(This post is stitched together from various facebook postings throughout the day.)
My "rest day" was restful in the sense that I didn't have anything in particular I was committed to accomplishing. It started with an excellent night's sleep. (Maybe readers are bored with me talking about my sleep habits, but between my usual sleep issues and coming off jet lag, the topic is highly relevant to me.)
I’ve given up on the idea that I can plan where to eat breakfast. The lovely place I ate on Friday opens much later on weekends. The recommended bakery has yet to be open any time I drop by, despite it being within advertised hours. So my strategy will simply be to wander until I see a likely looking place that’s open.
I took the train that got me in to Waterford around noon, with the last return train leaving at 18:30. That was plenty of time to see the things I wanted to see, plus time to sit at the river’s edge with a sandwich when I didn’t want to walk any more.
By some miracle, I got a full night's sleep Thursday night (that is, a full night plus going to bed around 7pm), briefly interrupted by a very resonant rainstorm in the wee hours. But the placement of my room means I get no street noise, which is nice.
Despite all my self-deprecating mentions of getting to airports entirely too early for Significant Trips, I didn't actually spend that much time hanging out twiddling my thumbs. After check-in and security, I had an early dinner--or rather a late and substantial lunch. I figured they'd feed us something dinner-like on the plane but didn't want to count on it too heavily. (They did, but it was fairly light.) Then I really only had half an hour or so of wandering around the gate before they started boarding.
I finally--finally!--received the last shipment of books I bought at Kalamazoo. This is the bunch from the University of Toronto Press. It seems that, despite me having filled in my credit card information on the order form, they were waiting for me to tell them where to send an invoice. Invoice, hah! So it wasn't until I emailed asking what had happened that they actually worked on filling the order. So what did I buy? Unusually, all four books are for my "history of magic and mysticism" shelf. The place I go to get inspiration for the magical elements in my fiction.
I'm delighted to be able to contribute to the programming at Worldcon this year -- a privilege I try never to take for granted. I'll be joining panel discussions on podcasting, online fannish community, and Regency fantasy, as well as doing a reading and being available for autographs.
I'm still stretching the definition of "Kalamazoo books" a little here. The first book was neither purchased nor marked for purchase at the conference, but I was given the reference by someone at my session for inclusion in the expanded version of my paper.
Sturges, Robert S. (trans). 2015. Aucassin and Nicolette: A Facing-Page Edition nd Translation. Michigan State University Press, East Lansing. ISBN 978-1-61186-157-0
It's only cheating just a smidge to consider these part of my Kalamazoo haul. I'd already done my day in the bookroom and missed spotting these, when my girlfriend texted the covers and suggested they might be interesting. I never did make it back to the bookroom to check them out, but when I looked them up online I concurred. Since they'd been spotted at the Powell's Books vendor, I tried the Powell's website first but couldn't find a listing, but I was able to pick them up second hand from another seller.
This is the first of at least two shipments from Boydell & Brewer. (One book was pre-ordered and the other is brand new and may not have been in the warehouse yet when these were shipped.)
Sylvester, Louise M., Mark C. Chambers and Gale R. Owen-Crocker. 2014. Medieval Dress and Textiles in Britain: A Multilingual Sourcebook. The Boydell Press, Woodbridge. ISBN 978-1-84383-932-3
I hadn't quite expected the to-be-shipped books to start arriving this quickly! There was a Fed Ex note on my door when I got home from the airport Monday evening and--having authorized doorstep delivery--the book was there after work Tuesday.
Mechain, Gwerful (edited and translated by Katie Gramich). 2018. The Works of Gwerful Mechain. Broadview Press, Peterborough. ISBN 978-1-55481-414-5
