Category: Family

We haz the cool

  • I will never be cool in THAT sense, but I can certainly praise the thrice blessed Jeff, who got an air conditioner yesterday.  It made living at Geekhaven Beta a damned sight more pleasant – it was fracking hot.  Eddie was all over it.
  • I will resist the blandishments of my naturist friends today and NOT go to Wreck Beach.  Jarmo & Co and Mike will be off there today but I simply have too much life maintenance to do, and then Jeff and I will go pic-a-nic someplace, maybe. Depends how appealing it is to stay where there’s a steady stream of cold air.
  • Lawrence H, one of my coworkers, saw a Dall’s porpoise out in the Strait on Saturday.  It was just part of how awesome it all was, the trip from Vancouver to Victoria.
  • Victoria, approached from the ocean on a hot day, has a mesmerizingly beautiful scent of hot, sweet pine.  NO not like Pine Sol.  A magical, resiny gorgeousness that lifts on the breeze and drowns one in anticipation.  As drfilk noted, “Well, that’s better than I thought it would smell.”
  • I sang much of the way there, as much nautical stuff as I could remember, which isn’t much, but thanks to my mother and father I know all of the lyrics to at least one version of “The Eddystone Light”.
  • I learned last night that somebody I never talk to at work (I don’t sit with him at lunch anymore) thinks I’m a great performer.  Now I am thinking “When the hell did I ever play in front of him? And PS, thanks.”
  • Oh, is the rent due?
  • My rear end still hurts from the trip there. A little.  Not like Sunday morning, when my parents were giggling at me every time I sat down and squawked.  My back isn’t great but I know walking will fix it.
  • I have to water my plants; they got a good soaking Saturday morning but they are droopy as hell, as container plants are in this kinda heat.
  • Robof9 took pics of his wife’s work.  She is a professional plant person.  Sheesh, I guess that makes her a horticulturist… anyway, 100000 plants that she grew all needed watering on Sunday and he took pics and I await them happily.
  • Next post, various pics.  Be prepared..
  • I have booked a Can Car to deal with the box situation.
  • I think I need a summer weight housecoat.
  • For those who might be nervous on his account, Paul survived the last round of layoffs at his work.
  • The folks downstairs, in an effort to avoid us, have taken to smoking cigarettes indoors. For me this is annoying, due to my disturbed relationship with tobacco; for Jeff it is nauseating and hopelessly rude.
  • I participated in a Pagan ceremony on Sunday.  I am still processing it. When asked to pray I directed my energy towards a good outcome for somebody I despise, in an effort to cultivate both mindfulness and compassion.  The notion of praying for myself when I’m so comfortably settled with life the universe and everything (occasional bitchiness and annoyance with incompetence aside) was not on.  Runnerwolf was very specific about saying, “If you’re praying for somebody else, always pray for the best outcome – something concrete might not be what’s required for the person you’re praying for.” The psychology of this seems wise; you have formed an intention without becoming attached to the result, which is better than petitioning the lord with a laundry list of ‘want-its’ and then getting miffed when they don’t come to pass.  Funny story: she used popcorn instead of dry corn for ceremony once, with entirely predictable results come time to put the bundle in the ceremonial fire.
  • I know what copal and frankincense and myrrh look like now.
  • Why would an atheist bother with all that?  Because of Tennyson (oops, nearly said Donne)
    I am a part of all that I have met;
    Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’
    Gleams that untravell’d world,

It’s a beautiful day

I’m at the folks’ place in Victoria recovering from one of the more memorable days in many moons.

I got up at 4:30 and left the house with Jarmo and crew around 7:30.  We launched from Burrard ramp.  There were eagles at the launch site.  The launch was hilarious, mostly because the Suburban’s muffler was under water for a good chunk of the launch.  Anyway, that was successful.  Out into the Georgia Strait where the combined one two punch of the Fraser’s two arms dumping into the strait caused incredible lumpiness.  I lost my hat (I had sunscreen), applied sunscreen to the back of Jarmo’s neck and his bald spot, and stood for the first 1.5 hours.  We stopped at Galiano and got ice cream bars and pumped the bilges, after which the boat behaved in a much peppier fashion.

