The Hermit of Eyton Forest

A Brother Cadfael mystery. I had planned to keep this for my Lethal Location challenge next year, but it turns out this was published in 1988.

This really is a very good example of what I enjoy about the series. There's plenty of real life history in the background, with King Stephen and the Empress Maud battling, in this particular novel they're currently fighting over Oxford. (On a side note, we had a lovely LARP set in this period of time, based on the fight between the King and the Empress, which was inspired by this series.) Plenty of good detecting with a healthy sprinkling of clues that let the reader work it out for themselves, if they're so inclined.

This particular novel is loosely centred on Richard, who's father is now dead. He's the 10-year-old heir to a large chunk of land and his only living relative is his domineering grandmother, who wants to marry him off to more land. Luckily for him he's safe in the keeping of the abbot. And then, a hermit arrives, Richard makes friends with the hermit's errand boy and an abbey guest is murdered. Chaos ensues. Luckily Brother Cadfael is there to solve the mystery, with the help of the sherriff, Hugh Beringar, and thankfully unencumbered by any notion of duty to the law. He can act in whatever way he sees as right. And given this is the 12th century, legal and right aren't always the same thing.

As always, the supporting characters are well-drawn and engaging, as is the mystery. Most importantly, Cadfael isn't annoyingly right all the time and none of the Holy Brethren are without fault (though some are more faulty than others, of course). In short, this is a quick, fun read that's still good despite being fluffy.

I, Nigel Dorking

The subtitle reads: 'an autobiography about an unusual boy with a suit of armour, an unshakeable dream and a most unusual vocabulary, written by that very boy, Nigel Dorking.' This is a book about a boy who is, undoubtedly, one of those geeky outcasts destined to become a roleplayer. As you might imagine, this is a kid I can relate to. I was never really an outcast, but I was always one of those bookish types that's too smart for their own good. Nigel, however, also has a younger brother with some sort of mental/developmental disease. Not something designed to make other children treat you with kindness. And then, his parents get divorced and there are the possible step-parents and their children. All-in-all it's yet another coming-of-age story. This one, however, is well told with an emphasis on fantasy and a hint of roleplaying that sets it apart and makes it loads of fun. Even if there isn't any actual roleplaying. There's almost LARPing.

[Picture will be coming forthwith.]

Yesterday was a mostly good day. It was sadly ruined by the Wombat who was unable to put in an appearance at the game. The game went well - Nagataka was well taken care of by a bird lady with a particular interest in him. She was deeply concerned by his lengthy meditation. Kamenosuke, Ishie, Miu and the two Isawa launched an attack on Maple House. Ishie got to use her lightning spell in actual combat and killed a bunch of Tengu with it. Then she got to threaten Lord Maple who was standing far too close to her idiot sister [Satoko, played by theOtherAmy]. Lord Maple was killed by Miu and his sons graciously agreed to honour his end of the deal - that all the monkey-people get to leave. So we went through the half-trees, and found ourselves being threatened by a bunch of Tengu-pretending-to-be-Phoenix. Most of them left when Kamenosuke informed them that they only had half an hour to get back to their world. It turned out to be a little longer as Kamenosuke had to kill the Head-Bird-Guy first [which he eventually managed, with the aid of the kami - something that Ishie is very glad that she did and very glad she didn't get into trouble for it, though, technically, he didn't tell her she couldn't interfere this time] and then they had to walk the Ratling to the other gate, and he walks slowly. Once the half-trees were returned to their natural state of whole-treeness, everyone went back to normal, though slightly confused. Kamenosuke talked the peasants into doing what they should and everyone left the garden. Except Ishie. Who meditated on some of her alchemical problems for a few minutes before following after the others.

The other thing making me so happy yesterday? The SEM. The images show that after a mere 15 minutes in the microniser, the samples have particles under 10 microns. So that's what I'll be doing next week.

There was a Game

So, on Wednesday we had a game, with 5 people present. BT arrived and while she wasn't playing her character yet, she was getting into the swing of things by NPCing. So what happened:

Our intrepid heroes were bundled off to the 'Monkey House' by the bird people. There we met Isawa Something-with-an-S and his son, Nichiren. Ishie and Nichiren had a brief conversation about the trouble he'd caused by rushing off after his father instead of marrying her sister. Ishie restrained herself from mentioning that his return may cause more trouble [who's going to marry her other fiance? It won't be Ishie!] Ishie was less restrained when approached by their Matsu companion [played by BT]. Whatsit arrived in bird-land about 15 years ago, his son and Matsu Miu arrived 7 years ago, during the Phoenix-Dragon war. So seeing a Phoenix travelling with a Dragon and a Crane was a little surprising. Ishie has clearly spent too much time with Kamenosuke, as she suggested that the reason for the Lion's disgraceful withdrawal from their alliance with the Phoenix was due to their uncalled for massacring of the Dragonfly. We had tea and discussed the situation and the possibility of escaping. We met the Ratling, Flaky Claws and discussed his plan for putting an end to the problem. There was an awful lot more exposition than action, so there's not much to report. Stay tuned for next week.

