Ok, tea

I've been holding off on buying tea, just in case my sister-in-law (there has to be a shorter way of saying that) decided to buy me tea for Christmas. She did. Here's what I've found.

Hot Chocolate: is. Yeah, it's tea, but it may as well be hot chocolate. I'm not complaining.

Apple Cider: tastes fake. A look at the ingredients shows that it IS fake. You can do better, @davidstea.

Organic The Big Chill: I've had this before, to be honest. It's pleasant.

Chocolate Chili Chai: I haven't had this from the box yet, but I've bought it. Memory says it's tasty but needed more chili to be called a chili chai.

Spiced Apple: I usually avoid teas with black pepper, since it overwhelms everything else. They've kept it low here, though. I enjoyed it.

Snow Day: another one I've had before. It's fine, and almost has something to do with its name.

Sleigh Ride: yeah, this is an old familiar. Don't add sugar to it. It's already one of the few items in the bunch that has a sugar listing.

Alpine Punch: is good, but has nothing to do with alpine anything. Coconut?

Toasted Walnut: you do get that walnut aftertaste, for better or worse. Actually, this one's not bad.



So, overall, drinkable except for that unforgivable fake-tasting one that makes me wish that David's Tea would learn to stick to actual tea. Next up? Whatever I get to augment the current supply.

Doodling

This is the time of year when, thanks to a generous gift card from my brother and sister-in-law, I generally end up with more art stuff. I say generally because last year I ended up buying beads and some other stuff and just a little bit of art stuff. Back to the art stuff again this year, though.

Are you tired of me typing "stuff" yet?

What you're seeing to the left in today's pointless photo(s) is mixed media paper, black 110 lb paper (I was going to buy an art pad of heavy-ish paper, and then it occurred to me that I could find it cheaper in the scrapbooking section. Turned out to be heavier paper, even.), a General's sketch set with charcoals, pastel pencils, and graphite (just to replace some of my stubs, really), a package of store brand coloured pencils in neons and metallics (for a change from my normal, usable colours?), and a set of Stabilo Point 88 Fineliners. That's nylon tip pens, good for writing or drawing. The picture to the right is me testing the pens to make sure none of them were dry. Oh, and I was drinking tea, obviously.

I went all art with my gift card this year partly to give myself a figurative kick in the butt. I've been lazy about art lately. It's been happening, but I slowed down a lot to give my stupid wrist a rest while it was being, well, stupid, this fall. It's an old injury that I periodically re-injure. Unfortunately, it also means that on my bad days I get a very shaky hand, because it's your wrist that controls most of your hand movements. If you're interested in anatomy, look up a picture of the human hand. There are surprisingly few muscles in the hand itself. Your wrist is the puppet master.

Anyway. Shaky wrist equalled shaky hand this fall -- still does, now and then -- so I backed off a bit to let things heal. The problem with that is that you get out of the habit. Oh, I've still been doodling (it's pretty hard to stop that) but I haven't produced much that's worth public viewing. In fact, I see that the last time I posted to my art blog it was August. I guess I should do something about that.

That's the plan. So, fineliners to convince myself that pen lines don't have to be perfect to be valid (shakes really show in fine pen, but that's okay... she tries to believe...) and pencils because I used to do a lot of pencil work and I should get back to it.

The other thing that usually helps is doing an inventory. I started one a few months ago, but got stalled. If you follow me on Instagram, then, don't be surprised if art supplies start showing up in my posts again. Photos remind me of what I have and how far I got, and if I've got the photos I may as well post them, right? That way it's not just me that knows the scale of years of buying.



Well, this turned into a post. Fancy that. Next time will probably be tea, you know. It wouldn't be the holiday season if I wasn't reviewing my tea presents.

You've been warned.

More snow photos

'Nuff said there, I think.

These clouds were cool. 

Snow on an apple tree.

Bird feeders, fuzzy Nuthatch, and swearing Chickadee   

Just some spruces.

These junipers are under the feeders. The mice hide here to steal seed.

Pointless snow photos

I actually made it outside with the camera Tuesday, since it was about ten degrees warmer. Unfortunately, all there was to take pictures of was snow. I know that people think of snow as pretty, but it's also pretty monotonous. Ah well, at least there are a few fresh photos to look at around here for a change.

I'm scheduling this post and the next one, by the way. No point in posting everything at once when I post so rarely.

We don't sit in the yard much in winter.

Snow patterns on this shed roof always fascinate me.

Guess Dad hasn't been riding lately.

Dead rose and snow. How artistic.

You can take yer winter and...

These two shots were taken from my bedroom window here at Dad's on Christmas Day. And why didn't I go outside to take better shots that didn't include drainpipes?

Because it was freaking cold, that's why.

As you can see, we had a bit of snow for Christmas. All of you people wishing for a white Christmas? Well, I kind of hate you. This much snow just made travel unsafe (like I said yesterday, I just missed that part) and didn't change a damned thing about Christmas itself. But then, you've probably guessed my feelings about winter in general by now.

Anyway, there's a couple of posts to tide you over, probably until the new year. Anyone who actually misses me here can find me as deeolworld on twitter and instagram, or look for me on facebook where I'll most likely ignore you since I pretty much just have that account for work.

Later, everyone.

T'was the day after Christmas...

Otherwise known as Boxing Day here in Canada (and the UK, and probably other Commonwealth Countries as well. I'm too lazy to check, to be honest).

To the left, you'll see my annual slow shutter speed photo of the Christmas tree, because it's more fun that way. Plus, you can tell by the dotted lines up top and the solid lines below that Dad has one string of LED lights and one string of old-fashioned incandescents, and that appeals to the nerd in me.

And that implies that there are parts of me that aren't nerd, I suppose. I'm not entirely sure that it's true, but we'll roll with it.

And how was Christmas? Not too bad, actually. Dad didn't think that the gifts I gave him were too stupid (gifts, plural, only because he got a few little things this year instead of one big thing), I made out nicely myself, I was (as usual) spoiled by my brother and sister-in-law and will have a shopping trip to blog about when I get the chance, and the turkey was pretty good.

We didn't go out to view the Christmas lights this time, as we often do, because it was bloody cold out there. Ah well, I was inside so that's all right. I managed to make it into town just before a heavy snowfall and will leave (probably tomorrow) as it's warming up, so my timing was pretty good for a change.

And as for Boxing Day sales? Just online ones this year for me. I don't exactly have to budget to find more things than I need, anyway.

I'll leave you with a few shots of... well, any cat owner can guess who enjoys Christmas the most, I guess.

Hope you had a merry/happy whatever.

Quaecumque Vera

That's the Latin motto of my university, by the way. Almost no one these days knows what it means. I do. So let's truth.

I've been working at home a lot in the past few weeks, and I almost want to scream at the way women are sold a pile of goods AND how so many of you are actually  sold it.

No one "needs" a little black dress unless you know that you're going out somewhere that needs one. No one "needs" stupid shoes. No one. And life's too short for shoes that cause you pain anyway.

The photo, so you know, shows my life as opposed to what shopping TV seems to think it's supposed to be.

As to bags... well, geez. Are you really out there, those people who need a service to resell purses that you've paid thousands of dollars for? Me and my $40 Guatemalan bag may need to come and flick your ears. The day I pay more than rent for a purse may mean hospitalisation.

Aaanyway, I hope that you're having a happy holiday season. Just try to not make it all about "I want".

Talk, dammit.

I'm wearing a #safetypin these days. Because I need to. Because apparently there really are enough effed up people in the world to make people feel unsafe.

Here. In Canada. Don't pretend that it doesn't exist.



I don't blog often these days. I'm too busy with work's social media needs. I'd rather not even be online, to be honest. But this is too big to be ignored. Everyone. Every single person who has ever existed, needs a voice. Spread your voice, even if it doesn't agree with your neighbours. Talk.

