#. also the bottom one took like 30-40 minutes. neat !

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Wednesday 5 September 1838

6 5

8

up in the night   at one and a half   to the pot   one motion also before getting into bed last night and one on getting up   this morning    was this owing to the strawberries  I ate last night after dinner? very comfortable bed and slept well – very fine morning – reading A-‘s brochure, Lettres inédites de Monsieur Ramond. Toulouse. Chez Devers. Rue St. Rome n°5 1834.

Abies picea, le plus beau de Sapiens (vide  p. 11)

Cembro and Wetter schirm of the Alps and Vosges

not in the Pyrenees

reading this brochure before and after breakfast (breakfast about 7 ½) till 9 10  these letters dated 1826 he died the year after – off from Arreau at 9 55 – went into the neat old church des Templiers near the bridge over the Neste (towards Toulouse) – a little gilt about the altar à l’Espagnole – off from here at 10 5 recrossed the bridge and repassed the picturesque old covered market place or halle, and went a little way along the Vielle road, till turned (right) up the hill to the Hourquette d’Arreau – valle d’Aure a valle of conical wooded hills close up to the back of the town of Arreau, pic d’Arbizon at a little distance behind towards the right, as I looked up the valley while standing at the old church door – up beech-wooded hill with pines towards the top – the opposite hill (forming the opposite side of our little valley up to the hourquette) beech the 1st ½ the valley and then pine-forest – Sapins (spruce firs) all here – all Scotch firs hereabouts near about Luchon – Hourquette d’Aspin much better for views than Hourquette d’Arreau – or at least the road down from the former much better for views than the road thro’ the wood we are going now from which little can be seen – about 10 55 get into the pine-wood – at 11 in a clear spot reaching up to the top of the hill, and 3 nice scattered cottages with each a grande – a very good mountain-road except a little bit just out of Arreau on first leaving the high road to Vielle – except this bit A- could have ridden down all the way – at the top at 11 35 the Hourquette a picturesque narrow cleft thro’ the argillaceous perpendicular schist – good view all the way in the clear part near the top of the Mouné (its peaky summit towering above all the rest) that we were to have gone to from Bagnères de Luchon – Le pic du midi not near so fine from here as from the hourquette d’Aspin – here we are close under the pic d’Arbizon and behind it the pic d’Antarooy – before reaching the hourquette we had overtaken a Bagnères de Bigorre intelligent guide who went with us as far as Paillole [Payolle] – he pointed out the old silver mine at the foot of the pic d’Arbizon which our young serrurier had spoken of as we went to the hourquette d’Aspin – our B. de B- guide also told us that the three Germans who had undertaken the mine d’argent at the foot of the valle de Louron had subscribed 50,000 fr. a piece for working the mine – and it is likely to answer – our host at Arreau (M. Clarière) had spoken of this mine – 4 hours from Arreau – 20 kilos of ore field 20 francs of silver, besides a considerable portion of lead – but I understood him as well as the serrurier that this mine is in the valle d’Aure above Arreau – 5 minutes at the top, and off down at 11 40 both sides of the mountains called the mountain de Transport – even this side, down to Paillole [Payolle] belongs to the valle d’Aure – to 4 communes of the valle d’Aure called les quatre voisins – there was a trail about it in Paris and the valle de Campan sent and paid ‘une homme de confiance’ to plead her right, but was bought off and Campan lost her claim – she has the right to send cattle to pasture on the mountain but not to let them sleep on the mountain, so that the cattle cannot go far – at 12 enter the pine forest – preserved by government, or it would soon be destroyed – guardians to take care of it, and a heavy fine on people found cutting wood – before government took it up, the people particularly of the valle d’Aure had a considerable trade in wood from here – (500/. fine says Charles for being found cutting the beech wood above Barèges) – A- dismounted at 12 5 (I had walked all the way down from the hourquette) and walked about ¼ hour when we both remounted in the forest – at the prè de St. Jean or Camp Bataillé, where tradition says Messala lieutenant of Augusuts beat the Bigorras Chaussenque [Chausenque] i.353  at 12 25 – not a Vératre to be seen (vide rep. 14 line 7) – at the carrière de Campan at 12 ¾ and then send Charles with the horses to bait at the little auberge at Paillole [Payolle] – nice view of the pic du midi from the upper part of the quarry in the midst of forest of spruce fir – about 30 workmen employed – one part of the carrier red with horizontal white stripes – the mottled green and white, and greed, red, and white, marble very pretty even in the rough – went down to the village of workmens’ cottages close by, and from there to another little quarry just opened in the gorge or wooded cabine (a little above the village) – then walked to the auberge about ¼ mile off and there at 1 35 a few drops of rain having hurried us there, for shelter – A- and I had each a boiled egg (à la coq) and were off at 2 5 a few light drops of rain rather frightened us, and before 3 I had put on and off my cape once or twice –at 3 fine look down upon the scattered village of Grip – the whole green bottom of the valley a camp-like village as far as Ste. Mary (could see no farther) – descend by a little sentier, leaving the auberge at Grip on the right and behind us, and get into the highroad about ½ hour beyond the auberge – the long hill-ridge we had passed from Paillole [Payolle], fertile and covered with cottages and granges all along the top, divides the large valley into 2 almost as far down as to Ste. Marie, the division on this side being Grip, and on the other the valle de Seoube [Séoube ]– In the highroad to the Tourmalet at 3 ¾ - at 4 10 thunder lightning and rain – Charles had said just before he thought we had better turn back – I hoped the storm would blow off – or not last long and A- and I were so anxious to avoid sleeping at Grip, that we determined to try what we could do – but on mounting the hill out of Tramesaigues [Tramezaigues]  the wind was so strong we could not carry

SH:7/ML/E/22/0013

umbrellas, and the rain was heavy enough to wet us through so soon, that I began to think it was foolish to expose A- to such a storm, especially as if the wind did not abate (which was improbable) it would be terrible (said Charles – il y a quoi de mourir) at the top of the port – we could not possible sit on horseback and should have to struggle thro’ on foot - .:. about 200 or 300 yards beyond Tramesaigues [Tramezaigues], at 4 20 we turned back – at 4 50 passed the little bridge over the Adour we had crossed to get into the highroad – at 5 10 alighted at the Inn at Grip – tho’ it rained smartly all the way we were not much wet, having got under the wind at Tramesaigues [Tramezaigues] and been able to carry our umbrellas – our cape and cloaks were however wet, and we filled a room at the auberge with them hung over chairs etc. to dry – I went to the kitchen to see about our dinner and helped to make the soupe à l’oignon, and boil 4 eggs and 8 trout put into the frying pan – a civil French woman who with her husband from Bagnères de Bigorre were detained by the weather helped me to boil the eggs – and told me poached eggs were Oeufs en chemise -  A- had hot water and drank the remainder pint bottle of our St. Sauveur Vilodry – I had boiled milk – soup à l’oignon – 2.S. of water boiled in the frying pan – then salt and a lump of butter and 2. S. of onions cut in small slices, and a little bread (I would not have much) all stewed or rather fried together till done enough – there ought to have been a little vinegar but I was afraid of its disagreeing with A- and it is common to blanchir la soupe with white of egg or cream – dinner about 6, and fair about that time or soon after – but soon afterwards thick again on the mountains – came to our bedroom at 7 the large room over the kitchen Charles in the next room but one – thankful to be so well sheltered – fine day till the rain threatening about 1 ½ at Paillole [Payolle], and afterwards nothing to signify till the storm came on at 4 10 – fair or thereabouts soon after 6 – but afterwards thick on the mountains and highish wind during the night –

[chiseler]

The Briefly and Occasionally Great Del Tenney

He wasn’t as culturally attuned as Roger Corman. He wasn’t as obsessively prolific as Jess Franco. He wasn’t as personally flamboyant as Ed Wood. Still, writer/producer/director Del Tenney is a legend in the annals of low budget horror. That he’s a legend is in itself legendary, given that he’s remembered for only four films, all of which were made during a two year stretch in the early 1960s.  I’m hard-pressed to think of another director with a filmography that brief who earned a legacy like Tenney’s. They weren’t great films, some weren’t even particularly good, but they had a spark to them, and they were undeniably memorable, sometimes for reasons that had nothing to do with the films themselves.

“My friends used to come up to me and ask, ‘How could you do all those terrible films?’’’ Tenney was fond of saying. “And I tell them, ‘I cry all the way to the bank,’”

He was born in Mason City, Iowa, but in the early ‘40s his family moved to Los Angeles. Tenney began studying theater in school, and by age 15 he was already working, both on stage and later as an extra in the likes of The Wild One and Stalag 17. His focus was on theater, though, so in the late ‘50s he moved to New York and found work in summer stock. A number of the young actors he worked with then, like Roy Scheider, Dick Van Patten, and Sylvia Miles, would later appear in Tenney’s films, many making their screen debuts with him.

By the early ‘60s Tenney and his wife, actress Margot Hartman Tenney, had also started directing productions of their own. After a conversation with a friend who was involved in (as it was described in polite company) “the exploitation film business,” Tenney took a job as assistant director on a couple of pictures, including the merely sleazy Satan in High Heels (a nasty little cheapie involving carnival strippers, junkies, robbery, sex, and murder) and nudie cuties like Orgy at Lil’s Place, (which concerned two girls who decide to get into the nude modeling racket). In later years, while Tenney spoke freely about the former, he rarely mentioned the latter. Still, his experience there inspired him to start making films of his own.

While in the theater he preferred to stick with Shakespeare and the classics, when he moved into film it was all about the bottom line. His goal was not to make great art, but to make a few quick bucks, and to do that he knew what audience he had to aim for. He was determined to give them exactly what they wanted.

Seeing potential in a story his wife had told him about a girl she knew in college who was found murdered, in 1962 Tenney sat down and began working on a script he initially called Black Autumn. Later it would be called Violent Midnight. Then shortly before its release the distributor changed the title to Psychomania, thinking it would cash in on Psycho and  pull in the kids.

Financed by his father-in-law and filmed (as all his pictures would be) in Stamford, CT,  Psychomania focused on a string of brutal sex murders in a small college town. The obvious suspect is that eccentric painter with a family history of mental problems who lives all alone out in the boonies and paints nude models who often end up getting stabbed (Lee Philips). The above-mentioned Dick Van Patten and James Farentino co-star as a couple of suspicious detectives, and Sylvia Miles appears, well, doing that great Sylvia Miles thing.

It’s a sharp and surprisingly stylish little b/w suspense thriller clearly influenced not only by Hitchcock in the camera work, but also by film noir and horror films of the ‘30s and ‘40s in its use of deep shadows. The shadowy murder scenes are especially shocking here. But none of that really mattered. The picture guaranteed its drive-in popularity by including plenty of nudity along the way. In fact prior to its release the same distributor who changed the title also insisted on more boobs, so without any tantrums about “integrity” or “artistic vision,”Tenney went back and shot another ten minutes of skin and mild sex and cut it in.

Although  Richard Hilliard receives the on screen credit as director and Tenney’s only credit is as producer, he would later say that  Hilliard  was a friend of his and a theater person who knew nothing about making films or dealing with actors, so he had to step in himself and take over, making this the first picture he wrote, produced, and directed.

The film made a lot of money (given its budget, anyway) but today is the least recognized of his films. That always confused me a little, given that in technical terms alone it’s the best thing he ever did. But I guess that’s not what people are always looking for in low-budget films.

There’s something else going on in Psychomania, though, that I’ve been touting for years even if no one seems to care.  In terms of genre film history, those self-satisfied types who concern themselves with such things comfortably and endlessly cite Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace as the first giallo, the film that launched a thousand copycats made by everyone from Fulci to Argento. The Bava film is the immovable cornerstone. Without taking anything at all away from what is undeniably a great picture, I’d still argue that Tenney beat him to the punch. Psychomania (released on DVD as Violent Midnight) contains everything that would later be cited as fundamental to any giallo picture: a string of sex crimes, an obvious suspect, several other obvious suspects, lots of boobs, savage violence, and a twist ending. But Psychomania was released in early ‘64, roughly  14 months before Bava’s picture. Okay, so maybe it’s not Italian, and maybe it wasn’t based on those tawdry little yellow paperbacks that were so popular at the time, but dammit it’s still a giallo, and it was the first.

I’ll shut up about that now.

After making a film with style, intelligence, and even a little class compared to the usual drive-in fodder, a film whose influence would be felt for the next twenty years (even if no one will admit it), and a film that made him a little money, Tenney took a hard left.

Filmed over two weeks in 1962, Curse of the Living Corpse was a  costume melodrama set in 1892 that’s  reminiscent of those AIP prestige numbers or early Hammer films. When a wealthy, possibly crazy, and just plain mean old man dies, his will stipulates that if the surviving members of his family don’t shape up and fly right, he’s going to rise from the grave and kill them off one by one. Well, they don’t and he does. Or at least it looks like that’s what’s happening.

It’s still a film with style, intelligence, and class, but of a different kind. While Psychomania was intense, sexy, and at times brutal, Curse of the Living Corpse was a very stagebound, theatrical piece, a bit slower, a bit more deliberate. A sitting room murder mystery heavy on the dialogue, punctuated here and there by a thematic murder. Plus most of the  characters are wearing too many layers for things to get terribly sexy.

Curse features Roy Scheider (in his film debut) as one of the profligate heirs in question,  Carnival of Souls’ Candace Hilligoss, and Tenny’s wife Margot Hartman. It’s one of the things that has always made Tenney’s films, cheap, fast, and DIY as they were, stand out. By pulling in friends from the theater, good, professional actors willing to work on a goofy movie for no money, he ended up with performances several cuts above what you’d normally find in something like this.  When none of the actors in a costume drama are, say, chewing gum, it just adds a layer of credibility to the story, no matter how ridiculous that story might be.

The other thing that made Tenney’s first two films stand out was the sharp b/w cinematography. The shadows are so deep here, the contrast so sharp and detailed, the film at times reminds me of those early Bava pictures (to go back there again). Even when the story lags a bit, the atmosphere carries it along. It’s something that can’t often be said about the low-budget pictures of the era.

Well, even as he was still working on Curse of the Living Corpse, pre-production was underway on his next film, The Horror of Party Beach. Shooting began about three days after Curse wrapped. If Tenney took a hard left from Psychomania into Curse, this time he had to jump all the way to the other end of the spectrum.

He admitted he wasn’t sure the genre-mashing satire, the horror musical beach movie, would work, but he charged ahead anyway. What made it work was sticking so tightly to the conventions of both the bug-eyed monster film and the beach blanket movie, while at the same time pointing up the ridiculousness of those conventions. Plus there’s a great fucking soundtrack provided by the Jersey-based surf band The Del-Aires.

In the film’s first five minutes he lays everything out. We meet an assortment of young attractive couples and character types on the beach, each with issues of their own. We meet the potential (human) villains in the form of a local motorcycle gang. And out in Long Island Sound, nuclear waste is being dumped into the water where it settles down on a shipwreck and transforms (with the aid of some neat in-camera trickery) the skeletal remains of lost sailors into an army of fishmen in search of human blood.

After that, well, there you go. The monsters are intentionally silly takeoffs on the usual “man in a rubber suit” creatures (note particularly the eyes and the teeth). But if the monsters are silly, so are the people, and in between  the two Tenney crams in as many drive-in standbys as he can fit: motorcycle chases, baffled scientists, malt shops, some of those crazy teenage dances, doomed drunks, convertibles, incredulous cops,  superstitious black maids who accidentally save the world. And he holds it all together with some editing that’s a bit more clever than you’d expect. The first victim, for instance, dies during a series of cuts between the attacking fishman and The Del-Aires performing the unbelievably catchy “Do the Zombie Stomp” to a bunch of dancing teenagers on the beach. For something this goofy it’s surprisingly disturbing.

(Jokes and surf bands aside, Humanoids From the Deep owes a serious debt of gratitude to Horror of Party Beach).

This and Curse of the Living Corpse were released as a double bill by 20th Century Fox later in ‘64, complete with a gimmick. Would-be audience members were required to sign a release before entering the theater absolving the theater owners of any blame should the viewer die of fright during the screening. It’s unclear if there were any casualties.

The double bill was the last thing to play at the legendary 3,000-seat Paramount Theater in Times Square, and Horror of Party Beach went on to become Tenney’s most successful film.  After that things started to slip.

His next picture, which he completed in ‘64,  was Voodoo Bloodbath, a horror comedy that can trace its roots directly back to Val Lewton’s classic I Walk With a Zombie, but with more bad jokes. William Joyce stars as a bestselling, wisecracking, playboy author of adventure novels. Given that he hasn’t turned anything in to his editor for months, his editor drags him onto a plane and flies him to, yes, Voodoo Island in search of inspiration. See, not only is a famed scientist conducting cancer research there, but the place is supposedly overrun with zombies, too.. It’s a million-selling novel in the waiting. When they arrive they discover three things:

1. The Caribbean island is actually populated by Mexicans for some reason.

2. The scientist has a beautiful blonde virgin daughter.

3. The local natives are preparing for a human sacrifice that night.

None of it bodes well for anyone, though no one realizes this yet.

The humor arises mostly from the editor’s shrill and boorish wife, and the author’s overbearing attempts to pick up any woman he sees (particularly the scientist’s daughter). Neither are terribly funny. The rest of the film is straight-faced and boilerplate, reminiscent of a dozen voodoo pictures from the ‘40s. It’s not very good, either.  Compared with his first two films in particular the production values and direction had gone straight to hell. It’s a clumsy, sloppy picture with very little charm. There’s not even much of a bloodbath. Drumming’s good, though. Up to this point he had worked near miracles with standard storylines and no budgets by bringing in good actors and skilled editors and cameramen. Here he didn’t seem to be trying all that hard. Of all four films, this one really did look and feel like everything else out there.

I wasn’t the only one who thought it could’ve been better. The picture sat on the shelf for nearly seven years until 1971, when low-budget distributor Jerry Gross came nosing around in search of a film to drop in the bottom half of a double bill he had in mind. After a quick and simple title change, the Tenney film was just the ticket he was looking for. As great and fun as those first three films had been, it was Gross who, if accidentally, helped make Tenney a legend.

Today Voodoo Bloodbath is all but completely forgotten. Even under its new title, I Eat Your Skin is less remembered for what it is as a movie than for being half (together with the utterly unrelated I Drink Your Blood)  of one of the most notorious double bills ever released. After seeing them we may not remember anything that happened in either, but we sure do remember those newspaper ads, and sometimes that’s worth a hell of a lot more.

Tenney didn’t talk much about the experience or the film after the fact, but while Voodoo Bloodbath was still sitting on the shelf he  all but completely stepped away from the film business, though he admits he kept the monster suit from Horror of Party Beach and wore it at parties. He and his wife had never strayed from Connecticut, never became part of the hobnobbing Hollywood crowd, so they simply settled down where they were all along, and returned to their first love. They founded what would become a very well respected theater company, putting on three or four productions a year.. Years later when they moved to Florida they opened another. In between Tenney got involved in real estate up and down the East Coast.

Then in the late ‘90s, over thirty years after retiring from motion pictures, he and his wife, together with producer/director Kermit Christman (Wicked Games) , founded DelMar Productions and Tenney began writing, producing and directing again. Between ‘99 and 2003, he made three pictures: Clean and Narrow, about an ex-con trying to go straight in a small town; an I Know What You Did Last Summer knockoff called Wanna Know a Secret?; and a supernatural thriller called Descendant,  in which a would be writer is haunted by the spirit of an ancestor who happens to be Edgar Allan Poe. The last was particularly dear to Tenney, because he’d always loved Poe and wanted to do some kind of movie about him.

Ah, but the movie business was a very different animal by then. It wasn’t merely a matter of borrowing a few bucks from your father-in-law to make a silly monster picture, then hooking up with an independent distributor. Now even making the smallest film meant raising a few million dollars. Worse, the lawyers had gotten involved. And forget about any kind of distribution if you aren’t connected to a major studio. The fun had been sucked out of the game, and this was evident in the films themselves. Sure those films he made in the ‘60s were blatantly, even cynically commercial, but commercial in a ragtag, adventurous, slapdash way.  The new films were commercial, but much more carefully so. They were  slick and serious. If they weren’t slick, audiences wouldn’t look at them, and you had to be serious about the whole process, because there were millions of dollars at stake. Hell, there was even a desperation evident on the screen. While before Tenney had been working with a bunch of young actors on their way up, now he was working with a bunch on their way down (William Katt, Sondra Locke, Wings Hauser), and you can almost hear their nails scratching as they scramble to hold onto anything at all before they vanish completely.

No, it wasn’t much fun,  But those aren’t the films Tenney will be remembered for, and they won’t take anything away from his status among fans. He’ll be remembered for those four pictures from back in ‘64 (even if one wasn’t released until ‘71). They weren’t as good as some, but a lot better than most.  In all four pictures he never once repeated himself. They were all radically different in mood and style and story, and there was a seductive, sloppy magic about them that’s inescapable. No matter how many times I go back to Psychomania/Violent Midnight (and I go back to it a lot) the ending still catches me off guard. After all these years “The Zombie Stomp” still gets stuck in my head.   I even find myself returning to I Eat Your Skin every couple years, not to laugh at it, but just to wonder. I guess that’s why Tenney, on the basis of only those four pictures, can now take his rightful spot among the pantheon of cult directors.

by Jim Knipfel

[mrtroy]

A Tough Day

I write most of the entries on this blog with some sort of lesson, or resolution in mind. As in, the topic I’m writing about or learning about has resolved itself and I’m writing in retrospect. Usually, I like to let life play out a little – often times, the topics I write about are based on things I have learned over years of time.

