Now this is more usual December weather

I have pictures of nephew, who is cute (as expected) and a tiny baby only by virtue of being a baby (he's a pretty decent size for newborn). They went home on Tuesday and are doing well. Although I did get a text from my sister saying something along the lines of: well, he's born, he's home, now what do we do with him?

Most of my Christmas present shopping is done, which is a relief. Only a couple more shops to venture into and I know what they are. On the other hand, since I work in town, there's no escaping the mad crowds.

Ended up skipping out on my last weeknight event (the firm Christmas do) due to catching maudlinrose's cold. I was more or less sent home after the settlement was completed, and ended up napping on the couch. Being out of the air-con helped immensely, and hopefully I will be all go for the next three days, which are going to be a bit crazy at work. I am kinda hoping that the settlement on Monday (a purely commerical event) doesn't end up going through so we have actual time to sort out the new A&I issue. Christmas presents for lawyers are all finished, but one more card to write.

I was pretty lazy yesterday; got some washing done but didn't get around to hanging it out. It wasn't until this morning that I worked out that it was partially due to not having had a cup of coffee in the morning. Of course, the rest of it was due to being plague-ridden, so I think I get a pass.

Actually, I've spent a fair amount of the last few days reading. Now that Alessan finally convinced me to read the first one, I've been devouring CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series. How did I not get around to reading this before - cultural politics are usually right up my alley. I am now up to book 9 (or book 3 of the third trilogy), and understand the fourth trilogy is not yet finished. I will try some of her other books as well - fortunately, I have most of them as ebooks. I've read books four - 8 since Thursday.

I also read Indigo Springs by A M Dellamonica, which was and wasn't what I expected from the blurb. The blurb, for example, gives no hint that one of the view point characters is a civilan crisis negotiator, and that the surround story is set after everything goes to pieces. The two halves - then and now - eventually come together in an unsurprising, but competently written fashion. I'm not sure how much I liked it, certainly won't be buying it, but I will be looking out for the sequel in the library. I think I picked this up as a book rec either from Unshelved or james_nicoll.

On Friday I read Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk. There were a few surprises, but it was mostly reasonable urban fantasy. I'll read others if I see them, but they didn't particularly grab me and I won't be looking for them.

No pictures this week; it's been raining since sometime on Friday. The garden needs it, but the farmers up north need it more. My grandad's family email this week said they got an inch and a half of rain, which helped, but wasn't nearly enough. I think we've had at least that today.

I should probably go and get some more cleaning done - we have a flat inspection tomorrow and it's the new person.