I can't think of anything useful to say about anything that's happened recently. I don't know. We keep going. What else are we going to do?
So let's talk about milkweed instead. Actually, first, let's talk about blueberries. You may remember a few years ago, Sherlock was very excited over the concept of pink blueberries, but they never actually materialized on the plant. We had a few flowers and then nothing. Well...this year was a bit better.
You can see they are vaguely pink. Not are. Were. That was about as far as they got because the birds ate them. Apparently birds really like pink blueberries. Perhaps they think they are some other sort of especially delicious bird delicacy? Can birds even see color? Anyway, the blue blueberries did better:
Those are some nasturtiums in the background. Again, were is the more appropriate verb as they are mostly dead now and the blueberries are long gone. Everything is autumnish and a bit sad, which seems appropriate. Everything except the chard, which will survive unto the end of the world.
Sherlock and I went for a walk the other day and came home with an explosion of milkweed (I'm sure that's the right collective noun).
Obviously I now regret my entire life. It's worse than glitter. Why did I ever allow it into the flat? It's in all the corners of all the rooms. It's stuck to Maf's tail and Greg's hair (where it blends in nicely), it's between my toes and on top of the fridge. Little tumbleweeds of fluff everywhere. It's like a very soft, peaceful Western. Maf likes to chase them. And yet, somehow, the seed pods still appear to have just as much fluff as they did when we brought them inside. By spring, we shall be buried in the stuff.
Take care of yourselves.
So let's talk about milkweed instead. Actually, first, let's talk about blueberries. You may remember a few years ago, Sherlock was very excited over the concept of pink blueberries, but they never actually materialized on the plant. We had a few flowers and then nothing. Well...this year was a bit better.
You can see they are vaguely pink. Not are. Were. That was about as far as they got because the birds ate them. Apparently birds really like pink blueberries. Perhaps they think they are some other sort of especially delicious bird delicacy? Can birds even see color? Anyway, the blue blueberries did better:
Those are some nasturtiums in the background. Again, were is the more appropriate verb as they are mostly dead now and the blueberries are long gone. Everything is autumnish and a bit sad, which seems appropriate. Everything except the chard, which will survive unto the end of the world.
Sherlock and I went for a walk the other day and came home with an explosion of milkweed (I'm sure that's the right collective noun).
Obviously I now regret my entire life. It's worse than glitter. Why did I ever allow it into the flat? It's in all the corners of all the rooms. It's stuck to Maf's tail and Greg's hair (where it blends in nicely), it's between my toes and on top of the fridge. Little tumbleweeds of fluff everywhere. It's like a very soft, peaceful Western. Maf likes to chase them. And yet, somehow, the seed pods still appear to have just as much fluff as they did when we brought them inside. By spring, we shall be buried in the stuff.
Take care of yourselves.
147 comments:
First chard, now milkweed. Good luck to nature's takeover bid, really, it's doing better than humanity.
All you seem to need is some appropriate Morricone music to go with the milk-tumble-weeds!
Being buried under explosions of fluff sounds about what's needed right now. That or alcohol. Lots and lots of strong alcohol.
Fluff is a good option! Chocolate is good, too. (Hot chocolate. With whipped cream.)
I know exactly what you mean, John. When useful fails, fluff is definitely the way to go. :) I think the only thing we can do is hold on to the things we enjoy & just hope they don't get taken away from us too.
Milkweed is pernicious, it's true. But do yourselves a favor and never allow cattails (the reeds, not the appendages) anywhere near any dwelling you want to ever inhabit again.
You're right, we go on. We take care of each other, we do the work we can, it's different for each of us. . . . possibly there is a cadre of Mycrofts (not clones but young people similarly functionally superior) who will step in and help us soon enough.
Your gently melancholy tone and description of the milkweed fluff plague, make it sound quietly charming, drifting about the flat, entertaining Maf. I doubt it is, as like Kestrel, I remember Certain Cattail Incidents,
-fA
But I do like the idea of each of us being like that milkweed pod. And we send out the fluffs, little kindnesses, every day actions and words, and they float about the world spreading more milkweeds.
Kestrel, that's lovely.
-fA
...and Maf killing each bit of that milkweed kindness and walking around with it wetly hanging from her mouth? ;)
At least someone is having fun with it!
