Welcome newcomers and lurkers!
Please introduce yourselves.
The coffee will flow freely, and the breakfasts are guaranteed to be calorie-free.
There is absolutely no charge for the wi-fi – `cause we just hate that.
May the 4’s be with you
Come on in!
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Morning all! My back’s playing Old Harry with me again. Took me 30 minutes to get out of bed. This involved slithering backwards face down at a snail’s pace off the end of the bed onto my knees and using a chair to straighten up.
Slotted in 2mg of Sirdalud at 6am and am now able to shuffle.
So I’ve reserved the FBC sauna for myself and gents for an hour or so – and my Vertical Reality sauna is just heating up too. Spiritual and physical healing.
So excuse me if I don’t get up when you come in. ho ho (the Finnish form of he he/her her – being a genderless language) Ho ho ho is, of course, not a trio of ladies of ill-repute, but the jovial greeting of Santa Klaus . and you know in which country he resides when not out global sleighriding…
Ah, jeesh – I’m sorry Sven. The sauna is all yours, and that little bell over there? Someone will come running with a glass of water and some kick-ass painkillers – we’re at your beck and call.
Thanks! Just came out of the ‘real’ sauna and the pain has eased somewhat – but probably just the Sirdalud titrating thru my liver.
The sun is shining brightly, and its lovely and warm without being unbearable, so I think I’ll expose my back out in the cosmic rays for a bit.
Catch you all later.
Is kickass your ‘mot de jour’? 😉
Have to arrest you there Sven 😉
The team in Rovaniemi are but usurpers…
Sounds more like the home of Rove…
Anyway, the perennial battle for this particular claim to fame seems to involve most nordic dvellers:
But where are the Canucks?
Sorry to bring such highly charged issues to the breakfast table – have a great morning everyone!
But are you aware that Santa is in fact a shaman – all those dreams of flying. And the red and white costume – though invented comparatively recently, refers to the fly agaric mushroom used by the shamans for ‘transportation’.
And coming down the chimney – another shamanistic analogy of the passage thru the ponsfrom the cerebrum to the cerebellum.
Let’s not get into the talking raindeer, the industrious gnomes or the little packages that Santa brings.
The Tree of course represents Tapio the Finnish forest god, who is still ‘appeased’ in parts of Eastern Finland and Russia by gifts of cognac and cigars, left out in the deep forest. Finnish foresters formerly always apologized to a tree before they cut it down.
Greenland’s out – no fir trees. Norway’s short of the right type of hills. The Swedes have no sense of magic. Which leaves Finland. QED
“To the snow-fields shall I journey,
Leave the heroes to the woodlands,
On the way to Tapiola,
Into Tapio’s wild dwellings.”
Doesn’t buy you Santa,though 😉
I thought I had you befuddled by extraneous mythology there 🙂
BTTDB
Back to the drawing board…
Hey Sven…I am a Swede/Dane mix and I believe in magic…lol!
Oh yes – the magic of emigration!
But I do love Denmark. Prettiest girls in the world. I just want to get back to Aarhus again where I always have so much fun with the Kaos Pilots.
Mrs. Gooserock wanders the garden down below in this scene from our first lunch in Puget Sound 5 years ago. This morning is the same kind of weather, beautiful blue sky and water, vivid green trees, and temperatures in the lower 50’s.
Santa could do worse. I don’t know if we have reindeer around but we have plenty of northern-type peoples in the area.
(Actually Santa’s red-and-white costume was invented by the Cocaine Cola Corporation.)
Oh my heavens, this is just so lovely. Makes me yearn for that smell of the fir and the wildness of this whole picture.
GOOOOOD MORRRRRNNNNINNNNG, All…From the hot and humid state of Tennessee. Actually it has not been as humid as normal yesterday and have not ventured out yet to see about today. It is to get around mid 90’s and humidity rising. I got called in to work last night around 2030 & did not get home till 0145. I wanted to sleep in but my son, the cop, still working overtime, had to call and wish me HBD today is the big 60 for me. and by then I was awake good and proper. Up and drinking my coffee and reading the news and wishing for some good news today…Is there any? I hear more deaths yesterday in Iraq. When will this stop???!!! I hear that the Plame affair is just getting heated up more. So what else is there new on the front pages today?
