Small Talk: a.k.a. 'The Meet Market'

[pezgirl7]

Is today some sort of holiday?  My neighbors (bet they were teenagers) decided it was a great time to shoot off fireworks for about half an hour.  Apparently now I'm one of those crotchety old people that really has to tamp down the desire to tell them to shut up.  But really they decided to drown out Orphan Black.

It's college graduation time, maybe someone just got their degree. :) What really bothers me is loud music, whether it's from an apartment or a car. Motorcycles are the worst, since they have to turn the volume up so loud.

[Shanna Marie]

Is there some kind of Indian holiday going on? I live in what's more or less Little India, and there's some big festival/event going on somewhere in my neighborhood that involves large groups of people walking there in traditional dress, plus signs for overflow parking. There can't be fireworks in the city limits unless they're professional, but right now fire isn't much of an issue, as we're incredibly wet with more rain expected tonight.

 

Which means my carpet will never dry out. They aren't sure if water is coming in around the foundation or if it's a roof leak coming between the bricks and the drywall and pooling at the baseboard. So eventually, they're going to have to take out the damaged part of the drywall in my living room to see where the water's coming from, then patch and repair, and then they're going to decide if there's a way to salvage the carpet. I'm suspecting not. Meanwhile, the carpet gets wet every time it rains, and it rains every other day. I've been sick for two weeks, and I'm wondering how much mold and mildew there is. But the HOA doesn't move quickly.

[sharky]

If it's affecting your health, I would suggest you pull the "I'm gonna sue!" card with the HOA. That'll get them down there quick. :)

 

I'm looking forward to today -- catching up on my DVR and then will try to catch a little Indy 500 qualifying. Next Sunday is a BIG race day, but we have friends visiting from out of town so I'll have to get my fill before that.

[Souris]

Handy grid of the fall schedule!

[YaddaYadda]

I saw the SuperGirl trailer and I'm going...eh...it looks incredibly campy for one and really geared towards kids.  And as someone who has made a lot of fun of Once's CGI...I stand corrected.  Something much worse has come along.

[Shanna Marie]

If it's affecting your health, I would suggest you pull the "I'm gonna sue!" card with the HOA. That'll get them down there quick. :)

That's how I got someone to even come look at it. I'd turned in a maintenance request a couple of weeks ago, with nothing more than an automated "the board will consider your request and get back to you" response. So I added to it when it happened again. Then after no response to that, I played the "I'm sure there's lots of mold and mildew, I'm allergic to mold and mildew, and I've been sick since it started" card and had someone here the next day. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem like it's going to spur them to do anything when it comes to fixing the problem, so I may have to resort to the "l" word and threaten a lawsuit. If a business were housed in a place in this condition, the health department would probably force it to close.

 

And I've just discovered it also got damp in the adjacent entryway closet, so the dining table leaves I was storing in there are totally ruined. Not that I ever used them, but still, it's annoying. I was about to throw them out to get the mildew out of my house, but decided I want them on hand to show the extent of the damage. My mom gave me her steam cleaner vacuum to see if I could suck up some of the water, and after last night's latest round of storms, it got a surprising amount of really nasty water. The carpet's still damp, and I'm sure this isn't going to affect the padding underneath, but it's not quite as drenched. I'm running the AC even though it's not that hot, just to get some of the humidity out of the house.

[HoodlumSheep]

Supergirl is going against Gotham, so it's a no go from me. It does look like it's geared towards a younger crowd (like, younger than the cw/abcfamily/etc crowd). I don't tend to pick up new shows much anymore. Basically all the shows I watch have ended (like parks, the office, etc.). I took a chance on Selfie last fall and loved it, but of course it was cancelled. That's why I'm so happy that Galavant and Agent Carter are at least around for another winter.

[YaddaYadda]

Speaking of Agent Carter, I saw a spoiler for Captain America: Civil War

they go to her funeral

and I wanted jump out the window.  One of the best scenes in the second CA was Steve visiting Peggy.

