Robin McKinley's Blog, page 199

Guest post by Jeanne Marie

Of Music History, Kittens and Final Exams

 

I recently had a conversation with a former student of mine, who has gone on to an undergrad degree in Vocal Music,* regarding her schedule for the upcoming year, in which Music History class will play a prominent role.  That took me back –ahem– a number of years to my own days in Music History class… 

My Music History professor was a very fun and slightly outlandish guy in his 60s, who was fond of driving his teal blue Mustang convertible with the top do

Ooooh

 

Look what came in the post today. 

It must have been a really good day.*

            It all began last week when a visitor put his hand through the holes at the ends of Peter's oven cloth—you know, those long double-ended mitt things—and burnt himself on what he was trying to pick up.  He turned to me and said severely, Peter needs a new oven cloth.  And no, this is not a grotesque and shocking example of 21st century sexism, didn't we leave all that behind in the '70's?**   It's a clear-eyed, pr

Comforting food

 

I have been hammering my few remaining brains on PEGASUS today* and am feeling in the need of comfort food.  Which is to say high calorie and low social redemption factor.

                You are probably all aware that the first world generally seems to be piling on the pounds—the UK** and the USA certainly are—we're all spending too much time at our computers and not enough of us have hellhounds to hurtle.   As someone whose physical self is just as cranky as her mental*** the balancing act am

In which the gods are not kind

I didn't get to London.*  I can pretty much only get up off the sofa if I do it slowly.  With pauses to rest. 

And not one but two sets of proofs** have arrived to be read in the next forty-eight and a half hours (approximately).  Hey, you can lie on the sofa and read proofs.  Why don't I feel happy? 

And so, since I'm not in a very good mood anyway, and because I am lying here thinking about health, and because the size, extent and totally insane details of the row about Obamacare amazes me***, I

Interesting weather

 

 Unfortunately we had to turn left at this point.  We've been having one of those 'mostly dry but with sudden sharp showers' days.*  This morning when we went out I squinted at the sky and thought we would get away with it.  And we went striding along under blue sky with a pleasant light breeze despite the hot sun and all was well.  But then as we slowly bent round to come back to where we started, we discovered that the big black stuff had been chasing us, and was now between us and Wolfgang. 

Rubbish

 

Last night I started sweeping myself (and hellhounds) together to go back to the cottage late even by my standards.  All that drivelling about music on the blog yesterday, on top of having had an actual breathing musician with a violin in residence for the two days before, positively forced me to the piano as if fired from a slingshot.*

             I tore myself away at last, and I was rounding the end of the kitchen table and aiming for the All Stars and hellhound leads and saw . . . the flowe

Music, various

 

 Every Sunday morning 8:45 service ring gets earlier.  Although it's particularly early on mornings that it's already hot by 8:45, like today.* 

            There were five of us to begin with, five being the magic number for ringing real methods rather than Dreaded Minimus on four, although doubles methods on five are a little volatile because you should have a sixth ringing tenor-behind.  But the interesting thing about today is that it was four of our good ringers—and me.  Our three weakest r

Guest blog by Jodi Meadows

An epic adventure of socks and spindles and fanciness

Part one: THE YARNING

by Jodi Meadows, aged twenty-six and three and a half months

For years, I have loved yarn. It's so soft, and it does these crazy things when you stab it with needles, or hang it with crochet hooks. Yarn violence has been a big part of my life since I was fourteen and my mom gave me my first crochet hook. (Okay, there was a pause for things like school, work, getting married, but eventually I did rediscover my love for yarn.

And a Fabulous Friday

 

I am eating sweetcorn/corn on the cob the way corn was meant to be straight out of Peter's vegetable patch and into the steamer, and having rung a Perfect Touch of Stedman doubles tonight at practise.*  It doesn't get much better.   And while it's a difficult philosophical point, I think I will accept that successful touches of Stedman doubles are, for me, an acceptable trade-off for the absence of Maine wild-blueberry pie, which sweetcorn always makes me think wistfully of.**  

So Peter and I w

Another Thrilling Thursday

 

I am indecently tired.  It shouldn't be allowed.  Here, Mr* Policeperson, please arrest my red blood corpuscles, they are staging a lie-in and I have hellhounds to hurtle** and a novel to finish.

                     It is, however, remarkably tiring, sitting in your dentist's glossy high tech office with the £100,000,000 river view that you are subsidizing, and listening to him list all the things all the things alllllllllllllll the things that need to be done.  What does that cost, I say at in