Yesterday we headed off for an afternoon at Mom and Dad's cottage on the Miramichi. I wanted to go where there were lots of people around interested in holding a baby. Of course, he slept like a log the entire time we were there, waking up only for the occasional drink. That pissed me off, although he probably slept so well because he was held for 8 hours straight.

This morning we had a lost little ball of fur stuck to one of our trees-a bat. Andrea lives in morbid fear of these bats that are about the size of your middle finger, so I thought she would appreciate the picture, especially if she was feeling homesick. I will have to admit, they are kind of cool to look at.

Nothing new going on around here besides a lot of crying, pissing, shitting and puking. Nathaniel and I survived our first week home alone-it certainly is a lot different not having another adult around. Maybe I should hire a nanny for the two of us! The day flies by and I am certainly glad to see Iain walk in the door so I can have a half an hour to myself, if I am lucky. I thought teaching middle school was exhausting-that is absolutely nothing compared to this. At least they go home at the end of the day.

Carolyn Nielsen (Kristi's mom) let me borrow some books from her the other day. I am half way through the third one and they have all been great, so I thought I would pass on the titles if anyone is interested.

The first one I read was, The Interpreter Of Silences by Jean McNeil. It takes place in Cape Breton, it is a bit of a love story, deals with current events like the massacre in Rwanda and September 11th and you can relate if you are in your thirties or older and from the Maritimes plus it is beautifully written. If you have read any Alistair MacLeod, you will love this book.

The second one was, Helpless by Barbara Gowdy. If you have read anything by her before, you know that she chooses rather weird topics but makes them very interesting, like the life of an elephant or having sex with a dead person. In this book, a young girl gets kidnapped by a would be molester. If you read Lovely Bones and liked it, you would enjoy this also. Gowdy makes you feel for characters that you should hate, which is pretty impressive.

Right now I am reading, The Custodian of Paradise by Wayne Johnston. He wrote The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and he takes one of the characters from that novel and expands on her story. I am about a quarter of the way through it and I think it is one of the best written books I have ever read and it is funny. I don't always like Wayne Johnston's books, but this one is great. Those are my reviews for the week.

I still think we should start a book club. We could even do it on-line then we could have lots of people (even those no longer in Fredericton) without the hassle of meeting. I personally would love to discuss The Kite Runner which I know a number of us have read. Think about it. We could set up a blog specifically for it.