i met a girl last summer. she was in the uncertain time of her life following the death of one parent in which she was about to go and live with the other parent, in a faraway state.
that had to have been a time of tremendous emotional uprooting, a time of anxiety.
in that in between time, she kept making little crafts; knotted strings and necklaces and giving them to people.
i may see her again some time. i may not.
but if i could day one thing to her across the darkness, it would be "i have a small mess of knots on the dash of my car. i remember you, and i hope you are ok."
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
messy bessy
i used to have a dressy bessy doll. it was a long time ago.
then last week i was out doing things and all sudden i was starving and needed a reasonably priced sammidge for lunch and there's a place at the top of church street that has a sammidge called the "good time sally" which is a breakfast sammidge with a hash brown on it. i had something called the "murphy's slaw" because they were out of hash browns.
...which is only tangentially related to what i wanted to say, which was something about my dinner.
yesterday i decided to cook and lightly mash some potatoes that i had in the house doing nothing but getting old. tonight for dinner i put some 'o that in a pan and fried it until brown on both sides, fried a couple of eggs next to it, and then layered things in my bowl: spicy black bean burger with a smidge of taco sauce, fried mashed potatoes, slice of cheese, eggs.
i called it the messy bessy.
no reason why, other than it's a mess.
gooey and delicious and easy to make.
you are not sad there are no pictures.
then last week i was out doing things and all sudden i was starving and needed a reasonably priced sammidge for lunch and there's a place at the top of church street that has a sammidge called the "good time sally" which is a breakfast sammidge with a hash brown on it. i had something called the "murphy's slaw" because they were out of hash browns.
...which is only tangentially related to what i wanted to say, which was something about my dinner.
yesterday i decided to cook and lightly mash some potatoes that i had in the house doing nothing but getting old. tonight for dinner i put some 'o that in a pan and fried it until brown on both sides, fried a couple of eggs next to it, and then layered things in my bowl: spicy black bean burger with a smidge of taco sauce, fried mashed potatoes, slice of cheese, eggs.
i called it the messy bessy.
no reason why, other than it's a mess.
gooey and delicious and easy to make.
you are not sad there are no pictures.
Friday, December 14, 2018
flaugnarde
ok, so backup, backup, backup.
i had some good apples and cider leftover from thanksgiving and i wanted to cook a little something with them and i was thinking something in a pan from the family of slumps and cobblers, but i didn't want a crumb topping and i didn't want it to be to hard (read: i am lazy) and my friend rapunsell suggested i bake a clafoutis.
so i cooked down the cut up apples a little and went from there.
and then it was so delicious plus i still had apples and cider so i made another. and then i was thinking i could make a savory one and THEN i was doing research on that and learned that properly a clafoutis is only made with black cherries, and that if you put any other fruit in it, it is properly called a flaugnarde.
so before i go off telling you how to bake these two bad boys, imma tell you the basic recipe i was working from and give you an ingredient list.
basic batter:
3 eggs
about a cup of milk (i am told alternate milks work just fine)
about a half cup flour (i am told alternate flours work fine too)
about a half cup of sugar (brown or white- whatever, and less or none for a savory batter)
2 tbps melted butter (or less. i one recipe i used none. it was just fine)
a pinch of salt. (two pinches for a savory batter)
optional vanilla, almond extract, spices, whatever you like.
basic procedure: for already soft fruits, take enough to mostly cover the bottom of your greased pan. pour the batter over the fruit and bake at 325 for about forty minutes. serve immediately (puffy) or later (dense and compact). if you undercook this slightly, you get a nice custardy center. overcook it slightly, and you get something more spongy and firm. it is really not a critical value.
there are so few critical values that i am not particularly specifying amounts of things, but i am tossing in some ballpark figures of what i used.
