Friends

Only two days housebound and I am climbing the walls. The postal van came by earlier and the driver said the ice was bad on the estate so I cancelled plans to go to town today and attending tomorrow's bereavement group as it is located on another residential estate.

I did slide the car (literally) down to the local small shop for a paper and bought some over-priced lunch fixings for the next couple of days. Confirmed that I don't want to try to go further at the moment. I mean I will have to on the weekend but maybe by then the roads will be better.

The local borough has its gritters posting on Twitter (WarwickWinter) so you can follow their progress. I haven't heard the gritters for the last 2 days and although we are on a bus route it looks like those have been cancelled too as again there has been no noise of them passing by.

The snow seems to have triggered me into hibernation mode as I've been snuggled under the covers quite late for the last couple of mornings.

In which I freak out about mildly cold winter weather, as if it were a blizzard.

This is the forecast for Houston's weather for the next four days.

It will look laughable to anyone living north of Dallas, but to us here in Houston, that's freaking cold!

Global warming, my ass. I've heard talk of possible snow again tomorrow, though that forecast doesn't mention it. If it happens, that would be snow in Houston, twice in one winter.

*wants snow!* I don't care how cold it gets, if it snows. :)

Around 10am the first flakes started to fall. I'd planned to go to Arena Park this afternoon anyway as I had some books to return and wanted to see if I could sweet talk getting an extra extension on one of my loans (I did!!). Still I figure with the gritters out early this morning and the sky looking so overcast that I should just go as early as possible.

With the forecast for snow all the rest of the week and knowing how this could mean I wouldn't be able to get to the shops I got in extra milk and ensured I have food for the rest of the week. I also spotted a very nice jumper in soft blue at M&S and so treated myself to it. I'm practically living in the two big jumpers I bought last winter so having a third to rotate is useful.

By the time I left to come home the snow was falling pretty fast and now outside is all white and lovely. Still the house is warm. I feel a little sorry for Strange Black Big Head Cat. I wonder if he has a place to shelter. I'm also having to protect Stalks-by-Night as last night Xander was having a mad run about and then took exception to her existence and started chasing her round and round. This morning they were OK with each other but I am keeping a bit of an eye on them both. So far the cats are not too grumpy - yet. I think they are more interested in finding warm nooks than going out.

The lads didn't come round for gaming last night and so I deferred putting the recycling out as some of it can get blown away if it is windy (as it was). As there was no collection last week because of Christmas it was vital I not miss it as two weeks of cat food tins is a fair few cans, plus the plastic and cardboard.

Anyway, I dutifully set the alarm and woke from a dream about Olivia and Naomi about 1 minute before it sounded. Got dressed, fed cats and put the recycling out just after 7am. OK so now it is 90 minutes later and no sound of the collection vehicle, which is usually doing the rounds by 8am.

Sorry to have lost the fleeting fragments of that dream. I know that we were staying at Clonegal Castle and having discussions about available rooms. I think Olivia was organising some kind of ritual in one of the rooms. I must get back on track with recording my dreams.

I rather abandoned doing my irregular 'to be read' list after July as reading became more difficult due to problems with my eyes and the unwritten reviews mounted up. Still I have managed to catch up now with the reviews and do my 2009 summary list. A fresh start for 2010 and I did actually read a book already but it was one of those that once begun was almost impossible to put down.

I still seem to have a lot of books out from the library!

So here's my current reading and my library books 'to be read' list as of 3rd January.

Awaiting Reviews

Too Close to Home by Linwood Barclay - thriller - Leicester reading group selection for tomorrow night.

Currently Reading

Dracula: the Undead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt (official sequel to Dracula).
From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris (Book 8 of the Sookie Stackhouse series) - non-library book and audiobook in the car.

( 16 Books Still to be Read from the Library )

Here is my complete 2009 list with brief comments and links to full reviews in my LJ though all were originally also posted to 50bookchallenge. In total I read 150 books and 54,950 pages. I belong to three active reading groups that meet monthly and so 36 of the 150 were books chosen collectively or by our local librarian.

There was only one book that I abandoned this year and it is not included. I have a ridiculous number of books on my 'to be read' list but I am grateful to Goodreads as it gives me a chance to organise that list. I am also grateful to members of LJ book communities for providing me with plenty of recommendations for new books and authors.

