Abby's busy day, books & the garden

As I was home yesterday & it was a grey, rainy day, I spent the day inside with the heater on. This is where Abby spent her day - apart from a brief stroll into the kitchen for lunch when she smelt the tuna I was about to put on my sandwich. After she'd eaten her share, it was back to the couch & she didn't move again until after 4 o'clock.

I read the first week's instalment, about 60pp, of The String of Pearls, for my 19th century book group. It's terrific, full of melodrama & plunges the reader straight into the story with the sinister Sweeney Todd & that unusual barber's chair. I'm very bad at sticking to a weekly schedule. I usually reach a point where I just haven't got the discipline to stop & race on to the end of the book. I can't see myself eking out Sweeney for the next four weeks. I don't know how I'd have managed in the 19th century, waiting a week or a month for the next instalment of the latest Dickens.

I've also reached the halfway mark with Eleanor, the secret queen by John Ashdown-Hill. Another great read. So far, we've been meeting the family, filling in the background, finding out about the life of a woman in medieval England. I'm nearly up to the point where Eleanor meets Edward IV so I'm expecting lots of discussion about the pre-contract & its implications.

I was very pleased that my copy of Still missing by Beth Gutcheon arrived in the mail today in good time for Persephone Reading Week.

An email from Lake Nurseries in Silvan about their end-of-season bulb sale tempted me into ordering some spring bulbs. I usually buy them before Christmas but because I hadn't been seized then by gardening fever, I let it go. Last weekend I was thinking about buying some bulbs but had forgotten about it until the email popped into my in-box. Serendipity strikes again! I ordered some lovely pale Yellow Cheerfulness jonquils, pale pink Don Alphonso tulips & cream & white Ice King double daffodils. Look out for the photos in Spring if all goes well. My camellias are blossoming & looking lovely. This is the dark pink one. I couldn't get a good shot of the pale pink one but will keep trying.