THE PINDAR DIAMOND

The Pindar Diamond by Katie Hickman - I just finished reading this wonderful book that takes place in Venice, Italy in the early 1600s. It's a tale of intrigue, lost love, and friendship. The Blue Sultan is the name of a priceless diamond that brings fortune to its possessor. The author paints pictures with her words, so this is a very visual story as well. As a treat, some of the characters are from Greece, and a bit of Greek is spoken in the book, not always translated, which is a connection I always enjoy. I've never been to Venice, and hope to see it at least once in my lifetime, but if not, I've been there in some wonderful books. Apparently there is a book called The Aviary Gate that preceeds this story with some of the same characters, that takes place in the preceding years. I think I'll reserve it at the library right now! If it's half as good as The Pindar Diamond, you might want to read it first. I'll let you know in a few days.

Today I'm staying in, out of the frigid cold overcast weather, trying to catch up once again to all there is to do around here. I'm still upstairs ironing, haven't played Scrabble yet, but may work it into a system of rewards for tasks completed. If I could finish the ironing, straighten off my upstairs desk and make an area conducive to sewing, I could live with the progress for the day. If I could also get some cleaning done in my and Peter's rooms, I could be happy about the day. If I could do all that and also make inroads on the dining room table and kitchen desk, I could be very happy for the day. If I could do all those things, and also make the living room look good, the dining room look like a dining room instead of an office and jewelry workshop, line the jewelry supply dresser with pacific cloth liner and store everything in it, and get to the basement a little bit, I could almost be normal. But it all sounds very daunting put that way, so maybe if I could just complete the ironing and upstairs desk, it will be enough for today. Oops, this is all impossible because I haven't done my closet summer/winter organization. OK, so if that gets done today, Yea!
Oh, and how's this? I just read that little "About Me" section to the right of this blog post, and realize that I haven't done any of my favorite things in ages! It's time to get these tasks behind me and get back on track. Here goes.