Ships of the Desert

Today's earrings: racing camels, anchors

Bedtime reading: Freeze My Margarita, Lauren Henderson

This sounds ominous

Came home today to a notice that ownership of my mortgage has been transferred to Fannie Mae. What does this mean?


Today's earrings: lobsters, anchors

Bedtime reading: Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K. Jerome

1 bookcase emptied

Well, just a small one.


Today's earrings: rockets, anchors

Bedtime reading: Clouds of Witness, Dorothy L. Sayers

The Kate Harding, 1892

Today's earrings: mermaids, anchors

Bedtime reading: Disclosure Package, The Realtor

At Sea

Today, I was flummoxed by a tiny island nation.


Today's earrings: mermaids, anchors

Bedtime reading: Smoke and Mirrors, Neil Gaiman

The Shield

Series finale was tonight. They tied up the loose ends nice and neat, except, y'know, rife with violence and corruption and horrific betrayal. But tidy.
Fun cameo: Clark Johnson talking up the amenities of the greater Baltimore area.


Today's earrings: monkeys, anchors

Bedtime reading: Pyramids, Terry Pratchett

Oracles

So... Oracle sells Crystal Ball, and that's nice and all... but what about Haruspexes or Stercomancy? What's up with only doing the sorts of divination that don't make work for the janitors? The modern world has gotten so sterile...


Today's earrings: diamonds, anchors

Bedtime reading: Jingo, Terry Pratchett

Equinox

Started with the usual Monday routine. At noon, I headed home to meet the plumber. I arrived to find Mrs. M (the building manager) chatting with S (the woman down the hall from me).
"We've broken into your apartment!" cried Mrs. M, gaily.
And they had. Apparently replacing a flushing mechanism takes no time at all. At least, not for my old friend Competent Plumber (love him!). They were running ahead of schedule and started without me. After they left, I had a grilled cheese sandwich.

Then I took the 49 down to the Mission and dropped off the application for that apartment. Caught the 14 back toward downtown. Around 12th Street the chattering drunk sitting behind me said something that offended one of the dudes in the back of the bus. The dude spoke sharply enough to the drunk that people got up and moved toward the front of the bus. Fellow riders began expressing opinions. I though the most sensible was, "Dude, let him talk, he's just Drunk." Less sensible was the woman sitting next to me, who began threatening to call the cops, who, she said, would surround the bus and they'd all be stuck there. Uh-huh. She didn't lower the temperature all that much, but Dude and Drunk did intermittently join together in their contempt for her. All this went on until 4th Street, when she got off, and the drunk started chattering freely again, and the dude started speaking sharply again...

I got off at 2nd, grabbed a wee slurpee from the 7-11 on Market, and went back to work.

After work I stopped in at Whole Foods for supplies, then came home and made cream-of-grilled-salmon soup. mmmm, soup.


Today's earrings: irons, anchors

Bedtime reading: Night Watch, Terry Pratchett

The Weirdest World

I went up to a tree to give advice to two young birds trying to construct a nest. This was obviously their first venture.
"You are going about it all wrong," I told them. "First consider that this will be your home, and then consider how you can make your home most beautiful."
"This is the way they've always built them," said one of the birds.
"There must be an element of utility, yes," I told them. "But the dominant motif should be beauty. The impression of expanded vistas can be given by long low walls and parapets."
"This is the way they've always built them," said the other bird.
"Remember to embody all the new developments," I said. "Just say to yourself 'This is the newest nest in the world.' Always say that about any task you attempt. It inspires you."
"This is the way they've always built them," said the birds. "Go build your own nest."

- - R.A. Lafferty

 
Today's earrings: irons, anchors

Bedtime reading: Iron Tears, R.A. Lafferty

Something rich and strange

Chris March shows at Bryant Park! Hooray!
This is going to be good.

Also - new pictures of Tiger, posted early! Hooray!
This is already good.


Today's earrings: mermaids, anchors

Bedtime reading: Die For Love, Elizabeth Peters

Guidance

It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.

- - John Kenneth Galbraith


Today's earrings: hands, anchors

Bedtime reading: The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman