HAPPY YULE!!!!!!!!!

 I wish you a blessed Solstice. May your holidays be full of light, laughter, and love.

X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Clow, M.; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand

Via NASA:

In addition to this cosmic wreath, a new version of the “Christmas tree cluster” is also now available. Like NGC 602, NGC 2264 is a cluster of young stars between one and five million years old. (For comparison, the Sun is a middle-aged star about 5 billion years old — about 1,000 times older.) In this image of NGC 2264, which is much closer than NGC 602 at a distance of about 2,500 light-years from Earth, Chandra data (red, purple, blue, and white) has been combined with optical data (green and violet) captured from by astrophotographer Michael Clow from his telescope in Arizona in November 2024. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.

So an uncaffeinated Rabid Librarian

is a sluggish Rabid Librarian, indeed. I had no caffeine this weekend, and I dragged all day. I don't even remember what I did Saturday, other than wish my aunt a happy birthday. YKWIA and I may have gone to the store, and I picked YKWIA and A from somewhere they'd gone to have a date out. Beyond that, I can't remember. And Sunday it took me 8 hours to do the cleaning I normally do in 2-3. (We visited a lot, too, and I did laundry, both mine and his, but still, it shouldn't have taken so long). I just couldn't seem to go any faster. Then we worked on something we'd planned to do, finished that, and it was too late to watch the Netflix movie, which I have kept with me, and maybe we can sometime this week. Our queue has dwindled quite a bit, and I'm considering cancelling the DVD plan. We didn't use it for awhile, and we have of late, but still, we average a movie a week at most. I'll think about it anyway. My streaming plan is going up by $2, and I think the DVd plan is about $8, so that would offset the increase. Every little bit helps. I just put my last $4 into the car as gas. I have 55 cents in the bank until late Wednesday/early Thursday. I'm just hoping that eighth of a tank of gas will last until then.

Anyway, I'm sorry, as a result of not having caffeine, I really didn't blog this weekend. Sorry abou that.

Last night I was itching quite a bit, but was so tired when I got home that I didn't register much other than I had some bumps on my abdomen. This morning I looked at it, and they are red spots with white, blister-like centres. There were two big ones, maybe two small ones forming. At first I thought maybe I'd gotten an infected injection site, but that's never happened, and I always use a new needle, etc. Now I did scratch myself accidentally with a needle, come to think of it, in that general area, but still, that wouldn't explain four places. Then I thought, maybe I'm having a outbreak of shingles. I have had chicken pox, I'd had a headache and was tired all weekend (but that could easily have been the lack of caffeine for both), and they were on one side of my stomach. But though they hurt when touched, they didn't hurt a lot, like shingle pain is normally described, but itched instead. Still, it could have been a mild case. But the more I investigated, the less likely that seemed--shingles are normally blisters appearing on a raised irregular red sort of shelf on the skin, going along the nerve. These were individual and spaced out. Really, the most likely thing is either folliculitis--an infection of the follicles, or some other skin infection. So instead of going to the doctor with something I'm pretty sure is minor, I'll just keep them clean, put some Neosporin ointment on them, and keep them covered with bandages, and I think we're good to go. That way in the unlikely chance they are shingles, I won't infect anyone (you can't catch shingles from another person, but in rare cases, you can have someone who hasn't been vaccinated or had chicken pox get that, as it is the same virus). I did check since I work in a children's hospital even though I'm not in direct patient care, and covering them is sufficient. So either way, it should be okay. Hopefully they'll clear up quickly.

I got an e-mail today saying that Kroger was reviewing my application. Yay! Hopefully I'll hear from them soon.

Tomorrow I take YKWIA to an appointment and hopefully get my allergy shots.

I took some of the recipes I'd found and put them in an Android phone application, and it's nice. It can be backed up to Dropbox and you can import them from web pages, although I've noticed it imports everything but the actual ingredients most of the time. Maybe it's not fully compatible with every cooking web site. But I've gone in an added those, and that's not too bad, especially as it gets the directions, which tend to be more of an issue.

Tonight I dug around in the pantry and found some Easy Mac, which I made in the microwave. It doesn't require anything other than the noodles, water, and powder pack. Now, this was one of the things I was given in a gift basket when I broke my ankle after being hit by a car...four years ago. It pretty much tasted like that, too. I did put about a half a teaspoon of butter in it and it made it creamier and mitigated the flavour a bit. But, hey, that was dinner.

