C.J. Cherryh's Blog, page 80
October 11, 2013
I try my hand at painting one of the bjd’s…a little gargoyle.
The link
He’s far from perfect, but this is subject to many other layers of paint…and second thoughts. He’s inspired by Renji, the koi. I may give him koi whiskers. Or not. He came grey. He’s getting whimsical.
October 10, 2013
Bonsai Tree Houses
Really pretty stuff. I love bonsai, but I have a rather black thumb when it comes to caring for them.
10,000 years ago in Spokane…
Our area was safe, but a massive flood from Lake Spokane and Lake Missoula hit this area, stripping the soil from ancient flood basalts. Resident Native Americans on the Columbia have a story about the fall of a bridge that Jane thinks may relate to the Missoula Floods. You might have seen unfortunate mammoths and all our geologic record from the Jurassic/Cretaceous floating past on its way to the sea, and California.
Our house would have sat high and dry, but the flood ripped not only the soil, but the rocks themselves: basalt may be hard and heavy, but it’s segmented, and the flood treated it like unseated Lego blocks.
So the modern area is quite low near the river, while the rest of us who sit on the several heights of Spokane sit on glacial till atop ancient flood basalt.
Now…across from us and nearer the edge of the heights, which stairstep down to the Spokane River, someone is digging a basement. A massive hammer, a very large crane-type thing,
…is hitting the basalt substructure on which we all live, with a resonance that touches off the china cabinet doors, and that disturbs the cats. THis has been going on with the persistence of a water-drip, for two weeks.
The upside is, if we can get a truck (and we have a friend!) we can get some free basalt for the garden this weekend. We did ask permission. 
October 9, 2013
Foggy morning…a sign of impending fall.
The azaleas are red, the pond is chilling down and soon I’ll put the filters away. The water quality is the best we’ve ever had…thanks to the new filter.
Hope you and yours are faring well this fall. We’re starting to button down the things that need doing before fall deepens, and we’re not doing too much socializing right now, just nose to the grindstone and trying to make up for travel we did, re work schedule.
Jane’s discovered her Shu-shu has an absolute fascination with sparklies on the ceiling. She’s been working on the ‘faces’ with shiny tools and a pot of water (because resin dust is not to inhale!) and Shu is absolutely entranced. He gets up to the top of his near 8′ cat tree so he can be close to them, and if you have ever seen religious awe on a cat’s face….we need to get a picture of that expression. Perhaps it’s Ceiling Cat.
October 8, 2013
another pound down…
nearly halfway to the finish line.
Just slow and steady. I haven’t weighed this little since the 1970′s.
Size 12 jeans, my friends. Size 12. They’re stretch—so it’s cheating. But the size 14′s were sliding off.
We’re continuing the same campaign. Breakfast is small serving of sausage and eggs. Lunch is a frozen Atkins dinner or Atkins bar. Sensa is helping us beat the munchies. And supper is one of the following, each: a hamburger patty topped with cheese and sometimes bacon and sometimes jalapeno, served with half a steamer-bag of broccoli or green beans, cauliflower broccoli mix, or brussel sprouts. Or chicken strips heated with oil and rolled in parmesan cheese, served over broccoli. Or chicken strips cooked with cheese, spices, jalapenos and canned chilis, dusted with taco spice. Or chicken strips with bamboo strips, veggies, and a tablespoon of curry sauce and coconut milk. Or 1 piece breaded fish with half a packet of steamed veggies and a side of mayo/lime juice/dill. And sometimes, for one of our ‘lighter’ suppers, a dessert: half cup of ricotta mixed with coconut or maple flavoring and enough Splenda to make it sweet.
And it sure makes a difference. We can’t go pig out now. We have to get one dinner and split it or bring half home. Our total food demand has sunk below the serving sizes of our favorite restaurant, and this is a Good Thing. We can have wine or rum now and again, Champagne now and again.
And size 12 is about as low as my jeans size goes: my height and bone structure dictates that. Maybe a 10, since I understand manufacturers have moved the target, but likely a 12. So the local clothes bank is going to get some more outfits.
Yay me!
October 5, 2013
Jane has started the Morgaine sculpt-revision…
A bjd, to be sure. To get perspective on those photos, that face is less than 2″ long. And the nature of resin is that you can take it away and add to it…
She’s doing a great job.
The doll was bought because it has good proportions, and can be made into what Jane wants. The process now involves working with the face in a bowl of water to avoid resin dust.
I think we’re in the slide toward winter…
Temps have been in the 50′s, ranging to 30′s at night, and there’s SNOW on Mt. Spokane. Cold and clear all week, and the leaves on the azaleas and burning bush are turning, the hops vine is dying, and the pretty huge-bloom clematis has now produced the fine crown of tiny white flowers it does in fall.
October 3, 2013
Flash: Last week Jane was my 10th cousin, multiple times removed….
Her father and my father were 7th cousins once removed (a generation apart). Jane and I are 8th cousins.
We have not stopped being 10th cousins, down another line.
We share 24th-great grandparents, once removed.
We therefore share 25th, 26th, 27th, etc. And I’m pretty sure we share a 17th-great grandfather, but I haven’t gotten to that part of the chart yet: he’s a son of the 24th-greats. But we know that he was married? to my 17th-great grandmother Isabella, and their child was Jane’s 16th-great, who married my 19th-great grandmother…which has to be a relationship that went down another track entirely.