[FurryFury]

I saw the SuperGirl trailer and I'm going...eh...it looks incredibly campy for one and really geared towards kids.  And as someone who has made a lot of fun of Once's CGI...I stand corrected.  Something much worse has come along.

I don't know, I think it looked basically the same as The Flash, only, you know, not treating women as inferior. I doubt it's aimed at children, probably young adults, the same as most comic book adaptations. I'm going to check it out even if my history with Berlanti's superheroes isn't exactly the most positive.

Also, the CGI (in the 2nd trailer at least) looked MUCH better than on Once.

 

Gotham sucks ass so I hope Supergirl crushes it to shreds, personally. Hands-down the worst superhero show on TV (Granted, I haven't seen Powers).

Edited May 17, 2015 by FurryFury

[Mari]

It is tick season where I live.  I regularly treat my dog and stick to the sidewalks and short grass, but somehow the little critters grip him long enough to make their way into the house.  I have found ticks on the walls, and on me, and now I'm itchy all over and don't want to close my eyes.

 

I love my dog, but it's harder right now.

 

Also, why don't they make the month long tick repellant for people, like they do for dogs?  I would buy that on the spot, and I bet a lot of the farm parents near me would, too.

 

Oh, look, some whining.  Isn't that cheerful?

Edited May 18, 2015 by Mari

[Lieutenant]

I firmly believe that arachnids are spawn of the devil (spiders, scorpions, and ticks), and should be paroled to Jesus with all due speed and prejudice.  I don't think I've ever felt as violated as I do after I find a tick on me.  I have to do the whole haz-mat complete shower down before I feel remotely clean again, lol.  The ticks are almost plague like pretty much across the US from what I hear.  I'm a vet tech, and we've been pulling them off dogs since March.  They have one product out called Bravecto that's actually worked really well and seems to be a big seller.  It's a chewable tab that kills fleas and ticks for 3mo in dogs.  If it worked on me, I'd sure take one!  *shudder*

[FurryFury]

I'm deathly afraid of all insects of visible size, including butterflies, grasshoppers and fireflies. I don't discriminate.

 

(Cockroaches and spiders are the worst though. And moths. Oh god, moths).

[Crimson Belle]

Souris, you read Elizabeth Peters?  Saw a reblog on your Tumblr.  Nobody I know reads Elizabeth Peters.  And  I LOOOOVE that series.

 

May have to buy them on my Kindle and reread them all.  Haven't read any in a long while.

[Souris]

Oh, yeah, I"m a huge Elizabeth Peters fan! I've been reading the Amelia series since the '80s. Ramses is my all-time fiction crush. Which is a bit weird since he was born and grew up in the series and I "saw" him as a lisping child. But he grew up into Ioan Gruffudd in my head (and Elizabeth Peters', too -- I flailed with squee when she said that she pictured adult Ramses as Ioan).

 

What's your tumblr, Crimson Belle? I'm pathetically terrible with names, and if somebody's name isn't the same on tumblr as it is here, I forget who's who!

[Crimson Belle]

I don't have a Tumblr. I just lurk on a select few, and I periodically check yours. With being involved in my Mardi Gras association on the board of directors, I just don't have time to maintain a Tumblr.

[yeswedo]

Fellow Elizabeth Peters / Amelia Peabody fan here! Now I want to go get them for Kindle too :)

[Mari]

Me, too!

 

I loved the Amelia Peabody books, and the Vicky Bliss books.  (Secret weakness for John Smythe, who in my head is always Princess Bride era Cary Elwes.)

[tennisgurl]

More books for for summer reading list! Score!

 

Anyone heard of any good shows that are airing this summer? Or anything to catch up on? 

[Souris]

tennisgurl, you better be a speed reader if you're planning to read all the Elizabeth Peters books this summer -- she wrote approximately 2.7 million, LOL. (And that's not even counting all the ones under her other pseudonym of Barbara Michaels.) IMO, the Amelia Peabody ones are definitely the best, but you should read them in order for sure.

 

Has anyone else read the Galen Beckett trilogy that starts with The House on Durrow Street? Really enjoyed that. 

