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Month: August 2020

Bloomin’ Hell

Well, not so much hell, really, although it is August and one could certainly be forgiven for getting the two confused… Anyway. This is an orchid. I never had an orchid before, but this one seems pretty happy. This is a Christmas cactus. It is Very Confused. It’s been suggested that I take it outside and wave it at August to try to get some cooler weather, but I am not confident it would not take harm in the effort, so I don’t. I have a green thumb. Inside, at least (no, I’m not linking the mostly-dead garden, go find it yourself if you want.) My mom was the same. We had houseplants all over the house, and everything grew like it was safe in the wild wherever it originally came from. Friends were envious, as she grew things in tin cans and coffee cups if no other pot was available, and they couldn’t keep pothos alive. Pothos are supposed to be THE easiest plant to keep alive, for the record. They die slowly if you forget to water (and a few leaves at a time, so you have warning signs if you look) and they don’t mind low light nearly as much as some. The plant in my pic is one of four that I care for, the littlest one because it’s in a pretty dark place. I want it that way, as I want it to stay small. Outside of my tried and true houseplants, though, I don’t…

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Let’s Talk About Esperanto

I’d rather talk about Esperanto than the pandemic, wouldn’t you? Yeah, I thought so. I’m hesitant to call this fluff because I take languages and linguistics seriously, but sure, for the sake of continuity, we shall call it fluff.  So, if you’ve been around these parts awhile, you know that I’ve been learning Esperanto for quite some time. For a bit back in 2012-2013 through Memrise, and then more recently through Duolingo. And wow, I am actually able to converse — kinda sorta — now.  I’m nowhere near fluent, though, so let’s not get too excited. So I’m in a group on Facebook for Esperanto Duolingo learners, and an opportunity came up to take an actual class in it. A class, guys. I was ecstatic. I mean, there are Esperanto events and things happening — although I think they were either canceled or went virtual due to COVID — but this was the next step. One thing that was always suggested in the group was to supplement your Duolingo learning with other types of learning. And I’ve always been awesome at reading and writing and abysmal at pronunciation.  Same with French. Got all As, took Honors classes in high school, but could not pronounce it well. But damn could I write and understand it.  So I knew this was going to be quite the challenge. And a bit uncomfortable, as there were only five students in the class. Our instructor is a really nice guy, and funny, and easy to…

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Not Going to Talk About the Pandemic, I Swear

We’ll see how far I get. I mean, I’m still scatter brained as all get out, but I feel like I’m slowly starting to adjust and make progress on things. WE’LL SEE. I mean, I forgot to put red peppers on the grocery list, and it’s possible just a few minutes ago I called my husband to ask where he’d hidden the red peppers that I need to make dinner. And it’s also possible that he had no idea what I was talking about. It’s also possible that I spent an hour and a half this afternoon playing phone games instead of editing a certain short story I owe people or, you know, remembering it was my turn to blog. I blame the non-existent red peppers. That I still need for dinner. Siri always talks about her vegetable garden, which always makes me a bit jealous. You see, I also have a vegetable garden, but invariably something goes wrong and I don’t get much out of it. This year we made it larger and built a fence (the dog keeps eating the irrigation) and deployed Tertill, a weeding robot made by the same company that invented the Roomba. (We kickstarted Tertill a few years ago, but didn’t get to use it last year because we didn’t do a garden. Here’s an intro video for it.) The plan was to plant corn, chamomile, cantaloupe, carrots, broccoli, onions, cucumbers and sugar peas. We planted everything except the chamomile over a few weeks,…

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The Little Things

It’s Week Twenty since everything shut down here in Toronto. We’re still tiptoeing towards reopening…as a city, that is. Personally, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. As I’ve written before, I’m finding the pandemic hard to deal with, even if my personal situation is about as lucky as it’s possible to be. I mean, it’s a freaking PANDEMIC (with a side of dumpster fire). Hard not to be glued to the news; hard to find equanimity. My job has also been really intense for just about the same length of time, meaning I haven’t been getting a chance to rest or process the torrent of news. Still, there are things that are helping, a bit. Here are a few of them… Sunsets. My home office (where I both work and play) faces west, with a fairly unobstructed view. When the sky starts to change colour, I try to remember to stop what I’m doing and watch. We’ve had some gorgeous sunsets this summer…or maybe it’s just that I’m noticing them more. Duolingo. I started using this language-learning app back in November, to brush up on my university Norwegian…for a family trip we were going to take to Norway this summer. Obviously the trip didn’t happen, but I’m over 240 days in and still going. (I have missed a day here and there, but Duo lets you accumulate points that you can use if you skip a day, so my streak looks unbroken.) I’m really enjoying learning a language again, and…

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Curiosity Killed the Cat–Part 6

by KD Sarge Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 In the dark of a few dim dancing lights, tens of eyes stared from the bottom of the stairs at Srivasi and Dasid. For a moment Srivasi tried to count them, but the eyestalks and the lights both swayed as if to an unheard music, and some of each dropped down as others popped up and—and far more important were the claws, great pincers as thick as his forearm. One for each creature—the opposing pincer was half the size. Wide bodies built low, pincers—crabs. Giant—for crabs, the tallest would come up to Srivasi’s waist, but the leg-span was huge, and they were armored with—or possibly made of—rock? Dasid moved to put the gem in his shirt. The crab-shaped rock creatures swayed forward. “Stop,” Srivasi murmured. “Don’t move.” Dasid froze. “I was just—” “Put your hand down.” Dasid lowered his hand. The creatures swayed back, like sea grass as a wave ran out. “What, do they think it’s a weapon?” Dasid asked, moving the gem slowly behind his back. “It’s—” The creatures leaned forward again, as if a wave pushed them, but a little closer, each wave bringing the tide farther up the beach. “Hold it in front of you,” Srivasi breathed. Was it theirs? Were these the book thieves? That couldn’t be. But what other candidates did he have? “I’m trying to protect it from those things!” Dasid snarled, but he held the gem in front of him. The…

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