Imperial War Museum

John and I visited the Imperial War Museum today. We took a train to Cambridge and then a bus to Duxford. We walked through a couple of hangers with airplanes and other machines from various wars. We also got to see the display of American aircraft which, fortunately, just reopened after renovations today! That was the best part because you could get a lot closer to those airplanes. I think John was really excited just to spend a day at a war museum, and I enjoyed seeing the WWII airplanes I've been reading about in person. I now have a much better concept of how much larger bombers are than fighters.

People watching:

When we arrived at the Cambridge rail station I waited in a very long queue for the bathroom. It was out the door. When I got to the point in the line where I was the one holding the door open, someone pushed against it from the other side. I moved over to let a woman out from behind the door! I looked around and saw that there was no other entrance back there. She had just gotten stuck behind the door somehow and had been back there for at least as long as I had been in the queue.

On the train back to Norwich a drunk and rowdy bunch of young men were standing in the aisle, singing, teasing each other, and hitting on the single women in the train car. They were more amusing than anoying.

All over Norwich we saw young women in pink tutus, furry leggings, and...not much else. Some event at UEA?

Breaking News

I moved my office back downstairs!

Now that we have a space heater the lower floor is much warmer. And it is pretty easy to move the space heater from the living room into my office if I need a little extra warmth.

I claimed the floral bowl chair because no one used it in the living room and it is comfy.

And I have lots of desk space to eat yogurt and look at my reference book while working on the website.

Yes, those are more working links!

No, the site won't always be black and white!

Pasta Sauce

I like to make my own pasta sauce by cooking down cherry tomatoes. It is good, but a little bitter. Over Christmas I asked my dad how he makes his sauce. He recommended adding tomato paste to thicken it and sugar to cut the bitterness.

I decided to work on my sauce tonight. I tried adding some more vegetables. That was good. I wanted to try the tomato paste, but the co-op didn't have any. And I don't tend to have sugar in the house because I don't use it for anything. But, I do have honey because I put honey in tea.

Honey in pasta sauce makes it not at all bitter and kind of delicious!

Crumbs

Low v-cut shirts seem to be in fashion in Britain right now. All the tops I have bought since I have been here are cut so low that I wear another shirt underneath. Aside from the fact that this fashion requires you to dirty twice as many clothes, what is the big deal?

Cookie crumbs. There is nothing to stop them from going down the front of your shirt.

1960s

What I learned today about demonstrations in Britain during the Sixties:

There were three protests held at Grosvenor Square in '67 and '68. During the last one, protesters broke into the American Embassy. One of the men who was behind the protests, Ali Jordan, said he wanted the Embassy occupied “for just as long as the Vietcong held the American Embassy in Saigon.”

Although the people involved were more interested in having a "weekend revolution" than in peace, these protests were considerably more tame than in other parts of Europe.

In June of 1968 the London School of Economics and the BBC hosted an international debate called "Students in Revolt." Several of the speakers were stopped by immigration, but were ultimately allowed to enter the country.

There is a Pinky and the Brain episode in which the Brain uses a circle of hippies as some sort of transmitter, maybe for a radio signal. Anyway, he reveals that his plan has worked because all hippies have braces. They have rich parents.

It is kind of funny to think about all these college kids discussing Marx at the pub and trying to change the world with their idealism and half-formed philosophies. Not that different from what college kids do now, actually. Well, with more debates and less breaking into Embassies.

Penguins

I went to the library today to find some books on the 1960's (doing research for an upcoming Ancient House event) and saw penguins. Now you have seen them, too.

Making a Website

So, I spent some hours today working on the website. You can see the under construction version of it here. I still need to make the rest of the pages and make a style sheet for the whole site.

Not only did I learn how to do things like line up text on opposite sides of the page and how to embed the YouTube video (you can't just use the code YouTube gives you, apparently), but I also learned that John is really intense when he plays World of Warcraft by himself.

I actually did the website construction on my own with support from John when I had specific questions. But, so that I could have him nearby, he let me use the spare desk in his room. (The one I use when we play WoW together.) I guess I had never been in the same room with him before when he was playing by himself and really getting into it.

Kind of scary.

