I'm improving, very slightly

"Riveríní, my bread is exploding." The last words out of my mouth. And I'm not kidding. I made ciabatta and it's expanded about 4 times the size it was. I have enough bread for about 12 people or something. It covers a 30cm x 60cm baking tray and is about 5 cm high. And it's still getting bigger. I don't know what I did wrong. Oh well. Hopefully it tastes nice anyway.

I don't have much other news. I made nice butternut squash last night. And I think I've realised that my digestive system isn't the fondest of eggs. I also made some oat croquette type things, but they turned out quite dry. It didn't help that I forgot to make the sauce that went with them - and I had the ingredients and everything.

The ciabatta's out of the oven now. It got a little toasty on top. I think my oven runs hot. I should get an oven thermometer thing so I can check it. Right so. Here's some foody pictures from over the holidays.




calzone - looking at it makes me want to make another


m+s style cookies - so moreish


last night's dinner


ciabatta monster

International Date Line Funnies

My dress is on the way :) (not sure if I mentioned this already...) It's coming from Hong Kong and went through Korea. It left Korea at midnight tonight (this dress is from the future - how cool is that) and it arrived in Alaska at midday today. Somewhere out there in the swirls and spirals of time is my dress - stuck between now and yet to come. It's all very cool, and all because of the date line.

Christmas dinner is a go today. At last. I think it's going to be wonderful... maybe even worth the wait. I browned the chicken in a pot first, then browned the veggies in the same pot after, then put them all in a lidded dish and put the lid on tight. The smell from the pot after doing the veggies in the chicken juice was so good. I can't smell anything more with the mad seal on the dish in the oven right now, but I'm pretty excited.

I made breadsticks last night. They turned out quite like Italian breadsticks, which I wasn't expecting. They are a little too salty, though. I keep forgetting the salt I use (traditionally dried sea salt) is much saltier than normal salt. Making the dough was a bit mad. It starts out really sticky and you're meant to knead it like a mad thing until it's not sticky anymore. I kneaded it for 20 minutes and it was still sticky. So I just put it to rise and while it was kinda hard to work with (form into little lines) I don't think there was much else I could have done.

I don't have any other news, really.

I have no clue what the world is trying to tell me

As you know, if you've been reading over the last week or two, I've been mad cooking lately. I was really excited about making Christmas dinner - nothing fancy... mini chicken with spuds and carrots and gravy made from the juices of the bird. Simple and yummy. Roll around christmas afternoon when I go to start dinner and I find, to my great disgust, that the bird isn't defrosted yet. It was 24 hours in the fridge and it looked as if it just came out of the freezer. Obviously, I had no other plans. Who plans for a contingency dinner on Christmas day (I will in future, that's for certain). Fearing the worst, but slightly hopeful, we left River and headed out into the great metropolis, looking for somewhere that would feed us. And did we find anything... of course not. lordkilljoy ended up having a fast food burger and I waited until we got home and heated up some leftover calzone (which was yummy, but that's beside the point).

Christmas dinner was put off until today, but you know what... the chicken still isn't defrosted. Oh my god, like. What is this? Antarctic bird or something. Come on. It's about 1/3 the size of a normal chicken. It should have been defrosted yesterday. So again, we are left with nothing to eat. At least today places will be open. Sigh. Christmas dinner take 3 will be happening tomorrow. Tune in then.

Decadent, Delicious, Divine

I'm making chocolate chip cookies for christmas - Marks and Spencer style ones (based on Alton Brown's recipe "The Chewy"). And they seem absolutely amazing. There is half a bowl of sugar in there, three big bars of artisan chocolate, flour, vanilla, and a bunch of other lovely stuff. The dough is chilling right now.

Also chilling in the frige right now is pizza dough. It's been in there for a day, rising away to itself. I made the yeast yesterday - put it in a bowl with warm water. For a while it wasn't doing anything, then I added sugar and immediately it started to blossom. It was amazing. I jumped up in excitement - I'd made something come to life. Brilliant stuff.

I'm making little brownie type things too. And we have ice cream. This christmas is going to be brilliant :)

Ready for Christmas

Length of Day: 9h 56m
Tomorrow will be 7s longer.

:)

No dinner post today. We went out last night. To The Cheesecake Factory. It was amazing. We had brownie cheesecake. It was yummy.

We did it in aid of me not getting a dough mixing device. I was so excited. I'd found one in a shop nearby that was way cheaper than you could get them even on amazon. So we rushed over when lordkilljoy came home from work and I was all excited handing the till person the product code. And then they came back saying they had already sold the last one. And I was a sad, sad kitten. So we got yummy dinner and amazing desert to cheer me up. And it worked. It still means I have to mix the Marks and Spencer (hopefully) style cookies I'm making by hand, which means sore arms after a few minutes, but whatever. The biscuits should turn out nice anyway.

Right so. Will try to update over Christmas, but I might not get time. Dinner highlights will include homemade calzone and (possibly) grilled cornish hen. I'm feeling a bit of trepidation about the recipe I've chosen, simply because grilling a chicken (even a tiny one) seems like an odd idea to me. I might just use the essence of the recipe (how to make gravy from jus, etc) and just roast the chicken anyway. I've no plans for stuffing :( but we'll see what happens.

Anyone bored of dinner posts yet?

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate cutting onions? They really affect me for some reason. The gas gets right into my eyes and stings and dries in equal proportions until tears are streaming down my face. So I read that lighting a candle can burn away the gas, and decided to try it last night. I was chopping shallots, which seem to be worse than normal onions, and at one stage I had all the onions gathered around the candle and lordkilljoy comes over and proclaims "hobo onions." The did resemble that - and they looked kind of cute too - two were resting against each other like lovers cuddling.



Anyway - cute an all as it was. Having a candle burning does not help with burning off gases. All it does is make a fire hazard in the kitchen (as later demonstrated by me when I set some kitchen towel on fire by accident). So yea. That was misadventure in cooking #1 last night. Misadventure #2 occurred soon after when I opened the pack of grape tomatoes (like cherry tomatoes, only more oblong). A happy little tomato looked up at me, covered in mould. Now, a lot of cooking following a recipe means that the times are set out exactly and you don't have time to run to the shop, or else at least one part (if not more) of the dish will be slightly (if not more) ruined. So I grabbed the tomatoes and picked out all the mouldy ones, while putting all the good ones aside to be thoroughly washed. Armed with hot water and an inkling that I'd read somewhere that food mould won't make you sick, I powered ahead with the dish and it turned out lovely in the end. And neither of us got sick. Yeay.


Pasta, grape tomatoes, courgette, shallots, capers and goats cheese. You would not believe how excited I was to be able to grate cheese onto my pasta. You can't go wrong with cheese and pasta.

Winter Sosltice

Happy shortest day of the year, everyone!

It's River's birthday today - she's 2. How cute.

Last night's dinner was a bit of a flop. It seems that I can't, for the life of me, add an egg to soup. It just turns to some kind of dense, opaque lumpiness. lordkilljoy didn't even finish it last night. Ah well. I'll keep trying.


(I hid the soup under the noodles, which is why the photo doesn't look too bad)

We're having pasta with some kind of nice sauce tonight. I'm also thinking of making little tarts for christmas. Not like mince pies, but maybe some kind of pretty apple tarty type things. Not sure. I went out for lunch with some of the girls today and they were all talking about making nice things. So I felt like making nice things too.

So, I'd heard of this street that goes mad every christmas with lights and music and stuff. We visited it last night and it is just a little crazy. Every building was covered with lights - most very gaudy, but some actually a little nice. The houses around us are way more tastefully done. The houses around us are actually quite lovely - I wandered around one evening just looking at them all.

I don't have much other news. River's just locked herself in the bathroom like a silly head.

More dinners

I'm quite proud of the dinners I've made over the past week. There were one or two I wouldn't be bothered making again - not that they were bad, just that they were a little too far from my palate's comfort zone. Friday night was a light chili made with pork and tomatillos (with are tomatoes that taste more like apples. not bad, but a little odd. i had to get them in the shop and i didn't even know what section to get them in or even what they looked like). It was one of the dishes that was only okay.

Yesterday we went out for dinner (Thai - it was lovely). And today I made Chicken Pot Pie (2 individual ones). It was delicious, even if I did totally miss that the receipe called for cream and I didn't have any, and that I didn't reduce the sauce enough. And making the pie topping was so much fun. I've never made pie dough before and it turned out really well. There was a tiny bit left over and I ate it warm with some jam - so delicious.

I was cooking for 3 and a half hours (even if the best part of one hour was chilling the pie dough). It was worth it though - it turned out so lovely.

We went out last night (as I already mentioned) with two of Liam's work friends. Niall came back to the house for a while and River went mental. She barked and growled and was altogether a very unpleasant dog. She did settled down eventually, giving a little grown each time Niall moved around, but then, at one stage she was lying under Naill's legs and when he moved he hit her (being totally unaware that she was there). She turned on him and nipped his leg. I'm so disappointed in her and last night before bed all I could think was that we'll have to put her down. That led to awful dreams of her and me being in a accident and she was covered in cuts and broken bones.
But I really don't know what to do with her. She does have a fear-based vicious streak in her, and now I'm extra scared of having her around strangers. I wonder now is this why her old family gave her up and what did they do to make her this way.

Anyway.

