(no subject)

Jul. 15th, 2025 10:25 am
greghousesgf: (Horse)
[personal profile] greghousesgf
I wanted to hang out with L. yesterday but that wasn't possible. Hopefully it will be tomorrow night, especially since they have apparently got a little extra $$$ and rented a car I would love to ride in (when we get together it usually consists of us driving around while talking and listening to music). Anyway since I didn't have much to do I hung out on the Berkeley end of Telegraph Ave and had a yummy milkshake over at Super Duper but not much else was going on there apart from one wingnut throwing books at people.
I heard a rumor Ice is around here. There are a lot of immigrants in my bldg but I'm sure the fuck not gonna snitch on them.

(no subject)

Jul. 15th, 2025 01:08 pm
maju: Clean my kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] maju
Well, I spent way more than my self-allocated 15 minutes today on clearing stuff away. I picked up my two tech recycling boxes at the post office this morning, then a bit later I started the process of packing up the various computers and cables to go into the boxes. First I had to scan a code (a separate one is included with each box) so I could print a UPS free delivery label, and before I could do that I had to put new ink into my printer. That took longer than it should have because I kept getting error messages from the printer ("Your device is busy" - huh?) when I tried to align the new ink cartridges. Eventually I got the printer working and printed the label for the first box, but I still have to attach the label and seal up the box, and then I have to go through the process again for the second box. It should go much more quickly the second time around though.

Yesterday in the late afternoon/early evening we had a dramatic thunderstorm with a lot of very heavy rain. (We had more than two inches in an hour or so.) The rain was so heavy that it washed some pieces of wood someone had put out for trash collection today some metres down to my car, where they stacked up against the front wheel. At least I assume that's why there were some random pieces of what looked like bed frame wedged against the front wheel of my car.

I went for a run this morning; the humidity at the time was around 95% so I was dripping with sweat after an hour of running.

LJ is *still* being weird for me, taking forever to load my friends feed.

Tuesday

Jul. 15th, 2025 09:06 am
susandennis: (Default)
[personal profile] susandennis
I've gotten into this annoying pattern of bad sleep on Mondays and Wednesdays and, sometimes, Fridays. The night before volleyball. Maybe it's because I sleep too late on the other days - usually it's only an hour longer if that. Or sleep too well. Last night was also interrupted by Hazel. John is back in the hospital and she'd forgotten to bring home the phone number and wanted to call him but also couldn't remember how to work the phone. Mainly she was just exhausted and frazzled and worried. I was in bed listening to my book when she came in. So we went back and I played her voice mail messages for her and found the number and we called John. And she seemed much more calm and settled when I left. Her son is coming over this morning. They cannot seem to control John's excess fluid retention. Hazel says he's peeing every 30 minutes but is still swollen up everywhere like a whale. Heart or kidneys, I'm sure and neither option is that good at 89.

We talked some last night and she said she understands that this may be it and she's prepared. That was comforting to hear. They've been together for 65 years.

Laundry is laundrying.

I watched most of the home run derby last night so I could see Mariner Cal Raleigh and his family participate. His dad did the pitching and his 15 year old brother did the catching. It was cute. And he won which was cool since no other catcher had ever won. That's it for baseball for me until Friday.

When they were here, my friend, Scott, used my phone number every time he was asked for one. It was just easier than saying no. For some reason, it tickled him to use it at Walmart to get the receipt. And now, every time they stop at Walmart, I get the receipt. They are buying some weird shit and not nearly enough Krispy Kremes but it is fun to track their trip which I am now dubbing the Walmart/Family Dollar Tour. He sent me a text yesterday that they had found HUGE Dollar Tree and he hadn't spied Julie in a long time. I told him it was 911 and not 111 for emergency if she never showed. They are off to Soux Falls today.

It's house cleaner day.

And I have an Amazon return plus I am perilously close to running out of mayo so a stop at Safeway is in order. I would wait until house cleaning time but I think I'll go when the clothes are done in hopes that it will be a little less hot.

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Arcane Zoning Laws

Jul. 15th, 2025 08:35 am
mallorys_camera: (Default)
[personal profile] mallorys_camera
I'm bored with grieving.

Brian would have thoroughly sympathized.

Brian was one of the least sentimental humans I've ever met.

###

Daria & I are sentimental enough to want to do a memorial. Flavia is not interested at all in doing a memorial, says Brian wouldn't have cared one way or another, which may or may not be true, but anyway, even if it is true, is entirely irrelevant: Memorials are for the survivors.