Volunteering

I was in charge of the volunteers for the children's area when I worked for the Athens library. Now that I am doing so much volunteering, I see how good volunteer management really makes a difference to the volunteers. Even something like being honest with a volunteer about when they are not needed. You might not want to turn down a volunteer, because they are free help. But there is a point of diminishing returns. Managing volunteers will take up part of your work time, so you have to balance how much time and effort is being expended on volunteers with what you are getting out of having them. Sure, a volunteer may be disappointed if you tell them there is nothing for them to do today, but they will appreciate the fact that you didn't waste their time. And, taking on a volunteer you don't have the time to work with could be frustrating for both of you.

Interestingly enough, Libby, from the Memorial Library, seems to spend a great deal of time working with me, and I am flattered that she values my contributions so highly.

New Skillz

John said he would make me a website. He already purchased the domain and everything.

But, when I started designing the website in my head, I realized that it would probably need to be updated regularly. And I wouldn't want to always have to bug John about doing it.

SO! I am going to help him make my website. I am going to learn new website design skillz. Then, I can maintain the website by myself.

And, you know, it might help me in my job, too. Librarian 2.0 should probably know how to make a website.

Now the question is: How many hours of John's instruction can I endure at one time?
And the answer is: I bought a book with words and pictures to help me! (To supplement John's instruction.)

Pirithous

Last night John was making himself a new WoW character. He yelled to me that he needed help coming up with a name. He wanted the name of a dark hero.

I told him he should call his new character Pirithous. I mean, Pirithous got stuck in the underworld. That's pretty dark. He and Theseus went there to kidnap Persephone and got stuck. Hercules rescued Theseus, but nobody rescued Pirithous.

John said he wasn't convinced. He tried some names. They were taken. I suggested Phobos or Deimos. They were both taken.

Finally, John asked, can't you think of any other names?

So, I told him, Pirithous is pretty awesome, you need to give him a chance.

So, John looked him up. He agreed that he is awesome. And, that name wasn't taken. So, his new character has an awesome name.

Even in Norwich

When I studied abroad in Rome the summer after my junior year of college I also kept a journal. I realized later that in that journal I focused too much on all the stressful things about living in another country. And, yeah, of course living in another country is going to be stressful. I loved my time in Rome and I look back on it fondly. But after Amanda went to Rome this past summer everyone commented on how they thought she had had a better time than I did. I think she was just better at having a good time. I think she let the stressful things get to her less.

I told myself that with this trip, with this journal, I was going to be good at having a good time. And, I think for the most part I have been. But, with Alexander and his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day in mind: some days are like that, even in Norwich.

And with Scarlet in mind: "Tomorrow is another day!"

Small Accomplishments

My recent guitar practice has been somewhat frustrating. Having a musical background allowed me to speed through a lot of beginner stuff, but I've hit a wall and have had to slow down to what is probably a more normal pace. Imagine my dismay when I decided to move forward another page and saw F chord looking back at me! I was dreading the day when I would have to learn F. It requires that you hold two strings down with one finger, which is much harder to do than it might sound. So, instead of getting to learn any new songs (because I couldn't play the new songs until I could play F chord), I ended my practices for days contorting my poor fingers and squeezing the neck of the guitar until it hurt (my hand hurt, I haven't gotten any complaints from the guitar). And then yesterday I did it! I didn't play F chord in a song. But I did play it by itself. Progress.

Then, this morning while I was doing yoga I successfully held the arm balance I learned when I was in a yoga class during library school (to be fair, it doesn't look quite like that when I do it). I attempt it every time I do yoga and usually just waver into the pose and then come right back out of it again. But this morning I held it for five breaths. And I really felt balanced.

It can be hard to do the same thing day after day and keep getting it wrong. But the day you get it right it's all worth it!

What Could Be Better...

...than Pete Seeger singing a Woody Guthrie song in front of the Lincoln Memorial in the lead up to Barack Obama's inauguration?



This video may be taken down soon, so if you miss it, I offer you a pale substitute: You can read about the entire concert in the Washington Post.

I am such a Pete Seeger fan-girl. You should have heard me squeal when I discovered the video this morning.

Authors Behaving Badly

Through Bookshelves of Doom I discovered this blog post.

In summary, the blogger's twelve year old daughter wrote a review of The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein. She thought the book was "a bit confusing and too slow." Mr Grabenstein left a lengthy comment on the blog talking about how much everyone else loves his book. Mother and daughter were turned off by his attitude.

I have not read The Crossroads and am not familiar with the author, so I can't weigh in on the book discussion. However, I greatly appreciate the fact that there are kids reviewing juvenile books because I sometimes wonder if us adults always have children in mind when we review them.