Healthy Sloppy Joes

Tonight's dinner was Sloppy Joe-matoes. It came from the healthy meals cook book and involved quorn and heirloom tomatoes. It was yummy. Here's a photo :)

Dinners

Ooh god, it's miserable again today. Half one in the afternoon and I need a light on to see my keyboard. Dinner last night was a success, even though the egg went a bit weird. I made Wagamama's Chicken Tama Rice. It was so delicious - lordkilljoy ate all of his, then finished off my rice. So it was yummy out, but it looked weird. You're meant to add a beaten egg to the sauce right at the end (the sauce is clear up to this point) and when I threw in the egg it went all thick and opaque. Anyway - tonight is poached tilapia with Spanish rice. It should be yummy too. I hope lordkilljoy doesn't mind rice two nights in a row. It's my favourite staple - I could eat rice for dinner every day (though I do get a tiny bit bored of it after 2 months, as I found out in Asia).

Tomorrow is possible break from cooking night (because we are going to the cinema with a bunch of people, and not at all sure what's happening about dinner). Thursday will be healthy night and Friday is crockpot night. It's so exciting. I figure Saturday will be going out night and Sunday might be roast, depending on how much energy I have / how much of a mess I feel like cleaning up. Though the mini chicken (technically cornish hen) we had thanksgiving was yummy.

I don't have much else news, I think. I really need a new food icon.

Weather + Food = Routine

Yesterday I wore jeans, a light t-shirt and sandals. Today I'm wearing three layers and socks. The weather here is a bit mixed up. I think phoenix people (phoenicians?) don't like the rain. Usually of a morning walking river, we'd meet loads of people out walking with, or without, their dogs. Today we met one person. I think all the people who stayed at home were right. River got saturated and dirty and I had to give her a bath when we got home. I carried her across the carpet into the bath, because I'm paranoid about this mad deep-pile carpet getting dirty.

The walk was nice, in a very Irish way. The day was pretty soft - overcast and drizzly. So picture any typical rainy day in autumn or spring or summer and there you go. Not winter, because it wasn't cold enough. It was just the kind of miserable that you need a coat to keep the rain off, but it's so humid and just warm enough that you end up feeling rotten 5 minutes into the walk. Anyway - it was lovely for a change, but I hope it's sunny again tomorrow. Ooh, the weather is giving thunder for tomorrow - how exciting. River and I might have to find some indoor activity...

I don't think I have much other news. I'm going to try making weekly menus from now on - make something from a different cookbook each day. I was thinking of starting with Wagamama today. I got out some chicken, but I haven't decided what to do with it yet. I think each Sunday afternoon will be put aside for perusing the growing number of cookbooks I have and selecting dishes for the week and making out a shopping list. Sure we'll see how it goes. I'm just sick of Liam coming home and we deliberating for ages about what we'll have. Begin operation: let's get some routine going.

Right so. I'm off, then.

Today

River and I went out for a cycle this morning. It was fun, but she doesn't pull her weight, so it's like going uphill the whole way. I was somewhat tired after 15 minutes. It took me ages to get my bike ready this morning, though. The mover guys had turned the handlebars sideways and it was a little hard to get them back right again (especially because I had the wheel backwards the first time and had to do it again).

River's barking has gotten really out of control since we moved. A lot of trucks and cars go by on the road outside (it's the main way into the estate - thank god we aren't facing the main road) and she barks at every one. She barks at dogs walking outside the window and dogs barking in other apartments. She's even taken to barking for attention. It had to stop. So yesterday I resorted to negative reinforcement. And it's working really well. Every time she barks I say no and tap her on the nose. Not only does she stop barking right away, but the amount of barking has lessened in the one day I've been trying it. So I' happy for that, but sad that it had to come to this. I tried all the positive reinforcement (treats for being quiet, etc) I could think of, but that just seemed to make her worse. I also don't think she's getting enough sleep. She's not relaxing at all. She's been getting about 8 hours sleep in the night time and not napping during the day as she usually does. I was making dinner this morning (stew) and her head was nodding as she sat beside me. The poor thing is wrecked. So I think the sleep deprivation is making her anxious too.

I don't have much else news. We ordered my dress last night. There's no way we could afford one in a shop so I ordered it online from a company in China who tailor the dress to your measurements. I'm really excited about it, but I really hope the company isn't bogus and that the dress makes it here. Well, it has until the end of January to arrive, so we'll see then.

I think that's all my news. Did I mention I got a new keyboard? It's a microsoft Arc and I really like it. It's small and fits my hands perfectly. The only problem is that I keep hitting enter instead of apostrophe. That will take a little getting used to, but I will eventually.

Right. I have to finish tidying away the last of our stuff. The things left are the things I haven't a clue where to put (that sentence was badly worded, but you get the idea surely). Here goes... I might have a little biscuit before I start for motivation. Oooh - actually. I saw these dog biscuits in Costco and they look delicious. The ingredients are like oats, honey eggs, and other stuff that I'd actually use to bake biscuits. But I couldn't just bring myself to eat something that was labelled for dogs. That would be a step over the line from being eccentric to being downright weird. So we didn't buy them. Even though, clearly, I'm still thinking about them :(

Anyway. later.

Things of small note

All our stuff arrived today. The apartment is an absolute mess and it's only now, with all our stuff here, that I realise this apartment is smaller than our last one - and that one was full to the brim with stuff, so I have no idea where we are going to put things. Our little tree arrived in the shipment too, so I put the baubles on it and plugged it in. It's so cute, but it needs some more colour. I might buy some tinsel for it.

Ooh, I put up fairy lights in the kitchen. It looks wonderful now, and I don't have to deal with the awful buzz of a fluorescent light. I also cooked here for the first time last night. It went well enough. I'll have to remember never to turn the coils up higher than half way, because they seem to cook just fine at that heat. Anything higher just makes for burn and mess.

I don't really have much other news. Wedding stuff is coming along. With 5 months to go I'm so glad we managed to get anything at all.

I don't really have any other news. right so. bye.

Arizona

So we made it to Phoenix in one piece (or three pieces). The drive was quite amazing. There was a mad cold front forecast for the day of our road trip and we were a bit anxious about getting out of the mountains in time. The only sign of things to come in New Mexico was extreme winds. But just a little while after we crossed into Arizona it started snowing. It was nothing major - a little flurry that lasted about 10 minutes. For the next hour or so, though, it looked like we were driving through winter. I mean, it kind of is winter by now, but snow doesn't usually happen until January or something. Anyway. So we drove through snowy roads for about an hour after than, and then we started to come down from the high desert. Arizona low desert is hilarious. Saguaro cactus is the funniest thing ever. It's like the plant doesn't know when to stop growing. There are arms jutting from the trunk and main branches all over the place.
Yea. So, the drive was about 8 hours. It went by really fast, though. We played a game of licence spotting. And we got 28 or something. The farthest away were maine, ontario and new york. The countryside is amazing, and we went the scenic route to make the most of it. It got a bit warmer as we came down from the high country, but not by much. There's a mad cold spell hitting this part of the country this weekend and temps have really fallen - from 20-something down to 14ish. Anyway; it's still a lot warmer than Albuquerque (which was set to get to -17 this weekend).

We went to Ikea today :) That was so much fun. I tried to curtail myself, and I only got about half the stuff I wanted. We still managed to spend over $150, though. Most of that was on new bedsheets. Oooh, our new apartment is quite nice. It's way nicer than the old place, but the kitchen is even darker than the old one (or well - there's less light getting to it, but the decor is way lighter, so in the end it probably works out about the same amount of light happening). The place is much more tastefully furnished (I had furnitured written. sigh). What's really weird, though, is carpet in the bathroom. What sort of mental person puts carpet in a bathroom? Apart from being kind of disgusting, it's highly impractical.
And. oh god, we don't have a gas cooker. We don't even have a ceramic hob. We have an ancient metal coil stove thing. It's appalling. I tried to cook porridge this morning and it just boiled all over the place. I was almost in tears. I love cooking, but working with something as torturous as this cooker thing just makes it a hassle.

We went exploring a bit today. Phoenix is totally a proper American city. There is so much here. It reminds me of Texas with how many shops and restaurants there are. We went to Famous Dave's today (we first heard of him from a tv show - best in smoke) which is a barbecue place and I'm still stuffed.

I don't really know what else to say. I know there's been loads happening, but I think I got the main parts anyway.

Right so. Byeeeeee.

Dinner was so good I licked the plate clean

It really was the most delicious thing I've made in ages. The only thing I like the plate (or bowl, even) for is ice cream. So this dinner compares to ice cream and that's a pretty impressive feat.

Okay - the recipe

serves 1

1 tilapia fillet or other light white fish
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons feta cheese
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon frank's hot sauce
some 21 seasoning salute (this is the best herb seasoning in the world) or mixed herbs
some salt
some black pepper
some onion powder (feel free to use real onions and just chop them up and put them around the fish as it's cooking)

put the fillet on tin foil and cover with lemon juice
wrap tin foil and put in oven / george foreman / barbecue / grill (i used the george foreman)
cook until half way done (about 3 mins for me)
while that's cooking, add the feta, butter, sauce and spices to a cup
mash together with a fork
take your half cooked fish, open tin foil and cover fish with mix (can't really be called a sauce because it's so crumbly)
re-close foil and cook fish the rest of the way
serve with side of your preference (i had noodles - it's all we have left in the house)
enjoy and lick plate if so desired once meal is finished

(recipe cross posted)

Engagement

I kind of meant to post this earlier... lordkilljoy and I got engaged on sunday. If not for visa issues coming back into america, it probably wouldn't be happening quite yet, and as it is we are having a rush wedding. 6 months from now we will be married :) It's so exciting. And stressful at the same time. We're supposed to organise the whole thing in half the time as usual. Ah well, that'll be fun too.

First, though we need to focus on moving. We're off to Pheonix at the end of the month. SO I have to spend the next week or so cleaning. I worked on the calcium stuck to the bath and sink today, and used very fine grade sandpaper to get the worst of it off. Sandpaper is amazing. And it didn't noticeably scrape the sink or bath, either. They are made of kind of manky plastic material anyway, so it's not like you'd notice a few scrapes anyway.

