What are you doing today?

Oh wow, the convergence was really neat last night, we busted out the telescope, got a good look (well, for a lower powered scope), the moon was big and bright and it looked amazing through the scope last night! We all just sat in the street for an hour :D Weather was nice, like upper 40s, we get the weather advantage being a couple of blocks from the ocean (and 2 from the intracoastal), warmer when it's cooler, cooler when it's hotter (inland).

We're also pretty isolated from light pollution, so it's a great location - it should be nicely visible the next couple of nights as well.
 
About to make the "final" Xmas supply run, mostly for cookie supplies, wife is doing a few different ones this year, they all sound pretty amazing. Big ham thawing in the fridge, final gifts arriving, doing a product runthrough this morning (followed by some rapid additional updates I haven't completed yet). Work, but fun.

54° F and sunny, so for the drive, the top stays down :D

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DT said:
I saw those last time I was in the hardware store for some plumbing supplies, I stood there having a DIY-er Geek moment over them, very slick.
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they are great. we have this crappy clvc stuff and it was a real pain to connect it. these guys just push on and they are easily removed too. I had to replace a frozen line in the middle of winter it was so much easier. replaced all the failed toilet valves too with good ones.
 
Clix Pix said:
Most of the time when I'm dining alone I am really not all that interested in the process: just heat up something, eat it, satisfy the natural needs, do the rinsing-up and then get back to what really interests me....
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I love to cook so it does all depend on what else I was doing when I realize it's going to be time to either induge in that activity or else start scrounging around in freezer for evidence of the last time I did that. But when it comes to eating a meal with some remembered respect for a family meal, sometimes I set up for dinner as if for on holidays at my grandparents' place... but other times (notably when I was in the middle of something fascinating in the studio but my stomach started growling!) I can even be found standing at the kitchen counter in front of the microwave eating whatever just got nuked in there off a paper plate. "Don't judge," I used to tell the cats, standing there in case something good fell onto the floor.
 
Dashed into the library to pick up my book (three more are "in transit" but I doubt that I shall lay eyes on them before Christmas, and, with more lockdowns planned, I may not meet them before the New Year), visit the Asian store, where a number of purchases were made (Jasmine rice, Sriracha mayo, galangal, Japanese ramen noodles, frozen lime leaves, lemongrass, and fish sauce; last week, I had purchased rendang paste, Sambal oelek, and kecap manis).

And Ethiopian coffee.

And beer, which shall be delivered presently.
 
Alli said:
Today, a Publix run.
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Whew. Just got back from there, it was a bit of a Charlie Foxtrot ...

Hahaha, I could tell the cashier was like, "OK, this is a lot of butter" (10 sticks ...), follow by, "Oh wow, this is also a lot of cheese ..."

I said, "Yeah, I'm sitting around the next two weeks eating a butter and cheese ..." :D

The drive, while short, was spectacular :cool:
 
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DT said:
Yeah, we're about really functional living, doodads, knick knacks, whatnot, that's not used regularly, we don't own, or cleaned out, heck, even the stuff that would've wound up in my hands from the folks house I gave away, sold, etc., just no interest.
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It’s interesting because antiques have always intrigued me. There was a surge In antiques in the 1980s. Maybe that interest will return. Dislike of old stuff in Japan allowed me to buy what I imagine to be a used very expensive wedding kimono for about $100 that we have on display in our dining room along with the massive China hutch.

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No idea why this photo is on it’s side.​
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Well, I use the crystal (my own, but also antique, Waterford, Lismore pattern) daily; my water and wine (and orange juice) are always served in crystal, the kind that gives a lovely pealing sound if you ping, or click, a finger at it); if you have the good stuff, such lovely stuff, why not use it every day and enjoy the sheer pleasure of using it, rather than reserving it for special occasions, sitting rigid with terror that it may, or will, break.

Likewise, silver. Use it, and enjoy it.

Besides, I like beautiful things, love beauty, elegance, craftsmanship, art, but - above all - I like to handle, or use, beautifully crafted things.


Just spent an hour catching up with my friends in Bristol; they had remembered about my mum, and wrote yesterday and today; so, we chatted at length this evening.
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We love our depression glass and crystal, just don’t seem to get it out to enjoy. :(
 
Well, for Christmas Day I am going to make a point of serving myself nicely, using the "good" stuff: the Spode Christmas plates, the sterling silver flatware, the crystal..... But for everyday, I tend to be quite casual!
 