 

As far as TV, I'm excited about Poldark on PBS. Also Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell on BBC America (I have the book but never got around to reading it -- the size is daunting).

 

And I always push The Musketeers if you haven't watched that.

Edited May 19, 2015 by Souris

[FurryFury]

I'll probably try Jonathan Strange too, but I'm not sure I'll like it. I'm not big on British TV in general.

 

I'm looking forward to Netflix's Sens8 in June and I'll probably check out The Whispers even if it's likely to suck (I kinda like that actress from American Horror Story). 

 

Gave up on Teen Wolf after hearing one ex-cast member is going to be back, hated him so much (also, last season was horrible, on the level on Once season 4B. But maybe I'll be back if I hear really good things about Kira's or Lydia's storylines, they are the only ones left I care about).

[sharky]

As far as TV, I'm excited about Poldark on PBS. Also Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell on BBC America (I have the book but never got around to reading it -- the size is daunting).

So essentially you and I are the same person. So noted!

 

After writing my hockey fanfic, I discovered that there is a whole sub-genre of sports romance novels. I've never read a romance novel before this year, but now I' have quite a few on my read and to read list. I even signed up for a goodreads account to keep track of all of them. I have no idea what my life has become. I'm not a girly girl in many ways so I think that's what the sports stuff appeals to me. Go figure. So yea, that's what I'll be reading this summer along with all the fanfic I have to catch up on.

[Shanna Marie]

I loved the book Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and have read it twice, but it has this weird effect on me where I can't seem to remember the ending. The whole ending sequence has a rather dreamlike effect on me, and on the second read I was even trying hard to pay attention to it, but I still came out of it in a fog. Maybe I'll catch it finally in the TV version. My British friends seem pleased with the TV version, so I'm looking forward to it.

Poldark looks interesting. I guess Defiance and Continuum will be back this summer, but I haven't seen anything about when. I actually kind of enjoy having nothing on TV to watch because it frees up my schedule to do other things. There are fireworks every Friday night at a nearby lake (if it ever stops raining). There are books to read and write. There will be some travel to conventions, and that means a couple of road trips with a friend.

I don't know that I have any specific book plans for this summer. I've been trying to read my way through my epic To Be Read pile so I can purge more books. Most of these are books I got at writing conferences, going back to the mid-90s, so they're mostly romances, and I have this weird thing where I don't find the way that romance is depicted in romance novels to be very romantic, so I'm getting about three chapters in and then giving up on the books. That does make it easier to purge. I also need to start reading my way through the Hugo voting packet.

[FurryFury]

Most of these are books I got at writing conferences, going back to the mid-90s, so they're mostly romances, and I have this weird thing where I don't find the way that romance is depicted in romance novels to be very romantic, so I'm getting about three chapters in and then giving up on the books.

 

Personally, I can only invest in a romance when it's not the focus of a story, but one of a several sub-plots (and hopefully starts slowly). So romance genre is something I tend to avoid outright. 

[tennisgurl]

 

As far as TV, I'm excited about Poldark on PBS. Also Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell on BBC America (I have the book but never got around to reading it -- the size is daunting).

I looked up Poldark, and it looks pretty interesting. I love a good period piece, and it has the guy from Being Human! 

 

I read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell last year, and I loved it, but it took a long time to get finished with it. Its worth the effort though, plus with all the amazing foot notes. 

[Shanna Marie]

Personally, I can only invest in a romance when it's not the focus of a story, but one of a several sub-plots (and hopefully starts slowly). So romance genre is something I tend to avoid outright.

That's something it took me a long time to figure out (heck, I even wrote for Harlequin). Love stories were my favorite parts of books, so romance seemed a no-brainer. Except I don't like romance love stories all that much, for many of the reasons I got into on the positivity thread about Captain Swan. I love a good love story in a mystery or fantasy series when it's a subplot that spans multiple books, so there's a slow build going gradually from friendship to more, and when the conflict is mostly coming in from outside, so that the couple aren't fighting against each other, but it's the outside world that might be making it difficult for them to get together or where it's the two of them taking on the world together. Unfortunately, a genre romance novel requires the relationship to build and be resolved in one book, and there has to be conflict between the couple. Plus, the emphasis these days is on sexual tension, so you get a lot of those "I hate you but you're so hot that my body wants you and I hate that my body wants you but I can't resist you" things. I find that if I can't stand a man, I don't find him attractive no matter how physically gorgeous he is, so I just can't relate.