Right. Got to go now - it's Skyrim time :)

Coyote

Daylight savings compounded on the tail end of jetlag. My poor body will be awake at 4am tomorrow.

That could be a haiku.

Anyway. One cool bit of news: I saw a coyote in the wash today while walking river. It was amazing - just walking along, all uncaring about the humans around walking their dogs. It looked back at me as I stood on a rise looking down at it, then just turned away and continued walking. I stood there going: "wow, I just saw a coyote." And I took it as a good sign.

In other, less interesting, news: I have a cold for the first time in over a year. Probably closer to 2 years, actually.

In other other, slightly more interesting, news: I tried fair isle out on the loom. It didn't really work out. Too much wool gets dragged behind the stitches and the whole thing turns out really floppy. So that's a bit annoying.

That's all, I think.

Today's Dinner

modified from this recipe

ingredients: quinoa, cut up chicken, chicken stock, 21 seasoning salute or other mixed herb/spice, oil, onion powder, diced tomato, diced green chilli, feta cheese, lemon juice


put 1/4 cup quinoa into a pot with 1/2 cup of cold water and a little chicken stock and seasoning. Cook on lowest setting for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile:
in a little oil (a teaspoon is all you need), fry the chicken. add onion powder when chicken is almost done. if you have real onions, cook then first and add the chicken after. set it aside for a little bit

(or if you have a second pan and don't mind the extra wash-up)
put a little less than 1/2 a can of tomatoes and a quarter of a small can of chilli into the pan. heat. add the chicken back in and sprinkle with feta. squirt on a few drops of lemon and cook for a bit - to make sure the chicken is properly done.

lastly:
add in the cooked quinoa, mix, serve, eat. nom nom nom.

i need a better food icon. this one is simply inappropriate for dinner recipes.

I'm so tired

I’ve been meaning to update all day, but Lj had signed me out and I'd changed my password sometime in the past and I couldn't remember it, so I didn't get around to signing in. Until now - because I changed my password... anyway.

I’m freezing. It’s freezing outside and I don't want to go walk river. I made this amazing 3 meter scarf while I was home and I have it wrapped about my shoulders. My keyboard is keeping my lap warm :) It's also 24 C in here (I had the heating on earlier), and yet I feel cold. Le sigh. River’s tired too. I don't think she sleeps well in the boarding place. She’s been asleep all day and I even had to wake her for dinner. That’s never happened before. So we're all tired.

The trip home was really good. I didn't do much - got to hang out with mammy and daddy and Askea and it was wonderful. We knitted lots. And I got knitting books. Highlights included the beach, tramping through the dunes of said beach, eating - I ate loads - emm, stuff and knitting :) It was a wonderful trip (I’ve said this already, but it really was). There was nothing mad of big or organised, it was just me at home - where I belong :) oh my god - now I’m making myself homesick. Right.

The trip back here was good - everything went well. We had a bit of an issue at immigration in MSP when I asked for my visa to be stamped for a year. I had to go to this special cases area where we waited for a bit for someone to look into it. Apparently, it is very uncommon to get your visa stamped for one year. I (according to the guy) was the first person to go through msp to get such a stamp. So that took about 40 minutes and he had to go up 2 (possibly 3 levels) to get the okay. He also explained that going through on my visa is just going to get harder and harder. Sigh, again. Anyway, I’m in for a year now. We’ll see what happens.

We had 19 hours of daylight yesterday. Travelling is amazing :) If you had a fast enough plane, and enough fuel, you could just have it be day all the time. Or you could just move to one of the poles in summer... but that's not the point. Abq had the most amazing sunset when we landed. The sky was the deepest shade of orange - just amazing. And we saw the apartment from the plane as we came in to land. That was exciting.

Coming back to the apartment was weird. It felt so generic, or something. Like, I woke up this morning and it felt like I was in a hotel. It was somewhat awful. And I got the feeling a few times through the day as well. I don't know what was causing that. The smell, maybe. Or maybe I’m just tired. We’re going to try to stay up until 10 - so 2 hours to go.

Right, I don't really have much else to say.

Deus Ex

I'm playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution at the moment. I'd seen it at PAX, and known about it before that... "Yeah, another stealth game. I should be interested in this, but I'm not really pushed" is what my brain kept telling me whenever I'd think of it. Then lordkilljoy bought it and played it for a bit, but didn't enjoy it. A few weeks later he convinced me to give it a go, and is this the best game ever! I absolutely love it. The setting is amazing, the characters are interesting, the story is intriguing. I keep waiting for poor Jensen to get betrayed by someone. It hasn't happened yet, but I've only gotten to China so far. Apart from the main story, the side quests are really fun too. And even just wandering the streets, finding random houses to break into is fun. I want to play now, but I want to get some knitting finished, and I should try to keep up the writing spurt I got last week.

Ah well.

PS - only a month 'til Skyrim. I am so excited for this game.

stealth bomber

I saw a stealth bomber fly over head the other day. It was the coolest thing I've seen in ages. I almost didn't believe it was a stealth bomber, but they are kind of unique to look at. The only reason I looked up (well, apart from the fact that I generally look up if I hear a plane overhead) was that it sounded a bit weird. It was louder and different pitched than a normal plane. And when I saw the black and the ziz-zag wings I was like: "wow, that is so cool." And I did an excited dance. And then in vanished behind some clouds. It's kinda cool living near an air force base.

The clouds were the remnants of the storm that hit last week. There was snow on the mountains for a whole day (it's melted now) and Santa Fe mts got 9 inches - it's still there. I got to wear my wonderful black coat and my long hat the other day. I was so happy going out in them. It's warmed up again, though - I might even be back into string tops by the end of the week - they are giving 25.

I don't have a hole lot of news. I can't wait to go home. Only a week and a half to go. I need to start packing.
Yea. I'll go now.

storm's a-comin'

The weather are giving storm warnings for the end of this week, and it's really starting to get going now. It's windy and kinda cold out (cold being 17 degrees). They are giving bad winds for tomorrow too, and snow up on the mountains. Ooohhhh. At the moment I'm sitting here and every so often the wind slams into the building, and the window rattles a bit and the door shakes a little, and it's slightly unnerving. River and I just went out for a walk in it, and all I wanted was to get back inside again - I think River was feeling rather energised by the wind, though - she was mad hyper.

We went to the balloon festival last weekend - we went in the evening for the glow event. It was amazing - wandering among all these colourful hot air balloons that lit up every so often with jets of fire. Every so often a guy on a loudspeaker would do a countdown and all the balloons would light up at the same time. It looked incredible. And when that was over, there were fireworks. And they were some of the best fireworks I've seen. There were ones up in the sky and ones closer to the ground and the whole thing was pretty spectacular.

In other news, I've knitted a hat and a half, 2 pairs of gloves, a pair of socks and am working on another thing (it's a surprise). I'm pretty proud of everything - except the half a hat... don't know why I'm not so enthusiastic about it but it's just not gelling with me.

I don't have much other news.

more knitting

I have a glove. That's right, one glove. Here it is :)




I'll have to start on its twin tomorrow. This one took me 3 days (maybe 13 / 14 hours). I'm not sure if the next one will take longer because my motivation will drop a little (I already know how it's going to turn out) or will it take less time because I know what I'm doing.

And for future reference (more for myself than anything else), the pattern*.

starting at the back (at the top of the arm)

cast on 18 stitches (for chunky wool)

seed stitch for 4 rows
k1, p1
p1, k1

switch colour (this counts as a row)
knit for 8 rows

switch colour
knit for 8 rows

do this 2 more times for 4 knitted rows of stripes (you have 5 stripes all together by now)

knit for 7 rows

on 8th row cast up 5
on 9th row cast up 5 on the other side (so it makes a kind of T)

knit for 8 rows (not sure if you count the cast on, or not)

cast off the T over 2 rows
switch colour (this may not count as a row)
knit 4 rows (casting off 2 stitches somewhere around here - i got really confused at this part. i cast off 2, but then my count looked weird and i cast off another. then i realised my mistake and was down a stitch. oh well.)

do 2x2 ribbing for 8 rows
k2, p2
k2, p2

cast off
mattress stitch the seam (this sewing technique is kinda cool - is this how people get sewn up? it totally is!)
done


Having never done any of this before, I had to look loads up online (cast on, cast off, and mattress stitch). I have a book, but trying to learn from diagrams is hard. Thank goodness for youtube.

*I did have a pattern, two actually, but I followed them quite loosely, making my own way as I went along.

A Hat

So this is the hat I made yesterday. It took 3 hours (with a break to walk River). I have no idea if that is good going or slow progress - any input from knitters (mammy?)? How long would it take you to knit a hat like this?



Anyway, I'm pretty proud of it. Now I'm going to make lordkilljoy a hat like Jayne's from Firefly :)

Loom Knitting

The thought going through my head right now is: I love having hands. I bought a loom knitting set today, and have just knit my first row (actually - I just cast up) and it was really fun and really easy. I've wanted to be able to knit my whole live. Ever since I was a girl I'd watch mammy knit with an ease that seemed rather miraculous to me, becuase whenever I tried it the wool got knotted, the needles kept slipping from my hands, the wool was too tight, or too loose, and my hands just couldn't handle it.

I've vaguely considered crochet, but that also involves holding a small implement and my hands get hot holding things and it's just really, really hard. Enter the loom. It's a circle with wide pins standing up. You wrap the wool around the pins, then use a hook to pull the loops over. Look up "loom knitting" if you want to know how it works.

