flemmings | Reading

This is a strange old memory to find me now, when everything is cold and dark. If I lie close to the fire my back is freezing, if I move away all of me is freezing. It reminds me of Mrs Plunkett’s boarding house close to Clonegal Castle down in the South East of Ireland many years ago. Olivia Durdin-Robertson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_Robertson) aunt to the baron and excellent friend lived at the castle. We spent much time together in the castle and gardens on the doorstep of Narnia, and it was wonderful, but that's not what memory shows me now. Now what I see is Mrs Plunkett’s boarding house nearby, well meaning but dark and very cold. In my room there was a big basket full of cut up slabs of peat, and these I would burn as best I could in the hearth. Small light and sullen heat! Still, bless Mrs Plunkett's strange generosity, if I used up every peat square in a night, the basket would be full the next, so I never ran out of these exercises in futility. I was so unsuccessful I wondered if there was a special method for making peat burn well, but have never heard of one to this day.

Mrs Plunkett’s was said to be haunted but then so was everywhere else. For sure I got little sleep with that dim fire and the chill wracking my bones, but as to the clanking chains and the ominous dread recounted by friends, all I ever really felt there was bloody cold. I never felt that strange stillness I associate with something nearby. And I wonder why it is I remember Olivia today.

james_davis_nicoll

Experience the trip of a lifetime — without having to deal with planes, passports, or other tourists...

RPG Tourism: Five Games To Help You Travel Vicariously

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2025/11/13/the-christmas-market-works-on-several-levels/

mallorys_camera

"I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but if I were, I'd be thinking how absolutely convenient it is for Trump that Virginia Giuffre 'suicided,' you know?" I said.

I was talking to Richard, a sharp-as-a-tack vintner-cum-political scientist in his late eighties. We were at Adrienne-&-Joey's Victory Party—a party that in my opinion, was absolutely justified: Adrienne only lost by 43 votes & will be running again next year because they're switching all local elections in New York State to even years.

"John LeCarré fan, are you?" Richard chuckled. "Well, I don't think you're wrong."

"Plus, I mean, 'the dog that hasn't barked?'"

"Sherlock Holmes reference," Richard said. "The curious incident of the dog in the night time."

"That didn't bark because he knew the culprit," I agreed. "I kinda think that's the weirdest thing of all—that the juvenile Jeffrey Epstein was once a Sherlock Holmes fanboy."

###

The party took place at an old biker bar, the Owl, which has been repurposed as a farm-to-table restaurant called One With Land (so they could keep the OWL signage.) Owner is a Michelin star chef who relocated a couple of years ago from Brooklyn, & I gotta say, the menu was beyond fabulous, course after course of the most amazing food. Standouts were: crostino with whipped ricotta, charred brussels sprouts with a maple syrup glaze, an amazing fusilli that I don't even know what was in it, and fresh doughnuts, still warm, with a Nutella drizzle. There were tons of other dishes, too. Really, really good restaurant. There were about 35 of us packed around two long, family-style tables, oh so Southern Mediterreanean.

###

Other conversational standouts:

Nancy (my old canvassing partner): Take lots of photographs! You're such a good photographer!

Me: :::demurring sounds meant to convey modesty:::

Nancy: No, really! I was just telling my husband yesterday—I want that photo you took of me at the tea party to be used in my obituary!

The photo in question:

Nancy, by the way, is 78 and runs four miles a day, so it doesn't take much to make her look good.

###

At the end of the party when pretty much everyone but me & Adrienne (with whom I'd hitched a ride since I don't drive at night) had departed.

Joey: This is my favorite part of any party. When it's winding down.

Me: You must be an introvert!

Joey: I am an introvert!

Me: That makes the fact that you rose to the call and actually ran for office all the more impressive!

Joey is actually one of the few Shawangunk Dems who's under the age of 40, so you know. We need more of him & fewer of us!

Here's Joey & the engaging Richard with whom I bantered in Paragraph 1:

All in all, quite the delightful evening, and it completely broke my mood of the past few days, which had been very peevish and borderline-y indeed—-like I wanted to track down people from my past & just randomly spew insults at them, never a good thing to do or even spend much time fantasizing about.

james_davis_nicoll

Bold conspirators conceal a serious crime by committing a far more serious one.

