The Worlds of Katherine Kurtz

Katherine Kurtz and Scott MacMillan => Archived Chats => Chat Logs => 2016 Archive => Topic started by: DesertRose on December 11, 2016, 07:51:46 PM

Title: KK Chat -- 11 December 2016
Post by: DesertRose on December 11, 2016, 07:51:46 PM
Dec 11 19:53:24 *   KK has joined
Dec 11 19:53:30 <DesertRose>   He's probably at work right now, so I don't really expect an immediate response.
Dec 11 19:53:33 <DesertRose>   Hi KK!
Dec 11 19:53:33 <Evie>   Hello!
Dec 11 19:53:46 <Evie>   Everyone already left, figuring you wouldn't be able to make it. :-(
Dec 11 19:54:02 *   Duncan stares in mute rapture at his creator
Dec 11 19:54:10 <KK>   Well, that worked.  Looks totally different, but Mibbit wasn't playing nicely tonight--again.
Dec 11 19:54:20 <Evie>   Duncan was helping me test the alternate chat link.  :-D
Dec 11 19:54:28 <DesertRose>   Yes, I've already asked Bynw to look into that for you, KK.
Dec 11 19:54:47 <Evie>   Maybe it would be a good idea to keep the alternate link bookmarked in case Mibbit is still not playing nicely next week
Dec 11 19:54:50 <DesertRose>   So if you get a communique from him at some point in the near future...
Dec 11 19:54:54 <KK>   Well, I have no idea why Mibbit is being such a dork the past few weeks, but there you are.
Dec 11 19:54:59 <DesertRose>   LOL
Dec 11 19:55:35 <Evie>   IIRC, you were able to get in last week, but then the room went silent for you and you assumed we had stopped speaking, but from the rest of us, it looked like you went silent.
Dec 11 19:55:38 <DesertRose>   Oh, Evie and I were discussing this.  The first Sunday of January is New Year's Day.  Do you still want to do early chat that day or postpone it a week or how do you feel?
Dec 11 19:55:43 <KK>   So, how are the few of ou doing tonigiht?  Ready for Santa?
Dec 11 19:55:49 <Evie>   And then we got a ping timeout notice on you a few minutes later
Dec 11 19:56:16 <Evie>   I still have to figure out what to get for DS, and gifts have to be portable since we are going to be in TX for Christmas
Dec 11 19:56:19 <DesertRose>   As ready as I'm getting. I do very little decorating, and the one bit of indoor decorating got menaced by Carys so it got put back in the closet.
Dec 11 19:56:44 <DesertRose>   Since I spend Christmas at my parents' house, I don't really see much point in decorating my own place.
Dec 11 19:56:57 <KK>   Let's postpone a week.  New Year's Day probably isn't so good for most people at any time.
Dec 11 19:57:11 <DesertRose>   That was my thought, too.
Dec 11 19:57:17 <Evie>   We put the cat friendly decor within cat reach and any breakables very high up. Although I didn't decorate this year, aside from the dollhouse.
Dec 11 19:57:43 <Evie>   OK, so Early Chat will be the second week of January?
Dec 11 19:57:44 <KK>   Yeah, I remember about last week.  It just kicked me to the side.  Not out.  TO the side.  And I couldn't see anything going on.  Tried again to come in, but it didn't work.
Dec 11 19:57:49 <DesertRose>   I don't know how breakable my Santa-sleigh candle holder centerpiece is, but I didn't want to find out the hard way, so I just played it safe and put it away when a certain feline got too curious.
Dec 11 19:58:38 <Evie>   Stuffed figures work well with cats, so maybe you can find a stuffed Santa or snowman for a centerpiece that she can't break
Dec 11 19:59:03 <KK>   Our tree gets put up in the library, and dogs and cats aren't allowed in there unless we're there to supervise.  It also keeps the room fur-free and pee-free.
Dec 11 19:59:08 <Evie>   Or something with a jingle bell on it that she can drive you crazy with
Dec 11 19:59:18 <DesertRose>   My mom has a Christmas teddy bear that she uses for decoration that is technically mine but he has a knitted hat on his head that reads 1988.
Dec 11 19:59:28 <DesertRose>   No thanks, to the jingle bell!
Dec 11 20:00:00 <DesertRose>   I'm crazy enough, thanks.
