It’s the weekend at last, and this fluffy fellow has been waiting to hear all the latest news.
IMG_6284, by gidlark, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Weekend Open Thread
27 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”
Comments are closed.
Halloween skulls, by 1smrtcookie, licensed under CC BY 2.0
It’s the weekend at last, and this fluffy fellow has been waiting to hear all the latest news.
IMG_6284, by gidlark, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Comments are closed.
Such a handsome foofball! Reminds of my friend’s cat, the late, great, and much loved Mr. Paddywhack. Mr. Paddywhack was alsoa great listener.
And lots of news this week. Mother Nature here in SoCal can’t make her mind about the weather. Thankfully, the extreme heat at the beginning of the week has moderated but now we have a tropical storm making our lives miserable for the next few days. Supposed to be windy, rainy, and cool. So I’ve been out battening down the hatches and making sure anything that has the potential to be launched is secured. If the rain holds off for a little, I’m heading out later to check out the newest fancy dancy Whole Foods location downtown. I looked it up on the map and it’s literally only 2 blocks from a trolley stop on the same line as the one by my house. So convenient, still deciding if that’s good or bad, lol. Tomorrow will be grocery shopping, cleaning and organizing. And if I get cabin fever, maybe hit one of the enclosed malls. And for all our Canadian friends, Happy Thanksgiving weekend!
Happy Caturday! That’s a lotta floof!
Sunny with a high around 70 today…slightly cooler tomorrow (67) and rainy…hurricane remnants, apparently.
I need to get some cleaning done. So sick of this place and it’s getting overwhelming.
But the dogs were good…and they got a million subscribers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXlFR543Jw0
Good Morning,
What a beautiful floof ball! And he has his I care and love you look ready to go. Gorgeous.
Well, the dogs certainly were good again this week, especially the dog that looks like food, and the clean up crew.
I’m done reading all of the horrible news, so I’m going to go downstairs and work on a project for my former professor and listen to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. My two boys are curled up with me on the bed though, so it will be hard to get up. Maybe I can find a few more Haaland videos to watch before I have to break open the covers.
As Allein reports it should be a beautiful day in New Jersey/Philadelphia region. It looks relatively wind still too, so maybe I can finally spray some poison ivy at the back of the garden. I got some non-Round up stuff, but I’m still going to go out there in full tyvek suit (if it still fits) goggles mask etc. I know this stuff is toxic, but I can’t get rid of poison ivy otherwise. If the wind blows when there is whatever on it, I get a reaction. Ugh. And the neighbors have a nice, large fig tree on the other side of a brick wall and I certainly don’t want to affect that.
Have a lovely day everyone!
I get the impression that he wants to hear all the latest news…then look at your internet search history and download the contents of your phone.
Well, it happened! On Wednesday I went to the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition. And whilst seeing it was fantastic the visit as a whole turned out to be frustrating, and in one respect downright infuriating. Things got off to a rocky start when, in my enthusiasm to get on the train in York, I accidentally boarded the 8.00 express to King’s Cross instead of the 8.18 stopping train as per my ticket. Theoretically this put me at risk of a hefty fine, but I feigned sleep when the ticket inspector hove in view and got away with it.
Having arrived at the British Museum (and paid £14 for a two-stop return tube ticket) I spent the next four hours wandering round the galleries. I had considered bringing my own food and drink to avoid paying tourist trap prices but wasn’t sure this was allowed, which turned out to be a mistake as my bag wasn’t searched anyway. Food prices weren’t extortionate but the tables in the atrium were so packed I would have had to eat standing up or sitting on the floor, so I went without.
The magic moment of 3pm approached and I joined what looked like a reassuringly short queue outside the Sainsbury Gallery. Then…OMG! WTF! BBQ! Holy regime change, Batman! My ticket was scanned and I was ushered into a small room adorned with a painting of Bryan Cranston as Walter White. On closer inspection he turned out to be exhibition sponsor Igor Tulchinsky (thanks, Igor). Then I entered a small darkened room and waited a bit more. Then I climbed some stairs to a balcony with animations projected on the walls and atmospheric music playing in the background. After a while the tapestry became visible from a height and the sheer LENGTH of it hit me for the first time. How has a textile of this size made in the 1070s managed to survive to the present day?! Then I descended the stairs and waited a bit more. Then the queue moved to stand against the wall opposite the display case. At this point several unhappy customers gave up, said they couldn’t wait any longer and left in search of a refund. FINALLY, at exactly 5pm, I found myself a few inches away from the tapestry wrestling with conflicting emotions – “This is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen” and “I’m going to miss the ******* train home”.
I won’t dwell on the most famous battle scenes, or the weird little figures doing some of the most lascivious things ever committed to linen (PornSlub?), but some of my favourite “minor” depictions are: Harold wading out to a ship with a hawk perched on his wrist and a hunting dog tucked under his other arm, two Norman footsoldiers/servants play-fighting with shovels, a tiny vignette of peasants ploughing and sowing, and a Saxon woman and child escaping from a burning house. There’s also a strange little detail in the lower margin showing a group of longships outlined in running stitch but not filled in, which could be an oversight but I prefer to think of as Ships Yet to be Built. Because I can. Oh, and dead soldiers being stripped of their expensive status symbol suits of chain mail – no wonder no metal artifacts have ever been found at Hastings, the battlefield would have been picked clean in no time.