APPLE FLAUNGARDE
while you're cutting up your apples, begin to reduce cider in a pan (two cups?). this will take a while, but it does require supervision so it doesn't burn when it gets to the end. essentially you're boiling off the water and at the end you'll stir pretty constantly until you have a just barely thickening apple caramel. for right now, though, you have a pan of boiling cider.
turn your attention now to peeling your apples (for me, four medium sized apples). that done, take a couple tablespoons of butter and brown it in your pan (i'm using a dutch oven here) toss in yer apples and cook them down a little until they're a little browned and only a little softened. i like mine on the soft side, but some people prefer them crunchy. you do you.
mix up your batter so it's free of lumps. i used vanilla and almond extract in mine.
by now your cider caramel will be almost done. when the water is boiled of and the syrup starts to thicken, scrape it in to your pan with the browned-butter half cooked apples. pour the batter over it and pop it in the oven. about forty minutes later it should be golden and puffy and perfect.
DRIED TOMATO AND GOAT CHEESE FLAUGNARDE
start by soaking your dried tomatoes (about 1.5 ounces dried). i used homemade vegetable stock (a cup and a half) and a sprig of rosemary, but you can use water. you can cut the tomatoes before soaking with scissors if you like, or after with a knife. a little salt in the soaking solution will help them absorb better.
if you soaked these ahead of time and you want a flavorful glaze on the bottom (fancy!), you can just start here with taking the soaking liquid and tossing it in a pan with some balsamic vinegar (enough that the whole thing looks black?) and begin to reduce it until it just starts to thicken.
now's a good time to make your batter. i seasoned mine with a little black pepper and just a little ground sage.
turning your attention to the tomatoes, brown a tablespoon or two of butter in your pan (again, i'm using a dutch oven). the browned butter adds a nutty sweet flavor that i like. here i tossed that sprig of rosemary in to squeeze out a little more rosemary flavor before i fished the sprig out and threw it away.
your balsamic reduction is probably finishing up right about now. set it aside for a few moments.
toss yer tomatoes in the pan and let them just toast up a little until they darken. this deepens the flavor of them and brings out some caramelized sugars. spread them out in the bottom of the pan, and then scrape the balsamic tomato reduction into the bottom of the pan. scatter the crumbled goat cheese (about 2 ounces) around among the tomatoes, pour the batter in, and pop the whole thing in the oven for about forty minutes or until it's nicely golden on the top.
the balsamic reduction will look like you burned the dish, but it makes oh so lovely a sauce on the bottom.
i had some good apples and cider leftover from thanksgiving and i wanted to cook a little something with them and i was thinking something in a pan from the family of slumps and cobblers, but i didn't want a crumb topping and i didn't want it to be to hard (read: i am lazy) and my friend rapunsell suggested i bake a clafoutis.
so i cooked down the cut up apples a little and went from there.
and then it was so delicious plus i still had apples and cider so i made another. and then i was thinking i could make a savory one and THEN i was doing research on that and learned that properly a clafoutis is only made with black cherries, and that if you put any other fruit in it, it is properly called a flaugnarde.
so before i go off telling you how to bake these two bad boys, imma tell you the basic recipe i was working from and give you an ingredient list.
basic batter:
3 eggs
about a cup of milk (i am told alternate milks work just fine)
about a half cup flour (i am told alternate flours work fine too)
about a half cup of sugar (brown or white- whatever, and less or none for a savory batter)
2 tbps melted butter (or less. i one recipe i used none. it was just fine)
a pinch of salt. (two pinches for a savory batter)
optional vanilla, almond extract, spices, whatever you like.
basic procedure: for already soft fruits, take enough to mostly cover the bottom of your greased pan. pour the batter over the fruit and bake at 325 for about forty minutes. serve immediately (puffy) or later (dense and compact). if you undercook this slightly, you get a nice custardy center. overcook it slightly, and you get something more spongy and firm. it is really not a critical value.
there are so few critical values that i am not particularly specifying amounts of things, but i am tossing in some ballpark figures of what i used.
APPLE FLAUNGARDE
while you're cutting up your apples, begin to reduce cider in a pan (two cups?). this will take a while, but it does require supervision so it doesn't burn when it gets to the end. essentially you're boiling off the water and at the end you'll stir pretty constantly until you have a just barely thickening apple caramel. for right now, though, you have a pan of boiling cider.
turn your attention now to peeling your apples (for me, four medium sized apples). that done, take a couple tablespoons of butter and brown it in your pan (i'm using a dutch oven here) toss in yer apples and cook them down a little until they're a little browned and only a little softened. i like mine on the soft side, but some people prefer them crunchy. you do you.
mix up your batter so it's free of lumps. i used vanilla and almond extract in mine.
by now your cider caramel will be almost done. when the water is boiled of and the syrup starts to thicken, scrape it in to your pan with the browned-butter half cooked apples. pour the batter over it and pop it in the oven. about forty minutes later it should be golden and puffy and perfect.
DRIED TOMATO AND GOAT CHEESE FLAUGNARDE
start by soaking your dried tomatoes (about 1.5 ounces dried). i used homemade vegetable stock (a cup and a half) and a sprig of rosemary, but you can use water. you can cut the tomatoes before soaking with scissors if you like, or after with a knife. a little salt in the soaking solution will help them absorb better.
if you soaked these ahead of time and you want a flavorful glaze on the bottom (fancy!), you can just start here with taking the soaking liquid and tossing it in a pan with some balsamic vinegar (enough that the whole thing looks black?) and begin to reduce it until it just starts to thicken.
now's a good time to make your batter. i seasoned mine with a little black pepper and just a little ground sage.
turning your attention to the tomatoes, brown a tablespoon or two of butter in your pan (again, i'm using a dutch oven). the browned butter adds a nutty sweet flavor that i like. here i tossed that sprig of rosemary in to squeeze out a little more rosemary flavor before i fished the sprig out and threw it away.
your balsamic reduction is probably finishing up right about now. set it aside for a few moments.
toss yer tomatoes in the pan and let them just toast up a little until they darken. this deepens the flavor of them and brings out some caramelized sugars. spread them out in the bottom of the pan, and then scrape the balsamic tomato reduction into the bottom of the pan. scatter the crumbled goat cheese (about 2 ounces) around among the tomatoes, pour the batter in, and pop the whole thing in the oven for about forty minutes or until it's nicely golden on the top.
the balsamic reduction will look like you burned the dish, but it makes oh so lovely a sauce on the bottom.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
river of light
i keep meaning to write to you when things are still news, but let's face it; neither of you lives near here so i guess it's all news.
a couple of weeks ago barb called me up to ask if i wanted to go to the waterbury river of light.
of course i did.
it's kind of an amazing community festival. it is beautiful, brief, and has no ideological underpinnings besides "yay, waterbury!" and "the winter is too damn dark".
they always pick a general theme for the lanterns, but anybody who has a lanterns or some lights can just step into the parade and be a part of it. as the parade passes where you are, you usually step off the curb and process down the street to the rec field where there are bonfires and fire twirlers.
this year the general theme was farm to table, and because i was on the street above the klezmer band (which only marched half the parade and picked up the procession at the corner of main and stowe streets) everyone who joined the procession before that corner got swept up INSIDE the parade instead of after it, which was cool.
a couple of weeks ago barb called me up to ask if i wanted to go to the waterbury river of light.
of course i did.
it's kind of an amazing community festival. it is beautiful, brief, and has no ideological underpinnings besides "yay, waterbury!" and "the winter is too damn dark".
they always pick a general theme for the lanterns, but anybody who has a lanterns or some lights can just step into the parade and be a part of it. as the parade passes where you are, you usually step off the curb and process down the street to the rec field where there are bonfires and fire twirlers.
this year the general theme was farm to table, and because i was on the street above the klezmer band (which only marched half the parade and picked up the procession at the corner of main and stowe streets) everyone who joined the procession before that corner got swept up INSIDE the parade instead of after it, which was cool.
