We're having a plague of moths this year. They are huge, fuzzy and leave their powder all over me. Yes me -- apparently I am magnetite to moths. They fly into the bathroom when I am getting ready for bed and, instead of sensibly swan-songing all over the light fixture, they fly into me at great speeds, leaving little plumes of moth-dust in the air as they hit and bounce off me. Gah!
I used to think moths were rather wonderful: they were mysterious and beautiful night creatures, always geting the short end of the beauty stick compared to butterflies. That was before I developed a moth-gravity. Before they flew onto my toothbrush, strafed me on the toilet and fluttered on the back of my neck while I was carefully removing a contact lens.
Gah! They ping-pong between my computer screen and me, bang-bang. The pinball wizard has nothing on these moths. I bat frantically at the air with National Geographic, my novel, my keyboard and very occasionally I connect. The *thwack* of moth being hit into the stratosphere is very satisfying... until they return, and seek me for comfort, clinging groggily to my pyjamas and hair, recriminating.
I trapped one under the base of my stand-mirror in the bathroom. It was huge, and particularily persistent, and having screeched and batted and waved and magazined it into submission, I couldn't quite bear to thwack it flat. Or I couldn't get a good angle with the MEC catalogue, I'm not sure. In any case, I covered it up and left it there.
The next night, I called upon my husband, who has no fear of any bugs and mocks me heartily for mine. "Please dispose of a moth" I said. "You've got to be kidding me" he said. "Nope."
I gave him directions and a magazine, and retreated to the other side of the bathroom door. I was pleased to hear some of the same screeching and waving and thwacking and crashing that usually accompanied my moth-attacks. I couldn't resist poking my head in to watch the fray, though I suffered at least one moth-bounce to the face for my curiousity.
Finally, it was done. Over. Finite. Requiem for a moth.
Poor Steve: "it was beautiful. Beautiful. It was beautiful and I killed it."
"Oh well."
*flush*
I love my husband, first for killing the moth, then lamenting it.
But I hate the moths.
Well then.
A letter to Grandma via R&T and the glowing box
July 13, 2007
Hi guys,
Sorry to be tardy in reply, but it's been crazy at work and too hot at home :-(
I'm glad Grandma is doing well and I hope you get her out and about a bit. Actually, 22 degrees sounds a little nicer than the mid-30s which is where we were on Tuesday. It's been a perfectly acceptable 25ish since then, but I sit in the airconditioned office with a sweater on and get out into the heat completely un-accllimatized and just swelter.
We've gotten out a few times for walks, including a short but relatively steep one that leads to Langdale Falls. You can use a rope to get right into the ravine and down into the creek and get quite close to the falls. Next time we'll go right up to the falls -- we would have gone all the way but the underwater rocks are very slippery and we didn't take poles. We still slithered around a bunch and had a great time.
We also went down into the ravine of Roberts Creek behind the Legion. It is much shorter but it has a little pool that you can swim/wade in. Steve went all the way in but he's crazy. As I was easing into it, a bunch of kids came in and stirred up all the mud, so we left before I had to dunk. Whew!
We also went down to the beach in Davis Bay and hung out in the sun a tiny bit, and waded in the surf.
We've enjoyed bombing around in the jeep too -- we took the top off and I promptly got sunburned. Ah well. Steve is just tanned. Fortunately, I don't hold grudges. Too much.
We're lightly considering trading in my computer (selling it) and getting a laptop -- it will be much more practical when we're in a one-bedroom apartment (having two workstations set up will be cramped) and we also want to take one to Turkey. Having a laptop will save on phone cards and memory for Steve's camera. How much is your teacher discount? Could we buy it through you?
I'm glad the album came ok. I had meant to send it Express Post but we only had three people in on the Tuesday so I didn't get the chance to go to the post office -- I didn't even get lunch! Fortunately I was able to send it by courier. Did it arrive on the Thursday? They said it would.
I'm so pleased that we got so many great photos. The last cd that I'm expecting came in from Jody & Julia, so I think that's all the photos we'll be getting. Considering we didn't get a paid photographer we got a shocking number of excellent shots -- Steve says maybe even more than we would have with a 'real' photographer. Yay for our friends!
Steve and I have had a lovely time planning our trip to Turkey -- we've made adjustments to our itinerary and are going to spend four nights at a beautiful hotel called the 'Canada Hotel' in a little tiny town called 'Cirali' (pronouned Chir-ali) that is right on the mediteranean near Antalya. It is near Olympos but is bordered on both sides by protected areas (sea turtles lay eggs there) so is small and quiet. From there we can hike the Lycean way and go look at the Chimera (gas vents in the mountain) at night. The owners are a man who grew up in the town and his wife, who is from Calgary. They have been very helpful already in giving directions etc.
