I do not need surgery! (Well, except for next week's oral surgery.). the doctor was pleased with my progress--she said that I have gone from looking like I'd need immediate emergency surgery to looking like I might recover without it. Five weeks of doing very little have paid off. I am to continue what I am doing and if all goes well, I'll start PT in about two weeks-- not strength building, but things to help relax the muscles. I'm still on the meds and am thus dozy, nauseous and unproductive but the end is now visible.
Kira, otoh, probably needs hand surgery. Minor, but bothersome.
This afternoon, Gerry, Kira and David went out. I stayed home trying to recover from a bad cold. After a while, I came downstairs and saw Rennie (our long-haired cat) sitting in the addition on a dry patch surrounded by water. Merlin, the Siamese, was trying to figure out how to cross the chasm of water to get back into the dining room.
I picked Merlin up and carried him to safety and then sloshed through the water to the washing machine, which I shut off. I didn't have time to examine the cause of the mini-flood, but started grabbing towels and dropping them onto the water. I changed into shorts, because my long pants were now drenched and carried Merlin to safety again, since he'd followed me back into the water zone. I grabbed a couple of buckets and wrung out some of the towels, rescued the PS2 and began tossing water-soaked things onto the dining room rug.
Then I called my mother and chatted with her as I continued pushing the water off of the hardwood floors and back to the tiled laundry/bathroom area. Merlin followed me into the water again and did his part by licking the water and then running across the ottoman, leaving a pattern of tiny paw prints. This was all much easier than when I was living in Georgia. There, we had a house whose sewage lines ran up to the street level and whenever it rained, they overflowed into our basement. My sisters and I were paid about 2 cents for each earthworm that we extracted from the basement carpeting. (ewww!) At least, this water was clean enough for Merlin to lap at, although there was some dryer lint closer to the laundry area.
By now, the only blankets and towels that I hadn't used to soak things up were my grandmother's afghan, Kira's appliqued town and my L'Arc World Tour towel. I'd managed to get the hardwood floors dry and had a barrier between the tile and wood floor when it occurred to me that should check the basement.
Oops! There was a good sized puddle in the middle of Laura's apartment and a bit farther -- near the storage closet, where we keep our router and store many things -- looked quite a bit wetter. At this point, I decided to call Gerry. Thankfully, he was on his way home.
We--but mostly Gerry and David, since Gerry sent me back to bed and Kira was now also down with the cold, worked on the basement and took care of all the wet sopping towels. I didn't stay in bed, but kept getting up to help. We borrowed the neighbor's wetvac, David attempted to repurposed his hydroponic pump and together we put a tarp up under the soaked insulation on the storage closet's ceiling. Gerry made a couple of emergency trips to the store to buy new mops (Swiffer just doesn't work) and a dehumidifier.
We fared well. The floors are now immaculately clean, although the rugs need work. I had to toss a few books from the pile of books that I planned to donate -- they weren't that great anyway. It looks like we had some damage to some things in the basement, but will have to go through that more carefully over the next week or so.
But what caused the flood in the first place? No idea. I *thought* that the washing machine must have broken a connection and kept pumping water trying to get it up to a full load's level. But Gerry said "no." I would have been afraid to run the machine without watching it carefully to make sure that it didn't happen again, but Gerry ran it several times to clean all those towels and did so while running out to the store. It ran fine.
I'm still going to keep an eye on that machine, but for now everything's okay.
I picked Merlin up and carried him to safety and then sloshed through the water to the washing machine, which I shut off. I didn't have time to examine the cause of the mini-flood, but started grabbing towels and dropping them onto the water. I changed into shorts, because my long pants were now drenched and carried Merlin to safety again, since he'd followed me back into the water zone. I grabbed a couple of buckets and wrung out some of the towels, rescued the PS2 and began tossing water-soaked things onto the dining room rug.
Then I called my mother and chatted with her as I continued pushing the water off of the hardwood floors and back to the tiled laundry/bathroom area. Merlin followed me into the water again and did his part by licking the water and then running across the ottoman, leaving a pattern of tiny paw prints. This was all much easier than when I was living in Georgia. There, we had a house whose sewage lines ran up to the street level and whenever it rained, they overflowed into our basement. My sisters and I were paid about 2 cents for each earthworm that we extracted from the basement carpeting. (ewww!) At least, this water was clean enough for Merlin to lap at, although there was some dryer lint closer to the laundry area.
By now, the only blankets and towels that I hadn't used to soak things up were my grandmother's afghan, Kira's appliqued town and my L'Arc World Tour towel. I'd managed to get the hardwood floors dry and had a barrier between the tile and wood floor when it occurred to me that should check the basement.
