Didn’t make it to…

Didn't make it to chapter 18 yesterday. Around 5, I just couldn't look at my computer anymore. So I went out and bought a lamp.

Really, this is work-related. See, most of the time I work in my comfy chair on the main floor of our apartment, which is a big open space, which is lovely during the day, but once it starts getting dark out (which is happening earlier and earlier, sadly), it can be quite gloomy. And even during the day, our days last week were often grey and rainy. I like rain, but it's quiet reading weather for me, not productive work weather. I need lots of light to think properly.

So I bought a lamp and it makes me happy. It's what's called a pharmacy or apothecary lamp. I've never had a lamp like this before, and I hadn't realized how perfectly designed they were for reading/working. It's a floor lamp, adjustable in three dimensions (up/down, side-to-side, tilt of lamp head). Right now, it's set so that the lamp head is right about the same level of my head. At this level, it casts bright, direct light on my work/reading surface, but the shade is designed so that none of the direct light hits my eyes. And a side benefit for the perpetually chilly is that the bulb also casts heat onto my typing fingers, which is good for helping them avoid tendonitis. :-)

I know, this doesn't sound particularly exciting. But I tell you, this is the best reading light I've ever had. It is a revelation. If I had a library full of beautiful old wingback chairs, I would want one of these lamps next to every chair. And this particular version of the lamp is beautiful, I think, in a Victorian steampunk kind of way. You can imagine Sherlock Holmes reading by the light of such a lamp. (Although poking around on the net tells me they were actually developed a bit later, in the 1920s; at that point Holmes was in retirement (though still solving cases until 1914), so you must imagine a rather aged Holmes in that reading chair).

Plan for today: revise chapters 18/19. If I finish by dinnertime, I can go to Sophia's Halloween party. If I can find a costume...

3 thoughts on “Didn’t make it to…”

  1. “I know, this doesn’t sound particularly exciting.”

    Are you kidding? This sounds sooper exciting. There’s little better than finding just the right version of some “thing” that you’ve been wanting to get. The other day I ordered the most amazing brush pen — a pen with actual bristles. I went around showing people who I’m certain couldn’t have cared less. Up with floor lamps (and brush pens)!

    jc

  2. Mary Anne Mohanraj

    Thanks for voting. 🙂 And glad you found it exciting — I told my dad about it in passing, and he got excited too. I think he may go buy one of his own.

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