There is actually a bit of blue sky out there this a.m. Yesterday was horrible. The rain just kept coming down in buckets. An old panel truck slid crossways in the middle of road on Donkey Hill so traffic was backed up for what seemed like miles. Thank goodness I was going the other way and was able to get around him. The kids were wild yesterday. Being cooped up inside was not helping their mood at all. We had the trash can under the leak in the roof and lots of mud on the floor from the kids trooping in and out. Then Steve and I came home to water dripping from the ceiling in our kitchen. At least it isn't in the corner where my bookcases are like last time. Now if the sun will stay out for a bit and dry up some of the standing water. Nevertheless, the mosquitoes are going to love all the new breeding places.

I have always been fascinated by the Selkie stories so I dove right into reading Betsy James Long Night Dance. What a cool book - it is part of the Seeker Chronicles. Now I want to read the second book, Dark Heart. Kat is the daughter of an Upslope man and a Hill woman. She bears the shame of her mother's heritage - her red hair. With her mother dead, Kat does all the housework in her father's home. Women are treated very poorly by the men and Kat is getting restless. She wants to go down to the ocean, which is forbidden to her. Giving in to the call of the sea Kat finds herself on the rocky beach singing a song she once heard in the Downshore village. She does not know it is a song that calls to the seal people, even when she finds the badly wounded young man on the shore. Her father is furious when Kat brings the wounded Nall home with her and she and her brother hide him in the barn until they can take him to the healer in the Downshore village. Here Kat discovers her true nature and seeks to learn of her Hill country family. James' writing is so descriptive you feel like you are with Kat as she takes the first steps to discover who she is and to allow herself to be loved.

Jennifer Eachus' Angel: A Tale of Wonder is a visual delight. A small sized picture book, with lush illustrations of a little girl and the young angel who comes to her and asks her to tell her what she knows about wonder. Young Lara asks her family what wonder is and the answers vary, but what Lara realizes is that it is the angels that make the world wonderful. A quiet beautiful book to share with anyone.

Now to spend the rest of the day grading!