Happy Solstice!

Today is the winter solstice... the shortest day of the year and the longest night!

Many ancient cultures (and modern cultures that remember) celebrated this day of darkness by celebrating... light! As a heathen savage, I have my own solstice ritual wherein I hang moons and stars from my ceiling.

My stars and evergreen boughs. Check out the gorgeous drawing of Legolas, Aragorn, and Arwen. My immensely talented souls sister, Tara, drew that for me! :)

A close up. Yes, my ceiling is covered with pictures of Johnny Depp.

Why? My ancestors (the Celts and Britons, amongst a few others) celebrated the return of light on the winter solstice. Celebrating the stars and the rebirth of light was a cause for much merriment, and a little anxiety in case things didn't go as well as they should and spring didn't return after all. John and Caitlin Matthews have written lots of books that delve into Celtic and British pagan culture.

These pictures of the moon were all taken on December 12th, when the moon was the closest to the earth that its been all year, appearing even larger on the horizon.

As with most pagan (and I use that term hesitantly since it's like saying "African" -- it canvasses a huge number of individual beliefs and cultures) holidays, the winter solstice celebrates the sacred act of birth.


The Christmas song "The Holly and the Ivy" is a Christianized version of a pagan song. We no longer have the original lyrics, but the holly and the ivy are symbolic of the female and the male, and the song sings of each growing and mingling and seeking dominance. Both plants also remain green throughout the winter, symbolizing everlasting life -- the same symbology of the evergreen Christmas tree which we welcome into our homes each year, and adorn with light. Yep. Even Christians worship trees!


Well, I'm off to bless a yule log with some wine then throw it into the fire.

I hope you're all well and wish you a solstice full of light!

A random picture of a gingerbread man that my classmate's 3-year-old son decorated and gave to me at one ofmy professors' parties. "He's decapitated and eviscerated," I commented.

"Just how I knew you'd like it," my classmate said.

"Emasculated, too," my friend Max pointed out. Good times man, good times!

Mackenzie's Momma -- I'm so glad you liked the pictures! :D And I think I have heard of "semester at sea"... I know some of the tall ships also take people on for a month or two. It's something I'd definitely like to try! And I'd love to see your snow pictures. :)

Niña

The lighthouse

I promised to put these pictures up ages ago, though I don't think anyone else cares.

The day after Halloween, November 1st, 2008, my mom, dad, sister and I went down to the local harbor to see the Nina -- a replica of the ship upon which Christopher Columbus sailed on hi expedition to India in 1492. Yeah, you know. The one where the poor retard landed in America and called the Indians well... Indians.

I should probably share the fact that I am absoultely in love with tall ships and everything about them. I have studies Sailing (both on my own and in a class) and have sailed on a tall ship twice -- The Hawaiian Chieftain. I love that ship. Like, LOVE. Few experiences or sensations in my life can compare to the thrill and excitement I feel as soon as I hear the creaking of the blocks and feel the sway of the sea beneath my feet. Passions like this, inexplicable in this life, must come from past lives. Even as a child I loved to listen to the doors of the barn blowing in the breeze, creaking like a ship...

All photos were either taken by me or Alex.

Docked

Beautiful

:)

Spars

Anchor

Pumpkin... it was the day after Halloween!

:D

Rope has never looked so beautiful.

Alex is either cold or wondering why I'm taking her picture. Or both. But her lovely eyes match the sea!

If you look closely, you can see the coast guard practicing in the stormy seas.

Probably taking the above picture!

Yes, water was on the lens. It was raining!

The coast guard

Pelicans hanging out on a downed piling from the looks of it

coast guard again

big waves!

Okay. I have reach much of Christopher Columbus' diary/journal. He started to go insane around the 3rd of 4th voyage. Now I see why. Look how roomy his quarters were. Prisoners had more luxury!

block

I somehow doubt they had this on the real ship... but am glad they have it on the replica!

