Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

It’s so warm this lily may burst into flame! We still have less than ideal AC to the bedroom, but the house is otherwise cool, thankfully. I would still prefer to have some cooler days though… I’d rather have windows open than be running the AC. The house feels so comfy with the windows wide open.

My morning has already had a crisis… the k-cup machine didn’t want to work. I have coffee now, thankfully, but it was touch and go for a little over an hour. Every once in a while the water system fails to produce water. Usually turning it off and turning it back on has worked, but this time it wanted a rest before it decided it was ok to actually function.

As a result of this trauma, I’m now on my second cup of coffee. With whole milk. Yum. I’m so decadent.

In completely random science news, it’s been a year on Neptune since Neptune was discovered as a planet. Neptune was discovered in 1846.

coffee, heat, neptune, random, summer, weather

The roses really started to open up May 1st. There are tons of buds on both the front and back rose bushes. It should be a good year for roses!

The seedlings are almost ready for planting as well. And I’ve got a shrub out front that’s dead that I get to replace too. I’m contemplating putting in white irises or maybe purple ones. The location is actually right next to the roses seen here. (And on the other side of these roses is a bright pink azalea. I need to be careful about too much crazy color. Maybe a white lilac bush…)

The heat has hit and I’ve switched to iced coffee. Despite all the exercise, sleep is not as easy as I think it should be so coffee is an imperative. Then again, when isn’t coffee an imperative?

coffee, gardening, photographs, roses

As an public service announcement, I feel it is necessary to point out that I haven’t had any coffee or other caffeine since Sunday.

That’s okay though, I’ve been taking cold medicine and trying to stay hydrated like a good little sick person. And cold medicine itself has certain stimulating qualities.

(I’m reallyreallyreallyreallyreally looking forward to having coffee tomorrow morning though! I think I’m well enough that I can risk a little dehydration, right?)

caffeine, coffee, cold medicine

Firefox is informing (by running as slow as molasses uphill in January in Maine) that I have too many windows open. In the interest of keeping my web browser happy, I have closed some tabs… but some are pages I want to share, so here are some links to distract you this afternoon! (Apologies for not attributing who tipped me off to these links… some have been open for a Long Time.)

15 things worth knowing about Coffee: an informative illustrated forey into coffee facts.

Modern Tech vs The Past: an amusing comparison article from CNET (UK) comparing such modern things like Facebook to their once-upon-a-time counterparts like dinner parties. In the case of Facebook vs Dinner Parties, the author illustrates his point colorfully with images from Stephen King’s Misery.

10 Scariest monsters and demons from Celtic Mythology: Some are rather familiar and others are just cool! The Irish are apparently persecuted by beautiful demon women…

The War of Troy Tapestry is back: after over 4,000 hours of restoration work, this amazing 15th century tapestry will be back on display at the Victoria and Albert museum starting today! The tapestry is part of the new Medieval & Renaissance Galleries, one of 10 new galleries at the V&A providing a tour of European history from the fall of the Roman Empire to the end of the Renaissance. This, of course, means I want to go back to London now.

32 planets have been discovered outside our solar system and there’s a sunken Mycenaean city of southern Greece that may be responsible for the Atlantis myth. “It is the first time a sunken city has been found in Greece that predates the time that Plato wrote his allegorical tale of the sunken continent of Atlantis.”

Visions of Europe in 2030: A Postmodern Middle Ages: an interesting and, naturally, euro-centric take on the future with interesting comparisons to the Middle Ages. I am amused that the EU is likened to Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire…

51 Conspiracy Theories That Don’t Exist But Should: from GeekDad a silly end to my list. “13. Alex Trebek is omnipotent.” “44. Speaking of Chinese food, the reason it tastes the same no matter where you go is because it’s actually supplied to each restaurant through giant underground pipes from a central factory in Quebec.”

Yes, this is the exact type of random stuff that clogs up my browser… I can’t help myself! It’s all so interesting!

atlantis, coffee, conspiracy theories, europe, planets, random, sunken cities, technology

Coffee is good stuff. In fact, I’ve been so productive this weekend that I’m going to make the big pot of coffee this week to see if I can continue the momentum. Friday was Social, Saturday was Creative and today was Productive. Monster Cat is done for the week though I’m still prepping the posts. Laundry is, of course, on-going but big box store and grocery shopping is done. The kittens have been good this weekend and, of course, Mr. Paw has been a love dove.

I’ve re-started Nanowrimo. I’m vaguely on track if I stick to a revised pace.

(soft-core spoilers for The Fourth Kind ahead)

We went to see The Fourth Kind last night. I would have enjoyed the movie more if I’d kept up with scuttlebutt around the film. I’d only seen a couple of trailers earlier in the season. So I spent most of the movie dissatisfied with their sources, wanting to follow up on their data and see their bibliography, so to speak. I left less convinced of alien visitations than before, despite Milla Jovovich’s not-so-gentle prodding in the other direction. A few quick searches once I got home and my suspicions were confirmed. Disappointing, but I guess in part it was my own fault for not keeping up with my movie gossip.

coffee, the fourt kind, the fourth kind, weekend, movies, writing

If you’re feeling brave, take a look at the photo at its original size. I love how this one came out. (Yes, I’m a little bit vain sometimes.)

The weekend was fun and productive. I got a lot done though not as much as I’d hoped. It looks like tomorrow I’ll be doing math during the Fop’s birthday/movie night. And by math I mean “figuring out how big the pleats in the Fop Pants need to be in order to fit the waistband correctly.” It’s not difficult math. It’s just pesky. I hate pleats. They are evil.

