Uh-huh

It's half past five and I've been up an hour already. Mostly to stop evil boys disturbing Karen. Mac had been chewing something important in the dark; then he started wailing. He does this sometimes in the dead of night. There Is Nothing Wrong With Him. Back in the UK, I'd just lie in bed and listen to the uncanny noise of it and be glad to have half a house between us. When it's right there outside the bedroom, and K needs her sleep - well. I got up, just to distract him (it can go on a while). And then, of course, once up: "oh good, you're up! it must be brefuss time!" Which is the second consecutive morning they've had their brefuss before 5am, and they are not to think of this as a precedent, oh no.

As it happens, I was wide awake anyway, so it doesn't matter - but I am not planning to make a habit of this. Falling asleep on the sofa at 10pm makes Chaz a dull boyfriend. Didn't even finish m'wine.

Right now the boys are playing with the floor. And with a ball and so forth, but mostly it's the floor. Karen's floors are smooth and shiny; they are discovering the art of sliding. They're not quite sure that they approve, but I bet they get the hang of it.

Me, I thought I might do some work, but apparently not. I'm just sort of sitting here, a bit dead. Ingesting coffee. Later we're going to walk around the Rengstorff House, where we're getting married. Heh. (Last night's wine was a wedding present, so we have to do it now.)

Double-huh

Just to prove that he is not the good boy we keep telling him he is, Baz has just caused an extraordinarily noisy cascade of DVDs, without even touching them (he struck from above, with a magazine as missile). We may need alternative storage solutions. Or alternative cats (he said, frowning majestically at fat black fuzzbutt where he lay sprawled on the kitchen table, for all the world as though it were a desk).

In other news, my FogCon panel is all about aliens, and for once in my life - New Improved Chaz! - I would quite like to be prepared and not just busk it. What are your favourite aliens in literature, people? I have half a month to catch up on my reading, and no deadlines to get in the way.

07:07

That is the time that it is. Having got me out of bed at 4.30, the boys have spent most of the time since comfortably asleep, thank you, on sofa and easy-chair. Just in my line of sight, to rub it in most effectively.

I, meanwhile, have not run out of coffee, no. Nor water. Nor electricity. Nor mugs. What I have run out of is filter-papers. I am sitting here debating the merits of a walk to the grocery store, as against breaking out two wedding presents and making a noise and changing the whole way that coffee happens in this house.*

*Note: Karen doesn't drink coffee. It's all about me.

Preserve us this day our daily orange

I just ordered 16lbs of Seville oranges. There may be marmalade hereafter. If local people would like marmalade, they should perhaps register an interest now.

But the provision of marmalade is dependent on more than oranges. I am wondering, can I actually get preserving sugar in the US? Note, this is not jam sugar, it does not have added pectin; it just has a different quality of crystal, so that it dissolves more easily and makes no scum, leading to clearer jellies and less risk of burning. But it might be a British thing; sugars are among the staples that all seem to be different over here.