orichalcum

First, a query for Boston frequent flyers: We're considering taking a flight that leaves Chicago at 8 AM, scheduled (with a 86% on-time rating, average delay of 38 minutes) to arrive at Logan at 11:20 AM, where we have to be in Harvard Square for a wedding at 2 PM. Is this insane or doable? (Not today, obviously.)

Dog and Baby Update:

Bads:

Our dog neutered Mr. Bear, the hand-knit stuffed bear that msarden made for Mac.* I think he'll recover; he just has a hole between his legs and all the stuffing was pulled out of his tummy, but I've put the stuffing back in and I think it'll probably be relatively simple to knit up the wound. We just have to be more careful about watching where Mac throws his stuffed animals.

Of course, Eowyn might have seen this as justifiable retaliation for yesterday, when Mac was taking decks of cards and throwing them at her nose. At least they're learning to play with each other???

Goods:

We were very confused when Mac last week kept pointing at Eowyn and trying to pet her and saying "Goo-guh, goo-guh." We kept saying, "Doggie," to him, and couldn't figure out how he was getting "Goo-guh." Suddenly, it dawned on me - he calls her "Good Girl," our standard term of praise when she's done something right. Other new "words" include "Kakker" for "Cracker" and "cat." He also very much enjoyed a trip to the zoo on Monday.

Mac continues to be a little escape artist/engineer; after I had rearranged his playzone, it took him about 20 seconds to figure out he could crawl _underneath_ his crib and out to freedom. Clever, yet unhelpful.

Eowyn's been getting better at being a city dog, though learning restraint, quiet, and not to pee on the strange new carpet still presents somewhat of a challenge. But she's a sweet girl, all the same.

Mac and I have invented a new game: Walk on Mommy's back and get out all the aches and pains. We both enjoy this a bunch. :)

*Mr. Bear never actually had any naughty bits to begin with, just to clarify; it's just a description of the wound.

julianyap lent me Jo Walton's new book _Farthing_, and, having finished it, I'm trying to decide whether or not I actually like it. If you've read it, I'd appreciate spoiler-friendly comments, but this is going to be a spoiler-free bit of musing.

So, very basically, Farthing is explicitly an English country-house mystery in the style of Sayers and Tey, set in an alternate-historical 1949 Britain which made peace with Hitler in 1941 and is controlled by accomodationists.

Sounded totally up my alley, I thought. And indeed, there's a lot to praise about the writing style and the plot and so forth. What upsets me is this: such classic mysteries play by a certain set of rules. There are structures and patterns that are an inevitable part of the background. And Walton is clearly aware of these,and uses them...and then stomps all over them. There is apparently a sequel, but that doesn't help, because that doesn't fit the pattern either. And so I'm very frustrated, and I don't know whether to recommend it.

Opinions?