Just glad the dogs aren't here, every time they huffed past it, tails going mad, there would be a blizzard.
Maf sounds quite the Mighty Hunter!
-fA
I'm pretty sure Maf and Danger practice krav maga together, yeah.
...I want to watch this. I really, really do. (I would be happy with a photo or two, also.... *puppy eyes*)
I don't get to watch it, all happens when I'm at work. Bit I'm pretty sure Danger has turned Maf into a lefty hunter. A southpaw paw...
Hey, John--maybe you could demonstrate for Sherlock one day? (And Sherlock, please take pix!)
Krav maga for kitties! That sounds like it could be a thing, if one could only convince the cats it was necessary.
-fA
What a day.
And it's too cloudy to see the supermoon.
:(
Anything in particular?
hard case, that's all
Good luck with that, then. (Although I'm sure you make your own luck.)
We were in court - it's emotionally hard, rather than difficult to track down the suspect-hard.
Ouch. Hope your evening is helping with that.
Weeellll sheeitt. Sorry guys but Gwen Ifill died at 61.
(American black woman journalist/news anchor who was SO good at her job and broke so many barriers.)
I thought Leon Russell & Leonard Cohen within a week was rough. Ifill nearly made me cry, & I'm not a crier. She was so smart, and so good at what she did. I know good people die every day, but it still makes me sad.
2016 man. This fucking year.
Maybe I'll see the "super" moon tonight. That'd be a good thing.
-fA
Hey Greg - thanks for doing it, even though it's hard. And doing it well.
-fA
For those of us who remember what we all looked like on the street during the '80s - a paramedic/street photographer tracked down the ordinary folks he'd photographed 40 years ago and took their photos today, in the same places. I kind of loved these because they're ordinary people:
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/chris-porsz-reunion
-fA
I really hate going to the dentist.
*considers* Yeah.
Me too but my kids love going, I think it's because of the stickers, adults should get sticker too :-D
That's a great idea, Anonybob, we should start a campaign & of course you have to be able to choose the biggest & best one there. ;)
Hope you didn't have a anything too painful done, Greg.
Enjoy your day everyone. :)
Nothing done at all - just hate being in the chair with someone rummaging about in my mouth!
In other news, sometimes I'm utterly stunned by just how gorgeous my husband is. Have to remind myself he actually married me!
You two do make a very dashing couple, it is true!
Isn't it great, that feeling you get? When you look at that person and suddenly are filled up with so much love and wonder and delight...like seeing them for the first time, except you already know each other and have a past and a future.
(my other musings today are about winter storms; more profane, less gloopy)
It really is, Kestrel.
Sherlock would love some snow - as always.
Instead he got to go to school dressed as a mad scientist. (Okay, actually just a scientist, he haughtily informed me this morning. Not mad. But he thought maybe one who could take over the world, or colonise another planet....so.)
Did anyone else do anything for CIN?
We had a spotty dress up day at school for CIN and some of the kids really went to town covering their whole bodies and faces with coloured spots. Me, being lazy, bought some pudsey tshirts and they just wore them :-)
Today we've been homeworked into going for a nature walk!! It's 2 degrees at the most and the younger two won't wear a coat so I could be bringing some ice cubes home for dinner ;-).
I hope you're all having a fun day even if there's no snow :-)
well the nature walk sounds lovely - but yeah, it is a bit chilly! Still, sounds like it'll be a lot worse tomorrow.
Hope you managed without anyone freezing to death!
Saw an absolutely lovely Scrambler today. All re-engineered and custom built. Looked amazing.
At what point is Sherlock allowed to start the Christmas decorating? Not until December, at the very least, right??
Definitely not until December, as you say, at least.
It's just LIGHTS and stuff and lights are here all year anyway, just not lights that are as good as Christmas lights. HONESTLY.
When did you become a teenager??
He makes a compelling point!
I'm with John and Lestrade on this one - whenever Christmas starts, it doesn't start in November.
It's started here already--the street decorations are up on the business streets here and all over midtown. They used to wait until Thanksgiving, but I guess that seems quaint nowadays.
Yeah, it's happening outside, in the wild, but it isn't getting in the house.
Ah, well, only a week and a half 'till December!
