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As a warning to other stuffed animals
Apr. 22nd, 2012 02:01 pm
We did the free Mar Vista garden thingy yesterday. This home was not on the list, but I was still enthralled by this garden feature of stuffed animals hanged by the neck until dead. I only wish I had had the foresight to take a picture of the sign on the tree by the street, adjuring passersby to not steal their rocks or pinecones in the parking strip.The only other pictures I took were of the chickens at the place a couple streets over from A&K.
Goth Garden Special
Jul. 24th, 2011 08:03 pmThe goth gardener has a problem with worms and wormlike entities. Therefore, I alone am escaped to warn you of this dude.( Read more... )
Brown Jenkin in the yard
Jun. 19th, 2011 12:15 pmWent to an estate sale in Beverly Hills yesterday, primarily the belongings of silent film actor/director Hobart Henley, as well as those of his wife and boys. It's like they all went off to the other house in Florida in 1940 and just left a house full of possessions behind. Lots of great stuff, but with antique store prices on them, even at 50% off most of it when we got there. Sure, it's a tough balance between trying to get what the stuff is worth and trying to empty the house in a weekend, so I have no problem with the prices, but I'm feelin' the vibe of Lock, Stock... these shotguns may be antiques, but we're not paying antique prices for them.
I was interested in the 30's-ish bakelite Mah Jongg set, despite the broken hinge on the case and the rusted out doodads on the racks. A nice prop or curiosity for me, but not for $375. No, not even for the half-off price of $187.
We did get one 'antique', and it's almost comical as the estate agent is talking up this piece, and the legendary status of the manufacturer. OK, I'll take your word that a brand-new Brown Jordan Tamiami loveseat will run you $800, but the last lawnchairs I bought at a yard sale were $5 each. I'm delighted to know that for a few hundred dollars, I could get it sandblasted, repainted and have the vinyl rewoven, but honestly I'm gonna give you $30 and stick it in the yard:
Now, true, it is a neat piece, and the style originally debuted in 1959 (the design was relaunched a few years ago). Very comfortable and a nice design. Well worth $30. But $800? I am not your customer, Brown Jordan. I think the fainting couch is the probably the most expensive piece of furniture we own, and it wasn't $800 and it doesn't sit in the yard. Definitely a neat estate sale, but mostly not for the likes of us, who live some distance from 90210.
That evening A&K had a little BBQ for LARP-ish Wyrd-y folks. Fun to get together and socialize with occasional semi-serious discussions of live gaming. I'm sorry Lisa got a bit ganged up on as the only strong proponent for live combat present among a group of people where I'm probably the most sympathetic to LC, by which I mean "eh, it's not my thing".
You can click through the image to see a couple more from the yard/garden. Me in my new boonie hat next to the high (and getting higher) corn (infiltrated by monstrous fennel), and the dark sunflower in front of the volunteer tomato.
I was interested in the 30's-ish bakelite Mah Jongg set, despite the broken hinge on the case and the rusted out doodads on the racks. A nice prop or curiosity for me, but not for $375. No, not even for the half-off price of $187.
We did get one 'antique', and it's almost comical as the estate agent is talking up this piece, and the legendary status of the manufacturer. OK, I'll take your word that a brand-new Brown Jordan Tamiami loveseat will run you $800, but the last lawnchairs I bought at a yard sale were $5 each. I'm delighted to know that for a few hundred dollars, I could get it sandblasted, repainted and have the vinyl rewoven, but honestly I'm gonna give you $30 and stick it in the yard:
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| From Public Photos |
Now, true, it is a neat piece, and the style originally debuted in 1959 (the design was relaunched a few years ago). Very comfortable and a nice design. Well worth $30. But $800? I am not your customer, Brown Jordan. I think the fainting couch is the probably the most expensive piece of furniture we own, and it wasn't $800 and it doesn't sit in the yard. Definitely a neat estate sale, but mostly not for the likes of us, who live some distance from 90210.
