I'm running a little behind today. We live in a older neighborhood and the city is putting in new water lines. I'm thankful that the city has the money to upgrade and I'm glad they are working, but, golly -- what a pain! Some days we have water. Some days we have nice clear looking water. Some days we have brown water. Some days we have little water pressure. Today Twisty Lane looks like a mini-river. What water we have seems clear. We just don't have a lot of it. No water for cleaning paint brushes or brushing teeth! Normally, Friday is Journal day, but I took Mr. Robin's face off with a sticky finger this morning! Hopefully, I'll get the repairs done and have a journal page for you on Sunday.

I thought I'd tell you what I read while curled up with my cold. These are two very different books. One is science fiction on a series I've been following for 30 years (is that possible? Ack!). The other is a favorite mystery series.

I love dragons (as you already know). I've been reading the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey for what seems like forever. Her son, Todd, is now writing Pern books -- with his mom and on his own. Dragonsblood is Todd's first Pern book written on his own. It had been many years since I'd read a Pern book. I know I'm behind in the series. Just because I hadn't read any didn't mean Mrs. McCaffrey hadn't written any! Now I need to catch up.

In Dragonsblood a mysterious illness is killing the dragons. Lorana must find a cure with help from the past. I enjoyed every word of this book and went out (cold and all) and bought the three books Todd wrote with his mother. They are staring at me -- read me, read me, read me. I'm going to read slowly. I love the planet of Pern, it's dragons, its people, its fire lizards.


A Rule Against Murder: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny was my second read. I did a little dance when I picked up the mail and there was A Rule Against Murder fresh off the press from Amazon! Armand and Reine-Marie are celebrating their wedding anniversary at Manor Bellechase, an isolated, luxurious inn not far from the village of Three Pines. The Finney family - rich, cultured and respectable - are also there for their own celebration of sorts. Secrets, hatreds, polite smiles abound along with murder. The Finney's think the murder must have been committed by the "housekeeper and her husband". Imagine their surprise when they find out *he* is the chief inspector. Too funny, but then Ms. Penny really has an amazing way of combining the absurd/strange/funny with the ordinary/correct/everyday. Her characters are quirky and wonderful. You'll have to read the book to find out what *doing your sums* means. Let's just say, I try to do my sums everyday. Everyone should.