"The entities which, whether preternatural or merely sordidly criminal, could scarcely be regarded as other than thoroughly sinister in their nocturnal intentions, and which, having -- as he somehow fleetingly and all obscurely knew -- assumed the protective covering of his own impudently ravaged sheets, had pursued him far into the recesses of the mansion, he was now -- by a mere assertion, it might fairly be said, of his own perilously stretched but yet supervalent will -- pressing triumphantly back to what, at least for him, had been the very fans et origo of their existence." ---one sentence of THE CASE OF THE JOURNEYING BOY, by Michael Innes, written in 1949.

That's probably the longest sentence in there -- at least, it's the one that grabbed my attention -- but there are quite a few. That one might be fun to diagram, but you'd need a full sheet of paper. I love Innes, both because and despite the fact that his books do take concentration and a decent vocabulary. The only word in it I didn't understand and had to look up was "sequacious" which he used twice. The second time refined my understanding of the first time, but I somehow doubt this word is going to find its way into my own writing.

It goes to Roni, but while I know she'd understand it if she had time to concentrate on it, I wonder how she'll do with a toddler in her life?

I really liked this book, but needed a break from the concentration, so we have John Grisham's RUNAWAY JURY. Compare: "Nicholas left the courthouse on foot, and stopped, coincidentally, at O'Reilly's Deli on the Vieux Marche, where he purchased a half-pound of smoked turkey and a container of pasta salad." This is one of the longer sentences with the most complicated words. I can read this and watch TV at the same time!

I'm two pounds down, and did work on the house (well, I had company!) and threw out or gave away quite a bit. No knitting, only minimal work on the round robin, some of the history book, very few rosaries.

I saw Big Fish on Tuesday, and loved it.

One of our geocaching friends was robbed... at a cache we had just put up! It appears that Mr. Codger's Neighborhood is not always that pleasant. We're dithering if we have to move it, or close it down. I put a warning, in red, at the top of the page, and we'll see what happens.

It's interesting on the porch. We get some of the goldfinches, but next to the thistle seed socks there's a suet-with-peanut-butter brick, and there's a magpie that keeps attempting to get at it. The size comparison is really interesting. Other birds don't seem to mind the magpies the way they do the jays. I didn't really get into the Great Backyard Bird Count this time, though I did spy 76 (!!!) goldfinches twittering in a tree at one point.

The library program was an Asian folktale acted out, and Casey seemed to enjoy it. The child also enjoyed the Internet. Somehow we got to one page with Zekes games, and the kid played Asteroids and Battletank, and then the 'puter froze and we got nowhere. I started a new window but could never get back and I don't know how I stumbled onto them. I have been trying here at home so the next time we can stop this bumbling around first.

About the AWOL so-called "issue:" We don't care that no one cares, we'll tell you anyway. Moving the goalposts. The Mudville Gazette wraps it up: "Fossil Footprints Prove Bush Served in Alabama."