Monday, December 03, 2018
goal!
unless you just walked in ten minutes ago, you know that i like challenges.
some of the challenges i do are set for me, like the venture vermont challenge.
others are things i challenge myself to do.
this year i decided that i would like to camp in every month of the year. i guess it was because i was talking to someone about cold weather camping and i realized i hadn't actually camped in every month of a year, or something like that. i don't recall fully. it was last january when i decided to do it.
i figured the hard part would be getting january, february and march, since the other months seem to take care of themselves, but the ultra cold extra snowy thanksgiving followed by the gigantic snow dump that left my power out for the better part of three days cut short my november/ deember outing, meaning that to complete the challenge i had to make a special trip in december.
complicating the planning is that the easiest place to camp, little river state park, is really only super easy to camp in until december ninth, when they close the gate at the conclusion of muzzleloader season and you have to hike in just like anywhere else.
so i looked at my calendar and the forecast and my package tracking.
that's right. package tracking. because i order myself some spiffy new down camping quilts and i wanted to go with those, yah-boo.
anyway, they arrived saturday.
satuday was nice and warm, but then... rain. but there was a break in the rain for about an hour so i went out there. this morning i woke up out there in rain, but no biggie. i had my toasty quilts and a good book and even a thermos of hot tea, so at around ten o'clock this morning when there was a break in the rain for about an hour, i struck camp and made a run for it.
challenge complete.
here is the view from my bed:
some of the challenges i do are set for me, like the venture vermont challenge.
others are things i challenge myself to do.
this year i decided that i would like to camp in every month of the year. i guess it was because i was talking to someone about cold weather camping and i realized i hadn't actually camped in every month of a year, or something like that. i don't recall fully. it was last january when i decided to do it.
i figured the hard part would be getting january, february and march, since the other months seem to take care of themselves, but the ultra cold extra snowy thanksgiving followed by the gigantic snow dump that left my power out for the better part of three days cut short my november/ deember outing, meaning that to complete the challenge i had to make a special trip in december.
complicating the planning is that the easiest place to camp, little river state park, is really only super easy to camp in until december ninth, when they close the gate at the conclusion of muzzleloader season and you have to hike in just like anywhere else.
so i looked at my calendar and the forecast and my package tracking.
that's right. package tracking. because i order myself some spiffy new down camping quilts and i wanted to go with those, yah-boo.
anyway, they arrived saturday.
satuday was nice and warm, but then... rain. but there was a break in the rain for about an hour so i went out there. this morning i woke up out there in rain, but no biggie. i had my toasty quilts and a good book and even a thermos of hot tea, so at around ten o'clock this morning when there was a break in the rain for about an hour, i struck camp and made a run for it.
challenge complete.
here is the view from my bed:
and here is the view of my campsite:
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
things you won't often hear me say
so yesterday i was going to write you but then i noticed that my blog was still on its summer colors and i changed that over to the winter colors because somewhere along the way autumn seems to have disappeared completely and i was JUST about to begin writing something about thanksgiving camp or something...
...when the power went out.
and then it came back in the afternoon...
and then out again this morning.
because it's been pretty much snowing nonstop for some days and really HARD this last two days and you know i am not likely to say this but at this point even *i* would enjoy a break in the snow.
...when the power went out.
and then it came back in the afternoon...
and then out again this morning.
because it's been pretty much snowing nonstop for some days and really HARD this last two days and you know i am not likely to say this but at this point even *i* would enjoy a break in the snow.
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
too cold
traditionally i go camping for thanksgiving.
and this year i had planned to go today with a friend and then have another friend join us thursday night and another on friday so PARTY but the weather forecast for tonight has the temperatures dropping into the LOW single digits with steady winds of fifteen miles an hour. the temperatures are not expected to rise above twelve degrees and the wind isn't supposed to be less than 13 mph until midmorning friday and i hope i do not need to tell you that this represents a dangerous situation, beyond what you ought to do on purpose.
so i'm going to sit on my ass for an extra two days and we'll go camping, all of us, on friday.