Pointless cat photos

Because the internet needs more cat photos, really.

This is me not apologising for not blogging, by the way. Life has been busy. I recently officially took on social media management at work, and since that's becoming more and more a part of our marketing it's keeping me on my toes.

I don't really have any other news. Dad and I went out for Chinese food last night because we both have upcoming birthdays and I won't be home for either of them. He was pretty quick to agree to supper when I suggested it, because as a Legion member Remembrance Day is always fairly busy for him. I also had to give him his birthday present early, because it was perishable. What did I give him? Sausages. No, I'm not kidding. I gave him sausages from Big Bend Market, which makes them in-house from local meat. They have other fantastic local products as well, and a great lunch counter. If you're in the Red Deer area you should look them up.

I of course didn't give him the sausages at the restaurant. You know, in case you wondered.

Anyway, that's all I have at the moment. Oh, except for the fact that Dad's washing machine is sounding like it's preparing for take-off. I think he needs to start looking at the sales flyers. Now onto the Turkey Brothers:

Tom was unimpressed with Dad's towel mountain.

The "don't hate me because I'm beautiful" pose.

Bob, chillin'.

Add me with a face cloth and you'll know what it's like to wash your face here. Yes, he stands right in the sink.

More pointless photos

Yeah, still no blather to go with.

Some very persistent apple leaves

A shot up through a European Mountain Ash tree.

Must be time for some pointless photography, right?

You've noticed that I'm not much for blather lately.

Actually, that's not true. My blather has just become a lot shorter and usually involves my phone.

Between doing social media for work and playing with my own accounts, I'm feeling a little blathered out. That means that once again this post (and the scheduled one I'll add after this) is all photos all the time.



Don't worry. I'll no doubt blather again at some point. Until then, pictures:

Bracket fungi with an old rhubarb flower stem decoration.

A trio of clematis seed heads.

Fallen leaves, including High Bush-cranberry.

Big ol' social media sigh

That's my car covered in snow last week, by the way. My two fans know how happy that makes me.

Anyway.

A few years ago my (former. He has his own room now) office mate started a twitter account for work. I thought he was off his chump, to be honest. What were we ever going to use those silly 140 characters for, anyway?

Most of our advertising, it turns out. And a fair bit of visitor contact.

We were, accidently as it may be, fairly early adopters of social media. We're very active on twitter, instagram, and facebook, and are likely to be on a couple of other outlets soon. We're busy enough that we needed a social media coordinator.

Guess who?

Sigh.

I spend most of my work time these days posting and tracking. If I go for a walk I make sure I have my phone in case there's an instagram opportunity.

I'm on facebook, even though I've always hated facebook.

Life is weird, folks.

I'm not at work today, but I've spent nearly two hours doing work stuff from my phone.



Ah well, could be worse. I still go for walks, even with the phone aspect. We're more connected with visitors than we used to be. I still don't have a computer (if you don't count my tablet since, given that I don't have WiFi...). Well. I suppose the end is that I'm employed to be too connected, but at the moment I can live with it.

At the moment.

For now.

Stay tuned. An alert sounded as I was typing this.





Sigh.

Pointless photo of the day:

A bit fuzzy, but posting it because I liked it anyway. If you look closely at the bottom flower, you'll see that the bee wasn't the only member of the insect world that belongs to the Sunflower Appreciation Society.

These particular sunflowers were all planted by the birds who visit Dad's feeders -- this is the flower that produces Black Oil seeds, if you're wondering -- so obviously they belong to the Sunflower Appreciation Society too.

So do I.

Pointless photo of the day:

High Bush-cranberries are edible but aren't the cranberries you have with Thanksgiving turkey (those are Bog Cranberries). Straight off of the bush they are very sour, but if you cook them with sugar and strain them to remove the pits, they make a cranberry-like syrup that gives the plant its name.

