She finally succumbed.

Annual Gathering this past weekend. The last time I went was three years ago, during my Indigo days when I was actively suicidal and so anxious I rushed around Doing Things to compensate for my lack of funds. It was not a good weekend, but I did drive home with a handful of interactions that made me think.

This year, I was feeling a little resentful over my sense of Giri (duty) in making sure I kept an eye on my kiddos and Little Bear. While nothing bad happened in the two years they went and I didn't, there were enough Minor Incidents to freak me out. As you probably know, LJ-Land, Queenie is phobic about water. Seriously phobic, swimming pools and hot tubs trigger the shakes if the water level gets over my shoulders. I'm okay in bathtubs, but that's about it. The site, while beautiful and fresh and clean and well maintained and well staffed and has many amenities, is also a flood catch for a nearby dam. This means WATER. Dark, unfathomable WATER with CURRENTS and THINGS. THINGS in the WATER.

One of the incidents involved the WATER.

ahem.

So I didn't really want to go, what with the bad memories and the WATER and the Minor Incidents and the politics one always finds in large groups, but Giri demanded. I could look forward to the fire pit and the dance and plotting for 2018 with Nomad and maybe actually get to the Temple and have some fun while making sure all kiddos were accounted for and that really didn't help, so, yeah.

The good news is I enjoyed myself a lot more than I expected. Almost everyone said "Welcome Back!" and "We missed you!", with the occasional "Wow, your hair!" I found out Cuteness has at least one friend besides Little Bear who would play the girly games. Teenager kept the school kids and a few adults entertained with boffer swords and got shuttled to the Bachelor Room when bed kerfuffles happened. Bed assignments are difficult at the best times. Lower bunks and first floors and "But we ALWAYS stay in this room!"s make it nearly impossible. It all worked out in the end.

I also made some really cool new friends, joined the Fire Guild, talked for an hour with a new widow about widowhood, got painted up like my favorite sword spirit (although I won't send the author the pics. Queenie has had two children and it shows.) and my InuYasha costume was a huge hit. My bioelectric ears got rave reviews and only one person was creeped out by them. Teenager still looks stunning as Alucard and my girls were gorgeous.

Oh! Did you know dog demons can be Invoked? That was a Thing.

I'm actually looking forward to next year, but I still need another Adult Only Weekend. Nightfall and Pla keep asking me to come down to NYC. Not sure if I can do anything this year, we'll see in the spring.

And now, a few quotes:

"Sucks the energy out of you like Spongebob Squarepants on the beach."

"Sacred Space, Sacred Talk."

"And as we stir the cream into the sacred brew, we chant 'This is only the first cup'."

"Good Penny. Shiny Penny. I will keep the Penny and never let her go."

But my favorite:

"Wipe those stripes off your face, Miko."

Had a really good Memorial Day weekend. Hung out, made fire, tended fire, drummed, made more fire, cut lots of wood and made fire.

However, the pollen and dust and stuff has left me with a clogged throat for the last two weeks. Tis a wicked spring for allergy sufferers. I made The Teenager do all the sweeping and I was still sneezing.

In the garden, the potato plants are going nuts! I'm so excited! I've done the first round of mounding dirt to protect the roots and I'll keep doing it every other week. Some plants are taller and stronger then the others, but I'm afraid to thin anything. The broccoli died an ignoble death, the cucumbers didn't even bother to sprout and the peas took a break from growing, possibly due to lack of water. It's rained all day today, I will keep a better eye on them now that the First Thing of Summer is over.

My wedding is in less than two months. I'm finalizing plans with the venue, trying to get a count for a wine tour for Saturday, still need to call the bloody company, tomorrow. I will do this tomorrow. My spa day is booked and I'm toying with taking that Tuesday off too to just chill at home. I'll have to check my PTO.

That's about it.

Visiting Brother Nightfall for the weekend. The drive down was pretty and okay until I hit Jersey and the construction around I85 outside the city. Asha is a lovely car, but her sat nav SUCKS. It was utterly convinced of an exit that was closed for construction and the detours made no sense whatsoever. I ended up on 95 heading the wrong direction TWICE before I found the Lincoln tunnel. I will need more toll money, I spent nearly $30 on five tolls between Jersey and Brooklyn.