Oops! There was a good sized puddle in the middle of Laura's apartment and a bit farther -- near the storage closet, where we keep our router and store many things -- looked quite a bit wetter. At this point, I decided to call Gerry. Thankfully, he was on his way home.
We--but mostly Gerry and David, since Gerry sent me back to bed and Kira was now also down with the cold, worked on the basement and took care of all the wet sopping towels. I didn't stay in bed, but kept getting up to help. We borrowed the neighbor's wetvac, David attempted to repurposed his hydroponic pump and together we put a tarp up under the soaked insulation on the storage closet's ceiling. Gerry made a couple of emergency trips to the store to buy new mops (Swiffer just doesn't work) and a dehumidifier.
We fared well. The floors are now immaculately clean, although the rugs need work. I had to toss a few books from the pile of books that I planned to donate -- they weren't that great anyway. It looks like we had some damage to some things in the basement, but will have to go through that more carefully over the next week or so.
But what caused the flood in the first place? No idea. I *thought* that the washing machine must have broken a connection and kept pumping water trying to get it up to a full load's level. But Gerry said "no." I would have been afraid to run the machine without watching it carefully to make sure that it didn't happen again, but Gerry ran it several times to clean all those towels and did so while running out to the store. It ran fine.
I'm still going to keep an eye on that machine, but for now everything's okay.
As promised, here's the view from the hotel room:
It may not look great, but I am so unused to seeing mountains when I look out of a window that I keep looking out.
David got up yesterday morning and immediately went back to working on the presentation with his workmates. I took it a bit easier, lounging about, did a little fact checking for the next bit of my book and then went over to Kinokuniya, which did not have the magazine. They asked me where I lived and then helpfully pointed out that the NYC store has 30 copies. It'll actually be cheaper for me to order it from Japan. (So if you're reading this, Lynn, that is what I plan to do.) I bought two middle school books in Japanese that are mostly pictures. One's a science book and the other's a history book. These should keep me busy for a while.
I next headed to the grocery store and looked for snacks, lunch and breakfast things to keep in our room. Brought those back, worked a bit more and than Sharon called to see about getting together. I suggested that she call and I'd meet her rather than having her park for a short time. Just before her arrival, I went down and wandered around the Japanese shops and listened to the man playing 10 instruments while singing. Very cool.
Sharon called and thus began Adventure #1: Getting Out of the Parking Lot. She had decided to park and meet me at my room, so she had parked in the hellaciously-scary lot next door. It is a multi-story lot with steep hills and valleys, tight curves and overall scariness. She tried prepaying in the machine, but it ate her ticket and so she used the call button and after repeating the instructions many times on how to use the machine, the lady that answered finally suggested that we just try to exit. (In retrospect, I think it was more like a threat, "just try... bwhahahahaha
So we took the pee-scented elevator up to parking level 2, got in her car and headed to the exit. This was more treacherous than it sounds. It should not be necessary to make a three-point turn to navigate through the exit way, especially not in a Toyota Corolla. At this point, we were once again stuck, since we had no exit ticket. She hit the call button and had another chat with the lady who suggested that we back up and try again. I'm not really sure what that was supposed to do, except that it sounded like when someone tells you to reboot your computer.
Sharon tried to back up and this is when she scratched the side of her car against a post. I got out and directed her out of that situation, made sure there were no cars coming and directed her into a spot. Then I went down to buy a new parking ticket. (Just in case you are wondering, it is not possible to walk up, push a button and get a ticket from the machine. You have to be in a car.) So, $10 later, I had a new ticket and we managed to escape.
From there, we drove to Franklin Canyon, where we walked around a bit. Very pretty & peaceful. We even saw a coyote trotting around.
Next, we toyed with where to go and decided to go to the beach. On the way, we got a bit lost and passed the Beverly Hills Hotel, where Elizabeth Taylor, Howard Hughes and many others have stayed, some for months at a time. (I had just seen a documentary about the place.)
"Ohhh!" I said. "Let's go in!"
"We can't," said Sharon.
"Why not?"
"It's.. it's... it's the Beverly Hills Hotel. I'm not even dressed for it."
"So?"
Around the block we went, into the parking lot and into the hotel. They had photos and articles about the people that have stayed there. We wandered about, checked out the cafe (but arrived just as it closed) and headed down to the pool, passing through a citrus garden with ripe oranges hanging from some of the trees.
There were little rooms edging the pool, where you can change, eat or watch TV. (I am pretty sure I have seen this on various shows.) Very cool. There was a boy swimming as his father watched. I wound up dipping my foot in the pool just for the heck of it.
Then, we headed to the Ocean, where the sun had just set and everything was bathed in cool pastel colors. We drove back through Hollywood and Vine and returned to the hotel just before 9 and at about the same time as David who had just returned to the convention. After a dinner at Mister Pizza, we said our goodnights and returned to the hotel, just in time to watch the Mars landing.
