"Oh, and maybe wear a purple hat?"

What I was attempting to quote from memory was Jenny Joseph's poem "Warning". It's in a collection of poems and stories called "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple", edited by Sandra Haldeman Martz. The opening lines of "Warning" are -

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

Lois thought it epitomized her mother (gaudy without being tasteful), who died several years ago. While Lois had better taste in clothes than Mama, she most definitely appreciated the sentiment.

So you all please fell free to dress as gaudily as you like. Or not. You might even wear blinking doo-dads, which Lois loved.

Paul M. 

So, today was spent devoted to the preparation of 'Ruddygore'.

Bit of a mini-marathon, since we did the band call all afternoon, followed by the lighting and tech rehearsal all evening.

Was tangling with a few things for the first time, notably trying to follow the beat via small TV monitors and trying to get a ghostly make-up that works in stage lighting. Quite a bit of learning involved overall, not least being how the chamber orchestration actually pans out; apparently the instrumental cue for the ghosts chorus is on non-pitched percussion, which is kinda interesting considering we then enter in three-part harmony acapella.

Actually, the most disorienting part was when a cast member took a nasty fall, hopefully she is now sorted out via A & E, although I fear she might well be out of the show. Certainly took the wind out of my sails, and I dare say the rest of the cast too. But, the rule is that the show must go on, and so our director is faced with another bit of last minute alteration...

Tomorrow sees us doing the show in costume with orchestra for the first time, facing it with a mixture of dread and curiosity, best see how I feel once I've got several hours of sleep out the way.

Four kittens "stalking" a coke box: http://www.gigglesugar.com/1595098

G'night all.

I baked chocolate cake for my mother and almost couldn't eat my piece. I hate those silicone cake moulds and this was the last time I used one - unless I would find a solution to avoid it. After some obligatory googling, I think silicone is like musk: there are people who can taste the silicone aftertaste and people who just don't. There's some advice around like pre-heating the empty mould and rinsing it right before using it, but I did that and it didn't help.

Poll #1186179 silicon - bad taste or not
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Have you ever experienced "silicon taste" when using silicon cake moulds?

EDIT: ...and I was just educated by Wikipedia that "silicon" is an element and "silicone" the material I've been trying to refer to. Can't change it in the poll anymore, though.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms on my friends list (and those who aren't and just happen to be reading my journal today.) I am blessed to have a wonderful Mom and a wonderful Mom-in-law. Today, my Mom and Dad bring my very sweet Simon back. (He's been visiting my folks this weekend.) I'm looking forward to hugs and kisses from my little man. Those are two of my favorite things about being a Mom.

Love to all,
Mary

Yeah for German red-tape bureaucracy and dust covered ministerial blockheads!
It's Mother's Day and all over the country sons and daughters are storming the flower shops to buy floral tokens of gratitude.
Did I say all over Germany?
Wrong.
There's one state, Baden-Württemberg in the south-east, where this is not an option today. Whitsunday being a Church holiday, shops have to stay closed today in Baden-Württemberg. Shop opening hours are regulated by law in Germany, but the actual rules differ from federal state to federal state.
It is the first time that Whitsun Sunday and Mother's Day have been on the same day. The flower businesses tried to get an exemption from this – no way.
No flowers today in Baden-Württemberg – except at petrol stations, airports, train stations (all of which enjoy being exempt from the rule because they cater to travellers who might arrive in need of something or other at any time) and - would you believe it – pubs.
So flower shops in Baden-Württemberg today either struck a deal with their local bar or had to make sure people bought their flowers on Saturday.
And then of course there's this one small town mayor who, after failing to get change of the rule for his town, bought up thousands of roses (presumably on Saturday) and handed them out free to his citizens today, ably assisted by the local fire brigade. So there!

We went to Sheridan Nurseries in Unionville yesterday to make our first foray into buying plants for our front and back gardens. Wow, Sheridan Nurseries is HUGE, more plants than could be imagined. I think we only browsed about half of what they had there, though I'm sure we'll be going back again in the next few weeks to look for hanging planters and herbs, among other things. They had such a large outdoor nursery that we didn't get inside the main building at all this time.

