We awoke this morning to a beautiful carpet of snow covering everything in sight.  Unfortunately this meant that our Thanksgiving guests were snowed in, and couldn’t come, and so we’re faced with the prospect of dealing with a 22-pound turkey, bacon and sausage stuffing, and other trimmings all on our own.

We did, however, enjoy this lovely visitor, which perched on our fence for a while, perhaps looking for mice or other mammals beneath the snow.  All of our bird identification books seem to have been buried, if not by snow than by something else, so I don’t know what sort of hawk this is, except that it’s not one that we’re used to seeing.

It seemed a little puzzled by all the white stuff that had appeared, and I felt sorry for it.  I’ll put out some turkey for it when the bird is done.

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Just a reminder that this is the last week for the $1.99 sale of the Accidental War ebook.  Just when you’re looking to curl up with some reading in front of a nice winter’s fire.

 Find it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and Google.

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It’s 76 days since my hip replacement surgery, and my recovery continues at its usual slow pace.  I wake up to pain in the mornings, because lying down causes my legs to stiffen, and then I hobble around, take some ibuprofen along with coffee and a piece of fruit, and wait till I feel better.

Oddly enough it isn’t my hip that usually hurts.  Mostly it’s my quads and the muscles on the outside of the shin.

I’m getting more and more active, and I’ve returned to my karate class, where I mostly do forms and some other light practice.  I feel so much better afterward, and after exercise generally, that I really need to do more, but my stamina is reduced from what it was a year ago, so I’m trying to push the aerobics.

My chief problem is that my hips have rotated in three dimensions, such that my right leg is now longer than my left.  (This also happened before surgery, though sometimes left alternated with right.)  I presume most of my pain comes from muscles trying to support this inequitable arrangement.

My legs look like they belong to different people.  My right leg, which supports the replacement hip, is more muscular, and my left leg looks thinner and weaker.  The PA tells me that the hips will eventually revert to normal, but they seem not to want to do that.

I still walk with a cane, at least when I’m not doing martial arts.  I often leave the cane behind when I’m walking around the house, and sometimes forget where I left it.  The cane is mainly useful in helping me get out of chairs, which in this house tend to be of the all-embracing variety.  Comfy chairs can be a trap!

My Spy Watch tells me that even in my current condition, I’m doing between two and three times the daily steps I did before surgery.

Progress is being made.  But it’s slower than I’d like.

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I will be interviewed at the Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe on November 24, at 4pm.  This will be followed by a signing at the brand-new Beastly Books, right next door, which specializes in the works of anyone interviewed at the Jean Cocteau.

There will be food available, and alcohol, and probably a special cocktail named after Quillifer the Knight.

Come to listen, buy a book, or make a toast!  Fun shall be had!

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