The place where lost socks go...

Live from the Flat With No Name.... iiiiit's Friday evening!

Okay, maybe that needs work.

In any case, before I head out for a date with my darling bunnypip, here is a quick review of the past week:

Saturday was the long-awaited Oxford BiFest! I believe that we can count it as a success -- eighty-three people attended, about half of whom were new. Looks like our outreach campaign paid off! Back in September, when we began planning for a BiFest, somebody told us that you just get the venue and the rest mainly runs itself. Hah -- I don't think so! It took an awful lot of work to pull this off... but pull it off we did!

We arrived about at ten o'clock, about an hour early, and had barely enough time to complete our set-up before BiFest opened for business. In the first workshop slot, I ran an icebreaking "Fun & Games" session that went very well. We played a name game, Bag of Nouns, and I love you, Honey. In the second session, cheshcat and I co-facilitated a discussion of "Relationship Styles & Structures" that had to be very quickly modified when we realised that there was not a single monogamous person in the room! For the third workshop space, I took it easy and attended oilrig's "Allies & Friends" session -- it turned out to be quite a nice workshop when not being consistently derailed by one man with an attitude and an agenda[**].

In the evening, I coordinated a pizza run for fourteen people. Thanks to the Fat Boyz special -- buy one medium or large pizza, get one free -- we had a mountain of pizza! More than we could eat -- I bumped everyone requesting a small up to a medium as it would actually be cheaper for them -- and at a pretty reasonable price! Five pounds per person! Then I joined cheshcat and miss_amaranth's "Slow Dating" social session before making my way onto the disco floor.

The event wrapped up at eleven, though it was nearly midnight by the time we organiser-types were done with cleanup... and after one by the time I was done giving rides. Actually, after two -- as the clocks had just changed. Exhausted, I collapsed into bed to grab a few hours of sleep before.....


Sunday morning, I woke up early -- about eight -- and got ready to ring bells for Church services at St. Andrews. Then it was off to city centre to host two walking tours, unofficially offered as an extension of Oxford BiFest. The tours -- each three hours long -- were both better attended that I had thought. The first took place outside, showcasing the highlights of the City of Dreaming Spires. We passed Carfax, Christ Church, the Radcliffe Camera, the Bodleian Library, the Martyr Memorial, and much more. The second tour was a "museum crawl" that took in the Oxford University Natural History Museum, the Pitt Rivers Museum, and the Museum of the History of Science. It ended slightly earlier than planned, as most participants had gone on both tours and -- after nearly six hours of walking[***] -- folks were starting to get tired. So, just before five o'clock, I took of my Oxford BiFest organiser badge and considered the event to be officially over.

In the evening, we had a tribe pow-wow at the Flat With No Name for a couple of hours, then made our weekly pilgrimage to Atomic Burger for dinner. After this, it was about eleven o'clock in the evening, so people made their way home and I wound down for the night after a long and active weekend.


Monday's main accomplishment -- by far -- was completing the draft of my proposal to obtain some Super-Kamiokande data. Huzzah! Progress is being made!

In the evening, the Bisexual Oxford Organising Committee met for a debriefing of our BiFest. The group is definitely becoming more formal, with various roles and structures being more clearly defined. I see no problem in this, as our basic structure is still non-hierarchical. My new role is that of the group Treasurer -- a responsibility that plays nicely to my natural strengths. Seizing the momentum of our recent success, new projects have been launched... although I am deliberately staying in the background for now. My next big organising project is running P**T*** 2010 -- and I intend to do the best job possible with it! Having been part of the P**T*** community for thirteen years now, I am honoured to have been trusted with the role of President of the Institute... and, with Oxford BiFest completed, this will be a major focus for me from now through October!


Tuesday's main task was to write and deliver a half hour masterclass on neutrinos to about one hundred fifty high school students. Writing the talk on the same day was somewhat stressful; by waking at five o'clock in the morning, I managed to pull it off before I had to speak at 15:45. Indeed, I even had minutes to spare! Special mention of my thesis work on supernova relic neutrinos was made, of course! As a reward for a job well done, I had a lovely evening date with the delightful miss_amaranth in Winchester!


Wednesday saw me give a lecture to the Cody Astronomy Society, talking to an audience of about thirty educated laypeople on the mysteries of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays. The talk was very well received, with a large number of questions. I impressed even myself by being able to field all of them quite handidly! Once the lecture ended, I was treated to a tour of their observatory facilities... including their crown jewel: a six inch Carl Zeiss refractor on an extremely solid equatorial mount in a lovely dome! Very nice, indeed!


Thursday involved a whirlwind of productivity, as I beat back the mountain of small tasks that had been piling up before BiFest. Fear my mighty skills for dealing with minutia. In the evening, my beloved cheshcat and I went to see Ibsen's Hedda Gabler at the Oxford Playhouse. This was the eighth play that we have seen this year... and it was an excellent production! Certainly provided a lot of food for thought -- I may need to see more of Ibsen's work in the near future! The only other piece by him that I am aware of currently is A Doll's House, which everyone knows!


Friday is today. Had a nice lie in, and have since been taking care of various and sundry. Finished watching season eight of Smallville with cheshcat.[****] Found reasonably priced affordable tickets to Seoul for May. And, shortly after posting this, I am off to the Leveret Warren to spend a lovely evening with the even lovelier bunnypip!


On that note, I should run, gentle readers! I hope that the Week-in-Review -- never the most interesting genre of post -- did not bore too much. At least you have something to read in the evening, dear friends, if sleep does not come easily! Fare well... and a very merry Good Friday to all!

---

[*] Quick -- run! Hide!

[**] As happened at Brighton BiFest 2009.

[***] Each tour being three hours long. Thankfully, no one named Gilligan signed up.

[****] I found it very interesting to watch this today. Particularly when Clark Kent, worried about his upcoming battle with Doomsday, talks about how his father told him that it is his duty to sacrifice himself to save mankind. Sound familiar, anyone?

Writing this entry on the Oxford Tube, as usual. Although I went to work today, my productivity was far below normal. Still transitioning out of the liminal space that was BiCon.

So, yeah, BiCon. Wow. Most excellent! I'm not sure that I could do it justice in a linear narrative... so I'll just fire off a list of impressions, instead. Here are some of the many things that rocked my BiCon 2009:

• Meeting lovely new people for the first time.
  
• Meeting lovely not-so-new people again.
  
• An awesometacular "Fun & Games" workshop that did indeed deliver on the fun.
  
• An unexpected moment where I was informed that somebody thought I was "tasty tasty" (although, alas, they were too shy to tell me other than anonymously through a messenger)
  
• Sunlight -- and lots of it!
  
• Learning that certain scary things really don't scare me.
  
• Dancing with nunnehi until the Friday disco ended.
  
• Being complimented (together with nunnehi) for being the "divas of the dance floor."
  
• Personal growth and progress.
  
• Hugs. And kisses.
  
• Learning that there are lots of cool people to hang out with in Oxford!
  
• Dressing up in pretty clothing (and horns).
  
• Watching other people dressed up in pretty clothing.
  
• A marvelous hour long massage from a very talented woman.
  
• Watching a certain someone special as she moved on the dance floor.
  
• Amazing private time in my room with absolutely wonderful people.
  
• Wearing the fantastic dalek tea cosy that bammba_m made for me as a hat.
  
• No drama!!!
  
• Making the right choices for myself and for my loved ones.
  
• Lovely anniversary chocolate and card from darkfloweruk for my anniversary with bunnypip.
  
• Forming a kickline to The Impossible Dream on Saturday night at the BiCon ball...

...and, speaking of the BiCon ball, the theme for this year's costume was "Crime & Punishment". I went as the Joker and had an abso-friggin-lutely amazing time! This was made possible by three factors. First, there was the costume -- clothing based on Jack Nicholson's Joker with a wig based on Heath Ledger's. Next, there was the makeup, expertly applied (over the course of an hour) by my beloved cheshcat. Third, and finally, there was the attitude, channeled by me to bring it all to life! The combination was effective -- most people didn't realise it was your friendly neighborhood Nomad underneath it all![*] I can't show the energy and attitude here on LiveJournal... but here's a still shot that pilot_moondog caught in mid-laugh:

HaHAhahaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAHAHA!!!!


Final mark: A++ Can't wait for next year's BiCon... and I very much hope to see loads of the lovely people that I met there between now and then! (And a warm welcome to all the new people who have just joined my f-list, too!)

---

[*] The lack of eyeglasses probably helped disguise me. It also meant that I spent the entire evening being unable to see more than two feet in front of my face. I don't think I've ever been outside without my glasses for as long as I was this weekend for at least twenty years!

