Where it all hangs out
With a large stock of caffeinated & non-caffeinated libations; light breakfast fare, freshly baked; pads and pencils on every table
Come on in!
May the 4’s be with you
Froggy Bottom Café: Post-Prandial Sunday
Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
This past week I’ve discovered the glories and perils of web-based [websudoku.com] Sudoku [sudokuist.com]. It has replaced refreshing BMT’s recent comments page in filling my idle online moments. If I were in a marriage, it would have destroyed it already. I’m seeing number grids when I close my eyes.
my new one is WordJong
mornin’
Mornin’! I hope your long Thanksgiving weekend – along with everyone else’s – has been warm & relaxing. WordJong sounds like it may draw on another weakness for mine, mahjonng. I think in my current state I should just stay away from it….
I’m still a bit hung-over from all the fun I had last night.
But, I’m here!
Good morning, everyone! Just wanted to thank everybody for the warm welcome last night!
Wow! It looked like you were the last one up last night. Are you still up, or already up?
Good Morning! either way.
Both, I suppose. Had an hour nap after work before having to take my son to swimming practice. I have exactly 24 hours off, so I’ll be up (and a zombie) most of the day.
Permit me to join the throng in welcoming you to the Trib! Your contributions will be warmly received, I’m sure, and you got a glimpse of that last night.
Yes, I did. Thank you also.
I’ll be in & out all day. Self-serve will be the rule. That keg from last night isn’t quite kicked yet, if anyone wants some ol’ saeta canis….
for
turkmarotdude?
Eeeeeuuuwwwww!!! Turkmarmodude
no recipes from you.
Not for left over Marmotdude!! Eeeeeeuuuuuwwww! Poor little guy.
I finally got my cranberry relish made last night. I had to use sugarfree jello so it has that delightful aspartame flavor!! Ick!! But it’s pretty and other than the aspartame, tastes good.
Oh, thank GOD you didn’t make leftover marmadude salad!
I haven’t been so horrified by a platter of food, ever. That actually looks terrible.
Don’t you think he looks like a cross between a marmot and a turtle? A turtle in the snow. Uh oh. I may have just given Andi an idea for turtle/marmot soup.
Why am I still here? Aren’t I supposed to be working?
a marmot version of turkducken (surely one of the stupidest idea in food) so I guess I’ll have to consider this a modest failure.
Why am I still here?
Because the alternative is much worse.
Aren’t I supposed to be working?
Are you broken? If not, then you are working.
“Are you broken? If not, then you are working.”
I love this!!
And I must stoutly (because I have lately eaten too much) maintain that your marmot sandwich was NOT a failure. Nothing that horribly, hideously amusing could possibly be called a failure. It does, however, occur to me that perhaps we need a special rating system just for Ews. This one is merely a two, my dear. Now chopped marmot salad (grapes? mayo?), THAT would rate a 4 on my Ew scale.
I have to respectfully disagree — this particular image is one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen.
Absolutely a 4 on my Ew scale.
(and by the way — It is now almost as dark as night over here. I wonder what’s blowing in. If you are really going to CRL, you should have fun that south window is great for storm watching if you can grab one of those tables.)
Oh Please, don’t — it’s horrible. And now you’ve given her …..
……… ideas.
you can’t stop shuddering — kansas has already given me an assignment for Hanukkah/Xmas so she’s already got me busy.
Gasp.
and I got this off of google images (without marmotdude’s head of course) — so we can speculate on why anyone would take a picture like that in the first place.
You are kidding! This wasn’t a composite made by you??? Now I really am distressed!
was add marmotdude’s head to an image of a turkey carcase.
It’s nightmares for me tonight.
That’s all.
Notice how smoothly Andi attempts to deflect responsibility from herself. Didn’t Jerome just write a whole diary on that? A diary that I, personally, intend never to take to heart, of course.
She did it.
anyone raised by an exemplar of Jewish motherness will be be an expert in deflecting guilt by age 5.
With your turkmarotdude?
It’s still morning in the left ennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd of the café.
The hills and bays are snuggling in mist as Florida Mom is snuggling in blankets. The Twa Totos and Puget4 were very clingy after we returned from Oregon.
I’ve noticed something odd about Puget4’s aggressive low fat/cholesterol plan: my daily aspirin intake dropped significantly. Working with my hands and on my feet in the shop for long hours, I had been doing 2-3 aspirins a day for mild general achiness. But after a few weeks on low fat, I wasn’t as sore. Some days I forgot to take even one, which I want to do for the heart benefits.
I got far enough off the plan over Thanksgiving to notice I was wanting an extra aspirin or two, despite not being in the shop, and already after a day back on the low fat the need seems to be subsiding again.
