Mercury Descending

[stoutfellow]

Cold snap today; it's in the low 30s F right now, and will be falling all day. It'll be down in the 20s by the time I come home. We're supposed to climb back into the 40s by the end of the week, but it's definitely heavy-jacket time.

Volumes 4 and 5 of "Digger" arrived a couple of days ago, and I devoured them immediately. (Apparently there'll be only one more volume before the strip ends.) Ursula Vernon is just a wonderful writer, and I look forward to whatever her next project might be. There's one bit of dialog that I want to quote. (Actually, there are quite a few, but this one really tickles me.) Digger is preparing to go on a - call it a mountain pilgrimage, although she certainly wouldn't - in the company of the deranged acolyte Murai.

Digger: You're taking your sandals, your robe, and a begging bowl? No food? No money? No first aid kit?
Murai: I am a servant of the god, honored Digger. The god will provide all that is needful.
Digger (paw on forehead): Yeah. Okay. See, I think what you're failing to grasp here is that your god did provide, and what he provided was me. So you're gonna go corner whatever passes for a quartermaster in this joint, and you're gonna get a blanket, a first aid kit, and a couple of pounds of trail mix, got it? And a knife. And tinder and flint. And I suppose it's too much to ask that anybody's heard of crampons around here....

Relentlessly practical people can be wearying at times, but there are times when you really need them.

Speaking of which, I really should get an umbrella....