Reading from a Hot Climate for a Day That Should be Spring

A small victory: I just read a whole page of Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis's Dom Casmurro without having to look up one single word!

The short novel by the 19th century Brazilian writer is required reading for my Portuguese class which is drawing to a close. It had been assigned before the strike of lecturers at the Université de Montréal, but did I get started reading it then? No! So here I am, sitting at the kitchen table for hours with two dictionaries, struggling with what is really a very intersting story.

But more about that some other time. Must get back to work. At least there is little temptation to go outside, as it is snowing. Poor robins, poor bees, poor plants who thought spring had come!

Let's hope that there isn't much damage done.