Ordinary Days

It's been the sort of week when I think- 'gee, I should write a blog entry, but there's nothing going on'. Which of course isn't true at all, as there's always something going on, but mostly it's pretty low key. Which is good, really. I enjoy it. It's just that excitement makes for more interesting blog entries. So, let's see what's been happening.

-I've been knitting mittens. There really isn't a lot to say besides that.

-I've also been knitting the back of the gansey. I've traversed approximately 11 inches of fine-gauge stockinette with another four or five to go before anything interesting happens. No photo- you can go look at the last one and picture it longer if you like.

- I'm still on a reading binge. Looking over the list, it's clear that Mike Brown may have to be let off the hook in favor of Donna Andrews. I started the month reading her first three Meg Langslow mysteries, and courtesy of the library I've just finished number 9. Three more to go before I'm caught up.

- I have dished out vast numbers of meals for cats. It's gotten so we number them. Jonathan: "Cookie! Good boy! You're very affectionate. Are you looking for dinner?" Me: "He seemed to really like first dinner and second dinner, but I think he's jonesing for third dinner." Jonathan: "Ah." What makes this amusing of course is that as often as not Cookie succeeds in conning a third meal from my softhearted husband. Besides, if he doesn't get his own food, he just eats Biscuit's.

-Biscuit is not nearly so stomach-oriented as Cookie. While Cookie is diving into the food dish in the morning, Biscuit will sit at my feet looking up wistfully until I stop and pat him and scratch under his chin. Preferably for quite a long time. While this is adorable, I do monitor the food situation pretty closely to be sure Biscuit is actually getting anything to eat.

-I felt unreasonably organized and pleased with myself when I got in the car this morning and realized I was starting my longest driving day of the week with a full tank of gas. Before I got too smug, I reflected that my method of tidying the coffeetable consisted of restacking the magazines so they'd stop sliding off onto the floor, and shoveling random skeins of yarn back into my knitting bag. Okay, it's useful, but not such a vast difference I should be congratulating myself.

-We took our first long walk of the year Sunday down in Andover MA. It was sunny but very windy and cold. Despite this, I spied my first crocuses of the season. The town is upscale and quite pretty, with lots of nice old houses and a pricy and very attractive private prep school at its center. We stopped and walked around their small but lovely (and newly renovated) art museum, which I quite recommend. And also checked out the Andover Bookstore, their lovely independant bookstore. I brought the camera but then forgot it in the car, so I can't actually show it to you.

-We've been plotting our vacation trips for this year. We quite enjoy visiting places that we've read about or seen on television, so we've been doing research. After extensive watching of British mystery DVDs, we've determined that Oxford is probably safe (we aren't academics, nor do do we have illicit Oedipal relationships- we've determined that these are the key factors in becoming murder victims on Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis). However, we may want to stay out of English villages altogether, as Midsomer Murders has shown us they are positive hotbeds of crime and villainy. Anyone got any good fiction (or non-fiction) recommendations for Bristol, Canterbury or Dover?