Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Women's World Cup & Court Cases

England Women are through to the semi-final...

Unbelievable.

And the US Supreme Court made the right decision at least three times last week.

Even more unbelievable.

Congrats to my US friends on achieving marriage equality.

Ze

Monday Ramble Time - A little late as it is now Tuesday because E is a flake

My apologies to Joan and the rest of you! I flaked on sending this out last night. So yeah, today you get two for the price of one. And gee I even had a ramble.

Joan has once come through with some words. Enjoy!
A Sociological Experiment

In cooperation with the EVAG (that's short for the public transport company in the town of Essen, Germany) a group of scientists from the local university wanted to know if people would stand up against discrimination of minorities.

They installed hidden cameras in a bus and then "reserved" the front rows of seats by putting up stickers that said "For assengers of German citizenship only". Then actors assumed the roles of a controller harassing someone "obviously" foreign who did not want to give up his seat.

We have all heard stories of crowds standing and watching people in distress and never lifting a finger to help them. When I initially heard of the experiment I thought, "Oh no. Not another one, please."

The result surprised me (and the scientists, too), though. In 80% of cases the unsuspecting passengers reacted quite sharply, some forcefully shouting "Stop that at once! Racism has absolutely no place here" down the length of the bus.

It' true, we have Nazis in our society. But we also have a lot of people with the moral integrity to stand up against them. A reassuring thought.

Joan

I would say a very reassuring thought. Society is an amazing thing as people might not like change but they seem to take it on if needed. Some obviously faster than others. But still very good to know isn't it.

And Joan thank you once again, always a pleasure. Sorry it is late everyone!

Peace, Health and Happiness.

Elisa

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Pride

We made it to the Seattle Pride Parade today. It started at 11am (we arrived downtown around 10). Our spot was pretty good. We stood behind several folks who had camped out a few hours earlier with chairs.

We stayed until about 1:15 and then headed home. E heard that only about 1/3 of the parade had passed us by this time. The bit of the parade we saw was full of happy folks marching in support of the LGBT community. I'm sure the rest of the parade was just as full of happy folks.

If we go next year we'll follow the example of those early birds and camp out with our chairs. I do love to watch a parade and the Pride parade is one of the most joyful I've ever seen.

Tamara

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Warm Day

In this part of the country anything over 80 is warm (I prefer 72 as the perfect temperature). Today and for the next few days mid 80's or higher will be the standard. It's summer. Tomorrow's pride parade is going to be a scorcher for me, but I have not seen one in so long I am expecting fun as well.

I got a very nice ramble to share with y'all on Monday. Until then, please enjoy your updates. Tomorrow I hope to take enough pictures to share...if you are interested let me know.

Thanks again and Happy Pride weekend!

Peace, Health and Happiness.

Elisa

Friday, June 26, 2015

Wow.

The Seattle Pride Parade is going to be even more crazy happy this year.

How can you be against this kind of happiness?

Tamara

Thursday, June 25, 2015

One Day to Go

Vacation is on the horizon. Two full weeks off for me. This is rare, like one time in numerous years. I am so ready for these two weeks.

Here is hoping you all are having a good week and enjoy your upcoming weekend. It's Pride weekend here and I am finally taking T to a parade she has never seen.

Peace, Health and Happiness.

Elisa

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Jupiter Meeting Venus

So... anybody else been watching Venus & Jupiter getting closer to each other??

I've been out there most evenings, with my telescope. Jupiter is so damned bright. If it wasn't stationary you'd think it was a plane or a satellite. Can't see it tonight, cloud cover is too thick.

Which also means I haven't a hope of seeing the Northern Lights. Not there was an awful lot of hope anyway, we're too far south really. I've never seen them. Never been in the right place at the right time.

I wish I had a camera capable of photographing it. Mind you, I've been saying that since the nine-planet-convergence of a few years ago. That was spectacular. All the other 8 planets (Pluto was still a planet back then) in a line across the sky. Fantastic.

And the England Women's football team made it through to the quarter-finals. Even more fantastic!!

Enjoy your updates. See you next week. Goodnight and may your God/s go with you

Ze

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The Grass is No Longer Green.

Well, Solstice/Longest Day has been and gone. It's all downhill from now on in my part of the world - nights drawing in, days getting shorter. Summer's barely begun and I'm already dreading winter. lol.

The Ferretone worked a treat. Even Arctic was still for a while. I got their claws clipped with no problems. And I even managed to pop some flea/worm/ear-mite stuff onto their necks. Amazing.

