And never brought to mind? Of course not. It’s been a turbulent year. We have lost people dear to us, gained new precious ones to look over, and tasted bitter and sweet in our careers and home life. It has, perhaps, been the most life-affecting year of this decade for P and I. As once […]
Winter Pagan Festival Tree, originally uploaded by framboise. Finally, 5 years after having first seen them in Trader Joe’s, I bought myself a rosemary plant trimmed to look like a fir tree. Hope everyone’s enjoying whichever version of “surviving past the winter solstice” they prefer!
cottage, originally uploaded by framboise. No, it’s not snowing in Los Angeles. Not yet, anyway. Just felt this photo taken during the winter of 2009 was somewhat appropriate for my mood today. I can see somewhere warm and welcoming, but I’m still on the road. It’s paved like a treadmill that does not allow me […]
Today I stood in my old office, Shelves stacked with files and folders. As I wiped down the desk And emptied the drawers, My mind drew a blank On the contents of all these data holders. Four years, they represent, Of toil and thoughts in equal measure. Half happy, half bad, And ninety percent kept […]
It’s been manic. My summer disappeared in a haze of work (good) and people throwing hissy-fits at work (not good). Early autumn was devoted to preparing for, attending, talking at, and then recovering from a large science conference in Chicago. Some fortuitous foresight on my part in summer meant that I also had a few […]
Unlikely to get this one finished, but I thought this clue was quite cute: 24 across Mark, Barbie’s friend, toasted so? (5) To-ken
I was having one of those days at work. You know, the ones where you spend the whole day setting up stuff and waiting hours for the bloody enzyme to do its work… All hurry up and wait. And I was reminded by a comment about quiptic crosswords, which are an excellent way to pass […]
I’ve always thought of Torrance, CA as being a bit of a warehouse town. It’s one of the many cities of Los Angeles County that we zoom through on our way to the coast or the mountains. And on the 4 or 5 occasions we’ve driven through the streets of Torrance, we’ve seen nothing other […]
Its fellow sweet pea plants have given up the ghost, but this one is soldiering on. Pretty amazing given that I just threw some seeds in the ground in Spring and hoped some would get enough water to sprout and survive this hellish desert heat. [Goes off to check seed packet only to realise this […]
It’s that time of the year when I realise my garden is overgrown, under-weeded and in need of some pruning. Which is also usually when I realise that there are plants in said garden that I don’t pay any attention to all year. Until they flower. Like this iris, right by our front door: It […]
akatsuki ra-ra-ra 