summer things

HELLO AUGUST!

So far August is hot and humid
and let's say d r y
busy but also vacation
ETC.

SOME AUGUST THINGS:

• I ordered a mattress from the internet and I love it. (old mattress was like trying to go to sleep but instead having a tiny monster made of springs softly punch me with its rock fists.) More on this in the future, in case you also have a mattress monster punching you with rock fists. 
• that panorama beach picture above that doesn't quite fit is from July.
• I've been listening to Rock Steady by No Doubt for the first time in ages.  SO MANY HITS. 

TOMATO TIME. They're coming on heavy right now. It's at least this many every other day.




Pretty little butterfly that came to visit. I like to think it's because of my bee/butterfly watering station, but let's be honest: it's probably the flowers.

Bee/butterfly watering station: take a dish (I used a regular old terra cotta flower pot saucer) fill it with rocks (I used agates and jasper and whatever else I dragged home from the beach) and then fill it with water! The rocks give those bees/butterflies a place to stand to get a drink. I'm having to rescue fewer bees from the birdbath! Downside: the cat LOOOOVES drinking from it so I have to fill it up at least twice a day. But it makes me feel good to do something for these little guys in this punishing heat.

twelve!

1. I really like the new flickr app and the tweaking they've done to the main site

2. Sleep! I need to go to bed earlier. Is there a cure for farting around on the internet?

3. twelves! I always like dates with the same number or a number run (9/10/11 or whatever) even though it's just a NUMBER with no particular significance. Even so, it makes me think 'hey, look at that' and it's not like I'm making lottery bets or life decisions based on it, so don't rain on my parade, Neil deGrasse Tyson!

4. My Christmas cards are almost done, although they're not very christmassy. Holiday cards? Winter cards?

5. the cat is on my arm, purr/snoring as I type this.

6. I started Diving Belles and it's good, but my brain is craving something trashy. Hang in there, Brain!

7. I wish it would snow.

8. I've been making a bunch of stuff out of supplies already on hand. this feels FANTASTIC. I sense a theme for 2013. More on this at a later date -  I'm still rolling it over in my head.

9. Nashville, New Girl, and The Mindy Show: I'm enjoying all of them very much this season.

10. This may sound nuts but I've had the sense lately that whatever my problem is (I have problems) the solution is within my grasp. This is a good feeling for the most part, although I find myself reaching that realization point and stopping - like just figuring it out is enough. (It is not enough.)

11.  If it was 11/11/11 I could quit this list right here!

12. twelve drummers drumming, eleven ladies dancing, ten lords a leaping, nine gees a laying, eight maids a milking, seven swans a swimming, six drummers drumming, FIVE GOLDEN RINGS, four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree. (From memory -  I should fact check.)  (fact: there are not 18 drummers in this song, and I forgot the pipers! 12 drummers, 11 pipers, 10 lords, 9 ladies, 8 maids, 7 swans, 6 geese, 5 rings, 4 birds, 3 hens, 2 doves, 1 partridge.) (ooh, wikipedia says they are "colly birds" and here all this time I've thought they were "calling birds." Oh, wait -that's a variant. It's wrong, but I'm not the only person who ever thought so. The article is pretty interesting...)

ebook sales and chemical lady names

Nothing today went the way I thought it would/should, which turned out to be FINE.  I had big plans for finishing this and doing that - all of which were sidelined by a headache and stuff that is too boring and/or complicated to go into. It was all a good reminder to grip less tightly to how I think things should be - life is a lot more enjoyable when I do.

E-BOOK SALE: Neil Gaiman's American Gods for Kindle and Nook for 1.99. For a limited time only, I would imagine. (it's even the 10 year anniversary edition which has the "author's preferred text.") I haven't read it since it came out - it'll be fun to read it again. Hooray for sales! I may continue to post about e-book sales that I find interesting, like say the Dangerous Angels collection with Bonus Materials FOR FREE. (The Weetzie Bat books! I read them for the first time this last year and loved them, loved them.) (again, I don't know how long this sale lasts.) Remember, you don't have to have a kindle to read kindle books - you can read them on a kindle app for your phone or on the computer and I'm sure there are other ways, too.

Question time: Have any of you ever heard Ammonia or possibly Amonia as a popular name for women in the 18th century? OR EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD?  This came up tonight at trivia, and I think it's bullshit. It was a complicated question about camel dung, egyptian deities and popular ladies names: we would have gotten it wrong anyway -  which I don't mind - but the question said it was "popular" which I can find no evidence to support. This, of course, makes me crazy.

And now, to round out this cornucopia of randomness - The Pistol Annies! My iTunes just played me Hell on Heels, which reminded me of this excellent video of the song I saw a couple of weeks ago. Miranda Lambert (on the right) reminds me of Dolly Parton, which is a high compliment in case you weren't sure!