Kind reader, if we were having coffee I would not feel as cold as I do right now. I’m still not used to the non-Mississippi temperatures… If we were sitting here together I’d tell you about my latest projects — other than sending out a job application every day.
paper beads
Project 1:
I learned how to make paper beads, and am now experimenting with different materials (cardboard last night).
Project 2:
I decided that I want to read more of Rosamond Lehmann’s work (you may remember her from this blog post, a few years ago) — I enjoyed Dusty Answer and am curious to see if her other books and stories are stylistically similar / different / comparable. To that end, I’ve ordered Invitation to the Waltz (which just arrived in the mail today!) and The Gypsy’s Baby; and Other Stories. Thank goodness for bookfinder.com — a life-saver / penny-saver especially now that I can’t just use interlibrary loan…
Project 3-ish:
I fell down the Wiki / Gutenberg rabbit hole again, following a random conversation with V. I mentioned that I applied for a job in Asheville, NC, and V. pointed out that that’s where ‘the original Siamese twins’ lived and died.
I looked it up (she was right), and promptly stumbled across ‘the other Siamese twins’ — although really, it should be ‘twin’ instead, because in this case, the twins were treated as one person, and identified as one person (albeit with two heads), not Millie and Christine, but Millie Christine McCoy.
If you’re interested, a first-person account appears to have survived: The History of the Carolina Twins; Told in Their Own Peculiar Way. I also found some interesting ephemera regarding the twin (right here) and just as I thought, hey, I really want to write some poems about this, and this would make a great title! (The twin was called ‘the two-headed nightingale’ because she sang, and sang beautifully, duets with herself.) well it turns out that that’s already been done.
Two poets at least have worked with the very story, and one even published a collection with that very title. 🙂 Which I then (a splurge, I know) ordered (again, bookfinder.com is wonderful!) and am now going to read.
Outside of a Cat 
Singing duets with oneself that’s a strange thing to imagine.
Yes! Millie Christine sounds like such an interesting character —
Oh my, what a fascinating find! I love Asheville—I have family who used to live close-by, and we’d always go to the city when I visited them. Had no idea about Millie Christine, though.
Also—love those beads, especially the orange and yellow ones. You could start yourself an Etsy shop, Little Miss Crafty.
aw, you think so? I like the idea…
Sure, I think it could work!