Yesterday was a day of breakage. We woke up to snow, and a ravaged curly willow. The tree had survived the Great Garden Massacre in November, but the weight of the snow, combined with a high wind, did it in. Leverage proved stronger than elderly tree. I blame Archimedes.
We've arranged for the broken limbs to be removed this afternoon. Apparently curly willow is great for interior decoration, so someone, at least, will get something from this. Tonight we'll raise a glass to the old tree and hope it survives. We should know by the end of spring.
The other breakage is less natural and far more frustrating. Those fucking Russian hackers are at it again. This time only Kelley's site is down, not all the others that live in the same server neighbourhood. (Last time it was Sterling, and kelleyeskridge.com, and, very briefly--most people didn't notice--LLF. Oddly, my site wasn't touched.) Their attacks seem so very pointless: an endless redirect to nowhere. So if you've tried to get to kelleyeskridge.com in the last 24 hours, all I can say is: we're working on it. But the way things are going, I think we'll have to raze the site. And for what? Because idiot vandals get their kicks from breaking things. May they get terminal hemorrhoids.
Today, though, is going to be a good day. I'm determined. I've got some deeply delicious Hild thinking to do, even more delicious chicken stew to eat (flavoured, naturally, with kerbs--and a reduction of wine, balsamic vinegar, and a touch of honey), and a book I'm enjoying very much, At Home: A Short History of Private Life, by Bill Bryson. It's written in a genial voice and stuffed with interesting factoids about the obsessives and eccentrics who shaped our domestic experience. Some of it is laugh out loud, some eyebrow raising, some just pleasantly soothing. I can recommend it.