Today, and in this post, I’m not going to do that. I’m going to write about today. Today was not an easy day. There is no resolution yet. I’m not sure what I’ve learned, and I’m just writing because I need to write.

PUNCH the KEYS as Sean Connery’s character says in my favorite movie, Finding Forrester. You write your first draft with your heart and your second draft with your head. I don’t know if there will ever be a second draft to this post, but this is very much a first draft.

--

I went to a wedding today, and if you know me well, you know that weddings are not my favorite events. For many reasons that I’ve tried to better understand, I have a lot of trouble at weddings.

However, when I woke up this morning at 6:20 AM, none of my usual wedding day jitters were there. My head was clear, none of my usual wedding-attendance anxiety was flaring up.

This wedding was for a new friend of mine, Bryan, who I have met taking the train to work and his lovely new wife, Leeann. We’ve developed a neat friendship over the last year, and I was really excited to be a part of their special day. The event was scheduled during the day, it was small, it was at a single venue and as far as weddings go, it seemed like it had all the makings to be the kind of setup that I would really enjoy.

--

I’m not much of a day-to-day planner, but I all week I’ve had it in my mind that Saturday afternoon at 2:30, I had plans. The venue would take about 40 minutes to get to, I would need to leave about an hour or so to get there – maybe I would leave a little earlier than that – call it 1:15… I was going to wear blue pants and a blue jacket. Brown shoes and belt. The comfortable blue socks I like were clean. I could wear those. The red, white and blue striped tie would look good with the jacket… I wasn’t positive which dress shirt I would wear, but I knew I had options from the last time I took stuff to the cleaners…

This might seem pretty standard, but for me, this is pretty advanced planning…

And I felt good about it.

A need for an eye doctor’s appointment popped up during the week, and the associate at the doctor’s office asked if I could do 8 AM on Saturday. Perfect. Figure 8 to 9:30 at the latest for the appointment. Drive home, and start writing. I like to include notes with cards I give at weddings, and I like to write them in the moment. So, from 10 to 11, I figured I’d write, then get washed up, shave, get ready and have plenty of time leave the house between 1 and 1:15.

--

The eye doctor went well, but it did take a little longer than expected. The brand of contacts I’ve been wearing for the last eighteen years has been discontinued, so, in the process of switching brands, it took a little longer to find something that worked. No problem, I left the doctor’s office at 9:40. Still plenty of time to get home and continue getting ready for the day.

I got home, without issue and sat down to write.

For notes I really care about, I write them on blue legal paper. Interesting, sure. I had never seen a blue legal pad before and I ended up with one, so whenever I have a note that has a little more significance – like a wedding note – I bust out the blue pad.

I spent about an hour writing a note to Bryan and Leeann, was happy with what I scribbled down, and folded the note into the card – which had a nice blue envelop to match the blue piece of paper (yes!) – taped the envelop to their gift and started to head to the bathroom to shave and get ready. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 11:50. I was about twenty minutes behind the mental schedule I wanted to be on, but knew that I still had plenty of time to work with if I was going to leave between 1 and 1:15.

Before I made my way to the bathroom, I pulled out the wedding invitation to load the address into my phone to make sure traffic wasn’t awful before driving to the venue. I figured that if traffic was awful, I could hurry up a bit in getting ready and maybe leave closer to 1 than 1:15 just to be on the safe side.

When I looked at the invitation, my whole day began to fall apart.

From top to bottom, I read the very formalized introduction from the bride’s parents inviting me to join them on March ninth, two thousand and nineteen…

I feel like the only time you ever see the entirety of a year spelled out in words is on wedding invitation…

At the bottom of the invite, I read horrifying words.

The wedding started at eleven thirty in the morning. (With a reception to follow)

--

Wait, what?

11:30?

How had I had 2:30 in my mind for weeks?

I had been telling people all week that I was going to a wedding at 2:30 on Saturday. Last night I had met for dinner with another of our friends from the train, and I probably mentioned my schedule that revolved around 2:30 at least two or three times…

11:30?!

It was already 11:51.

My heart sank. How had I done this?

I never forget dates and times. Ever. If I commit something to memory like that, it’s in there. No question.

I looked again at the invitation.

I saw the word Two and then the TH from ‘thousand nineteen,’ and I realized what had happened. I had seen the Two Th… and I had read Two Thirty and implanted that into my mind. It wasn’t actually written, but I was so non-accustomed to reading out full dates, that I assumed when I saw ‘Two Th’ that it was 2:30.

Dude. What the heck.

All the wedding-day anxieties I normally get flooded my mind.

I texted my friend to ask what I should do. I called my mom. I started doing mini-laps around my kitchen.

All my advice told me to just get ready as fast as I could and get to the restaurant as soon as possible.

So, I tried that.

I shaved – pretty cleanly, actually. An improvement over my recent shaving form…

I went to go get dressed and I realized that I hadn’t worn either of the two dress shirts I had narrowed my outfit down to since I moved last month. As a result, while the shirts hadn’t been worn since the last time they’d been to the dry cleaner, they weren’t exactly in tip-top shape to be worn to a wedding.

No problem, ironing shirts is one of my favorite things to do, I unsheathed my trusty Black & Decker ICR505 from its over-door hanger and got to work on the white button down.

The shirt was in decent shape, but as I got to the back of the right sleeve, I noticed some sort of drip-like stain. It was brownish yellow and looked like something that would not have gotten on the shirt in the course of wearing it, but more likely was something that fell on it in the course of moving apartments. I noticed another remnant of the stain on the bottom of the back of the collar and this definitely confirmed my suspicion. These stain locations were far too obscure to happen over the course of normal wear.

No matter, there really wasn’t time to be debating stain origin. I got out my Tide Stick, and started blotting. There were maybe four or five different subsections of the stain across the different locations, and except for one on the back of the collar that would be covered by my jacket, I got the rest of them out.

But, time was ticking. It was now 12:50. How had it possibly taken me this long to shave and iron a shirt? What the heck was I doing?

I put my brown belt on, found my comfy blue socks, laced up my brown shoes and started to put my tie on. I could feel myself already starting to sweat. I rarely sweat, but this was one of those times where my heartrate was elevated despite standing still. 12:55.

Under normal circumstances, tying a necktie is not a hard thing to do. Loop over, around back up under, in between and through. Pull tight, adjust. I don’t wear ties a lot, but tying them doesn’t usually give me trouble. Of course, today, it did.

Things were spiraling at this point and with every attempt I was becoming more unhinged. Finally after three unsuccessful attempts that left the back part of the tie longer than the front, I got the tie how I wanted it and went to get my sport coat, the wedding gift, my winter coat, keys, etc. so I could leave the house and begin my drive.

I went into my closet expecting to find my blue sport coat. No sport coats, no suit coats just a bunch of empty hangers next to my dress pants. Again, I hadn’t needed this stuff since I moved last month, and while I thought these items were where they had been in my last apartment, they weren’t there today.

Storage.

Okay, the coats probably got left with some of my other outdoor jackets that I don’t have room for in this current closet. Those coats are downstairs in storage.

So, I gathered all my stuff and headed into the basement of my apartment where I had a storage unit. Deep in the bowels of my old building is a creepy area with a ton of random stuff and luckily it is also the home to a lot of items that don’t fit in my small space upstairs.

After a few minutes of rummaging, I found my blue sport coat and headed back upstairs to my car. Across the way, up to the third floor of the parking garage.

As I got everything into the car, I looked at the clock. 1:31

So much for between 1 and 1:15…

But, still, after all the mishaps and misfortunes of the morning with the stained shirt, the tying of the tie having to locate the sport coat, my GPS was still telling me I could make it to the venue by 2:15. Granted, that was two hours and 45 minutes late to the wedding, but for what it was worth, it was still fifteen minutes before the 2:30 start time I had been mentally calibrating for all week.

--

I tried to tell myself that despite the circumstances, and despite the fact that I was going to be late, try not to beat yourself up over it now. There’s nothing you can do…

I failed in that regard.

The entire drive to the venue, I lambasted myself mentally for committing the wrong time to memory. I felt awful for Bryan and Leeann to invite me – to sit me with her family no less – and then to have me not even know what time the wedding was at.

My chest felt like it was going to burst with anxiety.

In my head, I knew that Bryan and Leeann were some of the more understanding people I had ever met, but I could not stop feeling guilty about what had happened.

--

It started to rain.

I looked over to the seat to my right and didn’t see my umbrella. My mom – during our earlier call – had reminded me that it was going to rain, and that I should bring it with me. I had meant to. But I had forgotten it.

URG.

That’s fine, I thought, Leeann had sent out an email a few days earlier with a reminder that the venue had a complimentary valet parking service that we could utilize for the wedding. I’ll do that, the rain won’t get me too wet in that case.

Good. Okay.

Deep breaths.

--

As the minutes ticked down on the GPS, the estimated arrival time pushed a few minutes due to the rain and a little traffic. ETA: 2:19.

In my head, I really wanted to make it before 2:30. At least, in my own mind, I would have the peace of knowing that I wouldn’t have been late at the time I was thinking the wedding started.

More traffic.

2:25 ETA.

Finally, I pulled into the neighborhood that housed the venue. It was a nice area – one I’d never been before, but definitely nice. If only for the rain. It was coming down pretty good by now.

I came to the venue, saw the valet stand, but didn’t see anyone manning it. Figures. Most of the guests probably arrived three hours ago!

Before I knew it, I was past the venue and needed to turn around and try again. I went up a few streets, made four right turns and tried again.

More familiar this time, I looked for street spots right before the venue, and the last time by, I had noticed an alley I figured I could drive down to see if there was any parking in the back of the building.

Second time by, still no parking attendant. Still no street spots. So, I turned into the alley. The alley wound around quite a bit, and there were some spots, but they all had towing signs. Plus, I was far enough away from the venue that even if I risked it and tried to park in some random spot, I would have gotten soaked in my umbrella-less walk to the venue.

So, I turned around again, and began lap three towards the restaurant. Again, no parking attendant. Again no spots.

By this time, it was 2:35 and mentally, I was fried.

I began another lap and this time I decided that I would stop out in front of the venue and try to go inside and explain to someone what I was trying to do.

Luckily as I was coming up to the building for the fourth time after my last lap around the neighborhood, I saw a guy out front in a suit flower on his lapel. Ah. He must have been in the wedding.

I rolled down my window and asked if the wedding was still going on.

He laughed a bit and said that dinner was over, and it would probably be winding down soon, but yeah, it was still going on.

I told him I was supposed to be in there and had been driving around a bit and asked if there was still a valet working that might be able to help me find a spot for my car.

He went in and found the valet who was quite surprised to find that someone was actually still arriving to the event more than three hours after it started. Was I sure I wanted to go in, he asked, the wedding would be ending in 30 minutes he told me.

Seriously?

Well, I told him, could he find me a spot, and I could at least go in, give the bride and groom my gift, and then come back out and pick up my car?

He said sure, I put on my sport coat, dodged a few rain drops, and made my way into the restaurant.

It was 2:45.

Miraculously, within ten seconds of walking into the venue, Bryan was on his way back to the main dining room and he bumped into me.

He had this huge smile on his face as if to say, you made it! (I had decided not to text him between the time I realized I was going to be late and when I arrived – figuring he either wouldn’t have his phone, or wouldn’t want to be bothered on his big day with my whereabouts)

In a few seconds, I explained what had happened, and we laughed.

A few moments later, Leeann walked over. I gave her a hug, she said thanks for coming, and started to tell her the story of my morning as well.

At that moment, the clinking of glasses could be heard from the other room, and the bride and groom ran off to go dance.

I looked around and saw unfamiliar people in all directions. Dinner was over. The seating arrangements had broken down and people were just huddled around tables as they normally are at the tail end of weddings.

I found a bathroom and went to hide and try to think about what I could do.

I had already seen the only two people I would know at this wedding, and being that brides and grooms are always super busy at their own wedding, I wasn’t sure if would see them again any time soon.

I thought about pushing my way through into the main room, but to do what? Food was done being served.

The thought of going to dance did not seem appealing. Dancing rarely seems appealing to me, and after three hours of manically trying to get to this wedding, I was not feeling it in that moment to say the least.

I left the bathroom and figured I would go back out into the venue and see if I could see Bryan and Leeann again and maybe say hi.

After two nervous mini-laps around the side of the venue, I couldn’t take it anymore.

I went outside and saw the valet walking back to the valet stand. He hadn’t even parked my car yet. It had been sitting, double parked in the street for the last fifteen minutes. I got my keys, got in the car, and started to drive away.

--

Immediately, I knew this wasn’t the adult way to handle this. I should have gone all the way into the venue again, found a table and a glass of water and sat down near someone. Soon enough, someone would have come up to me and said hi, and from there, I should have mingled for a bit until Bryan or Leeann saw me.

But I didn’t do that.

As I often do in social settings where I don’t feel comfortable, I bailed.

In that moment, I longed deeply for a partner to be going to events like this with. Someone who would have forced me to confirm the starting time, and would have helped me avoid the entire predicament in the first place.

But, at the same time, I thought back to three other weddings where my inability to feel comfortable in the types of settings they produce had led to similar behavior that had greatly turned off three different girls I had been dating. Now, I was thankful that this latest episode didn’t occur with someone I cared about to the point where I would scare her off like I had the previous lot.

Just then, Bryan texted me asking where I was at.

As I drove, I didn’t reply right away – partially for safety reasons, but also because I didn’t know what to say.

In the moments after his text, shame pile drove me into the seat of my car. I decided then and there that I would never show my face to Bryan again. I contemplated no longer taking the train we ride together. Two seconds later, I had decided to get a new job. I figured he’d come to my apartment looking for me after a while, so I decided I would need to move across the country to get away from him.

I’m not sure what stopped that avalanche of thinking, but a few seconds later, I saw myself back in my therapist’s office trying to explain to him my actions.

--

The last two months of my life before today have been really good.

I’ve felt really healthy. My mind has been clear. I’ve been eating well, sleeping well, etc. I’ve felt like I have been doing well at work, I’ve been really pleased with how things have gone since I moved, and have generally been really hopeful and optimistic about where I’m at.

--

And then, I have a day like today.

A day that started innocently enough, and then within three hours and ten minutes of finding out I’m going to be late to a wedding, I’ve convinced myself that I’m going to run away from my friend, and move across the country.

Solid, Matt. Solid.

--

I drove home, changed out of my clothes and took a nap. Upon awakening, I felt a lot better and decided I would not be fleeing my apartment after all. And while – as I stated when I started writing this post – I don’t have a resolution or lesson figured out yet, I do believe two things.

The first is a reminder I live by that says, God gives us little things to take care of in preparation for the bigger things He has in store for us.

Today reminded me that for any and every big dream I’ve got, I still have a lot way to go just to be able to do the simplest of things to be able to function in normal social settings. I thought I was further along in my progress on that front, and apparently, that wasn’t the case.

I dream one day of a wife and a family, but obviously, I’m not ready for that responsibility. I can’t even hold my own life together to the point where an honest mistake about reading the time of a wedding wrong has me slippery-slope sliding to the point where I’ve talked myself into moving across the country.

The second thing I believe is that while I may not be able to dismiss the shame I manufactured into today’s situation, God can, and He does.

And in that, I do find hope.

Deep down, I know I don’t have to carry around guilt and shame for anything – let alone something as innocent as today’s mix-up.

I’m hoping that in the coming days, I can use today’s example as a reminder of what I have just written above, and the next time I have a little thing where I am entrusted to do the right thing, I can.

--

For now, I’m exhausted. Time for bed.

Try again in the morning.

Joshua 1:9

[2indecisive4this-blog]

Kaitlyn x MC HCs (as per anon request)

1. Who is the early bird/ Who is the night owl?

Kaitlyn’s a major night owl. MC tries to keep up, but tends to pass out...often flopping right onto her. It can be inconvenient.

2. Who is the big spoon/ Who is the little spoon?

They switch, but generally Kaitlyn’s the big spoon. MC revels in the feeling of being totally enveloped in Kaitlyn’s embrace. When MC can’t sleep, she’ll grab Kaitlyn’s arms and pull them around herself. Though this wakes her up, she never minds and gives MC a loving squeeze and soft kiss on the back of her neck before falling back asleep.

3. Who hogs the cover/ Who loves to cuddle?

They battle for covers-custody constantly. MC usually wins, but relinquish the blankets because Kaitlyn’s “just too cute to say no to”.

4. Who wakes the other one up with kisses?

On the rare occasion Kaitlyn wakes up before MC, she'll pepper her with kisses until she wakes up (usually groggily groaning one of her celebrity crushes’ names “Oh Jen..” to get Kaitlyn feisty. It doesn't usually work “Aniston or Lawrence?”)

5. Who usually has nightmares?

Kaitlyn has frequent nightmares with monsters from her favorite horror movies, though she claims that she actually likes them. MC sees through her bluff though when she snuggles extra close and squeezes her a little tighter afterwards.

6. Who would have really deep emotional thoughts at the middle of the night/ Who would have them in the middle of the day?

They're both known to wake the other up to ask deep philosophical questions

“If you can sunbathe, does that mean you can moonbathe?”

“OMFG I WAS WONDERING THE SAME THING”

7. Who sweats the small stuff?

Kaitlyn. She's still fairly insecure about their relationship, often being worked up when her plans don't go exactly according to, well, plan. When she starts stressing, MC will take her face in her hands and kiss her nose, assuring her that “everything is perfect”

8. Who sleeps in their underwear (or naked)/ Who sleeps in their pajamas?

MC used to sleep in her pajamas but Kaitlyn's incessant whining that “pj are just extra distance between [them]”, they now both sleep “O’ Natural”. It's gotten to the point MC often forgets to get dressed when leaving their room in the morning. Needless to say, her friendship with Zack and Chris with never be the same again.

9. Who makes the coffee (or tea)?

MC makes it, though admits she probably doesn't need it with her “natural high on life”. Kaitlyn knows she needs it, and demands it “by the friggin gallon”.

10. Who likes sweet/ Who likes sour?

They both love the combination, often opting to buy both a pack of Swedish fish, and one of Sour Patch Watermelon. when it comes down to it though, the Swedish fish always gravitate toward MC and the Sour Patch Watermelon to Kaitlyn.

11. Who likes horror movies/ Who likes romance movies?

Kaitlyn LOVES horror movies. To death. Quite literally. MC doesn't like them but tolerates them for Kaitlyn's sake. Usually Kaitlyn tells her to “watch [her]” during the scary parts, and takes the opportunity to steal a kiss or two.

MC is a sucker for cheesy romance, romcoms in particular. Kaitlyn insists that “true love happens over time and can't be represented in an hour and a half” She will admit though, that “Drew Barrymore is smokin’”, and she'd “watch anything to see her in it”.

12. Who is smol/ Who is tol?

MC is tol, though just barely taller than Kaitlyn. Personality wise, MC is smol.

13. Who is considered the scaredy cat?

MC. She jumps at every little thing. Kaitlyn used to like scaring her, but at this point it’s too easy and she doesn’t even bother trying.

14. Who kills the spiders?

Kaitlyn, though MC always whines and asks her not to kill them. Once, Kaitlyn tried sparing a spider and instead dumping it outside (as requested) but a paranoid MC changed her mind and sent her back out into the wilderness to ensure it wouldn't return. It took hours.

15. Who is scared of the dark?

MC. She's “not scared, just apprehensive of what might be hiding in it”.

16. Who is scared of thunderstorms?

MC. She startles with each thunder clap and and shivers at the thought of lightning. Occasionally though, Kaitlyn can convince her to stand outside in it, and they kiss beneath the torrent.

17. Who works/ Who stays at home?

They both work, though MC tends to work from home (writing). Kaitlyn has spare time between gigs, and so they hang together a lot while they’re at home.

18. Who is a cat person/ Who is a dog person?

They’re both dog people, although MC also loves cats. Kaitlyn loves MC’s dog (MC sometimes gets a lil jelly over how much Bastien (“don’t judge”) loves Kaitlyn)

19. Who loves to call the other one cute names?

It’s been a sickening and undying competition between them for ever. It started with Kaitlyn calling MC “bunny” (after an embarrassing The Christmas Story -esque fiasco), to which MC countered “snugglebunny”. The most recent installment is “Snuffleupagus-bunny-pooh-bear I” (Kaitlyn’s creation) but with no end in sight, and with Webster’s Dictionary being the colossal reference that it is, the possibilities are endless.

20. Who is dominant/ Who is submissive?

Kaitlyn tends to be dominant, but they switch it up frequently (MC loves topping Kait mid “session”--Kaitlyn loves it too).

21. Who has an obsession (over anything)?

Kaitlyn’s ongoing horror movie obsession has grown tiresome for MC. If she has to sit through another Skin Goblins marathon, let alone being Kaitlyn’s Skin Goblin cosplay partner (it’s a two person costume), MC’s head might implode.

22. Who goes all out for Valentine’s Day?

MC openly obsesses over Valentine’s Day, whereas Kaitlyn tries to act cavalier (while planning an extensive surprise in secret).

23. Who asks who out on the first date?

MC asked Kaitlyn bc Kaitlyn still couldn’t fathom that MC was into her as well (old gay insecurities).

