Good Morning! Welcome, Sunshine!
Come on in!
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
Good Whatever, depending on your time zone, froggies. I’m your substitute host for today. Diane is moving this week and can’t lift an entire cafe and boxes, too. We’ll all be right there to help, Diane!
Is anybody else awake? Or just going to bed?
Where in the world are you?
Newcomers, you’re welcome here and we’d love to meet you, so please introduce yourself. Lurkers, maybe this is the day to make a splash? And you regulars, sheesh, could you button your bathrobes, please?
I’m very happy to see you guys. Coffee?
you are to get so early to post the diary. I believe I heard your bed whimpering that it’s lonely and that you should come back to keep it company.
Andi’s up!
Too late for bed. My eyes popped open and now the coffee’s perking.
Dogs awake?
or at least that’s how it seems. I rarely sleep past 5:00 any more. The dogs, being wise beasts, have been up, had their breakfast, chased some deer, and are now sleeping around the woodstove sucking up heat.
(smiling at Andi)
Hi!
You know, maybe if you chased deer with them you’d be able to sleep later. Andi of the Timberlane.
of me looking something like Wednesday dressed for the Thanksgiving play in Addams Family Values.
I think I’d have to go for “Andi of the Limberlost”, though.
Limberlost is a very odd word now that I’m looking at it. I still remember reading that book.
at your beck and call.
And she works for free!
I’m angling for payment in mystery book marmot mentions.
I remember reading one of the Gene Stratton-Porter books as a kid and loving it, but until this moment I confess I had no idea what state the Limberlost was in, or even if it was a real place! (as a kid, it never occurred to me to look for it).
Payment in mystery novels. . .
You know what Raging Hippie said–Ms. Marmot with a candlestick in the parlor. Or, possibly, Mr. Marmot in a junk car on the street. Equally dangerous.
are looking for the real deal. I mean, if Sparkle Hayter can put half of RAM into one of her books, you are certainly blessed with an oversufficiency of talent to work in one little marmot.
RAM as in computers or RAM as in the animal? I remember loving her first book. Are the later ones as funny?
Sorry for the undocumented abbreviation — that’s RAM as in rec.arts.mystery, the usenet newsgroup. She put all kinds of regular posters in the newsgroup into the book which was a standalone. Actually, I like her standalones better than the series..
BTW, Marmotdude and I and not fooled by your brazen attempt to distract us from the subject.
I could use the coffee. I hope you and all of boo land are doing fine this morning.
Morning, Family Man! Doing well, thanks, although I could have used about four more weeks in November. A calendar is just a made-up thing, right? I don’t see why we can’t take a few weeks from here and add them to there, if we want to.
Remind me, if you don’t mind saying, where you live?
Ta da
::waves magic wand::
It is still November — the Julian date is November 22, 2005.
Oh, thank you. I hope this means there will be fewer days in Jan. and Feb. Also, August. Okay, and July. I want all my weeks to be placed in April, May, June, October & November, please.
I live in a little town in Alabama. It’s just beginning to get light here. It’s what we would say crisp (42 degrees) outside right now.
42 whole degrees, huh? I’m jealous. We’ve only got 12 of the little rascals.
Lucky you :).
Ha! Yes, they are precious little things and we treasure every single digit of them.
And that’s up 8 from when I last looked. Brrr!
Hey, Kelly. I have hot tea all read for you. I hope you like my fav, though it probably sounds awful from the name: Strawberry Cream Green.
I just bought some Cherry Rose green tea at that same darn craft show where the snickerdoodles accosted me. It’s very good.
Actually, that sounds lovely. Thanks. I’m mostly going to be a drive-by today. A week of playing semi-hooky and reading too much news has left me behind in the writing schedule, and it’s time to dig in.
Damn, you would say that. Way to set a horrible example!
Hi, Family Man! Good morning!
I think I’ll have a second cup of coffee
Just thinking of things you have as much as you want and not add any calories. Why isn’t that list wine, bread, cheese, and hazelnut torts?
Hi, katiebird and andif!
I’m jealous because I haven’t even gotten my first cup of coffee yet.
