The strange voice in Michael's head

mainly sunny, cold, temps 4

Heard from both Lise and Tony back home in Sutton that it snowed yesterday! And stayed on the ground. Tony, who is looking after our home and Maggie and Trudy, says the dogs will be very sad to see us return. Oh my. According to Tony, they're having a ball with him and his dogs.

We'll have to put an end to all that fun!

Had lots of fun yesterday. I had lunch with Susan at a funky (do people still use that word? Is it groovy to use it?) restaurant in Old Montreal. Michael had lunch with David Rosenblatt, one of his very best friends. He's a doctor and geneticist at McGill, and they lead each other astray, dietarily. Unlike Susan and me.

Then Michael got his new hearing aids. For the last ten years or so he's worn one in his left ear, but now he needs them in both. He's such a riot. Since being fitted yesterday afternoon he's constantly got his fingers to his ears, 'tuning' the aids. They're quite high-tech with knobs and buttons. For all I knew there might be a tiny satellite dish. He says the oddest part, and the hardest to get used to, is his own voice in his head. With two hearing aids it's changed.

After that I had a coffee with a neighbor, Robert Landori-Hoffman. He writes thrillers. We talked about the market.

Wanted to mention a new blog. It's called stageandpage and it's written by Pat Donnelly, the arts editor at the Montreal Gazette. Fun way to keep up on stuff happening in the province.

And - this is the last day to sign up for my May Newsletter in which I give away 6 copies of Julia Spencer-Fleming's new book I SHALL NOT WANT. And she'll even sign them to the winners!

You can sign up on the home page of my website.

Tonight is the big Crime Writers of Canada event at the Atwater Library in Montreal. It starts at 7pm, and features a talk by Jim Napier. He's just fantastic. He taught crime writing for many years, is a writer himself and writes reviews of mysteries for the Sherbrooke Record. He'll be giving a talk on what makes a winning book. Then there's a panel discussion with NAT Grant, Michael Blair (the president of the CWC), Robert Landori-Hoffman, Andre Baby and me.

And finally, after that, Michael Blair will announce the nominations for this years Arthur Ellis Awards for Crime Writing in Canada. The awards themselves will be announced at the CWC banquet in early June in Toronto.

Love to see you at the Atwater Library tonight! After that Michael and I will drive home.

Home...