This post also made me feel that much more love toward Mark Jeffrey, author of The Pocket and the Pendant. He is the only author I know of who has found my book review blog. He left a comment on my review of his book and was incredibly gracious. Now I see how easily it could have gone a different way. Mr. Jeffrey not only writes good books, but also takes criticism well. That makes you a great author in my book!

So You Want to be President

For some reason even when I rotate a scanned image so that it is facing the correct direction and save it that way, it doesn't want to upload that way. You'll have to turn your head to read the flier.

I presented a program at the children's library this morning. It was in honor of the upcoming inauguration, so the idea was that I would read books and sing songs related to being President and America in general. The books I chose were So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George, The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller, and Duck for President by Doreen Cronin. I also planned to sing "Yankee Doodle" and "Be Kind to Your Web Footed Friends" (to the tune of the "Star Spangled Banner.") And I planned to open with "My Aunt Came Back," which I had heard Jackie sing a few times and thought would be a good ice breaker.

As you may or may not be able to read on the flier the program was marketed for 8 and under. It was my dearest hope that school age children would come. It rained here for the first time in a week or two. School age children did not come. A few small children came. So here is what actually happened.

I started with my old storytime start-up song, "Sing, Sing, Sing With Me" (to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat.") Then, once they were with me we tried "My Aunt Came Back" (it worked okay because the parents were very participatory). I jumped strait to Duck for President since it was the shortest book, sung "Yankee Doodle" while marching, talked about some of the things in So You Want to be President? while showing pictures but did not read it, sang "Be Kind to Your Web Footed Friends," and then went into the craft.

The craft was making an American flag out of pre-cut pieces of construction paper. They had to draw on the stars, though, since cutting out lots of little stars would have been pretty difficult. There was also a Geroge W. coloring sheet. The White House website doesn't have a coloring sheet of Obama yet.

Overall, I think I managed a pretty good save. The program was meant for children older than the ones I got, but those kids were interested and I did what I could for them.

What are people in Norwich saying about America's outgoing president?

Before I started reading Duck for President I asked the kids, "Do you think a duck could be president?"
A dad who was just arriving said, "One is."
Not sure if that was a lame duck reference or something else.

I explained that we had George W. Bush coloring sheets because he is still the current president. In answer to groans, the children's librarian invited the patrons to deface the pictures as they wished. This is really funny because as a child I acquired a laminated picture of George H. W. Bush so that I could deface it, then wipe it off and do it again! (I blamed him for the endangerment of the spotted owls.) No one actually defaced any pictures of any of the Bushes today. They were much more interested in the flag craft, even though it was more complicated.

Parting comments:
The children's librarian really liked the song "My Aunt Came Back" and intends to use it herself in the future!

Answers

Q. Mumsie asked me to find some African folktales for a friend at work.

A. My official recommendation is Tales From Africa. When I took Folklore at UGA we used books from this series. The stories are collected straight from storytellers in the region and then transcribed and translated. This is as close as you will get to unadulterated African folktales without traveling to Africa.

Q. Cousin Madeline asked about Bletsoe, England.

A. Bletsoe is in Bedfordshire County, which has a website: click here. The Wikipedia article is not very good, but there is a map. It looks like Bletsoe is roughly as far from us as London is.

Q. Rachel is a newcomer to the blog (I can't tell you how exciting it is that my blog is helping someone!) who would like advice about moving to Norwich.

A. To get a flat, check out the listings on Prime Location ahead of time to get an idea of where you might want to live and what prices are like. The Golden Triangle is a good area for access to the city center and the University of East Anglia, but it does cost more to live inside the triangle than outside.
You probably won't be able to secure a flat before moving. I have been told you can hire someone to act on your behalf to do viewings and such, but after dealing with the rental agencies I'm not so sure about this approach.
I would suggest visiting lots of rental agencies as soon as you move, choosing a couple of properties you like, and being aggressive about getting them.
Normally the application requires that you have a UK bank account and UK references. (I'll get to bank account advice in a minute.) A UK cosigner is also an option.
John and I had none of these things. Instead we provided them with tons of information about our finances: bank statements, loan statements, John's acceptance letter from UEA. Then we asked the agency to talk to the landlord and see what could be arranged. The landlord accepted our documents along with a deposit of three months rent.
You may be able to get a similar arrangement, but it will depend on the agency and landlord. (We rent from JSM.)
If you can provide a deposit of six months rent, you should be able to get a property without any proof of finances. A lease lasts for six months and goes month to month after that, so essentially you will be paying all of your rent up front and are no risk.
As for the bank account, if you are a student you should visit one of the bank branches on campus. Although there are branches for many banks all over Norwich, only the branches on campus have experience setting up accounts for foreign students. From what I can tell, it is much easier to get a bank account as a student.
If you are not a student, you will probably need to have an address, a job, and a decent amount of money to deposit.
The initial part of the move is the hardest, but once you get settled in, Norwich is a great place to live.


