Is Spring here at last?

It's been a couple of weeks since I last blogged (how I hate that word) but I have been quite busy.

The ProdigalD was here for a weekend, together with her family, including the misses Prodigal Major and Minor. Minor - that is GD4, at five months, attempted to chat with me, but is not quite ready for words. It was lovely to see GD2, who is always ready to chat. We also invited over my brother in law, who hasn't seen the family for quite a while. Now it's all change, as far as sheets and towels are concerned, as the Son&Heir will be with us next weekend with his family, including his two girls.

Other social events include lunch with Irene, my sister-in-law here for dinner, a trip to Opera South in Haslemere, for the third time in three years, with some cousins. We all met up for tea and sandwiches first before the performance at the Haslemere Hall, where La Pericole by Offenbach was performed. A very pleasant afternoon and evening with a lovely performance by Opera South - gorgeous dresses; the wardrobe mistress must be very accomplished.

Also met up with the Graduates, my fellow alumnae from Surrey University, for lunch at the Guildford Institute.

During this same period, I have had a couple of appointments with Orthoptics and also the Opthalmologist. I hope that I will in the next few weeks be having corrective eye surgery. I'll let you know how I get on.

We at Goldenford have given two talks during February to the reading circles of Bramley library, near Guildford, to enthusiastic audiences, on both occasions. I've also had further sales of Tainted Tree, as a result of my article in Family Tree Magazine. We are currently planning a musical evening at the Guildford Institute later in March. I've also received my quarterly royalty statement from Virtual Tales, showing sales of A Bottle of Plonk (Have Wine Will Travel).

For the time being, I'm in charge of collecting the library books for the reading circle. I collected the last batch in three goes, because they were heavy hardbacks. In the meantime, I started and finished reading the latest book, The Other Hand, with mixed feelings. I felt I should have felt more for the main protagonist, an illegal migrant, but somehow the author failed to evoke this in me. I felt as if I was being manipulated to feel guilt, and remained unmoved by the various tragedies which took place. It does seem as if I'm very hard to please these days.

For the first time, the weather looked spring like today. The sun came out and the crocuses magically appeared. What joy. Please can we have a few more days like this.

Forgot to say - Star letter in Writers' News, earning me a copy of Writer's Market. And I wrote a new story during Feb. Must keep at it.