Lavender Spindle / Navette de lavande

For my karma, I've decided to try to balance my growls with nice and positive things.

After the discord cake saga, I give you pretty lavender.

Basically, you need to have access to a lavender bush (the traditional plant from Provence, not the recent aberration that's being marketed in most places) because you need to deal with extra fresh stalks.

Cut eighteen stalks of lavender and clean them of tiny stalks on the side and/or of tiny clusters of flowers below the head.

Choose a ribbon (for having tested several kinds, I recommend satin), but avoid white as fresh lavender may stain. You'll need 1.2 m (about 48 in) if your ribbon is 1 cm (0.4 in) wide.

Gather the heads together and tie one end on the ribbon as close to them as you can.

The long side of the ribbon determines if you start left or right (more like flowers up or down, in fact); you may not mind which way you start, but some people have a favourite way to operate: basically, if your first try is hell, it may be because you started up instead of down, or the contrary.

Next, hold the flowers together, and bend the stalks two by two.

You start threading your ribbon below two stalks, above the next two, below the next two and so on (mistakes happen, but you'll see it quickly if the ribbon is above or below twice in a row; then... undo the ribbon until you find the mistake, and start again).

You've got to hold the flowers tight, and it may be helpful to place the ribbon up against the prior rank and gently pull it into position (then again, there's not only one method to do this).

You can tie it anyway you like when you reach the "end" of the flowers, but just wrapping the stalks is rather pretty - and it's useful as you'll need to tighten the ribbon about a week later once the flowers start drying.

Cut the stalks at the same length (or not).

You can use different colours for your ribbons; you can even use two and make a bicolour spindle (that's a bit entertaining).

You can use more or fewer stalks.

With a 0.5 cm (0.2 in) ribbon, you can use the tiny stalks on the side of the bigger flowers.

Store in a vase or hide in your drawers with your clothes, socks, towels, skeletons, scarves, etc... They last for months and months (or years if the lavender's really good). Have fun!

Irony&Sarcasm Alert

All right... there's something in the air.

This time, I'm having a hard time with this.

I started shaking my head from the very start: in BBC's Sherlock, John and Sherlock have to tell everybody that they're just friends, because two blokes living together can't be just "friends", and nobody believes them.

*cough*

Sweetie, by Series 3, you should realize that this is a continuing joke that the writers have decided to keep because it works and it makes people chuckle or smile.

It's a very good thing that I'm not home, where I finish my cuppa whilst reading the news at my desk, otherwise I'd have killed my keyboard and monitor, spitting my tea, when I read this: 'The creators of the series, Stephen Moffat and Mark Gatiss (the latter is a gay man) have explained that they wanted male friendship to be at the heart of the story.'.
Mr Gatiss is a gifted writer; full stop. His being non-heterosexual, and yet writing about Sherlock and John as just "friends" isn't a point in favour of the argument.

I do understand that many people (putting both sexes in the same basket here) are unaware of slash and/or yaoi, and unaware of the other many people who are quite fan of pairing same-sex characters together (I know that Holmes and Watson are just friends, and that Rizzoli and Isles are just friends, as well - that doesn't change the fact that my lil' slashy heart beats a tad faster when the canon writers feed the illusion of slashiness).

The journalist must be living in a quiet place, in quiet circles; slash is all around, and friendship isn't an endangered species.

We're going back to the "gay cake" in Northern Ireland, and once more, The Irish Times misses the point (but serves Rome beautifully!).

I still haven't checked what the local laws say, but that's not important as human rights and common decency should be the only guide (and yes, I do mean all over that sad, petty, disheartening rock that we call home).

This is a happy mix between 'I want to have the right to bully, and not be called a bully because that's giving me a bad reputation and my skin isn't thick enough' and 'the world is about ME, ME, ME, and I want to do only what I like' (hint: being an adult isn't always "fun". Sorry, Cupcake).

If you make a living making cakes, you take the order, bake the cake, and hand it to your customer with a bright smile.

Apart from the fact that someone wants a free pass to discriminate against someone different, it's an open door to being childish. As a teacher, should I be allowed to toss out the students who aren't good enough according to my horoscope? As an editor, should I be allowed to read the first and last page of a novel or a script and say that I've done my job? No, that's not how the world works.

I've got a hard time dealing with weddings (for personal reasons). If I were a baker, should I (and would I) tell Mary and John to got to hell with their wedding cake order? My answer is: No, I wouldn't. I'd make the most beautiful cake, because they believe in weddings and married life, and because their beliefs do not threaten mine.