I’ll just enjoy the coffee here at the cafe until mine is made.
the importance of having a coffemaker with a built-in timer.
That’s one of my presents to me this year :).
in no time at it will become your best friend, waiting for you when you get out of bed, filling the house with the lovely aroma of brewing coffee.
I am so looking forward to that. Especially during the winter season. I’m one of those morning people who enjoys sitting with a cup of coffee and watching the sun come up while everyone else is still asleep. It seems like the most peaceful time of the day to me.
What a fabulous place this is! I love a fresh Cafe in the morning.
Maybe one of these days I’ll visit a real one?
to ejmw’s Our Web Diary yet?
I’m worried about people who may have been inadvertently left off. Don’t want anybody feeling left out. Or, gasp, Left Behind.
I know what you mean. I start to understand the horrors that actors must feel over crafting acceptance speeches.
No kidding. And how they can never get over forgetting to mention their spouse or mother. Like, the minute I saw ask say hello in the cafe this morning I thought, oh, my god, did we throw a thread to ask?? Can’t forget ask! And what about curly? Did somebody mention keres. Oh, yeah, whew, I remember her dog was in there, so she must be, too. . .
It’s hard work being compulsive.
and if you’re compulsive and anal-retentive, you get to worry both about who was left out and whether what you did write was really said in the best way possible.
Aren’t YOU the lucky one!
No, but I will (nodding, smiling) — back in a minute!
katiebird, katiebird, katiebird. I figured out the limits of my willpower yesterday. Apparently I am stronger than zucchini bread but much, much weaker than Snickerdoodles. Well, 5 Snickerdoodles to be exact. Five Snickerdoodles in a little ziploc bag, staring at me from the card table in the high school gym.
{Sigh…}
Wrestled that zucchini bread to the ground, did you? Good work! But everybody knows that snickerdoodles are vicious fighters.
Thanks for saying so, kansas. Obviously, the name denotes nothing if not amazing strength.
OMG, snickerdoodles…I was debating making them all weekend, but knew I would eat them all by myself if I did (boys? what boys?). If we get a lot of snow tonight, I may give up and do it…
Just out of the shower, just to find breakfast ready.
You guys are great. See you later – trying to get in at a decent hour today.
Have a great day, ask! See you later.
Good Morning Ask!
(smiling)
Andi,do I remember correctly that you were a C&J regular? The reason I ask is that I’ve been wondering if that place is a lot like this one. I’m too lazy to check it out for myself. I’ve read some of Bill’s amazingly witty introductions to it but I have never dipped into the comments. For some reason I have the impression it’s a little different in terms of content, but also the same in terms of warmth of feeling, connections, etc.
Not me. Maybe Cabin Girl?
Almost all the other blogs where I hang are almost purely political and mostly feminist (go to a few literary blogs as well).
Apparently I only do political blogs, though this is the only one I talk on. My “Favorites” lists this place first, of course, then The Huffington Post, Rigorous Intuition, Shakespeare’s Sister, James Wolcott, Hullabaloo, dKos, and Eschaton. I seem to rely on Susan for my Raw Story fix. I used to read a lot more of them, but spending so much more time here has really cut back there, not that I regret that at all.
Meh, it’s kind of the same but without the homey feel. There’s regulars that know each other quite well, and most of the entries are prepared in advance in MS word or something and then as soon as Bill posts it….WHAM…there they all are. It’s the best part of dkos and I still lurk occasionally but don’t post anymore.
Thanks, SN. So it really is quite different. Hey, maybe we’re unique in the universe!
You are also correct SN. As the orange place keeps growing, there is a lot of ‘fresh blood’ in there that I just don’t recognize. They’ll still witty and snarky, but I don’t ‘know’ them like I do the regular irregulars.
It is the best part, I agree, along with being a source of a tremendous amount of information. I generally shy away from commenting on the front page, but I do like to be aware.
Good Morning Kansas!
I am a C&J diehard myself, for about eight months now. I’ll stick a link to one of last week’s ones in here if you feel like reading… And you are spot on in that the comments are where the community shines. There’s more ‘hard news’ links and such in the comments, but there is also a lot of what we call snark, personal items and sexual innuendo (of course)! 🙂 We can get pretty wild at times!
