the ultimate throwaway line?

Hooray! Radio 4's Pick of the Week has just included an excerpt from a programme broadcast on Radio 3 last week, about the discovery of the original manuscript of Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur. And it included what has to be the ultimate in thowaway lines, speaking of somebody "betrayed by his wife, who made him seven years a werewolf". And that's all. No further explanation! Mind you, Malory himself had a colourful (if werewolf-free) life as you can read here.

Whilst on the subject of literature, here's a poem by that prolific poet Anon:


A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?


And here is Crazy Big Owl, he of the crazy eyes (and stuffing session) I mentioned last night:

He's based on the "Cute Little Owl" pattern from the latest (Sep/Oct) issue of Crochet Today. This was, unbelievably, on sale in W.H.Smith, complete with an insert suggesting suitable Patons yarns for each project. (Mind you, since many projects use worsted weight yarns the list virtaully read "Washed Haze Aran, Washed Haze Aran, Washed Haze Aran" and so on and on and on). Needless to say, I did not use the recommened yarn for this project (guess what, Washed Haze Aran!) but raided the stash basket for super chunky and chunky-weight yarns. And, well, let's just say that I had my own particular vision of how the eyes should look!