G. K. Chesterton takes a dive

So, about an hour ago I got up from where I was sitting in the living room and precipitated one of those Times When Things Don't Go According To Plan.

In brief, I got up, my book* overbalanced, knocking over my cup of tea (this being me, and sitting down, there's more likely than not to be a cup of tea nearby). Which unfortunately fell onto the tiles in front of the fireplace and shattered into about twenty pieces. And which, also unfortunately, had tea in it at the time. The good news is that

(a) it turns out to have been a good decision that we got tea-colored carpet when the new stuff was put in a few months back.

(b) similarly, choosing the stain-resistant kind was also a good call.

(c) luckiest of all, Mr. Feanor, who was sleeping between my rocker and the fire, wasn't hit by the falling mug nor splashed by the (still-warm, but no longer hot) tea. He was alarmed, but he's unusual for a cat in that he accepts apologies and understands that some things happen by accident.**

So, goodbye Chesterton mug. It's not as spectacular a dissolution as that which befell my Wile-E Coyote cup (drove off with that one on top of the car, and made it three blocks before it slid off), but it'll do. And its demise is not wholly unexpected: it's had a forking crack in it even since shortly after I got it and I figured it was just a matter of time before the crack widened and started seeping tea, at which point I'd have to retire it.  Still, the mug was a souvenir of one of my research trips to Wheaton (in October 2009), so I have fond memories of it associated with that.

Now let's just hope that no similar fate befalls my Poe cup,*** which I've had since Marquette days (e.g., before May 1989): my favorite of all my cups and the one I'd be sorriest to lose.

--John R.
current book: IRON TEARS
current audiobook: just finished THE LIFE OF JOHNSON, just started weird Eric Rabkin lecture series.



*IRON TEARS, a brief history of the American Revolution from the 'meanwhile, back in Britain' point of view.
**he's actually come back now and is stretched out sleeping beside me in the same spot.
***from QPBC