It may not look great, but I am so unused to seeing mountains when I look out of a window that I keep looking out.
David got up yesterday morning and immediately went back to working on the presentation with his workmates. I took it a bit easier, lounging about, did a little fact checking for the next bit of my book and then went over to Kinokuniya, which did not have the magazine. They asked me where I lived and then helpfully pointed out that the NYC store has 30 copies. It'll actually be cheaper for me to order it from Japan. (So if you're reading this, Lynn, that is what I plan to do.) I bought two middle school books in Japanese that are mostly pictures. One's a science book and the other's a history book. These should keep me busy for a while.
I next headed to the grocery store and looked for snacks, lunch and breakfast things to keep in our room. Brought those back, worked a bit more and than Sharon called to see about getting together. I suggested that she call and I'd meet her rather than having her park for a short time. Just before her arrival, I went down and wandered around the Japanese shops and listened to the man playing 10 instruments while singing. Very cool.
Sharon called and thus began Adventure #1: Getting Out of the Parking Lot. She had decided to park and meet me at my room, so she had parked in the hellaciously-scary lot next door. It is a multi-story lot with steep hills and valleys, tight curves and overall scariness. She tried prepaying in the machine, but it ate her ticket and so she used the call button and after repeating the instructions many times on how to use the machine, the lady that answered finally suggested that we just try to exit. (In retrospect, I think it was more like a threat, "just try... bwhahahahaha
So we took the pee-scented elevator up to parking level 2, got in her car and headed to the exit. This was more treacherous than it sounds. It should not be necessary to make a three-point turn to navigate through the exit way, especially not in a Toyota Corolla. At this point, we were once again stuck, since we had no exit ticket. She hit the call button and had another chat with the lady who suggested that we back up and try again. I'm not really sure what that was supposed to do, except that it sounded like when someone tells you to reboot your computer.
Sharon tried to back up and this is when she scratched the side of her car against a post. I got out and directed her out of that situation, made sure there were no cars coming and directed her into a spot. Then I went down to buy a new parking ticket. (Just in case you are wondering, it is not possible to walk up, push a button and get a ticket from the machine. You have to be in a car.) So, $10 later, I had a new ticket and we managed to escape.
From there, we drove to Franklin Canyon, where we walked around a bit. Very pretty & peaceful. We even saw a coyote trotting around.
Next, we toyed with where to go and decided to go to the beach. On the way, we got a bit lost and passed the Beverly Hills Hotel, where Elizabeth Taylor, Howard Hughes and many others have stayed, some for months at a time. (I had just seen a documentary about the place.)
"Ohhh!" I said. "Let's go in!"
"We can't," said Sharon.
"Why not?"
"It's.. it's... it's the Beverly Hills Hotel. I'm not even dressed for it."
"So?"
Around the block we went, into the parking lot and into the hotel. They had photos and articles about the people that have stayed there. We wandered about, checked out the cafe (but arrived just as it closed) and headed down to the pool, passing through a citrus garden with ripe oranges hanging from some of the trees.
There were little rooms edging the pool, where you can change, eat or watch TV. (I am pretty sure I have seen this on various shows.) Very cool. There was a boy swimming as his father watched. I wound up dipping my foot in the pool just for the heck of it.
Then, we headed to the Ocean, where the sun had just set and everything was bathed in cool pastel colors. We drove back through Hollywood and Vine and returned to the hotel just before 9 and at about the same time as David who had just returned to the convention. After a dinner at Mister Pizza, we said our goodnights and returned to the hotel, just in time to watch the Mars landing.
David and I are now in LA. We flew out from Boston yesterday morning, sat on the LAX tarmac for about 45 minutes until a gate opened up (flight delays due to storms in the east kept the outbound planes at the gates until they got clearance), experienced the "joys" of a shared van ride to our hotel-- it took us 3.5 hours from the time we landed to get to our hotel room -- but we are here now and have a lovely view from our window. It's somewhat exotic, somewhat strange, not at all like home and very appealing. Looking in a straight line from the street below to the horizon, I see Japanese restaurants, a combini, a "Go For Broke" monument, palm trees and a Spanish-style church tower, a few tall buildings and mountains. Down the street is "Senor Fish", another restaurant, whose name is translated above in Japanese. The sun is pouring through the window right now, but later when the lighting is better, I'll take a photo and post it.
The hotel gift shop is an odd mix of Asia and Hollywood. Next to kitchy souvenirs of things like one-dollar bills emblazoned with Juston Beiber's face mounted on plaques with his photo and tote bags emblazoned with "HOLLYWOOD", there are packets of freeze-dried squid.
