Rasta Flower

Our lipstick rasta plant is blooming. Isn't it beautiful?

Having had such an incredibly productive writing day on Wednesday, yesterday I couldn't help cutting myself a little slack. I spent the morning mostly doing small things. I also went back to my alas long neglected study of the hexagrams in the Book of Changes. Yesterday's hexagram was "Bo", splitting apart or flaying. A rather disturbing one, really, but interesting.

In the afternoon, I went to Professor Blue-eyes' class on the Changes. The topic for the week was something he's actually doing research on and he had given us his manuscript to read. I had to revise my opinion of him yet again, because he was disarmingly modest and pleasant about the whole thing, honest about his uncertainties, and so on. I really enjoyed the class, also some of the stories he told as digressions. There was a tomb which had caught fire at some point (presumably an accident caused by early tomb robbers). When it was excavated, the fire turned out to have been really good for the preservation of the bamboo strip texts that had been buried there--they were turned to charcoal. But still readable!! I couldn't believe it. It makes sense for fire to be good for clay tablets, but for bamboo strips!? Then Pocket of Bolts says that the same thing happens with papyrus sometimes, as at Pompeii. Well, you learn something new every day.

I had to do some preparation for the reading group after dinner, so I did that. Didn't get a workout in, but since I feel like I'm fighting something off I thought it would be best if I took it easy.