Tuesday evening things

 Today was the "reciprocal" field day (in return for my colleague and one of her students helping me out). We started at 6:30, which is....well, I used to be more of an early bird than I am (that's something else the pandemic changed in me) but I did manage to get out of bed before the alarm I set (at about quarter to 5) and eat and dress and get out there before the set time.

It was very hot. And it was a lot of walking. And I was sore; I stepped down funny on Saturday and I think put my knee out of joint a little (I did a workout Monday but could only get 25 minutes in before I had to stop). 

We did get four big plots resampled; we were out there until just after 10. I think I got a bit of heat exhaustion; at one point I just had to sit down on the ground and I really did wonder if I'd make it back to my car. I feel a little better this evening but still too warm. I have been drinking a lot of water and drank a coconut water at lunch. Hopefully that will prevent any muscle cramps.

It was also hard breathing; I didn't realize we were getting our annual lot of Sahara dust starting to blow in but when I got home and checked, the PM2.5 (the small particulate matter) was a little high and it did look hazy, so that may have been why I was struggling a bit.

I only took one photo out there, of a passionvine:

 * I've mostly been working on the modified feather-and-fan pattern socks, which are knit of a colorway apparently inspired by Basquiat's paintings. I'm liking how it's turning out:

 I do notice that socks with a simple pattern where I need to count rows seem to get worked on more than just-plain socks; I suspect it's that I can see the progress better. I'm already considering patterns for the "vaporwave" yarn I wound off a while back. (I wonder if there is any 80s style lace pattern....)

* I finished Murder as a Fine Art by Carol Carnac (another pen name of Edith Caroline Rivett, who also wrote as ECR Lorac). Again, I wonder why she's an almost-forgotten author; her stories are good and he writing is better than Christie's. I suppose it's the lack of a "celebrity" detective - different books have different CID men or Scotland Yard men rather than some "gifted amateur" or retired soldier or whatever who occurs over many books.

This one is set in the (short lived in the context of the book) Ministry of Fine Art, a post-war program to bring art to the masses, which involved purchasing paintings and sculpture. There was a "loans" department but also others (like an architecture group). My one complaint is there are a LOT of minor characters in the different departments who can be hard to keep straight. The main conceit is a poorly-liked undersecretary (known as "Pompey," after the Roman figure, also as a play on his name) is murdered in a fairly spectacular way (and it was first wondered if it could have been an accident he brought on himself). Later on there are issues of fraud that come out, and.....there's a lot of hunting around in the big old mansion that's become the Ministry. It was pretty interesting in its way; there were the various internecine squabbles almost like in some academic departments (the modern art people vs. the "academic art" people - I had never seen that term applied to the more traditional style of representation art, but apparently that's what they meant). 

It's mostly a "procedural," none of the characters are really very highly developed (and maybe, yes, the average reader would prefer a "big" character like Poirot or Holmes, or from modern movies, Benoit Blanc, to a largely anonymous and undeveloped police sergeant and his underlings. 

(I wonder now though if anyone's drawn a parallel between police procedurals and the old "morality plays," which were designed to reinforce "virtue" or "right thinking" and the characters are less important than the "instruction," most police procedurals follow the "crime is wrong and you will be caught if you commit one" format) 

And some reading

 I finished "Between Two Rivers" (Moudhy Al-Rashid) last night. I enjoyed it. Before reading it, I had known of the existence of cuneiform but I didn't know that it had been used for a number of languages' writing systems, and also, that some of those systems had been pretty well figured out, so some of the tablets can be translated. 

I found the role women played in those societies (as scribes, as priestesses/symbolic wives of the moon god) particularly interesting; a lot of the more "traditional" history I learned in school never discussed that. 

And yes, I did have to put it aside for a couple days during the worst of the "we're going to wipe out Iran" rhetoric, because I was at the point where Al-Rashid discusses the "tell" where thousands of human remains were buried, possibly the victims in a truly cataclysmic battle, and it seems at least plausible that they were actually buried by their enemies (the victorious army), perhaps as a way of avoiding disease transmission.

 And I admit another bit of distress was thinking about the bombing in Iran, and wondering if there are some antiquities that might have provided additional clues to how people lived back then were being obliterated, and that makes me sad.  

And yeah, humans really haven't changed. and that makes me sad. We've had several thousand years, I think, we should be better by now. 

I found the discussion of innovation, and the roles of women in society, and especially Ennigaldi-Nanna, a priestess who may have been fundamentally the first museum curator (in that objects from hundreds or even thousands of years before her time were found in a building she apparently either lived in or managed) a lot more enjoyable and interesting. And then also the idea that in their time, there were things even more ancient than them, as far removed from their time as theirs is from ours. 