Got to Victoria Harbour long about 11:30, with bunting flying and hordes of people for the tall ships festival, including the Nina, and Jarmo just moseys up to the nicest section of dock and gets everybody a pass to the docks.  I bail to go to Pondside for the filking. 

Shortly after I got there me and twenty other people ran through the Tapioca Song… EVERYBODY there knew it off by heart, it was amazing. Instruments included stand up bass (thank you thank you Peggy) hammered dulcimer, banjola, many guitars, resonator guitar and many harmonious happy voices…..  AND – and this makes me so happy I could burst – it was simultaneously signed in Ameslan. 

I played with Devon Rex cats and listened to some of the nicest and smartest people in the world tell stories and sing songs and play exotic instruments.  Happy, happy sigh.

Then I realized I was exhausted and begged Dr Filk for a ride to my folks’ place on his scoot, which he kindly provided.  There I was thinking I wouldn’t get a ride on a motorcycle this summer, ha! THEN I got to ride to my granny’s place in the Camaro, with the top down, during a cloudless summer evening.  I had a lovely (and brief) visit with my gran, then came back here and drank a cup of tea.  There was a deer in the parking lot across the street from her apartment while we were there.

You have to admit I had an amazing day and I send big hugs and kisses to Douglas and Juliana for sponsoring the amazing event that is Pondfilk.  But I am sun- and windburnt and entirely bagged and my bed is calling me in three part harmony with stand up bass accompaniment, so good night moon.  mOm’s going to give me a lift back there in the morning, and then with any luck I’ll hitch a lift back to Vancouver with Tom and Peggy.

Tired and happy.  That’s me right now.

Keith started early

He was supposed to start today but they started him yesterday.  I hope for a full report at some point.

Watched The Big Red One yesterday.  The firefight scenes are great but everything else suffers in comparison to Band of Brothers… especially the music, holy crap it was bad.

I made purple food yesterday – purple home fried potatoes.  I’m having some more now, damn they’re good!

What a bleeping day

To preserve the dignity and privacy of those involved, I will not recount some of the events of this evening. Nobody was injured, the cats are fine, and I won’t speak for Jeff but I would describe my current mental state as “spitting out feathers”.

Jericho was fine; I heard my first ever submarine shanty, which really is a fine thing to be able to say, the other performers were wonderful, Ballyhooley was great, they did a kickass version of Wraggle Taggle Gypsies and one of them plays uillean pipes ver’ well.  And there was an octave mando and more fracking pipes with holes in ’em than you imagine one guy lugging around.

Paul and Keith showed up, and just as promptly, disappeared, due to scheduling issues. I hung til ten but I had to get the car back to Joyce Station.

One block north of Joyce Station, and may the laws of probability and a pterodactyl’s left great claw be thanked that I had my back turned to this jackass, I heard a guy who hawked up a throat oyster so big that it was carrying a cell phone with ease – I heard the sucker bounce on the ground – and then he made an even MORE incredibly loud noise which sounded like somebody trying to clear a vacuum cleaner hosepipe jammed full of liver with a toilet plunger, and I must repeat, really loud. Reverberating between two buildings, drowning out the car noise. Score one for the human capacity to be really fracking disgusting.

New Puppy (Migraine better thanks….)

Dave @ OneLegWest has posted pics of his puppy Max’s first day at home. Check out how happy Jake is to see the new arrival….

I feel so much better and the sun is shining so delightfully that I’m off to Jericho tonight.

Did I mention the whole fam damily was over last night for a spaghetti dinner? Keith and Paul brought Caesar salad and corn bread, and Katie brought her sweet self and picked up her blankie from G’ma. Then we watched Buffy (Darla gets hers, the first time anyway). Happy Sigh.

Oh oh oh, I forgot to mention, I’m getting a FREE RIDE to Victoria for next weekend’s Pondfilk!! Dalai Jarmo just dropped by to say they are taking off at hours ungodly on Saturday morning to go see the tallships. Obviously I’ll chip in for gas so it won’t really be free, but Me Happy! It will be a most convivial crew, and they’ll just drop me off at the Harbour.

Every time I get a migraine these days I think happy thoughts and it goes away. Sometimes the happy thoughts involved nudity, but a lot of times I think about my friends and family and the happiness just wells up like a magical fountain.