So watch out, everyone. Hats, scarfs and other small knitted things will abound and will start to fill wardrobes and drawers :)

In other news (I wrote knews... sigh) River went into her bed-crate thing all by herself last night. It was about half eleven and I was off to bed. She walked into the bedroom with me, and I expected her to flop down on the carpet. But she didn't. In she walked to her little bed (the one she howled and whined to get out of when we first got her) and settled down, all by herself. We were so proud of her :)

We went to cienega forest again yesterday. After a slight wrong turn (or more precicely - not being able to follow the trail (it just seemed to vanish into about 5 different trail-looking things)) and a massive climb up the side of the mountain, we eventually found the trail and had a wonderful 2 hour walk. Ceader and pine smell amazing. I'd totally go there and just plonk myself in a glade and smell the air for a few hours.

That's all my news, I think. Now back to knitting :)

Autumn

Autumn in New Mexico is an interesting time. Me and river have been rained on twice in the last two days. Today, we came to the channel. It was raining and the splashes were making little ripples in the brown water of the channel. I stopped there and just watched it for a while. It was awful, but pretty at the same time. The water was brown and murky, with bits of mud and twigs sticking out of it, but still - there was something compelling about the water and the rain.

The other really odd thing is that mushrooms grow in the grass around here. I think it's a sign that people need to turn off their sprinklers.

I'm a little worried about future walks. The goatsheads are growing wild and free and every grassy verge has thousands of them just waiting to fall off and lay in wait for some innocent doggie to come walk on them and hurt her paws. I'm sort of considering getting River little booties, because (she's stupid like this) she picks them out of her paw and eats them. Then she gets sick a few minutes later.

I haven't updated in ages. I should catch up on news... PAX was amazing. I'd totally go back next year. penelope_stone and Liam's visit was brilliant. We did so much and it was good to see them and hang out. Highlights include walking on top of a mountain in lightening, photographing same lightning that night, cienega canyon forest trail, UNM - actually UNM is cool. There's a geology and meteorite museum, and the atmosphere around campus is cool - just like college, really.

I don't know what else I can say... I suppose I'll just go then.

New Arts, Coloured by Me

This is what I've been working on the last few days.


Cloud n Kirby YamPuff Colour by ~zarkia on deviantART

Lightning is cool.

The sky the last few evenings has been pretty spectacular. Lightning storms flashed on the horizon all around us (or at least the 180degrees we can see from our balcony), both sheet and fork. The forks are amazing to watch - split second flashes of brilliance that you miss if you aren't looking in the exact right spot. The sheets are incredible too, because the cloud formations are so beautiful, and when you get this dark navy sky and bright cauliflower clouds illuminated against it - it looks amazing.

I'd love if these storms are still going when penelope_stone comes over. They look amazing. They are too far away to hear any thunder, but also too far away for the rain to reach us. I think dislike of rain is built into the Irish psyche. I've not been rained on in 9 months, or whatever, and still at the first drops I'm like: "Ugh, it's raining. Better get inside." Even though it's warm and the rain dries off almost as soon as it lands on you.

River's been fine since her little bout of poisoning. She was a little tired the day after, but soon she was back to her old self again. We got to go to the cinema yesterday. We've been leaving her along for longer and longer stretches. Yesterday we went out for 3 hours (to see Captain America) and when we got back the place was the exact same as when we'd left it. We were so proud of her :)

Capt America was good... But not nearly as good as some of the other super hero movies. They spent too much time on montages of him winning battles and not enough time building up relationships between characters. Things happened where I would have been in tears at any other movie, but I just didn't care for any of the people because I didn't know them - I didn't have a reason to care for them.

I don't think I have much other news.

Sick River

We're just back from the vet with River. She got lordkilljoy's inhaler and bit into it - puncturing it. We have no idea how much medicine went into her, but about an hour later, she was drinking way more water than usual and a bit after that she got sick. At this stage, I was pretty worried that she'd been seriously poisoned, so we dropped everything and rushed her to the vet.

They induced more vomiting and gave her charcoal. She's really pathetic now - just lying next to her water and drinking every so often. She couldn't even jump out of the car when we got home, or walk up the stairs. She made it up 3, then just stopped. lordkilljoy carried her up. Poor thing.

The vet said she should be okay by tomorrow, but to keep an eye on her.

Okay, while writing this entry she's been sick again. She's now lying on the floor with kitchen towel under her head.

my thumb is sore

I can post again :) Let's go a bit post crazy for a while :P

So, doing stuff with only half a thumb is hard. Yea, both my thumbs are out of commission - one has a nick, the other a gash. So the nicked one counts as half. I'm making ramen for dinner and cutting the chicken was hard. Opening the jars of ginger and stock was hard (almost impossible) and very painful. Even stirring the pot is hard, because my half a thumb that's working is more sensitive to the steam.

I think after dinner I'll call today done and go play Warcraft for the night. I'll just have to remember not to jump (aka mashing space bar with my thumb).

God, I'd love some ice cream.

Comic Con and Cosplay

Ah, Lj - I've missed you. Please don't go down for over a week again. And I've had loads to post about too.

I'm working on my portal gun at the moment. I've been carving the main back part from expanding foam (the stuff you use to insulate cracks in your house with). The can said it can only be used once, but I had no trouble clearing out the application pipe and using it 4 or 5 times. I emptied the can :)
Anyway - it looks kind of cool. Well, it's still really rough, but it has the shape of a portal gun, which is good.

I was carving today and I sliced my thumb. The cut is about a centimetre long and I have no idea how deep it is, but davidnarby thinks it's pretty deep because of the amount of blood that poured out. Anyway, I have a plaster and a bandage on it at the moment and it's not too sore. I poked at it earlier, though (silly, I know) and that really hurt.

Other news: Comic Con was good. We saw loads - it's kind of hard not to when it's the size of a small town. San Diego is lovely. We stepped off the plane and walked outside and the first think I said was "California has the perfect climate." For all that, it did feel cold in the shade (24degrees is cold these days). I think I'd live there, given the opportunity. Not in San Diego, perhaps... there is too much an undercurrent of a city that's not quite as nice as the façades of the buildings would lead you to believe.

I can't really describe the con itself... fascinating, crazy, colourful. We spent 3 days wandering around and we didn't see everything. It really is huge and there is so much to do. We managed to fit in some browsing, buying, Wii games, DS games, a SWTOR PVP session, celebrity spotting, artist signings, panels on comics, internet stuff, we saw the mythbusters, stood in mile long lines, didn't stand in 2 mile long lines (that's an exaggeration - it wasn't 2 miles, but it was long - it was about 1km, actually - that's pretty long for a queue). We ate in a restaurant that had been taken over by SyFy and made out to be the restaurant from a TV show - Cafe Diem from Eureka for anyone who watches that (it's good - give it a go if you are looking for something fun with a sci-fi twist to watch).
What really amused me was that we had to get the train in each morning and the main stop was 12th and Imperial Transit Station. It's funny because if you ignore the 12th, it becomes Imperial Transit Station, which has a very sci-fi tone to it - like something from Star Wars.

I don't know what else... River is well. She's really cute, actually. In the evenings when lordkilljoy is at work, she sits beside me just waiting for rubs and attention. I think she misses having someone to cuddle next to on the couch. She's gotten into a routine of sleeping until 8 these days - which is good. 7 was just a little too early for me. She even slept until 9 the other day. Amazing.

Right - I think I'll go now. Get some food, maybe. I'm thinking of just putting on dinner, because I have no idea what to have for lunch. It's a little early for dinner, though. Oh well.

New Coloured Artwork

Lineart belongs to Kaorien. Colours by me:


Colour - Proud Surrender by ~zarkia on deviantART

All my posts recently are about River

River is asleep with her eyes partly open. It is the freakiest thing I have ever seen - it's like she's possessed or something. I'm glad it's bright daylight at the moment. If it was night I think I'd have to wake her to get her to stop it.

Camping last weekend was a success. We had a really good time, enjoyed sun and rain and thunder and lightning. We got to see the milky way and a million stars - which was amazing. We did an experiment letting River run around without her lead - it was a success :) She was so tired that evening from all her running around she got really grumpy and was huffing and growling at every little noise. Poor thing. She also has ideas that she's a lap dog, when she's just too big for that.

I don't really have much news at the moment.

Doggie Toys

Just a quick note, because it is cute.

We bought River a new toy yesterday - a squeaky one, and within a few minutes she was biting it and wandering around with it in her mouth. We'd throw it and she'd run after it. We got her to jump up in the air to get it. It was great fun :)

ugly bugs

Taking River out for a walk at night is a scary, freaky experience. The bugs come out at night, so before we had River I'd convinced myself that there were very few bugs in New Mexico. Hmmm... I was just looking at the wrong time of day. There are beetles, crickets, scorpions. I saw the most ugly cricket ever the other night - called a Jerusalem Cricket - go look it up on google image search or something. It is icky and huge. I saw something pale and scurry-ful last night. It ran past us along the kerb. It was in the shade, so I didn't get a good look at it, but it looked suspiciously scorpion-like. Ugh even thinking about it freaks me out - I just uncrossed my ankles, because my skin rubbing against itself made me think there was something on me.

Maybe I'll stick to the safety of our bug-sprayed apartment complex on walks in the night time from now on.

mad looking bug

This guy was outside the apartment door yesterday.



I saw another guy yesterday that was the ugliest bug i have seen in a long time, simply because it looked like something that had been enlarged through radiation. it had a huge bulbous back and front (each like 1cm in diameter) and it crawled along and was disgusting. river wanted to eat it (obviously). i wish i could have gotten a photo, but i didn't have my camera on me.

