Sounds like the other commenter got it. I’m commenting because the only time I’ve ever posted about a book o couldn’t remember was “The Dark Lord of Derkholm” also by Diana Wynn Jones! Great book of you haven’t read it. She wrote Howell’s Moving Castle too.
Drink more water! Whenever I find myself grumpy, the culprit is usually dehydration… It makes everything harder IMO. Ymmv etc etc anecdata
I second this. I have one small cup of strong black coffee in the morning since that’s all I can take, and then I switch to a thermos of hot loose leaf mint tea – probably 4 cups a day or more. It’s just so much more interesting than water, and helps keep things settled
Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees – William Bryant Logan, link to authors website
Once, farmers knew how to make a living hedge and fed their flocks on tree-branch hay. Rural people knew how to prune hazel to foster abundance: both of edible nuts, and of straight, strong, flexible rods for bridges, walls, and baskets. Townspeople cut their beeches to make charcoal to fuel ironworks. Shipwrights shaped oaks to make hulls. No place could prosper without its inhabitants knowing how to cut their trees so they would sprout again.
I re-read via audio book the whole series from Oct 2021 through Dec 2023. I think you’re spot on here. Wow, very well thought out. Please bring more of your analyses over here!
100% agree Noita is stressful!
Solid advice 👍