Easter already

Amazing that it is Easter this weekend. I've heard very little about it  - also surprised to see the clocks change this weekend as well.

So that means schools and colleges are finished for a while, and universities have sent everyone home. The knock on effect of this is that the Metrocentre  and town will be chockablock with people mooching around with (quite often!) glum faces as they do a little retail therapy.

Those of us who are retired probably shy away from these busy places - oh and that includes National Trust, English heritage sites and the like - and postpone our visits until things are calmer and everything is back to normal. I know dh takes one look at the calendar and shakes his head when I suggest we go out anywhere during these times. Let's wait, he says. Car parks will be full, the roads congested and there'll be kids running about screaming everywhere. It isn't that we don't like kids, we do; but en masse and often high on sugary drinks, they can be trying if not terrifying!

So probably this is one fortnight when we won't be out and about and doing things!

Easter lambs

Since it is Easter Weekend and there's such good weather about at the moment, no one can bear to be indoors, so let me just wish everyone a happy time over this mini-holiday.

We went for a three hour walk yesterday and I took lots of pictures, as I usually do. The weather was hot and pleasant, but the horizon faded out in a strange cloudy mist.

If we're not walking, then I'm in the garden - working, I hasten to add. I've planted out lupins and sweet peas grown from last years seed, even though we don't usually plant things out until May here in the north. The winer's collection of weeds are in the compost now, and after the first day, my back didn't ache too much! We're always a fortnight behind the south of England as far as the growing season is concerned. But the weather has been a full fortnight or more ahead of itself this year, so hopefully my little seedlings will survive.

I'm still writing, but not as much as usual. Finally killed off my character. Gulp. Now I have to deal with the aftermath. I don't know how authors can write really harrowing stories. Heavens, I've only killed off a minor character and I put it off for a fortnight, and really didn't like writing it. So if authors write of truly horrible things, the echoes they feel in their lives must be terrible. I don't like reading about nasty things either. There's enough horror and hate in the real world without taking it to bed to read before I fall asleep. T'would give me nightmares.

Easter

It is Easter Weekend, and I've done very little work, so no answer yet about the titles I puzzled over a couple of days ago, but I shall get back to it soon. The weather is very cold and windy, which always drops the temperature still further. A scattering of snow arrived on Good Friday, enough to turn the lawn white, but that is all. We braved the elements for a walk that afternoon, and took ourselves out for a meal at the Keeper's Lodge at Matfen on Saturday, but otherwise, it has been very quiet.

TV has figured prominently in our lives over the last couple of days, especially since the F1 year has begun again. The first race in Melbourne was amazing as only nine cars finished out of 22! Yesterday's race at Sepang had more finishers and was rather pedestrian by comparison. Hamilton is now finding out that luck doesn't hold good for ever, and Kimi is coming on strong. Go Kimi! It was fascinating to know that the family in Oz was watching the race via a sling box connected to our television! The wonders of modern technology...

I've read Simply Magic and Simply Unforgettable by Mary Balogh. The first was excellent, but the second I thought dragged a little towards the end - but still good! One good thing about not needing much sleep is that I get a lot of reading done in the wee small hours while everyone else is asleep. Like now...

I participated in a chat day on the 21st over at eBooklove and thoroughly enjoyed it. I put up some excerpts from Dark Pool even though the book is not newly published, and they were well received. Perhaps I ought to go and do a little more about getting myself known!