Dec 11 20:00:03 <Duncan>   You could make a creche with cat toys
Dec 11 20:00:06 <KK>   My mom has a bear who's got six sweaters, with a different month on each front or back, and she changes the sweaters religiously as the months change.
Dec 11 20:00:07 <DesertRose>   LO
Dec 11 20:00:08 <DesertRose>   LOL
Dec 11 20:00:26 <Evie>   That sounds cute, KK
Dec 11 20:00:34 <KK>   Her caregivers have also put up a vetry nice fiber-optic tree this year, that looks very old fashioned.  Very pretty.
Dec 11 20:00:40 <DesertRose>   The 1988 Christmas teddy bear's hat is sewn to his head, so it can't easily be removed.
Dec 11 20:01:15 <Evie>   I like fiber-optic trees. Nowadays they look retro.  :-D
Dec 11 20:01:18 <DesertRose>   One of my cousins (my age-mate, she's about three months older than I am) did a Christmas tree that looks like trees did when we were kids, complete with the silver plastic icicle tinsel.
Dec 11 20:01:48 <KK>   My sister found that bear in a catalog and got it for her.  It's her surrogate, since she's across the country.  Aptly enough, the bear's name is Mr. Bear.
Dec 11 20:01:49 <DesertRose>   My family learned the hard way not to use the icicle stuff once we got cats; I'll spare you the gory details.
Dec 11 20:02:10 <Evie>   DH remembers his childhood tree had actual lead tinsel, which of course you can't find anymore due to the health hazards, but he says it draped much better than the silver plastic substitute tinsel that came later
Dec 11 20:02:26 <Evie>   You could drape it a piece at a time and it would hang perfectly
Dec 11 20:03:26 <DesertRose>   I'm listening to Christmas Choral music on Pandora, and it's playing "For Unto Us a Child is Born" from Handel's Messiah, which I cannot hear without remembering a chorus friend of mine, who, in the tradition of music-nerd kids everywhere, filked it into, "For Under Us There Is A Floor."
Dec 11 20:03:27 <Evie>   LOL, I can imagine the gory details.  Something similar happened with the Chihuahua I had as a teen and the circle off a piece of bologna
Dec 11 20:03:38 <KK>   Mother's tree has fake candles with fiber optics coming out the tops where the flames would be, and the colors cycle through the spectrum, but with lots of mauve and blue and purple.  And ther are miniature od fashioned ornaments.  It's quite charming, and she gets to enjoy it all day every day.
Dec 11 20:04:18 <DesertRose>   That sounds really pretty, KK!
Dec 11 20:05:01 <KK>   No, cats and tinsel do not mix well.  Strands coming out the butt are not attractive--though more than when they <don't> come out, and get tangled up in the intestines, which is a surgical emergency.
Dec 11 20:05:05 <Evie>   I found my mini tree with the bulbs that light up, but haven't switched trees out in the dollhouse yet. It's been a busy month
Dec 11 20:05:21 <DesertRose>   Yeah, fortunately for Catarina, it went through.
Dec 11 20:05:35 <Evie>   Luke is here purring Hi
Dec 11 20:05:44 <DesertRose>   And that was the end of tinsel in our house.
Dec 11 20:06:05 <KK>   brb Gotta tend the dryer.
Dec 11 20:06:09 <DesertRose>   Okay
Dec 11 20:06:24 <Evie>   I was telling everyone earlier that I went to a wedding in Panama City, FL yesterday, and the beach was lovely this time of year
Dec 11 20:06:48 <Evie>   Though too chilly to stay outside the whole time.  Warm enough during the actual ceremony, though.
Dec 11 20:07:11 <DesertRose>   Yeah, even Florida gets a little cool to hang out at the beach with the more-or-less constant breeze.
Dec 11 20:07:47 <DesertRose>   What is WITH this playlist?  Now it's playing "O Tannenbaum," which my MOM of all people filked with workplace shenanigans.
Dec 11 20:08:10 <Evie>   It was very pleasant at noon during the ceremony, and even at the beginning of the reception we were able to sit outside on the deck, but by later afternoon it got too cool to remain outside without jackets or at least sweaters
Dec 11 20:08:17 <DesertRose>   It's playing the Christmas songs that I can't hear without hearing the wrong lyrics!