We're also going to spend a day hiking the Ihlara Valley where they have about a million churches -- ok, 40. Still, it will be a great day. Apparently it takes 6 hours to walk two kilometres. I guess that's because you have to take a look into 40 churches.
We've put all our savings and all the money we got as gifts into a GIC that will mature the week before our trip. We think we might have enough for a carpet, if it's not too big and we're not too picky. Well, so long as we're careful with other things.
We got the china cabinet in the house along with the china, but we haven't had a chance to put all the stuff in it yet. Our house looks like a bomb went off -- we're doing a big post-matrimony purge of all our doubled stuff plus books and clothes and, well -- all kinds of crap. We're planning a garage sale in two weeks, so in two weeks everything will be lovely. Until then -- not so much. As soon as we get everything set up, we'll take a photo and send it off to Grandma. In the meantime, the cabinet still looks lovely and we're very pleased to have it.
I'm at Di's right now listening to amazing music -- Di had her solo harp concert this afternoon down at the pier and it was magical. The air was calm and warm but not hot and the music floated over the water. I'm drinking Corona with lime and feeling very summery. The only fly in the ointment is that I'm all itchy: something feasted on my feet last night and I'm not quite sure what. Ordinarily mosquitos aren't interested and I'm pretty sure we don't have fleas (and fleas don't like me either) and I have no idea what it was. I even made a paste out of the baking soda we had in the work fridge and smeared that on but it didn't help much (and the white powder all around my desk might look a little suspicious). Perhaps it is the mosquito in the ointment?
We've been eating strawberries with bananas and honey and yoghurt for weeks now. Months ago, I watered and fertilized that little strawberry patch under the cedar tree in the front yard and it paid off big! There's nothing like a fresh strawberry warm from the sun.
Soon it will be blackberry season and judging from the flowers, it will be a bumper crop. As I was driving to work this morning, the road was wet from a rainshower, and the smell coming through the windows was intese: a deep musty moldery smell that was familiar and not unpleasant. I racked my brain and finally realized: it was the smell of a blackberry thicket. I hope there is not a bumper crop of thorns.
Anyway, this has been a very long quick note.
Do pass our love on to Grandma and yourselves and Andrew and the other Browns and John & his wife etc. etc.
Take good care,
Lorien & Steve.
Hi guys,
Sorry to be tardy in reply, but it's been crazy at work and too hot at home :-(
I'm glad Grandma is doing well and I hope you get her out and about a bit. Actually, 22 degrees sounds a little nicer than the mid-30s which is where we were on Tuesday. It's been a perfectly acceptable 25ish since then, but I sit in the airconditioned office with a sweater on and get out into the heat completely un-accllimatized and just swelter.
We've gotten out a few times for walks, including a short but relatively steep one that leads to Langdale Falls. You can use a rope to get right into the ravine and down into the creek and get quite close to the falls. Next time we'll go right up to the falls -- we would have gone all the way but the underwater rocks are very slippery and we didn't take poles. We still slithered around a bunch and had a great time.
We also went down into the ravine of Roberts Creek behind the Legion. It is much shorter but it has a little pool that you can swim/wade in. Steve went all the way in but he's crazy. As I was easing into it, a bunch of kids came in and stirred up all the mud, so we left before I had to dunk. Whew!
We also went down to the beach in Davis Bay and hung out in the sun a tiny bit, and waded in the surf.
We've enjoyed bombing around in the jeep too -- we took the top off and I promptly got sunburned. Ah well. Steve is just tanned. Fortunately, I don't hold grudges. Too much.
We're lightly considering trading in my computer (selling it) and getting a laptop -- it will be much more practical when we're in a one-bedroom apartment (having two workstations set up will be cramped) and we also want to take one to Turkey. Having a laptop will save on phone cards and memory for Steve's camera. How much is your teacher discount? Could we buy it through you?
I'm glad the album came ok. I had meant to send it Express Post but we only had three people in on the Tuesday so I didn't get the chance to go to the post office -- I didn't even get lunch! Fortunately I was able to send it by courier. Did it arrive on the Thursday? They said it would.
I'm so pleased that we got so many great photos. The last cd that I'm expecting came in from Jody & Julia, so I think that's all the photos we'll be getting. Considering we didn't get a paid photographer we got a shocking number of excellent shots -- Steve says maybe even more than we would have with a 'real' photographer. Yay for our friends!
