It feels sort of fitting that I spoke about snowboarding last month, with my lasting memory from that trip being of the fresh, soft powder snow on the last day. And now, a month later, I'll talk about snowboarding again, except this time, it was on slush :).
So like last year, work organized an afternoon of downhill (or uphill if you wanted to hike) activity at the local ski centre in Oslo. It was the same time of year as last time too, except, this March has been unseasonably warm. In fact it almost feels like summer's arrived early! The end result? A fun, but rather wet afternoon on my snowboard :).
Otherwise, it's been a month of surprisingly warm sunshine interspersed with cold wind. There was the rather late snow once most of the older snow and ice had disappear, the thing that normally happens at the end of April or in early May. It disappeared just as quickly as the late snow usually does.. In a way I guess the winter was disappointing. But on the other hand, sunshine is always welcome :).
Haven't managed to get out on the bikes yet, although they have been sorted out, so now it's more of a case of using them. I keep thinking I should go out running in the mean time. Holmenkollstafetten is coming up in about a month, and getting a team together has begun. Will I show up any more prepared than last year? I guess time will tell!
On the reading front, I wasn't particularly thrilled by the choice this month, plus (in?)conveniently the copy I'd ordered from the library still hasn't arrived after more than a month of waiting, so I turned to the unread section of my bookshelf, and found a book that had not been picked for book club some years ago, but a friend had thought it would be something I'd like!
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore did turn out something I sort of liked, more than most murder mystery thrillers anyway :). I rather liked the style of writing, oddly floaty and atmospheric. And there were parts of the plot that held rather a lot of promise. As with a lot of these things though, the overall feeling I was left with was somewhat meh. But a positive meh, if there's such a thing :D.
Now I've gotten my hands on The Book of the Ancestor trilogy, and am nearing the end of Red Sister (aka book one). It's good fun! In fact, I think I'm enjoying it rather more than I did the last book of the previous trilogy. One thing that has not changed is the rapid, and often sudden, variations of pace! The style of writing also seems somewhat different, but then again, it's a rather different sort of story :).
What stays the same is the sci-fi fantasy blend which rather fascinates me :). I am trying, and will continue to try to read these books at a somewhat slower pace to try and not tie myself in knots like I did the last time. Let's see how that goes!