24. Who is the talker/ Who is the listener?

They take turns. It’s slightly ridiculous. Kaitlyn fished a clock out of an ancient chess set from her (limited) time in chess club in highschool. They take turns chattering for 45 seconds at a time before switching again.

25. Who wears the other ones clothes?

Kaitlyn.

Never.

Does.

Laundry.

Ever.

Hope that’s enough information to answer the question :)

26. Who likes to eat healthy/ Who loves junk food?

They both live on crap food (past the point of junk food). They’re working on it though, no more Cheetos with Cheez Doodle on top, only one or the other.

27. Who takes a long shower/ Who sings in the shower?

They both sing in the shower, although Kaitlyn’s singing is far less embarrassing (and yet she somehow remains more embarrassed while doing so? Again, old gay insecurities die hard).

28. Who is the book worm?

MC loves reading (mostly graphic novels at this point), whereas Kaitlyn’s Netflix addiction grows with each season of American Horror Story.

Even the bad ones.

29. Who is the better cook?

Neither of them can make a half decent meal alone without making an offensive mess. As near as they can figure though, two heads are actually worse than one, as when they work together nothing gets made except for a mess.

30. Who likes long walks on the beach?

MC and Kaitlyn like to ironically frolic along the shores, hand in hand. MC actually loves building sandcastles, while Kaitlyn actually loves stomping them afterwards.

31. Who is more affectionate?

MC is more innocently affectionate; opting to hold hands in public, sneak quick kisses, and give long tender hugs. Kaitlyn, although now confidently out, is still occasionally nervous (old gay habits) of PDA, but more than compensates in private.

32. Who likes to have really long (deep) conversation?

They both do, but MC’s subject matter tends to be lighter whereas Kaitlyn’s discussion topics usually derive from real-life examples she’s feeling guilty or regretful of.

33. Who would wear “not guilty” t-shirt/ Who would wear “sin” t-shirt?

Kaitlyn wanted to wear the “not guilty” shirt, but MC called her out.

34. Who would wear “if lost return to…” t-shirt/ Who would wear “I am…” t-shirt?

Kaitlyn's the lost puppy. They wear them so often that they've accumulated 3 pairs. Kaitlyn thinks it's funny to also wear the “I am MC” shirt without MC noticing. MC does not share the sentiment.

35. Who goes overboard on the holidays?

MC is obsessed. Kaitlyn tends to forget they're even coming up, tending to opt for belated holiday gifts (so she has the timeto buy them last minute). One year she got MC a single disposable razor left over from her 5 pack (“get it? Because you raze the roof?”)

MC did get it.

MC was not amused.

36. Who is the social media addict?

Kaitlyn's developed a bit of an obsession since becoming her band’s social (media) butterfly.

37. Height difference or age difference?

A tiny height difference, MC is a hair taller.

38. Who likes to star gaze?

They both LOVE it, often waking up on their front lawn after an especially starry night.

39. Who buys cereal for the prize inside?

They both will, but won't admit it; often racing the other to finish the box solely for the prize at the bottom. MC calculated the number of times it takes to reach the bottom and so feels confident she's getting the mood ring (little does she know, Kaitlyn already opened the bottom of the box, took the ring, and taped it back up).

40. Who is the fun parent/ Who is the responsible parent?

They don't have kids, but they have a dog! His name is Wilbur, and they're convinced he's actually a pig in disguise. They're both honestly abysmal dog/pig parents, but together they manage to walk him, feed him, and get him to the vet on time (usually).

41. Who cries during sad movies?

MC. Kaitlyn rolls her eyes, hugs her close, and hands her a tissue (though they have to share whenever a dog dies).

42. Who is the neat freak?

MC wouldn't call herself a neat freak, but Kaitlyn’s messiness pains her soul. She often reminisces to the brief period of time she lived with Rachel, musing that she “didn't yet know what a trash goblin truly was”.

43. Who wins the stuffed animals at the carnival for the other one?

They both try very hard and fail even harder, but have a great time and opt for cotton candy and caramel apples instead.”Food is the best prize anyway”

44. Who is active/ Who is lazy?

They're both pretty lazy, although MC tends to be pretty restless and hard to pin down. She spends a lot of their “Netflix and Chill” sessions pacing more than chilling.

45. Who is more likely to get drunk?

Kaitlyn doesn't drink anymore, though she has a growing suspicion that her “shirley temples really do [her] in”

46. Who has the longer food order?

Kaitlyn. MC tries to keep up, but Kaitlyn could eat everything on the menu and still have seconds. It's no competition.

47. Who has the more complex coffee order?

MC. Not that her order is overly complicated, but Kaitlyn drinks black coffee. 

“I like my coffee how I like my women, bitter”

“Hey!”

*winks *

48. Who loses stuff?

They both lose everything. Kaitlyn at least knows she left her things amidst her other piles of crap, whereas MC loses things everywhere she goes and has no chance of tracking them down.

49. Who is the driver/ Who is the passenger?

They tend to go by bus, but when it comes to it MC usually drives.

50. Who is the hopeless romantic?

Day by day, MC is, but Kaitlyn is excellent at creating massive gestures. MC loves them (and her) dearly.

Give me a fictional couple :D

[gatoreee]

Day 3: Snow mobiles!

Thursday we had reservations at noon for a snowmobile tour so we took it easy. After my early calls we went out to find some coffee and breakfast and ended up at Cuppa Joe. We ordered some cappuccinos and bagel sandwiches. The coffee was good, but when we got the bagel sandwiches we realized we had ordered too much as they were HUGE! Deepa barely touched hers but I ate most of mine. We also got a blueberry muffin to go.

After breakfast we went back to the hotel and I worked some more. We realized we were getting a little late so we got ready quickly. The place was 45 min away and we were supposed to be there 30 min early to get set up. As soon as we got downstairs the trouble began. The valet was backed up and took 20 minutes to get our car. Once on the road, we ran into a major traffic jam right outside Breckenridge. They were doing some road work so it took another 20 minutes to get past that. By then it was clear we were not going to make it there by noon. I called the reservation place to see if they would wait but they said no. They said we would have to reschedule for the 3pm tour. With no other option available, we turned around and headed back in. On our way out we had seen the gondola that the couple from ski class had mentioned the day before. So rather than going back to our hotel, we stopped there and took the gondola up to Peak8. 

The ride up was pretty neat, and the whole time I’m thinking how impressive it is that they have all that infrastructure for free. And then we got to Peak8, which was even more awesome. There’s a big resort with a huge outdoor patio full of tables overseeing the slopes. It was super packed with people eating, drinking, skiing and snowboarding. It looked so much fun that I decided then and there that Friday we would go back and practice again. We had to learn! We hung out there for a bit and got a souvenir magnet.

It was getting late again so we took the gondola back down. We weren’t sure when we would have another chance to eat so we stopped for snack a Pho Real, a small corner spot we had seen on our way in. We got the spring rolls and some chicken buns. It was pretty decent. By the time we got back on the road it was already 2pm; we were running late again. On top of that the traffic jam was even worse this time. After that it was smooth sailing but we didn’t get there until about 5 min before 3pm. They still had to fit us for helmets and when we went out back everyone was waiting for us!

It was a big group with around a dozen people. The guide began by explaining how the snowmobiles work and saying these are heavy machines and it takes a little muscle to turn them. He went into how you shouldn’t do this or that or it might roll over, etc. I could see from Deepa’s expression that she was already having second thoughts. He did say that if anybody wasn’t comfortable driving one, they could ride with one of the guides. After a quick tryout, Deepa decided to ride with the guide.

We first went to a small circuit where you can get comfortable with the snowmobile. We drove around in circles for a while just getting a feel for them. It was fun, but it did take a bit of effort to make sharp turns. You also felt like you were going pretty fast, even at 30-40 mph. The tour included a photographer to snap pictures of everyone throughout the tour and she was already clicking away during the practice runs. After about 15 min of practice, we were ready to go.

The group was split into two with each one following a guide. We made our way up the mountain through beautiful tree lined trails. The guide kept pushing the pace as we got more comfortable and there were small ramps along the way which made the experience even more fun! We got to climb all the way up the mountain, beyond the tree line. There we stopped to take it all in. The view was spectacular. Bare and serene, it felt like another planet all together. We had a chance to take pictures. 

After the photo session, we got back on the snowmobiles and made our way back down. We had one more quick stop for hot chocolate in a large heated tent they have towards the bottom of the mountain. Finally we made it all the way back down, bought the pictures package, tipped them well and headed back to Breckenridge.

By the time we got back it was late, dark and cold, and we were hungry. We were still craving delicious Pho like the one we had in Denver so we made our way to Pho Bay. The place was in a hotel and somewhat old school. We ordered some dumplings and Pho, and while it was not bad, it was not memorable either. We finished up quickly and headed back to the hotel to rest. 

[shinigami-mistress]

All the OTP questions for Grelliam!!!

Woohoo! All for the Grelliam!

1. Who is the early bird/ Who is the night owl?

William is the early bird. It’s something that he’s gotten used to over the years as he was always one of the first in the office. These days it’s good because he likes to watch Grell sleep before he leaves and whisper the things he’s still doesn’t know how to tell her when she’s awake.

2. Who is the big spoon/ Who is the little spoon?

William is usually the big spoon and Grell is the little. She likes to feel his arms around her.

3. Who hogs the cover/ Who loves to cuddle?

Both are Grell. William has awoke many times shivering slightly only to look over and see Grell wrapped tightly in all the cover. He never has the heart to wake her though. He just mumble honestly and curls up tighter. However, while Grell is very openly loves to cuddle, William is much quieter about it. He definitely enjoys cuddling with Grell though. 

4. Who wakes the other one up with kisses?

Grell’s more likely to wake William up with kisses, if she happens to be awake before him, but that’s only because his kisses are too gentle to wake Grell. He kisses her whenever he wakes up first, but his are so soft that they simply melt into her dreams.

5. Who usually has nightmares?

Sadly, they are both prone to nightmares because there has been many dark times in their past. Because Grell expresses herself more easily, this comes across in her dreams. She’s likely to yell or strike out in her sleep. This wakes up William, who would comfort her so that she could have relax and have peaceful dreams. William still has nightmares, but he’s more likely to wake up with a simple gasp of breath and sweat on his brow. He doesn’t tell Grell about it because he doesn’t want to bother her.

6. Who would have really deep emotional thoughts at the middle of the night/ Who would have them in the middle of the day?

William was never a daydreamer before, but he’s been guilty of finding himself staring off into nothingness in the middle of the day as he think about how much finding this love has changed him. Grell has moments during all hours of the day and night. She often surprises Will with these deep emotional questions.

7. Who sweats the small stuff?

While Grell is the naturally more emotional one, William is the perfectionist.  If he has something planned, he wants every tiny detail to fall perfectly into place.

8. Who sleeps in their underwear (or naked)/ Who sleeps in their pajamas?

William generally wears pajamas pants to bed while Grell may wear his shirt or a frilly nightgown. Of course, that’s not always what they wake up wearing. ;)

9. Who makes the coffee (or tea)?

It’s usually William. Grell doesn’t care for tea, but she does like her coffee - and Will has learned a caffeinated Grell is a happy Grell.

10. Who likes sweet/ Who likes sour?

William is the one with a sweet tooth. Grell prefers sour.

11. Who likes horror movies/ Who likes romance movies?

Grell likes both actually! She loves something bloody, although she sadly finds most horror movies to be lacking a bit in scares. She also loves a good romance. William would watch both with her but neither are precisely his cup of tea. He prefers historical.

12. Who is smol/ Who is tol?

Of the two, Grell is smol and Will is tol.

13. Who is considered the scaredy cat?

Neither one!

14. Who kills the spiders?

Grell will yell for William to do it just because she doesn’t want spider guts on the bottom of her shoes. Of course, she has no real issues with actually killing one.

15. Who is scared of the dark?

Neither one again. Grell adores the dark, while William has no real strong feelings about it.

16. Who is scared of thunderstorms?

Once again, neither one. Grell doesn’t like thunderstorms because the humidity can frizz her hair, and she hates working in a downpour. Of course, she loves when she can cuddle with her William under an umbrella.

17. Who works/ Who stays at home?

They both work, and that’s not really going to change any time soon.

18. Who is a cat person/ Who is a dog person?

Grell is a dog person. William likes his pigeons, but he’ll happily adopt Grell’s dog.

19. Who loves to call the other one cute names?

Grell is always assigning new nicknames for Will. On the other hand, William rarely calls Grell anything but Grell, but her heart melted the first time he referred to her as his love.

20. Who is dominant/ Who is submissive?

William is dominant and Grell is submissive only because that’s the way that Grell prefers it!

21. Who has an obsession (over anything)?

Grell is naturally obsessive by nature.

22. Who goes all out for Valentine’s Day?

For their first Valentine’s Day, it was Grell only because William didn’t really understand how much it meant to Grell. After accidentally hurting her feelings, he was determined never to make that mistake again. Now they both go all out.

23. Who asks who out on the first date?

William asked Grell out for their first official date, which so surprised Grell, it took her several minutes to say she would go out with him.

24. Who is the talker/ Who is the listener?

Grell is the talker and Will is the listener.

25. Who wears the other ones clothes?

Grell likes to wear Will’s shirts when she goes to bed.

26. Who likes to eat healthy/ Who loves junk food?

Grell is a healthy eater usually, and she always is trying to encourage William to eat better. He will accept her ‘healthy’ meals to a degree, but he has a terrible sweet tooth and likes fried, greasy foods.

27. Who takes a long shower/ Who sings in the shower?

William was always the type to jump in the shower, wash off quickly, and be done with it. Grell was the type to take long, luxurious showers and to sing - and she has a good voice. That’s how they act when separate. Now, when they’re together….

28. Who is the book worm?

Both enjoy reading quite a bit, although they have different tastes in books.

29. Who is the better cook?

Grell is a far better cook and enjoys working in the kitchen.

30. Who likes long walks on the beach?

They both enjoy long walks on the beach if they’re together. If they are apart, Grell would prefer far more than William.

31. Who is more affectionate?

Grell is more openly affectionate, although William is more affectionate with Grell than he has ever been with anyone else.

32. Who likes to have really long (deep) conversation?

William has so rarely opened up to anyone, he likes having someone to talk to deeply. He takes advantage of this with Grell, and she loves to learn all about him.

33. Who would wear “not guilty” t-shirt/ Who would wear “sin” t-shirt?In the morning?

Grell wears the ‘not guilty’ shirt. She wear the one saying ‘sin’ at night. William would wear neither. He thinks Grell looks better in them.

34. Who would wear “if lost return to…” t-shirt/ Who would wear “I am…” t-shirt?

Grell wears the “If lost return to William” and William has the , “I am William” shirt. Interestingly enough, Grell gave Will his shirt and encouraged him to wear it not telling him about the matching one until she was ‘returned’ to him later.

35. Who goes overboard on the holidays?

Grell is the one who totally goes overboard on the holidays, but Will rather enjoys watching her getting wrapped up in her projects. It adds an excitement to the holidays that he had never experienced before.

36. Who is the social media addict?

It would have to be Grell.

37. Height difference or age difference?

Not that much of either, but William is taller than Grell. She thinks he’s the perfect height since she can comfortably rest her head on his shoulder.

38. Who likes to star gaze?

Grell always enjoyed star gazing, although William had some fascination of astronomy. Now it’s something they enjoy together.

39. Who buys cereal for the prize inside?

Honestly, neither would do this. Grell isn’t a big fan of cereal in general, and William just likes the flavors he likes. Of course, Grell would steal the prize in William’s cereal, and he’d let her.

40. Who is the fun parent/ Who is the responsible parent?

Because of her focus on healthy foods, Grell would actually turn out to be the responsible one while William would want their child to have a chance to be a child.

41. Who cries during sad movies?

Grell is the one who cries, but it’s mostly because it’s another excuse to cuddle closer to William.

42. Who is the neat freak?

Neither are particularly sloppy, but William is more organized. He would be the neat freak.

43. Who wins the stuffed animals at the carnival for the other one?

William wins the stuffed animals for Grell, although they are both well aware she could easily win her own toys.

44. Who is active/ Who is lazy?

Neither is particularly lazy. William likes to keep active with things he feels are important. Grell likes to stay physically active.

45. Who is more likely to get drunk?

Grell is a teeny tiny bit more likely to get drunk although neither are much for drinking. This shocks people about Grell, but Will learned early on that she didn’t like being drunk.

46. Who has the longer food order?

William actually has the longer food order mainly because he likes dessert.

47. Who has the more complex coffee order?

Grell has the more complex coffee order. William is a straight black coffee kind of customer.

48. Who loses stuff?

Grell is always losing stuff usually because she can become easily distracted. William remains more focused and organized.

49. Who is the driver/ Who is the passenger?

William usually drives. He prefers to be in control, plus Grell usually asks him to drive since she likes to look at the scenery and to study Will’s handsome profile.

50. Who is the hopeless romantic?

Grell is the eternal, hopeless romantic!

[movienotesbyzawmer]

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

December 18: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

(previous notes: Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Source: UK 3D Blu-ray (this was much easier to come by than a US release, for some reason)

This movie is only 2 years old, a relative infant babe in arms. And I unambiguously loved it when it came out, both times I saw it in theaters and again when it was first released on video. But there have been dark whispers, haven't there. Snobs and haters started flooding the information superhighway with poorly supported condemnation of this perfectly entertaining sequel. Was I wrong? Was I missing some smear of shit on the screen that everyone else could see? Or is Putin up to his old tricks? Excuse me while I pop on my rose-colored 3D glasses and jot down some fresh observations.

Cool first shot, zipping through a bunch of ships that's like some kind of convoy.

Then a bad guy ship shows up and whoa is it neat in 3D.

This first exchange between Poe and Hux is funnier than anything in the prequel trilogy, my goodness was that a refreshing way to start this movie! Love it!

BB8 thunking down into the guts of the X-wing! That's the right kind of gadgety roboty attitude for a Star Wars movie, I tell you.

Bombers, there are bombers. How do bombers work in space? I ask like I'm complaining, but I'm not. I'm sure there's a Lucas-y explanation. And yes I know that Lucas isn't doing this movie, of course I know that, it's like you don't even know me.

Jeez, those bombers are getting totally wasted. Probably because they're full of bombs. BOMBS, see.

This tense scene where the bomber pilot has to kick down the remote control from a precipice, this is great suspense. The pilot sacrifices herself. The first 12 minutes of this movie have a hell of a lot going for it. But also, the look of it is different from all of the others. Stark closeups for instance. Nothing wrong with it, but feels like it's very committed to this director's personal stylistic preferences.

Now we're on Hidden Skywalker Island to find out how this plot thickens. It's a cool contrast from the space battle. And it's got Rey. And Porgs!

0:16:40 - Snoke's proper throne room. With Actual Snoke because it turned out the other one from the last movie was pretend-like. This throne room was put together by a visionary interior designer who really likes red.

Luke drinks some green milk from a plump creature who looks at Rey like she's saying "have some, it's pretty good, seriously you gotta try it, it comes from my nipples".

The scene with Rey and Luke in the book cave, it's good, I think. It's ever so slightly witty, but it makes sense as a way to get past the stubborn impasse the two were in before.

Kylo hesitated to blow up his mom because he's not too happy with his Dark Side family rn. But she's blowed up anyway and it's a pretty visceral image when that happens. Fortunately she is kind of Jesus so it's fine, she's fine, we're all fine here now thank you, how are you?

Hah, the Porgs are shaming Chewy into not eating a dead Porg! Porgs are way less in-your-face in this movie than Ewoks are in that other movie.

Enter Laura Dern! Conveys intelligence and confidence. I bet internet dicks hated her for no good reason. Other than that they are working in a non-descript office building in central Russia. Anyway, her friction with Poe is cool because she's being rational and it's just hard to argue against her points.

0:39:00 - Enter Kelly Marie Tran! Rose! Of course Sergei and Boris are social media bullies about this character. But even though she's coming into this story a little late, she's already gotten some solid character development.

So this is something I'm only realizing because I just watched Empire Strikes Back, but the two movies have similar structures in addition to being middle-of-the-trilogy movies. They both go back and forth between two subplots; one about a Jedi training a rookie on a planet, the other about just the good guys desperately trying to outrun a dauntingly large space fleet of bad guys.

Hah, Porgs getting pesky in the Millennium Falcon, I'd forgotten that.

Not so much with the wipes between scenes in this one but that one at 53:55 was neat.

And now we're in an actual casino! It's the Star Wars universe's version of Monaco. Lots of fun creatures and robots, but shot with a very flashy style that seems more obtrusive than how Lucas just peeks around in the Cantina.

The Master Codebreaker is literally Errol Flynn circa 1925.

1:00:50 - The first flashback of The Luke/Ben Incident. Kinda Rashomon-esque.

Benicio Del Toro. I love the guy, but there is often a sense in his movies that he had a very persuasive conversation with the director to let him do odd quirks with how he talks, and the director just grimaced and hoped it would turn out okay.

They break out of the stables with the racing animals, and stampede their way through the casino, satisfying!

But also, this whole Monaco planet is so like Monaco, so specifically, that it's not very galaxy-far-far-away.

First time we see Luke in the Rashomon flashback with the 'bout-to-kill-Ben look, that is a mighty fine facial expression from Mark Hamill.

1:14:35 - We're at the highly abstract Nightmare Cave sequence. This is a little indulgent, I bet Lucas did not like. He probably didn't like the equivalent sequence in The Force Awakens, but for what it's worth, I super like that one.

