Steeleye Span and My Clean House
Well, Steeleye Span anyway. I know I promised House Pics, and Kitty Pics, and a Clean House. ( had Houseguests last week, MAN did they trash the place!!! ) ( I slay myself! ) But I thought I would hop on and do the first part of this post from work, because I am having the most wonderful time...
We acquired a bunch of New Steeleye Span. I had no idea, hadn't checked in with them since their album TIME in, ye gads, 1996 (Which I loved) and I've been listening to the new ones all day long. There is one album called PRESENT which is two cd's of their music from the previous 30 of so years, only re-recorded, completely, in 2002. Aside from the fact that recording technology has improved beyond belief in the last, say 30 years, I love all these songs from the past much, much better. They are now much closer to the way I always heard them in my head.
Way more Oyster Band than, well the early music was kind of Folk-y, but now they have TEETH. With FANGS. Now they are living on my side of the street. ( The one where all the lights are burnt out, to quote Steve Brust...)
I'm home now, and while I have not exactly achieved CLEAN in the Spooky House ( HEY! We LIKE Cobwebs!) I have, well, one room clean. It's the sunroom , and I have decided rather than clean the rest of the House, I shall simply just live in it. With the lights out no-one will see all the shredded cat toys and bits I missed. The room has computer, tv, ipod, violen, guitar and phone. What else does one need? ( yes, a piano, I know, but I am not exactly brilliant at piano and anyway there is no room. )
(tho someone did give me a piano, actually, but we have to wait until spring, as my Sherpa Guide, who gets me thru the snow into my House every night says No Way can we get a piano thruough..)
I have just, all for you my dears, bloodied my legs letting Madame Mim climb me and got a picture of it, (a LOT of her Softpaws have come off, as soon as I can have a couple people over, with safety gear on, this will be remidied) They will have to wait until tomorrow to show up here as I seem to have lost my Thingie that lets one put them on the computer.
As I seem to have lost half the bits of my vaccum. And I manage someone else's life for a living??????
I will go and take before pictures for you....
Here is the dinning room before..
And here it is after...
( I love this. Haven't actually TAKEN the pictures, and it is by no means certain I will stop playing on the computer and clean it up, nor certain I will be able to post the pictures, but hey, it's like virtual housework!)
Otherwise I would have to stopping blogging and get some work done.
Sigh.
Love, blood and Housework,
Lorraine
posted by FabulousLorraine @ 1:32 PM
42 Comments
42 Comments:
Left you a comment on last blog about the cleaning,....heehee.
purple soft paws next???
Hmm Steeleye Span..I've heard OF them ('cause I'm a musical Anglophile) but never actually heard them. I'll have to go look now.:)
Heehee Steve Brust is one of my favorites..his books always have some of the best quotes.
Virtual cleaning is always much more fun than actual cleaning. Too bad you can't virtually put the softpaws on Ms Mim since she's being such a terror.;)
Merry Housekeeper, I am SO inviting you over! I still don't get this, I have no housekeeping skills. What did you mean when I asked you how you got the floor so shiny and you said " You Wax It"??????
I get waxed at the Beauty Parlour, my eyebrows, and maybe my, well never mind. I can't understand how one applies that idea to the floor tho....
Go listen to Steeleye Span, Kali! TIME is one of my Desert Isalnd DIsks, and I love the new bits, it's all good.
Steve Brust IS good. I was actually a charecter in one of his books, years ago. When he made the quote he was talking about himself and my Boss, and said " We live on the same street, only the lights are all burnt out on his side"
I loved his re-telling of Dumas. Wonderful.
Clean house? Judging from the photos posted in your house of your darling kittens your house looks "Goodhouse Keeping" clean! Damn, you should see my place. i'm such a pack rat, books, paintings, art supplies, magazines, clothes, cool stuff everywhere! Your place looks wonderful!
Good recommendation (Time):) I like "Bloody Men" too.
RE: Steve's quote: Too true lol:)
And the Khaavren books..I love them because you can hear how much fun it was to write them. Next time I re-read I'll have to look for you.:)
He did have fun with those, the Khaavren books, and they were truly a wonderful re-telling.
