so mexico city was hit by a massive earthquake last week and the pictures of ordinary folks helping rescue workers move debris and conduct search and rescue operations and generally helping out in every possible way are heartwarming and heartbreaking. also there are of course rescue dogs. meet frida. she works with the mexican navy, she was named after frida kahlo, and she's found fifty-two people in the course of her career. (only twelve of those people were still alive, but still.) i love that the rescue dogs wear booties and goggles. they need protection too! they're good dogs.
today was gorgeous and summer-like (ie, hot) and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tamalinn and i went to the isabella stewart gardner museum for some culture. the museum is effectively a big house museum, with all the shit isabella collected in her life arranged in the building where she lived. she opened it to the public after it was built and held concerts and lectures and invited artists to come hang out. when she died, she left the house and all its contents to the city under the condition that nothing be moved, so it looks like it did when she was alive. she had the weirdest sense of interior design - there are decorative stone bits just slapped into the sides of the wall along the stairs, and mismatched wrought iron fencing (not fence-fencing, but like barrier-fencing to keep you out of, like, a private side chapel in an old church) in weird places, and nothing matches. the museum is however full of REALLY COOL SHIT - furniture and tapestries and art (SO MUCH ART) and knickknacks and old books and chandeliers and wall sconces and (mismatched, did i mention?) sets of china and marble busts and tiles and letters (there's one from john quincy adams and his handwriting is so neat and legible and cute) and sheet music and screens and pieces of medieval churches (SO MANY WOODEN SEATS FROM CHOIR STALLS, SO MUCH RANDOM WOOD) and seriously, i think the only thing that's missing is clothes. it's a little nuts but i have to say, i really admire isabella's nondiscriminatory attitude towards collecting.
also there's a room that has a lot of john singer sargent paintings, and i really like his work.
last night i went over to my sister's so we could watch the first kingsman movie (cute and fun and violent and weird) and eat leftovers. i brought a challah. it's an OMG challah. seriously, that's what it says on the bag. it doesn't have raisins (personally i prefer a raisin challah) but it's still delicious.
i didn't get any of my rbb choices, but i'm pretty sure at least one of the arts i wanted was claimed by someone whose fic i've enjoyed, and that's ok. i'm still bummed, tho. claims opened at 10 and it looked like everyone posted their choices at the exact same time. crazy! now i know how artists must feel when claims open for regular bangs.
two questions:
1 what do i do with four egg yolks? is that a custard? small custard, large custard?
2 what do clove cigarettes smell like? i'm guessing it's not like sticking your face in a jar of cloves, but is it?
today was gorgeous and summer-like (ie, hot) and
tamalinn and i went to the isabella stewart gardner museum for some culture. the museum is effectively a big house museum, with all the shit isabella collected in her life arranged in the building where she lived. she opened it to the public after it was built and held concerts and lectures and invited artists to come hang out. when she died, she left the house and all its contents to the city under the condition that nothing be moved, so it looks like it did when she was alive. she had the weirdest sense of interior design - there are decorative stone bits just slapped into the sides of the wall along the stairs, and mismatched wrought iron fencing (not fence-fencing, but like barrier-fencing to keep you out of, like, a private side chapel in an old church) in weird places, and nothing matches. the museum is however full of REALLY COOL SHIT - furniture and tapestries and art (SO MUCH ART) and knickknacks and old books and chandeliers and wall sconces and (mismatched, did i mention?) sets of china and marble busts and tiles and letters (there's one from john quincy adams and his handwriting is so neat and legible and cute) and sheet music and screens and pieces of medieval churches (SO MANY WOODEN SEATS FROM CHOIR STALLS, SO MUCH RANDOM WOOD) and seriously, i think the only thing that's missing is clothes. it's a little nuts but i have to say, i really admire isabella's nondiscriminatory attitude towards collecting.also there's a room that has a lot of john singer sargent paintings, and i really like his work.
last night i went over to my sister's so we could watch the first kingsman movie (cute and fun and violent and weird) and eat leftovers. i brought a challah. it's an OMG challah. seriously, that's what it says on the bag. it doesn't have raisins (personally i prefer a raisin challah) but it's still delicious.
i didn't get any of my rbb choices, but i'm pretty sure at least one of the arts i wanted was claimed by someone whose fic i've enjoyed, and that's ok. i'm still bummed, tho. claims opened at 10 and it looked like everyone posted their choices at the exact same time. crazy! now i know how artists must feel when claims open for regular bangs.
two questions:
1 what do i do with four egg yolks? is that a custard? small custard, large custard?
