Of snow berries and book lists

There's something about a snow day that feels magical. There's less hustle and bustle for one thing... less scurrying about. All sounds are hushed, packed in snowflakes like cotton batten.

Taken with my phone so colours aren't clear: the
berries are very red. Evidence of
construction in the background.

There is a little ornamental tree outside my window, its sculptural limbs bend and twist in a maze-like fashion.  Even now, the branches carry dots of red berries, startlingly jewel-like against the backdrop of white blanketing the rest of the world.  I love how snow draped on the branches lends artistic interest and even a touch of mystery to an otherwise ordinary tree.

It's a snow day.  School buses are cancelled. When the supply system called at half past dawn this morning I let the phone ring. The radio was full of reports of cars in ditches and frozen roadways in my neck of the woods so I'm hunkering in for the day. I foresee books and pots of tea.

Not so for the men finishing work on the Bathroom Project of 2016.  What's a few inches of snow when there is tile to be laid?


Though there has been no update in ages, I have continued to work away at  The Great Reading Project. I reshelved a few of the books I'd been reading this morning, and thought today would be a good time to revisit The List. The crossed out titles were read as of the previous update; parenthetical notes indicate those read since.

Small Island  - Andrea Levy

Inferno – Dante (Now complete. Interesting note: the bookmark I was using had a picture of a polar bear and penguin on it. Hell will freeze over.)

Heart of the matter – Graham Greene (Completed... but I read End of the affair instead.)

The Snakepit – Sigrid Undset

Sound and the fury – William Faulkner

Man and woman – Alice Von Hildebrand (Completed)

The Cloistered Heart – Nancy Shuman

Invisible man – Ralph Ellison

Masterful Monk (series) – Owen Francis Dudley

Shepherd’s castle – George MacDonald

Last light – Terri Blackstock (I read a different title instead.)

84 Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff (Completed. Several times.)

Gift from the sea – Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Unlocked – Karen Kingsbury (I read a different title instead.)