magid: (Default)
magid ([personal profile] magid) wrote2005-06-22 07:06 pm

Recent goodnesses

  • an eggplant loofah, presumably left by the same suspects who left the banana loofah, under the cushion at the other end of the couch
  • toasted crumpets (Trader Joe's), with all the nooks and crannies (and I can toast them at home! Yay!)
  • bookstore browsing (and managing not to buy anything I hadn't planned, aka nothing. For now.)
  • going to a mural opening, in the footpath under the railroad tracks (off Beacon St., Cambridge). Schoolkids painted one side of the tunnel with views of all sorts of things one might find underground, such as a colony of ants (the queen wearing a crown and having long eyelashes), a train roaring down a tunnel, Big Dig workers, a dragon with its hoard (and a spare princess for snack), a bat hanging from a pipe, and more (plus the Fraggles, which doesn't fit the theme to me). Nice work, and I hope it'll keep the tunnel from being re-graffitti-ized.
  • rain for my plants. Lots of tomato flowers now...
  • seeing people I haven't seen in a while
  • hugs and other displays of caring
  • the gift of a futon, and other housely items

[identity profile] pinkrose70.livejournal.com 2005-06-22 04:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I haven't tried the Trader Joe's crumpets, and while I've enjoyed some other "goodnesses" on your list....one that makes me the happiest is seeing those little yellow flower buds, and tiny little tomatoes growing under them!

How sweet they taste, grown at home...mine are all cherry tomatoes,
except for a lone Roma plant. That one is doing well with 2 little green Romas growing bigger daily.

[identity profile] magid.livejournal.com 2005-06-22 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)
The crumpets have somehow exactly suited my mood; I don't know how much that colors my view...

I'm hoping for the tiny green tomatoes soon, but I keep reminding myself it always takes longer than I expect (I want tomatoes NOW NOW NOW!). All three of mine are Sungold cherry tomatoes (my current favorite); I'm growing things on a porch, so space is at a premium, and there's never enough room for enough tomato plants to give me more of a real supply, so I've gone for the earlier fruiting ones. I hope your tomatoes continue to thrive!

[identity profile] treacle-well.livejournal.com 2005-06-22 04:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Re Fraggles: I never watched the show, but IMDB gives this plot summary of the series:

The adventures of the various inhabitants of an underground civilization.

So yeah, it fits.

[identity profile] magid.livejournal.com 2005-06-22 04:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks. I'd just assumed it was a more plot-driven n + 1 version of the Muppets.

[identity profile] bitty.livejournal.com 2005-06-22 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Always check both sides of the couch.

[identity profile] magid.livejournal.com 2005-06-23 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
Well, you know, I'm not used to finding bananas or eggplants in my couch...

(And thank you.)

[identity profile] bitty.livejournal.com 2005-06-23 04:31 am (UTC)(link)
I have issues with balance. if tehre'd been only one item, it would have been in the middle somewhere :)

[identity profile] magid.livejournal.com 2005-06-23 04:42 am (UTC)(link)
*nod*
Maybe I should start checking my couch more often!

And I just have to ask: wherever you found them, did they not have the loofah crustacean? 'Cause I could've totally seen you getting me a kitchen crustacean *grin*

[identity profile] bitty.livejournal.com 2005-06-23 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
we have a reptile loofah at home, but the rest of the options were food. which is what made me think of you in the first place :)

(Anonymous) 2005-06-22 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I used to eat those crumpets all the time, with cream cheese.

Wish I could have plants, tomato and other. Don't have outside space for such. I miss the gardening my family and I used to do when I was little.

[identity profile] magid.livejournal.com 2005-06-23 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not such a fan of cream cheese, but they're great with cheddar, or butter, or cheddar and refried beans.

I have a smallish porch, but I do overwinter some herbs inside. Do you have a sunny window you could put some herbs in?

[identity profile] surrealestate.livejournal.com 2005-06-23 03:43 am (UTC)(link)
I just killed another plant. I need help! I just wanna grow basil!

[identity profile] magid.livejournal.com 2005-06-23 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
Not enough water? If so, I think there are doo-hickeys out there that let you time-release water, so it's less critical to remember.

Not enough sun? The only thing I can think of would be a full-spectrum light, if there's not a more lit place.

Did it have a big enough pot?

(And I suspect Hauntmeister would have lots of useful suggestions.)

(Anonymous) 2005-06-23 10:51 am (UTC)(link)
Oh that's right, I forgot you don't much like cream cheese. Your suggestions sound yummy. What's traditional, though, I wonder -- "tea and crumpets" and all, you know.

I grew basil in a very sunny window one place I used to live a long time ago.

