Ending the year with a BANG!

Proof that the universe hates me: I got rear-ended tonight. ON THE WAY TO CHURCH. Priceless, ain't it?

So Wanda and I were headed up to the service at Trinity Cathedral (their New Yea's Eve is wow. Seriously cool music), and about a half block east of Powell's, on Burnside, the car right in front of me put on their 4-way flashers. Not knowing why, I slowed down. Turns out they were picking someone up from the sidewalk in front of Powell's. I stopped behind them. The guy behind me wasn't paying attention- and according to a witness, was following way too closely. So we got the BANG!

We're ok, though Wanda is a bit sore. No damage to the other guy's pickup that I could see. My right hand rear lights are gone, and the back hatch is smooshed in a bit. Looks like he connected with the latch bar/handle. If it had been a car they would have hit the bumper and we'd be fine, but nooo, it had to be a pickup. So probably the first order of business Monday will be to call Adam and see if I can get Zippy in to get the lights fixed at the least. And find out if he can do anything with the hatch.

In other news, we had Christmas. Dan and Ellen and Carol and Chappie were here, and James made it up for a couple of days. Wanda and I have been down with Virus #267, and can't seem to shake it. Seems to be sort of cyclical- I'll miserable for several days, then I'll start to feel better- and then it knocks me down again.

And now it is after midnight, so- HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Let's hope that 2010 is the best ever!!

I really needed one of these:

Friday night, on south-bound I-5. I got all the way to Albany without incident, and then suddenly traffic came to a grinding halt. The road was a solid sheet of ice- all the way to Creswell. About 25 miles of slick-as-glass roadway. We were crawling along at about 15mph through most of it. Didn't dare change lanes or take an exit. I thought about bailing and stopping at David and Lydia's, but then I remembered the exit to their place- very tight uphill curve. Not even.

I was actually ok- Zippy handles really well on bad surfaces. It was the people around me that I was afraid of, especially the epic idiot in front of me who kept hitting his brakes (yes Mr. 'I have an SUV so I am impervious to weather!', I'm looking at YOU!) and then fishtailing. I really wished I'd had a bullhorn- crank it up to 11 and yell "Stay off your brakes, you cretin!" Alas, I missed my chance.

Investiture was interesting. About half of the usual suspects made it- the rest were holed up and waiting for spring. HRM bailed and went home after a night in a motel. Rustam and Suvia were almost late to their own investiture! I was very glad I stayed up most of the night finishing Rustam's caftan- he wore it and it looked good. I was pretty much good for nothing though, and when they offered a very short fealty court so that those who needed to leave could- I did. James and I went back to Ashland where there was a pillow loudly calling my name. After I had a nap we went out for Chinese. The Kung Pao chicken failed to clear my nose though, and the next morning it was clear that I was too sick to drive 300 miles, so it was a good thing that I'd packed an extra dose of meds just in case.

Bera ran the peerage meeting again- she rocketh! I wish she would run the kingdom meetings too- we might actually get something done. :-/

The last Rivers council meeting was here at our house- Wanda had just recovered from the plague, and I was thankful for modern medicine (fought off a kidney infection), but the meeting was really good- talked a lot about theory and standards and the sort of thing we need to talk about occasionally, rather than just blowing through the candidate list.

Plan is to go get a tree tomorrow. Yay!

Gobble gobble!

So we went shopping today, and came home with a turkey, among other things. It doesn't look like that one. It's wrapped in plastic and is sitting in the recycling bin outside because it needs to thaw out, being frozen solid. And there's no room in the refrigerator anyway.

The big dinner is Friday- should be 11. Maybe 12 if Larry shows up, but I haven't heard from him. Thursday it's just James and I, and David and Lydia. I got four cornish hens (three French hens, two turtledoves...) and some rice pilaf for that dinner. And some three-buck Chuck (inflation- used to be two-buck Chuck) to go with. (Some of which may lubricate the cook.)

Went to Goodwill Sunday after brunch. I found a new purse (which I needed- my orange one is really showing wear), a big bag of ribbons and trim and hot glue sticks. There is trim in there that is worth more than I paid for the whole bag. Also found some new nutcrackers, including two ballerinas, which is an interesting synchronicity. Found a couple of cartoon Christmas ties for James. And Wanda gave me the funniest thing- it's a plastic nutcracker ornament, which a seam ripper in the back. It's just... two things that one does not ordinarily think of together.

James will be up Wednesday night, and David and Lydia will be riding with him. Stephen will be coming in on the train sometimes Friday. Annie is cooking the Orphans' Thanksgiving on Thursday. I understand there will be pie. :-D

I am an idiot.

Something that had been building up for awhile exploded yesterday, and I exploded. and worse (much worse!), I answered an email while I was angry. Incandescently angry.

Part of me is still angry. But most of me is horrified, and saying "What have I done?"

At this point all I can do really is wait for the unfortunate recipient to respond. I did make a phone call yesterday and made a clumsy attempt at apologizing. I don't know if it was accepted. There was a lot of silence on that end.

In the meantime I'm not keeping food down so well. I wish I could rewind and undo. About 24 hours would be enough. But my Time Turner seems to be on the fritz.

I don't know what to do.

WESTMORELAND

O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!

KING HENRY V What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more...
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

(Happy St Crispin's Day!)

Vivat William!

Just to annoy my Anglo-Saxon friends, I'd like to point out that it is now October 14th, which is a bad day if your name is Harold Godwinson, and a good day if you're a Norman bastard. Heh.

And I sooooo love this picture. It is such a classic anachronism. Yeah, like you've never done it? Why did I see every other person whip out their phone after the final blow fell at Summit Coronet? The name of the winner was on the Summits list before I could walk back to my car...

Not much otherwise to report. The meds are still kicking my ass and I'm not happy about it. I have an appt with Dr Becher next Thursday. Maybe we can figure something out then.

The sewing room has piles of shirt pieces all over it. Hopefully they will be shirts in the next couple of days or so. And then I can get to the wrapped gowns. I'll have to get ahold of Suvia and see if they wanted the fancy facings on those. I have some silk that would be just perfect...

A crash course in Persian clothing...

So I'm madly reading everything I can on 14th-15th c Persian clothing, and there's a pile of fabric upstairs to be made into clothing for Rustam. Hey, keeps me out of trouble, right?

Other than that, I really haven't accomplished much- going through yet another medication adjustment (more levo-dopa! Yay! NOT!) so mostly I sleep. A lot. There's stuff I should be doing, but the sleepy is overpowering. So I muddle through. Sorta.

Had a culinary experiment that kinda didn't work. I tried substituting concentrated lemon juice for the vinegar in the standard sekanjabin recipe. Came out tasting like lemon candy- like a sucker. A bit too sweet, not tart enough. I might try it again, which a higher concentration of lemon juice. Maybe replace some or all of the water as well as the vinegar. Or I might not. I don't know. I like the raspberry vinegar version, but it's still... vinegar. There's only so much vinegar that I can take.

There's an event Saturday- Honor Feast. And this year they're fêteing Aleyn the Younger, who is one of my oldest and dearest friends. So it will be kinda cool. They're also holding the A&S Championship, and I'm judging, so I have to be awake and aware and get there on time! Arlys is going with me, so that should help keep me on task. Now I have to figure out what to take for my potluck contribution...