Friday, November 01, 2019


Very feeble tonight.

I haven’t had the usual notification from the agency that there is to be an Italian lesson tomorrow. The absence of one would be a pleasant surprise. I think there is more homework to be done, besides the story about Galileo. I must go to bed now: I’ll have to see what I can do in the morning. And much of the morning, anyway, will have to be devoted to cheering for South Africa (a) in the hopes of seeing England beaten and (b) for love of my new great-nephew-in-law Manaba, father of next April’s baby. Alexander says England will win.

I moved forward with the Dathan, and have reached 200 stitches. I am putting each colour into a cloth bag as I finish with it. But I don’t know if I will draw them out at random. I might spread them all out as before. I think choosing which width of stripe to do next is even more vexing than choosing which colour, because the choice is so limited.

Reading

“The Small House at Allington” was rather a disappointment, as you hint, Shandy. I felt several times that the old boy was padding it out. For the moment, I have gone on to “Olive, Again”. It’s grey, all right – full of old age and the fear of death.

But how about this, from Trollope: There has been a distinctly dull dinner party at Lord De Guest’s. The vicar and his wife, Mr and Mrs Boyce, were there. They are insignificant characters – but a village needs a vicar.

“Uncommon good stewed beef,” he said, as he went home. “Why can’t we have our beef stewed like that?”

“Because we don’t pay our cook sixty pounds a year,” said Mrs Boyce.

“A woman with sixteen pounds can stew beef as well as a woman with 60,” said he; “she only wants looking after.”

Some things don’t change, and Trollope certainly has a good ear.

6 comments:

  1. After reading about your first one, I tried something similar when making a shawl out of a bunch of mini-skeins. To decide the number of rows, I made up a couple of simple rules. The number should not be the same number as the last time I used that color, and it also should not be the same number as the number of rows done in the previous color. Made it fairly easy that way. Looking forward to seeing photos

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  2. I hope South Africa wins and you feel better for it. I wonder what sort of stewed beef the highly paid cook prepared, beef stew or pot roast? Having finished Consider the Fork I have been thinking these sorts of thought. And what kind of pot did she use?

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  3. Great character, Lord de Guest. Unfortunately, I did not warm to Lily Dale - and she does not improve in the next appearance she makes. Jonny Eames may be fallible but she is a fool.

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  4. =Tamar4:07 PM

    At a wild guess, I would say pot roast. It seems more upscale than stew.

    Jean, didn't you get a daylight lamp at some point? It might be time to use it, or to get one if you didn't. Especially if you are reading depressing books.

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  5. I remember random stripe items from the old Knitlist days. People would toss dice to determine how many rows for Athens next color. Perhaps something similar would work for the Dathan.

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  6. Silly autocorrect...
    Not Athens...
    The....

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