fufaraw

This is the first sunny day it's been light enough indoors that I could take pics without flash! So, late, but still cheerful Christmas pics! Moose medal! Thank you, hon!

100_5559 ed sh

An evergreen cone that weighs as much as an egg, and feels like a solid surface. The giver says that when it opens to drop its seeds, it will *explode*! I think when I de-decorate after the 7th, the cone will be relegated to a porch, so it can 'splode there ,and not all on the carpet. OH painted the tarot Hermit Father Christmas

Shenannigans under the flatscreen, from a German pyramid to an Ohio Art top, c. 1950-ish, Steiff bears and a Hermann chimp, lion and lamb Engelbreit tin, Father Christmas, elf and Santa stocking hooks, Beldar and Primate conehead Santas all painted by OH, a watch cap, a toque, and a beanie, gifts in the past, to the Pinewood Derby car OH made for me when the boys were in Cub Scouts. All good fun.

Observing Old Christmas is a wonderful way to relax and enjoy the decorations before they all get stowed again till next year.

Captain Awkward #917: “How to set boundaries with people who think boundaries and hurt are manipulative? AKA Help implementing boundary advice?”

Here are your 4 new best friends:

“Okay.”
“Wow.”
“No.”
CHILLY AWKWARD SILENCE

( Read more... )

For those not following on twitter - Mike Pence went to Hamilton tonight - got booed by the entire audience, was subjected to massive extended applause after “Immigrants, we get the job done”, and then King George sang “What Comes Next?” directly to him leading to a three minute standing ovation for the King.

Finally some good news.

I don't know if this link will work or not.

There's a whole chorus of owl calls outside tonight. Or at least an extended conversation.

It's kind of nice.

about the use of souls as fuel for the Darkness-bomb, a thing that has bothered me before about the use and treatment of souls. It's likely a product of my Christian Protestant upbringing, but isn't the soul a person's *being*, and after death, that person's afterlife--whether in heaven, hell, or some other destination revealed and supported by that person's religion or faith?

So you live a good life, kind to your fellow beings, and doing what you can on earth to ease suffering, and you die in the expectation that your afterlife will be at least pleasant, hopeful meetings with your beloved ones who've gone on before you and will come after you. That the pain you endured in life will be repaid in peace and earned..."happiness," for lack of a better word at the moment.

So that's the deal you accept, and work toward earning, in life. And in death, you've achieved it. Then suddenly, your soul is one of thousands, millions, siphoned off to fuel some plan or other of beings vaster than your understanding, and their plans. "You," your essence, your soul, become nothing but a unit of measure, easily sacrificed and undone forever in some scheme you had no say in.

And my thought is, how can these forces be "for good" if they deal in people's *souls* like toothpicks in a card game?

Have you guys seen http://LJ3.org? It's a livestream of images uploaded to LJ. There's a search bar--enter your username if you've ever posted pics on LJ, and they'll come up on that site. Has this been mentioned on the LJnews thingy, and have I just not been paying attention?

You don't even want to know what kind of sideslipping I did to wind up on the site. Imagine my perturbation that my images are just...out there for all and sundry. I'm usually a bit more circumspect than that. I'll have to ponder if and what kind of lockdown I'll use on LJ pics from now on.

Thrift shop china, the pot was $2.00, unmarked early 20th century American redware. The cream jug was a gift. Cream cheese and homemade raspberry-pomegranite preserves on half the rice cake, homemade lemon curd on the other.

Books, bears, tarot–Dreaming Way, Deviant Moon, Sun and Moon decks–and tea. The Peanut Gallery: Naomi Laight’s Georgiana, Steiff’s Snap-apart bear, assorted Steiff 10cm bears, one tiny artist’s bear, and Ralph, who started life as a keychain fob. Ralph and Timiny (Steiff, blue sweater) travel wherever I go, in a special pouch in my purse. The bears don’t care about tea, but they’re very fond of honey toast.

