Introduction to the New Semester

I have exciting news to share. First off, Clem has recovered well from his surgery. As Miss Caitlin's Father would say, Clem is once again a fat and sassy pig.


In other news, we have several new friends. A lovely sow was presented to Miss Caitlin by Miss Kitty from across the street. Ruth is a very amiable pig. She likes to be social and cuddles with Miss Caitlin often.


Josie was found for us by Miss Shelly. She is more shy - she was happy enough to take on the responsibility of guarding the extra key, but overall, she has had very little to say. I do not find this to be much of a problem, since Tipsy says more than enough for everyone involved . . . However, I am sure with time, Josey will blossom into a good friend. I feel I should also point out in the above picture that Miss Caitlin salvaged the waterfall from her term project and added it to our landscape on the desk.

Miss Caitlin is again studying Japanese this semester. She is currently struggling with conjunctions and distinguishing the correct circumstances for using each one. She is also making a survey of some recent award winning books for her English Senior Seminar class. For the first book, the class read The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing, in Honor of Mrs. Lessing's winning of the Nobel Prize. While Miss Caitlin admires Lessing's ability to convey a large amount of information with only a few words, Miss Caitlin feels (and I rather agree) that the book is not of great quality otherwise. Perhaps a better selection might have been made so the class could appreciate the body of work that resulted in Mrs. Lessing's being awarded a Nobel Prize.

Miss Caitlin is also taking Play Direction, which fills her with not a little trepidation. However initial classes have not taxed her too greatly, as they are mostly discussing theory. In addition to these, she is taking a class about the history of the English language. Already this has proved a fascinating class. Her professor, Dr Stewart, is a very . . . unique individual. Miss Caitlin decided she enjoyed him as a teacher after he encouraged his students to split their infinitives in order to spite the people who believe that English should have a grammar somehow related to Latin.

Tipsy will likely have something to say soon, as Miss Caitlin will be refereeing another game of Traveller this semester. They start tomorrow. I am to tell you that while the ship is yet unnamed, Master Gabe is the owner of it, and he is the Marquis of Megalmatree. Make of that what you will.