Still Stinky

rain, rain, more rain, and...rain. temps 2

Blech. Pouring rain for most of the day. Our front lawn and driveway is flooded. Still, I need to remember this is normal at this time of year.

The skunky smell permeates the house! All night I kept trying to pretend the overpowering smell was just really, really strong coffee. That a skunk had peed into. There was really no escaping what it was! Thankfully Deanna - who would normally come to clean next week - agreed to come this morning. We warned her what had happened. And she came anyway!

We headed out for a birthday breakfast with Joan. Thank God the skunk stink hadn't stayed in Michael's car!! Hate to have to owe him one. Breakfast with Joan was very fun. She runs the local meditation centre - a sort of elder statesman of Sutton. She also happens to be our friend Gary's mother.

We then went over to the pharmacy to store up on peroxide...'cause it was pretty clear good old Trudy wasn't quite skunk free.

We got home with half an hour to go before Lise arrived for a meeting. And Deanna was still there (we'd sweetened the pot by giving her a bag of chocolate easter eggs). The place smelled MUCH better.

But it was time to jump in the shower with Trudy. We mixed up the magic peroxide potion (Michael's sister Carol wrote to say at the rate we're going we might have a wonderfully clean, but very white, dog! I think she might be right) then off we went, enticing Trudy into the walk-in shower with treats. poor Trudy - her mother's daughter. Betrayed by her stomach.

I went in too and we lathered her up. The trick, apparently, is to pour the stuff over her, work it into her coat - then wait ten minutes. At exactly this time Lise arrives. Trudy and me nakes in the walk-in shower - like museum exhibits. just standing there. Waiting. Lise waited downstairs but suggested Michael needed to take a photo. He actually came up with a camera!

I suggested he needn't take a photo!

Then we rinsed off...and I think Trudy actually does smell better. or, I smell worse.

After our meeting with Lise I was just sitting down to write when my sister in law called from Regina. Hadn't spoken for a very long time and they have lots of great news. It was such fun! But I have to admit, by the time I'd hung up, after an hour, I was tired. Sat at the computer, wrote 500 words and realized I was fried. It was late afternoon. the day seemed to have slipped away.

part of me was frustrated and felt robbed. But then I realized it had been a wonderful, wonderful day. filled with friends, and family - filled with wonderful people. Productive but also fun. It was life. Our lives. Which are full, even without the writing.

When I'm writing a book I can become tunnel-visioned. focussed only on that. And I'm of two minds about that. I believe the reason I can write what I do is because I am disciplined. And am not easily distracted. I need to be very clear about what I need to do. Writing, for me, is hard. And I'm always, always tempted to do anything but. And so, being distracted is a huge danger for me. But so is being blind to other parts of my life. The great gifts offered to me, of community and friendship, marriage and partnership.

So, as I write, I struggle everyday trying to find that balance. To be honest, i know I'm getting much, much better about writing, and enjoying myself. And part of that is remembering too, that writing is hard work, but it's also a privilege and a joy.

Have more fun! My mantra for the year. Who'd have thought a stinky dog would help teach me that? But then again, why not? Maybe she is rubbing off on me.

There it was, gone.

light, fluffy snow, temps minus 3

Perfect winter day. Not too cold, not too warm. Juuuuust right. We Canadians appreciate the middle bear. Every now and then the sun will come out making it all the more beautiful.

Lise wrote this morning saying there was a problem with the blog. Don't know if you found the same thing. I went on to check it out and it was still doing it...or not doing it. Everything showed up just fine, except the actual blog portion.

So I immediately wrote to Linda in Scotland. Then high-tailed it out to breakfast with Joan. She's just had a hit replaced and while the operation on the hip was great she had a crisis in the hospital when her bloodpressure plummeted. Very scary. had to be transfused. There was about a week when we were in Quebec City when we were calling her hospital room everyday to see...one evening was particularly frightening. But she's back among us again...though not yet driving herself. So Michael and I picked her up - Michael then went off to his own table and read the paper while Joan and I yacked it up. Got all caught up.

Joan's daughter is Wendy matthews. Those of you in Australia might know of her. She's a fabulous singer - a big star in Australia. So we spent quite a bit of time talking about the wildfires (Joan had just spoken to Wendy last night) and the losses. And the animals. (and the people, of course).

Heading out to dinner tonight with Mike and Dom. In the meantime I'm catching up on all the details of life that pile up when we're away. Happily, I can do it at some leisure.

Will blog again tomorrow.

Do you have a dream?

mixed, cloudy, rainy, sunny, temps 10

Another mixed weather day - would go from beautiful and sunny to a cloud burst in no time.

I think I'm one day away from finishing book 5, which I've called THE BRUTAL TELLING. We'll see what it ends up being called in the stores! But now it's just pouring out of me as we drive to the finish. Wrote 2 chapters today. quite exhausting, but thrilling. Last chapter still to go...tying up. I always love that, but the trick is to do it with some elegance. Happily there's always the re-writes and the editing and the polishing to get it right.

Then had a quick lunch with Michael, and out the door to Sutton and coffee with Joan at the Tintoretto. It was Rhonda's last day there. she's managed the tea room for 4 years - but is now leaving to concentrate on her own business of restoring antique furniture. Very exciting for her - but sad for those of us who loved her even more than the food.

Joan runs the local yoga and meditation centre, and quietly counsels people on the side and she was telling me she's recently spoken to two people and asked each, 'Do you have a dream?' I thought, what a great question. then Joan said she was walking down rue Principale and got to talking to a middle aged woman and asked her, 'do you have a dream'. And I looked across the table at this lovely, lovely woman and thought - you lovely woman. Imagine talking to people about the things they dream of doing, or being. Awakening in them that one thing they'd regret not trying.