Tuck (David's colleague) had arrived a few days earlier and he had already wired his computer to the room's large plasma TV. David unpacked the homebuilt computer and headed down there. I called home and also to one of my friends here. Sharon arrived a couple of hours later and the four of us (Tuck, David, Sharon and me) went out for a walk.
There's a walking street that begins at the start of the hotel. It has a Japanese-style fire watch tower at its entrance (for decoration only) and is filled with great little shops and restaurants. There's a curve in the street and at this point is a platform, upon which people were singing karaoke. A tree stood covered in prayer strips, the only one in English that I read was a prayer for help with school.
After investigating all of the restaurants, we wound up at a non-touristy Japanese eat-in restaurant across the street from the hotel. It was so yummy! I had a seaweed, lettuce & other greens salad, Tuck got the yakisoba, David the teriyaki steak appetizer and Sharon had the green tea mochi. (We were all on different schedules and were in various stages of hunger. David and I hadn't eaten for nearly ten hours but weren't overly hungry). I also got a marinated cucumber salad to share with everyone and we all did.
David and Tuck went back to work and Sharon and I walked around and around and around. I was looking for the Kinokuniya bookstore and we just kept missing it. It would have helped had I known it was on the 2nd floor of a plaza and not at street level on the road. But it was a loely evening and we had a grand time just chatting. It was closed, but at least now I have a clue where it is. I want to see if I can get the Le Ciel Extra there to send to Lynn.
David and Tuck are off working or have headed to the conference. I'm about to get started on my own work, then I plan to go for a bit of a walk. Sharon's coming back over around 3.
The hotel gift shop is an odd mix of Asia and Hollywood. Next to kitchy souvenirs of things like one-dollar bills emblazoned with Juston Beiber's face mounted on plaques with his photo and tote bags emblazoned with "HOLLYWOOD", there are packets of freeze-dried squid.
Tuck (David's colleague) had arrived a few days earlier and he had already wired his computer to the room's large plasma TV. David unpacked the homebuilt computer and headed down there. I called home and also to one of my friends here. Sharon arrived a couple of hours later and the four of us (Tuck, David, Sharon and me) went out for a walk.
There's a walking street that begins at the start of the hotel. It has a Japanese-style fire watch tower at its entrance (for decoration only) and is filled with great little shops and restaurants. There's a curve in the street and at this point is a platform, upon which people were singing karaoke. A tree stood covered in prayer strips, the only one in English that I read was a prayer for help with school.
After investigating all of the restaurants, we wound up at a non-touristy Japanese eat-in restaurant across the street from the hotel. It was so yummy! I had a seaweed, lettuce & other greens salad, Tuck got the yakisoba, David the teriyaki steak appetizer and Sharon had the green tea mochi. (We were all on different schedules and were in various stages of hunger. David and I hadn't eaten for nearly ten hours but weren't overly hungry). I also got a marinated cucumber salad to share with everyone and we all did.
David and Tuck went back to work and Sharon and I walked around and around and around. I was looking for the Kinokuniya bookstore and we just kept missing it. It would have helped had I known it was on the 2nd floor of a plaza and not at street level on the road. But it was a loely evening and we had a grand time just chatting. It was closed, but at least now I have a clue where it is. I want to see if I can get the Le Ciel Extra there to send to Lynn.
David and Tuck are off working or have headed to the conference. I'm about to get started on my own work, then I plan to go for a bit of a walk. Sharon's coming back over around 3.
That last post required something really decadent. So, I threw into the Vitamix the following:
10 ounces of Almond milk
one big handful of almonds
a generous pouring of coffee syrup << we'll pretend it's caffeinated so I can stay awake to work
1/2 cup of frozen cherries
chocolate-raspberry powder - it's one of those things you add into coffee that we have but never use
lots of ice.
It's rich and might help get me back on track here...
10 ounces of Almond milk
one big handful of almonds
a generous pouring of coffee syrup << we'll pretend it's caffeinated so I can stay awake to work
1/2 cup of frozen cherries
chocolate-raspberry powder - it's one of those things you add into coffee that we have but never use
lots of ice.
It's rich and might help get me back on track here...
I'm waiting a package this morning!
Using some of the proceeds from my ghostwriting stint. I bought the DVD from the L'Arc 20th- Day 2 concert and GLAY's latest CD. CDJapan tries to ship things so that everything arrives on the release date if you order pre-release. GLAY's CD comes out Thursday. I ordered it shipped Fedex, which is slower than EMS and cheaper and it has just happened to hit everything quickly.
This at least as fast as EMS would have been. I got a call yesterday from Fedex telling me to expect it before 10:30 AM. Fedex NEVER calls here, so that was amazing, too. Also, usually it's local Fedex that delays things. I've had things shipped from other parts of the US--they get to the local Fedex fast enough and then, they usually transfer them from a town that is 5 miles away to another town that is 12 miles away (1 day), put it on the truck and send it out for delivery but then because we are far out on the route, it never makes it out the first day.
