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Notes & Queries
I spent about an hour this afternoon standing on the roof in the October sunlight, listening to classical music and throwing maple keys by the handful into the wind. It was possibly one of the most self-consciously aesthetic experiences of my life. And I'm not sorry!
...that may be the most aesthetic joy I get out of this autumn, though. The lollydoodle weather we've been having means that the sugar maple tree, which usually goes up in a glorious flame of red and yellow about now, instead turned this bilious yellow color with leprous brown splotches and dropped its leaves two weeks early.
And the walnut tree had no walnuts at all (less upset about that myself, but the squirrels aren't too happy.)
Yesterday, in the spirit of the autumn weather, we went to the Renaissance Festival, for the first time in several years. ...it's changed. It's not allowed to change! Although they do appear to be making (a hesitant and halting) attempt to do some actual living history there - never thought I'd see the day. We got to watch a midwife coach a (male) audience volunteer through a birth! And Mother Shipton showed us how to tell the fortune using cabbages, and gave me a golden Brussels Sprout from her own hand!
hmm, what else.
Oh! So if anyone was still wondering, I decided I'm not having a Halloween party: RL friends informed me that other!friend had called dibs (and then other!friend rescheduled for Guy Fawkes Day instead, but by that point it was too late for me to work on one.) Maybe I will have a "middle of January" party instead or something.
...I kind of desperately want to go to the polka hall sometime this autumn, though. Only it's boring if you go with people who don't dance, and most of the people I would usually drag along places (including myself) are the kind who just sit awkwardly on the sidelines and fail to goad each other into actually going out on the floor. Anyone who actually dances want to come polka? I need it for fic research, honest!
I am thinking of doing a safari into Baltimore in the next few weeks, while I'm dreaming of actually going places. I finally made it to the Peabody Library for the first time a few weeks ago, and it is this gorgeous flight of Victorian idealism. ...tho' I failed to figure out the logic under which the books were shelved, and it had this strange deserted feeling to it - the only other people in this huge atrium were two grad students on their laptops, tucked back in hidden alcoves, and one man with a broom and dustpan, and the row upon row of balconies filled with books, going up story after story, were completely dark and closed off and had the look of a place where no foot had trod for decades. (I'm sure that's not true, but. I need to go back sometime with an actual book I want to read from it, and figure out who to talk to to get the book - I know there are good reasons for it, but I hate libraries where you can't get the books yourself.)
And I kind of want to at least check out the Occupy protests, because I will kick myself if I don't; beside I wouldn't be able to tease my mom any more about how she totally missed the '60s. Apparently the local county homeless center has been giving people bus fare to get up there when they don't have any beds free - not out of any particular political fellow-feeling, but because at least it's a place where they can sleep in relative safety, eat, and maybe someone would notice if they died. Which, again, irregardless of political fellow-feeling, that is enough to convince me that the protesters are on to something.
Plus this weekend we're driving up to a family wedding (for one of the annoyingly Republican branches of the family, boo hiss) and that would at least give me something to talk about. :P (I spent the evening of Coming Out Day having dinner over at Aunt and Uncle's, and discussing Uncle's deep moral dilemma over leaving the Presbyterian Church because they changed their rules about the sex lives of their clergy. No I didn't come out - I think they're about half-convinced I'm a lesbian anyway, and that may be more effective in the long run than trying to explain.)
So that's what's going on here. What's everybody else up to? (Not updating DW today, it appears! :D)
...that may be the most aesthetic joy I get out of this autumn, though. The lollydoodle weather we've been having means that the sugar maple tree, which usually goes up in a glorious flame of red and yellow about now, instead turned this bilious yellow color with leprous brown splotches and dropped its leaves two weeks early.
And the walnut tree had no walnuts at all (less upset about that myself, but the squirrels aren't too happy.)
Yesterday, in the spirit of the autumn weather, we went to the Renaissance Festival, for the first time in several years. ...it's changed. It's not allowed to change! Although they do appear to be making (a hesitant and halting) attempt to do some actual living history there - never thought I'd see the day. We got to watch a midwife coach a (male) audience volunteer through a birth! And Mother Shipton showed us how to tell the fortune using cabbages, and gave me a golden Brussels Sprout from her own hand!
hmm, what else.
Oh! So if anyone was still wondering, I decided I'm not having a Halloween party: RL friends informed me that other!friend had called dibs (and then other!friend rescheduled for Guy Fawkes Day instead, but by that point it was too late for me to work on one.) Maybe I will have a "middle of January" party instead or something.
...I kind of desperately want to go to the polka hall sometime this autumn, though. Only it's boring if you go with people who don't dance, and most of the people I would usually drag along places (including myself) are the kind who just sit awkwardly on the sidelines and fail to goad each other into actually going out on the floor. Anyone who actually dances want to come polka? I need it for fic research, honest!
I am thinking of doing a safari into Baltimore in the next few weeks, while I'm dreaming of actually going places. I finally made it to the Peabody Library for the first time a few weeks ago, and it is this gorgeous flight of Victorian idealism. ...tho' I failed to figure out the logic under which the books were shelved, and it had this strange deserted feeling to it - the only other people in this huge atrium were two grad students on their laptops, tucked back in hidden alcoves, and one man with a broom and dustpan, and the row upon row of balconies filled with books, going up story after story, were completely dark and closed off and had the look of a place where no foot had trod for decades. (I'm sure that's not true, but. I need to go back sometime with an actual book I want to read from it, and figure out who to talk to to get the book - I know there are good reasons for it, but I hate libraries where you can't get the books yourself.)
And I kind of want to at least check out the Occupy protests, because I will kick myself if I don't; beside I wouldn't be able to tease my mom any more about how she totally missed the '60s. Apparently the local county homeless center has been giving people bus fare to get up there when they don't have any beds free - not out of any particular political fellow-feeling, but because at least it's a place where they can sleep in relative safety, eat, and maybe someone would notice if they died. Which, again, irregardless of political fellow-feeling, that is enough to convince me that the protesters are on to something.
Plus this weekend we're driving up to a family wedding (for one of the annoyingly Republican branches of the family, boo hiss) and that would at least give me something to talk about. :P (I spent the evening of Coming Out Day having dinner over at Aunt and Uncle's, and discussing Uncle's deep moral dilemma over leaving the Presbyterian Church because they changed their rules about the sex lives of their clergy. No I didn't come out - I think they're about half-convinced I'm a lesbian anyway, and that may be more effective in the long run than trying to explain.)
So that's what's going on here. What's everybody else up to? (Not updating DW today, it appears! :D)
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(Also there's "people who used to polka a lot but whose bodies have failed them" - the people I went with when I first learned about the place - and "people who swing dance but would turn up their noses at a real polka hall." I guess I need more RL friends.)
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One of them had a sign that said "Maintain Radical Ambiguity."
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I wish I had the money to give to the Occupy DC people, but not this month at least :(
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I don't have money, being, you know, marginally employed and broke, but I totally have a winter-rated sleeping bag that needs some use and time on my hands... I am considering it, depending on how comfortable I feel if I drop by.
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(on a related note, I also learned that kale is huge in northwestern Germany, apparently; since
allmost Polish culture is either German or Russian, I plan to use this as a lever to get Monique's family to eat more kale at Thanksgiving. Plus, according to NPR, kale is the new filet mignon...)