Wednesday, February 13, 2019


Not an entirely negligible day, except for lack of exercise. I did, by recent measure, quite a bit of knitting – I’ve reached the final increase row on the back of the Stronachlachar. It’s not all that much further to the shoulder.

And I made a good start on the Italian gerundive. Friday evening (homework time) should be less stressful this week.

I finished watching Andrew&Andrea 71: I am more than somewhat alarmed by her recent enthusiasm for crochet. I’ve nothing much against the craft per se: I’ve done it myself, and enjoyed it. But I’d hate to see too much of this excellent program devoted to it.

Annie Modesitt is blogging a bit more – that’s good. Her oncologist has congratulated her on being cancer-free, but she still feels dreadful. I wish she understood the difference between “lie” and “lay”. Jane Crow made that mistake in her interview with Andrea in episode 71. I suspect they have history on their side – in another 100 years or so, those verbs will have merged. But for now, it offends my pedantic ear to hear them confused.

Blame my mother, who had a firm grasp of English grammar, and also of family relationships: how to work out who was whose second cousin once removed.

Non-knit

It’s good to have you back, Mary Lou. The NHS largely took care of the problem you have been attending to – the morphine of the last few days was retrieved very briskly indeed after my husband’s death, and the equipment not much later. They seemed pleased with the donation of things we had provided ourselves – a wheelchair and some cardboard urinals.

Tamar, no – the lovely lace shawl in the Dundee V&A was attractively displayed, wrapped around the shoulders of a display model, but not stretched out so that you could study the pattern.

I have been trying to find my way back to the Penguin Reading Challenge. I seem to have got it – Virginia Woolf, In Cold Blood, Shirley Jackson, Persuasion: but there’s no mention of Cousin Phillis any more. (Shandy: Steerforth? What do you mean? He seems to be a character in David Copperfield.)  I have finished Cousin Phillis – lovely! – and am well back into “Persuasion”.

7 comments:

  1. Cousin Phillis was never on the Penguin challenge; before we got going I thought of skipping Persuasion as I had read it so recently and chose a random Gaskell instead - but I'm very much enjoying Persuasion after all. I've just completed a free online course called How to Read a Novel, offered by www.futurelearn; I've never studied lit. so am making up for it now.

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  2. I'm thinking of the fate of Little Em'ly, Mr Peggotty et al.

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  3. I think that Persuasion is my favorite Austen. I had a long discussion with my friend while we were driving around donating carts and dropping off medicine for safe disposal (sadly, no NHS) about Austen vs. Bronte. Wuthering Heights was one of her husband's favorites, hers is Jane Eyre. Mine is no Bronte, but all Austen. Have too look for Cousin Phillis.

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  4. hmm never tried persuasion... may have to. is there going to be a group read? that would be fun!

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  5. I'm a bit sad that Persuasion is my favorite Austen because I believe it was her last novel and I have to wonder if she would have just gotten better and better. About lie and lay: only recently have I really nailed these down properly for myself, and now I have the luxury too of being annoyed at their incorrect use.

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    1. I'm in my 60s and I can never remember the difference between lay and lie. My mom knows and tries to explain it, but it never makes sense to me. Jane

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  6. =Tamar6:09 PM

    How annoying of the museum. They could at least have shown the shawl half draped and half spread out. I suspect a window-dresser was involved.

    I am curious - what is the specific appeal of Persuasion over Austen's other novels?

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