Hi y'all! Just now working my way to the top of the pile of e- and snail mail that was waiting for me after several days in Seattle for Midwinter. What a beautiful city, but I am glad to be back home in sunny Greenville. It is a gorgeous day with bright blue skies. Sophie was laying right in the middle of a sunbeam coming in through the sliding doors and when I petted her, her fur was hot. Guess she misses the heat of the islands. Speaking of heat - I am typing this on one of my cool Christmas presents from Steve - a heated keyboard. I am not kidding - the keys stay warm to the touch. Wonderful for those of us who always have cold hands. Now, what to do about my always cold feet - oh yeah, my yeti looking mid calf slippers from Macy's are taking care of that problem.

Just gotta tell you about the creepy but cool book I read on the way home from Seattle. I was going to go for a light read, but the cover and Holiday House's Terry Borzumato's quick booktalk of Nicky Singer's The Innocent's Story hooked me and I set aside the romance for later. I am so glad I did. This is one of those read in one gulp books because you have to know what is going to happen. Imagine you have a parasite in your brain - doing so gives me the major creeps! He/she knows your inner most thoughts, experiences your dreams, and can see the world through your eyes. Cassina can do just that. She is a para-spirit, a parasitic spirit that needs the moisture of the brain to stay "alive". Composed of a mist like substance she enters and exists through your nose. Makes my nostrils tickle just thinking about it! But, Cassina isn't just any para-spirit, she is the para-spirit of a young teen whose was blown up in a London subway bombing, along with her little sister. Cassina enters the minds of a number of human hosts, including the mortician who prepares her little sister's body for viewing, her father's, the family dog's, that witnesses the suicide bomber's brutal beating. As he didn't die from the bombing, Akim also does not die from the beating - he is an aeternal, one who cannot die by "normal" methods such as bombs, bullets, or beatings. Cassina enters his mind and must come to terms with the manner in which people of his religion are treated and how they view the world. The most unsettling scene for me was when she enters the mind of the religious zealot who masterminded the bombing and sees what he sees when he walks down the streets of London - only the other T'lannis have form and facial features. The "non-believers" are just blurs of color. This is one of those books that teens of all ages, from MS through HS will eat up and be talking about and sharing with friends, insisting they read it too so they can talk about it! Singer has written one heck of a page-turner, a view of another culture/religion that has you wanting to go back and read it again, immediately after you read the last word on page 217.

Okay - on to catching up on grading and other "stuff".