It's Tuesday! Yay! Sentences!

Scary-ish cattail photo. Sort of related in that the tale I'm reading features a cat.

I've taken a bit of a break from the Two Sentences Tuesdays, but I'm pleased to say I haven't taken a break from writing. Well, editing really. I'm nearly finished fixing the obvious errors in my vampire western. Soon I'll run out a hard copy and find what else is wrong with it.
It should be fun.

I'm currently reading a fantasy novel by Mercedes Lackey from her Elemental Masters series. It's No. five. I haven't read the other four, but I may have to now.
Here are two sentences from it.
In this scene the main character, and her maid, and the creature that lives in her kitchen have trapped a homunculus.

"Limping slightly, the cat leaped out the window, leaving the two young women and the brownie staring at one another.
'Well,' Ninette said, finally. 'Do you think we ought to put more heavy things on top of the pot?'

-Reserved for the Cat, Mercedes Lackey (Daw Books, Inc. 2007)

Here's a bit from my recent foray into correcting.
From Biting the Dust:

"Part of her wanted to hold Jemima Clayton and the other longed to sink her fangs into the beautiful slender neck and drink. Holding Jemima meant she'd be consumed by her. The other way meant she'd consume Jemima. Desire and death.
'Kiss or bite,' she muttered. She turned Hades to the valley and rode."

For more, or to participate, please see the Women of Mystery.

Thanks for reading.

Gratitude Monday - The Sensual Pleasure of Baking

Cattails have such personality. The photo has nothing to do with today's post.

It’s almost normal weather here. It’s gotten cold and we’ve finally got a bit of snow on the ground.
Yes, let the record show I am happy to have snow on the ground. It’s December in Canada. We are supposed to have it.
Baking is a lot more fun when it’s cold. Mike made a Swabian Rum Cake on Saturday which has to be soaked in rum once it’s cooled. I baked panettone in the bread machine, rhubarb cake, and date squares (AKA matrimonial cake) also on Saturday.
A day of baking for the sheer joy and later enjoyment of it is one of life’s simple, beautiful pleasures.
It’s tactile in that ingredients are handled and stirred. It appeals to the aural sense in scraping sound of the mixing as well as satisfying sounds of chopping and the beep of stove and bread machine when the creation is ready to come out.
The olfactory sense can be joyously overwhelmed during preparation and baking. We who cook by feel often consult the gustatory sense during the process. It is always rewarded at the end.
I’m grateful for the normal weather and for the chance to enjoy it through the kitchen. Baking is a sensual pleasure at the best of times and much more so on a cold and wintry day.

The Old Man Of The Swamp

This old cattail looked so fuzzy I had to get a pic. The play of light and shadow on it make it look like a forest elf or dwarf. And maybe it is...

If it's just a regular cattail and not a magical creature it can be used for food.

Many Swans A-Swimming

We saw swans yesterday. We don’t see them that often and it was a treat.

They were in a small pond of water in a farmer’s grain field about 30 miles west of Red Deer. They were too far away for me to count, but I’d say there were at least two dozen of them and I’d say they were Trumpeters.

Spring is a wonderful, life-affirming time of year and this year is wetter than we’ve had in quite some time. I think the ducks and geese and swans are happy having all those pools to choose from.

We saw plenty of red-tailed hawks, too. Some were in flight, but most of them were perched on fence posts staring intently down at the stubble for a snack.

What we didn’t see were red-winged blackbirds. We’ve had open water for a while now and there are plenty of cattail marshes around.

I suppose I’ll have to be patient. I’m sure they’ll be along any time.