18778 / 50000 words. 38% done!

At this point I really need someone whose read what I have to discuss this stuff with, and slightlyjillian doesn't seem to be home and astraea36 is probably not around since Ray is OMGhomeYAY!!! I have been lucky in that _lore is great for bouncing ideas off of, with Snupin fics...but the downside is, I've got used to having a plot sounding-board, and I don't have one for my novel at the moment!

In other news, I absolutely love Ceredwen, particularly their album O'r Mabinogi: Legends of the Celts. This song "Tir Gwastraff/Cwynfan Pryderi" ("The Wasteland/Pryderi's Lament") is my favourite, though "Porth Annwn" ("The Gates of Annwn") is a close second.

It is 44 F in Indiana, but for some reason that temperature always gets into my bones and makes me feel like I'm freezing to death. So I have my space heater going, and have opened a bottle of Oliver's Soft Red (for two reasons: 1) it makes me feel warmer, and 2) I always drink a bottle of wine during NaNoWriMo: Oliver's Soft Red for the past two years, and Martini & Rossi's Asti the two years before that.)

That reminds me. I mentioned that I went to Oliver Winery with the parents the other day. (And I have to say, it was by far the best time I've had doing a wine-tasting. I've done that half a dozen times over the past few years, and though I liked the people at Round Barn Winery in Michigan, Oliver still wins my highest approval rating. We arrived at 20 minutes till closing, not sure if we'd have time for a tasting, and they still did a full tasting and took time to find something all of us liked, even the non-drinking parents. And we still got out of there less than 10 minutes after their closing time, but didn't feel rushed at all.) I've wanted to try a riesling wine ever since gonzothegreat mentioned them. At that time I had just started taking a medication that I wasn't supposed to mix with alcohol. Four years later, I've mixed it several times with no ill effects and have started drinking more wine. So I tried Oliver's Riesling 2006. I liked it all right, so the guy doing our tasting told me to try their Traminette 2006. BINGO! I am in love. It's a fabulous wine, described by their website as "Floral, fruity and inviting, this grape loves our Indiana climate. A delicious match with baklava." He told me it also goes well with spicy foods. Unfortunately it's a tasting-room wine, which means you can only get it by going to the winery. I anticipate at least one more trip to Bloomington this year, _lore. I'd love to actually spend time with you and J the next time I'm down there. ^_^

Merlin seems to be feeling better. At least, he hasn't vomited for about five hours, though of course I've also only had him on water for the past 9 or so hours. He still growls if I snuggle him too much, but then again he always does that.