I’ve actually met a handful of these folks in RL… they are wonderful friends of mine. We also have a chat room where a ‘core’ group of us giggle and commiserate and tease in the evenings. I find it to be a warm group of friends with very big hearts. Actually, I jumped in there when I was going through a divorce process, and the openness and welcoming support that I got was truly overwhelming. They’re keepers, in my book.
Linky to Friday’s
Here’s a teaser for you: Bill’s current sig line is Judge me on the content of my character, not the diaper on my head. I’ve met him too… what a sweetheart.
Hey, shermanesque! How are you this morning? Bright and shiny? Thanks for the front-line report. I absolutely love that sig of his. God, he is funny.
Hey kansas! Bright and shiny indeed!! Got a busy day ahead of me, which generally means getting started around 11am 🙂 I start a new job tomorrow, so there is much to do.
Bill is a riot. I still crack up every time I see it when he comments… literally LOL.
Have you talked about your new job here and I’ve just missed it? I hope you’ll really love it and they’ll be good to you.
Well, it’s a four-month temporary job, and I haven’t even been there yet to check it out. So, I’ll give it a couple of weeks to get a feel for it. It is a bit of a commute, which stinks, particularly since it’s winter.
BUT, I was planning on moving about 2 hours southeast (within NH) in the springtime to be closer to some RL friends there, so in that sense the timing will be perfect.
I’m anxious that I will like it and that the drive won’t get to me. And that my Jasper doggie will be home alone all day long… she’s not used to that. All in all, it’s good, and I can only wait and see how everything goes!
Good morning boys and girls…okay mostly girls. It’s rainy and chilly out this morning after a warm and windy weekend. The boys and I picked out our tree and it’s sitting in the garage in a bucket of water waiting for my daughter to arrive home for Christmas break. Last year we had our little family tree-trimming party without her and she was heartbroken. She didn’t get home until like the 17th or something and we just couldn’t wait to put it up. First we were just going to put it in the stand and leave it unadorned to enjoy the smell. Then I said might as well just put the lights on. Suddenly the whole thing was decorated. The thing is, I like to put it up a couple weeks before Christmas because the day after Christmas I want it out of there. I want my living room back.
I’m gonna need a second cup of coffee because now that my son is driving to school, he comes flying downstairs putting on the rest of his clothes, grabs a granola bar and completely wipes out the contents of my little 4-cup french press into a travel mug and he’s out the door.
Hey, SN! You must have felt awful when your daughter was heartbroken about missing the tree trimming. The things we don’t realize until it’s too late! I could write a book.
Is it just me, or do all Xmas trees really look exactly alike these days? Like they are cloned, in different sizes, from the Master Tree.
We went to a couple of lots where they were all absolutely perfect and $98 and up! I almost wet my pants.
Then we went to our usual Charlie Brown lot and picked one out that needed some love for $40 less. We always get fraser firs and that’s mostly what they sell and grow here in NC. Gosh, they smell wonderful!
I did feel bad about my daughter, but it’s really hard to figure out if she still lives here or not. She’s in that netherworld between living at home and living completely on her own. I was surprised that she was bummed…and then I could have punched myself in the head for ruining something that might be one of the last remaining threads that makes her feel connected to the family. I blew it. But this year we’re waiting no matter what.
You didn’t blow it. The tree triming party is a tradition she won’t know or forever forget. It will probably just make her that much more happier this year that you are all together.
Thanks, Family man. You’re aptly named.
Reaching way back in my memory here to say that I founddd going away to school both exciting and a bit scary — I feel tugged both toward independence and the safety that home represented. I think that most kids figure out the balance that works best for them and very few ever completely severe those ties to home — they just stretch them out a bit.
I always told my mother that the umbilical chord was still connected — it ran from me to her refrigerator.
That’s completely true…to the refrigerator, and the washer/dryer.