So, I'm really excited to think I *might* actually have it before lunch today.
Using some of the proceeds from my ghostwriting stint. I bought the DVD from the L'Arc 20th- Day 2 concert and GLAY's latest CD. CDJapan tries to ship things so that everything arrives on the release date if you order pre-release. GLAY's CD comes out Thursday. I ordered it shipped Fedex, which is slower than EMS and cheaper and it has just happened to hit everything quickly.
| May 22, 2012 6:12 AM | At destination sort facility | EAST BOSTON, MA | |
| May 22, 2012 4:16 AM | Departed FedEx location | INDIANAPOLIS, IN | |
| May 22, 2012 1:33 AM | Arrived at FedEx location | INDIANAPOLIS, IN | |
| May 21, 2012 4:06 PM | Departed FedEx location | ANCHORAGE, AK | |
| May 21, 2012 12:47 PM | International shipment release - Import | ANCHORAGE, AK | |
| May 21, 2012 12:30 PM | Arrived at FedEx location | ANCHORAGE, AK | |
| May 21, 2012 9:43 PM | In transit | NARITA-SHI JP | |
| May 21, 2012 5:58 PM | Left FedEx origin facility | YOKOHAMA-SHI TSURUMI-KU JP | |
| May 21, 2012 2:36 PM | Picked up | YOKOHAMA-SHI TSURUMI-KU JP | |
| May 20, 2012 7:25 PM | Shipment information sent to FedEx |
This at least as fast as EMS would have been. I got a call yesterday from Fedex telling me to expect it before 10:30 AM. Fedex NEVER calls here, so that was amazing, too. Also, usually it's local Fedex that delays things. I've had things shipped from other parts of the US--they get to the local Fedex fast enough and then, they usually transfer them from a town that is 5 miles away to another town that is 12 miles away (1 day), put it on the truck and send it out for delivery but then because we are far out on the route, it never makes it out the first day.
So, I'm really excited to think I *might* actually have it before lunch today.
- Current Music:Driver's High
Two of my professors in college lived in this incredible house. The house was very old, dating back to the 1700s and has some sort of connection with Clement C. Moore, the author of "The Night Before Christmas". The area is also known for being the settings for the stories "Rip Van Winkel" and "Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman".
The house had this really wonderful, wonderful old fireplace that was surrounded by handpainted Delft tiles representing different trades and imported from the Netherlands. It had a raised hearth about at chair level and there was a wooden bench just far enough back that you could sit on the bench and rest your feet on the hearth to get warm. During the Revolutionary War, the house was attacked and the owner made a deal to give up one of the tiles in exchange for not having his house pillaged and burned.
I loved that fireplace and always wished to have one similar to it. Thirteen years ago, we refinanced our home and the rates were so low that we were able to build an addition onto our house and still wind up paying less over less time. We all came up with ideas for what we wanted and yes, I wanted that fireplace.
We made some modifications. There is a granite quarry near us (and it is the source of the granite for Grand Central Station in NYC). We had them cut a hearthstone for us out of local granite. Instead of having a wood fireplace, we decided to get a flip-the-switch gas one.
The only problem was that when it came time to pick the tiles, I didn't see any Delft tiles that I liked. I didn't see any tiles that I liked at all. I finally found some that were beautiful except that they were a horrendous vomity-sort of color. I bought them anyway and went to the craft store where I bought the kind of paint that you can use on ceramics and bake in your own oven. Laura and I painted all the tiles and baked them. I wasn't sure how well it would look or last, but here it is thirteen years later and they are just as good as ever! The hearth is just big enough and at the right height to sit upon, although it gets hot when the fire's on.
Detail of some of the tiles. They are flowers and snowflake patterns:
The house had this really wonderful, wonderful old fireplace that was surrounded by handpainted Delft tiles representing different trades and imported from the Netherlands. It had a raised hearth about at chair level and there was a wooden bench just far enough back that you could sit on the bench and rest your feet on the hearth to get warm. During the Revolutionary War, the house was attacked and the owner made a deal to give up one of the tiles in exchange for not having his house pillaged and burned.
I loved that fireplace and always wished to have one similar to it. Thirteen years ago, we refinanced our home and the rates were so low that we were able to build an addition onto our house and still wind up paying less over less time. We all came up with ideas for what we wanted and yes, I wanted that fireplace.
We made some modifications. There is a granite quarry near us (and it is the source of the granite for Grand Central Station in NYC). We had them cut a hearthstone for us out of local granite. Instead of having a wood fireplace, we decided to get a flip-the-switch gas one.
