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Non Fiction Five

  • John Sutherland: How To Read A Novel
  • Steven Levy: The Unicorn's Secret
  • Sarah Vowell: Assassination Vacation
  • Arthur Quinn: A New World: An Epic of Colonial America from the Founding of Jamestown to the Fall of Quebec
  • Alison Weir: Princes in the Tower
  • Paul Murray Kendall: Richard The Third

Reading Through the Decades

  • Anthony Trollope: The Warden (1855)
  • Mary Elizabeth Braddon: Lady Audley's Secret (1862)
  • Walter Miller, Jr: Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)
  • Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden (1909)
  • The Kenyon Critics: Gerald Manley Hopkins (1941)
  • Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre (1847)

2007 TBR Challenge

  • Alison Weir: The Princes in the Tower
  • Paul Murray Kendall: Richard The Third
  • Stephen Budiansky: Her Majesty's Spymaster

June 06, 2008

Books, Socks and Cat

Books read in June May:

Silent in the Grave, Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn. (fiction) I really enjoyed the outings of Lady Julia Gray.It's hard not to love a book that begins with "To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor." Alas, the next book in the series won't be out until next year.

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman. (non fiction) It follows the Count of Courcy throughout his lifetime. Perfect timing to read about the 14th Century from the point of view of a French nobleman.

A Fool and His Money: Life in a Partitioned Town in 14th Century France by Ann Wroe. (non fiction) More of a close look at a town and townfolk of Rodez than the trial case she was ostensibly following but a fascinating look into the times and people. They felt like neighbors. Rodez is in southern France. (very roughly)

Labyrinth (fiction) by Kate Mosse. This takes place roughly in the same area as A Fool and His Money but here the characters were both stereotypical and capable of the most supreme acts of idiocy to keep the plot going. A plot that was better covered by The Da Vinci Code and I didn't think much of that book either.

Departures (speculative fiction/aka science fiction)by Harry Turtledove, a collection of short stories. I think my favorite one was the origin of the common cold.

Socks: Blog pix 872 Jaywalker(s)!  Why I decided to take a picture of just one foot....I have no idea. The shoes are why I was so hot to finish the socks, they needed handknit socks to wear correctly. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

  • Stats: Shepherd Sock in Irving Park, not quite two skeins. (from Amanda Cathleen in the August Birthday Swap)
  • Started: June 2007
  • Finished: June 2008. Probably not a reflection on the pattern. Who else hasn't knit a pair yet? There must be more of us. Well, you. Now. ;)
  • Fit: They fit really well but they are a bit loose in the ankle. There was limited pooling and the yarn striped quite nicely but better on one foot than the other. Between the camera and Typepad, they're frustrating my attempts to get another picture to show you so you'll have to take my word for it for now. The pattern is a lot of fun. Just enough to do to keep it entertaining but not so difficult it couldn't be a tote around project.

Cat: Hez hates me. First I stuff her into a box and leave her all day at the vet for torment and tribulations, then to add insult to injury, she has to take 2ml of antibiotics twice a day for ten days. We are on Day Two. Pray for me.

Blog pix 870_edited Hez sez "I will not pose nicely for you, you horrible excuse for caring companion."

Hmm. The book didn't either. Possibly it's the shakey cam I'm using. (Yes, my unsteady hands. Whatever happened to the days of point and shoot when you didn't have to freeze for 15 seconds?)

June 04, 2008

Euphoria and Fear

The euphoric part? I finished knitting a pair of socks!!! My Jaywalkers are done! It only took me....June 2007....June 2008......a while. But they're done, washed and blocking.

Sadly you'll have to wait for a picture because I left them, hopefully on the washing machine, this morning.

Because the fear part (is me overreacting no doubt as usual) leaving Hezekiah ALL DAY at the vet's to get her little teefies cleaned. Probably for the first time in her life. Tell me she'll be fine.

UPDATE: Hez is fine - the vet had to take a tooth, but she's "resting comfortably." Now I just have to cool my heels until I can pick her up at 4pm. Maybe I should look for something nice to bribe her with?

January 29, 2008

Hallelujah Hezekiah is Unhappy

with me but fine. Not even bruised. Evidently the sensor in the garage door kicked in before it smushed her and caught her in the midsection which was why we figure it could go low enough to pin her but not do any damage. She's almost but not quite a half pound overweight but considering she (the vet) had wanted her to gain a whole pound just two years ago and her crappy weekend, not too shabby.

Mmip_548_edited That's a picture of her on the fence right afterwards telling me in no uncertain terms was she coming in with me right then so I suppose I shouldn't have been as worried as I was. She'd managed to climb the fence easily enough (and pose nicely too) but pin your cat under a garage door and see how sanguine you aren't.

Mmip_546_edited

Cats. Mmip_541 Look what KSD sent me! Isnt that a darling scarf she knit? It's the perfect length and colors to go with my dress shirts for the office.

And check out the little mouse envelope sticky she used - is that not the cutest thing? A closer look: Mmip_541_edited_2

And now I'm off for some feverish knitting and annoying my cat. Maybe even laundry. Be still my heart.