Testimony of Mute Things (Penric & Desdemona, volume 15) by Lois McMaster Bujold

dine

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sovay

In news of the day that was not technological balls,

spatch let me know that despite the best efforts of the American federal government, the tradition of the Christmas tree gifted by the province of Nova Scotia to the city of Boston in recognition of its aid after the Halifax Explosion continues. We had worried. Apparently so had Mayor Wu, who made a point of traveling for the first time in the tradition's history to the tree-cutting ceremony and taking part in it herself. Fingers crossed for the tree-lighting, whose centenary we wandered into in 2017 and wandered out again wondering why no one was singing Stan Rogers. Today was also the fifty-fifth anniversary of the exploding whale.

Current Music: Stan Rogers, "Watching the Apples Grow"

ismo

I decided before I started out that I wasn't going to take Madame out today. It was a chilly and blustery day, with the leaves whirling in the wind, and long waves of grey cloud rolling over the sun, and in addition to that, I was just tired and didn't feel up to all the ins and outs of getting Madame to a destination. I stopped at a coffee shop and got lattes and a snack of quiche and fruit for both of us before going. When I arrived, she was asleep in her chair. I didn't want to startle her, so I just came in quietly and sat down. When she woke up on her own, she was only mildly surprised to see me. I think she was disappointed not to go out, but cheered up when a staff member offered to bring her lunch on a tray. That seemed like a nice thing to her. I always take such pains not to offer her dishes with meat in them, so I was amused that her lunch included a breaded chicken cutlet that she ate without a second thought. She said it was good, and wondered what it could be. I didn't enlighten her. I just ate my veggie filled quiche. The piece I had meant for Madame stayed in the bag and was ultimately consumed by the Sparrowhawk.

We had a nice chat, and she enjoyed her coffee. We had to have the sad conversation about which family members are still alive, again. This time she was worried about her daughter, who she always refers to as her sister. Her actual sister is in fact dead, so I waited for some more clues before answering the question! As I thought, she meant her daughter, mother of the adorable baby, so I was happy to assure her that Mademoiselle was quite well and would undoubtedly come to see her soon. She is also still put out by not having her phone. Mademoiselle is doing something about that, but hasn't been able to arrange it yet, so every time I'm there I get thinly veiled hints that I should take her out to buy a new phone! This time I wiggled out of it by reminding her that she would have to know which phone service she was using, because you wouldn't want to sign up with more than one and have to pay twice. Being brought up Dutch, she is quite frugal, so that gave her pause. When I got up to go, she said she would walk me down the hall to the door. However, she only made it halfway. Then she said her arms hurt too much, and she would just watch me go. I turned and waved as I went out the door, and she waved back.

I stopped at the pharmacy in the grocery store on the way home, to see if they had the prescription that was supposed to be ready on Monday. They hadn't even started on it yet. I took advantage of the wait time to nip over and get some bok choy, lettuce, a cucumber, and a bunch of leeks. When I came back, the pharmacist noticed my basket and remarked that she loved bok choy. "And what else is that you have? Is that leeks?" I said yes, I was going to put chicken in the stir fry with bok choy, and then boil the bones and make soup with the leeks. "Oh! You are my kind of woman!" she exclaimed. "That is just what I would do. Now I'm feeling so inspired to make soup." I guess it's always good to make a friend of your pharmacist. . . .

lebateleur

I usually have a half-month lull after October, but somehow this week managed to be even busier (how?). That said, I did manage to read a good number of things, namely:

What I Finished Reading This Week

Embers of the Hands – Eleanor Barraclough
In Embers of the Hands, Eleanor Barralough sets out to recount the history of the Viking Age through what the archaeological and written record can tell us about the people history "forgot": commoners versus kings and warriors; women and children versus men; the enslaved versus the free; and about the activities of everyday life: falling in (un)requited love, religious belief, play, and homemaking, among others. She does this very, very well, with clear prose; a commitment to making clear what's fact, what's conjecture, and what's just not known; a wickedly mischievous sense of humor, and a true love for the subject. The section on Omfim the artist (just read it!) is just charming. This book is an absolute treasure and worth multiple reads.

I Will Blossom Anyway – Disha Bose
I Will Blossom Anyway is a strong contender to be the best novel I've read in 2025. Bose is a phenomenal observer of human beings: these are some of the most fully-rounded characters I've encountered in recent memory. They have strengths, flaws, and blind spots; they think and act in believable ways; they grow. Her depictions of the exhilaration, confusion, and immaturity of early 20's independence and interpersonal relationships are spot-on, as are her depictions of Bengali family dynamics and the good and bad of being an immigrant professional far from home. I'm not saying anything specific about the plot and that's deliberate: there are some real emotional gut punches in this book and they should be encountered exactly as the characters do--with no forewarning. Moreover; Bose sets up a lot of the common tropes and beats and then completely subverts them in ways readers will not expect precisely because she avoids the easy character or plot progressions that leave you grousing "But no one would actually say/do/react like that IRL!" and it is so, so, fun.