Rey and Kylo having a connection, I think we're not supposed to like it, and maybe that's the point? I'm okay with that. As long as it doesn't turn out that they are twin siblings separated at birth and gee what a shocking twist that would be <eye roll>.

I bet it took some discipline to have the Finn/Poe/Rose subplot be relatively simple.

1:29:00 - Weird little coffin craft Rey gets in to go to Kylo's ship. Oh, and the shot of coming out of lightspeed facing the bottom of the Destroyers! Cool!

1:30:55 - Hah! You thought they'd forgotten how to be funny, but then they do that clothes-iron gag. I like it. Reminds me of the coat hanger gag in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

"I know where the nearest escape pods are" "Course you do". Hah.

Snoke telling Rey "I connected you because I knew Kylo was weak" sounds like an internet troll. Am I hung up on that? On internet trolls?

Big hanger full of troops and even flying TIE fighters inside the hanger, looks great.

Very grim situation now… the intended plan completely fell apart, and now the escape transport plan is completely screwed, and Rey is just helpless it looks like. Or is that just what it LOOKS like.

Snoke death is neat. Also neat are his guards' variable, flexible sword things. Also also neat is how the one guard gets tossed into an electro-processer and shoots out red flakes!

1:50:42 - Oh, my favorite thing, a magic battle. As Rey and Kylo try to out-Force each other to Force-get the light saber, it all comes down to who Force-gets better.

But then! Then it DOESN'T suck because they equally Force-get so hard that it just breaks, and then the neatest of all the parts of this movie, LD lightspeed-spearing the master bad guy ship! Awesome visuals and sound.

"You're a bug in the system" "Let's go chrome-dome". That's a pretty Lucas-y dialogue exchange.

As they fly away from the destruction, I love the look, how much detail there is to the wreckage.

Yeah, this final planet has those ice fox things! It feels like this Episode has slightly less zeal for "delightful new creatures", but it's not NO zeal.

Also this is the planet where the surface is salt, but under the salt surface is a mineral that is very red, for reasons of it looks cool, I guess. There's even a mechanic which can't possibly make sense, where these crafts NEED to drag on the surface just a teeny bit. But so what, I like to look at it. I'd rather look at that than look at YOU.

The underground blood crystal cave is a damn fine sight to see.

Not sure I care that much about the quick drama about Finn trying to Kamikaze the big gun and Rose stopping him. Although Rose saying "saving what we love" makes it kinda sweet and now I'm sorry I pooh-poohed it. But she gives him a little kiss, which is the only remotely romance-y thing in this new trilogy so far and do we need that? Whatever, I root for both of these characters.

We just saw the gold dice from Solo. But this movie came out before Solo, so I guess we were all like "dude what the hell is THAT". I wonder whose idea the dice was.

"Do you think that you got him". So, this reminded me when I first saw it of an early Mark Hamill movie called The Big Red One. A war drama with him and Lee Marvin, probably right around the same time as Empire. In that movie, MH shoots again and again and again at a definitely-already-dead German soldier. He just keeps shooting the corpse. Lee Marvin walks up to him as he's doing it and whispers in his ear, "I think you got him". Gotta be a deliberate reference, right? Pretty obscure one if so

Hah, Poe and Rey hadn't met yet, that wasn't obvious until now.

Okay, the final scene. It's a cool final scene, but… okay so the first time I saw it, I definitely didn't notice that the kid levitated the broom all casual-like. But I noticed it in later viewings and was like "oh, how did I miss that". Well I'LL TELL you how, because it is super freaking subtle! It's like it changes every time or something. It is FREAKING  me OUT.

But I still really like this movie. It is full of tons of great qualities, and only minor issues. It's surprisingly witty, and has a lot of non-Lucas style to it, which would be a problem if it didn't feel so genuinely inspired. So nice try, Anatoly! Go fuck yourself, Fyodor! You can turn neighbors against each other, Yuri, but you can't make me hate The Last Jedi!

(next: The Rise of Skywalker)

[adtwixt]

Adtwixt - News: Early morning rush where you should have been out the door 5 minutes ago? Chalk it up to unfavorable circumstances, in this case, terrible bathroom storage

There have been so many times when I needed a hairbrush and literally tore down the bathroom in the process of looking for it. But on any other given day, I have like 3 hairbrushes littering the bed! Good bathroom storage is the key to an organized bathroom and with a little bit of creativity and the right materials, it’s easy to transform the bathroom from messy to stylish and organized in no time. Whether it’s additional units that can be stacked on your counter, or a small magnetic patch on the wall to stick your hairbrush on, your life is about to get a lot easier with these bathroom storage ideas. Use these genius storage ideas to stop the bathroom storage apocalypse. 30 Best Bathroom Storage Ideas to Save Space These simple, but clever bathroom storage ideas are sure to help you maximize the space you have in your bathroom and keep it organized. 1. Use Baskets Credit: HGTV Baskets always works. Whether it’s feelings, shoes, or ice cream, baskets are always dependable. This really helps with the storage space inside the bathroom by giving it a rustic, homely feel. After all, don’t we love lounging around in the bathroom anyway? Personally, and this may sound weird, if I enlarged my bathroom space to make room for a taco bar, I’m not sure I’d leave. These baskets can easily store the towels that keep falling off the rod or keep taking up the extra space in the bathroom. Buy similar baskets here. 2. Magnetic Organizers On The Wall Have you ever reached into the bathroom cabinet only to withdraw your hand that now looks like it took a trip to Color Me Mine? That will definitely not happen again unless you plan on sticking your hand in a bucket of neon matte paint.  These wall-mounted magnetic organizers will save your life. And lips. Never again will you have “bad lipstick days” where it feels like the lipstick is wearing you instead of the other way around! Stack up on those lip colors without fear, because this wall mounted storage will save those stacks of lip liners. Buy them here! 3. Bar Stool Credit:  Chango & Co Introducing a bar stool in your bathroom can make a difference between a stuffy bathroom, and an organized one. Take your pick as to which type of bathroom you want. The second one? Then keep reading. Not only is this bar stool a bold color choice, it adds a bit of oomph to a place where you feel like you don’t want to overdo it with decor. You can hide baskets under the barstool, put a cloth on top of the stool and use it to hold essentials. Want to stick a vase of flowers for a bit of freshness but not sure where to put it? The bar stool will heartily do the job. Forget Febreeze! Use actual flowers, it’s not weird trust me. Functional and cute? Yes please! Buy it on Wayfair! 4. Wheely Cart Credit: HGTV Remember those shoes that had little wheels attached underneath? And literally every kid with these shoes was the envy of every kid on the playground during recess? What I mean is, wheels make everything accessible, fun, and most importantly, functionally cute! This very roomy wheel cart has enough space to stock all the necessary items like paper rolls, towels, and any extra brushes. Of course, if you suddenly decide to give your kid a small ride around the house on this wheel cart, I wouldn’t blame you! 5. Integrated Storage Cubby Credit: Studio/Lifestyle If there’s one thing women can’t get enough of, it’s space. No fellas, I’m not talking about relationships. Jeez, take a hint! Of course, extra space in any part of the house is awesome. But, integrated space is even better. This way, there’s no extra renovation or remodeling required to create extra space. This integrated space cubby can store all those shampoo, conditioner, and body wash bottles that keep falling into the shower. And I’m pretty sure we can all relate to the times when you really need the shampoo bottle, and it gets stuck behind the various products piling up on the counter! 6. Spray Bottle Hangar Storing the Windex inside your cabinet is probably turning out to be one of the worst decisions you’ve made in terms of bathroom storage. Mostly because, every time you reach for it inside the cabinet, you end up knocking over 20 other spray bottles! This spray bottle hangar saves your space and sanity in the bathroom by providing an easy place to store your spray bottles. Without knocking over 10 other spray bottles you don’t need! Buy it here! 7. Hall of Baskets Credit: Simply DIY 2 Hall of Fame? I’m sure you’ve heard of it. But how about the Hall of Baskets? It definitely has a nice ring to it. And it’s not that difficult to build either. Hang two towel rods in a parallel manner. Of course, the size of the rods, and the weight is totally up to you. But make sure the rods themselves are sturdy and practical. Use a few ribbons to secure the baskets to the rods, and then fill up the baskets with whatever extra items have been stockpiling in the bathroom. These dark baskets will easily blend in with any decor you’re aiming for in your bathroom, whether its rustic, romantic or just chill! Buy baskets here! 8. Fabric Skirt Credit: Housebeautiful Personally, I think this is a genius idea. If you have any of those skirts that your grandmother gave you to “look pretty” at school, and you can’t explain to her that they’re not cool anymore….wait! Don’t throw them away or donate them or go with the old “the dog ate it” excuse. Size it, and cut it so that it easily fits under the sink and doesn’t flop over the side. This is a great way to hide any of those extra utilities or ahem tampons and pads that you’re so desperately trying to hide. Especially in a small bathroom. The struggle is definitely real ladies! 9. DIY Hair Tool Organizer Credit: Nellie Bellie Let’s be honest. The bathroom is where we spend 60% of the time doing hair and makeup, and 40% for actually using the bathroom for what it’s supposed to be used for. Checking yourself out in the mirror obviously. Since we’re always in such a rush in the mornings,  not to mention going through the Monday blues (or every day of the week except for Friday blues) , you’ll end up haphazardly scattering your straightener or curler. Not anymore! This DIY hair tool organizer will save your hair….but won’t cure your Monday blues. It’ll hardly take a minute or two to put back your straightener in this organizer every morning! 10. Spinning Makeup Playing dress-up starts at 5 years old…..and never stops. Make your space more organized and efficient with this tiered spinning organizer. The spinning part makes it one of those childish things you can’t stop doing, kinda like blowing bubbles in your water glass. The tiers provide a sort of vertical space that utilizes space much better, since it doesn’t take up as much area. Brushes can be kept in the section on top, while the jars and sprays can be kept at the bottom. Buy this stand here! 11. Organizers Behind The Mirror Door Counter space is definitely not easy to come by, especially if it’s already filled up with straighteners, makeup, and the general item mania. Honestly, there are times I pick up an item, wonder if I really truly need it, then instinctively rearrange it back into my “neat pile”. Who am I kidding? My neat pile looks like a mini-tornado tore through my bathroom. These organizers can easily stick to the back of the mirror door, and the small spaces within each organizer ensures that only necessary items can be stored. Get rid of those empty medicine and ointment bottles! Buy these StickonPods here! 12. Bottle Cap to Toothbrush Holder Credit: Ohohdeco Have you ever ended up at CVS at like 3 AM for something as random as a toothbrush holder? You’re not the only one (No, I don’t have insomnia). More often than not, we don’t want to spend too much money on something as little as a toothbrush holder. Try this ingenious hack of converting your bottle cap to a toothbrush holder. Make a slot in the inside of the bottle cap, for the toothbrush to attach to the bottle cap. Attach some Velcro to the back of the cap, and stick it where ever is most convenient. Voila! It probably won’t take you more than 15 minutes to make this simple item. 13. Lean a Ladder Credit: Housebeautiful Never trust a ladder. They’re always up to something. OK, sorry guys. Bad pun aside, this ladder adds a rustic, homely and unique feel to your bathroom. You can hang your towels and clothes on the ladder, instead of throwing it all around the bathroom. Honestly, even if you dump a bunch of clothes onto the ladder, it’ll still somehow look neat! That’s the uniqueness of the ladder! 14. Add a Rack Who said you need to have a closet or shelf already built in your bathroom? If you’re trying to add a small closet or rack, make use of the corner space that’s always overlooked. The corners are honestly the best places to store or mount racks to make use of unused space. The rack itself is inexpensive and easy to mount! It adds a bit of elegance to the bathroom without overdoing it by being bulky or taking up too much space. You can buy this rack here! 15. Get an Outlet Shelf Get rid of all your counter clutter! Keep your electronic toothbrush and razor on this outlet shelf. It’ll save your time, sanity, and counter space. Get it here! 16. Put A Hamper In It Hampers have a way of adding style to a room or closet without even trying. It’s the ultimate laundry dumping place, without making it look like a tornado ripped through your house of course. If you’re trying to decorate your guest bathroom without overdoing it, this item is a must-have! Other than dumping a year’s worth of laundry, it’s also great for stockpiling potatoes. I’m kidding! It’s perfect for storing those linen towels out of the reach of your messy toddlers for sure! Buy a hamper here! 17. Magazine Rack…In The Bathroom? For all my book nerds out there, who can’t even finish using the bathroom without reading at least one page…….I volunteer this magazine rack as a tribute. Hunger Games joke aside, this rack is elegant and will definitely act as a “statement piece” to the bathroom by being quietly exquisite. It also adds some vibrancy to those awkward unused spaces and corners that we so desperately try and fail to cover up with paint or wallpaper! Buy this magazine rack here! 18. Make A Skinny Alcove Credit: Dorseydesigns No space? No problem. If you’re renovating your bathroom, leave a bit of space for this skinny, yet extremely functional and rustic alcove. It’s inexpensive and adds a bit of oomph to an otherwise boring white or monochromatic bathroom. These shelves can easily store the towels, baskets, and cosmetic products that are taking up your counter space and making you generally insane every morning! This alcove doesn’t take up much space anyway, considering it’s already taking up a corner of space, which is especially perfect if your bathroom is already small. 19. Wall Mounted Bathroom Shelf Want a simple, stylish yet space-saving solution to your bathroom storage troubles? You’ve found it. This awesomely chic rack is for people like me who hoard essential oils, soap, conditioners, and other hair care products like the zombie apocalypse is about to happen tomorrow. In case it does happen, take the rack and run. It’s not worth leaving it! This rack is very sturdy and easy to install. So it pretty much covers all the basic areas of how perfect this product is! It’s also a great item to put in a guest bathroom, where you really want to show off how awesome your decorating skills are. Impressed guests? More brownie points to you. And maybe more Christmas presents on your doorstep….yo never know! You can grab this shelf here while it’s in stock! 20. Toilet Paper Holder/Phone Shelf Studies show that 19% of people, in other words, 1 out of 5 people drop their phone down the toilet, losing all their data and contacts (and their digital life).  Of course, if the phone was made of Vibranium, you could just pick up your phone and nothing would have happened. Then again, if I’m talking about the uses of a fake substance like Vibranium in real life, you can tell I’m suffering from an epic Marvel withdrawal. This toilet paper holder is also a phone shelf. It can easily be mounted to the wall, and it’s made of stainless steel so it’s sturdy and won’t rust. Avoid those oopsy daisy accidents with this functional and awesome toilet roll holder/phone shelf! Buy it here! 21. Good Ol’ Adhesive Shelf The old school way is always the best. You can never have enough shelves in the bathroom, especially in those awkward corners that you try to cover up using wallpaper or paint.  This functional, old school adhesive bathroom shelf is the best for hanging up items that you need as you’re rushing out the bathroom. And a great way to pop up speakers or your phone to watch reruns of Game of Thrones episodes. Don’t worry, the whole world is suffering from withdrawal from that. Join the club! The adhesive shelf can be personalized to your style, and the hooks at the bottom allow for more space for things like towels, sponges, and scrubs. Buy it here! 22. IKEA Picture Ledge Credit: Yasam Stil Turns out that picture ledges can be used for things other than pictures. Use this picture ledge from IKEA and add it right between the mirror and the bathroom sink. Store your favorite soaps, lotions, shampoos and of course essential oils right here. You’ll never knock things down from the countertop to the floor again! This is also a great place to keep all those scented candles without wreaking havoc on the already limited space in the bathroom (shelves and counters). Personalize this frame by painting or layering some wallpaper on it for a pop of color. Always appreciated when you’re short on time and want to spruce up your bathroom space! Buy them on Amazon! 23. Built-in Bathroom Storage Shelve Credit: Donna DuFresne Interior Design Do you know that the average space between wall studs is 16 inches? Do you also know that it’s enough space to make a small recessed cabinet? Yes, that’s right a bonus bathroom storage without just by smart utilization of space already present. 24. Magnetic Makeup Board Credit: Laurathoughts Shelves and picture frames to store your makeup essentials? Boring. And overrated. Did I mention, literally everyone on Instagram and Pinterest always has a DIY shelf but not something as cool as a magnetic makeup storage board? The words pretty much convey what this board does. So you’ll never have to worry about makeup falling out of your kit or off the counter. Crown yourself the DIY queen by making this easy storage board. It requires just a few materials including a picture frame, a metal sheet, your choice of fabric, hot glue, and a few other supplies that you’ll already have ready in your arsenal. 25. Second Shower Rod in the Shower Credit: Pinterest/Good Housekeeping Already have one shower rod? Great! You know the benefits then. But, you’re probably running out of space right about now, so install another one! They don’t take up much space, and can easily store the shampoos and conditioners that you previously didn’t have space for. Add a few hooks, so that items like sponges, shower brush and any other items that can’t fit on the rod can hang easily from the hooks. You’ll suddenly have more space for weird items like shower caps and bath salts! 26. Suction Cup Bottle Holders Credit: Dollarstorecrafts This hack is GOLDEN. If there ever was a creative dollar store organization hack that you really needed and didn’t fully appreciate, it’s definitely this one. If shelves or racks in the bathroom aren’t your thing, try this hack using suction cups and hair elastics. They will keep your shampoo and conditioner stuck to the wall like silly putty. It doesn’t take up as much space as a rack or shelf, because the only space it’s taking up is the area of the bottle itself! The best thing is that the suction cups and hair elastics both are only $1 each, so no need to spend any money renovating or buying a shelf when it literally takes just one minute to slap one of these onto the wall! As someone who regularly drops the shampoo bottle in the shower, this is definitely a favorite. 27. Storage Step Stool Credit: Builtbykids You didn’t think I’d leave kids out of this, did you? Don’t worry, I didn’t leave out your lovable, annoying brats. This DIY step stool also has a hollowed-out inside……to store bath toys!  As if the living room isn’t full of enough of their toys already. The stool is multi-functional as it’s clearly seen from the picture. It’s a great way to make sure your kids don’t look like they visited the dunk tank after washing their hands, and it provides easy access to their favorite toys during their least favorite time. Bath time! 28. Extra Products On a Turntable Use up all that extra cabinet storage to store all those added junk items like half-used lotion bottles or semi-used shampoos using a turntable. Store all these things on the turntable to make a bit of counter space. If you don’t already have a large bathroom, and I’m guessing you don’t, these turntables will come in handy. It stores all the extra items that keep falling off the counter, it’s basically a dump for extra storage! Buy them here! 29. Products on a Cake Stand Credit: Cosmopolitan You probably bought this cake stand thinking you’d suddenly turn into Paula Deen, but you’re probably realizing now that this cake stand is just collecting dust in the closet. This cake stand is perfect for storing extra products in the shower. Especially if you have little spaces in the corner of your shower that are awkwardly not being used. 30. Kitchen Utensil Tray Credit: Cosmopolitan Yes, let me repeat that. A kitchen utensil tray can also be used in the bathroom! Instead of shoving everything haphazardly into a random cabinet, and then having everything tumble out, use a tray! It will easily keep everything you need in an organized and clean manner without you having to break the bank for a new bathroom organizer! All in all, whether you’re adding a corner shelf, rack, or a turntable, the options out there to expand bathroom storage are limitless. Most of them are just a few hacks with a bit of creativity, so make sure you utilize existing space, rather than wishing for space you don’t have! If you found the post helpful, then please share it! The post 30 Nifty Bathroom Storage Ideas to Make Most of Space Available appeared first on OffbeatBros. #Organizing

Adtwixt - News source https://adtwixt.com/blogs/news/early-morning-rush-where-you-should-have-been-out-the-door-5-minutes-ago-chalk-it-up-to-unfavorable-circumstances-in-this-case-terrible-bathroom-storage

[flutecattle9-blog]

Perros Calientes Colombianos

Thu Aug 30, 2018

Until last month, it had been nearly 20 years since I took a solo vacation. Ever since meeting my (now) wife, I've never really thought about, or wanted to, travel alone again, but a large and growing differential in vacation days I had versus what she had left me pondering how to make use of them on my own. I considered staying home to take care of a long backlog of projects (like editing photos from past vacations and also redesigning this blog), but I'm not one to find allure in sitting around the house when there's an entire world out there for exploring. I finally settled on getting away and Colombia ended being the right mixture of distance, value, and sites my wife could live with me seeing on my own. I ha forgotten some of the perils of traveling alone though, the main one among them being dining by myself. I did get out to some nice restaurants and outstanding meals, but I was definitely most in my comfort zone with quick street food bites, and among the many I ate, one that sat the fondest with me was an overloaded hot dog I enjoyed in small corner joint in Medellin that was overflowing with locals all chomping down on the same messy, junky, delicious creation that is the perro caliente Colombiano.

When walking up to this particular hot dog shop, the first thing that struck me were the sheer variety of sauce choices. I saw the standard ketchup and mustard, but there was also a green avocado sauce, mayo, barbecue sauce, pineapple sauce, and salsa rosado. After deciding to recreate these hot dogs at home for my friends, I made a choice to focus on just a couple sauces instead of the full suite, but it's safe to say that you can sauce these dogs as you see fit.

The first sauce I made was the salsa rosado, which is a mixture of mayo and ketchup that's ubiquitous throughout a lot of Latin America. You really only need those two kitchen staples, but a little lemon juice thrown into the mix can add a nice brightness if you happen to have it on hand (I didn't here).

