My Gracious Silence

Looking out of the window at the (rather wild) garden, I noticed that the quince tree which I had thought moribund seemed to have some unusually yellow leaves - unusual because the rest of the leaves haven't even begun to turn colour yet. Then I realised that they aren't leaves, they're ripe quince. This makes me oddly happy for some reason – the tree seemed to have no fruit this year (and last year had only one quince, which fell too early to be of any use). So I have three quince in the kitchen, waiting to be used for … something. Maybe marmelada. Maybe dessert. Maybe chutney (although probably not, as we still have chutney from last year).

In the oven is a vension fall stew (with apples, cider, and assorted root vegetables) slow-cooking its way into dinner. Apple sauce is defrosting, as I think some sort of crumble/crisp is in order with this weather. The apple tree has, as usual, made up for any heretofore-perceived lack of quinces, so I have a freezer half-full of apple sauce. The chutney on the shelf that means that the quince won't make it into more chutney is from last year's apple harvest. It's a small but enthusiastic tree.

Have been debating going out on the bike, but the jetlag that had me sleeping until midday is still making its presence felt, and I'd prefer not to push my luck.

Reading: just finished Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg (an actual book, acquired from the bargain section of Barnes & Noble in Union Square when looking idly around for something to while away the 10 minutes or so when one cannot read an iPad on a plane).

Well on the way on the East Road - by way of the Burke-Gilman trail and Recycled Cycles in Seattle - awesome, just fabulous. As is the Elliott Bay Bookstore, as ever.

Reading: oh, lots of stuff, mostly on Kindle app
Bought: Driving Home by Jonathan Raban and Bicycle Times

Through Epping Forest early this morning, all vapour – steam breath huffing from horses as they stood in fields; woodsmoke from chimneys of farmhouses as I pedalled by, and the autumn mists that gradually cleared as the sun rose higher.  It was a gorgeous morning.

Cycling to Mordor now: the optimism of July really didn't last long – about as long as it took for my knee to declare war on my running again.

So, after a certain amount of railing at the vagaries of the universe and generally moping around, I've returned to cycling – partly spurred on by a fabulous day out on a borrowed bike in August, partly by recollection that I did actually like pootling around on a bike when I had one that didn't make the aches and pains worse.

That last part was always going to be difficult.  I did eventually establish that a road bike of some sort was going to work much better for me than the hybrid/mountain bike I had been trying unsuccessfully to get out and use.  Saving doth commence.  Last Friday, some many miles from home, I found the make/model I was saving for at 70% off (ex-demo, 2009 model). Reader, I bought it.  I then threw myself on the mercy of the British rail system, which was in turn sympathetic, and so got my bike home (thank you, East Coast mainline and your guards, their vans, and the bike racks therein!)

Over the last four days, I've almost doubled the distance gained to Mordor. 'Nuff said. But, dear heaven, there are some vicious hills around here.

Meme via lillithj

Take the Quiz here!

Hmm. I'm actually named for Anne Elliott. And not remotely impressed by Hugh Grant (even less so when Alan Rickman is also around).

And in other news, I have long since abandoned hope of reaching Mordor on foot, as knee is not co-operating in any way. Swimming and cycling will need their mileage adding up at some point.

Reading: The Pirate King, by Laurie R King and more Castle fic than is probably good for me.
Purchased: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (on Kindle)

Gave in, gave up. Need to move and didn't much fancy fighting the crowds at the pool so have decided to ignore my knee and medical advice. First run since the too-close encounter with a sleeping policeman went better than I had expected (1 min run/1.5 min walk x 8).

I await the consequences tomorrow, although I haven't had a major knee blow-up for about six weeks now …

 As this is (nominally) a LJ of reading, I thought I'd swipe the book meme that azdak posted:

The book I am currently reading:  England's Mistress, by Kate Willams - about Emma Hamilton.  Bought at random in Waterstones because it was World Book Day and I was going to buy an actual book in an actual bookshop, darnit.   I know nothing about Emma Hamilton beyond the fact that she was Nelson's lover, so it's interesting to find out more.  The book's well written and does, thankfully, seem to make it clear where they are extrapolating from the known experiences of other people in a similar situation (as to childhood/teenage etc experiences) rather than discussing something actually known about Emma.

The book I am currently writing: another tax book - on intellectual property, again.

The book I love most: to read, Gaudy Night.  As a physical object, a book on calculus that was my grandfather's at school - it's gorgeous, bound in soft leather with thin pages, and is covered in neat scribbling of his thoughts and questions as he worked through it.

The last book I received as a gift: I have no idea.  People tend not to give me books because they don't know what's already in the 4,000+ here at home.  

The last book I gave as a gift: a book on architecture details, to nephew for his birthday about six weeks ago - he wants to study architecture at Cambridge.

The nearest book on my desk: I have a small desk, there's isn't a book on it, unless you count the books stored on my Kindle app on the iPhone and iPhone?  In which case the open book in the iPhone app is A History of Christianity by Diarmaid MacCulloch and the open book in the iPad app is Abraham Lincoln and the Structure of Reason by a couple of lawyers and I'm too lazy to turn on the iPad to find out their names.  The iPad and iPhone are stacked together, so I can't tell which is nearest.  The nearest physical book is impossible to tell, as the desk in the middle of shelves, there are rather a lot all at the same distance away from the edges!

And finally - still not running yet. My kneecap is still numb in the middle and hypersensitive around the top, so I'm disinclined to stress-test it.  Maybe next week.