Another rainy day. It started at about 3 a.m. and has been raining more or less steadily ever since. Some local flooding around the city, mostly on the southern side. At least a 50% chance of rain through the weekend. Maybe I won’t have to mow the lawn on Saturday.
The lakes in the surrounding counties are finally returning to near capacity. Lake Conroe, which has wharves and boathouses around its perimeter, was in bad shape last summer. Eighteen or twenty feet below normal. The wharves weren’t even in the water any more in most places, and there were boats stranded in the lake bottom. With the recent rains, they’re now talking about releasing water from the lake because it’s at capacity. (All but one of the lakes in Texas are artificial, designed to control the water table.) What a difference a year makes.
I spent the weekend redrawing two maps for my forthcoming book. The original versions looked good on the computer screen, but I drew them at too low a resolution for print quality. So it was back to the drawing board, so to speak. I’m nobody’s artist, not by any stretch of the imagination, but at least I can draw a straight line using Paint Shop Pro. It took me all weekend, though. Tiring work.
I’m just putting this out there, but if no one has come up with 50 Shades of Grey’s Anatomy yet, I call dibs. Either the medical reference book or the TV show.
For people in North America, the Kindle edition of Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads, edited by Hank Wagner and David Morrell, is totally, 100%, absolutely free at the moment. Not sure why or for how long, but snag it while it’s available. My essay is about Thomas Harris’s novel Red Dragon.
I’m almost finished The Honest Look by Jennifer Rohn and one more night’s reading session should get us to the end of Dandelion Wine, too. Bradbury can be a challenge to read aloud because his sentences are so long and garish and unpredictable. Hank Wagner and I are going to do something on that book and Something Wicked This Way Comes for Dead Reckonings, so SWTWC is next up on my reading schedule.
Covert Affairs got off to an explosive beginning to the new season last night. They telegraphed the car bomb just a tad, I thought, but it was still a good effect. Even better was the Moroccan dust storm. They’re really messing with everyone, splitting the team up and introducing new characters. Looking forward to seeing where this all goes. I was beginning to wonder if her new target was going to turn out to not be a spy, but that tattoo seems to indicate otherwise.
I wonder why otherwise decent shows choose to introduce hammy, ludicrous characters. The nun who is the family grief counselor on Rizolli and Isles is beyond the pale. Who would put up with her in real life? It used to be Jane’s mother, but they’ve toned her character down into something more credible. Similarly, it was Mary Shannon’s mother (and sister) who were annoying and over the top on In Plain Sight. The story with Maura and her mother is interesting this season, though.