A relative, Low Bush-cranberry (Both are Viburnums. High Bush-cranberry, aka Pembina, is V. trilobum. Low Bush-cranberry is V. edule), also has edible berries, but since its strategy to spread its seeds is for the fruit to smell somewhat like a carcass when it's ripe (most animals -- even herbivores -- will take advantage of the energy to be found in a rotting dead animal), your house will smell uncomfortably like old sweatsocks while you're cooking the syrup down.

Not my choice, as you can imagine.

The plant in the picture is nursery stock, but the wild ones look very similar.

Actual new pointless photos

The problem with Dad having a cat named Bob (the tabby that you sometimes see on the blog) is that I sometimes think that Tom here should have been named Jesus. Then the other cat could be Jesus' Brother Bob...

Everybody needs a bit more Arrogant Worms in their lives, I figure.

One thing to note about the picture, by the way. It's hard to see here, but this cat is on a leash and wearing a harness. We used to let our cats roam free during the day when I was a kid, but I'm very much against it now. Free range cats kill millions (no, I'm not exaggerating) of birds, and often have much shorter lives themselves because of fights, illness, and injuries. Check out Cats and Birds for some good reasons to either keep your cat indoors or only let it out tethered and supervised.

On another note, Tom's a handsome dude, isn't he?

I'm going to do a couple of quick scheduled posts after this of a couple of things in the yard (once again, I didn't keep too many of the photos that I took yesterday. Thank Whomever for digital when it comes to bad photography), but here's one to start off with.

I'm honestly not entirely sure what this is and I'm too lazy to find out, but I thought that the speckled pattern was kind of cool. On the photography side, I love the bokeh I get from this lens. Cameraphones just can't do that.

Yet.

I'm sure that they will at some point.

Anyway, scheduled posts and then lunch. Type at you later.

The dawn of a new age

The pointless photo is not exactly picturesque, but then it's also slightly -- just slightly -- not pointless. Not enough to turn the blog orange (old, old joke, so never mind), but there is somewhat of a point to it.

This is my Dad's new modem.

Because of weirdness in his line, he's had to use an external modem since he first got internet service. A while ago an electrical storm fried it (which also managed to screw up his phone service, of course), so he had to call a serviceman in. The guy's reaction? "Wow. That's an old one". Cue forward to just about every phone-related switch and box connected to the line being checked and replaced where necessary, and everything works again. And, as I said, this is the new modem.

Note the antennae. Yep, built-in WiFi.

My Dad has WiFi for the first time, and he's found out that it causes what most of us have known for a while: constantly fiddling with your phone. Now, personally I don't even have internet at home (I don't have a computer, so it would be kind of silly), so I usually save most of my phone-fiddling for when I'm at work, but it's nice that now when I visit here I don't have to burn through my phone data. It's also nice that I can use my tablet for something other than saving things for later (when I can find WiFi). For Dad, though, it's been the revelation of doing his e-mailing and whatever else without having to come downstairs.

Like it says above, the dawn of a new age.

Good thing or bad thing, do you think? I'm of two minds, I suppose. None of us needs to be sitting more than we already are, really, but at the same time it's the way our world operates these days. I think that rather than good or bad I'll just say inevitable, and get back to the phone alert that rang while I was typing this.

After all, I don't have to feel guilty for checking them anymore. Dad's probably doing the same...

Congratulations?

Just a quick post (as usual) in "celebration" of the Turkey Brothers officially making it to Cat Shaming on Instagram.

Yep, Tom sitting on Bob because there wasn't enough room in the laundry basket was post-worthy.

And no wonder...

Pointless cat photo of last month or whenever

Looking out on September? Not at the time I took the picture, no, but I guess you can look at it that way.

Tom, who isn't allowed out unless he's on harness, has apparently decided that he needs to be out ALL THE TIME. Winter will cure that for a while, but I don't think that any of us are in a hurry for that kind of cure.



Anyway, there's a quick post. Bet you thought that I'd forgotten how to do it, right?

