Brezny, Blake, and moi

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You Sagittarians are famous for filling your cups too full. Sometimes this is cute. Sometimes it's a problem for those who don't like Cabernet Sauvignon sloshed on their handwoven Persian rugs. This week, however, I predict there will be little or no hell to pay for overflowing. So go ahead and transcend your containers, you beautiful exaggerators. Feel free to express yourself like a fire hose. Now enjoy a few gems from your fellow Sagittarius, the extravagant poet and painter William Blake. 1. "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." 2. "Exuberance is beauty." 3. "The lust of the goat is the bounty of God." 4. "You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough."

***

I find this fairly appropriate, as I drink Cabernet, own a handwoven Persian rug, and love William Blake. I have always been known as a "glass more than full" kind of girl. Regarding lust, you need only look at the smile on my husband's face this morning.

Pictured above is William Blake's painting of Hecate, goddess of the Underworld.

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

-William Blake

Project fiend!

I've started working on some old crappy pipes that someone sent me for free when I bought my last pipe rack. The pipe on the bottom is how they all looked when they arrived. The pipe on the top is the first one I've refurbished.

I took it apart, cleaned out the insides, reamed the caked gunk out of the bowl, and then sanded and waxed the outside. I removed the oxidation from the stem and waxed that as well, and cleaned all the insides with moonshine and salt to kill any germs that might have entertained small, germ-sized thoughts about hanging around to bother me.

It's quite fun, actually, although I do wish I had a floor-standing buffing wheel/lathe/sander thingie to work with. As it is, I sit with a handheld power drill in one hand, and the pipe in the other.

Just the other day, I smoked the newly refurbished Kaywoodie pipe and it smoked like a dream! I'm now working on the second pipe of the three that came in the box. We'll see if that one turns out as well.

I realized the other day that I have an alarming number of projects in the works (ie: unfinished). And I seem to have no qualms about taking on more. So far I have these:

1. Make stained glass mosaic inserts to put under the plants in the front windows of the cottage. So far I have the thistle cutouts and some of the glass pieces I need. I still need the hardyback board, adhesive, grout, and to actually put the stuff together. Hmmmmm.

2. Refinish and reupholster a gorgeous antique chair. So far I've ripped off all the old upholstery and removed all the straw and horse hair stuffing. Yes, I said horse hair. Really, really OLD horse hair. Ewwwww. I still have to remove about four hundred tiny upholstery nails from the wood, refinish the chair, and then learn to upholster by hand from books I intend to take out at the library. Eons to go. Hmmmmmmm.

3. Scan and catalog my insanely huge collection of Angelina Jolie magazine articles and photos and store them on CDs. I've already collected hundreds of magazines, but guess what? The CD burner on my computer is broken and it has been for over a year. Wonder if / when THAT will ever be fixed? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

4. Create steampunk projects and open an Etsy.com store to sell them on. So far I've finished three projects, but I'd set my heart on having at least four items to sell before opening a store, so as not to have a Grand Opening that's more like a flop or a fizzle. Thing is, my "piece de resistance" is still lacking hardware, and it's proving difficult to find. I also have to photograph my art in alluring and inviting ways for the purpose of displaying them in my store. As it's rained the last seventy-three days straight, I haven't been able to get out and do my photography. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

5. I've just been stewing about this one in my brain recently, haven't acted on it at all yet... but I am thinking about trying to record my box of heavy metal LPs onto CD (the ones that you can't buy on CD, obviously) but it requires some research as to the best way to accomplish that. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I think I might be what mothers in the 1950's would have called "a project fiend".

WHOOOOOOOP! WHOOOOOOOP! Finch alert!!!

Yes, folks - I saw my very first finches on the new feeder this morning! First, there was a small female goldfinch, whose yellow feathers were more a light lime greenish looking affair... she was up and down, eating nyjer seeds for all she was worth, when suddenly Mr. Finch appeared! He was bedecked in brightest yellow, replete in black tails and a black top hat. He rudely chased the female away from the feeder, took a few bites of seed, and then looked straight at me and let loose with a burst of loud song, as if to say thank you. (Well, perhaps he was saying, "Women! Got to put them in their place!")

