Category Archives: Weather, Seasons, & Celebrations

Up For Air

I’m getting tired of typing “Eileithyia” out. It’s not intuitive, for some reason, and it brings my train of thought to a screeching halt as I work.

I had the winter tires put on this morning, and while it was being done I sat in a cafe for two hours with my books and notebooks and worked. Not only did I get some goddess research done, I plotted out the end of The Moments of Being Pandora. It’s taken almost exactly two years, but I finally figured out how it ends properly. And about time, too. It was annoying me.

My hands are cold, and it’s making typing difficult. The rest of the house isn’t cold, but my hands are. Go figure. Maybe I should dig out an extra pair of cheap magic gloves and cut off the fingers, like I did years ago when I worked in the local F/SF bookstore (RIP) which wasn’t heated in the winter.

Bits and Bobs

Forty-ish pages left to go on this tech read. I’m pretty relaxed when it comes to doing tech reads on others’ books — after all, so much is subjective in the realm of alternative spirituality — but still, there are things I read that make me scratch my head. It’s usually a result of the author thinking one thing and the phrasing indicating something different, which isn’t immediately obvious to the person writing because they know what they meant. Been there, so understand that.

I updated Firefox this afternoon and consequently lost the ability to view a bunch of web pages. I allowed this to lurk in the background of my mind as I collected the boy from daycare and by the time he was eating dinner the common element between them all had become clear. I sat down and clicked through the Options until I found the Java and Javascript radio buttons, clicked them on, and all’s well again.

Also, I have discovered BitTorrent.

Liam had his first bubble bath last night. Hilarity ensued as he repeatedly ducked the ducks under the bubbles then let them go, giggling as they rose from the depths. Splashing is also more fun in a bubble bath, because he can’t see exactly where the surface of the water is.

I’ve been remarkably cold these past couple of days. I’d forgotten how damp and chilly my office gets in fall and winter. I have to remember to wear slippers and have a cardigan handy. I may find a small rug for under the desk itself; that would help too.

We watched the first episode of the second season of BSG a couple of nights ago (yes, we are way, waaay behind; no cable, remember?). Blade lent us the entire second season on DVD, so I think we’ll be watching another episode tonight.

We lost a fish today. She somehow got her tail stuck in the intake for the filter, and we surmise that while wriggling desperately to get herself out she managed to kind of crush her back end and wedge herself in more firmly. ‘Twas a goodly fish, though dumb (hello, goldfish?), and we will replace her this weekend. Most likely with two fish, because three seems to be a good number for Liam’s tank.

That is all for now.

More Thanksgiving Goodness

Liam learned a new word today: corn. Some words he picks up so quickly, and applies them with such immediacy that it makes my head spin.

He was a big fan of it, both raw and cooked. It made for a nice, positive part of an otherwise very unhappy day for him, poor kid. Everything seemed to go wrong for him. Even when we couldn’t tell how it had gone wrong, he made sure to let us know he was unhappy about whatever it was. He didn’t want to eat, or drink, or lie down, or snuggle, or play, or read, or anything we suggested. And inevitably, when he decided on something to do, we had to stop him because it was going to either hurt him (and the number of really bad bruises on the left side of his face already point to what a klutz he’s been these past two days) or something else (like the cello, for example, because one does not pull up on the bridge, or hit the instrument with the bow, or attempt to pull the points of the f-holes out with bare hands).

Corn on the cob makes everything happy, though, even if it’s just for a little while. And although I put him down wide awake, he seems to have been content to quietly read his books to Bun-Bun (the toy formerly known as Presto, AKA the Magic Rabbit; Liam calls him Bun-Bun and that’s good enough for us) and fall asleep on his own.

Happy Thanksgiving

Fall is plaid flannel shirts, golden sunlight, and apples picked off the tree yesterday and handed to you by a farmer.


We are thankful for the beauty and the bounty of food that the earth provides, and for the farmers who bring it to us. We are thankful for the air we breathe, the water we drink, and for the fire that provides light and warmth in various forms.

We are thankful for friends and family (chosen and otherwise), for love and support, for freedom and (relatively good) health.

We are thankful for work, for time to play (even though it seems in very short supply these days), for snuggles and hugs, for cats who purr, for little boys who run and laugh, and for partners who are there to lean on.

And we are thankful for our spirituality, which provides a framework for expressing our feelings about the indefinable.

Thanks, world. You rock.

What Holiday?

We’re back. Yes, we decided to drive to Toronto, stay one day, then drive back Saturday, and then HRH would drive four hours in the opposite direction to work on Sunday. It was ultimately his decision, and I can understand why he did it: to stay home would mean everyone brooding and a totally ruined family vacation this year.

Well, things weren’t great yesterday, being the day after the drive home, what with everyone being stuck in cars for long periods of time, and both Liam and I with really bad colds, and sleep being not restful. Scarlet and Blade made us dinner on Saturday night after we got home, which was unexpected and so kind, and then again last night, and just before that they even tried to kidnap my son in order to give me fifteen minutes of peace with a cup of hot tea. It would have succeeded, too, if I hadn’t just put him down for the night, two hours early. As it was, I loved the tea, and the thought, and the caring.

I thought today would be all right. Or better, at least. And it’s not, because I just downloaded five days’ worth of mail and found a deliberate insult waiting for me that has made me see red. What little benefit I got from the weekend has been totally ruined. And I use the same phrase I used in the first paragraph to make a point: All that effort, down the drain.

I am livid. And I’ve calmed down to this point, after an hour. I can finally string vaguely coherent words together. I don’t think I’ll be able to work today, I’m so furious.

Email is such an easy way to take calculated shots at people. You don’t have to look someone in the face when you insult them. It’s cheap, and it’s cowardly. And everyone I know and call family or friend should know better.

Don’t expect to hear from me again for a while.

Anniversary Joy

The boy will wake up from his (blessedly long) nap any moment, but I absolutely had to take a second to tell you what HRH got for me as an anniversary present:

A big red metal toolbox, with a full set of new tools, all for my very own.

Squee!

See, my toolbox has been one of those marital points of contention. I had a fully stocked kit when we got married. And I used it regularly. (This is just one of the many things that makes me so darn cool. Did you know that until he went out and bought himself a cordless DeWalt for this job, I owned the only drill in the house?) Over the past seven years, my toolkit has been slowly eroding as HRH “borrows” this and “uses” that and it gets left somewhere… And having been raised by my father, who insisted that every tool I used was placed back exactly where it came from promptly after use — well, I get snarly when I have something I need my tools to do, and I go to my toolkit, and what I need isn’t there, and in fact cannot be found anywhere.

So HRH said he was sorry in a magnificent way by giving me this kit (it has three sets of screwdrivers! each a different size! and he won’t borrow any of it because he has his full kit downstairs!).

Plus I got roses, too. I love the juxtaposition of roses and tools. It says so much about me.

“I don’t know who is cooler,” said Ceri to him when she found out, “you or your wife.”

I got him the three original theatrical Star Wars films on DVD, so he definitely wins the Coolest Gift award this year. (Not that we try to top one another; in fact, most years we don’t buy each other anything at all, or even do anything to celebrate at that.) But HRH claims that no anniversary gift from either of us will ever top the X-box I gave him two years ago, with an extra controller so that we could game together. He’s probably right.

And thank you for you good wishes yesterday, everyone, posted here and emailed privately!