Dig for those whose stories lie with buried pasts and futures won
For my mother's birthday observed, my father restrained his fondant ambitions and merely planned an almond-flour cake in two flavors decorated with chocolate mice and penguins from Burdick's. By the time we were finished with it, it had become the Citadel of the Cat, whose banner my niece carried proudly through the house with piercing meows. My mother loved it, and this picture, which is much more dramatic than it looked with the candles unlit.

After dinner, I showed my niece Tomm Moore's Song of the Sea (2014), which she loved so much that she stayed up emphatically past her bedtime to finish it, even when the heavily scratched library DVD seized at the numinous climax and we had to skip forward to the credits and creep back by frames to get the rest of the film. She understood the double-casting at once. She wanted to rewatch it as soon as it was done. I love that she recognizes selkies long before their narratives say so. Fingers crossed, we haven't struck out on a sea-movie so far.
Earlier in the afternoon, I took my new black stock from Nightwing Whitehead and got photographic evidence for
selkie.

"Join the Marine, they said. You like sailing, they said. On no account will your youthful decisions lead you in midlife, in midwinter, into the middle of the countryside, they said."

And yet, here we are in a winter field.

WHY.
She sent me a copy of Cat Sebastian's The Missing Page (2022) which arrived just before I left the house, so I am counting it as an unbirthday present. Still need more waistcoats.

After dinner, I showed my niece Tomm Moore's Song of the Sea (2014), which she loved so much that she stayed up emphatically past her bedtime to finish it, even when the heavily scratched library DVD seized at the numinous climax and we had to skip forward to the credits and creep back by frames to get the rest of the film. She understood the double-casting at once. She wanted to rewatch it as soon as it was done. I love that she recognizes selkies long before their narratives say so. Fingers crossed, we haven't struck out on a sea-movie so far.
Earlier in the afternoon, I took my new black stock from Nightwing Whitehead and got photographic evidence for

"Join the Marine, they said. You like sailing, they said. On no account will your youthful decisions lead you in midlife, in midwinter, into the middle of the countryside, they said."

And yet, here we are in a winter field.

WHY.
She sent me a copy of Cat Sebastian's The Missing Page (2022) which arrived just before I left the house, so I am counting it as an unbirthday present. Still need more waistcoats.

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(Hugs. And little thermoreactive handwarmers!)
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Nine
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Oh, that's great. I must know someone who wants that T-shirt.
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Thank you!
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Thank you!
(I really need an appropriate coat.)
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*hugs*
(I do believe the accumulated reserves of fuck-off money and fuck-you to convention had some effect on the course of the proceedings.)
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There is very little left of it by now! The last of the denizens was consumed earlier this evening.
And you're very magnificent in the photo shoot too, though I am VERY COLD looking at you without a period-appropriate greatcoat in that snowy landscape.
I wish I had one!
(Thank you.)
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Thank you.
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It was fun to make, too!
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Thank you!
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grins It was the true and accurate description for all the glories of this post!
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Fortunately, her actual birthday is next week—we were celebrating as a family on the maximally convenient weekend—so your wishes are still right on time!
Wonderful cake!
Thank you! I made the banners, and since I think of myself as essentially incompetent at handicrafts, I am pleased with them.
I've never seen Song of the Sea but now you've made curious.
It's one of three animated features by Tomm Moore of Cartoon Saloon, the others being The Secret of Kells (2009), which I saw shortly after it came out, and Wolfwalkers (2020), which I have not yet seen. I enjoyed The Secret of Kells, but I really love Song of the Sea. It's about grief and families and ocean and otherworld and even more so than its predecessor, it doesn't look like any other animation coming out of any studio I'm familiar with, like a cross between illuminated manuscripts and children's watercolors. My parents liked it!
And in the new clothes, you become a time traveler.
Thank you.
*hugs*