We live in a cottage that's had multiple additions added at funny angles over the past couple hundred years, which makes the whole effect oddly charming. This morning, the sloping slate tiles on one of the lower roofs were covered with sparkling white frost, and it looked like snow. Beautiful.

(Also, sadly, probably the closest we'll get to real snow by Christmas this year. Every December I sigh with envy over the fact that towns less than an hour's drive from us get heaps of snow, but we're blocked from the snow by...oh, is it the Pennines? Some geographical formation. We hates it, Precious, yes we does! Luckily, in less than a month, we'll be leaving for Michigan, where I should get plenty of snow for all my winter needs. :) )

This morning, I got a wonderful Amazon care package from SarahP, with the first two books in Judith Merkle Riley's Margaret of Ashbury series: A Vision of Light and In Pursuit of the Green Lion. Eeee! I love Judith Merkle Riley's writing, but I've only ever read two of her books, The Serpent Garden and Master of All Desires. Getting these two in the mail was like getting a big box of dark chocolate truffles. Must not read them straight away! I told myself, in a very firm, no-nonsense tone of voice. Must - write - first! But, but, but... I can read them AFTER I've done my writing!

Well. Guess how much writing I've done so far? And guess what I've been doing instead?

Sigh. I have no self-control when it comes to historical fiction. It's an addiction...but a really, really fun one.