Cricket, Rain & Regency

Wow, it's already the 3rd of January!  How did that happen?  It seems the older I get, the quicker the days pass.  Gotta do something about that :P

Well, today is the first day of the 2nd test match between Australia (Go Aussie Go!) and Pakistan in their 5 game series.  Personally, I will be avoiding it as much as possible, but the rest of the household is glued to the couch for the next 5 days.  I don't get it?

So I'll be happily surfing the net, studying (not so happily) and waiting for the rain to cool things off here.  We've had so much rain recently that anytime the sun pokes it's head out from behind the clouds... instant sauna.  Thank god I have my trusty hand fan nearby.  Who doesn't!?

Now while I am waiting for the rain - and ignoring the cricket fueled calls from the lounge room - I'll be relaxing with a few books.  I have found a new paranormal romance author, Terry Spear, and have read her Destiny of the Wolf.  This is a good general lycanthrope romp, but not as involved or compelling as the Anita Blake series lycanthropes.  Not something that I would pre-order-and-pray-that-it-gets-here-soon list, but okay for the bus or train ride.

However, on the other end of the scale, due to my recent purchase of Temptation and Surrender (see Tea & Scandal blog), I had to rummage through the historical section of my bookcase(s) to find the other Bar Cynster books.  I even pulled out the Bastion Club series for good measure.  And of course, when reading any historical/Regency series, I have to get out some of my reference/great costume books to start drooling over.  This of course led to a Regency madness fuelled trip to Amazon.com where again I bought too much.  I did however, get 2 books that mum was wanting so... yeah me!

Now I get to sit back, make a cup of tea in my fine bone china english teacup, and kick back and get into the Regency vibe.

Happy New Years

Rainy Day Blues

Hi all you readers out there. Today is just the perfect day to curl up in bed with a good book. Before I hit the keyboard, I was finishing off the Lynn Kurland paranormal romance (timetravel) book "When I Fall in Love". I've mentioned it in my blog before, but I found it such a sweet book that I had to just go back and read it again. And after reading it again... and again, I still find it to be one of the sweetest books.
What I do need to find though, are some of Kurland's other books in the series. I have the first one about Rhys de Piaget and Gwennolyn, and this last one with Nicholas and Jennifer McKinnon, but I would love to get my hands on Victoria and Connor's story, as well as a few others.
Now onto other things. Our local library has been wonderful in providing us paranormal readers with a lovely librarian who absolutely adores the supernatural/paranormal genre. Unfortunately, with our local council having to merge with 2 other councils (thanks alot Peter Beattie... he forced QLD from 150 something councils down to less than 80... then resigned! Mongrel) we are now no longer sure if our beloved 'Out There' bookclub will be able to continue. Fingers crossed for Jo. If anyone could persuade a council to continue this bookclub it's Jo!
I get so mad when I think about this. Now it feels as if our shires - most of which are 100 years old - are just going to be forgotten about! Now it's no longer a case of futhering the history of an individual shire, buy now forging a history of 3. It isn't a good way to go. Our 'super counil' has now gone from a shire population of about 140,000 ish, to more than 350,000! How the hell are we here, in my small little town, going to get any notice when we live on the very edge of the shire? I have the funny feeling that we here are going to end up being ignored and left behind - until the next elections perhaps? Oh well, we'll have to see what happens won't we?
Anyhow, I'll add a few more lines about something else otherwise I'll probably blow my stack (thinking about Beattie's Blunder is more than infuriating) and just let everyone out there know that I finally have managed to grow some Hyacinths! Yes, me! It isn't the right climate for them here on the coast, but I managed to get 5 of them to grow and 2 are even flowering even as I sit here and type... (they're right beside me on the window sill). They are gorgeous. The only thing better than having them here would be to have them growing in a Hyacinth Glass. Now I haven't been able to find a Hyacinth Glass, and ordering one online seems to be a no-go as most of them would have to be brought in from overseas, and knowing my luck, I'd end up with them cracking or breaking! So I'll enjoy my little wonders, and plan ahead for next season - now that I know that they'll grow!
Happy reading.