September 28, 2007
The Rains Cometh
I'm sitting in the Swamp Shack office at 1:30 AM, serenaded by rain pelting the roof. It came suddenly, since the sun shined earlier today and the weather was warm by seasonal norms.
These first autumn rains bring mixed emotions to denizens of the greenly damp Pacific Northwest: it's somewhat sad to see summer so soggily squelched, but on the other hand rain is our essence, our natural state of Being.
So, in a sense normality has returned... no doubt this rain will irrigate and nurture much creativity here at romyb.com! Also, the autumnal moisture brings forth abundant fruitings of fungus, and I keenly anticipate the forthcoming forest forays in search of succulent edible mushrooms. Carpe Diem! --r.
September 26, 2007
Breaking flute news
I'd promised to post some fresh flute news today, so here it is: we gotta lotta bamboo flutes, and really oughta try to sell a few of them someday soon. --r.
September 25, 2007
Baaaack
OK, we're back-- that was the longest stretch without a new entry in ages. Anyway, the equinox has passed, fall is upon us, and the full Harvest Moon is resplendent tomorrow evening. It's time to gather new energy and get this site moving again; summer is usually my least productive time anyway. It's no accident that the "arts season" traditionally begins as autumn's cooling trend sets in.
Still, this is a mere brief note, and we'll be back tomorrow with some actual flute news; busy with a number of other things right this minute. --r.
September 19, 2007
Where does the time go?
This journal has seen fewer words than ever posted over the last few weeks, for which we apologize. The Autumn Equinox is nigh, and once summer has officially ended we'll return intensively to site stuff... in fact, we're having an Equinox party this Saturday at the Swamp Shack, and as usual the entire Internet is invited. You have the coordinates; email for more details.
--r.
September 12, 2007
Never Employ Unnecessarily Florid or Ostentatious Phraseology when a Concise Expressiveness Would Suffice, Dude
Word.
--r.
September 11, 2007
The Axis of Pretty Bad
We've decided to compile an Axis of nations which are Pretty Bad, and the first nominee is *drum roll*-- SWEDEN!
As was noted in yesterday's entry, Sweden has the colossal gall to inflict a shockingly inferior cloudberry jam on the world via Ikea. This aggression will not stand, and you're either with us or against us: stand up for the reputation of subarctic berries and BOYCOTT SWEDEN!
Abba is another subject entirely, and I'll admit to a certain ironic fondness for that particular Swedish export. However, bad cloudberry jam is unforgivable. Sweden: charter member of the Axis of Pretty Bad.
--r.
Posted by Romy
10:34 PM PST
September 10, 2007
Still summer here
Whoa-- after a very cool summer, heat has returned to the Pacific Northwest; we're supposed to hit near ninety F. today. Of course that's nothing for naturally warmer parts of the country, but here it's exceptional for mid-September.
Still not much activity on the site; I've been unbelievably domestic for the past few weeks, and have made all sorts of canned jams, jellies, relishes, pickles, sauces, plus fifteen gallons of fruit wine fermenting so far-- and we're picking wine grapes this weekend to add about another ten gallons to the season's total. Surely the flute stuff and overall site activity will increase greatly once cool weather returns and the bounty slows a bit.
For example, I've kept track and have picked over seventy pounds of wild blackberries in the field across the river. Cool midsummer temperatures greatly extended the berry season, and this is the best crop I can remember seeing. Seventy pounds of blackberries? Well, about forty-five went into wine, and the rest are either frozen or turned into jelly-- and there are also those blackberries canned in port wine, come to think of it... actually, it's probably been over eighty pounds if you count the ones that were eaten fresh with vanilla ice cream, etc. Egad!
And by the way: Alaskan berries were praised in an earler entry, and cloudberries came up in comments. A bit of research revealed that Ikea sells cloudberry jam from Sweden-- and serendipitously enough, a brand-new Ikea store just recently opened in Portland! OMG, dude!!!
Unfortunately their jam flunks miserably. It's watery, insipid, oversweetened, and its overall quality falls light-years short of the stuff we used to make up in Alaska. Bad, bad Ikea: selling inferior products to unsuspecting customers! Those of us who know what subarctic berry jams should taste like are very disappointed in you, and you can kiss that bedroom-set purchase goodbye.
--r.
Posted by Romy
03:51 PM PST
September 5, 2007
Still slow on the site as summer winds down
Too much else going on these days to attend to online flute stuff. I'm making wine in considerable quantity this fall for the first time in several years, and already have ten gallons of berry wine fermenting away. Made arrangements with a vineyard to pick grapes sometime in the next week or two, depending on the weather, so our grape wine should be going by mid-September-- and by then Talk Like a Pirate Day will be upon us: it's on the nineteenth, mates!
Will duck back in tomorrow and try to touch on flute stuff briefly. Also, we attended a Stevie Wonder concert last Tuesday and I really need to write about that as well. Hint: it was quite impressive. --r.
Posted by Romy
09:36 PM PST
September 4, 2007
Lots to write about
Lots to write about, so we'll avoid that for now and just duck in to complain for a minute. I was up until past two AM last night deleting hundreds of porno-spam "comments" that were strewn promiscuously throughout every single gallery section.
Are you reading this, vile spam-scum? If you do that one more time, I'm coming over there to sodomize you with a splintered bamboo culm, torture your pets to death in front of you, smash your car with a sledgehammer, and then set fire to your house and throw your grandmother into the resulting inferno.
Seriously, isn't there something worthwhile you can do with your time? Sheesh... this is mildly annoying, so don't provoke me any further or I might concoct some REALLY severe reprisals.
--r.
Posted by Romy
11:19 AM PST
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