The second sauce I made was the pineapple salsa, which I chose due to a combination of its uniqueness and recipe development challenge. I'm not sure how the sauce is made in Colombia, but I started with actual pineapple that I pureed with water in a blender to make pineapple juice.

I then strained the juice into a medium pan to remove any pulp. Next I brought the juice to a boil, added in a little brown sugar, and let it simmer until it started to reduce slightly. I then made slurry of lime juice and cornstarch and added it into the mix, and almost instantly the sauce began to bubbly immensely thicken. It took another ten minutes or so though until the sauce had thickened into something that could be squeezed out of a bottle and retain some form. Once it was at that point, I transferred the sauce to a squeeze bottle and placed it in the fridge to cool completely.

Beyond the salsas, the hot dogs I experienced in Colombia had three distinct toppings—melted cheese, coleslaw, and potato sticks. The coleslaw wasn't particularly flavorful, it really mostly added a cool crunch and mellow mayo flavor. So to make something similar, I used my base coleslaw recipe that starts with slicing cabbage very thinly and mixing it with grated carrot along with sugar and salt, which work together to draw moisture out of the vegetables. After five minutes of resting, the cabbage mixture is washed and dried before dressing.

For the dressing, I kept the flavor very light with a mostly mayo base. I did add a slight boost in tang from rice vinegar and a little mustard for a background complexity. Other than that, it was just only salt, sugar, and pepper for the seasoning, and this dressing ended up giving the slaw the right mild flavor I was looking for without tasting bland.

The potato sticks topping was both probably the best part, and also easiest to prepare. I just picked up of a tub of these crunchy, fried potatoes and then crushed a large handful of them by placing them in a resealable bag and whacking it with a rolling pin a few times to get broken, but not obliterated, little pieces of crisp potatoes.

The cheese part of the equationI wasn't too sure of. I knew it was a soft and moist queso blanco when I saw the staff at the shop drop bricks of cheese into what looked like a pool of water, and then pull out melted globs of the stuff to spread along the rolls. My problem really occurred when I got to my local grocery and was presented with a wall of queso blancos—which one would be right choice? Then I saw one called Quesito Colombiano and figured that must be the one for me!

I melted the cheese in a small pan on the grill as I cooked the hot dogs. Very similar to what I saw in Colombia, this cheese melted into a pool of water with soft and stringy cheese nestled inside. Because of this separation, there was actually less cheese than I was expecting once it melted. I was certainly happy I had picked up a couple extra rounds of cheese because I ended up needing them to give each hot dog its proper cheesy layer.

The hot dogs themselves weren't really anything special. They tasted like a lightly season blend of pork and beef, so I found a two meat blend frank in the grocery store and picked them up. These natural casing franks from Hofmann were actually way better quality than what I had in Colombia, and compared to the water heated dogs I had there, the grill also gave the links a better flavor, in my opinion.

To assemble the hot dogs once everything was done, I started with a sesame seed bun (they were actually labeled as "sub rolls" and not hot dog buns) and spread a layer of cheese along the bottom. I then nestled a hot dog into the soft cheese and topped with a layer of coleslaw followed by potato sticks. I then squirted on the sauces, not being neat or tidy about it at all—one hallmark of these hot dogs seemed to be how messy they were.

And messy they were, with just the first bite I had some coleslaw and sauces adorning my hands, which was true to my experience in Colombia. The flavor was pretty spot on too, from the salty and soft cheese, squishy sesame seed bun, lightly seasoned dog, crunchy coleslaw, salty potato sticks, and variety of sauces. I ended up coming home from my trip with not enough gifts for everyone, then realized after serving these hot dogs that this is really the best gift I could give anyone anyway—sharing a food experience with my friends I so loved that can hopefully ignite an appreciation for Colombia and desire to travel there too.

Perros Calientes Colombianos

The Colombian hot dog is an overstuffed, messy affair that includes melted queso blanco, coleslaw, potato sticks, and a variety of sauces.

Prep Time:

40 Minutes

Cook Time:

5 Minutes

Total Time:

45 Minutes

Yield:

8 servings

Ingredients

For the Pineapple Sauce

2 cups roughly chopped fresh pineapple

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 teaspoon cornstarch

  For the Salsa Rosado

1/3 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons ketchup

2 teaspoons juice from 1 lemon (optional)

  For the Coleslaw

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon, divided

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 teaspoon dijon mustard

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

1/2 head green cabbage, core removed and finely shredded

1 medium carrot, peeled and grated

3 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more to taste

  For the Hot Dogs

1lb queso blanco

8 hot dogs, preferably a pork and beef blend

8 hot dog buns or small sub rolls, preferably with sesame seeds

2/3 cup potato sticks, lightly crushed

Procedure

To make the pineapple sauce: Place pineapple and water in the jar of a blender and blend until smooth. Strain pureed pineapple through a fine mesh strainer into a medium pan. Place pan over medium-high heat, add in brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer until slightly reduced, about 10 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice and cornstarch. Whisk cornstarch mixture into pineapple juice and let simmer until sauce thickens to a medium syrupy consistency, about 10 minutes more. Remove pan from heat and let sit until cool enough to handle. Transfer pineapple sauce to a squeeze bottle or container and store in refrigerator until ready to use.

To make the salsa rosado: Whisk together mayonnaise, ketchup, and lemon juice (if using), in a small bowl. Transfer sauce to a squeeze bottle or container and store in refrigerator until ready to use.

To make the coleslaw: Whisk together mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon sugar, vinegar, mustard, and black pepper in a small bowl. Set aside. Place cabbage and carrot in a large bowl, sprinkle with remaining 1/3 cup sugar and salt; toss to combine. Let stand five minutes, then transfer to a large colander and rinse thoroughly under cold running water. Transfer cabbage to a salad spinner and spin dry. Alternatively, transfer to a large rimmed baking sheet lined with a triple layer of paper towels or a clean kitchen towel and blot mixture dry with more towels. Return to large bowl. Pour dressing over cabbage and toss to coat. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt, pepper, and/or sugar.

To make the hot dogs: Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread the coals evenly over entire surface of coal grate. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate. Place cheese in a small pan and place on grill. Let sit until cheese is melted, stirring occasionally. While cheese is melting, place hot dogs on grill and cook, turning occasionally, until heated through and well browned, about 4 minutes.

Using tongs, remove about 1/8 of the melted cheese and spread along the bottom of one bun. Nestle hot dog on top of cheese and top with coleslaw, potato sticks, and the two sauces. Repeat assembly for all hot dogs. Serve immediately.

Source: http://www.meatwave.com/blog/perros-calientes-colombianos-colombian-hot-dogs-with-queso-blanco-coleslaw-and-potato-sticks-recipe

[waterkick15-blog]

Perros Calientes Colombianos

Thu Aug 30, 2018

Until last month, it had been nearly 20 years since I took a solo vacation. Ever since meeting my (now) wife, I've never really thought about, or wanted to, travel alone again, but a large and growing differential in vacation days I had versus what she had left me pondering how to make use of them on my own. I considered staying home to take care of a long backlog of projects (like editing photos from past vacations and also redesigning this blog), but I'm not one to find allure in sitting around the house when there's an entire world out there for exploring. I finally settled on getting away and Colombia ended being the right mixture of distance, value, and sites my wife could live with me seeing on my own. I ha forgotten some of the perils of traveling alone though, the main one among them being dining by myself. I did get out to some nice restaurants and outstanding meals, but I was definitely most in my comfort zone with quick street food bites, and among the many I ate, one that sat the fondest with me was an overloaded hot dog I enjoyed in small corner joint in Medellin that was overflowing with locals all chomping down on the same messy, junky, delicious creation that is the perro caliente Colombiano.

When walking up to this particular hot dog shop, the first thing that struck me were the sheer variety of sauce choices. I saw the standard ketchup and mustard, but there was also a green avocado sauce, mayo, barbecue sauce, pineapple sauce, and salsa rosado. After deciding to recreate these hot dogs at home for my friends, I made a choice to focus on just a couple sauces instead of the full suite, but it's safe to say that you can sauce these dogs as you see fit.

The first sauce I made was the salsa rosado, which is a mixture of mayo and ketchup that's ubiquitous throughout a lot of Latin America. You really only need those two kitchen staples, but a little lemon juice thrown into the mix can add a nice brightness if you happen to have it on hand (I didn't here).

The second sauce I made was the pineapple salsa, which I chose due to a combination of its uniqueness and recipe development challenge. I'm not sure how the sauce is made in Colombia, but I started with actual pineapple that I pureed with water in a blender to make pineapple juice.

I then strained the juice into a medium pan to remove any pulp. Next I brought the juice to a boil, added in a little brown sugar, and let it simmer until it started to reduce slightly. I then made slurry of lime juice and cornstarch and added it into the mix, and almost instantly the sauce began to bubbly immensely thicken. It took another ten minutes or so though until the sauce had thickened into something that could be squeezed out of a bottle and retain some form. Once it was at that point, I transferred the sauce to a squeeze bottle and placed it in the fridge to cool completely.

Beyond the salsas, the hot dogs I experienced in Colombia had three distinct toppings—melted cheese, coleslaw, and potato sticks. The coleslaw wasn't particularly flavorful, it really mostly added a cool crunch and mellow mayo flavor. So to make something similar, I used my base coleslaw recipe that starts with slicing cabbage very thinly and mixing it with grated carrot along with sugar and salt, which work together to draw moisture out of the vegetables. After five minutes of resting, the cabbage mixture is washed and dried before dressing.

For the dressing, I kept the flavor very light with a mostly mayo base. I did add a slight boost in tang from rice vinegar and a little mustard for a background complexity. Other than that, it was just only salt, sugar, and pepper for the seasoning, and this dressing ended up giving the slaw the right mild flavor I was looking for without tasting bland.

The potato sticks topping was both probably the best part, and also easiest to prepare. I just picked up of a tub of these crunchy, fried potatoes and then crushed a large handful of them by placing them in a resealable bag and whacking it with a rolling pin a few times to get broken, but not obliterated, little pieces of crisp potatoes.

The cheese part of the equationI wasn't too sure of. I knew it was a soft and moist queso blanco when I saw the staff at the shop drop bricks of cheese into what looked like a pool of water, and then pull out melted globs of the stuff to spread along the rolls. My problem really occurred when I got to my local grocery and was presented with a wall of queso blancos—which one would be right choice? Then I saw one called Quesito Colombiano and figured that must be the one for me!

I melted the cheese in a small pan on the grill as I cooked the hot dogs. Very similar to what I saw in Colombia, this cheese melted into a pool of water with soft and stringy cheese nestled inside. Because of this separation, there was actually less cheese than I was expecting once it melted. I was certainly happy I had picked up a couple extra rounds of cheese because I ended up needing them to give each hot dog its proper cheesy layer.

The hot dogs themselves weren't really anything special. They tasted like a lightly season blend of pork and beef, so I found a two meat blend frank in the grocery store and picked them up. These natural casing franks from Hofmann were actually way better quality than what I had in Colombia, and compared to the water heated dogs I had there, the grill also gave the links a better flavor, in my opinion.

To assemble the hot dogs once everything was done, I started with a sesame seed bun (they were actually labeled as "sub rolls" and not hot dog buns) and spread a layer of cheese along the bottom. I then nestled a hot dog into the soft cheese and topped with a layer of coleslaw followed by potato sticks. I then squirted on the sauces, not being neat or tidy about it at all—one hallmark of these hot dogs seemed to be how messy they were.

And messy they were, with just the first bite I had some coleslaw and sauces adorning my hands, which was true to my experience in Colombia. The flavor was pretty spot on too, from the salty and soft cheese, squishy sesame seed bun, lightly seasoned dog, crunchy coleslaw, salty potato sticks, and variety of sauces. I ended up coming home from my trip with not enough gifts for everyone, then realized after serving these hot dogs that this is really the best gift I could give anyone anyway—sharing a food experience with my friends I so loved that can hopefully ignite an appreciation for Colombia and desire to travel there too.

Perros Calientes Colombianos

The Colombian hot dog is an overstuffed, messy affair that includes melted queso blanco, coleslaw, potato sticks, and a variety of sauces.

Prep Time:

40 Minutes

Cook Time:

5 Minutes

Total Time:

45 Minutes

Yield:

8 servings

Ingredients

For the Pineapple Sauce

2 cups roughly chopped fresh pineapple

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 teaspoon cornstarch

  For the Salsa Rosado

1/3 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons ketchup

2 teaspoons juice from 1 lemon (optional)

  For the Coleslaw

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon, divided

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 teaspoon dijon mustard

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

1/2 head green cabbage, core removed and finely shredded

1 medium carrot, peeled and grated

3 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more to taste

  For the Hot Dogs

1lb queso blanco

8 hot dogs, preferably a pork and beef blend

8 hot dog buns or small sub rolls, preferably with sesame seeds

2/3 cup potato sticks, lightly crushed

Procedure

To make the pineapple sauce: Place pineapple and water in the jar of a blender and blend until smooth. Strain pureed pineapple through a fine mesh strainer into a medium pan. Place pan over medium-high heat, add in brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer until slightly reduced, about 10 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice and cornstarch. Whisk cornstarch mixture into pineapple juice and let simmer until sauce thickens to a medium syrupy consistency, about 10 minutes more. Remove pan from heat and let sit until cool enough to handle. Transfer pineapple sauce to a squeeze bottle or container and store in refrigerator until ready to use.

To make the salsa rosado: Whisk together mayonnaise, ketchup, and lemon juice (if using), in a small bowl. Transfer sauce to a squeeze bottle or container and store in refrigerator until ready to use.

To make the coleslaw: Whisk together mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon sugar, vinegar, mustard, and black pepper in a small bowl. Set aside. Place cabbage and carrot in a large bowl, sprinkle with remaining 1/3 cup sugar and salt; toss to combine. Let stand five minutes, then transfer to a large colander and rinse thoroughly under cold running water. Transfer cabbage to a salad spinner and spin dry. Alternatively, transfer to a large rimmed baking sheet lined with a triple layer of paper towels or a clean kitchen towel and blot mixture dry with more towels. Return to large bowl. Pour dressing over cabbage and toss to coat. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt, pepper, and/or sugar.

To make the hot dogs: Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread the coals evenly over entire surface of coal grate. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate. Place cheese in a small pan and place on grill. Let sit until cheese is melted, stirring occasionally. While cheese is melting, place hot dogs on grill and cook, turning occasionally, until heated through and well browned, about 4 minutes.

Using tongs, remove about 1/8 of the melted cheese and spread along the bottom of one bun. Nestle hot dog on top of cheese and top with coleslaw, potato sticks, and the two sauces. Repeat assembly for all hot dogs. Serve immediately.

Source: http://www.meatwave.com/blog/perros-calientes-colombianos-colombian-hot-dogs-with-queso-blanco-coleslaw-and-potato-sticks-recipe

[agendahammer79-blog]

Bakers Gonna Bake: Pandan & Pomegranate Christmas Tart

If you want something gleaming and glorious to serve up at Christmas that is best baked beforehand, then take a peek at this pandan, raspberry and pomegranate tart! With creamy, wobbly raspberry custard, a crisp green pandan pastry and decorated with fresh pomegranate and cherries as well as redcurrants and raspberries, this green and red tart is certain to delight.

I've said it many times but pastry is a weakness of time, especially when paired with creamy, soft custard. Not only do you get flavour but you also get textural contrast. And while I will admit that the pastry is fiddly as it is made from scratch (you could also use a frozen pie crust, no judgment here) home made is probably the only way that you'll get this red and green Christmas effect.

I had no intention of baking this tart. Mondays are usually quieter days for me, usually catching up on editing and writing stories from a busy weekend. But this past Monday two days ago I woke up to some messages from my mother. I saw a preview of them flash up and my heart skipped a beat, "I've been trying to call. Your father has..." showed. At 2am my father had suffered a stroke. He was rushed to the ICU and remained there.

We went to visit him that morning. Hospitals are confusing places especially for people with no sense of direction. I was lucky that Mr NQN stayed at home to work and took me there because I don't think I would have found him in my confusion.

My normally neat and always groomed father looked askew, as if a wind tunnel had gotten a hold of him and he lay there, a glowing finger reading his pulse. He looked at my blinking, not saying anything and I wondered if he recognised me. A lovely nurse explained how he was progressing. Despite his protests my mother had insisted that he go to the hospital and I think that definitely was in his favour. His speech was affected but he was able to move his body and wasn't paralysed.

The nurse asked if we could ask him questions to get his speech going again because he didn't seem very chatty. Mr NQN piped up that my father is a man of very little words already so the nurse shouldn't take that personally.

We asked him some basic questions.

"What is her name?" the nurse asked him pointing at my mother. He answered, "Elliott".

"What is my name?" pointing at me. He answered correctly.

"What is his name?" I asked pointing to Mr NQN. He answered a friend of his who had passed away.

"What is my dog's name?" I asked to which he looked confused. "What dog?"

Then my mother thought about it for a second. "What is their cat's name?". He always calls Mochi a cat even though she is clearly a dog. And he answered straight away, "Mochi". This made him smile. In my entire life I have never seen my father laugh out loud. The most that I have ever seen was a smirk and he gave us one then.

At the moment, it is a waiting game. My sister flew home from London early to be here and he has now been moved to the stroke ward where he will remain for about a week. We hope that he will make a full recovery. And when we left him he was busy raising his legs, wriggling his feet making sure that he wouldn't lose his mobility and independence.

And I bake because I don't know what else to do. I baked his tart, I roasted some lamb, I made some rocky road and fudge and made jam. I kept busy because I needed to and baking is incredibly soothing to me and gives me such grounding pleasure.

So tell me Dear Reader, how do you cope in times of stress?

Pandan & Pomegrante Christmas Tart

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time:

For pastry:

3/4 cup plain flour

3/4 cup white spelt flour (can use plain flour for this)

100g/3.5ozs. butter, cold, cubed

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon pandan essence*

4-6 tablespoons cold water

For filling:

300ml/10.6flozs. cream

1/2 cup caster or superfine sugar

1/4 cup raspberry puree (sieved)

2 eggs, room temperature

3 egg yolks, room temperature

Pink food colouring

To decorate:

1 pomegranate, raspberries, cherries, redcurrants, mint leaves, crushed pistachios

Pandan essence can be found at Asian grocery stores

Step 1 - Grease a 23cm/9.2inch loose bottomed tart tin. Place the flours and sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Then add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles sand. Stir the pandan essence into 4 tablespoons of water and then add to the flour mixture and pulse until just combined.

Step 2 - Knead on a clean surface. I find that gluten in spelt flour means that it doesn't become too tough to roll which is why I like using it in pastry. I roll it out straight away and then place it in the pie tin and press down the edges. Leave a bit of overhang and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Step 3 - Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Trim the edges off the tart and dock with a fork (I made jam filled tarts topped with fruit with the extra pastry). Bake for 20 minutes or until the base is cooked through. Cool and reduce temperature to 120C/248F.

Step 4 - Whisk the cream, sugar, puree, eggs, egg yolks and colouring together. Pour into the cooked base and skim off all the bubbles. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until set. Cool.

Step 5 - Cut the pomegranate open and decorate with pomegranate clusters, red currants, cherries, raspberries, fresh mint leaves and crushed pistachios.

How to Cut Open a Pomegranate

Make a circular cu across the top and bottom of the pomegranate as shown.

Remove the top and base of the pomegranate

You can now see the segments of arils. Cut along the white part vertically at one point.

Then pull apart the pomegranate. The arils will stay mostly intact and will be less messy to deal with.

