Well, the news was GOOD at Weight Watchers again this week–down 2.8 pounds!! Yes!! (This came as something of a surprise, since I had a 4.4 loss last week and usually alternate between great weigh-ins and the so-so kind.) I can’t say enough about the Simply Filling program–it’s great.
What I’ve been reading–yes, actually reading–Harlan Coben’s new book, MISSING YOU. It’s a thriller, and it’s terrific. I read half of it Tuesday night–I kept doing that just-one-more-chapter thing until my eyesight finally gave out and I was forced to go to sleep. 🙂 Coben, along with Greg Iles, is one of my favorite authors, but I don’t read all his books–just the stand-alone ones. He writes about a character named Bolivar, but I just never got into those, don’t know why. I also love Joy Fielding and Patricia MacDonald–neither of whom write fast enough to suit me. 🙂 (See? I do know what people mean when they say that to me.)
After Weight Watchers, Jenni, Wendy and I had lunch at the Mustard Seed at Northtown Mall, made a sweep through Barnes and Noble, and then I went on to have my acupuncture treatment, which was long overdue. Of course Cousin Debra and I had to chat for a while, just to catch up, so it was an extra long appointment. Acupuncture has a very beneficial effect on me, though I’d be hard put to describe it. It just makes me feel lots better in general, and when I don’t go at least every other week, I notice. The #1 question I get asked is probably, “Doesn’t it hurt to be poked with all those needles?” The answer: sometimes, especially around my ears, the first needle does hurt, but it only lasts a second or so. I barely feel the rest at all.
It’s a quiet day around the Triple L, which is good for the writing, of course. The weather is lovely and there are signs of spring popping up everywhere. Sometime last fall, I ordered a pair of “Downton Abbey” rose bushes, and they arrived the day before yesterday, bare-root style. I placed them in water overnight and they were planted yesterday. Supposedly, they will be a blend of orange and pink when they bloom–this I’ve got to see. I’m hoping there will be more Downton Abbey roses in the series; these are named for the character, Anna. I’m ready for Lady Violet’s–they’ll probably be a deep shade of purple and come with pithy little quotes attached. 🙂 Such as: “Of course it had to be a foreigner–no Englishman would dream of dying in someone else’s home,” or “I have plenty of friends I don’t like.”
Ah, yes. Her ladyship, played by the inimitable Maggie Smith, is a pistol, all right. Characters like her Lady Violet Crawley come along once in a generation, if that often.
In other news, Doug W., our general roustabout, brought Mary Ann and I both some potted daffodils this morning, out of the goodness of his heart. (And believe me, he has plenty of that.) They are lovely–just looking at them makes my heart sing. There is a lovely magenta hyacinth planted among the other blossoms, and it’s gorgeous, too. Only God could achieve such perfect, glowing colors. The daffodils are that deep, translucent yellow; it’s as though they were lit from the inside, and the hyacinth is positively vibrant. Oh to get such hues to flow from my paintbrush….
Alas. Not gonna happen. 🙂
About Linda
The daughter of a town marshal, Linda Lael Miller is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than 100 historical and contemporary novels, most of which reflect her love of the West.
Raised in Northport, Washington, Linda pursued her wanderlust, living in London and Arizona and traveling the world before returning to the state of her birth to settle down on a horse property outside Spokane.
