The Warmth of the Sun

What a gorgeous day! It was sunny and cool, with a few clouds and no humidity. I worked early for me today and it was steady, just getting busier when I left.

I'm so happy I worked early today. I got a chance to go bike riding in the parks down by Westmont and Collingswood. I had to return Tomb of the Golden Bird anyway (I won't have the time tomorrow or this week at all, really), so I rode over to the library, dropped the book in the book drop, and went to a great little dollar store in a small shopping center down the street. I love that place. They have great cheap holiday decorations, including paper cut-outs. (I prefer paper hangings to plastic window clings that look tacky and never want to stick.) They also sell every kind of spice, flavoring, and shakeable item known to man. I've bought most of my spices from there. I picked up three large cardboard stars in red, white and silver (they're now up on the back wall in the dining area of the living room) and a bottle of imitation vanilla extract. (I'm not paying 9 bucks a bottle for the real stuff.)

By the way, Tomb of the Golden Bird was good but a tad disappointing, especially compared with the excellent novels preceeding it. I may just have had too high of expectations for this one (this is the one where King Tut's tomb is found), but it seemed confusing and the ending was more of an anti-climax than anything.

By the way, it's time Elizabeth Peters really started whittling down the character list for the Amelia series. As fond as I am of Amelia, Emerson, and their massive extended family, the cast is getting so big, they needed three pages in this book just to let the readers know who's who and who knows who and who works for who.