[FurryFury]

Well, I love belligerent sexual tension and I actually did feel something like that once (never progressed into anything, though), it is kinda like a fantasy of a challenge, I guess - to make a person whom you constantly argue with like you. It's not that easy to do well, but it's a pretty fun dynamic. It also presents a natural reason for why a romance has to be slow burn and inserts a conflict into the beginning of a relationship.

I don't really care about sexual side of things, though. For me, intellectual conflict and differing viewpoints and maybe different sides while still having something in common - beliefs, history, opinions - are all much more interesting than simply sexual attraction.

Edited May 19, 2015 by FurryFury

[KAOS Agent]

 

After writing my hockey fanfic, I discovered that there is a whole sub-genre of sports romance novels. I've never read a romance novel before this year, but now I' have quite a few on my read and to read list.

 

I like sports romance novels, but I've found that I have to stay away from those featuring baseball because they always get it wrong. I tend to fixate on the stupid details that show the author actually has zero knowledge of how the game works and I can't get through it. There are some I've read where I can't tell you anything about the plot, but can explain in detail what they got wrong about the sport. I did recently read a hockey book featuring a pro NHL player and an Olympic silver medalist who is struggling to get past the fact that her hockey career is over at the age of 23 because she's a female. I liked it because the conflict was actually centered more around her internal issues with being around the sport rather than some silly manufactured angst with the guy.

[ParadoxLost]

So essentially you and I are the same person. So noted!

 

After writing my hockey fanfic, I discovered that there is a whole sub-genre of sports romance novels. I've never read a romance novel before this year, but now I' have quite a few on my read and to read list. I even signed up for a goodreads account to keep track of all of them. I have no idea what my life has become. I'm not a girly girl in many ways so I think that's what the sports stuff appeals to me. Go figure. So yea, that's what I'll be reading this summer along with all the fanfic I have to catch up on.

 

Susan Elizabeth Phillips is my favorite in this sub-genre.  Loved both her football and golf (I know! golf) series.  I've mostly given it up the genre now because too much that falls into contemporary has started using first person POV since a few really big hits were written that way.  Really hate first person POV in fiction.  I want the omniscient narrator rather than pretend that I'm the protagonist.

 

I love a good love story in a mystery or fantasy series when it's a subplot that spans multiple books, so there's a slow build going gradually from friendship to more, and when the conflict is mostly coming in from outside, so that the couple aren't fighting against each other, but it's the outside world that might be making it difficult for them to get together or where it's the two of them taking on the world together.

 

You made me realize that I read a ton of novel series and very few stand alones.  Usually they are the one where a new couple comes to the fore but they characters from prior and future books are hanging around.  Lately most of them have tended to be the sci-fi/fantasy romance.  Shelly Laurenston's Pride series is hysterical.   I love Laurann Dohner's shifter series.  It still baffles me that JD Robb (Nora Roberts) has written forty books about one couple and they are more hits than misses.

[Dani-Ellie]

You made me realize that I read a ton of novel series and very few stand alones.  Usually they are the one where a new couple comes to the fore but they characters from prior and future books are hanging around.

 

A friend turned me on to Kay Hooper's Special Crimes Unit series, and I love them to pieces. They're about an FBI unit comprised entirely of psychics, so the cases they investigate are a bit outside the norm (sometimes there's a human perp, sometimes it's a person possessed by a ghost ... that kind of thing). There's usually a little boy-meets-girl action in each one but the romance is only part of the story, which is nice.