Dec 11 20:08:23 <Evie>   LOL
Dec 11 20:08:26 <DesertRose>   Yeah, I can imagine.
Dec 11 20:09:06 <Evie>   "Nabisco dominates, dominates. Nabisco dominates. Sid nominates, Sid nominates two old dead gorillas."  That's how I learned the lyrics to "Non nobis, Domine."  :-D
Dec 11 20:09:14 <DesertRose>   LOL
Dec 11 20:09:28 <KK>   I'm back.  Your wedding experience reminds me that just 3 weeks ago, I was out in a sailboat on Biscayne Bay, on an absolutely perfect sailing day, scattering my dad's ashes.  He would have loved it, and it brought back many happy memories.
Dec 11 20:09:32 <Evie>   The mnemonic works a treat, though
Dec 11 20:09:36 <DesertRose>   I bet.
Dec 11 20:09:45 <Evie>   That sounds lovely, KK
Dec 11 20:09:51 <DesertRose>   That's good that it worked out so well, KK.
Dec 11 20:10:10 <Evie>   The water was so smooth yesterday, and a gorgeous blue
Dec 11 20:10:34 <Evie>   and the beachhouse had a pool that was the same color blue, like a visual echo
Dec 11 20:10:39 <DesertRose>   When we scattered my grandmother's ashes, we had a lovely early fall day for it (she died in June 1997, but there were reasons that I can no longer remember that we couldn't all get together and do the ashes until September or so).
Dec 11 20:12:17 <DesertRose>   But the place she wanted the ashes scattered was a public fishing/walking/general recreation pier that had been built on the site of an old dance pavilion where she'd spent a lot of fun times in her younger years.
Dec 11 20:12:25 <KK>   It was good, better than if my sisters had been able to come along.  It was just me and my aunt--my uncle was also an avid sailor--along with the skipper, so both of us had lots of good memories.
Dec 11 20:12:29 <Evie>   This was looking down at the wedding ceremony area from the beach house, before the wedding started:  https://www.flickr.com/gp/9573389@N08/041oC9
Dec 11 20:13:18 <DesertRose>   That sounds lovely, KK.
Dec 11 20:13:46 <KK>   Oooo, nice.  But yesterday it would have been rather colder than 3 weeks ago, even in FLorida.
Dec 11 20:14:05 <DesertRose>   Yeah, we've gotten what passes for a cold snap in Florida, the last few days.
Dec 11 20:14:23 <DesertRose>   It's supposed to warm up tomorrow and of course rain soon.  But we need the rain.
Dec 11 20:14:25 <Evie>   https://www.flickr.com/gp/9573389@N08/06WGR7
Dec 11 20:14:59 <Evie>   It was very pleasant during the middle of the day, but got colder in the evening, but by that time we were happy to remain indoors
Dec 11 20:15:05 <KK>   I today have just discovered that my little TV in my office, which just gets the basic cable stations, also gets the music channels--so I've been listening to baroque music for the last several hours.  I think it will become a regular accompaniment.
Dec 11 20:15:10 <DesertRose>   :)
Dec 11 20:15:45 <DesertRose>   I usually put on either Thomas Tallis or Early Music Consort of London for chat, but I had on my Christmas Choral stuff and just didn't bother to change it.
Dec 11 20:15:54 <DesertRose>   This is on Pandora.
Dec 11 20:15:57 <Evie>   I have Pandora on one of my browser tabs, so I sometimes have music playing in the background while I write or do other stuff. 
Dec 11 20:16:40 <KK>   I do have Pandora somewhere, but if the music is too good, I get distracted and want to listen with both ears.
Dec 11 20:16:50 <DesertRose>   I use the hell out of Pandora.  It's on pretty much all waking hours if I'm home.
Dec 11 20:17:28 <Evie>   LOL, yes. It helps me to go with instrumental music when that happens, or at least ancient Latin chants that I mostly don't understand, so the lyrics don't distract me.
Dec 11 20:17:34 <Evie>   And I play it very softly
Dec 11 20:18:32 <DesertRose>   Tallis' earlier work is in Latin, which I could pick apart if I dedicated the mental bandwidth, but his later stuff is in English, but he used counterpoint pretty extensively, so it gets more challenging even when the vocalists are singing in English.
