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Yesterday's Hobbit Day dinner--a small thing for us, with just the three at Sherwood Cottage attending--went well. The Mrs. whipped up a batch of parsnips and mashed potatoes, as well as a lovely mushroom gravy that we had with a few hamburger patties I had grilled over the weekend and a few strips of bacon each. It was a tasty meal and satisfying--enough so that there was no need for a second dinner, although I find myself longing for one or two breakfasts at this point. (The problem with eating much is that it prompts a desire to eat much else later on. This is not something kind to my waistline, and I cannot afford to replace my brass buttons with gold at this point.)

After dinner, I completed the freelance piece I had been working on throughout the day. I was able to crank out some 5,000 words about the most recent JD Robb novel, Devoted in Death. Among them, I was able to place an interestingly pointed comment about the protagonist, Eve Dallas. There is in the novel repeated mention of snowflake-bedecked clothing, something expressed in the novel as something of a tradition in the protagonist's workplace. The repetition tends to signal that the snowflake is a symbol or figure of some attention, and the thought occurs that there is a pun on the reference being associated with Dallas. As the protagonist of a police thriller, she could be expected, per genre convention, to be a pointedly unique character, and the text bears it out; there are several respects in which she stands entirely aside from common social convention. In that sense, then, she is a unique little snowflake. It is not an entirely charitable description, but the character seems to read well for many people (else I'd not be asked to do the write-up)--and that, itself, says something.

I do not have another such order yet, although I expect one to be coming soon. I welcome the opportunity to work on other things, though. Aside from the grading I expect to have to do today (I have a riddle ready to go for my students), I have a book chapter to work on and other papers I should be writing. Job applications continue to beckon, as well, and another blog I maintain needs some attention from me. Nor is there a shortage of reading waiting for me to do it, both scholarly and otherwise. (I say "otherwise" as if the reading I do for recreation or professional purposes does not look to factor into my scholarship.) A day or two away from the freelance work is not unwelcome therefore, although I will likely miss having the money come in. After all, it is only because I have the income that I do that I can enjoy such meals as I ate (too much of) last night, and there are other holidays than Hobbit Day upcoming. There may be some kind of Leif Eriksson Day thing coming up...