I also liked when she spoke just a bit about her small daughter, and how she told her the story of Gilgamesh (adjusted in an age-appropriate way!) and how she saw herself in some of the Babylonian lullabies that had been inscribed somewhere, and spoke of her wonder at seeing a comet (NEOWISE, which I was never able to find a dark enough place with enough space at the horizon for me to see it, and she also saw Hale-Bopp as a child - and I do remember seeing that one, when I was in graduate school)

And so, maybe though the bad parts of humans haven't changed, perhaps the consolation is that the good parts have always been here - love and care for younger ones, and stories, and songs, and the wonder of seeing an astronomical event. 

And she ends the book on what feels to me like a hopeful note, and something I needed to read: "There is something to be said for things that have survived from so long ago, for the clay and mud that tell such a long history that they give some hope for the future. If something ancient is still here, then maybe some part of us will also be thousands of years hence." 

 

I needed to start a new book - I had a dental checkup today, late in the day, and often they get enough behind that you have to wait a while, and waiting without something good to distract me means I am more anxious when I finally get into the chair. So I grabbed a fairly new-to-me book (I saw someone comment about it on Bluesky, it was a topic I'm pretty interested in, and so I ordered a copy from Bookshop): "Hoof Beats" by William T. Taylor. So far, I've read a bit more than the first section of the first "beat" (He arranges it as four "hoofbeats," groups of several chapters that hang together). And I was reminded of a fact I knew, and had passed on to my class, and then worried that I had got it wrong - but I had not: that horses originated in North America (just like camels and elephants did), and then during a period of cooling (lower sea levels; land bridges), crossed over into Asia. Horses here later seem to have gone extinct (perhaps the same early hunters that helped doom some of the other megafauna), but they survived in central Asia, where they were eventually domesticated and even worshipped. 

Years ago I read "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language," and while I don't remember a huge number of details of it, I do remember some of the broad patterns about horse domestication and how important they were, and some of the attempted reconstructions of proto-Indo-European. That kind of early human history (I guess you'd call it anthropology; it predates written language in many cases) is fascinating to me, thinking about how people lived. So I think I'll enjoy this new horse book.  

Monday evening things

*I finished "The Black Spectacles" last night. I admit I lost interest a bit once I knew who did it; the last 20 pages or so was mostly Dr. Fell expounding about what had happened. 

And I guess people never really change: the culprit was someone Fell described as "very clever, and as a result, he felt deserving of (the money he would stand in line to have access to after the murder, and after marrying the one female character in the book. And it was implied he might have later done for her after, if he hadn't been stopped). His "cleverness" surrounded some new electroplating method - so I guess you could say he was a 1930s version of a techbro, and here's where my "people don't change" remark comes in - how much of the destruction we're seeing in a lot of things stems from people who consider themselves "clever" and therefore "deserving" of the power and money they want. Instead of, I don't know, feeling an obligation to try to make the world a better place.

And yes, perhaps the feeling of desert, especially undeserved, is the root of a lot of evil in society - the "I want it and therefore I should have it because I am better than everyone" attitude. 

* Not sure whether to exclusively continue on "Between Two Rivers" or to start a new fiction novel. There is one I have about an enchanted bookshop (I don't remember the author's name; it does have the feel of a YA novel so far, but that's fine) and I wonder if I do want something a little cozy to read for a while. 

* And yes, coziness. I had read about an online trend called "Potato Beds," which are almost a pillow fort of sorts - you take a fitted sheet and put it opening-up, and then fill with pillows and blankets and similar, and the effect is a bed with a "rim" around it, like many dog beds. Some enthusiasts seem to say it makes them sleep better because it's cozy. The Guardian seems to not like the idea much..  

I don't think sleeping flat on the floor would be very comfortable, especially with smaller pillows that can shift (occasionally, in a pinch, when traveling, I've had to wind up sleeping on sofa cushions on the floor, and if you move at all in your sleep you can wind up with an arm pinned between two cushions, or having a leg off on the hard floor. But I DO do a version of this in my own bed - Oh, I have my mattress for support but I do have six (now seven, actually, I bought an even fluffier pillow to use under my head) pillows, and several very large stuffed animals like bolsters on either side (Pfred, the horse, and my big stuffed Discord, and a giant red panda) and of course the various smaller animals. And usually in addition to a quilt or two, one of those fleece blankets in case I get cold during the night. 

And you know? I think the "bolster" nature of it does help me sleep. I think it's because it's a very lizard brain thing - it's like sleeping in a pile of, I don't know, protective dogs or something instead of all alone and cut from the pack like I usually am. And yes, I know it's illusory, but sometimes illusory works on your lizard brain.

* Almost up to the next color change (from blue to green) on the blanket, maybe I work a bit on that before bed tonight. 