TL;DR--this book is so well-written and satisfying; read it.

The Happiness Files – Arthur Brooks
Per its promotional blurb, "Imagine if your life were a startup. How would you lead it and shape it to be most successful?" is the question that underpins the writing of The Happiness Files. Ironically, this book is at its best when Brooks is writing for a general audience versus the sort of people who found and run start-ups (who are apparently emotional imbeciles judging from how Brooks does write for them; namely, as though he were confronting a toddler having a Big Emotions meltdown in the supermarket.)

Luckily, those sections occur toward the front of the book and are soon out of the way, and the rest is quite readable and enjoyable. Much of what Brooks discusses in the volume's 33 3-to-5 page chapters is common sense (e.g., don't hold pointless meetings; don't give disingenuous compliments; focus on having experiences versus acquiring money, and on making progress toward goals versus having achieved them) but it can be helpful to have these things stated outright, and Brooks has a knack for making the point without belaboring it. There is a Christian bent to some of the examples he uses, but it's not particularly heavy-handed, and far more of the book's content is grounded in scientific studies (thankfully endnoted should readers want to follow up on them).

TL;DR - This is a solid book of grounded advice on how to live in a way that fosters contentedness and satisfaction in your personal and professional life.

What I Am Currently Reading

Shield Maiden - Sharon Emmerichs
As a wish-fulfillment fantasy it's great, but oh god, Emmerichs' attempts at diversity and representation are dire.

What I'm Reading Next

This week I acquired Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo, Swiz by Alex Daniels et al., Shield Maiden by Sharon Emmerichs, and Nimona by Noelle Stevenson.

これで以上です。

sovay

Does anyone know how to remove the floating Copilot button from a version of Microsoft Word on which I disabled all so-called connected experiences the day I bought the new license more than two years ago and which has nonetheless just sneakily updated itself so that I have an AI-inducing rainbow-colored heartworm constantly keeping pace in the down right corner of the document, blocking out text which I am trying to write? I have looked for suggestions online and most of them seem to require preference options not available in my Mac. But what I need in a Word document is words and nothing else and I cannot deal with a planet-killing visual fault in the middle of them, on top of which the fact that this obscenity can be intruded into my software makes me want to headline the news for the disappearance of the Roko's basilisk boys who put it there. If a program is on my computer, the only person who should be able to tinker with it is me. I am not even eloquent, I am so furious. Any actionable suggestions would be appreciated.

[ETA 2025-11-12 22:23] JESUS CHRIST AFTER AN EVENING ON THE PHONE WITH APPLE SUPPORT WHICH WAS FLABBERGASTED BY THE PROBLEM AND NO SUPPORT WHATSOEVER FROM MICROSOFT I FIXED THE PROBLEM MYSELF WITH A CLEAN INSTALL OF PRE-COPILOT MICROSOFT WORD BECAUSE I NEVER THREW AWAY THE ORIGINAL INSTALL PACKAGE FROM 2023 IT WAS STILL IN MY TRASH I SHOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO REINSTALL FROM MY LITERAL TRASH WELCOME TO 2025

Current Music: Dropkick Murphys, "Straight Edge (I Liked You Better)"

oursin

What I read

Well, most of the time it was One Clear Call, which had (as had preceding volumes) a certain amount of resonance with contemporary events.

Read The Scribbler Annual no 1, which was a change of pace.

On the go

Dipped a bit more into Some Men in London, 1960-1967.

Started the final book in my review pile, which is pretty good though also raises, I think, some interesting points for discussion. (And as a rather tangential thought, during the heyday of lesbian murder mysteries from feminist presses, were there any set in wymmynz communes?)

Have also started a re-read of The Golden Notebook - given how long it is since I last read it, so much seems very familiar.