I was going through a cookbook I had out from the library, and there was a great recipe for roasted peppers with baked eggs, and it had an ingredient I had never heard of--harissa. So I looked it up, and it's a paste made from chiles, spices, and olive oil, with some garlic and various other optional ingredients. It's North African. You put it in a jar and cover it with olive oil, then seal the jar, and it keeps for a month. Whenever you use it, you just put a little more oil over it. The spices were cumin seed, coriander seed, and caraway seed. You toast those, grind 'em up in a mortar and pestle (which I have) or coffee grinder (which I don't), and then put them in a food processor with the chiles (which have been soaked in hot water, with the stems and seeds removed, then you put in a little olive oil and process till you get the right consistence. Then you follow the procedure above with the jar and the olive oil. I think I'm going to try it.

So, the idea when I get paid is, along with all sorts of bills that I will pay, is to try to save money and eat healthier by cooking real food. So far I have some meals planned over the next two weeks, if I can afford the ingredients:

1. Whole wheat honey bread
2. Eggplant penne pasta
3. Potato leek soup
4. Salmon with blackberry-ginger sauce
5. Asparagus frittata
6. Roasted peppers with baked eggs (which requires the harissa)
7. Zucchini au gratin
8. Quinoa salad with avocado
9. Roasted onion and garlic potatoes
10. Slow-cooked beans (with fresh dry beans this time)
11. Lentil cashew pilaf

Breakfast will be Greek yoghurt with berries, or sometimes boiled eggs and toast. I want to get some carrots and celery and string cheese to snack on. Not every meal will be home-cooked. Some lunches might just be peanut butter and the no-sugar added spreadable fruit, with maybe soem popcorn or a piece of fruit. But I am going to try to cook more and eat more vegetables.

Okay, I'm still a bit hungry. I Think I'll have some multi-grain crackers and peanut butter, despite having already brushed and flossed my teeth. I also got all my pills put into their reminder box (I'd forgotten to do that last night, and didn't have what I needed today), stocked up my insulin so I have enough, have taken my nightly Lantus, and have stocked up on pen needles. I think I'll head on to bed soon. My computer did a bunch of updating when I first turned it on and only has about an hour's worth of charge now, so I"ll go plug the laptop up.

PS Hope you have a happy solstice (summer, or Litha, for the northern hemisphere, or winter for the southern) AND a happy full moon, as they coincide today, the first time since 1948, or so said one story I read. Also, if you're in the southwestern US, try to stay cool. THe heat wave is predicted to go up to 122 degrees in Phoenix, for example. That's insane. I used to live in the desert, and 110 was not that bad, really, but at 120 they start grounding planes because the rubber tyres start to melt. Remember, please think of your pets, whose bare paws can burn on hot asphalt and cement. I've been through some rough heat waves (over 65 days of over 100 degrees in Kansas, where there's enough humidity to make that horrible and a lot of people died throughout the midwest that year (1980)). Also, avoid throwing cigarette butts out of the car or anything else that could spark fires, as they're almost impossible to fight in those conditions. Good luck!

A little Solstice music

Granted, I know it's meant more for Litha (Summer Solstice), but it does sing about the changes from Oak King to Holly King and back, and it's just all-around a nice pagan song.

Happy Solstice!

CC Gerbil

Here in the northern hemisphere, it is Winter Solstice. Good Yule! May your life be full of laughter, love, and light this Yuletide, and into the new year! We light candles and string lights on the longest night of the year to remind ourselves of the coming return of life-giving light.

For those of you Down Under, of course, happy Summer Solstice, and may you have warm and pleasant times.

Happy Solstice to you

Here in the North, we celebrated the longest day of the year. Down in the Southern hemisphere it's the longest night. No matter what it was for you, I hope you had a good one.

It kind of peeves me

that so many people seem to think the world is going to end on my holiday, Yule, the Winter Solstice (Summer Solstice in the southern hemisphere). Personally, I plan on enjoying the long night and short day because the world is not going to end. The sheer amount of lunacy and panic I've seen in the news of late regarding this is amazing. Just wanted to be on record for saying there are going to be some people with egg on their face come December 22nd.

I am not a wine connoisseur

In fact, I rarely drink any wine at all, except maybe a taste here and there, or mead, which is honey wine and not from grapes at all.

What I do, however, is often give libations of red wine in thanks for the answering of prayers, as well as my monthly religious observations. I try to give decent wine, but since I'm in no real position to determine that, and because my fortunes are sometimes fickle and it's difficult sometimes to get the wine, the quality may vary.