There was a crab on one of the pilings on the dock. A crab. Yes, there are often starfish and barnacles and even muscles, but crabs? I'm afraid of crabs and they hate me! I never even ate one and they hated me! Well, a year ago after I realized that crab is yummy, I decided to fight back. I now eat them. Though maybe they hate me because once a friend and I combed the beach, blowing up their empty shells with bottle rockets. We probably desecrated a graveyard or something. Though don't worry -- we were smart. At one point we gave an anemone in a tide pool the stick of the rocket to hold then lit it. See? The anemone fired it, not us! I think it liked it.

So pretty!

More pelicans. They kind of scare me ever since I saw one bite another's throat open in August as they were fighting over scraps of fish a fisherman was feeding them...

The beach

On the drive back, I filmed some of the surf, a coast guard person in it, and some California gulls in flight!

I would say all the excitement turned me retarded, but I kind of always look like that...

And here are some awesome pictures from that day and the next!

The barn looks alien

The Toot looks possessed... but then again, maybe she is. Look what she did to that soccer ball!

Kate, Mickey, Teyla

Our house looks spooky!

I also tried out a new recipe the next day -- pumpkin meringue pie!

And my dad made lots of yummy donuts!

Mackenzie's Momma -- I'm glad you enjoyed them! Hmm... I should ask Mathilde if she's seen any on those topics! ;) Are you done with your semester? And I'd love the recipe! :D

French Funnies

I just thought I'd share some funny political cartoons my French friend, Mathilde, translated for me. They certainly made me laugh! They're a few months old now but our news hasn't changed much.

Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

On the Economic Crisis

On Obama's Election

And... I've finally finished my paper! Now all I have is two end of the year parties/classes and a heinous holistic grading session and I'm done for the semester.

I will soon post pictures of Christopher Columbus' Nina because they have been sitting on my laptop, taking up room for far too long now!

Mackenzie's Momma -- Those actually sound really good! LOL :D

Evil Cookies and Randomness

I learned a very valuable lesson today.

Yesterday was my last day of class, and it's high time I set to work on my final paper for California Literature. I've already tracked down a dozen journal articles to read and digest and either agree or disagree with in my paper about Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona, however the idea of filling so many blank pages with rhetoric always makes me cringe.

The other night I was hungry, so I looked up cookie recipes online, and found several good ones, including one that claimed it was the best sugar cookie recipe ever. The accompanying pictures of cute frosted Christmas tree cookies were too tempting. I knew I had to try them.

So instead of delving right into my research, I decided to indulge and procrastinate by testing out the recipe with a small batch. I'd then use the rest of the afternoon to do research and begin my paper. It was such a neat little plan. Only that I'd forgotten that I'm retarded.

While reading the recipe, my often-numerically-dyslexic mind reversed two key ingredients, making me read:

4 cups of sugar
2 eggs

Instead of what it really was:

2 cups of sugar
4 eggs

Yes, I mixed in the full 4 cups of sugar, waiting for it to turn "creamy" before I realized my mistake. I felt like crying. I'd ruined it! On top of my university having to cut a bunch of our classes, my state being in a 40 BILLION dollar hole, the auto bailout failing, and some asshole in the Illinois senate threatening to bring Obama down with his despicable behavior, I had ruined my batch of cookies. Enya's And Winter Came playing in the background seemed a lament for my mistakes...

I calmed down and looked miserably to Teyla, who just looked like she thought I was a freak. I realized that I had three options... be a wasteful wasichu and dump the butter and way too much sugar and start again, try to salvage the dough by turning it into another cookie recipe or... double all the other ingredients and make a ginormous batch of cookies I'd never tried. I went for the latter.

Then, of course, my retardation kicked in again, and I realized I was spooning baking soda into the batter when I needed baking poweder. What the hell is the difference between those two, anyway?

I was using our largest mixing bowl, yet dough was flying all over. My Sirius Black shirt and my face were already covered with flour, so I dumped all the dough into a huge salad bowl and continued to try to mix it. When it required chilling, I roughly shoved the thing into the freezer since the refrigerator was full.