Well, even though now is the time to start growing tomatoes and herbs, I can't do it in any case, because I have to find a new place to live, like, yesterday.

[identity profile] magid.livejournal.com 2005-06-23 03:00 pm (UTC)(link)
I suspect that the traditional tea and crumpets had butter or jam, but that's just a guess.

In some ways I think basil's harder than other herbs, since it's so leafy (and seems to want so much sun); the ones with smaller leaves do well inside.

Sorry to hear you have to move. Where do you want to move to? What sort of place would you like?

(Anonymous) 2005-06-23 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Butter and jam sounds right.

That window a long time ago got lots of sun -- while not enough to let the basil get big and leafy, enough that it continuously grew and didn't die. Some day, I'll have garden space of my own and let herbs run wild, and I'll have a big kitchen window for potted herbs indoors.

Thanks for your empathy, and for caring to ask. I need to find a new place within Somerville. I have many preferences, but am limited by needs and restrictions.

In my parallel life, I am an agriculturalist in Israel.

[identity profile] magid.livejournal.com 2005-06-24 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
I hope you find a place that fits not only your needs but your wants, too. (I hate moving; I hope it's as annoyance-free as possible for you, the whole process.)

Wanna trade places with your parallel? Then s/he can do the apartment hunt!

(Anonymous) 2005-06-24 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you for your good wishes.

Yes, I absolutely want to escape to my parallel life! Never thought of the trading approach, though. Do you somehow know how to accomplish this?

[identity profile] magid.livejournal.com 2005-06-24 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
I wish I knew. I also wish I knew who I am in my parallel life...

If you like sf, you should read Adventures in Time and Space With Max Merriwell, which sort of involves parallel people, pen names, at least. (And I learned a bit of physics, too.)

(Anonymous) 2005-06-24 01:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe you are fairly content with your life and therefore don't have a parallel life, and that's why you don't know who you are in your parallel life. If your life is what it is supposed to be, there is no reason to have a parallel life.

If not, who do you think you might be in your parallel life?

I don't typically go for science fiction, but I thank you for the suggestion of the book -- it does sound like something I might enjoy. I will make a note to check out that title once this nightmare ends, if it ever does, and does well.

I like physics.

Sometimes I have dreams with a certain quality to them about a particular person from my past, and because of the certain quality, which I really don't know how to describe, I feel as if this person is dreaming about me at the same time, or is in a parallel life and is trying to find me, wondering where I am, is trying to pull me in to where I belong.

Weirdest thing? Found out, after having one of these dreams, that this person is living about a mile away from me in Somerville, on a street down which I travel frequently.

[identity profile] magid.livejournal.com 2005-06-24 01:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I am content with parts of my life, but there are definitely things I thought I'd have by now (a husband and kids feature prominently here. Who? Where? No clue.). So maybe I'm my married, parallel self's wild and crazy single person.

I have moods when science fiction is what I want, and others when it's totally non-appealing. There's a lot of interesting stuff out there, though.

I wish I knew more physics. Unfortunately, the classes in college tried to teach me calculus (which I knew) rather than physics, so it's still a bit of a tangle to me. Alas.

I haven't had dreams like that. The first word that comes to mind when I read about it, though, is yearning.

And that is weird, having someone so unexpectedly close. Though I suppose it in the long run it's no stranger than a lot of the Jewish geography connections people make....

(Anonymous) 2005-06-25 07:08 pm (UTC)(link)
There can be many definitions as to what might constitute a parallel life. For me, it's a life that's different in many, many ways, almost completely different.

It was my sophomore year physics class that got me liking physics.

Yearning is an interesting word.

This was a bit weirder than the typical Jewish geography.

Shavua tov, I hope.

[identity profile] magid.livejournal.com 2005-06-25 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
And shavua tov to you, too.

When I think about parallel lives, the first thing that comes to mind is different decisions made at certain junctures... I wonder how different a person I'd be, not only in external circumstances (job, partner, kids, country), but in who I am, what's important to me, how I approach things, and so on. Not really a useful place to go, a lot of the time, especially if in a low mood...

[identity profile] surrealestate.livejournal.com 2005-06-23 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
Darn, I forgot about the mural opening.

[identity profile] magid.livejournal.com 2005-06-23 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
I ended up stopping by during one of the official schmooze periods, so I got to see some photos they had hanging on the unpainted side, then the mural itself. And while the photos were nice, the mural's still the more interesting part... and that's available anytime, now :-)

[identity profile] magid.livejournal.com 2005-06-23 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
Er, which is to say, I didn't get to participate in anything in particular by going to the opening...