At Mom's place in NYC now, touching a computer for the first time since leaving Skullcrusher Mountain last Thursday. Don't have oodles of time[*] -- I am only online via a "borrowed" wireless connection[**] while she is out running errands -- but I wanted to post a report back on how the Super Sekrit October Pagan gathering went this year.

Short Version: Freakin' incredible!!!

Middle Version: P**T*** is usually a very Good Thing^TM, but some years are better than others. There have been years, for instance, marred with drama. In 2001, the war in Afghanistan began while I was at P**T***, which put me in a very bad headspace. This was my twelfth P**T*** and, until now, 2003 was the absolute best year -- a year in which everything went right. I started grading my P**T***s that year, giving 2003 an A. This year was at least as good, maybe better, earning another A grade for P**T*** 2008.

Longer Version: I don't have time to write in full detail about the weekend, but here are selected highlights...

Overall
The weekend weather was phenomenal! Without a doubt, the best that I have ever seen at this gathering. Perfectly clear skies from Friday through Sunday, and temperatures in the mid-70s during the day! Gorgeous! Certainly a far cry from the flooding we had in 2005, when GH brought a canoe to paddle around in the fire circle! Only last year even comes close, and this was even better! Also, the trees in the area are in their full Autumn colour now... and, for some reason, those colours are more vibrant than usual this year! I don't know why that is, but I certainly appreciated their stunning beauty!

Friday

• Arrived at the site with cheshcat at about 5pm. Once again, there was the strange temporal magick where, upon driving onsite, the entire year in-between vanishes into a very, very small time. It felt like I had last been there just a day or two before.
  
  
• Gave the usual barrage of welcoming hugs to people as they arrived.
  
  
• Embarrassed myself in front of pomoloco's mother. I had not seen this incredible woman in nearly a year. Thus, when I saw her arriving, I bounced up to her with great enthusiasm. Some woman I did not recognize was near the car with her. pomoloco asked me: "Do you mind if I sleep on top of you and cheshcat?" What she meant, of course, was the bunk bed above ours. I knew this, but responded with: "Sweetie, you can sleep on top of me any time you like!" At which point she said: "Oh, by the way, have you met my mom?" Er... oops! I apologized immediately but, apparently, the only person even slightly phased by all this was me. Her mom knows about our relationship and has heard far more shocking things -- not about us! -- from other people without blinking an eye.
  
  
• Found PS, one of the organizers for this year's gathering. He handed me a program and opened to Sunday evening -- one workshop in particular: "Physics -- It's What I Do". I had not volunteered to present another installment in the popular Physics For Pagans series this year... so apparently I had been drafted into doing it, instead. I laughed pretty heartily at seeing my name on the program after all!
  
  
• The opening of Aphrodite's Temple was particularly memorable this year. Just before said opening, I had been cuddling with the lovely perspicacious and getting to know her a bit better. Thus, when the opening began at 10:30pm, we went to it together. We stayed on in the Temple afterwards, enjoying some quality not-so-alone time. Finally left the Temple shortly before 3am. It was quite a splendid way to spend the evening!

Saturday

• Was recruited by TinMan 2.0 to play a small role in the Archetypal Shakespeare Company's production of The Magic Flute. It was a small role, essential given that the performance was that very night and the rest of the company had been rehersing for months. Nonetheless, I was pleased to have been asked and excited about trodding the boards again for the first time in many years!
  
  
• Participated in a Wild Hunt. This is my third one. I always end up as a hunted creature, although now it is by choice. During my first Wild Hunt, at Samhain 1995, I had automatically assumed I would be a hunter, despite the random selection of roles between hunter, hunted, and hearth-keeper. It just fit who I was. I was genuinely surprised to be selected as one of the hunted... and the ritual turned out to be intensely profound for me. At the time I was caught, I experienced what could be best described as a "near death encounter." To say that it shook me up a lot would be an understatement. In any case, the Wild Hunt has taken on quite a bit of meaning for me since, despite the fact that it is essentially just ritualized "hide and seek." The next time I participated in one such Hunt was Beltane 1997. I still have the horn that I won from that one. This time, I also won and eluded capture from the hunters by leaving a clever false trail and wading across a river in bare feet. I did such a good job of hiding that, by the time I returned, there were actually people worried about me because no one could find me!
  
