Midsummer, Litha, Solstice.....

[tabaqui]

Tonight, apparently, is the 'super moon', the perigee moon. Closer to Earth than it will be for a long while, so see if if you can!

The Bebe's cousin/my niece is visiting, she'll probably be here for a week. It's nice. She's a nice kid, a couple years older than the Bebe and about eight inches shorter. Poor thing - driving is a challenge! And she'll be carded until she's fifty.



Now that it's summer and my sleeping schedule is different, i am actually remembering my dreams. Usually my sleep is kind of broken up - to bed by oneish/twoish, up again at fiveish to get the Bebe up for school, then back to bed around eightish and sleep until about elevenish.....

But now i sleep a full six to eight hours without a break, and wow, dreams! :) The most interesting one to date was me dreaming of my very first, best friend, who i met in first grade. In the dream, we were meeting up for some sort of...thing (dinner? reunion? movie? no clue) and i just walked right over and kissed her. Like- full on kiss. Not shocking, really, since she was *also* my first big-time crush. But the first time i've ever dreamed about that. Never did it in real life - she moved away the summer after fifth grade and while we were still friends, and wrote and visited, i wouldn't have ever dared kiss her like that in real life.

It was nice. :)



I also was thinking about the short story that, I think, cemented my liking for hurt/comfort *and* my liking for characters who, whether 'naturally' or via some kind of technology or magic, are a bit unstable. It was a Star Trek story, in the first collection of short stories published.



In 'Star Trek: The New Voyages', there is a story called 'Mind Sifter'. Kirk has an encounter with something called 'The Guardian of Forever', and not only is his mind damaged and twisted, but he's flung back in time to a sixties/seventies Earth, and is being held in a mental hospital. If he tries to say his rank or full name, or anything about the Enterprise, he's 'punished' with pain and terror by some kind of conditioning by the Guardian. So he's called 'Jim', and one of the nurses is a little in love with this sad, handsome stranger.

One night he's standing at the window of his room, and looking up to see the sky and .... "A late plane, at a great height...." And he whispers "Spock? Help me?"

WOW. Yeah. Bam, i will never not love a character like that, in those sort of straits. I'm also pretty sure i know where one of my kinks come from, but i'm not going to talk about that. :)


As always - flowers! My lilies are all in bloom.










I wish i could remember how to make a grid, instead of everything in a long line like that.....

Comments

[arliss]

I've slept a solid seven hours once or twice this week, and for the first time in a long while, remembered dreams on waking. Oh! I remember this.

We have the orange lillies with the purple stamens, and dark dark burgundy freckles in their throats. The others keep promising to bloom; we won't know what color they are till they do. All of ours were donated by a neighbor moving away who couldn't take them with her. She wanted them to have an appreciative home. They do!

[tabaqui]

It's neat to remember them, but they are *so* very strange.

I love my bulb flowers - so little effort for such loveliness! :)

(p.s - if you are also the arliss on Tumblr, sorry for the follow/don't follow/follow/don't follow thing i did. we have similar tastes and you reblog a lot of stuff that i'm already following and it makes me a wee bit...disoriented. So in future i'll have to peruse your Tumblr separate from my 'following' ones. But, i have several that i do that with, as they reblog *so much stuff*, i can't keep up.)

[arliss]

I am indeed that arliss. I'm either ingenuous or lazy for refusing to create a separate ID wherever I go.

No worries on the follow-unfollowing. My list is long, and I should whittle it down. But many of them don't post a lot, or often, but treasures when they do. Still, as you say, it's *a lot*.

[tabaqui]

Hey, I'm Tabaqui nearly everywhere, except FB. :)

Oh, good. Since you're one of the few people i knew more than one place, i figured i should say something.

[blueswan]

Oh pretty! My day-lilies are just budding now so I'll enjoy yours while I wait. The tiger lilies (the common as mud ones my dad used to call ditch lilies) are closer to blooming so I'm hoping for some of those for Canada Day. Thanks for sharing your pics.

I remember that story! I shall have to drag out my New Voyages and read that one again, now that you've reminded me of it.

[tabaqui]

I love the lilies! Not sure if they're the same, but we have a paler-orange lily that grows everywhere here that we call 'ditch lily' - i love them, because they're just everywhere in the crappy clay soil and are *so* pretty. I seriously want to dig some up and plant them along our retaining wall.

