I am posting this to

[seasidebee]

La Kasahara! :)

Look what I found! http://georgiannalane.com/paris-photographs (Though I do apologize, in advance, for the more "twee" and far too pink, far too, er......."precious" images. Some of them, like the one below, are lovely! Worth wading thru the others.)

Comments

[tailofkasahara]

Oh no, it's not twee. It's all a delight and it made my day. PINK is hardly ever twee, unless there are professional toddler models shoved behind it, told to look winsome for the camera (and they do; they know where their next affirmation is coming from).

I painted the back door of my crumbly old garden shed/garage PINK, though it's not PINK enough for my liking and I may up its PINKness one of these days when winter's done and the weather is much more personable. I forgot to hang a seasonal wreath back there. Is there still time to do it and take an Instagram? I think so!

Florals and patterns and pinks and rambling on.........

[seasidebee]

Sometimes too many florally or printed things all at once overwhelms me; for example, walking into a B & B and finding that the walls, the carpet, and the bedding are all Victorian floral or otherwise patterned, whether they are the same or different. It's too busy for me. And sometimes too overtly girly. Now, if I walked into said room and only one of the three had a busy pattern but the other surfaces had complimentary solid colors, or even much more subtle, teeny patterns, I'd be OK. I am easily overstimulated. (You'd never know it, I have hidden it well for decades. My own Mother never even remembers that its an issue for me. I don't freak out, but I do have to remove myself from any environment that I find overstimulating.) And again, while I often love what may be called traditionally feminine, I don't always love what is overly "girly". Did you ever watch that program "Northern Exposure" back in the day? There is a May-December couple in it called Holling & Shelley. In one episode Shelley decides to redo their bedroom. He gives

RE: Florals and patterns and pinks and rambling on.........

[tailofkasahara]

My PINK door should have been Cinder Rose, but I fell for the name Sulking Room PINK - it's kind of band-aid coloured, but it won't compete with flowers and their blowsy colours. Shameless hussies, those peonies.

Today I could use a blast of colour to liven up the usually subdued landscape I have come to merge with at this time of year.

I finally finished the card illustration and monkeyed with it, giving it a nice warm cocoalike hue, which is a nicer way of saying BROWN.

I can't wear pale colours without looking sallow and angry. The report says 'Anyone with a range of 11 - 18% Bahrain-ianette DNA is to be clad in black crewnecks lest the taste police come get you.' I comply.

RE: Florals and patterns and pinks and rambling on.........

[tailofkasahara]

Oopsie - I mean BLACK crewnecks.

RE: Florals and patterns and pinks and rambling on.........

[tailofkasahara]

And I'm as 'well-whadya know' about the Bahrain DNA as you are.

RE: Florals and patterns and pinks and rambling on.........

[seasidebee]

Huh. That's fascinating. I mean, how can they pinpoint Bahrain exactly? I wonder, how do they know it's not Qatar or S.A.? I am intrigued. I keep thinking about that test. Thing is, I'd like for one of my brothers to take it too, and none of them will pay, so I'd have to pay for both. Hmpf. And they can afford it much more than I but whadevah. I'd like to see both the matrilineal and patrilineal lines

RE: Florals and patterns and pinks and rambling on.........

[tailofkasahara]

Even without the participation of those brothers, you can follow paternal lines via cousins and other male forebears. My uncle recently passed away, kind of scotching any thoughts I had about running his DNA against mine... I think I have all the information I need, though, to stir them muddy ancestral waters.

The test report initially skittered all over the place and finally settled on Bahrain for a chunk of DNA - the other pieces are not really surprises. I knew Austria would come up in grand proportion, and the lowlands of Scotland. There's a sizeable chunk of England and a tiny truffle-sized bit of France and Scandinavia.

I decided to subscribe to Ancestry when a very nice 4th cousin from Devon found me and asked to put together an enormous family tree. :-)

If you were here this afternoon I'd invite you to the Ratopia kitchen, which will be redolent with meringues, speculaaaaaaas and either panforte or chocolate salami. Tasty day, eh?

RE: Florals and patterns and pinks and rambling on.........

[seasidebee]

Oh! That is good to know! (Re the paternal lines.) I would like to find out, eventually. I already know there is a lot of Irish, some Scottish, some VIKING!, some British, some Native American. It would be nice to have some surprises thrown in. We're all just mutts, eh?

I would think that being in Ratopia this afternoon would be delightful, and far more preferable to being where I am. (Work.) Thanks for the invite; don't mind if I do have some speculaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas.

RE: Florals and patterns and pinks and rambling on.........

[tailofkasahara]

The second batch of meringues (rose sugared) is in the oven; each batch takes about an hour - there goes the afternoon!

I have carefully edited apothecary jars and wiped shelves clean in the kitchen. It never occurs to me that things might be - shall we say - scruffy, until I have to have people over.

Lois used to say, What does anyone care if you've got a few dust mice? It's your home, not a museum. But if she saw other people's fusty houses, she'd be all What? Hasn't that guy ever heard of a mop and a broom? Was he raised in a barn?

RE: Florals and patterns and pinks and rambling on.........

[seasidebee]

Wow! I have never tried to make meringues, let alone rose sugared. They sound like the cookie equivalent of little pale pink roses. That's how I am imagining them anyway.

I wish you'd take a picture of a tray with a sampling of all your TOKmade desserts and post it, or if you have one of those kicking around that you took another time, post that.

I have a similar attitude as Lois did/does(for she is still here, n'est pas?). But it fluctuates and isn't written in stone. It depends on the people. I can forgive some people everything, and others, nothing.

RE: Florals and patterns and pinks and rambling on.........

[tailofkasahara]

I have been taking pictures of the sweets in progress. It's taking some of the artlessness out of the deadline and helps me see the grand picture. I put sugar-pears and meringues on their plates already. I will post some of the sweet life here.

This is what we've got:

sugar-pears made from dried apricots, candied ginger and almond paste
lavender and rose meringues
coconut macaroon pyramids (tomorrow their bottoms are dipped in chocolate)
marzipan stuffed dates with rose sugar
Tartine shortbread bars
Toblerone shortbread
shortbread cut into fussy little shapes
Tartine's gingerbread tiles (glaze them tomorrow)
candied orange peel
speculaaaaas batons (tomorrow, they get dipped into white chocolate)
citrus tart
panforte (please let it be edible)
date and walnut cake
rum and pecan thing
dark chocolate truffles

This year is heavy on the shortbread. But shortbread rarely fails.

I have decided that if the panforte is a failure, I will blame it on someone I do not like very much.

Re: Florals and patterns and pinks and rambling on.........

[seasidebee]

Art in the form of dessert. :)

Re: Florals and patterns and pinks and rambling on.........

[seasidebee]

Black is always the new black........doh!

I mean: BLACK is always the new BLACK.