Huntn said:
We love our depression glass and crystal, just don’t seem to get it out to enjoy. :(
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Use it; use it everyday, - it is designed to be used rather than simply admired - so that using it becomes "normal" rather than something reserved for, and reached for (with trepidation), solely on special occasions.

At the moment, the glass of mineral water I have to hand (always), is served in a large, Waterford crystal (Lismore pattern) highball tumbler, and all the better for it.
 
I know we've had this discussion before, SS, and I quite agree with you in theory but somehow I rarely act upon it! Once in a while I'll pull out a Waterford goblet or tumbler, even if it's only for juice or beer, but it is really the rare time these days when I get out the good china and silver. Somehow, yes, the beer or juice always tastes better in Waterford crystal! :)
 
Huntn said:
It’s interesting because antiques have always intrigued me. There was a surge In antiques in the 1980s. Maybe that interest will return. Dislike of old stuff in Japan allowed me to buy what I imagine to be a used very expensive wedding kimono for about $100 that we have on display in our dining room along with the massive China hutch.

View attachment 2009
No idea why this photo is on it’s side.​
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That's actually very cool to me, I have a real Kimono from the 60s, and several bits of really neat Japanese pieces, it's something I'm really into. My Great Aunt, who was quite a name in the Jacksonville area decades ago, collected quite a bit, I wound up with some. Of course, many Japanese items were lost/destroyed during/post WWII.

She had this one amazing chair, it's a red dragon, my folks had a wedding day photo shot with it, I wound up with it, and when I got married we re-created the same pose, with the same chair :) It's actually in storage now, while it's not displayed, it's one of the new rare things I'll keep.

I have a couple of items I need to get a better evaluation on, one is a Capodimonte porcelain plaque, the appraiser said at the time, he had seen one like it sell for ~$12K.

Oh, your photo probably just lost the EXIF orientation data or something ...

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DT said:
That's actually very cool to me, I have a real Kimono from the 60s, and several bits of really neat Japanese pieces, it's something I'm really into. My Great Aunt, who was quite a name in the Jacksonville area decades ago, collected quite a bit, I wound up with some. Of course, many Japanese items were lost/destroyed during/post WWII.

She had this one amazing chair, it's a red dragon, my folks had a wedding day photo shot with it, I wound up with it, and when I got married we re-created the same pose, with the same chair :) It's actually in storage now, while it's not displayed, it's one of the new rare things I'll keep.

I have a couple of items I need to get a better evaluation on, one is a Capodimonte porcelain plaque, the appraiser said at the time, he had seen one like it sell for ~$12K.

Oh, your photo probably just lost the EXIF orientation data or something ...

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I took the picture with my iPad, verify it’s orientation during upload, but then it comes out sideways in the post. How can I avoid that?
 
Huntn said:
I took the picture with my iPad, verify it’s orientation during upload, but then it comes out sideways in the post. How can I avoid that?
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Yeah, so this is a little tricky. When you take a photo with a "smart device", the relative up is stored with the image, so "up" us always up, even if the photo was taken with the camera oriented such that the image would be 90° left or right (or even 180° upside down). When you send the photo, whether that's Airdrop, uploading through a browsers, whatever, the OS and the interface by which the image is acquired, is supposed to coordinate and send a version that's been fixed so up is up :D

What are you using to access this forum? Browser? (if so, Safari, or something else like Chrome?) Tapatalk?
 
Clix Pix said:
I know we've had this discussion before, SS, and I quite agree with you in theory but somehow I rarely act upon it! Once in a while I'll pull out a Waterford goblet or tumbler, even if it's only for juice or beer, but it is really the rare time these days when I get out the good china and silver. Somehow, yes, the beer or juice always tastes better in Waterford crystal! :)
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Everything tastes better when served in a Waterford crystal glass, even mineral water.

And food is better - it tastes better and it looks better - on a proper china plate, or a decent piece fired by a potter.

The thing is - or, the trick is - to reconcile yourself to the fact that accidents may happen - and can happen - but to use them, - they were designed to be used, as much as admired - and to enjoy the use of them, on a daily basis.

When buying my Ethiopian coffee today, the staff wondered whether I wanted an actual cup of coffee as well. They, themselves, were drinking coffee, in beautiful pottery cups, - while one had a glass cup, with an elegant cork diameter - but they served (yes, Covid, I know, but I loathe to have to consume coffee - or beer, or wine - from plastic and paper cups) coffee to customers in paper cups.

Yes, I know that this is a necessary health measure, but it is so........uncivilised, so uncultured, and so unpleasant.

No, thank you.

I'd rather wait until my return home, when I serve myself coffee in a Le Creuset mug.
 
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