Thursday, 3 October 2019
It’s a good thing we had taken the day off, because last night Allan found that the new drum he had ordered for his printer did not do the trick, and so he drove off across the river to buy a new printer.
Because of my longing for reading season, I welcomed the rain that would have given us a day off anyway. I’d had a craving for a good psychological suspense novel. The one on hand from the library had come to my attention somehow, but while it was a quick and adequately entertaining read, it is not a book I would particularly recommend.
The cats like reading weather, too.
The rain continued.

Meanwhile, Allan had arrived home. He shared with me a photo of one of the big boulder-hauling trucks going by him on the bridge. Worse would have been having it go by in the Chinook tunnel! And there had been an accident on the bridge shortly before he crossed. I was extra glad to be at home.
He has returned not only with a new printer, but also a stack of library books I had ordered….even though it’s not yet staycation.
I quickly read a short book, from the last, much smaller library batch, by my favourite New Yorker cartoonist, Roz Chast.
It could be called “What I Fear” instead of “What I Hate”.
Much of her A-Z spoke to me. You’ll have to get the book if you want to see the drawings that accompany such text as…
and…
On the back cover:
I love you, Roz Chast.
I immediately started on another psychological suspense novel, this time by a favourite author of mine, Laura Lippman. Lady in the Lake proved to be as excellent as I could have hoped.
After our dinner with Rachel Maddow, I returned to my Laura Lippman book and Allan to struggling with his new printer, which was refusing to print two sides. My satisfaction in accomplishing a three book day was not echoed in satisfaction from his office.
Friday, 4 October 2019
Allan’s new printer, a two-year-old but new-out-of-the-box model, had not been a success. Tech help told him that it was too old for his computer to download a driver for it (I might ask, then why was the store still selling it??), so back he went across the river for a newer model, new ink, and so forth. With the pressure on to get books printed for tomorrow’s book fair, his trip back and forth was the fastest I had ever seen.
Rain and wind continued for most of the day. I happily turned to another psychological thriller, The Woman Inside. While it was adequate rainy day entertainment, I would not recommend it because of two plot loopholes, one of which appeared at the end and was exceptionally bothersome.
Allan’s new purchase worked a treat. He set to printing and binding copies of his boating book, just in time for tomorrow.
During a break in the storm, I took plants that had arrived yesterday from Plant Delights Nursery out to the lean-to green house. The quality and size of the plants pleased me greatly.


I checked on the rain gauge and the rain barrels.

Frosty and I went on a brief garden walk.



Compost bin one had sunk down somewhat. I felt the urge to sift. Return of rain saved me from losing my second reading day.
In the evening, I enjoyed this week’s episode of Gardeners World on Britbox TV, in which Frances visited a large allotment, Adam and Arit did a superb one day make -over of a private garden (with the help of the owners and their friends), and Monty had a visit from a Mary Berry. I had to look her up; she is a well known British food writer.
Just look at the enthusiastic gardeners at the allotment, bonded together by love of gardening.
I enjoyed the simple garden plan for the makeover; it reminded me of Ann Lovejoy’s “bubble and flow”.

This sketch by Ann was given to me as a gift by dear friend Shaz, who took a Lovejoy workshop with me twenty (!) years ago.

The garden makeover I saw tonight, before and after:
Inspired by the Ground Force telly show of the 90s, which we were able to watch on BBC America, Robert and I managed to make a garden in two days that turned out rather well, as you can see here, halfway down the post (“Suzanne’s garden”), if you are interested.
A tip from tonight’s Gardeners’ World: At the base of a pineapple sage flower is a drop of sweet nectar to sip. I must try this when mine bloom.
In the late evening, I started a fourth book, this time some serious non-fiction.
I hadn’t time to finish it today. It is on a topic that always interests me, the tribulations and disturbing behavior to be found on social media. Four good books on this topic from my past reading are This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship Between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture by Whitney Phillips, Hate Crimes in Cyberspace by Daniel Keats Citron, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson, and Shrill by Lindy West.
I found a good bookmark inside.
I am far from as intellectual as the author of Not All Dead White Men and am only vaguely familiar with the Greek Classics. This made the book educational as well as interesting.
The weather forecast promises that I will be back to gardening at home tomorrow.