully, Tony showed us a trick to catch them. He put small yogurt containers around, put beer into each, covered them with saran, kept in place with an elastic band, and picked lots of holes in the top of the saran using a toothpick.

The fruit flies, while perhaps tiny miracles, weren't above a trip to the tavern. Each morning we'd find a huge number of flies in the beer. As WC Fields said, 'Drown in a vat of whiskey, eh? Death where is thy sting?'

But still, they kept coming. We'd finally had enough and called an exterminator, who came today. We left, took trudy, so that not more than the flies would get it. The joys of living in the country. Tony also reminded us to take down our bird feeder so the bear didn't get it this year.

We're surrounded. Clouds of fruit flies in the kitchen, bears outside.

Well, more fodder for the tourism campaign.

I'm so sorry to have disappointed those of you hoping we could meet in St Louis for Bouchercon. I genuinely am sorry. Especially those of you making the trip specially. I hope our paths will cross on another tour stop, though.

And thank you all, for your supportive comments....and your wonderful birthday wishes for Michael! he read them all and really appreciates every one of them!

Well, back to work. Wrote 3,000 words today....but now I've figured out my rhythm for this section of the book. I put a huge number of words on the page one day...then the next day or so I go back over them and shape them. Then move forward and do the same thing...so I progress in steps. Trying not to call it 'lurches'. It actually feels exactly right, for this section. Each stage, and indeed each book, seems to have its own needs and pace. And approach.

Off to do a CTV interview tomorrow afternoon, after my writing day. Then to Quebec Ctiy this weekend for the Salon du Livres. It's also our friend Susan's birthday, so I've asked if she'd like to come along. She didn't need much convincing, since QC is just about her favorite place too. So we'll have a gals weekend in Quebec! But I'll speak to you before then, and I'll try to blog from there.