It is...cold, sunny, a good day to go up to UC and work on books; and so I shall. The sale preparations are going well - I don't have all my books yet, but I have the usual mix of the old, new, weird, read and unread...

...but to backtrack...

I was operated on a week ago - more accurately, I had another root canal done and unfortunately my dentist was busy, meaning in the middle of the whole thing, where there's a break, he went and dealt with two other people, leaving me sitting in the chair, hapless, feeling the freezing wearing off, with nothing better to do than listen to Sheena Easton's "9 to 5 (Morning Train)" and worse, waiting for him to come back and get on with it. Thus it hurt when he got going and I felt things I shouldn't have felt and I got home and cried as the whole thing was so awful...

..and my face blew up again, as I had taken my original antibiotics too quickly and so had to get a prescription from my dentist on Saturday morning, when his office was so empty you could have rolled a bowling ball and not hit anyone (of course)...and then I was off to UC to start on my books and happily not talk to anyone as my mouth hurt like crazy...then off to the Vic sale to get MFK Fisher (To Begin Again), Brillat-Savarin (Philosopher in the Kitchen) and a nice book on the Tao. Dinner was Tylenol 3s and whatever I could nibble on...mashed potatoes I think...

...and then back to the Vic sale for half-price Monday and some real gems - The Surreal Gourmet Entertains made me exclaim loud enough to be heard, "Holy crap!" (causing one fellow browser to double take)...Dickens' American Notes for General Circulation (a nice Penguin), and French Women Don't Get Fat which has actual recipes that my actual mouth would like to try out.

As of this morning, I am done with my antibiotics and that is good. I have a new family to work for, out east, and the triplets are a challenge, but a good one and I look forward to seeing them again once the sale is over. Two boys, a girl, and their grandmother, plus a golden retriever who is called Patrick...but I get along with them all very well and the family likes me, so it's all good...

Beyond that, it's been sleep and ginger brushing of teeth and the wonderful feeling of being 'at home' at UC. I had to work in the Book Room yesterday as a substitute and so missed seeing some guy messing with my books - but Diana King, the very nice British woman who I'm friends with, saw him, and shooed him away. No one but me works on my table, it's as simple as that; if you're a volunteer, you can browse, that's it. (Hey, it's not like I work on anyone else's table - no time, for one thing...) The Sale starts on the 13th and if you're into Judaica, Mathematics or minor/major British novelists, come on down - our Children's sections are very well stocked and arranged to Marthaesque perfection and my own tables will be slammin' as usual...

...and so at my own sale I have already gotten Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. 1 & 2, Lyrical and Critical Essays by Camus and Diana Athill's memoir Instead of a Letter which is only in part about love and heartbreak, so I think I will keep it...not sure if I will find anything else, as I am shopping for Marcello & me and our home...so it is like I am looking at everything harder, with a sharper focus...that is true for everything, in fact...right now I am listening to the new Sloan and yes, love is all around...it certainly is, despite everything...