I know what it is like to have back trouble. Man I feel so sorry for you! Have had back surgery and I can tell you the arthritis is bad nowadays too.
OK who is the chef here today. I am ready for breakfast….<looking around> I would like a refill of my coffee please…bs
Happy Birthday to you! My step daughter gave birth this morning to her first. Out of wedlock and not such a good situation, but a new life nonetheless.
I know…but the lovely sweet look of the newborn and the touch of their skin and smell of their breath and everything about them is just way too much to not love…right???? dont hold it against her…loe her and let her know you are there for her support and loving. Happy birthday to the new arrival….give the new one a hug and a kiss from me..please…
Aww…will do!
Thank you all for your BD words. Yes fir trees!!!! I love them….Has anyone been to the eastern shore of Maryland? They have some of the most beautiful pines ever. I love sleeping on a mattress made of them and smell the sweet aroma of the pine.
Nice summer cottage for the elves in Puget sound – hmmmm
Yes, you are right about Cocaine invention, but the artist had sources – that was what I was talking about.
But I want to draw your attention to the deeper, darker side of the Finnish Santa.
In Norway he is Julenisse (Yule goblin), in Sweden Jultomten (ditto). In Finland he is Joulupukki = Yule Goat. Note the direct sexual connotations – compared with the stunted, servile nature of the Nordic challengers.
Santa Klaus is a corruption of Hagios Nikolaos or Saint Nicholas, who attended the crucial orthodox re-editing conference in Nicea 325 AD which essentially split the Christian church into Orthodox (retaining the authentic rites) and Papal Christianity ( descended from Paulian beliefs). The Paulians were the Reader’s Digest of their day rewriting the belief structure according to political considerations.
Like all good pagans, The Finns humoured the evangelicals by suborning Christian ritual and beliefs into their existing beliefs. Deep down, Joulupukki is a reminder to reproduce!
(Damn these painkillers are playing old hokey with my mind…..)
Yes, I do have some Irish blood, so I can say that!
Anyhow, hope everyone’s feeling well this morning. My latest discovery for coffee is the organic Peru Norte from Counterculture Coffee. I’m having a cup right now….mmmmmm, good!
Coffee Traders.com is also a great place to order good coffee. I once had a mis-ordered item (my fault, sorta – there was some confusing language on the site at one time), which they replaced for no charge. Real nice folks…I recommend the Four Directions Blend. Some of the proceeds from that blend go to the American Indian Colllege Fund.
Also the Fair Trade Coffee: Central American Beneficio at CoffeeAM is another of my favorites.
Blueneck! How ya’ doing? I haven’t seen you around much… I’m ashamed to say that I still haven’t checked out the disc golf places you pointed me to – I’ve no excuse.
Excuse me for a sec.. all this talk about coffee… my personal fav? Kick Ass Kicking Horse Coffee – I love Kicking Horse – organic, shade-grown, fair-trade, etc.. but I get Kick Ass flavor um..well…just ’cause. 😉
– I’ll be making a cup now…
Hey zander! I was gone for a week, visiting an old friend in Michigan. I drove up, stayed for a few days with him and his wonderful wife and two children. The 1800 miles of driving took a lot out of me and it has taken a few more days for me to get back ahead of the curve so I can spend some time doing things I wanna do, like visit and contribute to this great site!
It’s good to see you here on this bright but muggy morning in central Mississippi.
Where do you get that kick ass coffee?
Good morning, all! Anything in the papers over there about a blizzard in hell? Because the last time I was up this early on a Sunday was — well, I can’t remember when.
I need a double-extra-large black coffee, please.
hey Jenn, heard about it yesterday…blizzard that is…heard that the devil was giving a discount to his resort to the bush administration..I heard Rove stating it was not where he wanted to go for his vacation this year…but who knows…he might change his mind….:o) since there is a blizzard there….:o)
Good morning. It’s a gorgeous day here–not as miserably humid/hot as it’s been for days now. Just nice–sunny, cerulean skies. Perfect day for a hike, which I’ll be taking shortly. Going to tramp through the woods and observe something larger than myself.