I've been agonizing a bit about how to go about organizing or designing a front garden, thinking I had to do some kind of Martha Stewart thing where all the plants were perfectly placed by colour or size or shape, being that everyone that goes by the house will see it, but John said something when we first got to the nursery that suddenly made sense to me. Being that this is our first year gardening outdoors in a long time maybe the best thing to do is just get an assortment of plants we like, only worrying about things like amount of sun, etc., just place everything in the ground this spring and watch what happens. And then next year and the year after as we see what we like and what thrives we can fine-tune the plants we buy and what we grow.

So, that took a bunch of pressure off and we were just able to walk through the garden centre and look at everything that was pretty or looked cool. I was mostly interested in flowers yesterday, though I will eventually want to get some greens, maybe a few small trees for the backyard (once we put up a back fence) and some herbs. The only thing we had to be careful of is that our front garden is mostly in the shade, so we had to consider that in picking plants. We went for shade plants or partly sunny plants.

So! What did we buy? We bought a Bleeding Heart, which I'm sentimental about because my Dad grows them all the time. Deb says they spread like crazy, and for this year anyway, I hope so, 'cause I don't have enough plants yet to fill up the front garden :). The shade posters around the store mentioned Astilbe, which I'd never heard of, so we bought one of them, too. We bought a couple of bright Begonias, because I had success growing them on the apartment balcony. I bought lantern Columbines, just because they looked cool. We were surprised to see them selling Trilliums, but we both like trilliums, so we bought one. And I'm also sentimental about Lupins, so I bought one of them, too (see photo). John's gone out to do some errands, but we're going to try planting them all when he comes back.

We didn't buy much for the backyard on this trip, but we did buy one more clematis vine to plant between the two vines we already have growing on the trellis. It's a "double mix" vine, with "Jackmanii" (purple) and "Guernsey Cream" (white) flowers.

So I'm realizing that gardens can be very much like Christmas trees. Some trees are all one colour and design and beautifully organized and breath-takingly gorgeous and chic and other trees are haphazard and chaotic, with all kinds of trims and hand-made ornaments and odds and ends with an utter charm of their own.

I think our gardens may be quite like the chaotic Christmas tree this year. We'll have to see what I think of that :).

QUESTION:

How do you go about designing your gardens? Do you carefully cordon off areas for certain plants and organize specific plots? Do you consider colour, size, shape carefully in arranging your gardens? Have you gotten good at knowing what will bloom and wither at various times so you always have nice blooms to look at? (I don't have a clue about that yet)

Share with me your gardening wisdom.

( A photo mosaic of my garden plants. )

( Mom's Day, Naomi's Tree, gardening, walking, quillows, Babylon Five updates. )

Conversation in my head this morning:

Me: You may think that sensible cotton underwear is the way to go when traveling, but next time I need to remember to take lacy stuff with me.

Friend: In case of a hot date?

Me: Dries quicker.



Also, a clothing concept: hermetically sealed shirts.


And the final clothing-related item, the Pants of Doom Adventure!

I bought a pair of jeans from the resale shop before leaving. Every time I have worn these pants, *something* has happened. So far:
- Was in a very minor car accident, whilst in a parking lot (someone backed into us)
- Fell in a bog hole
- Was sodden in a torrential downpour whilst sans raincoat
- Prevented a car in a parking lot from rolling into the lane or another car (or both) when the driver apparently forgot to put on the parking brake
- Witnessed a boat chipping a piece off itself in a lock
- Saw another boat in the same lock almost ram into the boat in front of it
- Either missed the bus, or it never came, stranding me at the Giant's Causeway
- Missed the folks who were supposed to drive me to the GC in the first place (hitched a ride instead)
- The lock on my luggage reset itself - ended up cutting it off with the wire cutters in my mandolin case

Someone said I had leprachauns in my pants. I asked if there's a cream to help with that.

Lois H. Mangan, December 15, 1946 - May 10, 2008,

Spouse (who turned my life around and gave and gave of her trust and love),
Sister (loving and determined health care advocate, and one who was there when needed),
Nurse ("I save lives for a living"),
Fan of many things (the beauty of nature, music, history, dancing, reading, costuming, science fiction and fantasy...),
Filker (recruiter, club president, con chair, singer of classics and rounds, 2006 Filk Hall of Famer),

died unexpectedly Saturday morning at age 61 in her home in Milford of an effect of Parkinson's Disease. She is finally free of her pain, and of the frustrations of Parkinson's Disease, but she is already sorely missed.

There will be no funeral, as Lois's wish was for cremation. There will be a celebration of her life in the near future, maybe next weekend. Details will follow when they exist. Please sing for her and dance for her. Oh, and maybe wear a purple hat?

I remain
Paul Mangan

That's the countdown as in...


  6...
  2...
  9...
  5...
  1...
  4...
  1...
3 !!!


Yep, in exactly one week's time it will be TUPA day! =:o}

That's the Transatlantic Unified Pi Approximation Day, for those who get out too much. It's the halfpoint between the British (22/7) and U.S. (3.14) versions of Pi Approximation Day. Get your surprisingly accurate^* celebrations ready now! =:o}


^*( ( 22/7 + 3.14 ) / 2 = 3.1414285714285714285714285714286(ish) )

Workin' in Computers Blues - ttto Workin' At The Car Wash Blues by Jim Croce

Well I just got out of help desk training
Doin ninety days of tech support
Tried to find another tech position
But no matter how good I talked
They wouldn't listen to the fact that I had experience
The man said you got no skills we can use
Now I got them steadily decaying, employment prayin'
Working in computers blues

( More blues beneath the cut... )

Viewing of DW was delayed, as a result of John Barrowman being so excruciating to watch on the preceding game show (the guy managed to make every single utterance - including the "exciting" announcement of the round titles - sound like a third rate am-dram actor reading from an autocue. This may in part have been because he was, in fact, reading from an autocue...) that I flipped over to Five, and got hooked on the Danny DeVito film they were showing. I stuck with that to the end, stayed on through Five News ("WHAT?!? On top of food, shelter, and every other basic necessity, the dying multitudes also get denied their *vote*?!?", and on to the NCIS double bill (reruns of Season 3). Two great episodes, I thought.

The DW ep. has now fully torrented, however (I've given up on the BBC's annoyingly flaky and uncontrollable "watch again" viewer), and so...

( [Completely and utterly spoileriffic for NuWho, S4, Ep6] )

This has consisted (so far) of two back-to back gigs by the Erato Consort, who you see here singing in the grounds of Waltham Abbey.

( Read more... )

The graveyard roses
Copyright 2008 by Mary Crowell

The graveyard roses blush from tended bed,
Their petals limned in light from fading sun.
Purples, indigos, and blues have fled
Already. Soon the warmer hues are done.
The dead are free to fly when night has won
This sleeping land where moonless shadows meet,
And roses black with night still smell as sweet.

( Spoilers, of course... )

I really ought to make a nuWho icon, but somehow I just can't be bothered...

EDIT: and lo, now I have.

I just learned from thatcrazycajun that Lois Mangan died this morning.

In her memory:

The Ballad of Lois Mangan

Mark A. Mandel, © 1996
ttto "Clementine"

(Pronunciation note: There is no "g" sound in the name "Mangan". It rhymes with "Then she SANG ANother one.")

Once I was an ordinary
happy science fiction fan
till I met up with Lois Mangan,
she made me a filking man.

CHORUS [repeat after each stanza]:
   Lois Mangan, Lois Mangan,
   Lois Mangan is her name.
   Singing filk is just her hobby,
   filk recruiting is her game.

At a con in Massachusetts
I went filking on a whim.
She was leading from the Hymnal,
grabbed my arm, and pulled me in.

After filking for an hour
I said, "Thanks, that's really fun.
Now I'm going to hear a panel."
Lois smiled, "We've just begun."

After three more hours of singing
I could hardly make a sound.
Lois said, "Come back tomorrow
afternoon: we're doing rounds!"

By the time the con was over
I could neither sing nor speak.
When I croaked, "I'll see you next year,"
she said, "MASSFILC meets next week!"

All that year my children wondered,
where does Daddy go to sing?
So I took them to Arisia...
Lois smiled, "Fresh blood you bring!"

I sat dozing in a corner,
filking made a background drone.
Suddenly she loomed above me:
"Bring these children to Boskone!"

On my deathbed I will tell her,
"I've paid my dues, now let me die.
I have given filk my firstborn
and another two besides."

When I've died and gone to Heaven,
soon or late I'll see her there
with a pile of NESFA Hymnals
making filkers of the choir.

[CHORUS twice to finish] 

In 2006 Lois was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame.

( Doing lots of reading. Buying a dressmaker's form at Fabricland's mega-sale. Megalomaniac wine! )