Have you ever noticed that some people seem to have built-in “perfect tree” detectors? In the days when every lot was a Charley Brown lot, I could let my son out of the car and while I dithered among the trees he would march straight to the one tree that was perfect for us and yell, “Mom!”
I’ve got to get ready to take a relative to the dentist. So I’ll bid all farwell.
By the time I get back the coffee will probably be gone from the cafe, so I’ll be ready for the wine, beer, scotch, food, or just the hugs everyone is so generous with.
Take care
The coffee’s always on, too. All these different time zones, doncha know.
40 degrees in Silly Con Valley, and up before the sun for once. The spouse is still on the “transitional work program”, but got a switch to hours closer to his normal work time (7-3 instead of 12-8), so he’s heading out of the apartment to return to the world of the working after 2+ weeks vacation. Me, I’m doing my early morning iPod update, then will go over and get in a short morning workout, come back and shower, dress, make the bed, have breakfast, and get some work done around here now that I don’t have to contend with an extra lump to work around. 😉 Will try to squeeze in some writing time today, but no guarantees…
Sherm — how’s your iPod doing? And I don’t think you talked about the new job here…I saw you mention it on Street Prophets, but no details. Or is it one of those “hush-hush” jobs that no one talks about unless they’re Dick Cheney with an axe to grind? 😉
Okay, iPod’s updated, so time to get myself in gear…back in a while…
Good morning, Cali! Good to hear your husband has reached yet another important milestone in the long transition. I hope it goes really well.
The house to yourself! At last!
Hi everybody. That cappucino looks delicious — may I have one please?
I’m taking a deep breath here because this promises to be a hell of a week at work and home. Now I have to go move my car before PG&E tries to tow it away. They’re digging up my neighborhood and I got a $100 ticket for parking in my own driveway yesterday at 6 in the morning. My stress level rises just thinking about it.
In the next hour I have to: find a parking place in this crowded neighborhood, wake up my daughter, endure her crankiness, make her lunch, drive her through city traffic across town to school, drive home, and find a parking place. Then I get my walk to work. <breathe> … Now back to RL and lurking around the pond. I think I said too much already!
Aarggh! Your day sounds like digging through the pile of manure looking for the pony. Fined for parking in your own driveway! That would make me crazy. Crazier. May your day improve.
Ah, the blessed bean. Good morning to one & all.
Thankfully, sunlight streams through the windows here in our woodland haven, warming the air from a rather unfriendly 12 degrees at dawn. A lovely blanket of snow glitters in the light.
A bit of hot breakfast, a bit more of the sacred elixir, then I’m off to the chores before further expected snowfall later today.
Where’s your wilderness located? I live out in the country too in a hilly, forested area that I am deeply in love with (though no one would ever call it wilderness).
Hope you do find your own, small place of ‘wilderness’ where you are, Andi.
Me, I’m on 80 wild acres at the center of the Catskill State Park, at the head of a tract of undeveloped land that skirts the western branch of the Neversink River (a Delaware tributary) for about 7 miles.
It really sounds fantastic — I hope you’ll post some pictures some time.
I’ve got 40 acres of woods that sit back 1000 feet from the road and share most of my boundary with an 800-acre camp, so it’s not hard to pretend it’s a wilderness — I have no visible neighbors or road and forest wherever I look.
Wow. That sounds perfectly fine — certainly a ‘wilderness’ in my book! It’s a matter of quietude, I think — serenity & privacy. Do I remember from a post elsewhere that you’re in VA? Forgive me if I’m wrong.
I’ll post an image for you shortly.
the part where there wasn’t any glacier so it’s pretty hilly. The area has crappy soil (hurray for clay and rock) so the early attempts to farm pretty much failed and by the early 1900’s most of the land had returned to woods.
is the way old timers describe the soil here on our mountainside. Our valley’s main industry (until the end of the Civil War) was tanning from hemlock bark — now I suppose it’s tourism.
In a sense, though, for both you & I the poor soil has been something of a blessing, in that we have our rich woodland environments.
Speaking of, on to the chores ..
Always happy to share images, Andi — thanks for your interest. Here’s a photo taken from the front porch, early Thanksgiving Day. Two days later, with exceptionally warm temperatures, the snow had disappeared. Quite unusual!
