PROGRESS REPORT #41: THE GATHERING STORM

Ebb Tide

It's raining here on the Coast putting a damper on the finale of summer holidays.
I always try to make the best of it, and managed to have a swim the other day when there was a break in the clouds, but it's disappointing when this happens on a long weekend and people like to be out enjoying the last of their holidays. Hopefully the sun will make an appearance by tomorrow. Meanwhile, I take advantage of the inclement weather to stay at home at the computer and have managed to accomplish quite a bit this week. There seems no end of the writing tasks to keep me occupied. And a lot of social activities as well.


Last night I went to Bard on the Beach and saw one of Shakepeare's plays that I was unfamiliar with, "King Lear", done in a modern setting. I can't say I was able to follow the grim story that well, rather convoluted plot, but the acting was superb. And it certainly put me in the mood to carry on with the part of Shadow of the Lion that I am working on right now. Lots of murder and mayhem!

CLOUDS

I have been working on a part of the novel that is rather difficult in that it is high drama, lots of tension, and as it's the death of a couple of my favorite characters, it's like doing harm to your friends. It takes some thought and choreographing to make it realistic and appropriately tragic. Shakespeare was good at that, and so where the Greek dramatists, so I appreciated seeing the play last night for inspiration.

Besides working on Shadow, I've been writing up little fun pieces for Planet Eye. Be sure and take a look at the Vancouver Expert's page (moi!) www.planeteye.com This is a new site and deserves some publicity. I'm feeling pretty honored at being in on it from the beginning and I hope it's a great success. This little side-dish is allowing me to be the 'roving reporter' that I always had aspirations to be in my early years of wanting to be a reporter. It's fun and doesn't take up a lot of my time and it certainly is making me aware of all the things happening around town.

Of course I have some other travel writing to catch up on as well, so in between deal with the crisis in Pydna where Olympias and the rest of the royal family are awaiting their doom, I have to take my mind back to Venice and Chile and Greece, many pleasant memories to divert me from the doom and gloom of ancient Macedonia.

And there's lots of social activities happening here too: tomorrow a BBQ for my writer's group, a visit to the yearly P.N.E. (exhibition and fair); dinner with friends, and...hopefully another visit or two to the beach! Where's that sunshine?!

SUNSET OVER FALSE CREEK

I LOVE THE SNOW!

playing in the snow, me at aged 18 months
Estevan Saskatchewan

"One Christmas was so much like another, in
those years around the seatown corner now and out of
all sound except the distant speaking of the voices
I sometimes hear a moment before I sleep, that
I can never remember whether it snowed for
six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it
snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.
Dylan Thomas 1914-1953 "A Child's Christmas in Wales"

me (age 6) and my little sister Jeanie
taking our dollies for a walk in the snow
Lloydminster, Saskatchewan

I love the snow. So when we had the first snowfall of the season yesterday I felt compelled to go out in it and take some pictures. By today it continued until the snow was deep enough to make snow-men and go sledding. But, as usual here on the "wet" coast, by late afternoon when I finally did go out, intending to take more photographs, it had turned to rain. Now the rain has set in and the snowfall has melted causing a lot of problems with flooding and a slushy mess on the sidewalks and roads. It was pretty while it lasted. I stayed indoors with the fireplace on yesterday and did some work on my Christmas cards, made more notes for my novel, and generally enjoyed a weekend of reasonable leisure. I'm only sorry I didn't get out in today it while it was really coming down, thick white fluffy flakes of it, just like I remember as a child living on the Prairies.

I have lots of happy snow-time memories and so long as I'm dressed warm enough I still enjoy it. However, a storm called "the Pineapple express" is heading our way from Hawaii and the weatherman warns of flooding and torrential rains setting a record for the season. And winter has barely even begun! Enough, already, with the rain. I say "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"

The first snowfall in the park