I bought a book online recently. I don't know the author or her work, and the book has been out for several years so, feeling no particular compulsion to add to their income ("Hello, yes, do you have 'this book' in stock? No, I don't have time for you to order it, I'm going to a birthday thing today, and she mentioned wanting this book in particular." Or strolling through the store, turning the book's cover face out on the shelves. Or if they do have it, "Yes, and let me have four additional copies to use as gifts." Leaving reviews online, etc. I'm a huge known-author booster), I ordered a used paperback.
( Read more... )

So anyway, I can't with this book. I'ma have to find another copy that I can stand to hold long enough to read!

This is Hippocrates (first, do no harm), one of my artists' bears, and Virgil (named after the chimp in an old Matthew Broderick movie), the 1970s vintage Hermann chimpanzee. Devoted friends.

But I feel a mighty neeeeeed! Can anybody--and are you willing to--make a .gif icon of Sam's smile when Mildred says, "Before I got so good looking"? Pretty please? I'll, um. Be extremely grateful? Extoll your virtues far and wide? Cookies? Anybody?

But I thought I'd share it here for those of you who might be interested. And bore the hell out of everybody else. Aaand of course, LJ's not letting me cut. Feel free to skip.

So, this is probably more than you want to know, but if you're interested in fountain pens, I can't recommend highly enough the Goulet pens info vids. They'll tell you a lot about today's fountain pens, and currently available inks.

I started with Sheaffer's school pens and cartridges (click through pictures), progressed to Sheaffer No Nonsense pens. At the time, I was unaware of converter fillers, but I cajoled a used, needle-less syringe from my cat's vet, and used it to refill cartridges with bottled ink, eliminating throwaway cartridges and spending money on new ones. Adults used lever-fill fountain pens, and when I first started collecting vintage fountain pens, they were what I thought of as "real pens." Here's a YouTube link on a series of care and feeding vids for lever-fill pens. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cleaning+and+filling+lever-fill+fountain+pen You can find lever fill, and vintage pens with other types of fillers at flea markets, yard sales and, of course, on ebay for very little money. Sometimes they might need a little repair or refurbishing, but even adding in those costs, a vintage pen can serve you well for very little money. Most of my pens have been acquired this way, other than my dad's lever-fill Sheaffer, my mom's Parker Vacuumatic, and my husband's piston-fill Pelikan.

When my husband bought me my first "real" fountain pen, a Parker 45, it came with both cartridges and converter, and I never used cartridges again. I discovered twist-piston filling converters, and have always subbed them for the pinch-type converters which a lot of pens came with, because you can see the ink level in them, unlike the metal-housed pinch fill ones.

Today's fountain pens almost all come with twist-fill piston converters, and I've replaced cartridges and pinch-converters in every pen that will accept a converter. My Sheaffer Connaisseur, released by Levenger as the "Mediterranean" of its "Seas" series, has a solid block at the end of the barrel to improve the pen's balance. But it also shortens the available space and makes a twist converter unusable. The rest of my pinch converters have been replaced.

As I said, more than you wanted to know, I'm sure. But maybe you'll find some of the links interesting, or helpful, if you decide to fall willy-nilly into the wonderful world of fountain pens.

I just woke up from a nap, and a lovely dream.

Our next door neighbor sold her house--to someone who already lived in the neighborhood, a couple of streets away. She and her husband are separating, amicably, apparently, and she and the dog are moving next door. The husband has been helping her move. All of which set the scene, I'm sure.

So I hear voices while I'm sleeping and realize OH is showing someone our house--not to sell, just giving them an idea of size and layout, etc. And then I realize, JDM is walking through our house commenting on what he and Hilarie might do--where they'd put the piano, and which room would be Gus', what accomodation the neighborhood would allow for Bandit, etc.

And because I'm still waking up, I can't get my eyes open. I say hello, but again, waking up, my voice isn't working right, and comes out really high. I'm lying on my side with one hand extended under the pillow, and I realize the hand is really cold--and as I realize that, JDM takes my hand in his really warm, rough one. And I say thank you, again in the high squeaky voice, and then I make a face and say, "My voice is so high today. It's somewhere up here." And I make a gesture (with my free hand) somewhere over my head. "I'm not that tall," I add, and JDM cracks up.

I made JDM laugh! And then I woke up.