Around the yard

And now it's time for this week's leftover pictures. Not too many this time, since I did way more deleting than keeping. Here we go:

Apparently happy begoinas

Sunflower in evening light

Willow herb seed pods

That'll do me. Catch you next time.

Tea!

Considering that I didn't have the right lens on the camera to take a non-close-up shot, this photo didn't turn out too badly, I think.

Anyway, tea. I haven't done a tea post in a while, and I'm sure that you missed it.

Oh, shush.

I can't remember what I have and haven't discussed by now, so give me a bit of a break if there's some doubles here. Also, I recently got in on the summer sale, so including the boxed sets I bought there's nine new teas in my life. Well, not all new, come to think of it. Either way, I'll try to keep the reruns to a minimum.

First, the teas that aren't the most recent ones. In fact, I've had one long enough to have since got a refill.

For whatever reason, the last time I went for yerba maté  (I mean the last time before this most recent last time. Bear with me here) I veered away from my beloved Chocolate Rocket and went Electric Lemonade instead. That's weird for me, because I'm usually dissatisfied with fruity teas (that's right; I'm a spicy gal). This one's not bad at all, though, and I'll admit that my one exception to fruit teas is lemon. It'd be nice to not see "flavouring" in the ingredients list when there are so many things that can brew a lemon flavour, though. That'll be a recurring theme of this post, by the way.

On the same trip (I must have been in a weird headspace that day) I picked up Pistachio Ice Cream and Lemon Pound Cake, both of which were, I think, limited time flavours. Pistachio Ice Cream tasted like pistachio ice cream. Lemon Pound Cake tasted like lemon pound cake. Both, obviously, needed "flavouring" help to taste that way. Neither should have been called a tea. Note to self: no more novelty flavours, Dee. It's not what you're looking for.

Also on that same trip, I tried out Dark Chocolate Delight. That's the one I've since bought more of. 'Nuff said there, I think.

Ok, on to what I've tried so far of the new stuff.

If I can remember, that is.

The maté I went for this time around was Cinnamint. I'm of two minds for this one. On the one hand, it's fine. And on the other hand, it's fine. Not unpleasant, but doesn't exactly blow me away. I'll likely be going back to Chocolate Rocket for my caffeine, or maybe even that Electric Lemonade.

I also picked up a sale pouch of Live Wire Lemon, which contains yaupon rather than maté. Not bad at all, but I see it's on its way out as well. Maybe something to do with its scientific name (look it up...).

This is where it get a little hazy, just because I can't remember what I've tried and what I haven't. Monk's Blend is very pleasant (and no longer listed), The Spice Is Right is sort of have a little tea with your cinnamon, the licorice hit in Chai & Mighty is a bit weird to me but drinkable, and as much as I'm not really an Earl Grey person this morning's Cream of Earl Grey with the added vanilla was nice.

I think that's got it.

There are still more to go, believe it or not. I've sure you're all waiting with baited breath...

Random stuff, aka I have no idea what I'm about to type.

Today's photo: a bad shot of a Goat's Beard seed head that I made "better" by editing the bejeebers out of it. That counts as art, right?

Today's annoyance: not one, but four different media outlets that seem incapable of figuring out the whole its versus it's thing. If it's on twitter, fine (well, not fine. I wish people would learn this stuff in elementary school like they're supposed to). If it's coming from a professional journalist working for a professional media organisation, then not fine.

Today's pointless puzzlement: people have been listing their seven favourite movies and seven favourite television shows on twitter (#7FavMovies and #7FavTVShows). I...don't think I can. Not that I'm ashamed of anything I watch; more like I can't really think of seven favourites in either category. People who know me wouldn't be surprised at the movie part since "I haven't seen it" seems to be a recurrent in my life, but even as far as TV goes it's a puzzle. My TV is on most of the time, true, but it's mainly producing white noise to mask the sounds from neighbouring apartments.

Today's weather: Sunny. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud this afternoon. Wind south 20 km/h. High 29. Humidex 32. UV index 7 or high.

