I have found in the last two days not one, but two long-ish lists of online resources in the Internet. They may or may not hold links to pages that are utterly nice and helpful - I don't know yet, but I intend to find out and then post the links.

And while I am at that, and doing my bookkeeping (again! yes!), and a small-to-medium-sized bunch of other stuff that is writing-related, have a gratuitous cat picture.


That's Madonna, our cat, doing one of the things she (like all cats) does best: napping.

Calling stuff that one does not like or that seems outdated "medieval" is something that is... how shall I put it... not getting applauded very much by medievalists. Now, lots of snark can be released onto that topic, but I am not going to do it myself - instead, I am going to link you to Carl Pyrdum's blog, where you can read and laugh for yourselves.

In other and textile-related news, editing on our first Textile Forum Proceedings is going on - and I am utterly thankful that this work is done by somebody who is not me. I won't give an estimate of when it will come out, but I hope that there will be no unforeseen delays and that it is going to be not too far in the future.

The cat, by the way, has developed some sort of daily routine (well, routine in addition to meowing as if she were starving when it's feeding time). The part of her routine the most stable these past days? Her after-lunch nap. After lunch (and after the requisite bit of grooming), she settles down to take a little nap... which ends about an hour before her next meal, at six-ish in the evening. I am continuously astounded by cats' ability to sleep!

I had a truly wonderful weekend - a little bicycle ride for a visit to family, relaxed evenings, having lovely cake with friends and planning our summer holiday trip together, and finally having a nice meal (which included eating this year's harvest of red and white currants).

And now my brain is absolutely free of blog-worthy archaeological or textile-related things. It's summer, and I blame the slack season for slack in my brain as well.

So I will at least share with you my favourite way of eating red currants, which is also a very easy dessert: pluck red currants, wash and de-stalk them, and put them into the bottom of a bowl with a little sugar so they are not incredibly sour (only very sour). Prepare vanilla custard (Vanillepudding) and pour the hot pudding over the currants. Let it cool a little - can be eaten still warm or cold. That's it - a summery dessert that reminds me of my childhood and is something of a comfort food for me.

And next year, I hope our currant bushes will carry enough berries for at least two preparations of this dessert!

It's summer, and we have summer temperatures outside - though luckily we also had at least a little rain earlier this morning. It's by far not as bad as the drought in England, but it's been much too dry for the season here since about March, and by yesterday our water vat for the rainwater was almost empty. (This even though we have been using hose water for the times when we were watering the lawn to return it from "Extra Crispy Summer Edition" back to "Merely Really Very Dry Summer Edition").

Anyways - the flowers are blooming, most of the beds are more or less weeded (I leave in the things I like, since weeds are only unwanted plants), all the tomatoes are set outside, we did a little walking tour with friends through Franconian Switzerland, and yesterday afternoon we went crazy and used a few of our leftover willow rods from the fedge to plant a chair. It's going to take at least two or three years before it's a proper, useable chair (and whether it will be comfy or not is totally unclear), but it was a lot of instantaneous fun to plant it.
The cat, meanwhile, has also settled in well. She now knows all our living space, but she'll have to wait another two to three weeks before she's allowed into the garden, due to the vaccination shots she still needed. Her favourite pastimes: sleeping (naturally) and hoping for something to eat.

And now I'm sitting here with a coffee before me - the week can start. Today's agenda: send off the taxes - the Most Patient Of All Husbands has filled in his part, so I'm out of reasons for procrastinating with the sending-off. And after that... on to organising work for the Textile Forum!

Every year, it's the same game with the taxes here. I get my stuff together... then I wait a few days. Then I check it again. Then I start filling out the forms. Then I check again.

Somehow, I have the feeling that checking again (and waiting a day or two inbetween) might lead to me catching all the glitches and stuff. Occasionally, this is true - but I could probably do with much less checking and re-checking. And thinking.

While last year's tax stuff was extra-interesting because of our wedding in 2010 (which in Germany can change how the whole year's taxes are calculated, and also how the paperwork looks that is getting handed in), this time it's extra-interesting because of the GbR that I founded together with Sabine Ringenberg - a common firm in addition to our own ones, for being able to better support each other. The good news: I've figured out what I need to hand in (I think so, at least). The bad news: I'm not quite finished with filling out the forms and checking them again. But soon...

And just in case you are not at all interested in hearing about my paperwork woes and much more interesting in hearing about the cat: She is well (and currently sleeping on a sheepskin in the study) and it looks as if she's really feeling at home here now. Catsitting by our upstairs neighbours has already worked very nicely as well, and we now know that she likes catnip. (Catnip-smelling hands get nibbled, as do catnip-smelling toys.)
This evening, we'll take her to the vet for a check-up and the final vaccinations she'll need to go outside, and then we can soon open the doors to the garden again and offer her the world. I'm a bit sorry to drag her into the car and to the vet, but it has to be done if she is to roam the garden (and probably the gardens beyond ours)...

The cat is getting more accustomed to her new life here - slowly getting used to the new feeding times (as we are), and occasionally doing something to figure out if it's ok or forbidden. She's also starting to play more, and without looking totally uninvolved when she thinks someone has seen her pawing against a ball. Now she's chasing them through the whole living room sometimes, and she's obviously enjoying it. Paper balls, by the way, seem to be the favourite toy for the moment - smallish, lightweight, they scoot over the laminated floors very nicely, and - bonus for the humans - they are really, really easy to replace with the reams of packing paper that I have here for the mail order stuff.

Meanwhile, my tax works preparation is almost finished, and it looks like I'll be able to start filling out the forms via the programme soon. Yay!

 As promised, some pictures. First of all, a tulip from our garden - most of them are done with their blooming now, but a few last ones - the black ones, mostly - are still holding their own.


And this is the current market stall setup, with the new banner in place. This is how the stall looked at Freienfels, and I'm very happy with it!


And finally... Madonna, hanging out on the living room carpet...