A stout Carl for the nones…

This month will see me making a concerted effort to be a more regular updater on this blog. Like Kisha, I won’t bother recounting all the reasons for my hiatus, but I thought I’d better briefly explain at least one of the major reasons why I dropped out of sight after February.

Pictured above is Carl Joseph Sexton,¹ the tiny Viking whose arrival on February 29^th brought nearly equal parts joy and chaos into our corner of the world (which is still a much better ratio than most actual Vikings managed). He’s quite a beefy little guy, and while he hasn’t yet shown any notable skill as a miller or a wrestler, he does seem to like trying to smash things ‘at a rennyng with his heed’.

…and he’s already learned how to take Myspace-style self-portraits!

And yes, he’s a leap day baby.

We’re quite pleased about him.

¹ He’s named for his grandfathers, Carl Nabbefeld and Joseph Sexton. The picture’s a little blurry because, well, you try keeping him still long enough for a photo. The wee wyllen-helm, by the way, was knitted for Carl by a former student of mine who will be starting graduate school for medieval studies in the fall and who I’ll always think of as “Ættfræðingur,” the nickname bestowed on her by her classmates in our Icelandic Literature class for her uncanny ability to suss out genealogical connections in the sagas. I have no idea whether she reads this blog, but if you stop by—best of luck!