Cedar tree and books update

I finished 4 books in the last few weeks, but I don't want to wear myself down writing about them in length, nor I want to wear the reader of this blog down. Let's keep it down to 10 words max:

"The Kindly Ones" by Jonathan Littell
Terribly long, well researched historical facts, awful storyline, unconvincing characters. 1/5 (my rating: one out of five)

"Your Heart Belongs to Me" by Dean Koontz
Thriller, poorly written, shallow characters, blessedly short, not great. 2/5

"Medicus" by Ruth Downie
Crime in Roman times, funny, smooth, though historically unconvincing. 3/5

"The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga
Occasionally funny confession of a murderer amidst Indian dirt and corruption. 2/5


Cedar in the garden

With the literature out of the way, I can concentrate on the garden. Well, all I do is relate the news from the garden, because it's an uncontested domain of Maggie's. I go near only when I'm asked to help carry a particularly heavy plant, or a tree, and I'm quickly dismissed as soon as the tree is on the right spot. That may have something to do with my constant grumbling about gardening and Maggie's obvious joy of being soiled (literally) up to her elbows. As of last weekend, our garden is richer for a cedar tree, which caused a chain replacement of other shrubs and bushes. Maggie arranges her greenery almost like a furniture in the house, with a step back to survey the whole area, then elaborate rearrangements, un-planting and re-planting. If nothing else, plants from our garden can't complain of being stuck at always the same spot. Maggie makes sure they moved about a bit. But, for what it's worth, we do have the best looking garden on the street, as admitted by the neighbours.


Maggie on the run

Since few weeks ago, Maggie joins me on my daily runs. She doesn't run, though, but hops on her bicycle and follows me. I am grateful for the water bottle she carries. On Saturday we did 22 km eliciting smiles along the way from people who find it funny to see a sweaty runner followed by a cool biker.