Up next

Still haven't got to the latest Literary Review. Otherwise, dunno.

james_davis_nicoll

39 Mythos-history-fringe-weird treatises from Pelgrane Press.

Bundle of Holding: Ken Writes About Stuff

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Posted by fromtheheartofeurope

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/wednesday-reading-125/

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/?p=64344

Current
The Great Hunger, by Cecil Woodham-Smith
The Year Before Yesterday, by Brian W. Aldiss

Last books finished
Time Zero, by Justin Richards
Madame Prosecutor, by Carla del Ponte
The Good Wife of Bath, by Karen Brooks (did not finish)
The Spark that Survived, by Myra Lewis Williams
Salvage, by Emily Tesh
Doctor Who: Empire of Death, by Scott Handcock
Gitanjali, by Rabindranath Tagore

Next books
How God Works: The Science Behind the Benefits of Religion, by David DeSteno
Amongst Our Weapons, by Ben Aaronovitch
An Experiment with Time, by J. W Dunne

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/wednesday-reading-125/

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/?p=64344

james_davis_nicoll

The 1997 Second Edition of Over the Edge, the acclaimed Atlas Games tabletop roleplaying game of surreal danger on the conspiracy-ridden, reality-bending Mediterranean island of Al Amarja, and more.

Bundle of Holding: Over the Edge 2E (From 2014)

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2025/11/12/21c-2026/

james_davis_nicoll

Ryudo Konosuke wakes in a fog, covered in wounds whose cause he does not recall and a haunting feeling he forgot something else very important.

Steel of the Celestial Shadows, volume 2 by Daruma Matsuura (Translated by Caleb D. Cook)

sovay

Tragedy: I saw this afternoon a late eighteenth-century frock coat in olive-green broadcloth that I could not heist because it had been tailored for a smaller man than myself. It was in the Concord Museum, where

fleurdelis41 and I had gone specifically for Transformed by Revolution but the TARDIS-like galleries winding inside the externally compact brick and slate-roofed buildings were too compelling to breeze through, especially when filled with items like the Musketaquid-turtle formed of ten thousand stone years or the small brass-foxed mirror that belonged to a man who died free or a collection of objects once in the possession of Thoreau that I had no idea anyone had preserved, like a wooden box for geological specimens or a DIY Aeolian harp. A copper kettle that belonged to Louisa May Alcott. Flints dug up from the lines of battle at the not yet Old North Bridge. Embroidered scenes of the Book of Esther. A musket that was high-tech enough for the militia but not for the Continental Army. A lace-trimmed gown of India cotton in the Empire style. The gallery devoted to the Battles of Lexington and Concord was audiovisual without eliding the tactile artifacts of powder horns and flintlocks and a lantern of the Old North Church. The modern quilt was as resonant as the stone tool island. I liked the display inviting the visitor to guess from their textures the difference between imported and homemade textiles, of which the silk and the superfine were not the latter. I liked, too, Elizabeth Wentworth Roberts' Unloading Boats (1912). By our own estimate, it was our first time hanging out in person in four years. I left the gift shop with Nathaniel Hawthorne's Twenty Days with Julian & Little Bunny by Papa (1851/2003) and a guide to trees by their leaves.

Current Music: The Last Dinner Party, "Woman Is a Tree"

dine

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taz_39

**Disclaimer** The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer. DO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thank you.

This post covers Monday and Tuesday.

--- --- --- --- --- ---

MONDAY

Our first Golden Day in quite a while!

I was up early knowing that I wanted to look for a blazer/tux jacket, and that this would take more time than it ought to, lol. After breakfast I Ubered to Snooty Booty Mall where I met with an associate from Nordstrom. Not surprisingly, despite having told her that I needed a black tux jacket for a concert, she had pulled lots of things that were nowhere near that description. Cropped jackets with faux gemstone buttons; grayish or blueish jackets; a few with pinstripes; several with fashionable crumpled 3/4 sleeves. There was I think one jacket that might have worked with significant tailoring, but all of the others I could see at a glance were not what I needed. I felt bad to have wasted her time, but to be fair I had described exactly what I was looking for, plus pictures, well before the appointment.

Anyway, I visited Zara, Macy's, Dillards, and Aritzia. Some things came kinda close, but none close enough to convince me to buy. After two hours of hunting I threw in the towel and Ubered to Verna Cafe.

(stock image of the cafe)

It looks just like a house...it IS a house. But with a cozy little bar and dining room. It was very slow; there was only one family in there and they were finishing up as I came in. There were two gentlemen running the bar and kitchen, and after looking up their pictures later I am 99% sure that they were the owners, Beau and Connor. I had a seat at the corner of the bar and felt welcome and warm. Outside flurries started coming down, and that made my heart flutter in a good way :)

I had wanted the miso pecan overnight oats, but they were out! That's ok, their menu is so intriguing that I'd already planned to come back twice. Today I went with the NOLA Rice Cakes: Crispy Cajun-seasoned rice cakes topped with crab Rangoon, a soft-boiled egg, chili mayo, and Japanese seasonings.

