The Stars and the Cookie Jar

shirei_shibolim , current hapless victim of my liiiittle Tolkein thing, has provided me, for my birthday, via the post, with... a mysterious breadstuff. (It hasn't arrived yet. I suspect it will be less mysterious when I remove it from its parcel and eat it.) He has proven himself, by way of challah and kaiser rolls, to be a precocious and well-researched baker. Nostalgia! Nostalgia! I would retain him as personal boulanger-patissier when I've taken over the world (starting at the Cloisters) but he is engaged to a friend of mine, who is also a cat. To my eyes, they are very happy.

I have nine books by my bed waiting to be read, and only two are research.

I'm writing, mostly having been goaded to it; I am ecstatic about this. New characters and everything, though they still seem to exist in that same ur-Massachusetts (that scares you, dunnit?) ...and they're boys  this time.