Signs and portents

Sign of age: my children's piano teacher told me I am like a second mother to her.

Sign of trouble ahead in a book group: after much difficulty obtaining the chosen volume (short stories by Mavis Gallant), and only halfway through reading it, I found my copy completely soaked by an unsecured water bottle in my bag.* Maybe that was an omen rather than a sign. My take on Gallant's In the Fifteenth District: lyrical, elliptical writing, stodgy pace. I didn't make it to the end of the book, or to the book group.

Signs of spring in Toronto: a few bold snowdrops, crocuses, and aconites in bloom; buds on trees. Still bloody freezing though.

Sign of success: I came second in the Toronto Star Short Story contest! I am over the moon.

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2014/04/24/brendan_bowles_wins_star_short_story_contest.html

*For how to dry a wet book, see
http://www2.lib.udel.edu/Preservation/wet_books.htm