Ah, the Joys of Owning a Doggie

Dogs will scratch because of anxiety, so when we've seen River scratching over the last few days, we've just assumed she was a little anxious over everything she's been through. We know for a fact that she suffers dog separation anxiety. The cure for that is to leave her on her own in the house for increasing amounts of time each day (we are up to 20 seconds now). Anyway. Scratching.

Today lordkilljoy saw a little black thing crawling across her face and burrowing into her fur. Immediately he went down to the pet shop to get some flea and tick killer. It's kinda cool - an oil that you put against her fur in a few spots and it gets to work killing fleas straight away. It's also meant to keep mosquitoes away. So that'll be good when we go camping.

But now I have the paranoids. Every itch I feel makes me think there are fleas on me... and suddenly I have a lot more itches than I did before we saw one on her.

Hyper Hydro Doggie

There's a bit of water in the wash at the moment and lordkilljoy had the inspired idea to bring River down there. We put her on the stretchy leash (16') that we got for her and strolled down. She was the tinyest bit cautious at first, but I took my flip flops off and stomped in the water and soon she was stomping and running all over the stream. We ran up and down and up and down until my feet got sore from the stones. I tried to run more, but even the small stones were sore to my now-sensitive soles.

And she got hyper. She ran loops around us again and again. We had to pull in her leash and stand still until she calmed a little. Then we got home and she pelted around the apartment - mad hyper. I took her into the bath to wash off the sand, but once she got out it was dash about the place again. Eventually she settled down, and now she's sitting, somewhat calm again.

It was so good to see her really enjoying herself, though :)

Sad Dog?

River seems to be going through some sort of "where is my home" sadness at the moment. She sleeps most of the day (now this could be partly due to the heat) and is only mildly interested in rubs and treats. She'll do training for a minute or two and then get bored and wander off and lie down on the ground again. She'll play with toys for a few minutes and then same thing - wander away and lie down.

Today we got her a puzzle ball that has treats hidden it. She has to push it around to get the treats to fall out the hole so she can eat them. She enjoyed playing with it a lot. Once she got used to it, her tail was up and wagging and she pushed the ball all over the place getting at the treats. She did that for about 10 minutes, then just left it and went back to sleeping.

I tried playing a game with her and she played along, rather half-heartedly for a few minutes, then lay down again. It's a bit disheartening to see her this way. I'd bring her out for a walk, but it's way too hot - 34 degrees. She does seem to enjoy walking, but sometimes she'll stop for no reason at all, or hang back until we are walking at a snails pace. I kind of put this down to the heat as well. We'll try going for a walk tonight, after dusk and see how much of a difference that makes.

She's eating, drinking and going to the loo fine, so there's nothing wrong with her. But I am looking forward to the day she perks up and realises games and toys are fun. I've read that with adopted dogs it can take a few weeks (or months, depending on how bad their last home was) for them to get used to things.

In good news, she is learning sit and come :) After that it will be stay. She barks when the UPS / Fedex person comes to the door, so the sooner I can get stay ingrained in her behaviour the better.

River Tam

This might seem to come out of the blue... but we got a dog :)



Her name is River (a good name :P ), she's small and cute and pretty good in terms of walking and things. She likes to pull on the lead a little, so we have a little bit of training to do with her. She's still young - 1 and a half. We picked her up from the animal shelter today - she'd been left there by her previous owner because they are out all day and hadn't been able to exercise / play with her enough to use up her energy, and she'd started to get a little destructive around the house.

We were given a little starter bag of food, but when we got home we realised it was cat food. So we bought dog food and gave it to River and she wouldn't eat it. We mixed it with a little of the cat food and she munched away happily. Funny doggie.

She was excellent in the car on the way home. We put the seats down, so she had full run of the back of the car, and she settled down and practically fell asleep. She was doing the head nodding thing and all. Awhhh :)
She's napping in the middle of the kitchen floor right now. She has a bed outside, a container for night-time sleeping, a good stretch of carpet, and she chooses to sleep on the hard kitchen floor. Maybe it's the coolest, or something.

It's great though. Now all of us can go out for walks in the evenings :) And she and I can go for walks in the morning and play during the day and things. Yeay.

Camping

We went camping on Monday night to Fenton Lake State park. It was a success - mostly. On Sunday we ran around picking up the last few things we needed, and one of those things was an air mattress. Now, I was totally against the mattress, because all I could think of was that the battery-operated pump that came with it wouldn't work. But we got it anyway.

We headed out Monday morning (or noon) and spent an amazing 2 hours getting there. As soon as we got out of Albuquerque the scenery became canyon-y - all red rock and yellow sand. We followed the Jemez river most of the way, so there were trees and lots of greenery as well. It was beautiful. Then we hit the mountains. The rock formations became way more impressive, the trees (desert willows?) became pines and the river (more of a creek, really) turned into a rocky stream.

The lake itself was small. Man-made from a dam, and pretty green looking. There was no swimming allowed, and I don't know if I would have gone swimming anyway. Our site was a bit away from the lake, which was a good thing - less mosquitoes. So we got our tent set up with much excitement. It was dampened a little by me stubbing my toe on a big of branch (it's still sore - there's a cut). It's a huge tent - 4 man, and we had piles of room. It doesn't seem like the kind of tent you want to bring to somewhere that will have driving wind and rain 'cause most of the inner section is mesh, and the rain sheet only covers half way to the ground.

Then it came to setting up our bed. We pulled out the mattress and got it all set up. Put in the pump and nothing. We fiddled with the batteries, poked and prodded at the pump, and it still wasn't working. So we went to the nearby (like 15 miles away or something) shop and bought new batteries, and still it didn't work. We ended up sleeping on a deflated mattress covered with a picnic blanket, towels and one of the blankets we'd brought to keep warm. And it was comfortable enough.

We cooked dinner on our little gas barbecue (burgers and chips). It was nice, but the mosquitoes spoiled it a little. I had spray on, but they still flitted around and were very annoying. I did get a few bites, but they were from a walk around earlier.

Defeated by their sheer annoyance, we retreated into the tent and played a game of Dominion (a card resource game) by the light of our cool little torch (it was a little hard to read the text at times) and then fell asleep. It was freezing. It was so cold, I could feel each breath in my nose making it a little colder. I slept with a string top, t-shirt and fleece hoodie on. I was still cold, though, and pulled our last blanket over my sleeping bag. That helped a little, but each time I moved around, I had to warm a new patch of sleeping bag.

But we survived the night, and went for a short walk the next day, packed up and came home again. And now we want to go again. We're thinking the 4th of July, because it's a holiday, but I imagine everywhere will be busy. But if we can get somewhere we'll go.

Comic Con Costume

I am about to attempt a mock-up of a portal gun. I'm going as Chell (the protagonist from the portal games ) for comic con and the gun is the main part of the outfit. I've found a site that goes through the making of a portal gun, but I don't have nearly as many tools or expertise as that guy. I'm also trying to keep the cost down and don't want to buy too many tools or materials.

So far, I've spent $4 on card and masking tape for my mock-up.

I figure if I draw up some guides in illustrator and cut out shapes and stick them together, it should give me a good idea of the size I need, then I can go and get some pipes, or use cans or find some hardy material from which to make the proper gun. I'm a bit excited about this, but we'll see how it turns out.

Texas

Day 1: Houston
This wasn't really a day - we got in lateish, went for food (which involved stealing crab-eating implements from joe's crab shack - how could we not, it was plastic and said, "stolen from joe's crab shack" on it), and turned in for the night.

Day 2: Galveston
Johnson Space Centre sits right between Houston and Galveston :) We spent the whole day wandering around the exhibits, taking a tour through NASA mission control and training areas, looking at moon rocks, and marvelling at all the cool space stuff. I wish penelope_stone could have been there. You would have loved it.

Late in the afternoon, we moved on and headed for the beach. Apparently, Galveston island is a sink hole for sat navs, because Lady had the hardest time getting us to our hotel. Three wrong turns, four u-turns and eventually we spotted the place.
Galveston was nice... a bit odd, because rich, high class resorts sit right next to washed out, abandoned shacks. It's a bit weird to walk down the strip and see the difference. It's like going from rough area to up-market all in one block.

Day 3: Galveston
I got to swim in the sea today :) Woooo. And it was warm, and lovely. It reminded me of the sea in Wellington - it had that same kind of cold when you stepped in, but warm once you got used to it. It's the kind of water you can stay in all day. Wonderful.
Not so wonderful was the flies the marauded up and down the beach - tiny black ones. I think they were harmless (not 100% sure, though) but they crawled all over your skin, and face, and were horrendous. So we didn't spend long at the beach. Awh, but oh well.
We went out for food in a place called Casey's tonight and it was amazing. The best meal so far on the trip.

Day 4: Port Aransas
Port Aransas could have been better. The weather was stormy, the clouds a dark shade of grey. I really wanted to go swimming, but a gale was blowing and the waves, while small, were frequent and frothy. I probably would have gone in, but I'm not sure what lordkilljoy and lainey316 would have been. So I settled for dipping my feet.
After a long stroll of the beach and the town, we headed out for dinner. Dinner tonight was the second best of the trip. Mahi-mahi, cooked to perfection, with the most lovely crab sauce over it. It was the most yummy thing ever - well, maybe not ever - we'll get to that later.

Day 5: Port Aransas / San Antonio
I'd hoped the weather might have improved by today, but it didn't. Still, I headed for the beach first thing with swimming togs on and towel in hand. I got wet up to my thighs, and standing there with the waves breaking over my knees, the sky a dark, ragged shade of grey, mist rolling off the waves reminded me of Ireland. It was beautiful, in a rugged way - a desolate beach, a gale blowing, frothy waves and a pale strand, littered with foam and seaweed, definitely very Irish (but for the fact that the gale was hot and the sea was warm).

