We're home. Steve wasn't able to complete the MS150 because of the weather mostly. It's been rainy and cold both days. This morning in Red Lodge it was 41 degrees with a wind chill of 37 and rainy. He doesn't have rain gear and didn't bring his thermals so even though the will was there, gladly common sense took over. Yesterday he made it to Joliet which is about 30 miles before saying he was too cold and wet to go on. So next year if he does it again, he'll train more, he says, and bring gear for all conditions. Watch, it will be unseasonably hot next year. So we checked in our hotel in Red Lodge yesterday -- not a bad room at all, had lunch at Bogarts, and went back to take naps. Then we went to the ride's banquet and raffle (didn't win anything per usual) up at the ski lodge. This morning we got back to Billings, had breakfast at IHOP, I picked up Tug at the kennel and Steve went back to bed. That's another thing against him in the overall picture of this ride -- he is SO not a morning person and to get up early on weekends automatically puts him at a disadvantage. :) So actually, overall, it wasn't a bad weekend. Steve was feeling shamed and humbled so I was there to bolster him up. It was his first year doing this and he learned a lot to apply to next year. I don't know yet if I'll do it; it worked well to be his personal support vehicle.
Back home, I got laundry going and took a nap myself and have finished vacuuming up and down. We both walked Tug this afternoon and got back right before the rain got heavier. Still have to make the bed when the bedding gets dry. Dinner tonight I think will be brats and Onion Soup potatoes.
Reading: I didn't want to bring a library book along on the trip and preferred to pack light with a paperback so I've started Asa Larsson's THE BLACK PATH, translated by Marlaine Delargy. 400 pages. This one is part of my personal TBR. There's been many good reactions to this book. I feel at a disadvantage, though, because it is not the first in the series to be published in English and I've not read the previous two books therefore I'm definitely feeling that I've started in the middle of the story. One of the main characters is recovering from events of a previous book and some things have been mentioned that I know what will happen when I read them. Ah well. Here's the blurb:
A grisly torture-murder, a haunting northern Sweden backdrop, and a dark drama of twisted sexuality collide memorably in Åsa Larsson’s masterpiece of suspense—a tale of menace, hope, longing, and darkness beyond imagining.The dead woman was found on a frozen lake, her body riddled with evidence of torture. Instantly, Inspector Anna-Maria Mella knows she needs help. Because the dead woman—found in workout clothes with lacy underwear beneath them—was a key player in a mining company whose tentacles reach across the globe. Anna-Maria needs a lawyer to help explain some things—and she knows one of the best.Attorney Rebecka Martinsson is desperate to get back to work, to feel alive again after a case that almost destroyed her. Soon Rebecka is prying into the affairs of the dead woman’s boss, the founder of Kallis Mining, whose relationship with his star employee was both complex and ominous. But what Rebecka and Anna-Maria are about to uncover—a tangled drama of secrets, perversion, and criminality—will lay bare a tale as shocking as it is sad…about a man’s obsession, a woman’s lonely death, and a killer’s cold, cold heart.An author's website can be found here: http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=69304. The information about Larsson states:
author spotlight
Åsa Larsson was born in 1966; she grew up in Kiruna and now lives in Mariefred. She is a qualified lawyer and made her debut in 2003 with Sun Storm, which was awarded the Swedish Crime Writers’ Association Prize for best debut novel. The sequel, The Blood Spilt, was chosen as Best Swedish Crime Novel of 2004. The books were an immediate success; they have been sold to ten countries, and are being launched in the United States; the film rights have been sold to Sandrew Metronome.
It has author information and excerpts from her books. Here's the first paragraph of THE BLACK PATH:
Saturday March 15 An early spring evening, Torneträsk. The ice was thick, more than a meter. All along the lake, some seventy kilometers long, lay arks, small cabins on runners, four square meters in size. At this time of year the inhabitants of Kiruna made their pilgrimage up to Torneträsk. They came up on snowmobiles, towing the ark behind them.
My father's family's nationality is Norwegian; I'm half. When I was in college, they offered language classes in norwegian - they don't anymore. I wish I had had the guts to take it. It would be interesting to be good enough to be a translator of scandanavian books that are so popular now. Ah well. I have another 14-day book from the library to read, THE FIFTH FLOOR by Michael Harvey. I'll get to that next. I started an audiobook in the truck while driving yesterday, SECRET SERVANT by Daniel Silva. 7th in a series of 8 and read by Phil Gigante who is doing all right so far. 385 pages in book form. The author's website can be found by clicking http://www.danielsilvabooks.com/content/index.asp. Here's a blurb:
In Amsterdam, a terrorism analyst named Ephraim Rosner lies dead, brutally murdered by a Muslim immigrant. The Amsterdam police believe the killer is a deranged extremist, but others know better. Just twenty-four hours before, Rosner had requested an urgent meeting with Israeli intelligence. Now it is Gabriel Allon's job to find out what Rosner knew, and when he does, it confirms his worst fears: a major terrorist operation is in the works. But not even Allon could have predicted what it is. In London, a young woman vanishes. She is the daughter of the American ambassador-and goddaughter of the president of the United States-and the kidnappers' demands are at once horrifically clear and clearly impossible to meet. With time running out, Allon has no choice but to plunge into a desperate search, both for the woman and for those responsible, but the truth, when he finds it, is not what he expects. In fact, it is one that will shake him-and many others-to the core. Intense and provocative, filled with breathtaking double and triple turns of plot, The Secret Servant is not only a fast-paced international thriller but an exploration of some of the most daunting questions of our time.
The first paragraph reads:
It was Professor Solomon Rosner who sounded the first alarm, though his name would never be linked to the affair except in the secure rooms of a drab office building in downtown Tel Aviv. Gabriel Allon, the legendary but wayward son of Israeli intelligence, would later observe that Rosner was the first asset in the annals of Office history to have proven more useful to them dead than alive. Those who overheard the remark found it uncharacteristically callous but in keeping with the bleak mood that by then had settled over them all.
TV: My Cowboys are playing now and are set to win their first regular season game. Whoo hoo!! Steve's Steelers won today, too. We're off to a good start. I don't think there is anything really pressing to watch tonight. Phew!
So this week at work is supposed to be crazy busy. I have the Annual Report to finish for sure. But it is concert week and that is apparently just beyond beyond. It will be a long week with no letting go until Sunday and loooong on Saturday. I hope I can get away for a little bit on Saturday because there is a used book sale at a church that day that I found many many treasures at last year. Because of working Saturday, we will have the following Friday off to compensate.
I'd like to read tonight and maybe go to bed early-ish. Right now, I'll check my dryer and make some tea, I think.
Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster
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