View from an Alternate Dementia

A thousand and one days...

2012-01-27T21:34:00.002-05:00

Today marks the end of round 2 of my 101List.

I completed 35 of my 101 items, with the latest item wrapping up today - the "Walk" from Lorien to Rauros. So this round ends, and the next begins, with the Breaking of the Fellowship.

Of the 6 "in progress" 101List items, 5 are carrying over to the next round. The 6th was one of a series of cumulative items (try new recipes), and the counter reset on those.

Not everything unfinished carried over to the next list. Interests and situations change. I quit WoW, and eventually started back to Curves, and the new list reflects that.

In some ways the hardest thing for me to decide to drop was teaching my daughter to stitch, sew, or yarncraft. I've come to the realization that while she can manage the mechanics, it just really isn't her interest. And that I'm actually okay with that fact. Her gifts lie in cooking, which is something I can manage at an average level but isn't really my interest. So...it was time to let that goal go.

The newest list has a little bit more of a focus on health and domestrivia than previous lists, mainly because those are areas that need work. There's not a noticeable shortening of the other categories, so I'm still trying to keep the previous balance.

But without further ado...my new list!

WIPocalypse now - January update

2012-01-09T08:52:00.000-05:00

The WIPocalypse is here! (Full details at Measi's link above, but basically, I'm joining many fellow stitchers in progress pics every full moon...)

Without further ado, here's the first installment.
~~~
First up is Marbek "Nativity". I started this at the end of November (1st Sunday of Advent). This is on CountryStitch Kiwi Sparkles "Pansy" 32ct Belfast, and as of last night I've put 35 hours into it.

(Click for larger picture.)
There are a few conversions (mostly substituting Petite Treasure Braids for the charted Kreinik), but I'll provide a full list when I'm actually done.

There won't be any progress on this next update - now that the Christmas season is over, I'm setting this aside until Lent/Easter (but then I'll get a solid 3 months on it!).
~~~
Next is Chatelaine "Convent Herbal Garden". I've not stitched on this for a few months, but it should get a fair bit of attention over this coming month. I'm stitching this on a Silkweaver 32ct Lugana solo, with an estimated 13 hours in. No conversions as of yet.

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~~~
Last up is a canvaswork piece - Laura J Perin's "Indian Autumn", on 18ct sandstone mono canvas.

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I discovered canvaswork last year, and got hooked on it pretty quickly. It's perfect for situations when I want to stitch but don't have the light/eyesight/attention for detailed or timed work. Especially while watching football!

I should have this done by next update, and will likely have another canvas piece in progress then.

That's all for now!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T21:30:00.009-05:00

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2012!

2011 was a decent, if busy, year for me. I stitched several things (as evidenced in my last post or two), I started going back to Curves, and I was briefly an Odyssey of the Mind coach for my daughter. Her extracurriculars still keep me pretty busy.

2012 looks to be more of the same, which is is not a bad thing. There's contentment to be had in the regular and routine.

A New Year is time to look at old goals and establish new ones!

2011 Goals

Read 5000 pages - Surprisingly, I didn't quite make this one. First time in a very long time I hadn't made a reading goal. I did come close with 4476, with a variety of authors such as C.S.Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and Neil Gaiman.
Do 10 101List items - I did accomplish this.
Lorien to Rauros - Almost, but not quite. I'm about 19 miles from completing this one. At the beginning of 2011 I was using the exercise bike at home, but started going to Curves and the 'bike fell by the wayside.
Rauros to Isengard (Aragorn's path) - Didn't start this one since I'm not quite to Lorien yet.

One for four...not my best track record, but 2011 was quite a busy year. Onward to 2012! I'm just going to carry all of these forward since they're a good set of goals for me.

2012 Goals

Read 5000 pages
Do 10 101List items - I'll be starting a new list in January, so this is combined across both.
Lorien to Rauros - I'm almost there, this *should* be easy.
Rauros to Isengard (Aragorn's path)

Less-structured goals are to try to continue going to Curves 3 times a week, and drink more water.

Off to stitch with what's left of the evening. Happy New Year!

Let it snow!

2011-12-18T11:18:00.001-05:00

This year's ornament is another snowflake (because we don't get any for real here in Florida):
.
The PDF is available over at Tor Rhuann Designs.

This was a very quick stitch, which is probably good considering how late I'm releasing it! Jenna had finished three of them before I finished my first one, including a very pretty green and red version.

In other stitching news, I finished PR Once Upon a Time:

(Click for larger pic)
After finishing it, I restarted the MarBek Nativity on CountryStitch Kiwi Sparkles "Pansy" Belfast, and 13 hours in I'm very happy with how it's turning out. I've subbed Petite Treasure Braid for many of the blending filaments, which has made the star a LOT easier to manage. Here it is at 15 hours:

In the meantime, back to December insanity!

The WIPocalypse is near!

2011-11-16T15:38:00.004-05:00

Today I stumbled upon Measi's 2012 WIPocalypse stitching challenge, and decided to jump on.

Because incentives to stitch, and to blog, are always helpful.

In short, the challenge is to post stitching status and progress pics on every full moon in 2012, starting on 9 January.

Things I plan to work on in 2012:

MarBek - Nativity (which I plan on restarting on 27 November - 1st Sunday in Advent)
Chatelaine - Convent Herbal Garden (already started)
Teresa Wentzler - Needle Guardian
Needle Delight Originals - Amethyst (canvaswork)

There will probably be a couple of other counted canvas pieces in there. Not sure which of the many counted-thread pieces I have kitted will also make it on there, but I don't have to engrave the list in stone :)

But what about Passione Ricamo's "Once Upon a Time", you ask? Well, I hope to have that finished by Thanksgiving weekend. I'm at 177 hours, and coming down the home stretch.

(Click for larger picture)

Also, since I've been bitten by the counted canvas bug, I just finished From Nancy's Needle's "Autumn Leaves" this past weekend.

What have I been up to besides stitching? I've started going to Curves again, and lost 4.5 inches this past month. I've also stepped up to coach DD's Odyssey of the Mind team, which is out of my normal 'box', but is certainly a growth opportunity for me. So if my stitching progress seems slow, it's because there's only one of me.

Still alive...

2011-07-11T19:31:00.000-04:00

Rumours of my blog-demise (if there have been any) have been greatly exaggerated. I'm still here, just not blogging anywhere near as much as I used to. I just realized it's been over 4 months since my last entry.

What do I have to report? Not much, really. Since finishing Heirloom Christmas, I've been focusing my attention on Passione Ricamo's _Once Upon a Time_, which is shaping up quite well.

I also designed a biscornu around Easter - not sure why I never blogged it, but here it is: Peepscornu.

In other news, I just got back from vacation in Virginia, reinforcing that if I can't have Wales, I'll retire to Virginia instead.

As always with travel, I picked up my reading again. My literary choices:

As I Was Saying: A Chesterton Reader - Robert Knille, ed. I've been reading this intermittently on the exercise bike for the past couple months, and I finished it this trip. A very nice sampling of GK Chesteron's work, comprising some of his poetry, some of his essays, and quotes from his longer works.

The Scarlet Lion - Elizabeth Chadwick The sequel to The Greatest Knight, her historical novel about William Marshal. Both of these were very good reads - historically accurate, with characters that come alive. Not quite as heavy a read as Sharon Kay Penman (another historical novelist I love), but a far cry better than a particular well-known historical novelist who tends to write about the Tudors...but I digress.

The Canterbury Tales - Burton Raffel, trans. I actually started this shortly after returning from Rome last year, but it languished on my nightstand while I pursued needlecraft. It's an enjoyable, fairly easy to read translation, and reading an unabridged version lets you see some of the dynamics between the pilgrims. I'm not completely finished, but I did read 400 pages (of 600) on the plane on the way home.

Not much to add at this point. Life is busy but not in a noteworthy way, so I'll close for now.

Another year older and hopefully wiser...

2011-02-19T12:21:00.004-05:00

Another birthday has passed for me, and life has been both busy and productive since my last post at the beginning of the year...

I've completed two needlework projects. The first is Victoria Sampler's "Heirloom Christmas Sampler". I changed out the poem for Merry Christmas in several languages and am rather happy with the result:

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This was also #36 off my 101List.

The other is a crochet afghan, which i just finished half an hour ago. The pattern is Leisure Arts "Autumn Leaves", but I chose my own colors:

(Click for larger picture)

In other news, I've seen two concerts in the meantime.
- Flogging Molly at the House of Blues in Orlando on 11 February, which was a birthday present from DsD. We had a blast!
- Great Big Sea at the newly-opened Ponte Vedra Concert Hall near Jacksonville on 13 February. I'd been wanting to see GBS live for quite a while (and indeed, it was #91 on my 101List!) so it was a treat. The concert was even better than I expected - they are wonderful to see live. The last piece they did for the evening was done completely unplugged - no mics, no instruments, no wires...just voices. And oh was it lovely! Not something you can pull off in a large venue.

Well that's all from Alternate Dementia today!

Happy 2011 !

2011-01-01T20:04:00.003-05:00

Another year, another opportunity to reflect.

2010 was a good year, I think. We had a short-notice vacation/pilgrimage to Rome. I did some designing. I worked a fair bit of overtime at work the latter part of the year, and I expect that to continue at least for the first month or two of the year.

Oh yeah, and I hit the big 4-0. Or as I prefer to think, 28 in hexadecimal ;)

On to goals!

2010 Goals

Read 5000 pages - Even after upping the ante, I blew this one out of the water with 7044 pages read - 140%. Now, some of that was due to a transatlantic vacation, which certainly accounted for probably 2000 of those pages.

Do 20 101List items - Not quite, but I did manage 17. Much better than 2009's pathetic 9.

Rivendell to Lorien - Yes, actually! I'm also 142 miles from Lorien toward Rauros, thanks partly to the Wii and partly to walking around my neighborhood.

2011 Goals

Read 5000 pages - This was a good goal level for me so I think I'll keep with it.

Do 10 101List items - I haven't ever managed 20, so I'm going to be a little more realistic.

Lorien to Rauros - I'm already a third of the way there, and it's an exercise motivator...so I'm going to add:

Rauros to Isengard (Aragorn's path) - I had a choice for so I'm going with the longer of the two.

So that's it for goals! I should have a completion within the next day or two - I'm almost done with VS Heirloom Christmas!

It's that time of year...

2010-11-30T09:16:00.002-05:00

I've crawled out from under the virtual rock with another design offering.

Tor Rhuann's 2010 ornament is a wreath biscornu. I've already done it in two colorways so far...

White candles on green:

Advent candles on white:

I've already finished the Advent one, using crystals as the candle flames, and I'm happy with the result.

PDF is already up over at Tor Rhuann Designs

Sorry for the blog silence otherwise. I've been working a fair bit of overtime of late, DH has been traveling more, and DD's extracurriculars are in full swing. So I can't promise anything other than continued sporadic posts for the foreseeable future...

San Pietro

2010-09-06T19:17:00.003-04:00

A few months ago in Rome, I saw this:

Now, does that column not seem like a potential Tor Rhuann design?

And so it became:

and

Facebook fans of Tor Rhuann saw the initial version of this design over a month ago - life has just been busy enough that I hadn't actually finished the models until today. But now San Pietro is officially released!

I tried something a little different, with the blackwork becoming more of an independent element and less of an accent than in my previous designs. I wanted to represent the marbling in the motifs, but wasn't sure whether an overdye would provide enough variance in a small space, so it became a blackwork fill instead. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results, although I'm undecided on whether I prefer the blackwork outline around the fill or with it left off - both have their own appeal. I also made the blackwork motifs of all the same dimension, so they can be interchangeable (or extensible).

With the latency between design and release on this, maybe I should start work on the Christmas ornament now!

Elementary

2010-08-09T12:52:00.002-04:00

A month ago, I posted that I'd finished Victoria Sampler's Air sampler.

I can now add the other three to the list:

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All of these are done on 30-ct antique white Murano, and the pictures don't really do them justice.

It's been a year since I quit World of Warcraft, and I've done quite a bit of stitching in that time. Admittedly it's been mostly smalls, but still...

Speaking of stitching, Tor Rhuann does have a new design out. Sorta - I've released it on Tor's Facebook page, but until I get the model completed it won't really be official.

More stitching, more progress toward my 101List goals!

I've also seen 'Weird Al' Yankovic in concert within the past few weeks. He is awesome to see live! And I'll be seeing Rush this fall, which should be a treat.

The Agony and the Ecstasy (Rome 2010 - 9/9)

2010-07-23T13:55:00.002-04:00

Inflight between Rome and JFK, 2 July 2010

Yesterday we had the rare privilege of attending Evening Prayer in the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel is nestled in the heart of the Vatican Museums, and is the site where papal elections and other significant events occur. It sees 4 million visitors a year, but opening it up for prayer use by outside groups is rare enough that Dr. Lev, who has visited there a thousand times and has lived and worked in Rome for over a decade, had never done so before.

As for the beauty of the famed chapel itself -- all the pictures and stories you hear really don't prepare you for the sheer awe it inspires. The ceiling, arguably the most famed fresco in existence, really is a masterpiece of color and depth. It has been restored over the past decade or so, with a small unrestored patch left behind so you can see how dark it had gotten from the candles, incense, and the passage of years.

When I'd seen pictures of the ceiling before, I'd assumed Michelangelo was painting between roof supports. I never realized that some of those were just painted! And indeed, a number of the figures and columns look more like sculptures coming out of the ceiling toward you.

The other well-known fresco here, the Last Judgment, is behind the altar. This was painted toward the end of Michelangelo's life, and in some ways is heavier, but it is also full of movement. There are so many little details and it is busy, but not too much so. It was also a chance for Michelangelo to get a little payback - some of his enemies are painted being dragged off to hell, while he painted his friends in heaven. (Apparently such cameos were not unusual, though - I remember a fresco in Orvieto, where the painter painted his ex-girlfriend as a harlot being carried off to hell.) You definitely didn't want to get on a fresco painter's bad side!

There is other art in the Sistine Chapel that you don't hear as much about - 12 murals along the sides showing scenes from the Old and New Testaments, and a marble mosaic floor that reminded me of an elaborate quilt pattern. The side murals are quite beautiful too, but suffer in comparisn to the celing and altar.

(The Vatican website has an awesome virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel, much better than any of my pictures!)

After evening prayer, we had a reception on a terrace in the museum, and we all received a commemorative medal from the Archbishop.

Our final family dinner in Italy was at a restaurant called La Vittoria, near St.Peters. DH and DD split a mixed seafood appetizer, and we discovered she likes raw oysters, and anchovies. Not to my taste, but to each their own. All of the food was very good - DH had an excellent sea bass, and the limoncello was excellent. DD had watermelon for dessert - and I actually liked it. I guess never knew watermelon to have a definite taste. It does seem like all the fruits tasted more intense in Italy - I guess Europe is content to let fruits be their natural states, instead of breeding for size or appearance.

We took an early taxi to the airport, and are now headed home by way of New York. Driving in Rome is an interesting challenge. There are few lane dividers, and in town it seems those that do exist are rarely heeded. Cars weave in and out, in a close chaotic dance, and yet despite that I saw surprisingly few collisions. I'm not sure what arcane skills our tour bus driver had that allowed him to pass effortlessly through traffic and tight turns without incident. And riding with the taxi driver was almost like being on a roller coaster - a wild ride, but under control.

In some ways it will be good to be home, but I was also a little sad to leave.