The other day a friend gave me a ride to the store and I'd mentioned getting wine. The closest place that sold wine was a drugstore, and I went in and quickly got a pinot noir that was at least from Italy, but was about $13 for 1.5 litres, so I figured it was probably passable. What I didn't expect was that it was actually corked. I opened it a little while ago, and although I have a super-duper corkscrew (the type where you screw it in and then push down on things on the side to get it out), it was an abnormally long cork that wound up breaking in half horizontally, but I was able to get it out without getting pieces of cork in the wine. Then I couldn't re-cork it, and so I stole a cork from an empty mead bottle I keep for decoration in the kitchen.

Sometimes I think the Greeks had the right idea with amphorae.

Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise. And the wine has a very nice bouquet. I didn't have any (the tannins in red wine don't go well with my taste buds), but I think it worked out fairly well.

I seem to be having all sorts of trouble opening things of late. Yesterday there was the Classico vodka pasta sauce that I could not break the seal on by dinging with a knife and actually had to pry a tiny bit on the lid with a flathead screwdriver until the seal broke.

This is why I am destined not to rule the world. That and I'm minion material, I'm afraid.

Okay, so the solstice is officially here (it was at 12:3O EST). Here's to longer days to come. Good night.

For those, like, me whose weather didn't cooperate

Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Here are some other great pictures.

Happy Solstice! Yay for the turning of the year back to longer days and shorter nights!

Just in time for Yule

The night before the solstice the sky will be a little spectacular as there will be a total eclipse of the moon.


Amazing spectacle: Total lunar eclipse Monday night: You may be able to see it from your backyard, if weather is favorable

For those of us in Eastern time, it will be most noticeable from about 1:30 to 4:30 in the morning. It will be totally covered in Earth's shadow at around 2:40 am on the 21st.

Meanwhile, the actual solstice will be right before midnight (universal time), or about 6:38 pm our time on Tuesday night, making Monday the longest night of the year. After the solstice, the nights will start to get shorter again and the days longer. The solstice, which for Pagans is called Yule (among others), is my winter holiday. If I don't get a tree tomorrow I'll light lots of candles as a way of having my own festival of lights, although that's really an Imbolc (February 2nd) sort of thing, too.

Anyway, the eclipse should be fun. I hope the sky is clear.

Hi there/sorry for the silence

I lost my Internet connexion last Saturday and didn't get it back till a few hours ago, whereupon I waded through over 1000 RSS news feeds on libraries, technology, and other topics. But I'm back. Here's what I would have posted if I'd been able to:

Sunday, Dec. 21st

HAPPY SOLSTICE! HAPPY CHANUKAH!

Today is the first day of winter, my holiday, and the first night of Chanukah, a friend's. I was there for the lighting of the first candle. It's a lovely festival of lights that I must admit is superior in its simplicity and wonder. If it weren't for the fact that the prayer includes 'Adonai' ('my Lord') I'd celebrate it myself. I guess I could say 'haShem' 'the Name' like the Orthodox do. But still, I'm not sure how the G-d of the Jews would feel about a pagan girl lighting the chanukkiyah.(It's not really a religious holiday per se...it celebrates a miracle, yes, but it's not up there with Yom Kippur. Christians assume it's an important holiday because it's around Christmas and they see that as important (ignoring the fact that Easter is a far more religiously important holiday for them), but it's rather minor. It is, however, fun, with dreidels, latkes, and family.)

When I got home from the game I put the holiday lights on and lit every candle in the place that would burn. Here's an especially lovely holder I have:

Basically I played soothing music, listened to a fountain, and enjoyed the lights. I didn't make any offerings or anything this year, but I will for the liminal point of New Year's, since my Patroness governs those.

Monday, Dec. 22nd

Today I worked the only day this week I will at the hospital. Brrr!!! It's cold. It's 6 degrees outside this evening and very, very, cold. Winter is definitely here.

Tuesday, Dec. 23rd

Today we had our Christmas party at the gas station. I took off from the hospital to go. We were raising money for the Children's Miracle Network, which helps hospitals such as UK Children's treat young patients. There was cake, music, and we even caroled. My boss wanted us to sing, but then kind of chickened out and had us singing in the office and I moved her out into the public area, which I was rather proud of seeing as I have terrible stage fright of my own. It was fun, although slow to get going.

