I wish that I were going away or you were staying here

[sovay]

Tonight I got to show Pimpernel Smith (1941) to skygiants, genarti, agoodshinkickin, and two people who should let me know their LJ/DW handles if they have them. There was an inordinate amount of kugel, both sweet and savory, and a rose-mint-marjoram-infused vodka provided by one of the people who may or may not have an online handle. It was the most social thing I've done in a very long time.

I came home and worked for several hours by the grace of derspatchel's laptop, which he has lent me for the purpose. Autolycus has spent nearly the entire time with me on the couch, purring and supportive, occasionally butting his head against my hands and gnawing gently on one of my wrists when I pay too much attention to my job and not enough to him. If there's not room for him to settle on my lap, as he likes best, he drapes himself over the back of the couch and watches the screen over my shoulder, purr crackling away behind me; he tries to groom whatever parts of me he can reach. He is an aggressively comforting cat. Bertie Owen has been out of commission since crashing halfway through this afternoon's backup. My dream scenario is that I'll take him to my parents' house and borrow a can of compressed air from my father and blow out a whole bunch of dust and cat hair that combined with the unrelieved summer humidity have been causing him to overheat, but I have no idea how realistic this is.

Afterward I sat in Rob's office, with Autolycus prowling around the shelves behind me—Hestia was in the kitchen, alternately napping on her favorite cardboard box or trying to catch insects through the window—and read about a dozen issues of Caitlín R. Kiernan's The Dreaming (1997–2001), which I still wish had been collected. I hadn't read most of them since grad school. My love for Lucien remains undiminished. He was my favorite character even in The Sandman, with Cain and Abel following a close second, because that's my brain. I can remember haunting the Million Year Picnic for new and then back issues of The Dreaming.

I feel very much as though most of my life has been lost.

I've realized the summer's ending; we're entering the season where I have the most trouble with ghosts, mostly of myself. I thought I was through that stage. I thought in 2013 I was alive. I am holding a soft-furred cat and hoping I still am, even if I can't believe it. I really can't.

Comments

[umadoshi]

I didn't know The Dreaming hasn't ever been collected. That's so unfortunate. :(

Glad to hear you have a loaner laptop, though!

[sovay]

I didn't know The Dreaming hasn't ever been collected. That's so unfortunate.

There were two trade paperbacks when it was still an anthology title, but after it passed into Caitlín's control, no, as far as I can tell, nothing. I'm not sure why and I'm not happy about it. I have nearly the complete run in single issues, which are all very attractive, with Dave McKean covers, but they are much more fragile and much more inconvenient to read. Autolycus pounced on none of the turning pages; I was very proud of him. He walked over the stack at one point, though, and I shouted and shooed him off.

Glad to hear you have a loaner laptop, though!

Thank you! It enabled me to get my work done for the week!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

he tries to groom whatever parts of me he can reach. He is an aggressively comforting cat.

What a wonderful, wonderful creature.

rose-mint-marjoram-infused vodka

I have some wintergreen-infused vodka. I picked the wintergreen in the woods. Yesterday Wakanomori and I sipped some from the cap of an acorn. ... I approve of vodka infused with things.

When will you be able to borrow that canister of air?

(understanding your position re: online time, I'm not expecting an answer soon. hoping for a favorable outcome, though)

I am holding a soft-furred cat and hoping I still am

He is connecting you to this world. Bless his tongue and purr.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you're getting your visitations a little early. I've been getting some too this year. Sukkot tends to finish the cycle for me, because it's a holiday where we ritually acknowledge that fall is a time of year where our minds are on the past. It doesn't always banish the feeling of being between times, but I find that ritualizing it helps.

I hope Bertie Owen is able to recover, and that it's cat hair and dust that can be easily extricated (I haven't popped the cover off a Mac laptop in some time, so I can't be able to tell you what to look for) with my laptops it's almost always wool or alpaca spinning fiber in the fan, owing to the proclivities of my household and the proximity of laptop storage to spinning wheel.

The Pimpernel party sounds excellent, including the victuals, and definitely the company. I hope that between your family, your chosen people and your cats that you can come through this season of ghosts intact.

[gwynnega]

The Pimpernel Smith party and Autolycus sound wonderful. I hope this autumn will be a good and easy one for you. I suspect the cats will help.

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

< hugs >

Oh, and: If you have any time apart from apartment hunting etc., what would you say to the possibility of a Rosh Hashannah (or pre-RhSh) apple-picking expotishun?

[sovay]

Oh, and: If you have any time apart from apartment hunting etc., what would you say to the possibility of a Rosh Hashannah (or pre-RhSh) apple-picking expotishun?

*hugs*

Enthusiastically yes!