I’m getting married to the most wonderful person I know on Monday. Today we got the marriage license!

Recently completed HFM Prescott’s The Man on a Donkey, a wonderful piece of historic fiction about the main actors (and a few fictional ones) of the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace—a rebellion against the religious changes of Henry VIII. Despite being a scholar of 16th century England I’m not at all interested in historical fiction, but this was quite a beautiful work set as a chronicle and tracing half a dozen characters from their youth until the final suppression of the Pilgrimage in summer 1537. Prescott does get straight to business so I can imagine it would be a bit difficult to place oneself without preexisting knowledge of late medieval/early modern England, but that thrown-in-the-deep-end attitude worked for me.

Edit: word is that Hilary Mantel was deeply influenced by Prescott, as was the playwright of A Man for All Seasons.

My mother in law has a very dainty, feable 12-year-old Maltese that he tries depseratly to play with. That usually involves the Maltese getting stuck under Radahn…surely that counts!

Ye dead who yet live!

He’s got the mass of a black hole if we’re talking force of attraction.

He certainly gets all the scritches that could be wished for.

…and he steals all the socks he could wish for!

Thank you!

I’m pretty sure if I brought him to the NYSE they’d have to suspend trading.

I was sent to a series of the ‘better’ programs—i.e., the ones without deaths attached to them. It took a decade of therapy to deal with the worst of the trauma and I still experience PTSD episodes several times each year. It’s astounding how these facilities carry on functioning with merely a name change. There’s almost no regulation, let alone patient rights. My first program was truly one of the better ones and they had patient rights information posted through the facility and hard copies provided in your welcome packet. When I was sent to my second program (wilderness), I asked what my patient rights were. I received dumbfounded stares followed by laughter.

Your best bet may be to find some general congestion charge videos (ie, not NYC-specific coverage). Most of what I’ve come across is extremely sparse—offering only the facts of the suggested charges with little analysis—or absurdly car-centric outrage bait.

I’ve had to explain to far too many friends and colleagues why congestion fares are just and necessary—most have absolutely no conception of the damage (private) vehicles do to any environment, but especially a pedestrian-heavy urban space.

My partner and I are chest-deep into BG3. We had a third teammate, but he got too busy with life…and wasn’t really a team player to begin with. But we’re absolutely loving the game and have happily become unproductive members of society since we started playing a few weeks ago.

I’ve missed the others, so I’m super excited to participate!

Homemade bread will stale reasonably quickly and also go mouldy more quickly than store bought, especially if it’s wrapped in plastic. When I bake bread it takes me more than a week to get through the loaf, so I’ll divide it in half: slice up one half and freeze it (with parchment paper between the slices) and keep the other half out for consuming—wrapped in parchment either in the cupboard or refrigerated.

The frozen slices will defrost and toast perfectly in a toaster or a warmed oven. If I’m using them for a breakfast sandwich, I put it in the preheating frying pan with the lid on until I’m ready to cook the eggs.

Posted mere moments after I set a batch of cold brew to do its thing! Oh well, next week I guess—no bad way to start a Monday.

Book Darts! I’m typically reading for research and writing and the book darts are great for coming back to the right sentence when I’ve stopped off. I’ll leave them in long-term if I’m swapping between edited volumes—I’ve got a tin of 100, so it’s no problem if I leave a few within books here and there. I typically add one to the first page whenever a new book comes home. If I haven’t got one already placed or I start reading while out and about I dog-ear.

You absolutely don’t need a French press—I just find it’s easier to clean than the bottles I have. When I kept my French press far tucked away I used bottles and pitchers for cold brew before pouring it through the filter to catch the grinds.

And yes, I grind quite course. I have the Fellow Ode with SSP burrs and move it to the most course setting.

Coffee in water! I use a French press and pour it through a V60 filter because I prefer a clean drinking experience. My most used recipe for cold brew is 500g water and 83g coffee (1:6 ratio) and leave it for 24-48 hours (depending on how much warning I have).

If I know I’m hosting a larger crowd than one or two friends, my go-to is a large batch of cold brew. This allows me to serve both hot and iced coffee depending on my guests’ preference. I aim for 100g of concentrate per guest and top it with 100g of hot water or a mix of ice and cold water.

That’s such a good ideal—good luck!

I just recommend this app to my mother in law in lieu of one of those morbidly expansive camera bird feeders.