I hope this helps. Please let me know if I can do more to answer your questions!

Down Town

I went into town today to meet with Libby the librarian. I will be telling stories for America week in April, which is pretty awesome. We set up some more meetings to work on the Americans during WWII presentation that I will hopefully be taking to schools.

Then I went to Pilch, which is the sports store owned by Jarrold. It has finally gotten too cold for me to run in the cold weather running clothes I so cleverly bought on sale last summer. I have been making due by wearing a sweat shirt, but that hasn't been optimal. So, I got a jacket that the young man in the store assured me will keep me warm even though it's not very thick. Apparently just keeping the wind off is sufficient when you are moving around. I also got some running gloves because my hands were sweating in regular gloves and it is too cold to go without. And I got a skullcap for similar reasons, except having to do with my head instead of my hands. Coolest thing ever: the skullcap has a hole for my ponytail!

After I got home I practiced guitar for a long time. I did some work on my Wikipedia Song, because someday I'd like to make it more presentable. I wrote out the chord progressions and even looked up some chords in the book I got for Christmas. But then I realized that I haven't quite learned all the stuff I need to so I can make the song truly awesome, so it is still a work in progress.

I'm attempting falafel and couscous again tonight, but this time I bought the falafal pre-assembled. The menu:
couscous with bell pepper, onion, raisins, and seasonings
falafal balls
cucumber with houmous
olives with feta (just for me, John doesn't like olives)

Oh, and here is yesterday's fog. This is a view from the bedroom window which looks out the back of the flat.

The Mist

As I was preparing to go out for my run this morning I looked up the weather on my computer. It said that the temperature was back near freezing and there was 100% humidity. I wondered how there could be 100% humidity when it's not raining. Then I went outside.

I was going to add a picture of the very thick fog outside. But (BTW John's off the hook because he's next to me watching TV and NOT playing WoW) the picture wouldn't upload! I guess the internet is just finicky sometimes. Poor John taking the blame all this time.

Life After England

As much fun as we are having here, we are having to start to plan for what we will do when we move back home. I just spent several hours completing an application to UGA. My plan is to try and find a library job, then work and take classes at the same time. I'm hoping within another year or so (from the time we get back) I will be certified to be a Media Specialist and will be able to work in schools.

I am excited about possibly going back to school, but also looking forward to working full time. And as for doing both at the same time: I've done it before and survived.

I'm also looking forward to living back in the US with John. When we were home for Christmas it was so good to see friends and family, but also a little weird for us to be without our own place. In some ways coming back to England was coming home, because this is the only home we have together. It will be a whole new adventure to move back to Georgia and have a home together in our home country.

In the mean time, we are planning lots of trips. We are making the most out of the rest of our time here!

Different Types of Cold

The sailboat pond is temporarily unfrozen and I walked back from the co-op without my gloves on. In Georgia I would have thought of today's temperature as pretty cold. But compared to what we have had here for the past week, it was warm. I actually walked outside in low 40s windy, rainy weather, and thought "this is warm." I guess you do adapt.

Minnie Mouse

I went back to H&M recently to look for a reasonably priced long winter coat (which I found).

While I was there I decided to also look for some tights (which I found), because John insists that I will wear my new dress in London, and it is cold in London.

Then I decided to look for some thick socks. My black boots are awesome at keeping my feet warm and keeping water out, but they give me blisters on my feet if I walk too far in them because my feet move around inside the boots just slightly. If I wear very thick socks with them, the problem seems to go away. Thus, thick socks. H&M sells socks. They sell lots of socks. But for some reason, the only thick socks they sell have Minnie Mouse on them. I decided that since the socks would be entirely covered by my boots, what was on them really didn't matter and bought them anyway.