Source: http://www.notquitenigella.com/2018/12/13/pandan-pomegranate-christmas-tart/

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Saturday 28 April 1838: SH:7/ML/E/21/0085

7 ¾

2 40

fine but dull morning F42° at 9 and breakfast in about ¾ hour and then had William Mallinson and paid him for spouts at Little marsh, and had Mr. Bollard a civil young man (Ironmonger) about his bill from last midsummer to xmas – told him to make it out again in 3 – for Northgate Shibden hall and Little marsh – all this took me till 10 5 – then off with A- to Landymere – she rode and I walked by her side as far as the Lodge, she then road forwards and I stood a few minutes with Mr. Gray and Robert Mann who had proposed making the 3 large oblong sandstones do the draw-wall – Mr. Gray sketched and Roberts’ idea, and we were all satisfied – ordered to be done – at Landymere by the old Northowram road in ½ hour – found A- and SW. and Mr. Bentley – SW set out 1200 yards 30 yards along the hollow at 27ft. from the fence x 40 up the hill (including the present quarry hole) at 4ft. from the fence

SH:7/ML/E/21/0086

between the Sutherlands’ and Mesdames Lancashire and Brook – Bentley to come on Monday at 4pm to sign the rough draft of the agreement – terms explained to him and SW. 1200 yards as above named at 8d. per ft. of good stone – 8ft. thick? or 9ft. at present? – but no matter if thicker or thinner paid for at 9d. – the whole to be paid for in 3 years by equal ½ yearly payments – or rather 400 yards per annum to be paid for – and 4 years allowed to get it in – Road to the new road to be £5 per annum whether in one place or other – SW. to come on Tuesday and the site of the road to be settled – SW. did not think the little hole Joseph Mann is sinking, too high up in the field – 8 yards deep at present and only got down to the Crooked stone – the same beds (there will be 2) as Mrs. Aspinalls’ and Mr. Listers’ – not Bentley’s bed – A- then rode off to Holcans wood, and I walked by Wester croft and David Booths’ and Hipperholme to Hove edge to Messrs. Naylor Heap and Goodyears’ Day-quarry – mined underground like coal coming out to the Day – Mr. Luke Goodyear there ready to receive me – very civil went with me into the 3 places the 7 men (4 + 2 + 1) were working in a tram-road made of a plank deal cut into 6 and an iron edge laid on it, that the fall of a stone might not break the iron – an ass in the tram road and where one of the mines met it at a right angles an ingenious sort of platform moving on a pivot that would turn the load round into the tram road without trouble – this quarry in working 7 or 8 years – some good stone, but had not paid yet – In Mr. Macaulay’s land – Aspinall had it before at 2/6 per yard – gave it up – 8 yards of baring – the present firm took the whole field allowance being made for a ruttle (12? or 15? yards wide) – bed of stone from 2 to 6ft. thick – now about 6ft. – would not pay if not worked in this way – costs £20 a year in timber to support the roof – noticed a curious sort of white arbores cent moult-like moss or mould ramifying in places on the dark raggy or hard scaly roof – would be better for underground working if more baring – the bed of stone here is 4 yards I think he said above my bed in yew trees wood quarry – he walked with me across the Hove edge road into McAulays’ wood looking down up Southolme and at the style at the bottom of the steep past of the footpath shewed me my own bed at the bottom of a quarry hole there (close on the left going down) and his bed at the top of this hole – some talk about Mr. Richard Pollards’ stone – he had offered it to Messrs. Naylor and c° - they ought to have 500 yards at 1/. per yard, and then 2/. per yard as much as it was worth – thought of baring might be taken to A-‘s Hipperholme Lane ends quarry – would look again – I said I knew other people were thinking of the stone – mentioned my plan of laying a baring so as to make a road from A-‘s quarry mentioned also its being said in Hardcastles’ presence and mine that a road thro’ the wood would be worth more than £5 a year – (alluding in my own mind to SW’s valuation on pay Hardcastle for the damages done to his field in walling) – I had been perhaps ½ hour or nearly at the quarry – gave the 1st 4 men 2/. as a footing and the 2nd pair 1/. and of the last took no notice – arrived at the quarry about one or a little after and it was about 2 when I parted with Mr. Goodyear in Mr. Macaulays’ wood just above Mr. Sowdens’ when I saw my way clearly before me – then to Southolme – found Abraham Hemingway in his barn – went with him to see the piece (close up to Mr. Thomsons’ land) of ground proposed being given by Mr. Naylor for the bit to be taken at the bottom of his wood and top of my field to [found] his bur wall upon – Abraham thought 2 yards x 30 would be wanted – Mr. Naylor soon came to us – a very civil well mannered neat tidy looking middle aged man who was so civil and apparently anxious to do what was right and liberal that we agreed at once – but Abraham set a corner = 15x15 yards = 225 yards – the ground to be given very much more valuable certainly than that to be taken – Mr. N- agreed to give 60 yards of his against 60 yards of mine – if more wanted, I agreed to pay a [on?] consideration – SW. to measure and value and anyone else Mr. N- chose – then viewed the place where ground was wanted – told Mr. N- he should have what he wanted to make a good job – of course he would take as little as he could for his own sake as well as mine – but if he had occasion to take 2 good ash trees standing in my fence, these must be valued and placed to the account of the superior value of his land to that of mine – N- said he could give no writing – but there would be no trouble – all parties agreeable – the trustee Mr. Brook and all – and on the death of their wives, the estate must come into the market, and I should have no trouble – I said I had no fear about that – for Mr. SW. would measure and lay all down on the estate plan, and if Mr. N-‘s party should claim back from me, I should do the same from them and they might be glad to be quiet – or equity would settle the matter for us – Mr. N- expressed himself very much obliged – repeated it several times – said nobody could have behaved more handsomely – I merely said he might sometime have some opportunity of obliging me – sure he should not be slow to do it – he then mentioned Mr. Richard Pollards’ stone – Repeated the substance of all I had said to Mr. Goodyear N- thought the stone not worth more than 2/. a yard – said I had thrown a new light upon it – not aware anybody else was after the stone – mentioned no names but said other people had named it to me – mentioned also (which I had not named to Mr. Goodyear) my paying Mr. Pollard 1/. per yard for 40 yards and Simeon Shaw the tenant also 1/. per yard to keep me safe from the entrance in Mr. Pollards’ note that he must make the hole into the ground again – N- said RP. could give more title beyond his own life – but said I, his brother might sign also – it would be or might be made his interest to do so, and then all would be safe – mentioned also that I should like to have some of the ground after it was quarried and had named offering 2d. per yard to Mr. Goodyear – Mr. N- and I parted the best possible friends – he would see me again about the quarry – said I should be glad to see him at SH. then with Abraham Hemingway – mentioned Gill that I had seen this morning in the road [?] on this side of David Booths’ driving out of Goodyear’s cart – the man said he was cousin to Abraham H- and had married his daughter and wanted to take the Godley paddock – no! that impossible – could not do without it myself – he stood talking thought of setting up cart and horse of his own, and wanted a field – said I would think about it – that is, remember him if anything likely fell out – as he was so connected,

SH:7/ML/E/21/0087

I would mention to him to Miss Walker – but if he heard no more of it, he must conclude that we had neither of us anything to suit him – Inquired his character of Abraham H- it seems A- had nothing against him – a very good husband and respectable man, but 14 or 15 years older than his wife, and had as it were stolen her away, her parents being against the match – took her away in the night time – and it was clear Abraham had not forgiven this – said it was well to let them do for themselves – would not do much for them – the ash tree Abraham cut down a very good one – gave him all but about 6 or 8 ft. long of the thick part – this would cut into 4 capital axels – 2 for a large cart 2 for a smaller one said Abraham must keep this piece for me for about a year to season, and then I should not forget it, but perhaps get him to get it cut up for me and I should then bring it away – then stood talking to Abraham about the expense and profit of keeping horses – Abraham said they paid very little or sometimes not at all – for if he lost a horse or any accident happened it was long before this was recovered – Luke Goodyear said he had lost £40 last year – lost a horse worth £30 – Abraham owned he bought in his horses at under £30 on the average – but a good horse worth £30 now - £5 out of £30 down now than they would be 3 or 4 months hence – Abraham Haighs’ light bay that I have thought of worth £30 – 4 off – will grow – 15 ½ hands now – I said well! but he (Abraham) got his farming in (that ishis farm work done) into the bargain – yes! he said this was his profit – he gets his corn (3ds. [?] meal and oats) of Mr. Brook of Brighouse – calculates a horse to eat of this 8/. per week and 1 ½ st. of hay a day 1/. = 7/. per week – would not pay at all if he (Abraham) himself did not go with his horse to the delf – has seven horses – said I inquired because I thought of carting my own coal, or it would not pay –

calculates Abrahams’ horses at each 8/. + 7/. = 15/. per week and per pair 30/. + mans’ wages 15/. + wear and tear and blacksmiths bills etc. 5/. = total £2.10.0 per pair [co.]! I can manage it I think – sauntered home along the brook all the way by pinnel bridge and Dumb mill ditto to Mitham mill and home by Listerwick (the trenching in progress in Jonathan Mallinsons’ field) about 4 ½ - found A- dressing – ¼ hour with her – and she rode off to Cliff hill at 4 ¾ - had told Oddy of going with us to London – O- much pleased – promised to keep the secret till Monday – I not to go to church tomorrow but stay at home and get ready – wrote the whole of the above of today till now 6 ¼ - having just paid (per Robert Norton) George Naylors’ sawyers bill for larch rails and boards sawing – and now going down to pay Stephen Scholefield – wrote letters – had George Naylor (wright) and the 2 Manns and the gardener and paid Mr. Harper of the Stump X Inn the supper bill of 16th ultimo for Booths’ men all who had worked here – 21 of them – Paid Robert Mann, and gave Joseph £50 in a/c – had not time to settle with him and still had not done till after 8 – dinner at 8 10 – and had coffee with Mr. Gray in the dining and came upstairs at 10 pm paid Oddy her little bill she had paid for bran – at accounts and memoranda till 1 25 tonight fine but dull day or very little sun – much warmer than yesterday – not so much cold east wind – calm – F35° at 11 pm it was 7pm or after before I had despatched Sam booth with the letter bag containing my letter to ‘Messrs. Hammersley and c° Bankers London post paid’ asking them to get my passport visaed, it being my intention to embark in London for Antwerp tomorrow week and proceed thence by Brussels to Paris taking with me my niece Miss Walker and 2 servants (Susan Oddy and George Wood) – letter also to ‘Messrs. Pearce and Baxter coach-makers Longacre London Post paid’ expect being in London on Thursday evening next and immediately on arriving will send them the carriage to be examined and made ready for embarking on the following Sunday – shall be much obliged if they can provide me a neat clean chariot and good horses to do about town on Friday and Saturday’ – letter also to ‘Mrs. Hawkins 26 Dover street London Post paid’ expect being in London on Thursday evening to dinner – shall be glad if Mrs. Hawkins can take me in for 2 or 3 days – if not, much obliged to her to take me an apartment in the nearest comfortable family hotel – (myself Miss Walker and 2 servants as usual)

[thesteveyates]

The second part of my new anchoring arrangements on WABI”’

Many of my regular visitors will have ploughed through (sorry…deliberate anchor pun) the long post about my new anchoring experiments with WABI”’ . Astute observers will have noted that the boat looks a bit different from the photographs i used in that post and, as with the Friday 5 minute blog, now sports a little bowsprit out front.

As i write, and once again i am writing a couple of weeks ahead of post scheduling, the little bowsprit : Le Petit Prod, is on but will have come off for it’s second or third stage modifications but it has been built, fitted and used.

The bowsprit itself.

I realised today that the photograph above is just about the best one of the bowsprit itself because the overall shape and concept is visible.  It looks very odd to the eye because the working (outboard) end is to the left and the inboard end to the right.  That makes it almost the complete opposite of a standard bowsprit, most of which is outside the boat. In this case the long ‘tail’ attaches to the mast in this little fitting below which i had fabricated recently.  My plywood pattern is on the right here and the complete piece on the left.  Just for reference this was fabricated by Pheonix 316 in Plymouth and they have done a nice job with it.  Just as an aside they also modified the lid of my charcoal heater such that i can use it to boil a kettle on the stove.

The purpose and function of the bowsprit is twofold : to mount the anchoring and mooring rollers/fairleads and secondly at some time to carry a small free-flying jib for light upwind sailing.  I have been advised via the owners association that the Liberty can be improved upwind in light weather by flying a small jib…..it sounds as though the jib off a National 18 racing dinghy will do the job……however.

The actual timber sprit i made from a useful looking length of very close grained pine that i heaved out of the timber rack down at Stax reclamation yard just outside Saltash. At first i thought the piece i found was way too big and it was pretty old and nasty looking with some serious iron nails poking out of it.  I initially bought the piece for just a few pounds with a different project in mind but when i got it on the bench i realised that what i had would work very well once planed down a lot and shaped.

The iron nails/spikes took a lot of time and ingenuity to hoik out of the pine but the wood itself is much higher quality than modern, commercially available timber.  It’s dense and close grained and of course significantly lighter now that iv’e had at it with the power planer.  Below….that’s my first attempt at making mounting chocks to sit on the floor of the bow well, clunky and way too heavy, the stainless steel mast bracket is so much neater and lighter…..even Al might pass that one !

The working end,

I have always liked the idea of taking an anchor warp down through the bowsprit itself rather than having cheek mounted anchor rollers.  On the Liberty the bowsprit will sit in the broad groove/channel through the bow molding and if i kept the bowsprit base at maximum dimension there i would have enough ‘meat’ on the timber to bore out a slot to take a couple of sheaves within the bowsprit itself.  I roughed-out sketches of different sheave arrangements and therefore the slot shape and size and what looked best was a pair of wide but small diameter sheaves rather than one large diameter sheave which would have meant taking a lot more timber away.

In the final build iv’e actually ended up experimenting with 3 different sheave sizes so far and currently just a wide stainless steel bush acting as the bottom roller….that’s got at least one more stage to go as i narrow down on the exact sheave size and get them made locally as well.   The actual arrangement for anchoring is that the warp will run over the 2 sheaves through the bowsprit and will then run to, and along the side deck to the anchoring cleat just ahead of the cockpit.  This is similar to the old closed fairlead except that there should be much less friction in the system.

The sheaves and sheave slot should reasonably take a 12mm dia rope which is still over-spec for the job.  I think that because i come from much bigger boats that i still look at some gear for the Liberty and think of it as being too light.  Most information points to 10mm line as being perfectly adequate mainly because WABI”’ is actually a very light boat…only about a ton and a half fully loaded.  The 6 kg Rocna is completely adequate for my everyday needs and the 7 kg Manson is over-spec although it was a very good anchor for the similar length but twice as heavy Inanda. 

The current sticking point in the job is the fastening at the bow.  My original plan was to cut an access hole in the narrow forward face of the bow well, drill and pass a bolt up through the bow channel molding and fasten the bowsprit down using an eye nut over the bolt head ….obviously on the top face of the sprit.  I cut an access hole as planned but it’s small size and the angle of the actual bow didn’t then allow me to pass the long (160mm) bolt up through the molding.  The temporary solution was to pass the bolt down through the bowsprit and through the deck groove and attach a nut from below…..with extreme difficulty i may add.

That means i would currently have the warp running over the flats of the bolt head so i have temporarily lashed a large , low friction eye there as a smooth fairlead.  The next stage will be to take the bowsprit off again, enlarge the access hole and get the bolt in from below if it is at all possible.  The access hole will then need a little cover making for it.  The other part of the job will be to drop the stick again and do the modifications on the mast itself to get rid of the 2 lazy-jack fittings and add a jib attachment point.

The other kit on the bowsprit is an eyebolt/eye-nut combination that act as fairlead/keepers for the mooring lines or strops that i tend to use.  While Chris’s moorings (and many others round here) have a heavy pick-up and mooring warp that is too large to go through an eye, they also have a top swivel and shackle so i carry a custom made mooring strop for long term mooring and a simple plain line for everyday use when i ‘borrow’ a mooring in the river…..i .don’t do that often but it’s useful once in a while.

Marilyn…..set up for Inanda

So : line and sinker.

I know this keeps changing but my current version of ‘anchor for the use of’ is Rocky Rocna, 10 metres of 7mm chain and temporarily on a length of 10mm polyester line as the warp although that’s about to change when the new line arrives this week hopefully so lets talk about anchor warps.

As with most sailors i have nearly always used nylon warp for my rode as is standard, except that for most of the time that iv’e had WABI”’ i haven’t done that at all, in fact for  years i have been anchoring on weighted polyester braid and it’s been completely successful.  Only recently did i briefly use my old 14mm spare anchor warp from my  Frances 26 simply because i still had it.  I have always kept the 75 metre warp on board because i firmly believe in having one very long warp on board and it has served that purpose.  It’s only been used once when i walked the spare anchor out on it that one time in St Aubyn bay when i set a haul-off kedge anchor out to seaward of the boat.

The 14mm octoplait is very over-spec for WABI”’ as is the similar 14mm weighted polyester line that i have been using this last 3 years.  The weighted warp is the commercially available one that comes with , i guess, a line of small weights inside the last part of the core.  They are advertised as RIB/small boat anchoring lines, the idea being, i believe, is that the weighted warp acts more like chain than rope but is much nicer to handle.  My one came as a useful 40 metre length in a neat bag and as i say has been in continuous use for  years.  That line still looks to be in perfect condition so it’s now stowed below with ‘Marilyn’ (Manson) and 15 metres of chain…..all shackled up and ready to use.

My temporary anchor warp is a length (about 30 metres) of 10mm mid-quality polyester braid that has seen frequent use as my camping tarp ridge-line but that is all it’s ever been used for : i think it was a fairly cheap reel end from the local chandler when they were selling off rope ends one time.   Anchoring on polyester isn’t standard approved practice but to be honest it makes damn-all difference in everyday use and perhaps only comes into a problem in severe anchoring conditions and to be honest i just don’t anchor in exposed situations in my little boat.  Just for reference the polyester line is rated at around 2900 lbs or more correctly 12.9 Kn (kilo-Newtons)

Now, this is going to get a bit rope-geek but as an ex climber and rigger i have to know my way around ropes a bit so i just want to add a bit of rope geekery here.

Right now, aboard WABI”’ i have several different types of modern rope in use which come directly from the riggers shop and they would be instantly recognised as everyday sailing rope.  Mainly i use bog standard but better quality braid on braid polyester….i happen to like Marlowbraid as i have always found it reliable although other manufacturers make equally good line.               For halyards i am currently on ‘cruising’ Dyneema which has a Dyneema core with a braided polyester sheath although i do have some pure Dyneema hanging up in the workshop.  I couldn’t tell you today which version of Dyneema it is although it was eye-watering expensive so it’s a good one.  That line will replace the cruising Dyneema as and when i get around to the job.

Some readers will know that i like to lash and lace rather than using shackles to mount blocks so i use loads of small diameter and very high quality Dyneema line for that task and i keep plenty spare on the boat.

Where i differ with most sailors is that i look to climbing and caving/arborists rope for other uses.  The rope i have just sourced, new but old stock, is what is called semi-static line which is commonly used for abseiling, caving and rope access work. It is similar to climbers ‘dynamic’ line except that it has much lower stretch and as a climber you wouldn’t want to take a high factor leader fall on it as it wouldn’t ‘give’ (stretch) enough .

Semi-static rope is a lower stretch version of climbers ‘Kernmantel’ and as i say above is more commonly used as a descent and ascent line, often in caving and abseiling.   If you see ‘LSK’ mentioned then that i believe is low stretch kernmantel.  It often has a very high strength rating : the one i have sourced is rated at over 6,000 lbs and near to 30 kn force rating.   There is no way that i could apply that much force manually or i think during normal anchoring.   If  anything like that force was somehow applied on the gear i suspect all the fittings and cleats would just rip out of the deck !.   I think that it might be a surprisingly good rope to use as small boat anchor warp and at 10 mm will be small in volume and large enough to handle.

I will give a link below to one website that sets out some of the basic information on static, semi-static and dynamic rope as used by climbers, cavers, arborists and rope access techs.*

Handling and stowage.

Aft, i am working on the anchor stowage and the anchor recovery aspect.  At sea the anchor shown below.   When motoring it will move to just forward of the motor.  Here, what’s happening is that i’m about to fit the teak deck slats that will allow the anchor stowage box to drain properly….except that i’m not because i have completely run out of Sikaflex and can’t be bothered to drive the 40 mile round trip just to buy one tube.

The retrieval roller is fitted but it will make a lot more sense to do a quick video when everything is complete and working…..then i’ll capture some footage of just anchoring and retrieving/stowing the anchor.   By then i’ll have probably changed my mind again and Marilyn will be back in the number one spot…..i rather like Marilyn.

Fitting the drainage slats and the temporary rope/chain bin.

*Rope talk.

I realised when i was writing the rope-talk section above that not everyone here will be familiar with rope techniques and rope technology from other disciplines outside of sailing.

So, climbing first.  I’m most familiar with climbing practice having done that myself for several years.    Rock climbing as i knew it is now referred to as ‘trad��� or traditional climbing and today there are other specialties, for example ‘sport’, big wall and of course ‘free‘ or unroped climbing.

In trad climbing what happens is something like this : the leader, ties one end of the rope into his or her climbing harness and their ‘second’ ties into the other end.  Nowadays it can be a bit more complex as what iv’e just said refers to the use of a single rope…even in my later climbing years we often climbed on ‘double’ ropes….2 ropes but thinner which allowed ‘protection’ placement to the side of the actual ‘line’.

As the leader proceeds elegantly, or not in my case, up the route, he or she places ‘pro’ (protection) in the form of chocks, nuts and cams, into features in the rock. The climbing rope or one of the ropes is then clipped in to that with a ‘crab’ (carabiner).

The idea being that if the leader takes a fall they only fall twice the distance they are above their last piece of protection and assuming that the second is awake enough to arrest the fall.   A long leader fall puts an enormous shock load on the rope and ultimately on the climber…..which is why a climbers rope is designed and made to be ‘dynamic’ ie stretchy.   A climbing rope is only rated for a number of falls with a high load (fall) factor and even one very long fall can result in the rope being binned afterwards.  Old climbing ropes make very good mooring lines by the way.

The second use of a climbing rope is to initially access the route when the climbers first have to abseil to the start of the climb.  That is typical of many routes that i did on sea cliffs : places like the Holyhead stacks and many places on the Gower peninsular. For my best ever day on the rock we had to abseil some 55 metres into Wen Zawn at Holyhead’s south stack onto a block of rock about the size as my garden bench…..some 50 metres below us and just awash at that state of the tide……the punch line here is that we then had to pull our ropes down on top of us to start the climb.

‘A dream of white horses’  (Gogarth) Ed Drummond photograph i think.     Me and 2 mates did this route way back when i lived just down the road in ……wait for it…….Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch…..yes, i actually lived there.                 After i had led off on the first pitch i noticed that my 2 mates were chatting with another couple of climbers that had roped down as well.   That only turned out to be none other than THE Joe Brown himself .

Static and semi-static ropes.

Having never been a caver or arborist i don’t have any practical experience with static and semi-static ropes (LSK).  Static ropes, by the way usually aren’t nylon at all but often polyester for arborists and cavers and then aramid for military ‘fast-roping’ techniques.  I did at one time have several friends working in the rope access world : doing abseil inspections off tall  block of flats mainly, and i got some knowledge from them.  It seems that in caving, tree work and rope access work a less stretchy rope is desirable and that ‘leader’ falls are much less likely.                  Where a ‘dynamic’ rope is designed to have considerable stretch or bounce a semi-static rope isn’t….they will still have much more stretch than say Dyneema or Aramid lines though.  I had to take a quick look around the world of semi-static ropes for this project and managed to source some unsold but old stock line.

The rope i have bought does feel very dense so it should be high modulus….it seems to handle nicely although it is stiffer than ‘floppy’ nylon 8 plait but then it is higher rated. In it’s uncut state (about 50 metres) it does look a bit over-long for the job as i rarely have run out much more than 20 metres of warp after the chain…..i might back up a bit on this one and keep the long length of semi-static line as my kedge warp in place of the 14mm octoplait.

  For information on static and semi-static ropes take a look at this link as it lays out current practice far better than i can .

http://www.abacus-ise.co.uk/semi_static_low_stretch_abseil_rope.htm

Hook, line and sinker. The second part of my new anchoring arrangements on WABI''' Many of my regular visitors will have ploughed through (sorry...deliberate anchor pun) the long post about my new anchoring experiments with…

[withabackpackandcamera]

February 12th, 2017

Day 24: The Never-Before-Seen Scenes from Egilsstadir to Akureyri!

Last night’s sleep was so, so needed after having a hard night’s sleep the previous night. I slept like a baby and didn’t want to wake up to get an early start, even though I could see the nice sunrise sky that was happening through my half-opened eyes. Oh well. But I didn’t stay in bed too long because there was just so much I thought I was supposed to do and see today. I actually hadn’t planned anything in this particular area of the country before the trip and did some very light planning while in bed this morning. The light planning was just googling “what to do between Egilsstadir and Akureyri.” And tada, the answer was found!

So, after that short planning session, I got up and had Skyr with granola and raisins for breakfast while trying to figure out my trip with Stefán. He was so very helpful as he really knows all the things in North and Northeastern Iceland like the back of his hand because of all the working, traveling, and driving he has done in his lifetime. He showed me where to go, what to see, where to avoid, etc. But luckily, the overall theme of the morning’s discussion of the trip was that the weather was staying awesome and I was lucky thus far to have such mild, spring-like weather in February.

After our discussion about the morning and our flipping through of old paper maps, Stefán offered to take me to Seyðisfjörður (or at least most of the way) so I could see the spectacular view down into the fjord from the highlands. And because he knew the area so well, I prompted agreed to let him take me! But before we could leave, he told me I would have to leave a lasting mark in the household’s guestbook, one that was made of carved wood for Stefán and Helga’s 50th birthdays. So so cool! And really gorgeous!

After finishing that, off we went into the highlands, with Stefán driving and me finally taking a break from driving myself. It was nice to be in a stable, new car that a well-seasoned Icelandic driver was driving. And you could tell he knew what he was doing because he showed no signs of hesitance while driving up the curving road into the mountains. When we got to the top of the highland area, there was a stopping point that he stopped at for me to do some photo taking. And it was a really awesome sight, one that looked from the waterfall in the highlands down a river into the valley where the little town of Seyðisfjörður was sitting on the edge of the fjord. Simply beautiful! I walked around both banks of the waterfall to take pictures from all sorts of angles. I didn’t find one particular angle better than any others, but I feel like I got some pictures I could potentially be happy about.

Before long, it was time to hit the road to get back home and for me to hit the road to Akureyri. Before I left his house, Stefán wanted to show me some of the artistic gifts he had received from people in the past, including a beautiful painting of humanity and the monster inside all of us, represented by centaurs committing different types of sins. Next, Helga took a moment to show me the pillow that she was making, telling me the story of how she lost an old pillow with a beautiful design and how she couldn’t find that design anywhere else and decided to make it on her own. Women in Iceland are just so talented, especially when it comes to sewing and knitting. Then, Stefán showed me a cool coffee table made of rocks and minerals that were native to Iceland. And these rocks symbolized the different members of the family (or so Stefán said). And lastly, he showed me a beautifully carved double duck with its four eggs, representative of his family and kids. So many cool things with such neat stories attached to them!

After taking a farewell photo of my hosts and thanking them for their kindness, I was off and on the road once again. Before getting too far into my trip, I stopped for some cheap food because I was hungry again and got a hotdog (pylsur) because it was the cheapest option. A hotdog and coke for 399 ISK. Score. So off I went after feeding myself. The weather and drive were quite nice, with colored cloudy skies most of the drive. The first part of the drive was getting through the highlands and that was difficult because of how windy it was up there. It was RIDICULOUSLY WINDY up there. So strong that I felt that my car was being pushed from the front and side by the wind. But I navigated safely through that area, no problem. Besides the wind, the area was full of mountains and valleys with snow and ice on the ground beside the road.

The next section after the highlands were the mountains. Icy, snowy mountains. And at this point, there was a good amount of ice on the roads, though they were mostly in patches from time to time. I really thank my Colorado driving experience for getting me through all that ice on the road because if I was a first time winter driver, I’d have stopped and turned around. But luckily, with my experience, I was safe and got through it fine!

While driving, I kept looking at every sign that popped up to make sure I didn’t miss any sights or cool things along the way like I had done in the past. And the first sign that caught my attention this trip: Dettifoss. Dettifoss, the largest waterfall in Europe, was about 25-30km north of the Ring Road and quite out of the way for my trip to Akureyri. This morning, my host Stefán had suggested that I don’t go visit Dettifoss this time but go next time as time was short today and the road leading to it may be icy and bad during this time of year. With those things I mind, I turned into the road that would take me there and found two Aussies just leaving the waterfall. So I asked them about the waterfall and road out to it, and they said the road was fine and Dettifoss wasn’t bad but not ridiculously cool. They also mentioned that it was extremely icy out there walking to the waterfall and that was the crappy part. But that everything would be OK if I was interested in going out to see it.

So I drove out there and sure, there were some patches of ice, but nothing too crazy. Until I got to the parking lot for Dettifoss, where the ENTIRE PARKING LOT WAS ICE. Slippery, watery ice. I saw a parking spot close to the exit that had no ice and thought that would be my best chance to escape the parking lot later on without getting stuck in ice. I parked and got out. And immediately thought “What have I gotten myself into...” The parking lot was essentially an ice-skating rink and so I had to carefully slide-walk my way over to the clear-ish sidewalk on the other side. There, I asked for directions to get to the waterfall and got an answer that basically was interpreted as… it’s not that close. So I started my crazy crazy icy journey to see Dettifoss. And Selfoss, another waterfall that I later realized was there as well. At first, I thought I was hiking to Dettifoss, but later learned that I was hiking to Selfoss first. The path to the rim of Selfoss included compacted snow, then soft snow that, when stepped on, took you probably two feet below the snow surface, then ice (and lots of ice), then watery ice, then watery snow, then more ice, and more ice and more ice, and then snow with water underneath, then rocks and ice-cold water. Yeah. It really was that ridiculously. So, I struggled for about 30-40 minutes through the ice and snow with my no-tread running shoes that had worn down over the years. I decided to wear this pair instead of my hiking boots because my running shoes had more surface area contacting the ice and I thought that might be better than my hiking boots, which had less surface area in contact with the ice.

By the time I reachedthe edge of the Selfoss (I was still quite far from the head of the waterfall), my shoes were soaked in freezing water, my socks were soaked in freezing water, my pants were somewhat soaked at the bottom, and I was tired and it was very very windy. I took some photos and sat there to rest and realized just how crazy a feat I had completed to see the waterfall. Then, of course, I see some European dude just zooming by from rock to rock in his Nikes to the very edge of the head of the waterfall. I was impressed that he went that far and made it look so easy. So I decided I’d give it a try too. But nope, I turned back pretty quickly because of how dangerous the route seemed, because of my shoes, and because of all the freezing water along the way. I decided I would just give up on taking the best possible photo of Selfoss and save it for some future summer visit.

After seeing Selfoss (which I thought was Dettifoss), I turned back to start trekking to my car and at this point realized the European guys were not yet going back to their car. So, I decided that I would follow them, and follow them I did, through ice, snow, water, and rocks until we got to an observation deck (pretty far from where I was taking photos) where people were looking out into the fantasticly huge waterfall Dettifoss. Tons of Asian photography tourists were all on the observation deck trying to get a shot of the waterfall that, despite being huge in volume, was particularly unphotogenic. So after some shots, I followed the tourists out towards the parking lot. And up until this point, I was keeping my balance pretty well despite the conditions. But it was on the way back that I miscalculated my step and came tumbling down from the rocks onto the snowy path in front of all the Asian tourists. Luckily for me, no harm done so I just continued my trek back at the same pace and finally got back to my car after all the snowy and icy treacherousness.

At this point, the sun was starting to set into a beautiful sunset sky and there was much ground to be covered, especially since I wasn’t originally planning on going to Dettifoss and wasn’t expecting the trip to be as long as it was. So, I sped through Myvatn, a geothermal hotspot with its well-known, less touristy geothermal pool/hot spring (essentially a less crowded and less expensive Blue Lagoon). And because I was running behind schedule, I also rushed by everything else and essentially missed all of the sights I wanted to see on my drive to Akureyri except Godafoss (I knew Godafoss was a waterfall I had to see, especially since it was close to the main road and was really pretty in the photos that I saw). I also skipped a lot of things in the hopes of catching Godafoss at sunset because the sunset was, at that point, becoming extraordinarily gorgeous with red-blood-celled-clouds in the sky with all shades of dark and vivid red and orange. But as I kept driving, the sunset continued to become more and more epic to the point where I just raised the white flag and gave up on making it to Godafoss with the spectacular sunset and stopped for a quick photo and view of the area. So, I stopped to take a simple photo of probably one of the most spectacular sunsets I’ve seen in awhile and was off to Godafoss right as the colors were starting to fade.

Once I got to Godafoss, I quickly looked around and realized that the vantage point for the waterfall from the parking lot was quite horrible. Not only was the view not ideal, the whole area was covered in mud making it difficult to get anywhere. Seeing that, I decided to give the other bank of the waterfall a try. So, I drove back to the other side and climbed down to a beautiful view of Godafoss from a lower vantage point. I spent quite a while taking photos of Godafoss from there and before long, the sky was really dark and the colors were really starting to fade.

I got back on the road and started towards Akureyri at a blitzing speed because I needed to get there and meet with Sigurdur, Sveinn’s friend who was helping me with housing.  And before long, I was in Akureyri and following Sigurdur back to my home for the evening. This home was really a hospital-owned apartment/housing facility reserved for visiting doctors who practice in the hospital here. So, I was very fortunate to be placed here. After some chatting, Sigurdur suggested a couple of places that I could try out for dinner and I decided that, because I was so hungry and hadn’t had a good meal in awhile, that I would be willing to pay for good food tonight. In the end, I decided to go to a hamburger restaurant close by called Íslenska Hamborgarafabrikkan (The Icelandic Hamburger Factory) and got the No. 8 Morthens Burger (beef on a square brioche bun with bacon, grilled mushrooms, with garlic, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, and Bearnaise sauce). It was good and I was full and satisfied by the end of it all. A pleasant meal at a nice but very expensive restaurant (my meal was 2395 ISK). And before leaving, I chatted with the waitress, a 20 yo girl named Tinna (sp?), for a few minutes to learn about what things I could do in Akureyri and the surrounding areas. Not too many good suggestions, unfortunately.

I eventually left the restaurant and strolled through downtown Akureyri for a little. There wasn’t much to see because everything was closed so I decided to head back to my place and call it a night.

Whew, what a crazy, tiring day. Excited for sleep.

5 Things I Learned Today:

1. Merchants used to travel 25 km between Egilsstadir and Seyðisfjörður and the sea in order to sell or deliver what they needed to sell or deliver. In order to not get lost, they would put up these stone piles/markers that would allow them to know which paths to take in the future. And to this day, those huge stone markers are still standing, probably frozen to one another. They are estimated to be upwards of 200 years old! And they are everywhere along the road!

2. Today, I learned the legendary tale of the Icelandic Worm Monster in Egilsstadir. Legend has it that long ago, there was a little girl in the valley near Egilsstadir who stumbled upon a golden ring. She took that ring and placed it in a case to keep it safe. And in that case, she also placed other things that caught her interest, in particular, a little worm that she also found in the valley. Over time, without her noticing, that worm grew and grew and grew. One day, she opened the case and saw a humongous worm and got extremely scared and threw everything, ring and all, into the lake Lagarfljot in Egilsstadir. Over time, the worm continued to grow and eventually turned into a large serpent/worm and legend has it that the golden ring became a pile of gold lying at the bottom of Lagarfljot that the large worm has continued to protect to this day.

3. Every mountain in Iceland is a volcano. That sounds a bit dangerous.

4. In 1783, the Laki Volcanic System in South Iceland erupted and caused worldwide havoc. Supposedly, the system erupted over a span of 8 months and produced a dangerous haze that covered huge parts of the world for months. The result of the catastrophe was death, poverty, and famine, all of which may have eventually contributed to the French Revolution in 1789.

5. Using the car’s feet heater to dry icy wet shoes and socks is the best idea ever. Blast it all the way for the amount of time it takes to get from one location to the next and your shoes will be ready to be soaked once more!

[our21stcenturyodyssey]

Our Icelandic Saga - pt 3

All I can say to begin describing the rest of our trip is "Wow." And that's not an homage to the mediocre budget airline we flew to/from Reykjavik. 

When I last left off, we were waiting for our tour guide to come back for us after leaving us to go find a mechanic for our broken bus. 

Thankfully, he came back for us with news that we were going to be transferred to a different bus, but that we would need to drive about 40 minutes back to the main road to get to where the bus would meet us. It was snowing pretty hard by this point, and knowing we were going to be riding in bad conditions in a bus with questionable reliability and no heat to get to our new bus was a little nerve-racking. 

Once we changed buses, even though we were all pretty tired and I'm sure our guide was rattled from the mishap, he ambitiously drove us to Seljalandsfoss, another waterfall that is artificially lit at night. It was nice being there without the crowds, even if it was cold, wet and dark. Plus, being there at night was a unique experience that not most tourists have.

We got to our hotel under Katla Volcano in just enough time to partake in the dinner buffet (at the convenience store we bought a hot dog and a rubber duck for good luck, and we were definitely hungry). The buffet was mediocre, but the variety was good. For dessert I got a bowl of Icelandic skyr, which is a yogurt-like milk curd substance, topped with homemade caramel sauce. It was interesting- a little bitter, but not bad. 

Over dinner we chatted with a couple from our group- two women, Virginie from Paris and Kate from Perth. It was nice after the rough day to get to know some folks in our group. Unfortunately, however, (for the family of 4 anyway) it was becoming apparent that our group as a whole was very frustrated with their behavior on the trip so far. So it wasn't just me and Tim being grumpy. 

After dinner we got straight to bed. The weather was too overcast to try to look for northern lights and we were tired anyway. 

The next morning we were up at 8 for breakfast and then heading back out on the road. Our first stop was to the viewing point of a lava field we would be driving through- Eldhraun, which formed from one of the greatest eruptions of all time and created this field spanning 565 km2.

Snow-covered lava rocks

Since we were outside the normal tourist path at this point, there were no crowds, so we had the small path to ourselves to observe the lava rocks. They looked like black and dark red bubbles, with green and orange moss and a light dusting of snow blanketing the landscape. 

Back on the road, with the sun beginning to show itself for the first time since we'd arrived in Iceland, the views of the surrounding mountains were increasingly beautiful. Rob told us about an interesting process that takes place when there is a volcano beneath a glacier. Basically, when the volcano erupts and emits hot lava, it immediately cools when it touches the freezing glacial ice, while simultaneously melting it. Over time, this creates lava pockets inside the glacier that fill up with the melted water. Once enough water and pressure builds up, it erupts from the glacier and the momentum can shift the glacier's position. The term for this in Icelandic is translated to "leaping glacier". 

We drove by a few such volcanos, and countless beautiful glaciers. I'd never seen so many in such a small space, not even in Antarctica. Rob told us that scientists estimate there will be no glaciers remaining on Iceland within 200 years. It made me think of what Glacier National Park in Montana must have looked like long ago. All the glaciers in Glacier National Park will have melted by 2030, scientists expect. To witness something so large and seemingly permanent near the relative end of its life makes me feel both grateful as well as immensely sad. 

A collapsed road as a result of an earthquake/eruption

Interspersed along the way were farms, and we were also able to see some of the famous Icelandic horses. While smaller than horses from other parts of the world, they are fully horses and not ponies. Apparently calling them such is a bit offensive, even though they were bred from ponies in the 9th and 10th centuries and specifically developed over centuries into what they are now.

On the road

Eventually we reached our destination, Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon, famed for the large icebergs that break of the glacier behind it and float in the waters. This is where the ice caving guides would meet us. 

We were told we didn't have time to take pictures here before our ice caving tour but that we would afterwards when we returned. Everyone got into the rugged jeeps that would take us to the caves. Everyone except for the two adult sisters in the chronically late family. 

We waited 15 minutes before the guides finally had to go look for them. Even though we had been told explicitly not to, they had gone to the lakeshore to take photos, delaying the rest of the group and robbing everyone of precious daylight. Everyone was so angry, and when the women got on board the jeep after a nearly 30 minute delay, Tim finally said something to them. 

He was stern but nice, and asked them to please be on time from here on out since it was really rude and selfish to rob the group of time. We didn't talk with them much the rest of the trip (though there was an interesting and awkward bus-wide conversation the next day that I'll get into later), and they were on time at every stop after. 

The drive to the ice caves was exciting- we rode over rugged moraine, jostling all over the place up and down steep hills. After about a half hour, we arrived at the foot of a glacier surrounded by several patches of ice that, we later saw for ourselves, held mysterious ice caves. 

Glimpse of the sky from within an ice cave

With helmets on top and crampons on bottom we walked toward our first stop- an arch of ice that was strikingly similar to the arches of Arches National Park in Utah. Our guide explained that this arch used to be an ice cave but had melted and eroded down to only an arch. Even so, the ice was so thick and blue, yet still perfectly transparent. 

The arch of a former ice cave.

Our next stop was to go inside an actual ice cave. It was fairly shallow (maybe 100 meters), but still deep enough to walk in and be fully surrounded by blue ice. Tim and I sat down on the ground with the low ceiling glistening above us and leaned against the icy wall, just taking in the moment of being in such a place. 

Our guides then took us to a deeper cave, but we unfortunately couldn't go in due to flooding. The water level in this particular cave varies greatly day to day. Sometimes it's dry, sometimes it fills the whole trench, and sometimes, like the day we visited, it's shallow enough to peek inside but too deep to enter. 

Inside an ice cave

After this last cave we got back on the jeep to bounce our way back to Jokulsarlon. Even though it was dusk by the time we got there, we were able to see well enough. Tim and I took some photos and as we stood there we got to witness something pretty incredible. 

Outside of the flooded cave.

One of the larger icebergs broke into two, cracking apart. As it did so, one piece lifted up while the other drifted forward and then, with a boom the raised piece crashed back onto the water, creating waves that caused all the neighboring icebergs to bobb. It was a beautiful moment to see and hear. 

At Jokulsarlon

After a few more minutes here our guide suggested we go across the Ring Road to the coast, where you can see chunks of ice on the black sand. This is the same ice from the lagoon. As they float down the river leading to the ocean, some pieces of ice break off and get left behind on the shore. 

It was dark when we got there, but what little bit of light we had was enough to see their shapes glistening. Rob showed us a neat trick- with just a small light, like a headlamp, placed in the right spot under a piece of ice, you can illuminate the entire thing due to the way the light gets reflected into itself. The effect is like creating a glowing crystal lamp. 

Tim is such a model

Illuminated ice! 

After this we headed to our hotel not too far away. We had some downtime to rest and wash up before dinner. I was tired, so I laid on the bed by the window to watch for northern lights (the forecast for this evening was favorable) and rest. I ended up napping right until dinner time. 

Rather than a buffet thus evening, we had a plated dinner of lobster bisque, lamb carpaccio and a main of lamb shank. After dinner Rob showed us a dark spot behind the hotel where we could watch for northern lights. Gradually, we were able to see a very faint green band hovering on the northern horizon. It was very faint, but still detectable! I tired to capture some pictures, but the best I could get was a small green blur among an otherwise black frame. While I was excited to officially see the northern lights, I had been hoping for something a little bit...more. I was undoubtedly seeing the northern lights, but this faint blur fell short of what most people have in mind when they say they want to see them. Perhaps these are selfish thoughts, but even though I could mentally tick of the check box next to this bucket list item, it didn't really feel like this one "counted". 

Tim and I headed back inside the hotel to warm up but continued to check outside to see if anything more would come of it. 

At the end of our hallway, we heard the chronically late family telling our guide they needed to be back in Reykjavik by 8pm the next night to make a dinner reservation. Ok, hold up- our itinerary said we'd be going on a more formal hunt for northern lights on the last day of the trip before returning to Reykjavik, and the forecast for the night was very promising- a 5 out of 9 on the scale of activity (activity is between 0 and 4 90% of the time) with perfectly clear skies. After running the whole group late all trip and missing the opportunity to see some sights in daylight, they then wanted the whole group to return early on the last day?! Tim and I approached and asked Rob about the plan for viewing the northern lights the next night. 