So what was billed as a 3-3.5 hour drive and I figured a 4-5 hour drive turned into 6 hour drive. I'm still debating the way home, as 81 had a serious construction bottleneck in PA. We shall see.

Had Turkish food for dinner, it was DELICIOUS. Today is xiao long bao, soup dumplings! I've wanted these since seeing Anthony Boursain eat them several years ago on No Reservations.

Hope all are enjoying their weekend!

Weekend went well, despite my fumbling with party times. We got Zahde, RB Darkly, Little Bear and Pan. Saturday was grocery shopping, a lot of lazy and a cheese fondue dinner. Also hot cross buns, because Zahde is awesome.

Sunday was Bunny Cake, more hanging out and a chocolate fondue lunch (very late to give RBD and Bear time to get here). The chocolate bunny was ritually sacrificed. Melting jokes were made. I need to start stabbing the damned bunny before throwing it into the fondue pot. Cuteness got several presents she wanted and she declared it Best Birthday Ever!

RBD and Zahde gave me a late birthday present by cooking dinner and cleaning my kitchen. By "cleaning" I mean "They scrubbed the stove!" And cleaned all the counters. And put stuff away where they thought things went, leading to confusion today as we were hunting for snake feeding tools. This happens and items were easily relocated. I have only 8 forks to my name. W. T. F.

With the super late lunch and a super late dinner, it was a scramble to get everyone showered and in bed. Laundry had to be put off to Monday, I was too tired and very Out of Sorts. I blame it on the dream Friday night of getting Wolf back for a little while and PMS, as the bleeding started today. woo.

I do get susceptible to cranky a few days before bleeds. Also, Little Bear is EXHAUSTING. More so than Cuteness.

Overall, it was a good weekend. I generated more ash for the garden and planted rosemary, sage and basil from the grocery store. The basil has already died, but the rosemary and sage are doing well. Basil does not like me. I accept this. There MAY be some broccoli germinating. I really need to order some heirloom seeds from Bakersfield. Cucumbers. I really want cucumbers.

Got to hang out with Zahde. I inflicted the Slayers (anime) drinking game on her, season two so I could cheer for Xellos. Vodka, y'all. I don't think I put more then two shots in our respective glasses, but I was smashed after four shots and Zahde was "buzzed". I am SUCH a lightweight.

Apparently I created a Twitter account as well. Hrm. Whokay then.

Today was spent recovering, nursing a low grade migraine all day due to missing pills, and making stock for turkey brining. I've made about two quarts, the next two are on the stove now, I will boil for cleaning and bag that up tomorrow for Wednesday night. 23.9 lb turkey I have to cook. This will take some work.

In the garden, the carrots have been left to rot and I have the heritage seed catalog I ordered months ago! Huzzah! Heirloom bush beans! Heirloom beets! Cabbages! I have no idea what I'm going to grow in my two little plots, but it will be interesting. Broccoli for sure. I like the idea of cultivating heirloom varieties and saving seed, but I'm not sure how well that's going to go. At least I have a grow light to start really working something in pots, if I can get a good arrangement set up. Maybe this weekend. It's not like I'm going to go anywhere. *shudder*

Also got most of the laundry done and at some point I'm hitting that peppermint bark gelato I grabbed from the grocery store yesterday. When the kiddos are in bed.

Hope all was well for LJ-land!

Slept in until 10:3ish. Got the dining room reclaimed, Jazz-cat groomed, some bills paid, IDK (Indestructo-kiddo) got the dishes done, and we watched some movies together.

In the garden, something has predated on the yellow jacket nest! Research suggests skunk, possibly raccoon. The hive is in pieces next to the deck, you can see all the little chambers where the larvae used to be. This means I can use my compost again!

Tomorrow is errand running and putting another section of garden to bed. Hopefully IDK will get the front lawn mowed.

My brother Lord Nightfall really needed it and we could see a small difference in the morning. May he continue to improve and bask in the knowledge we love him for who he is.

Had some good conversations, ate Moon Cakes (one of those is a bloody MEAL) took a walk in the woods and got home in enough time to take a short nap and get laundry done. As for work tomorrow, what will happen will happen. I can no longer drink coffee or strong tea at work, I can't listen to KUEC on headphones. Both of these combined with shifting programs quickly will trigger fierce migraines and the Imitrex only makes the vertigo worse. Sad Panda. Oh well.