 

Thursday evening things

 * back working on the "simple" socks knit of yarn from that UP dyer. The colorway is called "cosmic dust" but it also reminds me a bit of 1980s video-game arcade carpets - black background with bright "neon" or "fluorescent" colors - green, pink, orange, purple, teal. It also has one of those shimmer strands in it. It's fun, and the base yarn it's dyed on is nice, nice and "beefy"

* I'm almost done with "The Black Spectacles" and I admit I'm ready to be done with it. Gideon Fell can get to be a bit much. Or maybe it's just my mood lately. Maybe for the next mystery I need to get one of the Louise Penny books I've not read yet; at least Gamache is less verbose, and there are nice descriptions of good meals in those.

 * That said, I AM enjoying "Between Two Rivers," it's well-written (not dry) and I like thinking about people living thousands of years ago and caring about artifacts that were already ancient to them back then. 

* I'm watching Midsomer Murders. (The programs I usually watch - Ghosts and Elsbeth - weren't on because of Survivor, which I've never been able to care about). The episodes of this are interesting mostly for the culture of the British towns - on this one there's a game, a sort of pub game, called Aunt Sally, where you throw sticks (about the diameter of a broom handle but shorter) at a skittle (they call it a "doll") set on a stand, and you have to knock it off. 

I really care about learning about those little details often more than I do the main plot

* And another book coming soon - I ordered  a copy of "My Work is that of Conservation" which is an "environmental biography" of George Washington Carver. It was referenced in a Metafilter post which was featuring this story from Piecework about Carver - in addition to the other things he did in his life (the peanuts and sweet potato promotion/research everyone knows about, the advocacy for farmers, especially Black farmers, that fewer knew about), he was a crocheter! He learned as a boy, because he was often unwell (he caught whooping cough at a vulnerable age) and often had to spent time indoors with his mother. He kept it up through his life and apparently made gifts for friends. At the end of the article there's even a link to some of the patterns he used.

I knew some of his history and realized I wanted to know more. And there's a historical site dedicated to him that's probably less than a day's drive for me (in Missouri) and maybe if I ever plan a "southwestern Missouri" road trip, I make that one of the things I want to go see. (I enjoy those kind of historical/educational things, more than any kind of "adventure" travel or going posh places)

*Teaching is kind of tiring. Either I got a bit unlucky this semester, or there just are a lot more students struggling emotionally; I find people seem more anxious and I've had people do things like e-mail me multiple times over things. And my lab TA (who teaches a lab section with some of my intro lecture students  in it; I teach a different section of the lab) reported one of my students was crying a little at the end of  class and he didn't know if it was that one of her lab partners was low-level unpleasant to her, or if something more was going on, and so I said I'd keep an eye on her in lecture and see how things are going; it could have been a one-off thing, or maybe she needs a little support.  

It is frustrating because sometimes I get tired and sad myself and I feel like I just have to suck it up and keep going. (There's not a lot of immediate support of that sort for "adults," you have to arrange for (and pay for) things like counseling or shoulder massages or something. And there's not a lot of "little treats" that can be quickly and easily got here in town)

* At least we're past the ice storm, and it looks unlikely we'll get more bad winter weather.  

one more day

 the roads are still super icy so they closed campus for tomorrow. We got above freezing today but not for long, and it was cloudy, so we didn't get much melting.

I'm starting to get cabin feverish and am having 2020 flashbacks. I really hope the roads are okay tomorrow after noon to at least try to go get some fresh fruit. I've been eating stuff out of cans and the freezer, and I have enough food, but I just really want some green grapes.

I did get my garage open, it turned out my suspicion of "what if it dropped hard enough that the catch for the automatic opener re-engaged" - it felt like I had it free but I could NOT raise it manually, so I went and got my little opener and punched it and the door opened. I left it open about 6" just so there's no chance of it freezing to the sill again.

I read some on Pielou's "After the Ice Age" (A natural history of the revegetation of the glaciated areas, at least based on what we knew as of 2000) So I guess I can add that to my book list; I plan to read more tomorrow.

 I am also close to the end of The Black Spectacles. 

It's just that things take longer. I had to put mail out today (bills) so I had to find my Yak Trax because my yard slopes down to the street and I was afraid of falling, and then I had to get them to attach to a pair of shoes, then I had to grab my walking stick for further balance, and then get out there

 

AND THEN THE MAIL TRUCK DIDN'T EVEN STOP EVEN THOUGH I HAD THE FLAG UP BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE ANY INCOMING MAIL. 

and there's not a blue box near enough to brave walking to, so I retrieved it later in the day and will try putting it out again tomorrow. 

