That falls alarm went off again, at 1:30 a.m. (See yesterday’s blog.) Paradox is exonerated. She was curled up on her blanket at the foot of my bed, and was as surprised as I was. No harm done, but I had a hard time getting back to sleep. I lay awake wondering what I would do with the money if I were as rich as Mr. Bezos.

 I would buy houses, or pay off mortgages, for all my children and grandchildren. I would convene some archaeologists and see whether it was feasible to excavate more of Piso’s villa, near Herculaneum. It’s a difficult job, because it’s full of solidified lava, not ash. But, given all my money, if we made the attempt we might find the missing books of Livy. Piso was Julius Caesar’s father-in-law. It’s the sort of thing he might well have had on his shelf. So far, only his rather boring Greek books have been found, and all work there has long ceased. He must have had a Latin library as well -- perhaps in the next room.

 

I think there would still be an awful lot of money left. The only thing to do would be to ring up the Gates’s and see if I could help.

 

2126 steps. Not distinguished. Archie was my “walker” today, and the weather was nasty. Wind and rain. Worse is forecast. But we got around. Yes, Mary Lou, I did read about all the snow in NY and NJ. East coast weather often gets here a week or ten days later. The groundhog looks like a good predictor, so far.

 

I’ve done 15 scallops – only 1 ½ left to do on the edging of the third side of Gudrun’s hap.

 

I plucked Gaughan’s “Knitting Nature” from the shelf and have much enjoyed getting re-acquainted with it. It’s vastly more interesting than I had remembered. What fun it should be, having her as VK’s new editor.

 

And that reminds me: has something happened to IK? My subscription seems to have swiftly and silently melted away – the Snark was a Boojum. I have never known a subscription to lapse without a series of pleas for renewal. I’m inclined to leave it. I’ve got VK and the not-very-good British magazine “Knitting” and that’s probably enough.

 

Life and Reading

 

Inspired by Hugh F-W and Tim Spector, I have returned to Mindful Chef, at least for the time being. I had let them lapse in recent months. Their approach to eating is precisely what Hugh and Tim would order for me – whole food, unprocessed. We never have white rice or pasta, and potatoes appear but rarely.

 

I’ve stuck with “A Perfect Spy”. It’s long. It’s very skilful.