Hopefully they will tell all their friends about the new cafe. Now I await the hummingbirds...

And the count stands thusly:








Finches: 2!!

Hummingbirds: 0


















Sparrows: 143

Steampunk movie alert!!!

Dudes, this one is gonna be COOL. Produced by Tim Burton (really, is there anything else TO say???) and Timur Bekmambetov (of "Wanted"). To really get the feel for how steampunky and excellent the whole thing is gonna be, go check out their interactive website!

The title? "9". The release date? 09-09-09. Whoooooooaaaahhhhhh.

I just want to walk around chanting "Bekmambetov, Bekmambetov, Bekmambetov". Don't you?

Funny, I don't remember having toads in the house...

The war

I will admit that I rarely, if ever, discuss the war in Iraq. I know it's there, but I tend to insulate my life from things that I feel helpless about. When I'm at work, I work. When I'm at home, I play my favorite music, take care of my husband, my animals, and my house, and try to enjoy my leisure time while also getting the chores done. I am staunchly apolitical, and I just do my best to affect my portion of the world in the most positive way I can. I try to make my home a bright, peaceful place where my family and friends can come, have a glass of home-made iced tea, and relax.

When I got to work last night, I checked the roster to see what position I would be sitting at. As usual, I strolled through to the break room to fix myself a cold drink, then headed back to the radio room and relieved the 8-4 operator at my position. I plugged in my headset, adjusted the seat, the lighting, and the angle of the computer screen. I logged in on the time-sheet web page, checked my business email, and adjusted the volume on the VHF and HF frequencies.

I was now ready for my shift, working the long range position, which often handles phone patches between flights and their dispatchers, and sometimes MedLink when they have medical emergencies on board. This position is generally slow volume-wise, but some very important calls get patched through. You never know what's going to pop up during your shift.

I got a call from a flight that requested a phone patch to the Dover Air Force Base. This is a request I'd never had before, so I leaned back and called across the room to the team lead. He came over and showed me where to access the phone number. I patched the call through. Unfortunately, the connection wasn't great. The flight couldn't hear what Dover was saying, and Dover couldn't hear what the flight was saying. Since I could hear both of them, I relayed the information between them.

The flight asked me to tell Dover "ETA 1316 and 9 HR's on board". When handling a phone patch, we often don't understand everything that's being said. Some phone patches are conducted entirely in foreign languages. Sometimes pilots are discussing detailed mechanical stuff with the repair people on the ground. So we just relay information as it's told to us. I relayed the requested info to Dover.

After the phone patch had been completed, the team lead came back over to my position and asked me if I knew what I had just relayed to Dover. I said that I knew what an Estimated Time of Arrival was, but not what the HR's were. He said, "Human Remains".

The pilots call ahead when they're bringing our boys back from war, so that the military has time to get together an honor guard to meet the coffins. And I had relayed the message, not even realizing I was talking about nine soldiers whose families will never see them again.

My job felt different from that moment on. I realized that while I may have the luxury of insulating myself from the war most of the time, there are soldiers and families of soldiers that are finding out the real cost every single day, and they have nowhere to hide.

My latest steampunk project

I gave this one as a birthday present to my dear friend, who also happens to be my tenant. We took her and her boyfriend out to see the new Harry Potter movie and to dinner at a fab Indian restaurant as a dual celebration of both of their birthdays, which are within one month of each other. It was such a fun double date!

I added tiny jewels to the center of three of the cogs on the lid before giving it to her, and only just realized I didn't get a picture of it after said jewels were added. Oh, well. Just squint your eyes a bit and imagine.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!

We saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince tonight! It was EXCELLENT!!!! Sad, but excellent!

