Happy New Year's Eve! Don't think Steve and I will be partying tonight as we are both sick. I'm sitting at the desktop computer and looking out on Frenchman's Bay - a day sail charter boat is making its way back from Buck Island - a favorite snorkeling site for tourists. I call it the Johnny Depp boat as it looks a bit like a pirate ship with its red sails, etc. Speaking of Johnny Depp - we watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest yesterday. No where near as good as the first one - felt like a segue into the third one. Just didn't have the snort laugh factor that the first one had. And, talk about long - over 2 hours. We watched it in two sittings as I had to take a nap - this cold/flu is taking it out of me. We went into town for lunch at Shipwreck to share a hamburger and fries, which were delicious, and picked up the mail. That wore me out.

We also opened Christmas presents - Steve had to wrap a couple of mine as we picked them up at the mail place. Mail service down here is sloooow and then some. He introduced me to Lawrence Sander's McNally books awhile back, with the playboy amateur detective Archy McNally. They are just fun to read mysteries. My Christmas present is McNally's Files with includes the first three McNally books: McNally's Secret, McNally's Luck, and McNally's Risk. So I will have my mystery reading set for awhile. I think teen age guys would like these as they are fairly mild in the risque factor and it is a guy detective instead of the female ones I so often read about.

Speaking of Christmas books, Mary gave me Kristin Hannah's Christmas romance, Comfort & Joy. Reading this was a joy! I love a sappy romance, especially when I am sick and this has been wonderful reading, with Sophie curled up in my lap purring. And yes, teenage girls would love this novel, even though the characters are middle aged - it is just a fun sappy romance with a touch of "magic". Joy is in a plane accident and while she is in a coma she finds a lodge in Washington State where she spends several days and falls in love with the widowed owner, but she really is the "imaginary" friend of his little boy Bobby. If you believe in magic - you will love the ending. Finished it in bed with Sophie this morning - after breakfast in bed - French toast. Steve is sick too but he is still spoiling me with breakfast in bed. :-) The book is set in the rainy Pacific Northwest - very appropriate as I will be in Seattle for ALA Midwinter later in January. The setting reminded me a lot of Juneau, Alaska with the huge trees and the moss covered rocks, roofs, etc. Walking the trails by the Mendenhall Glacier felt like being in to a primeval forest. I expected Sasquatch to step out from behind a tree, or perhaps a dinosaur. I loved the quiet of that forest and though I fussed about the continuous rain when I lived there, it was a beautiful place.

All for today. I am working on the course documents for the Materials for Early Childhood course I am designing and teaching for the first time at ECU. Found a great new text to use with lots of storytime activities - Saroj Nadharni Ghoting and Pamela Martin-Diaz' Early Literacy Storytimes @ Your Library. It came out in 2006 and should be a staple in every Public Library Children's Room professional collection. The finger plays and rhymes brought back great memories of when I taught Head Start in Galena, an Athabascan Indian village on the banks of the Yukon. What a time that was!