There were a couple of anthologies that caught my attention, especially one with a steampunk/wuxia theme. I absently pulled from my bookshelf Views of 18th Century China, compiled from works by William Alexander and George Henry Mason that were published in the early 1800's, the book which, as I've mentioned before, inspired my story The Viper-Seller's Son, and came across an engraving titled 'A Mender of Porcelain'. Well, this book worked its magic again (I knew there was another story hidden somewhere within its pages). The image reminded me of a story idea I've started and abandoned quite a few times because I couldn't get the voice right or come up with a satisfying ending or shape the main character to my liking, but the phrase a mender of porcelain did the trick and by the time I hit the Xmas swing for lunch this arvo, instead of reading while I ate, I was staring at the garden and imagining the opening scene of the story.I love it when stuff comes together.
In the meantime, Jenny spent most of the day focused on one particular spot in the garden. Late last night, she wouldn't come inside, and when I checked what had caught her attention, it was a toad the size of my hand, probably out and about because of all the water, which seemed majestically unperturbed by her presence (I went to take a photo, but of course the camera battery was dead) Jenny was agog each time the toad hopped, and squealed in protest when I carried her inside. First thing this morning, she shot across to where she'd last seen the toad and went looking for it, and regularly returned every few hours to hopefully peer about again. So, a toad, an obsessed cat and a new story...
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