1.) We had the kind of day that’s incredibly unusual in Texas-- just a light rain all day long. For those of you not familiar with the ways of Texas, we usually get short bursts of heavy rain in very dramatic thunderstorms that come and go quickly. These can dump many inches of rain in 20 minutes, and then it all turns to steam when the storm goes and the sun comes out. So it was just lovely to have a gently rainy day.
2.) Also, it’s STILL unseasonably cool. We haven’t hit 90F yet, and that’s extraordinary. Yesterday the high was only 71, and we’ve barely had any days in the 80s. We should have been having very hot days for at least a month now.
3.) Adrian Tchaikovsky has a new book out and I just ordered it. It will come on Wednesday.And then I will be checked out of life for a while.
4.) We had truly excellent salsa with our lunch today. We are picky about salsa.
5.) I now have about a dozen blood-spattered lilies, with a dozen more coming soon. The other lilies still haven’t flowered, so not sure what they’ll look like.
And most importantly, we got our first painted buntings this week!
I was going through some of my things earlier again, and had lots of fun decorating my writing notebook with some surprise My Melody stickers. Zed commented playfully that it was almost like I’d gone shopping at the Sophia store, since I was so excited about how cute and on brand some of the items I unearthed were- lots of pink, dainty bracelets, bunny earrings, My Melody everywhere, rings, an adorable locked and stickered untouched journal of paper I used to use before I became a stationery snob, and so on. Found a super Y2K looking silver heart ring that I’ve put on, and a pink Casio watch that I picked up for use in lab ages ago, (it’s uh, I think, the LW-200 4BV? Watch names are like an eldritch murmuring to me. I’ll add a stock photo of it below. It’s adorable, even the LED/numbers are in pink.)
ETA: OH! And I also found my rosary bracelet. The beads are very cute tiny little pink hearts… I remember the woman I bought them from was very sweet. That was a super fun find to dig up- and a pendant to Archangel Michael, it’s got a picture of him with ‘PROTECT US’ on the front, and a prayer to him inscribed on the back, all in the shape of a shield. It was like running into an old friend again, and that made me really happy. :-3
The gold necklace that I wear daily is a medieval inspired pendant, it’s made by a local artisan- it’s a winged heart plunged through by a sword, and I wear it because it’s pretty, but also reminds me of St. Michael in a more subtle way than the shield pendant. Though I did find tons of comfort in having the little prayer there on hand, and I’d rub the pendant’s back with my thumb a lot when I was anxious. I set him aside also because I kind of outgrew the need to rely on that- life got easier, I got better at coping with things- but it made me really happy to find it again, and I might tuck it aside to keep around as a worry stone or something.
Arlo was asking about slime moulds earlier, and I love when my random knowledge of stuff comes in handy- they apparently really enjoyed one of the videos I sent over their way to crack into, and that made me really happy to be able to help in someone’s sillykitty sidequest for esoteric knowledge, but also because it was really sweet how excited and happy they were.
Arlo’s been a really lovely person to get to know over the last while, and I’m really pleased that they and Tabitha are both new additions to our TTRPG group: I’ve really been enjoying getting to get to know them both a bit more beyond being two passing ships in the night who wave friendly emblems on the open waters, or whatever, haha.
I wonder if you have any opinion about Kokuyo Campus Loose Leaf Paper? I’m thinking that I need a binder with removable papers for scratch paper when doing research.
Good for you! Mine is St. Benedict. I also have a copy of his book The Rule.
Yesterday afternoon was extremely heavy rain in regions near to me, but not in my town. It’s a bit unfair to be glad on the behalf of the bad luck of others, but… having no rain storm here IS a good thing.
Today was phantastic weather and a generally relaxed day for me.
Pretty clunky as a climbing/platformer game, does the 80 Days thing of “quick, you’re racing to the end!” which works against the exploration vibe (and also the health bar makes it feel much more ominous than it actually is), has an almost roguelike “we’re not going to explain the mechanics to you” attitude, and the story/stories are pretty fragmentary and not as interesting as other Inkle games (not to mention that it repeats every story beat in the central plot line on every run through the game, which gets repetitive real fast).
But I really connected with the idea of learning this disorienting confusingly-connected landscape by taking multiple runs through the space (looks like I’ve done 25 runs?): I’ve always thought it would be cool to have/make a game like that. Almost an inverse-roguelike. Neat.
Anyway. I found it fun to play, and the last lousy point was tedious, so it’s also satisfying to be conclusively done with it.
That is a lovely looseleaf- it’s actually slightly better performing with fountain pens, in terms of reducing some of the ink ghosting you can see on the other side as compared to the bound journal/notebook version of the same paper. It’s quite a smooth finish on the paper, which is also good for helping pens glide, and in my experience it minimally absorbs hand grease/hand oils while writing. I prefer writing in perfect bound notebooks, but if I had to grab some loose sheets, that’s a perfectly fine pick. There’s a matching ring system that I’d also recommend, since I find cheaper binders can sometimes tear through the holes or snag fingers more easily.
That is awesome! We actually have two males, I can tell them apart because one of them is a little fatter and has an off-centered patch of yellow on his breast. The other one is skinnier and is as perfect as God intended. I like the fat one. There is also at least one female stopping in regularly.
North Carolina is looking forward to having you this Summer! If you haven’t already booked it, the Biltmore is hosting a Chihuly Exhibition this year. We’re going in June for my birthday. I can’t wait!
Oh wow! My husband loves Chihuly glass. Thanks for the tip-- we’ll definitely hit that. We’ll probably drive to the coast for a week or two at some point. Any tips for best NC coastal towns? Like, ones that are a little smaller and quieter?
These lilies are really weird. They look a lot like stargazer lilies except with more white and with deep red blood-colored spots. I didn’t have to get my bucket out-- they came pre-bloodied.
I fell asleep sitting upright in the middle of writing and chatting to Jinx, but I didn’t smash my face open on the keys or break my laptop, so I’m calling that a win!
Lord, we do have quiet here. But also a lot of tourists in the Summer.
They are mostly interested in the beaches, however.
If you want beach AND quiet, OBX, aka Nicholas Sparks’ favorite setting for his novels with nearby First in Flight - Kitty Hawk is a good starting point. Edenton is the epcientre of NC History. If you’re into that, it’s a fun place to visit. No beach but awesome waterfront along the Albemarle Sound. Kinston is close but not quite on the coast. They have Vivien Howard, nuf said. (But I think her place, Chef & The Farmer, is closed at the moment.) They also have Baseball and fishing and a Mayberryish downtown.
If you like pirates, especially Blackbeard, then Bath is a good place to check out.
Did I mention the Lighthouses?
None of these places would fill up a couple weeks but all of them are certainly doable in a couple weeks if you don’t mind hopping around a bit! I’ll send more info via PM.
Finally finished properly setting up my room. A deep cleaning later, and it’s a lot more peaceful- clean surroundings mean a clean mind, and it’s always nice to have warm blankets to cuddle into. The weather has still been poorly, as of late: lots of overcast skies and drizzling rain, but it has kept the house comfortably cool for being this time of year.
I was able to help Kit track down and identify a pen (refill, as it turns out!) that a friend had loved but wasn’t able to find to purchase again. Yippee! That was a really fun moment of feeling like a detective.
There is also at least one female stopping in regularly.
