Deposited CA tax refund

Called the rug cleaner: ready for pickup tomorrow



Today's earrings: pineapples, peas

Bedtime reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Happy St. Gertrude's Day

She's the patroness of gardens and cats, and also people who need a place to stay.


Today's earrings: tulips, peas

Bedtime reading: The Danger, Dick Francis

Luke 2:14

"w00t to teh Ceiling Cat! An peace fer doodz he luffs! Kthxbai."

- LOLcat Gospels

cf. The Brick Testament

thanks to the Angry Lemming for the tip.


Today's earrings: pineapples, peas

Bedtime reading: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling

Something strange

On the bus this morning, there was a woman wearing headphones, singing gospel. That's not the strange part. The strange part was that she was only singing in one key.

I repressed the urge to burst into "Simple Gifts."


Today's earrings: pineapples, peas

Bedtime reading: Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman

I think I need a hobby

Ohh! I know! I'll spend the next few days thinking deeply about hobbies I could take up. I'll mull and consider, and if there's time, I'll research. That should fill the time nicely until the new season of Project Runway starts.


Today's earrings: strawberries, peas

Bedtime reading: Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett

I sank my fingers in the soil

Today we went to the farm, and I finally met the mythic Farmer Dave. He is most tall. First we set watermelon seeds in trays, then K went outside and hoed at thistles while Tiger and I moved dirt around in the big bin in the greenhouse. We planted imaginary orange roses. Later we met red chickens, black chickens, three-day-old chicks, four bunnies, and a number of tractors, some with incomprehensible attachments.

On the way home K dropped off some paperwork at the local day-care center. Tiger and I stayed in the car. I took the opportunity to read him TS Eliot's "The Naming of Cats." I don't think he really understood the poem. Eliot has that effect on lots of people.


Today's earrings: pigs, peas

Bedtime reading: _L. Frank Baum_, Katharine M. Rogers

No Picnic

Just a touch of food poisoning. I hate food poisoning...


Today's earrings: ants, peas

Bedtime reading: The Truth, Terry Pratchett

Return of the cooks

The squirrelly guy is annoying me.

I count seven New Yorkers, four San Franciscan, two each from Chicago and Atlanta, and one Angelena. No one's currently working in Vegas. hmmmm.

I predict trouble between the couple. The judges will like one of them better, and the other contestants will not be supportive. I do hope they come out the other side still wanting to be together.


Today's earrings: pigs, peas

Bedtime reading: Owl's Well That Ends Well, Donna Andrews

I wish you all watched Survivor

...because then I could just say, "OMG! Tracy totally rules! Cirie too!" and you'd know what I was talking about. I love those two. I want one of them to win.


Today's earrings: pineapples, peas

Bedtime reading: Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon, Donna Andrews

Across the universe

Not bad. Pretty good, in spots, but uneven. A couple times I was hoping they'd burst into the non-Beatles song that would have been more appropriate (Alice's Restaurant, Sam Stone).

Not quite clear on the reason for the Prudence character. Counterpoint, I guess?


Today's earrings: flies, peas

Bedtime reading: The Cunning Man, Robertson Davies

It's not easy

At work today, Newbie told me that she'd recently made fudge from our family recipe. (Last December, Confused Cricket made fudge that I took in to the office. There was so much rejoicing that I circulated the recipe.) She said it hadn't occurred to her before then that fudge could be home-made; to her it had always been a store-bought treat.

I thought of, but did not share with her, a complementary revelation I had, when I realized that sodas could be purchased in supermarkets and then consumed at home. I suppose I must have been aware of the theoretical possibility before... it had just never come home to me before that I could do that.

Anyway. In our dandy new office configuration, Newbie's pointed straight at the bookcase on my right. Today I was getting some measurable work done, which means I had the tunes cranked, which means I was silently mouthing/emoting "Ballroom Blitz" and "Bat Out Of Hell" and the like smack in the middle of her peripheral vision. Poor Newbie. I hope the fudge recipe makes up for it.


Today's earrings: frogs, peapods

Bedtime reading: The Emerald City of Oz, L. Frank Baum

Fun With Food

http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards.html
http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/index.html
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_25303,00.html

Some things are just wrong.


Today's earrings: pineapples, peas

Bedtime reading: The Gospel of Food, Barry Glassner

Vacation: All I Ever Wanted

Today I got to meet the shopping carts with the built-in cars. OMG, bestest thing ever. I got pictures. :)

Other than that, I mostly flollopped about while K&S thought deep thoughts. Oh, and I had breakfast with D, and helped read him bedtime stories. So cute!

I shall relay the alternate venue selection to S. (Thanks M!)


Today's earrings: bees, peas

Bedtime reading: Children: The Challenge, Rudolf Dreikurs and Vicki Soltz

Gruß aus Kalifornia!

The tourists on the bus today were kind of cute. Pleasant, bewildered, and anxiously reading every street sign, even though they had at least another mile to travel. I hope they enjoy their stay.

There was a manic local standing right next to the driver who was less cute. It only took six stops of constant yammer for the driver to tell him to get off the bus. Fortunately for everyone, he did.


Today's earrings: flowers, peapods

Bedtime reading: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling

Summertime, summertime

All day, the voices in my head have been singing Gershwin:
Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

and then The Jamies:
Its time to head straight for them hills
Its time to live and have some thrills
Come along and have a ball
A regular free-for-all

a dash of the Lovin' Spoonful:
Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

then back to Gershwin:
One of these mornings
You’re goin’ to rise up singing
Then you’ll spread your wings
And you’ll take the sky
But till that morning
There’s a nothin’ can harm you
Don't you cry.

Hope everyone had a good solstice.


Today's earrings: strawberries, peapods

Bedtime reading: The Atlantic, July/August 2007