(Only 1 "l" in 'til, autocorrect!)
In British English the word 'till' would be used rather than ''til'. Perhaps this is what has confused your autocorrect.
Indeed, the usage of ''til' is entirely unnecessary if one employs the perfectly good word 'till', as it saves no characters and merely makes a slightly awkward abbreviation.
Sherlock, I hope you are watching the programme about glow in the dark funghi. Surely glow-in-the-dark plants and items could not be considered as Christmas lights, yet might serve to decorate in the gloomy winter evenings?
Interesting, Mycroft. To me, "till" means either something one does to soil in the process of planting or a cash register, whereas 'til is the abbreviation for until--granted, not much of an abbreviation, but nonetheless.
Man, I haven't even figured out how to rearrange the furniture to allow for the trees yet. It really is too soon to start decorating.
I'm so glad I have tomorrow off. Bleep test today. Absolutely knackered.
And it scares me when Sherlock calls me 'Greg'.
Bleep test?
And when did that start (Sherlock calling you "Greg")?
It is WAY too early for proper Christmas decorating - but I leave a few strands of colored Christmas lights up in my sitting room year round. I don't light them all the time, but when I do they make me very, very, happy.
And I feel you Kestrel. I was lying in bed the other night when I suddenly realized that by adding a (lovely, old, heavy wooden dresser to our front room several months ago, I'd used up our Official Tree Spot. I have so far refused to think farther, since there are not options but to remove some piece of furniture or to block access so that nearly a third of the room is unusable.
-fA
The dresser sounds very nice, though, FA.
We've got two new dogs, so that'll be interesting, and this year we're introducing an auxiliary tree. See, I started this tradition when my first daughter was born. The first Yule I spent with my hubs, we had handmade origami and gods-eye ornaments. A bit drab. So now, every year, I give each of my children an ornament. They have their own boxes and all, so that when they launch, they won't have a naked tree.
It's...a lot of decorations.
I guess I like the idea of decorations more since I never deal with the actuality of decorations!
Bleep test is when you run between fixed points 20m apart before the next 'bleep' - bleeps happen at decreasing intervals. You have to pass a certain level depending on your job, so because I'm firearms trained, I have to run 9:4. Only medics have to run fast, at a straight 10 - which is why Danger will always be better than me :)
Sherlock calls me Greg on special occasions, which he has learnt from John. Such as tonight, when I suggested we use the batter he made for toad-in-the-hole for pancakes for John and my breakfast in bed tomorrow instead... There's a special tone John says "No, Greg." in, when he's not 100% sure if I'm being ridiculous, but he knows he ought to make a stand against it. Sherlock's tone is a bit like that.
That does sound exhausting.
And hahahahahahaha!
It's amazing and ever so slightly scary when one of our kids open their mouths and one of us (the adults) comes out of their mouth, isn't it? (DID you have breakfast in bed on a random Tuesday - if so I think we need to get you guys into an annoying lifestyle magazine - or was that just part of teasing Sherlock?)
9.4 doesn't sound a lot slower than a 10 to me - but what do I know?
(That was me, in case anyone couldn't tell.)
& Kestrel - that is not NEARLY as many decorations as you're going to have before the kids are launched, unless they all move out the instant they graduate high school!
-fA
Some good news coming in from court rooms around the country today. One of them my case.
Congratulations, Greg! Glad your team's hard work is paying off.
-fA
Hurrah! That has to be satisfying.
Happy Thanksgiving, lovely American folks :-)
Thank you, Nameless--we can use all the happy we can get!
Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating, and happy Thursday to everyone. :)
What a day.
But we went out for dinner tonight, and I ate too much and now I'm in a bit of a food coma on the sofa.
I haven't seriously overeaten in a long while, but made up for it yesterday. Hope everyone who celebrates had a nice holiday.
darn, that's me, fA
Apparently you are now all supposed to know psychically or by my word choices or something, when I post.
-fA
Well it was great that London's West End really got into the black Friday thing this year :)
I had to smile at the pun, but I sure wouldn't have been smiling if I'd had tickets or dinner plans there!
-fA
Wow...people who build the Gävle goat are very determined, aren't they?? (Almost as determined as those who destroy it...)
I learn about so many things, reading here...