They enjoy their morning and evening playtimes. Ferrets do like to dig though. I'm glad we were never the sort of people who fuss over a lawn. Our grass was pretty rough at the best of times, never level, and with the odd bare patch. The bit of grass under their play-pen is history. There are holes, gouges, the beginnings of tunnels. And the grass is loose, dry, and going brown. It may never recover.

Ah well, look on the bright side - less to mow.

Ze

Monday, June 22, 2015

Darn

Not much for you tonight. Good news. Ze's curated reads are heading your way for the next couple of days.

Tamara

Sunday, June 21, 2015

End of Weekend

One more work week and than vacation begins. It most likely will make this week a long one. I will try hard not to let it. Here is hoping it goes fast and smooth, what are the chances?

Enjoy your updates.

Peace, Health and Happiness.

Elisa

Saturday, June 20, 2015

That Lucky Feeling

Today we went to the Shoreline Farmers Market. It's in a new location this year that allows for more vendors. To kick off the new location and larger size the market had a raffle of various products from the vendors. Guess who won that raffle? Yep, that would be E.

The funny thing about that win is she told me after she purchased the tickets..."I'm going to win." I believe she also told the young man who sold her the tickets the same thing.

Now if we could just replicate that feeling she got about winning the raffle to lotto....

Tamara

Friday, June 19, 2015

How far can we take the 2nd Amendment?

"A well regulated militia" what does that mean? Some think it means we can create hate anywhere in this country. But let's be clear, more often than not it is a white person who shoots up others.

Is this really what our forefathers meant? Read up on it.

May Peace be found amongst all the Grief.

Let there be change.

Elisa

Thursday, June 18, 2015

School's out for summer...

...well, for two of us it is. Cal's last day is tomorrow. Little e has been off since last Friday. I've been off since Tuesday.

What have I accomplished in my two whole days off? I saw Mad Max: Fury Road yesterday. I gave Max a bath and did a few household chores. Today I did a few more chores and finally reconciled my bank account.

This week I'm just enjoying being off. Next week I'll start in on the house cleaning before we head to Oklahoma for 10 days.

Tamara

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Burnt Knee

Tomorrow is the start of Ramadan. We wish all our Muslim readers and peaceful fast.

Sunday is Litha (in the north) Yule (in the south), we wish all our Pagan or Wiccan readers a good festival.

The weather is too hot and too humid. We need a good thunderstorm to clear the air.

I've got sunburn on my knee. Just a single line, on just the one knee. I was working outside all day. There was a rip across the knee of my jeans. I had sun cream on my face & arms but who the hell thinks to put sun cream on their legs when they've wearing jeans?? Especially just a single band of sun cream on the one knee.

Now I'm having to put after-sun on just the one knee.

It's daft.

Loads for you too read. See you next week. Goodnight and may your God/s go with you.

Ze

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Smiling

Note from Shatterstorm regarding the Femslash calendar Due to a lack of submissions and interest, as well as growing IRL issues for the mods, we are making a last minute executive decision to shorten the FemSlash Advent Calendar :: Dog Days of Summer 2015 and push it back one week. The calendar will now run from 20-26 June 2015 and carry with it a reduced minimum word count for fiction of 500 words, for those who still wish to paricipate.

.....................................

The ferrets loved their ball-pit.

Watching them play and tussle and jump in and out and run down their crackle tunnel is great. It never fails to lift my mood, make me smile or even laugh aloud.

So glad I've got them


Ze

Monday, June 15, 2015

2 Weeks Until The Next Vacation

The sun continues to shine in our city but I think a small change is headed our way. Rain may be in the future, most likely drizzle in our case. Probably enough to make the grass grow faster.

Have great week. Enjoy your updates.

Peace, Health and Happiness.

Elisa

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Request and Hype!

Claudia needs our Facebook power to spread the word....
Since the Xena Con in February, Bedazzled Ink Publishing has put out a few more wonderful stories in various genres. But first we need your help. Bedazzled Ink is going through some growing pains and is subsequently competing for a Chase Bank grant. Read all about it on our latest blog and please vote and SHARE on Facebook.

binkbooks.bedazzledink.com/blog/change-is-in-the-air/
or the direct link:
www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/b/16753

Many thanks in advance. -- Claudia

Just in time for summer!

