Sloppy Sunday

It actually got a bit above freezing today, so the ice and snow on the roads began to turn to slush. It is supposed to be up in the forties tomorrow, so the ice blockage in the vent should thaw. Now we just have to hope no ice dams on the roof create leaks.

To enjoy the warm weather we went over to Reedsburg after lunch to the library book sale. There are lots of library book sales around here, and Tom and I go to many of them. The event in Reedsburg is one of my personal favorites because you take all the books you want and leave whatever donation you want. There isn't even anyone in the sale room to take money. You have to go into the library and give the money to them. Tom is -- as always -- very generous. It's just as well for the library that he decides on the donation. You know how cheap I am!

Tom picked up a few hardbacks -- a political biography and mostly thrillers -- and some mysteries for the guestroom. I picked up a Clive Cussler hardback and an Alisa Craig paperback.

Cussler is not one of my favorite authors, but I like the beginning of his books because he usually sets the mystery part in an interesting historical setting or legend. After that I think they get a bit absurd.

Alisa Craig is a pseudonym for Charlotte MacLeod, a Canadian-born mystery writer who became a U. S. citizen. She specializes in quirky mysteries featuring married couple detectives, set in New England and New York. The series written as Alisa Craig is set Canada, but the husband is Welsh and there is a lot of Welsh lore woven through the stories. I have been reading her books since the early 1980s. Ms. MacCleod died in 2005 after suffering for a few years with Alzheimer's.