By the time I left (yes, I got my allotted forty minutes) the museum was closed and patrons had to leave by a side entrance. I was slightly confused by this but managed to find Holborn tube station fairly quickly. Then came the infuriating part – paying £74 for a single train ticket back to York! If only the British Museum made it clear on their website that exhibition visitors can expect their visit to last for at least three hours, or if I had the sense to buy an unreserved all-day train ticket, the unexpected expense could have been avoided. Still, it was a great experience and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.
Thank you for sharing your visit with us Alice and condolences on the frustrations. It still sounds like an amazing experience!
Sounds amazing!
I understand the frustrations but it’s a sight to behold isn’t it.
Sorry about the added frustrations. Thanks so much for telling us all the details! I really must find a way to see it in person.
“PornSlub” ha, ha! – Alice, I would love to hang out with you someday and have you share some of your wit and wisdom!!
thank you for sharing your experience with the tapestry. With something so *large*, there are enough details for everyone to have a unique impression and experience.
Can you imagine being one of the monks who had this in the monastery? It seems rich enough for a lifetime’s worth of contemplation, yielding new interest repeatedly over that time.
Stepping out of the shadows to thank you for your story, Alice! Can’t imagine what a frustrating experience that must have been, but experiencing the Tapestry itself sounds nothing short of magical. I watched this video a while ago about the food depicted in it (and it’s a really interesting channel in general).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjTbm0IHWJs
Thanks for the link. That was fascinating – it never occurred to me that William must have paid a fortune to feed his army because they couldn’t live off the land in Normandy. Another thing that never occurred to me was that Harold’s reign of 282 days was long enough for coins bearing his image to have been minted:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qHLr0QeJcSc&pp=ygUSSGFyb2xkIGJlZm9yZSAxMDY2
I love Tasting History!
Thank you for sharing this link! Wow! I didn’t know this channel. Can’t wait to watch more.
I discovered the channel a few years ago, around the 25th anniversary of the Titanic movie, because I was getting lots of Titanic stuff in my suggestions (he has a series on what they would have eaten in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class, plus a few other Titanic-related videos). I watched a couple of his that popped up then went to his channel and started from the beginning with his “Binge All Episodes” playlist. Lots of interesting stuff. He also has a cookbook, and another one coming out but I’m not sure when.
Bonus: he’s a cat person. He has a second channel called Ketchup with Max & Jose (his husband) and their cats sometimes make appearances.
Another thing: the staff need to be much more assertive. There was a bit of furtive photography going on, not to mention a few people touching and even leaning on the display case, but the staff didn’t seem to notice. Cattle prods would have been helpful to move hardcore dawdlers who stayed in one place for ages – a recorded voice instructing visitors to move around if a gap opens up isn’t very helpful if this means missing a section!
An odd thing struck me after I left the museum – although the tapestry is illuminated, albeit dimly for obvious reasons, there were no reflections on the glass display case. WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!
I would guess it was lit from the inside of the case. LED is magical. Tiny lights can be hidden in the edges of the case. They can cast enough light so see, there’s no UV, and it doesn’t create heat (also important in preservation). In addition to no glare on the glass, there probably weren’t any shadows on the tapestry either? Unlike there would have been if the light had been overhead. Really cool. I also appreciate your description of seeing how big the tapestry is. Very good exhibition design! Wish I could see it.
Ah, that makes sense! And it’s odd to think that the tapestry was once even longer. It seems reasonable to assume that it originally ended with a depiction of William’s coronation.
Come here, floof ball. I need a hug from you.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, Canadian or not. I am thankful for all of you in this community.
It’s been a hellish week.
Hugs, Duckie.
Hugs from me too
So much glorious floof!
Nothing exciting here. The weather is hot in the day, especially for October, but it’s chilly enough to snuggle under the blankets at night. I’ll take it, given the weather excitement going on elsewhere.
Got my stitches out on Thursday, and I can finally scrub all the dead orange skin flakes from the back of my arm. My fingernails still have an orangey tone from the iodine. Occupational therapy continues twice a week, and another set of x-rays in 6 weeks. Everyone is pleased with how my healing progresses. I’m also pleased that I’ve been able to adapt, mentally and physically, as my muscles retrain. Left-handed mousing is now as good as right-handed. Though I’m worried that my mail-in ballot will be rejected because my signature will look different!
Sending you all good thoughts. Happy Thanksgiving if you’re celebrating in Canada. Maybe get some of those delectable Beaver Tails for the rest of us????
Great to hear about the progress on your wrist! Wishing you continued good healing.
Good morning, what a cute fluffy cat!
Today I will be finishing the semi-annual exchanging of the seasonal clothes. I wish I had enough room to keep all of the clothes, summer and winter in my closet but alas they don’t all fit because I have a very small closet. I’m actually late doing it this year because it hasn’t been very cold at least not during the day.
Happy Thanksgiving to us Canadians.
Sometimes you gotta make the most of the rain…
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DdvM3y-yh2G/
(Make sure to turn the sound on.)
💕