Flavia's reluctance does raise some issues, though. Like is she reluctant because she is too prostrate with grief to participate in anything? As the kinda/sorta Official Grieving Widow, will she resent it—consciously or unconsciously—if two survivors lower down on the Grief Ladder seize the initiative here?

No real plans have been made other than a vague commitment to the third or fourth week in September, a date far enough ahead in an indeterminate future to seem doable.

But if we really want to do it, we're gonna have to begin to make some concrete plans sooner rather than later. Pin down an actual date; pin down a venue. New Paltz is the obvious venue, but I've also been wondering about Norma's, BB's & my favorite cafe in Wappingers Falls, or Tranquili-Tea, that adorable little rabbit hole in (of all bizarre places) Middletown that we stumbled across that day:



I had a busy weekend: Democratic Committee meeting, D&D with the Boneyard BoyZ, & a tea party that doubled as a Democratic fundraiser. Also I baked a sour cherry pie:



The aesthetics are off. As I say, I am just terrible with crusts! But the pie tastes great.

I hadn't exercised in 10 days, but yesterday I trotted off to the gym and today I plan to tromp before it gets too hot.

###

I've been trying to think of a plot to graft on to the Neversink backstory.

Of course, it should focus on the animosity between the folks who've been farming in these parts for three or four generations and the recent emigrants from the Big City, 'cause that's a very real dynamic in these parts plus the whole water theft—They drowned our homes so their city could have water!—demands it.

Possibly a young, idealistic Brooklyn immigrant runs for the village planning board? Maybe there's still some arcane zoning law that she opposes that allows stores to be built in the middle of the reservoir? (But why would she oppose it? There are tons of arcane laws dating back centuries in every town in these parts! People just ignore them.) And, of course, on the actual night of the election, the reservoir recedes so you can see the chimneys & spires & mercantile towers of the drowned town.

Writing style I'm aiming for is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Susanna Clark does a most excellent job of integrating fantasma into everyday.

I will mull it over some more.

But not too much. Some things just naturally work themselves out while you're writing.

monday later

Jul. 14th, 2025 09:02 pm
summersgate: (Default)
[personal profile] summersgate
A few pictures of stuff you've seen before but this time with the helios lens:ExpandRead more... )

I'm reading a very interesting book right now: How Art Heals: Exploring Your Deep Feelings Using Collage. It has a section about collage but it also has lots of other kinds of artwork.

monday

Jul. 14th, 2025 05:27 pm
summersgate: (Default)
[personal profile] summersgate
DSC_0231.jpg
The left one was done by Noah last evening. I love how Noah will pitch right in to try any art or game thing. Mine's on the right.

IMG_20250714_094217552_HDR[1].jpg
Here's two pictures from a walk at Erie Wildlife Refuge this morning. Overcast. The mosquitos were bad enough that I actually used a bug repentant. I usually won't.

IMG_20250714_100029171_HDR[1].jpg
A view from one of the little bridges there.

Everything is green and growing. Dave's garden is going crazy with green beans. I made green bean/potato soup the other day and we finally finished that. Now I have to think of something else to make to use them up. I'm not willing to run the canner if we can keep up with eating them fresh.

(no subject)

Jul. 14th, 2025 03:52 pm
maju: Clean my kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] maju
I'm so over this weather. It's not that the daily temperatures are particularly high (by the standards of what I've lived through in Perth in the past), but combined with very high humidity day after day and particularly night after night, it's very oppressive. This morning I just couldn't muster up the motivation to go out for any exercise so I gave myself a rest day. I did do some cleaning around the house (dusting mainly) and will vacuum later in the week, and I also took some more stuff to Goodwill. I meant to pick up the mail on the way home because I know there's a parcel waiting for me at the post office, but I completely forgot and by the time I remembered I didn't feel like going out again. I know it's a package of mailing boxes for the electronics I plan to send off to the recycling place, and although I do want to get that done it's not really urgent at this point. I might collect it tomorrow.

Yesterday my daughter suggested I go up to Connecticut to spend some time with them in about a month, while the girls are still off school, but I told her, very regretfully, that I don't want to be there while the weather is still hot because I was so uncomfortable in the basement (and in fact in their whole house) last summer. I've decided to go at the end of August, hoping the weather will be starting to cool down a bit by then, or at least that the nights will be cooler. I'll stay into September, but I'm not sure how long I'll stay yet.

365 Questions 2025

Jul. 14th, 2025 03:43 pm
maju: Clean my kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] maju
10. Excluding romantic relationships, who do you love? My children and grandchildren.

