Morning/evening all: Lovely day here. Sunny, warm, cactii are beginning to bloom. Will be keeping one eye on the volcano and the other on EJ while doing other things tonight (hmmm...). Should be interesting. Lots of chat about the volcano on the last page of the previous week. Off to start dinner; back later!
Oh OG - nice to see you are still around. Hope you enjoy your time away and weather is kind but as you are heading north I recommend you have warm clothing.
Lindybird/Annette - Moby Richard - Hilarious
I spent some time last night planning to put sticky labels on some of our books, changing their titles, starting with Moby Richard. Hm, Whitman’s Leaves of Grass is a no-no. Tristam Shandy could lead one to drink. Return of the Native, hm is ‘native’ politically correct language? Now I am beginning to have doubts about Crime and Punishment & Love and Death & . . . oh heck . . .
Evening all: Not sure whether to offer commiserations or congratulations re Cameron/Data-Clegg deal. Sounds like one of those "politics makes strange bedfellows" arrangements. Hmmm
Trucker Steve will be going over the Sierra Nevada in California tomorrow morning. He'll be taking Interstate 80 - a road I know really well since my daughter lived an hour north of the Donner Summit in Portola (a one-horse town, and she had the horse!). He'll take it to Sacramento, then hang a left and down to Stockton. From his overnight in Reno (Nevada), looks like there's still snow on the Sierras, so it'll be interesting. I shall be tuned in!
Did a lot of painting today; got the first coat on the doors, so just one more to go. Should look a lot better once we get the blue painter's tape off the glass.
jsb: Con-Dem!! :-))) Love it!! I can hear the jokes now. We heard this evening that just 50 minutes passed between Brown tendering his resignation to the Queen and Cameron being asked to form a government. Amazing such a quick change. And the same administrative staff. Interesting. Makes sense though. When Bill Clinton took over it was more than a little chaotic while his very young and free-floating staff found their political legs.
Emma Peel: Sorry to give wrong impression but OH is attending a seminar (in medieval history) at Cambridge, not giving a lecture. He shoulda been a history prof. EJ in surround-sound? With that buzz? I think I'll pass for now. Oh gosh. 15- and 18-year-old girls? That sounds - um - lively.
OG: While OH is gone I shall be stopping by a couple of high-end supermarkets that have marvellous, high quality delicatessens with healthful and fresh yummies to bring home!
AQ: Re politically correct terms, when I was editor of the New Mexico magazine, found out that the Indians in that state didn't like the term Native American at all. "We're Indians," they'd say. The magazine was actually edited and published in hyper-politically correct California and I was always having to correct our copy editors, who used Native American in all the other regional mags we published. Another interesting fact: The swastika was a Navajo emblem used in healing rituals (and an ancient symbol in many other cultures) long before Hitler got his grubby hands on it. We did a story on the restoration of an old movie theatre in Albuquerque and had a cover photo that showed the interior, which was decorated with traditional Indian motifs, including the swastika. My SoCal publisher saw that and had a fit and made us change the cover, even though the corporate folks in New Mexico had no problems because they understood the context. (More than anyone wanted to know, eh?) :-)
Diane: Hope you watched Nova tonight - it's about forecasting tornadoes. About to start here!
Wonder how Ciarann is doing at her new job.
Hi, Annette! Nope, I didn't see Nova tonight. It's on again at 2:00 am, but I don't think I can stay up that late to watch it. I'll try to catch it on the reruns later in the week. Thanks for the heads up.
Your post to AQ brought back so many memories of editorial quandaries from my days as an editor -- so many tedious deliberations with authors, other editors, publishers...
Glad your painting is going well. There's something so satisfying about finally peeling off the blue painter's tape to reveal the finished product. So glad that you're making plans to enjoy your time during spouse's absence. Sorry to read that Trucker Steve still hasn't gotten his truck. I'll try to watch his trip over the Sierra Nevadas in the morning.
I watched the UK election resolution with interest. I don't think that a coalition of that sort would be functional or even possible in the United States now; we are way too polarized. (JSB: Loved the "Con-Dem" agreement! I thought of so many jokes... LOL)
Lindybird: So sorry to read that your son and his wife live so far away from you. I'm sure that you will stay in close contact, though. At least they don't live a vast distance away, like so many families today.
Hope Alan (and Hamish!), OG, and Margobird all have wonderful trips with easy travelling and good weather.
Super-rare sighting of Gray Whale off the coast of Israel. There's speculation it could be a seriously lost California Gray Whale or one of the "extinct" Atlantic Gray Whales, which haven't been seen for a couple of hundred years. http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8672000/8672970.stm
What an amazing story, Annette. I wonder what the actual explanation is. Fascinating!
Diane: I just e-mailed Mike (our local Gray Whale Count coordinator) and told him I wanted to sign up for any counts he's organizing in the Mediterranean - said I thought a nice island off Greece would work... :-) I'm off to bed now, so get some sleep yourself. I'll be tuning in to Trucker Steve in the morning.
Take care all.
Morning All. Sunny & bright here. The blackbirds are back in our bird bath, having a splashing time.
Annette: We are all waiting to see how the new politics work, the various factions have already been on TV making noises about 'working together' and being upbeat about there being at least a solution now to the hung Parliament situation. Expect there will have to be compromises all round. Only time will tell if this is going to be a massive mistake or if indeed they can pull us out of the economic doldrums - it will make for some interesting viewing over the next few months. Anyway, we don't have much choice in the matter, other than calling for yet another Election. Your notes about the origins of the swastika were interesting - I seem to remember once hearing about the Nazi's stealing it from somewhere, so thanks for the info. (I love the Native American art, its so simple but dramatic)
Diane: Our youngest son has lived that distance since he went to Uni, and at the time I said "thank goodness it wasn't Edinburgh" - no disrespect to that City, but he had been up to Scotland to see the Uni there and it was a looong way for us to travel. At least its near enough for us to visit & return all in the space of a day, which is what we've been doing. They often come to us for Christmas or Easter etc. & we go there periodically to visit. Sometimes we see him more than the elder son, who lives less than 20 minutes from here!!
Have various things to do today, so will go and 'tick them all off the list' and then later, go to visit Friend who has had major renovations to her kitchen & is without either stove, fridge or worktops at present! Glad its not me. Have a Good Day All.