Hello everyone. Here we are again. It's Sunday morning and
DH has gone off to church, picking up one lady from the
retirement residence, and an elderly couple from their home,
along the way. Collectively, we refer to them as the "packages"
and he picks them up every Sunday to take them to church.
Phoebe is dozing on her blanket next to my elbow, and Rupert
is downstairs sleeping off breakfast. The sky is a clear blue,
and the sun is shining.

But there is a winter storm warning in effect, with ominous
predictions of freezing rain and ice pellets over night, which
should make the drive to work tomorrow morning an absolute
joy! Then tomorrow the temperature is suppose to rise to plus
7 (Celsius) and it'll rain.

We had a storm on Friday, which started mid-afternoon,
and was only suppose to drop about 5 cm of snow on us.
I left work at 3:30 and should have gotten to the Brampton
train station by 4:10 or so. I got there just before 5:00.
The Go buses were running an hour late, so I grabbed
the first one that came into the station, even though it
wasn't going as far as my neighbourhood, but just to the
Georgetown train station.

I got off at the Georgetown mall, figuring that if I was
going to get stuck somewhere I'd prefer it to be the warm
mall, with places to sit and eat, and a bookstore. The train
station is closed at that time of day, and the only shelter is
your standard bus shelter. Unheated. The trip from Brampton
to Georgetown is usually half an hour long. It took us 50
minutes to do that night. To sum up....I left work at 3:30
and got to the mall at 6:00.

I called home and left a message for DH to come and get me
whenever he managed to get home, and then went shopping.
It took him two hours to get home from work, twice as long
as it should've. We had dinner at the mall, and then drove
the short distance to church, where DH had a choir practice.
I sat and stitched while they practiced. Oh, and the 5 cm of
snow? Try more like 10 cm.

Now then...on to more interesting topics. My progress on
CCN Cottage Garden. This picture looks dark, but it shows
up the colours of the project better so I'm going with it. I'm
concentrating on this project right now, and hope to see this
square done before moving on to another project.


And here is my no name project, which for the moment
I am considering done. I finished the bee hive and added
another bee. I'm still pondering a boarder of some sort
for this, but if I decide to frame it then a boarder might
not be necessary.

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I started a new job in my office last week. It's a secondment
which is suppose to last a year. I'm covering for a girl who
has gone off on maternity leave. The job is full time, which
is great for me because I'm part time. The extra money
will be great for household stuff, bills and ...er...maybe
some stitching stash and books.

I actually use to do this job up until about 3 1/2 years ago,
and I enjoyed it very much. But then the bank decided to
move the whole section to their office in Scarborough for
reasons that I won't bother going into. I couldn't make the
commute to Scarborough, so after much fuss and bother
and worrying ended up working in another department,
switching jobs with a girl who lived in Scarborough and so
was keen to work out there too.

Then, around this time last year, the bank decided to move
the section back to our location, again for reasons which I
won't bother going into here. Suffice it to say that the
people working in this section are pretty fed up with the
whole business, and less then impressed with the powers-
that-be who arranged the first move, and then changed
their minds.

I finished reading Tracing the Shadow on Thursday.
I'm afraid that it got forgotten during my week of
holidays, but I soon got back into the story, and
whipped right through to the end.

This is an author whose previous trilogy "The Tears of
Artamon" I collected and read in the past couple of
years. The new story takes place in the same world,
and around the same time frame as the previous books,
but it centres around characters who only appeared
briefly in the first trilogy. Now, we get their full story,
which will also be carried through into a trilogy.

The Kingdom of Francia has purged itself of magi,
those who are descended from the offspring of an illicit
love between a fallen Angel and a mortal girl, who wield
magical powers condemned and feared by the Church.

But survivors of the purges that decimated their numbers
in Francia are living in secret in the country of Enhirre,
gathered around a sanctuary which holds a statue of
the mother of their race, holding a crystal of mysterious
power. The sanctuary is also claimed by the church in
Francia who believe the location and it's relics represent
a saint worshiped in their religion.

There are three main characters in the new book,
with the narrative focusing on each one in alternating
chapters. Reiuk Mordiern, apprenticed to an alchymist
in Francia who survives a purge at the college where
he is being trained and discovers his talents are more
then he dreamed. Celestine de Joyeuse, gifted singer
rescued from the grim streets of Francia's capital when
a small child, who hides the secret of her parentage
from those around her, and the existence of a book
which belonged to her father, either of which would
see her burned at the stake like her father before her.
And Jagu Rustephan skilled musician, haunted by an
incident at the seminary where he was raised when a
dear friend died at the hands of a magis who had come
seeking a cluster of crystals hidden in the sanctuary of
the cathedral.

The story may be fantasy, but the religious struggles
and persecutions are a reflection of those we see all
around us today in our world. Both sides are as
guilty of oppression, murder and prejudice as the
other. The battles, acts of revenge and purges all
done in the name of either religion or freedom
threaten to tear both peoples apart and makes
villeins of them all. And victims of those they
rule through fear, oppression and fanaticism.

Well written, and well plotted, the stories of the
three main characters allow us to get to know each
of them, their pasts and their personalities, their dreams
and their fears. As the story builds to it's tragic
conclusion it weaves the lives of the three main
characters together with skill and holds the
reader riveted with curiosity, wonder and dread.
I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

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Our godson Ian was home for reading week this
past week from Fanshawe college. He and his mom
Mary came here for brunch and a visit yesterday and
we had a great time, with lots of laughter and stories.
Ian is studying acting, and having a grand time being
out in the world on his own for the first time.

I swear that he gets taller every time that we see him,
but he's also skinny as a rail due to some health concerns
which he needs to address. Due to his height (6'5")
he's had both his lungs collapse on him a number of times,
and is due to have one treated at the end of this
semester to stop this from happening again.

Well, it's getting late, and DH is due home soon. After
lunch we're off to do grocery shopping, and then laundry
when we get home. The HD unit is still not hooked up to
the tv because DH is frustrated and bewildered by the
instructions and programing that needs to be done. So
perhaps he'll look at that again later on and make another
attempt to get it working. And I hope to stitch a bit.

Hope you all have a great week, and the weather doesn't
cause you any headaches. Oh, how I long for Spring......
Cheers!!!