Finished reading Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett. Probably the best of the now-three books, and I kind of hope it’s the last, because this feels like a good endpoint for Wilde’s story.

Finished reading Dead Lions by Mick Herron, the followup to Slow Horses. This had the same things going for it as the previous, including (which I didn’t mention) something of a sense of humor.

Bonus: This edition of this book only had a handful of typos, one inexplicable but most inconsequential.

Finished reading Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World by Irene Vallejo, trans. Charlotte Whittle. This was a fascinating trip back to the birth of writing and, more importantly, of various forms of books, how they were copied, stored, sold, and valued, and a million short digressions, each of which Vallejo tied neatly back into the narrative. As usual, non-fiction meant slow reading, but it was quite good, and also has a lovely and witty index.

This book sung in a neat harmony with Ada Palmer’s Inventing the Renaissance, which looked back at the same authors and books from the other end of the timeline.

The kids and I got our covid shots yesterday, and Meghan got hers the day before. Easy here in Washington (the state has a standing order to ensure everybody has access).

The phrase “Butlerian Jihad” is being used around the house pretty regularly these days.

Tonight’s kitchen victory: bibimbap.

Hiked up to the top of Mt. Teneriffe: eight hours (including a half hour at the top eating lunch and taking in the view), 31k steps, and almost 4k feet of elevation gain. It was hard but worth it. (I tried but didn’t make it three years ago. I’m in better shape and the weather was cooler this time.)

Today was misty to drizzly, and breezy; it looked like November, but was actually 65°.

Walked the Sammamish River Trail from Bothell to Marymoor Park, about 10 miles, 3½ hours. With getting to and from the trail, and a short walk after dinner, I totaled something like 16 miles for the day.

Found myself idle with a couple hours to kill, so I took the train down to Capitol Hill and strolled around, taking a few pictures and peeking through the record bins.

Sold much of my surviving long walk gear to the spectacularly-concepted Turntables & Trails, a shop buying and selling used records and audio and hiking and camping gear.

Watched The Hidden Fortress at the Cinerama, with Greg, Jocelyn, kiddo, and Marco. Super fun, aside from a couple unacceptable-today bits.

Tonight’s kitchen victory: I snoozed in the back yard listening to Meddle while Meghan and the dude made pork and beans (but not that kind of pork and beans).

Small-brained Ben: Get twenty more steps so today’s count is an even 65,000!

Large-brained Ben: Leave 65k as a goal for future Ben.

(Also I am incapable of moving faster than a shuffle or shamble, and the phone pedometer doesn’t count that.)

Had coffee and a good chat with Greg yesterday, then walked up to Empire for decaf and a waffle and a browse through the record bins.