Winter Wonderland

It has begun...a PEI winter storm hit us today. It's not a huge amount; maybe two or three inches by morning. Still, it's not even December yet, so we're ahead of where we would have expected to be back in Ontario. Of course, I get an alert on my phone today that tomorrow it's going to be 41° F around here, or about 5° C, so the snow shouldn't stick around for too long. But, it was nice to walk the dogs in the blowing snow. And believe me, around here, it blows a lot.

I had a spot of good news today with regard to school. Once again, the university is offering courses online that would normally be in-class only. Thanks to COVID, the distance students can now get some of the good courses. I'm thrilled; I wasn't looking forward to having to take a course in North American Gender History just to qualify for my degree. Or the History of Food. No, I get the good stuff: Medieval Europe, with castles and such. Perfect for a fantasy writer, yes? I can also take courses on the Soviet 'experiment,' or modern British history. Not as awesome as medieval stuff, but still...not bad. I just wish the Crusades course had made it. That would have been...the Holy Grail, so to speak.

Seriously, the online offerings were pretty lame. I'm not exaggerating about the course on the History of Food. Oh, and naturally there are courses on the history of pandemics. Subtlety, thy name is not University Courses. Frankly, I'm surprised they're offering it; having done some studying on pandemics (the Black Plague and the Spanish Flu), the COVID thing doesn't really match up. They might get people to think that this COVID thing is a tad overblown. That would be fun to see.

Our middle son has made the school basketball team, so he's having lots of fun with that. I know, I know...why is he in school? We're homeschooling, right? We hate public education! What's going on?

Well, when you move to an island two thousand kilometers away with no family or friends nearby, it's tough for a kid who is very outgoing and social to make friends out in the country where there aren't any kids around. So, we agreed to let him attend school on condition that he still does his homeschooling work. That way, at least we know he'll get an education. But I doubt it will last; public schools aren't going to be much different no matter where you go.

Anyway, he made the team, so that's a bonus for him. He's not having trouble making friends, which is good. He's the exact opposite of me when it comes to social situations.

Well, it's another brief entry tonight. But, I'm excited about the courses that are available to me, so I'm going to take this opportunity to remind you that I have a couple of fantasy books already published. Check out Arrival, the first book in the Chronicles of Meterra series. It's got lots of medieval stuff in it. And it's available either as an ebook or as a paperback. Go ahead, take a look. You won't be disappointed.