2 what do clove cigarettes smell like? i'm guessing it's not like sticking your face in a jar of cloves, but is it?
KJ Charles protagonists by Hogwarts house.
Gryffindor: Stephen Day, Archie Curtis, Richard Vane, Silas Mason, Nathaniel Roy, Jonah Pastern, Simon Feximal
Ravenclaw: Dominic Frey, Rowley Green, Crispin Tredarloe, Saul Lazenby
Hufflepuff: Harry Vane, Lord Gabriel "Ash" Ashleigh, Clement Talleyfer, Ned Hall, Ben Spenser, Martin St Vincent, Robert Caldwell
Slytherin: Lord Crane, David Cyprian, Daniel da Silva, Justin Lazarus, Julius Norreys, Francis Webster, Theodore Swann, Randolph Glyde
Which means we have:
Gryffindor/Slytherin x4, Gryffindor/Ravenclaw x2, Gryffindor/Hufflepuff x2, Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff x2, Ravenclaw/Slytherin x1, Hufflepuff/Slytherin x3
Gryffindor: Stephen Day, Archie Curtis, Richard Vane, Silas Mason, Nathaniel Roy, Jonah Pastern, Simon Feximal
Ravenclaw: Dominic Frey, Rowley Green, Crispin Tredarloe, Saul Lazenby
Hufflepuff: Harry Vane, Lord Gabriel "Ash" Ashleigh, Clement Talleyfer, Ned Hall, Ben Spenser, Martin St Vincent, Robert Caldwell
Slytherin: Lord Crane, David Cyprian, Daniel da Silva, Justin Lazarus, Julius Norreys, Francis Webster, Theodore Swann, Randolph Glyde
Which means we have:
Gryffindor/Slytherin x4, Gryffindor/Ravenclaw x2, Gryffindor/Hufflepuff x2, Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff x2, Ravenclaw/Slytherin x1, Hufflepuff/Slytherin x3
Being semi-domesticated has its moments of conflict. There are certain things I learned to do as a kid doing chores, and they involved certain tools. One of these things is hanging clothes on a line. Given the popularity of clothespins for cutesy farmhouse crafty stuff these days, I figured I should be able to get some functional ones, but NOPE.
The spring ones I saw looked like suspiciously flimsy crap and I refused to buy them. That was okay because I initially learned to hang clothes with the wooden round ones (that doubled as dolls for me sometimes with tissue paper dresses). I was initially pretty excited when I pulled them up on amazon. Except I noticed the ones they're making now are rough raw soft wood with a slit up the middle that can't possibly accommodate a clothesline and clothing. The annoyed comments from people that wanted to use them for their original intended purpose confirmed that. I need to be able to hang up my jeans, yo.
So I went on eBay and found someone selling real clothespins that wasn't asking for an arm and a leg in exchange. That's right, I went and ordered myself some damn functional old school round clothespins. The slit is wider and the bottoms flare out in a curve. Those are the real working clothespins that will hold your stuff on the line even if the wind blows.
MY CLOTHESPINS HAVE ARRIVED. I AM SO FUCKING HAPPY ABOUT THIS. ABOUT CLOTHESPINS. YEAH THAT'S RIGHT. REAL CLOTHESPINS. LIKE MY GRANDMOTHER'S. AND MY MOM'S BEFORE MY MOM MOVED TO A FANCY COMMUNITY THINGY THAT'S TOO GOOD FOR CLOTHESLINES (TBF THEY ALSO LIVE ON THE SIDE OF A RAVINE NOW SO A CLOTHESLINE WOULD PROBABLY BE A LIABILITY)
I'm going to go hang up whatever of my Victorian gear and 50's swing dresses that didn't get ruined at MiL's. BYE.
The spring ones I saw looked like suspiciously flimsy crap and I refused to buy them. That was okay because I initially learned to hang clothes with the wooden round ones (that doubled as dolls for me sometimes with tissue paper dresses). I was initially pretty excited when I pulled them up on amazon. Except I noticed the ones they're making now are rough raw soft wood with a slit up the middle that can't possibly accommodate a clothesline and clothing. The annoyed comments from people that wanted to use them for their original intended purpose confirmed that. I need to be able to hang up my jeans, yo.
So I went on eBay and found someone selling real clothespins that wasn't asking for an arm and a leg in exchange. That's right, I went and ordered myself some damn functional old school round clothespins. The slit is wider and the bottoms flare out in a curve. Those are the real working clothespins that will hold your stuff on the line even if the wind blows.
