I’ll be glad when I’ve finished this project; it’s hurting my brain. These three files have been so similar that I can only assume there is some reason why there are tiny differences in phrasing instead of using the same script for all three applications. More pronounced differences would make more sense, but then, I am not the architect of this particular project, and as it’s being adapted the company has to work with the original and existing structure. Whatever the reason, the similarities lull me into a kind of vague trance-like state as I compare the current document against the previous two, making it hard to focus on those tiny differences when I do come across them. And there are times where those differences are as basic as a single cell of text in one file has been split into three separate cells in another file, without a word changed or out of place. But someone has to do the reduction of the translated script, and it might as well be me.

Saturday’s fund-raising BBQ was delightful in that the weather cleared and the humidity broke, we spent time with good friends, and had good food. In fact, I saw people I hadn’t seen in well over a year (some who I hadn’t seen in more than two, as well), as well as meeting at least one new person who seems very interesting and is an ex-viola player (not by choice exactly, but because she moved away from the instrument she used to borrow). I also finally paid Kino Kid for her lovely, lovely desk that I have been using for a year and a half, and completely failed to accurately communicate why I enjoy Miseri‘s writing.

Sunday morning we finally resumed our brunch date with the neighbours, after something like five weeks off due to people out of town or otherwise unavailable. Liam romped with their cats until we suggested he do something quiet, like read a book. “Otay,” he said, turning to one of the several bookcases and reaching forward, “I find a book to read.” We all leapt forward because in his enthusiasm he could very well have damaged one of many hard-to-replace books on religious study that Scarlet owns. We found him a board book instead. It made such a wonderful image, though, the two-year-old turning quite naturally to the cases of academic study on Daoism and Shinto and various Abrahamic faiths mixed in with Celtic spirituality and modern religions, to ‘find a book to read’.

He asked for oatmeal for lunch, then Sunday afternoon after his nap Liam helped HRH with the vacuuming, thus ending a two-year moratorium on vacuuming if the boy was in the house. (Up till now he used to cry when it was turned on, no matter how we tried to get him used to it. This time? “Look — Dada, it has wheels!”, and that was that, he was off and bogganing. We’ve shown him the wheels before, of course, not that they made a difference.) Then we headed out to the ADZO family ranch where we had an excellent afternoon relaxing, eating hummus, drinking wine, and consuming delicious burgers and corn and home-grown veggies.