Nothing at All

Gainesville

Well, at least I opened the window for this post while it was still Friday, when it's spozed to be Thursday that I telecommute, and now Windoze tells me it's Saturday, EDT. And it's still Friday in Wisconsin. The fun of living on a spinning globe.

Thanks for continuing with Sandy's Paris letter, Mom. It's wonderful, and at the same time maddening. I don't know which is more annoying, the fact that she got to do this and I didn't, or that she wrote so much better at 20 than I ever will if I live to be 100. Ah well, at least we'll always have Paris as seen by Sandy in the early 60's. More, please.

The rest of the Dark Materials books of commentary fell on me over the last few days, plus Lyra's London and Pullman's edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, a work I successfully avoided throughout my college career. Til now. Seems I only skimmed the surface of (and thoroughly enjoyed) Pullman so far. I will look through the books and offer a comment or two on each, Sandy, and you can decide which are of interest to you. I realize now I forgot to give the particulars of the one I mentioned Wednesday: Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy: a Reader's Guide, by Claire Squires. (Continuum Contemporaries), 2003.

Also in the mail today, the new FL calendar plus the water bottle. It's a neat design, with a wonderful flip-top straw arrangement, but it isn't insulated: which means it sweats and doesn't keep water cold for as long as other, less well-designed things do. Close (and very beautiful), but no cigar.

Loved the other pictures of the MB salad and the potatoes and reluctant climber beans. Remember, they are only half Kentucky -- the Blue Lake part may have predominated in this particular batch. Still, how bad can it be, if that smaller, more tender trait prevails?

What a wonderful picture of you, Mom! Happily shelling peas. I'm so envious. Probably the most labor-intensive home-grown vegetable, but well worth the effort, assuming you don't eat more of them than you shell (always my problem).

Sounds like your lunch for Ann went well too. No doubt you'll get back on track with FL and NT next week.

Will catch up on some other loose threads over the next few days-- I don't have to go back to work until Wednesday. And more about last few days, about which I've said nothing.