Mangia, mangia! (Rome 2010 - 8/9)

2010-07-21T22:48:00.001-04:00

Madri Pie, 30 June 2010

Back at the hotel, and it's after midnight. We had a formal lunch at the Archbishop's hotel, and a very nice reception tonight at La Perla in Castel Gandolfo. It was a 6-course dinner, and several priests gave speeches. One of them did an absolutely hilarious impersonation standup of Harry Carey and Howard Cosell describing the Pallium Mass as a sporting event, and he was spot on for them, as well as the Holy Father, the Archbishop, and several presidents. The whole room was in stitches.

We also got served some nice wine, and prosecco - the rose processo was especially nice.

This was our fourth multicourse meal this trip - we had dinner at Cecilia Metella last night, and I learned a new card game from a couple of boys at my table - a pickup/match game called Scorvo (Ed: this turned out to be Scopa with an American deck...). It definitely passed the time between courses.

Madri Pie, 1 July 2010

This morning we had Mass at St.Peter-in-Chains (S. Pietro in Vincoli), built around the two sets of chains that held St. Peter in Jerusalem and in Rome. S. Pietro in Vincoli dates from the 5th century, but most of the interior is newer. This most famous art here is Michelangelo's "Moses", which was neat, but I found inspiration for future design work in the borders and mosaics. I'm finding a lot of inspiration as we visit old basilicas. Yesterday we had Mass at the cathedral in Albano, near Castel Gandolfo - there was some inspiration there as well, despite it being a somewhat more modern interior. There were some neat frescoes of St. Helen, and Constantine seeing the cross in the sky.

Today after St. Peter-in-Chains, we walked through the Colosseum and the Forum. I'd seen both before, but we had a wonderful tour guide, art historian Dr. Elizabeth Lev, and it was very cool seeing how these places intertwined with early Christianity. Liz also had an engaging speaking style and sense of humor.

Live...from St. Peter's Square... (Rome 2010 - 7/9)

2010-07-18T21:29:00.001-04:00

St. Peter's Square, 30 June 2010

We're in St. Peter's Square, waiting for the Papal audience to start. We're three rows from the front, so we have an excellent view. The cameras and security are being set up, and a marching band just came in. They look Austrian with bright red vests, short black pants, and brown feathered caps. They sound great, and are a pleasant distraction from the sun beating down on us.

....

We've been here 90 minutes, with 60 minutes left to go before the Holy Father arrives. I can't even begin to estimate how many people are here. My ticket number is near 18000, though, so 20,000 could be a modest estimate.

Thirty minutes out, and the brass band has been joined by a pipe-and-drum band dressed in black medieval-looking robes and frilly collars.

There was also an impromptu performance by a boy's choir behind us, and the Panamanian contingent nearby was just singing. Not sure if it's Battle of the Bands, or Vatican Idol, but it passes the time.

The Holy Father's address was in Italian, after a reading from Paul's letter to the Romans in Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish. After the address are greetings and prayers for groups by language, with a shorter address in each language by the Holy Father - he has a definite German accent to his English. In the callouts, I learned that the brass band was indeed Austrian, the boy's choir behind us is from Ireland, and the pipe-and-drum band from Spain. There are several other choirs in the audience, all of whom have sung when called out.

With music in her heart... (Rome 2010 - 6/9)

2010-07-17T19:36:00.000-04:00

29 June 2010

This afternoon we went down to Trastevere - by taxi this time because of the heat - to visit St. Cecilia's. We'd been there before, but it is a nice little church and we wanted to visit again, since St. Cecilia is DD's patron saint. St. Cecilia's is connected to a Benedictine convent, with a small garden in front. Inside, it's a little baroque, with some white and gold, and vivid frescoes and mosaics. There were lilies everywhere, and the side aisles had painted murals and ongoing restoration.

What made the trip most worthwhile was the crypt area. St. Cecilia's is built atop the original 4th century church, which was built on St. Cecilia's own house and the site of her martyrdom. This time we were able to get into the original crypt chapel - last time we were here, it was locked.

It was amazingly beautiful - floor to ceiling mosaics in red, blue, and gold, with more muted mosaicwork near the ceiling on the walls.

We could see the area behind the altar, where the remains of St. Cecilia and her husband are, stone sarcophagi stacked atop each other. It was very still and cool, since it was underground. Other excavations outside the chapel are ongoing, and it's cool and damp. Some of the original mosaic floors from the Roman house are visible.

Looking at the bits and pieces of old and new (where 'new' means 'only 4 centuries') I got a few ideas for cross-stitch designs. I had an idea in St. Peter's as well, inspired by the marblework on one of the columns. I'll have to explore this further.

(Ed: This is the place I most regret my photos not turning out. There are some photos online, at least. Too bad there's no VR tour for this one..)

"..et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam" (Rome 2010 - 5/9)

2010-07-16T21:51:00.002-04:00

Madri Pie, 29 June 2010

We're taking a break - after Mass we went to the Pontifical North American College (a seminary near the Vatican) to a reception for the three North American archbishops - besides Miami, Milwaukee and Cincinnati also got new archbishops.

The Pallium Mass was lengthy, but rather neat - most of the Mass was in Latin, but the homily and greetings were Italian. The Prayers of the Faithful were a varied collection of languages, including Korean and Vietnamese. It was fitting,though, considering the 38 new archbishops are spread throughout every populated continent except Australia (which is small enough that they probably don't need new archbishops very often).

Communion was a slightly chaotic affair - although there were quite a number of priests dispensing, spread throughout the nave, it seemed like people would still try to shove their way forward. I suppose, though, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Exiting the basilica was demonstration of that! I got separated from my family several times in the press of the crowd. Kind of embarrassing being cut off by packs of diminutive nuns, but I suppose I probably cut folks off myself trying to catch up to my family. There seem to be two kinds of people when it comes to crowd control - those who tend to queue and wait, and those who just shove their way forward without regard for others. But I suppose that's human nature.

Other than the crowd issues, it was enjoyable. On both the procession and recession, groups of folks applauded or cheered their archbishop as he passed, and of course the Holy Father was the center of attention. And of security - the rather colorful Vatican guards preceded and followed the procession, and a number of other, less conspicuous, men in suits were spaced throughout the nave, keeping people from hanging over the barrier or standing on chairs. I imagine it's a very restrictive mix, being spiritual leader of a billion people with numerous public responsibilities, combined with the necessary security protocols for a head of state.

"Tu es Petrus..." (Rome 2010 - 4/9)

2010-07-15T20:29:00.005-04:00

I'm sitting in the nave at St. Peter's, waiting for the Pallium Mass to start. Archbishop Wenski is one of 38 archbishops from around the world receiving a pallium from the Holy Father today. The archbishop held Mass here yesterday, and beforehand we got to wander around a bit and take pictures. There was a sweeper driving around here keeping the floor clean - it looked like a miniature zamboni.

St. Peter's is quite huge, and also makes much use of marble and bronze. Where St. Maria Maggiore was vividly decorated, St. Peter's is primarily white and gold,with more muted tones used in the marble.

Yesterday's Mass with the Archbishop was actually a capella, because the musicians had gone with the other half of the group to Assisi. Since we'd been to Assisi in the past, we opted to stay in Rome. We had a large block of free time yesterday, so DD and I wandered around a bit through St. Peter's Square and around. Lesson learned: don't buy from the vendors directly near the square - they charge outrageous prices, and a block's walk can get the same items for half the price. If it's water you want, there are public fountains all over, free-flowing and surprisingly cold. Quite refreshing!

Yesterday evening we attended Vespers at St.Paul-outside-the-Walls, celebrated by the Holy Father. Seating was 90 minutes beforehand, and security was pretty tight. The choicest seats were right beside the aisle, and we managed to sit two seats in from there. We got a very nice glimpse of the Holy Father as he passed by. He seems a bit on the short side, but at 83 that's perhaps to be expected. He did seem to be in good spirits.

Vespers was in Latin, although the prayers and readings were in other languages - each intercession in the Prayers of the Faithful was in a different language. Everyone in the congregation got a booklet to follow along and participate, and it makes a good keepsake. Pope Benedict XVI has a nice cadence to his speaking voice, especially during his homily. Many of the Mass and prayer parts are sung, especially in Latin, and either he is a merely adequate singer, or his voice isn't well-suited to Gregorian chant. Or it could be age - the oldest priest at our parish is of similar age and vocal quality.

St.Paul's looks even better with the lights on inside, and I could see details I'd missed the day before. One neat feature it has is portraits of all of the successors of Peter, running clockwise around the nave, with the current pope's portrait always lit.

After Vespers, we walked to Trastevere, about 45 minutes from the hotel. We ate at Taverna de Mercanti, a very nice restaurant across from St. Cecilia's. I had a mixed grill with chicken, quail, pork, beef and lamb, and a very good house wine. For the most part, you can't go wrong with just having the house wine in Italy. I've discovered that the reduced effect I see from Italian wines is because most don't contain sulfites. Why would they, when wine is so prevalent that it doesn't need preservation?

(Virtual tour of St. Peter's Basilica)

...Back to Basilicas... (Rome 2010 - 3/9)

2010-07-14T18:42:00.002-04:00

(27 June, continued)
After Santa Croce, we went to St. John Lateran, the oldest legal church in Rome. It was founded by Emperor Constantine in 313, on the site of the battle that made him emperor after a vision showing a cross and the words "In hoc signo vinces" ("In this sign you shall be victorious"). Roman emperors would often build temples to gods when they won battles - in Constantine's case, this was Christ, so the Christians in Rome got their first church...and got to stop being persecuted.

St. John Lateran, considered the mother of all Roman churches, doesn't completely resemble its 4th century origins - it was severely damaged by fire in the 16th century. It is the same size, which is rather large, and some of the mosaics and frescoes salvaged from the original were incorporated into the new. The nave is quite large, with marble tiled floors, and larger-than-life sculptures of the Apostles in ornate marble niches on either side.

The apse has a very large gilt mosaic of Christ and the apostles, reaching up into the dome. There are also two ornate side chapels, at least that I saw. The one downside to being on a tour is that there really wasn't as much time as I'd have liked to just explore the place further.

The next stop in our whirlwind tour of really early churches was St.Paul-outside-the-Walls, built on the site of a shrine that housed the mortal remains of St. Paul after his martyrdom. This church was also rebuilt after a fire in 1823. Unlike Santa Croce and the Lateran basilica, it didn't get a kitschy neo-classical facade in the 18th century. Apparently when tourists looking at classical history started outnumbering the pilgrims visiting Rome, the government put neoclassical facades on the more popular tourist spots. (Until then, the Lateran was just a boring brick building on the outside and beautiful on the inside.)

St. Paul's actually has a large courtyard in front, as initially designed, with a statue of the Apostle in the center. The facade has some nice gilt frescoes, and the nave is quite beautiful, with mosaics and frescoes from the life of St. Paul. At the time of its building, it was the largest church in the world, a title it held until the building of the cathedral in Florence. There are two side altars of malachite, and impressive works in stone and marble.

Before the high altar area, a little staircase leads down to where the sarcophagus of St. Paul is. There's unfortunately not much of Paul left (gee thanks, pirates...) but the chains that bound him are on display. Like the Lateran, I wish we'd had more time.

The one I most regret not staying longer at was St. Maria Maggiore. Like the Lateran and Holy Cross, it ended up with a neoclassical facade, but inside it was absolutely beautiful. It is quite opulent, with mosaics and guilding, but I was most struck by the use of a staggering variety of colors of marble in the decorations.

We had Mass with the Archbishop in the Pauline (Borghese) Chapel there, so I had time to admire the use of marble and sculpture in that small space. I got to see very little of the rest, though, and would love to go back again.

After our all-too-brief tour, we attended a reception for the Archbishop at the home of the US Ambassador to the Holy See, Miguel Diaz. With all the august personages there, I felt a little out of my depth, but it was a nice reception anyway. And the Archbishop was joking about matchmaking DD with the Ambassador's 13-year-old son, which was amusing but embarrassed DD a bit.

The evening after then has been quiet - a gelato and some dinner, and tomorrow will mostly be free.

(The Vatican website has some very nice virtual tours:

St. John Lateran

St. Paul outside the Walls

St. Mary Major

Very good picture quality, and a blessing since most of my interior pics didn't turn out...)

In the steps of an empress... (Rome 2010 - 2/9)

2010-07-13T22:19:00.003-04:00

Madri Pie, Rome - 27 June 2010

Every trip, there is always something you forget. The telltale prickle on my arms when I woke up says that this trip, that item was sunscreen. I should find a farmacia sometime this morning, before I get sunburnt.

Breakfast this morning was a simple but tasty affair. The nuns presented a spread of breads, fruit, cereal, and sliced meats and cheeses. And coffee - Italian coffee is quite strong, especially by American standards. I still had two cups, which should keep me awake well into the night.

Today was a tour of early Christan churches in Rome. Our first stop was the Church of the Holy Cross (Santa Croce in Gerusalemme), but Mass was still going on when we arrived, so we went to the Holy Steps (Santa Scala). Santa Scala is a shrine right near St. John Lateran, consisting of three staircases in parallel leading up to a view of a room with a reliquary. The center stair is held by tradition to be 28 steps of Pilate's praetorium climbed by Jesus during his trial. The staircase was brought to Rome by St. Helena (Constantine's mom). Pilgrims climb this center stair on their knees in prayer. We didn't have the time, however, so we looked at the relic area from the side staircase.

After Santa Scala, we went back to Santa Croce, where Mass was just ending. This was one of the earliest churches in Rome, built to house the pieces of the True Cross brought back by the aforementioned St. Helen. There are still a few pieces housed here, along with other relics such as the sign that hung over Jesus at the crucifixion, and the finger of Thomas the Apostle.

The nave of Santa Croce was richly decorated, with mosaics of various biblical stories, and the story of St. Helen finding the True Cross and bringing it back. She was 80 when she made the trip to Jerusalem, so she was one tough lady!

(Since my pictures didn't turn out well, there are some lovely pics of Santa Croce here. Not quite as lucky finding a good site for Santa Scala pics...)

"Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages" - Rome 2010 (1/9)

2010-07-12T20:23:00.001-04:00

Rome, 26 June 2010

Rome, the Eternal City. We're here for a week, on pilgrimage as much as vacation. Our bishop was named as Archbishop of Miami, so a pilgrimage was put together to accompany him to Rome to receive his pallium from Pope Benedict XVI in a few days. There are over 250 of us in all, between the dioceses of Orlando and Miami. We're the only family from our parish, as far as i can tell. So we'll be spending a fair bit of time in churches, but we'll have time to ourselves as well.

We flew out yesterday, with a mostly uneventful flight -- other than the Italian-speaking flight attendant dropping the comm after repeating instructions in Italian, uttering an English (if accented) profanity. It got a laugh from the cabin, though.

We're staying at Residenza Madri Pie, a religious guesthouse a few blocks from the Vatican. We arrived this morning too early to check in, so we visited the nearest gelateria and wandered around a bit through St. Peters Square and down to the Tiber across the Bridge of Angels. On the way back we picked up some fruit and bottled water at a fruitteria.

Our room is spartan by hotel standards in America, with three single beds and no TV or WiFi, but it is very clean, and air conditioned. Since we'll be busy this trip, we don't really need more than that anyway, especially since we're on pilgrimage.

We went to Mass at the nearby Maria delle Fornaci, a small church about 350 years old. The interior looks very ornate, primarily from the use of assorted colors of marbles in the carvings - green/black, brown, red/grey and white/grey. Archbishop Wenski officiated, along with 12 other priests, and other than the first reading in Spanish, Mass was in English. I'm sure we'll hear other languages more often during our trip.

We had dinner tonight at Lo Scarpone, travelling there by motorcoach. The food and wine were excellent, including a nice veal with cream sauce, and the company was pleasant as well. The restaurant had a terrace, and at night with the trees and lampposts, it looks a little like Narnia, or so DD claims.

