I can't believe this Monday is 1/2 over already. I have been enjoying my lazy mini-vacation - I give myself the mornings off. Slept in and then read for a bit. It is another breezy day with the sun beginning to peek out. Was cloudy in the a.m. Hoping for some nice weather before Emily comes through - one storm after another this time of the year. Steve and I walked down to Bluebeard's and went swimming Saturday afternoon. It was fairly wavy and gets deep quickly so I spend my time treading water and swimming around. Lots of coral and a line of broken shells and rock at the edge. Not my favorite beach to swim at, but I can walk to this one. Beautiful grounds though, with hammocks in the trees, etc. A good place to go read and veg - maybe one of these days! Living in the islands is so different than vacationing here. I went to the beach more the week Mary was here than I had in the last 6 months.

Read the The Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan this past weekend. Wonderful fantasy adventure about a ward of the court who becomes an apprentice to a mysterious Ranger - one of the mysterious cloaked men who some think can make themselves invisible. Will's greatest desire is to go to Battleschool, but his slight size does not make him soldier material. But, the skills he learns as the apprentice to the legendary Ranger, Halt, make him a force to be reckoned with while fighting any foe, man or beast. The Ranger's Apprentice is the first title in the Ruins of Gorlan series from Philomel. Can't wait for the next book as I am sure Will's friend Horace, who is a skilled swordsman training in the Battleschool, will play a bigger role in the upcoming war with the evil Morgarath. A gotta have title in any MS/JH collection.