I tried out the Minnie Mouse socks today. John and I walked into town today to see a movie (The Yes Man) and I wore my boots with the Minnie socks underneath. I did not get blisters. The verdict: Win!

Feeling With Your Fingers

I went to Ancient House this morning to help out with another event. This was the third day of programs about blindness and mobility. There were several things going on today including learning about guide dogs, typing in braille, and feeling with your fingers.

I was in the kitchen with a bowl and a box of cereal. I encouraged people to close their eyes, then pour the cereal into the bowl without looking. Throughout the day many people of all ages came in to give it a try.

I went to a talk on stuff that blind people use in their daily life (like a device that tells you what color your clothes are!), and typed my name in braille. (You might want to click on the picture to see it up close.)
















I got John to walk with me through the park yesterday so I could take a picture of the sailboat pond (and then I forgot to post the picture). It has looked like this all week. I usually see it in the morning when I'm running, but I think it looks kind of magical in the twilight.

Weird Things That Really Happened

First Weird Thing
John stayed up really late last night to watch the national championship game. Sometime after he finally came to bed I heard him say, "Hey."
I wasn't sure if that was just a random exclamation or if he needed something, so I asked, "Do you need something?"
John: "Yeah, I need you to grill those things."
Me: "???"
John: "I need you to grill those things we skinned."
Me: "zzzzzz"
John: "zzzzzz"
Later in the afternoon when he finally woke up he had no recollection of this conversation.

Second Weird Thing
I was expecting a call from Ancient House this morning about volunteering this weekend. I was running and listening to an audio book. (I have taken note of the recommendations, but am currently listening to a random book I downloaded to test out how Georgia Download Destination works.) This audio book has jazzy music between the chapters. My phone plays jazzy music when it rings. The call came and I just listened to it ringing thinking it was the end of the chapter in my book! Then, when the book came back on and it wasn't a new chapter, I realized what happened. I called back, found out they do need me this weekend, and went back to listening to the book. The chapter ended after another minute or so, and the music that came on was totally the same riff that is my phone ring. Different instrument, but same riff, I kid you not.

Office Space

John and I each have an "office" in separate rooms of the flat. My office is now in our bedroom, and John has his own office in the spare upstairs bedroom. My office pretty much takes up one desk. John has a desk, a folding table, and, well a whole room with papers and clothes strewn all over it.

When John first cashed in on his Christmas gift back in Georgia, we attempted to play WoW together in his room. I called the desk, and John had to try and play from his bed. He was very unhappy with this arrangement. So, he has decided that when we play WoW together in the flat we will both play in his office. He sits at the folding table and I sit at the desk. (I had to bring in the chair from my office beause the extra chair in John's office is holding the printer.) When John proposed this arrangement to me I was all, "Aww, I have a desk in your office."

And what did he say? "Umm, no. Just for World of Warcraft."

Nota bene: FiveUS shows CSI pretty much every night of the week except for Thursday. Thursday night they show a movie. We don't want to watch the movie, so Thursday is now WoW night.

Bio or Non-Bio

Quick, you need to wash your clothes and you're in England. What kind of laundry detergent do you buy???

When we first moved here I bought some eco-friendly co-op brand stuff that says "bio" on it. It works well enough, but I noticed on the label that it is not for use on wool and silk. We don't have a lot of wool or silk, but we have some (I think). So I purchased a special detergent for hand-wash items, including wool and silk. (I don't "hand wash" anything, that's the name of a super delicate laundry cycle, right?) This stuff says "non-bio."

I began to wonder which was best to use on underwear. Maybe this seems like a silly question, but you want underwear to be really clean, and you don't want to wash them with anything that might irritate your skin. The gentle detergent said it might irritate skin, but I was worried that if the tougher cleaner was too tough for wool and silk it might not be so good for skin either (not sure this makes sense, but look -> I was right!).

I finally went online and looked up what "bio" and "non-bio" mean. Apparently, "bio" detergents have enzymes that eat away stains even at low temperatures, BUT they can irritate sensitive skin (so my strong cleaner was out). "Non-bio" detergents don't have the enzymes so they are nicer to your skin but not as good at low temperatures (okay with me because I wash underwear on hot). Unfortunately, the "non-bio" I had bought was a potential skin irritant for some other reason. So, I went to the co-op and bought another "non-bio" detergent.