It's all about not being afraid of the other, and knowing oneself, and being strong enough to not be bothered and frightened.

Incidentally, it's relatively well accepted that the first to mention the Nazis loses the debate. I would like to add to the list of debate-losers the ones who quote/include/mention/think about Queen Marie-Antoinette in anything related to cakes since the cake quote attributed to her is a fake.

The last paragraph loses the plot (and the debate): "It is both sad and ironic that the cake featured an image of the two Muppets pals. It is sad, because it means that even children’s programmes are fair game in the culture wars. It is ironic, because the real message of Ernie and Bert is about learning to get along with people, even when they are very different to you.".

You see, there are two things.

First, this is 2014 and everything is potentially slash-able or yaoi-zable. Get a copy of the book, and deal with it. It may not be your cup of tea, but it's a cultural fact all around the globe. (Join us... we have fruitcakes and fancy teas)

And then, if the real message of Ernie and Bert is about getting along with people, even "when they are very different to you", this shows that the journalist is one silly bunny because she's just proved that the bakery was bigoted and did discriminate people who are "different". That is ironic and sad... and the bullies don't want to look in the mirror and see how heartless they are because they feel entitled to behave the way they do, and to treat the sinners (according to them) like lepers. Veeeeeeeery tolerant, enlightened, modern - and yes, that's me being sarcastic.

Business as Usual

Sarcastic title again, my sweets, because of this piece of "writing".

I do understand that the situation is different in Northern Ireland*, but... the arguments in this piece are just too angering (and so, I get to growl here, because a tweet wouldn't be enough to make me feel better).

So many things are being mixed up and misrepresented in this paper that it's annoying.

First, either people are in business or they're in religion, but since there are sooooooooooo many varieties of superstitions religions, no one's allowed to say "Mine is the true one. The only one!". Of course, people say that, and believe it, but it's wrong - and Zeus will want to have a word with you if you disagree that it's wrong.
[Checks to see that the Sarc font is on.
It is.
Firmly.]

I'll blame my reaction on my education (that was extremely open-minded and tolerant) and on my addictions to science fiction (where there can be a better, more tolerant and loving world in the future).

If your job is to make cakes... you make cakes. I'm not even going to attempt to dive into the local laws around the globe and what they say in each "village" or even on each "street".

If you make a living selling cakes, you take an order, you make the cake, you get the money, and you give your customer the cake with a smile. You can rant and growl in the kitchen, at the pub, at home, on Fakebook (sic), Twatbook (sic, coz I haven't recovered from the Twitter profile fiasco) or any Yahellgroup or whatever, but you do your job. Full stop.

Being religious doesn't give anyone the right to get some special treatment - all the more if the exception you want for yourself is causing another human being to be treated differently.

It's not about a business and its right to be religious at work. It's all about bigots wanting to get a free pass to tell another human being "Sorry, Cupcake, you're not like us. You're inferior. You're barely human according to my book, and I feel that I have the right to treat you like a second class citizen. If people don't look too closely, I'll even try to treat you like shit because you're not like me.".

The person who wrote that paper uses the example of feminists being forced to make a cake for anti-choice people. Fine.

I'm a feminist. I would cuff the first anti-choice wanker who'd tell me how to live my life. However... if I were a baker and anti-choice patrons came to my shop, I'd take care of them just like any customers..............

Well, okay... almost. I can well picture myself telling them that their "theme" isn't something that I've ever made (and that would be true!), and I'd propose to charge them a bit more - let's say 10% (truly, without any hidden agenda on my part, I feel that if you make something that's not on your usual list of activities, but you agree to give it a try, you deserve a bonus).

If they agreed to the extra and I agreed to the order, I'd make them any kind of cake (no funny trick or anything - just doing my job).

I'll go a step farther, if the anti-choice people gave me a slice of their cake, I'd eat it. The same goes for neo-Nazis (and Merlin knows they make me sick).

Incidentally, I mention Nazis because some NI politicos have been comparing the people who wanted the "gay" cake and the ones who support them as Nazis or the PC Gestapo [We need to make these plonkers understand that the first to mention the Nazis loses the right to add anything to the debate and is kindly invited to go take roots on the Naughty Step].

It's not about politics, equality or being in 2014 in a country that's NOT a theocracy.

It's always about bullying.

The bullies want a free pass to be nasty, but they don't want anyone to tell them that they're being mediaeval, intolerant, bigoted, petty, mean and cruel. If you do point the finger to show the world that they're bullies, they'll point back at you and yell that you're being intolerant (that's still Bullying 101).

