Friday, August 29, 2014

dark and dreary labor day weekend

the oppressive grey fug is back. i am planning on spending a substantial portion of the long holiday weekend here


reading many, many books.

speaking of books, holy hell, why was i not aware that outlander is basically torture porn?! D: eegads.

finished the new caitlin moran and, well, i am sadly wishing she would expand beyond wolverhampton. i mean, the book is fine but i've read how to be a woman, moranthology and have seen "raised by wolves".  it's familiar territory to me by now. i'd love to read more about moran's london or about her adult life.

roxane gay's bad feminist is so, so sooo good. i'm only allowing myself one essay a night to make it last longer. sometimes i read it while eating avocado toast.


tv? god, that new "doctor who" was shit, wasn't it? peter capaldi though. absolutely great with the crap he was given to work with. someone make a video of only the capaldi parts please? because i hate everything moffat gets his hands on.

i will not comment on bingate.

enjoy the long weekend if you're in the states! otherwise, enjoy a regular one.

Friday, August 22, 2014

mushroom capaldis and deviled eggsterminators

you know that we take our who food seriously around here. (remember the doctor whoodles that i made for the 50th anniversary of "doctor who" last year?) we also love peter capaldi. (malcolm tucker holds a very special place in my heart.) there is no way that i'm going to let "deep breath" air without some themed snacks. 

so i made some mushroom capaldis


and deviled eggsterminators


in anticipation of the joyous occasion that is sure to be pcap's performance. i cannot wait! i cannot wait!!!

Sunday, August 17, 2014

outlander, colorless tsukuru tazaki and almost time for pcap who

will probably not be around much this week but thought i'd give you a quick post to say, yes, do watch "outlander".


i have no idea why this has captured my imagination. it is almost everything that i can't stand in one tidy bundle but i am loving the hell out of the show and the book. go figure and then go watch it. 
 
as promised, a quick review of the new murakami book. like everyone is saying, it is one of his more accessible books. and, yes, it's pretty good, definitely readable but, jesus, one does grow ever so tired of passages about ejaculate, you know? (that part almost felt like a carry over from 1q84.)

still! the new series of "doctor who" starts on saturday. and while i am not the "doctor who" fan at the casa (i am a fan of the fans as i have stated many times) i adore peter capaldi. there is much eager anticipation of this show, let me tell you. 

and that is all for now. fuckity bye!

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

things keep progressing

lots of intriguing news, lots of it great. sadly, you will have to settle for this picture of one of the hummingbirds that's been living here this summer in its stead. 


i'm sure you can cope.

caught "outlander" the other night. oh, it's good! and even though the books are not something that is normally up my alley, i'm unashamedly enjoying the living fuck out of the first one.

also new on the book front:  got a copy of the new murakami today! i'll let you know how it was when i'm finished.


Thursday, August 07, 2014

BAKE OFF IS BACK

OMG YOU GUYS SERIES FIVE OF BAKE OFF JUST STARTED EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


no, i didn't make a jelly roll but i thought about it. instead, i settled for the norman conquest...OF MY HEART bwahahahhahaha

seriously though, norman is awesome. everyone is awesome. i am so happy that this show is back!

Wednesday, August 06, 2014

a day of many ports

today was the day that leff and i had set aside for a lengthy road trip. originally, we had considered mount st helens. but, ugh, i-5, no thanks. then we changed itineraries and started planning for the hoh rainforest and ruby beach before finally realizing that 8 hours of driving in one day was going to be too much. 

you see, we are burned. out. this vacation could not be the long haul it normally is.

so we settled for a three hour roundtrip in the hood canal, port townsend-ish area. less than four hours of driving is always doable. (in the states, i hasten to add. i know, europeeps, i know. don't cry. driving for that long is not really a big deal here. the country is a continent wide, after all. *pats your hand gently*)

funny thing though, we took the wrong turn at albuquerque  the hood canal bridge. that is how we found ourselves in port gamble.


this place is...quaint. i don't know, it made me crabby


even though there was a weird little donation only museum full of sea stuff above the general store. it reminded me of that disney gated community which just made me itchy, as you can see from what i wrote below.


i guess i am just not going to go gentle into that good night. or i simply refuse to become a weekend antiques shopping, apple picking, gracious, best life living lame-o. i mean, you can be into that, fine, no judgement but, god, just shove me off a bridge if my life ever comes to that.

anyway, after buying some shitty beef jerky at a gas station and checking the map, we found our way to port townsend. i had been there before, leff had not. there was a pug sticker near the fucknad who stared at us while leff was parallel parking. i can not even begin to understand what that was about.


first things first though. lunch. lunch at nifty fifty's. we sat outside to avoid the babies. (this place is very family friendly. i am not really. hahahaha haaaa!)


god, i had forgotten how quaint that downton port townsend is. i mean, the views, still great but, MAN. i don't care. i don't care. i don't care. (lunch was good though. can recommend the above place.)


then we got lost again but it was fine since we saw three deer in the suburb we were driving through.


and this bizarre hall of justice or something. (it's probably the court house. all i know for sure is that there is a clock tower that has an actual chiming clock and that we were there at 2pm and i was not expecting the loud prerecorded bells so i screamed and jumped. leff laughed.)


but onward! or, technically, backward, as we left port townsend proper


for fort warden state park. that is actually where these tags are from.



see, there's some abandoned concrete military...something...near the beach that looked like the perfect place to get serial killed.


there were lots of kids hiding inside screaming and trying to scare each other. i took a picture of these trees through my sunglasses.


the beach is very nearby. leff had seen it while he was scrambling around the concrete hulk. beaches are always nice.



even when there are hipsters on them. (it helps if the hipsters are very. far. away.)


there was a lighthouse near where we were sitting when this photo was taken but i just couldn't be arsed because some numbnut was dipping his chihuahua in the waves. god, whatever. small dogs and the sea. fucking whatever.

BUT DON'T FRET we actually did something really great! on the way back to the hood canal bridge, we stopped by the kelly art deco light museum! (not being facetious. leff and i both adore deco things and tiny, free museums.)





go to this if you are in the area. the store below is also worth a look. this painting will probably be gone by then though as it will more than likely TAKE TO THE SEA in the near future.


oh yes, HERE ARE SOME OWLS I AM GIVING THEM TO YOU


we had one last stop before heading home and that was the chimacum cafe.


i just happened to read an article on the seattle times site  that mentioned this place's wild blackberry pie. i am SO GLAD that i did!


when i mentioned the article to the waitress she mused "so THAT'S why i've sold so much wild blackberry pie today!" heh

did i say one last stop? i meant two. we had two last places to stop. the chimacum cafe and....


wait for it....

EGG AND I ROAD!! LOL I DID NOT EVEN REALIZE THAT BOOK TOOK PLACE HERE HAHAHAHAHA


tomorrow we return the rental car and our life will get back to somewhat normal. promise i will not pick any apples.

sexy, sexy full english

as promised in the proper british bacon post, here are pictures from our delicious full english (ok, it's a little light on the meat but, come on.) 






Tuesday, August 05, 2014

elandan gardens is fantastic

elandan gardens is one of those secrets things in bremerton. "secret".  i mean, people know about it. people also talk about getting around to seeing it one day. if you're one of those latter people, go already! you won't believe what you'll see! 

elandan was founded in 1993 by dan robinson who, we were told, created the national bonsai tree in dc. the man knows his bonsai, as you will see shortly. he also turned a landfill into something amazing.

the gardens are reached through the gift shop. it's full of an assortment of artfully arranged things.


i thought about buying an old leather camera case but we're moving soon. so, ixnay on the uyingbay.

the bonsai are intensely beautiful and OLD! a few of the trees were alive when notre dame was being built! !!! !!! !!!!

i'm still getting over that, actually.













elandan is overwhelming in the best way possible. leff and i both took so many pictures that our camera batteries were hot. just, do yourself a major favor if you are in the seattle area and head to this gem of a garden. (admission fee was $8 per person at time of writing.)

oh yes, speaking of leff and pictures, check out his recap as well! he had the good camera, as you can see from the picture below, and took some really nice photos.