It's winter here in New Zealand, in fact this week it will be the shortest day of the year. Our winter has been very mild. Yes, we've had a bit of rain but not as much as usual. All the rain is currently battering the East Coast of Australia. The last couple of days have been clear and sunny and a bit cold in the unsheltered spots. We've hit a low of 7 degrees Celsius, and we're complaining! Yep, I'll admit it - I'm complaining. I'm currently wearing three layers of clothes and I'm cold! The wee dog didn't want to get out of her basket to go for a walk, so I'm not alone in my complaints. I've no idea what would happen if I had to move to Canada or somewhere that suffers from a real winter!

In rugby news Canada came over to play the All Blacks. Everyone predicted a "cricket score", but the Canadian team played really well with the final score being 64 - 13 to the All Blacks. According to one of the female radio personalities this morning Canada won 14 - 3 in the pretty stakes and they had better haircuts. I'd have to agree.

My writing has been a bit slow since my hospital visit but I finally seem to be making some progress. My next Middlemarch story is coming along and stands at around 18,000 words and yesterday, when I didn't intend to turn on the laptop, I completed the first scene of the new paranormal for my agent and started on the second. It's a lot darker than what I normally write but I'm having fun with it. My mission for today is to do some more writing and get out my newsletter.

Shelley