That evening A&K had a little BBQ for LARP-ish Wyrd-y folks. Fun to get together and socialize with occasional semi-serious discussions of live gaming. I'm sorry Lisa got a bit ganged up on as the only strong proponent for live combat present among a group of people where I'm probably the most sympathetic to LC, by which I mean "eh, it's not my thing".
You can click through the image to see a couple more from the yard/garden. Me in my new boonie hat next to the high (and getting higher) corn (infiltrated by monstrous fennel), and the dark sunflower in front of the volunteer tomato.
The Institute for Creation Research relocated to Texas some years back, and fought to get the approval to award graduate degrees. Texas, to its credit, said no [California, to its shame, said yes (for the most part (and now the CA state body that provided such approval doesn't even exist))]. The ICR sued Texas, and lost.
But having lost its fight to get approval and accreditation, the ICR has changed its tune:
That's plenty of spin, but what it amounts to is, "I bet that approval is sour anyway. Besides, because this isn't a real degree, we don't need accreditation."
And now, Alonsoa unilabiata, or the mask flower, or Cthulhu in a fetching pink bonnet:
But having lost its fight to get approval and accreditation, the ICR has changed its tune:
Due to the nature of ICR’s School of Biblical Apologetics—a predominantly religious education school—it is exempt from licensing by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Likewise, ICR’s School of Biblical Apologetics is legally exempt from being required to be accredited by any secular or ecumenical or other type of accrediting association.
That's plenty of spin, but what it amounts to is, "I bet that approval is sour anyway. Besides, because this isn't a real degree, we don't need accreditation."
And now, Alonsoa unilabiata, or the mask flower, or Cthulhu in a fetching pink bonnet:
Feeding time (formal)
May. 2nd, 2009 02:55 pmSince Winston always wears a tux, dinner is a formal affair at the Purple House. This photo and the accompanying one remind me of Tom & Jerry cartoons, where the humans are only seen from the thigh down. Except that the goth gardener has shapelier calves.
Click through for a couple pictures of Venice (CA) on the Venice Garden Tour, including......... DUCKLINGS!
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dark_of_night will probably have more to say about the vegetation, but it was nice enough to stroll through Venice and wander through gardens and houses. We bumped into Kathleen Turner at one house - for a moment, the Goth Gardener and Jessica Rabbit were petting the same cat. I love LA.
Click through for a couple pictures of Venice (CA) on the Venice Garden Tour, including......... DUCKLINGS!
dark_of_night will probably have more to say about the vegetation, but it was nice enough to stroll through Venice and wander through gardens and houses. We bumped into Kathleen Turner at one house - for a moment, the Goth Gardener and Jessica Rabbit were petting the same cat. I love LA.dark_of_night tells me that we will have spinach in the garden for the winter.But not just any spinach.
Space spinach.
Let me repeat that.
SPAAAaaAACE SPINACH!
Excited Tomato
Jul. 17th, 2008 09:20 pm3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
(no subject)
Feb. 10th, 2008 08:48 amYesterday morning, dark_of_night and I put up the bathouse in the garden. Incidentally, searching 'bathouse' on flickr gets you some interesting photos.
We also planted some seeds for the goth garden and the vegetable garden. Artemisia absinthium, love lies bleeding, tomatoes, peppers...
Then in the evening, a group of us honored the anniversary ofedgyspice's nativity by getting our drink on all over the Wessside. Thanks be to aaronjv for setting the itinerary and to colleenky for her oh so socially acceptable medical condition that prevents her from drinking alcohol. She volunteered to drive a passel of inebriates about in our rented maxivan (they were out of minivans, so we got the upgrade).
Edgyspice has perfected her hollow leg technique - either that or some sort of psychic thing where she teleports the contents of her gut into Aaron's.