I just thought I'd share that with y'all. JDM! In my house! Thinking I'm funny! Aw yeah, I know. But dude, he was *right there!*

I keep my fountain pens in penrolls, more or less upright in a tin container on my desk, in front of the window.

( Read more... )

"Old Dean" was played by an actor named Chad Everett.
"Teen Dean" was played by an actor named Dylan Everett.

That's all, no particular conclusion, just a...huh.

From the celebrated ACL photos this weekend, there's this:

and this

And, well, I can't get https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handkerchief_code out of my head.

There's a residential street just off the interstate here, called Overpass Road. My contrary mind always converts it to Underpass Road, and then because of association and the rhyme to underpants gnome, to Underpants Road.

Don't look at me like that.

ar_richardson writes:

"In case you hadn't heard, Obama officially declared a state of emergency for Washington State, which is on fire. Three firefighters died in a horrific accident when flames overtook their vehicle, and that hit very close to home for me because my older brother is a wildland firefighter. The flags here are flying at half-mast today, to honor them. The state is so low on firefighters that they've recruited the military troops from Joint Base Lewis-McChord and asked for volunteers for the first time ever. The air quality here is so bad that it's at 287 (300 and over is considered hazardous). I'm pretty safe where I live in the Spokane city limits, but it's still so scary. The city smells like a campfire, no matter where you go. The light from the sun is distorted into an eerie yellow haze that makes it impossible to tell if it's 9 AM or 5 PM. I feel suspended in a smoky, timeless limbo. It's very unsettling.

Australia, New Zealand and Wisconsin are sending firefighters to help out with the chaos. That's amazing to me, and it's so very appreciated. That's a long, long way to trek to help out, and I know they'll probably never see this post, I just wanted to put my appreciation out there."

I'm adding my own admiration for the people fighting these fires. We are on the other side of the Cascades, but these fires are monsters, and the only guarantee we'll stay safe is the intervention of these firefighters. The pictures we're seeing are horrific, and I can't imagine the bravery needed to combat this inferno. These are some of the same first responders to the Oso landslide disaster in 2014, and my gratitude and admiration for each and every one of them is boundless. Everyone please keep these individuals in your hearts and minds, that they stay safe and can do their jobs. There is already such terrible devastation to a vast agricultural part of the state; it's going to take a long time to recover, if recovery is even possible with ongoing drought. But first the fires have to be dealt with. Strength and courage to everyone on the ground for as long as it takes.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: Bellingham
Current Music: backdraft soundtrack

Occasionally, I have panic dreams that leave me suddenly awake and gasping, unable to stay in bed, even in the same room. I'm pretty sure they're caused by mild and occasional apnea, because they all involve being unable to breathe. I'm submerged in water, swimming from air hole to air hole, in the dark. Or I'm in a cave, following others through increasingly narrow passages, in the dark, and what wakes me is the possibility of getting stuck. This morning it was two small children down a storm drain.

I padded into the living room in the dark and cranked the laptop and spent time on Tumblr, because honestly? Pictures helped. Reading comprehension was nil. And as my heartbeat faded back to normal and I wrapped in a toasty blanket and sipped my water, I recalled one of the most traumatic things I've ever read.

More than twenty years ago, I read Rumer Godden's In This House of Brede and quickly slipped into the world of her main character. It was at least halfway through the book, maybe more, that we learn the loss of her child motivated a drastic change of life for her. And the memory of how that loss happened chilled and fractured me then, and does, even now, when I think of it. I try very hard never to think of it.

I won't relate it here, as I'm desperately trying to stuff that memory back into its lead-lined box. If I could solder it shut, I would. It's a fictional story, it happened to fictional characters, but I think this is probably as close as I ever come to being 'triggered', since real-life stuff that happened to real-life me hasn't ever elicited a response this traumatic. It doesn't fade or soften with time. It's always horrible.

This morning I was able to go back to bed and sleep an extra hour, but I'm behind in my obligations, so I'll be offline most of today. You'll all be here, right? When I get back?