I hope you’ll come by the cafe and post more. Several of us (particularly dada, me, Gooserock and Puget4) post pictures regularly.
Great photo! Where was it taken?
(And don’t say “on my front porch!” LOL)
Good morning, wilderness wench. The “sacred elixir,” ah yes. Makes dead people rise again. I prove it every morning. And I just read that coffee has been shown effective in reducing liver damage from over-drinking. It sounds impossible, but let’s believe it anyway.
And why not? 😉
I’d be interested in seeing the study. Do you recall where it is?
It just so happens I do. Saw it this morning at The Huffington Post.
“The study of nearly 10,000 people showed that those who drank more than two cups of coffee or tea per day developed chronic liver disease at half the rate of those who drank less than one cup each day.”
LINK: Yahoo story
Thank you, kansas. Interesting. I wonder if this has anything to do with caffeine’s effect on blood vessels. I guess I’ll find out when I visit the link after today’s haulin’ & chuckin’ ..
I’m packing. We pick-up the UHaul tomorrow so, of course, it started to snow today, 6-10 inches predicted. Typical luck for us. I don’t mind snow but some icing might be involved and that could throw our whole timetable off. I’m hoping this problem melts off the streets by noon tomorrow.
I’ll be going off-line Tuesday pm or Wednesday am and won’t be back until Friday pm or Saturday.
Take care & go safely, sjct. Truly hope the weather predictions are typically overstated & the reality proves kinder to you.
Travel mercies to you, sjct. We’ll be waiting to get the word that you arrived safe and sound and with all your belongings.
Safe travels! I know you are headed to eastern NC where they have no snow removal equipment or salt trucks. The roads can become treacherous quickly.
This current snow storm doesn’t reach below Danville so if we can get to the NC line, it’s clear from there. Snow isn’t expected in northeastern NC until next Friday and, by then, we’ll be cozy in our house with 3 fireplaces.
Because I had a premonition of bad weather we’ve actually got an extra day built into our schedule so I think we’re going to be fine. We’ll drive very slowly out of VA and then pick up speed.
That’s to all of you for your good wishes. Now, back to packing…
I’m in Raleigh and they’re in full scare the shit out you mode now talking about freezing rain. Which means everyone will rush out to the grocery stores today and there will be no milk or Doritos left in the triangle.
have a safe trip and be sure to remember which box has the wine glasses in it.
WTF is wrong with people? Could someone please tell me why it feels like I’m always drowning in assholes, ala Digby Goes Down?
I lost a crown over the weekend, and it’s bad. It wasn’t just the crown that came off, but also the buildup and part of the molar. Tiny pieces of my tooth continue to come out, and there is obviously massive infection going on there. I have an autoimmune disease and I’ve now been inhaling and swallowing nasty bacteria for like 36 hours. It’s not unthinkable that I could wind up the damn ER, or with an infection in the lining of my heart. It’s a serious situation when your immune system doesn’t work right.
My dentist knows this. He’s an angel. I could not be more in love with him if he had a killer rack. But his office staff? Can suck it because they just made making an emergency appointment very difficult, treated me like a whiner — which, truth be told, is really the part that pissed me the hell off because whatever other kind of jackass I am, I’m no whiner — and won’t even let me see my own dentist, but are making me see some new guy. I am going to freak the hell out when I get down there later this afternoon.
::deep breaths, deep breaths:: Thanks for letting me vent, y’all.
Of couse that pissed you off! I’m pissed off just hearing about it, but I do have to say that it is a rare person who can be that funny while still in the middle of high dudgeon. “could not be more in love with him if he had a killer rack.” lol! Here, have some of the endorphins you just gave me.
Humor is one of my primary defense mechanisms. I sublimate rage into humor.
Thanks for your support, Kansas, it means a lot.
oh sweetheart I wish I could be there to kick some butt for you so you could just take it easy and watch.
Freak away but please don’t let it get in the way of getting the treatment you need.
lots of bacteria-free good thoughts…
. . .in th new Cafe. Thank y’all.