We got to chat with the Archbishop for a little bit, and he was riding the same motorcoach as us.

With a transatlantic flight and too much good house wine, I think it may be good to retire early.

Air it out!

2010-07-03T20:13:00.005-04:00

A small stitching finish - Victoria Sampler's "Fresh Air"

(Click for larger picture)

This is on 30-count antique white Murano. Since I finished this back on the 18th, I made good progress on "Crystal Waters", another of the Victoria Sampler 'Elements' series.

What else have I been up to? Oh, a fair bit...besides finishing #40 on my 101List above, I've finished 4 other goals:

#26: 'Walk' from Rivendell to Lorien (finished 23 June)

#62: Read The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick (finished 2 July)

#94: Travel to Italy (was there 26 June - 2 July)

#96: Attend a papal audience (did on 30 June)

Yes, you read that right - I just got back from a trip to Rome. There will be pictures and a journal, although it'll probably be about a week before I'm ready to post it.

I did find some nice bits of inspiration in some of the basilicas we visited, so I may have some new designs soon as well. Not before the journal though!

Oh...a bit of administrivia. Lately I've been getting a *lot* of spam comments, so I've turned comment moderation on -- word verification didn't seem to help. It's not that I don't want to hear from you - I just don't want the spam! Hopefully I'll be able to keep on top of comments and approve any real ones in a timely manner.

Every group needs a healer!

2010-06-10T16:48:00.002-04:00

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Cleric (5th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-11

Dexterity-13

Constitution-12

Intelligence-15

Wisdom-12

Charisma-12

Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron's vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons, and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty, since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity's domains. These domains grants the cleric special powers, and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric's Wisdom score should be high, since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'...

2010-05-03T21:55:00.003-04:00

Without my even noticing, two months have slipped on by since I last blogged.

Not that I haven't been busy...far from it! Several of my 101List items have fallen into the 'complete' bucket.

Such as #35: Finish four smalls. I have actually finished two smalls since last blog:

A quick 'Pi Day' finish (from Tor Rhuann Designs)

(Click for larger picture)
Sweetheart Tree's "Baby Shamrocks Fob", on mint lugana. This is my best attempt to date at cording and tassel - I'm very happy with how it turned out. And it was a fun stitch.

Next was #51: Knit a pair of socks. I have indeed! Ok, so I cheated a bit and used worsted-weight, but I actually Have Knit Socks!

I also finished #63: Read _Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell_. I enjoyed the book, but it was a bit of a dense read so it took me a while. I've been on a reading binge since - I've read #5-#9 of Jim Butcher's _Dresden Files_ series, and am working on #10 right now. I may have to borrow #12 from someone, since I tend to buy most books only in paperback....

Last, #81: Sing solo in front of at least 10 people.. This one has always been more of a 'step outside my comfort zone' goal, but since I've started taking voice lessons my confidence in my singing voice has grown exponentially. So I cantored Stations of the Cross one Friday during Lent, when DH (who usually does it) was on travel. I think I did okay.

I hope at least one more goal will fall this year: #92: See RUSH in concert. We *will* be seeing RUSH, we just haven't decided yet whether to go to Tampa or to West Palm Beach.

So that's the goal wrapup. In other news, DD got a new parakeet, a pretty yellow-thru-indigo named Sunny. (or Sonny, depending on what gender you think it is!)
.
Sunny has been rather more affectionate than either of DD's two previous 'keets, and seems to have taken on the role of homework helper and fellow couch-potato. She sits on DD's shoulder a lot when she's out and about. And oddly enough, within a few days of getting her, her other 'keet, David, went from Mr. Antisocial to Mr. Lovebird, and would also hang out with DD.

Unfortunately, David died last week, so we are again a one-keet family. But we had David for about 5 years, which is longer than I remember my sister ever having any single one of hers, so I guess it was just his time.

And more finishes!

2010-03-02T16:35:00.003-05:00

Only March, and I've actually completed several more things this year!

This first, my Peace design, I actually finished a couple of weeks ago. Somehow I never got around to posting it here, though...

(Click for PDF)
This is on antique white Italian linen, with Waterlilies "Royal Jewels", PB68 "black opal", and MH40374 beads.

My other two finishes are more recent, both on 28 February.

This is Victoria Sampler's "February Bellpull", on 28ct lavender bliss Lugana. I also put a few 2mm amethyst gemstone rounds for accent. Because it's my 40th birthday piece and I felt it needed genuine examples of my birthstone.

And remember the snowflake afghan I started when I lied about setting my hook aside? I finished that too.

The yarns I used were various blues and white with silver metallic threads. The pattern is a freebie at Art of Tangle, though I chose to make more motifs (91 total) and make a hexagonal afghan. Sort of a meta-snowflake.

Four finishes already in 2010....I think that beats my total for 2009!

0x28

2010-02-16T10:51:00.001-05:00

Another day, but I had to remove the 'thirtysomething' from my blog tagline. Still not sure how I feel about it.

I did get a cute button from my parents that reads "Everything up to the age of 40 is just rehearsal.". It made my day.

Still, there's no rule that says I have to give my age in decimal, so I'm 28. In hex, at least.

How Belinda got her stitching groove back...

2010-02-03T15:50:00.003-05:00

After quitting WoW back in July, I got back into stitching. 129 stitch-hours later (for a total of 159), I've finished Mirabilia's "Madonna of the Garden"

(Click for larger picture)
She's done on 32ct SMF "Shimmering Hillside", and is actually fairly heavily tweaked. I did color conversions on the blanket, parts of the veil, and the gold ruffle. I swapped out some of the beads, tweaked the halo, and took off the fruit panel at the bottom. This picture really doesn't do it justice - it's quite sparkly in person, and I can't wait to see what my framer will do with her!

Before I pick up another large project on which I track hours, I'm going to do small pieces for a few weeks. I also have set myself a goal of finishing the snowflake afghan by the end of February, and with prime crochet time during the Super Bowl and the Olympics, that should be fairly easy to accomplish.

Also, my latest design, "Peace!", is up over at Tor Rhuann but I haven't finished stitching it myself yet.

Wiiiiiiiiii!

2010-01-27T12:09:00.004-05:00

As mentioned previously, we got a Wii for Christmas. We also got a Wii Fit Plus - game+balance board. DH, DD and I have all been using the Wii Fit Plus regularly - I'm at 28 consecutive days working out (30-40 minutes a session). DH has already lost 7 pounds over the past month. It's fun and it's convenient, which makes it an easy exercise program to stick with.

We each have our strengths and weaknesses on the games - DH rocks at the Snowball Fight, Ski Jump, Soccer Heading, and Tightrope - all of which I'm pretty horrible at. DD's best game is Obstacle Course. My best games are Big Top Juggling and Rhythm Parade, and I do quite well at half of the yoga poses. The other half...well, I have trouble balancing steadily on one leg for any length of time. But I'm working on it.

Besides the Wii, I've been continuing to stitch, and may have a finish shortly. _Madonna of the Garden_ is at 141 hours, and I only have border and beading remaining.

Endings and beginnings...

2009-12-31T20:18:00.005-05:00

A new year and a decade draw to a close, and new ones are about to begin.

Looking back over the 2000's, things have changed quite a bit! DH and I became Catholic, DD has grown from an infant into a tween, my stepkids have both moved out and established households of their own, and we now have a grandson. I've changed jobs twice, started a pseudo-career as a cross-stitch designer, and started taking voice lessons. We've travelled overseas 5 times as a family, not counting the trip we were on at the turn of the millenium (we were in London 10 years ago tonight, in a large crowd on the banks of the Thames, drinking too much good champagne and waiting for fireworks). I've lost touch with some friends, but made new ones. I've done a lot of needlework, read a lot of books, spent some time on the computer.

All in all, it was quite eventful. The new decade will bring some expected changes (DD growing up and going to college, for example), but doubtless there will be unexpected ones as well, as there was this past decade.

Narrowing the focus a bit, I met some of my 2009 goals, and fell short of others. Let's review, shall we?
2009 Goals

Read 4500 pages - I blew this one out of the water, reading almost 8500 pages!

Do 20 101List items - This one...not so much. Only 9 actually saw completion.

Rivendell to Lorien - I made, sadly, virtually no progress on this.
So...
2010 Goals

Read 5000 pages - I know that I'm streaky with both reading and stitching, but since I did so well in '09 I am going to up the ante a bit.

Do 20 101List items

Rivendell to Lorien - Since I've quit WoW, and my in-laws gave us a Wii Fit Plus for Christmas that is already getting a fair bit of use, there may actually be progress on this.

I'll wrap up the year with a couple of finishes!
The Poinsettia Afghan, finished yesterday:

(Click for larger picture)

Colorway two of Tor Rhuann's 2009 Snowflake:

This was done in Caron Waterlilies "Blue Lavender" with Rainbow Gallery PB27 "Ice Pastels" on opalescent white Lugana (the pic is kind of dark). It's now hanging on my parents' tree.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Snowfall...

2009-12-21T23:43:00.005-05:00

I'm sure folks in the northeastern US are tired of snow by now, but here in Florida we have to make our own.

So, here's Tor Rhuann's 2009 Christmas ornament!

(Click for PDF)

The picture doesn't sparkle very much, but I stitched this on opalescent lugana, with Waterlilies "Ink", and silver and dark blue Petite Treasure Braids. It's definitely more sparkly and wintry than the scan would indicate!

The hexagonal design was a bit of a late inspiration, and was a bit of a challenge to get to look "right" to me. But I think it was worth it.

On the hook...

2009-11-29T19:15:00.003-05:00

In my last post, I said I'd lay my crochet hook aside for a bit to let it cool down.

I lied.

Not only did I *not* put the hook down and step away, I started not one, but *two* afghans....

The first is a Poinsettia Afghan, a free pattern from Coats and Clark. I've only done one square so far:

The other, in somewhat more progressed state, is a Snowflake Afghan, a freebie from Art of Tangle.

(Click for larger picture)
I'm actually piecing this one slightly differently than charted - I decided to make it a hexagonal afghan instead of a somewhat rectangular one.

Because I'm weird that way.

I can't count...

2009-11-17T13:35:00.002-05:00

Nearly 5 years ago, I decided to jump on the 63 Squares Afghan bandwagon.

When I was nearly half done, I discovered there was a sequel pattern, "63 More Crochet Stitches". Combining the two and deciding to drop several, I decided my 63 Squares afghan would be a little larger...121 squares (11x11). Time passed, life happened, and the afghan languished.

Until football season this year, when I picked it back up again. And about 9:30 last night, I can say...it's done!

(Click for larger picture)

And true to form, the afghan has since been claimed:
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At least I won't have to hear "crochet faster, Mommy!" tonight. I think I'll set my hook aside for a bit to let it cool off.

To our troops, past and present...

2009-11-11T09:21:00.001-05:00

In this day and age, all the attention and adulation seems to be on celebrities - sports figures, entertainers, heiresses - and we seem to either forget or malign those whose sacrifices have actually made a difference...

The men and women of our Armed Forces.

So, to my late grandfather, a Marine who served in WWII....

To my father-in-law, who did two tours in Vietnam...and to his brothers, who also served....

To my son-in-law, an Army reservist who got back from Iraq earlier this year...

And to all the men and women who have ever served, giving up their plans, time with family, their health, and sometimes even their lives...

Even though these words are woefully inadequate:
THANK YOU

Experiments in social networking

2009-11-06T11:35:00.002-05:00

Good news for readers who like my designs - Tor Rhuann now has a Facebook page! Check it out over at
http://www.facebook.com/TorRhuannDesigns

There *will* be a 2009 ornament - fear not the quiet that has been Tor so far this year. I also have some other design ideas in the works.

Since I quit WoW back in July, I've gotten a lot of stitching done. And crochet as well - the "63-squares" afghan is now up to 104 squares of 121!

Back to basics...

2009-10-16T21:14:00.005-04:00

I admit, I'm not the world's best housekeeper. I'm probably somewhere between mediocre and adequate. I'm fairly good at keeping up with the essentials like laundry and general decluttering, but I can't remember the last time I scrubbed my bathrooms.

Now, probably a large part of that is inertia. I'd really rather spend what free time I have doing things worthy of such - I doubt I'll be lying on my deathbed wishing I'd spent more time cleaning. But another part is that after a while, the chemical smells get to me. And if they get to *me*, they're worse on my family.

Quite by accident a few weeks ago, I stumbled on a site that had various 'homemade' cleaning solution recipes, using very basic, inexpensive pantry items. Poking further, I found other sites as well, with similar recipes.

It all sounded intriguing. Frugal, non-chemical...could be a good thing. So I've started out trying a few of them.

This is my second week test-driving a laundry solution - I have a bottle of liquid castile soap (short squirt per load) and a dry-powder mix of baking soda, oxi-clean, and borax (1/4 c per load). I'm testing on my whites, since they're often more soiled (kid socks - nuff said) and they'd be more obvious about showing up any issues. So far so good, the whites even seem a little brighter perhaps. And it's certainly gotten blood out of the whites without any real pretreatment. I'm also starting to try the vinegar/water (1:1) solution for basic cleanup.

So we'll see how this little experiment goes. I think I want to try to use up all the remaining commercial products by the end of the calendar year, and try using just homemade solutions for a while after that and see how it goes. Have any of my readers ever tried any of these? What are your thoughts?

Vinegar + baking soda - not just for volcanoes anymore!

And now for my next trick...

2009-09-22T09:06:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago, my voice teacher* asked if I thought I might be able to reproduce a baby sampler that she'd received when her daughter was a baby, so that she'd have a gift for her new grandson's upcoming baptism. I took a look at the piece, probably 30 years old, maybe stamped cross-stitch, and thought I would give it a try.

So I took a picture with my cellphone camera (amazing resolution on those things nowadays!)

I charted it out and made a few minor tweaks. Most notably, brightening up a few of the colors, but also converting most of the satin-stitch ribbons to cross-stitch.

Just over a week after I first put needle to fabric:

I used 25-ct cream lugana, so it's larger than the stitch count would normally be, but still a little smaller than the original. It stitched up pretty quickly, especially since it's football season and I wasn't timing my hours on this.

I pinned it last night and will lace it tonight, and will be able to get it to my teacher before she leaves town for her grandson's baptism this weekend.

I'm pretty happy with the reproduction, and it was fun working with all the bold colors that I'd likely never use otherwise.

I still have my chart in PatternMaker for it, but I don't know anything about the original designer, so I'm reluctant to put it up over on Tor Rhuann. If you do recognize it, please drop me a line!

* Yes, voice teacher. Been taking lessons about a year and a half. Starting to develop into an adequate mezzo, though I doubt I'll be competent enough to be doing solos with any regularity. And you won't see me at the Met or on American Idol.

Why Micro$oft sucks...

2009-09-15T17:06:00.002-04:00

Well, there are many reasons, too numerous to list here.

So I will simply present Reason N+1. I had to upgrade from Office 2003 to Office 2007 for work. I've had it on my machine for maybe 20 minutes, and already I hate it.

Why?

Note the menu area. Note the huge clunky menu boxes.

I can't find a way to make them go away, other than an add-on I could get from Microsoft to revert to "Classic" toolbars. For $16.

So basically, huge bulky toolbox area with no way to revert to a more streamlined classic feel without paying more $$.

Microsoft FTL.

Edit, 9/18: Just found out I can make the bulky menu (aka "menu ribbon") go away - right-click on one of the ribbon tabs and select "Minimize This Ribbon". Much better! Thank you to those who pointed this out to me.

Three more reasons I love my framer!

2009-08-07T18:41:00.003-04:00

I got three pieces back from my framer today, adding to the number of reasons I think she is the best framer ever.

First up is TW Fortunate Traveler. Some may remember that I finished this one on New Years Day...2008. Finally got the dragon on his merry way, and when he came back:

(Click for larger picture)
The detail inset below was an unexpected but beautiful touch, and I think it adds so much to this piece:

(Click for larger picture)

Next up was JN Amethyst Snowflake, which was 2009's New Years Day finish:

(Click for larger picture)

The last thing I had was to take several of my smalls and my logo for Tor Rhuann Designs and ask what she could do with them. Here is the result:

(Click for larger picture)

A little closer pic of the logo area:

(Click for larger picture)

I am still in awe...

What I've been up to..

2009-08-04T10:30:00.002-04:00

I'm taking a hiatus from World of Warcraft - not sure how long, at least a month, could be permanently.

In the meantime, I've actually been doing some stitching, and in the past week I've almost doubled my progress on Mirabilia's _Madonna of the Garden_. With a few color conversions. Here she is at 50 hours.

I hadn't touched her in nearly 2 years, so it's good to get back to it.

I'm a noob...

2009-07-23T19:53:00.001-04:00

...at CSS. I probably should have put 'learn CSS' on my 101List.

Anyway, I've been playing around with getting past and present travel journals online in a single format. My latest attempt is at http://www.clioratha.net/travel/UK2009blog.html.

Let me know what you think....

Abbey road (UK 2009, part 8/8)

2009-07-21T01:11:00.001-04:00

London, Gatwick airport, 5 July 2009
Today we checked out of our hotel in Hastings, to stay at an airport hotel since we have an early flight tomorrow.

On the way to London, we stopped at Bayham Abbey, a small but picturesque ruin along the Kent/Sussex border. There's a somewhat ancient beech tree overgrowing some of the ruins, which gives a bit of an idea of just how long it had been that way. An 18th century house also stands on the grounds, with two rooms accessible to visitors that talked about the Premonstratensians, the monastic order whose abbey it was.

After spending an hour or so exploring on a pleasant sunny day, we continued on toward Gatwick, opting to take the scenic route (in this case, the A264) instead of heading all the way up the A21 to the London ring road and back down. As it turns out, this was a wise move on multiple counts - an accident had traffic stalled for hours on the M25 clockwise, which is the way we would have gone.

The downside of the scenic route is that DD is prone to carsickness, and even with the ginger beer that we'd been using to stave that off the past few days, we needed to stop again. This time, for lunch at a pub in Crawley called The Duke's Head. The food was quite good, and they offered a rather nice cider (Aspall) that was new to me.

Back on the road, we arrived safely at Gatwick and are preparing for tomorrow's flight home.

---------------
That concludes my journal - hope you enjoyed it! More pictures can be found at http://www.clioratha.net/galleries.

Hawks and arrows (UK 2009, part 7/8)

2009-07-19T15:49:00.002-04:00

Hastings, 4 July 2009
Today we drove up to Battle Abbey, and spent most of the day there. The original abbey was built on the site of the Battle of Hastings, with the high altar on the place where Harold Godwinson was killed. Like most other abbeys in England, it underwent several renovations before falling into ruin after the Dissolution. One of its main buildings is now a private school, though, and seemed in good repair from the outside. The main feature of the grounds is, of course, the battlefield itself. Now it's a peaceful place for a pleasant walk, with wild roses and other flora. Quite different than over 900 years ago.

There were two activities being held at the Abbey today which held our interest.

The first was a 'have-a-go' archery session, teaching people a quick basic archery lesson and letting them fire a set of blunted arrows. We all had a turn at it, and DD had three turns over the course of the day, getting a bullseye and several close ones. DH got two through himself, and alas, I was the worst archer of the three. It was fun, though, and DD wishes to explore archery more at home.

The other activity, which was quite fascinating, was a series of falconry sessions by Raphael Falconry. We learned about the history of falconry, especially around the Norman Conquest, and over the course of the day we saw a variety of different birds of prey - Harris hawks, peregrines, lanners, kestrels, and even an owl. During one of the demonstrations, DD was selected to be a "stunt partridge" by pulling the lure for a Harris hawk.

It was really rather informative, learning how the different birds were used in falconry, how they attacked their prey, what their flight styles are. It was very different from any other bird of prey exhibit I'd ever seen.

After the last falconry session, we came back to our room, then went to Mass at nearby Holy Redeemer since we're headed back to London tomorrow.

Canterbury: The Blogger's Tale (UK 2009, part 6/8)

2009-07-18T18:24:00.001-04:00

Hastings, 3 July 2009
We got a somewhat early start today and drove up to Canterbury. Our first stop was St. Augustine's Abbey. Or rather, the ruins thereof. The original monastery dates back to the 7th century (when St. Augustine of Canterbury founded it) but very little is left besides the tombs of several of the archbishops and a few Saxon kings. The Normans built a larger church there, and improvements were made until Henry VIII dissolved that one too, built a palace with some of the stone and carted off much of the rest. Seems to be a common theme. Like so many other places, I wonder what it must have been like back in its prime.

After seeing the vestiges of what once was, we went to Canterbury Cathedral. For a cathedral it's a bit small, but still very richly decorated. There is a small shrine set up to commemorate where Thomas Becket was martyred, and a lit candle at the place where the shrine used to be - back when Canterbury was a famous place of pilgrimage and before Henry VIII destroyed the shrine (and Becket's bones). The marble floor has worn down in places from the many people that have visited over time, including a noticeable groove in the floor near Becket's old shrine.

In the undercroft were several small chapels, including one with the remnants of medieval frescoes (St. Gabriel's chapel, I think).

After a takeaway lunch, we drove to Dover. We stopped and walked along the White Cliffs for a short while, and looked out over the harbor (and a busy harbor it is!) We then went to Dover Castle. Unfortunately the keep itself was closed, and since we weren't much interested in WWII uses of Dover, we just looked around the outside, then left.

DD had really been looking forward to Dover, and when we discovered two other castles in the area, she cheered up. The first was Walmer Castle, which was a Tudor fortress that had been heavily renovated over the years, so much so that we didn't stay long.

The other was Deal Castle. This was also Tudor, and it turns out that it was one of three castles (with Walmer and one other) built by Henry VIII to defend the coast after he ticked off Charles V (who was Henry's first wife's nephew). This castle was mostly as originally designed, and was purely defensive with artillery in mind. It was quite impressive, though, with the engineering and strategy involved. I enjoyed Deal more than I thought I might, though I do have to wonder how much of the stone was pilfered from monasteries.

We took the scenic route back to Hastings, and I think we saw all of the original Cinque Ports except Sandwich.

Coasting along (UK 2009, part 5/8)

2009-07-17T11:58:00.001-04:00

Hastings, 2 July 2009
After having spent much of the week in Hastings, we finally decided to visit the castle. The castle ruins are at the top of a cliff overlooking the city. The city, cliff, and castle are not what they were when William the Conqueror had it built - severe storms in the late 13th century reshaped much of England's southeast coastline. these storms eroded the cliff, causing cliff and part of the castle to collapse. so for once, I can't blame Cromwell for its disrepair - Mother Nature beat him to the punch. There was a church buildings still functional until the 16th century, but we have Henry VIII to thank/blame for its disrepair.

What was left was nice to see. We watched a short video about the history of the castle, and the view from the cliff is quite impressive. There was also a dungeon (or perhaps a storage area). It was a little damp, and very cold. Almost perfect for a wine cellar, but would have been a miserable place to be imprisoned.

After a late lunch, we drove to Pevensey Castle. Like Hastings, Pevensey was once on the coast, but changing geography has put it about a mile or so inland. There was intiially a Roman fortification at the castle site, then a Norman keep built up around that. There were even modern renovations - pillboxes and other changes made during WWII to support and defend troops stationed there. The outer Roman wall around the castle grounds in still standing, and much of it still in somewhat decent shape.

Inside the castle itself, we took the audio guided tour, which I found to actually be pretty interesting. I'd never done one of those before.

The dungeon area was dark, damp, and chilly, despite the hot temperatures. One of the other towers we technically couldn't go into the basement because it had flooded. Quite a shame - we took a peek, and the room seemed very well preserved. Except for the water, anyway. There were pigeons on nests there, and they didn't mind the water so much.

After Pevensey, we headed back to the hotel. Along the way we passed two Norman-era churches in the Pevensey area - St. Nicolas, and St. Mary the Virgin. If there had been parking around, we would have visited St. Mary's - it looked quite lovely from the outside.

A Sussex-ful outing (UK 2009, part 4/8)

2009-07-16T09:55:00.006-04:00

Hastings, 1 July 2009
On the way to Bodiam Castle this afternoon, we passed a handyman's truck with the logo "William the Concreter". It was one of those moments missed because I had no camera to hand at that moment, and an indicator of local humor. There is also a local barber shop called "Sweeney Todd's".

Bodiam Castle is fairly well preserved, despite Cromwell having gotten to it. It's a 14th century castle erected by a landed knight, and was built as both fortress and home. Most of the castles I've seen so far have been more heavily one or the other. Bodiam is pretty much the stereotypical medieval castle, complete with moat.

The outer walls are mostly intact, although the inside is in ruins - yet another curse upon Cromwell. There is a colony of bats in the main gatehouse, and we could hear them chittering even at midday. There were also several informative videos. Plate mail was a real pain to get on, which I knew, but I'd not previously gotten a good sense of just how big and timeconsuming a pain it was!

My favorite exhibit, though, was a couple on the green giving information and displays on medieval medicine and surgery. Having someone demonstrate how things were used was quite informative, and made me thankful for modern medicine!

After Bodiam, we drove to the Biddenden Vineyard and Ciderworks. We didn't try any of the wines this time, but all of their ciders were very good. They even had a "Special Reserve" cider aged in oak casks that had been used previously for sherry and whiskey. If you can imagine a cider as a port, you might be close.

We drove by Bayham Abbey but got there after closing, so we headed back to Hastings for dinner.

Dinner was at a Nepalese restaurant called Gurkha Chef. Very excellent food and wonderful service. I had never had Nepalese before, but this place made me wish that either we were staying longer or that we had such a place back home. I had Manang Khas, which is almost a sort of lamb curry - very tasty. DD had a Yogi Tarkari with prawns, which was very mild and a bit sweet. She actually ate the whole thing despite it being a largish portion, and she had not yet done that with any meal so far here. DH had a mixed grill, and all of the meats were delightfully seasoned. if you're ever anywhere near Hastings, you really must give them a try. I almost wish we could stay for their Sunday buffet, to sample more of their cuisine!

Life's a beach (UK 2009, part 3/8)

2009-07-15T08:43:00.002-04:00

Hastings 29 June 2009
We had a bit of a lazy morning while DH was at work, but this afternoon DD and I went down to the shore to spend time on the amusements there. We did a number of rides and games, then wandered down to the water. The beach is rocky, with stones and pebbles instead of sand. (I later learned this is called a shingle beach). The water was cold, but clear, and left only a very fine salt on our legs.

This evening we all went to Porters Wine Bar for dinner with some of DH's coworkers. They had good food, and the company was also quite pleasant.

West Hill, Hastings 30 June 2009
DD and I are having lunch on the patio of a cafe at the top of a hill overlooking Hastings. There is a bit of a seabreeze, but it is quite sunny and warm. It's actually a bit of a heatwave for here, with highs around 26C. The breeze makes it quite tolerable, though.

Before lunch we visited Smuggler's Adventure, an attraction built around old smuggler's caves in the hill overlooking the sea. it was interesting to learn about the area's long history of smuggling, and the hands-on exhibits made it engaging for children. One of the facts we learned is that during the late 1700s, smuggled tea could be sold for 400% profit, and still be cheaper than "legal" taxed tea.

Hastings, beach
After lunch we journeyed back to the beach area, and rode by miniature railway to the Blue Reef Aquarium. Compared to places such as SeaWorld it was small, but one could get a good view of many types of marine life. We also saw baby starfish and jellyfish, and several pairs of seahorses apparently making more seahorses. For a small aquarium it was well-organized with presented facts in an accessible fashion.

We took the mini-train back and are about to sit down to cream tea. I need to get out of the sun - only a redhead can go to England and get sunburnt!

Hastings
Dinner tonight was at another pub, Ye Olde Pump House. The food (and beer) were quite tasty - I had a lamb steak and a pint of Guinness (on draft, of course).

Having a vine time... (UK 2009 part 2/8)

2009-07-14T09:48:00.002-04:00

Hastings, 28 June 2009
After a full English breakfast, we drove down to downtown Hastings to attend Mass at St. Mary Star of the Sea. We were a couple of minutes late - parking proved to be a bit of a challenge.

St. Mary is a lovely little church, its sanctuary done in ornate gothic style, yet not overdone. In a way it seemed architecturally like a cathedral in miniature, with ornate wooden fixtures and stonework. The floor was not tile, though, but of a worn varnished wood, which gave it a warmer feel.

Outside, other buildings jam up against St. Marys, and against each other. This seems to be common in Europe, especially in cities and downtown areas. A small price to pay, though, for being able to leave much of the countryside undeveloped. And even in the cities, most houses have lovely gardens in their tiny front yards. Many gardens had roses in full bloom, and lavender was also very common.

After Mass, we wandered the coastline area, which was liberally populated with pubs, gift shops, and even casinos. In a way it looked a lot like other port/resort towns such as Atlantic City, except that you could also find fishing industry workers not far from the boardwalk-type area.

We had lunch at a place called the Hastings Arms. Besides my meal of Leicester sausages, I tried a Kentish ale - Shepherd Neame's Master Brew. It reminded me a bit of a cross between Smithwicks and Killians. I also had a Magner's cider, but one made solely from pear. It was lighter, sweeter, and more delicate than their apple cider, and was quite tasty.

In the afternoon we drove to a small vineyard called Carr-Taylor. We got a bit turned about trying to get there, especially on narrow country lanes, but it was certainly worth it. We had a wine tasting with the owner and saw some of the vines. Right now the grapes are only tiny flower buds. One of the wines is a "1066 Country" vintage, which the owner explained was made using some of his grapes along with grapes brought in by other local people who grow grapes but aren't large enough for their own winemaking equipment. I thought that was quite neat. They also had several nice fruit wines, including a ginger wine and a mead. Well worth the drive if you find yourself in East Sussex.

Takeoffs and takeaways (UK 2009, part 1/8)

2009-07-13T18:24:00.003-04:00

Hastings, 27 June 2009
As with any trip requiring a transatlantic flight, it has been along day. We had a very early flight leaving Melbourne, with a long layover in Atlanta.

During our layover we visited Zoo Atlanta, which was quite nice other than the 90 degree heat and humidity. The Zoo had an open aviary with a large flock of budgies that one could feed, and a giant panda exhibit.

We had a good early dinner at a seafood place called Six Feet Under. Their fish was good, and one of their sides was zucchini fries, which were quite tasty. There were also a large number of beers on draft, but I didn't get a chance to try any.

Our flight from Atlanta to Gatwick was mostly uneventful, although we took off an hour late because one of the flight attendants had a medical emergency as we were taxiing to the runway.

When we landed and got underway, we could appreciate the difference from Florida! It's in the 70s with a gentle breeze, and we enjoyed seeing all the trees and rolling hills on the way to Hastings. There were a number of fruit vendors in laybys along the motorways as well as fish'n'chips and other roadside cuisine.
Our hotel in Hastings is an 18th century home that has been converted into a hotel. I can see only by looking at the ceiling that the bathroom was a late addition to the room.

