nightdog_barks: (Looking West)
And the first day of 2019 is grey and dreary. Weather guys say there is a chance for us of freezing rain tomorrow morning, but our actual temperature is supposed to hover right around 32 degrees (0 Celsius) so I'm hoping it won't turn into a full-blown ice storm.

Layla did not care for the neighborhood firecrackers last night. They were mostly small bangs, but someone had what sounded like M-80s and they were pretty loud. Someone also set off multiple strings of what I assume were Black Cats, so it sounded like a constant pop pop pop pop pop.

I don't do New Year's resolutions, so I'll just say that I hope to read as many books this year as I did last, and to finish at least one Housefic. So ... we'll see. *g*
nightdog_barks: A double track leads through a field of snow into a dark forest (Path into snow)
And it was a nice last day of the year, sunny and almost warm. I didn't get around to making a cheesecake -- maybe next weekend. I did read 74 books this year, which is something. :D

2019, be better.
nightdog_barks: Illustration of two bluebirds perched in a holly tree (Christmas bluebirds)
And it is a damp, chilly day here, with rain by tomorrow. A merry Christmas to all those celebrating today. :D

Solstice

Dec. 21st, 2018 05:54 pm
nightdog_barks: (Moon Boy)
And I have to say, the moon has been absolutely beautiful the last couple of nights. Just huge and BRIGHT and amazing.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.


:D
nightdog_barks: (Dame Judi)
Oh my god I am in such a cranky mood today. I will blame it on not sleeping well, and when I did sleep, I had a profoundly creepy dream about fixing locks on doors and a small blonde child standing in the hallway telling me I'd better get them fixed before she came around again. WHAT.

Also I just want to say the "singing packages" commercial from Amazon is weird and icky.
nightdog_barks: Well-dressed lady holding a pince-nez to her eyes (Enquiring lady)
Last night was the last night of Hanukkah, so here's a pic of our menorah from the night before!
Under the cut ...  )

Anyway, that's our menorah. I think it's brushed aluminum, and it has a really nice weight to it. I like it a lot -- a whole lot more than the one we had before, which was this little dinky thing with the candle-holders way too close together, so it was an absolute bitch to get the shammas candle in and out.

Need to order Christmas stuff for the friends and family who get Christmas stuff. Need to send out holiday cards. Still have not decided about a tree. Sigh.

Was deeply, seriously underwhelmed by the Doctor Who season finale. :-(
nightdog_barks: Illustration of woman with parasol walking against the rain by Alison Jay (Rain lady)
Grey and drizzly and cold. There should be wolves howling on the moor, although I think for us it would be coyotes singing in the marsh. There was some snow west of us, around Wichita Falls, but it's not going to make it here (I think).

Made chocolate-molasses cookies yesterday and they turned out pretty well. Recipe is under the cut, with notes. Read more... )

The wreath came for the front door and I put it up -- it's one of those that's got tiny lights woven through it, and it looks really nice when it's lit up.

Numbers

Dec. 4th, 2018 06:35 pm
nightdog_barks: A white heron stands, looking to the right (Medieval heron)
1) I just finished writing in a comment-reply to yesterday's post that I went back and looked at my Tumbler archive to see if anything had gotten flagged. Yep. A post of multiple photos of peoples' hands holding a small mirror, reflecting things like ... the sky. Nothing explicit. A post of still shots from American Gods, one of which included the famous scene of Marilyn Monroe's skirt blowing up from the pavement vent. Did I mention it was a famous scene? And a post of a Japanese netsuke carving of ... a puppy. All reblogs. Nothing graphic and/or explicit in any of them. I'm sure there were more flagged, but those were just the first three I saw. YEAH, THIS IS GONNA WORK OUT GREAT. Omg.

2) Read a (very) short novel by the Australian writer Shirley Barrett, called The Bus on Thursday, and I am still not sure what happened. It's about a woman whose life is turned upside down by a diagnosis of breast cancer, and she ends up moving to a tiny town in the middle of nowhere to be the replacement schoolteacher because the tiny town's previous schoolteacher has MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED. And this tiny town has some ... very strange residents, and nothing is as it seems, and honestly, I had to think about the ending for quite a while before I decided that after a certain point in the book, there is a very strong whiff of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge shenanigans going on. But I don't think that's ALL that's going on, and while the book is very funny and very creepy in parts, I thought it was a whole lot of confusing, and I was very much in the "What in tarnation did I just read???" camp.

3) I splurged a little bit and bought a couple of boxes of beeswax Hanukkah candles for the menorah this year, and omg I love them. It's funny, though -- the candles from one of the boxes melt WAY FASTER than the candles from the other box (two different manufacturers). I have not yet decided about a Christmas tree, but I did order a wreath for the door.

Three things: post.
nightdog_barks: (Oak Leaves)
A bright, clear sky and a bit cooler today, with much lower humidity. Disappointed that after all the weather alerts last night, we ended up with only a small sprinkle of rain. :-P

Hanukkah starts tomorrow evening. Christmas Eve is in three weeks. I need to get a wreath for the front door and decide if I'm going to put up a tree this year. I haven't done that in a while; maybe I will, even if it is a hassle.