I love the Vlaad books too. I have always wanted to be Sethra Lavode...
I, sadly was not in the briallant Dumas re-telling. It was a book, as I recall, called "Cowboy Fangs Space Bar and Grill. I think...I remember my charecter saying mostly " I want a whiskey.."
Hey, just saw that Matin Millar posted a vid of Natalie MacMaster playing a tune called Tullochgorum, on his blog, which was pretty much a theme of Good Fairies of New York, go and check it out at www.martinmillar.com
I have been so meaning to learn this.....
To wax wooden floor boards:
Take a wax strip from the packet, peel off the protective layer on one side and apply the uncovered wax to the floor. Smooth the strip with one hand, and when it is all smooth, peel it off in one quick movement. All the dust will remain on the wax strip, which you may re-use, depending on the amount of dust you have collected (i.e. until the wax isn't sticky anymore), a bit like you would do with a length of sticky tape when taking off lint and cat hair from black fabric.
Same procedure applies if you want to wax you car...
:)
Retelling of Dumas? I HAVE to check out that guy.
ACKKK!!!!!!!!!!!! WAY to much work. I kind of like my floors not shiny. Yes. Dull floors. Dull is the new shiny. I am starting a trend....
Wax ones car? Surely the car wash does that for one???
And, oh, yes, it's Steven Brust, The Pheonix Guards, and 500 Years After, set in a world created by Mr Brust, in the Vlad Series, wonderful reads.
Amazon seems to have them all, and also music downloads, he once wrote a song called "Marion" that I am going to cover one day.
Taking note of that.
Not buying anything yet as the "to read" shelves are overflowing and groaning about excess weight.
And what are you doing still awake at this time of the night?
[insert good night hug here]
The Gods only know, ought to be in bed..For that matter, what are YOU doing up at this hour, silly woman???
'Night all...
I am at work (and have been there for over an hour already).
boy oh boy, go to bed early one night and miss all the fun :) and i am feeling quite illiterate as I have never heard of Steeleye Span nor Stephen Brust. heathen! Did wind up cleaning today as Wild Springer Spaniel is gone and has destroyed most of Tank's toys. Oh, Lorraine, it's not "dull" - it's "matte", ever so chic, haha. We are expecting a new little one in May: www. getalongcorgis.com I am so excited! We are getting a female, if all goes well. Makes is easier to plow thru this never ending winter..
I have clever laminate cleaner that waxes as you mop. It's good.
Of course, that would require me to mop. I've been saying that the kitchen floor is filthy for... over a week. Over two weeks. I shall do it today! (But I have to ice the cake I just made first, otherwise I would just drop buttercream icing on the newly washed floor, wouldn't I?)
Bet you're done with work now, oui?
Sue, Call Dreamhaven and tell Elizabeth Lorraine says you need some Steve Brust. She will set you right up. . Anyone there can help, but Elizabeth Rules the place.
You should hear some Steeleye Span, they started in about 1970 and , along with Fairport Convention, were the first bands to start taking Trad muisic and bringing it up to speed, as it were..
We got Isabelle, from Mirror Mirror from them. Heck, half the songs I KNOW came from them.
Hmm..I didn't mean to start some sort of cleaning frenzy..Can't have that, she mutters....
Pics by tonight. Promise!
And Sue, congrads on the new baby!
One thought tho, if your goal is snow removal, perhpas you should think BIGGER, hee-hee, send a Newfoundland back and forth to the street a few times and you are DONE.....
OUI!
Fled the blooming place at 16:30.
Now I am at home, dinner in the oven, tea ready, ready to relax.
I've finished "pay the Piper" yesterday evening - took me almost no time at all to read it - and enjoyed it tremendously.
Tonight I have to write, so no reading.
::sigh:: I almost got to see Steeleye Span in concert back in 1997. My husband had even already bought tickets. It was not to be. That was really not a good year for me.