The hotel bar has both Guinness and Strongbow on draft, and I hope to avail myself of both during the trip.

We found a nice fish'n'chip shop for lunch - their cod special was tasty. Dinner, after quite a long post-flight nap, was at a takeaway place that had pizza and a variety of less-standard (by American thought) items such as lambchops. Chips are standard fast-food here as well, though.

Book 'em!

2009-07-08T16:54:00.003-04:00

Monday night we got back from a trip to the UK. Trip report will be forthcoming (so watch this space). While on travel, I read a few books, so just a few sentences about each:

Storm Front - Jim Butcher: The first book in the Dresden Files series. Harry Dresden is a wizard, consulted by the Chicago PD whenever there's something...unusual...in one of their cases. In this case, a double-homicide.
This book, the first of 11 (soon to be 12, I think), was a lot of fun to read. Good brain-candy, in a way. There was also a short-lived Sci-Fi Channel series based on the books, also called The Dresden Files. You can find the series up on YouTube. Well worth checking out, on both counts.

The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde: The first in the Thursday Next series. Set in an alternate England where literature is a big deal, temporal/spatial anomalies are common, and messing with classics (forging originals, faking works by well-known authors, etc) is a big deal, Thursday Next is a detective trying to figure out who is kidnapping major characters from classic novels.
This book was decent, and definitely had an infusion of puns and absurdities in it (think Shakespeare's _Richard III_ being performed in similar fashion to _Rocky Horror_ with audience participation), but for some reason it didn't really engage me. And I wanted it to. Not sure why. I don't begrudge the time reading it, but I don't know that I'd pick up the rest of the series.

Catherynne Valente's "Orphans Tales" duo: In the Night Garden and In the Cities of Coin and Spice": A young girl has been exiled to a palace garden for her strange mark - on her eyelids are tattooed multiple stories.
These two books, telling stories within a story, is very similar in fashion to the Arabian Nights, and many of the tales lead to other tales (so you sometimes have a story within a story within a story within...well, you get the picture). The prose was beautiful, the tales wove together well, and I found it very enjoyable. Definitely worth reading for lovers of fantastic tales. (This was also #3 completed on my 101List :)

Inkheart - Cornelia Funke: First book in the Inkheart trilogy. A young girl's father has the unusual ability to read aloud such that he can bring characters to life. Literally. When her father is kidnapped by one villainous character he's read into being, the quest begins to rescue him and stop the villain.
One of the more recent entries into epic children's fiction, I read this in its entirety during the long layover in Atlanta, and enjoyed it. It's not tremendously high fantasy, but it was a fun read. I can also definitely relate to the book-obsession displayed by several characters in the book. This book has also been made into a movie, apparently, but I've not yet seen it.

So, dear readers - what is on *your* summer reading list?

Cool link...

2009-06-18T16:14:00.002-04:00

Stumbled upon this today, a gentleman playing a medley of 80's hits....ragtime.
Some people are rather talented!

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Just too cool not to link. Enjoy.

It's that time again....

2009-06-01T11:34:00.005-04:00

Hurricane season kicks off today. Whee. Such is life, though, living in Florida.

It's been nearly a month since I posted last - as I get older, I find time slips away from me more and more.

So, lucky readers, instead of a cohesive post,you get...the dreaded bullet list! (*cower*)

Saw the new Star Trek movie. It was enjoyable, more so than I was expecting. DD has now gone nuts over Spock. So I did what any responsible parent would - pointed her at the Star Trek original series playlist over on YouTube!

Also saw the new Pixar movie Up. I had high hopes, and Pixar came through once again. This was a cute, touching movie, and I admit I cried a bit at points. And Pixar's animation standards continue to be very high.

Am currently reading the latest Sharon Kay Penman book, The Devil's Brood. Historical fiction about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their children. If you've ever seen the movie The Lion in Winter, you'll be familiar with the main characters, but don't be surprised if the characterizations don't completely match up with the movie. Penman does do her homework research-wise, though, and she's very solid. I highly recommend her if you like historical fiction.

DD is *ten* now. Where has the time gone?? She wanted to go to Margaritaville (the Jimmy Buffett-themed restaurant) for her birthday so we took her and her best friend out to Orlando. A good time was had by all.

Addendum (6/1, 18:40): Made homemade pulled pork from a Good Eats episode. Time-intensive but oh so worth it.

That's all for now!

Fast finish!

2009-05-02T18:42:00.002-04:00

Well, day 2 into my new 101List, and I already have a completion.

#100: Get 45mpg on a tank of fuel.

We drove up to Jacksonville to take DD to a music competition, and spend some time with DsS and his GF. It was a fun trip.

We refueled when we got back to town. 400 miles on the trip....8.69 gallons. For a wonderful 46.0 mpg.

I love my hybrid.

Yes, I'm a list person...how'd you guess?

2009-04-30T13:06:00.003-04:00

My "101 Things in 1001 Days" list expired last week. Of the 101 things on the list, I managed to accomplish 38 of them. Of other lists I've seen folks do, 35-40 seems to be typical for completion, so that's not so bad.

It could be argued that I'm a glutton for punishment, but I made another list. Many of the tasks I didn't complete last round I have rolled over to this one. There are also a few tasks that I included that I did complete last round, but that it never hurts to do on a regular basis (for example, #5 - culling my wardrobe).

So...we'll see how this round goes!

Another culture rant...

2009-04-21T19:10:00.005-04:00

My apologies, but I feel the need once again to rant about the media's distorted perceptions of beauty.

Surfing the various news websites, I saw a photo essay headline that read "Full Figured Fatales". Huh, maybe people are realizing that maybe skinny isn't necessarily beautiful....

I couldn't have been more wrong in my assumptions. Featured in this photo essay....Kim Kardashian and Brooke Hogan.

ExCUSE me?? "Full figured" my @$$. Queen Latifah is full figured. Sarah Ferguson is full figured.

Talentless size 2 bimbos who wouldn't even be noteworthy except for famous relatives or being stupid enough to have themselves taped doing the nasty are *not* "full figured". And having plastic accessories in one's frontal area does not make one 'full figured' either.

Perhaps fortunately, in a few years people stumbling across this entry will likely say of them "who were they, anyway, and why did people care?".

And why do I care, even?

Because I have a 10yo daughter who thinks she's fat because the whole damned culture is being bombarded by this insane and warped perception of what constitutes "beauty". She deserves better than that.

Your daughters deserve better than that.

On the other hand...
If you need a palate-cleanser, check out this YouTube clip of Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent. At the beginning, the audience has obviously discounted her based on looks....until they hear her sing.

Just go have a listen. It'll be worth it, I promise.

Short fiction time!

2009-04-17T22:39:00.004-04:00

Once in a great while I get the urge to write, by some internal inspiration. Or occasionally external impetus.

The following short story is more a product of the latter. One of the WoW blogs I read, Big Bear Butt, hosted a creative writing contest. The prize, a copy of Arthas: Rise of the Lich King by Christie Golden.

I've decided to post my submission here as well, though if you're not interested in Warcraft lore, you may just decide to skip this entry...
========================================================
ILL WIND
by Clioratha of Elune
--------
Dawn broke, an explosion of color in the sky. It had been a long night, and I welcomed the chance to rest for the day. Preferably somewhere away from the smoke and carnage of the night's work. Wandering into the woods, upwind of the horror, I selected a sturdy tree, climbed up and made myself comfortable. Nyx followed with her usual feline grace, sprawling herself out on a sun-dappled branch near me.

"Hedonist", I murmured with a playful pat to her side. Nyx purred happily, closing her eyes to enjoy the morning.

I closed mine as well, feeling the gentle caress of the breeze on my skin, listening to the whisper of the leaves, the earthy scent of the woods reminding me of home... My mind began to wander, back to more peaceful times. My people are immortal, and if we could not selectively shelve unpleasant memories for a time, we would all surely go mad.

My reverie was interrupted by voices. Human, by the language. And a heated discussion, at that.

"This prophet is right - we should leave for the west." Female. The voice of one accustomed to power and her own will.

"By the Light, Jaina! I cannot just leave my people!". Male. Deep, for a human. Anger. Frustration.

My rest thus disturbed, I had no choice but to overhear. Their words might be alien, but the tone was one of dispute, the voice of the female becoming tinged with desperation, the male's frustration rising in answer.

"I go, Arthas. With *or* without you.". A tone of finality in the female's voice, footsteps rustling the fallen leaves in a fading echo. Good, perhaps now I could return to my repose.

*SLAM*. My perch shivered with the force of a sudden blow, and I looked down to find a human male, clad in the heavy plates of metal that they so favor, clenched fist pressed against the trunk of my tree. His head bowed, he seemed to be mumbling to himself, and I recognized the male voice I had heard earlier.

I shifted to keep this human in view, and Nyx yowled in surprise. Turning to apologize for having pinched her tail, I didn't notice that I had attracted attention of my own. Turning back to the human, I found eyes the color of the morning sky looking up at me.

"So, elf...since everyone else seems keen to offer me advice, you may as well take your turn." Bitter, frustrated.

I may as well, I thought, since it appears I will get no rest otherwise. Sighing inwardly, I leapt down. Nyx followed, overturning my quiver and spilling arrows in a spray around the base of the tree. Heedless of her mess, she stood beside me, butting her head against my hip. Idly I scratched behind her ears, while meeting the human's gaze.

His eyes flickered but briefly on the strewn arrows. "You were there last night?"

I nodded, recalling the wave of fearless creatures that burst suddenly upon the human settlement they called Hart's Glen.

"Then you understand why I cannot leave my people." He continued to speak, seeming more to address himself than me. I could not follow his every word - the human language is still new to me - but it seemed that he spoke of a disease, or a curse, that turned living people into mindless dead. And that this disease was now in the very food people ate.

Food that was then delivered to these human towns...

With a shock, some of the strangeness began to make sense. The creatures last night were not fearless, but mindless. Dead. My stomach roiled with the memory of the carrion-stench that surrounded them. How had I not realized sooner?

Spread in the food, not just the humans were susceptible. I had seen a hound, rabid and ravaged by mange, wandering along the road. I had granted the poor beast a quick and merciful death...but perhaps it was not mange, but the decay of death? What fiend would so disrupt the balance of nature, forcing even beasts into this corruption of neither life nor death?

"Do you know who makes this....un-life?", I asked, searching for a suitable word. Some concepts should never exist to need words.

"Mal'Ganis", he spat, as if the name alone had a foul taste.

"This must be stopped." How far would this perversion spread, if left unchecked?

A thin smile touched his lips. His eyes, I realized, were not the color of morning...but of ice.

"By the Light, I will stop him. I will avenge those who have fallen!". He drew his sword, raising it in challenge to the very sky. The morning rays reflected off the blade, and I blinked at the brightness.

"I will lose *no more* of my people to be his slaves in undeath!" And as abruptly as he had arrived, he slammed his sword back into its scabbard, spun on his heel and strode off.

I watched him go, this strange, driven human with the golden hair and heart of fire.

"Elune light your path", I whispered to his departing back, hoping that he could indeed stop this blight of un-life that had entered the world.
===============================================================

I didn't win, but I had fun writing. Good to let the muse out once in a while.

Five years...

2009-04-01T18:57:00.002-04:00

No fooling, today is the 5th blogiversary of Alternate Dementia!

Certainly my writing frequency has tapered off since that first post, and my readership has doubtless changed. Still, it's been a fun ride so far.

Today is also, of course, April Fool's Day, and DD managed to pull one over on me this evening. On the drive home, she told me she needed a particular dish washed, and somehow over the course of the conversation I'd convinced myself she must have put a fake roach in the cup or something, so I had the dish in question fully expecting a bug of some sort.

No bug in the dish, so then I thought she might have put something up under the faucet, and was expecting that then I turned on the water...

....and got my shirt soaked! She'd taped down the handle on the spray-hose that many kitchen sinks come with, and had focused it to spray right where I'd be standing! We had a good laugh at that....and another one when DH also got a shirt-full when he came to see what we were laughing about.

As for me, I don't have a true trick, but more of a variation on things...

Tonight's dinner is.....albino chili!

Albino Chili
2 lb ground poultry (I'm using 1 lb turkey and 1 lb chicken tonight)
5 cans of white beans (tonight: navy, chickpea, great northern, white kidney)
1 packet leek soup mix
2 cans cream of chicken soup
green chile powder (I also have jalapeno seasoning somewhere but can't find it...)

Brown the meat, drain. Add the chile powder and leek soup mix until meat is seasoned, then add the beans and cream of chicken soup. Let simmer for 20 minutes or however long you like your chili. Heat can be increased by adding more green chile powder or green chiles or jalapenos as desired.

Looks innocuous, but with much room for trickery.

If a picture is worth 1000 words...

2009-03-19T13:17:00.004-04:00

...many pictures must speak volumes!

I finally got fed up with KodakGallery's increasing controls on album sharing - I can no longer direct-link to my gallery, but have to basically make a slideshow and 'share' it.

Enough of that - I've started moving my pictures off to my own webspace (may as well use it, right?). It is still very much a work in progress, and very few of the pictures are actually labelled, but they are now viewable at:
http://www.clioratha.net/galleries

I think I should have labelling/organizing them on my next 101List (I have about a month left on my current one). I also hope to put the travelogs online and link them in with the relvant galleries. In the meantime, enjoy!

Under pressure on St. Pat's Day

2009-03-17T18:27:00.001-04:00

Not me, my corned beef! Our local Irish place is always insanely packed on St. Patrick's Day, so I'm making my own corned beef and cabbage.

Right now I have a corned beef brisket, some seasonings, and a bottle of Smithwicks in my pressure cooker, which is merrily steaming away. After about an hour, I'll pop the lid, throw in the cabbage and carrots (I was a dork and forgot potatoes), and put it on for another 5-10 minutes. We'll see how it turns out - last time I made corned beef in the pressure cooker it turned out fairly well, so I am optimistic about the results.

It's certainly smelling quite nice at the moment!

In any case, there's a Guinness with my name on it in the fridge, so life will be good later no matter how it turns out.

Slainte!

Time passes too swiftly

2009-02-24T16:33:00.002-05:00

And all too soon, it's almost Lent again. Ash Wednesday is tomorrow, which means I need to decide, quickly, what to do for Lent.

I think as a family we will give up fast food again, where 'fast food' is defined as anything that can be gotten at a drive-thru. This would still allow pizza, and places like Boston Market and Panera. These latter two are pretty much a necessity on nights we have choir practice, since there is not enough time to go home and prepare meals between getting off work and getting to choir, and it would be unfair to make DD wait until 9pm to eat.

Personally, I will give up the snooze button again - I find myself all too dependent on that again. I have also just started Dante's "Paradise", which probably makes for good Lenten reading. And at 33 cantos, even just a canto a day would give me sufficient time to finish it (and complete another item off my 101List)!

I did briefly consider giving up WoW for a bit, but as a member of a regular raid group I'd be putting some folks out to do that for a whole 6 weeks. I could, perhaps, reduce my time on non-raid nights, though, and maybe even give up one or two days a week altogether. It certainly bears thinking about...

In the administrivia department, I have two unguessed song lyrics from my last (long ago) post. The answers are:
6. Where would you rather be? Anywhere, anywhere but here - Rush, "Double Agent"
7. [song title] don't want to lock me up inside - Evanescence, "Lithium"

Lyrics potpourri

2009-02-02T19:39:00.007-05:00

Since everyone seems to have such fun with these, here's another 10 random first lines off my iPod. Name the song and artist in the comments, and see your name in bold lights on my blog!

