To market, to market

Very soon, I’ll be heading down town to the local farmers’ market. According to the weather network and the local paper’s website, it’s only 9C out there. Looks like I’ll be dressing a bit warmer than I originally planned. I think long pants will be the order of the day, not shorts. Maybe even a jacket or sweater.

My Favourite Stuarts

I stumbled onto Stuart McLean at least eight years ago. I had my car radio on CBC (like most of the time) and happened to come in to the middle of The Vinyl Café. Stuart was in the middle of a Dave and Morley story. It was the Christmas story when Dave was cooking the turkey… well, if you know Dave, nothing ever goes quite according to plan. Anyway, I was hooked and thus began my love for Stuart McLean. I’ve got a few of his books, borrowed one from my cousin, and have some of his CDs. I turned my girlfriend from the UK onto Stuart as well. We listened to him on a trip to Niagara Falls. I’ve been to one of his concerts, too. The Vinyl Café can be found at:  http://www.cbc.ca/vinylcafe/home.php

My other favourite Stuart is Stuart MacBride, a crime writer from Aberdeen. I knew of him for a while but only recently discovered his website and blog. I’m glad my chair has arms on it – they kept me from falling off when I read some of his posts. Since then, I’ve picked up his first two books in his DS Logan McRae series and the last one. The others are on my wish list at Amazon.ca I started reading his debut novel Cold Granite on Saturday but with other distractions (job, house, etc) I’ve not got as far along in it as I would like. I love the fact that Stuart MacBride’s books are set in Aberdeen. I think of myself as a displaced Scot although I was born in Canada. Reading about places in Aberdeen that I’ve seen on holiday or on maps or when doing “virtual” research for my own writing, it brings it all to life. Stuart’s website is located at http://www.stuartmacbride.com/ well worth dropping in for a look around. There are boxes across the bottom of the page with links to other parts of his site, ie blog, books etc.

Off to do a little reading before I have to start supper.

Alarm dog and his strange tastes

I came downstairs this morning and my box of Puffs with lotion was on the floor by the alarm dog’s bed. The box had been chewed, a good number of the tissues pulled out and chewed and still more just pulled out.

Now, a box of Puffs with lotion has sat on my computer desk for ages and he’s never bothered with it. Maybe is was the pictures of penguins on it? I buy them in bulk and this was the last box in the previous lot (8 boxes per package) from Costco.

So I don’t know if he’s acquiring some rather strange tastes when it comes to what he wants to eat or if I did something to piss him off last night and that was his revenge.

If he can get the box of Puffs now… he’s a better dog than I figured. It’s up on top of a CD rack on the top of the hutch. I have to stretch to reach it! I dare him to get them now…

Inspiration out the window

Well today wasn’t a productive day on the writing front at all. However, I did do quite well on the Solitaire front. My wireless internet connection was playing silly buggers so I felt lost – not to mention pissed off – because I felt isolated with no contact to the outside world.

In the end, I think I wrote half a dozen paragraphs which I’m hoping will bring me closer to the entire scene I wrote last weekend.

Still, I plan on having this, my 5th revision of Sarah’s Gift, completed by the end of August. Guess I best find some inspiration, muse, motivation, and anything else I’m going to require to achieve this outlandish goal.

Wish me luck!

It’s no longer “it’s not the heat… it’s the humidity”

Finally, the air has cleared. It’s not wet with humidity. Oppressive humidity. The kind that makes you wilt as soon as you step out the door. The kind that leaves you in a puddle of sweat when you wake up in the morning. It was wonderful to step outside the door this morning and be able to breathe and not feel smothered. Even with central air, the upstairs of the house has been unbearably uncomfortable for sleeping.

Hopefully with the better part of 24 hours with low humidity levels, sleeping tonight will be a bit easier.

New podcast

I’ve put the call out for suggestions for my podcasts and I’ve received one so far – Writer’s Block. Egads! I’m getting it just thinking about it.

So I’ll put my head down (sort of) and give this topic some serious thought and see what I can come up with on the subject and how to beat it.

Wish me luck.

Spam

The scourge of bloggers, guestbook administrators and all of us who have e-mail. Thank heavens for filters. Otherwise, a body would spend all their time deleting spam and not getting anything else done.

And speaking of Spam, I don’t even like the kind that comes in the rectangular tin with the key to open it. A great favourite, though, in the Monty Python skits.