The fatty bowl of dough

Luckily, the dough was easy to work with, and rolled out well. Still, cutting out the bastards took me all afternoon, and the cookies became progressively thicker as I attempted to be rid of the dough sooner.


Needing to get out my frustration, I took a run and the sky after sunset was beautiful.



But then it was back to work, slaving away over the cookies. At least they're pretty and taste yummy! But what will I do with them all? Uh... I know my professors said to not bring any food to contribute to their end of the year dinners/parties, but I'm coming with cookies, and am going to pretend that I made them to bring because I'm nice.

Look at them all!

...and even more

I think this was all a roundabout way to teach me not to procrastinate! After I finish this entry I'll begin my research again, just in case!

Here's some random news:

I'm soon going to be able to add "published photographer" to my list of accomplishments! One of my photos was accepted by the literary journal REED. :)

And... I love Stuart Townsend.

Stuart Townsend

Why? He's talented, he's Irish (and doing what he can to save the beautiful and sacred Hill of Tara), he has an awesome voice, alluring dark brown eyes, and he was a way sexier Vampire than Edward could ever dream to be. And I've never even seen Queen of the Damned.

I read Sean Astin's book There And Back Again about his experience with Lord of the Rings, and his passages about Stuart (who was originally cast as Aragorn then let go the day before filming began because they suddeny decided he was too young for the role) are beautifully hilarious. The poor man probably doesn't realize his own homoeroticism when describing his would-be co-star.

So here's a video of him as Anne Rice's Lestat. I haven't seen the film, since I avoid Vampire media in general for the sake of maintaing my own vision of Vampires since I met one in a dream once and would like to write about him, but this music video is lovely!

Mackenzie's Momma -- Thanks for the link! I checked it out... sounds like you had a great time, and I can't believe Hewlett teased you like that! You poor thing. ;)
Tracie -- Thanks! And I have sad news. The kitty in the pictures, Jack, sadly passed away yesterday. :(

Happy Late Thanksgiving!

Look at this freak!

Wow, I can't believe it was only a week ago! I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!

We went to my aunt and uncle's house. In celebration of my screenwriting award, I brought a yummy treat to the dinner. Check it out!

See's Candies sure are pretty!

We also swung by this rich house my uncle and brother are working on. It was neat to see how the more luxurious live! Though on the way back... I stuck my head out the window and impersonated Daniel Radcliffe.

Yes, one of the women I shouted at raised her fist and shook it in agreement before she even heard what I'd said!

Part of the annual threat to my poor aunt and uncle who live down the road.


This is their sweet kitty who is slowly leaving this world. Isn't she pretty?

Jack Jack

My family has the tradition of going for a "Money Walk" after Thanksgiving dinner, in which coins mysteriously rain from the sky and the kids get a bit of spare change. Or at least it started out that way. Now it's become an annual celebration of capitalism where the most ruthless gets the coin.

On the Walk, posing as Lucy and Carol, two of our fictional characters who work in an office and like to take tourist pictures. Lucy's eyes are always closed and she always has a weird hand contortion. Carol usually smiles hugely with a peace sign.

Though during the Money Walk, Alex took one of the best pictures of me that I've ever seen. Seriously. It's beautiful.



The dessert spread.



And here's the delicious and beautiful cheesecake pumpkin pie that Alex made.




And the apple pie my mommy made.


And... how much pie I attempted to eat. Unsuccessfully.


Saturday after Thanksgiving, we once more gathered together for the annual festivity of murdering a Douglas Fir Tree.


This year the Toot came along to help us pick.


I have no idea why I look like the evil giant in the Ewok movie, Caravan for Courage, other than, well, I must always.

Sisters!

Teyla Toot!

Bigfoot!

Bigfoot turned into an alien!

The victim!

Well, I need to go running now, but knew I also needed to post so I could get these pictures off my laptop!

Today's song is "One More Day" by Sinéad O'Connor. Enjoy!

"One More Day"

Mackenzie's Momma -- LOL yes, please do send me the link! :D

theincrediblemo -- You're almost there!