If she wasn't already dead, I'd kill her

Egad, I finally finished the book. The mystery of the black veil got revealed in the last 10 pages, and it was a complete cop-out. I blame Jane Austen. I forgot that she was writing a parody, and I now suspect she put in the bit about the black veil because she agrees with me that it's presence in the novel was stupid and pointless. If she was writing today, the characters would have been discussing the finer points of The DaVinci Code.

I suspect that the author didn't plan out her story and was writing later chapters after already having published early pieces, and backed herself into a corner. Even the death of the major villain happened behind the scenes as she struggled to tie up all the loose ends and get the heroine married off. How else to explain that the Italian Countess Laurentina had murdered Emily's Aunt, and then secluded herself in the French convent that Emily just happened to be staying at after her father's death.

And if you must know, Emily thought it was a corpse behind the veil, but it was actually an old waxwork statue that a former resident of the castle had put up as a penitence for his sinful ways. The End.

The terrible twos

 

She looks like a sweetheart, but she's really a demon sent to torment me for the trouble I gave my Mom when I was two. There is no saying no to her. She won't accept it. I can be firm, I can cajole, I can soothe, I can ignore. No matter what, she will insist on getting her way or she will have an unending crying fit.

Today's she's being sweet though. And yesterday, she even let me braid her hair, so now I'm looking for new hairstyles to try out on her.

Boo

I'm reading a new book. Actually, an old book, and it's proving to be a bit of a slog.

Here's the backstory. I love Jane Austen, especially Persuasion. The current marathon on PBS has led to me also re-reading all the novels, even Mansfield Park, which I've never enjoyed as much as the others.

Northanger Abbey, if you've never heard of it, is actually more of a satire of romance novels than a romance novel in it's own right. Throughout the story, the heroine is comparing her own experiences to the heroines of gothic novels. She's especially impressed by The Mysteries of Udolfo, and talks about it to her companions at every opportunity. And here I am, two hundred years later, reading about Catherine reading about Emily.

"But, my dearest Catherine, what have you been doing with yourself all this morning? Have you gone on with Udolpho?"
"Yes, I have been reading it ever since I woke; and I am got to the black veil."
"Are you, indeed? How delightful! Oh! I would not tell you what is behind the black veil for the world! Are not you wild to know?"
"Oh! Yes, quite; what can it be? But do not tell me--I would not be told upon any account. I know it must be a skeleton, I am sure it is Laurentina's skeleton"

Now, with that kind of a build-up, aren't you dying to know what's behind the veil as well. So, I decided to read Udolfo for myself, and downloaded it to my little PDA. According to my Microsoft reader, I didn't get to the black veil until after about 1200 pages of descriptions of mountain scenery, gondola parties, and many, many, many moonlit walks where the heroine laments her parent's death and the separation from her lover. (I think in paper versions, it runs to about 700 pages) I Didn't even get to the mysterious castle until Volume 2. And now, even after Emily has seen what's behind the veil, she is so shocked and disgusted, that the author hasn't had the courage to reveal to me what's going on yet. So I'm still in the dark about the veil. But at least the action has finally picked up, and there's been an attempted kidnapping, poisoning, and more than the requisite amount of fainting ladies. I'm on page 1700 now, I have no idea how much longer it goes.

I just wish it hadn't taken quite so long to get to this point. I did love her scenic descriptions, but when I kept expecting something "horrid", and kept getting lute players instead, it was a bit of a letdown. Hints were dropped early on of the mystery, but Emily's delicate sensibilities always kept her from investigating, which leaves me in the dark too. I want someone to edit it into a "good parts" version, with just the sword fights and the the ghostly sightings that have been coming fast and furious in the last 100 pages.

Who needs Hallmark?

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I'm going to lose my mind.

Since we haven't used the washer in over a week, we didn't notice that the pipes there had frozen too. And they cracked and were gushing water when I got home from work today.

All the spare towels are at the in-laws waiting to be washed, so I'm seeing how long it will take to soak up with paper towels.

This Old House February 2008 issue

Where to begin........

The broken dryer - that's not really a house issue, since it's a dryer we rescued from our last landlord's basement.

The burst pipe - that's more interesting, but not a surprise, since the pipes under the sink had been freezing up every time we had a sub-zero windy day. Just a matter of time before they broke.

Although the combo of the two was funny, since it led to me feeling like a college kid as I went to the in-laws this morning to use their shower and drop off a load of laundry.

I like the more humorous break-downs, like locking myself out of the bathroom, as I did tonight.

Here's the deal. This is the latch/doorknob for our only bathroom as seen from the inside....

Pushing down on a the exterior button raises the L-shaped piece in the center, which then raises the horizontal bar so you can get in. The horizontal bar pivots where it's attached to the small section on the far left.

Unfortunately, the screw on the far left sometimes gets loose. Especially when we have company who aren't used to the latch and get rough with it. When the pivot point gets loose, the horizontal bar doesn't lift on the right-hand side, and it's impossible to get the door open. When my aunt and uncle visited this summer, I had to get Nathan to crawl through the window to open the door. And let me just say that he wasn't too bright about following directions, since he thought I just wanted him to unlock the door, and then crawled back out the window before opening it properly.

I was not about to drag him out of bed and into the 11 degree, snowy night. Unscrewing the latch from the outside and vigorously rattling a screwdriver around eventually got the horizontal bar lifted. I just wish I knew a permanent fix to this. I tighten the screw every few weeks, but obviously I was too late this time. And I'm trying to imagine how people have been using this door for a hundred years and not had this problem as constantly as we have. (I think the door was once an exterior exit from the house, and the hardware and cut-out for the latch certainly look authentic.)

Taking all the hardware off has shown me areas where the wood is worn down, which I think may be causing too much stress on the hardware which is loosening the screw. Not sure if there's a way to fix it without removing the latch completely. And since I'd like one room in the house where I can get privacy, that really isn't an option.