i've been driving in and out of the park every couple of days to pack down the snow and keep it accessible (important because the one friend has a broken foot and just had a plate and pins installed and while i'm happy to sled my gear in, it's really important to be able to drive right to camp this time), and while i'm there i drop off firewood at our site.
and for the record because i know peg will ask, yes, being in the woods is lovely and relaxing if you are comfortable. especially in winter when it is deserted.
you just wear proper gear, and if it's cold at night you have proper insulation.
i have proper clothing and a crapton of gear (i partially outfit my friends as well) and there's something very satisfying about being outside at 20 degrees and being toasty warm. you just build a hot fire and keep drinking hot beverages and when it's bedtime you burrow in.
without any particular modifications my regular setup is good down to 15 degrees. with modifications it will be good down to five. after friday morning temps will not be below ten again for a week or so, and that should get me to the end of my trip.
and this year i had planned to go today with a friend and then have another friend join us thursday night and another on friday so PARTY but the weather forecast for tonight has the temperatures dropping into the LOW single digits with steady winds of fifteen miles an hour. the temperatures are not expected to rise above twelve degrees and the wind isn't supposed to be less than 13 mph until midmorning friday and i hope i do not need to tell you that this represents a dangerous situation, beyond what you ought to do on purpose.
so i'm going to sit on my ass for an extra two days and we'll go camping, all of us, on friday.
i've been driving in and out of the park every couple of days to pack down the snow and keep it accessible (important because the one friend has a broken foot and just had a plate and pins installed and while i'm happy to sled my gear in, it's really important to be able to drive right to camp this time), and while i'm there i drop off firewood at our site.
and for the record because i know peg will ask, yes, being in the woods is lovely and relaxing if you are comfortable. especially in winter when it is deserted.
you just wear proper gear, and if it's cold at night you have proper insulation.
i have proper clothing and a crapton of gear (i partially outfit my friends as well) and there's something very satisfying about being outside at 20 degrees and being toasty warm. you just build a hot fire and keep drinking hot beverages and when it's bedtime you burrow in.
without any particular modifications my regular setup is good down to 15 degrees. with modifications it will be good down to five. after friday morning temps will not be below ten again for a week or so, and that should get me to the end of my trip.
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
absolute zero
i can't seem to get it together for blogging, so i'm going to tell you a story from a really long time ago.
like my junior year of high school. the two biggest fuckups in my chemistry class, dave and i were dumped together as lab partners because nobody else wanted us. if you had a chemistry lab, we could get it significantly wrong.
so there was this experiment to extrapolate the value of absolute zero because it's a thing you do in high school chem.
dave and i set to work cautiously but steadily, as if we tried hard and never got anything right.
and at the end of the lab we're drawing our line graph and ours looks NOTHING LIKE anybody else's, but we had a pretty straight line that came out at -274 celsius and we shrugged our shoulders and decided to turn it in anyway, because what the hell, we had tried out best and if our results were terribly wrong and different than everyone else's, it wouldn't be the first time it had happened. we were immune to the disapproving eyerolls of debbie and dickie and peggy and the other kids who didn't fail every chem lab. we looked at each other and said "well, if your'e going to fail, fail big."
so the chemistry teacher looks at our paper and calls us up to talk to him. and he's getting all ready to drop cheating on us and we were all like "if we were going to cheat, why would we have picked a result SO TERRIBLY WRONG?"
it turns out that dave and i have no actual clue what the value of absolute zero is in celsius. we have in our minds some OTHER number that to this day i don't know what it was, but it was not anywhere near -273.15
i'm not sure what else that teacher did that day when he was out of class, but i'm pretty sure laughing was a part of it.
like my junior year of high school. the two biggest fuckups in my chemistry class, dave and i were dumped together as lab partners because nobody else wanted us. if you had a chemistry lab, we could get it significantly wrong.
so there was this experiment to extrapolate the value of absolute zero because it's a thing you do in high school chem.
dave and i set to work cautiously but steadily, as if we tried hard and never got anything right.
