Oh, this weather! Rain snow rain snow and so it goes. But…I have found the perfect antidote. Although I spent a year in Tucson, Arizona, as a four year old, I haven’t been back since, nor have I desired to approach the desert heat and aridity. Wait, wait, there was a brief trip to Santa Fe many years ago to a conference, but even that didn’t stir up any warm feelings.

Then I discovered Tony and Anne Hillerman’s series about the Four Corners area of the Southwest. I’m hooked, and that’s the long and short of it. I dug out the National Geographic Atlas, the Rand McNally United States Atlas and delved into Google Earth and Google Maps; zooming in ever closer, I suspect I was actually looking for the characters to appear. Retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, Sergeant Jim Chee, and Policewoman Bernadette Manuelito of the Navajo Tribal Police, have come alive in the Hillermans’ books. As with the Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series, I started backwards and have steadily been making my way to the beginnings. I admit that this strategy reduces the level of tension (not suspense) as I am listening to many of them, and driving to New London or Franklin is less dangerous when I have a sense of what’s coming in the story.

If you don’t have any interest in the Southwest or indigenous mysteries, try another strategy to cope with the rain/snow cycle. Head for a bookstore and once inside, bypass everything on your way to the children’s section. At Morgan Hill, I head straight to the back, whereas at Gibson’s in Concord, I enter straight into the children’s books. I’m the one giggling at Sandra Boynton’s latest hippo board books and sighing nostalgically amid the chapter books: “Charlotte’s Web,” “Walk Two Moons.” “Danny The Champion of the World,” “A Wrinkle in Time”…the list goes on. Treat yourself and let me know what floats your boat. Ooh, “The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float” by Farley Mowatt – now there’s a good one!