11. What is your earliest childhood memory? I have a memory of being in a strange room, standing at one end of a cot (crib) to get away from something unpleasant at the other end. When I told my mother about this memory a few years ago, she said it was when I was about 18 months old. We were staying with relatives and I'd thrown up in my cot.

12. What book has had the greatest influence on your life? None in particular.

13. What three questions do you wish you knew the answers to? 1. I'm curious about this, but I'm not sure that I really want to know the answer: "What does it feel like to die?" 2. How would my life have turned out if I'd made different choices at a couple of points? 3. I don't think there is a 3.

14. What is the greatest peer pressure you’ve ever felt? Back when I was in my late teens and early twenties I felt very strongly that I had to do what other people expected of me in order to be accepted.

(no subject)

Jul. 14th, 2025 10:55 am
greghousesgf: (pic#17098464)
[personal profile] greghousesgf
Had some Ceylon tea. I have now been ripped off three times in the past few days, first the PG&E business, then the thing with the watch, and yesterday when I was leaving L.'s house the damn bus driver charged me the transbay fare, which is THREE TIMES as much as the normal bus fare. Apparently bus drivers can fuck with that meter any old time they want to, and when I objected he LIED to me and said that was the normal fare. I looked it up on my cell phone and PROVED it wasn't. I argued with him and he bullshitted me some more and then ignored me. I actually reported this to the bus company, the guy who worked for the bus company was all "he's not supposed to do that".

Monday

Jul. 14th, 2025 08:12 am
susandennis: (Default)
[personal profile] susandennis
I always feel like baseball's All Star Break starts 6 weeks of unrelenting Summer. Compared to the rest of the country, we get off easy - not as hot, not as long but still. I hate it. The sun hurts my eyes and I hate the heat. BUT six (probably more like 8 with global warming) will be gone, soon. I'm counting on it.

And I have shades and air conditioning. So really it's just 8 weeks of not pleasant that really does not get in my way much.

Yesterday was the last of baseball until Friday. I'm thinking of buying a month of Mariners streaming to try it out. Maybe. The radio broadcasters have gotten as bad as the TV but at least I'd have something to watch when I hit mute. It's $25 a month and I can do only one month easily.

But, meanwhile this week I'll be watching other stuff.

This afternoon is aqua yoga. I might go out and do some puzzling this morning. But really it looks like it's going to be a nice, quiet day.

I have not had or used a windows computer in a long long time. I held on to the last one because I needed it to print out sewing patterns (PDF patterns use layers and web acrobat would not print layers). So when I quit making clothes, I gave up the computer.

But, now, after all these years, I need a windows computer again. I want to remove the Digital Rights Management from a couple of Audible books so that I can play them without Audible. Just in case. I don't really intend to give up my Audible account but if something happened to it... There really is no easy way to do it without Windows. Oh well.


20250714_073607-COLLAGE

(f&f)

Jul. 14th, 2025 06:34 am
elainegrey: Inspired by Grypping/gripping beast styles from Nordic cultures (Default)
[personal profile] elainegrey

Written Sunday midday

So humid. Yesterday i was soaked by sweat picking mulberries. That's in the shade and hardly moving. Admittedly, late morning, but still.

After showering, we went to the Mexican restaurant my Dad favors for a family lunch. My sister joined us. My brother is in the states and arrived Friday to study for the California Bar at my Dad's - fewer distractions.  He complains frequently that what he specializes in is not covered.

Home, to prep for a dinner visit from Christine's sister D. We took a break to watch Clarkson's Farm, which was about stressful preparations by a deadline. I will admit to spoiling things for myself by using google maps. Christine was not relaxed by the episode. I did not manage time well, so my dream of making blueberry bread did not come to pass. However, we had plenty of food and didn't get to desert. I did have a couple glasses of sparkling wine, as D enjoys her wine. This bottle has been in the fridge ... since the pandemic? It did not want to come uncorked.

D also brought her dog Lula who is somewhat bigger than Carrie. 55 to Carrie's 40 pounds? I hope that Christine and D see each other more often, and i think that will happen if Carrie and Lula can get along. The dogs were somewhat distracting as we tried to watch a Jaws documentary, but it was a good first visit.

I had a text from sister asking for a call that i had missed during D's visit; sent a message apologizing and noting where i would be in the morning.

I woke early  to ferry my dad and brother to the airport.  They head to the Chicago area to watch nephew D graduate from the Navy ROTC New Student Indoctrination course. To get them there i needed to leave at 6:15. It was a beautiful morning with the humidity in the air  -- and fog, and low clouds -- creating lovely atmospheric effects.