MY CLOTHESPINS HAVE ARRIVED. I AM SO FUCKING HAPPY ABOUT THIS. ABOUT CLOTHESPINS. YEAH THAT'S RIGHT. REAL CLOTHESPINS. LIKE MY GRANDMOTHER'S. AND MY MOM'S BEFORE MY MOM MOVED TO A FANCY COMMUNITY THINGY THAT'S TOO GOOD FOR CLOTHESLINES (TBF THEY ALSO LIVE ON THE SIDE OF A RAVINE NOW SO A CLOTHESLINE WOULD PROBABLY BE A LIABILITY)
I'm going to go hang up whatever of my Victorian gear and 50's swing dresses that didn't get ruined at MiL's. BYE.
the meringues went over well at my sister's rosh hashanah dinner last night (my aunt, who says to me "you know i'm diabetic", and who does mostly take care of her health, had one and took one home for later) and almost no one ate the honey cake! everyone might have been too full of roast. consequently i have a lot of honey cake in the freezer. but it was good! and not as overbaked as i thought! i'm still going to try and find a 10"x10" cake pan for next time, tho.
glitter!
i'm watching battlestar galactica the miniseries, and everyone looks so young! aaron douglas is a baby! i never saw the miniseries and i think i started watching the series in the middle of s2 so i was always a little confused, but a lot of this is familiar, and mostly it's nice to see how thing started. i always liked how the space battles were shot, and i loved that your superior was always "sir", even if they were female - like, the pilots all called roslin "sir", and i thought that was great - and baltar is still nuts. i think there's a bsg marathon all weekend on the syfy channel.
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spn_reversebang claims open tomorrow morning and i may or may not have set my alarm clock to guarantee i get my ass out of bed on time. there are a couple of pieces i really like as art but have no story ideas for, and a couple more i totally could write for. one of them is so far in my wheelhouse it isn't funny. fingers crossed i get one of the arts i want.
now the dark knight returns is on and i'm always so disappointed they covered tom hardy's face with a mask. i know it's part of the character, but still. his face! also? i hate christian bale's batman voice.
glitter!
i'm watching battlestar galactica the miniseries, and everyone looks so young! aaron douglas is a baby! i never saw the miniseries and i think i started watching the series in the middle of s2 so i was always a little confused, but a lot of this is familiar, and mostly it's nice to see how thing started. i always liked how the space battles were shot, and i loved that your superior was always "sir", even if they were female - like, the pilots all called roslin "sir", and i thought that was great - and baltar is still nuts. i think there's a bsg marathon all weekend on the syfy channel.
spn_reversebang claims open tomorrow morning and i may or may not have set my alarm clock to guarantee i get my ass out of bed on time. there are a couple of pieces i really like as art but have no story ideas for, and a couple more i totally could write for. one of them is so far in my wheelhouse it isn't funny. fingers crossed i get one of the arts i want.now the dark knight returns is on and i'm always so disappointed they covered tom hardy's face with a mask. i know it's part of the character, but still. his face! also? i hate christian bale's batman voice.
i'shanah tovah, my fellow hebs! may you be inscribed in the book of life for a good year. :D
in sort of the same vein, you can get kosher pot products from a canadian medical marijuana company. i love that there's such a thing as kosher pot buds.
in sort of other news, my meringues came out well except they are VERY SWEET. O.O (not surprising considering they have a cup of sugar and almost nothing else in them.) they're easy to make: first, preheat the oven to 350ยบ. then beat three egg whites (i used four but i was told three) until stiff, then slowly add a cup of sugar and a tsp of vanilla extract while still beating. when that's all mixed, fold in 3/4 cup of chocolate chips and drop by spoonfuls onto a tinfoil-lined cookie sheet. stick the cookie sheet in the oven, turn the oven off, and leave it there at least overnight. don't open the oven. don't peek. i made the meringues last night and took them out of the oven after i got home tonight, so they were in there almost twenty-four hours. and now they're nice and crisp on the outside and light on the inside and did i mention they're REALLY SWEET? but also full of mini chocolate chips. next time i'm going to use peppermint extract instead of vanilla.
i have to get up early tomorrow because my sister and i are going to the early service for rosh hashanah, and i'm not looking forward to it. well, i'm looking forward to the holiday, just not getting up early.
in sort of the same vein, you can get kosher pot products from a canadian medical marijuana company. i love that there's such a thing as kosher pot buds.