Dec 11 20:18:38 <Evie>   Since I'm more likely to be distracted by trying to listen to lyrics than by the music itself
Dec 11 20:19:36 <Evie>   And once I'm actually in the flow of writing, the singer could actually be singing about Two Old Dead Gorillas and I wouldn't notice, but it takes me a little while to reach that level of flow.  :-D
Dec 11 20:19:46 <DesertRose>   ROFL
Dec 11 20:21:51 <Evie>   DH and I were in a procession at SCA 25th Year Celebration, and for at least part of the procession our group was supposed to sing Non Nobis, Domine.  DH and I got tired of singing the same lyric over and over again, so at some point we slipped in a few verses of Nabisco Dominates.  Only a few people noticed. 
Dec 11 20:22:07 <DesertRose>   When Mom and I drove up to Charleston for Thanksgiving, we were listening to Sirius XM in the car, and I think we were on the 1970's station, and it played Ray Stevens' "The Streak."  I'm surprised she didn't crash the car because we were both laughing ourselves silly.
Dec 11 20:22:09 <DesertRose>   ROFL
Dec 11 20:22:38 <DesertRose>   Like the "most highly flavored gravy."
Dec 11 20:23:25 <Evie>   Yes, I nearly drove my car off the road laughing the first time I heard one of the Veggie Tales' Silly Songs on the radio back when my kids were younger. We ended up getting them a whole set of those DVDs, but DH and I were the ones who watched them just as often as the kids
Dec 11 20:23:31 <DesertRose>   LOL
Dec 11 20:24:13 <DesertRose>   Did we lose KK?
Dec 11 20:24:24 <Evie>   There's nothing like watching favorite Bible stories retold by a cast of vegetables singing highly amusing songs in a variety of musical styles.  :-D
Dec 11 20:24:32 <DesertRose>   I can imagine.
Dec 11 20:25:04 <KK>   The Barony of the Angels, before we were a kingdom or even a principality, used to present the new king of the West with
Dec 11 20:26:28 <Evie>   with?
Dec 11 20:26:29 <KK>   gold, franincense, and myrrh at his coronation.  One year, we did a version to the tune of a song from Fiddler on the Roof, because the new king was Jewish. 
Dec 11 20:26:48 <DesertRose>   Makes sense.
Dec 11 20:26:49 <Evie>   :-D
Dec 11 20:26:53 <DesertRose>   Sounds like the SCA.
Dec 11 20:27:13 <KK>   He loved it.  Gold we bring you, Andrew of Riga.  Gold, like honor, dulls without care.  Keep our honor bright and shining like this gold so rare.
Dec 11 20:27:34 <DesertRose>   My first event back was a coronation, and a knight (who would become king himself a year or so later) did interpretive dance to explain the feast courses.
Dec 11 20:28:23 <KK>   Frankincense is sweet with its fragrance, offered for the conscience of kings...  Can't remember the exact rest of the words, but it was well remarked at the time.. 
Dec 11 20:28:40 <KK>   Keep <your> honor bright....
Dec 11 20:28:47 <DesertRose>   Lovely!
Dec 11 20:30:08 <KK>   Andrew was and is a remarkable knight and king, and a good friend.  When my father was unable to attend my wedding, he escorted me down the aisle.
Dec 11 20:30:16 <DesertRose>   Aw!
Dec 11 20:30:20 <Evie>   (My favorite home-mixed fragrance is a blend of two parts frankincense, one part myrrh, a quarter-part of Egyptian sandalwood, and a scant drop of cinnamon oil, mixed into a sweet almond oil base.  It's got a very warm fragrance.  It was inspired by a fragrance recipe that was used for altar candles in a church somewhere in Ireland.
Dec 11 20:30:33 <Evie>   Awww!
Dec 11 20:31:58 <Evie>   The bride at yesterday's wedding was German, and I think they had a wedding celebration in Germany also, since her grandparents and most of her friends couldn't attend the one here.  So they showed some photos of that celebration at the reception last night.
Dec 11 20:32:06 <DesertRose>   Oh, that's cool!
Dec 11 20:32:21 <KK>   BTW, Evie, that second photo you posted is your DH, yes?  He cleans up nice!
Dec 11 20:32:43 <Evie>   Yes, that's me with DH.  I think he cleans up very nicely also.  :-D
Dec 11 20:32:43 <DesertRose>   I have an SCA friend (the Laurel I can't hate because she's too nice, Evie) who is a German national, and they had two ceremonies as well, one in Germany and one stateside, but this was fourteen years or so ago.