I need to get a copy of the book! I've read my brother's copy several times, but i need my own!

[blueswan]

I'm sure we are talking about the same plant. You can not kill them or break their spirit. For 15 years my BIL thought it was just some weird grass so he mowed them down whenever he was doing the lawn. We finally convinced him to leave a small patch and lo! we had lilies come July. I based the main garden bed on that little patch.

[tabaqui]

I'm sure, too. :)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7kHl8HzH2kE/TgYxslifL_I/AAAAAAAACP4/2KuRl6nZYT0/s1600/IMG_6633.JPG

There were tons of them planted around the foundation of a house we lived in in Kansas - i loved it so much, since they kept all the weeds down and were just *thick* and green and gorgeous when they bloomed.

I'd also like some yucca. It grows wild around here and is really hardy - it's just hard to dig up, since it has roots from hell.

[tifaching.livejournal.com]

Such pretty, pretty flowers! My lilies are budding but there are no blooms yet.

[tabaqui]

Thanks! I love them so much - plus, the spread all on their own, year after year, which is perfect. :)

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

OMG I remember "Mind Sifter" from "The New Voyages" and yes it certainly was a h/c fic (thank heavens the collection had a cheerier fic with Ruth Berman's Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited).

Ah the not-so-good-old-days when fanfic was only to be found in fanzines bought via snailmail. What a contrast to these days when one can read a fanfic based on a just-aired ep the very next day online.

Shakatany

[tabaqui]

Yes! I think that had the story in there, too, about Spock stranded on a planet with a woman who said she was a nymph or a sorceress or something....? Can't remember. She said her name was 'Phylidia'. 'Spock and Phylidia, Spock and Phylidia, see how it goes trippingly on the tongue?' The fireflies would write 'Spock and Phylidia are one!' across the sky and Spock said 'We are *not* one.'

Heee! Such fun.

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

I think that was "The Enchanted Pool" by Marcia Ericson. In the sequel anthology there was "The Procrustean Petard" by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath where, IIRC, Kirk is turned into a woman. As is well known slash began in ST fanfic as did a lot of other tropes we hold dear these days.

Shakatany

[tabaqui]

Yes! And so was Bones and i think Spock, and Uhura was a man. There was also one where he was turned into a Romulen? A 'golden' Romulen to match his coloring...some kind of surgery, etc..... Or someone was. And the Romulens were all matriarchal.... And then whoever it was (not Kirk) wanted to stay a Romulen....

I wish my memory was better.

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

I wish my memory was better. Same here.

Marshak and Culbreath went on to write "The Price of the Phoenix" and "The Fate of the Phoenix" where there were two Kirks - one who becomes the bedmate of the Romulan Commander IIRC. These novels came out while there was no TV/movie Star Trek and stories like that were all we had. There are about a half dozen early ST novels that I have and adore; after awhile, once ST became a real moneymaker, the novels seemed to lose so much originality - the early ones were like professionally published fanfic as the powers that be didn't really care what went on in those books. My absolute favorite is Barbara Hambly's "Ishmael" where she crosses ST with "Here Come the Brides"! You have to read it to believe it.

Shakatany

[tabaqui]

YES! Two Kirks! Now i remember. I'm obviously going to have to go dig around Better World Books and get me some copies. I don't have *any* anymore.

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

Wow I didn't know about Better World Books - thanx for the link. I'll keep it in mind for when I get room for some more books.

The other ST novels I liked are:

The Entropy Effect by Vonda N. McIntyre (I also liked her novelizations of the Spock trio movies)

The Wounded Sky and My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane (if they really didn't know what to do with the 5th movie I think MEMA would've made a much better picture than "The Final Frontier")

Pawns and Symbols by Majliss Larson

The Final Reflection by John M. Ford

Shakatany

[tabaqui]

Oh yes, BWB is awesome! I had got a 25 dollar gift certificate from there for my birthday and i got seven books out of the deal. Yay!

Plus they donate book and fund literacy programs and in general are just awesome.

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who's moving and who will be getting rid of a lot of books she no longer wants. I've passed the link on to her as I think it's the best thing to do with those books.

Shakatany

[tabaqui]

Excellent.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

What a lovely dream!

[tabaqui]

It really was! We haven't been in touch in a while, it really sucks.

