wotd: fatidic, brought to you by His Dark Materials

fatidic \fuh-TID-ik\, adjective:: Of, relating to, or characterized by prophecy; prophetic.

Since the beginning of 2010 I've been immersed in this excellent performance of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy. I've been able to relate nearly every wotd post to the stories. They are not pablum. They are, in fact, dynamic and didactic tales that entertain as well as educate. My favorite character, the hirsute armored bear Iorek Byrnison, pledges fealty first to the bears, then to the child Lyra Belacqua, whom he's given the name Silvertongue, then to the aeronaut Lee Scoresby, to whom Iorek pays the highest tribute after Lee's death by systematically masticating his body. Just like Iorek, I have come to love Lyra, the story's fatidic protagonist. She's a fine and fierce character.

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wedding gift

On Saturday Dave's cousin Traci is getting married. At the last minute we decided to fly to Ames for the wedding and to see everyone who will be in attendance there. At the last minute, I decided to crochet a throw as a wedding gift. I just finished. The colors in this first picture are true; the other two pictures were taken with flash so the colors look brighter than they really are. I started last Monday night with 7 skeins of Lion Brand Chenille Thick and Quick in Periwinkle. It's 72 single crochet in the back loop only for as many rows as you want. Then single crochet around in a contrasting color. I chose Wine. I bought the yarn at Big Lots for half the retail price. It's long and skinny but very texturally appealing. Though all skeins were of the same dye lot, you can see that the top and bottom skein are definitely different, not so much in color as in texture. It's pure dumb luck that they ended up at the top and bottom. It's not perfect, but neither is mar...

in which I get knocked down

Sickness saps my energy, both physical and mental. It's surprising, really, how seldom I get sick, since I work in a petri dish. When I do get sick it lays me low and happenings that I might normally take in stride just completely knock me down. Last week I was diagnosed with an embarrassing viral infection, the symptoms of which on their own couldn't possibly have dragged me this deep down: sores in my mouth and throat that blistered and peeled and made every mouthful feel and taste like shredded pennies; an itchy rash around my mouth and nose and on my chest. Compounding that: knees that felt packed in hot wax, the backs of my eyeballs aflame. No fever, so no H1N1. Negative strep. Malaise. But I soldiered (martyred?) through most of the week at work, because I could, and some of the other teachers had to stay at home with their diverticulitis and kidney stones. On Thursday night my laptop died. On Friday night I felt I could deal with my weekend obligations. DH went out of t...

chock-a-blog

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