FYI

A quick little plea from the heart before I find my anti-histamine pills (as close as I get to sleeping pills) and drown them with decaf tea: Please do not text me before 11am UK time.

I really need my sleep these days and it's so difficult to come by.

I find it unusually difficult to fall asleep these days and if I'm woken up by an unusual noise - somebody knocking on the door, the phone ringing or, yes, a text message - I'm awake. Some days I manage to nap. Most days I do not.

Why do I keep my mobile by my bed? Firstly, because there might be an emergency and people should definitely contact me then! Secondly, because I might wake up feeling very bad and I need to be able to contact the outside world.

I love hearing from my friends but I also need to be able to function. And I need an enormous amount of sleep in order to function, alas.

Now I do hope that I'll be able to get back to sleep soon because I have a brain scan lined up for today..

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Stick A Fork In It

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Today is World Wide Knitting In Public Day. That means I'll be bringing my needles and wool to the F.O.R.K. Gala (as well as a rug and a book and my patient Other Half). Meanwhile, The G delivers a deliberately misguided attack on crafters. I'm slightly disappointed.

I've been reading up on D&D 4.0 and so far it sounds intriguing - particularly the "streamlining of skills" bit which was something which always frustrated me somewhat with previous editions. It didn't feel entirely intuitive that certain skills - say Climb and Tumble - weren't connected (although 3.0 introduced the idea of synergy). I understand the new set of rules have implications for magic users but as I have never been massive on magic (I think I've only had one magic-using PC), it is not such a massive thing for me. You gamers out there, what is your take? Are you going to convert to 4.0 or are you holding on to previous editions?

Finally, because I can, here's something for the easily amused amongst you (and also me).

Ghost Tree

The other day we went for a stroll along the river and saw a ghostly tree. It stood out like a sore thumb around the rich, green foliage: it was completely white with no leaves.

We walked closer trying to find out what it was: was it an art statement or maybe an act of vandalism? We were busy discussing various possibilities but as we got closer, we fell completely silent.

The tree was covered in a web of white silky strands. And it was alive.

It was alive in more than one sense of the word. It was alive with tiny caterpillars crawling all over it. The grass area surrounding the tree was yellow - that is, the part of the lawn which was infected by caterpillars. Tent caterpillars, to be precise.


The local birds were quite enamoured by this tree and happily swooped down for an extra juicy caterpillar or two whilst completely ignoring the two foolish humans below. One bullfinch even posed for a photo or two whilst enjoying the caterpillar buffet.

And at home the internet provided us with answers and I realised that things could be a lot creepier than just a single ghost tree down by the river.

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Just Call Me Ariadne

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Friday afternoon I went through my yarn stash and decided to give some of it to charity. Okay, so it was some not-really-funky cheap acrylic novelty yarn that I picked up at the beginning of my knitting career (i.e. February), but it doesn't matter if the destashed yarn was cheap and nasty - I destashed yarn. I have also put myself on a strict yarn-diet after a very sinful yarn excursion with a handknitted pirate last weekend.

So here's what I'm not buying:
+ Natalie Yarn Yard's Wicked laceweight in grey-white-pink.
+ 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Aran in shade 11
+ 6 hanks of worsted merino wool in shade "Forest"

On a different note, I'm amused to see that I'm currently numero duo in Google's search for "fourth edition". I'm pretty sure that won't last very long seeing as D&D 4thEd is about to make serious business. Hey, this might be a really great time to re-purchase all the D&D 3.5 stuff that I gave away when I moved to Scotland..What did I say about not spending any money? Ebay, here I come..

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When I Say Bad, I Mean BAD

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Danish blogger Emme has a category of books she calls "matadormix" - "mixed candy". These books do not ask much of you as a reader: they're easy to zip through, leave you feeling slightly bloated if you overindulge and there's a bit of everything in them. "Mixed candy", indeed. These past few days I've made my way through such books.

Background: I do have a pronounced weakness for regency romances for which I blame my mother (who has an almost completely collection of Barbara Cartland's books). I also grew up on a heady diet of Jane Austen and fashion history*. When I encountered my first Georgette Heyer, I was clearly doomed. Heyer wrote sharp-witted books filled to the brim with historical costume design details, eccentric characters and frothy plots.

Unfortunately, most regency writers are not Georgette Heyer. And even more unfortunately, I have not been reading Heyer. I've been reading atrocious, atrocious books involving dead clairvoyants, pervy lords, stupid heroines, serialised novels .. oh, and a kitchen sink too. I feel bloated and unhealthy now. Time for something a bit more fibrous: Heyer, here I come.

(* indeed, I neglected studying for my third grade history exam because I was convinced my superior knowledge of fashion history would dazzle my teacher. Sadly I was given a question on Iron Age agriculture)