Unintelligible

A wonderful weekend with the Stabface crew and baby Garrett, whose good behaviour continues to startle me. It seems that freshly made food, lots of toys, light, warmth and above all endless patience really can create gorgeous little human beings. I am surprised; my own belief has long been that most homo sapiens are unbearable from cradle to grave, and the single percent that aren't, are instantly ruined by contact with the rest. The boy goes to nursery twice a week and he still seems unconquerably good natured. So much for my theories.


The game went very well, the company delightful as ever; I am still phased by an incident which I intended to recount here, but suddenly it is clear to me that it makes no sense with or without context. The icon records it better than I can. My earnest thanks to evilwillow and cyanidemigraine for their kindness. I am still dizzy, but not hurt, just annoyed that it doesn't make sense. So instead of rational analysis, I have decided to blame that well known lambsbane cyanidemigraine for the whole thing, as it is clearly down to something he did.

Busy, a lot to do today. Time for more coffee

Callicantzari

Beware of those born around Christmas...some say in the 8 days after Christmas, some say the 12, others that the deadly time starts on the 23rd. For these are prone to become a particular kind of demonic hobgoblin vampire recognisable by;

"A terrible mania, that they rush to and fro with the most amazing speed, that their nails grow to a terrible length like the talons of a bird of prey while their hands become as crooked claws. If they meet any person on the highway they seize him and put the question "Tow or Lead?" If he answer "Tow" he may escape unharmed, but if he be inadvertant enough to reply "Lead" they grip him with terrible force, mangle him with their talons and often tear him to pieces devouring him wholemeal.

During the seventeenth century this belief so strongly prevailed that the most cruel precautions were taken in the case of children who might be suspected to be liable to become Callicantzari, since the soles of their feet were exposed to a fire until the nails were singed and so their claws clipped, and even today in parts of Greece these practices prevail in a highly modified form, for among the Aegean islanders it is said that the small Callicantzari are particularly prone to attack and devour their own brothers and sisters[...]another link with the tradition of the vampire who, as we have noted before, seeks the destruction of his own kin.'*

( A family Christmas; not for the sentimental )