( Books Read January - March 2009 (1-32) )

( Books Read April - June 2009 (33-71) )

( Books Read July - August (72-99) )

( Books Read September - October 2009 (100-120) )

( Books Read November - December 2009 (121-150) )

This recipe would make a brilliant candidate for the Why You Are Fat website. Maybe it's already there.

RTD redeemed himself, just about.

Second part was better than the first by a factor of... a hell of a lot, actually. Enjoyed the conclusion of Ten's reign, onto new things with Eleven. I am perfectly happy to give Matt Smith the benefit of the doubt until I actually see him in action. It's amazing how many people are slagging the poor lad off before he even gets a chance to start. I like his 'look', though, it has a faint Troughton-esque feel.

Looking forward to seeing Matt, can't wait to see if I can write in his 'voice'.

In New Year news - saw the New Year in with a group of friends, which isn't something we do very often. It was very pleasant and lovely and my little boy fit in with a room full of adults like he was one of them. Was very proud.

Was insanely hungover this morning though, my own stupid fault. Was wobbly until about 2pm. Felt rubbish that was too yicky to go see dbexx. I would have been no company at all, though.

So on we go to 2010.

Whee!

My friend Donna just got a call from a friend of hers living in Vallejo, California. She said some sea lions which typically gather near Pier 39 near them have left, all but 19, and their pet cats are clumping together. The last time either of these two events happened, there was an earthquake. I mentioned this to Mark, and he said there were tremors in California, this morning.

This could, however, simply be normal tremors cuased by gravity from the Sun and the Moon. We're due to have a blue moon and a partial eclipse on New Year's Eve.

I hope it will not be too severe.

Edit: I just found this article regarding the sea lions. Their reduced numbers in this season might not be so much of a herald of danger, after all. I'll wait and see. I know a lot of tremors have been occurring in Baja, so...maybe an earthquake is imminent, maybe not.

I was rather stunned this morning when Stalks-by-Night came in to breakfast and dropped a mouse in the middle of the kitchen floor before she tucked into her bowl. The mouse looked pretty stunned but then made a run for it in the direction of the feeding cats! I was able to plunk a plastic cup over it and then able to transport it outside and let it go. Unfortunately, I doubt it survived as Stalks followed me out and in the bushes Strange Black Big Head Cat must have been lurking as there was yowling. Mice do not last long in our garden but I felt I had to at least try to release it. Stalksy is certainly the hunter in the house though as this is the third time she's brought one in.

Headed out to Tesco after breakfast as aside from a few things I needed to pick up a new bedside lamp as the built in one's tube died the other day. On the way out I was almost run over by a disabled driver who was backing out next to me as I put my bags and walker in the car. She then proceeded to go the wrong way out of the disabled section (it's one way) and then went up over the curb at the end. Either a very poor driver or shaken up by her near miss.

I'm rather pleased that the traffic signals have been completed on the big roundabout leading out of town. It's been one of those situations where often you take your life in your hands because of traffic bombing round the island from the right or have to wait for ever during busy times. Now it is safer for everyone including pedestrians with new crossings.

My fantasy RPG character tarran_glennis would want to take woodworking lessons from the author of the article below. It's by Franklyn Gallup and describes how to inlay a quilt design into a wood floor.

How to Create a Quilt Pattern Design in a Wood Floor

The design is beautiful and intricate.

While exploring Schwab for likely stocks to invest in, I came across a company named Turner Valley Oil and Gas (TVOG). Oil and gas sounded like a possible good investment, so I checked out their Schwab page.

Sheesh! The stock was priced at $0.001. From a look at the day's activity graph, it looked like some fool had bought enough of the stock at $0.0008 to push the price up to $0.001.

I can't even imagine buying a stock that is that close to flat-lining. *shakes head* Some penny stocks do make money, but most are wildly risky investments.

Just watching the final bar one of Defying Gravity. It's such an interesting storyline so naturally was cancelled after its first series.

I've also been enjoying the USA Life on Mars. It is very different to the UK one, much more a cop show but the supporting cast is great as are the quips and recreation of early 70s. The music as always is just brilliant.

I also watched the final episode of the Swedish version of Wallander. It was such a dark episode and I sat with tears rolling down my cheeks as there was a major character death that evoked memories of Crys' death. I'm rather sad to see it end and I know that after the suicide of the actress playing Linda Wallander that Mankell lost heart in terms of his writing for the characters. Wish they'd bring it out on DVD here.

I'm still on catch-up mode on Sanctuary, which the Sci-Fi channel is showing daily.