Best parts:

1. Extremely dark, gothic cinematography. Even the scenes in color were muted... creeeeepy!
2. The trio's sense of humor notably matured and some really funny scenes in this one
3. Lavender Brown's goo-goo mushy kissy face bit with Ron - HA!
4. The Quidditch scenes involved no noticable computer graphics characters - much more realistic
5. The Room of Requirement - I wanted about a week or two just to rummage around in there and see what all that cool stuff was!
6. The true friendship between Harry and Hermione really ran an important thread through the whole movie and held everything together in a much stronger way than I had thought before.
7. The horcrux cave was done super-imaginatively, spectacularly, and the scene on the wave-smashed rocks outside was dizzying!
8. We got to see parts of the Hogwarts castle we'd never seen before... which is always a thrill!
9. Slughorn's potions classroom ROCKS.
10. Ron playing Quidditch when he thinks he's had a shot of Felix Felicis
11. Luna Lovegood. She's just the coolest wacko ever.

Worst parts:

1. Ginny and Harry's kiss. That was so completely lame, I have no words. It was one of the major build-up points of the plot, and.... phsssssssssst. Complete fizzle.
2. Dumbledore's death. For emotional reasons, not a criticism of the movie-making. The scene was done excellently. Bring a couple of boxes of tissues, is all I'm saying.
3. I didn't like the "muggle scenes" in the beginning. Too far out of the wizarding world for my taste, especially since they didn't show the Minister of Magic meeting with the muggle prime minister.
4. The asshats sitting in front of us who brought their very young child to the movie. Said asshats, who have obviously never cracked the cover on a Harry Potter book in their lives, decided that every other scene in the movie was too disturbing for their toddler, prompting them to dive across the lap of their older child, who was inexplicably seated between them, in order to cover the child's eyes. Not only was this very distracting to those of us who actually wanted to watch the movie, I'm sure it very effectively instilled an even deeper fear of seeing people die in the psyche of the child they were supposedly trying to protect. Parents who truly want to protect their children from things they are not old enough to handle leave the theater when they realize they've made a bad choice for their toddler. The even smarter ones read the book first. The really, really smart ones get a babysitter, because four-year-olds don't give a shit about anything that lasts more than two and half minutes anyway.


Now, all I want to do is watch it again. And again. And again! I'm sure, as always, there are a million nuances that I missed first time around. I can't wait to get it on DVD... and find out when they're releasing the first movie for the last book (it's gonna be TWO MOVIES - WOOOOT!).

****

Re: The birdfeeder(s) countdown... still no finches sighted, still no hummingbirds sighted. The watch continues. Updates to follow.

Day Two:

Finches: 0

Hummingbirds: 0


















Sparrows: 100

The countdown begins

My newly painted and redecorated front door,
which has nothing whatsoever to do with this post.

Yesterday was gorgeous, and breezy, and sunny, and I felt adventurous. I suddenly remembered having a conversation with my mom about "finch socks". No, Hanes does not make them THAT small.... I mean the mesh bags full of thistle seed that people hang in their yards to attract finches. I decided that yes, this was the project of the day.

I jumped into my truck and toodled on down through the lovely old village of Sayville, into Oakdale, where there's a wild bird supply store just next to one of our favorite Thai restaurants. I walked in, wondering if they carried finch socks. About three feet from the front door, I was blown away by about ten different styles and sizes of finch feeders - from socks on up to huge, crazy-looking contraptions with lucite rain shields and stuff.

The store owner, Gary, was very friendly and was happy to discuss the different features, benefits, and drawbacks of the different types of feeders. He didn't try to push me into buying the most expensive feeder - in fact, he said he thought the huge one with all the squirrel shields and rain shields and stuff was kind of silly. I settled on a pretty tubular mesh feeder with a shiny copper top.

Then I started thinking... well, where and how will I hang this up? So I wandered over to the other side of the store, and immediately fell in love with the hummingbird feeders they had there. I told Gary that I had tried to put out a hummingbird feeder before, but had become so disgusted by the millions of ants that clogged up the feeder every day that I just threw the whole thing out and quit.