"Bio" for most clothes.
Regular "non-bio" for underwear.
Hand-wash "non-bio" for delicates.

I think I've got it straight now.

Halfway There

John took his last final today and is officially finished with his first semester!

He celebrated by coming home and drinking wine out of a coffee cup.

Because we were out of milk, orange juice, and coke.

And he doesn't believe in water.

I celebrated by going to the store and buying milk, orange juice, and toothpaste.

And small sliced bread. The big bread makes big sandwiches and they are too big for me.

Polar Running

So, I took a little break from running while John and I were in Georgia to let my shins heal. I decided to break my running fast today even though:
1) I woke up dismally late because I have not been making a very serious effort to adjust back to England time
2) The weather widget on my home page said that it was snowing outside
and 3) In spite of my disbelief that it could possibly be snowing, when I looked out my window I did, in fact, see snow.



















Okay, it doesn't look like much, but it's the principle of the thing. It has to be pretty cold to snow.

Anyway, I went running. I've lost some of the ground I had gained before the trip home so I only made it two miles instead of three. And I think the only reason I made it that far was that I was afraid if I stopped running too far from home I would freeze.

I'm still looking for another good audiobook/podiobook to listen to. I downloaded one called Dark Matter that was read in a very boring voice and had, okay only one, grammar mistake in the first chapter, but come on.
This morning I downloaded Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World, thinking "what could go wrong?" It is read by a computer. I'm not even joking.

It looks like I need to install some things on my computer to download books from the Georgia Download Destination, but, don't worry, I'm on it.

Ahem. So, if you have any audiobook recomendations for me, please leave them in comments.

Oh yeah, there is also one more book review on my other blog. Not a British book. I bought it while I was at home because I'm ever-so-slightly a John Green fangirl.

More Book Reviews

I've reviewed another British YA novel on my other blog.

If you scroll down to the review of the last podiobook I listened to, you can see that the author commented. Flattering, but also embarrassing. It never occurred to me that an author might read my blog!

It is Colder in England

I was worried that after being in the comparatively tropical temperatures of Georgia for the last two weeks I would have trouble adjusting back to freezing Norwich weather. But I'm pretty much fine when I go out. I bundle up and keep moving. No problem.

What I wasn't prepared for was the chill indoors. John turned the water heater off while we were gone to cut down on our gas costs. Not only does it take a long time for radiators to heat a two story frozen flat, but it doesn't help when the plumbing isn't functioning properly (again).

The water heater was showing a water pressure of zero and our bathroom radiator was warm on the bottom, but not the top. The flat was still pretty cold when we went to bed on Thursday night, so we slept with all three comforters on our bed.

Yesterday while I was at Ancient House, John stayed home and met the plumber. He fixed the problem with the water pressure. And John apparently tried to fix the radiator issue himself. There was air in that bathroom radiator and John tried to bleed it out. He was looking sheepish when I got home and said that water spurted all over our bathroom and bedroom. He had cleaned it up very thoroughly and I saw no evidence of the mess. Between the plumber's expert work and John's valiant amateur attempts, we now have a warm home again.

This morning we both got to sleep in. And we were only sleeping under one comforter.

Hymn to Mercury

I volunteered at another Ancient House event today. The program was called "Toys and Tales." I decided to draw on Roman mythology for my toy and tale by telling the story of Mercury's adventures as a newborn and making model lyres.

Here is what mine looked like. It is the brown and green thing in the middle of the table. (If you click on the picture it will enlarge.)














And the string side.



















Everyone had fun making lyres but most of the kids were too little to want to hear the story. Oh well.

But for you, here it is. I adapted my version of the story from Homer's Hymn to Hermes. I know, I know, I don't really like to give the impression that the Greek gods and Roman gods are interchangeable, but Ovid's paragraph long account of Mercury stealing Apollo's cows just didn't do it for me. It's not often that Ovid lets me down, but I guess when you create a sprawling mythological work like the Metamorphoses some stories are bound to fall through the cracks.