Maybe tomorrow I should wind off some yarn. I dug through my accumulated sock yarn and found one I want to knit into the cabled socks in that Interweave Knits Favorite Socks book (and some old, old Fortissima Socka in gray that I want to make into the lace leaf socks in there. But I keep telling myself I have to finish something first...

I really hope campus can be open on Thursday. If this were a "real" semester break I'd be out doing things but the roads here are too bad and it's really not been restful worrying at first about the power staying on, and then my door being sleeted shut, and then the garage not opening, and now wondering when I can get fresh food and if there will be anything in the stores. 

Maybe cataloguing books

 If I can remember to consistently label posts "2026 reading," maybe I'll be able to find them again so I don't stop at the end of the year and go "wharrrgarrbllll I didn't read ANYTHING!" (I do read, I just, sometimes forget what I've read, or I think I read something longer ago than I did. Like, in 2025 I read Pratchett's "Equal Rites" but I was remembering I read it in 2024).

Anyway, maybe I keep better track so I feel less like my brain is running out my ears or something. 

I finished one novel (novella? long story?) already this year - I read Tolkien's "Farmer Giles of Ham." This was presented to me at some point as 'this is a story to make you more hopeful' and I admit the person.....kind of oversold it? It's an entertaining story, basically a fairy story for adults (not to say there's anything INAPPROPRIATE for children, it's just, I think adults, especially over-educated adults, will get the humor more). Mostly it felt like an extended philological joke, with the formal and vulgar languages (Yes I know that was a real thing a thousand or so years ago) and people having names in both, etc. 

And I admit I like that the animals could talk. (At least the dog and the dragon could. The mare seemed to "keep her own counsel" so presumably she could speak but chose not to?")

And yes, there's perhaps a bit of a reflection on greed in there. The dragon has his hoard, he comes to Ham, people want to chase him off, they realize maybe they can grab the treasure if they slay him and also please the King ("Dragon Tail" is a Christmas delicacy but for many years, real tails were unavailable, so it was recreated as a sort of marzipan cake). Then the King sticks his oar in and reminds the people HE would own any treasure recovered.

Anyway, they send out Giles, because (a) he owns a sword that is literally named (in both the Formal and the Vulgar) "Tailbiter" and (b) he previously chased off a rather dim-witted giant by stuffing a blunderbuss (!!! anachronism alert) full of scrap metal and basically peppering the giant's hind end with it

Though the events of (b) are how the dragon came to Ham - the giant told Chrysophylax (the dragon) that there were "no more knights, just stinging flies" in the Middle Kingdom, and that's why the dragon ventured forth. 

 (Aside #1: this reminds me a bit of The Brave Little Tailor and "killed seven with one blow!" even though Giles is not the one boasting here)

 

(Aside #2: Chrysophylax is a banger name for a dragon and I'll have to remember if if/when I get or make another dragon stuffed toy) 

Giles is no fan of this turn of events; he just wants to stay home with his wife and drink beer and banter with his dog. But at least Tailbiter is an ace in the hole, given that it will attack the dragon on its own without Giles' really knowing how to wield it. 

Anyway, there's a lot of palaver, and a lot of knights killed, and Giles manages to talk the dragon into giving up MOST of his hoard, but also "cutting out the middleman" (not reporting back to the king, who would just grab all the loot). Giles becomes a rich man, the dead knights' servants come to work for him, Ham and the surrounding country prosper, Giles becomes a Lord in his little part of the world.

And yet. The one unsatisfying thing to me - though maybe this is more realistic, really - is just how everything is driven by some sort of greed. Maybe Giles is better than most in that he seems to see to it his little slice of the kingdom prospers. But how many problems are created, how much peace is upset, by someone looking at something someone else has and saying "I want, and therefore I should have"?

The edition I had had the nice Pauline Baynes illustrations in it. Apparently someone else did an earlier edition and Tolkien did NOT like those, preferring the ones Baynes did. It also has another story - Smith of Wooton Manner, which I intend to read some time.

 

I'm also currently reading "The Black Spectacles" (Apparently published here as "The Green Capsule") by John Dickson Carr. Another murder mystery, this one triggered by poisoned chocolates but also involving the poisoning death of a man who wants to try to "prove" that someone suspected of the original poisonings did not do them. I'm not very far in yet.

 It's a Gideon Fell novel, and I like Fell as a character; I hope he shows up soon. I admit the poisoning plot affects me more than it might have a few years ago; I have less of a stomach for murder mysteries now when the world seems more dangerous than it once did to me.

 

I put aside "Trojan Gold" yet again - it's, kind of.....I might call it an "airport novel." It's a thriller, not particularly well written and I feel like the author doesn't particularly worry about verisimilitude. And also, whoo, some of the characters have active, uh, love lives, makes you wonder how they got any work done. I might return to it but I prefer the Carr novel for now.