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Saint of the Day: None today. I didn't do the research.

Reading:
Old English: The Dream of the Rood. A poem about a man who dreams of Christ's cross. The cross talks to him and tells him how it felt to be the instrument of Christ's death. It's good so far.

Middle English: CT - The Second Nun's Tale, The Canon's Yeoman's Tale, The Manciple's Tale

The Second Nun's Tale is a retelling of the life of St. Cecilia. Cecilia was married to a man named Valerian, but she wanted to keep her chastity, so she told Valerian that she had a guardian angel who would kill him if he tried to sleep with her. He didn't believe her, so she told him to go to the Via Appia and find old Urban who would tell him the truth. Valerian went and was converted to Christianity. When he came home, an angel crown both him and Cecilia with crown of white lilies and red roses. Valerian's brother Tibertius comes over and smells the flowers, but he can't see them. He asks where the smell is coming from, and Valerian sends him to the Via Appia as well where he is also converted to Christianity. Not long afterward, the two brothers were martyred and Cecilia was sent for to defend herself. The judge condemned her to be burned in her own house, so the guards locked her in the bathroom and set the house on fire. Cecilia did not burn, however. The executioner came, then, and tried to cut off Cecilia's head. He hacked three times, but did not succeed in killing her, although he gave her a mortal wound. She survived for three more days before succumbing to her wound.

The Canon's Yeoman's Tale is about a tricksy canon who through his wiles convinces a priest that he can turn base metals into precious metals. The priest pays him 40 pounds to teach him how to do it, then the canon skips town and the priest never sees him again.

The Manciple's Tale is the story of how the crow came to be black. He says crows used to be white and could imitate man's speech. The god Phebus had a pet crow who witnessed Phebus' wife cheating on Phebus. When Phebus came home, the crow revealed his wife's adultery, and Phebus killed his wife in a rage. Then he cursed the crow to have black feathers, to lose his power of speech, and to have an awful caw. The moral of the story, according to the manciple, is if you know your friend's spouse is cheating on your friend, don't say anything because your friend will just hate you for it.

Contemporary American: Still no Caramelo. If it doesn't come this afternoon, I'll just have to read it while I'm on vacation. I've read it before, so it's not that big of a deal, I guess. Or I could just start reading the next book on my list and read Caramelo after vacation. I haven't decided.

Workout: I haven't done it yet, but I have every intention of doing it. 45 mins.

Food: This was not a great weekend for keeping to the low calories. Too many social functions where I didn't have control over the food or where I just made bad choices. It's so hard to eat out and stay healthy. I'm planning on cooking at home this week, but I'm eating the last of the leftover pizza tonight.