(It's very sad that all some people can think to do is destroy. :( )
Sherlock thinks we should bike around Iceland next year.... Sounds like a good plan!
It really, really does!
Have you had Sherlock's birthday trip yet this year? :)
That sounds like a great plan, it's supposed to be a very beautiful place and how better to see it than on your bikes :-)
I have, however, refused to even entertain the idea of camping. I like a nice comfy hotel, and somewhere to dry wet gear, and a hot shower!
Camping in Iceland does sound a step too far. (Of course, for me camping anywhere at all is a step too far, but even for people who like camping.)
I'd love to visit Iceland, it sounds fab - mind out for the elves though :-)
When I visited Iceland on October of 2105 it was freezing, but the hotel was nice and cozy, one of the best I've ever stayed at. It was so beautiful, too. I walked all around, down by the sea, and went to a viking museum.
Iceland? That sounds downright exotic! It seems quite popular with those who've been, I bet it would be amazing!
-fA
It has everything a young boy wants - ice caves, volcanoes, glaciers, earthquakes, northern lights...or at least, that's what I've been told.
Lestrade, it also has very, very nice hot springs!
I'm very interested in hot springs. Sherlock less so. Unless they're sulphurous ones, which can dissolve your face....
It's funny, isn't it, how memories come back to you. I grabbed a coffee and a sandwich today, while I was out and about, and it hadn't really occurred to me why I knew there was a cafe on that street, as I'd been driving past, but when I came out of the shop I remembered it was right by one of the first murder scenes I worked as a DI. I spent a long time there, desperate not to miss anything, and the woman who ran the cafe brought us out coffee and tea. The young lad who'd been killed was only as old as Mycroft is now. We never found the killer. We never worked out a motive. I wonder where the killer is. Or what the lad would be doing now, if he'd still been alive.
Memory is a weird thing. In your line of work you must have a lot of memories that don't sit right. Maybe it's age, but I can feel the way I think about my memories shifting. I'm drawing fewer conclusions and just examining them, 'sitting with them' as it were. I'm not sure if the conclusion-drawing is just being deferred, or if I'm starting to give up on making sense of a lot of things.
Onwards. Hope it's a good week, all!
-fA
A lot of things will certainly never make sense.
In other news - I might buy this for you, John.
https://verybritishproblems.teemill.co.uk/product/itll-all-be-over-soon-sweatshirt--112/
Very appropriate!
I'm failing to see how this problem is unique to one side of the Atlantic...
So, everyone, we have very exciting news! Greg already knows all this, but I don't know if he told John, because it was a little bit of a secret (but we don't mind if he did!)
We've been accepted as foster carers.
We thought about having another child, but then we thought perhaps we should put our energy into helping kids who need someone, instead. And, we were a little bit inspired by John and Greg and Sherlock and Mycroft - not that it's quite the same, but it made us think. But we can't say we haven't talked Greg's ear off down the phone about getting too attached to a child which may find another home, not with you, and also about the things kids might have experienced before needing a new home. (And also, who better but your friendly local bobby to write you a reference - thanks Greg! xx)
But, after a long, long time, and a lot of interviews by the foster team, we got there. We only heard yesterday, and this evening we already have a little houseguest, who will be with us for at least a few weeks, if not longer! So after all the waiting, it's happening full speed now. We just hope we're up to it!
Mazel tov/congratulations, Jo and Lisa! I feel very sure you'll be brilliant at it--it's such a loving thing to do, to reach out to children in need.
What great news guys and I'm sure you'll be an amazing safe haven for your new house guest :-)
So pleased for you two.
It won't always be easy, but it will always be worth it.
(I say this confidently, as a man who spent a good hour tonight trying to clean degu piss out of a laptop keyboard...)
That's wonderful news, Jo & Lisa. Well done for being the people who are there when needed to help little ones who have nowhere else to go. I'm sure both you and they will be very good for each other.
That sounds like a fun task, Greg, and one which I'm sure should have been delegated to their master, or did he have some ready excuse why he couldn't do it. ;)
Very sad to see Greg Lake has died. Was just singing along to his Christmas song the other day.
Joolz - it was my work laptop. I felt sure that 5 minutes of Sherlock 'cleaning' it, would result in most of my case files on there being 'accidentally' opened and read.
