Mind Candy

Once in a while I have to read a "mind candy" book. Not often, but now and then. Kathleen E. Woodiwiss is one of the best at writing them. From long ago and her "Wolf and the Dove" or "Ashes in the Wind" it was great. This time it's "Everlasting" and she did it again. Set in the 1100's (had me from there cause the longer ago, the better) in northern England the main character is the beautiful Abrielle and, of course, the love interest is the dashing Scot, Raven. I need say nothing more. History, mystery and romance. I was saddened to learn that Kathleen passed away this year. She was a best selling historical romance writing and on the New York Times Bestsellers list 12 times. She was only 68. She definitely knew how to write about helpless heroines and the heroes who rescued them. These aren't my usual reads but just happen to see her new one and picked it up.

I had dreams of a white Christmas. We had a lovely coating of snow from last week's storm but now it's gone with days of rain. The snow came before the leaves were off the trees so I hadn't done any leaf raking and on top the beautiful white I had a layer of dead leaves. Now we're getting ice, lots of ice! So buried under the ice is a thick layer of leaves that at this rate will be there next spring. Ever tried raking wet leaves. Bad enough doing it under dry conditions. Isn't going to happen. This is definitely a stay at home, in your jamies, kind of day.

The search for a Christmas tree ended two days ago when we found a blue spruce (with ball) at a nursery in a local town. My husband was looking at a larger tree and I was looking at a smaller tree. Seems I remember how hard it is to get a balled tree in the car, out of the car, into the house and into the tub. We settled on a mid sized tree even though I was worried. We had to purchase a new galvanized tub this year since our others had developed a leak and with hardwood floors that's something you don't want. We struggled to get the tree out of the van and onto the dolly for transport to the front door. What a video that would have made. We were muddy and sweating in the winter weather. Finally with help of a board for leverage we got the dolly up the three steps into our living room. Furniture was moved aside and needles were dropped all over. We got it to the corner where we decided to put it and then we had to figure out how to get it into the tub. We rolled it off the dolly and it ended up laying sideways in the tub. Till we maneuvered the tree upright our shiny new tub looked liked the one we through out last year. It's mangled! I'm just hoping it didn't develop a leak. A tree skirt will cover the damage. Once again I wished for a video to remind us that we're too old to keep trying to put up the "live" tree every year. Now we have to hope that it survives to be planted in our yard. I'm definitely looking at artificial trees at some point to avoid this back breaking process every year. The decorations were put on yesterday and it's just lovely and the pain of child birth (tree installation) is fading. HELP, please, when it's time to take the tree down and out!!! Not to mention digging the hole to plant it in after the holidays.

The UPS man asked me yesterday if my shopping was done and I responded that I would be as long as he kept showing up at my door! A few more deliveries and a trip to Borders will wrap it up. A night of wrapping and it will be just right. I've got my list and I've checked it more than twice. I got a really great gift for my daughter and if she doesn't like it, I'm keeping it. We've named it "Bubba." It was sad to have to send gifts to our son in Hawaii. We'll miss his face!