The ships or their passing, the fog or its drifting

[sovay]

Aside from the rather significant action of voting, yesterday was chiefly marked by a supermassive headache, which is why it is much nicer that today was chiefly marked by celebrating my birthday with the rest of my family. First thing, I raked a giant pile of dead leaves in my parents' side yard so that my niece could run and jump into it with a cry of "CHAAARGE!" and then paddle around as if in a crunchy maple-curling wading pool. After that, my brother cooked steaks for dinner and my father made them a sauce with shallots and brandy and for dessert my mother had baked an almond-flour cake with mandarin oranges and whipped cream and candy corn and pumpkins, the latter of which I was completely not expecting. I am now in possession of paperback copies of Forrest Reid's Denis Bracknel (1947), Rodney Garland's The Heart in Exile (1953), Barbara Hambly's Dead and Buried (2010)—for which I had been unsuccessfully scouring used book stores for four years straight—and a CD of Anna & Elizabeth's The Invisible Comes to Us (2018). Also a fabulous red-and-gold-and-black dragon T-shirt that my niece heroically did not steal. She was scrupulous about making sure that I took home my birthday balloon—she clipped it carefully to my computer bag. sholio has written me wonderful autumnal, everybody gets rained on Torchwood team fic for my birthday: "Stormwrack." As for National Coming Out Day, if people have not noticed by now that I'm queer, I don't know what else I could do, put it on my business cards? I'd have to get business cards. My brother took a picture of me with the cake.



It has been, actually, a really nice birthday weekend.

Comments

[davidgillon]

Must admit I looked at the pic, and as soon as the cake scrolled into view I went "Oooh!"

And now I want cake.

[sovay]

Must admit I looked at the pic, and as soon as the cake scrolled into view I went "Oooh!"

I suspect my niece had a hand in its decorating. It's nicely color-themed!

And now I want cake.

I hope you get some!

[nineweaving]

What a splendid birthday! What a glorious cake! You are very much loved.

Nine

[sovay]

What a splendid birthday! What a glorious cake! You are very much loved.

People got tested in order to make sure the celebration would be safe. I appreciate it, especially since my brother enjoys having the far inner reaches of his skull Q-tipped just as much as the next person. Also the cake was really good. *hugs*

[selkie]

Someday you will have to explain the leaf thing.

Look at that CAKE! It’s absolutely 1976-ly unironically glorious and celebratory and festooned with MELLOCREME PUMPKINS!

Birthday-weekend love.

[sovay]

Someday you will have to explain the leaf thing.

They fall off trees? They smell nice? Small children enjoy launching themselves into piles of them and having to be de-brackened afterward?

Look at that CAKE! It’s absolutely 1976-ly unironically glorious and celebratory and festooned with MELLOCREME PUMPKINS!

My niece really loves Halloween.

Birthday-weekend love.

Love.

[selkie]

At the risk of reminding you I was raised under glass to be fit only for intellectual pursuits and parental exploitation, but why though? They have leaf on them. You then get leaf on yourself. Who lets children know in the first place that it is a fun thing?

Everyone even moderately awesome loves Halloween. Come on.

[sovay]

Who lets children know in the first place that it is a fun thing?

I think it's a spontaneously occurring gravitation, like cats to fresh laundry.

Everyone even moderately awesome loves Halloween. Come on.

Even moderately awesome people don't all have a Halloween tree!

[wpadmirer]

I'm sorry you had a headache on your birthday. It sounds like it was good anyway.

[sovay]

I'm sorry you had a headache on your birthday. It sounds like it was good anyway.

My birthday was the day before the headache! It all worked out!

[sartorias]

Very glad you had an excellent birthday weekend!

I was thinking this morning how grateful I am that there can even be a thing like National Coming Out Day. It seemed so impossible when I was a kid--back when one had to heavily code one's writing, and even then, for years and years there was that awful sense of "They will never publish this."

[sovay]

Very glad you had an excellent birthday weekend!

Thank you!

It seemed so impossible when I was a kid--back when one had to heavily code one's writing, and even then, for years and years there was that awful sense of "They will never publish this."

I think it's really neat that you have seen the change. I have seen the change in what can exist in stories and what's normalized and what's not. And I don't want it to change back.

[sara]

As for National Coming Out Day, if people have not noticed by now that I'm queer, I don't know what else I could do, put it on my business cards?

Kind of how I've felt about it for a while now. I mean, that doesn't mean that people always connect the dots, but at this point I don't know that I feel like that's on me to address.

[sovay]

Kind of how I've felt about it for a while now. I mean, that doesn't mean that people always connect the dots, but at this point I don't know that I feel like that's on me to address.

There's only so much neon you can be responsible for people not noticing.

(I have been recently informed that since my gaydar of a rock is improving, I get to call it gaydar of paper now.)

[gwynnega]

That cake is magnificent. What a lovely birthday celebration and gifts!

I was just reminiscing with my mom about how I used to jump in piles of ginkgo leaves when I was little.

[sovay]

That cake is magnificent. What a lovely birthday celebration and gifts!

They were all things I wanted and did not expect or did not see coming at all. But just the cake and the people, dayenu.

I was just reminiscing with my mom about how I used to jump in piles of ginkgo leaves when I was little.

Aw! I love that it was ginkgo specifically. Was that the kind of tree you had in your yard?

[gwynnega]

Yes, there was a beautiful ginkgo tree in front of the house where I grew up, and it's still going strong!

[sovay]

Yes, there was a beautiful ginkgo tree in front of the house where I grew up, and it's still going strong!

Awesome!

[sorcyress]

I mean, my friend Maia is a professional lesbian, and has the business cards to prove it, so making "YO I'M QUEER" business cards is not actually as unreasonable as you may think ;)

[sovay]

I mean, my friend Maia is a professional lesbian, and has the business cards to prove it, so making "YO I'M QUEER" business cards is not actually as unreasonable as you may think

In fact, I'm delighted to hear this. (Do I know/did I ever meet Maia?)

[pameladean]

It is SO NICE to see you and your cake. Your theory expressed above that your niece had a hand in the decoration makes a lot of sense. It's glorious, however collaborative or not it is. I'm sure it was really tasty, too.

P.

[sovay]

It is SO NICE to see you and your cake.

Thank you!

Your theory expressed above that your niece had a hand in the decoration makes a lot of sense. It's glorious, however collaborative or not it is. I'm sure it was really tasty, too.

I am the kind of person who is happy if you hand them a bowl of almost any fruit and cream, but it was, in point of fact, fantastic. Milled to powder is just about the only form in which I can eat nuts, so I especially appreciate nut-flour cakes.

[thawrecka]

Happy birthday weekend! That really is a marvellous looking cake.

[sovay]

Happy birthday weekend! That really is a marvellous looking cake.

Thank you! It was enjoyed by all.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, I'm glad! ♥

[sovay]

Aw, I'm glad!

Thank you!

[cmcmck]

You do have a lovely smile you know! :o)

[sovay]

You do have a lovely smile you know!

Thank you! I have a complicated relationship with my face based on things that have happened to it and this kind of comment is useful for me to hear.

[ashlyme]

Seconding this about your smile.

[sandrylene]

Fantastic! I'm glad your birthday weekend was enjoyable. The cake does indeed look excellent. :)

[sovay]

Fantastic! I'm glad your birthday weekend was enjoyable.

Thank you!

The cake does indeed look excellent.

I wound up not necessarily eating the parts that were Brach's fondant at the same time as the parts that were more traditionally food, but it was delicious.

[pengwern]

what a beautifully autumnal cake！ ( ´▽` )ﾉ

[sovay]

what a beautifully autumnal cake！

Thank you! I loved it.

[oracne]

Happy Birthday!

Woo, DEAD AND BURIED!

[sovay]

Happy Birthday!

Thank you!

Woo, DEAD AND BURIED!

I'm so happy.

[starlady]

Slightly belated, but happy birthday!

[sovay]

Slightly belated, but happy birthday!

Belated counts! Thank you!

[asakiyume]

Woman with Beautiful Cake--I like this photo!

Jumping in huge piles of leaves is the number one pleasure of autumn from my childhood. Hurray for the giant leaf pile!

[sovay]

Woman with Beautiful Cake--I like this photo!

Thank you!

Jumping in huge piles of leaves is the number one pleasure of autumn from my childhood. Hurray for the giant leaf pile!

It was an entire front yard and part of a side yard's worth of leaves. I was proud of it and should probably have expected parts of my shoulders, back, and arms to be unhappy with me today. But it pleased my niece!

[aurumcalendula]

I'm glad you had a good birthday weekend! That's a lovely photo! (and the cake looks really good)

[sovay]

I'm glad you had a good birthday weekend! That's a lovely photo! (and the cake looks really good)

Thank you! It was a really good cake. No structural integrity whatsoever by the second day, but delicious.

[ashlyme]

Cake and leaves are Excellent Things, and it's good to see you happy. *hugs*

*if people have not noticed by now that I'm queer, I don't know what else I could do, put it on my business cards?*

Yeah. I took the line of "well, there are screaming queens; I'm the mumuring bisexual."

[sovay]

Cake and leaves are Excellent Things, and it's good to see you happy.

Thank you.

*hugs*

I took the line of "well, there are screaming queens; I'm the mumuring bisexual."

Aw. I like that.