Jody Klaire just released her 2nd book in The Above and Beyond Series, Blind Trust. It’s another Aeron Lorelei adventure complicated with her unwanted gifts.
binkbooks.bedazzledink.com/books/books-b/blind-trust/

Jordan Falconer pens an intriguing fantasy, The Duchess of Manusk. Elizabeth struggles to find answers to puzzling questions as the threat of war with marauding, neighboring armies looms ever larger and her fate is left in the hands of the mysterious maiden she found washed up on the beach.
binkbooks.bedazzledink.com/books/books-d/the-duchess-of-manusk/

Benny Lawrence’s Rabbits of the Apocalypse takes place in the remote desert town of Lafontaine. Casey Prentice has been trying to survive the endtimes by keeping her head down, refusing to give a damn about anyone except her younger sister Emily and wingman Malice Hiroyama. But that ceases to be an option when a powerful and mysterious entity known as the Anastasian League descends on the town.
binkbooks.bedazzledink.com/books/books-r/rabbits-of-the-apocalypse/

Popular short story author, Elaine Burnes's first novel Wishbone is a story of animal control officer Meg Myers’s dream of a real animal shelter and the women who complicate that dream.
binkbooks.bedazzledink.com/books/books-w/wishbone/

In Laurie Salzer’s In the Stillness of Dawn, the sequel to A Kiss Before Dawn, Chris Martel has recovered from her near fatal assault and has built Went Farm into a top-notch foaling farm and her partner Mary Jo takes over Doc Hall’s equine veterinary practice. But the long hours they are putting in and the drama of their past creates a strain on their relationship.
binkbooks.bedazzledink.com/books/books-i/in-the-stillness-of-dawn/

Doreen Perrine’s newest book, Kid, explores the discriminating Save Our Children campaign of the seventies, Lor’s ex-husband threatens to snatch their daughter Andy out of her life. Under the veil of fake names, mother and daughter are forced to go on the run.
binkbooks.bedazzledink.com/books/books-k/kid/

In Sandra Moran’s latest book, All That We Lack, four strangers, all traveling to Boston in search of better lives, are tied together in ways they don’t even realize. Each are trying to fill the void of what’s missing in their lives. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to overcome all that we lack.
binkbooks.bedazzledink.com/books/books-a/all-we-lack/

In My Neighborhood is a lyrical, humorous, and provocative book documenting Giovanna Capone’s search for a political and personal identity as an Italian-American raised in an old world traditional family, who later claims herself as a lesbian and a political activist.
binkbooks.bedazzledink.com/books/books-i/in-my-neighborhood/

Upcoming books include:
Xena Con fan extraordinaire, Pat Deihl, pens the story of the last 30 years of love and life in We Came Alive in ‘75 Debut author C.D Cain’s When It Raynes begins the saga of The Chamber of the Heart series.

Check our website for release information: binkbooks.bedazzledink.com

Happy summer reading!
Claudia
Now on to the update!

Tamara

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Comfortable Saturday...

...And a pleasant day. The weather is just right for me. Low 70's, some clouds, asmall breeze and patches of full sun. Day filled with ease. Some chores and some doing nothing. As it should be.

Hope your weekend is going well. Enjoy the update. Ze will return on Tuesday and overwhelm you once again.

Peace, Health and Happiness.

Elisa

Friday, June 12, 2015

18,520 Steps Today

Two more school days for me. My feet are ready for the break.

Tamara

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Vacation Day

Worked out great. Got a few chores done, spent some time with my daughter and took a very lovely walk with the doggie down to a park in our neighborhood. Temperatures were perfect in the mid 70's.

Tomorrow more of the same and perhaps even evening movie.

I love vacation time. Enjoy your slim update, go catch up with Ze's posts.

Peace, Health and Happiness.

Elisa


Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Clipping Claws

The ferrets' claws are getting a little long so it's time to trim them. Snow was easy to do - she'd lie on my lap and patiently wait for it to be over.

I somehow doubt these two lively youngsters will be so accommodating.

I did an online search for suggestions as to the best ways to do it - without traumatising the poor little beggars. I didn't want to wrap them up in a towel and scare them and make the whole process imprint on them that it's something to be avoided.

Several websites mentioned Ferretone, a liquid vitamin and mineral supplement. Apparently ferrets love it so much that if you put a few drops onto their stomachs they'll lie on their backs with their paws out and held still, while they lick the drops up. Allowing you to clip their claws easily.

I ordered a bottle.

And then I made the mistake of checking the rest of the site. Especially the Ferret Toys section.

You know what's coming next, don't you?? - Yep, I spent more money on ferret toys for my spoilt-rotten fuzzballs.

I ordered them a ball pit.

They're going to love it.

See you next week. Goodnight and may your God/s go with you.

Ze

Tuesday, June 09, 2015

Football

Women's World Cup...

Not a terribly good England performance - but there was some less than stellar refereeing in the game.

Fantastic work Nigeria. The attacking game against Sweden was excellent. (Some fairly dire defending from both teams though).

And on, I was stating to feel so sorry for Ivory Coast. A team of amateur players, in their first ever World Cup - and their first game is against Germany!! They never stopped fighting though, not even at ten-nil down. Great effort.

Ze