odds and ends

funny weather day - at times there's a snow storm, snow blowing, wind howling, then it's quiet, then there seems to be rain. Very changeable. Temps minus 5

yesterday it was reeeally cold. Minus 20. Clear skies. You should have seen the moon last night....almost as bright as the sun, and making all the fresh snow glow. Beautiful.

Back in Sutton. yay. Nice interview yesterday with Nathalie Petrowski.

Went to breakfast in cowansville this morning and ran errands. Then home to get caught up on paperwork. Emails etc. Nice to be inside, out of the very odd weather. But must feed Trudy soon and go for a walk. Head bowed into the blowing snow. We Canadians get very well acquainted with our footwear in winter.

Lovely day

sunny, not too cold, temps minus 7

As you can see, a gorgeous day! I took this photo while feeding the birds this morning. Then we drove to Knowlton for breakfast with our friend Cotton at the Cafe Floral. And now off for lunch in Abercorn with Joan and Edward. Michael and his sister Carol grew up with Joan, and used to teach sailing together. Joan is also in our exercise class. You have very few secrets from people you exercise with. They know all your crevices, and what's hiding in there.

Joan is also one of the funniest people we know. She describes being in a college production of King Lear or Hamlet or some tragedy but as soon as she set foot on stage people started laughing. She has no idea why, but she can make any story hilarious. All the funnier, perhaps, because she can look quite formidable while telling it. I feel I should take notes while listening to her.

After hearing about all the snow in Europe (Heathrow closed?!)-and the terrible squalls that stranded hundreds of motorists in Ontario, and the flooding in California - I've decided to put our emergency kits back in our cars. They were taken out when we switched vehicles. Now, mostly our emergency kits are first aid packs. But with the snow situation we thought maybe we need more than that. Some people were trapped in their cars for days.

So we now have a bag with candles, matches, tea, dried soup, a mug (last minute thought - d'oh). I should add a blanket, I realize. And perhaps an energy bar. Much more and it'll be more comfortable than home. We'll be aiming at snow banks.

Off to Montreal tomorrow for lunch with Bal and Linda and Bethany, then afternoon tea at Birks with Louise Loiselle and the Flammarion Quebec gang. then back here. And off Tuesday to stay overnight at the local monastery, St-Benoit-du-lac. Never stayed overnight before, but Brother Charles, one of the monks, has managed to sneak us in. I might need to shave my head, but I can at least not pluck my moustache. This is reseach for the next book. Michael and I become monks for a day.

Have to say, that is a huge part of the fun of writing the Gamache books, is all the research. Getting access to places most people never see. Or necessarily want to.

Be well - hope you're warm and safe and enjoying yourself.

That Chocolate Bunny's a killer

Sunny, cold, highs near minus 5

I just got out of the hospital. I was in a speed-reading accident. I hit a bookmark.
Steven Wright

I'm beginning to be quite annoyed by the length of this winter! I know, there's nothing I can do. But every now and then I get warmed beside the righteousness of a good complaint. Like now. There are two feet of snow out outside. It should be plus 5 and melting. Instead it's minus 5 with more snow forecast. At this rate it'll be August before it goes.

There - that felt better.

This is actually the first day I've felt stressed about the long winter. It's really a lovely day - brilliant sun - dazzling off the - WAIT! SNOOOOOWWW. Ugh.

Had a call this morning from Kathryn Kennison. She's a dynamo. She heads of the Ball Centre at Ball State University in Indiana. And she runs a crime writers festival called Magna Cum Murder. She's asked me to be the guest of honor this year - which of course I agreed to. It's a marvelous festival, in October. We go caught up and yakked and had a fun time. She hurt her leg and her doctor said it would never really be perfect again. She told the doctor this was distressing news because there were really only 3 good parts to her body. One was her legs, another were her gums and the last were her occipital bones. Now she was down to the final 2.

She's hilarious.

Wrote like a fiend this morning, which is why I'm late with the blog. Busy times. Am about 2/3rds of the way through the book. I hope. Either that or it will be the longest book ever written. Some days are harder than others. I find sometimes I just want to do anything but write. Root canal, peeling, wash the curtains. Anything. But I still write. If I give in to the laziness, well there's frankly no end to it. I think a huge amount of success in writing isn't so much creativity as perseverance and discipline. And, of course, gummi bears.

Looked around me at some stage early this afternoon, after I'd come up for air, and noticed I'd built a little fort around me. Books stacked everywhere. Reference books, cook books, poetry books, note books.

What a great life.

Our diets took a hit this past Easter Weekend, though not as bad as it might have been. As followed home from Richford by a chocolate bunny. or two. And a few eggs.

Michael, brilliant man, has discovered the real secret to losing weight. He re-adjusts the scales and has announced he's at his goal weight. No doubt with the help of the chocolate rabbit.

Who am I to disagree. And if he's there, then so am I!

We're off to Montreal tomorrow. I'm giving a talk and reading tomorrow afternoon at the Cote St Luc library. Oh, by the way, we've added an event in Boston to my schedule. I'll be doing a talk/reading/signing at the harvard Square Barnes&Noble on Friday May 9th. Just back from London and Washington. I'll be the one followed by chocolate wildlife. Hard to miss.

Be well - I probably won't blog tomorrow or Wednesday - but will speak to you Thursday.