Characters We Fall in Love With

Just watched Prayer of the Bone, part of the Wire in the Blood series based on characters created by Val McDermid. Tony Hill is one of my favorite fictional characters, especially as acted by Robson Green. He's a character that gets under you skin at first in an irritating way and then you don't want to let go. What happens to these characters we cling to? Do they call out to be re- imagined in dreams and other forms of fiction? Do we seek them subconsciously as we travel through life?

Yesterday I read Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny. Inspector Gamache is another of those characters one wishes they could "adopt" somehow. As I get older I find myself more and more attached to fictional characters. What does this mean, Dr. Hill? Daily interactions with humans leave me cynical and unfulfilled so I turn to fictional characters who have the capacity to empathize, to care and care for humans.

Just Around the Corner

Wow, I can't believe we are a week away from Christmas. I am rushing to get my gifts made this weekend, especially the ones that need to go in the mail on Monday. I bought a beautiful Marks and Spencer shortbread tin with a print of a stag on the cover. This will be the feature of our Christmas table along with two silver disco balls I found hanging around in the corner in the dust. Our living room is too full for a Christmas tree due to shifting stuff from upstairs to do the renos. Will we even have a tree this year? I am strangely ambivalent about the whole thing. I'm just relieved that my December toothache was deemed "nothing significant" by my dentist and so we will escape financial ruin this Christmas due to dental debt. Life is good. I hope the dentist has a fun vacation in the Bahamas or Caribbean or wherever he said he was going. How nice for him.

Anyway we had lovely tacos at the market this morning and I bought fresh walnuts. Yay! I also bought some of Chris's lovely Meyer lemonade. Now we can have lemon crepes on Christmas morning.

I am reading an Icelandic mystery called Ashes to Dust by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. I like the way the landscape is integrated directly into the plot, which involves a gruesome discovery in a house being dug out of volcanic ash.

I recently watched Serie 2 of George Gently which I highly recommend. The art direction is fabulous--the tones of green/blue and burnt orange in the set and costumes are stunning and seem directly inspired by the landscape. The writing, acting and direction are all strong. I've been hearing Geordie accents in my head all week.