The Niña

Paul’s cunning plan for Father’s day involved taking us all to see the reproduction of Columbus’ Niña and then feeding us.  This was indeed a cunning plan, endorsed heartily by all involved, and Jeff joined us for Phó afterwards.  In the middle there was the BsG latest episode (loved the last 10 seconds) as Keith was anxious to see it, and bringing the sewing machine from the boy’s place over here so Jeff and I can sew the blackout curtains, which popped like a cork to the top of the household list with the longer day lengths.  There was also an interesting walk with Paul which included a candid and constructive assessment of the emotional carnage of the last 18 months or so.  I got kinda drippy a couple of times but didn’t otherwise embarrass myself; I just kept repeating the mantra speak respectfully, listen carefully and got through it okay.  So I may be in a good mood today (of course!  the Sun came out!) but I am also in a reflective one.

The Niña itself is a dinky toy.  When we first saw it I said, there are Tall Ships and Small Ships, and this is very Small Ship.  Katie and I had two reasons for wanting to see it – one was to extend our historical knowledge after our trip to the Dominican Republic last year, and the other was to imagine Niccolò sailing on such a vessel (Niccolò being yet another Dunnett character) because it was built just like what he would have sailed in.  The boys had their own reasons, chief among which of course was the ‘messing around in boats’ thing.  The ship’s boat was made single handed by a fourteen year old man.  I’m hesitant to call anyone with such an accomplishment a boy.  The Niña’s sailing away today.  It was a perfect day to see it, and of course I didn’t remember to take my camera, so the pics are courtesy Paul.  BONUS For my Seattle fans…

Partay, Mine is an Evil Laugh, Solaris

Jeff and I had a lovely time at Hackerfish Manor, but I’ll tell you one thing for true, I’m never drinking a bacon shot EVAR AGAIN.

Saw the Soderbergh version of Solaris.  It’s a hard movie to love, but I thought it was great.  AND it has hang drum orchestration, if my ears don’t deceive me.

Why is mine an evil laugh?  Because Lady Miss B just LOANED the FIRST THREE SEASONS of BUFFY to Jeff.  Squee!

Yummies, Mummies, Dummies

So we cooked oysters and pork chomps and garlic bread and taters and squash and garlic and set out brie and crackers, and ate rice and ginger beef (leftovers from lunch, my gosh they were good) and I made a salad and Peggy brought plum squares (heavenly, just heavenly) and I set out melon, and then in a pleasant state of repletion we sat around and talked. I found myself becoming very tired so I kicked them out, but they took Keith with them, Tom and Peggy did, so it all worked out very well (and it’s not like I really kicked them out, it’s just we’re old and tired and it was starting to really piss me off that Keith just sat down and started playing Condemned II Bloodshot while we were trying to talk – you could see Tom starting to get into it). That was the first time we’ve had a formal sit down meal with cloth napkins since we moved in, so really it was about time. Jeff put me at the head of the table. Hmph.

This morning I’m going to go protest Scientology, which is a complete waste of time, but once you have a V mask it just seems like the right thing to do, and then I’m going to the partay…. Tomorrow Father’s Day like family stuff with Paul and the kids, which hopefully will be lighthearted and civil (those hopes are for my behaviour, not other people’s). And somewhere in there, laundry, feeding plants, mucking out my room which once again looks like a bear pit, getting another copy of Songwriter or finding the old one because there’s something screwed up with the registration, and the usual behind the scenes, keeping the whole shivaree running, kinda activities.

One could say “Why not go protest Catholicism?” and that’s a very very good question. Or Mormonism. I’ll tell you why I care enough to protest. L Ron Hubbard used what he learned being a science fiction author to start a religion, make a lot of money, and put himself beyond the law. As an SF fan, I feel a moral obligation to denounce his works. Also, on a personal note, a buddy of mine in Toronto started protesting Scientology 15 years ago, and I feel like a jackass not supporting that effort until Anonymous started up.