He replied that he thought that portion of the tour was cancelled (!!) due to it being New Year's Eve. Yet, this is not the information the tour company gave us when we booked. He said he would check with his boss the next day to confirm the plan, but that he would still have to get the family to Reykjavik by 8 (way too early to actually have a good shot at seeing the lights). Obviously this had me feeling a bit anxious and sad- would I really be in Iceland on a night with an amazing aurora forecast, yet be fated to miss it because of a mix of one rude family's dinner reservation and our tour company's poor communication?

Not wanting to rely completely on Rob, I also emailed the company, since it didn't seem like consistent messages were being delivered (everyone else on our tour had been told we'd be doing a northern lights tour the last night, too). 

Back in our room, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't in a slightly depressed mood. While we were seeing and doing some cool things, our trip wasn't shaking out the way I wanted and expected it to (lesson learned there about the power of expectations...). The weather hadn't been good, we had one tour canceled and one never show up, nearly blew off a cliff into Gullfoss, spent hours at a convenience store waiting on a broke down bus, missed seeing things because of the rude family, and didn't get to go into the main ice cave because it was flooded. Now, with one day left, my chances of having an opportunity to see the northern lights were diminishing. And in case you haven't caught on, seeing the aurora was what I wanted most out of this trip and was why we planned it for winter to begin with. And I felt bad for dragging Tim across the Atlantic up to the near arctic in the dead of winter, only to be disappointed. 

As I write this, I worry I sound entitled, or spoiled, and maybe there's a little bit of that at play here. But frankly I felt like a kid whose ice-cream scoop had fallen off the cone.  

Of course, Tim, in his ever-positive way, empathized with me, but wasn't personally bothered at all. He assured me he was perfectly happy with our trip and time together regardless of what happens. He's sweet like that. 

The next day was off to a good start. I'd adjusted my attitude and addressed my feeling of being unable to control the situation by finding something I could control. I looked into options for how we could get ourselves away from the city lights to have a shot at seeing the aurora- rental car, taxi, private guide? It gave me reassurance that if we needed to we could take matters into our own hands.

The first activity on deck for the day was glacier hiking, and I was very excited! We met up with a second guide, Ash, to get sized for crampons and helmets, and we also got ice axes. It all felt very badass. 

Ready to hike! 

We were hiking in Svinafellsjokull, and it was even more gorgeous than I imagined a glacier hike to be. The sun was out, casting beautiful light across the glacier and surrounding mountains. We saw other groups hiking the glacier in the distance, giving me a true sense of the scale of this place. We hiked about 3 miles in total on very easy and safe parts of the glacier, and we had a lot of fun. Tim used his axe to chip off chucks of glacial ice to eat (yum!!), we leapt over small crevices, and learned about the ice. Crunching around in our crampons with the group with the sun shining strong, Tim and I loved our glacial playtime. Of all the activities and sights up to this point, being on this stunning blue glacier was my favorite. 

Hikers on the glacier

I loved spending the afternoon in this breathtaking place!! 

After our hike Rob have the group an update on plans for that night. He said he would be happy to take the group out later to some dark places outside the city, getting back to Reykjavik around 10pm, but that he also knew the family wanted to be back earlier. The oldest daughter in the family spoke up and said that the company had promised them they could be back in town by 8, while Tim and I pointed out that the company had also promised everyone else a northern lights that evening. She went on a rant about how Tim shouldn't be bullying her family and that they refused to be held captive on the bus just because Tim and I wanted to see the lights. Now, it's worth noting that outside of me and Tim and the faculty of 4,there were 12 other guests on the bus. Tim told her that it wasn't just us, but others in the group too. When asked for a show of hands, everyone on the bus except for that family indicated they wanted to stay out and try to see the aurora. Finally a compromise was reached- we'd go into the city to drop them off (good riddance) and then Rob would take the rest of the group back out, and we'd all be back in Reykjavik in time to celebrate new years. Yay! (Although Tim and I maintain that the tour company should have never put their guests or their employee in this kind of position, we were really happy with this outcome).

Before heading back into town, though, we still had a few more stops to make. Since we missed a few things the first day, Rob was going to take us to them on our way back into town. The first stop was the Black Sand beach near the city of Vik. This place is awesome- the black sand is a result of the surrounding volcanos, and the beach is very large and there are unique rock pillars standing just offshore in the waves. It reminded me of the southern coast of Australia near Melbourne (minus the black sand, of course!). Other really cool aspects of this spot- a wall of basalt columns and several small caves. I would have loved to spend a day exploring all the nooks and crannies!!

Tim at the black sand beach

Sunset over the beach

Before we left the beach, the sun began to set and this sunset followed us for over an hour as we continued our drive west. It was truly beautiful (and I'm not typically a sunrise/sunset enthusiast).

We did make one last stop before dropping off the family in the city, to see a last famous waterfall. Unfortunately it was so dark we couldn't see anything and this waterfall wasn't illuminated. But part of me wonders if Rob, annoyed by having to do extra driving to accommodate them, was intentionally not in a hurry to get the grumpy family back into the city for their dinner reservation. 

From there we headed back into Reykjavik, dropped off the family and then headed back to a darker area to hopefully observe the northern lights. 

Our experience could not have been more perfect. We pulled into a parking area off a back road, with only one other small group in the area. As soon as we got there a green hazy steak began to form directly over our heads across the sky from one end of the horizon to the other. Over the course of a few moments the green color intensified, and a stair step pattern emerged. 

While Tim had seen the northern lights once previously a few years ago, this was a first for me. After the week we'd had with all the weather and tour issues and being worried we wouldn't have the opportunity to come out and find the lights this evening, I was exuberant over our good luck. I started crying. Tim hugged me. "I'm so happy for you that you're getting to see this!"

Northern lights

Before long a pink hue emerged in the central part of the line and the strands began to dance and intermingle. It was unlike anything I've ever seen before and something that my words and even the best photos I've seen don't capture. Even Rob said this was one of the best auroras he'd seen. 

Our whole group was so ecstatic and you could feel the joy everyone had to have this dream come true. I was so happy for me and Tim but also all the others in our group who had traveled to Iceland in the dead of winter from places like Australia and China in hopes of getting to see this. I'm actually tearing up again remembering the experience. 

Our "show" lasted about a half hour in total before dissipating, though I think based on the number and variety of northern lights photos tagged on Instagram the next morning that it was a very active night overall! As for our group, Rob had already stayed out later than he had been planning to with us and we all agreed that Reykjavik's famous new year's celebration was something we wanted to experience. So we headed back into the city. 

Tim and I were at our hotel (we redeemed Hilton points for the night to stay at the Hilton Canopy) by 10pm, giving us plenty of time to settle in before midnight. Our hotel was one of the best we've ever stayed in. For a chain, the place was overflowing with style and local flare- our room even had a troll on one of the shelves, and a claw foot bathtub. We also had a private balcony which was perfect for watching some of the random fireworks going off. 

Tim and I didn't even bother to shower or dress up- to make the most of our time we ventured out for the festivities in the same clothes we'd hiked in earlier. It was definitely the most "au naturel" I've been for a new years night out, but I didn't care. Reykjavik is very chill and unpretentious, and there's no shame in looking like you just came back from an epic outdoor adventure.  

You could feel the energy of the city as soon as we started our walk. There were people of all ages on the streets, laughing and talking and eating and drinking. Knowing we didn't have time to go to a sit-down restaurant, and craving one of those famous hotdogs anyway, we got in line at a small convenience store and had a very satisfying hot dog, dorito and soda dinner. We ran into two of our friends from the tour there as well- guess we weren't the only ones with that idea! 

Tim and I finished our meal outside on the sidewalk and headed towards the Hallgrimskirkja, where many folks were gathered to watch the fireworks. Every few blocks or so someone would be setting off fireworks on side streets. Unlike in the states, there is no official fireworks show for celebrations. Instead, everyone who wants to buys and sets off their own. 

Even though it was 11:45, we had no issues getting a spot with a fantastic view of the church. Though the area was very crowded, no one was pushing or jostling or fighting. It was the happiest, calmest crowd I've ever been in. And from the time we got there until after we left well past midnight, there was a constant stream of beautiful fireworks. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life.

We stayed out at one of the bars for a little bit, meeting some other travelers and having a few drinks. We were asleep hours before the new year arrived to the US. 

The next morning we checked out of our hotel, enjoyed the decadent complimentary breakfast, and made our way to the airport for our flight back to Baltimore. 

People have asked us how our trip to Iceland was and the words that always come to mind are "wild", "amazing" and "hard-fought". Much about our experience was unexpected, and that seems fitting for this strange little island in the North Atlantic. 

[theblondegoesabroad]

Day 194 to day 203

Are you ready for this? I’m not.

Friday 14th August 2020

Today work dragged. I knew that there was the week long holiday just ahead of me and I was inpatient to get out the door. I had a good day though. Projects are advancing and I also said good bye to our intern from Angers. His last week is next week but unfortunately I won’t be there. We had a good few laughs together and I enjoyed sharing with him my rock climbing addiction. I wrote him a completion of internship report based on his climbing efforts which he got a good laugh out of which was nice. This evening as soon as I could. I was out the door. Benoit picked me up with Puka. The car was packed and we hit the road. I decided to do the first five ish hours of driving while it was still light. The drive went well. Benoit had got everything prepared for the road including a pizza dinner which he made earlier. The trio actually went rather quickly and Puka was a dream. Puka for those who don’t know is Vince’s dog. Vince who is Pablo’s flat mate is working heaps lately and Puka is stuck inside most of the day and so we offered to take her camping, which Vince accepted which was awesome! Puka slept most of the trip which was even better. We got the the campsite in vallouise, Briançon around 2.30am, we quickly set up our tent, made the bed, and a quick shower and the got some sleep. Which by that time was well needed! Love kate xxxx

Saturday 15th August 2020

This morning we woke up at the campsite and it was a great feeling for it to be Saturday morning and already be on holiday! We weren’t too tired from the drive which was good and so this morning we took a very excited Puka for a walk with Pablo. Pablo has been in the area for the last month or so. It’s school holidays and he was supposed to have left for his big South American trip by now so instead he is climbing around this area. It was good to catch up with him and hear what he has been up to. He has found a 8a+ project which he has been working on for a while so hopefully we will see him top that route sometime this week. This area is paradise for climbers. There are rocks everywhere which every different level. It really is the Mecca of climbing. Speaking of after breakfast the team decided to go climbing together at an easy spot not far from the campsite. We went there last year and I remembered struggling on the easiest routes. This year I climbed everything on lead and felt so much more confident! It is amazing what a year can change! Benoit and I climbed together and I climbed 8 routes on lead which is the most I have ever climbed. It was good for the confidence. This afternoon we headed back to the campsite and instead of heading to the pool we went to the river which was right near our camp for a quick dip. And very quick at that as the water was freezing, glacial! I lasted for about three seconds whereas Pablo and Benoît lasted a few minutes. We also tried out a breathing technique Pablo is into at the moment. It is called the willhoff method or something but essentially it helps control tour breathing in stressful circumstances. It was interesting but I think I need to do it a lot more frequently to have any benefit! This evening we had an early night. As good as the day was the sun and the lack of sleep got to us! Love kate xxx

Sunday 16th August 2020

This morning Marie, Benoit and i got up to take Puka for a walk to the local bakery to pick up the baguettes for the mornings breakfast. Honestly the bread in France is delicious, I don’t usually eat breakfast but when the bread is so fresh and there is homemade jams and french cheese - is be an idiot not to haha. It is too good. Today Benoît and I decided to try and climbing spot together that he visited when he was here a few weeks ago. It’s in a valley with massive cliffs on either side. It is rather stunning and another popular climbing spot. The routes were a bit harder but I climbed one route on lead. And attempted but miserably failed a 6c. The got back on the horse with a 6a+. It was a good morning but a short one as the spot was crowded. We headed back to camp and decided to wear Puka our with a run. It was boiling but it was good to get active. We ran along a little trail that took us into the town. It was a 9km route and a good one. But wow. Probably not the best time of day to go running. As soon as we got back we jumped in the river to cool down. This evening Marie and I did a work out which was good, the weather had cooled down and it was nice to get back into our usual routine! Then the weather rapidly cooled down and we had our first Thursday storm of the holiday. Luckily it wasn’t too heavy and nothing was drenched but it is never fun to be stuck inside due to the rain when camping. So once again. Due to the weather this time. Benoit and I had a early night. Puka was an absolute gem and didn’t so much as bark during the storm. She is so well behaved. Everyone has said what a good dog she is and honestly I am constantly impressed with her. Love kate xxxx

Monday 17th August 2020

This morning Benoît and I got up early and went for the 9km run with Puka. The temperature was much better this morning and it was actually rather enjoyable! Puka is a great motivation to get up and go running. Knowing that she needs to be exercised and that sitting at the bottom of a rock face for the day won’t do that it’s good to go in the morning with her. The mountain air is also a good motivator the air is so fresh it really wakes you up the right way. Today was the day. Pablo took us to his climbing spot. It is at Ailefroid, which is a 15minute drive from where we’re camped. And then it is a very hard walk up the to rock with what feels like 300m vertical meters over about 50m horizontal. With all the climbing gear by the time you arrive at the spot you feel like you‘be done your sport and ready to head back haha. After getting our breath back. Pablo showed us his route and a few options that I could try. There is a 7b Route which is apparently not completely impossible so I decided to put a concentrated effort into that. The rock is granite so is quick painful on the fingers as it is really rough. But it was a fun day. Benoit and I both spent the day working on the 7b Route. By the end of the day neither of us at topped it but Benoît was definitely closer. I enjoyed working on the route together and nothing having a common goal of getting there. Although it didn’t top it I really put my all into it and am very proud of myself for attempting such a difficult route. Way out of my comfort zone but in a good day. The spot itself is also beautiful, from the top you have views all over the valley and it really is spectacular. Makes you feel rather small! On our way home we stopped in town to get supplies for dinner and I decided that since we weren’t far from the campsite I would run home with Puka. So another 5km on the run tally. It defiantly tired Puka out and me too! I think I will feel my legs in the morning! This evening Benoît made dinner, pesto pasta, he made the pesto at home before we came so it was a rather easy dinner but delicious! Had another early night as so the long hot days, constant sport and just general tiredness has caught up with me! Love kate xxxx

Tuesday 18th August 2020

Another day of climbing. Surprise surprise. Today we went to another amazing spot with probably the best vantage point views I have seen at a climbing spot. It was truely gorgeous. Today’s spot was a bit more difficult that usual as the routes were about 40 m long which is a lot bigger than I am used to so it comes down to endurance and making the most of your energy. Today I climbed a 6b+ and a 6c, I think they are my biggest routes on rock so far so I was happy with that! It was a slow climbing day as the spot was pretty crowded so there were people waiting for routes to be free etc but it was good. I had my book and a good view and that was all I needed. Although due to the spot we were in which was rather high up we spent the day on a cliff outcrop and it was good to head back down into the open space! We had a late night bbq and another good sleep. Love kate xxxx

Wednesday 19th August 2020

As you’re reading this you probably think we had a bit of a one track mind holiday as we spent another day climbing! But with all the different spots it is always different and definitely worth the effort. Today we headed back to the spot Benoît and I went to on our second day of the holiday. It was supposed to be a rest day but I want to get some confidence with climbing on lead so I spent the morning setting up routes for others to climb. I climbed a 5c and three 6a+ on lead and honestly although it is a bit scary, the routes in France are really well bolted and I am enjoying it. Benoit has been a great motivation for teaching me to climb and so far I have been loving this holiday with him and seeing the progress in the climbing. This afternoon Marie Benoît and I headed into town to check out the shops and see if there were any bargains on sale. The first shop we visited I found a pair of e9 pants that I liked and a warm jacket which brother were 30% off so that was a bit of a treat. Benoit also found a really nice jumper which was neat. We spent a bit longer looking at the other shops but had more more success! This evening Pablo made his famous fettuccine carbonara which was delicious as usual. Love kate xxx

Thursday 20th August 2020

Guess what. We went climbing again today! Today we headed back to the spot of Pablo’s route. Another killer walk up the hill to the crag but once again worth it once we got there. Benoit topped the 7b Route today so I spent the day working on it with Paul. I managed to get really close to getting all the sequences today and think with another few goes I defiantly could have topped it but the problem with granite is that there is only so long that you can attempt routes before your fingers and dead and you have to look after your skin. Apparently climbing on granite is 50% climbing and 50% skin preservation! And wow my fingers suffered as I am not get used to the rocks. Benoit climbed really well and climbed a 7b, 7c and a 7c+. He is loving the climbing holiday! When we headed back down we met up with Joelle, her sister and Marie for pizzas. The girls spent the day walking to a glacier, I was tempted to go but the allure of the 7b being so close was too much. We all stayed in town to have pizzas for dinner. This little mountain town is a real gem. Full of climbers and alpinistes and just has a good vibe about it. The pizzas were delicious too - a great way to end the day! Love Kate xxx

Friday 21st August 2020

Today. Finally. Benoit and I decided to take a rest day. It has beeen a week of full on climbing and my hands and body in general were pleased to have the day off. Although not completely. After breakfast Benoît and I took Puka for a run again. The little 9km run really is a nice one, reasonably flat and a good distance. So after taking Puka for her exercise, I did a little workout. And then Benoît and a did the breathing exercise thing again. This time I think it went a bit better and I was completely relaxed. Benoit afterwards were for a dip in the water, I decided to avoid that as it really is freezing but did dip my feet in to cool off. After a bit of relaxing Benoît and I headed into Briançon to check out the shops and then watch the World Cup of climbing which was being held there. The shopping wasn’t a success but we did find a bar to get a spritz at before heading down to the stadium! We brought along our camping chairs and books and got the a really good spot in front of the wall. Due to the COVID they were only letting in 5000 spectators so we got there early just in case. We spent the evening in the sunshine reading and wait for the action to start! We bought in a lot of water and a few snacks. There was some food to buy but we weren’t that hungry so decided to wait to try the food tomorrow. Today was the semi finals. There were 26 women and 26 men in the semis. The qualification rounds weren’t open to the public. The semis will then be narrowed down to 9 finalists. The competition wall was graded at 8b for the women and 8c for the men. It was incredible. Initially the climbers have 6 minutes to look at the wall and try figure out how to climb it. And then they go into an isolation room. They can talk and ideally try to memorise the route. Some climbers are so good at visualisation techniques that they are able to recreate the route in their head and imagine climbing it. That way when it’s there turn to climb they feel like they already know the route. It is very impressive. Each climber then has a turn at climbing the route while the others wait in isolation so they cant see how the other climber has climbed the route/what mistakes were made. The climber has 6 minutes to completely the route, but if they fall then their attempt is over the the points are taken from the highest place they reached on the wall. During the semis no climber got to the top of the route but some got pretty close!It was cool to see the climbers we had seen on tv for the last year in real life and how truly strong they are. And also put into perspective how hard the routes are! It was a great experience and we are looking forward to going to the finals tomorrow! Love kate xxx

Saturday 22nd August 2020

Last official day of the holidays, I was a bit indecisive about what to do. I wanted to have a last attempt at the 7b Route but honestly my fingers were already pretty beaten up so I decided to play it safe and went for a walk with the girls instead whilst Benoît and Pablo headed up the mountain again to the neo famous spot. Pablo has one last day to get the route topped as he planned to come home with us but I could tell that if he didn’t top it he would stay. There are still quite a few people coming and going at our campsite so I think Pablo has a few options to get home! The walk with the girls was nice, it wasn’t too hard, I think it was about 1500m elevation and 12kms or something but the time passed rather quickly the as always within this area. The views were worth it. We walked up to a base camp where there was a couple running the base, the sold a few things so we grabbed a cold drink and a blueberry tart. Nothing better right?! The views were incredible, enormous mountains everywhere you looked, glaciers, rivers, waterfalls. The works. It makes you feel so small. And even better no sign of civilisation apart from the base camp. It truly is spectacular. The decent was much easier that the ascent and we made it in record time. We waited for the boys in town. We made the most of the wait and grabbed an icecream which was so refreshing. This even was the finals so we quickly rushed home, showered, grabbed a few beers and camping chairs and headed back to Briançon. This time Marie and Pablo came with us which was really nice. Once again it was an evening full of excitement and a lot of cheering! Adam Ondra, the current world champion was clearly a favourite and won the competition for the men. It was such a cool experience! And a great way to finish our climbing filled holiday! We headed back to the campsite around 10.30, packed the car so we could have an early start in the morning and then got into bed as quickly as we could! Love kate xxxx

Sunday 23rd August 2020

There should really only be one 4 o’clock per day and the am one really isn’t the one I’m talking about. But we did it. This morning Benoît, Marie and I hit the road. At a very ungodly hour but one that meant we made good time and we home with time to get the car unpacked, washing done, supermarket shopping sorted all before the day light faded. Which was really idéal as with starting work tomorrow it is good to feel organised and have good to eat! What a week. I don’t know if I feel more relaxed or completely exhausted from the holiday but none the less it was a break that I needed and I loved the experience. It was cool to see how far I have come in a year. Last year. Camping with the Henry’s was a completely out of my comfort zone experience and honestly I struggled. This time I felt so much more comfortable in the activités that we did and with the family. I am so lucky to be with such a welcoming family and once again these holidays proved that. So thank you for having me once again! Looking forward to next year and the 7b that is waiting for me! Love kate xxxxx