#little parsley

[fieriframes]

[A LITTLE OIL, A LITTLE LEMON, A LITTLE PARSLEY. WE PUT THE PASTA IN, GIVE THIS A TOSS. OH, THAT FRESH PASTA JUST ROCKS. LOOK AT THAT. BEAUTIFUL DRIPPINGS. LOOK AT THE WAY IT JUST PULLS RIGHT AWAY FROM THAT BONE.]

[sweetsprig]

Unrestrained new wave fun!

[hahahha-fandoms]

The Bulma Halloween Fit 🤠

[awkwardgaydude]

Yeah okay, tried Hello Fresh again this week and yeah I'll run through the discounted bits for a while. Because it's better than what I have been eating

And the first box being only $50 is a good deal

[creepyscritches]

Stinky is in a bad way :( He became lethargic last night and I noticed signs of dehydration (I don't think he drank yesterday???). For the past 12 hours I've been syringe-feeding baby food, pedialyte, and water while keeping him warm with blankets and a space heater. It's been working and perking him up, but he's really weak still :( He's been having issues that we thought cleared up, but he'll be at the vet tomorrow when his doctor is back in office. Poor guy!

[ffc1cb]

sad to announce that i started a new dai replay after all. i think parsley deserves a veterans discount at this point for how many times i’ve made them relive the most traumatic years of their life for my personal amusement

[jnpje]

htpapyrus: *looks on me with love and wonder mingled with disgust as i drink the juice left behind after i finished eating my raw onion salad*

[beaniemace]

the boys are now on my driveway

[mildmayfoxe]

avocado toast btw. if you even care

[ghostoffuturespast]

22 March 2024 - Friday Field Notes

Rabbitbrush (top), Spring Mountain Parsley (bottom left), Fringed Sage (bottom right)

The Spring Equinox was earlier this week and while the calendars might say it's spring, some days it doesn't necessarily feel like it. The prairie is beautiful, but it's a harsh place to live sometimes. There is limited water and the climate alternates frequently between extremes. So even though the calendars say spring, the prairie is slow to wake up. The patient sort, the prairie knows to wait.

Most people might think it's too early to start even thinking about gardening, but that depends on the types of plants you're planting. Many domesticated garden varieties of plants and agricultural crops have been selectively breed to reduce seed dormancy for human benefit. The seeds from domesticated plants germinate more readily and more consistently than their wild cousins. Which makes them easier to grow, harvest, and eat, but because of that they require a lot more babying and care. Wild plants are much tougher.

Seeds are living organisms, the offspring of plants, and they contain everything a seedling needs so it can germinate and grow. Wild seeds are incredibly patient, they will wait months, sometimes years, before they will even consider growing. Some have armor so thick that it has to be chipped away at by rocks and ice, freeze and thaw cycles, before water and air can even get to the seed. Others contain acids and hormones that have to be used up between specific temperature ranges before they'll even think about sprouting. While others, not fully developed, are knocked off the fronds and petals of their parents, children that brave the elements and just prefer to wait and see. Wild seeds do not rely on a calendar, because they know and can feel when it is truly spring. When it is safe for them to finally venture out into the world and grow.

I have no idea if this Rocky Mountain Bee Plant that I planted will grow this season. It's suggested to do fall plantings so it'll overwinter. It has a very thick and tough seed coat. I'm hoping the abrading I did and the snow might help it along a little. If not, it'll be a surprise for next year.

A couple of Pronghorn lads enjoying the trail.

CW: dead animal, road kill below cut

This Beaver was hit by a car trying to cross the road. Underneath the road there is a storm drain that connects a retention pond and feeds into the creek at the site that I work at. The storm drain is grated off, to help improve the flow of water and to make sure detritus doesn't get stuck in the channel, which increases the chances of flooding. Because this Beaver was trying to follow the water and because the drain was grated off, they had no choice but to cross the heavily trafficked road. It's unfortunate that urban infrastructure often does not consider the needs of all living things. Grating off that storm drain means no wildlife can use it as safe passage.