In the meantime, I’m slugging down coffee, reading newspapers, and watching my children sleep. Bliss!
Now somebody who can use the word ‘cerulean’ in the right place, without a hint of embarrassment, is clearly indicative of the artistic achievements of the FBC incumbents 😉
There are certain words I love that I don’t get to use often enough because they are specific.
Three that I can think of immediately are:
cerulean
viridescence
chatoyance–I find it amazing that there is a word in the English language that describes that weird glow in cat’s eyes.
I haven’t slipped ‘murmur’ into a conversation recently, though it is one of my favourite words.
Funny – I was going to answer you with ‘viridian’ as applied to the algae that sometimes ruin sea-swimming on the Finnish coast.
Now if you want a very specific word, it’s ‘phosphene’. I only get to use it when talking about Salvador Dali, since he was influenced by this visual phenomenum. It is the strange electric colour patterns seen when pressure is applied to the retina.
phenomenon
The change in the weather has been delightful here in SE PA! We’re doing some yard work and heading off for either a bike ride or rollerblading adventure (depending on which sets of wheel make it into the car to head off to the park).
Hope you have a wonderful hike!
‘morning all…anyone else still burning the midnight oil 7+ hours later, or am I surrounded by early risers?
Ya caught me! As I am mostly involved in creative work of my own these days, I have no clock to punch. As such, I drift around….work ’til I drop, then sleep til I get up. I do make allowances for regular family time, but not much else… How ’bout you? How do you explain yourself?
P.S. I have often thought that I have a “nightwatcher” gene – you know, the tribe members who stay up and tend the fire and watch for wolves and things that go bump? That’s me.
That’s so funny! Slacker and I have talked about this just recently – and agreed that we both belong among the fire-stokers.
I’m convinced it’s a real thing. Somebody had to have a weird body clock to protect the sleeping tribe, right? It just so happens I also have the “serious fascination with and mesmerization by flames” gene, too….. go figger…?
My body clock was apparently set in a parallel universe. This was no problem when I was a student and could choose night classes or worked in an emergency room – second shift. But it is not conducive to typical family life. I did go to a doctor with some expertise in the area. He said the condition is quite real. He put me on sleeping pills with strict instructions to adhere to a normal schedule 7 days a week, regardless of being able to sleep in on the weekends. This was supposed to reschedule me, but he admitted there was a low success rate for us night owls. Anyway, I loved the pills, slept late on the weekends, and accomplished nothing.
I kinda think that approach is a sign of a discriminatory society (I’m really serious), akin to the way psychiatrists used to treat homosexuality as a mental disorder. Both have a consistent prevalence of about ten percent of the population, give or take.
-Alan
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Support Hugo Chavez: Fill up your car at CITGO!
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I did a double take when I read that one too! Shoulda known someone else would come up with that theory as well…
-Alan
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Support Hugo Chavez: Fill up your car at CITGO!
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I’ve always been a night person, which is very handy for Irish trad music–but I’m also a morning person too. If I don’t overindulge during music time, I’ll naturally wake up around 5:30-6 or so and stay active till around lunch.
I must have my lunchtime nap, and I’m really not much good for creativity or serious problem-solving for some hours afterwards. If I’m vacationing I nap a lot during this period. Then I start waking up after dinner and close to sundown (in the time of year when the latter follows the former).
Hmm, maybe these are old time sailors’ genes.
blueneck, and all. . .Who knew there were so many of us fire stockers still left in this day and age!!!! Nice to have a gathering of the Tribe.
Morning,fire-stokers and coffee-makers!
I just read a couple of interesting factoids about S.D.O’C.
Do you know that Justice O’Conner leads aerobic classes for women who work at the Supreme Court? This cracks me up. Gee, that robe must make it hard to move.
And. . .there’s a profile of her in WaPo today, written by a former clerk, and it says she makes the clerks emerge from the ivory tower and personally takes them on field trips to see actual living human beings in our native habitats. The idea is that when she’s gone it will leave in charge the legal Lego-builders, like Scalia and Thomas, who never met a theoretical structure they didn’t prefer to flesh and blood people.