The drive to San Antonio was uneventful. The most thrilling thing was that we got to follow the evacuation route all the way. It's cool - they have a specific route for people fleeing a hurricane to go. We wandered around San Antonio when we got there, browsed a few shops and strolled the river walk. The river walk is so pretty - paths wander along the river bordered by pretty shrubs and huge trees. The bank is steep and walled, keeping out the noise and bustle of the city. Restaurants and food stalls line the path - all kind of boutique style with lovely, themed decor.

Day 6: San Antonio
The Alamo sits in the very centre of San Antonio. People are funny. The story of the Alamo is not a good one - a bunch of Americans lost a battle there, and still it is lauded as a symbol of patriotism. I can see why - holding out when all hope was lost and all, but still.
It was pretty, though. Small buildings surrounded by lush trees. Actually - that was what surprised me most about Texas. It wasn't dry and desert like you see in the westerns, it was lush, humid, green and full of trees.
That afternoon we went to the botanical gardens, because coming from somewhere as dry as Albuquerque, you just can't get enough of green trees and colourful flowers.
From there we went shopping, and at this stage the day felt like it had been a week.

Day 7: San Marco / Austin
We left San Antonio early and heading for outlet malls about an hour up the road. It was boiling - 34C and humid. My feet were killing me from too much flip-flop wearing and there were few shops I was interested in. Still lainey316 got loads she wanted, so I was okay with that.

Back on the road again, heading for Austin and we were all a bit tired. We stopped off in barbecue town (aka Lockhart) for food. It was all right, but not what I'd been expecting. We didn't stay long - just ate and moved on. Approaching Austin, the sky ahead of us looked ominous, all dark ragged clouds and strong winds.

We were almost to the outskirts of Austin when the radio cut out. It started beeping and then a voice came on: "This is an emergency broadcast. Severe thunderstorms in [town names I don't remember] with hail the size of a quarter. Seek shelter and stay indoors." We were heading right for the storm. As the emergency broadcast ended, we saw the first fork of lightning hit the ground way off to our right. A few seconds later the clouds lit up with more lightning, and again a few second later. It didn't stop. The wind tugged at the car (and not just a little car - we were in an SUV). As we hit Austin, the rain started. It pelted the windscreen in sheets. It crashed into the road, creating a layer of water droplets about an inch thick. It was so bad we couldn't see the road markings and just had to hope the guy on front knew the road better than we did. It was a scary 10 minutes, but eventually the rain eased off. We made it to the hotel safe and got to watch the lightning from the safety of our room.

That night we went to a rooftop bar and enjoyed the lightening from there. Yea - the lightning went on for hours - flashes every few seconds or so. It was amazing.

Day 8: Austin
Austin was boiling today. It was 35C and humid. We had a lovely breakfast (which may have included a glass of bucksfizz), then tried to walk around for a bit but were defeated by the heat. We rallied with ice-cream, and headed to South Austin to browse the vintage and curiosity stores. I could definitely live in Austin. It's a cool place with loads of off the wall stuff. I don't think I could deal with the heat and humidity, though. This was only May, I can't even imagine what it's like in July.

Tonight was party night. We started with a divine meal in Haddingtons (a very stylish restaurant and cocktail bar). This was the best meal of the holiday. I had rabbit for the first time in my life and it was delicious. It was cooked to perfection and the sauce with it was the most gorgeous thing ever. Nom nom nom.
From there we moved to Red River, which is the live gig area of Austin. It was fine - the gig we went to wasn't very good, though. So we moved on after a bit. We made our way down 6th street (Austin's main party street). It reminded me of Khao San Road in Bangkok - packed with people out to get drunk. We settled in an Irish bar (of all places) to enjoy the Louisiana blues band that was playing there. They were quite good - entertaining and lively.
As all nights did - it ended with food off a street truck, lively debate about how Cork is like Texas and a ride up the glass lift in the hotel.

Day 9: Back to Albuquerque
We woke late and packed up, only to realise that lordkilljoy had lost the car keys for our car in Abq. He figured he'd taken them out of his bag in Galveston and must have left them in the hotel. So the drive to Houston was a little stressful, the keys and diversions because of roadworks outside of Austin setting us a little on edge. But it wasn't too bad once we got on the highway.
We got to the airport and did one last search through the bags - no joy. We checked in, got some food, then made our way to the gate. We had some time, so we played our DSs, and when lordkilljoy opened his headphone case the car keys fell out. :)
So it all ended well. We were excited getting on the plane, and on the bus to the long-term car park, and in the car on the way home and when we got home - exclaiming "you found your keys" every few minutes.


So that was our trip to Texas. It was good.

roller derby

Roller derby on saturday night was brilliant. we spent the first quarter of the first game figuring out how it all worked, and spent the rest of that match and all of the next admiring the teams' skills.
so how it works is there is a track - like a small running track, which the two teams skate around - all in a bunch. there is one girl in each team (the jammer) who starts behind the pack and skates faster to catch up. when she does, she squeezes through the pack - while they try to block her - and skates really fast to catch up to the pack again. then she squeezes through again, only this time for each blocker of the opposing team she passes, she scores a point.
that's basically it, nothing too hard to follow. there are a few other bits and we spent ages figuring out what the refs hand movements meant, but the real excitement is watching the jammer glide through the pack - or not, depending on her skill. all the girls have mad names and numbers, my favourite number was 3.14. another number was 36DD, another 2012 - that girl's name was like apocalypse or something.
they all wore team colours, but they wore fishnets or fancy knickers or mad socks in those colours. it was really fun.

we went to thor yesterday. it was brilliant. i really enjoyed it. the design / artistry of asgard (?sp) was amazingly beautiful, and the story was quite fun too.

i went out for a walk this morning. it was roasting, but nice. there was a lovely grove of old trees on my way, but when i went to tramp around in the shade there were wasps, so i left them to it.
i got a sunhat yesterday (a white one) so i could actually be outside and not have my head boiling to death. my hair is kind of lightening, though. there are strands going coppery :)

i don't think i have much other news.

Today's Lunch

This really is turning into a food journal, isn't it? What is it, that these days I get so excited about the things I make? Actually - I have an idea on that. There are no convenience shops around, so I can't just go to the shop and get something for lunch. I also haven't had bread in the freezer for about a month, so I can't do toast. Therefore, I am left to scrounge up whatever I can.

Today's lunch menu: fish cakes (basic)

A small bit of leftover fish - broken into small pieces
A small leftover roast spud - mashed
A small pack of crisps (I used doritos cool ranch) (or if you have breadcrumbs - yeay) - broken into crumbs
A small egg

This lunch is not for people with massive appetites - even though I came out with 2 fish cakes.

Anyway... Beat the egg. In a different bowl, mix the other ingredients. Combine with egg. Make into whatever shape you like... I went with traditional round (roundish, anyway - they are more oval). Fry on medium.
Mine are frying at the moment, so I have no idea how long to cook them for. Make up a cooking time based on how they look.

I just flipped them over - they look and smell delicious - I am so excited about eating these. Nom nom nom. Yum yum yum.

Scriptfrenzy

So, I finished my script with 98 pages. That's good enough for me. It's a kind of fun story, and it ended well. I suppose I could go back and try to pad out some scenes, but honestly, I think I did enough of that while I was writing it.

I think I just don't have it in me to write a 100 page script. I got to 99 pages the last time I tried - I added in blank lines until I got to 100 pages.

Yea, I don't have much else to say.

We're off to watch roller derby next weekend. That should be really fun. It's lordkilljoy's birthday tomorrow. We don't have any plans.

I think that's it, really.

Bread, again. And other things.

I just made the most delicious bread ever. I'm really biased, but it really is delicious. I put in less flour than called for (3 cups instead of 4), and it came out just perfect. It's light, fluffy, with the most delicate crust - crumbly and perfect, like the texture of digestive biscuits. Mmmmmmm. I just had a slice and I want more. I made it so I could have french toast, but it's far too good to use on french toast right now. Maybe tomorrow.

The weather warmed up again. it's 24 outside and 26 in here. I have all the windows open and the ceiling fan on - there's the most delightful breeze blowing around the place.

What other news...I played a bit of Portal 2 on Tuesday evening. It's brilliant. I must get back to it. Actually, if I get to page 73 in my script today I will go play this afternoon. I only have to write one more page (Mmmm, how did I get this bread to be so good?) but it's kind of hard because it's sort of the climax and I think its going to be a short scene. I want it to be more than a page, but at the same time, I don't want it to feel drawn out.
In other game news, I'm still playing World of Warcraft. I joined a new guild recently, and think it will be fun. I'm now spreading my time over 5 characters, all of whom I love to play - they are all completely different to each other too, which is quite amazing.
D&D encounters last night was fun, too. We were a different table, with a good GM and a good mix of classes (fighters and healers - what more do you need; well, okay, a rogue to open locks, but we got on well enough bashing it open).

Right - I really need to get back to my script.


Ingredients

3 cups wheat flour
4 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine, softened (I used spreadable butter - didn't have enough real butter, and no margarine)
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and butter. Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet. Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 30 to 50 minutes.
(I went the full 50 minutes, because my oven is underpowered - I think this is why the crust came out so nice.)

smoothie

mmm, watermelon smoothie. half a watermelon, a bit of lemon juice, a handful of raspberries, and a dash of minced ginger. delicious.

going to enjoy it on the balcony.

Wind

I couldn't go outside today because of the wind. It was gusting gale force 8, and a pretty constant force 6.
... Wind Advisory remains in effect until 8 PM MDT this evening...

A Wind Advisory remains in effect until 8 PM MDT this evening.