Very roundabout way of saying I should go find out if a certain music service has any of their albums since I have free CD cards I can use. :)
Granted, it costs almost as much as the CD to ship it to me within the USA. :P
Oh, truly no fun, to have been so close.....I would love to see them. I keep meaning to go to the UK and do a MUSIC week or two, Oysters, Steeleye, Fairport...A couple of the big folk festivals.
I'd get PRESENT and BEDLAM BORN and TIME, those are my picks so far...
Quiche, you know i can help you with the soft paws, so i will beover this afternoon for tea and kitties.
ok, not reallly.
but soon!?
i got my Boiled in Lead CD in the mail, which i love love love, have you gotten yours? They used two of my photos in the CD booklet, a great way to commemorate the evening that we saw them!
xoxo
ps STeven Brust: To Reign in Hell---required.
PLEASE come over!!!! I have safety gear for you and will pay all hospital bills....I am getting a massage today (hurrrah!) and the Gods only know what she will think I am doing, my little legs are all scratched up so.
And my little hands.
And arms.
Oh, and neck. Yes, I like to wear my Itty Bitty Bengal.
Hi Lorraine,
Found you via Neil's blog, because I was looking for where to send a case of mangos as a bribe. (Sadly, www.folkunderground.com is broken.) So I thought I'd see about your CD, which started as "Would that be a good bribe?" and after reading your blog a bit, became, "Dude, she likes the same kind of stuff I do! Sweet! Forget bribing her, I have to check this out!" So I have now not only bought your CD, but also bought a corset from Alter Ego. Please, do not tell me about any more cool things I could buy, or my bank will get out the pitchforks and torches and come after me.
Steeleye Span rocks; I haven't listened to them since I started working at the southern California renaissance faire (RPFS) in the early Pleistocene. "The Fox" is my favorite. RPFS could badly use some more musical groups -- we have more singing groups than we know what to do with. Do you ever make it out to Bristol?
ok, cool, new songs to check out! and new books! I will call Elizabeth, I bought a ton of stuff from them at Fiddlers Green, and thought they rocked. I will be a heathen no longer!!! My new baby will be born around March 18 and ready to pick up in May. The breeder lives across the state so I don't know if I will be able to visit before May or not. Her name will be Rocket. snicker, yeah, corgis aren't much for snow removal, cept when it is so deep you're forced to shovel for them! Tank thought a snowbank was a hill and upended himself - funny to see his rump sticking up while he is madly trying to wiggle out. I would LOVE to go to England as well, for music, art, just for the sheer fun of finally crossing the pond.
Hi Pantagruel, and nice to meet you. You will like it here, hee-hee...( Now we have her, Mmmwahahaha)
You'll love both the music and corset, I am hoping. Get Malena to give you corset advice, SHE is the expert...
What did you need to bribe me about? Case of Mangos is generally a good bet....Folk UnderGround is now a duo, Just me and Paul and you can follow our lovely selves over at www.paulandlorraine.com ( catchy name, eh? )
Tho I tend to post mainly here. We don't come down to Bristol, tho I hear it is lovely, no more Renn Faires, except as visitors.
I do hope you like the Lorraine a' Malena cd! Yes, I remember now, we stole the Fox from Steeleye Span too, as well as Isabelle.
Sue, I love it that you have a dog named Tank.
Hi Again, Val ( Now I know yr name!) got your cd order, I'll send it off with some goodies tomorrow!
(do you have the Folk Underground cd's? Those are going REAL cheap, as in Have One, and welcome!)
And I know you don't want to spend any more money, so DO NOT go to Malena's Blog over at www.malenateves.com and see the new Corset Jackets from the Malena Collection she has just posted.
Don't go there, absolutly not, aviod www.malenateves.com
In fact, NONE of you should go anywhere near the blog at www.malenateves.com , all you are going to see there is a hot sexy women in fabulous leather corsets, jackets and skirts. You'll be bored to DEATH.
I'm heading out to St. Lucia in five hours, returning on my birthday Sunday! Don't burn the place down while I'm gone. ^_^
St Lucia??? Where, one wonders....