In my native habitat it is raining and cool. Bliss.
Legos. . .reminds me of all the times I bribed my son with them. NOTHING could take him so instantly from unhappy to happy like a new set of Legos. Now we don’t know what to do with all the ones he built. He’ll never use or display them, but we can’t bear to throw them away, either. And giving them away. . .can’t do that yet, either. So an entire shelved closet is taken up with dusty Legos.
I planned on sleeping late this morning, but my son left to go motorcycling and the noise woke me up, so here I am, 5 hours later.
Thanks Zander for starting this dairy, you did a swell job of setting up the cafe this morning..no extra’s tho I see, no papers, no foot stools, oh I forgot that’s what the toad stools are for..
I am feeling in a need for flowers today, so I think I will run out and pick up some and be right back…
Good morning folks. My cat decided it was time for me to feed him at o’dark thirty(5am). June gloom is hanging on still but should turn into a beautiful SoCal day by noon. I wandered the Farmer’s Market yesterday and treated myself to two bouquets of fresh flowers and a beautiful hanging plant for my balcony garden. The gal I bought it from told me what it is but now I have forgotten the name. It has pretty purple flowers cascading down and is very full and can take the afternoon sun well. It was only $8.00! I also purchased fresh organic letuces, summer squash, sweet corn, tomatoes and a chunck of fresh ahi. Looking forward to my dinner tonight already.
In anticipation of the food fest tonight I am off for a long morning walk on the beach. Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday and will catch up later.
How about a campfire, story telling session later this evening?
G’morn’n all from the panhandle of Fl, where it is 84, and a tad overcast.
Hav’n fresh ground coffee, watch’n my son and dog in the canoe on the lake trying his luck for fresh fish this morn’n. (old yellar, the dog, is mak’n sure he does it right ; )
Breakfast: We’ll be having fresh frog legs,(went on the hunt last night, and got a few) free range eggs, sour dough toast, and home made muscadine jelly….mmmmmm..mmmmmm, Hoooooooo Laaawwwdd
Supper: This afternoon, fresh wild pig on the smoker, sweet tater’s, fresh snap pea’s, and some hoop cheese, fresh batter bread done in the dutch oven on the smoker.
So if’n yur a pas’n thru, just hollar real loud, and c’mon back heah in da swamp, and have some feed, kick yur shoes off, yur clothes, and jump in the spring fed lake. (don’t worry bout dem gator’s,,,LOL..I gots dem where I can watch’m…in da freezer ; )
Fireworks will be provided via: Shot gun, rifle, pistol, from the back of a 4wheel drive 😉
ps. I’m sav’n the dyny-mite fur fish’n …LOL
HAPPY 4TH WEEKEND TO ALL…Remember what it’s all about, and the battles then, and now, to maintain it ; )
QUICK, EVERYBODY!! TUCK YOUR LEGS UP UNDER YOU!!
LMAO…hell these here frogs all come from Flawda,,,,damn Repug Frogs anywho….LOL..I love to see them crawl around without their jumpers…hopefully what we’ll see in 08, as their frog marched outta the White House…and into Gitmo !!!
Okay then, Florida Republican frogs, whew. lol
Do you remember the classic Gahan Wilson cartoon in, I believe, The New Yorker:
Scene: restaurant
Diners eating frog legs.
They widen their eyes in horror as they see little legless frogs coming out of the kitchen on crutches and little rolling carts.
yes, I remember it well, had it hung above my desk for many years. Great Cartoon, glad to see others enjoyed as much as I ; )
thanks for the memories
My second fav, and I think it was a Wilson cartoon, too, is appropriate to today’s discussion about Santa. 🙂 Remember this one. . .?
Couple standing in front of their fireplace.
Inside the fireplace we see crumpled skeleton in Santa Claus suit.
One spouse says to the other: “So that’s what has been clogging up the fireplace all this time.”