So much life happening! Congrats to the new foster parents - I am so glad there are caring people like you in the world. And I admire your foresight in realizing the opportunity Sherlock might find in cleaning your laptop, Greg. I am generally not that smart.
I was all set to indulge a little sad over the loss of Greg Lake - AND Keith Emerson - in less than a year. But the I found my daughter had bought a BARGAIN ($12) hideous holiday sweater/jumper for her dog and the mere idea made me smile.
Hope you all are finding smiles these days.
-fA
Kudos and congrats to jo and lisa, that is wonderful news!
Just saw a mug proclaiming 'Sawdust is man glitter'. I can assure the makers that glitter is man glitter. And sawdust is sawdust. (And sawdust is far easier to clean up!)
Mycroft is home, chaos is everywhere, the pressure to begin allowing Christmas decorations to take over is becoming intolerable...
We have set Sherlock making some paper decorations...
Hurrah, festivities!!!
I would love to see the decorations--and of course your new baubles, when you get them. :)
We're not doing decorations this year (we typically just do a tree anyway) because we're away for Christmas. I rather suspect that your place is going to be decorated enough for all of us :-)
Well, fairly sure the UN will be trying to steal John from me after the peace treaty he negotiated between the boys regarding decorations.
Congrats and enormous thanks to Jo and Lisa, for stepping up to help heal this crazy world.
I was just wondering the other day why the house feels so claustrophobic right now. Then the ah-ha moment came. We've added a second tree, my loom, one small full-grown dog and one 5 month old puppy.
Can we hear about the negotiated settlement? :)
As far as I understand it - and this statement is not to be used to replace any of the original agreement, and will not stand up in a court of law - Sherlock now controls rights to decorating the tree, the front door of our flat, the sitting room and his bedroom. Mycroft gets the front door of the whole building, the stairs, the kitchen and the fireplace. Our room is a neutral zone. Mrs Hudson has the final say in any boundary disputes.
This is because - in Sherlock's words - Mycroft's decorations are 'boring'. And - in Mycroft's words - Sherlock's decorations are 'tasteless'.
I will only venture that Mycroft has a slightly more restrained style than Sherlock. In both decorations and life.
Oh, wow--that does sound complicated, but fair.
(I think my professional book-design style would be pretty much to Mycroft's taste--and my personal style more to Sherlock's. So I'd probably like how every part of your home turns out!)
I made a yule log.
The cake kind?
(Because that is very impressive to me.)
I don't think he knows any other kind...
I was thinking it could have been a decoration--although a yule log cake IS decorative, of course (And impressive!)
...and almost entirely gone, already!
Well, all that chocolate and cream... (I hope you took pictures!)
Sherlock's going to be quite an exceptional baker if he can already make a Yule Log cake.
Just starting our baking. We're having a fun time with it this year. Decorating stalled out after a wreath and a few baubles. Still not sure where the tree is going (Kestrel I feel you), but the decision has to be made soon . . .
-fA
Well, Sherlock has declared we 'have to' get a tree this weekend. And I suppose we will.
And I am feeling particularly smug regarding some (hopefully) good gift buying I've done! God bless the internet for overworked DIs to buy presents on.
I finally gave in to the tree tonight :-). After the whole school trip to the panto I thought the Christmas spirit couldn't be fought off any longer ;-)
The internet is awesome, it saves the need for queuing!!
I saw four separate families carrying home trees in my neighborhood today. :)
You aren't alone with the internet shopping, either--friends who have been in-person shopping this week tell me that the stores are relatively empty this year.
The worst shops I've been to this week are the ones that sell groceries. Our main tree has developed several holes in the lower branches, and has no ornaments lower than about two feet from the floor. We've had to turn the tree skirt upside down, so the pompon trim doesn't get eaten. Life with a puppy; good times.
John if your husband keeps sneaking up behind me and shouting Christmas songs in my ear he might spend Christmas at my place. Stuffed, as my centre piece, with an apple shoved in his mouth. Is he this annoying at home?
All right sergeant Scrooge, I'll spread my joy elsewhere.
Just drape him in tinsel. Works for me.
LOL, John! (I needed that mental image today. :) )
There are so many really good holiday songs, though!
