a plea

It rained all night.
All night!
I may take my sister's approach and give an offering to the snow Gods.

My lymph-nodes are swollen and I might call up the ol' doctor and see about getting in to have a quick look to make sure I do not have what the experts call, "the strep". It has been sometime since I have had strep. My body knows that there is health insurance near by so it is taking full advantage.

Yesterday I was in this tiny little used bookshop I like. It is run by this a nice couple (the woman is Russian I believe) and they have a tiny daughter named Fiona who runs about smiling at people. I was looking at their antique book collection. They had a first edition of Madeleine that still had the original dust jacket. The price? 475 dollars. I kid you not. It was in great shape. They had a number of beautiful books like that. Oh how I wished to handle that book. But it would be dangerous. I read a book sometime back all about the obsessive and dangerous world of book collecting. The couple who wrote the book started off simply when they were looking for an early edition of one book for a birthday present and it then lead down the road to abandon. They met a wide variety of people and sellers showed them some of the most rare jewels of the literary world. I recall in the book one seller showed them an early edition of Ulysses that was oddly shaped and it was specifically bound and published that way so it could slip past the eyes of the U.S. customs official back when the book was banned here. I have run across people who have dropped a cool thousand or two on just one book. It is a sort of gold fever. There is a certain pleasure in finding books that are worth something that you have in your collection that you acquired when it wasn't worth all that much. (My Mother seems to have a knack for that one)

Last night seemed an appropriate night to have certain kinds of comfort food. I made a lovely potato gratin and omelettes that had mushrooms, green onions, bits of sausage and a nice sharp cheddar. Not too full of things but just enough to fill up a person. Add that with the bordeaux we received as a gift it made for a rosy dinner.
Tonight? not a clue.
yet.

a liberal moans.

Trying to find my brother a semi-cheap flight home is proving to be quite the task. I admit it is leaving me rather exhausted! But I must be patient. Rising fuel costs and the like are causing prices to go up. But I can still be slightly grumpy. Yeah.


And all those supposed discount airfare websites? Bullshit. You tend to find better prices booking directly through the airline. What is that about?

(no subject)

Stan Berenstain died.

what I accomplish while I am sick as a dog.

Fear me and my amazing reference skills. I searched high and I searched low and I tried all kinds of things and in the end I found my brother a flight home from New York to Seattle for 350 bucks. (fees and taxes included)
Thankyouverymuch.
And the flight times are reasonable. He does have a red-eye home but he usually takes one back when he flies out here.

Phew. One less worry.

I made my very first Christmas cake today. It is essentially a fruitcake. I normally abhor most fruitcake but this is quite good. I just removed it from the oven and then I will skewer the cake and pour brandy all over it and then I shall wrap it up in parchment paper and store it for a few weeks. Which will give the cake time to absorb the brandy and preserve the cake. Then I shall wrap the cake in marzipan and frost with a royal icing. Once that is complete I will decorate it with a winter scene. We will eat it late Christmas afternoon after a lot of food and drinks. *hiccup*

After that thrilling excitement I have also been filling out Christmas cards so I believe the first batch will go out in a day or two.

Busy, busy, busy.