Bold what applies to you:

Appearance:

I am 5’4 or shorter.
I have many scars.
I tan easily.
I wish my hair was a different color.
I have friends who have never seen my natural hair color.
I have a tattoo.
I am self-conscious about my appearance.
I have/I’ve had/I need braces.
I wear glasses.
I’d get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free, scar-free. (and I could afford it)
I’ve been told I’m attractive by a complete stranger.
I have more than 2 piercings.
I have piercings in places besides my ears.
I have freckles.

Family/Home Life

I’ve sworn at my parents. And my kids.
I’ve been kicked out of the house.
I have a sibling less than one year old.
I want to have kids someday.
I have children.
I’ve lost a child.

Embarrassment:

I’ve slipped out a “lol” in a spoken conversation.
Disney movies still make me cry.
I’ve snorted while laughing.
I’ve laughed so hard I’ve cried.
I’ve glued my hand to something.
I’ve laughed till some kind of beverage came out of my nose.
I’ve had my pants rip in public. Also, the panty-drop--does that count?

Health:

I was born with a disease/impairment.
I’ve had stitches.
I’ve broken a bone.
I’ve had my tonsils removed.
I’ve sat in a doctor’s office with a friend.
I’ve had my wisdom teeth removed.
I’ve had surgery.
I’ve had chicken pox.

Traveling:

I’ve driven over 200 miles in one day.
I’ve been to Canada.
I’ve been to Niagara Falls.
I’ve been to Japan.
I’ve Celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
I’ve been to Spain.
I’ve been to Africa.
I’ve been to France.
I’ve been to London.
(I've been to Germany, Austria, and Holland, tho')

Experiences:

I’ve been lost in my city.
I’ve seen a shooting star.
I’ve wished on a shooting star.
I’ve seen a meteor shower.
I’ve gone out in public in my pajamas.
I’ve pushed all the buttons on an elevator.
I’ve been to a casino.
I’ve been skydiving.
I’ve gone skinny dipping.
I’ve played spin the bottle.
I’ve crashed a car.
I’ve been skiing.
I’ve been in a play.
I’ve met someone in person from the internet.
I’ve caught a snowflake on my tongue.
I’ve seen the Northern Lights.
I’ve sat on a roof top at night.
I’ve played chicken.
I’ve played a prank on someone.
I’ve ridden in a taxi.
I’ve seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
I’ve eaten Sushi.
I’ve been snowboarding.

Relationships:

I’m single.
I’m in a relationship.
I’m available.
I’m engaged.
I’m married.
I’ve gone on a blind date.
I’ve been the dumpee more than the dumper.
I miss someone right now.
I have a fear of abandonment.
I’ve been divorced.
I’ve had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back.

Sexuality:

I’ve had a crush on someone of the same gender.
I’ve kissed a member of the same gender.
I’ve had sex with more than one person at the same time.
I am a cuddler. sometimes.
I’ve been kissed in the rain.
I’ve had sex outdoors.
I’ve hugged a stranger.
I have kissed a stranger.
I have had sex with a stranger.

Honesty/Crime:

I’ve done something I promised someone else I wouldn’t.
I have lied to my parents about where I am.
I am keeping a secret from the world.
I’ve cheated while playing a game.
I’ve run a red light.
I’ve been suspended from school.
I’ve witnessed a crime.
I’ve been in a fist fight.
I’ve been arrested.
I’ve shoplifted.

Drugs/Alcohol:

I’ve consumed alcohol.
I’ve smoked a cigarette.
I‘ve smoked pot.
I regularly drink.
I’ve taken painkillers when I didn’t need them.
I’ve done hard drugs.
I’ve been addicted to an illegal drug

..in advance for a scant presence here, and elsewhere online for a bit. Deadlines and obligations mean less playtime, online and off, so. I'll duck in when I can and check on you flisters. Be well, meanwhile.

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fufaraw

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milly_gal!

From scarleteen, via tumblr

From my tumblr feed...

more than call and response

So here's a thing that bothers me

Dudes, dudes, dudes!

tea in the afternoon

not that I'm picky or anything

comfort is important

I don't usually do this

This was written as a reply to a comment on my last post

in my dreams...

making do

Surely I'm not the first to point out

the possiblities are endless

idle thought

from ar_richardson

what dreams may come...

From da flist

apologies