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2 Sprouts
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
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And finally, 3 weeks later there are 2 "sprouts" on my window ledge. The Carolina Reapers, of 10 seeds bought and paid for, 8 arrived, and just this week, a couple of days ago, 2 of them sprouted. First one, one day, then the next another. The other pots show no signs of life.
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Work, sleep, boring, boring. I've promised myself a Jeep come month end, a necessity of summer, for my mental health, but given the erratic pay-periods of this job (1 week already past last pay date, and 3 weeks tips due back) I'm not sure how to commit. I will figure it out - but there are questions...
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And the fudge, from the neighbour I'd fed steak, that mystery at least solved, and she seemed pleased to have given me it; or at least been acknowledged for it...
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Cleaning, the inspection this month. The bedroom, more or less, cleaned. I could go deeper, into the closet, there are a number of things I need to be rid of, old computer, monitor, an abundance of clothes I never wear that should now be moved on. And my necktie collection, some 500+ ties, where to get rid of these? The kitchen/main living area, I took an hour and cleaned off the bar-island, moved candlesticks, rocks, to other settings, unboxed some puppets (NJ) and untangled them somewhat and hung them, one on the easel, the other off a candlestick on a shelf. These things inspire me.
The living room, the last big mess, piles of canvases, art supplies, mixed media, that need some order, arrangement, and where to begin? Where to begin? It doesn't matter, I've come far enough there isn't much left...
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And that is where I am at the moment. Watching a new miniseries - "The Peacekeeper", some comic-book inspired drivel, superhero stuff, with John Cena as the "Peacekeeper", good, for what it is, but I have no clue, I've never referenced the source material, not a Superhero fan, but this is I suspect better drivel than most.
A bowl of Carmel Fudge Outside My Door...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
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Which I found after work and took it in and scarfed all down. Delicious, I sent a text to the upstairs neighbour thanking her, whom I figured it was responsible, made up a bowl of coconut-curry soup to share, gave it to her in the same bowl, she returned it the next day, apparently it wasn't her bowl, and - It could be the other neighbour I fed last week, but - well, even when I run into her we seldom chat, same planet, different worlds, and so I'm a little stumped as to where to return this bowl...
Boxes of Bad Photographs and the Divesting myself of all material things...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
- Hits: 190
Sorting out the boxes of photographs to best fit them into the apartment. It's overwhelming, boxes stuffed to overflowing, and I swear, 40 years of taking pictures and only started taking "good" (not great) pictures when the children were born.
By good I mean that sort of staged photography you get at a high-school graduation.
A lot of travel photographs, from living in London, Prague, Visits to Kathmandu, Japan, Tangiers, Spain.
Too many. They take up real estate, and it's time they go. There's a few good ones, most are rubbish. How many thousands of dollars wasted on taking photos, buying film, developing, now to all head to the trash. And hours spent sorting them out, no cheery-memory lane sort of stuff, just-too many.
Then there's the antiques, the gun-sight (WW1), the compass (WW2), vintage bowls, knick-knacks, candlesticks (don't get me started!!!) - something's gotta give. Too-Much-Stuff.
I cart a couple of loads to the antique shop, I'm gonna need multiple loads, and there's more - always more. This is not the place to sell them, and I haven't the time for Facebook Marketplace, the Antique Shop, they're planning on retiring, they're reluctant to take anything and I'll take a bath - for sure, but - there's no place for it, and I've hung on to it all long enough.
And this is where I am at the moment, letting it all go, bit-by-bit, piece by piece...
We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
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Shirley Jackson, whom you've probably read, think "The Lottery" (High School Required Short Story) - in which lots are drawn and a person is stoned to death. The Claustrophobia of Small Towns, similar, in it's way, to "The Wicker Man" and others such.
"We Have Always Lived in the Castle" covers the same themes, only it's unreliable narrator, Mary Katherine Blackwood, while 'of' the town that loathes her lives in a world so far removed...
The walls close in as you read, and the dialogue, simple, forceful, the events, well, something "had" to happen and then again nothing did, there are no surprises, merely you are there for the slow exposition of events...
And, when you read it - you know her, some version of her, some person that is seemingly twice, thrice removed from the world around them, here - well, Nelson, there are many such. But in this there is a certain gradual increasing horror, the events not to be spoken of yet everyone is aware, the hatred slow-turning to compassion...
It was masterfully written, although I did not enjoy it so much, but that is not to say it wasn't a masterpiece.
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