Argh!

[cattraine.livejournal.com]

That scene from Mindsifter where he sees Spock wearing his shirt..and was like "You gave me up!" Argh, that story was so heavily UST! LOL

Re: Argh!

[tabaqui]

OMG!! Yes, 'why are you wearing my shirt?!!'

And Chekov calling him Jim, and Bones aghast at the medicine and how he'd been treated....

Damn, i'm gonna have to find a copy of that book, now. And Star Trek Lives!, too, and...hell. All of 'em. :) My brother has them all.

[tortilla_lady.livejournal.com]

Neat dream, would you ever tell her about it?

Very pretty lilies. They really are gorgeous. Are they hard to grow? I have a black thumb and can only seem to get a hardy succulent to survive me...

[tabaqui]

Nah. Well, i dunno, if we got in touch again some time and got close again, maybe, but ...as it stands now, i wouldn't.

Lilies are basically - put the bulb in the ground at the right time (and right end up), ignore. They do it all by themselves, and come back every year. I love bulbs! :)

[tortilla_lady.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, will keep that in mind if I ever get a house...

[tabaqui]

There are beautiful peace lilies and Amaryllis you can get around Easter and Xmas, respectively, that grow well in pots. They *are* toxic to cats, though, so if you have cats who think anything green means lunch, you'd have to be careful.

[tortilla_lady.livejournal.com]

Will definitely keep that in mind. Thanks! ^_^

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

The lilies are lovely but I believe they are toxic to cats, so look out for the signs:
http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/toxicology/a/Lily-Toxicity-In-Cats-And-Dogs.htm

Your dream sounds lovely ... I had a crush on a friend for years and stupidly told her about it.

[tabaqui]

Oh, no worries - they're outside and the cats are inside. :)

Aw, from the sounds of it it didn't go well. I'm sorry. I guess being a bit more...open minded? i wouldn't fall apart if a friend told me something like that. It's like 'omg, you're bi?? and you had/have a crush on me?? OMG IF WE'RE ALONE YOU'LL TRY TO JUMP MEEEEEE!!!!'

Um. No.

*hugs*

[ravurian]

Your lilies are lovely! (And I just realised I never commented to the post with pics of your house - I love the different textures of stone!)

[tabaqui]

Thank you both times!

I love how the stones are so varied and yet it's obvious they're all from the same source, really. I especially love the colors. :)

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

Your lilies are spectacular!

[tabaqui]

Thank you!

[reddwarf75.livejournal.com]

Beutiful lilies! I saw the moon last night and it was so bright! :)
Marie

[tabaqui]

Thank you!
It was very hazy here, but we could still see it - so cool!

[without-me.livejournal.com]

I loved Mind-Sifter with a love that was more than love.

[tabaqui]

YES. :)

[stir-of-echoes.livejournal.com]

Those Lillies have such beautiful colours, so vibrant and deep. They're gorgeous *is green with envy* I mostly get white or plain yellow, which are lovely enough but yours are stunning.

And I like the sound of your dream, and that in a way, you got your chance to take the chance *G*

[tabaqui]

Thank you! I don't know where they came from, anymore - if i bought them or if my mom gave them to me. I do love their colors, though.

Heee. Yeah, it was a nice dream. I doubt she ever had anything like reciprocal feelings, and that's fine, but.....

Yeah. :)

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

Awww, yay for sleep and a big big yay for dream kisses :-)

Your flowers are beautiful.

Ooh. I really love some characters for having emotional/mental issues (along with other reasons). I mean - Winchesters <3

I love kinks and kink origin stories, so if you do feel like talking about it, you know where to find me :)

[realtsunamigirl.livejournal.com]

And you claim you don't have a green thumb! Those are gorgeous.

I recently re-discovered regular sleep and dreams too. The funny thing is that I cannot remember anything about my dreams, just that they were wonderful (which of course, instantly sends everyone's minds to the gutter. lol) I just know they're like kid dreams of flying and adventure and everything nice. It's lovely, even though it means I start the day disappointed because I had to wake up :D

[tabaqui]

Dude, bulbs! No effort on my part whatsoever. :)

Dreaming is fun! I've remembered so many, lately, it's just....neat. :)

[desertport]

OMG, going straight to the Trek section on my next visit to Powell's....

[tabaqui]

Yes!!