Yeah, I'm sittin' on this bar stool talkin' like a d**n fool -Styx, "Too Much Time On My Hands" (Jenn L)
I took off for a weekend last month just to try and recall the whole year - Jimmy Buffett, "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" (Jeri)
We got somethin' we both know it we don't talk too much about it - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Refugee" (Kay)
It's 9:00 on a Saturday, the regular crowd shuffles in -Billy Joel, "Piano Man" (Jenn L, Rachel)
Ships may come and ships may go as long as the sea does roll - Great Big Sea, "Jolly Roving Tar" (Polimex)
Where would you rather be? Anywhere, anywhere but here
[song title] don't want to lock me up inside
Backstroke lover always hidin' 'neath the covers - Aerosmith, "Walk This Way" (Jenn L)
They see me mowin' my front lawn - Weird Al, "White & Nerdy" (Rachel)
Your cruel device, your blood like ice - Alice Cooper, "Poison" (Kate, Jenn L)

And more meme stuff...

2009-01-29T16:04:00.002-05:00

Tag, I'm it!

2009-01-29T11:22:00.003-05:00

I've been tagged on both Facebook and in blogs, so there's no escape! (run awaaaaay!)
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.

-----------------------------------

My favorite color is blue, with green, purple, black and grey being second-tier favorites. My least favorite color is orange, unless you're talking autumn. Then reds, yellows, and oranges are necessary.
My favorite season is autumn, and I very much miss the changing seasons. My least favorite season is summer.
I like most fruits, but I especially love raspberries. Berries in general are at the top of my fruit preferences. I don't care for watermelon, though.
I don't watch movies very often, and have been rather disinterested in most of the stuff coming out of Hollywood of late. I'm not into chick flicks, modern horror, most modern comedy, or movies that spend all their budget on special effects or a big-name star instead of actually having a plot. I do like Peter Jackson's _Lord of the Rings_ movies, pretty much anything by Pixar, and many older comedies/dramas. I also like a lot of the BBC productions.
I grew up Episcopalian, but spent my late teens and early 20s in kind of a 'seeker' mode before I became Catholic about 6 years ago.
I am a natural redhead (the grey hairs I sprout now should be verification enough that I don't dye). Now, I'm proud of being a redhead. Growing up, I wasn't.
My female ancestors on my distaff line were redheads for several generations back, with the exception of my dark-haired mother.
I'd love for my hair to be down about to my hips. Unfortunately, that's not likely to happen, at least while I live in Florida. It breaks quicker than it grows :(
I have somewhat of a knack for remembering numbers. My family seems to think it uncanny, especially when I can rattle off particular account numbers and other data off the top of my head.
I enjoy most types of music. My strongest preferences are for rock, classical, and Celtic/folk, but will listen to almost anything but gangsta rap or modern country ('classic' country had some decent stuff).
I am an avid reader, and like music I have rather eclectic tastes in this regard. Science fiction/fantasy and historical fiction tend to be perennial favorites. I don't enjoy books on politics, and I am very particular about my nonfiction, however.
I occasionally dabble in writing poetry, but it's been years since I've written anything.
I love to drink both hot tea and coffee, as well as other hot beverages. I will rarely sweeten either one, but I need to have milk or cream in my coffee. Real dairy, not that nasty powdered stuff.
I don't like red roses. I love the scent of roses, and I especially like white, purple, or two-toned, but not red.
I love the smell of herbs, especially rosemary, lavender, and thyme. I've recently restarted an herb garden.
I hate roaches. HATE. Fear, loathing, scream-like-a-schoolgirl-and-stomp-it-into-oblivion hate. Spiders, snakes, other bugs, I'm fine with. But roaches.... *shudder*. Florida has huge roaches...that *fly*.
I also hate the mall. I don't like to shop (except in book or craft stores), and I'm not a fan of crowds, so for me, the mall is one of the outer circles of Hell.
I never have understood the stereotypical female fascination with clothes and/or shoes. I do dress nice for church or special occasions, but most of my wardrobe is fairly basic. And fashionistas and shoe divas may hate them and say they're ugly, but I love my Crocs. Most comfortable shoes I've ever had.
I enjoy singing, but I didn't think I was very good at it. I've been taking voice lessons for about a year, which has done wonders for both my voice and my confidence.
I've been doing some sort of needlecraft since I was about 6 years old. My first piece was this weird 70's colored crewel piece that had a girl with a stove and a broom. Her hair was all orange french-knots.
I started dabbling in cross-stitch design in late 2005, because I had it as a goal on my 101List. That has since blossomed into Tor Rhuann Designs, which I'm very proud of, but I admit I am still surprised at how well my designs have been received. I still can't really think of myself as a 'designer'.
I find it difficult to sit completely idle, and will usually have needlework out while watching TV. My hands have to be busy in some way.
I am very particular about my hands, and wash them rather frequently. It really bothers me when they are sticky or dirty, and even more so when I can't wash them right away. Germ-X is my friend.
I occasionally play computer games, and am currently pretty involved in World of Warcraft. My primary character is a level 80 night elf hunter.
I'm not much given to having crushes on celebrities. Although I will admit I find both Ioan Gruffudd and Sean Bean to be pretty hot.

As for the "tagging others" bit...I'm always way behind on these, so if you want to play along, consider yourself tagged!

A good pun is its own reword...

2009-01-15T22:21:00.003-05:00

Longtime readers have probably noticed, very likely to their chagrin, that I have a fondness for wordplay...especially puns. (Hey, "Belinda" anagrams to "bad line". I figure I'm permitted....)

One of the more well-known genres of pun is the Tom Swifty, where a character's quote will pun or be punned upon by the method of delivery. Some examples are:

"Use your own toothbrush!" Tom bristled.
Your embroidery is terrible," Mary needled, cruelly.

A couple I found today that were pretty funny:
"Dinna wave that axe aboot, Jimmy!" said Tom heedlessly.
"I'm Irish," said Tom wryly.

Leave a comment with your favorites, and feel free to make up your own!

Things that are just nuts...

2009-01-08T13:39:00.002-05:00

Society, and especially the fashion sector, is in dire need of a rectocranial extraction. I've grumbled for years about how unrealistic modern standards of "beauty" are, and today I stumbled upon a case that really illustrates it.

Take Czech model Karolina Kurkova. Lovely blonde, 5'11, 130lb, according to her wiki entry.

She's been criticized as being "too fat". Pardon my language, but WTF???

You look at older generations notions of beauty queens, such as Bettie Page, Marilyn Monroe, or Betty Grable, and they would all be considered far too heavy these days. Whatever happened to women looking like...well, women? Real women, with natural curves...not sticks with surgically implanted bumps on their chests. It really is insane.

Although perhaps not all is bad...saw an article yesterday saying that research indicates that being pear-shaped may be good for your health. Yay for those of us, with, um, "childbearing hips". Maybe Queen and Sir Mix-a-lot had the truth of it.

So, fickle and unrealistic fashion industry...take that yardstick you're holding up as a standard of beauty and....go find your head. You'll find it at the southern end of your alimentary canal.

Mirepoix madness!

2009-01-07T00:15:00.003-05:00

(or, Too Much of a Good Thing)

One of my unofficial resolutions for the year was to plan out meals for the week, partly to curtail the "What do we want for dinner?" "Food" "More specific?" "Edible food (or "Non-toxic and not moving too fast") type conversations, and partly because if we're honest, DH, DD and I could all stand to lose a little weight.

In musing about meals for the upcoming week, one of the items is Alton Brown's delicious Lentil Soup. Featuring in said recipe (and indeed, many recipes I have occasion to make) is mirepoix, which is a fancy French name for a veggie combination of 2 parts onion, 1 part celery, 1 part carrot.

Since it's not infrequent that I find myself with knife in hand, contemplating violence against unsuspecting onions, carrots, and celery, I figured I'd just make up a large batch of mirepoix and freeze most of it, saving myself time later. So I bought rather more than usual of said victims this evening at the grocery store.

And I think I overdid it a bit. All told, I have 10 quart-sized freezer bags, each containing 2 cups of veggie goodness. And 2 gallon-sized bags each holding 6...for those large pots of chicken soup.

32 cups of mirepoix.... Insane. And I ended up freezing 5 large onions that I'd peeled but ended up not needing.

At least I won't have to do any major chopping for a while!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T22:22:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year!

Like last year, I began this year with a finishing. In this case, Just Nan's "Amethyst Snowflake". I changed some of the silk colors (went with a more violet and less red purple pallette), and am very happy with how it turned out:

No larger picture at the moment - I resized the original scan and forgot to save to a new file. Ooops....

A new year also means time for new goals. First, a look at last year:
Read 4500 pages
I made this one, barely, finishing Brothers in Arms by Margaret Weis around 9pm last night. All told, I read 11 books totalling 4765 pages, the longest being The Oracle's Queen by Lynn Flewelling at 556 pages, and the shortest Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana by Anne Rice at 242pp. I've had a reading goal every year for the past two decades, so I think I'll retain this goal as-is for next year.

Finish 20 101List items
HAhahahaha...ahem. I managed 4, if I can count Amethyst Snowflake which I just finished earlier today.... Still, I'll carry this over to next year. I start a new 101List in April, so this will be the total completed this year off of both lists.

Walk Rivendell to Lorien (462 miles)
This was a carryover from 2007...I'm stalled out at 220, so the less said about this right now the better.

Why did I fare so poorly? Well, new hobbies (*cough*WorldOfWarcraft*cough*) and new responsibilities (babysitting my grandson on Saturdays after DsD's fiancé shipped out) played a large part. Mostly the hobbies, though. Still, life is meant to be enjoyed, and a number of my goals *were* specifically leisure-time oriented, so I'm not beating myself up over them. I'll just make sure to include WoW in my next 101 List!

So...goals for 2009? I'm going to go with the same, but reset the counters for the pages and items completed. Since Rivendell to Lorien is a measurable goal in itself, I need to count progress toward the goal as a whole, not just progress this year.

Light a candle...

2008-12-23T20:42:00.002-05:00

Tor Rhuann Designs 2008 Christmas ornament is finally finished!

(Click to download PDF pattern)
Candles or lights seem to be a pretty universal winter-holiday symbol (or at least for the winter holidays I'm aware of), and I've always had a fondness for them.

This one was a bit late getting done, partly because I struggled a little with what to do for the border. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, though. I decided to play around a bit with stitch thickness - the glow around the candles is stitched with one strand instead of two.

In other news, DH and I recently celebrated our 18th anniversary. He got me a star! (Well, he got stars named after us.) I'm not a fan of diamonds, but stars are big sparkly things I think I like. For my part, I got him an 18-year single malt islay Scotch (Bunnahabhain).

I wish all of my readers a happy holiday season (whichever holiday you happen to celebrate), and many blessings in the upcoming year!

Blogging potpourri...

2008-12-12T09:24:00.000-05:00

Just a collection of mixed nuts - nothing substantive today.

Saw gas for $1.54/gal yesterday. I haven't seen those prices in years...certainly lower than when I was ranting about price-gouging during a hurricane evacuation 4 years ago. And yet, 4 months ago it was pushing $4/gal. Crazy fluctuations...

Speaking of gas, my Honda Civic hybrid, Silmarien, is getting around 41mpg, on almost exclusively around-town driving. I love my car.

My Christmas shopping is done! Online shopping makes my life so much easier.

Choir practice for upcoming Christmas music is showing me how much of a difference my voice lessons are making. I definitely think I'm a more confident (and competent!) singer than I was at this point last year.

Despite having gotten myself quite immersed in World of Warcraft (and am enjoying the latest expansion), I am still stitching. I'm hoping to finish Just Nan's "Amethyst Snowflake" before we travel for the holidays, so I can take JN "Christmas Star" with.

Speaking of Christmas stitching, I am working on a Christmas ornament for Tor Rhuann. I have a dozen half-formed ideas floating in my head, but none have quite fully materialized yet. I do hope to have something by this weekend, though.

About the iPod Shuffle...

2008-11-14T23:26:00.000-05:00

Last of this meme. Of 40 songs I posted, all but 5 were correctly guessed. Not bad!

The missing ones:
9. I turn my back to the wind to catch my breath before I start off again - Rush, "Time Stand Still"
10. Ignore reality there's nothing you can do about it - Natalie Imbruglia, "Don't You Think"
18. Well come gather all around me, there is something you should know - Great Big Sea, "Goin Up"
23. You don't remember me but I remember you / I lie awake and try so hard not to think of you - Evanescence, "Taking Over Me"
31. It ain't the way you move, it ain't the way that you move me, oh no - Night Ranger, "Don't Tell Me You Love Me"

Things here are okay. DH had his tonsils and other stuff removed yesterday, and so far is recovering fine. I've stocked up on gatorade, ice cream, and other goodies for his convalescence.

To our troops on Veterans Day...

2008-11-11T11:18:00.000-05:00

In this day and age, all the attention and adulation seems to be on celebrities - sports figures, entertainers, heiresses - and we seem to either forget or malign those whose sacrifices have actually made a difference...

The men and women of our Armed Forces.

So, to my late grandfather, a Marine who served in WWII....

To my father-in-law, who did two tours in Vietnam...and to his brothers, who also served.

To my future son-in-law, currently serving in the Middle East....

And to all the men and women who have ever served, giving up their plans, time with family, their health, and sometimes even their lives...

THANK YOU

Revisiting the iPod shuffle

2008-11-06T23:27:00.005-05:00

About a week ago, I posted lyrics meme, and my sharp-eyed (eared?) readers correctly guessed 80% of them.

That still leaves six, reprinted here:
9. I turn my back to the wind to catch my breath before I start off again
10. Ignore reality there's nothing you can do about it
18. Well come gather all around me, there is something you should know
23. You don't remember me but I remember you (Karen guessed "Tears on My Pillow" which *does* have this same first line but isn't the song. Guess I need to add the second line: "I lie awake and try so hard not to think of you")
26. Dark in the city, night is a wire, steam in the subway, earth is a fire - Duran Duran, "Hungry Like the Wolf" (Karen)
27. And she was lying in grass and she could hear the highway breathing - Talking Heads, "And She Was" (also Karen)

And just a couple more to keep it interesting..

31. It ain't the way you move, it ain't the way that you move me, oh no
32. Well I remember every little thing as if it happened only yesterday - Meat Loaf, "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" (Karen)
33. Don't cry to me - if you loved me you would be here with me - Evanescence, "Call Me When You're Sober" (Karen)
34. I used to be such a sweet sweet thing til they got ahold of me - Alice Cooper, "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (The Duke)
35. Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me - Smashmouth, "All Star" (Lisa)
36. Must it take a life for hateful eyes to glisten once again? - Flogging Molly, "Drunken Lullabies" (Arsena)
37. I never really knew that she could dance like this - Shakira, "Hips Don't Lie" (DD)
38. Let me take you to the movie, can i take you to the show? - Led Zeppelin, "Houses of the Holy" (Karen)
39. Oh. My. God. Becky, just look at ... - Sir Mix-a-lot, "Baby Got Back" (The Duke)
40. Well I'm ever upper class high society - AC/DC, "Big Balls" (The Duke)

(And yes, these are all on my iPod. I did have to skip a few songs this go to avoid songs already guessed...the randomize feature isn't as random as I would like sometimes.)

Alas, poor Yorick....

2008-11-02T16:45:00.000-05:00

Before:

After:

I'm using a recipe I found here. It smells quite good so far, so we'll see how it turns out. The flesh of the green pumpkin was darker than the orange pumpkins we got, and the rind was *much* thinner - the pie pumpkin had a hard shell that was easy to scrape from after cooking. The green pumpkin's rind was more like cucumbers or sweet potatoes - it stayed very thin and was a bit of a pain to de-flesh. I hope the soup is worth it.

