The Royal Seal; or, In Honour of March

Navarre and Nicodemus have recently developed an interest in AJD's computer.  More specifically, they've developed an interest in watching AJD and Sir Theo playing online Dominion, which has been generalised into an interest in the computer.  We've been encouraging this interest in Nicki's case because it keeps him from eating things.

When Navarre and Nicodemus frame AJD's laptop, they look kind of like the Royal Seal of Great Britain.  Here, I'll show you:

The alternative title of this photograph is In like a lion, out like a lamb, in honour of the old adage, 'March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb,' which is extremely relevant because we are in fact at the beginning of March.

Bored Puppies Do Odd Things; or, Beppe Undercover

Gilly and Beppe have finished the first book in the Wheel of Time series, and Gilly doesn't want to start in on the next one because Beppe will be going back to the north room before they have a chance to finish it.  This means that Beppe is bored and at loose ends.  His quest for interesting entertainment has led him to odd places.

You can't tell from the picture, but he's dangling about a foot above the floor here.  We're not sure what he's doing, exactly.  Is he looking for something?  Does he think that since he can't see us, we can't see him?  He's picked up a bit of Sleepyhead's James Bond complex; is this connected?

It's certainly cute.  It's also probably a sign that he's ready to go back to the north room, where there are more individuals to entertain him.  I hope the individuals are prepared.

Even My Owl Is Sick of My Dissertation

Lord Twilby has been attempting to help me with my dissertation the last couple of weeks.  Here he is:

This picture illustrates quite nicely the emotional states of both myself and Twilby at the moment, with respect to my dissertation.  We're of one mind in this: we're thinking of running away and joining the circus together. (Woman and Owl!  A fabulous double-act!) But he at least doesn't have to feel guilty when he decides to fall asleep rather than work on the blasted thing.

Photographic Support for a Previous Post

In my most recent post, I mentioned that there have been some eccentric happenings in my room lately: Gilly is reading Beppe the first volume of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series (Beppe really likes the parts about wolves), and Sleepyhead mysteriously ended up on one of my bookshelves.  I can now offer photographic evidence.

Here you get the sort of panoramic view, loosely speaking.  (You can see bits of Humphrey, Lady Faraday, and Seal in the foreground.) 

I'm still not quite sure how Sleepyhead got up there, but I have vague suspicions which centre on Sir Tristan.

Here's a closer view of Gilly and Beppe:

Beppe's still in my room; the others (except Sleepyhead and Seal) have returned to the north room.  He can get away with this because he's the youngest here.  The other young ones are here for an education, but he's really here because he's Alfredo's son, although the plan is that he'll be educated here once he's old enough.  He picks up a little here and there (it would be hard to avoid), but he's not formally a student yet, apart from his singing lessons.  So he's not missing anything by being in here, and the others get a chance to breathe.  Beppe is sort of hyperactive, being a puppy and all.  Alfredo is going to want him back soon, though.

Goings on in the South Room

The plush component in my room at present is dangerously near to capacity, with some moderately amusing stuff going on.

First, Twilby is in here helping me with my dissertation, which is dangerously near to its deadline.  He's here because he's good with doctoral students (having advised many in his time) and my advisor refuses to see me.  (Really.  He has an official policy of not seeing me; he thinks it will make me write faster.)  Right now, Twilby is asleep on a pile of books on my desk with his little feet in the air and one of his wings splayed out.  My dissertation is wearing him out too.

Also, Sir Tristan and Lady Faraday came in here to get some alone time.  Right now they're actually having some.  When they first came in, Lady Faraday was totally fascinated by Sleepyhead, and she decided she just had to figure out what the deal was.  She ended up hanging out watching Sleepyhead while Sir Tristan had conversations with Seal, Seymour, and Casper and took naps.  I think he felt neglected.

Then Sleepyhead somehow ended up asleep on one of my bookcases, on the third shelf from the floor.  I'm not really sure how he got up there, although he appears to be content enough.  Sir Tristan, therefore, is happily cuddling with his lady.  It's not clear whether or not this is suspicious.  If it were Magick rather than Sir Tristan, I'd say it was definitely suspicious.

Meanwhile, Gilly and Beppe have discovered the shelf below that one, which has most of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time novels.  They haven't budged since.  Gilly's reading the first one to Beppe right now - there are lots of wolves, so Beppe is enthralled - and when he feels like his throat is getting sore from all the reading, they stare eagerly at the books instead.  This is great, because it means Beppe is kept out of trouble; he typically has enough energy for an entire litter of puppies.  Gilly is also young, but more responsible.  He can be trusted not to eat the book - and not to let Beppe eat it either.

The Perils of Online Gaming

The board game Dominion can be played online.  This is both a blessing and a curse: a blessing, because I like playing Dominion, and a curse, because it's rather addictive.  AJD and WMPT and I have taken to spending far too much time playing it together in various combinations.  I am proud to say that I've so far managed to avoid it during working hours; AJD can't say the same, but of course he's getting much better than I am because of all the practice.

This evening, we discovered that the Dominion vice has spread further:

We expect that Sir Theo is probably very good at Dominion, as his career as a diplomat has honed his  strategic thinking to a razor-sharp edge.  He doesn't have his own username, though; he apparently borrows AJD's because he thinks that he might not find any competitors should he be outed as a lynx.

How Pedro Got Leaf Coneybear's Autograph

One of the theatre groups at Penn put on The Twenty-fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee this weekend, so AJD and I went to see it.  He had actually seen it once before, when it was on (or possibly off) Broadway; I hadn't.  So of course we had to take Pedro.*

Fact: if you go for a walk with a capybara buttoned inside your coat, people will give you very strange looks. I had to put him in my coat, though.  He's Amazonian, so he really suffers in cold weather like this.

Pedro's experience at the theatre was quite a success.  He enjoyed the play tremendously - it was, in fact, one of the better shows I've seen at Penn, and extremely well-cast - from beginning to end, although naturally his favourite part was the reference to capybaras.  And he was something of a hit himself.  AJD knows a few of the people in the show, thanks to his history with Penn theatre, so after the show we went and talked to them a bit, and they all appreciated Pedro's presence.  A lot of them were quite impressed to find that plush capybaras actually exist.  (I will own that Pedro is one of the jewels in my collection.)

The biggest success of the evening, of course, was getting the autograph of the actor playing Leaf Coneybear (for those who haven't seen the show, he's the character who gets "capybara").  See it up there?  It's really too bad we didn't bring a camera and get a picture of Pedro with Leaf Coneybear, but unfortunately this did not occur to us until it was too late.

The other animals are varying combinations of impressed and jealous of Pedro's evening on the town, though most concede that a hard-working physician such as himself is probably due a reward.  Barry is particularly jealous.

I leave you with another picture of Pedro; in this one his species is more obvious.

* Pedro is in fact entitled to be called both Sir and Dr, and consequently prefers not to be called by either.