It's that time of year

To think about relationships with other people. I hope I've hurt or offended no one this year, but since that's unlikely to be true, please either accept my apology, or email me (the lj one is fine) to let me know how I can make amends.

Warty Bliggens

There's a chapter in Turn Not Pale, Beloved Snail¹ (Jacqueline Jackson) about names, where she mentions the name Warty Bliggins, and how perfect a name it is for a toad. She doesn't know where she got it from, whether she made it up, or what.

This morning an orker lent me a copy of archy and mehitabel (Don Marquis), and in the contents, there he is: warty bliggens, the toad (chapter xiii). A little mystery solved; so satisfying.

¹ A lovely book about living and writing, that I picked up at a library book sale years ago. I've never seen another copy, though I'd love to get another (or two, or more). (Yes, I've tried online out-of-print sites. Nothing doing.)