When Mercury was first born he walked outside of his cave and found an empty turtle shell lying on the ground. He said to himself, "This shell provided a strong and safe home for the turtle when it was alive. But now it can make music!" He took the turtle shell back into the cave and stretched strings across it. He tuned the strings so that each played a different note. He had just invented the lyre!
After a little while, he got tired of playing with his new toy. He hid it under the pillow in his crib and went out exploring. Soon he came to a large field that contained a herd of cattle. The field and the cattle happened to belong to his older brother Apollo.
Mercury started herding the cattle down the road. At first he brushed away their tracks but then he came up with a new plan. He made the cows walk backwards. As he was walking, he was also leaving behind footprints so he decided should disguise those, too. He wove himself sandals out of grass. He made the bottoms of the sandals very large so that he made monster-sized footprints.
As he was herding the cattle down the road backwards, and wearing his new sandals, he saw an old man working in his vineyard. Mercury called out to him, "There is no need for you to mention what you have seen here."
Mercury led the cattle all the way down to the ocean. He played with them on the beach until he got tired. Then he went home for a nap. When he got inside his cave he crawled into his crib and wrapped himself tightly in his blankets.
Soon, Apollo returned home and discovered that his cattle were missing. He searched all around and at first he could find no sign of them. Finally he discovered the backwards footprints. What was more, he saw that the creature herding the cows was enormous!
As he followed the footprints down the road, he came to the old man working in his vineyard. "Did you see who was driving these cattle?" Apollo asked him.
The old man answered, "I have lived a long time and seen many strange things, but I have never seen anything as strange as a baby wearing giant sandals driving a herd of cattle backwards."
Apollo remembered that he had a new baby brother, and if any baby could steal a herd of cattle, he was surely a son of Jupiter.
He hurried to Mercury's cave and woke him from his nap.
"Where are my cows?" He asked.
Mercury looked up at him sleepily. "How could I steal your cows? I'm just a baby."
Apollo pressed on. "I have a witness. I know it was you."
"I was only born today. Maybe I have heard stories about cows, but I've never seen one." Mercury answered.
Apollo was getting angry. He walked over to the crib, picked Mercury up, and glared at him.
Mercury did something very stinky in his diaper, and since Apollo was not used to babies doing stinky things while he was holding them, he dropped him.
Mercury looked up from the floor and said, "I think we should talk to Dad."
So, Apollo and Mercury went up Mount Olympus to see Jupiter.
"Dad," Apollo started, "Mercury stole my cows."
Mercury looked up at Jupiter innocently. "How could I steal his cows? I'm just a baby."
"I have a witness. It was him."Apollo continued.
But Mercury denied it again. "I was just born a few hours ago. I have never even seen a cow."
At this point Jupiter started laughing. "You know, from up here on Mount Olympus I can see everything. I saw you steal his cows. You are very bold to lie not only to your father but also the king of the gods. Now show Apollo where you put the cows."
Mercury finally had to give in. He took Apollo to the sea shore where he had hidden the cows. And he also decided that there should be no animosity between brothers so he gave Apollo the lyre as a peace offering.
Apollo now possessed a musical instrument like no other. And Mercury established himself as the patron god of thieves and tricksters.

If you haven't figured it out from the story and pictures, we made our model lyres by coloring paper bowls to look like turtle shells, and then stretching strings across the opening.

New Years in London

During my freshman year of high school (1998-1999), the marching band learned that they had been invited to march in the Millennium Parade in London the next New Years (never mind that 2000 wasn't actually the start of the new Millennium). The band promptly put out the news, started collecting payments, and didn't go on a trip that year so everyone could save up. I couldn't go on the trip. And although I understood, because it cost a lot of money, I was very disappointed.
Sophomore year, New Years came and went, and all my band friends came home with stories of all the fun they had.

Well, John and I flew out of Atlanta late in the day on December 30th and arrived in London early in the day on December 31st. To avoid doing too much travel at once, we stayed in the airport hotel and took the train home to Norwich today.

Yeah, we could have taken a train from the hotel into London proper and watched midnight fireworks while Big Ben chimed the hour. But instead, we stayed inside where it was warm, watched the festivities on TV, shared a bottle of champagne, and played World of Warcraft. (My Christmas gift to John was a promise that I would play WoW with him.)

I bet my London New Years was nothing like what my band mates experienced during the Millennium celebrations, but John and I had a good time.

Fun note:
One of my college Latin professors pointed out the fatal flaw in the name of the Mazda Millenia. The word "millennium" comes from the Latin "mille," which means "thousand," and "annum," which means "year." Thus, a "millennium" is a thousand years. Mazda spells "millenia" without the second "n," making the word a combination of "mille" and "anus," which means "back side." Thus, the Millenia is a thousand bottoms!