As part of our holiday decorating, we decorated the bathrooms. Supposedly there is a contest within our district or region for the best decorated bathrooms. Two of us have gone to about five or six stores in our region and found not a single decorated one. We are beginning to think someone is pulling our boss' leg. But the bathrooms have been a real hit with customers. Women have come up and complimented us and one guy said 'Holy cow!' when entering. Here's a couple of examples--one from the women's (which was done in a green and red theme with evergreen garlands around the ceiling, stockings on the wall, garland around the mirror, and this setting on the commode:)

and the sink from the men's room (done in a blue and white theme, with lots of icicles and snowflakes)

Later in the night, we had rain that froze to the ground. Not freezing rain per se--the cars never had ice on them. The ground was just so cold from the last couple of days that roads, driveways, and walkways became a solid sheet of ice. I was the third person at work tonight and spent a lot of time salting the lot and acquiring more salt. Even so, those of us working nearly fell several times. (I almost did carrying a full propane tank, which would not have been good.) Needless to say, walking in the mulch was a good strategy. I-75 was totally shut down, so we got a lot of people asking for ways to get to I-64 or the Bluegrass Parkway from Man O'War, since we're not far from the exit where they'd routed people off the interstate. Turns out the split to I-64 was totally shut down because it was a solid sheet of ice. Even emergency vehicles were sliding. I later found out that a man was killed after stopping to see if someone who'd run off the road was okay. The first person was fine, got out of their car down in the embankment, and looked up to see a car stop up at the top. Then when the Good Samaritan up there got out of the car, he was struck by a truck and killed. Sad. New Circle Road wasn't much better. I sent one guy going down to BG parkway through town and out Versailles Road rather than try the limited access highways.

Fortunately by the time I went to get A that night, it had warmed and everything melted.

Wednesday, Dec. 24th

I got paid and went Christmas shopping, hitting three places with minimal trouble, including two in 'the world's biggest strip mall', also known as Hamburg Pavilion. You could not have dragged me to the mall, though, and although Bath and Body Works was out of something I wanted in Hamburg, I did not pursue it at the other location. I went to Barnes & Noble and picked up presents for three friends and then went to Sqecial Media for one friend and my mother and grandmother. The latter two got carved wooden boxes. My friend got an incense holder and nag champa incense. I won't tell you what I got at B&N since not everyone's opened their presents yet, but since they are all members of the game, you can probably guess if you've been reading. I'm also now a B&N member, so I get discounts. It was $25 but I saved over $7 in one transaction, so I don't think it will take too much time to recoup. And although I have much history with Joseph-Beth (our local chain), they just have gone downhill in terms of having things in stock and in their service and efficiency. I have long since concluded that they only hire idiots at Joseph-Beth (and the women all seem to have a similar 'look'), something supported by the fact that neither I, a professional librarian with good customer service skills, nor a friend, who is a reader and book collector who admittedly is not a people person but who is very efficient at finding things in the store and has walked employees through their own computer system) could ever get a job there.

Barnes & Noble, on the other hand, seems full of efficient people. Although I like the setting of Joseph-Beth better, B&N actually has books in stock, so you're not always having to special order. Which is interesting, as I'm pretty sure J-B has more space.

Anyway, having shopped till I dropped I made one final stop for wrapping paper, then came home and napped. I called my mother to let her know when I could come to Danville but got her as she started report at work and she called me back a couple of hours later. The 26th was best, so that's the plan.

Then I helped someone make green goo. It's a long story that doesn't bear repeating. Let's just say that spinach does not chop well in a Cuisinart. And I even got to take some home. :)

Thursday, Dec. 25th

Finally, a sunny day. It was quiet on the roads, of course. I worked for eight hours, from open to close on our abbreviated schedule at the gas station. We still had cake and music, and people were in the Christmas spirit and were very sympathetic to anyone working on Christmas day. I had volunteered; it's not my holiday and unlike some of the others, I don't have little kids to stay home with. Plus, it was double time, so it's as if I worked 16 hours in terms of pay, but it was a very easy shift.

Friday, Dec. 26th

I went to Danville to visit my mother and grandmother. My step-father was laying tile. (I'd brought his Chop House gift certificate as well--the one I won at the hospital Christmas party). It was a nice enough visit. I missed out on the meal they had yesterday, although my mother brought me her jam cake. Well, not quite jam cake--she forgot the jam this year! But it's a rather nice spice cake, anyway. :)

Everyone's fine. They liked their wooden boxes. My mom gave me an outfit, and it's actually purple and something I would buy for myself. It's a little dressy and would work well for a party. The pants are black velvet and a little flared. The blouse is purple velvet with a tie-back waist and the blouse has a definite shape to it, something you don't find in a 3X too often. The purple has little gold ornament on it.

Well, that's my week so far. Whew! It took awhile to write this post, as you can imagine. Hope your holiday was pleasant, and that you have a wonderful new year!

Happy Solstice!

Listening to:

'Mummer's Dance' by Loreena McKennitt


'The Bonny Swans'