Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

Components to a good day:

• Beautiful weather
• Not getting caught speeding on the way to the airport (rental Subaru + no traffic = fun… it was an accident, I swear)
• Free wireless Internet at the Providence airport (FREE!)
• An e-mail from the new yurt guy (we should be able to get a new yurt for Pennsic!)
• An on-time departure of my flight (remarkable!)
• A rather exciting, high-speed landing… also on-time
• Finding my car in the parking garage with no trouble
• Popcorn for dinner (shhhhh! don’t tell!)
• Dairy Queen for dessert
• Home

Bonus round:
Indicator #31 that summer has arrived: the soft, smoky smell of questionable substances wafting across the street from the group of teens hanging out on the church steps.

tags: airplanes, cars, dairy queen, random, travel, weather, yurt

I am not the enthusiastic traveler I used to be. A 3 hour time shift didn’t go all that smoothly in either direction. (Though I would have been fine going out for a business trip with evenings ending by 10 pm as opposed to Vegas nights o’ fun!) Someday I’ll feel hydrated again.

New England is finishing out a lovely springtime. Last night the weather was gorgeous. Just before dusk the air was gently insistent with an impending thunderstorm. It was fabulous and then there was an amazing thunderstorm. Awesomeness.

I had Chinese food last night - I love my happy tofu. Fortune cookie duo of entertainment:

You are more likely to give than give in.
Let hatred turn into friendship because of your existence.

The fortune cookie factory apparently believes me to be some sort of powerhouse of nice. I can deal with that I guess.

tags: ct, fortune cookies, las vegas, mystic, nv, thunderstorms, travel, weather

We had some fun thunder and lightning earlier and the heat has finally broken a bit. It’s down to 75° F out there right now. If it weren’t nearly midnight I might be more excited by the low temps.

I ordered from Threadless again. I blame my dear friend and coworker Andy who mentioned them casually the other day. I popped over to learn that my favorite t-shirt now comes in their super-soft custom brand and it was all down hill from there. I even got The Fop a shirt, because I’m just that kind of darling girl. And the package you see pictured here with Mr. Paw? That’s from Threadless. There’s nothing like being awesome.

Work is being its usual adventure. I got bogged down with spreadsheets that I’m pretty sure I still don’t fully understand as well as miscellaneous other “do this now please - it’s urgent” items. Always fun even if these things derail my usual plans.

I already feel like summer is flying by and it’s only June 10th - in many ways, summer has barely begun! I really need to readjust my mindset to Pennsic being the middle of summer instead of the end of summer.

And that’s all the news that’s fit to print tonight!

tags: heat, t-shirts, threadless, weather, work

For those keeping score at home, this is the 75th episode of Monster Cat!

It was a terribly hot weekend. Saturday the cats were left alone to be lumps around the house. They were very glad to see us when we got home. Since their food dishes weren’t empty, I have to assume their happiness was due to the fact that our thumbs would soon turn some AC. They did look a little wilted in their little fur coats. Sunday we did very little. I organized some sewing stuff and poked around at bits of my desk. I’m achieving greater organization but slowly. Tennyson spent the day finding the best angle on the Vornado fan. I am happy to report that it circulates air very well, even with a large, gray cat in the way!

More comics at: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

tags: cats, comics, heat, monster cat, organization, silly, tennyson, weaterh, weekend

We’re looking at having a very hot weekend here. Monster Cat is not excited by this. Neither am I.

More comics at: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

tags: air conditioning, boxes, cats, comics, hot, monster cat, silly, tennyson, weather

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.

tags: coffee, gardening, gray day, roses, weather

Second Tornado Watch in the greater Philadelphia area in 5 days.

Did I move to Kansas and just not notice?

Mr. Paw would like to interject that his name is not Toto.

tags: tornado watch, weather

If you’re like me and only remember/care about the dream sequences from The Cell and though they were glorious, you might be interested in the interview with the director, Tarsem, up on the AV Club. Tarsem himself admits to only taking the job so he could do the dream scenes. He’s got a new film coming to theaters: The Fall. I’m curious to see it as it sounds fascinating. Take a look at the stills or watch the trailer. It just looks like such an awesome trip.

In other news, I have 3 rose blossoms going full force in the garden and I’m considering starting construction on an ark. It’s been gray and raining here for what feels like a couple weeks. The basement seems the perfect place to test prototypes too. I really wish the washer and dryer were on the drier side of the basement. I don’t mind a wet basement but I do mind not being able to do laundry!

tags: ark, house, movies, photography, phtographs, rain, tarsem, the cell, the fall, weather

Spring Passing / Summer Promising: A short series.
So often we celebrate spring or summer. But right now, in my garden, it’s the time when spring is starting to wan while summer is not yet ready to explode.

The flowers on the azaleas and the pink bush of doom are starting to lose their flowers. I’m really excited by the progress the peonies are making since being transplanted last Fall. They have settled in and taken off! I was concerned when I planted them that the soil was too low quality for them along the fence. Apparently I was wrong. I can’t wait until they start blooming! The two new rose bushes are in the ground and I’m hoping for flowers this summer but not holding my breath. The other rose bush is already budding up a storm and I’m not sure the new ones will catch up.

After a few chilly gray days I’ve been opening windows to try to get the house to warm up. Ah… the thermal glory of stone walls. I wish they went all the way up instead of just the first floor!

tags: azaleas, flowers, peonies, photographs, photography, roses, spring, summer

There are many fabulous and horrible things about rain.

Let’s focus on the fabulous things about rain manifesting today… primarily: Rain washes away the pollen.

My car is green at the moment, its proper color. Yesterday it was yellow. My eyes are not actually burning like I’m getting sick or I’ve just had a hard crying jag. I can breathe, through both nostrils, at the same time. Last week I discovered the joys of computerized pharmacy systems and got my Flonase refilled down in South Carolina. Last night I dug out my patenol (eye drops my eye doctor prescribed) because my eyes were stinging so much.

I’m on 3 allergy medications and yet still consider myself lucky that my allergies aren’t worse. Sure, they’re annoying and I hate them and firmly believe that if I moved back to New England they’d be much better… but I can breathe and sleep, mostly, if I time my doses right. Still, I fondly remember how well I slept before I started taking Zyrtec.

tags: allergies, pollen, rain