  
• Enjoyed a nature walk with GH and a group that he was leading. Indeed, their turn-around point was very near where I was hiding during the hunt, so I simply joined them for the second half of their walk. People were surprised to see me appear out of nowhere at the point where they were deepest in the woods. When asked where I came from, I just mentioned that I had been experimenting with my transporter back in the bunk houses.
  
  
• HIGH POINT OF THE DAY: Was asked by the 2009 P**T*** organizer if I had ever been approached to run the gathering. When I said that I had not, he asked if I would be interested in doing so in 2011. Um.......... YES! I had to discuss it with cheshcat before agreeing, but we decided that we were definitely up for accepting!
  
  
• Performed The Magick Flute with TinMan 2.0 and pomoloco (who was one of the stars) and others. This rock opera version was a lot of fun and very well received!
  
  
• Main ritual! Good stuff! Very musically oriented, including a P**T*** version of "My Favourite Things"
  
  
• Dancing and drumming by the bonfire! Fun, with the added treat of watching some very talented poi spinners!

Sunday

• Attendend a fun workshop on tying knots in Aphrodite's Temple. It was recommended to bring a partner to tie knots with, so I brought the aforementioned delightful perspicacious. We remained after the workshop was done to admire our handiwork.
  
  
• Canoeing and swimming! There is a pond and a small waterfall on the site. Weather permitting, I always try to take out a canoe for at least a little while. After all, I am a water elemental! At lunch, just before I was ready to grab a canoe, ES and some of her friends grabbed me and said: "We are going to take out a canoe. You have to come with us." Good timing! We were joined on the lake by perspicacious and some of her group (SB, JW, and JF). We paddled across the lake, then hiked to an area behind the waterfall. SB had never been there before and suggested we go for a swim. She asked how cold I thought the water would be. I said, "Very." I had no intention of swimming in it. She looked at the long drop off the rock we were on and asked how one would get down. I showed her a place where one could climb down the rocks. She asked if I would go in if she did. I said, "Maybe." Guess who ended up first in the water? Yes, it was me. And, yes, it was cold. Upon jumping in, I began treading water furiously to generate heat. It didn't work. When we got in, we clutched each other tightly to share body heat. It didn't work. I got out after, with SB and ES following behind me. I was in the cold water for less than five minutes... but it felt very good and invigorating to have had this little swim!
  
  
• Back at the central part of the site, I was informed that the P**T*** board had turned down the idea of cheshcat and I running the gathering in 2011. cheshcat looked hurt and rejected. As it turns out, they decided that we should run the show in 2010. Also, cheshcat already knew this and was faking her reaction to take the piss out of me. Brat! I am very excited about this... but it means that we have only one year now to plan the 2009 Main Ritual! Eeeep! I am very excited to be selected to organize a P**T***; this community has been a part of my life for a very long time -- over twelve years. The site is my spiritual home and the gathering is a pilgrimmage for us. It feels very good to be acknowledged as capable by the community and it feels wonderful to be able to give something back after all these years!
  
  
• Gave the latest "Physics For Pagans" talk. It was a bit impromtu, having not known it was on the program. However, I think it went reasonably well. About twenty people attended and there were some good questions. I have already been asked by a 2009 organizer if she can put me on the program for next year. What can I say? I agreed. At least I know that I get a break in 2010! I promised Chesh that if she puts me on the program then, I'm putting her down for an all-day writing workshop intensive!
  
  
• More fire! More drumming! More dancing! More poi!
  
  
• Dance party in the main hall! With lots of cheesy 80s music! I was spending time outside with perspicacious when I heard Footloose playing inside. I told her that I had to go because I could not resist the lure of cheesy 80s music. What a great surprise to learn that she was right there with me!
  
  
• Post-dance party: Received an astounding massage from perspicacious in the massage space. It was just what I had needed; my back and neck were so tense! Afterward, we retired to enjoy the last night of the gathering.

Monday

• Attended only my second business meeting ever in all the years I have been attending P**T***. Usually, I avoid them. I guess that, for the next few years, I will really need to attend. Chesh and I were formally confirmed by the community as the 2010 organizers. Very cool!
  
  
• Learned that the Wiggly Bridge on the site has apparently been added to a list of national historic bridges or some such. Peachy keen!
  
  
• Lots and lots of long goodbyes and farewell hugs.
  
  
• Lunch at a Japanese restaurant with a dozen P**T***ns who did not need to rush right off! It was good to spend extra time with people, especially those who I may not see for another year. After the meal ended, they gave us little bowls of pineapple for dessert. This made me think of a certain person and smile...