The only problem was that when it came time to pick the tiles, I didn't see any Delft tiles that I liked. I didn't see any tiles that I liked at all. I finally found some that were beautiful except that they were a horrendous vomity-sort of color. I bought them anyway and went to the craft store where I bought the kind of paint that you can use on ceramics and bake in your own oven. Laura and I painted all the tiles and baked them. I wasn't sure how well it would look or last, but here it is thirteen years later and they are just as good as ever! The hearth is just big enough and at the right height to sit upon, although it gets hot when the fire's on.
Detail of some of the tiles. They are flowers and snowflake patterns:
- Current Music:風の行方
There is something so civilizing about sitting down to a good cup of tea. One of things that like I like about living here is that one of my neighbors will occasionally invite herself over for a cup of tea and I do the same, heading over to her house when I need a break.
I have grown to be a bit of a tea snob. I think that it happened when my family lived in France. There was a place near the Madeleine where you could buy tins of loose tea. You could ask to sniff the tea and you could ask them to blend different ones together in different ratios to make your own personal blend. Don't ask me the name of the place, because I've forgotten it. But, I do remember one tea blended for children called thé des enfants ("Children's tea").
The first thing that I bought at college was a teapot. I had a few tiny tins of loose tea that I enjoyed and back then, I'd add things like cinnamon or dried orange peels. Gradually, I grew to like mostly black and green teas.
Finally, we are getting to my "thing". About ten years ago, I discovered "Honey Pear" tea. It was a lovely black tea that had nice fruity undertones and nothing else -- which is a good thing, IMO. Unfortunately, after I blew through the tiny tin of tea, I found that the store had discontinued selling it. They offered to order it for me specially by the case, which would have cost too much, but I left with the name of the company: Golden Moon Tea. I looked them up online and ordered the honey pear tea, which was still too much, but I split it with my neighbor.
Not long after, I browsed through and found that they offer this wonderful sampler pack of ALL of their teas. You get about 31 foil envelopes. (I say "about" because they sometimes add a new one and discontinue one that is having an off year.) It comes in a really nice woven basket. The price is $34, but if you get on their mailing list, you can often get it for less.
(And even so, the packets work out to being just over a dollar. They are supposed to be for 1 cup, but I usually can get 2-3 out of them, making it a better deal than buying a cup of tea anywhere.)
I love having my box of tea. The first time that I bought it, I carefully kept track of which ones I like and don't like, but to be honest... even the ones that I normally don't like, I find to be of good enough quality from here that I don't hate them. I love reaching in and taking one randomly and having that one. I have ordered some of my favorites from the company in tins, so I actually don't go through the basket very fast any more.
I have grown to be a bit of a tea snob. I think that it happened when my family lived in France. There was a place near the Madeleine where you could buy tins of loose tea. You could ask to sniff the tea and you could ask them to blend different ones together in different ratios to make your own personal blend. Don't ask me the name of the place, because I've forgotten it. But, I do remember one tea blended for children called thé des enfants ("Children's tea").
The first thing that I bought at college was a teapot. I had a few tiny tins of loose tea that I enjoyed and back then, I'd add things like cinnamon or dried orange peels. Gradually, I grew to like mostly black and green teas.
Finally, we are getting to my "thing". About ten years ago, I discovered "Honey Pear" tea. It was a lovely black tea that had nice fruity undertones and nothing else -- which is a good thing, IMO. Unfortunately, after I blew through the tiny tin of tea, I found that the store had discontinued selling it. They offered to order it for me specially by the case, which would have cost too much, but I left with the name of the company: Golden Moon Tea. I looked them up online and ordered the honey pear tea, which was still too much, but I split it with my neighbor.
Not long after, I browsed through and found that they offer this wonderful sampler pack of ALL of their teas. You get about 31 foil envelopes. (I say "about" because they sometimes add a new one and discontinue one that is having an off year.) It comes in a really nice woven basket. The price is $34, but if you get on their mailing list, you can often get it for less.
(And even so, the packets work out to being just over a dollar. They are supposed to be for 1 cup, but I usually can get 2-3 out of them, making it a better deal than buying a cup of tea anywhere.)
I love having my box of tea. The first time that I bought it, I carefully kept track of which ones I like and don't like, but to be honest... even the ones that I normally don't like, I find to be of good enough quality from here that I don't hate them. I love reaching in and taking one randomly and having that one. I have ordered some of my favorites from the company in tins, so I actually don't go through the basket very fast any more.
Happy Mother's Day to all who are mothers or have had mothers. :)
It's been a lovely day here and sort of a four-fold celebration: mother's day to me and my mom, my dad's birthday and Gerry's graduation (he just got his master's degree). Laura wrote me a lovely note and we chatted via Skype, we ordered dinner in and Kira drew me this:
She posted it on her deviant art page, figuring that I would see it. David eventually pointed it out to me and it was just as much fun seeing what she drew as it was reading all the comments.