In other news, I tried out the Geology Department's Swing Mill. I have to wait until March 2nd to check the powder out in the SEM, but it's quite finely ground. I stuck some in one of my sieves, just to see and while some of it went through [I could tell 'cause the acetone was cloudy, not clear], most of it didn't. So I suspect I will need to find a way to get it even finer. DLR, the guy from the Geology Department [who taught me in first year - and remembers me], suggested I speak to the chemical engineers who have an actual Professor of Making-Things-Smaller [that's not his actual title]. How long did it take for the Swing Mill to get the powder as fine as it could? Less than 1.5 minutes.

Also, Happy Birthday Mom!

[even if it was yesterday, she's at the cottage so she won't see this till Sunday/Monday anyway]

I tried to call her, but the signal was absolutely shocking and I think we exchanged all of 5 words in a couple of conversations [those were the times where her phone actually rang] before I gave up and smsed her.

Because you can't have too many words strung together with hyphens!

So, Button's parents have [presumably] returned to the US safely. They left here safely, but I've heard nothing since. I assume that any information would have gone to Button, who is back up at Elandsfontein being uncommunicative. It's hard to be anything else up there as signal is patchy at the best of times, unless you're on top of a very tall dune.

Delilah is delightful, though slightly less shiny than she was when she arrived. I think I may need to invest in some sort of cover/case thingie for her. I spent the better part of Tuesday downloading Open Office, and I'm oh so very glad I did. It's a bit of an adjustment at first, but it's kind of like having the shift button in a funny spot. You get used to it very quickly. And, for me at least, it's more intuitive than Office 2007, though I didn't have any particular problems with that. I do still want the bubble screensaver though.

My plants are much happier now that I'm home. The ones that have been repotted are a lot happier and the one that was moved outside, is slightly smaller, but still happy [the violent winds removed most of the leaves that stuck up past the olive tree's pot]. For Valentine's Day Button has promised me a return trip to the Kalk Bay Garden Shop, with the intent to buy plants. He has his eye on a Juniper bonsai, and I have my eye on just about everything else. We may also stop at the Indigenous Nursery near Cape Point on our way home, as we'll be staying overnight at the cottage.

Last night saw the resurrection of our game [yay!]. Our new players, BT & theOtherAmy are yet to join us. BT due to LARPing and theOtherAmy due to Operations. After a massive recap at speed, we launched forth into our journey to Inconsiderate River Village. We found it without difficulty and set about investigating stuff. Nagataka spent some personal time with a mostly deaf, totally blind monk while Kamenosuke and Ishie toured the Gardens. All while being spied on by yet more crows. Because the ones in Suspiciously-Perfect-and-Happy Village weren't enough [I forget the Village's real name, something about Sparkling Sunflower Fields]. Having discovered the two half trees of nausea, we decided to set out for the quarry that Nagataka's monk friend had suggested we visit. Nagataka did not sleep well, having divinated and seen that which was not meant to be seen. He did not elaborate, so Ishie and Kamenosuke still don't quite know what's in store for them. After a quick visit to the quarry [natural grey stone as opposed to weirdly out-of-place bright white granite], our intrepid explorers followed the drag trail up to another pair of half trees. Nagataka stepped through and disappeared. Ishie and Kamenosuke decided it was their duty to follow him. They are now in Willow House, a disturbing bright white city of bird people. Who is at war with the other bright white city of bird people, Maple House. Willow's two trees signify the city of arrivals. Maple's two trees make it the city of departure. We currently are being held prisoner by the bird people [though they're too polite to come out and say it], but need to find: [a] Flaky Claws, a ratling that attempts to communicate with Nagataka through meditation or divination or something [b] Isawa Guy-who's-going-to-fix-our-grandmothers-inhabiting-granddaughters'-bodies-problem and his son, [c] Isawa Better-hope-his-reappearance-doesn't-mean-Ishie-has-to-marry-her-sister's-second-fiance. Quite possibly we will also find: [a] Ishie's missing sister [b] our new players! Once we've found these people, we need to escape. Currently Ishie's in favour of the 'set the bird people alight until they leave us alone' plan. Or, Cherry Experimentation!