Darn, more reasons for gratitude

Snow (about a foot!), mild, highs minus 3

At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honourable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.
Maya Angelou

Isn’t that a marvellous quote? It reminds me of a prayer Michael and I say every day. We hold hands across the breakfast table and say, ‘God, grant me the serenity, to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.’

If I could I’d pretend I wrote that but since I could never get away with it I might as well surrender to reality and admit it’s the serenity prayer. After saying it Michael and I, still holding hands and our eyes closed (at least I presume his are closed) list all the things we’re grateful for. Then we send out good energy into the world.

Jeez, writing it down and reading it makes us seem quite flaky. Oh well. I suppose we are. But we’re happy and content flakes, which makes our gratitude list annoyingly long. Especially when we’re starving.

Had three absolutely fabulous pieces of news yesterday. People Magazine has a fantastic review of The Cruelest Month!!! They gave it 3 ½ out of 4 stars and said it was ‘Impossible to put down.’

I’ll tell you, that is being laminated and going on the wall.

As well a lovely reader named Joan in Chicago wrote to say there's a mention, though by Marilyn Stasio in this coming Sunday's New York Times Review of Books. She talks about the Three Pines Mysteries being quite funny at times. I'm very glad she noticed.

The other piece of wonderful news was that The Cruelest Month has been chosen by the publisher to the St. Martin’s Press READ IT FIRST program. This is a terrific ‘club’ – so far 14,000 people have signed up to get advance chapters of new books put out by St. Martin’s. That way you get to ‘test-drive’ books and decide if you want to buy them or take them out of the library. How wonderful is that?

Had a quiet day 'at home' yesterday – more or less snowed in. Tony came to dig us out and within half an hour we were snowed in again. It’s the very heavy spring snow – clinging to the trees. It really is stunningly beautiful. woke up this morning to another six inches or more.

And we saw the very first cardinal at our bird feeder. Never had one before. Normally we get a dizzying array of what Michael called LBJs – Little Brown Jobs. Spot the city folk. Actually, they’re black-capped chickadees, sparrows, woodpeckers and blue jays. And now a cardinal. On the first day of spring. It brought snow and good news.

Spent the entire day by the fire writing. Such fun to sit with Gamache and Myrna in her used bookstore, as she makes tea and cookies and they talk. And he reads from a book that he’s known for years but has an unexpected connection to this murder case.

A week ago I’d risen again at 3:30 to catch a flight – this time to Houston. What a terrific city. I absolutely loved it. And my hotel room was enormous! As you might have gathered, my surroundings are important to me. Michael could be in a cave and not notice. I’d notice.

Spoke to the Neighborhood Library in Houston at noon, then did a talk/reading/signing at a wonderful mystery bookstore in Houston called Murder By the Book. Lots of people out – great questions. Very welcoming. And an extremely impressive staff. Makes a difference.

Must run – the writing calls.

A Sutton Day

Overcast, snow flurries, -3 degrees

A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast - E B White

I'm not sure what I'm looking for, but I'm not travelling at speed today. It's a quiet day, a no-news day, a peaceful day. I finally got around to brushing Maggie and Trudy, which they tolerated, even seemed to enjoy a bit. They do like the reward they've earned after it's done. And the brushing was long overdue. I collected great handfuls of fur from each.

I'll be heading into town later to pick up some papers for my tax man, Frank Leboff, after not budging from here all week. I hope I haven't forgotten the way. Country living can be like that. Frank has been my accountant, our accountant, for nearly thirty years, maybe longer. He's wise and ageless and happy and we're great friends. Missed installments, missing papers, and complicated advisories are all the same to him. No problemo! Adds a lot of comfort to our lives. I never enjoy collecting all the papers, but I do enjoy chatting with Frank and turning it all over to him.

Yesterday, I seemed to bustle all around here doing bits and pieces, keeping busy. Not much to show for it, but some relief that I'd done it all. This blog is about my only task today. Nothing too strenuous. Quite fun really

It's later, and I'm back from town with all my papers, which now fill an outsize briefcase. Frank said there'd be more papers yet to come and he was right. There were two more in the mail today.

Now, finally, some news. I've talked to my sweetie who's loving Houston (85 F) and her hotel, which makes me happy. Just as good is an email from Linda Richards, an author and friend, who's just finished her second book 'Death was in the Picture'. She wrote with a heads-up to Dorothy L, where Lesa Holstine posted about Louise at the Poisoned Pen last night in Phoenix. If you think that's great, and I do, - thanks Lesa - then there's even more, with pictures, on Lesa's blog: www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com. Great pictures, great description of my honey.

And...People Magazine will review The Cruelest Month next week, the March 31st issue. Whoopee! Louise gets home tomorrow, but I'll try and do another day, before returning it to your regular host, the talented...