THE ESCAPE
Today I escape to the kitchen, my place of solace where I go, especially when things are not working out in the office. Neither my husband nor I have a clue about what to do when technology goes on the fritz, and it just happened out of the blue. I was just using the internet and all was fine. Ten minutes later, my sister calls and all I can hear is static not unlike a buzz saw in high gear. We are both shouting at one another in an attempt to be heard over this grating noise but are getting nowhere. I return to my computer thinking I’ll email her.  But it too is now down. What! No phone, no internet, no television. After several hours of attempting to solve the problems, we are frustrated and finally give up. My husband calls Bell on my cell phone. We are informed that It will be tomorrow sometime in the afternoon before they can send a technician.
So I decided to try to relax until I can get back to work. However, being an A-type personality, I have some learning to do when it comes to practising the virtue of patience. This is where two of my favourite pastimes other than writing, reading and baking come into play. Hence, the warm cranberry orange scones cooling on my kitchen counter and my bookmark is already on page 145 in the book which I just picked up my last visit to KPL.
Having an interest in historical things, Elizabeth Hay’s book, His Whole Life, set in the 1990s when Quebec was on the verge of leaving Canada, is an intriguing read for me. And now I have lost interest in that query letter I was intending to send off for my latest novel, Caroline and Company.
Elizabeth, the author of the above book, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for Late Nights on Air which I intend to get next in case another unexpected technology emergency happens. In the interim, I promise to myself that I will get that query off when all our technology problems are solved. Meanwhile, a cup of tea in hand, I happily munch on a warm scone while I return to my reading, anxious to learn how reconciliation is possible in a family so fiercely divided, and not just on politics.
