There have been a number of good books that have crossed my path lately. The one I'm reading now "Timothy, or Notes of an Abject Reptile" by Verlyn Klinkenborg is one such. Told from the viewpoint of a tortoise which lived in the garden of amatuer naturalist Rev. Gilbert White in the late 1700's, it's wonderfully atmospheric with it's descriptions("asparagus forests") & use of old-fashioned words("embosomed"). It's not a Disney tortoise, rather a philosophical one who turns his keen eye on not only nature, but of the humans surrounding him.

   A more conventional novel is "Breakable You" by Brian Morton, set in modern day NYC, concerning 3 members of a family; mother Eleanor, a therapist, father Adam, a pompous author & Maud, their adult daughter, a perpetual philosophy student. Her new boyfriend, Samir, rounds out the main characters, all of whom are drawn with crisp, clear strokes. The book delves into human thoughts that aren't often explored & some of it is so touching that I sobbed. It is a quiet book, about the interactions of these 4 people, but has a haunting quality that will stay with you long after you've finished it.

    Something very different is "The Gatecrasher", Madeline Wickham's story of a lady con artist who hooks up with wealthy widowers at funerals. When she becomes involved with the latest victim's family, the Favours, it's often difficult to tell who is influencing whom. Manipulation, manners & subtle humor in an English country manor.

   There you have it, the best books I've read in the past 2 months. If any pique your interest, you can probably find them at your local library or bookstore.

     Yesterday was my monthly book discussion. Recently a new policy was instituted that the leading of the group is to rotate among members, instead of the librarian always at the helm. The loose rule  is that whomever suggested the book, leads that particular discussion. Since I had suggested the Elizabeth George mystery for this month, it was my turn. Now I'm not new to leading book discussions, in the Great Books group I belonged to, it was mandatory that each person lead 2 meetings a year & it was works of literature, twice a month. The meetings lasted almost 2 hours & members included university professors & shrinks, so there was a lot of pressure. An hour chatting up a murder mystery looked like a piece of cake compared to that.

    I always take a small notebook with questions & comments with me anyways and can usually think of 5 or 6 easily. Naturally, this month I had a lot of trouble coming up with questions, but eventually thought of 7 or 8. The official website www.ElizabethGeorgeOnline.com  provided oodles of background info(such as the astonishing fact that the author, who sets all of her books in England, has spent her entire life in California). There's even photos that she used to imagine settings for places in her novels. Learning where people get inspiration has always fascinated me.

   There was a nice turn out & the group was very supportive, the discussion flowed quite well & there weren't any uncomfortable silences. The themes of the book was love and loyalty, so we covered those as well as analysing various characters. Things became quite poignant when people began discussing grief & sharing personal accounts. Marlowe's quote "The only sin is ignorance" which is cited in the book, led to the liveliest part of the meeting as we delved into philosophy & current events. When the meeting was over, they embarrassed me by applauding, but at least the whole thing wasn't a disaster. I won't be in the spotlight again till later in the summer, so I can just relax again.

  Thanks to all of you who left messages of concern, I appreciate your kindness. I'm feeling some better this week & even went out of the house after 9 days inside. Needed some stuff from the grocery store.

It seems that no matter how awful I feel, I can nearly always paint. My latest project was a postcard for an elementary school class who are collecting one from each of the 50 states. Since I couldn't get to a museum or other touristy place that sells postcards, I decided to make one. Dunkleosteous, a prehistorc shark that swam in Lake Erie in the Devonian Era seemed like the perfect ambassador from Cleveland, as fossils were found in the shale cliffs in the area and a model of the predator resides in a local nature center. I'd made many sketches of the model over the years, so had good reference material. You can't see all of the details in this photo, but I was pleased at the ferocious expression. I made  special trip to the post office to ensure the postcard got safely on it's way & the class ought to receive it by Thursday. Even after millions of years, 'Dunk' is still swimming.

   It's been a bad week health wise, nothing serious, just the usual chronic problems; arthritis, headaches, u.colitis, lack of sleep. So I've been too miserable to write anything. Hopefully I'll feel better soon, or at least get some energy post something sensible. It's been a week since I wrote anything & I just thought I'd let my readers know why. Sorry.

The Easter Bunny & Santa occupy a similar place on the children's icons hierarchy. They are both symbols representing religious holidays, both travel the world delivering gifts and both dissapate as one moves closer to adulthood, taking some of the magic with them.

    The Easter Bunny is not quite as esteemed as Santa, perhaps because he's an animal & not human, which some people view as a higher life form. There are myriad versions of Santa around the globe, each with slightly different looks & customs. Whereas, the Easter Bunny isn't as cosmopolitain, there is only the Easter Bilby in Australia. Santa also has more accessories, chimney, tree, elves' workshop. Not to mention the reindeer drawn sleigh. Easter Bunny has to hop everywhere, though occasionally you'll see a card where he's riding a bicycle.Obviously he's in better shape. His basket for carrying gifts is much spiffier than Santa's sack, and the bow tie is dapper, but doesn't quite make the fashion statement of the red suit.

   Santa Claus seems capable of delivering any sort of gift, no matter how elaborate. The Easter Bunny is limited to candy, eggs & toys, preferably soft, stuffed ones. And who colors all those eggs? Does he have a factory of rabbits or chicks working on them? Surely he can't do them all himself? There's not as much back story for Mr. Bunny, either. So many unanswered questions.

    I'm not even going to consider who might win in a wrestling match.....

                                              The weather in Cleveland has been bipolar, excuse the pun. Tuesday it was a warm spring day; sunny, breezy t-shirt temperatures, around 80F/25C. I took my mom to the Dollar Store & then we stopped for a late lunch.

     Yesterday I was out running errands bundled up in thermies, gloves & heavy coat in the 38F/6C chill as an Arctic Front moved in. Snowflakes began falling as I finished up & continued the rest of the night. The ground was covered, barely a grass sprig poking out from the top of the snow. Wintery gusts blowing snow off the rooftops & slippery roads. All of this in less than 24 hours. Just when I was getting used to the freedom & excitment of the spring atmosphere. And so many trees were flowering, as well as crocuses, daffodils & periwinkles. Now they have snow on their petals & shivering roots.