Ah yes, but you drape me in tinsel and silence me with a kiss, Doctor. Which would be inappropriate for a junior officer. She just needs to feed me coffee.
I'm not sure how more coffee will end with less exuberance...
You're no doubt correct, Kestrel, but more coffee (if it isn't horrible coffee) is always an overall improvement in the current state of things, by definition. For those of us inordinately fond of/dependent on coffee, that is.
When I get up in the morning I continue baking and before I go to bed there Will Be A Fully Decorated Tree. I'm just not quite sure where it will be. I'm still delusionally trying to do this without moving any furniture heavier than a kitchen chair . . .
-fA
fA
So, what you do is you get some eye bolts, and some mono filament. Suspend individual branches from the ceiling, string the lights throughout, and decorate. Boom: hipster deconstructed Christmas tree.
Not to make Sherlock jealous, but it's 5F (-15C) here with six inches of snow. I'm both really excited and horrified by the prospect of stepping foot outside.
He is very jealous. But we do now have a tree, so he's fairly distracted.
Oh MY, Kestrel, you made me laugh. But me + putting eyebolts into my walls/ceiling is a recipe for disaster. Though it IS a look that could work! Tree is now sitting squashed up between two chairs, blocking access to the hutch we hang stockings on (there's no fireplace, not even a gas log)and no decorations yet. I think a chair and maybe an end table are going to live in my bedroom for a couple of weeks.. .
Home decor is really not my strength. ;-)
-fA
Sherlock might find our weather today interesting (though nowhere near as good as snow) - a cold front blew in and the temperature dropped nearly 20 degrees Farhenheit in roughly 15 minutes(from 21 Celsius to 10 Celsius.) I was sitting by the open window (as it was so warm) and heard the wind rising, you can hear it approach if it comes from the east, here, and it often happens so quickly! I didn't grow up in a place where temps changed so suddenly, so I still am amazed by it.
-fA
Well, it's foggy here. It's been foggy for a few days, it's going to be worse again by tomorrow.
Never mind seeing the sun, I'd settle with seeing the other side of the street at the moment!
I went northwards yesterday and the fog was really pretty first thing in the morning, but then I wasn't the one driving!
Not very celebratory, fog. We've got it here today too, and there are all kinds of alerts out because New Yorkers are totally baffled by fog.
I'll trade you. Fog I can handle. 6 inches of fluffy snow isn't even too bad. But right now it's -20/-28.8. That's air temp, not windchill.
Kestrel, that's do not move out of bed type cold.
....That is not normal cold. Stay warm or at least avoid frostbite, Kestrel!
If there's one thing worse than notifying a family of a death, it's doing it around Christmas. Poor people.
I'm sorry you had that to do, L. (Although it would have been worse for the family from someone who cared less.)
All part of the job.
Thinking of everyone in Berlin, too. Families, bystanders, injured, the ambulance and police services...a terrible thing.
Well, on a day of increased vigilance against terrorism, courts closure dates/times for Xmas and NY, trying to schedule extra staff on the busiest time of year when everyone wants time off and an impending move...
...I'm really glad the main memo I got was a bloody message about the NSY rotating sign being switched on in it's new location, complete with a video of an anonymous hand pressing an anonymous switch.
Prioritization.
Is there a better feeling in the world than sinking your teeth into a wispa?
*cautiously googling "wisps"*
Ah! That looks good. (I think there's a Hershey bar with that kind of air bubble, but of course it is Hershey's chocolate.)
Mycroft is planning an amazing sounding festive feast. What a man.
Would you be willing to share your planned menu, Mycroft?
We shall be having a traditional goose, with all the trimmings.
For starter there will be something with cheese, which Sherlock wants to do, and a trifle for dessert.
That sounds wonderful--and wonderfully comforting, too! Ambitious, but I'm positive you have it all under control.
Are you having a houseful again this year?
Not so many people this year. Both Mrs H's thought they'd come (well, downstairs-Mrs-H will definitely come), and you never know what strays John will find... but I'm working, hence Mycroft taking over in the kitchen. Although he's promised to save me some, which will be a Christmas miracle.
I feel sure Mycroft had a plan all set as to how to guard your share before promising!
And I'm home at a very respectable hour from the Christmas party because of my shift pattern.
Not at all because I can't keep up with the youngsters. Definitely not.
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