I am taking a conservation workshop at Cornell this week, and the grant for the workshop provides all the following for participants (drool glands at the ready? Oooookay!)

* 1 8-glass Brita pitcher + 1 water filter
* 1 Farberware stainless steel non-reactive double boiler
* 1 tiny little bone folder with a hole in it that can be worn as a pendant (makes me squee)
* 1 metal conservator's spatula
* 1 artists' knife (a glorified box cutter)
* 1 Kinetronics SW-100 anti-static brush
* 1 PURA Setola S.31 #6 natural-bristle brush
* 1 Princeton Art & Brush Co 4050W wash brush
* 1 set curved dissecting forceps
* 1 Alvin 30" stainless steel cork-backed ruler
* wonderful bibliography
* samples of various buffered and pH-neutral archival papers and matting materials
* binder filled with free photocopies of several relevant paper-conservation articles
* free 20+ hour consult with paper conservator
* free 2+ hour consult with curator of Johnson Museum's print collection curator.
* 3 ounces reconstituted jin-nori chemically neutral wheat starch paste
* 3 ounces dry jin-nori chemically neutral wheat starch paste
* 6-hour consult with photo restorator just for swank

I'm woozy with paper-lust and the need to experiment with jin-nori...

T
his Friday night I'll be setting up the 8-person tent (over 6 feet tall, folks! With its very own pink plastic flamingo lawn ornaments out front!) to camp out for the Friends of the Library Booksale-- anyone who's interested in joining me should comment below.

It's rather a cushy deal as campouts go: there are bathroom facilities available, the Ithaca Bakery (with baked yummables and hot cider) is about 50 feet from our campsite, I generally bring decent food, I plan to load up my computer with Doctor Who episodes ... the tent will even have carpeting.

Could someone e-mail me some of the directions to the Eddy homestead? It has been rather hectic around here of late, and I somehow lost track of the lovely directions Tam gave me. (For the sake of those who don't know Tam, and who might think I'm an idiot for simply not Mapquesting... the address is a rural delivery number, not a street address).

They's getting hitcheded! THIS WEEKEND!!!!

All right: I need to have some spoiler-heavy discussions RIGHT NOW.

The gallery owner called my house again today. I actually had to hang up on him. What the HELL?!

It's here. It's P-Day: Potter Day. Tonight I'm going to go to my grocery store just before mignight, hot cup of coffee clutched tight in my hands, and pick up my copy of HP7 (along with some rotini and some peanut butter, as we're out), and rush home in the wee hours of tomorrow morning to start reading.

I know I'm a big ol' nerd, but I don't want to be spoilered for this book, as I was for the last one. Note to BBC: when you report a story about how some remarkably knavish souls made a huge banner bearing key Potter plot points that could ruin the reading experience for fans who'd just bought their newly-released copy of HP6 and hadn't even made it home from bookstores yet to read it, it might be kind to not disclose that the banner said, in 3-foot high bright-red letters, "SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE".

I just want to get the book read before somebody decides to tell me all the juicy bits.

Also, on another, far more fattening note: Tamma and I made a really wonderful pan of lasagne AND some donuts. I will be sending a nice "I'm so sorry" Hallmark card to my coronary artery in the first post.

The last three episodes of this season of Dr. Who feature CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS, He Who Should Not Be Mentioned Without Many Many Capital Letters. Torchwood was abysmal, but I watched every single episode, entirely because of Captain Jack. He's back on Dr. Who, where a rakish captain can be a rakish captain. Now that he's back on Who, where the writing is better and the characters he has to interact with are more 3-dimensional, I'm sure to be very happy. At first, I'd planned to watch all three of the episodes in a row, but I want to share them with John, so I'm pulling myself away from the screen for now.

Special bonus, Derek Jacobi is in one of the episodes. Jacobi has acted beautifully in a number of things, playing a worthwhile Claudius (the best Claudius I've ever seen in ANY MEDIUM, frankly), and a heavily-made-up Cadfael, and and and... but every time I see him, in the back of my head I hear a whispered, "O, for a muse of FIRE!". I'm looking forward to seeing what he brings to Who.