Gary pointed to a small plastic device on his hummingbird feeder displays - it's a little cup that you fill with water. It has a hook underneath from which you hang your feeder. The ants go up the pole, and as they try to climb down to the feeder, they meet a 360 degree pool of water. They turn around and go away... problem solved!

So I latched on to a beautiful glass hummingbird feeder, and then realized I had twice the need for a place to hang stuff than I had before. I asked Gary, and he led me over to this long, rectangular box, which was a complete kit for a hanging stand for two feeders! That, and a bag of thistle seed, and I was on my way home with a huge grin on my face.

After just a few minutes of easy assembly and positioning, and making a simple sugar/water syrup to fill the hummingbird feeder, this is what I ended up with:








Now - how many days until they find the feeders? The countdown begins!

My lovely day

It was one of the loveliest days EVER today... and even though I worked a midnight shift, I decided not to miss it. I slept four hours, got up at noon, and started going. I grocery shopped, went to get gas for the mower, and stopped by my favorite local nursery to pick up herbs for my nearly empty herb garden.

When I got home, I mowed the lawn and planted my herb garden (above). I am SO excited! I got some of the old standards, but some new and interesting ones as well.

Here is a view of it longwise:



And here is a labeled version, with the names of the herbs below:


1. Sage - Some folks cook with it, I dry and bundle it to use as incense!
2. Rosemary - For remembrance
3. Valerian - Known for its calming effects
4. Purple Basil - Smells and tastes like regular basil, only prettier!
5. Rue - "O you must wear your rue with a difference" - Ophelia
6. Catnip - Something fun for the feline crew!
7. Thai ornamental pepper plant - Not to eat, just really pretty and colorful, once the peppers mature. This one is just now flowering, peppers (and pictures) to follow later in the season.
8. Horehound - Cultivated in the corners of cottage gardens for making tea and candy for use in coughs and colds. It is also brewed and made into horehound ale, an appetizing and healthful beverage, much drunk in Norfolk and other country districts.
9. Thyme - I had too much thyme on my hands, it was ticking away with my sanity.


Oh, and for those of you wondering - the orange stuff is red chili powder. The nocturnal animals have been playing havoc with my gardens lately, digging holes all over the place, and gnawing through the stems of my potted plants (I had to take my poor jade plant back indoors as it was losing one large limb per night). I am hoping if they get a snootful of chili powder they'll think twice about screwing with my herb garden!

Happy "Bang on Something Metallic Outside My Bedroom Window" Day!

Unfortunately, I can't make the party
because I am working midnights and
trying to sleep during the day.

So I called my agent.

He's on his way over there right now...

To express my sincere delight to
whomever is responsible
for this new holiday.

Feeling a bit peaky

Well, I hacked and croaked my way through last night's midnight shift. Had a bottle of Chloraseptic and a glass of water sitting within arm's reach, for panicky mid-radio-transmission application during the tickle in the throat attacks that invariably accompany this malady. Tried to go sparingly with the Chloraseptic, in case it contains alcohol... it would be just my luck to have the compliance people drop by for a random testing and find me operating a radio under the influence.

Came home, turned off the phones, pulled the curtains shut, and crawled into bed for ten hours. Woke to find Bear coming through the door, home from work, and it looked like I'd just slept through the most gorgeous day ever. Sunny, breezy, perfect. And my head started to pound.

Pound, pound, pound went my head. Drip, drip, drip went my nose. Cough, sneeze, snort, cough went my throat. And I said, "I will go to work tonight." After several attempts to convince myself, and several repeats of the pounding, dripping, coughing, sneezing, and snorting, I realized I was NOT going to work tonight. And so I called in.

Bear heated up the hydrocollator for my sore neck, gave me ice packs for my aching head, and made me a lovely late afternoon breakfast of fried eggs, sliced turkey, and buttered toast with freshly ground coffee on the side. He is an angel!

