dan donoghue turned 50 this week ("half a century, not out," piped up one of the britishers.) so the medieval colloquium planned a surprise for him. james simpson baked a cake, and someone brought a bottle of champagne (or possibly it was paid for out of the medieval colloquium funds) and though there were no balloons and things that go off with a loud noise there was singing and candles (though the singing was begun far too high for most people.)

no one's heart was in the talk though. it was a warm day, and it was far too bright outside - especially now that our clocks have been put forward - for anyone to pay attention to a dull talk - for it was really terribly dull. you could see everyone thought so - it was the first time that none of the faculty members present asked a question or made any comments - very tactful disinterest, i thought. margaret v and i, who were sitting next to each other, behaved disgracefully, scribbling rude notes to each other and marking off quarter-hours and making faces. "my heart is outside with the birds," she scribbled. and i drew a girl, trapped in a house, and with a large thought bubble filled with birds.

(and they've taken off the ropes and the wooden covers on the centre steps to widener.)

these meetings are usually good fun, and between 15-25 people attend each week: the professors are always present - i've never seen all four of them at one yet, but normally at least two of them, if not three, would be there. and all the abd's are required to attend; i suppose otherwise they might go off and write dissertations and never be seen again? the rest of us usually trot along as well - four of us in all: two full-fledged, one newly-converted, and one nominal (me). two or three medievalists from the boston area would often attend, and sometimes bring a few of their students from their own institutions. the rest wander in from other parts of the university - celtic, art history, comp lit - depending on the paper topic. and often people bring guests. wine, muffins, assorted biscuits and the grapes to which i have frequently alluded also appear at the beginning of the proceedings and are passed around in a sort of rattan basket, and at the end of the talk are given to various people to take home. this all happens in an attic room in warren house - and it has got a small gallery which i like exceedingly. as for the academic side of things, invited speakers come and talk to us for an hour on a medieval topic, after which we ask some questions for half an hour, and the professors take the speaker to dinner.