Things Which Have Nothing to do with Daleks
We'll start with a quote: To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight and never stop fighting.
ee cummings
I picked up some protection charms for the kids, from Maria. Though it's so hard to make sure Clara has these things...I wonder if they can be tattooed on?
Sam decided the Nexus needed to get drunk. His brews are amazingly good. Nearly as good as Ardala's, though much more diverse.
Speaking of Ardala, I need to stop by her pub soon and talk with the cousins. They know about trees and gardens and green things. I think they might have some magi contacts I could talk to, as well; the very last thing I'd need is one of them draining the tree of all its magic, or trying to claim it for their own purposes.
...drat, that reminds me. I checked the numbers, and will need more seeds than I thought, to eventually cover the whole city. Fifteen is a lot. But I suppose we don't need to cover the whole city at once, we could wait for the first generation of trees to mature. Five years isn't so very long (and if we can manage to encourage them to grow up faster...). Maybe someday we can even extend the coverage outside the county, into Greater Boston, or start new safe havens elsewhere. I suspect David and Mab and the other kings and queens would love some of their own.
I did a little shopping this morning. Not everyone was pleased to see Alured in their shop (not that he was allowed to touch anything). But I got some gorgeous new things so it was entirely worthwhile. Mostly I went out to get my dress for the fundraiser. But why go through all the trouble to drive somewhere and not make more than one stop on the way? So I stopped at a gallery or four, and got a few things. My favorite is called "Domestic Bliss Kimono" I got a few others by the same artist, because they're bright and cheerful and perfect for the kids' rooms.
Tonight is LifeSavor. I get to be one of the dinner hosts this year. (See? Giving away large sums of money has its perks.) Thankfully Sasha has been gracious enough to skip the dinner portion so Alured can be with us at the cocktail party and for dessert, but can go home to rest during dinner. I don't want him to get too tired.
I think tomorrow I'm going to go down to the Goblin Market on the way to the New York Botanical Gardens; I think the kids will enjoy the "Chocolate and Vanilla Adventures" nearly as much as I do.
Ingress is asking to go to the ballet again. She doesn't want to accept that the ballet company isn't performing again until May. She wants to go to their spring ball. I suspect she'd behave, but I don't think Lyn or Morty would enjoy it nearly so much. If we do bring her, we'll have to find something special to do with the others too. And I think we should enroll her in ballet lessons. She might enjoy that. She did talk me into buying this, though. She has learned well the art of "big eyes, quivering lip".
Let's end with another quote: "What is real?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams
ee cummings
I picked up some protection charms for the kids, from Maria. Though it's so hard to make sure Clara has these things...I wonder if they can be tattooed on?
Sam decided the Nexus needed to get drunk. His brews are amazingly good. Nearly as good as Ardala's, though much more diverse.
Speaking of Ardala, I need to stop by her pub soon and talk with the cousins. They know about trees and gardens and green things. I think they might have some magi contacts I could talk to, as well; the very last thing I'd need is one of them draining the tree of all its magic, or trying to claim it for their own purposes.
...drat, that reminds me. I checked the numbers, and will need more seeds than I thought, to eventually cover the whole city. Fifteen is a lot. But I suppose we don't need to cover the whole city at once, we could wait for the first generation of trees to mature. Five years isn't so very long (and if we can manage to encourage them to grow up faster...). Maybe someday we can even extend the coverage outside the county, into Greater Boston, or start new safe havens elsewhere. I suspect David and Mab and the other kings and queens would love some of their own.
I did a little shopping this morning. Not everyone was pleased to see Alured in their shop (not that he was allowed to touch anything). But I got some gorgeous new things so it was entirely worthwhile. Mostly I went out to get my dress for the fundraiser. But why go through all the trouble to drive somewhere and not make more than one stop on the way? So I stopped at a gallery or four, and got a few things. My favorite is called "Domestic Bliss Kimono" I got a few others by the same artist, because they're bright and cheerful and perfect for the kids' rooms.
Tonight is LifeSavor. I get to be one of the dinner hosts this year. (See? Giving away large sums of money has its perks.) Thankfully Sasha has been gracious enough to skip the dinner portion so Alured can be with us at the cocktail party and for dessert, but can go home to rest during dinner. I don't want him to get too tired.
I think tomorrow I'm going to go down to the Goblin Market on the way to the New York Botanical Gardens; I think the kids will enjoy the "Chocolate and Vanilla Adventures" nearly as much as I do.
Ingress is asking to go to the ballet again. She doesn't want to accept that the ballet company isn't performing again until May. She wants to go to their spring ball. I suspect she'd behave, but I don't think Lyn or Morty would enjoy it nearly so much. If we do bring her, we'll have to find something special to do with the others too. And I think we should enroll her in ballet lessons. She might enjoy that. She did talk me into buying this, though. She has learned well the art of "big eyes, quivering lip".
Let's end with another quote: "What is real?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams