One successful Roadtrip has indeed come to a close. What a blast! Jemyn, Soryane's brother, organized the trip and rounded all of us up for the epic adventure.
We alternated playing Sorayne's eclectic musical CDs, aptly named with some sort of "Random" in the title, and running an in-car version of a no-roll RPG all the way down to Texas, making a couple of stops on the way down to visit friends and family.
We stopped in IL to visit his Aunt, Uncle, and cousins - the children adopted the rest of our crew as cousins of theirs as well, proclaiming that we all had to return. Myself in particular, it seems, as I have to tell more of my stories next time, and I am an excellent pretender, as I have been told. ^_^
I found out Jemyn has a blog - seems he's thrown the digital pen down at http://friendofthepen.blogspot.com/ - go check him out! His description of the event is bound to be far more interesting than mine. I did, however, take video. LOTS of video. There would have been more, if I hadn't thought I'd left the camera at home, discovering it only after we had left our frist layover back in IL. Phoo!
Somewhere around mid-Missouri (after the Saint Louis Arch was spotted, recorded, and passed) our driver of choice Panda and I, acting as navigator, discovered that the quality of the road changes dramatically every half hour or so. We could not only see it, but actually feel the line as the Jemyn Troop Transport crossed it. When the very visually ovbious red stretch of highway began, we suddenly realized that we must be crossing county lines with each change of road quality. We could tell how well-to-do each county was! Every time we hit one of these lines, we proclaimed "NEW COUNTY" to the rest of the vehicle's inhabitants (until they fell asleep, when we just looked at each other and said "Guess what?" *bump* "New County!" and much mirth occurred.)
Texas itself was amazing - though the pervasive, random encounters of the sent of "skunk'n'onions" (yes, TOGETHER) will forever leave me in hysterics. Panda can back me up on this. We arrived at the illustrious Guild Master's house, Panda and I were quite tired, having made the 14+ hour drive being awake and in command of the JTT. Well, Panda was in command. I was merely nagravator. :3 Being awake the whole day before we left IL had ment we were up for 30 some hours at that point, which left me rather delirious, so to speak. That Stacker 2 energy shot really did the trick - but the crash was wicked. I konked out for two hours, as did most of the crew (Jemyn aside - he actually slept most of the way ;p )
The afternoon was spent in downtown Denton, we had an awesome lunch at Chik-fil-a and an amazing bbq dinner (DR PEPPER BBQ CHICKEN OMG) and those of us who were part of the guild raided and beat the game of WOW. Seriously. They beat WOW. Jemyn's ladyfriend and I, not being WOWers, chose instead to catch up on our beauty rest and passed out early.
The next day had us at Whataburger for lunch, a Texas staple, and then we headed off to the road again, this time going straight to Lake Bliss, the property owned by Sorayne and Jemyn's Dad and Stepmother. And, to some extent, the animals... LOL!
More to come later, if I keep typing at this rate, I'll develop carpal tunnel and then I won't be able to feed the goats and sheep and horses and chickens and whoever else will be there next time. ^_^
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Death in the Family
It's been a rough month.
Sorayne, who I've posted of here before, passed away suddenly and tragically five weeks ago, and I just haven't had the gumption or the wherewithal to post about it yet... and I didn't want to post of any other things first. We were nearly inseparable, living together and going to conventions and running amok of our city at wee hours of the morning. When she moved across the state to live with her fiance, we still got in touch with each other every evening via Skype, just to see each other's faces. She was instrumental in the formation of my bento blog's resurgence last year, even going so far as to suggest to the Youmacon board that I run a pannel on bento making at this year's convention. Calling her my girlfriend doesn't do her justice. The world is a lot less bright without my fearless, take-no-crap butterfly.
Sorayne had only two rules governing her life - 1) tell no lies, and 2) regret nothing. While I only knew her for a few years, and our trials and tribulations were both varied and sometimes oddly loud, we loved each other to the end. I will follow her rules of life forever, and remember to never regret time not spent, things not done. We had time, we did things, and they were wild, sane, doubious, definate, leftist, conservative, up, down, and I loved them all. I won't lie either - it's been difficult, being reminded that she isn't with us in the mortal sense, but I have, on occasion, been smacked in the face with her spiritual presence amongst us.
At her memorial, she biffed her brother with a leaf for straightening her photograph.
Sitting in the spare room that used to be hers, talking metaphysics with some like-minded friends of ours, a bottle of neon green bubble solution randomly appeared in the window next to us, when it most certainly was not there before. Sorayne's doing, no doubt.
The Monarch butterflies, her favorite flower, migrate right through her will-be-soon Orchard on her father's property in Texas.
I woke up this morning due to an episode of True Blood playing on my Netflix-enabled computer. Sorayne's televised obsession, as it were.
I have her signature Bag-of-Holding, it will live on as a convention bag with me, going to Youmacon, World Steam, and all of the other conventions we lived and worked together, holding our ever-flowing supply of snacks, notebooks, pencils, juice boxes, and black sharpies for the Registration team.
I miss you, love you, and will never forget you, Sugarcube.
Sorayne, who I've posted of here before, passed away suddenly and tragically five weeks ago, and I just haven't had the gumption or the wherewithal to post about it yet... and I didn't want to post of any other things first. We were nearly inseparable, living together and going to conventions and running amok of our city at wee hours of the morning. When she moved across the state to live with her fiance, we still got in touch with each other every evening via Skype, just to see each other's faces. She was instrumental in the formation of my bento blog's resurgence last year, even going so far as to suggest to the Youmacon board that I run a pannel on bento making at this year's convention. Calling her my girlfriend doesn't do her justice. The world is a lot less bright without my fearless, take-no-crap butterfly.
Sorayne had only two rules governing her life - 1) tell no lies, and 2) regret nothing. While I only knew her for a few years, and our trials and tribulations were both varied and sometimes oddly loud, we loved each other to the end. I will follow her rules of life forever, and remember to never regret time not spent, things not done. We had time, we did things, and they were wild, sane, doubious, definate, leftist, conservative, up, down, and I loved them all. I won't lie either - it's been difficult, being reminded that she isn't with us in the mortal sense, but I have, on occasion, been smacked in the face with her spiritual presence amongst us.
At her memorial, she biffed her brother with a leaf for straightening her photograph.
Sitting in the spare room that used to be hers, talking metaphysics with some like-minded friends of ours, a bottle of neon green bubble solution randomly appeared in the window next to us, when it most certainly was not there before. Sorayne's doing, no doubt.
The Monarch butterflies, her favorite flower, migrate right through her will-be-soon Orchard on her father's property in Texas.
I woke up this morning due to an episode of True Blood playing on my Netflix-enabled computer. Sorayne's televised obsession, as it were.
I have her signature Bag-of-Holding, it will live on as a convention bag with me, going to Youmacon, World Steam, and all of the other conventions we lived and worked together, holding our ever-flowing supply of snacks, notebooks, pencils, juice boxes, and black sharpies for the Registration team.
I miss you, love you, and will never forget you, Sugarcube.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Oh dear..
Seems I've been a bit unfaithful in my promise of posting - I am so sorry, dear readers! I am, however, back as of today... and what a week I've had!
First off - the car has decided to bust itself apart at the seams. The transmission has to be rebuilt, and there is a leak in the air intake, a missing left lower ball joint (not that I know what that is, but I have confirmed with the more automobile-minded people in my life and they assure me it's a real thing), and she'll need a re-alignment after all is said and done. Ugh.
Secondly? The cats are now out of food. I had to give them a can of tuna this morning - not that they are complaining, but I only have a few cans left, and I probably won't have my car until Monday. I will have to see if I can catch a bus to the grocery store. LOL.
Thirdly - er, timeline-wise this should have been secondly, but the cats running out of food is a recent occurrence whereas this next mentioning has been ongoing; Hubby has had to take the bus to and from work all week and it's putting such stress on him that frankly I don't know what to do. I had a nice meal made up for him last night, but he was so tired from walking the 10 minutes from the bus stop in such high heat he could barely lift his fork. Perhaps I should have a nice batch of ice-cream made up this evening before his return...
You know, I think I'll do just that. Cherry Vanilla ice cream, with real Michigan cherries fresh from the Fulton Street Farmer's Market and some chocolate syrup swirled in. That sounds so good, I'll have to lock the freezer up to keep myself from eating it all before his arrival! :3
Ta-ta for now - I've got ice cream to make!
First off - the car has decided to bust itself apart at the seams. The transmission has to be rebuilt, and there is a leak in the air intake, a missing left lower ball joint (not that I know what that is, but I have confirmed with the more automobile-minded people in my life and they assure me it's a real thing), and she'll need a re-alignment after all is said and done. Ugh.
Secondly? The cats are now out of food. I had to give them a can of tuna this morning - not that they are complaining, but I only have a few cans left, and I probably won't have my car until Monday. I will have to see if I can catch a bus to the grocery store. LOL.
Thirdly - er, timeline-wise this should have been secondly, but the cats running out of food is a recent occurrence whereas this next mentioning has been ongoing; Hubby has had to take the bus to and from work all week and it's putting such stress on him that frankly I don't know what to do. I had a nice meal made up for him last night, but he was so tired from walking the 10 minutes from the bus stop in such high heat he could barely lift his fork. Perhaps I should have a nice batch of ice-cream made up this evening before his return...
