If you get a chance (and won't be offended by playing with religion) read Jeeves and the Mysterious Ways by laeticiav. :)

Other than that, my day... Well, let me see. Waking up too early after being up too late, and running off to Portland to get the van inspected. Then a stop at the hardware store and on to breakfast at Becky's - yay! Looked around the LL Bean main store and outlet in search of long johns for Eor, then some work in the garden (weeded, turned some dirt, got some pea netting up - had to weave some of it together because it was too short, planted pea pods, bok choy and more radishes), tacos, and then I took another quick trip back to the store looking for a yellow button-down shirt.

I was back in a little more than a half hour with chocolate milkshakes from Johnny Rocket's and the impression that yellow button down shirts have been banned from Freeport. I went into Tommy Hilfiger, LL Bean and Calvin Klein with very little luck. (yes, I do move fast when shopping - cruise through, see that what I want is not there, move on.) Oh, there was one yellow-and-white striped shirt at LL Bean, of that material that is very ripply-bumply (is it called poplin, perhaps?), and there was a bilious, eye-searing yellow shirt at Calvin Klein. Which is weird because, seriously, there is every other goddam thing you can imagine in pleasant, sunny shades of yellow. T-shirts, sweaters, polos, fleeces, raincoats, shorts, weird halter-top-looking blouses. I would also have been happy with ocher, but I thought that was an even longer shot. I thought yellow would be likely!

Chocolate milkshakes made the walk worthwhile, though. :)

Now off to mend the raveled sleeve of care, or something like that.

exhausting, but good.

Today we got up and made ourselves a couple small tacos and were outside by about 8:30AM. We dug up and wrapped the roots of a bunch of our blackberry plants, jammed them into our tiny car, and carted them on up to our friends' (groundctrl & littleredhead) new house that they're building. They had picked out a spot and groundctrl had the fence posts almost all cut by the time we got there, and we all ran at it with a fearsome speed. Eor has, I think, decided to call this 'dog-teaming,' as we all tried to out-pull each other and nearly worked ourselves into a stupor of exhaustion. But we got it done and it looks GREAT! I wish we'd taken pictures. In fact, I think what I will do, if I can, is I will take a picture of what we were imagining and see if I can get Littleredhead to take a picture of what Groundctrl designed and we assembled, today, so you can see how many notches above our vision he took it. :)

We worked straight through until 2:30pm with a couple of mouthfuls of trailmix and the like, and then realized we all felt like falling over and went out to eat; had an amazing meal that couldn't be beat, looked at our plates and thought "I could eat that much again." Well, apparently Littleredhead was full, she's the only one of us who seems to have proper portion control. But, had desert instead, and then bought more candy on the way home, because my and Eor's bodies insist that burning any extra calories is not allowed. ;)

And then I cooked cornbread, which I guess was 'dinner.' Off to bed, must work in the AM. :P

I love working side by side with people. I do think there's nothing better for friendships, if you can keep from getting snappish with each other when you're exhausted. :)

It's not that things don't happen in my life, it's that, mostly, they would require too much explanation to be worth posting.

I almost hit two otters when I was driving to work this morning There was no way to stop, too much traffic behind and too my left, no margin to the right because it was at a bridge (which is why I'm going with them being otters). The one in the lead got all the way across the bridge ahead of the traffic, the one following ended up right squarly in front of me. I let off the brake and cringed, heard a thump, then looked in the rearview and saw him running back off the way he had come. I passed directly over him and the thump must have been a bump in the road.

Chasing after girls will shorten your life.

covertly?

There's a long entry in Wiki about Angela_Brazil, but let me snip this part for you...
Interpretations of lesbian content

It has been suggested that Brazil's tales were intended to be covertly expressive of lesbian themes. Her stories of friendships between girls do include kissing between pupils and less frequently between pupils and teachers, and also elements of adolescent jealousy. It is possible that Brazil, writing about her own youthful experiences of schoolgirl life, was completely unaware of these implications and passionate friendships between adolescent girls are not uncommon. Nevertheless, the tone of the relationships in her stories was highly sentimental and might be interpreted as having erotic implications. In fact, Brazil seemed particularly attached to the name Lesbia, which was given to several important characters: Lesbia Ferrars in "Loyalty to the School", for instance, and Lesbia Carrington in "For the School Colours". Both of these seem to have been largely self portraits, suitably idealised.

Lesbian Mary-Sue?

last instalment of "A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl," Angela Brazil

I finished reading "A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl" a couple of days ago and need to make one more installment about the femme-slash, but I'm not sure there's any particular short bit that I can quote from the last part of the book.

a long info-dumpy quote, spoilers for the end of the book, and also the stuff from the rest of my day - I'm linking you to one of my other journals because I can't figure out how to do a proper cut in Blogger to protect your eyes from the spoilers if you don't want them...

"A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl" (Angela Brazil)

More excerpts of femme-slashy goodness for you...

Diana has pulled a prank (put hats and mustaches on plaster casts of the Greek gods) and is being punished by having to wear the basic school uniform all the time - she can't change into nice clothes for dinner or dancing class (where, of course, the girls dance with each other):


She was a girl of spirit, and she did not mean to betray, even by the blink of an eyelid, how much she cared. Geraldine, Hilary, and Ida had rubbed in her ostracism, and certain impudent juniors had enjoyed themselves with witticisms at her expense. To these she must preserve an attitude of sang-froid. But up in the ivy room, when she went to bed, the mask fell off. The Diana that cuddled in Loveday's arms was a very different Diana from the don't-care young person of downstairs. Loveday - who understood her now - consoled and kissed where a term ago she would have scolded. There are some dispositions that can only be managed by kisses.

...

"...Miss Todd says I've been utterly and entirely spoilt. Do you think I have?"

Loveday took the piquant little face between her two hands and looked a moment into the upturned grey eyes.

"Yes," she decided. "You're undoubtedly a spoilt darling - but you're a darling all the same," she added softly under her breath.


Kisses!

Diana's parents are coming back and plan to take her with them on a tour of England in a rented car:

"But that isn't all yet. I haven't finished telling you," triumphed Diana, laying a fluffy head on her room-mate's shoulder, and poking a caressing finger into Loveday's dimples. "Mother said in her letter that she guessed I'd enjoy the tour so much more if I had a girl companion with me, and would I like to ask one of my school friends? You bet I would! Ra-there! Do you know whom I'm going to ask?"

"Wendy?"

"Wendy! No! I'm very fond of her, but she's not the one for a tour like this. Besides, I know she's going to the seaside with her own home folks. There's only one person from Pendlemere I want, and that's Loveday. Will you come! I'd just adore to have you!"


Stuck her finger in her friend's dimples?

During the tour they are once forced to sleep in separate rooms, and Diana sees a mouse (because of her habit of keeping biscuits under her pillow in case she wakes up hungry at night):


The intruder, equally terrified, took the hint to quit, and scuttled away. The idea that it might return to seek her biscuits was too much for Diana.

"Even if I eat them it'll come back to see if they're there," she thought. "I'd have a fit if I felt it under my pillow again. I can't sleep another wink in here, that' certain. I'd as soon have spooks as rats or mice. I'm going to Loveday."

So, though the time was about 1a.m., she jumped up, seized the candle, and managed to find her way along the passage to her friend's room. Loveday, much astonished to be thus awakened, took her into her bed, and they laughed over the little adventure.

"Oh, yes, it's all very fine to laugh," said Diana. "But if you were all alone you wouldn't like it yourself. Nothing will induce me to sleep by myself again in a strange hotel; so I warn you. You'll be saddled with your pixie girl for the rest of the tour. She's a scared baby at nights, and she doesn't mind confessing it."


Weakest most obvious scheme EVER for getting people in bed together? Does it beat the hypothermia gag used in so many slash fic?

I can't believe I haven't posted in a couple of days. Been busy, and for some reason I thought I had posted. Probably because I'm in a habit of talking to myself about the posts I plan to make.

Friday we got mulch in the afternoon - a truck brought five yards, which is a lot. Yesterday we spread it. All. Five yards is a LOT. My knees are tenderized from crawling in under all the bushes and working the mulch in there. I ache.

Today was working on the floor, so I was standing most of the day. I think I'm going to take a Tylenol PM right now, and maybe an Advil as well.