and at the end of the lab we're drawing our line graph and ours looks NOTHING LIKE anybody else's, but we had a pretty straight line that came out at -274 celsius and we shrugged our shoulders and decided to turn it in anyway, because what the hell, we had tried out best and if our results were terribly wrong and different than everyone else's, it wouldn't be the first time it had happened. we were immune to the disapproving eyerolls of debbie and dickie and peggy and the other kids who didn't fail every chem lab. we looked at each other and said "well, if your'e going to fail, fail big."
so the chemistry teacher looks at our paper and calls us up to talk to him. and he's getting all ready to drop cheating on us and we were all like "if we were going to cheat, why would we have picked a result SO TERRIBLY WRONG?"
it turns out that dave and i have no actual clue what the value of absolute zero is in celsius. we have in our minds some OTHER number that to this day i don't know what it was, but it was not anywhere near -273.15
i'm not sure what else that teacher did that day when he was out of class, but i'm pretty sure laughing was a part of it.
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
bad, bad blogger
i have been a very bad blogger.
because to be a good blogger you need to be writing things.
i've been camping, and doing girl scout things, and learnings. OH SO MANY LEARNINGS.
also playing ingress a little crazily and also reading books.
oh. and since the day before halloween i've been playing the google doodle game.
https://www.google.com/doodles/halloween-2018
because to be a good blogger you need to be writing things.
i've been camping, and doing girl scout things, and learnings. OH SO MANY LEARNINGS.
also playing ingress a little crazily and also reading books.
oh. and since the day before halloween i've been playing the google doodle game.
https://www.google.com/doodles/halloween-2018
Saturday, October 20, 2018
hot flash
yeah, it's time for TMI!
i recently heard hot flashes described as a "personal tropical vacation".
i'm currently taking a break from my busy morning because suddenly it is ninety-eight bazillion degrees in here even though my thermostat is set to 60 and it's cold outside and i am nearly naked.
i am really looking forward to thanksgiving, when i will be able to call myself done with the whole business of having an active reproductive system, and it is a thing i have been looking forward to ever since i heard that periods were a thing and i was going to start getting them.
i'm not into it.
i recently heard hot flashes described as a "personal tropical vacation".
i'm currently taking a break from my busy morning because suddenly it is ninety-eight bazillion degrees in here even though my thermostat is set to 60 and it's cold outside and i am nearly naked.
i am really looking forward to thanksgiving, when i will be able to call myself done with the whole business of having an active reproductive system, and it is a thing i have been looking forward to ever since i heard that periods were a thing and i was going to start getting them.
i'm not into it.
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Friday, October 12, 2018
boomwhackers!
this week i saw a post in laughing squid about boomwhackers. more specifically, it was a post about the students of THUD performing don't stop believin' on boomwhackers.
go ahead. i'll wait.
a lot of people are amazed because they did not know boomwhackers were even a thing.
i am amazed because i bought a couple of sets of boomwhackers for my classroom when they were a NEW thing and although i understood that they had this potential, performing with them like this takes a LOT of skill. have you ever seen a really good handbell choir? yeah, that's the basic principle.
and if you can't figure out what the black things are they keep putting on and off, those are endcaps.
a boomwhaker is an open pipe, and the endcap makes it a closed pipe, which drops the pitch an octave because effectively the vibrating air column is now twice the length. physics is fun.
go ahead. i'll wait.
a lot of people are amazed because they did not know boomwhackers were even a thing.
i am amazed because i bought a couple of sets of boomwhackers for my classroom when they were a NEW thing and although i understood that they had this potential, performing with them like this takes a LOT of skill. have you ever seen a really good handbell choir? yeah, that's the basic principle.
and if you can't figure out what the black things are they keep putting on and off, those are endcaps.
a boomwhaker is an open pipe, and the endcap makes it a closed pipe, which drops the pitch an octave because effectively the vibrating air column is now twice the length. physics is fun.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
word garden
out behind the waterbury public library they have a word garden.
