Blowing On By

So far at least, the hurricane/tropical storm, Eta, has blown on by us. We've had a lot of wind the last few days, and a few inches of rain (they got tons more on the east coast), but this afternoon the sun came out and showed us the lake where the lawn used to be. 

And a few dozen ibis, come to feast on (presumably) all the bugs in the water

 Pretty neat!

Oh, Y'all, It Happened

President-elect Joe Biden.

And the FLOTUS, Dr. Jill Biden.

Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris (Madam Vice President!).

And the SGOTUS(?), Douglas Emhoff. (I don't know that that's what he'll go by, Second Gentleman, but I'm delighted that we'll be finding out.) 

What a RELIEF.

Ceci n'est pas une chatte*

(*from the Magritte painting)

Sometime, Maggie is not a cat. 

Sometime, she is a knitting inspector.

Or a salad bowl inspector.

Or a sunflower.

Then she can be an herbivore.

But also a hunter.

And sometimes a tiger. Rawr!

She's a judge.

And a model.

She can be an oval.

That gets rounder.

And becomes a circle.

Often, she is a cat loaf.

Loafing.

But then sometimes, she's more like a focaccia. 

Or a baguette.

A cat of many modes, is Maggie.

An Evening on the Couch

Maggie and I are hanging out this evening. Chilling.

I'm compulsively checking Twitter, where I saw this from the BBC.

And Maggie is doing... this.

Reading and Reading

I read about two thirds of Hollowpox last night (it's excellent!), but decided that staying up to finish it would cost me sleep I might need in order to get through today, so I went to bed. I think this was the right choice; today has been challenging enough without my being up-until-midnight tired.

I notice from my own list-keeping that I've been reading a lot more in the last month or so than I had been before that--or, I should say, finishing a lot more, since if I start a book and only read part of it, it doesn't go on the list. I've been doing even more re-reading than usual; the only new-to-me* books I finished in October were e-books** that I read while stuck on the couch with a cat on my lap and no book in reach (I try to plan ahead, but sometimes I get caught).

*None of which were at all new

**Either from the library or Project Gutenberg

Specifically:

• I had re-read Nevermoor and Wundersmith in September, and last week I read Wundersmith again, just to refresh before Hollowpox.
• I read The Angel of the Crows again; that book is so good! I've read it four times now, and knowing what's going to happen doesn't spoil it for me a bit. So good.
• I read the two Drive collections again, the space comic from Dave Kellett (author of the comic Sheldon that I love so). I'm ready for the third collection, any time now!
• I re-read a really mixed bag of others: Charlaine Harris, Georgette Heyer, Patricia Briggs, D. E. Stevenson, Frances Hodgson Burnett...

Have you been reading more, less, or about the same lately? Anything to recommend? I'm partway through one (so it isn't on the list yet) called Hench, by Natalie Zina Walschots, which so far is good--but I can't say for sure until I finish it! 

Preparing for the Night

I have no intention of staying up for any (very, very preliminary) election results (we will not know anything for sure tonight, really), but I am stressed out anyway, so I have some plans for the evening. Herewith the spread:

Though my mother got donuts this morning, so the brownies will probably wait for another day.

The book (lower left) is Hollowpox, and it arrived yesterday, aka just in time to be a perfect distraction, assuming I can summon any concentration. It's the third in the series, following Nevermoor (which I loved and wrote about here) and Wundersmith (which I also loved), and as I wrote in September, I didn't just order the book, but the Owlcrate Jr Hollowpox Box. Thus:

And thus:

And they were not kidding! Opening the items was truly thrilling: so many things, so well curated to the series!

The overview:

The three books together, with the Wunsoc pin:

And the pin with its brethren, in my little pin display.

One of the items is this bag, charmingly illustrated with the interior of Hometrain, and I was initially a little puzzled, since it doesn't have a drawstring or any closure. 

Then I realized that the book fits in it. Neat!

Perfect for use as a bookmark is this card of the cover:

With a welcome note on the back:

Oh, and the book is signed!

There's a Wunsoc school banner.

A card with Morrigan's 'song' (if that's what you want to call it) that was very hard to photograph due to its shiny nature.

A "Step Boldly" sticker:

A booklet:

With various things inside including an author interview.

Trading cards!

One for each of Unit 919.

And finally, not a bath bomb but a shower steamer, in homage to the Smoking Parlor in the Hotel Deucalion. Perfect tie-in!

Though I'm not honestly that fond of peach, so I probably won't use it. But I adore the concept!

This entire experience was wonderful--wunder-full!-- and worth every penny. I highly recommend.