Ramblings and webcomics from LeEMS
I was on an online used goods site looking for an unrelated thing when I found these two gorgeous things that I didn’t even know I needed. I am sad to say that I am not often struck by the beauty of new tools. Maybe its the plastic or the lack of cast iron. I am so happy with these and I can’t wait to use them!
I wore myself out this weekend juggling a few fixes and projects all revolving around keeping the household running smoothly. One of those projects, long on my list, was to redye my black clothes. I am so pleased with the results that I had to think this over with y’all.
I haven’t bought new clothes in years. Oh, I’ve bought new-to-me clothes, but no newly manufactured clothes. Picking up used clothes at a thrift store or wearing a simple knit long sleeve top from a discount department store for ten or twenty years will inevitably require some mending and upkeep. There is nothing that shows its age more than black. Nobody really knows what other colors were supposed to be when new, right? But everyone knows when black is faded.
So, in addition to darning little cat claw holes and repairing popped stitches, I did a black load. Now my cotton blend knit tops are as dark as my synthetic skirts. I feel like a fancy lady.
I’ve seen a lot of challenges online where people try to not buy any clothes for a month, a year, or what not. Well why not a challenge to find that thing in your wardrobe that you loved so much so long ago but never wear any more. Find it, and then figure out what you can do to make it wearable again. Its a good feeling. I promise.
Have you seen Tasting History with Max Miller? Do you watch it? ‘Cause I heartily recommend giving it a try. It was among the few really fabulous and reliable YouTube channels my household watched during lock-downs and shut-ins and the just-getting-used-to-not-having-cable times. For someone who loves old recipes and story behind food, it is perfect.
But that’s not actually what I wanted to talk about. Max’s most recent episode, above, reminded me of a thing I did a long time ago for a comic anthology submissions call. It didn’t get in the anthology, but I am super proud of it all the same: The Lighthousemen of Eilean Mòr.
The short comic follows the real mysterious disappearance of three men from the Eilean Mòr, and the strange clues they left behind.
Comic challenges have always resulted in some surprising results for me. I have more of them in my comic directory if you’d like some fun reading.
Hello hello! So…if you had previously been a reader of Levi Levi, and were wondering if I would ever finish the 3rd installment of the comic, well I have some news for you. Levi Levi has quietly begun posting again, picking up from the page it malingered on for so long. I promise I really want to finish up this volume and I do have ideas for more stories.
A couple of years after we first bought the house, a mystery plant showed up in the back yard by the neighbor’s fence. It opened close to Easter weekend to reveal it was an amaryllis. Since then it has slowly grown in size and flower stalks. We have not lifted it to separate the offset bulbs and plant them separately. But I have gathered a seed pod and embarked on growing new plants from seed.
Amaryllis from seed will take a few years to become a mature plant and bloom, and they may not be the same as the mother plant at all. I’m no stranger to waiting for plants (hello pineapple), so I figured I’d give it a try.
After almost two years I got tired of tending the little grass shoots in their pots. They had really only gotten a bit fatter. We planted them out near where the original plant had self planted in the yard. And, they were immediately eaten down to the ground. Not surprising since the original plant looked like this by the end of the spring:
It has spread a bit since we first noticed it and has several whorls of leaves from which erupt flower stalks each spring. I am hoping that the babies I planted out will somehow fight their way through to flowering someday. Though, I’m not sure how far away that someday may be. Five years? Who knows. Eventually, we might get a mess of this:
Right after buying the house I decided we needed to eliminate all the grass in between the front sidewalk, that ran a kind of wonky-parallel to the house from the driveway to the door, and the house. It was not a quick process, but now I have, what I call, my long awaited mixed border. It’s looking impressive this year for the first time I think.
I think I need to return to my dictionary. For the life of me, I couldn’t think of or find a word that encapsulates “to make more appealing/desirable” other than witching. Witching works I think.
And this year we have taken some massive forward steps at witching our outdoor space behind the house. We started by enclosing it with roof and screen, so it is more of a transitional space than truly outdoors. Then there was converting one of the old original (completely un-level and un-plum) brick planters into a bench by decking over the top. I am quite proud of this. Cushions are coming.
Already, the extra shade, the promise of protection from mosquitoes, and the seating make the space so alluring. I am called to go outside even when the temperature INSIDE the patio is above 90F. Eventually we will have ceiling fans. This is the only thing our house was missing from our original wish-list: a Florida room.
*yes, the stairs go to no-where and will help to make up an L-shaped bench seating area.
Allow me to start with a confession. I adore witches: from historically persecuted innocents, to fairy tale and horror movie villains. Many people who self identify as witches today may argue that the historically persecuted innocents were just that: the innocent victims of jealousy and fear. And the villains: an unfortunate demonization of a social outcast, a scape-goat. Knowing the truth behind the stories doesn’t take away the intrinsic mystery and fascination to all popular depictions of the witch. The truth does not remove the beguiling power of a woman (usually) exercising amazing powers that would never be allowed to her by the society around her. It doesn’t explain what exactly is so threatening about any one person that entire manuals would be created to identify, vilify, and punish them. This mystery and power is what I love.
A cursory internet search for witch movies will turn up the same lists of movies, like the Harry Potter series, Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic, The Witches, The VVitch, The Blair Witch, The Witches of Eastwick, The Craft, etc. All great movies, of course! However, there were never enough to fill the needs of a ‘fan of the witch,’ aka me. I had seen them all and was still left wanting.
In trying to find more ‘witch’ movies to satisfy my cravings, I was inspired to seek out all the ‘witch’ movies I could. And, because I couldn’t find a pre-made list to help me, I’ve created one of my own: the Ultimate Witch List. It is not exhaustive. It couldn’t possibly be, but it is much more in depth than anything I had found before. And, yes, I have watched each and every one of them.
While compiling this list I dug up mention of several films that were supposedly based on the novel The Conjure Wife by Fritz Lieber. My husband picked this book up on a whim from a used book store. It’s cover was interesting and gothic. Later, in our library/dining room I was looking for something to read and picked it up. I could not put it down. I have foisted it on my best friend and I frequently remind my husband that he picked it and still hasn’t read it. I love it. I was so excited to find a movie, then two, then three, that were based on the Conjure Wife, that I developed a passing obsession to find them all.
I want to take a moment here for an HBO original movie, To Cast a Deadly Spell, and its sequel, Witch Hunt. Both follow Private Detective Phil Lovecraft working in a Hollywood that has fallen in love with and been saturated by magic. Witches are licensed and insured in this world, everyone does magic, except our hero. I carried vague and persistent memories of these movies from childhood without actually remembering what they were. It was only after talking with my husband about these memories and doing some intensive searching for magic movies that I finally found the titles and was able to revisit them. These movies are all the cooky, scary, fantasy of my dreams.
I picked up the White Lily Flour Cook Book by J. Allen Smith & Co. of Knoxville, Tennessee (1932) while at a vintage market recently. Unusually, it included a recipe that used no flour at all! The amounts of sugar to egg white make the mix almost nougat-y and yet they are also like a firm dacquoise, or nutty meringue.
The instructions said drop by teaspoon, but I think they could stand a little light shaping to be less dollops-of-concrete-like after baking. The original recipe also said to bake on an ‘oiled baking sheet,’ but I found this was not necessary if using a silicone baking mat.