it's sort of like magnetic refrigerator poetry, only with very satisfying stone pieces on gravel. i was there with my friend rsr (ingress, boys and girls! we're the BLUE team!) and we wrote this poem:
it's sort of like magnetic refrigerator poetry, only with very satisfying stone pieces on gravel. i was there with my friend rsr (ingress, boys and girls! we're the BLUE team!) and we wrote this poem:
Tuesday, October 09, 2018
i was out camping.
um, yeah, so...
neither of you are going to be surprised that i took off and went camping, because of course i did.
i don't know if i told you or not, but i made a goal for myself of camping in every month this year.
and now october is complete.
later on, (yes, i always promise later ons) there are going to be some pictures and stories. right now i'm concerned with unpacking and airing out gear so it will be nice for the next camping, doing the laundry, and maybe cleaning the house.
oh, and studying for the VMN class upcoming. and preparing girl scout things.
adulting, both basic and advanced levels.
neither of you are going to be surprised that i took off and went camping, because of course i did.
i don't know if i told you or not, but i made a goal for myself of camping in every month this year.
and now october is complete.
later on, (yes, i always promise later ons) there are going to be some pictures and stories. right now i'm concerned with unpacking and airing out gear so it will be nice for the next camping, doing the laundry, and maybe cleaning the house.
oh, and studying for the VMN class upcoming. and preparing girl scout things.
adulting, both basic and advanced levels.
Sunday, October 07, 2018
wayward children
some months ago somebody posted something in one of my slack chats from seanan mcguire's tumblr feed. i liked what she had to say on her tumblr feed, so i started following it.
and then i realized that seanan mcguire is not just an awesome human being, but also a bestselling author.
only her books are in some genres that are usually too scary for me. but i love her so much from things she says i want to read her books. but i don't want to have nightmares. but i want to read her books. but afraid.
well, one awesome thing about her is that she actually talks to random people who write in to her tumblr. many people write in to say "whoa! i only just heard of you! where should i start?" and she points them to this page.
the wayward children series. it appeared to be gentle enough even for me, but i was still on the fence.
and then i decided to pull on my big girl pants and went down to my local library to get every heart a doorway and while i loved it, i felt it was ... incomplete. i wanted to learn more about these worlds and these characters.
but wait! there are more!
so now until the fourth book comes out, i'm having to start one of her other series, and i am hoping they are not too scary.
i now have a bona fide author crush.
and then i realized that seanan mcguire is not just an awesome human being, but also a bestselling author.
only her books are in some genres that are usually too scary for me. but i love her so much from things she says i want to read her books. but i don't want to have nightmares. but i want to read her books. but afraid.
well, one awesome thing about her is that she actually talks to random people who write in to her tumblr. many people write in to say "whoa! i only just heard of you! where should i start?" and she points them to this page.
the wayward children series. it appeared to be gentle enough even for me, but i was still on the fence.
and then i decided to pull on my big girl pants and went down to my local library to get every heart a doorway and while i loved it, i felt it was ... incomplete. i wanted to learn more about these worlds and these characters.
but wait! there are more!
so now until the fourth book comes out, i'm having to start one of her other series, and i am hoping they are not too scary.
i now have a bona fide author crush.
Saturday, October 06, 2018
returning property
have you guys seen this story?
https://boingboing.net/2018/10/04/why-you-should-never-return-lo.html
are you seeing the major flaw with the police position?
they're saying the guys should have turned it in immediately to a nearby BUSINESS.
as if businesses are institutions of safekeeping. as if a subway is not full of people being paid minimum wage who might steal something.
i'm not saying they're inherently dishonest, but seriously? a business is not better guarantee of getting lost property back to a person than any honest citizen.
in the last year i have returned hundreds of dollars worth of things to people who had lost them or even just left them behind in remote parking lots.
that stuff goes in my car until somebody calls to identify it. i am more confident that i will get it back to the proper owner than some random person working in a nearby store.
this story is one where the police have an overconfidence in businesses as entities that are somehow better than citizens. that officer didn't say the man should have turned it in to a police department or government agency. he's saying the man is being charged because he did not turn it in AT A SUBWAY RESTAURANT.
