I've been really relaxing; I mean, really, to the point of downright laziness. I haven't worked a drop since Saturday, and it's time for me to spend time on the manuscript I have with me. Early mornings are good times.

Ken and I have been enjoying the evenings immensely. While I mess with the dinner dishes, he builds a fire in the fireplace. When I'm done and the fire is roaring, I pick up my knitting and we listen to a book on tape. We finished Into Thin Air after spending four evenings on the edge of our seats as that ill-fated Himalayan expedition crept its way up and then down Everest. Whew...what a somber, sobering tale, but breath-taking.

Last night we started listening to Atonement by Ian McEwan. I read it while sick in bed with influenza Type B in March 2003--it made the time pass very quickly. Now I'm enjoying it again--what a writer! It's interesting this time to see all the foreshadowing I missed when I read it the first time.

I picked up Broken Ground by Kai Maristed, who lives in Cambridge, I think. Due to this knitting infatuation, I've read just the first several chapters. It's about an American woman who returns to Berlin after many years to search for her daughter. Actually, there are several other subplots, but that's the basic story.