Lamb to the Slaughter

My task in today's Swedish class was a close reading of the Swedish translation of Roald Dahl's darkly comedic short story 'Lamb to the Slaughter' (1953), known in Swedish as 'Mysteriet med det Försvunna Mordvapnet' (The Mystery of the Vanished Murder Weapon).

The tale concerns a wife who bludgeons her policeman husband to death with a frozen leg of lamb, puts the lamb in the oven, establishes an alibi going to the grocery store to buy vegetables to accompany her roast, and proceeds to serve the murder weapon to the investigating officers.

After a fruitless search, the policemen bandy about possible locations of the murder weapon, while waiting to be served their dinner.

"It's probably right under our very noses."





Lamb to the Slaughter was adapted for television twice, first in 1958 as part of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, directed by the master of suspense himself, and starring Barbara Bel Geddes (Midge in Vertigo).

Another adaptation was included in Tales of the Unexpected, in 1979. Tales of the Unexpected was a collection of tales based on the short stories of Roald Dahl.

First Impressions of snow

I awoke this morning to a winter whitewash, and my first proper day of snow. After Swedish class I trekked through the frozen streets of Malmö, carpets of crisp, white icy snow stretching along footpaths and in gardens, and dirty snow clogging the gutters, the same colour and consistency as frozen coke, hatchback coupes transformed into hunchbacks with mounds of snow fixed upon boots and bonnets.
A group of teenage youths threw a snowball at my leg, then apologised.

Sushine state of mind

via, via

Fendi Spring 2011

Words of advice/not so subliminal messages backstage at Michael Kors, which remind me a lot of Dr. Lawrence Jacoby's personal hypnosis cues, and those bizarre pictures dentists' always seem to have pinned to the ceiling above the chair.

Ship Shape

cross section

Tidbits

Drugs Are Like That (1979)

via




Patricia Johanson
Stephen Long (1968)

"Stephen Long" extended 1600 feet, beyond the field of vision, and its colors were transformed by natural light. At sunset the yellow stripe changed to orange, and blue became violet.

via ROLU

recently I was told by my "job coach/life coach" that she would classify me as 'curious' person. I think this is just because so many interesting morsels are continuously dangled in front of me, and I need to discover more about them.

Promenade

Jack Nicholson & Anjelica Huston / River Phoenix & Martha Plimpton

Recent Acquisitions

Recent acquisitions accumulated during Alex's visit and the following weeks. Alex arrived laden with marvellous gifts including a copy of her recently published novel The Constant Losers, and another Ngaio Marsh mystery to add the the growing collection. During our day of op shopping I unearthed an orange sweater emblazoned with a galloping horse and jockey amongst a plethora of psychedelic tie dyed t-shirts and a few days later, some sturdy yet becoming winter boots, excellent for stomping around leaf strewn footpaths and staving off numb toe syndrome.
While kitted out in my new jersey and chimney-sweep boots, I can carry around my high literature in a brilliant University of Auckland Library bag, featuring the classic 'This Book Must Not Be Borrowed' slogan previously found in library reference books.