David asked me to go out to dinner with him later this week.
It's been a lovely day here and sort of a four-fold celebration: mother's day to me and my mom, my dad's birthday and Gerry's graduation (he just got his master's degree). Laura wrote me a lovely note and we chatted via Skype, we ordered dinner in and Kira drew me this:
She posted it on her deviant art page, figuring that I would see it. David eventually pointed it out to me and it was just as much fun seeing what she drew as it was reading all the comments.
David asked me to go out to dinner with him later this week.
- Current Music:XXX (English version)
- Current Mood:
content
Usually, I wind up only seeing the movies that my kids want to go see and since they are into animation and CGI, that means, I usually only go to see children's films. I've started breaking out of that pattern, but maybe not for better.
John Carter - I didn't expect much from this one, BUT I still had to go see it. Why? Because when I was about ten, I discovered the series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs that it was based upon and read every one. I knew the movie wouldn't be great because what made for fascinating reading just wasn't something that would translate well to screen, IMO. Reading someone's experience of trying to learn how to walk in a low-gravity environment was fascinating for a ten-year old. Not only did it remind me about different gravities on different planets, but it made me think about some of the obstacles facing people if we ever colonize the moon, etc. Watching a man leap about and fall down on the big screen was just dumb.
The Pirates! Band of Misfits - This was something that everyone here wanted to see. I was ambivalent but went. It was cute & silly, although it turned Queen Victoria into a greedy, ninja-like villain and Charles Darwin into another greedy bad guy.
This week, I managed to get to two other movies:
Chimpanzee - Initially, I didn't want to go see it, but when Jane Goodall endorsed it and I read that none of the scenes were contrived, I wanted to go. (Hey, I took courses in Animal and Primate Behavior in college and have always been fascinated by such things.) Nobody else here wanted to see it so I went on my own. The filming was beautiful. The story wasn't really all about a small orphan chimp being adopted by an unlikely elder male chimp. Instead, it was more about what it was like for this small tribe of chimps on a daily basis and showed how they worked as a community and how the elders taught the youngers how to use tools. I especially loved the scenes where they showed how the elder chimps could skillfully break open nuts with rocks. The younger chimps imitated, usually using sticks which weren't strong enough. One chimp reasoned that he needed something stronger and got a huge stick, which broke when he banged it against the nut. Also amazing was watching a young chimp build a nest in the trees to sleep in. While some narration was necessary to explain some of the relations, etc. at times, Tim Allen's narration came off like an MST3K movie.
Dark Shadows - One of my friends in elementary school was such a fan of the show that when it came time to take our confirmation names, she wanted "Barnabus". Her mother wouldn't let her and so she tried for "Quentin" after the werewolf in the show. Her mother had a fit and so, she opted for "Angelique" which her mother liked and approved of, never knowing it was the witch that cursed Barnabus. My entire school was addicted to the show, probably because one of the students in the grade below us had a relative on the show: Kate Jackson. Our local television station would fall behind airing the shows, because of pre-emptions for elections, space launches, etc. and would make up for it by airing them in an all-night long marathon about twice a year. I'd have a sleepover party for my friends to watch with me. I probably only caught the last year of the show as I was too young to really watch before that.
I did not have high hopes for the movie version, since I was afraid it would be just another Tim Burton/Johnny Depp/Helene Bonham Carter movie. I also felt bad that it was going to be made into a campy comedy, but then again, I'm not sure how else one translates a overly-dramatic soap opera into a movie and ties up the loose ends. The show did have some ridiculous premises. And, honestly, who else might capture it other than Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham Carter?
David, Kira and I went to last night's midnight showing. It was... meh. The sets were gorgeous. After that? Well... The movie was sort of a mix of fish out of water (18th century vampire in the 1970s), unnecessary moments (gratuitous sex, the McDonald's sign, Alice Cooper) and an unclear story line. They came close a few times. For instance, Elizabeth Collins initially dismisses the idea of vampires, ghosts, etc. as being nonsense, but then she buys in and tells Barnabus that she'll keep his secret. It was more fun in the series in which Elizabeth never seemed to notice anything supernatural because she didn't believe in it. Her brother Roger was a jerk on the series and in the movie, so they got that part right.
But the story itself? yuck. The Barnabus story line was more compelling in the series: man falls in love with one woman and another woman who loves him kills him because she can't have him. But since she's a witch, she turns him into a vampire and lives in hope that someday in eternity, he'll return her love. He returns to his family home 200 years later and finds a women that looks like his long-lost love. He is attracted to her, but repelled at what he has become and instead of courting her, he simply tries to protect her. There is a female doctor in both the move and the series who discovers his secret and has a crush on him. She tries to medically treat his condition and hopes that he'll repay her by falling in love with her. Instead (in the series) as he becomes less vampirish, he begins to think he could court the woman that looks like his lost love. In the movie, he simply kills the doctor and dumps her into the ocean.