* Location... the Santa Fe and Albuquerque Metro areas as well as
new mexicos northeast plains and the Chaves County plains
including Roswell.

* Winds... west winds will shift out of the northwest today with
sustained speeds from 25 to 35 mph and gusts from 45 to 50 mph.

* Timing... wind speeds will continue to strengthen through mid day
then remain strong through the afternoon. Speeds will weaken
below hazardous thresholds around sunset.

* Visibility... blowing dust will drop visibility well below 1 mile
at times in dust prone locations.

* Local impacts... strong Crosswinds will develop on north to south
and northeast to southwest oriented roads... including I-25.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

Take action to secure trash cans... lawn furniture... and other
loose or light weight outdoor objects.


It's kind of rotten, not being able to go outside because of the wind... well, more because of the dust and sand the wind carries.

We went to see Cage the Elephant on Tuesday night. They were good - very lively, and they played the three of their songs I know. Yeay.

My scriptfrenzy is going well enough. I'm still behind (by slightly less than one day), but catching up. If I can manage to get the pages done this weekend, I should be good. Here's hoping my idea lasts another 50 pages. I have a battle to go, then a whole new area, then the climax and the end. And leading up to this was the start, travel, this area and a battle. Hmmm. I may have to get creative with adding in CUT TO: to try to pad it out a bit. Cheating, I know, but my script is a bit action heavy as it is. It needs a bit of breathing space.

I don't have much other news. I want to make muffins, but I have no eggs, and can't go to the shop because of the wind. Ah well.

Hanna

I am too tired even to make a decent post, I just wanted to mention that we went to see Hanna on Saturday night. It was brilliant. One of the better movies I've seen in a while, simply because it was so different. It was an action movie with artistic flair. A beautifully wrought story about a girl coming to terms with who she is.
We were at home afterwards and I wanted to go back and see it again.

I don't know why I'm so tired. I'm trying to get my 3 pages done for scriptfrenzy and there's nothing in my brain, and no energy in my fingers. Blah.

things

Have I mentioned how odd the weather can be here? It's cloudy and blustery here today, but warm. Perfect thunder weather. It almost feels like it could rain, and when I look up at the clouds it is raining. But it's so dry here the drops evaporate before they reach the ground. Madness. A little warm rain shower would be lovely. I can imagine how wonderful the ground would smell.

I'm doing script frenzy this year. I'm on page 15 (almost 16). I'm behind by 5 pages, but if I can do 6 tomorrow and 6 on Friday, I'll have caught up. I'll have to be super disciplined over the weekend to get my 3 pages each day. No Warcraft until I've written enough for the day. Or maybe I can do 6 on Saturday and do the guild run on Sunday. We'll see, I guess.

We got these lovely chocolate sweets in Costco yesterday. Ok, when I say we, I mean lordkilljoy. We got them home, tried them and it turns out that he doesn't like them. They taste exactly like dime bars. So now I have a massive tub of sweets to eat all by myself.

atlanta

I have the wrestlemania theme tune stuck in my head. not really surprising, considering we spent the weekend in atlanta. ah, it was wonderful. not so much for the wrestling, which was fun but i'm not the biggest fan ever. no, it was brilliant because there were fountains and green grass and trees everywhere. the air wasn't at 15% humidity and sitting outside was simply perfect.
apart from wrestlemania, we wandered around the city, went to coke world, ate bison burgers (yummy), hung out, and got to talk to wrestlers in a pub one night. i wanted to go to the zoo, but no train went out that way, and navigating buses is a bit of hassle compared to navigating trains.
it was funny to come back to the yellow ground of albuquerque, but i suppose i'll get used to it again.

in other news, i'm doing script frenzy this year. the objective is to write a 100 page script in the month of april. i have no outline, and just half an idea of a plot, so we'll see how i get on with that.

it's been so long since i last updated, but i can't think of anything else new. i finally got a lovely summer dress, which was white, but i died blue. i've been walking and cycling.

i don't really know what else to say.

lunch

Yum. Asparagus soup and banana/oat muffin for lunch. I feel so healthy. Doubly healthy because I went out for a cycle this morning too - 10km. Go me!

Asparagus soup is funny, because it looks like it shouldn't taste nice - all pea green and creamy. It's only really because it looks like pea soup, and as we all know peas are the bane of existence. But it tastes yummy, all zesty and spicy (because I wasn't watching the amount of pepper - I was too concentrated on turning the pepper grinder) and asparagusy.

I got the recipe on all recipes. And for posterity I'm going to post it here too.



4 servings
Ingredients

1 pound fresh asparagus
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions

Place asparagus and onion in a saucepan with 1/2 cup vegetable broth. Bring the broth to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until the vegetables are tender.
Reserve a few asparagus tips for garnish. Place remaining vegetable mixture in an electric blender and puree until smooth.
Melt butter in the pan that was used for simmering the asparagus and onions. Stir while sprinkling flour, salt, and pepper into the butter. Do not let the flour brown. Allow the mixture to cook only 2 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth and increase the heat. Continue stirring until the mixture comes to a boil.
Stir the vegetable puree and milk into the saucepan. Whisk yogurt into the mixture, followed by lemon juice. Stir until heated through, then ladle into bowls. Garnish with reserved asparagus tips. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.

Om Nom Nom

I just made the most delicious muffins ever (well maybe not ever, but they are certainly one of the nicest (that doesn't involve chocolate) I've ever eaten. I found two recipes and smooshed them together, taking the best bits out of both. They were similar enough that I could do this and be pretty confident things would work out okay. I think the nicest thing about them is how light and moist they are. And they are healthy too :)

Here's the recipe, for anyone interested.

1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar (I used brown sugar)
1 egg
1/2 cup mashed bananas, very ripe
1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup whole wheat flour (my cup was semi-heaped)
1/2 cup oatmeal (mine was heaped; one of the original recipes was 2 cups of flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice


Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg gradually and mix well, beating all the time. Mix in the mashed banana and buttermilk.
Combine the flour, oatmeal, baking powder and spices. Add this to the creamed mixture and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
Divide the batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake for 25 minutes at 200C, or until golden brown (mine turned out a dark golden) and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Immediately remove muffins from the pan. Serve warm (optional).

Makes 12

(I think I need a cooking icon that doesn't involve chocolate cake)

Further to Yesterday

More news. Which conveniently escaped my brain as soon as I started typing. Typical.

So, I got a sunhat. Actually, it's not so much a sun hat as an autumn hat. It's made of black felt and I have an idea that if I wear it out in the sun my head will bake. But it's lovely - 1920s style cloche (there are loads of pictures on google if you want to know what style that is). I'm wearing it now :)

I also got a cake decorating funnel with shaped metal tips - for putting icing on things. Ooh - that was my main news. I made muffins yesterday. I used a kind of modified banana bread recipe and they are gorgeous. This recipe called for egg and butter and they made the muffins come out light and fluffy (well, lighter and fluffier than any other bread I've tried). I got the cake decorating thing, because I think some chocolate frosting on top will make the muffins simply decadent :) nom nom nom. And because I've always wanted to have a go with cake decorating / making cupcakes. And yes, muffins magically turn into cupcakes when you add frosting on top.

I don't have much other news.

I don't know if I've mentioned World of Warcraft on here before, but I've gotten up to level 73 and Wrath of the Lich King stuff, and boy are the quests and storylines amazing. I'm playing alliance (because they feel like a big supportive family, where horde feels like a bunch of selfish individuals) and the storyline involving the 7th legion was fantastic. Totally epic. It's funny, because when it ended, I went on to a new area, and it was back to killing animals and providing food for the local community. It felt so small-time.

However, at the same time I reached the alpine area (can't remember what it's called) lordkilljoy was watching Bear Grylls (Man vs Wild, which is a amazing show - I wish I could be like Bear - he can survive in the wild on nothing but insects and plants he finds along the way) in Alaska, and the terrain was so similar to that in WoW that it almost felt like I'd find Bear just over the next hill. So that helped add some of the missing vitality back into the game.

Yea, I think that's about it.

Phonecalls and Daily Life

Phone calls in this country are the weirdest things ever. I just got a call, saw on the display that it was the Democratic Party and wondered did I have to talk to someone who was canvassing. I didn't. I picked up the phone, said 'hello' and in return got a recorded message telling me to press 1 to call and complain to some guy about cutting movie rights in New Mexico (and therefore jobs). Needless to say, I hung up at that stage, but jeepers, people - I can't imagine how successful your recorded message phone campaign is.

And they love doing that over here. I think I've had about 10 calls in the last 3 months and 2 of them were from real people. The rest were all pre-recorded or a voice telling you to push buttons in order so that they can get their records straight, or something.

*

I had another lovely day yesterday. It was wierd, though, becuase I got woken at 5, and didn't really get back to sleep. At 7, I got up, marvelled at the sun on the balcony, and went painting miniatures. I went to the park again, for about an hour - bliss, though it was slightly colder than Wednesday (there were more clouds). I might go again today, but it's really windy at the moment.

Wise Man's Fear arrived yesterday. Anyone who doesn't know of Patrick Rothfuss should go out and buy both of his books right now. They are amazing. Well, okay, I havn't read Wise Man's Fear yet, but I'm sure it will be good.

For having gotten up so early yesterday, I wasn't that tired. I didn't fall asleep that fast. Last night lordkilljoy was on call and he got called loads of times. So, I guess I'm a bit tired today. I imagine I'll feel it later.

I think I'll make muffins today. I have an interesting recipe involving bananas and spices. Ooh - google recipes is amazing. I put in chicken last night (because that's what I had taken out of the freezer), told it what other ingredients I had, and it came up with ramen (a kind of japanese chicken noodle soup). And the ramen was lovely. Slightly too salty (even though I added no salt - stock cubes and miso must have had loads) but really good. I'd definitely make it again.

