Monday

[nightdog_barks]

Very wet and rainy, have had one (relatively) small thunderstorm pass through already. Ah, and just now it's started raining again. We're going to have a monster crop of mosquitoes this year. :-P

Finished reading Bill Bryson's At Home the other day, and ... it's good, but I don't think it's as good as his Short History of Nearly Everything or A Walk in the Woods or In a Sunburned Country. I think a large part of the problem is that in all those other books, Bryson was talking to other people, and there were other peoples' voices in the books, and here it's just Bryson. And just Bryson can get, I'm sorry to say, tedious. There's a sameness of tone that becomes monotonous after a while. I think there's an easy solution to this -- read the book in bits and pieces, not straight through (as I did). I do recommend it -- after all, here's a guy talking about how human beings and guinea pigs are the only creatures not able to synthesize vitamin C within their own bodies, and the strange case of Hannah Cullwick, the lifelong scullery maid who was actually her employer's wife, and the death of Princess Charlotte in 1817 and how it changed British history. My only other caveat is not to expect an actual history of the things in the house Bryson is living in -- he uses it as a springboard instead for ... well, for whatever he wants to write about, as long as it's (even vaguely) house/home-related. So, yes, a terrific read in small doses.

Otherwise ... need to do some domestic stuff of my own so I can go to the post office tomorrow. Looking forward to House tonight. And that's about it. Oh, and the poundcake I made yesterday is delicious. *g*

Comments

[taiga13]

human beings and guinea pigs are the only creatures not able to synthesize vitamin C within their own bodies
That IS interesting! I'm a big fan of Bryson's books but haven't read this one yet, but I'll follow your recommendation when I do.
It's Victoria Day here, meaning it's a national holiday celebrating Queen Victoria's birthday. Which conveniently always falls on the last Monday in May. I'm at home, listening to the rain. I just got groceries and should sit down and get some work done.
I'm going to try to be strong and not read the reactions of people getting the East Coast feed of House before I watch it on the West Coast feed.

[nightdog_barks]

Ha, it's funny you should mention Queen Victoria, because that's what my Princess Charlotte reference is about! Bryson mentions that if Charlotte had not died in childbirth, there never would have been a Victoria -- Charlotte would've become Queen Charlotte, and who knows what turns history might have taken? I love stuff like that. *g*

[taiga13]

Me too! I'd never heard of Princess Charlotte before. One thinks of history of being made of great movements, so those few individuals who single-handedly changed history are fascinating to me.

[takes_a_fairy]

*wishing my eyes would let me read more*

Busy with the paint but wanted to stop in and at least say, "Hi, Nightdog!"
*waves at you*
Have a great, productive day despite the gloomy weather outside.
*tosses a few sunbeams your way* :)

[nightdog_barks]

Sunbeams ... I remember those ... sort of.

;-)

[blackmare]

I am absolutely dreading House tonight, and yet there I'll be.

Looking at field easels right now, and I need to get back to the education director at the Art Center re: workshop planning for fall.

[pwcorgigirl]

I actually did know that about guinea pigs from when I tried to talk the kid in getting one as a pet instead of that evil golden hamster he got. Gram for gram, that was the meanest little rodent that ever lived.

We'll be having pork chops with parsnips for dinner tonight. I've never cooked roasted parsnips before, so it'll either be abuse of an innocent vegetable or something nice yet different. It's all part of the on-going campaign to get Corgiguy to eat more vegetables. :P