It may not be a truth universally acknowledged but it's no secret either, that names of medications are a great source for third-rate fantasy names. This insight goes back at least as far as W.S. Gilbert:

When from the poet's plinth ( Read more... )

Moore, Tim. Travels with My Donkey: one man and his ass on a pilgrimage to Santiago (first pub. in Great Britain as Spanish Steps). (St. Martin's, 2004)

The author walks the Camino de Santiago, the medieval pilgrim route from St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela, with a donkey named Shinto. More than a ( Read more... )

While I was out gaming last night (good attendance, btw; inching toward the local climax, and very nearly some roleplaying along the way) - so while I was out, L was home throwing up. Poor L. Maybe it wasn't just the rain making him uneasy yesterday. Hoping for now it was just A Dog Thing; if it continues today, will have to take him in to see ( Read more... )

( Saturday )

The days were cold. Cold enough we didn't do any outdoors chores like take down the Xmas lights; instead we fiddled around with piddling li'l indoor chores. In re one of which, let me note: I don't really notice when my toothbrush gets less powerful as the batteries fade; but once I put new batteries in, wow! does that make a difference. But the ( Read more... )

Bois, Guy. The Transformation of the Year One Thousand: the village of Lournand from antiquity to feudalism / trans. Jean Birrell. (Manchester University Press, 1992)

I've been reading my share of French historiography these past few months ( Duby, Boureau, and now this), and I've got to say the style has not grown on me. And Birrell's ( Read more... )

( Saturday )

Last night C installed the new alarm clock that D gave her for her birthday. Gracious, that's bright! We're seriously tempted to turn it away from us (point it at the wall), but then that of course would mean we couldn't see the time, which is one of the major points of having a clock ( Read more... )

Saturday: Impending rain. It kept impending all day and didn't arrive until night.

( Sunday )

In the morning, got stuff together for the evening.

In the midday, mowed the lawn (except for the marsh where the sump pump hose is draining). May have annoyed S&S and their guests, but a) the lawn needed to get done, and b) I notice it didn't actually drive them inside, or even around to the side of their house, so probably not awful for them ( Read more... )