House Sitting in the Country

As I sit here writing I am 45 minutes north of Hobart living in a lovely country house for 10 days. My good friends have taken the family to Fiji for warmer weather and a good holiday they so deserve. I happily volunteered to stay with their tiny, well behaved dog, their four chickens and two goldfish.

I did finish a couple of books last week that I enjoyed, one more than the other.

 I may have previously mentioned that this book is quite formulaic as Ms. Reichs has written quite a few books in this series and also does the script writing for the TV show Bones of which I don't care for at all. I think since she has branched out so much commercially an edge has gone off her books and I always seem to know how they are going to end.

I don't get much from the stories but I do like the main character Temperance Brennan and I enjoy the side of the archeological forensic science . I think it is a very interesting field so no doubt I will continue to read her series but I have hope in swings and roundabouts and perhaps her future ones might touch on the excellence of her earlier ones.

Last night I was going to read but as it got later and I was in a house I have not slept in before I found myself snuggling under the covers as it was quite cold and the fire had gone out earlier.
There is an electric blanket on the bed so that helped but it was so quiet it was hard to go to sleep.  Also I wasn't familiar with the house noises.  I awoke this morning to scratching sounds but realised the noise was only swallows nesting in the eaves and as the house has an iron roof I could hear every coming and going and scratch and squabble.

The second book I read was A Hundred Summers which I enjoyed much more. Although a romance that was again, yes, predictable I did enjoy the people. I read a review of this book on another blog and it was a good review.  I enjoyed the beach side scenery of the American north east and it took place in the 1930's, and included the 1938 hurricane that hit the east coast of the eastern seaboard that evidently was a real doozy of a storm. It kept me turning the pages over.  I liked all of the characters very much with the sometimes exception of the annoying younger sister, Kiki who I wanted to put in her place now and again.  I have a hard time reading about precocious children who get their own way all the time and I found her quite annoying but of course she plays an integral character so there was no chance of her disappearing anytime soon.

I do have a few things I plan on enjoying during the next 10 days of isolated country living and that is to continue to read a bit, study a bit as I have an interesting book that is full of information in all kinds of areas (for adults) and hopefully I will learn some new things. I also want to figure out how to use a particular lens for my camera (Canon OES 640 D that is new) and see if I can get some bird photos as there are many Tasmanian birds flying around the pretty extensive garden my friend has been nurturing over the past few years.  So I will put up some photos once I can get out and not drown in the wind and the rain and it's warm enough to not need the wood heater fired up.

I also plan going on a bike ride or two with some friends that live out near this area so no doubt before I know it I'll be home again caring for my own brood of animals and listening to city noises again.