No burnings will occur while you are gone, Danth-guyth. Unless, hmmm..we need to burn something. Or someone...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!
ha ha. You speed blogger you! I love steeleye span. Didn't they do "casablanca moon"? Yes, Lorraine is right, there is SIN being created on my blog.
Happy Birthday to you..
Happy Birthday to you!
Dan! St. Lucia is gorgeous!
Your wife is spoiled to have you!
XOXO
Welcome Pantagruel!!! This is the best place on the web.
Have a great trip Dan!! We will try not to leave the elements on hehehe... and Happy Birthday!!!
Glad to hear a bundle of joy will soon be landing on your lap!!!
Lorraine, I just got my hands on a copy of Good Fairies... will commence reading very soon... must finish current book... but it is short and the heavy work on my apartment is mostly done!!! You talk about cleaning!!! the job my friend did on this place... it is breathtakingly wonderful... windows clean and shiny, painted kitchen and bathroom, finished french country dresser turned gothic Victorian shelf/entertainment unit... new curtains and shelves in the kitchen and bathroom, new plant shelf and spice shelf all in glass (it is my fairy/witch kitchen)... sigh... I keep rambling. sorry... I am overwhelmed by the transformation.
and now new books to read in my luxurious little bachelorette... and new music to search out. I LOVE the Folk Underground CD. It is great fun. I listened to it earlier (and I don't need to say that I loved LaM's CD first).
Well, Malena, Casablanca Moon was actualy Slap Happy, whom we also love. You can sing anything tho, and do so , so very well!
Rubius, I must tell you , you cannot be reading anything better than Good Fairies of New York ( Martin Millar ) read it and let us know. Actually, nip to his website and let him know, the man is very close to being way huge over here..And he loves to chat.
( he doesn't like spiders, but other than that , and remember, he may have Good Reasons, you will love him)
Where can I get hold of the Folk Underground CDs? Rubius has been telling me how nice they were.
Have a great birthday, Dan and an equally great trip.
To be honest... while I like jeweled spiders and spider jewelery, mythology and symbolism... and find them interesting... and kindly export them because I can't bear to kill them... I am rather frightened of spiders. I have bad reactions to spider bites and tarantulas give me the heebee jeebies. That said, I used to scream and run from wolf/wood spiders.. but now I just shudder, avoid the little ones, and export them. I live in a building that houses MANY spiders and it has occasionally been an experiment in tolerance and bravery living here but I have been lucky in finding them before they find me (at least so far). You see... part of the wonderful cleaning was the exhaustive de-spiderification of my apartment and an incredible cleaning of the hallway in my building... including a large wolf/wood spider that was nesting in the corner and at least 2 or 3 other nests. ewwww... I don't know how to thank or ever repay my friend for dealing with all of this... since she shares my fear of spiders. I had been planning to export the large one (I had only seen it once before) but was balked by the extensive webbing in the area ... you see it probably hadn't been cleaned properly in over a decade (it scared me)... but now it is clean!!!
I think you would like it, belle Nathalie.
Hey Lorraine! Hey Rubius!
Wow, I like it here already. :)
I do not have a Folk Underground CD, but if you wanted to remedy that, I would not say no. Just sayin'. :)
Bristol is indeed lovely, though the Minnesota ren faire was also lovely. Dude, I cannot get over 1-how green it is, and 2-lack of dust, and 3-how much sheer acreage you all have for your faires. And water! What is with this insane surplus of water out there? At RPFS, we cram 3000 actors into about a quarter-square mile of dust and sweat. For complaining rights, of course. But if you get the chance to check out Bristol, do. And if you ever come out to LA in the late spring and wanted to visit faire out here, just let me know!
Oh, man, the tailored pirate jacket. Rawr. And worse, my total downfall: scented candles and body lotion. Dude. Must... wait... until payday.
I feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh! It was more of a preemptive bribe. Neil had asked me to send him the next thing I write that I'm proud of. So I figured I'd start sending mangos *now,* while I'm still writing it. But now I feel guilty about even saying the word 'bribe,' because you are so nice.
I don't suppose you happen to also like avocados? I have a tree full of hundreds of them, and none of my neighbors want any more. I'm at the point where I'm about to start leaving them on people's desks at work again.