And that, gentle readers, was my weekend! Hooray! I feel grounded and centered and well connected with this community, which has been a part of my life for so many years now. Only fifty-one more weeks left until P**T*** 2009!

---

[*] Which means that I will not be checking personal e-mail or my LJ friends page.

[**] Mom has no internet connection of her own. This is the woman who, until three years ago, still owned (and used) a rotary phone.

Just got back from the OUSCR Cheese & Wine BBQ party.

There appears to be a bit of a theme going on this weekend. Tonight was the aforementioned OUS BBQ party. Tomorrow I will be driving up to Birming'am[*] for a BBQ party to celebrate thehalibutkid's birthday. And Sunday, assuming the weather is good and I am not feeling sick of them, there is a Pool & BBQ party. Can you guess the theme for this weekend?[**]

Anyway, back to tonight: At the end of each term, the OUS always has a cheese and wine party[***]. Since today was the last day of Trinity Term -- and the academic year -- the C&W was also a BBQ party. So we started at about 7:30 with a cheese party... and, in time, it morphed into meat (and meatless meat) party. Further on, the meat party transformed into a dance party[****]. Good deal, as I had not been dancing since BiFest last month. Some time around midnight, the dance party slowly started to change into a lots-of-people-gathered-around-a-computer-monitor-looking-at-pictures party. Which was not nearly as much fun. By about 1am, there was nobody dancing except me and one other person; the change to a LOPGAACMLAP party was complete. To me, that made a natural point for departure.

Overall, a fun evening. Now off to bed after I post this and then up to Birming'am[*] tomorrow. Sadly, the lovely redandfiery has temporarily fled from Birming'am to France -- can't say that I blame her -- so I will not be graced with her presence. Alas! But it will be good to see thehalibutkid and the extremely cuddly sanjibabes and oilrig and lots of other nifty people!

Right. Two more things, completely unrelated, and then I sleep:

Thing the first -- Yesterday evening, at St. Giles, I rang on an inside bell (the #3) in a plain course of Grandsire Doubles. This was a first for me and, thus, is noteworthy.

Thing the second -- It has come to my attention that there are people who are unaware of why my flat is named Skullcrusher Mountain. If you have not yet heard the brilliant song of the same name by Jonathan Coulton, I can only forgive you if you click here and listen to it now! It's safe, it's legal, and -- trust me -- it's worth the three minutes of your life that it will take to listen...

Sleepytime now. Assuming that anyone is still awake and reading this, good night.

---

[*] Apparently Brits pronounce "herbs" with the first letter because, as they say, there's an "h" in it... but they don't apply the same logic to "Birmingham", which -- you may have noticed -- also has an "h" in it.

[**] No, there will be no points for guessing this one. Too easy. C'mon, people, there are valuable prizes at stake with these points! Can't just give them away!

[***] Not to be confused with the Fermilab Wine & Cheese, which is a series of seminars.

[****] It is worth noting that, through all these transitions, the wine was a constant presence.

You know what they say: If your weekend was so active it leaves you limping, then you know that it was a success!

Don't have time for details now, but here is the synopsis: On Saturday, I left Oxford and made my was to London for BiFest. Had an excellent time, meeting lovely new people and seeing some faces that are happily becoming familiar. Besides the people -- which was really the best part -- there were nifty workshops, yummy food, and a spiffy dance.

Sunday morning, ms_katonic and I lay in until after noon. This delayed the start of my London walk by a couple of hours. By one o'clock, I was on my way, however. The original plan for the route can be seen here, and is just over twenty miles. It begins in Lewisham, near Greenwich Park, and ends up in Regents Park. Now that I have done the walk, I need to map out the actual course that I took, which I estimate to be about twenty two miles. I added some extra detours when something interesting, like the Old Bailey, caught my eye. Indeed, I got quite a splendid tour of London from this walk. Yesterday turned out to have a musical theatre theme -- while walking, I listened to soundtracks from five of my favourite shows.

After the walk ended, around nine o'clock, I went to the Pembury tavern and met ms_katonic and others to unwind. ms_katonic gets thanks and public recognition for being remarkably sweet -- she saved food for me when the kitchen closed so that I would be able to eat!

Once we left the tavern and made our way back to her house, I took a nice hot bath to relax the sore muscles in my left leg. The right leg is perfectly fine and doesn't notice that it very nearly walked a marathon yesterday. However, I must have pulled something in the left leg, because it is noticeably stiff and I am limping.