Dec 11 20:33:20 <DesertRose>   She and her American husband.
Dec 11 20:34:11 <Evie>   Our friend is able to take a year of sabbatical off his job, so he is going to live in Germany with his new bride for the next year (and hopefully become fluent in German, since he only speaks a little German now), then he'll bring her back here for at least a year while they decide where they want to live permanently
Dec 11 20:34:32 <DesertRose>   Yeah, the immersion should help him learn.
Dec 11 20:35:00 <KK>   That sounds like a nice arrangement.
Dec 11 20:35:01 <DesertRose>   Although a lot of Germans speak English.
Dec 11 20:35:22 <Evie>   If he doesn't get in the habit of having her translate, yeah.  A lot of Germans speak English, but not necessarily fluently, so being surrounded by native speakers should bring him up to speed
Dec 11 20:35:29 <KK>   That will be the temptation: not to speak English withpeople he knows can.
Dec 11 20:35:30 <DesertRose>   True
Dec 11 20:35:36 <DesertRose>   Yup
Dec 11 20:35:50 <Evie>   She speaks English more or less fluently, having lived here for at least a year as an au pair even before they met.
Dec 11 20:36:08 <DesertRose>   "Make me speak German.  Don't let me fall into English.
Dec 11 20:36:09 <DesertRose>   "
Dec 11 20:36:53 *   Eykil (Mibbit@8027A0.AD6C34.D381B8.9C060D) has joined
Dec 11 20:36:54 <DesertRose>   I think Michaela (the SCA friend) spoke English before she met her husband, because she doesn't have a very strong accent.
Dec 11 20:36:56 <DesertRose>   Hi Eykil
Dec 11 20:37:16 <Evie>   That's my one regret about growing up in a multicultural family.  I didn't have enough opportunities to speak Tagalog (or even Chavacano) to remain fluent, even though I spoke both of those languages as a child.
Dec 11 20:37:37 <DesertRose>   Yeah, I hear ya.
Dec 11 20:37:43 <Eykil>   Hi. How do I change my name mibbit?
Dec 11 20:37:59 <DesertRose>   I don't blame my mom for leaving my dad, but if I'd grown up where I was born, I'd have spoken Spanish and Navajo in addition to English.
Dec 11 20:38:08 <KK>   Well, interesting fromthe standpoint of knowing another language, but you have to admit it isn't a particularly useful one, omost of the time.
Dec 11 20:38:20 <Evie>   I also spoke Tausug, which was the dialect spoken by the Moros (native Muslims) of the island population where Mom was born.
Dec 11 20:38:29 <DesertRose>   Type "/nick new nickname" without the quotes and whatever you want your name to be where I put new nickname.
Dec 11 20:38:35 <Evie>   You can type /nick NewName
Dec 11 20:39:01 <Evie>   Make sure the "/nick" command is at the beginning of the line
Dec 11 20:39:07 *   Eykil is now known as Eyikl
Dec 11 20:39:11 <Eyikl>   THanks
Dec 11 20:39:18 <DesertRose>   Spanish would be useful.  Not so sure about Navajo.  :)
Dec 11 20:39:59 <Evie>   And Tagalog would have been extremely useful at the many occasions when we had Filipino-American gatherings when i was growing up
Dec 11 20:40:13 <KK>   Spanish would certainly be useful, though I've never had a hankering to learn it.  I've got some Franch and German--enough to sort of get by.
Dec 11 20:40:25 <Evie>   I was usually the clueless one in the sea of "Taglish" speakers
Dec 11 20:41:42 <Evie>   When I went to college, I intended to study Spanish as my foreign language, since my grandmother only spoke Spanish and Chavacano, so it would have been nice to learn so I could speak with her.  But unfortunately the Spanish teacher had left the year before I started, and they didn't hire a new one until after I was well into French.
Dec 11 20:41:46 <KK>   Re German-speakers--I will never forget trying to commuicate the concept of ostriches to my dear German-speaking friend, who is also very fluent in English, but had never had occasion to need to name that particular creature.  (We had ostriches down the road from us in Ireland.)
