A Place by the Sea

overcast, rain, now mostly sunny and warm, temps 25

We're in British Columbia, in Sechelt, on the Sunshine Coast.
This picture was taken this morning - when the rain was just about to begin. They get a lot of rain in Vancouver, but not much here...the name is meant to be description, apparently, not ironic! It was sunny and hot all july. Too sunny and hot. Forest fires broke out. In fact, when we arrived in Vancouver yesterday Lonnie and Susan (the amazing Sunshine Coast Lit Fest volunteers who met the plane) pointed out the what we thought was mist was in fact smoke from the fires.

They've had rain the last couple of days, so that's a blessing. But after this morning's rain it has cleared and now it's a lovely day. We're sitting on the verandah looking out over the sound. The small boats, the warf, the island where the float planes circle after take off and before landing. It really is magical.

Our B and B is called A Place by the Sea. We're staying in the Sea Breeze Suite. Two hour massage this afternoon. Then dinner in front of the fire place, relaxing and reading. We were going to go on a six hour private cruise of the coastline but the weather's looking a bit dodgy so we've delayed until Thursday. Tomorrow and Wednesday just quiet days. I'll read my manuscript. Michael will sketch, and read his book. While we look over the sea, at the cranes, and sea gulls and huge numbers of eagles. So different from home.

Had a terrific flight from Toronto. About 5 hours, very easy. The lovely festival people plumped for the upgraded seats at the emergency exits so we had scads of space. One of the flight attendants sat beside us during take off and we got to chatting. Her name's Mimi. Young - works the long hauls, married to a pilot, two small children, and she's writing the music and lyrics for her first album - to be recorded in October!! We felt like slugs. But what a lovely young woman.

And, her mother-in-law has written her first book and gotten it published! Her name is Carolyn Muir Helfenstein and the book is called 'Why Not? A memoir In Black and White'. It sounds terrific. I plan to ask Danny and Lucy, at Brome Lake Books to order it for us.

Tomorrow the only thing on our agenda is a salmon barbeque for the volunteers at the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts. The organizor of the fest - Jane Davidson - has kindly invited us. We're so looking forward to it.

I'll tell you, when I was writing Still Life all alone it never occurred to me Gamache, Clara et al would take us around the world, including a salmon barbeque on the edge of British Columbia.

How lucky are we? Speak to you tomorrow! And if you ever plan to come to BC you must consider the Sunshine Coast - and stay at A Place by the Sea. If an exhale had walls and view, this would be it.

Either this wallpaper goes, or I do

overcast, mild, temps 14

Am in Montpelier now, at the Bed and Breakfast. Dreadful place. All heavy Victorian wallpaper and furniture. Glum landlady. Dark and dreary room. I was hoping to arrive early and spend a few hours relaxing in the room before the event. But could not wait to get away. Especially when I had to take a broom to this huge cobweb on the wall.

Happily I'm only here overnight, and this has convinced me that sometime in the future, when Chief Inspector Gamache et al are investigating a murder away from Three Pines (if such a thing exists), they need to stay in a dreary, sullen place. So, actually, this is great! Wasn't really looking forward to yet another stay in a spectacular, large, lovely, clean hotel room, with flatscreen TV, jacuzzi, spa and no spiders. How antiseptic.

I'm feeling itchy...bed bugs? ugh. Still, I have to say this really is part of the book tour territory. I've stayed in some horrible places and some astonishingly fabulous places. Crap shoot, really. The publishers do their best, and Sarah - the publicist - sent me links to three places here inMontpelier...and I chose this one. D'oh.

not that long ago I was at a book festival and my room was so small my feet went off the end of the bed and were in the bathroom. The walls were also made of paper so I could hear everything anyone said in the corridor. I was at another book festival and the hotel was infested with young americans who streamed across the border (this was a Canadian border town) because the legal drinking age in Canada is lower than in the US. So on Friday night the kids booked into the hotel with the sole purpose of getting drunk. And running riot. At least they had the great good sense to book into a hotel and didn't try to drive home.

Had a great drive down here to Montpelier...two and a half hours. Denis in Cowansville had put the winter tires on the volvo this morning...lovely man made space for us in his hectic fall schedule. But I'm driving the other car since it has GPS. Arrived with three hours to kill before going for dinner with the BEar Pond Books people. As soon as I saw the B&B room I wanted to flee. A reader who will be at the event tonight suggested place called La Brioche, on Main Street...it is an off-shoot of the New England Culinary Institute, so I skidaddled out of the B&B and raced over to La Brioche for a medicinal Cafe Latte and eclair. Yum.

but am back at the B&B now. Hoping, with familiarity, it will seem less dreary. It seems to be working. At least I don't have to share a bathroom. And the place, despite the cobwebs, actually seems clean. Just dark and dreary.

Loved the comments from yesterday's blog - and all the odd placenames...I thought no one could ever beat the Brits, but I have to say Intercourse, Michigan, just down the road from the town of Blue Balls is pretty good. Though, as I said in the comment, in Quebec it would be Saint Intercourse. And Saint Blue Balls. We put a saint in front of everything. We have a Saint Louis de Ha Ha. Can't imagine what he is the patron saint of.

Off to Bear Pond Books for a dinner at 5:30 then the event at 7pm. Then driving tomorrow (probably crack of dawn) to Norwich for an event at the Norwich Bookstore at 7 tomorrow night.

Speak to you tomorrow.