CHARGED.
this is part of an increasing trend to criminalize people for just being people.
https://boingboing.net/2018/10/04/why-you-should-never-return-lo.html
are you seeing the major flaw with the police position?
they're saying the guys should have turned it in immediately to a nearby BUSINESS.
as if businesses are institutions of safekeeping. as if a subway is not full of people being paid minimum wage who might steal something.
i'm not saying they're inherently dishonest, but seriously? a business is not better guarantee of getting lost property back to a person than any honest citizen.
in the last year i have returned hundreds of dollars worth of things to people who had lost them or even just left them behind in remote parking lots.
that stuff goes in my car until somebody calls to identify it. i am more confident that i will get it back to the proper owner than some random person working in a nearby store.
this story is one where the police have an overconfidence in businesses as entities that are somehow better than citizens. that officer didn't say the man should have turned it in to a police department or government agency. he's saying the man is being charged because he did not turn it in AT A SUBWAY RESTAURANT.
CHARGED.
this is part of an increasing trend to criminalize people for just being people.
Friday, October 05, 2018
2018 venture vermont: identify two kinds of drgaonflies
this is hard, because they don't love to be caught.
and it's hard to photograph them clearly enough if they're not caught.
i'm going to hope for the purposes of this challenge that we're including damselflies in this category, because a lot of people don't rally distinguish the two.
plus they're easier to catch.
anyway, here's a variable dancer:
and this is a stream bluet:
two of them, actually. i do not know how they fly like that.
and it's hard to photograph them clearly enough if they're not caught.
i'm going to hope for the purposes of this challenge that we're including damselflies in this category, because a lot of people don't rally distinguish the two.
plus they're easier to catch.
anyway, here's a variable dancer:
and this is a stream bluet:
Thursday, October 04, 2018
2018 venture vermont: practice skipping stones
it's hard for me to get the spin on the throw, but the challenge isn't to be awesome at skipping stones.
it's to practice.
and practice i did, on and off, all summer. i am not often in a place where the stones are built for it (rounded, flat, light) which would help a lot, but a skilled stone skipper can skip nearly any stone, even on choppy water.
last week i managed to skip one stone nine times, in a long, curving arc.
it's to practice.
and practice i did, on and off, all summer. i am not often in a place where the stones are built for it (rounded, flat, light) which would help a lot, but a skilled stone skipper can skip nearly any stone, even on choppy water.
last week i managed to skip one stone nine times, in a long, curving arc.
Wednesday, October 03, 2018
2018 venture vermont: create your own state park song or poem
274 raymond road
you might miss the turn
even if you were looking for it,
and end up somewhere better-known
but less desired.
you might miss the opportunity, slotted into your day
between this and that, packing a lunch,
making an appointment,
unable to escape.
but let's say you find your way
and find yourself slotted in
between the ledge and the sandbank;
you have to choose early.
but once you do choose
(and maybe you do go up on the bank or over the rock ledges,
but this isn't about that, not today, not this path)
once you do choose to go down the center slot
every other way becomes less likely
every other choice is uphill
i won't tell you there's no escape
but why would you make the bushwhack?
why would you try to get out of this slot,
this wide road down
that when it opens
it opens
on wide lake and sky
Tuesday, October 02, 2018
2018 venture vermont: identify three habitat types by your house
i guess i could just call them forest, field, and grassland, but i just got a copy of wetland, woodland, wildland so i think i can do a little better.
this here is the verge of a section of northern hardwood forest.
it may be a mesic red oak variant,but it is an area that has undergone considerable disturbance and being sure requires more study than i have time for this week.
soon, though.
here's a beaver meadow, most likely a shallow emergent marsh.
this grassland used to be mowed, but isn't anymore.
it may be a mesic red oak variant,but it is an area that has undergone considerable disturbance and being sure requires more study than i have time for this week.
soon, though.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