And it’s not a religion. The big difference between a legitimate religion and a cult is that you can show up broke and they’ll still love you. You can show up unable to stooge for them and they’ll still love you. In a cult, if you show up broke and unable to help out, out you go. The keeping your mouth shut if you know what’s good for you applies all around, including Unitarianism although less so, but you get the idea. There’s always a price for being part of a group, and in this case, I consider the price to be too high for society, let alone the folks keeping it propped up.

Man, the things people do to belong….

I have been invited to a baby shower! So has Katie! it doesn’t conflict with anything on my schedule! Me happy!

added 16 June – I forgot to mention that the demo went well and about 30 people turned up, but it was a real sausage fest.  The bus drivers were honking in support!  It was fun!

Dinner

It was raining so hard when I got out of work that I took a cab home – I couldn’t deal with not having a brolly and it was ASS FREEZING COLD on the mountain, tks.  And the cabbie hit on me.  No further comments on that.  The Luddite was here – we had chicken fried rice and salad, and the usual Dread Bar of Yummy Chocolate.  Watched some more Earth to the Moon.  The Luddite picked up the Dunnett that Keith is leaving lying around and wanted to know where the naughty bits were.  “Sheesh,” says I in exasperation, “there’s like two sex scenes in that novel and if you blinked you’d miss them.”  “Too many characters,” says he, and I laugh, because that’s what certain other non fans have said to me.  The Luddite makes me laugh rather immoderately; his take on things is wickedly skewed.

I really don’t want to go to Jericho.  It’s at times like these I wish I had a car, because I’d go more often if I did.

Getting used to changes / Bloomsday

In honour of Bloomsday, my mother who sent the link, and to demonstrate that I’m not a complete waste of space as regards littrachoor herewith the dummies guide to Ulysses.

Spent a bit of yesterday helping Katie find a part time job.  Yes, she’s living with Dax.  Yes, 1/2 an hour of our time yesterday consisted of listening to the two of them bicker over the phone.  (I had to say to her, “Quit calling him names!” at one point.  Because, you know, somebody with an anger disorder really responds well to that.  What a pair.)  Anyway her resume is up to date and that was my excuse for finding out where the hell she’s living so I can quit worrying about it.  And she applied to a number of places to work and I saw her do it, so that’s all good too.

Rest of the day spent hanging with Keith and Jeff, and Jeff cranked up From the Earth to the Moon (the first two episodes) and my gosh what great TV.  Hanks and Howard cooked up something good.

I made chocolate rice pudding yesterday, because I can.

family night

Right now the waffles are on and I just finished turning the leftover spuds into home fries. New potato home fries are teh awesome, to descend into the newspeak of the young. Sure made Jeff’s eyes light up when he spotted them!

Last night Keith decided to throw himself at alcoholism again – and miss – again. He’s simply too smart and too fastidious to become a drunk. So what he does is buy something high end and drink slowly until just before he thinks he’s gonna maybe heave, and stops. The grownups got into the mickey of Johnny Walker Red more or less as he came in the door. Over the course of the evening I made home made cream of asparagus soup with three kinds chopped fresh herbs and home made fruit salad. And we started things off with garlic bread, of course. The food being spaced out like that was rather pleasant, like an extremely leisurely restaurant meal with cheap drinks.

Paul came by as well. We were supposed to watch something but the siren song of body work was too much so while Keith caught up on BsG we traded work for about an hour. Crap I needed that. That plus the sun coming out as soon as I got out of work and all of a sudden I am much more cheeful…. oh, and there was a phone call to my mother in there somewhere too. Damned hormones; can’t live with them, can’t live without them.

Jeff is reading a guy named Pinkwater and really enjoying it. I will try it when he’s done.

I signed up for ebay again hoping that I’d be able to find The Lost Queen of Egypt but man, it’s an expensive book. If anybody finds it in a used bookstore for like five bucks, buy it and I’ll pay for everything to get it here. Also I’m going to try Dunnett audiobooks, if I can lay my hands on one that is not too ‘spensive.

More waffles. I am still mastering Granny’s waffle-iron. Today I am going to go OUTSIDE because I know it will make me feel better. Such a fan of pathetic fallacy am I.

Finally spoke to Katie yesterday. We’re supposed to do resume things on Sunday.

Now that world appears to be back on its axis, I’m off to vanquish the rest of my day.