Reading; Hockey; Ignoring Fall Won't Stop It

I've been reading a lot lately, books I've read before and new-to-me (ahh, escapism). I've been re-reading the Sarah Tolerance books by Madeleine Robins (excellent Regency/mystery series about a Fallen Woman who becomes an investigator) and the Beka Cooper series from Tamora Pierce (really enjoyable young adult adventure/fantasy) in advance of their new books this fall (yay times two). I've also been enjoying the Temeraire series from Naomi Novik; turns out that I enjoy military fiction set in the Napoleonic era if you add dragons (who knew?).

I just got Ready Player One from the library, after reading a number of very positive reviews, and I really enjoyed that as well. If you think that you'd enjoy speculative fiction about the future, and if you are a child of the 80s, pick it up for yourself (I can attest that you don't have to be a game-player to enjoy it, though I imagine it would deepen your appreciation). The kind of mind that can imagine such detail amazes me.

Having finished that, I went in an entirely different direction by picking up Rogue Herries, by Hugh Walpole, in a used bookstore yesterday. It's one of those titles that was vaguely familiar to me without my quite knowing why, but I dipped into it and thought it looked promising in the Quiet sense, something I prize. I am enjoying it so far, and this passage especially resonated with me:

The most common sensation for her would always be fear, and the constant duty of her life would be building up sufficient courage with which to meet it. Apprehension would attack her at every turn. It was as though she had three skins less than other folk.

Make of that what you will, but it seems a good book. And it amazes me that I can pick up this book, a first edition from 1930, for two dollars, and own it for the rest of my life. What a world we live in. I also picked up a neat little copy of Mosses from an Old Manse, on a whim. Haven't delved into it very deeply yet, so we'll see.

I didn't buy any of these; I wonder if poise is so easily attained?


Don't you like the Trade Mark notations on this title page?


And this note intrigued me as well. How quickly we forget, I suppose. Wartime conditions!



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Now that my brother has received his birthday gift from me, I can show you what I made for him. If you know him, you know that he is not the sort who naturally "goes with" cross-stitch samplers, but I couldn't resist this one:


I had some trouble getting a good picture, I'm afraid. The mat is medium grey, the frame black.

The colors of the flowers were designed to be brighter, but I changed them; for him even the red is somewhat risky. This is the person who once described grey as "pastel black" after all.

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I really need a baby.

No, no, I don't mean I need to have one. I'm single and about to turn 43, without any money to spare: I believe that ship has sailed. But have you seen the Bruins baby outfits? I want a baby to put these on!

There's the general Bruins outfit:


And the Cup-specific one:


I love them both. I am restraining myself from buying them because what would I do with them? Frame them and put them on the wall? But I really love them. (Go to the website to find them and more.)

I had to laugh when I saw this:


Yes, very true. And a lot less depressing than this one, at that:


Sigh.