Dec 11 20:41:59 <DesertRose>   LOL
Dec 11 20:42:07 <DesertRose>   I can imagine that was an adventure in miscommunication!
Dec 11 20:42:14 <Eyikl>   I took Spanish classes for years, but never really picked it up. I Can still read a little bit, but not much.
Dec 11 20:42:28 <KK>   As you can imagine, we did a lot of laughing.
Dec 11 20:42:34 <Evie>   :-D
Dec 11 20:42:41 <DesertRose>   I was always good at Spanish on paper but hesitant when speaking because I'd worry whether I was conjugating the verb correctly.
Dec 11 20:43:02 <Duncan>   What's an ostrich?  :-)
Dec 11 20:43:07 <Eyikl>   I wouldn't have thought ostriches are zoned for Ireland.
Dec 11 20:43:37 <DesertRose>   I understand Spanish pretty well, though.
Dec 11 20:43:43 <Evie>   Really big bird.  REALLY big.  Christmas feast.  :-D
Dec 11 20:44:08 <KK>   Trying is the most important.  I'm remembering that wonderful scene in Love Actually, where Colin Firth is being subtitled trying to propose to his Portuguese girlfriend.  It's utterly charming.  But he gets the idea across.
Dec 11 20:44:10 <Eyikl>   Yeah, appparently even some native spannish speakers don't use all those verb conjugations.
Dec 11 20:44:51 <DesertRose>   Yeah, a fair few countries don't use the vosotros (plural informal you) part of the verb.  IIRC, it's only Spain and Argentina who do.
Dec 11 20:44:51 <KK>   That is one of my favorite Christmas movies.
Dec 11 20:45:10 <Evie>   I haven't see that movie, but I want to. I keep hoping Netflix will carry it.
Dec 11 20:45:57 <KK>   Well worth tracking down.  And incredible weaving togather of about ten charming story lines.
Dec 11 20:46:22 <Evie>   Isn't Alan Rickman also in that movie?
Dec 11 20:46:44 <DesertRose>   I think half the world is in that movie.
Dec 11 20:46:47 <DesertRose>   It's got quite a cast.
Dec 11 20:46:47 <KK>   Yike, I see it's getting late.  That's what happens when one has to fight with Mibbit before joining chat.  Evie, thanks for that other link.  I've bookmarked it.
Dec 11 20:46:57 <KK>   Yes.
Dec 11 20:47:00 <DesertRose>   Okay, see you next week, KK?
Dec 11 20:47:03 <Evie>   Glad that link did the trick for you
Dec 11 20:47:04 <KK>   And Hugh Grant.
Dec 11 20:47:05 <DesertRose>   Thanks for coming to see us!
Dec 11 20:47:33 <KK>   Hopefully, I'll have better luck next week.
Dec 11 20:47:38 <DesertRose>   Hopefully.
Dec 11 20:47:44 <DesertRose>   I've poked Bynw about the Mibbit issue.
Dec 11 20:47:56 *   Duncan wonders what sort of offering would serve for the occasion of his creator's departure from chat
Dec 11 20:48:07 <KK>   Good.  He needs poking.  Hope we'll see him here, one of these days.
Dec 11 20:48:14 <DesertRose>   LOL, work calls, unfortunately.
Dec 11 20:48:28 <Evie>   He's got two jobs at present, so his chat time is limited.  :-(
Dec 11 20:48:29 <DesertRose>   Bills must be paid.  :(
Dec 11 20:48:34 <KK>   Ta-ta to all of you, and happy getting ready for Christmas.
Dec 11 20:48:38 <DesertRose>   Same to you!
Dec 11 20:48:39 <Eyikl>   goodnight KK.
Dec 11 20:48:42 <DesertRose>   G'night!
Dec 11 20:48:45 <Evie>   Goodnight!
Dec 11 20:48:58 *   KK steps onto her Portal, waves goodnight, and disappears in a shower of green sparkles.
Dec 11 20:49:01 <DesertRose>   Will we see you next week?
Dec 11 20:49:02 <Evie>   I'll be spending the last two weeks of the month in TX and/or TN, but will have the laptop with me
Dec 11 20:49:40 <KK>   Nighters.  See you next week, the gods of internet willing.
Dec 11 20:49:44 <DesertRose>   Okay, g'night!
Dec 11 20:49:53 *   KK has quit (Quit: CGI:IRC)