 

What I really love about them, though, is that because the series is about the one singular FBI unit, the same characters will show up in each book, with varying degrees of importance to the particular story. Someone might play a tertiary role in one book, for example, and then get his own book later on in the series. One of my favorite characters is a guy named Quentin (I don't even know why he's my favorite, he just is) and I always smile every time he makes an appearance.

[Rumsy4]

I can't wait to watch the Jonathan Strange miniseries. Loved the book! I hope the author is still working on her promised sequel. 

[sharky]

Paradox - I feel the same way about first person. I can't get past it. I'm sure I've missed a few great books because of it but oh well. Susan Elizabeth Phillips is on my to read list as well as Jaci Burton. I also like Deirdre Martin.

Dani-Ellie - Adding those to my list. I just started an FBI series from Julie James!mes that sounds like it's a similar idea and liked them so far.

[KAOS Agent]

If you like Deirdre Martin, you'd probably like Rachel Gibson's Chinook Hockey series. Toni Aleo has a whole hockey series as well although I've only read one and wasn't all that interested in it. As for Jaci Burton, that woman managed to score with that amazing cover for her first football novel. Holy hell was that hot. Now everyone and their mother uses the same type of styling, but she had the cover that started it all.

 

I used to hate first person and wouldn't even bother with reading a book that used it. Then I discovered the Kate Daniels series and realized that it can't be all bad because those books are some of my favorites ever. And Ilona Andrews became one of my favorite authors (their Edge series puts me in mind of Once although with infinitely better world building and they answer questions like how their Storybrooke-like place steals electricity from the power company and things like that).  I would have missed them if I'd turned away from first person POV. I still hold out on the present tense storytelling though. I cannot deal with that. 

[Souris]

I read hardly any fiction that has a contemporary setting. That's just too … mundane or something for me. I want to be transported elsewhere, not read about stuff I deal with or see on TV everyday. Most everything I read is historical, fantasy, futuristic or some combination thereof. I especially like if there's magic involved.

 

I LOVE romance in fiction -- when it's well-done. Too often, though, I find it silly or unrealistic. I need to believe that the characters truly care about and are suited for each other. Sadly, a lot of the time the hero and heroine are mostly just two characters thrown together by the author in the same plot, and I don't believe them together.

 

Is anybody else a fan of Connie Willis? (I may have mentioned her before.) I consider her Doomsday Book one of the best books I've ever read.

 

Another fave author is Judith Merkle Riley -- she does historicals with a touch of the supernatural. The Oracle Glass is my favorite.

[Rumsy4]

Doomsday Book is good, but the sequel, To Say Nothing of the Dog, is an absolute hoot!

[Souris]

Very different tones in those two books, that's for sure! I love them both.

[RadioGirl27]

I have to recognize that I haven't hear about any of the authors you are talking about, except for Elizabeth Peters. I'm more into mystery, detective and crime fiction. I like almost everything, from the classics (Conan Doyle, Dorothy L. Sayers, Chandler, Hammett, P.D. James, Ruth Rendell...) to the most recent ones, mostly European authors like Fred Vargas, Arnaldur Idridason, Ian Rankin or Andrea Camilleri, but also Americans like Michael Connelly or Sue Grafton.

[daxx]

Most of the novels I enjoy have little romance, I get that from fanfic. One of my favs is the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz. The other is the Pendergast (I picture the actor that played Lucius Malfoy) series by Preston and Child ('still life with crows' creeps me out though). I lean towards Sci Fi/ supernatural/ fantasy.

[Shanna Marie]

Is anybody else a fan of Connie Willis? (I may have mentioned her before.) I consider her Doomsday Book one of the best books I've ever read.

She's one of my favorite authors (and actually a really cool person). Doomsday Book is wonderful, but To Say Nothing of the Dog may be my favorite book of all time. I just wish she wrote faster because there's such a long gap between books.

 

And I love first-person narration. When I was a kid, I remember flipping through books at the library to look for "I" books. It's also my favorite way to write. First-person just goes so quickly for me. Third-person can be a real struggle, even though in some respects it should be easier because the narrator doesn't have to be in every scene. It just doesn't seem to flow as well.