I'm hoping that he, Jack, and an alien settle down in a distant exotic locale together....

No, must not get caught up in such thoughts. Nope. Not at all...

The gallery got in touch with me and a.) said they understood my frustrations over the lack of commission income, and b.) offered me a promotion with an employee or two under me.

Not wanting to deal with the whole nail-baiting, weeping-hysterically-in-the-closet-because-a-misunderstaning-might-mean-I-don't-make-rent bullshit again, I refused.

I was enough a model of personal restraint not to suggest they perform act of sexual intercourse upon their own persons, though I was sorely tempted.

Somehow, an 'I understand your frustrations' isn't enough after one of them screamed at my husband over the telephone.

So nice to be wanted, though, and to have them come asking after me. Thanks! This has been the best birthday EVER!

Know this, all and sundry: Tamma makes a GREAT meatball.

Also, at her apartment, I learned the basic, primal joy that comes from deep-frying random objects. Once a deep fryer is in operation, it calls to you, hypnotically: take the whole-wheat sugar-free cookie, and fry it! Fry your stale graham crackers, and they will be restored to scrumminess, if a rather greasy and calorie-laden scrumminess! Every meal MUST end with donuts! Fresh, piping-hot, beautiful donuts... which go very well with Reisling, by the way-- that woman has tought me more in one evening than some of my undergrad profs did in an entire semester. None of them, for example, knew how to properly distract a floofy cat to get it to subject itself to a brushing...

Goddam gallery tells me that $500+ of the commission I was expecting isn't coming to me-- a misunderstanding. Oops and sorry.
pp
I hope my creditors accept 'oops' and 'sorry', considering that we live on a tight budget, and that when I figured out how to live within that budget for this month, I figured in that 'misunderstood' five Cs.

Fuck.

And can I come back to Cleveland sometime soon? Well, no-- that trip costs me several hundred dollars, and wouldn't you know it, I'm several hundred fucking dollars short this month. Whaddyaknow.

But otherwise, all's peachy. For example, I have berry-scented bubble bath, and oeach-colored toenail polish, the sorts of things that make up for a whole lot of ills.

* Lots of driving. I found the most wonderful CD to drive to: a collection of Spanish-language covers of classic rock tunes by a group from Tenessee with excellent guitar skills and heavily-accented Spanish called Los Straitjackets. "Hang On Sloopy" becomes "Hey Lupe", and I can attest that it's great fun to speed along 17 W singing "mi amor est Lupe!" at the top of your lungs.

* I went to work on my birthday, and my dad went to dialysis, which normally wears him out so much that he comes home afterward and sleeps for the rest of the night. I came home figuring I'd wake him up to ask him what kind of special meal he might like me to order in. I got directions to all his favorite places from my mom and my brother, so that I could dash out to pick up whatever treats were requested of me. But lo, when I came in the door, the table was filled with brussel sprouts and potatoes and my dad's famous pork roast, and a homemade birthday cake. The man is probably going to have to sleep for weeks now, this must have exhausted him so, but it was the sweetest thing I've ever seen. I'm all floaty with the feeling of being loved and cared for. Aww.

* Got to play with some pretty, if non-Medieval, artwork: some prints of wild swans by Gould, some birds of prey by Audobon, and some hand-colored aquatints by Ackermann. The experience is akin to that of petting a sparkly magical pony. *bounce*

* My niece had a fitting this weekend for her wedding dress. ** sniff! ** She's so beautiful it makes my eyes well up just thinking about it.

* Took John's dad out on the boat last night to watch the fireworks display from the lake. Years in Puerto Rico have eroded his ability to withstand the chill even of a July night in the frigid north here, so we wrapped him in a sleeping bag, and watched big chrysanthemums of sparkles light up the sky, competing with their own reflections.

* I haven't had a moment free in forever, but now that I have a laptop, it's almost as good as having vacations: yesterday I went to my friends' place to dog-sit, and set up shop on their back deck. I sat in the shade watching the dogs roll contentedly in the grass, typing merrily away. This is the life!