I salvaged the tail from this Beaver for educational purposes for work, the rest them was too far gone to keep, so my coworker and I moved them off the road and onto the shoulder a safe distance away from any cars.

Most likely this Beaver will first become food for scavengers, Coyotes and Corvids, before it starts to decompose. Insects will lay their eggs on its rotting flesh so their larvae will have something to eat, perhaps the fur will become a part of someones nest, and then the bones will bleach. Crumble to dust and return to the soil to feed the billions of microorganisms beneath. It will help the plants grow. Maybe some day, it might even help another Beaver live.

It's sad this Beaver died, but in nature nothing is wasted and nothing is forgotten. Life and death are so inextricably linked and one does not exist without the other.

And heck, maybe that Beaver tail I kept might inspire a future engineer. Help them build a better and more compassionate storm drain.

[inquisimail]

how's cassandra? she's not being too hard on you, is she?

[fieriframes]

[Just little parsley to dress it up. So, here you go. That's... Ah, it's too pretty to eat. No, it's not.]

[daffodilldoodles]

parls

[good--merits-accumulated]

OK, SEVERELY rambly post incoming but - Anderperry Stardust (2007)/ The Little White Horse AU, anyone?

Rundown: I think many of us are familiar with Stardust, originally a Neil Gaiman book but also a great film, starring Claire Danes as a falling star and That Guy Who Plays Daredevil as the lad who promises to bring her to the girl he's infatuated with. The Little White Horse is, to the best of my knowledge, more unknown, but equally very good (for sentimental reasons, I think of it much more highly than Stardust). Published in 1946 by Elizabeth Goudge, it tells the story of thirteen-year-old orphan Maria Merryweather, who moves to her cousin Sir Benjamin's Moonacre Manor in the West Country, where she finds a) a thriving cosy community and a long family history, b) the little white horse of the title, c) a longstanding family feud cutting off Moonacre from the sea, d) her imaginary best friend Robin, real and in the flesh, and e) some of the most deliciously-described food that has ever been or will be. It's a great book even past the rose-tinted glasses of my childhood. Go read it. (The one (1) marring is that you can't find a bloody edition that doesn't have a JK Terfling quote pasted onto the cover, because apparently it was one of her favourite books, but fuck OFF, I'm reclaiming it now. Thou shalt not keep the cosy low fantasy from me.)

Anyway even though I mention Stardust this isn't really part of the AU I have in my mind, except for the bit with the Star, because Todd as a main character who thinks he's a very forgettable bland boy-in-the-corner until he finds out he's a star is a great thought to me. Particulars on /how/ he's a star to be fleshed out later! (I only thought of this AU about two hours ago, lol.)

In my mind this is how it goes - nebulously Olden Times setting (TLWH is set in 1842, so perhaps then). Todd is around seventeen/eighteen and Geoff has just graduated from university, and gone off around Europe, accompanied by their parents. Months go by. Something happens - he's never given the liberty of knowing, but Geoff and their parents stay in Europe, and the townhouse in London is sold, and Todd is packed off to stay at a distant relative's - Keating, as it turns out. It's a blessing in disguise, because Todd is finally away from his family for the first time in his life and around people that appreciate him. He begins to bloom under this new care - but there are strange family secrets only now being revealed to him, and dark forces beyond the valley which threaten to disrupt the haven he's found...