I think that's about it. I'm going to go to the shop today (we need butter) and I'm going to buy a sun hat. While letting my parting get burned in Ireland is fine (because it only happens 4 or 5 times in the whole summer), it's already been burned twice, and I don't think constant burn on my head is the best thing ever.

Oh, I reinstalled Oblivion yesterday. I am totally excited about Skyrim and needed something from Bethesda to take the edge off.

Lizard in the Park

I should remind myself that when the thermometer reads 12C in the shade, it's about 24 in the sun.

I discovered a park close to us. I am so happy because of this. I can walk 10 minutes to the park and sit out in the sun and not feel like all my neighbours can spy on me. Yeay. So I went today, brought my book along and read for about an hour. It is seriously hot out there. Okay, I was wearing two layers on top, one of which was a dark long-sleeve, and jeans. Every part of me was boiling.

And I saw a lizard. It was dark greenish-brown with a slightly lighter stripe, and really small. It looked like a newt - about 1cm in diameter and 10cm long (half of which was tail). It was so cute. I only saw it for a moment as it popped its head out of a bush. I wanted it to come out and lie in the sun so I could get a photo of it, but it stayed safely in the bush.

I kind of want to grab a blanket, put on lighter pants and go back to the park. But I'm a little scared I'll get sunburned.

Today's question caught my eye

Is there any song you could listen to 20 times in a day without ever losing interest?

When I find a song I like, I'd easily listen to it 10 times that day. I think 13 is my record. I have to stop myself listening to it more than that, because I'm scared I will lose interest. I never do with the really good songs though. With the truly amazing ones, I can listen to them 30+ times in the first week and still love them. These are the songs that end up with 100+ playcounts on itunes (after a year or so).

There is one song, though, that I listened to about 80 times in 2 months - Another Take, by Cork band, Waiting Room. I've listened to it 132 times in total. And still, every time it comes on I get shivers. I love it.

And since I've not done it in a while - here's a run down of my top 10 most listened to songs. Number of listens in brackets.

Sail to the Moon (Brush the Cobwebs Out of the Sky) - Radiohead (155)
Rose - A Perfect Circle (145)
Son et Lumiere - The Mars Volta (135)
Another Take - Waiting Room (132)
Fingerbib - Aphex Twin (126)
Modern Romance - Yeah Yeah Yeahs (116)
Teenager - Deftones (115)
California Waiting - Kings of Leon (111)
Televators - The Mars Volta (106)
Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie - A Perfect Circle (104) (I honestly don't know how this song is in number 10)

cycle to the park

what is it with me not posting for a while and then making two or three posts in a day? oh well.

yesterday, i wanted to cycle to the park, but it was too windy. i kinda regretted not going, because it was a beautiful day and the warm weather isn't meant to last after the weekend. today was equally beautiful, and slightly less windy (still a bit windy) so i went to the park today. it's 5km away (5.1 according to google, 5.3 according to my bike). it was a wonderful cycle. google chose a route for me that didn't involve too many hills (there was just one steep one). the park was nice, but the moment i got there the sun went in. and it stayed in until i decided to leave.
i was on my bike, just accelerating to go home, when the sun came out. so i plonked myself on some (very prickly, dry) grass and sat in the sun for a bit. i watched small clouds and smaller aeroplanes (airplanes?) cross the sky. eventually the wind got a bit cold, though, so then i went home properly. i have no idea how long i stayed. not that long. i left at quarter past 1, and was home at quarter past 3. i was cycling for 45 minutes. so that makes... an hour and a bit. mad.
it was lovely to sit outside in the warm sunshine, though.

right so. i'm going to go now.

chipmunks

There's chipmunks or something in the ditch across from our balcony. they are so cute - like little squirrels with stripes. I just looked them up on wikipedia - they are chipmunks. how cute. Wikipedia describes them as squirrels with stripes - that's so funny.

here are some photos

Spring is giving us a taste of its wonderfulness

I've been watching the weather for the last 2 weeks - watching today's forecast go from 17 to 11 to 14 to 19 to 13. Seems the weather people have a hard time forecasting temperatures. But since that first 17, I've been looking forward to today, because from that first 17, I believed today would be wonderful.

Today dawned (well, I have no idea how it dawned, but when I got up at 9 it was...) cloudy. And I felt cheated. The forecast had settled on 18, but what good was it if it was cloudy?

Roll on a few hours and the clouds had all been burned away. So I went outside, and I stayed outside for 2 hours. I didn't want to come in. I went for a walk, and then came home and took my bike out for a stroll-cycle*. It was wonderful. Warm, sunny, the most refreshing breeze. The sound of dogs barking, a plane flying around somewhere. It felt and smelled and sounded like summer. I had to keep reminding myself that this was spring and summer would be unbearable, so enjoy it now. And that's what I think I'll do.

I got slightly sunburned yesterday. The kind of burn that heals overnight. But still - we were out for about and hour and a half yesterday (about 40 minutes spend stilling outside having lunch - it was amazing).

I have the balcony door open and the kitchen window open and there's a very light breeze going through the place. I have griddle bread on the pan, and everything is good. The funny thing is, our little thermometer is only reading 14.

Actually, I meant to add - my walk was to the shop to buy sun cream and aftersun. Hee.


*a stroll-cycle is one where you pedal the bear minimum to keep yourself going. you let gravity do most of your work.

My Writing Area

My computer desk faces a wall, a depressing, grey wall. Today I fixed that by putting these photos up, and brightening up the whole space a bit.
The sculptures are by Rik Allen. They are pretty cool, and interesting to have in front of me whenever I look away from my computer.

I don't have much other news.

another another cold update

okay - last update. it turns out our heating was broken (i had no idea). a man just came to look at the water tank and he said he fixed it and that in 2 hours i can turn on the heating. amazing. and there was me just having the heating off because i thought it was inefficient.
but at least we should be able to get the place a bit warm tonight. and maybe i can have a shower. i skipped a shower this morning because it was way too cold.

I'm finally warm

So, now I'm wearing a scarf and a sleeping bag from my waist down and i am finally warm. my fingers and nose are still cold, but at least i'm not shivering anymore. i'm thinking i'll try the heating again this evening, because the place will be doubly cold if i leave it off all day today and tomorrow.

it seems it's going to be freezing until next week, and remaining very cold for the next few weeks. roll on spring and warm temps.

another cold update

The heating has stopped heating up the place now. The temperature is not going higher than 14, so i turned the heating off, because it was doing nothing but creating a draft. i actually think i'll start to feel warmer now. i can heat the little bit of air around me and that can work as insulation. if it's going to be this cold tomorrow, i might consider relocating to a café or something.

i might make something with bucket-loads of chilli for lunch. and something really warm.

i'm cold

okay, now i am very cold. i've had the heating on for three hours and it's only 14 degrees in here. i have on the amazing fuzzy jumper of central heating and it's barely working to keep me warm. my legs are freezing, my fingers are freezing. my nose is cold - every breath in is cold. i wonder would i be better off standing outside in the sun. i wish the apartment didn't face north.

It is cold

Sure enough, it got to -20 last night. I'm just back from a wander around in -18 temperature. It wasn't that bad. I had 6 layers on my top, knee-high socks, jeans, 2 pairs of gloves, a scarf around my face and a hat. The only place that wasn't layered up was a small strip around my thighs, which is very cold.

So, -18 with sunshine is very comfortable (far too hot for 6 layers, actually). -18 in the shade is okay - i wouldn't want to stay out in it all day - at least not wearing jeans. -2 on a damp, windy night in ireland is far worse. the cold here is a weak sort of cold - timid. cold in ireland cuts with the sharpest of blades, then twists that blade inside you. here the cold just sort of hangs around and waves at you like someone who's waving because they feel they should, not out of any real conviction.

it's 10 degrees in the apartment. i have 3 layers on, including fingerless gloves. my arms above the gloves are cold, though. i might put on some arm warmers. arm warmers are go. my arms are warm now. now i feel like putting my hat back on.
hmmm. maybe the cold here has a lingering effect. no - i think it's just 'cause the apartment is so cold.

anyway, i'm going to go now.

Writing Troubles

This week has been slower than most. Usually by Wednesday I've picked up my pace after the weekend, and things start to get written. Not this week. I'm only a thousand and a bit words into this chapter (and my 5,000 per week). I have a lot to get done tomorrow and Friday, and I'm just not inspired by this scene at all. It's fine, but it seems so forced. It's a way to get from A to B. I've changed things around a bit and it's better than my original idea, but still.

I like Lj's spring banner. It's bright and cute. And it suits the rest of the site.

It got down to -11 last night. There is ice on the inside of the window again. I went out for a bit today (about 5 minutes) and my nose and fingers were freezing. It was -9 at that stage. It's -10 now. Brrrr. But it's sunny and the snow is melting. Wait... the snow is melting at -10? How does that work? The forecast is giving -20 for tonight. -20. Seriously.
I put an extra blanket on the bed last night - it was doubled over so that was two extra layers, and I was toasty, but not roasting. So if it's going to be double what it was from 0 last night tonight (writing how you speak doesn't really work at all - just focus on the next few words), I'm going to have to put on 4 blankets or something.
Earlier this week the forecast was giving 17 for later in the month. That's gone now. 11 is the highest. No, wait. It's 14.

Can you tell I'm just wasting time now?

What other news? We went walking on volcanoes on Saturday. It was good. The climate here is amazing. It's like being on another planet. The grass is yellow and the sky is the deepest shade of blue.

Right, so. I'll go now.