Happy New Year

The new year finds my friend Per still mending from his wound that was discovered in May. Yes, eight months. He should have held out for the baby because he would have known then that it would all be done in February. It's a good thing that he is such a techie guy. He is showing me how he can watch his home TV while recovering from a bit of plastic surgery in a nursing facility. Soon he will be happy that he opted for a whole and complete body. It's just that soon keeps moving.

I've also been needling, of course. For a little while it looked like my lady had a speech bubble filled with talk of flowers. I don't know what the other blank space represents. Maybe her heart was filled with flowers as well. I think I get a little too close to the picture to see how pretty it really is. That light color behind her head is just slightly lighter green. It looks more interesting here.

I've found a great new-to-me series, The Dresden Files. I got Side Jobs, a compilation of short stories and soon learned they are about a wizard. Yuck. Then I talked to my friend, Tom, about them. He really loves these books or likes them despite their wizardness. So I finished that book. Very good. And now I've finished the first book in the series, Storm Front. It's great to have a new series. My brother, Eric, was telling me how sad he is that none of the authors who write his favorite series has published a paperback recently. He doesn't like wizards either. But I hope I talked him into trying just one of these because it could give him a buffer until new books come out in his series.

Eric recommended The Great Game to me. It seemed that this was a good book for paper, so I received it this Monday. Adrian co-opted it and I hope to read it soon. It's the history of Afghanistan and Adrian seems to be enjoying it. In fact, I think he's finished it. I should be able to get my hands on it soon. I've just finished The Spoils of Poynton while waiting. Something tells me this is the other end of the world from the Middle East. One woman is totally consumed by love of the treasures she's brought into her house. Those are the spoils of Poynton, which her son will take over once he marries. The book tells a lot about the place of women in society at that time and about the rules of society at that time. Very interesting. I'm so happy I grew up in a time when more options were open to women. I have a feeling that there are still rules. Lots of rules.

And here is my lady as she stands this morning. There are still tiny spots that need filling in in the upper left flower bed. But she is looking much closer to completion.