Ugh, blah because I did not sleep well last night.
nightdog_barks: (Cornucopia)
The sun was out most of the day but now it's getting cloudy. I was awake at about six this morning and the air was fragrant with woodsmoke. Nothing seemed to be on fire, so I went back to sleep. Mister Nightdog told me later that it was our neighbor J.D. (I don't know his full name; he's just J.D.) two doors down, smoking turkeys.

Currently reading Michelle Obama's memoir, Becoming, which is shockingly good. I mean, yes, I know she's a smart woman who can write and ... I guess I just wasn't expecting it to be THIS good. It's completely absorbing, and touching and funny and simply a terrific read. And no, apparently no ghostwriter.

Otherwise I am kind of ugh today. Bah, humbug.
nightdog_barks: Painting of a black swan on a gold background (Black swan)
It has been raining on and off (mostly) on all day. Everything is drenched again, and temps are fairly chilly. All of which makes me question just how many trick-or-treaters we'll get tonight. Nevertheless, we're prepared -- I went out and got candy yesterday, when it was so warm I could've turned on my car's a/c.

EDITING TO ADD that we ended up with 24 trick-or-treaters, which is actually a whole lot more than I'd thought we'd have. Or maybe I should say 24 1/2, since one of the "kids" was a Chihuahua (as in dog), dressed as a hot dog. It was adorable. :D
nightdog_barks: Dorothy and Toto, standing on the road to the Emerald City (Follow the yellow brick road)
And it's already better than 2017 because the SUN IS OUT OMG. It's still below freezing (25 degrees right now, -3.9 Celsius), but that bright, bright sun makes all the difference.

We had a nice, quiet New Year's Eve. We watched Live from Lincoln Center -- the New York Philharmonic was doing a salute to the Broadway music of Leonard Bernstein, with Aaron Tveit, Annaleigh Ashford, Christopher Jackson, and Laura Osnes singing. They did selections from On the Town and West Side Story (although no "America," alas), and symphonic numbers from Candide and others. It was excellent programming.

And the first book I'm reading for 2018 is Mohsin Hamid's Exit West. Read the first 60 or so pages last night and really liked it.
nightdog_barks: (Oak Leaves)
The weather the last few days has been positively gothic. Grim, dark skies, chill winds, lingering damp ... and now we have a chance of freezing drizzle New Year's Eve through Monday morning. WHAT FUN. :-P

Started reading Michael Frayn's Copenhagen last night. It has been a long time since I've read a play, but this one is pretty easy because (so far) there's only three characters -- Niels Bohr, his wife Margrethe, and their erstwhile friend, Werner Heisenberg. The strange thing is, there are no stage directions at all, so the characters just sort of ... hang there in space. Still, it's a good read and reminds me in places of Tom Stoppard.

Cooking a pot of (pinto) beans with ham for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we'll have our little smoked chicken (literally little -- only a two-pound bird), and then I don't know what for New Year's day besides black-eyed peas (traditional for good luck/money in the new year).
nightdog_barks: A white rabbit on its hind legs, a golden ribbon around its neck (Dancing rabbit)
It was chilly, grey, and damp all day here, and it is supposed to do nothing but get colder. (I will pause while my Canadian friends exhaust themselves laughing. :D)

We had a nice, quiet Christmas. We didn't do much; it's just the two of us (three, counting Layla) so we exchanged gifts (books and warm slippers and fleecy pullovers) and roasted a (store-bought) duck and drank champagne. Sadly, the duck was pretty sub-par this year (old?) but the wine made up for it. I think I'll get a smoked chicken for New Year's Eve.

I am reading my 58th book of the year -- Mary Berry's Recipe for Life: The Autobiography. Yes, we are Great British Baking Show fans, and this book is just an absolutely delightful read. I don't know if I'll get to squeeze a 59th book in before the end of the year, but I also don't want to feel pressured to finish something.

Watched the Doctor Who Christmas Special last night and really liked it, although I fell out of love with the series this year and didn't watch very much of it. I'm very interested to see what Jodie Whittaker will do with the role. Oh, and I also watched Logan the other night, and holy shit. I had gathered that it was not a run-of-the-mill X-Men movie, but I was very surprised by the film's themes of aging and loss, and by what a dark story it was.
nightdog_barks: (Cornucopia)
Happy November Thursday, for everybody else. :D

It's just the two of us (and Layla!) so our Thanksgivings are pretty quiet, but later today we'll have turkey breast and some other good stuff. Mister Nightdog_barks is in the kitchen making cranberry sauce. *g*

I've been using Ancestry.com -- I go months and months in between research, so when I sign in again there'll always be something new. This time the new item is my maternal great-grandmother's marriage license/certificate. She was married March 2nd, 1876, in Kentucky. She was sixteen when she wed, had an absolute BOATLOAD of kids (a couple of whom died very young), and passed away in 1941 in Texas, aged 82. When she was born, James Buchanan was President, Victoria was Queen, Osahito (Kōmei) was Emperor of Japan, and Friedrich Wilhelm IV was King of Prussia. :D

Profile

nightdog_barks: (Default)
nightdog_barks

August 2019

S M T W T F S
     1 23
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

What I'm Reading Now

Fiction
The Blinds, by Adam Sternbergh

Nonfiction
Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops, by James Robert Parish

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Syndicate

RSS Atom
Page generated Jul. 10th, 2025 09:35 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios