Helene Never Showed Up at Our House. I Can't Describe How Lucky I Feel
Despite having clearly announced she’d be arriving on our doorstep late last Thursday night, whether we wanted to see her or not, Helene detoured onto a slightly more easterly route, and didn’t blow our house down.
My previous experience with a really bad hurricane was with Charley, back in 2004. At one point, I remember looking out a window (a stupid thing to do, I admit) and seeing the two 60-foot tall Texas pecan trees in our back yard appearing to bow towards the house. And that was only a Category 1 storm — Helene was a Category 4 when she made landfall not many miles from our house.
After looking at pictures of what happened east of us, and especially what’s been happening in the mountains of both North and South Carolina, I can’t believe we stayed virtually untouched. In fact, during the night Helene made landfall, we got quite a lot of rain, but the air was so still it felt positively eerie. I kept looking out the window and not only did I not see branches, or even entire trees, waving around, but hardly a leaf was stirring.
We lost power and internet at about 10 PM, and it was restored by 8 AM Friday, so even that was much less of an inconvenience than we expected.
One good thing that came from Helene’s expected visit was that I actually cleaned off my desk and filed the stacks of papers that have been piling up. So now my desk looks a little eerie, too.
Just in time for Halloween.
What I’m Reading
Murder in Williamstown by Kerry Greenwood
I’m always delighted when a new Phryne Fisher story is published. Murder in Williamstown is 22nd in the series, and if you haven’t met the Honorable Phryne Fisher yet, you’re in for a real treat.
Phryne is an independent, single woman who’s inherited a fortune, so she can afford to indulge herself. One of the ways she does this is by taking in strays — she’s adopted three orphans by the time the events of this book take place — and taking care of the various members of her household in Melbourne, Australia, where she’s moved after becoming bored with life in London.
Shortly after her move to Melbourne, she finds herself embroiled in a mystery, and discovers she has a penchant for uncovering crime so she sets herself up as a Lady Detective.
In Murder in Williamstown, she’s on the trail of the person who’s murdered a Chinese man on the beach, while also discovering what’s happening to the funds of a local school for the blind where her adopted daughters volunteer their time.
And if that weren’t complicated enough, she starts finding hate mail in her letter box from someone who apparently finds her way of life reprehensible.
Are the three related? It’s a lot to unravel.
Murder on a Country Walk by Katie Gayle
This is the sixth in the Julia Bird series of cozy mysteries. When Julia is walking her chocolate lab, Jake, near the village, she finds another dog of her acquaintance. What she doesn’t find is any sign of his mistress. The dog’s owner is the elderly mother of the local veterinarian, a young woman Julia admires.
But there’s no sign of either mother or daughter, until the dog persuades Julia to look over the edge of the path. There Julia sees the vet, Eve Davies, who’s apparently tumbled 20 feet to her death.
Only Julia doesn’t believe it was an accident, and certainly not suicide. Her friend Hayley, the police detective, looks into it briefly and then dismisses Julia’s suspicions. That is, until another body shows up in the exact same spot.
Notable Quotes
His piercing eye looked like it could open the most obdurate of oysters by sheer willpower alone.
- Murder in Williamstown by Kerry Greenwood
Now that’s a sharp gaze! Here’s another from the same book.
Generally she preferred women to be self-reliant, in life as in fiction, but the portrayal of Amelia was of a young woman with all the survival instincts of an orchid in a snowstorm.
- Murder in Williamstown by Kerry Greenwood
The trouble with reading sentences like this is that it makes me question my own writing ability. Anyone else ever feel that way? I mean, “all the survival instincts of an orchid in a snowstorm” — first it paints a stunning word picture, and then it clearly describes this young woman, all in nine words. Nine.
None of my jewelry had been taken. In the closet, every dress and jacket I owned had been unhung and tossed about willy-nilly. Chanel and Balmain and Dior, treated like little more than off-the-rack pieces.
- The Socialite’s Guide to Murder by SK Golden
That ringing sound you hear is brazen (or maybe golden) gong of entitlement. Where the worst that can happen to you is that an intruder handles your clothing as though it’s — gasp — off the rack, described magnificently in nine small words. What is it about nine words???
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Wise Words
Maybe last week’s quiz was too easy, because not many of you responded. Here’s the sentence with the missing word:
The yellow walls pulsed as I placed my _____ on the bed and walked back down the hall toward Pembley’s office.
- Time Tourist Outfitters, LTD by CN Jackson
The word choices were hoard or horde, and the correct answer is hoard.
What’s the difference? A hoard is a carefully guarded supply. In Lord of the Rings, the dragon Smaug sat on a hoard of gold and jewels. Pirates find hiding places for their hoard of loot. As a child, I used to keep a hoard of books in my closet for late-night flashlight reading.
A horde, though, is a throng, mass, or crowd. A horde of Orcs threatened Frodo and his companions in LOTR. A horde of MAGA supporters overran the Capitol on January 6, 2020. A horde of trick-or-treaters happily hauled their hoards home on Halloween night.
Until next week (and I hope it’s a good one).
I'm so happy that Helene gave you a miss. You should send your horde vs. hoard example to the public school system (the one featuring happy trick-or-treaters), it's a perfect way to remember the difference!