Why don't they make brown mantillas?

The traditional white=maidens, black=wives dichotomy for chapel veils does not match the color scheme of my wardrobe. (Yes, yes, vanity, vanity...)

*****

"Asterisks? So soon?"-- E.B. White, "One Man's Meat"
In other news: check out the sexy updates to the sidebar! The webcomics section is...embarrassingly long.

*****

In other, other news: today was the feast of St. George. Being part Welsh and part Scottish, my general reaction was, "you want me to celebrate what, now?" But this was before I learned about the Catalan traditions surrounding the feast. In their story, after George has saved the fair maiden from the dragon, the dragon's blood turned to roses. Therefore, men traditionally give their sweethearts red roses on the day. In return, honoring the death of Shakespeare, Cervantes, and another famous writer, women give their sweethearts books. Books! This is a saint's day tradition for the University of Chicago.

In the talk I attended, "The Never-Ending Catalan Middle Ages," there was an offhand remark to England (like Catalonia) being a country with a "chivalric" ethic. So I thought I'd share some of that chivalry with you. From Rhygyfarch's "Lament":

Why have the blind fates not let us die? Now the labors of earlier days lie despised; the people and the priest are despised by the word, heart, and work of the Normans. For they increase our taxes and burn our properties…The honest man’s hand is branded by burning metals. A woman now lacks her nose, a man his genitals…Serfdom is brought to the neck with a meat-hook, and learns that nothing can be had at will…O unhappy and lamentable fate; slothful in seeking peace, slothful in taking up arms. O Wales you are afflicted and dying…An alien crowd speaks of you as hateful…O country deserted by God…What is now left for you but to weep excessively?

*****

In the "Yes, we have these conversations" department:

A: I really should learn to drive, though, in case some day one of my kids needs to be driven to the hospital in an emergency or something.
C: Or to soccer practice.
A: I don't think that I would have very athletic children. Dance class, maybe, or choir practice... they could probably ride their bikes to the library...
C: The library? Won't they have their own library? Aren't you going to raise them on Cicero and Shakespeare?
A: Well, you can't do that too early. Otherwise they end up like John Stewart Mill, and nobody wants that.