It was very much just as good as it looked. The texture of the rice was SO COOL, crispy on the outside and soft sushi rice on the inside. The crab Rangoon is an extra charge but it is SO worth it. And the molten egg yolk...perfect. I immediately shared a pic to the tour foodie group. Now I can't WAIT to enjoy another meal here later in the week!

When I was finished, bundled up and stepped outside into my first flurries of this winter. How lovely!

Watch on YouTube

There was a Buffalo Exchange thrift store just a few blocks away so I walked there and poked around a bit. Walked to a vintage clothing store that turned out to be mostly menswear. It was only two miles to the hotel and normally would have walked, but with the 18mph windchill it was 25°F (-3.8°C) and me without a coat. I didn't want to brave that cold for 40 minutes. Yet another Uber. At least they're relatively cheap here.

Back at the hotel I was pleased to see that they'd serviced my room (I'd taken the Do Not Disturb tag down and forgotten I'd done so, so it was a pleasant surprise.) I warmed up with a half-glass of cheap wine and watched a video on mandolinist Chris Thile that Jameson had sent me. Feeling burnt out about the suit jacket, I ordered one from a band/chorus uniform supply company to arrive in San Antonio. It looks like this:

(image courtesy Southeastern Performance Apparel)

I would probably wear it with a black shirt so that I don't have to get a bow tie. If am lucky it will mostly-fit, then I can get it tailored in San Antonio and bring in to Candlelight rehearsal with me. Alternatively, I've made an appointment for a consult at Indochino's Nashville location later in the week. They do make women's jackets but I still expect them to be out of my price range and/or that they wouldn't be able to have something ready for me in the next 12 days. At least I can say I really did try everything!

One of our Chip kids will be leaving the tour after this city, and there was a nice going away party for them in the rooftop bar. I popped in just to wish them well but didn't stay long. Social circles had already formed, and I've never understood how to break into one of those.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TUESDAY

Slept in (for me that's 8:30am), had breakfast, worked on Dallas Foodie Finds. Dallas is another city where half the musicians are laid off for Union rules, so I am sad to miss out, womp womp. But on the upside, it does give me time to spend with Jameson and enjoy Christmas and New Years with him!! I feel better just thinking about it :)

I considered going to the grocery, or to Music Row, or doing laundry...thought about all these things and did nothing. It was Veterans Day, a lot of places were closed or had reduced hours, and it was still very cold out. And so it became a bed rot day. Watched movies and YouTube videos, read some books, chatted with Jameson, at one point went to the lobby to fetch quarters for laundry. Cancelled my Indochino appointment because upon more careful consideration I'm not willing to pay for another Uber just to get to the store and find out they can't do anything for me.

I packed dinner to bring to the theater because Haley (Hair/Makeup) was giving me a haircut today!
I walked over early to put together my instruments and fill my water bottle, then found Hair/Makeup. Haley was quick and efficient and very good at cutting hair; we chatted while she worked and I got to know her a little better :) She ended up taking off about an inch and a half. It looks about the same as before, this was just a trim.

The evening show went well, and I was startled when what seemed like the whole first row popped up out of their seats to give a standing O after Be Our Guest! Turns out our Belle had something like 30 family and friends in the audience tonight! It was great to see and feel the enthusiasm.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday: Getting up early to go to Verna for breakfast! From there walking to get groceries, back to the hotel to do laundry and watch Hazbin Hotel. One show in the evening.

Thursday: No plans as yet, one show in the evening.

james_davis_nicoll

BEIJING, Nov 5 (Reuters) - China's Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of space debris, the country's human spaceflight agency said on Wednesday, an unusual situation that could disrupt the operation of the country's space station Tiangong.

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The rodents are running hurrah! hurrah!

Reading

Mrs Plunkett 's Boarding House

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Testimony of Mute Things (Penric & Desdemona, volume 15) by Lois McMaster Bujold

today was a very stupid day but I have faith tomorrow will be stupider

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Bundle of Holding: Ken Writes About Stuff

Wednesday reading

Bundle of Holding: Over the Edge 2E (From 2014)

21C 2026

Steel of the Celestial Shadows, volume 2 by Daruma Matsuura (Translated by Caleb D. Cook)

Oysters, shards of glass from the sea

I was told there would be no math

Nashville, TN 2025 Week 2 part 1: Golden Day, Bed Rot Day

China's Shenzhou-20 return mission delayed due to space debris impact

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