[Souris]

Man, am I ready for this three-day weekend! This week was exhausting. I may or may not have guzzled a third of a bottle of wine since getting home from work at 8 p.m.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Souris

[Mari]

Went to the movies with a couple friends tonight.  I wanted to see the Avengers, but was outvoted and we saw Mad Max.  We laughed through most of the movie, and I don't think we were supposed to.

 

I've seen comments that the critics of the movie just don't like the "Women aren't property!" message.  Personally, I was fine with the message.  I'm happy not being property.  But, well, I was expecting to see a Mad Max movie, not a Furiosa Saves the Attractive Women with Help Occasionally from Some Guy.  Max definitely seemed like a supporting, secondary character, which is odd, considering it was a Mad Max movie.

 

Plus, the actors mumbled--which is not good when some of your dialogue is made up of nonsense or repurposed words--and what little dialogue there was could probably fit on three pages.   

 

The complaints are definitely not all because of the pro-woman message. At least, mine aren't.  (Although, the rock band--who were attached with bungee cords to their vehicle--accompanying the bad guys as they tore through the desert on the chase?  I still laugh just thinking about it.)

Edited May 23, 2015 by Mari

[Shanna Marie]

I want to see Mad Max because I loved the original movies. That was my suggestion for a plan B for tonight, while my friend wanted Tomorrowland. But we were able to see the first Friday fireworks show of the season, in spite of the flooding and rain. They do fireworks at the lake near me every Friday night from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, so we didn't want to miss the first weekend. But after a couple of years of the lake being more than 10 feet below normal, it was 12 feet above normal. The park where we usually go was flooded -- I bet the place where we watch was above water, but the parking lot and the trailhead were probably below water and the entire park was closed -- so we went to another park that's usually a big cliff over the lake. The cliff was pretty much the beach, and the picnic tables nearest the edge were under water. And it was drizzling, with swarms of mosquitoes. But we got our fireworks, by golly. I guess I'll have to see Mad Max by myself.

 

The rest of the weekend we'll be getting more torrential rain, so the plan to go to the Renaissance festival is a wash. I imagine I'll stay in, read, and try to keep my carpet dry.

[FurryFury]

I haven't seen the movie, but I never really care if a supporting character "hijacks" the movie, as long as that character is interesting and well-written. Especially when a female character gets more prominence in an action movie - it's like a dream come true to me.

I don't have anybody to watch the movie with so I'll wait for a DVD release, but I'll definitely watch Mad Max and I expect to enjoy it.

[myril]

I don't have anybody to watch the movie with so I'll wait for a DVD release, but I'll definitely watch Mad Max and I expect to enjoy it.

 

Enjoy it. Seen it a day ago and it's batshit crazy. No idea what this rolling rockband was about for example (well, guess, to make a lot of noise to impress whoever might think of attacking you or who you are on the way to attack), but hey, it was fancy, and I want that truck of drums on the next technoparade. A movie without much of a story, and what little dialogue was there didn't need to be thoughtful, the road is the trip. It's simply a monster car chase on a long dusty road with not much of a sense at all. The kind of movie some maskulinist warriors claim to have to please just them and so of course they are now miffed, that the women in the movie are not reduced to hot looking babes in distress more or less staying in the background but are protagonist on their own rights.

 

 

The rest of the weekend we'll be getting more torrential rain, so the plan to go to the Renaissance festival is a wash. I imagine I'll stay in, read, and try to keep my carpet dry.

 

Good luck with keeping the carpet dry. They've finally done the roof on the house here, so I am hopeful that that kind of stress is now a thing of the past for me. So now I can even feel good about hoping for a bit of rain to wash pollen out of the air, hay fever is bugging me more this year. Of course best it would rain over night, so still have good enough weather for some nice activity on the streets by day. 

 

Wishing all a great weekend.

[Souris]

Anybody doing anything fun for the Memorial Day three-day weekend? I'm being a homebody. I generally prefer not to travel on holidays, in order to avoid the crowds. I might gather enough energy to agitate doing something with my friends tomorrow evening.

