Much ado, hopefully about nothing

 Another week is nearly in the books.  AND I actually finished reading another book this week. 

My reading has really decreased in the last year and when I do pick one up, I remember how much I enjoy reading. Of course, then I finish one and don't immediately start another. 

This was a James Patterson book I picked up at the thrift store, titled "Mistress".  I'm not certain I've read many of his books before, but I do know that his books are quite popular.

I must admit, I almost didn't read it because it started out rather oddly.  The description of the protagonist, Ben "isn't like most people. Unable to control his racing thoughts" was an understatement.  It took me a couple of chapters to get into the story because his thoughts take him down some strange paths.  After a bit of reading, that quirk didn't seem quite so strange.  My daughter often talks about her thoughts spinning out in different directions, and I suspect I was given some insight into how her brain works too.

The story of a death of a woman Ben loves/loved in the heart of Washington, D.C. takes the reader on a race with him to identify the killer(s) before he suffers the same fate. As you might imagine, by the title, there is far more to this book than a simple murder.  There are scenes in the book that seem almost improbable, but also possible, based on what we see playing out on television.  I won't give away more of the plot, but will say I did enjoy the book and would definitely read another novel by this author again.

Back to my daughter, she called today (as she does every morning) to let me know she and Eli will be tested for Covid today.  He woke up ill yesterday, she isn't feeling well herself today, so she called the Healthline this morning first thing.  Both are coughing, Eli is a bit lethargic, but neither have a temperature so I have my fingers crossed the tests will be negative.  I haven't had any symptoms but will stay home until their results come in.  Our province is backed up due to the significant number of tests being performed so I suspect that won't be for three to five days.  Our province is second only to Alberta in the cases per 100,000 people, our hospitalization rates are higher than ever before and we've lost sixty two people to Covid in the month of September alone. That's almost 10% of the total deaths to Covid since this all started and the month isn't over yet. (Since I've posted, she hasn't yet heard back so is expecting they may have to wait until Monday to get their tests.)

Back at home, and I truly mean that - I'm not venturing far these days - I had a quiet week.  I stocked up on groceries on Thursday and shouldn't need anything until late this upcoming week or hopefully into the next.  The weather has been up and down all week, hot one day, cool the next, and in fact we had frost on Friday morning, though everything is still looking fine today.  I went out to water since we're not expecting any really cool weather until next week sometime now.  I must admit I'm a bit tired of it, and was thinking I'd pull the plants this weekend but everything is looking so good I hate to do it.  At least, I'm only having to water every three days or so as they're not quite as thirsty as they once were. 

Besides housework, I've been spending a lot of time watching curling. There have been at four draws a day, starting early in the morning, though I've missed most of those draws.  The number of teams eligible for entry to the curling trials for determining our Canadian representative for the Olympics is quite large this year with over 60 teams (both men and women) in contention.  Normally they would have earned their way into the trials by winning points at various events over the past year and a few did so winning the Brier and the Scotties.  But since many of the qualifying events were not held because of the pandemic, Curling Canada are now holding several pre-trial events.  This week the are two events being held at the the same time, the Pre-Trial Direct Entry and the Direct Entry.  I believe the Direct Entry winners will go onto the trials (that seems to make most sense to me), the losers of the Direct Entry event and the winners of the Pre-trial Direct Entry will participate in October for the last of the spots available - I think there will be two men's and two women's out of that spiel.  In total nine men's and nine women's team will vie for the Olympic berth.  The Roar (the curling trials) are being held in Saskatoon at the end of November.  I'd love to attend because this event brings the best teams to the event, but I suspect I'll be parked on my couch watching every draw. In the meantime the Curling Zone has been live streaming the events on You-tube.  So I can keep track of the baseball and football on television, while watching the curling on my laptop.  Can you tell I'm a happy girl?    

In between draws I've been getting my housework done, and playing in my craft room.  I haven't any finishes just yet...lots of things are nearing completion so I'll share them next week.  While I'm sitting I'm continuing to work on the crocheted flower hexagons and have started knitting another market bag.  I ran out of one the colors of yarn I need for the flowers, and when I stopped at Michaels this week, they are out of that particular color but expecting a new order this week or next.  I'll keep an eye out on-line and will order for pick-up.  I am using up a lot of leftover skeins of yarn so a couple more will ensure those bits and bobs get used up.

Today, my friend S is on my mind.  Her mother passed away a week ago in a for-profit long term care home in Alberta. The funeral will be held today in her hometown in Saskatchewan.  S lives about 90 minutes from her mom's care home, and she would often call as she was making the drive and we would chat for part of her drive.  I'll miss those calls, though I'm sure we'll find other times and reasons to chat.  I won't get into the details of her mom's death, but S and I have come to the conclusion we wouldn't want to live out our days in a for-profit LTC...suffice to say that the lack of care was evident.  

Well, I hate to end this post on such a negative point.  So, I'll share a silly story from earlier this week.  I wash the supper dishes in the evening, and as mom would have said, I let God dry them overnight.  While I chat with D, I put them away in the cupboard and clean the sinks.  One morning, as I was cleaning the drain I noticed a dead spider in the sink.  First off, I hate spiders worse than any other bug.  They totally scare the daylights out of me, dead or alive.  So after a minor melt down I gathered up the spider in a paper towel and put in the garbage.  Then, because I didn't know whether it had touched anything in the sink I re-washed everything I'd washed the night before.  Serves me right for not using the drain board, but there weren't that many items since I'd done them earlier in the day.  I do have a dishwasher, but it would take a couple of weekdays to fill it, so only use it about once every two weeks to keep the seals from drying out and to eliminate any smell from the drain. I may have to re-think that decision should any more critters come crawling into the sink.  Ewwwww!

It's an absolutely beautiful fall day here, the sun is shining, with a light breeze.  I have an hour or so before the next draw, so I think I'll head outdoors and read on the patio.  Enjoy your weekend everyone!