Trick or Treat!

2008-10-31T19:50:00.000-04:00

This year I bought a green pumpkin, because I thought it resembled a goblin head. The picture I took will have to wait a bit, because DsD took the camera when she took DD and DGS out trick-or-treating a few minutes ago.

I do have a treat for you all, though - Tor Rhuann has a new design!

(Click for PDF)

I haven't finished mine yet, but when I finished the design on Wednesday night (yes, less than 48 hours ago...) I put out a request for model stitchers. I got *five*, all different and all awesome! They're all credited on the PDF, along with their finished pieces.

DD had a hand in this one as well. The little spider at the bottom? Her idea, and it was such a good one that I ran with it.

Happy Halloween!

Doin' the iPod shuffle!

2008-10-28T14:57:00.008-04:00

Don't get too excited, it's just a meme. But I saw it on Valerie's blog and thought it looked cool, so here you have it.
Step 1: Put your iPod or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the 1st line from the first 30 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song. And it doesn't have to be perfect if you can't understand the lyrics word for word.
Step 3: Let everyone guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Bold the songs when someone guesses correctly.
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!

Just like the white-winged dove sings a song, sounds like she's singing "ooh ooh ooh" - Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen" (DH)
She came down from Cincinnati, it took her three days on the train - Jimmy Buffett, "Fins" (Margaret)
He's got a roadmap of Jupiter, radar fix on the stars all along the highway - Rush, "Dreamline" (Gonna give DH credit since he could name the album)
When I was a lad in a fishin' town, me old man said to me "You can spend your life your jolly life just sailin' on the sea" - Great Big Sea, "The Mermaid" (DH)
You say yes, I say no. You say stop and I say go go go - Beatles, "Hello Goodbye" (Jacqui)
Someone told me long ago there's a calm before the storm - Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" (Darla)
Alright, I've got something to say. It's better to burn out than to fade away - Def Leppard, "Rock of Ages" (DH)
My sister got lucky, married a yuppie, took him for all he was worth. - Tom Petty, "Yer So Bad" (DH)
Turn my back to the wind to catch my breath before i start off again
Ignore reality there's nothing you can do about it
I walk along the avenue, I never thought I'd meet a girl like you - Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran" (Kay)
Well we all have a face that we hide away forever - Billy Joel, "The Stranger" (Margaret)
The sun is a mass of incandescent gas - They Might Be Giants, "Why Does the Sun Shine?" (DH)
Welcome to the grand illusion, come on in and see what's happ'nin - Styx, "Grand Illusion" (DH)
I get up in the evening, and I ain't got nothing to say - Bruce Springsteen, "Dancing in the Dark" (Kay)
You know I can be found sittin' all alone - Elvis, "Don't Be Cruel"
All day, staring at the ceiling making friends with shadows on my wall - Matchbox 20, "Unwell" (Chiasmata)
Well come gather all around me There is something you should know
She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean - AC/DC, "You Shook Me All Night Long" (Claire)
Well I've been waiting, waiting here so long - Genesis, "Invisible Touch" (one of DD's favorite songs)
I catch the paperboy, but things don't really change - David Bowie, "Modern Love" (DH)
Look at this photograph, every time I do it makes me laugh - Nickelback, "Photograph" (Margaret)
You don't remember me but I remember you
The queen of light took her bow and then she turned to go - Led Zeppelin, "Battle of Evermore" (Polimex)
There's something wrong with the world today, I don't know what it is - Aerosmith, "Living on the Edge" (Sara)
Dark in the city, night is a wire, steam in the subway, earth is a fire
And she was lying in grass and she could hear the highway breathing
Well I'm gonna raise a fuss, yes I'm gonna raise a holler - "Summertime Blues" (Darla) - Rush did the particular cover I have on my iPod.
He was born a sailor's son, Nothing came easy or free - Great Big Sea, "Lucky Me" (DH)
Midnight, gettin' uptight, where are you? You said you'd meet me now it's quarter to two. - Joan Jett, "I Hate Myself for Loving You" (Polimex)

This is only a subset of the iPod - I have a lot of classical and choral stuff on my iPod so I've restricted it to my car playlist (which is rather eclectic as it is). I also skipped over a few where the title was in the first line (for example "You ain't nothing but a hound dog").

Anyway, have fun.

Expect snow?

2008-10-09T22:23:00.000-04:00

Despite recent distractions, I do actually manage to stitch once in a while still.

And believe it or not, I actually even finish things occasionally. See?

(Click for larger picture)
This is Passione Ricamo's "Arabesque C" freebie. I started it about 2 years ago as my "purse project" - something to keep in my purse and work on for those times when I find myself sitting around waiting.

I think I'm actually going to attempt to frame this myself, so that would knock two things off my 101List....

I haven't designed anything since January....I have a few ideas, but I need to actually sit down and do something with them.

It's twoo! It's twoo!

2008-09-05T22:05:00.002-04:00

Fourteen of the 15 movies were correctly guessed - late entries by Heather guessed both Spaceballs and Strange Brew, both with Rick Moranis, to nearly complete the roster.

The last movie quote, "We've got to protect our phoney baloney jobs, gentlemen!" is from another Mel Brooks film, Blazing Saddles.

After I posted the initial list, I thought of another movie that should have gotten representation. So just for yuks, here's the bonus question.

~~I know a little German. He's sitting over there.~~ . Daine recalled that this was Top Secret.

In other news, it's been, unsurprisingly, very wet here. Fay gave us about 2 feet of rain, Hanna dumped on us earlier today, and now Ike's roaming about though latest projections have him giving us a miss (I hope so!). I am more than ready for hurricane season to be over....

Movie redux...

2008-09-02T11:28:00.005-04:00

Tuesday, and to my surprise 5 movies are as yet unidentified:

4. ~~No, it's not what you think. It's much, much worse!~~ Heather correctly identified Spaceballs.

5. ~~I gotta take a leak so bad I can taste it.~~ Heather also got Strange Brew. Good job, eh?

10. We've gotta protect our phoney baloney jobs, gentlemen!

13. ~~Summa cum laude. Magna cum laude. The radio's too laude. ...~~ Cris nabbed Johnny Dangerously.

15. ~~We all end up dead, it's just a question of how and why.~~ Karen correctly gathered this to be Braveheart

So a few hints are, perhaps, in order.

Two movies above share an actor.

Two movies above share a director.

Four movies above share a genre.

In other news, I am so ready for hurricane season to be over. We lost three work days to Fay, and Hanna may do a drive-by. And then there are Ike and Josephine...

Gotta love living in the tropics.

A day at the movies

2008-08-28T14:34:00.008-04:00

More like a meme about the movies, shamelessly stolen from my favorite Movie Muse.

1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions.
5. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.

Some are, of course, easier than others.

~~This is not unlike escaping my mother's womb. God, what a memory.~~ - Kerry was quick with recognizing Ladyhawke!
~~Hey... they're just using the same actor over and over. What kind of cut-rate production is this?~~ Shalini recognized Pixar's Cars, thanks to her young son!
~~All science trembles at the searing logic of your fiery intellect.~~ Arsena recalled Gen. Armistead's barb to Gen. Pickett in Gettysburg.
No, it's not what you think. It's much, much worse!
I gotta take a leak so bad I can taste it.
~~"We'll never survive!" - "Nonsense. You're only saying that because no one ever has."~~ Annette correctly identified Princess Bride.
~~I will not say, Do not weep, for not all tears are an evil.~~ Thus spake Gandalf, remembered Chiasmata, in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
~~'Greater good?' I am your wife! I'm the greatest *good* you are ever gonna get!~~ - _The Incredibles_, courtesy of Weather Goddess Glenda
~~You Americans, you're all the same. Always overdressing for the wrong occasions.~~ Annette also unearthed Raiders of the Lost Ark
We've gotta protect our phoney baloney jobs, gentlemen!
~~Life goes by pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.~~ Heather certainly didn't miss Ferris Bueller's Day Off!
~~Every time I try to talk to someone it's "sorry this" and "forgive me that" and "I'm not worthy"...~~ Chiasmata also easily recognized Monty Python and the Holy Grail!
~~Summa cum laude. Magna cum laude. The radio's too laude. ...~~ Cris nabbed Johnny Dangerously
~~You know, you come from nothing, you're going back to nothing. What have you lost? Nothing!~~ - Life of Brian, awarding both Monty Python films to Chiasmata!
~~We all end up dead, it's just a question of how and why.~~ Karen correctly gathered this was Braveheart.

I've not seen as many movies as most of my contemporaries, so these are probably easy. Still, first commenter gets the credit. And if by some luck there are unanswered ones by next Friday, I will post the remaining answers then.

Water water everywhere....

2008-08-21T00:30:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Fay, we've had 19 inches of rain in the past 36 hours....

Between the pool's normal pump and the little submersible one we bought last year, we managed to confine the flooding to our Florida room, so no real damage here. There's localized road flooding, so we have 3 days off work/school that need to be made up. And DD is getting a touch of cabin fever. DH and I are holding up a bit better in that regard, although we have been spending a lot of time on WoW. I've done more instancing the past two days than I have in the past two months. Not that that's a bad thing...I finally went into Karazhan last night, so I can now say I've officially raided. Sorta.

Not too bad for a couple of VERY rainy days.

Vacations

2008-08-11T17:30:00.000-04:00

Just got back from a week's vacation up in the mountains of Virginia. We've been up there before, and we really love it up there. (I wouldn't mind retiring there, to be honest). I really like getting to where there is real weather and terrain.

The only problem with vacation is coming home. I'm glad to be home, but I don't miss having to learn to breathe water again, and I *certainly* didn't miss the mid-90F that is outside temperature today. Or the unpacking and trying to get resettled into one's routine that always follows vacation - one needs a vacation to recover from vacation!

Surprisingly, I didn't miss net access much. Maybe that's a good thing.

Ding!

2008-07-21T13:05:00.001-04:00

Way too late Saturday night, I reached the summit:

I even managed a screen capture of the pivotal moment:

(10 points to anyone who can name the location without resorting to wowwiki, 20 to anyone who can name the quest....)

My first mission as a new 70 was to go get my flying mount, which makes life so much easier. I'm saving up for that fast flier though! (And to that end, I've discovered the agony and ecstacy of daily quests....)

I haven't done any raiding yet, but maybe the usual group for mid-week Karazhan runs will have room for a tagalong DPS soon. DH got to tag along on parts of Kara and Zul'Aman last week and enjoyed himself.

It's been a fun ride so far, and I'm enjoying myself. Which, after all, is the important thing.

Summer reading...

2008-07-02T09:04:00.000-04:00

Sometimes it just take the right book to get a child really hooked on reading. For my stepson, it was Lloyd Alexander's _Prydain_ series.

For DD, it's _Encyclopedia Brown_. She had to read one Encyclopedia Brown book as part of her summer reading, and she picked up the first one late yesterday evening....

...and fell asleep reading the second one. On the way to daycare this morning she was telling me about some of the mysteries, and compared Brown to Cam Jansen, a more recent child detective. DD read many of the Cam Jansen books for school, and says she likes EB better because "he solves things by thinking about them". DH and I remember Brown fondly from our own childhood reading, so we're glad DD likes him too.

I've ordered her some more.

Speaking of books and favorite childhood series, we saw the latest Narnia movie, Prince Caspian, over the weekend. We very much enjoyed it. While it didn't follow the plot strictly speaking (some plot elements were rearranged from the book), I think it stayed pretty true to the flavor of the book. And like the first movie (and all the LotR movies) the scenery was breathtaking. Well worth a look.

Back to books...what are some of your favorite childhood series?

If all else fails...

2008-06-16T21:56:00.001-04:00

...blog a meme. I borrowed this one from Lindsay. Sorry I don't really have anything noteworthy, other than making level 61 in WoW this evening.

What is in the back of your car? Cloth grocery bags. Everything else, including jumper cables, is still in the old car. (I need to deal with that, and soon.)
What color is your toothbrush? Purple
Name one person that made you smile today? DD.
What where you doing at 8am this morning? Driving to work.
What were you doing 45 minutes ago? Playing _World of Warcraft_
What is your favorite candy bar? Lindt 85% dark chocolate
Have you ever been to a strip club? No
What is the last thing you said aloud? "I love you too, punkin"
What is the best ice cream flavor? Mint chocolate chip
What was the last thing you had to drink? Water
What are you wearing right now? Nightgown
What was the last thing you ate? Pizza
Have you bought any new clothing items this week? Yes
When was the last time you ran? Um...I don't remember?
The last sporting event you watched? Last game of the NHL playoffs - got to see Detroit win the Stanley Cup
What is your favorite flavor of popcorn? Kettle corn
Who is the last person you sent a comment/message on my space? I don't generally leave myspace comments
Ever go camping? Yes
Do you take vitamins daily? No
Do you go to church every Sunday? Ues
Do you have a tan? No - red hair + pale skin is not a combination conducive to tanning.
Do you like Chinese food over pizza? I generally like pizza toppings over my pizza! Seriously, though, I generally prefer Chinese to pizza.
Do you drink your soda with a straw? Not usually.
What did your last text message say? "Happy Mother's Day!" from my sister
Are you some-one's best friend? I'd like to think so.
What are you doing tomorrow? Work, and maybe playing WoW.
Look to your left, what do you see? DH's empty computer chair
What color is your watch? brown strap, generic white/goldtone face.
What do you think of when you think of Australia? Kangaroos and TimTams.
Do you use chap stick? Occasionally
What is your birthstone? Amethyst
What is your favorite number? 7
Do you have a dog? No
Last person you talked to on the phone? DH, before we met for lunch.
Have you met anyone famous? David Byrne of _Talking Heads_ fame.
Any plans today? Given that it's late, my remaining plans are to take out the trash and go to sleep.
How many states have you lived in? 2
Ever go to college? Yes
Do you dye your hair? No
Biggest annoyance in your life right now? Florida heat
Last song listened to? "Brilliant Disguise", Bruce Springsteen
Can you say the alphabet backwards? yes
Do you have a maid service clean your house? Been seriously considering it.
Are you jealous of anyone? Not really
Is anyone jealous of you? Nobody has told me so
Do you love anyone? Yes
Do any of your friends have children? Yes
Do you eat healthy? Mostly
What do you usually do during the day? Sit in front of a computer, either for work, email, or play
Do you hate anyone that you know right now? Not really
Do you use the word 'hello' daily? Yes
What color is your car? Silver
Have you ever been to Six Flags? No
Do you like cats? Yes. DH doesn't, though.
How did you get your worst scar? Cut my foot on broken glass as a toddler

New additions

2008-05-25T13:02:00.000-04:00

I just realized it's been about a month since I last blogged! Life has been busy but not really in a noteworthy way. For the most part, anyway. I do have a new acquisition, though:

Meet Silmarien. She's a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid, and I just got her Wednesday. In that time I've put 125 miles on her, and she's only down 1/4 of a tank. She also runs very quietly - you can barely hear the engine running.

Hopefully I'll get at least as good a service from her as I did from my previous Civic, which I drove for almost 10 years.

Bugs...

2008-04-26T20:04:00.000-04:00

I hate being sick. DD and I both got some sort of bug that's pretty much laid me flat for the past few days. I'm on the mend, which is good because there's always too much to do to be sick, and I hate feeling dizzy and achy and lethargic. DD seems to be feeling better as well, so life should be back to normal by Monday.