Steve and I have had a lovely time planning our trip to Turkey -- we've made adjustments to our itinerary and are going to spend four nights at a beautiful hotel called the 'Canada Hotel' in a little tiny town called 'Cirali' (pronouned Chir-ali) that is right on the mediteranean near Antalya. It is near Olympos but is bordered on both sides by protected areas (sea turtles lay eggs there) so is small and quiet. From there we can hike the Lycean way and go look at the Chimera (gas vents in the mountain) at night. The owners are a man who grew up in the town and his wife, who is from Calgary. They have been very helpful already in giving directions etc.
We're also going to spend a day hiking the Ihlara Valley where they have about a million churches -- ok, 40. Still, it will be a great day. Apparently it takes 6 hours to walk two kilometres. I guess that's because you have to take a look into 40 churches.
We've put all our savings and all the money we got as gifts into a GIC that will mature the week before our trip. We think we might have enough for a carpet, if it's not too big and we're not too picky. Well, so long as we're careful with other things.
We got the china cabinet in the house along with the china, but we haven't had a chance to put all the stuff in it yet. Our house looks like a bomb went off -- we're doing a big post-matrimony purge of all our doubled stuff plus books and clothes and, well -- all kinds of crap. We're planning a garage sale in two weeks, so in two weeks everything will be lovely. Until then -- not so much. As soon as we get everything set up, we'll take a photo and send it off to Grandma. In the meantime, the cabinet still looks lovely and we're very pleased to have it.
I'm at Di's right now listening to amazing music -- Di had her solo harp concert this afternoon down at the pier and it was magical. The air was calm and warm but not hot and the music floated over the water. I'm drinking Corona with lime and feeling very summery. The only fly in the ointment is that I'm all itchy: something feasted on my feet last night and I'm not quite sure what. Ordinarily mosquitos aren't interested and I'm pretty sure we don't have fleas (and fleas don't like me either) and I have no idea what it was. I even made a paste out of the baking soda we had in the work fridge and smeared that on but it didn't help much (and the white powder all around my desk might look a little suspicious). Perhaps it is the mosquito in the ointment?
We've been eating strawberries with bananas and honey and yoghurt for weeks now. Months ago, I watered and fertilized that little strawberry patch under the cedar tree in the front yard and it paid off big! There's nothing like a fresh strawberry warm from the sun.
Soon it will be blackberry season and judging from the flowers, it will be a bumper crop. As I was driving to work this morning, the road was wet from a rainshower, and the smell coming through the windows was intese: a deep musty moldery smell that was familiar and not unpleasant. I racked my brain and finally realized: it was the smell of a blackberry thicket. I hope there is not a bumper crop of thorns.
Anyway, this has been a very long quick note.
Do pass our love on to Grandma and yourselves and Andrew and the other Browns and John & his wife etc. etc.
Take good care,
Lorien & Steve.
Photos of Langdale Falls with commentary. Yes, commentary. I'm sorry.
LANGDALE FALLS PHOTOS:
The Falls:
Yes, water is falling in Langdale. Not a very imaginative name, I'm afraid.
Ahah! I got the camera:
He doesn't look very impressed right there, does he?
Slithering around on the rocks:
Don't laugh, but I broke my pedicure on those rocks :-(
I got the camera again and Steve obligingly looked all handsome in front of the falls. He didn't wreck HIS pedicure (ok, I couldn't convince him to come with for one).
This walk took the prize as the New Best Walk Ever for Angel, though she doesn't actually look that enthused in this photo:
She wasn't quite as into standing around on rocks, though.
She looks like a circus dog! Only unhappier.
I took the camera to take a photo of Steve using the rope assist. I love rope assists!
All in all, it was a very nice walk. And wade. And slither. And pedicure-demise!
The Falls:
Yes, water is falling in Langdale. Not a very imaginative name, I'm afraid.
Ahah! I got the camera:
He doesn't look very impressed right there, does he?
Slithering around on the rocks:
Don't laugh, but I broke my pedicure on those rocks :-(
I got the camera again and Steve obligingly looked all handsome in front of the falls. He didn't wreck HIS pedicure (ok, I couldn't convince him to come with for one).
This walk took the prize as the New Best Walk Ever for Angel, though she doesn't actually look that enthused in this photo:
She wasn't quite as into standing around on rocks, though.
She looks like a circus dog! Only unhappier.
I took the camera to take a photo of Steve using the rope assist. I love rope assists!
All in all, it was a very nice walk. And wade. And slither. And pedicure-demise!
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