You know, I think I'll do just that. Cherry Vanilla ice cream, with real Michigan cherries fresh from the Fulton Street Farmer's Market and some chocolate syrup swirled in. That sounds so good, I'll have to lock the freezer up to keep myself from eating it all before his arrival! :3
Ta-ta for now - I've got ice cream to make!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Fulton Street Farmer's Market
So - last post I waxed on a bit about going local and trying to ramp up your own produce. As I still don't have that fishtank yet (craigslist or freecycle is sure to have one pop up eventually) for now I'm sticking to the "purchase what you can an the local farmer's market" ideal.
And you can find darn near everything you'd ever want to eat at the Fulton Street Farmer's market in Grand Rapids. All matter of fruits, vegtables, one fascinating lady is selling chestnuts!
I figure each time I hit up the market, I'm going to post a FSFM haul up here. Now, this one is going to be a teeensy bit off as I cooked up some of the delights for dinner last night, but nonetheless it is still valid.
Unfortuneately, It's now time for me to go create Squiggy's lunch - so I'll have to get back to y'all. I'll update this post later today with pics of the haul! ^_^
And you can find darn near everything you'd ever want to eat at the Fulton Street Farmer's market in Grand Rapids. All matter of fruits, vegtables, one fascinating lady is selling chestnuts!
I figure each time I hit up the market, I'm going to post a FSFM haul up here. Now, this one is going to be a teeensy bit off as I cooked up some of the delights for dinner last night, but nonetheless it is still valid.
Unfortuneately, It's now time for me to go create Squiggy's lunch - so I'll have to get back to y'all. I'll update this post later today with pics of the haul! ^_^
From one blog to another
yes, dears, this is technically a repost, but it bears repeating.
A few weeks ago on my other blog (cutelunchlady), I mentioned visiting the Fulton Street Farmer's Market - and I highly recommend you go as well, not only for the cheese, but for the high variety of incredible produce and hand made goods available there. Go Local!
Speaking of, I am a very big supporter of the "Go Local" movement - not only because the food is fresher (and tastier! OM NOM NOM) but also because - and this is important - when you spend your money locally, it improves your local economy. That's something we all could use a little more of - better economy.
Of course, ideally, you'd grow some produce of your own... but that's not always workable in the big busy city life.
Or is it?
Recently, I discovered Patti Moreno, the Garden Girl through the wonders of the internet. And boy, has she ever proved us urban crazies wrong! She has transformed her front and backyard into a mini-farm, complete with a fruit orchard, multiple vegetable patches, even livestock. Go check her "farmette" out - it's wholly organic and entirely self-sustainable. I aspire to arrive at the level of amazing she has reached. Unfortunately, it's a little late in the season for me to get started on my gardens... but I am going to try the hydro-aquaponic garden in my rear window... as soon as I find a cheap, large fishtank (maybe I should go with two or three smaller ones?)
What are your thoughts?
A few weeks ago on my other blog (cutelunchlady), I mentioned visiting the Fulton Street Farmer's Market - and I highly recommend you go as well, not only for the cheese, but for the high variety of incredible produce and hand made goods available there. Go Local!
Speaking of, I am a very big supporter of the "Go Local" movement - not only because the food is fresher (and tastier! OM NOM NOM) but also because - and this is important - when you spend your money locally, it improves your local economy. That's something we all could use a little more of - better economy.
Of course, ideally, you'd grow some produce of your own... but that's not always workable in the big busy city life.
Or is it?
Recently, I discovered Patti Moreno, the Garden Girl through the wonders of the internet. And boy, has she ever proved us urban crazies wrong! She has transformed her front and backyard into a mini-farm, complete with a fruit orchard, multiple vegetable patches, even livestock. Go check her "farmette" out - it's wholly organic and entirely self-sustainable. I aspire to arrive at the level of amazing she has reached. Unfortunately, it's a little late in the season for me to get started on my gardens... but I am going to try the hydro-aquaponic garden in my rear window... as soon as I find a cheap, large fishtank (maybe I should go with two or three smaller ones?)
What are your thoughts?
Hello World
Welcome to my product of my latest adventure - blogging about my life. I mean, I figured that my main blog (cutelunchlady.blogspot.com) is quite the run of fun, and I certainly do discuss food enough to merit having a whole blog devoted to it... there is just SO. MUCH. MORE. that I'm up to. One could say I'm quite Mrschievous. And no, that's not a mis-spelling, it's a portmanteau of Mrs and mischievous - a quite fitting descriptor of myself, being that I am both married and near-always up to something).
That - and I used to have a blog with a similar point - I just completely forgot the login. And Password. T_T
So here we are, starting anew. How exciting!
That - and I used to have a blog with a similar point - I just completely forgot the login. And Password. T_T
So here we are, starting anew. How exciting!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)