My tally
Saints & Sinners - Angel Dust (edgy was treated to a golden shower)
A quick walk to Rae's Lounge, for a beer
Off to Tito's, where some of us nipped up to Cinema Bar, where the bartender, Finney(?), treated us very nicely. I had a shot of Don Julio añejo, and the conversation turned to bad scotch, and Finney gave us a free pour of the worst scotch they offered there. It wasn't noxious, but not a quality beverage. Cinema Bar is cute & tiny.
We reconvened at the van and consumed the Tito's bounty.
Next up, Liquid Kitty. Nice drink list, but too loud. I had a Lolita & bought the birthday girl a Key Lime martini. I also noticed that they had absinthe on the menu, so I plied her (&rizwank & myself) with Kübler, in the hopes of interesting effects. The Kübler is pretty strong on the anise and pretty short on anything else, or so I found.
We stepped into the Arsenal, but it was packed, and the atmosphere held nothing for us, so on to the Alibi Room, which I'd always been curious about when we lived a few blocks away, but had never stepped inside. It looked like a dive, and apparently it was, but they renovated it last year, and it's pretty cool. A fairly hip, young crowd with lots of women for Aaron to talk to at the bar. I had a martini, and some quantity of the communal Boddington's. Riz was getting sleepy and Edgy's zippers weren't going any further, so pretty soon the drunk-van was dropping people off. I'm pretty much none-the-worse for wear this morning.
Irrelevantly, I made an icon out of this photo.
dark_of_night and I put up the bathouse in the garden. Incidentally, searching 'bathouse' on flickr gets you some interesting photos.We also planted some seeds for the goth garden and the vegetable garden. Artemisia absinthium, love lies bleeding, tomatoes, peppers...
Then in the evening, a group of us honored the anniversary of
edgyspice's nativity by getting our drink on all over the Wessside. Thanks be to aaronjv for setting the itinerary and to colleenky for her oh so socially acceptable medical condition that prevents her from drinking alcohol. She volunteered to drive a passel of inebriates about in our rented maxivan (they were out of minivans, so we got the upgrade).Edgyspice has perfected her hollow leg technique - either that or some sort of psychic thing where she teleports the contents of her gut into Aaron's.
My tally
Saints & Sinners - Angel Dust (edgy was treated to a golden shower)
A quick walk to Rae's Lounge, for a beer
Off to Tito's, where some of us nipped up to Cinema Bar, where the bartender, Finney(?), treated us very nicely. I had a shot of Don Julio añejo, and the conversation turned to bad scotch, and Finney gave us a free pour of the worst scotch they offered there. It wasn't noxious, but not a quality beverage. Cinema Bar is cute & tiny.
We reconvened at the van and consumed the Tito's bounty.
Next up, Liquid Kitty. Nice drink list, but too loud. I had a Lolita & bought the birthday girl a Key Lime martini. I also noticed that they had absinthe on the menu, so I plied her (&
rizwank & myself) with Kübler, in the hopes of interesting effects. The Kübler is pretty strong on the anise and pretty short on anything else, or so I found.We stepped into the Arsenal, but it was packed, and the atmosphere held nothing for us, so on to the Alibi Room, which I'd always been curious about when we lived a few blocks away, but had never stepped inside. It looked like a dive, and apparently it was, but they renovated it last year, and it's pretty cool. A fairly hip, young crowd with lots of women for Aaron to talk to at the bar. I had a martini, and some quantity of the communal Boddington's. Riz was getting sleepy and Edgy's zippers weren't going any further, so pretty soon the drunk-van was dropping people off. I'm pretty much none-the-worse for wear this morning.
Irrelevantly, I made an icon out of this photo.
beast with five fingers
Sep. 10th, 2007 04:48 pmSaturday was the housewarming for zorker and cdwfs. Definitely a nifty place they've got, and the weather gods smiled on us by not making it a billion degrees. Good BBQ accompanied by relaxed chatting with good friends. Wonderful. I even got Brain to sit on my lap, so I feel all special. Or maybe soiled. Hard to tell. Anyway, having spent the morning digging up the summer garden and preparing the winter garden, dark_of_night and I crashed back home early.