The rest is very cosy fantasy, featuring Mr Perry as the local uptight vicar locking horns with Keating at every opportunity, Neil as his withdrawn but friendly son just longing for a rebellion, and more! (Read: Charlie is here and he is Outrageous as usual. Read also: Pitts as a sailor because I think he'd like it.) Right now I'm thinking of adding an equivalent of Monsieur Cocq de Noir for a villain (Mr Perry is NOT the villain), and Cameron can play a part there so I can give him a good redeeming! Here are a couple of extracts from TLWH to show the kind of mood/tone we're working with:

Thematically, I REALLY like the idea of Todd as a star because it allows me to work in a very fun trope, of "not of the rose but near the rose" - when a character perhaps is shy and a little quiet and reclusive, but inspires other people around them to brilliance and greatness. (Honestly I do think this kind of goes in with the film, where it's not just Keating's teaching but Todd's reaction to it and his presence that galvanise Neil to continue.) This ties in really well if Todd's a star and adds to the overall self-confidence journey - plus I was really thinking about the sun/moon motifs! They're very prominent in TLWH (Maria is a "moon" Merryweather and Robin is a very sunny boy), and I really want to implement them here with slight twists. I think of Todd as a sunny moon; yes he's warm and caring and cheerful but once you go a little closer it's more of a luminosity rather than a blaze, there's a coolness and quietness to him I like. You know, a quiet character doesn't always have to be quiet because there's something "wrong" with them, sometimes they're just like that. For Neil it's the opposite, he's a moony sun; under the thumb of his father he's polite and decorous and demure but somewhere under all of that there's a very loud and booming laugh and a healthy sort of ruddiness. I don't know, I just like sun/moon motifs!!!!!!!!!!

(On a more personal note: this AU, which I already love very much despite not having known very long, would be above all a careful love letter to the West Country. It's been lovely living around here almost all my life and by this time in September I'll be hopefully up very far north at uni, so I'm pre-emptively kind of :') about it. Mutuals who are at uni/college how on earth did you cope?)

[july-19th-club]

avocado is crazy no matter how much of it you eat you are never full just from avocado . those green little greasy guys are like if a vegetable was made of air

[totaldramafan-lauri]

In all the time I'd known her….I'd been exposed to her kindness.

I already knew, from the moment I saw her, that she was someone who shouldn't exist. Not quite a cookie, but a being crafted by the heavens….She looked, and spoke, like a dream….and yet, she was very, very real.

And yet, at that time, I'd been unaware that I'd end up falling for her even harder….That, with each visit to her kingdom, and each new detail I learned about her….she'd only become even more perfect….Back then, it was merely her appearance and demeanor that captivated me….but now, after so long of knowing her….

When I look at her, I see someone so benevolent….Generous, patient, accepting, merciful….

And I question, why it's me who gets to know all this….Why someone like this was lost to time, why it took me so long to know of her, why I wouldn't have ever known of her if I hadn't stumbled into her kingdom….

It might be dramatic of me to think this, and I'm too shy to say it out loud, but….it feels like she's changed me….Like….because of her encouragement, I feel braver now, just a bit…Obeying her orders without question, even if I'm scared or nervous, willingly chasing her approval, whereas past me would've fled like a coward….Because of her, I'd developed a sense of loyalty….Not obligation, but true loyalty….

That drive, to…impress someone….

Although I was also driven by shameful feelings I'd never, ever share…that wasn't important. I'd still allowed myself to mature, for her sake. To become better for her….

I'd suspected for a while that she'd recognized that….There's no way she couldn't have, given all the displays of loyalty she gets from the Cheesebirds every day…

And yet….I wasn't prepared for this.

I never, ever thought she'd ever tell me these words….I thought I was fine being a simple helper, coming and going to return with an offering….I'd grown used to such a schedule, and so had she….Even as my visits became a regular occurrence, she'd always stayed out of my reach….There was still a distance between us that wouldn't ever be closed, and I….I thought that was fine…

But….now…this time….when I was about to leave again….She called out to me, stopping me in my tracks….

"And where are you going, little one?"

I'd briefly been scared, worrying about if I'd done anything wrong….only to see her still smirking at me, and I felt my face getting warm again….

And, yet again, offering me more…..more than I could've ever dreamed of.

"You will not be leaving anymore! You will join my kingdom, Parsley~"