This morning was very lazy, and I did not actually stand up until after three o'clock. Shortly after I did, it was time to make my way back to Oxford my my ice skating lesson. Although we are technically a level three class, we have now covered all of the level three and four skills -- and started in on level five this week! We are halfway through the term -- three lessons down, three to go -- and I am hoping to pass the tests for level three and four. While it might be nice to get an early start on level five, actually passing it can wait for the next term. I must confess that my performance in today's class was less than stellar -- having one wooden leg is not an advantage on the ice.

That brings us to the present. I am currently in the lab, getting the cryostat set up for tomorrow. Yes, I know that it is ten o'clock in the evening and a holiday. What is your point? I am a scientist, we know nothing of set working hours!

Actually, the work here should be done shortly, at which point I will head home to lavish attention on The Boy and to make phone calls to resourceress[*] -- to talk about Iron Man -- and gyades. Then it is off to sleep -- early, I hope -- as a busy week awaits.

---

[*] Resourceress being the only partner I have ever had who shares my love for the Armored Avenger.

Spring is here, spring is here! Life is skittles and life is beer!

With apologies to all my dear friends in the Midwest, who are being buried under ludicrous amounts of snow, the weather here in southern England has been just amazing lately. The temperature is warm and the skies are sunny and clear. I have been wearing a lighter coat when I go out... or sometimes no coat at all. Perhaps it is premature to declare winter over... but I am going to do so anyway!

So what has the Nomad been doing in all this gloriously warm weather? Not posting in his LiveJournal often, that much is certain. Let's see if I can briefly catch the world up on my comings and goings.

( Saturday was Brighton BiFest )

Sunday was a lazy morning, and we did not get out of bed until after noon. When we did, I drove ms_katonic to a date with one of her other boyfriends. I made the following observation: It is a good sign that polyamory is working well is when, at the end of one date, your boyfriend drives you to a date with somebody else. Hooray for healthy relationships! After dropping her off, I drove back to Oxford under much the same conditions -- sun, speed, and singing to loud music -- that I had enjoyed on my way to Brighton the day before.

Sunday afternoon turned out to be less busy than originally planned. I had expected C&M to come over for a long walk -- we need to start training for our next attempt to walk across the Isle of Wight in May -- and to play Puerto Rico with cheshcat. Then I was expecting to ring bells for services at St. Giles and to end the evening with a swim. I did ring bells, but all the other plans fell through. C&M canceled at the last minute and by the time the pool was open, I was feeling tired and decided to postpone for a day. Besides, I realised that Sunday was the last day that I had no plans until Saturday February 23^rd[*] and I should take advantage of that. So, except for bell ringing, I stayed in and took care of boring-but-necessary household chores. cheshcat and I also spent some fun time together: We played a low scoring game of Bohnanza (I won 10 to 8) and a game of Skip Bo (she won 30 to 17), then ended the day, by watching several episodes of Smallville.

Monday was a fairly ordinary work day. Nothing terribly exciting to report. I have undertaken to execute a set of major changes in the hardware attached to the K-400 cryostat; thus, there was no cooldown last week and will not be one this week, either. In the evening, I headed to the sports centre, jumped in the pool, and swam the mile that I had defrayed from the previous day.

Today, I spent a very large portion of my day finalising my application for another two years to remain in the United Kingdom. After cheshcat double checks it, it should be ready to go into the mail tomorrow. Time to cross fingers. I also spent some time outside, running various and sundry errands. This was somewhat deliberate, as I wished to take in the still-spectacular weather. In less than an hour, I will head out for this evening's activity: bell ringing practice with the OUSCR at Mary Mag. Also, later tonight, I have a phone "date" scheduled with the delightful frogcastle. We are currently in the midst of our longest separation, which will continue for another couple of months, so it will be very good to hear my Beloved's sweet voice once again.

Oh, and although I cannot go into detail in a public forum, cheshcat continues to rock mightily!

---

[*] Oddly enough, despite a fairly full calendar, I seem to have no plans at all for the weekend of Feb 23/24. I am open to ideas and suggestions if anyone knows something nifty that is going on (within a two hundred mile radius of Oxford). However, I suspect that after being continually on the go for twelve days running, it would not be terrible if I stayed in that weekend to rest and deal with mundanities.