First and foremost, introducing John's OTHER company: Internet Marketing Magicians. All the top dogs had their portraits taken for the site wearing Hawaiian shirts.

Second, introducing the new laptop-I-can't-afford that I got so that I can keep up with work-like things while on the road:



And, drat it, I can't get my camera cable to work, but if it WAS working, I would introduce you to the garter snake that sunbathes on my 2nd-story windowsill, as I managed to get pictures today (the little guy has NO fear.. just calmly waggled his tongue at me while I scooted around inches from his nose, trying to get a good pic).

Ohio folks: I will be coming to Cleveland at the end of this coming week to hammer out financial hooey for a pseudo-job. In point of fact, I will be in Ohio on my actual real live birthday, and it would be nice to see some of ya if I can. The weather will be horrid, but... it's Cleveland. Joyous weather in Cleveland is still in Cleveland, so a few thunderstorms are no real turn off.

I just realized how little time I have to de-uglify myself in time for the various weddings scheduled for this summer, so if I am diet-cranky, putting nourishing glop in my hair, or rosy from a fresh dermabrasion session, I apologize in advance.

1.) Got word that someone in my field is 'raring to go' when it comes to hiring me. Woo. I don't know if I've ever made anyone 'rare' before, using rare as a verb rather than an adjective (NB-- I don't know that I've made anyone rare as an adjective either, come to think of it).

2.) Beastie count in my backyard to date:
1 cat that looks disturbingly like Bergamot
1 chipmunk
At least two different species of squirrel
Three species of woodpecker
1 garter snake that sunbathes on the sill of my 2nd story window
1 baby bunny
3 wild turkeys
2 deer
4 or 5 mice
umpteen birds I can't identify because they don't sit still
1 juvenile male black bear
1 don't-know-what-the-hell-it-is (seems to be mammalian)
A mother groundhog with baby in tow

3.) The reference librarians at Cornell's Olin Library really like my almond-flour cookies.

4.) It is remarkably common for people to reserve the Nature Center's ropes course for birthday parties. A cool idea!

5.) It is difficult to find button-down blouses that can accommodate a decent-size set of boobs without gapping in that horrific way that buttons do, that are not also wide enough to flap wildly in the breeze in the general waistral area.

6.) However good a cook I may think myself to be, I cannot get the texture I want in a homemade smoothie. Fie and double fie.

Tam? Are you here yet? Are you in Ithaca?

**bounce**

I took advantage of Moo Cards' Livejournal offer, and got 10 free Mini Moo Cards. They're just tiny little business cards, but I'm thrilled at their colorful bright perkiness. I wuv dem. I will have to order more, when I have given all of these away. If, that is, I can ever bear to give any of these away. So pretty.

I love tortoises with their perma-smiles. I love tomatoes. Here's a rather long clip that combines the two:

Our apartment is on the second-third floor of an old Bavarian-style house, which means that our windows are at tree-blossom level. On the porch, I'm level with the last of the lilacs and wisteria (I had no idea wisteria was anything other than pretty-looking... but it smells like honey. Yum!), and just outside the bedroom, office, and living room windows are vanilla-scented locust blooms. I've heard you can actually cook with locust blooms, and I've spent a few evenings reaching out the windows trying to reach the flowers that are juuuuuuuuuuust out of reach.

The topper: the landlord just mowed the lawn, adding a note of greenest grass to all the florals.

I swear, Beth from BPAL needs to bottle this. Mmmm.

TAMMA'S COMING! TAMMA'S COMING!! TAMMA'S COMING!!

I introduce to the world.... The Medievalist's Martini

In a large martini glass mix 1 shot of vodka with a quick splash of ginger ale. Fill the rest of the glass with verjuice.

If you cannot get verjuice, you can substitute white grape juice that has been mixed with a splash of vinegar.

No actual medieval people drank such a thing (though distilled vodka was invented in ... what? the 8th century?), but all of us can enjoy it. Mmmm.

Yay alcohol!