Notes from the Lake

Well, it only rained three times yesterday which was a huge bonus - I actually managed to mow 20 of the 100 sites!  Since it didn't rain at all today and the sun shone, I was able to finish all the mowing and am caught right up on that job.

The beavers are still determined to destroy what few trees that have managed to grow here on the bald prairie.  Sooo frustrating.  There are two of their big dams in the canal now so they must be multiplying.  More beavers - fewer trees!

Carrying on with my summer reading, I have three Michael Slade books here in my pile.
Kamikaze:   Michael Slade is actually a pen name for a father and daughter writing team from Vancouver, BC - more books by Canadians! I enjoyed this because I am familiar with Vancouver and can picture the streets and landmarks they refer to.  For murder/mystery fans, Michael Slade is another author you can add to your list.  Bit of a warning though - the violence can be quite graphic and gory in these novels.  If you can get past that though, or if it doesn't bother you, they are pretty good mysteries jam packed with a lot of authentic information on the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and, in this case, quite a bit of historical facts relating to the World War II as it related to the Pacific region.  I have always been disgusted by the use of atomic bombs on Japan and I picked up more information here that reinforced that - gained a better understanding of the political motivations behind it.  What a shameful day in history!
Crucified, also by Michael Slade, is a similar mystery/thriller.  This one didn't have the Canadian content to catch my interest but was an entertaining read nevertheless.  The story was somewhat similar to The Da Vinci Code, and the timeline switched back and forth between WWII in Europe and present day, with additional scenes involving Rommel.  Not a bad read
The third in the pile was Bed of Nails.  After the second page I knew I had read this one before so didn't bother getting any further into it.  If memory serves me correctly, it centered on a mental patient who believed he was Jack the Ripper.

For DVDs, I finally managed to see Slumdog Millionaire.  I didn't see it when it was in the theatres and then when dd saw it she told me she couldn't see what all the hype was about.  I bought the DVD and it sat there for another year before I finally watched it yesterday.  Great movie!  I can understand why it won awards.