Halloween (or Hallowe'en) Rants:



Happy Halloween! Or, Hallowe'en if you're from England. For some reason (I'll leave it up to someone else to do that research), every correspondence I've received over here regarding this ghoulish holiday includes that blasted apostrophe. And I don't have the time to investigate it. Well, anyway, Happy Halloween to all. I cannot wait for pics of all my nieces and nephews in their costumes! :) And thank you Mummy (hee hee) and Daddy for all the candy and decor! My mates are thrilled. Sam was particularly happy with the nerds and Rich was excited to try tootsie rolls. Ruth was more thrilled with her bat ring. She proclaimed loudly to Sam that hers was better than his Frankenstein. It has certainly felt as if I were in the presence of children! :)

Now for the ranting:
Several things have me particularly grumpy at the moment. First, daylight savings time. This far north, daylight savings time is unnecessary. It's dark at 4:30. I mean sheesh. It makes me feel like it's much later than in actually is in the time vacuum in which I work called the Bod. I hate cycling in the dark too. I would much prefer darkness at 5:30. I don't know why really, but it just feels more settling.

Second, my boots. I bought these wonderful lace-up, lambswool, boots for 15 quid about a month ago. I love them! But I had to return them yesterday because one of the boots was separating from its sole. I intended to exchange them, but they don't have my size and aren't getting anymore in. Thankfully I got my money back, but mostly I'm just sad at the loss of my furry winter boots. And they were so comfy too.

Third, library etiquette. Ok so, it is a commonly established tradition that when you go to lunch in the Bod, you leave your books to save your desk. This enables a quick transition back to work after lunch. We all do it. On Monday, I returned to find a scruffy, sniffly, and downright rude man in my seat! He had moved my books and taken over the seat even though there were seven empty seats directly in the vicinity of mine! Grrrr. I was quite tempted to steal his tissues when he went to the bathroom, but I didn't (have to be the better person and passive-aggressively complain about it on my blog). Seriously though, how rude! If order is to be maintained in the library we must follow tradition. So there.

Fourth, housemates. Um...yeah, that's all I'm going to say.

I suppose that's the end of my ranting on this All Hallows Eve. I'll leave with a wonderful happiness-inducing photo of Jada's first Halloween. Look at the cute little ghost! I can't wait for Izzy, Mac, Lily, and Wex photos too!



Happy Halloween!
Love,
Elizabeth

A Little Insight:

Here's a snippet of what I read everyday. This is an excerpt from 'The Lives of Saints Quirine and Juliet' included in Caxton's Golden Legend. This particular portion comes from the 1900 publication by J.M. Dent and Co. so it's readable in modern English. Enjoy!

“Then the provost took the child in his arms, and Juliet his mother refusing to do sacrifice, he made her to be scourged with raw sinews. And when the child saw his mother beaten he wept bitterly and made a lamentable noise, but the provost took it in his arms and danced it upon his knees, and would fain please the child with kissings and fair words. The child, alway beholding his mother, abhorred the kissings of the provost, and turned his head away from him with great indignation and scratched his face with his nails, and gave his cries consonant unto his mother, as he should have said: And I am also christian. Then he bit the provost, and wrestling with him all to-scratched him. Then the provost, having indignation hereof and in a great anger, threw down the child off the steps whereas he sad in judgment, that the tender brain fell abroad our of his head upon the steps.” Vol. III Pg. 225

Love,
Elizabeth

Breaking Radio Silence:

Well, I'm back from holiday (as of a while ago) and straight into all things thesis. I've just met with my supervisor and he seemed pleased with my outline, so writing here I come. Too bad I have loads to read yet! The countdown has certainly begun though. I need to finish in seven weeks. Seven. That's it. I don't submit for ten more weeks, but I highly doubt Mom will be pleased if I spend Christmas locked up in my room writing, so seven it is! If I'm infrequent in my posts, I'm sorry, it's a result of the work and the stress. Sadly it leaves me without anything to say, which is particularly frustrating when trying to write a thesis. C'est la vie.

Just a few catch up things before I go back to work. First, another (reminder) congrats to Uncle Steve, who is being honored at U of L tomorrow. Yay!!! Also a note to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Steve: Lewis has been filming around town as of late and I've seen him up close twice! I also may be in a scene. Though I doubt it. I must say though, being told not to look at a camera makes me want to look at a camera. If the producers had not mentioned it I would have continued through town with no notice of Lewis or his television show! I don't think I have a future in acting.

Um...I had other things to say, but I've lost them. Oh, I'll post some pics from Spain soon, but most are really from the day Jeffrey and I spent in Morocco. Sooooooo cool. Honestly, the most amazing place I've been yet. And the food? Delicious. But yeah, I've been to Africa. :)

Fingers crossed please for my friend Oksan who has just applied for a job....here in Oxford! Oksan was with me at Centre and is living in London at the moment with her fiance Robert. But Robert works in Didcot, near Oxford, so they are looking to relocate here. Small world eh? I'm super excited and really hope it comes to pass.

If people have not checked out the pics of Isaac from his jaunt to Hilton Head on Erika and Andrew's webpage, please do so. My nephew is a cutie, and I have to say, it's so wonderful to see pictures of him mimicking pictures of us from, what?, 22-23 years ago?! Same pool. Same ocean. It's so amazing. And so wonderful to see my Granny enjoying time with her great grandson just like she did her grandchildren. Makes my heart sing.

That's enough for now. I've got to get back to it. Oh...last thing...prayers for me for this evening. I'm playing darts (I think) for the proper Oriel darts team. Oriel I. The first one. Better than the second. Yah, so anyway I'm not playing because I'm good, but because they need someone to play. But, you all know I'm quite competitive, so I'd like to do well. Mostly, I want to score, not win, just score. This is made difficult by the fact that I have to hit a double before my other points start to count. Is Elizabeth good or consistent at hitting doubles? Not so much, no. So I'll take any good thoughts people would like to give. I suppose I should mention that traditionally, if you lose without doubling in, you have to run around the front quad with no trousers on. So really, this is a dire situation. I refuse to do that by the way, but still!

K, best to all!
Love,
Elizabeth

Holiday, Celebrate:

I'm off to meet Jeffrey in Spain and have a week of fun in the sun! With intensive Latin over it's well deserved. :) I most likely won't be able to post for the next week. Please keep both Jeffrey and I in your prayers. Especially on the safe travel front. Miss and love everyone much!

Love,
Elizabeth

Jada:

Here she is folks! Miss Jada! Isn't she adorable?! I cannot wait to see her in person. Gotta get me some cuddles. :)


In other news, it's fresher's week here in Oxford, so all the new students have just arrived. It's strange being the old student and more difficult than I thought it would be trying to meet all the new students. I'm having trouble remembering names! Uh oh! I'll let you know more about it soon.

I also went to hear my supervisor sing in his very own concert on Saturday. He has a beautiful baritone voice and sang about 15 Schumann songs all by himself! I was very impressed. His 16 year old daughter brought him flowers at then end and it reminded me so much of when I would do that for my mom. It was a lovely time and I wish my momma could've been around to enjoy it with me.

I best go to lunch now,
Yummy!
Elizabeth