in sort of other news, my meringues came out well except they are VERY SWEET. O.O (not surprising considering they have a cup of sugar and almost nothing else in them.) they're easy to make: first, preheat the oven to 350ยบ. then beat three egg whites (i used four but i was told three) until stiff, then slowly add a cup of sugar and a tsp of vanilla extract while still beating. when that's all mixed, fold in 3/4 cup of chocolate chips and drop by spoonfuls onto a tinfoil-lined cookie sheet. stick the cookie sheet in the oven, turn the oven off, and leave it there at least overnight. don't open the oven. don't peek. i made the meringues last night and took them out of the oven after i got home tonight, so they were in there almost twenty-four hours. and now they're nice and crisp on the outside and light on the inside and did i mention they're REALLY SWEET? but also full of mini chocolate chips. next time i'm going to use peppermint extract instead of vanilla.
i have to get up early tomorrow because my sister and i are going to the early service for rosh hashanah, and i'm not looking forward to it. well, i'm looking forward to the holiday, just not getting up early.
the honey cake is slightly overbaked. >.< i think i'm going to cut off the ends and sides and (if i can) the top, so at least it doesn't have the tough bits still on when i slice it for company. the recipe says you can bake it in a loaf pan but i'm not sure. at least i know for next time not to bake it so long. but! it doesn't taste like coffee. :D
now i have meringues in the oven, and can i just say, egg whites+sugar+vanilla tastes a lot like marshmallow fluff. i put tiny chocolate chips in the batter and am now wondering if i should have used peppermint extract instead of vanilla. minty!
at work i'm learning how to organize the weekly "how many hours do you have scheduled for clients" emails, which entails figuring out who exactly gets the aforementioned emails and then, you know, sending them out. the application we use to track which team is working on which client (and which returns have gone out/been extended and which haven't) is not totally forthcoming with the names i need. it's a tch frustrating. just a tch. on the other hand, i'm learning how to do something new and i've gotten a new responsibility, and i'm certainly not going to complain about that. i'm not 100% sure what i'm doing, tho.
i'm watching lawless (the perks of suddenly getting a bunch of starz channels plus the sundance channel) and i can't get over tom hardy's nose. it's a nice nose.
the business of fandom - an interesting article about how teenage girls' fannish pursuits can be predictors of the next big thing, and how girls use fandom as a way to socialize with other girls. (that second part is not going to be a surprise to anyone who's spent any time in a fandom. i mean, of course girls use fandom to socialize with people. "i love this thing! who else loves it?" that seems pretty obvious.)
(posted this to lj last night and totally forgot to copy it over. >.< )
now i have meringues in the oven, and can i just say, egg whites+sugar+vanilla tastes a lot like marshmallow fluff. i put tiny chocolate chips in the batter and am now wondering if i should have used peppermint extract instead of vanilla. minty!
at work i'm learning how to organize the weekly "how many hours do you have scheduled for clients" emails, which entails figuring out who exactly gets the aforementioned emails and then, you know, sending them out. the application we use to track which team is working on which client (and which returns have gone out/been extended and which haven't) is not totally forthcoming with the names i need. it's a tch frustrating. just a tch. on the other hand, i'm learning how to do something new and i've gotten a new responsibility, and i'm certainly not going to complain about that. i'm not 100% sure what i'm doing, tho.
i'm watching lawless (the perks of suddenly getting a bunch of starz channels plus the sundance channel) and i can't get over tom hardy's nose. it's a nice nose.
the business of fandom - an interesting article about how teenage girls' fannish pursuits can be predictors of the next big thing, and how girls use fandom as a way to socialize with other girls. (that second part is not going to be a surprise to anyone who's spent any time in a fandom. i mean, of course girls use fandom to socialize with people. "i love this thing! who else loves it?" that seems pretty obvious.)
(posted this to lj last night and totally forgot to copy it over. >.< )
Tags:
I finished yet another shawl (I wear one daily in spring and autumn, so there is reason to my mass production ;-) ):
I used the lace pattern from the Holden Shawlette pattern.
I used the lace pattern from the Holden Shawlette pattern.
Tags:
my sister and i saw wind river last night and while i can't say i really enjoyed it (it's a harsh, sad movie), i thought it was well-done and well-acted and i'm glad i saw it. because it starts with jeremy renner's character finding a dead native american girl in the snow, it made me think of the beginning of louise erdrich's love medicine - "the snow fell deeper that easter than it had in forty years, but june walked over it like water and came home". totally different circumstances, but the end result is the same. it's a good movie and apparently based on true events, which is one of the things that makes it so sad.
