Took the day off and walked down to Mom’s: 8¾ miles, 2¾ hours.

This morning’s kitchen victory: cream puffs.

Downloaded my Twitter archives.

Finished reading Last Exit by Max Gladstone. Lots of thoughts about the book — reminds me of Stephen King I read ages ago; repetitious and hamfisted observations on the Way the World Is Today; difficult to stay focused on, especially the first half — but in the end it won me over, and I really enjoyed it.

Five years ago today, I walked from Audierne to Plogoff.

Set up not just a wiki on my site, but the infrastructure for a whole system of wikis such that they all share the same software and modifications. (As a bonus, they should be easy to upgrade, too.)

Yesterday, Mari visited with her miniature dog Hoku. Katie and her son and Billie and Mom came over later, and Billie and Mom stayed for dinner: At the bambina’s request, we had olives and meats and cheeses from Delaurenti.

Yesterday’s kitchen victories: cheesecake, and four imperfect but tasty baguettes.

Finished rereading The Nutmeg of Consolation by Patrick O’Brian, book 14 of the Aubrey/Maturin series. Not quite as strong as the previous, but still a worthy continuation. The scenes in the penal colony of New South Wales, later in the book, are restrained but still horrifying.

Finished rereading The Thirteen Gun Salute by Patrick O’Brian, book 13 of the Aubrey/Maturin series. This is one of my favorites in the series, with some of the most memorable scenes, and for once the next book will start more or less where this leaves off. I can’t recommend this as the first to read (that would be H.M.S. Surprise), but it’s a high point to look forward to.

Had beers and burritos with Adam last night: a great evening.

Finished reading The Bright Ages by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry. The book is less a history of Europe and more a support of three arguments: that there was continuity from the end of the western Roman Empire to medieval times; that we shouldn’t use medieval history to drive a modern agenda; and that medieval populations were diverse and mobile. I wish it had been more of a history, but I suppose it would have needed to be ten times longer to offer a brief survey of the period. Fortunately, the book ends with extensive suggestions for further reading, focusing on recent writing and a few primary sources, particularly ones that are more readily available to the non-specialist. (The voice and perspective of this book reminded me a bit of The Dawn of Everything.)

This morning’s kitchen victory: crêpes Suzette.

Played a game of Civ this weekend, first time in a long while.

Mom came over for dinner tonight — first time we’ve seen her since the omicron peak.