The 7th Canon, by Robert Dugoni

This is an interesting story of people trying to do their best while being setup for crimes they didn’t commit. Peter Donley is a young attorney who has been cutting his teeth on legal work in his uncle’s practice. When a difficult case comes in concerning a young priest accused of sexual abuse and murder, Donley is on his own, as his uncle is in hospital. Great storytelling, characters with good depth, and a race to the finish. Well done. 5 STARS

Book of the Week

Suspended Animation by Sylvie Grayson
Be careful who you trust…

 Katy Dalton worked hard to save her money. And having her friend Bruno invest it seemed like a safe bet. But her job disappears and she needs her money back, everything Bruno has already loaned to Rome Trucking. When Katy insists he return it, Bruno stops answering his phone and bad things start to happen.

Brett Rome is frustrated. The last thing he wants is to leave a promising career in hockey to come home and run his ailing father’s trucking company. What he discovers is a company teetering on the very edge of bankruptcy and a young woman demanding the return of her money.

But danger lurks in the form of Bruno’s dubious associates. What secret are they hiding and why are they willing to kill Katy? Can Brett put this broken picture back together, and is Katy part of the solution or the problem?

A thrilling roller coaster of a story…

“Sylvie Grayson has found her niche, you’ll love this book…”

Click on the book cover to the left to purchase it.

Spring Has Sprung

Spring has sprung, the grass has riz,

I wonder where them flowers is?

My father quoted this every year in spring, usually when the snow was still in the process of melting on the ground, no flowers in sight. However, wonder no more. Here are some flowers from around my garden. Can you name them? (the answers are at the end of the post).

The first one is  of daffodils, of course. I thought I’d start you off easy. 🙂 Next is heather. This plant likes less water than most of my garden so it grows on the side of the stairs going up to the driveway, where the irrigation doesn’t reach it. The third one is mahonia, or oregon grape, an extremely prickly bush that grows wild in the pacific northwest. The berries have a strong, slightly unpleasant flavour, but if you mix them with blackberry and a bit of apple, they make the best jelly. Next is hellebores. I have about six such plants in my garden, each a different shade of rose to wine tones–one of the earliest plants in my garden. After that is the trillium, you knew that. I don’t know the name of the following plant, but love the look of the little green buds in the spring. Perhaps you can tell me what it is. The last plant is a cranberry bush. I had one planted when the garden was first developed, but it died last year. I was devastated. the blooms are beautiful, have a lovely scent, and  it is the first bush to flower in the spring, usually in late February. I searched everywhere, no one knew what it was, let alone had one to replace it. Then a tiny bush bloomed last spring, and i realized the dead bush had populated a new branch below it in the garden. It is still small, but I will put some good earth around its roots to encourage it to grow tall like it’s daddy did.

Ducks gather at Rithet’s Bog

Went for a nice walk yesterday, around Rithet’s Bog (named after Robert Patterson Rithet, a prominent businessman in Victoria, late 19th C, early 20th C). The ducks had abandoned the bog for some reason and gathered on the other side of the walking path that circles the marshy water.

Here are two beautiful males, the feathers on their heads are iridescent.

We didn’t encounter too many other walkers, most people isolating, I imagine. What we did notice was of the 8 or 10 we saw, most would not make eye contact. Perhaps they feared that eye contact would make them vulnerable to the pandemic. There were several, however, who like us, wished those they saw a good day as they passed. Very heartening.

Stay safe, keep well. How are you keeping busy as you isolate?

Stuff on my desk

It has been very hectic around my house this week. My desk isn’t usually this chaotic. Items on my desk today- kleenex (just threw it away, but this cold won’t leave), stapler (to keep my files organized), note from library (to take my 5 year old grandson to the Lego event), yellow pad (to keep me organized, of course), small notepad (details of the next book), pens (always need one handy), broken cup (place to keep the pens), calculator (duh), mouse (doesn’t work that well without a mouse pad), printer (yes, always need that), sticky notes (use tons of these).

What have you got on your desk?