2 January 2001 Today's fun is trying to find a way to shake the dust mop that ends up with the dust outside. I tried going out and shutting the door behind me, but a dust cloud followed me back to the house. One guest so far, who has said that she'll arrive sometime between 12:00 and 12:30; it's now 12:13. And I'm hungry, despite having eaten more than is allowed for my lunch. 3 January 2001 Two girls showed up and we had a lovely time. I haven't filed the ride report yet, though. Went to the library hoping to find out where the EMS Star of Life came from, and whether it is old enough to use as a basis for the logo of the midwife school in my fantasy story. Never found any hints, but as I was leafing through the graphical index to a dictionary of symbols, a flower-like eight- point star caught my eye. Looked it up, and it was the emblem of a goddess of childbirth! She was also a goddess of war; since the school is run by witches who scare the fur off a swordmaster, that combination of meanings suits Linor right down to the ground, and the design will look really, really nice on the student's uniforms. Now to decide what color. Navy would look good on the shirts, but it wouldn't show on the navy gowns the seniors wear. Could put green under the blue. Rather a pity I've no plot. 4 January 2001 The star hunt was incidental to picking up Asaro's The Veiled Web, and I read it yesterday evening. If my raving about Asaro's work has aroused your curiosity & my complaints have put you off sampling it, this is a good book to try -- it includes all of her themes (including love at first sight, which is a lot more plausible in the Scolian universe, where the heros are telepathic), and she allows her heros to close the door when they consummate their marriage. The villains aren't as nasty as the Eubians in the Scolian universe, but from life. One of Asaro's themes is the villain so nasty that it's much better to kill yourself than to be captured. It's a genre romance -- among other things. Set in the near future. Driveway is fairly clear. It's snowing. Not predicted to amount to anything. I think I've forgotten to water my Kenilworth ivy one time too many. Should have been re-potted weeks ago, but none of the pots in the house are suitable, and I never think to stop at the garden center to buy a new one. January 8, 2001 Read The Phoenix Code when I was supposed to be doing something else today. Pretty much the same plot as The Veiled Web, except that she gets gravely injured and he talks her out of dying, instead of the other way around. And he saved the day by an unexpected property; in Web, it was her. Only mild complaints, but they don't wait for the wedding. It's the same universe as Web, a few years later. Frisbie finally came to install our new faucet today. It looks much better than the old one ÄÄ not to mention sounding better: it doesn't drip! And it reaches farther into the sink, so it is no longer difficult to fill a dishpan. 9 Janua???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? threw up on a cleaning rag, she didn't go elsewhere to finish vomiting! While cleaning up after supper, Dave said, "Boy, that faucet is really gaudy!"