today i helpedtamalinn and lbmango put together tamalinn's new bed. we celebrated our successful furniture-building by going out for nachos and beer. (they had beer, i had a ginger ale.) and tonight i baked a honey cake - technically two, because i made it in a loaf pan and there's more batter than there is pan - it's my grandma's honey cake and because it calls for a cup of coffee, and i don't have a coffeemaker because i don't drink it, i went across the street to the dunkin' donuts for a black coffee. of course that made my kitchen smell overwhelmingly of strong black caffeine.... and then the honey cake smelled kind of coffee-y while it was baking. it's not pretty but i don't think it's overbaked and mostly i hope it tastes like honey cake and not, you know, coffee. (my sister is having people over for dinner after rosh hashanah, which is thursday. one of her friends has celiac's so i'm also going to make meringue cookies because we need a non-gluten option.) if it comes out ok i'll share the recipe.
last friday, a week ago, i went to a combination housewarming (for tamalinn who'd just moved in upstairs)/housecooling (for lbmango who was about to move out downstairs) - it was a house homeostasis party - and saturday i spent walking the freedom trail because that's how one of the girls in my writing group wanted to spend her birthday. i had a parfait for lunch and it was delicious. last sunday i went to a greek festival put on by a local church and stuffed my face with pastitsio and baklava and, uh, rice pudding. fun was had! it was a very social weekend, so the fact that i didn't have anything to do or anywhere to be (besides the movie and i guess tamalinn's house) this weekend was really nice.
in totally other news, the preacher season finale made me go "THEY CAN'T DO THAT" and "THAT'S NOT FAIR". i hate cliffhangers. cm ended on a cliffhanger too, but it always does.
today i helped
tamalinn and lbmango put together tamalinn's new bed. we celebrated our successful furniture-building by going out for nachos and beer. (they had beer, i had a ginger ale.) and tonight i baked a honey cake - technically two, because i made it in a loaf pan and there's more batter than there is pan - it's my grandma's honey cake and because it calls for a cup of coffee, and i don't have a coffeemaker because i don't drink it, i went across the street to the dunkin' donuts for a black coffee. of course that made my kitchen smell overwhelmingly of strong black caffeine.... and then the honey cake smelled kind of coffee-y while it was baking. it's not pretty but i don't think it's overbaked and mostly i hope it tastes like honey cake and not, you know, coffee. (my sister is having people over for dinner after rosh hashanah, which is thursday. one of her friends has celiac's so i'm also going to make meringue cookies because we need a non-gluten option.) if it comes out ok i'll share the recipe.last friday, a week ago, i went to a combination housewarming (for tamalinn who'd just moved in upstairs)/housecooling (for lbmango who was about to move out downstairs) - it was a house homeostasis party - and saturday i spent walking the freedom trail because that's how one of the girls in my writing group wanted to spend her birthday. i had a parfait for lunch and it was delicious. last sunday i went to a greek festival put on by a local church and stuffed my face with pastitsio and baklava and, uh, rice pudding. fun was had! it was a very social weekend, so the fact that i didn't have anything to do or anywhere to be (besides the movie and i guess tamalinn's house) this weekend was really nice.
in totally other news, the preacher season finale made me go "THEY CAN'T DO THAT" and "THAT'S NOT FAIR". i hate cliffhangers. cm ended on a cliffhanger too, but it always does.
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klgaffney Sep. 17th, 2017 11:02 am)
klgaffney Sep. 17th, 2017 11:02 am)At least it is here in these Northeastern United States. You may recall from previous adventures that this home is fuckin' full of arachnids. ( Do not fear, there will be no photos in this post. I am cutting it ANYWAY. )
So...yeah. I have used up all my tolerance. I have nearly dropped two writers from my reading circle over uncut spider photos. I am back to alternately Staring at everything in an obnoxiously hypervigilant fashion or carefully not looking at Anything, because I think if I find another fucking spider Where There Must Not Be A Fucking Spider I will lose my last shit, punch everyone, kick all the tables over, set shit on fire, grab my rum and move to the gods-fucking-damned Moon, where I will drink rum and give Earth the fucking finger for the next decade, until some grizzled old Earthling Commander informs me that I have to come back and destroy a gang of evil terrorist spiders because apparently I am the only one who draws them out.
Fuck you, spiders.
So...yeah. I have used up all my tolerance. I have nearly dropped two writers from my reading circle over uncut spider photos. I am back to alternately Staring at everything in an obnoxiously hypervigilant fashion or carefully not looking at Anything, because I think if I find another fucking spider Where There Must Not Be A Fucking Spider I will lose my last shit, punch everyone, kick all the tables over, set shit on fire, grab my rum and move to the gods-fucking-damned Moon, where I will drink rum and give Earth the fucking finger for the next decade, until some grizzled old Earthling Commander informs me that I have to come back and destroy a gang of evil terrorist spiders because apparently I am the only one who draws them out.
Fuck you, spiders.
.