Family Reunion in three weeks! Whoot!

This was a good weekend. I didn't get any gardening done, but the back lawn was mowed (city sent a warning notice dated three days after I had mowed the front WTBH), I learned how to grill clams (4 HOURS, it should not take that long), and I braved the local pool to take Cuteness swimming. It turns out the pool is only 3'9" at its deepest. I THINK I can handle that.

It's been sweltering hot all weekend. I had to strip to undies this afternoon. Tomorrow I'll be using a space heater on my toes because the office is held at 55 degrees, too cold for my reptile blood, but the humidity lays me out just as easily. Fortunately, a thunderstorm is coming through, so the upstairs have several windows open to catch the breezes. Don't know how much rain we'll get, but I'll take the cooler temps!

Mama A says September is going to be brutal. We shall see.

In other news, I took my Urban Fantasy and ported it to my Kindle to see how it looked. The formatting is TERRIBLE, ursulav has my sympathies with her self pubs, but it was a real thrill seeing this story in a format I use to read published work. I have been Inspired, so hopefully I can get this DONE. Bloody fight scenes.

In Wedding News, *fanfare*, I have my Maid of Honor and Bridesmaid confirmed, four-six invitations confirmed, the bouquets and flower hair pieces confirmed (we're carrying bundles of fresh herbs, I shall try to grow what I can myself and talk to a local florist as a backup) and I need to go dress shopping and find this bloody venue. Polar Bear, could you send me those pics we discussed Friday, if you have more then what I already saw? Cornell has a botanical garden, I'll check with them too. Everyone's going to have to drive, there's no good central location to do this. Ugh, I'll have to add a hotel to my budget.

I have a budget. 6k. The same as both previous weddings combined. Might as well do it right, ne?

I only stalled the mower once and was able to restart it fairly easily once it was level. It's a stubborn mower, it must be level and my front yard is sloped. There's patches I could not get, but I asked to borrow Handy BIL's weed whacker tomorrow and he agreed, so I will finish it then.

Cuteness and I had fun at the day spa. She got her fingers and toes painted and a new haircut. I got my fingers repainted and chipped the left thumb and right middle finger within two hours. Not sure if it was the weeding or the charcoal recovery. Ah well. Cuteness is Adorable.




She also has a new fairy life jacket to go swimming in. Loooo is coming tomorrow, weather permitting, so I can whack weeds while she takes Cuteness to a local pool. Monday I have off, as no one is available to watch Cuteness and my supervisor is cool like that and I have the time saved up.

After the mowing, weeding, harvesting (five more pea pods and a bean! My cucumbers are flowering!) and charcoal recovering, I came in and went upstairs to watch Top Gear and fell asleep. Down for over an hour, WTH.

I still have to do dishes. *sigh*

I did not get much done. Hair cut and manicure, already ruined. *sigh* Groceries bought, clothes washed. IDK (Indestructo-kiddo) got the dishes done and the lawn mowed before he leaves on Wednesday with Zahde. I am looking forward to a month with just my Cuteness, even if I have to do dishes and take out the trash myself.

I booked Cuteness and I a mother/daughter mani/pedi at the day spa where I get my hair done. She gets the "Sweet" mani/pedi while I get a regular manicure so she's not waiting on me. I'm hoping she doesn't get too squirmy. The day spa has a bunch of massages I'm quietly drooling over, but I keep reminding myself the raise needs to pay off the credit card and start rebuilding my savings.

In other news, one quote finally came in on the porch. Between $2-3k to fix, almost $10k to replace, including taking off the wrap part that leads to the non-door. Said non-door will be sided over sometime next month. Once I get the second quote I'll make my decision.

Mama A continues to improve with her therapies. She is threatening to brain the neurologist with her cane if she is not allowed to drive on Wednesday. I have informed her it's fine either way, my schedule is now flexible and I can do 8:30-5 or 9-6 or work a twelve hour shift and take half a day off if I need to and I don't have to go anywhere else. Pulled a 4 hour shift Saturday night as my last pool hurrah. Yay overtime.

So that was my weekend, LJ-land. How was yours?