Today's comment on the weather: Fan-effing-tastic. By the time I get back into town my apartment will be a sauna.

And on that happy note I'll end this truly pointless post and do a couple of scheduled ones. It seems to be the only way I can remember to blog at this point.





Actual point that time. See you in virtual tomorrow.

Pointless photos of the day:

 The cat's a bit out of focus because the cat was hunting bees in the Veronica. Smart, Tom.

Incidentally, notice the harness? Cats SHOULD NOT roam free. It's harmful to wildlife, and it shortens the life of the cat pretty drastically. Build a cat run, screen in a porch, or train them to harness like Tom is. Just don't leave them unsupervised. They tend to get into trouble.

Dad's road is almost a road again. It was torn up and rerouted because the town built a new bridge. The old green one you see in the distance will be demolished.

The road's not open yet (they just moved the barricades for the construction equipment), but shortly after I took this picture they started painting in the crosswalks and stop lines.

Not long now, then.



And that's it for the scheduled posts. See you... next time I have time, I suppose.

Around the yard

Things were a bit dry at Dad's place so I don't have scads of pictures this time. I'll wait until autumn to take shots of dying or dying-looking things. Here's a bit of what's up, though:

I've taken so many photos of these over the years. My favourite Daylily.

A Harvestman or Daddy Long-legs on Pasture Sage.

It's Saskatoon season. The wild ones aren't great this year, but garden ones are.

Playing with rocks

 A while ago I was trying to distract myself with a headache by making patterns and such with the rocks that I wear.

I wear a lot of different rocks. My two fans have seen many of them featured here already. I figure that it's a harmless pastime, though, and since it's the kind of jewellery that goes well with my work, better to have the fun, cheap stuff than to put actual money into things that aren't so fun.

I've deleted the majority of the photos, but I had to keep a couple. If nothing else, it's filler for what's been a very empty blog of late.

Do I know what all of these rocks are? You better believe I do. And you're gonna hear it.

Up top: Carnelian, Sodalite, Kambaba (or Alligator) Jasper, Dalmatian Jasper, Labradorite, Red Jasper (someone seems to have a thing for jasper...), Something that may or may not be a rock (I've had it since high school), Red Obsidian, and Picture Jasper.

Left: a necklace of Iolite, Carnelian, and Opalite (which isn't a rock. It's glass or plastic coated to mimic Opal) surrounding Blue Tiger's Eye, Lapis Lazuli, Snowflake Obsidian, Tree Agate, Zebra Jasper, Jade, Leopard Jasper, Crysotile Asbestos, and Ammolite.

The Ammolite wouldn't be considered a good piece because it mostly just shifts red and green. I don't care; I like it, and it was much cheaper that way.

Those unfamiliar with the program are now thinking "that's a lot of rocks". Oh, so wrong. That's maybe a third of them. Maybe. The rest are just pendants and made for more boring pictures that were, as I mentioned before, deleted.

Rock stores are my friends...

Honestly, though, the rocks make me feel good. Not in a spiritual way or anything like that. It's more about having something non-synthetic (well, except for the Opalite) dangling from my neck. Besides, most of them are nice to play with, and that's an important thing for a fidget like me.

----------

I got out and took a few photos with my actual camera today, so I'm going to do a couple of scheduled posts now in case my week goes the way most of my weeks go as far as the blog is concerned. Catch you reading later.

Pointless cat photo of the day:

Shooting people at a mall. Suicide bomber at a bistro. Shooting teenagers at a nightclub. The US's increasingly scary-to-the-world-in-general election.

Oil spill on the North Saskatchewan. Church burning at Saint Isidore. Rail station canopy collapse in Chicago. California wildfires.

Have I missed anything? I'm sure I have.



The news sucks.

Let's look at a cat watching bugs on a screen door. Complete with instagram filter, even.





Yep. Much better.

Squirrel!

Well, that's what it is.

Sorry I haven't had time to post. In a day or two, maybe.

Just thought I'd let you know that I'm still around.