Sunday was spent promoting vegetation, literally and metaphorically. With luck, we'll soon have giant radishes and micro-lettuce and half a dozen other things growing out back.
colleenky lapped me on the planetary race around the sun, but I'm catching up fast. Many felicitations!
Winston has an interesting method for getting a good spot on the bed. I think he puts his paw on my foot, and then extends his claws with greater and greater pressure until I half-wake up with a sensation of piercing torture and move my leg out of the way. The first time, I thought he bit my toe, but this time I'm sure it was claws that did it.
zorker and cdwfs. Definitely a nifty place they've got, and the weather gods smiled on us by not making it a billion degrees. Good BBQ accompanied by relaxed chatting with good friends. Wonderful. I even got Brain to sit on my lap, so I feel all special. Or maybe soiled. Hard to tell. Anyway, having spent the morning digging up the summer garden and preparing the winter garden, dark_of_night and I crashed back home early.Sunday was spent promoting vegetation, literally and metaphorically. With luck, we'll soon have giant radishes and micro-lettuce and half a dozen other things growing out back.
colleenky lapped me on the planetary race around the sun, but I'm catching up fast. Many felicitations!Winston has an interesting method for getting a good spot on the bed. I think he puts his paw on my foot, and then extends his claws with greater and greater pressure until I half-wake up with a sensation of piercing torture and move my leg out of the way. The first time, I thought he bit my toe, but this time I'm sure it was claws that did it.
Peeping and Grilling
Jun. 30th, 2007 10:40 amNetflix brought me Peeping Tom the other night. It's a great film by Michael Powell. Of course, it was so controversial when it came out that it just about ended his career. The film has certain parallels to Hitchcock's Psycho (which came out three months after Peeping Tom), but the films got very different receptions. And this has nothing to do with quality. It's one of the best films I've seen this year.
The Criterion DVD has an excellent documentary on it as well, with a great deal of focus on screenwriter Leo Marks, who was not only the son of Marks of Marks & Co. at 84 Charing Cross Road, but also a cryptographer in the British SOE during WWII, where he provided codebooks and codepoems to spies like Violette Szabo, one of four women to have been awarded the George Cross.
We seem to have strayed a long way from Peeping Tom, but go see it. And the documentary.
Last night we did some BBQing in the backyard. We grilled and ate a lot of stuff from the garden, which was really cool. Squash, grilled and then dressed with lemon and basil (all from the garden). A purple pepper from the garden... when you grill it, it turns green! And a tasty ear of corn from the garden - I had one a week or two back and it wasn't quite mature, it had teeny-tiny kernels. Add some sausage (not grown in the garden) and wine (ditto) and it was a great meal.
The new icon (image stolen frommisskaz) also encodes a secret message to hagdirt that I have tried doing that thing I said I might do. Now that I've done it, I'll do it.
The Criterion DVD has an excellent documentary on it as well, with a great deal of focus on screenwriter Leo Marks, who was not only the son of Marks of Marks & Co. at 84 Charing Cross Road, but also a cryptographer in the British SOE during WWII, where he provided codebooks and codepoems to spies like Violette Szabo, one of four women to have been awarded the George Cross.
We seem to have strayed a long way from Peeping Tom, but go see it. And the documentary.
Last night we did some BBQing in the backyard. We grilled and ate a lot of stuff from the garden, which was really cool. Squash, grilled and then dressed with lemon and basil (all from the garden). A purple pepper from the garden... when you grill it, it turns green! And a tasty ear of corn from the garden - I had one a week or two back and it wasn't quite mature, it had teeny-tiny kernels. Add some sausage (not grown in the garden) and wine (ditto) and it was a great meal.
The new icon (image stolen from
misskaz) also encodes a secret message to hagdirt that I have tried doing that thing I said I might do. Now that I've done it, I'll do it.