On the way back my sister calls, distressed about REDACTED. I join her, and we have tea, and she cries and i hold her.  It is reasonable distress, and i affirmed her. I also recognize an tendency i have in myself, which is if X is a possible outcome, wanting to just get X over with. Instead there is messy, uncertain work to get where she needs to be, which may or may not involve X. Instead, we talked about step B. I suspect (because it's what i would do) that she wants to rush through and be done with the distressing things, and we talk through the steps of just starting step B and how that will take a while.

(no subject)

Jul. 13th, 2025 08:08 pm
lycomingst: (Default)
[personal profile] lycomingst
The Friday Five


1. What was the most sick that you've ever been?
I used to get terrible sore throats when I was young. They got worse every year. The last time I got delusional. When I could afford it I had my tonsils out and I swear I didn’t have a cold for 10 years.

2. What disease are you afraid of getting?
Lyme disease.

3. Are you a big baby when it comes to taking medicine/shots for your illnesses?
No.

4. Is going to the doctor really THAT bad?
Yes.

5. Would you have the flu twice a month if you were paid $1,000 for having it?
Maybe for $10,000 but I don’t come cheap.

VASA Gathering

Jul. 13th, 2025 06:34 pm
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[personal profile] fauxklore
Moving on to April in my catch-up, let' start with the first weekend of the month.

I drove down to Williamsburg the first weekend in April for the Virginia Storytelling Alliance (VASA)annual gathering. The drive down was about what I expected for a Friday afternoon, with a few areas of heavy traffic (inevitably around Quantico and around Fredericksburg), but I didn’t have any trouble getting to the hotel where the event was being held. I had plenty of time to get dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant before the informal story swap that kicked off the Gathering. Since this was just before Passover, I told a story that essentially combines two of my father’s jokes about the crossing of the Red Sea.

Saturday was a very full day. The first event was a workshop by Jeanna Lee on Persuasive Storytelling. She focused on the rhetorical triangle, which includes ethos (appeal to credibility and authority), logos (appeal to logic and reasoning), and pathos (appeal to emotion). The handout talked about these in terms of neurotransmitters. But the real tie-in to storytelling was an exercise where we were divided into groups and each got one of these approaches to use in telling the story of the three little pigs. I was in the logos group and we pointed out to the big bad wolf that he was supposed to be avoiding high cholesterol foods like pork. And then there was the matter of his criminal record … Overall, we had a lot of fun with this.

After an intermission, Gwendolyn Poole presented a workshop title Attention Please which had to do with practical tools for capturing the audience’s attention. This included voice inflection, call and response, and physical movement. That was followed by the first of two story swaps with feedbacks.

Then came lunch, which also included the annual VASA business meeting. That includes the financial report, membership report, and board of directors (including filling any vacant positions). I served on the board for several years a while back, but I’m committed to too many other things now to consider doing it again.

Next up was a workshop on Storytelling Ethics, led by yours truly. This is a topic that I’m passionate about. My handouts covered how to define ethics, basics of copyright protection, and several case studies. For example, what is appropriate to tell for a given audience? Can you tell a story from a culture other than your own? How should you deal with organizers of storytelling programs, including financial considerations? The discussion was lively and I think it went very well.

The second story swap with feedback followed that. The day ended with filling out evaluations and some closing remarks.

I could have driven home that evening, but I had decided it would be more relaxing to stay another night. That was, indeed, a good decision. I got dinner at a barbecue place that had been recommended to me and my drive home on Sunday was noticeably faster than the drive down had been. All in all, I’d say it was a successful event, though the attendance was on the low side.

sunday later

Jul. 13th, 2025 04:53 pm
summersgate: (Default)
[personal profile] summersgate
DSC_0229.jpg
"Bring Rhythm to Care". Don't ask me what it means. Just some words that came to me after I saw the pictures together.

Now I know

Jul. 13th, 2025 03:54 pm
bill_schubert: (Default)
[personal profile] bill_schubert

Reading Brit mysteries all the time means I don't always get the references. I'd never had a Jaffa Cake before but had been offered them in a few drawing rooms while investigating my murders.

Now I know. Courtesy of HEB where I buy my digestives.

(no subject)

Jul. 13th, 2025 03:51 pm
maju: Clean my kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] maju
For the last few weeks I've been watching an old British show, Waterloo Road, which has something like 250 episodes, so I was hoping it would keep me occupied for many more weeks. However, Amazon has now decided to remove it, so for the last few days every time I start to watch an episode I get the warning that this season will only be on Prime for x more number of days. I'm only up to season 3 so I'm very disappointed to miss out on many more seasons, and I've been binge-watching to get season 3 finishes before it disappears. Only one episode to go now, which I should be able to watch tomorrow. (This morning when I started watching, the time remaining was in hours, not days.)