OoooH an avocado tree! That sounds great. I have to go and look for a picture of one... We used to plant the pits in pots when I was a kid but although they sprouted leaves and stuff, they never grew up to a tree.
Hehe... the jackets are gorgeous, aren't they? I can't decide which one I like best.
Funny that in the vid Neil posted on his blog there is a mention of Steeleye Span by Lois McMaster Bujold. These things come full circle.
I am currently reading 'I Heard the Owl Call My Name' by Margaret Craven. I read it when I was small for school and I remembered it as a good read and had to pick it up when I saw it 2nd hand somewhere. I will be done with it soon and Good Fairies will be all the better for the expectation of it. hehehe.
I love Avocados... too yummy... but Canada is a little far for California Avocados to fly... their wings are too small, unless of course, they come from the Avocado Jungle of Death (I hear they are hearty Avocados)... I think I have been up too long. Goodnight folks.
Nightie night, dear!
::waving:: Hi, Pantagruel! Welcome to the asylum. ;)
In Texas, the Ren faires tend to be either hot and dusty, or wet and muddy. Though last year's opening day at Scarborough it snowed. In other words, you never know. ::shrug::
Yep, Steeleye Span were playing in Houston on summer solstice in 1997. I don't regret the choice I made, however it does make a nice "would have been." I did get to see Alan Parsons Project in Austin a year or two earlier on their first Texas concert. :)
(Yes, I have eclectic musical tastes.)
I have to second Ms. Kitty: "To Reign in Hell" is a must read of Mr. Brust's works. :)
Rubius, hey, if you think the avocados could make it past Canadian customs, I'll totally ship you some. Maybe I'll call them "green rocks." They're a stone fruit, so it's not too off, right?
Spacedlaw -- you can grow avocado trees from seed, but it's not easy. Even when put in the right kind of soil and climate, it takes around 10 years to produce fruit. And, though you can get the seeds to sprout roots in water, they won't do much more than that; they need dirt. Crappy, no-nutrients-whatsoever, LA dirt.
Hi Ariandalen! So what you're saying is that I'd feel right at home at Scarborough. ;) RPFS, aka Southern, has a fine 45-year tradition of torrential downpours on its first day. (LA people melt in water, so they shut the faire down when that happens.)
Hrm. Should I be going on and on like this, being new and all?
I wouldn't worry about going on too much, Pantagruel. ;)
You might very well feel right at home at Scarborough Faire (April through Memorial Day) and/or Texas Renaissance Festival (October through Thanksgiving weekend). You would have to get used to playing in the rain, though, as neither faire closes just because of rain. TRF is five years older than Scarby, so TRF opened in 1976 and Scarby opened in 1981. I've been a patron of Scarby since 1982. From what I understand, RPFS is the one that started it all.
Would that I had someone to clean my house. ::sigh::
Oh, all right, then. ;) (But please feel free to ask me to shut up, as I am a Faire geek, and will natter on. A lot.)
RPFS did indeed start the entire renaissance faire trend, back in the early '60s. It started life looking much more like Williamsburg, or a Civil War reenactment, in the sense that there was a huge emphasis placed on living history and teaching the customers about the time period. When I started working it in 1991, the emphasis in history and teaching was very much in place, though it's gotten a little less strict recently. The month of workshops required before faire opens is still mandatory, and the costuming rules are still draconian. The RPFS cast tends to hold steady at about 2500-3000 actors, stage shows, and booth workers. We are, uh, huge. Almost the same cast works the Northern California faire, too, as they're owned by the same people.
I actually have had to memorize several Steeleye Span songs as part of the mandatory history workshops, over the years. However, I have also flunked Basic English Country Dance, aka 'Dances of the White People,' four times, so don't get the wrong idea and think I've got a swelled head. ;) When the rufty-tufty is too difficult a dance for you, you learn humility, fast.
Hmm, I might just have to make it out to Scarby one of these days, and brave the evil sky-water. ;)
Green rocks indeed. Not a bad plan but I suspect that won't make it through customs.. thanks anyway.. :-)
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