(Not a direct quote. I can’t recall the exact words.)
yeppers, and by the way, what the hell has happened to good cartoons these days? just don’t seem to be as many around, or maybe I’m just not being “aware” hmmmm…must be all the gloom and doom these days ; )
I am mad now…I just went to my garden to check on my 2 almost ripe tomatos, only 2 of the 3 my plants have brought to maturity and they were gone. Not a trace of them, not a seed or piece of skin left anywhere, just snipped them off with some teeth and carted awaw…By the way they were very large, about 4 inches across. I suspect squirrels or possums…Could not have been a human as the entire yard is enclosed. The same critter has been eating my young tomato plants to the ground.
Aarrgghh!!!!
Last year, the squirrels would come onto my deck (two stories up), pluck a tomato, eat half of it, and then leave the other half on my deck railing to taunt me.
Yesterday I noticed one apple missing from my baby apple tree, and the day before that the rabbits ate an entire cosmo plant!!
It is so frustrating, finally after two years, 2 beautiful tomatoes just days away from full ripening, I last checked on them at dusk yesterday and today I could not believe my eyes…
I think the have a heart trap will be coming out today…
Can you say raccoons?…I knew you could. Classic pattern…they don’t take em till they’re ripe…buggers!
Sitting in the courtyard…I am lovin’ this wi-fi stuff…big mug-o-joe and no plans…yes! Beautiful day here – have a look: ps: home is left center in trees…
WEBCAM
Also, in homage to the chain of t-storms that rumbled over here last night a put on an amazing light show as they moved eastward off the mountains, issue 2 of “terra art” for your visual enjoyment:
Lightning Gallery
Peace
Cool! Have you seen “War of the Worlds” yet? When you do, that lightning storm will take on a whole new meaning, lol.
Yeah, we get some very serious lightning up here, IMS Co ranks second in lightning deaths behind Florida. I have had the great misfortune of being in several of them in the wilderness, and can personally attest that if you’re above tree-line it is VERY SCARY!
Fun to watch from a distance tho…have a great day!
Peace
Hi everyone! I’m sorry I deserted my post last night. Our router went down 3 times last night and I just couldn’t make myself tell Mister Katiebird (I call him Mister) that last time.
He fixed it a few minutes ago, so I’m rockin’ now!
Good morning everybody! Coffee Coffee Coffee!!! How’s everyone today? Doing fine, I hope. ENJOY!
Thanks Kansas….just wondering if I can blow out all the candles….<taking deep breath> here goes…whew not enough wind for that one…be…anyhow thanks now have a peice of the cake with your drink.
Good Afternoon Froggies and Froglettes – Great Froggie Logo, Zander!
Virtaul 4’s to all! And big birthday blow out wishes.
Playing catch up since Friday my son came down with a headache and flu symptons and 102 fever (which we managed to get down Saturday). Thanks dawg for Xbox for days like he’s having.
Just trying to stay cool and read email.
I can’t seem to find the library link that was shared in the Thur. Cafe. I’d love to be able to check it out. oops found it thanks KatieBird!!!
Hope all stay safe and sane this weekend.
Diane101 I’m having an almond roca sou frozen frappe :)Cheers!
Hey Janet, help me out in the Welcome wagon diary and see if we can get newbies and oldsters posting again…So post you bio, the last time you did was months ago, everyone else too, do it again….
Some of you thought we needed one again, so help me out here.
I wish I had one of those drinks, maybe I will make a frappe later, if I can ever get off this site and to my kitchen..
And hi!!!!!
Hi Janet (or do you like to be called Damnit?)! I didn’t see this message until now. I knew someone was looking for that code! I’m glad you found it.
is beginning on Sundance here right now.
(Sorry, this is as close as I could find to an open thread.)
I wish I got that channel!
I’m a man…
Of wealth and taste…
Did I get that right? It’s been awhile.
I hear a beat. How sweet!
(The Tin man just showed up)
.. on TMC
Question from the back of the room: what happened to the link to hidden comments? I know there are only a handful, but I just noticed that I can’t find the link.
I just noticed a couple of days ago too. I think they may have disappeared entirely during the last site improvement, but I really have no idea.