First quarter results

One of my friends welcomed the new year with the phrase "let this be the year something good happens". It's the end of March and already we have a pretty good list going:

• our house in England is about 3 weeks from closure: the survey has been done and the title search process begun;
• Kassie is beyond happy at her new school;
• my freelance writing career has taken off, with an exciting new client coming on board around summer/autumn;
• the full manuscript of my most recent novel has been requested for consideration by a well-known British publisher; and, best of all (and this is recent news, so take note),
• John has joined SNC-Lavalin, Profac, as their new Senior Director of Business Development, the job based here in Montreal.

How's that for the first quarter?

Spring break

We spent the second week of Spring Break at the Gala Resort Huatulco located on Tangolunda Bay, Huatulco (Oaxaca State), which is on the Southern Pacific Coast of Mexico. The weather was glorious, consistently well-above 30 degrees celsius with plenty of sun and invigorating ocean breezes. The resort boasts several pools, access to snorkelling and other watersports, a kids' club with staff Kassie absolutely loved and playmates aplenty, nightime entertainment, poolside activities, and, best of all, clean surroundings and attentive staff. It was our first experience of an all-inclusive resort and we highly recommend it: Kassie was off galivanting most of the time, giving us ample time to sunbathe, swim and read, and to sip pina coladas by the pool.

The only drawbacks were sunburnt heads (from swimming without hats), some Montezuma's Revenge, and the overnight flights.

Disconnecting

We're off to sunny Huatulco, Mexico for a week and - horror of horrors! - I'm not taking my laptop. Instead, fifty pages of the current novel to hand-edit, half a dozen books, and four chapters of my critique partner's latest novel. Of course, add to that the requisite bathing suits, wraps, frocks, skirts, sandals, and John and Kassie, of course. What else could I possibly need...oh, yeah, sunblock 60 or will 45 do?!

Our Pippi

The show is over. Kassie did a brilliant job in her drama club's production of Pippi Longstocking. She won the lead, as announced in a previous post, and surprised us all by delivering a stunning performance. She projected well, knew her lines, and won many a laugh during the show, as well as much praise afterwards. A job well done, Kassie!

Impetus

It seemed all it took was a short visit to England—let's call it a definitive step toward closure—to receive a reasonable offer on our house, which we accepted just this week. Let's hope the job offers start to pour in...we have reason to believe they may do just that. A touch of spring—such as the sight of snowdrops in our garden back in Cheshire—may have done the trick!