Collateral damage

I just found an email in my spam folder from one of the Sengoku.ru members in Moscow, asking permission to put a Russian translation of my kosode page on their site.

I thanked him and asked him to hold off until the revisions are completed.

In other news, it has become mind-numbingly obvious that nothing short of spoon feeding will suit some ungrateful whiners people. Saionji-hime remains on pilgrimage in search of her sanity until further notice.

Pleasant things (or things I'm NOT grinding my teeth over)

EDIT:

1. There is nothing like
The company of my books,
Peaceful and knowing.
If I sip or I drink deep,
They are a comfort to me.

2. It is a joy to answer the kind of observant, intelligent questions I received from Alex From Moscow. (Is that particular garment actually pieced or woven to look like it's pieced? If that's a dofuku and not a kosode, why? What distinguishes it?) It also doesn't hurt that I knew exactly which books I needed to provide the answers he sought. His written English is better than many Americans of my acquaintance and if he's going to attempt to translate my page into Russian, that e-mail went a long way in stilling any qualms I might have about it. I did warn him the page is down for editing and suggested he check back in a week or so before he goes to the trouble of writing something up that's going to change.

3. Little Dorrit on PBS Masterpiece continues to be a Dickensian feast of comedy, pathos, mystery and old fashioned sentimental romance. (It's one of the novels I haven't read, though I remember my father mentioning it enough times I had an idea what it would be about going in.) Another sterling adaptation by Andrew Davies, who did last year's Bleak House, and Pride and Prejudice a few years ago. Claire Foy is sweet without being a doormat, Tom Courtenay veers from pathos to petulance, and Matthew McFadyen is so stolidly good without being irritating that I want to know where I can get an Arthur Clennam of my very own. Even smaller parts are exceptionally well cast.

4. Tony, who will not answer an email about a "work" question if it involves him having to remember to find the book it's in, will happily pop out of the woodwork on occasion to chat about other things. (I suspect he thinks I'm cute. OK, I know he thinks I'm cute, in a classy, kuge chick with a big-ass fan kind of way.) He identified the yummy Japanese sake with the Tale of Genji painting on the label as "Tamanohikari". Google attempts appear to confirm that the bottle I acquired was a package not available for export. Tamanohikari sake are available in the US, but in green glass with big calligraphy on the labels in a few different varieties. (I am steaming the pretty label off my bottle after it's emptied.)  TrueSake in San Francisco - a place I admit I'm a little afraid to visit because I'd be tempted to blow a lot of money on a lot of sake - carries it.

5. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4990320
Ever channel surf into the middle of something and wonder what it was? I stumbled on Billy Collins reading the last few lines of this aloud on some PBS cable program. Having enjoyed Collins' poetry before, I was pleased to be able to find this. I plan on weathering the inevitable scolding about spending money on the call and talking to my Mom tonight.

6. So I called my Mom. She didn't rail about running up my phone bill. She did demand to know when I was moving back east. Loved the links to my photos. Caught me up on what my nephews are up to.  It was good.

7. I have been contemplating a Sooper Sekrit gift for someone. The concept is sheer genius.. I could tell you - but I'd have to kill you. All of you. Yeh, you too.