In other bugs, we're still dealing with those infernal grain moths. We thought we had them beat a few months ago, but they reappeared. Apparently the larvae seem to like popcorn ceilings as a good place to hide and pupate. (Yet another reason to hate popcorn ceilings...) The area of infestation this time was DD's room (because of the bird cage and DD's somewhat less than stellar roomkeeping). We've moved the birds to our Florida room, and have given DD's room a good cleaning and bugspraying, so I hope we'll finally be rid of the blasted things. At least they didn't get into the pantry this time.

Out of this world, back later

2008-04-12T17:50:00.000-04:00

It's been several weeks since I've blogged, and I can but humbly admit to having picked up another addiction:

I haven't stitched or read really since the beginning of the month. But I'm up to level 20!

Stating the obvious

2008-03-25T10:51:00.001-04:00

Like this surprises anyone?

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Gamer/Computer Nerd You enjoy the visual stimulants of a video game, chatting on AIM, or reading online comics. Most of these types of nerds are considered dirty who lack hygeine, of course they always end up being the ones who make a crapload of money. And don't worry, that's just a stereotype; I'm not calling you dirty. ^_~
Science/Math Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Literature Nerd
Musician
Social Nerd
Drama Nerd
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

To hell and back...

2008-03-17T14:17:00.000-04:00

Last night I finished reading Dante's _Inferno_ (from a quite nice translation by Anthony Esolen). Quite an interesting read - Dante certainly had quite a way with imagery! I want to read through the notes in the appendices before I move on to _Purgatory_. I had initially hoped to finish the entire Divine Comedy during Lent, but to breeze through the other two books in the next few days is (1) impossible given the amount of other things that I need to do, (2) an injustice for such a poetic work. I do think I'll want to reread them all after I've read them and read the appendices. Maybe not necessarily this year, though.

Having finished _Inferno_, I was reminded of the Dante's Inferno Test meme that was going around a few years ago, and decided to retake it.

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Extreme
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Low
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Low
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

I also found, on the same site, a Seven Deadly Sins quiz:

Greed:	Low
Gluttony:	Low
Wrath:	Very Low
Sloth:	Medium
Envy:	Very Low
Lust:	Very Low
Pride:	Medium

The Seven Deadly Sins Quiz on 4degreez.com

DH disagrees with the Slothful, since I'm the one who's usually up and about doing all the domestic stuff what needs doing. So the test certainly must be taken with a grain of salt!

Done and yet not done...

2008-03-11T09:27:00.000-04:00

After three years, the 63 Squares crochet afghan is done!

But not really.

Over the course of working on it, I discovered the 63 More Squares crochet afghan, and decided to merge the two. Dropping a few squares from the total mix (how many designs does one really need with the popcorn stitch, anyway?) would give me a nice square 11x11.

In the meantime, however, I have 64 squares crocheted and pieced together, so technically the initial goal has been met:

(Click for larger picture)

In the process of pulling up links for this entry, I discovered yet another 63 Squares afghan. But if I ever do that one, it'll be a separate beastie. Trying to assimilate it into the current 63 Square Borg would just be too large.

Look before you jump...

2008-03-04T22:21:00.000-05:00

Lesson #1: When preparing to jump-start someone else's vehicle, it is advisable to know the location of the battery in one's own vehicle.

Now, this may seem intuitively obvious, but some newer model cars (notably the Saturn ION) have the physical battery in the trunk, and a 'positive remote terminal' in the front. Which comes in handy if one is the jump-ee and the Good Samaritan with the live battery assumes a front-located battery.

The 'positive remote' does not work so well if one is the jump-er. Especially if said jump-er does not realize that the 'positive remote' is not the actual battery and tries to hook the negative hook to what she thinks is the negative terminal, but is really some metal piece adjacent to the engine fuse box.

Lesson #2: Driving without power steering in a car that is normally so equipped is rather challenging. Although possibly a good workout for one's arms.

Lesson #3: Software people should not mess with hardware.

What D&D character am I?

2008-02-27T20:46:00.002-05:00

Update 3/3/08: As of yesterday, the link below was no longer working ("expired domain")....sorry :(
Found a What D&D Character Are you? quiz, and according to it, I'm a Neutral Good Elf Bard.

Alignment:
Neutral Good characters believe in the power of good above all else. They will work to make the world a better place, and will do whatever is necessary to bring that about, whether it goes for or against whatever is considered 'normal'.

Race:
Elves are the eldest of all races, although they are generally a bit smaller than humans. They are generally well-cultured, artistic, easy-going, and because of their long lives, unconcerned with day-to-day activities that other races frequently concern themselves with. Elves are, effectively, immortal, although they can be killed. After a thousand years or so, they simply pass on to the next plane of existance.

Primary Class:
Bards are the entertainers. They sing, dance, and play instruments to make other people happy, and, frequently, make money. They also tend to dabble in magic a bit.

Detailed Results: Alignment: Law and Chaos: Law ----- XXXX (4) Neutral - XXXXXXX (7) Chaos --- XXXXXXX (7) Good and Evil: Good ---- XXXXXXX (7) Neutral - XXXXXX (6) Evil ---- (-1) Race: Human ---- XXX (3) Half-Elf - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16) Elf ------ XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16) Gnome ---- XXXXXXXXXXX (11) Halfling - XXXXXXXXXXX (11) Dwarf ---- (-4) Half-Orc - X (1) Class: Fighter -- XXX (3) Barbarian -XX (2) Ranger --- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14) Monk ----- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Paladin -- XX (2) Cleric --- XXXXXXX (7) Mage ----- XXXXXXX (7) Druid ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Thief ---- (-1) Bard ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17)

So, dear readers - what D&D character are you?

Star Trek meets Monty Python

2008-02-20T19:51:00.000-05:00

Just...watch.

Too funny!

More meme thievery

2008-02-19T12:38:00.000-05:00

Another food meme making the rounds...

01. CHEESE or CHOCOLATE? Depends on both the cheese and the chocolate - Dark European chocolate will beat cheese hands-down 95% of the time. Good cheese will beat American chocolate hands-down. Come to think of it, anything better than orangish squares masquerading as 'cheese' (or 'cheese food') will beat American chocolate....

02. BLUEBERRIES or STRAWBERRIES? Blueberries, if I can't have raspberries. Although strawberries are a lot easier to dip in chocolate!

03. COFFEE or TEA? Tea, mostly. Coffee must have real cream or milk; none of that powdered dreck.

04. CORN MUFFIN or ENGLISH MUFFIN? Depends on which meal. English muffins for breakfast, corn muffins most other times.

05. PANCAKES or FRENCH TOAST? Pancakes

06. YOGURT or CREAM CHEESE? Yogurt, preferably raspberry with the fruit on the bottom.

07. RICE or PASTA? Pasta. Although I'm discovering that risottos or brown rice can be quite tasty.

08. CAKE or PIE? In general, pies. I'm particular about the types of cake I like.

09. GROUND BEEF or GROUND TURKEY? Both - I tend to only use ground meats in chili.

10. HOT DOGS or HAMBURGERS? Burger. With bacon!

11. JELLY or MARMALADE? Jelly, although I prefer preserves to jellies.

12. AMERICAN CHEESE or SWISS CHEESE? Swiss. See #1.

13. DIET SODA or NO SODA? No soda - the vast majority of available diet sodas have aspartame, which disagrees horribly with me. Although if they ever come out with a Diet Dr. Pepper with Splenda....

14. LEMONADE or ICED TEA? Iced tea, usually unsweetened.

15. CHERRIES or GRAPES? Cherries, usually.

16. CHOCOLATE QUIK or STRAWBERRY QUIK? They still make Quik??

17. WAFFLES or PANCAKES? Waffles!

18. WHITE BREAD or WHOLE-GRAIN/WHEAT BREAD? Whole-grain or wheat. Much tastier.

19. PEAS or CARROTS? Both. Carrots are easier to snack on though.

20. PUDDING or FRUIT-FLAVORED GELATIN? Pudding, if it's chocolate or tapioca. Banana pudding is evil (nasty, and often mistaken for vanilla on buffets)

21. COLD CEREAL or HOT CEREAL? Hot cereal. Cream of wheat is a guilty pleasure sometimes.

22. KETCHUP or MUSTARD? Deli mustard!

23. MUSTARD or MAYONNAISE? Mustard. Mayo is nasty.

24. MAYONNAISE or KETCHUP? Ketchup, if I must have one of those. Mayo is nasty.

25. BLACK OLIVES or GREEN OLIVES? Black olives.

26. ONION or GARLIC? Onion - I love garlic, but it has some unpleasant side effects.

27. PLAIN BARBECUE or BARBECUE WITH SAUCE? Both. Meat + pit = yum! Especially if we're talking ribs...

28. SCRAMBLED EGGS or FRIED EGGS? Scrambled, please!

29. EGGS or EGG REPLACEMENTS? The real thing, please.

30. MEAT or VEGETABLES? Depends on the particular meat and veg I'm having to choose between. Perhaps a very slight leaning toward vegetables, because I can eat more of them and still get fewer calories.

31. CHINESE TAKE-OUT or PIZZA? Chinese take-out. Haven't been in much of a pizza mood for years.

32. SUSHI or DELI SANDWICH? Sushi!

33. WHITE CLAM CHOWDER or RED CLAM CHOWDER? White, definitely! Not fond of the red kind.

34. KEY LIME PIE or LEMON MERANGUE PIE? Key lime

35. PIE & ICE CREAM or CAKE & ICE CREAM? If I have to combine ice cream and pastry, make it pie.

36. WHIPPED CREAM or CAKE FROSTING? Whipped cream. Most cake frostings are way too sickly-sweet.

37. HONEY or MAPLE SYRUP? Real maple syrup on pancakes. Honey for anything else.

Liquefaction

2008-02-16T11:10:00.000-05:00

Or, how to be spoiled rotten...
For my birthday, DD and DH got me gift certificate for a really nice spa package. Pretty much the works - aromatherapy massage, facial, manicure/pedicure. Spoiling to far more a degree than I would ever possibly invest in myself.

I've scheduled it for a couple weeks from now, the day of the annual fundraiser formal for DD's school. I'm quite looking forward to it. Although I confess I'm almost afraid I'll like it *too* much and want to make a habit of it!

Still, it should be fun being reduced to a pile of happy goo for a while.

Raising the steaks

2008-02-12T08:36:00.000-05:00

Last week, I realized that giving up fast food and sugary drinks wasn't really much of a sacrifice for me. So I decided to up the ante a bit and give up red meat for Lent. This has proved a little more of a challenge, partly from a grocery-shopping and meal-planning perspective. (Poultry is fair, um, game, so it's a little easier from a meal-planning perspective than DH and DD's giving up of all meat last year)

In the semiconsciousness preceding sleep, when the mind wanders strange paths, I got to thinking...

Is alligator 'red meat'? It has four legs, but isn't a mammal. (Which of those is the defining characteristic of 'red meat' anyway?) It's not poultry, and it's presumably not seafood.

And what about other things, like rattlesnake, or escargot? Where do they fall in the fish/fowl/flesh spectrum?

I'll give up the 'gator during Lent as well, but I'd welcome any insights on my nocturnal musings...

Into the wilderness...

2008-02-05T19:48:00.000-05:00

Punxsutawney Phil may have seen his shadow and predicted a late Spring, but Lent comes early this year. It seems like we just had Christmas, and already Ash Wednesday is tomorrow.

Which means I need to decide, quickly, what to do for Lent!

DH, DD and I have decided as a family to give up fast food this year. It's been a bad habit we've gotten into, mainly due to hectic schedules. And we all need to start eating healthier anyway. For my part, I'm giving up sugary drinks. I need to drink more water anyway, and I need to get back in the habit of drinking my tea unsweetened. (We won't talk about the bad soda habit I've picked up the past few months...) I haven't decided about giving up the snooze button again or not, but I think I'm going to move my alarm clock to my dresser away from my nightstand. I've discovered from setting one-shot alarms on my cell phone that if I have to actually get out of bed to turn the alarm off, I'm much more likely to actually stay up.

For Lenten reading this year, I think I'm going to tackle Dante's _Divine Comedy_. I found a good translation by Anthony Esolen, with plenty of reference and notes in the back of each volume. I started _Inferno_ back in November, and found it quite readable - I only put it aside to finish _Fortunate Traveler_, and it's still simmering on the back burner.

On with the journey....

I oughta be in pictures...

2008-02-04T19:22:00.000-05:00

Another picture meme! I've seen this numerous places....

Answer the questions and type your answer into Google images search.
Post a photo from the FIRST results page.

Age you will be on your next birthday?

Place you would like to visit?

One of your favorite places

Your favorite object?

Your favorite food?

Your favorite animal?

Name of a past pet?

Where you live?

1st grade teacher’s last name?

Middle Name?

A bad habit of yours?

Favorite flower?

Favorite Holiday?

"I'm Hen-e-ry the 8th I am, I am..."

2008-01-31T19:03:00.000-05:00

>>

Catarina was Henry's first wife and was probably the only one of his six wives to truly love him. He tired of her, and she spent the last decade of her life in lonely exile. Yet when she was dying, alone and unloved, she wrote: "Lastly, I make this vow, that mine eyes desire thee above all things. Farewell."

Which of Henry VIII's wives are you?

this quiz was made by Lori Fury
I've gotten Katherine of Aragon on two different quizzes of this type (the other is here). Not sure about the 'hopeless romantic' aspect though, though I did once press a rose in a physics book. Does that count?

(FWIW, I retook both quizzes with my least-fit answer and came up Anne Boleyn both times...)

In case of killer rabbit...

2008-01-28T19:21:00.000-05:00

Random surfing this evening revealed to me the next evolution in vorpal rabbit warfare:

Holy Hand Grenade danglers

Very tempting, and I do have a birthday coming up. Of course, the d20 fuzzy dice are cool too, except they only seem to be available in red.

Weapons of Peep Destruction

2008-01-23T20:48:00.000-05:00

Longtime followers of this blog may recall my love/hate relationship with Marshmallow Peeps (hate to eat them, love to torture them).

But I found this video on YouTube, of 10 ways to obliterate a Peep.

For more candy-destroying fun, three ways to kill a chocolate bunny...

(Yes, my mother taught me not to play with my food...but as I don't consider either of those 'food', they're fair game...)

Seasons change and so do I...

2008-01-17T23:08:00.000-05:00

About two weeks ago, I got a rather unexpected request. Vikki Clayton of Hand-Dyed Fibers asked me if I would come up with a design using her overdyed silks. Basic constraint was 5-10 colors, using less than half a yard per color when stitched using one strand over two threads, so she could develop sample tag sets for them.

I was honored, to say the least. This opportunity would give Tor Rhuann Designs more exposure, which was both exciting and a bit scary! But a flash of inspiration and a LOT of deliberation over color choices later, I'm proud to present Four Seasons:

Colorway 1

Colorway 2

It was very hard to settle on colors, because there are so many lovely ones to choose from, but I managed to limit (ha!) myself to only stitching it twice. Vikki will have tag sets available for these two colorways at Hand-Dyed Fibers.
As for my models, I see a biscornu in my near future!

Also in my near future are two new ventures for me!

I'm starting to take voice lessons (my first one is tomorrow!). I've been singing in my church choir for about a year now, but I could use a bit of help with technique and just overall comfort with my voice. Hopefully lessons will help.

I'll also be trying my hand at DungeonMastering for the first time. I've been a tabletop RPGer for about 20 years, but have never been a gamemaster. I'm the only adult in my group who's never done so. DH got a DragonLance book from DD for Christmas and started thinking about a DragonLance campaign, since there's a popular sequence of modules based on the original Dragonlance series. He's already running a Birthright campaign at present, so I decided that maybe it was time I gave DMing a go. I probably won't be ready to actually start for a few weeks yet, but I'm excited about this.

Wish me luck!