Bear turned 50 day before yesterday! I decided that for this momentous occasion, I would get him a grandfather clock. He's always wanted one, and it seemed a fitting gift for a fiftieth birthday. And so I started searching. Holy cow, those things are expensive! And depending on the brand, they can be complete garbage, too. Finding the perfect clock at the perfect price within driving range of our house (shipping costs are insane for these things, and I think shipping is not so good for a clock's insides) turned out to be impossible before his birthday arrived, and so I settled on something nearly as exciting, but much more fitting for people who live in a tiny cottage: a stand for his grandfather's pocket watch! See - it's still "grandfather" and "clock" related, so I didn't fail completely in my quest.

Here's what it looks like:


That circle in the middle is actually midnight blue velvet, to cushion the back of the watch. And just above the circle is a small hook on which to hang said watch. I just fell in love with this, and now Bear can enjoy his grandfather's beautiful Waltham pocket watch instead of having it waste away in an unglorified drawer someplace.

Bear also just finished his dying practise (a year long journey) and put his final entry on "A Year to Live", the blog he created to journal this practise. Stop by and take a peek, if you're of a mind to.

Happy Birthday Bear, and many, many more! I'm a lucky girl.

Not the best day ever

Worked a Caribbean sector today, got my arse hammered from 8am to 4pm... there were a hundred storm systems (or so it seemed) and every flight I spoke to needed weather advisories delivered, and they all requested multiple deviations and flight level changes, which turns into multiple clearances to deliver and readback. Dingbat that I am, I signed up for 4 hours overtime so I worked until 8pm. Happily, my overtime hours were worked at a slower position, over on the North Atlantic side of the room.

Somewhere during the work day, my throat started burning, my head started to feel pressurized, and my eyes started fogging up. I don't know if it's allergies or what, but I felt fine when I left for work this morning, and came home feeling distinctly ill. Bear was kind enough to esconce me on the couch with some old movies and feed me hot wonton/eggdrop soup and an eggroll. Then he rubbed my shoulders, which are vaguely reminiscent of steel cables after a day like today.

While we sat eating dinner, I heard a popping sound and then a "glug glug glug" sound in the kitchen area. One of our newly made bottles of mead had expelled the cork and spewed mead all over the carpet and chairs and table. That makes the second bottle this week. Methinks the fermentation process had not completely finished before we bottled. There's nothing I can do about this, as the bottles and corks we used were for still mead, not carbonated. If you're making carbonated mead, you use champagne bottles and corks. The horse is out of the barn now, and I've had to make an embarrassing phone call to our tenants, to whom we gifted a bottle, to let them know they possibly have a time bomb ticking in their wine rack.

Ho hum.

Sometimes you're the hammer, sometimes you're the nail.

Just a brief swatch of thought

It is not the most pleasant thing that one can think of, coming home to find that one's faux fur throw has been used as a receptacle for an exodus of multiple hairballs. No, it is not.

It is more difficult to find clock gears and cogs than it is to find clocks, yet the daunting task of disemboweling a clock gives inspiration to go on searching for the gears...

Less than two weeks to go until the next Harry Potter movie! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

When you wear a fedora out and about, people look at you. They don't want you to think they are looking, because they look away quickly as soon as you turn your eyes in their direction. I wonder why. I always smile at people who wear unique headgear, or makeup, or hairstyles... unless they are talking to themselves and shredding tissues while walking through the library. Then, I just smile on the inside.

I live on the south shore of the island. I drove to the north shore of the island to see an item I wanted to purchase for Bear's birthday. The arsewipe who was selling the item couldn't be bothered to tell me that the item was broken, had missing bits, was generally mistreated, and wasn't at all worth my trip. And then he had the ballocks to try and bully me into buying the thing after I politely excused myself and said I'd call him if I was interested! Wanker.

It was sunny today. This is noteworthy since 47 out of the last 50 days have been dismal and rainy. Oh - tonight, after Bear took me out to have some yummy sushi, guess what? We had a thunderstorm, with extra rain! Who'da thunkit?

The answer to the question that's been running around in your mind since you first started reading this post is: MarkAbre Charade. Still don't know what I'm on about? Let your fingers do the walking.