March=Summer?

Man, what a month! Record high temperatures, another hard freeze, then more summer-like temperatures. Global warming at its finest!

I’m an Idiot

As I write, there’s a cold pack against my lower back. Last weekend, I tried to lift something that was heavier than I thought it would be and blew out my back - again. Pop! Then a feeling as if someone had hit me across the back with a two-by-four. Two visits to the chiropractor later, I can at least walk without hanging onto the wall. Getting out of bed in the morning is an adventure; sneezing and coughing are extremely painful, which isn’t helpful during pollen season!

Garden Woes

Late March is when I get going in the garden. I don’t usually plant anything until after Tax Day (15th April here in the States) but there’s no indication of a freeze between now and then so I’d normally be getting everything together.

Not this year! Apart from my back, we’re in an extreme drought. Anything I’d plant would need to be watered in and since we’re on a well and dependent on rainfall, I won’t water plants - just ensure the wash tub in the center of the garden has enough water in it for the critters to drink. Once I can move again, I’ll at least get everything cleaned up but no new plants. (The rue really needs to be overseeded but…)

I did get the rosemary uncovered yesterday. Despite its bitching about being covered during really warm weather, it was happy enough to produce some flowers. They’re so pretty!

That’s not to say I got anything else done. The plastic needs to be spread out to dry before folding; the collected dead leaves need to be scooped away from the roots; and the frames need to be hung up in the garage. All that will have to wait until I can bend over.

What I’ve Been Reading

It’s been an odd month for books. A lot of “not what I thought it would be,” and DNFs. But there were a few good ones:

Salt and Broom by Sharon Lynn Fisher. I don’t think I’ve read any of the Brontë sisters’ writings or if I have, it was so long ago I’ve forgotten. (One or more of their books must have been required reading at one point or another in my education.) This book is a paranormal retelling of Jane Eyre…without the crazy wife in the attic. Jane Aire, an orphan named after a nearby river, is the herbal medicine/witchcraft teacher at Lowood School. Edward Rochester, master of Thornfield Hall, writes to the headmaster of Lowood, requesting a witch to solve the curse hanging over Thornfield and Jane is the one sent. It takes only a few days but Jane and Edward fall in love. Because of the danger, Edward sends Jane away, back to the school, but because of her love for him, she returns and solves the curse. It was good but as I can’t abide 19^th century prose, I won’t be (re)visiting the original to compare anytime soon.

The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic & Murder by Kiri Callaghan, narrated by Kiri Callaghan, Gail Shalan, Nneka Okoye and James Meunier. I’m not sure what “Hearth Witch” has to do with this book, but okay. Avery is a changeling – half fae, half human. After being convicted of murdering the Erlking, she’s condemned to spend five hundred years in sleep – nightmarish sleep. But after less than two hundred years, she’s awakened to solve the murder of a nurse who, it’s discovered during autopsy, is missing her brain and in its place is a collection of herbs. Avery’s half-brother, who woke her, delivers her to her old apartment: 221-B Baker Street (sound familiar?), which sits above Hudson’s Café. In the café the next morning, she meets a waitress, Saga, who lives in 221-A. Saga’s grandmother (Saoirse? Sasha? I didn’t get the ebook along with the audiobook) dies of a heart attack in front of Saga, just days after Saoirse’s best friend, a London philanthropist. Then it’s discovered that in place of Saoirse’s heart is a collection of herbs. The mystery deepens. It’s a story of not only magic and murder, but Avery and Saga’s deepening affection for each other. What makes this book truly outstanding is the footnotes, which are read by the author. She does translate the Bengali, Finnish, Gaelic, Latin, and Welsh used by the characters, but there’s also a lot of snide commentary, which is hilarious at times. I figured out whodunnit before Avery and Saga, but not the true who or why. Recommended!

The Messengers of Magic by Jessica Dodge. What a clever book! John Dee and Giordano Bruno develop a “watch” that’s supposed to allow them to converse with celestial beings without the aid of Edward Kelley. Instead, they create an artifact that rips time. With celestial beings’ help (through Kelley) they manage to put a patch on things and hide the artifact and Dee’s journals away in what was the root cellar of a house in a Scottish village. (I’d have destroyed that crap but then the story wouldn’t work!) Fast forward a few hundred years and the house-that’s-now-a-bookshop’s owner finds what’s hidden and attempts to use the artifact to turn back time to save his love’s life. It backfires and traps him in time. Then, a few decades later, an American man inherits the long-dormant bookshop, reopens it, finds the artifact and accidentally traps himself in time, too. Another couple of decades pass, then a jilted woman buys the bookshop. What happens after that is a story of beings trapped in time, love, and its sometimes bittersweet consequences. It takes a bit to get the hang of the story because three timelines are interspersed with each other but well worth it.

I need to go sit in a better chair. Until next month!