A Cold, Cold Night...

...with promise of little better in the morning. My car was an ice cube this morning, and we missed the school bus due to taking so long to get the doors opened and the thing warmed up.

And then I heard on CBC that it was -50 with the windchill in Calgary today...suddenly minus 4 didn't seem so bad, somehow.

(The raspberries are now a lusciously jammed and jarred reminder of last summer...)

Safely tucked inside away from the cold with my still crepuscular computer, I have been busily focused on behind-the-scenes activity for the 2008 version of the Surrey International Writers' Conference. The Board of Directors meets tomorrow for the first time this year, and all kinds of derring-do is to be expected. Invitation acceptances are coming in from all over the globe, and I am almost to the point of sending out a mailing list update. If you want to keep up with the latest, make sure to hie on over to http://www.siwc.ca/ and sign up. (If you hate being on a listserv, then you can read all the latest missives under the News & Notes section.)

I've also been spending a bit of energy communing with DEADLINE, but more on that another time.

And finally, a word on the decrepit piece of furniture pictured. It forms but one part of a master plan to rejuvinate the most well-worn (and heavily used) room in the house. (This is the job that is currently standing between me and my new computer, so it can't be finished soon enough.)

Here's a little game I offer as a respite from a cold, winter day. Delve into the interior of a couch that is about to be hauled off for reupholstering. If the couch is over two decades old, all the more fun. Dig deep into the recesses at the sides, the seams at the back. Forget all the bonus money you'll come up with -- a mere trifle.

No -- I challenge you to count the number of pieces of cutlery you find. See if you can beat my record. One old couch = 9 pieces of cutlery -- 1 knife (butter), 5 forks (one salad, the rest dinner) and 3 spoons (all teaspoons). Also one chopstick, but as I'm pretty sure it was being used as a Harry Potter wand a few years back, it doesn't up the cutlery count.

This disgusting moment brought to you by two proud teenagers, who have spent their lives amassing treasures deep inside the dark reaches of the comfy couch. Now head off and look inside your own...if you dare.

~kc