The last paragraph of the paper shows it well: 'Seeking to compel others to conform to approved cultural values is a totalitarian impulse. And it derives from a smug, corpulent complacency that assumes the right to have your cake, whatever the chosen topping, and eat it.'

"Totalitarian"? What about the people who refused WORK? How open-minded are they? 

"Smug"? Bloody hell, we're talking about a cake with Sesame Street characters on top: how is that a problem? Oh, yes! There's the idea that these (imaginary!) characters stand for a non-heterosexual couple. And there's the text "Support Gay Marriage"... Why shouldn't a marriage be gay? Oh! You mean that adjective not as "joyful", but as "non-heterosexual" again... Oh, yes, love is such an awful thing! Perhaps we should go back to things as they were when parents decided who their children would marry. Or even better, decide who can get married and that exclusively in an heterosexual relationship (if we push that a tad farther, people who can't have children aren't needed in the gene pool and should be disposed of, as they've got no slaves nothing to give to the Church [Winning denomination to be announced after a Crusade - or to be just the highest bidder]. Oddly, that solution reminds me of something... about seventy years ago, I think. Not giving any name. Nope.

Human rights aren't privileges to be given to a chosen few. It's a right for all.

No baker has the right to tell a patron 'You're not human in my book, off you fuck.'.

What's next? A chemist telling a woman he doesn't want to sell her a box of Plan B? Oops. My bad!

*: I do understand that things are different in Northern Ireland, but from outside, it looks as if they're sometimes trying to outdo their brothers in the south in the Bigotry Department. I must say that I was shocked that the local politicos didn't vote to allow equal marriage. This really reeks of Rome somehow.

Sewing a Regency (Day) Dress [Chapter 3 3/4: Last Update before an Avalanche of Posts]

The toile worked, and the dress is awesome.

Just two things: I need to sew the hem (and since this lil' bunny is being slaved in a garden, that's going to take a few more days), and to work on the cuffs.

And... I forgot in town a few images to help with the assembling of the dress. Oops & drat! I swear I was convinced they were on my flash-drive... They aren't.

I'm going to prepare everything (I can always type what needs to be typed), and when I hop to town in a few days, I'll add the images, and I'll post three posts about the pattern, the cutting/assembling, and the final product (with - hopefully - photos taken in a lovely garden).

See you soon with a Regency pattern for a lovely dress*.

*: yes, I am quite proud of the result. ^_^

Tanabata Wish

Perhaps I'll have time to plan something for the seventh night of the seventh month, according to the lunisolar calendar (ie: August 2nd this year).

I'll be somewhere without bamboos that day, but perhaps the olive tree nearby will replace the bamboos... or I'll rely on a baby banana tree (for grass solidarity, you know)... I'll see what I can do.

Oddly enough, I think my wish on tanzaku is going to be to save our mini bamboo grove, which I've been ordered to slaughter.

Back when it was planted, I suggested something to contain the rhizome, but I was ignored. Fast forward ten years later, and the three bamboos have settled nicely, and are spreading beautifully. If I were in the country house all year round, I could contain the new ones, but since I'm mostly in town, it's been decided (I disagree, but I can't "vote") that they've all got to go.

Last year, I was watching and admiring the Perseids, near the mini-grove, and the wind gently singing in the leaves as I tried to spot meteors was a lovely bonus that I shall miss if the slaughter's finished by mid-August...

The mini-grove was planted too close to a thick bush of laurels.

I've left a (huge) new bamboo hidden in the heart of the laurels... Perhaps that baby (but already big) bamboo will survive? *fingers crossed*

I hate being ordered to cut healthy plants.

★┷┓
┃私┃
┃の┃
┃竹┃
┃が┃
┃生┃
┃き┃
┃残┃
┃る┃
┃可┃
┃能┃
┃性┃
┃！┃
┗━★

ケーキ！

All right.

I can (and will) entirely blame this post on the anime I've been watching recently... The "strawberries war" in series 2 of Junjou romantica is mostly to blame:

My very first attempt at making Japanese strawberry shortcake isn't as perfect as I'd have liked, but I had the "wrong" kind of cream, and my oven wasn't hot enough when I baked the cake...

And yet:

It was [*cough* Yea, poor thing was eaten pretty quickly] very good, and I'll keep training...

I'll have to find a good source for strawberries or I'll have to start growing them in my flat (that could be an idea).

Next... Kasutera. ^_^

PS: Happy Tanabata!! 幸せな七夕！