The World is White with Winter...
We really should be used to snow in November... but it's always something of a surprise to see the world in white when it was in the 70's just days ago, and I had to dig out my shorts in order to walk outside. Now our nights will be in the teens.
I've been... busy.
Writing, supporting a demented_dee, walking, learning... making her gluten-free Oreos too. Many thanks to flit for pointing me at the site, as I have a friend who can't have even a trace of wheat in anything, and she was missing Oreos something fierce, so I took a few days to figure out all the ingredients, and then spent an afternoon making one batch, and another afternoon later in the week making another... for us. *laughs*
They were so good, we loved them just as cookies, especially with crushed peppermint candies stuck in the cream. They were very much like Trader Joe's Peppermint Joejoe's. Very nice. I do have to say that it feels like a minor miracle every time the dough actually comes together.
I'm also dealing with a mild depression, and doing the things that can distract me from it. Yesterday, John and I went to see Skyfall. Today we went to see the DaVinci Machines Exhibit here in Denver.
Skyfall was gorgeous, stark, and entirely character-centric. There wasn't the dependence on special effects, just a plotline and characterization that cut to the bone. It's true to the old Sean Connery days, when the gadgets weren't absurd, and the motivations murderous. After having read many of Ian Fleming's original books, it felt more true to that flavor. I loved Bob Mondello's review that says, "You'd think that 50 years in, the Bond series would be gasping for breath, not leaving you breathless." We both loved it.
Before the exhibit, I was up at 7:30 to finish off something I needed to do as a contractor for Mimi, and it was nice to just get it done, but because I was up so early, John proposed that we go to the Denver Biscuit Company for breakfast. It was a great call. The Atomic Cowboy was the name of the bar, and the same building hosted Fat Sully's Pizza as well as the Biscuit Company. The morning crowd was there for breakfast, and they were showing cartoons on half the sports bar TVs, and the place was filled with families and couples munching enormous biscuits.
Jet decided on the Ellsworth with stone-ground mustard in a pool of honey all on fried chicken in an enormous biscuit. He had the pickles on the side and I was really happy to nab a few of those sweet, spicy, sour lovelies. The cheese grits would have been great, but they had way too much cracked pepper in them for me. I had the Franklin and loved it, biscuit and chicken with cheese and smothered in sausage gravy. John got the newer sandwich that had a biscuit with bacon and eggs and was smothered with maple syrup, and it was amazing. Self-serve coffee was all right, if a bit mild, and in the midst of the carnage, one of Mimi's art friends called to ask me to do a short-term contract for her because she saw what I'd sent out for Mimi and really liked it. It was really nice to get the compliment, and she said she'd be happy to recommend me to others. Not sure I need all the business implied, but it was good to get the praise.
The Da Vinci exhibit was something that Jet had asked to see, and it was a blast. It was filled with all the machines from Da Vinci's sketchbooks, with the sketches alongside. They'd recreated most of the items using period tools and materials. Still, they were true to the sketches even when they didn't make mechanical sense. Many of the machines you could put your hand to in order to see how it worked, and there were movies going on in the background that were all of a very dry but very thorough and detailed telling of Da Vinci's life and times and accomplishments.
There were some exhibits of the printed copies of the Codex. They also sold a $200 book bigger than more coffee tables of all his paintings and some of the drawings. There was a smaller version with exactly the same content for only thirty dollars and I had to get it after seeing some of the botany drawings and sketches.
We stopped at a Fresh Market for hot chocolate, chai, and mocha to walk through the snow to the car. John and Jet were both in t-shirt/Hawaiian shirt and shorts. I was in my jeans, t-shirt, sweatshirt, and leather jacket and I was still cold. But we made it, no problem, and then headed down to IKEA just to wander about and shop. They have these big, eight hour votive candles that I love, and it's always fun to see the 300 square foot "apartments" and wax nostalgic over the loft beds I had at Caltech... it was funny to find the thin memory foam pads that they have there, for just $80 and say, "If I ever had to be a poor college student again, this would be well worth getting."
Heck, if I ever had to live in a single bedroom apartment again... I know exactly what I'd have in it. I hope I never have to, but... it was kind of cool to walk around and think about it for some of my characters, who do live on their own.
Near the end of the whole walk, I saw these lovely metal and glass lanterns that hold votive candles, and let the light shine all around them. I have one already, and it's good for keeping candles that I want to burn outside safe. The metal just makes them all right to put outside, and they keep the wind off the lights. And for just four dollars, I couldn't pass it up. *laughs* John and Jet were kind of bemused by my getting yet another lantern when I have some, but... I like them with candlelight.
Turns out we used them while playing cards tonight, and Jet liked using a reflecting lantern I had from a catalog that I use like a flashlight when the power is out.
It was fun to just shop around, and get little things.
From there we headed home in the horizontal snow, and stopped at the Pacific Ocean Market, where I bought a few things, including more eel for Jet and I on John's meeting nights when he eats out. Jet loves the stuff and it was nice to stock up again. It's much less expensive than getting it at a sushi restaurant and we get our fill of eel on rice at home.
And then we got home. Jet and I did some One Piece while eating the last of our biscuits from the morning, and then by the time dinner rolled around, we were too full to do anything but have a bit of corn and egg drop soup. That was very comforting. I also managed to get two game writes ups done, with Morgan's Atomic Robo and Carl's Monsterhearts games. It was good to get those done, just one more game and a fun writeup about the improv class to go.
We played some Flux and burned some candles, and now I'm tired enough to probably call it a night. I have to make coffee in the morning, and look to get people back on boards for the church. It should be doable, I think.
I've been... busy.
Writing, supporting a demented_dee, walking, learning... making her gluten-free Oreos too. Many thanks to flit for pointing me at the site, as I have a friend who can't have even a trace of wheat in anything, and she was missing Oreos something fierce, so I took a few days to figure out all the ingredients, and then spent an afternoon making one batch, and another afternoon later in the week making another... for us. *laughs*
They were so good, we loved them just as cookies, especially with crushed peppermint candies stuck in the cream. They were very much like Trader Joe's Peppermint Joejoe's. Very nice. I do have to say that it feels like a minor miracle every time the dough actually comes together.
I'm also dealing with a mild depression, and doing the things that can distract me from it. Yesterday, John and I went to see Skyfall. Today we went to see the DaVinci Machines Exhibit here in Denver.
Skyfall was gorgeous, stark, and entirely character-centric. There wasn't the dependence on special effects, just a plotline and characterization that cut to the bone. It's true to the old Sean Connery days, when the gadgets weren't absurd, and the motivations murderous. After having read many of Ian Fleming's original books, it felt more true to that flavor. I loved Bob Mondello's review that says, "You'd think that 50 years in, the Bond series would be gasping for breath, not leaving you breathless." We both loved it.
Before the exhibit, I was up at 7:30 to finish off something I needed to do as a contractor for Mimi, and it was nice to just get it done, but because I was up so early, John proposed that we go to the Denver Biscuit Company for breakfast. It was a great call. The Atomic Cowboy was the name of the bar, and the same building hosted Fat Sully's Pizza as well as the Biscuit Company. The morning crowd was there for breakfast, and they were showing cartoons on half the sports bar TVs, and the place was filled with families and couples munching enormous biscuits.
Jet decided on the Ellsworth with stone-ground mustard in a pool of honey all on fried chicken in an enormous biscuit. He had the pickles on the side and I was really happy to nab a few of those sweet, spicy, sour lovelies. The cheese grits would have been great, but they had way too much cracked pepper in them for me. I had the Franklin and loved it, biscuit and chicken with cheese and smothered in sausage gravy. John got the newer sandwich that had a biscuit with bacon and eggs and was smothered with maple syrup, and it was amazing. Self-serve coffee was all right, if a bit mild, and in the midst of the carnage, one of Mimi's art friends called to ask me to do a short-term contract for her because she saw what I'd sent out for Mimi and really liked it. It was really nice to get the compliment, and she said she'd be happy to recommend me to others. Not sure I need all the business implied, but it was good to get the praise.
The Da Vinci exhibit was something that Jet had asked to see, and it was a blast. It was filled with all the machines from Da Vinci's sketchbooks, with the sketches alongside. They'd recreated most of the items using period tools and materials. Still, they were true to the sketches even when they didn't make mechanical sense. Many of the machines you could put your hand to in order to see how it worked, and there were movies going on in the background that were all of a very dry but very thorough and detailed telling of Da Vinci's life and times and accomplishments.
There were some exhibits of the printed copies of the Codex. They also sold a $200 book bigger than more coffee tables of all his paintings and some of the drawings. There was a smaller version with exactly the same content for only thirty dollars and I had to get it after seeing some of the botany drawings and sketches.
We stopped at a Fresh Market for hot chocolate, chai, and mocha to walk through the snow to the car. John and Jet were both in t-shirt/Hawaiian shirt and shorts. I was in my jeans, t-shirt, sweatshirt, and leather jacket and I was still cold. But we made it, no problem, and then headed down to IKEA just to wander about and shop. They have these big, eight hour votive candles that I love, and it's always fun to see the 300 square foot "apartments" and wax nostalgic over the loft beds I had at Caltech... it was funny to find the thin memory foam pads that they have there, for just $80 and say, "If I ever had to be a poor college student again, this would be well worth getting."
Heck, if I ever had to live in a single bedroom apartment again... I know exactly what I'd have in it. I hope I never have to, but... it was kind of cool to walk around and think about it for some of my characters, who do live on their own.
Near the end of the whole walk, I saw these lovely metal and glass lanterns that hold votive candles, and let the light shine all around them. I have one already, and it's good for keeping candles that I want to burn outside safe. The metal just makes them all right to put outside, and they keep the wind off the lights. And for just four dollars, I couldn't pass it up. *laughs* John and Jet were kind of bemused by my getting yet another lantern when I have some, but... I like them with candlelight.
Turns out we used them while playing cards tonight, and Jet liked using a reflecting lantern I had from a catalog that I use like a flashlight when the power is out.
It was fun to just shop around, and get little things.
From there we headed home in the horizontal snow, and stopped at the Pacific Ocean Market, where I bought a few things, including more eel for Jet and I on John's meeting nights when he eats out. Jet loves the stuff and it was nice to stock up again. It's much less expensive than getting it at a sushi restaurant and we get our fill of eel on rice at home.
And then we got home. Jet and I did some One Piece while eating the last of our biscuits from the morning, and then by the time dinner rolled around, we were too full to do anything but have a bit of corn and egg drop soup. That was very comforting. I also managed to get two game writes ups done, with Morgan's Atomic Robo and Carl's Monsterhearts games. It was good to get those done, just one more game and a fun writeup about the improv class to go.
We played some Flux and burned some candles, and now I'm tired enough to probably call it a night. I have to make coffee in the morning, and look to get people back on boards for the church. It should be doable, I think.