A quick google search brought up a few seemingly science-based articles suggesting that aggressive low cholesterol diets also may reduce inflammation. So when Puget4 gets her next checkup we’ve decided to ask them to check the inflammation marker & see if the information affects the doctor’s opinions.
“Your mileage may vary.” Now off for a 2nd cuppa Earl Grey.
I realized I was all wrong about dirty tech talk but I don’t think you ever came back to that cafe.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m just not egotistical enough to be turned on by having my own text quoted back at me, no matter which language it’s in. I thank you for picking French, though; I do think it’s one of the prettiest languages even if I always sound like I’m choking on a jawbreaker whenever I try to pronounce it.
So how was your weekend? Family time was good, I hope, with no new disappointments for your mother to turn into stealth-guilt-bombs. 😉
Well I picked the french because you did (“I’d never stop proposing to the woman who figures out the right time to whisper into my ear in French about overclocking.”) and I admit I cheated but it’s only because I’m a software person not a hardware one so I didn’t know enough jargon to do anything sexy with overclocking.
T’day was fine as was visiting Jim’s family in cincy (other than the fact that we have to go to cincy to visit them) but on the whole, I’m not much of a holiday fan.
You been taking it easy?
Glad you guys had a nice visit, even though it had to be in Cincy.
Yeah, I’m trying to rest. I cooked an entire Thanksgiving Day dinner even though it was just me here (by choice), and I’m still wiped out from it. It was delish (still is, I’ll be eating it for another couple days), but the damn illness really does make every little thing a challenge, and turkey dinner is no small thing to begin with.
I’m not slacking, though. I’ve been working on outlines for future F Word diaries, though I still haven’t figured out which topic I’m going to post next. It will probably be a last minute decision in response to some issue of the day or another…and I’ll probably try to give this latest inter/intra-blog power kerfluffle some time to pass so people can chill.
Speaking of feminism, have you seen this bit of idiocy from one of the wingnut op-ed writers at the L.A. Times?
hilzoy over Obsidian Wings has a great takedown of it.
My hat’s off to hilzoy for saving me the trouble. I don’t think there was a single accurately presented fact in that piece of crap.
It never ceases to amaze me, the endless petulant whining from the privileged about how tragically unfair it is that they can’t just hog everything good without resistance. How it will be the downfall of civilization if we have equality.
I’m really starting to lose my patience with it. I mean, I guess I figure there’s a statute of limitations on the arrogance of youth and that it runs out somewhere around age 25, so once you’re over 30, if you’re still paternalistically pushing some bullshit line about the playing field already being equal — or worse, about its inequality being “natural” and/or “good” — then you’re either an asshole or you’re stupid, and probably both.
If we get a vote, I’m going for stupid and asshole and the editor doesn’t even read what he writes.
Well, at least, your french sounds like surrealistic poetry! And some parts (“je me refroidis avec des applications Tranquilles” and “je peux constamment voir la température de mon morceau”) would sound really dirty to French ears…
Thanks for the laugh…
You, sir or madam, have absolutely made my day by suggesting that my English tech talk (which is where Andi got that chunk of text) translates roughly to dirty surrealistic poetry in French. I know you didn’t intend to compliment me but this is by far and away the grooviest thing anyone has said about me in months, possibly even in years.
I regret that I have but one 4 with which to thank you. 🙂
I can’t take the credit though — my billboard level French couldn’t handle Indy’s tech talk so babelfish I put in babelfish and then just skimmed it to make sure it didn’t seem completely ridiculous.
Morning All,
So good to have Gooserock back. He missed all our fun chatter while he was in Oregon. I’m trying to get him to look back through a couple past cafe’s.
I woke up this morning to sounds of shotguns waaaaay too close. When the second round came at 7:30, I called 9-1-1. The operator said the deputy would call back. I asked them to wait till after 9:00 as the rest of the household was still asleep. She said she’d be happy to do that. (That’s the nice kind of county we live in). You see….contrary to AndiF, we don’t often hear guns.
9:30 the deputy called and said they’d had a second call and would be checking it out. I haven’t heard any more shots.
Taking a quickie break from the cleaning. Spouse took a load of cardboard down to the car before his workout, so he’s temporarily off the shit list. (He also actually FOLDED all the laundry before bringing it up last night, making it much easier to put away this morning — got the whites put away, about to start on the nightwear.) I actually cleared the junk off the top of my small bookcase, and will probably set up the nativity set today.
Haven’t really gotten into Sudoku — I’m a little more partial to word puzzles than number puzzles, I must admit. Maybe that’s a good thing…I’m already impossible to talk to when I’m doing my Cryptoquizzes…
Okay, time to switch on the radio for the Niners game…though why I have no idea. Back in a little while… 🙂
Kansas and Katiebird met last night to prepare for the next meeting of BooBooks.
Wow! It looks like they’re prepared, are you?
“How come they didn’t invite us?”
Airfare.
But we missed you guys!
Can you come the next time? That would be great!
cause there’s no way I’m driving across Illinois and Missouri.
Does Amtrak make the trip?
Are you saying you’d rather I never showed up?
Well, I’m pretty sure that I’m not going to drive out there to pick you up myself.
So, if you’re going to join us and you’re not going to drive, we’ve got some brainstorming to do.
How many ways are there to get from where you are to where we are?
We fold up Illinois and Missouri so that Kansas borders Indiana.
But could we do it by the end of December?
Even better — we’ll use Illinois and Missouri for wrapping paper when we fold them up so they won’t go to waste.
(laughing helplessly)
Andi, we really must find a way to get together with you some time. Really.
(still laughing)
I would definitely like that a lot. If you ever find yourself going to St. Louis, Chicago, Louisville, Cincinnati or anything within that area, we’re on.
And you never know when work might take me your way. I’ve had to go to Wichita before and some neighboring areas like Oklahoma City, Norman, and Clarinda and Atlantic, Iowa.
ummmm . . . . .our daughter lives in St. Louis. . .
I just talked to her. We’ll go to St. Louis in February. Does this give us time to work something out?
Geographic origami?
damn, my bifocals really lead me astray on that comment.
Ha, you’re inspired, Andi. “Bifocals” as a euphemism for “filty mind”. Nice.
(cough)(looks meaningfully at watch)
I’m back! Broke through TWO, count’em TWO plot points. Actual writing, not so much.
I’m so glad! That’s really terrific.
I just figured out what’s bothering me about this picture. I’m too short to see over the book, so my neck and head are stretched up at a weird angle.
Very similar to this one:
And I think the gigantic monkey-jaw and freakishly bulging eyes are the same as well.
Both of them are perfectly charming pictures.
Andi, you are very kind. Just for that I won’t send you a copy of the full-sized version.
The one of you and kansas is plenty big and I’ve seen the full size baby picture (you gave me the link to prove you were drooling) and I still think they are both perfectly charming.
Hi,
We had some snow during the last days and heavy snow today. I like when the roofs of Lyon are draped in white…
Beautiful Melanchthon. I thought I’d never see Lyon. It’s lovely….and you’re right, the snow is just the right touch.
Thanks, Puget4,
Lyon is a beautiful city, indeed. What you see in the forefront is the old quarter (we call it “le vieux Lyon”) which was built during the Renaissance (15th-16th centuries).
I hope you will visit us some day.
of Meet Me in St. Louis?
Too bad she doesn’t live in Louisville instead as I could do that as a day trip. St. Louis is a five-hour drive so I’d have to stay overnight — meaning that I’ll have to do some advance planning and weather will be a factor but it’s definitely an idea to think about — wouldn’t this interfere with your visit, though?
I forgot to put your name on the subject line to get your attention so I’m saying it now.
Well, I agree it would take some planning.
But, if I go for 3 or 4 days we could get together while she was in class and also give her and her dad a chance to play by themselves (not that they’ve ever tried to exclude me).
Also, she never wakes up until noon and I’m a morning person….
The thing is, without the excuse of visiting her, I don’t think I’d ever actually make it out there. Because visiting family takes all my vacation time.
And I think the geographic origami is, well, farfetched.
If you were going to go anyway, then trying to meet up is a fine idea but don’t use up your vacation days on my account — all it would take is some moderately bad weather and I’d never get there (I’ve got to drive through a good bit of hilly, two-lane countryside).
Well, we’re going to go (she’s been asking us to come for years and we never have — and next semester is her last before graduation).
All I really meant to do was open the conversation. There must me someway to arrange a playdate somewhere sometime.
If we can make it work, I’d certainly like to try. I was just worried because the weather in Feb. is pretty unpredictable and it’s a fairly hefty drive over to St. Louis so it would be hard for me to say that I could get there for sure.
When you get some firm dates set, let me know and then when it gets within three or four weeks we can try to make some more specific plans.
OK — I’ll hope for just a touch of global warming to hit in February!
does your daughter go to?
Webster University
I was expected st. louis or washington u. hadn’t heard of webster, although I’ve been in and around webster many times in the past (my sister’s ex-hub was from kirkwood).
Her mom works at the campus here & that’s how we got drawn into it.
She’s working on a BFA.
don’t have anything to say but we seem to be the only folks in the cafe so I feel this strange compulsion to keep talking.
So webster is a big enough school to have campuses in both st. louis and kansas city?
I totally understand. I’m actually helping her learn how to make a web page and I peek in here everytime she gets up! (I can’t stop looking)
I think those small liberal arts colleges are keeping in business by having small evening-only campuses in towns like Kansas City that are of a certain size but don’t have a real University.
We’ve got several of them here (In fact that’s how I eventually got my degree from Ottawa University (Ottawa, KS) in Kansas City.
And they tend to have affiliates in Europe and Asia also.
I wasn’t happy about the deal. She is extremely talented and when she showed her portfolio at the Portfolio Review at the Art Institute, 3 Art Schools offered her substantial scholarships. But, her loyalty to her mother kept her at Webster.
I’m still here, polishing all the brass to an unnatural shine. Have you posted any pics today? I must’ve missed ’em whilst I was out.
Of the page for your answer….
Well, I posted one picture but some people (as in katiebird) thought it was not nice. It was a little (as in nano-sized) joke.
(opens door to find cannon) <ka-BLOOOOM> </Yosemite_Sam>
Andi’s Picture:
In case you missed it
Well, you can’t say I forgot it though!
Posted this on friday but I don’t think anybody besides katiebird and puget4 saw so I’ll put it up again for you — it’s from our trip to and from cincy on Friday.
ummmm….Beautiful! Thanks.
I stumbled across a photo that I like, should I post it?
oooo, I haven’t done this for months!
but we aren’t in Kansas any more. So where are we?
It could be Kansas … in the late Cretaceous period, when a sea covered the Midwest. K-bird obviously has time-travelling capabalities she’s been hiding from us.
You can’t tell just by looking?
(Lake Superior, Northern Wisconsin shore)
I didn’t recognize it (though I like BF’s explanation better).
You and BF will have to continue on without me. It’s time for me to go to bed. Night.
See you in the morning (maybe?)
I have to go back to work tomorrow. sigh.
It’s morning!
On the sigh, me too — I’m flying out this afternoon to spend the week in Reading, MA for a bunch of meetings and I hate sitting in meetings.
Oh, ugh. I actually hate business travel. I remember that you said you do that 20% (?) of the time. Does it happen like this, a week at a time.
I couldn’t do that. I’m pretty sure.
Yeah, it’s mostly 3 – 5 days at a time. I don’t like it but I rather that than bunches of short trips — this way at least limits the number of hassles of airplane travel.
Mmmm, winter sunsets. I love it when there’s that last reflection of the setting sun in low clouds like that. Hey, I’m currently further west than you, being in Chicagoland for the long holiday weekend. I’ll wave to you from the plane on my trip home tomorrow! Should I look out the right or left side of the plane?
If your flight will be heading slightly east and mostly south you could very well fly over me. If you look down and see tree-covered hills and you are over Indiana, it’s time to wave. And it’s always to the left!
🙂
Well, in the interest of travelling light I left the camera behind when I came out to Chicago for the Thanksgiving visit. My new phone has a camera, so I figured I’d just use that if there were any quick snapshots I wanted to take. Alas, I’ve discovered that (a) the little camera in my phone is crappy “to the max” (in the ancient idiom) and (b) I have no easy way to transfer pix anyway, this phone lacking bluetooth. Humbug.
In recompense, I’ll give you a verbal description of the Art Institute of Chicago’s annual “Wreathing of the Lions” ceremony, held annually the day after Thanksgiving: There are two huge lion statues, donated by one of the Marshall or Field people, in front of the Art Institute. They put up ladders against the lions, then place big wreaths around their necks. They have a choir singing carols, and sometimes hot cocoa and cider (not this year, sadly). They always have a small crowd of people shivering in the freezing Chicagoland cold waiting to get inside. People clap when the wreaths are placed on the lions, because that means they’ll be opening the Institute and everyone get inside and get warm again. The end.
P.S. I will take a Chicago winter over a DC summer ANYTIME.
Those lions have been my 2nd favorite thing in Chicago since I was a kid (my favorite is colleen moore’s doll house at the Museum of Science & Industry).
Your description is undoubtedly much better than any lo-res picture your cell phone could take.
My Café diary just went over 100 comments! I honestly believe this is the first time any of my Café diaries has ever done this — what do I do??? Shame it’s fallen off the Rec List, or my glory would be all the brighter.
Katiebird & AndiF, I need to send you fruitbaskets or something.
Oh well, sic transit gloria mundi and all that; I’m hitting the sack now. Travel day tomorrow. The Café will be on auto-pilot ’til the morning.
Mazel tov! I’m sure katiebird is as delighted as I am to have contributed to your success.
Terrific! I didn’t realize the implications last night when my threads collapsed (they do at 100). I would have sent you a (virtual) box of roses!
I guess I faded out without saying goodnight.
I can’t believe they expect me to go back to work!
How dare that happen?