Maybe the series story line was too complicated for a movie? They sort of tried, but not really to do that but totally missed.
Oh well... maybe MIB III will be better.
John Carter - I didn't expect much from this one, BUT I still had to go see it. Why? Because when I was about ten, I discovered the series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs that it was based upon and read every one. I knew the movie wouldn't be great because what made for fascinating reading just wasn't something that would translate well to screen, IMO. Reading someone's experience of trying to learn how to walk in a low-gravity environment was fascinating for a ten-year old. Not only did it remind me about different gravities on different planets, but it made me think about some of the obstacles facing people if we ever colonize the moon, etc. Watching a man leap about and fall down on the big screen was just dumb.
The Pirates! Band of Misfits - This was something that everyone here wanted to see. I was ambivalent but went. It was cute & silly, although it turned Queen Victoria into a greedy, ninja-like villain and Charles Darwin into another greedy bad guy.
This week, I managed to get to two other movies:
Chimpanzee - Initially, I didn't want to go see it, but when Jane Goodall endorsed it and I read that none of the scenes were contrived, I wanted to go. (Hey, I took courses in Animal and Primate Behavior in college and have always been fascinated by such things.) Nobody else here wanted to see it so I went on my own. The filming was beautiful. The story wasn't really all about a small orphan chimp being adopted by an unlikely elder male chimp. Instead, it was more about what it was like for this small tribe of chimps on a daily basis and showed how they worked as a community and how the elders taught the youngers how to use tools. I especially loved the scenes where they showed how the elder chimps could skillfully break open nuts with rocks. The younger chimps imitated, usually using sticks which weren't strong enough. One chimp reasoned that he needed something stronger and got a huge stick, which broke when he banged it against the nut. Also amazing was watching a young chimp build a nest in the trees to sleep in. While some narration was necessary to explain some of the relations, etc. at times, Tim Allen's narration came off like an MST3K movie.
Dark Shadows - One of my friends in elementary school was such a fan of the show that when it came time to take our confirmation names, she wanted "Barnabus". Her mother wouldn't let her and so she tried for "Quentin" after the werewolf in the show. Her mother had a fit and so, she opted for "Angelique" which her mother liked and approved of, never knowing it was the witch that cursed Barnabus. My entire school was addicted to the show, probably because one of the students in the grade below us had a relative on the show: Kate Jackson. Our local television station would fall behind airing the shows, because of pre-emptions for elections, space launches, etc. and would make up for it by airing them in an all-night long marathon about twice a year. I'd have a sleepover party for my friends to watch with me. I probably only caught the last year of the show as I was too young to really watch before that.
I did not have high hopes for the movie version, since I was afraid it would be just another Tim Burton/Johnny Depp/Helene Bonham Carter movie. I also felt bad that it was going to be made into a campy comedy, but then again, I'm not sure how else one translates a overly-dramatic soap opera into a movie and ties up the loose ends. The show did have some ridiculous premises. And, honestly, who else might capture it other than Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham Carter?
David, Kira and I went to last night's midnight showing. It was... meh. The sets were gorgeous. After that? Well... The movie was sort of a mix of fish out of water (18th century vampire in the 1970s), unnecessary moments (gratuitous sex, the McDonald's sign, Alice Cooper) and an unclear story line. They came close a few times. For instance, Elizabeth Collins initially dismisses the idea of vampires, ghosts, etc. as being nonsense, but then she buys in and tells Barnabus that she'll keep his secret. It was more fun in the series in which Elizabeth never seemed to notice anything supernatural because she didn't believe in it. Her brother Roger was a jerk on the series and in the movie, so they got that part right.
But the story itself? yuck. The Barnabus story line was more compelling in the series: man falls in love with one woman and another woman who loves him kills him because she can't have him. But since she's a witch, she turns him into a vampire and lives in hope that someday in eternity, he'll return her love. He returns to his family home 200 years later and finds a women that looks like his long-lost love. He is attracted to her, but repelled at what he has become and instead of courting her, he simply tries to protect her. There is a female doctor in both the move and the series who discovers his secret and has a crush on him. She tries to medically treat his condition and hopes that he'll repay her by falling in love with her. Instead (in the series) as he becomes less vampirish, he begins to think he could court the woman that looks like his lost love. In the movie, he simply kills the doctor and dumps her into the ocean.
Maybe the series story line was too complicated for a movie? They sort of tried, but not really to do that but totally missed.
Oh well... maybe MIB III will be better.
- Current Music:Killing Me
Comments
I especially like this comment, hehe:
"I'm doing my mother a service by NOT drawing her as a pony, because I have NO experience drawing and…