Today started out fine but humid, then in the late morning it got really dark and there was thunder and very heavy rain in the early afternoon. Now it's clear and sunny again.

(no subject)

Jul. 13th, 2025 11:23 am
lycomingst: (Default)
[personal profile] lycomingst
We’re having a spate of hot days, 100F/37C, then it will cool down. The mobile home park had to shut down the water on Friday as something broke. The system is old and a piece needs replacing and it needs hunting down.. Management had to choose between no water and telling everyone to keep a faucet open to regulate the pressure. They decided on the latter one which is painful to anyone who lived with drought. But better than no water.

I have strawberries ripening, actually strawberries. I have to hang pots on the fence because those I had in pots on the ground got munched on. I keep them there as decoys. The tomatoes are soso. I think I watered too much. Or this type doesn’t grow as tall as I am used to. But the cucumber has a flower on it and soon I will have a round, light green ball of a cucumber.

Even the butterfly bush plant I got from the Arbor Day Society is growing and I thought I killed that.

sunday

Jul. 13th, 2025 10:50 am
summersgate: (Default)
[personal profile] summersgate
DSC_0227.jpg
Fragments.

I got up very early this morning, took care of the animals and then went back to bed. Had a long involved dream about the woods down by the creek and how it had been turned into a playground with lots of things to climb on and play on. The people I was with (not sure who they were) were going to climb up on a super giant slide that had multiple parts to it. To get up to the top it had many disconnected ladders that were dangling from chains. Each higher ladder was harder and harder to reach, till the last one in the dream I just could not reach. I was thinking to myself, why did I even want to DO this? I couldn't do it. I couldn't go forward and I couldn't go back. So I woke up. I'm pretty sure the dream has to do with my worry about how the behavioral health volunteer job is going.

Having Sunday dinner here as usual. Salmon and vegan burgers. I still need to make macaroni salad.

Wimbledon and some returns

Jul. 13th, 2025 10:07 am
bill_schubert: (Default)
[personal profile] bill_schubert
I'm watching Alcaraz and Sinner walk out to the courts ready to play.  Last time they played, in Paris, it was a five set battle more like a boxing match than tennis.  I would expect today to be no different.  It is so nice to watch, from the comfort of my home, a match of tennis on a par with any I've ever watched.  As always, I've got Mom on my shoulder saying 'I wish John [Mcenroe] would shut up'.  He still hasn't and won't.  The reason I'd love to have a button to push that would silence the commentary but not the crowd and pop of the rackets.

I expect Alcaraz to win but both are so deserving that it would not matter.

In the family tradition I'm collecting Amazon returnables.  I've got two.  One is a monitor connection adapter I no longer need since I broke the damn monitor and the other is a backup set of what was supposed to be bone conduction earphones but is actually over the ear speakers, not what I want and not what was on the site.  I'll also be returning the Chromebox I have once I've gotten the new one with more oomph.  I've done my bit to keep them profitable, though.  Shoes, another headset, a monitor, a Chromebox and all kinds of 'stuff' critical to my existence.  I'll probably take the returnables with me tomorrow to Georgetown.  There's a UPS there that has an independent set up where you grab a bag, Scan your code, print off the label to seal the bag with and drop it in the hole.  It is a great set up that is as efficient as it can be.  Rather than separate packages it all goes into large boxes for the return.

Today is a rain-ish day.  We now get flood watches all over Alexa and Google if the humidity is even high.  It does not apply to us.  I'd rather have a heat gage warning that I could set for my specific age and such.  If only we had Artifician Intelligence to help with that kind of thing.

I get annoyed frequently that AI is not incorporated into daily existence.  I'm sitting at a red light with traffic backing up behind and traffic backing up on the other side and no one crossing with the green light and it is such an obvious opportunity to use AI.  There are cameras that can see what it happening and even a low level computer system would be able to change the light based on reality.  Can't figure out what that doesn't happen.

First world.

(no subject)

Jul. 13th, 2025 08:04 am
greghousesgf: (pic#17098464)
[personal profile] greghousesgf
I have to do laundry today, then after I have lunch I'm going to go over to L.'s house and pick up my tea. Last night I finished watching the last of the CSI DVDs my sister's husband was nice enough to give me the $$$ for, it was the first 8 seasons and I watched it over 2 months.
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