The talk on my coin collection at St. George’s went all right, but the audience was small, perhaps a dozen. Still, they listened, asked questions, and laughed at the right places. I am going to turn my talk into an essay which I will publish on my web site, complete with pictures of some of the coins.  Meanwhile I will continue to fill in my collection.  Anyone out there got a William and Mary?

Several people have suggested I need to add to our household insurance because of this collection. Perhaps I should ask our agent. But then, my coins are not museum-quality, plus a thief wouldn’t be able to drop them into vending machines or buy a Happy Meal with them (the sad fate of a lot of valuable American coin collections that get stolen). Worse, not every coin shop deals with medievals or even the later coins. Maybe a Victoria or a George III, but an Edward III? Or a Charles I?  So how could a thief profit by his theft?  I love my coins, but mine is not a common taste, even among numismatists. On yet another hand, a thief may not know that.

Yesterday, around nine in the morning, it began quietly to snow. And it snowed and snowed and snowed. Fortunately, I had finished my water exercises by nine and when I went grocery shopping around eleven, it was hazardous out there, but the store was only a few blocks away. By a little after one, I was safe at home, watching the snow blow horizontally past our big front window. It continued like that until nearly dark, and was still snowing lightly when I went to bed.   I like writing about blizzards, but actually being out in one? Not so much. One nice thing about Minnesota is that this kind of thing happens all the time, except in July, and so we are heavily invested in snow removal equipment. The main arteries are already passable and by tomorrow I can drive anywhere in the cities.