Hey Technocowboy — look what I’m treating myself to:
1 of Beltaine [Import] [Audio CD] Inkubus Sukkubus
1 of Away With the Fairies [Import] [Audio CD] Inkubus Sukkubus
1 of Vampyre Erotica [Import] [Audio CD] Inkubus Sukkubus
1 of Belladonna & Aconite [Import] [Audio CD] Inkubus Sukkubus
1 of Heartbeat of the Earth [Import] [Audio CD] Inkubus Sukkubus
1 of Wild [Import] [Audio CD] Inkubus Sukkubus
1 of Supernature [Import] [Audio CD] Inkubus Sukkubus
If you’re good, I’ll share :-).
I’m lucky enough to be able to listen to work in my office. Unlike most people here I can’t use headphones (I’m on the phone too much), so my music has to be played ‘out loud.’
In honor of the Day I’m playing my Beltane Beat mix:
We have a puppy, and unlike my pervious fur friends (cats), she needs to eliminate in the great outdoors, about 3x a day. To cut down on waste (literally) our housing complex provides doggy-do bags — dark plastic — which is great, as we don’t get plastic bags from the grocery store.
Right next to our house is a small patch of ‘wetlands.’ Wetlands is in quotes because its treated a lot like the other landscaping here — it abuts a schoolyard field that is planted and fertilized to some degree, weeds are mown down 3-4x a year, it gets rain run off from the streets . . . As far as I can tell a developer got a tax break for calling a 50×25 patch a wetlands.
J. has started taking the puppy to the wetlands and letting her eliminate in there as an alternative to using a doggy-do bag.
My dilemmna: Which is better — eliminating 2-3x a day in a wetlands or using 2-3 plastic bags that will never degrade?
Note: I don’t have a backyard of my own to use — thats the longer term goal (appox 5 years) that will settle this problem organically.
I’m hoping to gather some opinions about this — and asked a few friends for advice as well. What do you think?
The week before last, the weather was gorgeous: warm (70*) and just right for gardening. Which was perfect as my Gardener’s Supply order had just arrived. Yes, I know, ordering planters is an egregious waste of energy (they came from Vermont, about as far away as possible) but I literally could not find what I wanted/needed at any of the supply places around here — big box and independent both. These are recycled plastic, 16 inches deep and UV treated to keep their color. They are sturdy enough to hold the vines I want to grow to shade to front porch and pretty enough that I enjoy looking at them. As with many ‘green’ decisions, I had to balance competing priorities. Here’s what the porch looks like now:
What you see here are mainly the two jasmine plants. There are also two Clematis vines (purple flowers they will have) on either side of the jasmine on the right. Around the base I planted Allyssium already in bloom, and the fragrance is exquisite. Here’s a closer look at the two blue pots. The top one is filled with various plants from last year — flowering ivy, allyssium (can you tell that I like it?) and dianthus (which should have hot purple flowers this summer). The one on the floor has one of my two foxglove plants.
J. planted a rose bush for me. The two pots flanking it are the seemingly indestructible stargazer lilies. I say that because he planted them in 2006 and all he does is water them. I’m looking forward to the rose bush developing and blooming. Right now it’s pretty gloomy over in that corner.
Our back porch is cleaner (or at least, tidier) than it has been all winter. But it too is pretty low on plant life. I’m hoping to plant lavender and allyssium in containers and place them under the window onto the porch. The smell should really imbue the workout/craft/guest room.
My friend got his gift, and loved it (yay!). Here’s some pics so you can admire my handiwork.
The Knitting Bag — note the groovy handles.
A close up of the fabric (it’s sturdy, natural fabric — a woven cotton I think). Upholstery weight and doubled so it should hold up to years of being stuffed with projects.
Finally, a close up of the interior pocket. It runs the length of the side, and should hold needles very well.
For now, I have to keep the actual item a secret, but I just finished making technocowboy‘s birthday gift. The actual birthday was about a month ago, but the inspiration didn’t come until then, and it took me time to find the materials and work out the actual process of making it.
Which is how i basically do all of my crafts. Somehow I never seem to want to create something that has a ‘recipe’ or set of specific directions (except cooking). I’ll use a set of directions as a template (like this one one — a pleated silk purse), but then I’ll change it. Yes, even before I created one to try out. And I’m a self-taught sewer, so even though I have a sewing machine I have to spend a lot of time figuring out how things go together before I start — of it looks like crap (I’ve learned) because I didn’t think it through. I’ve ruined a number of otherwise amazing projects by not spending enough time thinking about them before I start making them.
It’s a curse, more than a gift. If I don’t make more of one thing at a time, I basically have to re-invent the wheel if I want to make another at some point in the future. Every time I think “I should keep notes, or take pictures.” But once I start I get so caught up in it that I don’t want to stop to document what I am doing.
As for this most recent project — I’ll post pictures once USPS delivers it to him.
is finally here. Two weeks ago we had snow, last weekend it was sleet and hail. Today I awoke to sunshine, and the realization that the heater hadn’t turned on once last night.
So today I am gardening. I have several new planters that I am installing on the front porch. After a run to the nursery, I’ll be adding dirt, then planting jasmine and clematis. There should be enough sun to make them happy, and I want a shaded porch during the summer. Lavender and allysium seeds will go into various pots to make this year’s garden, and more allysium seeds will be sprinkled at the roots of the vines (clematis doesn’t like to have too much light at its base) for ground cover as well as to provide some interest while the vines settle and start growing. And the foxglove I tried to plant next to my rose bush made it through the winter, but it wants a big pot to settle into — the ground is too hard and full of clay for it to be really happy.
I have a number of houseplants that want re-potting and some cuttings that want to find a new home. The hardest part here is that I’m not quite sure I have enough space for them to live inside the home. It may be time to give some away to friends.
What a great way to get into spring.
J. will be planting a series of window boxes along the railing on our back deck. He knows exactly what he wants to plant there, but can’t tell me the name of the flower. (I think its geraniums, but it might be marigolds.) He’s also going to try planting a rose bush for me to go along with the lilies that are doing just fine and starting to grow once again. (I point this pout because we’ve never dug up the bulbs or split them or anything. They just got planted and grow, bloom, then die only to regrow the next spring.)
Hmmm. I wonder if we have enough pots?
Day 2 of the conference, and nice memories of my visit here with my father. At dinner last night (at the always exquisite gem of Matyson) I found myself reflecting on the fact that my family spends a great deal of its time together focusing on meals. We’re not quite so bad as to be talking about dinner while eating lunch, but we do gather around meals, and so meal time (and location) is very important. Food centers us, locates us, and binds us (in positive ways). We all like food, and we’ve tended to bring new people to the family who also enjoy food. So it is a part of our visiting one another; our celebrations shared. Perhaps this comes from the divorce so early on – we quickly found ourselves spending time with our extended family only at the holidays. Holidays, of course, means meals shared . . . and so the pattern was created. (So clear, in retrospect.)
This is not a terrible pattern to manifest, although I can see how it might lead to horrid problems (eating disorders and the like) if the family dynamics are overly warped. (Let’s be clear, shall we? My family, including me, is crazy (aren’t all families crazy?). But we’re working on communicating with one another and healing the wounds of childhood. Not actively, we’re not in therapy, but we are having conversations through the years, and have been since I was in college. That’s about 20 years for those of you who keep count.)
I hate having wireless access, but not connectivity – the corporate world of hotels is quirky that way. At lunch I’ll have to inquire as to whether I can access the hotel’s network for a fee.
I’m in
As with many of these events (no matter the topic) some speakers are better than others. There is also a widely va rying level of passion (and expertise). Overall, day one is worth it. (Even if I just count the morning sessions.)
What else can I do but salute and praise Him for adroitly managing my travel to Philadelphia. In the classic sense of combining practical and magickal practice, I made sure that I carried on my luggage and was open to positive events occurring. (This is my preferred mode of travel to a place; on the way home I often check my bags because I don’t care if it’s delayed.)
We left Seattle essentially on time (which is important considering how early — 6am – it was). The ride was smooth and comfortable, and we arrived about 30 minutes early thanks to a tail wind. I disembarked and headed straight for lunch at La Tapenade (I love their bacon and egg panini). Sandwich in hand, I looked for my flight (due to leave in about an hour) to Philadelphia. Oops! It’s delayed until 2pm. Good thing I have lunch, I thought. Across the way I saw a flight finishing boarding for PHL, and although I didn’t want to try and get onto it, I thought I’d wait until the agent was free to check to see if she could upgrade me (I always ask). She asked me if I wanted on board and I explained that I was ok to wait until my regular flight boarded in an hour. Unasked, she checked on my flight and informed me that it was now due to leave at 3pm – making me two hours late for my arrival.
Do you have room on this flight? I asked. Did you check your bags? She responded. No, I have them in hand. Here you go, she said, and handed me a ticket.
And so I boarded the plane, and we took off at about 1pm, arriving – 45 minutes before my scheduled arrival time – at 3:30pm. Amazing.
Hail Mercury!