 

I'm going to make a decadent chocolate-filled yeast bread wreath in a little bit -- I never have time for something like that.

[YaddaYadda]

I was at my husband's graduation on Wednesday which was a cold day for one thing and the sun kept peeking in and out, but I ended with the weirdest tan marks.  I was wearing a 3/4 sleeve shirt, so now 1/4 is super dark while the rest is close to white and my upper arm is pretty much all polka dots because my cardigan's sleeve were sheer with dark polka dots on them.  I also had a bracelet on my hand, so there's a tan mark for that and I had my hair elastic on my wrist and for a few days, I wondered what that had come from until I figured it out.  So now, I look like a Picasso gone wrong (which mind you, I think his paintings are pretty ugly, but I'm also not into art either, so there).  I'm gonna have to go to the beach to even this out!  

Edited May 23, 2015 by YaddaYadda

[HoodlumSheep]

We (more like my 2 brothers and dad) planted some rutabaga, carrots, and I think parsnips today. We don't have anything planned for Memorial day though, because it's supposed to rain the next few days. Today was nice though, I finally finished The Thornbirds novel. I'd give it a 3/5. I didn't really care for most of the characters, but that's just my opinion.

[Shanna Marie]

I did soggy fireworks last night. Today I was planning to get some work done but haven't gotten around to it yet. I've done laundry, and I've started catching up on Orphan Black, but I do need to get to work. It was supposed to be rainy this afternoon, but it rained in the morning and is currently sunny, but there's still a chance of more storms. Wheee. It's nice that we're finally out of a drought situation, but the flooding is pretty nasty. If it stays sunny for a while, I may take a walk because I want to see how high the nearby river is.

 

Tomorrow is supposed to be non-stop rain. I'm planning to spend the day making apple pie and reading. My choir is doing a Memorial Day concert Monday night, with hot dogs before and apple pie after, so I have to bake my contribution. I may do more work Monday before the concert. I'm very behind on a project and want to get it done so I can work on another project that's started to clamor for attention.

[FurryFury]

We (more like my 2 brothers and dad) planted some rutabaga, carrots, and I think parsnips today. We don't have anything planned for Memorial day though, because it's supposed to rain the next few days. Today was nice though, I finally finished The Thornbirds novel. I'd give it a 3/5. I didn't really care for most of the characters, but that's just my opinion.

Haha, I remember coming across this book when I was like 11 years old. I had read a big part of it and then my mother saw me reading it and took it away. Weirdly, she didn't have anything against me reading such stuff as Stephen King's The Stand (expanded version) at about the same age. 

 

What's Memorial Day? Is it the same as Veteran's Day? Sorry, I can't remember all US holidays. 

Edited May 23, 2015 by FurryFury

[Shanna Marie]

What's Memorial Day? Is it the same as Veteran's Day?

Memorial Day is supposed to be the day to honor those who died in combat (though it's been expanded somewhat recently to include other people who die in the line of duty, like police officers and firefighters). Veterans' Day is supposed to be about honoring those who served and are still alive. Memorial Day started as Decoration Day, when people would go place wreaths on the graves of people who died in war and otherwise tend to the graves. Veterans' Day started as a commemoration of the end of World War I.

 

But I think Memorial Day has kind of morphed into an overall patriotic holiday honoring people who've served the country and is treated as the unofficial start of summer. Veterans' Day doesn't get as much attention, as it arrives inconveniently in mid-November.

 

ETA -- I think one of the reasons that picnics and cookouts are a big Memorial Day tradition is that back in the days when it was Decoration Day, people would generally pack a big picnic lunch when they went to the cemetery to tend to the graves (since it was hard work, and in the days of horse and buggy travel, there might not be time to go home for lunch). Over time, the picnic tradition continued even as the part about tending graves faded.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Shanna Marie

[Mari]

We (more like my 2 brothers and dad) planted some rutabaga, carrots, and I think parsnips today.

This is what we did today, too, except replace parsnips with squashes, kolrhabi, and beets. I didn't think anyone but us planted rutabaga anymore.