Then, after Joan left, I zipped across to Richford for gas (forgot passport but they let me through anyway) - then met another friend, this time at the Cafe Internationale, for a cafe au lait. This was Janet, who teaches voice at Stratford in Ontario and Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburg - she also specializes in the Alexander Method of voice. Very interesting woman. I had a chance to ask her, 'do you have a dream', and we talked about that for 2 hours! Isn't life amazing?

Last night I gave the after dinner speech to a local club called Le Cercle. 60 people at the Auberge West Brome, including our neighbor Serge and a bunch of people I knew. But far more I didn't know. Frankly I wasn't really looking forward to it. A roomful of strangers...etc. Not scary, but stressful. But they were SO warm and welcoming. Especially the man who's the founder of the ground...Claude Grondin and his wife Lucille. It went well - but it's hard to fail when people are so kind.

My brother Doug arrived tonight from Toronto - about a 6 hour drive. We didn't know really when he'd come so we just had a loose dinner of baguette, cheese and hummus. Doug's a vetegarian - but fortunately he adores Caramilk bars - so we got him a HUGE one and put it by his bed. Doug spent a year with him and the asparagus I talk about is thanks to him!

Must go. Tired. But happy. Nice feeling to have 2 men I love under one roof.

Bacon, eggs, coffee and friends - no mystery here

Sunny, cold, highs minus 10



A little 'bloggette' today - must run. Michael clearing snow off the car and starting it, and I'm supposedly up here putting dry cleaning in the suitcase. Pre-packing. Like a fish in a container ship.

Off to Sutton for breakfast with Cheryl at 8am, then coffee with Joan at 9:30. Feel odd 'scheduling' friends like that, but these days that's what it comes down to. Hope their patience extends further!

Then meeting Lise at work (she's my assistant) to go over last minute things, then doing the 'bookchatcentral' on-line talk at noon.

Then off tonight for a 5:15 meeting.

Received the revisions for the reading from the book based on the Redpath Murders that I'll be doing at the launch of the Canadian History Project on Monday in Montreal. Read and revised last night.

Must run - speak soon. Breakfast and coffee with friends...phew...feels like a huge exhale.

Speak to you tomorrow and hope this finds you well.

Oh, deer.

Clear, frigid, minus a gazillion

Had breakfast with Joan this morning. She's remarkable. 76, runs the meditation and yoga centre in the village (Mother from DEAD COLD/A FATAL GRACE) was inspired by her, though Joan is a tiny woman. Her daughter, Wendy Matthews, is a huge (as in popular) singer in Australia and her son Gary has been kidnapped by us and forced to renovate every inch of our home. We adore him and really aren't looking forward to seeing him leave. Still, we know one day he'll tunnel out and that'll be it.

Back to Wendy in Australia for a moment. Joan showed me a remarkable photo of Wendy from a Sydney paper. Wendy's just released another album and so is doing a lot of press. This one shows her at home with one of her pets - a deer she rescued and named John Deer. Any Canadian will recognize the reference to the famous equipment manufacturer. Wendy was walking in the woods one day and saw a doe give birth (a very rare sight anywhere but apparently almost unheard of in Australia where deer are quite rare, I'm told). The mother died as Wendy watched. She then moved quietly in and picked up the little one, and took him home. And called Joan in Canada asking what to do! Joan, of course, had as much idea as you or I would. But through more common sense than I have, and love and luck, John Deer lived. And grew. When he was a year old Wendy decided to let him go wild, but he found his way back! And now he lives outside her home, and often comes in for a visit, wandering into the living room or kitchen. The photo in the paper shows Wendy kneeling and John nuzzling her hat.

Can you imagine the patience she must have had? The work she must have put in? The courage to let him go though she loved him?

Joan Matthews raises amazing kids. And what luck for me to have her as a friend. I don't go to her yoga classes and she doesn't read my books, but we know each other and support each other in places only good friends can.

BTW, no sign of the little deer next door. The apples are still there, so I suspect he's found a family. I choose to believe that.

We're in Montreal now. Appointments on Monday, event Tuesday. It's sponsored by McGill Reads and is at the McGill University Bookstore, on McTavish, at 5:30.

Hope to see you there! Bring a deer. Or a dear. My dear will be there. I call him Michael.

Speak soon - be well.

Shovelling it

blowing snow, mild, highs -1, dropping to -20 tonight

Sure feels like winter and Christmas. I love it, but then I don't have to cope with it. I remember when I lived and worked in Montreal and had no off-street parking. Trying to cope with a car in the Plateau Mont Royal quartier after a snow storm was a real pain. Now Michael and I just look at each other over our second cup and decide we don't need to go into the village.

Though actually, this morning we're having breakfast in Sutton with Joan Matthews, a great friend. She runs the yoga and meditation centre in Sutton. We don't do yoga and she doesn't read my books and it's all in perfect balance. We know and support each other where it counts. Joan is also our friend and contractor Gary's mother. So it's payback time for all his antics.

Had breakfast in Knowlton yesterday with another friend, Cotton Aimers. Great name. Her 'real' name is Kathleen, but as a child her younger brother couldn't say Kathleen. It came out Cotton. Could have been worse. I have a younger brother, so I know what they're capable of. Cotton gave us a Christmas gift - a donation to the Guardian's chosen project this holiday. The newspaper is asking readers to donate, and instead of spreading the money around they chose one large project for a single community. This year they're providing water for a village in Africa. Great gift. We gave her a bag of home-made granola.

Must be off - Michael's fed Maggie and Trudy and is now digging the car out. Must help. Eventually. Oh, he's back in. Phew.

Speak soon and hope you're well and content.