Laces for a lady, letters for a spy

[sovay]

My air conditioner appears to work.

I cannot say this news fills me with inexpressible happiness, because I seem to have typed that sentence just fine, but I am pretty pleased about it. This is the window unit I had in New Haven; it was redistributed to my brother and his wife when I had to move, spent several years with them in different apartments, and then went into storage when they left Connecticut. When my father came on Wednesday to help with the installation, it was not at all clear that it was still a functioning air conditioner rather than a very awkward grade of fan, much less that it could be fit into one of this apartment's amazingly broken windows. Four pieces of wood and a quarter of a roll of duct tape later, it is not the greatest temperature-adjusting experience of my life (I think the air conditioning at the Jane takes precedence in recent months anyway), but my room is perceptibly cooler than either the stairwell or the main body of the apartment and that will do for now.

This was a good, free-form day. I spent most of the afternoon in Lexington, because I wanted to buy fruit from Wilson Farms; it turned out they sell the entire range of specialty peanut butters from Peanut Butter & Co. and I sent derspatchel a rapturous message to inform him I'd just bought the kind with honey. The Strawberry Festival was going on, so I got handed samples of strawberry soup and strawberry rhubarb crumble and the chocolate-dipped strawberries were not free, but they were very tasty. ("They're a little rare," the young man said apologetically, handing me an example so freshly immersed, it was dripping on my fingers.) I went home and made a cold roast beef sandwich for dinner, very rare, with goat's milk brie and horseradish sauce. Solstice ice cream with my family had not worked out on Friday, so I walked into Davis Square in search of J.P. Licks, carrying a chocolate croissant and some assorted media—mostly P.D.Q. Bach CDs—for Rob. hermitgeecko and ratatosk were grilling on the back porch. Rob came out for ice cream with me and while I didn't need anything from the Boston Burger Company, I was perfectly happy to watch him eat a burger that was like a short stack with bacon and maple barbecue sauce. Came home, had to wash all my credit and museum cards with alcohol because they spilled out of my wallet on the bus and bus floors are disgusting; ended up introducing adrian_turtle to Peter Bellamy's settings of Kipling by singing most of them. Stopped when I realized it was after one in the morning and I didn't hate the downstairs neighbors that much.

And my room is not molten.

I don't want to tempt fate, but it's nice.

Comments

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

Yay for PDQ Bach! I've had the joy of seeing him live twice, and the only downsides were the points at which I was laughing too hard to breathe. (I like breathing and passing out would have meant missing the rest of the performance)
I hope Rob liked the CDs.

[sovay]

I've had the joy of seeing him live twice, and the only downsides were the points at which I was laughing too hard to breathe. (I like breathing and passing out would have meant missing the rest of the performance)

I don't think I ever have seen him live! I've been in ensembles performing his work, and one of the voice teachers at Brandeis when I was there had originated the Evangelist role in Oedipus Tex. (He was pretty cool.)

I hope Rob liked the CDs.

Rob is a person of taste and discretion who has been known to quote "New Horizons in Music Appreciation" before.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Peter Bellamy's settings of Kipling

I really need to get hold of these. The only one I've actually heard is the Anchor Song (performed by Roberts and Barrand on one of the Sea Revels CDs) and the first time I heard it I listened to it about six times in a row going "whoaaaaa". (Of course, part of that is because of Roberts and Barrand, but, details.)

[sovay]

The only one I've actually heard is the Anchor Song (performed by Roberts and Barrand on one of the Sea Revels CDs) and the first time I heard it I listened to it about six times in a row going "whoaaaaa".

I was telling adrian_turtle this last night: that's the one I discovered Bellamy's settings with. After that I had to track down all the songs I could (mostly on vinyl rips at the time, although there have been CDs I can't yet afford since). Give me an e-mail address and I will send you a lot of recordings!

Oh, we're bound for Mother Carey where she feeds her chicks at sea!

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

I stopped when I realized it was after one in the morning and I didn't hate the downstairs neighbors that much.

I think I might hate the downstairs neighbors that much, but I don't dislike the upstairs neighbors even a little bit. And that version of "Recessional" sent chills up my spine.

[sovay]

And that version of "Recessional" sent chills up my spine.

You should have it by now, along with many more.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Hm, it occurs to me that I am unsure whose setting of "Recessional" I know, because I learned it orally from other singers.

[sovay]

Hm, it occurs to me that I am unsure whose setting of "Recessional" I know, because I learned it orally from other singers.

This is Bellamy's. (Variant here.) I don't know any other.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I seem to know Leslie Fish's setting mp3 here, which doesn't surprise me, because almost all the Kipling settings I know are hers.

Thank you for the Bellamy!

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Oh, and also this, which I heard performed this weekend.

Also based on the Leslie Fish setting; it's by Ben Newman, who I have oft mentioned, and is called Jedi Recessional.

[gwynnega]

A non-molten room is a good thing to have.

And it sounds like yesterday contained much good food!

[sovay]

And it sounds like yesterday contained much good food!

It did! And so did today—we went to the Salty Pig after meeting my parents for an afternoon at the MFA. (We walked. Salt was needed. Also, delicious.) Tomorrow I think I will make sandwiches.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Because my screen displays your entry with a line break between "ice" and cream" for "Solstice ice cream," I find myself imagining summer solstice ice.

[sovay]

I find myself imagining summer solstice ice.

Poem, thank you.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'm going to put this request on a sticky note on my monitor for when my brain is less broken.

I can tell you though, the ice will be darker than you imagined. Black diamond ice.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

The chocolate strawberries sound excellent, even rare. Around here, strawberry festivals are church fundraiser things and never get that evolved.

As you seem to consume envy-inducing amounts of good ice cream, it may please you to know that your godchild is enamored of the ice cream maker and is very recipe-conscious. Lemon sorbet prompted "Mama, needs more lemon, way more lemon" (the result had to be eaten in very small portions because it was in fact a very cold Lemonhead) and strawberry ice cream had lavender added to it because she thought the solo strawberries were insipid or something, who knows.

I am glad there were so many good things around your solstice. Especially bloody air conditioning. No one should have to live without it on the east coast these days. Our homes were not built for global hottening.

[sovay]

Around here, strawberry festivals are church fundraiser things and never get that evolved.

Wilson's has been holding theirs as long as I can remember. It used to (may still; we might have missed it) involve the making of an enormous strawberry shortcake and then a competition for eating it. I think they did achieve some kind of record one year.

Lemon sorbet prompted "Mama, needs more lemon, way more lemon" (the result had to be eaten in very small portions because it was in fact a very cold Lemonhead) and strawberry ice cream had lavender added to it because she thought the solo strawberries were insipid or something, who knows.

Tell her I'd eat that lavender strawberry ice cream and am in fact slightly sad I don't have any right now. Admittedly I had some goat's milk ice cream earlier this evening, so I'm not exactly hurting for dairy, but lavender strawberry. Damn.

Especially bloody air conditioning. No one should have to live without it on the east coast these days. Our homes were not built for global hottening.

Oh, God, not in New England.