Making hay

Lots of walking today for my mom, whose energy levels rise with the increasing amount of sunshine; we have to monitor a few cat encounters along the way. Who needs vet bills.
My mother is reading another collection of Hemingway's short stories, and appreciates the relative simplicity of his style. Wallace Stegner is giving me the icy fits, what with a long story set in a wintry western landscape during a big cattle round up. This was long before Cormac McCarthy wrote, and makes me wonder if he got some inspiration from Stegner. Had to stop for a bit as the story was approaching frozen dying and horror; plunged into Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar, an unusual and intriguing fictional take on the Roman emperor's life. Despite his imperious persona, as depicted by Yourcenar, I'm drawn to his thoughts.