Work today seemed to drag on forever, hence the subject line. It really feels like it should be later in the week by now. I also got a lot done at work today but not as much as I’d hoped. This seems to be a recurring theme in my life. Tomorrow I shall drink More Coffee in order to combat the plodding of the day. You have been warned. [insert evil laugh here!]

coffee, orange, photographs, sca, sewing, work

So, I have mentioned to several people that my rose bush exploded with flowers this spring. Here’s some evidence. Now, a week after this photo was taken, it’s looking a little calmer, but this rosebush bloomed through October last year so it’s just a matter of time before its second round of buds show up.

It’s gray again today but the tornado watch is over. It comes as no surprise that no tornadoes whisked through the neighborhood. Some impressive thunderstorms blew through though!

I’m on my second big cup of coffee for the day in hopes that will wake me up a little more. Right now I’d be content to go take a nap.

gardening, roses, weather, gray day, coffee

Another favorite quilt from the quilt show last month – this one is titled “Persephone” and was quilted by Peg Collins of Alamosa, Colorado. (Sometimes I did successfully get the info card in the photo!) I love that the edge of her gown is the edge of the quilt. The division between winter and summer is perhaps predictable but beautiful all the same. Persephone seemed an appropriate quilt to post for May Day.

More garden work is planned for today after work, which also seems appropriate. I want to get those beds prepped for planting before I go away next week. (I fly out Sunday, actually.)

No cat casualties yet today but Tennyson is definitely pushing it.

Coffee was applied early and will be applied often today. I didn’t sleep well and needed my brain to be awake for my 9 a.m. meeting. And my 9:30 meeting. Whee! All went well and productively so the coffee must have worked. But how long will it last?

chicago, coffee, gardening, international quilt show, may day, persephone, quilts, sleep

It’s the day of green, hurray!

I have doubled my coffee consumption this month so far… which isn’t horrifying. I don’t drink that much coffee (at least when I’m not traveling) but doubling is still doubling. I got a couple things done that I really wanted to get done at work today so that was more than a small comfort for a Monday. I still can’t wait for this month to be over. I’d like to be less fried.

Weekendness happened and was lovely. I toddled over to a St. Patrick’s day party on Saturday and had fabulous potato soup created by the lovely ownedbytwins. And cake balls, which are tasty little bite-sized balls of cake mixed with frosting – these happened to be decorated somewhat suggestively as well. And adorable little children and great company. Oh, and Pampered Chefness, because I might as well admit that I’m a bit of an addict.

Sunday was totally thrown off by the fact that the Fop got stuck in New Orleans the night before. Suddenly all of my keen plans for Sunday were less interesting because I wouldn’t be picking him up until 4 pm. Ah well. It was a good weekend for tidying and general organization tasks at least. The laundry was all done in for the briefest of moments (and narrowest of definitions). My desk is down to two and a half piles. I actually did Monster Cat last night instead of at lunch or after work today.

Today I booked my (free!) plane tickets for Chicago (Bernina event in April) and made sure I had the hotel room for an additional night so I could stay an extra day for sight-seeing. I’ve never been to Chicago! This evening involved dinner out with friends as well – always a good thing.

So a lot of little things got done that made me feel like I’m neglecting my personal life a little less in the face of Too Much Work[tm]. This is a relief since towards the end of last week I thought I was going to be chained to my work laptop forever. It’s a ThinkPad, so that’s not a very appealing thought… maybe if it were a new MacBook Pro I wouldn’t feel the pain so acutely… Um… no, forget I said that.

coffee, getting things done, green, house, socializing, soup, st. patrick’s day, stress, travel, work, st. patrick’s day

I think I will blame my fuzzy brain on both the “Spring ahead” beginning of Daylight Savings time and the fact that I was up at 5:30 EDT this morning to run the Fop to the airport. At least it was quick. And cold – it’s still chilly and windy here today. My pajamas were still warm when I got home and put them on to go back to sleep. I then proceeded to sleep until almost 2 pm. The house was so beautifully peacefully this morning that apparently I couldn’t help myself.

I have successfully gone grocery shopping today and picked up some seeds to get started out on the sun porch. I need to make a list for transplanting so that I can get supplies for starting seeds and making the houseplants happy. I still need to find some hot pepper seeds too. I did find more seeds for cat grass so the cats will benefit from my planting glee as well. Monster Cat is a lawnmower. Tenny’s taste for greenery is one of the reasons the doors to the sun porch remain closed. Other reasons include the leaky windows and the intense heat when the sun is hitting those windows.

Yeah, I had such high hopes for today’s productivity levels but I have been thwarted.

However, all is not lost! I have been randomly wandering the web for my amusement and yours!

Today I have learned that coffee is the number one source of antioxidants in the American diet. So, while that cute little girl in the commercial puts her glasses of grape juice in front of her closet to protect her from monsters (“My antioxidants will protect me, Daddy.”), I’ll be brewing up a big french press full of coffee to keep the boogie man at bay. Well, if he’s nice maybe I’ll offer him some coffee too.

I also found a neat new idea for a flash diffuser on the cheap. I’ve been using a 3×5 card to bounce the flash up lately. The only thing I’m worried about with the film container idea linked above is heat. If taking a lot of photos in quick succession, it might get a little warm in there. But I like the effect shown in the examples – subjects are still brightly lit without the obvious glare of a compact flash. For my next trick I’ll find a white film container to try it out with.

Monster Hoodies… cute, toothy, googly-eyed sweatshirts.

A presidential candidate I could get behind… (and lots of cute Mac-head t-shirts are over there too…)

antioxidants, coffee, daylight savings time, flash diffuser, indoor gardening, photography, random, sleep, weather