who only by moving can balance

Reading. I spent the last week on holiday, and singularly failed to take with me any of the physical books I was reading. I did, however, pack my e-reader (as well as a single solitary French horn), and even managed some reading. First up: I finally got to Paladin's Hope (T. Kingfisher; third in a series), and in addition to needing to alternate burying my face in my hands and typing frantically about TOTAL LACK OF GENRE SAVVY, I once again enjoyed it immensely. Lots of eventually-satisfying plot (including world-building!); lots of set-up for future books (Marcus and his wife); lots of delightful relationship id.

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory, Martha Wells. A bonus wee Murderbot bit; I have not managed to decide who the narrator is, and might reread it.

The Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater. This is set on a wee Celtic-fringe island, in November, feat. capaill uisce. I know a lot more Irish than I did last time I read this, and I am very much enjoying my (thematic!) comfort re-read. I am sufficiently fond of it that I don't even mind needing to check the chapter headings to remind myself which of the first-person narrators is talking.

Playing. In addition to my terrible phone games: three rounds of Scrabble! A, my mother and I won one each, which was very pleasing. Alas I did not actually manage to get in around of Splendor with A.

Cooking. So much food. Apple & mint jelly (~7 340g jars); Apfelmus (4 ~600g jars). A variant sea-spicy aubergine recipe, which I am going to be trying again tomorrow.

Eating. Courtesy of my mother: stroganoff; Apfelstrudel; a variety of other treats. Courtesy of vendors various: a vegetable pasty (Rowes); a cheese and vegetable pasty (Ann's Pasties); and a curried vegetable pasty (the National Trust, on our way back upcountry). Courtesy of the village chippy: chips! And nibbles of Adam's bits and pieces.

Exploring. We bimbled down to the beach, and also around Trelissick briefly, and also Kynance Cove. A drove the Tramper all the way down to Cornwall, and I was delighted to actually explore some with it.

(On the way back upcountry, we stopped at Castle Drogo, but didn't actually get beyond the café.)

Creating. A house sign! Chalk marker, one of the roof slates retrieved from a stack in the vegetable patch, and some poking around Art Deco fonts. We will see how it holds up to the elements before fixing it to the wall -- it might yet find itself in need of varnishing or similar...

Growing. I took the basils down to Cornwall, and then snapped one of the stems this morning while packing up. That's currently sat in a container of water to see if I can persuade it to root -- cuttings do theoretically work...

I was relieved when we got home to find that both the squash and the chilli had survived a week or so's drought.

Observing. MANY THINGS. Lots of plants, obviously, including a lot of sloes -- BUT in particular and especially, we were amazingly lucky at Kynance. We saw both a pair of choughs (screeching! doing aerobatics! displaying their wee pink feet beautifully on their way in and out of one of the less-human-accessible caves!) and A SEAL bobbing around with its nose, and occasionally the rest of its head, out of the water.

(A & my mother also saw they're-pretty-sure three choughs around the fields behind the house -- these I did not see but am Very Excited About.)

Elsewise: lots of wild snails (some white-and-black striped; some CONICAL), plus plenty of Antics inside our tank; lots of amazing sunsets; fluid dynamics in action at the beach. ETA: OH! AND! On the beach at home! A very pretty blue-and-purple-and- fragment of a Portuguese man-o-war!

I have had a really lovely week. <3