Author: Corbid Ravenous

First off, this is not a Kevin Smith movie.
Yes it was written and directed by Kevin Smith, but it it is not a Kevin Smith movie. There are no scatalogical references, no perverse in jokes, even the pseudo intellectual humour is kept to a minimum. If there were more than a couple in jokes, I failed to notice them. It was unambitious and sweet as pie. Clever in bits, but equally maudlin and overwrought in places. There are parts where the mood music was seriously over the top. There were obvious tear jerker moments. But over all I liked it. It was clearly a labor of love. Still, if you’re looking for references to Walt Flanagan’s dog or the sex organs of superheroes, may I suggest a visit to your local video emporium…

So I was walking out of the movies yesterday, in need of reviving but not wanting to break my emergency $5 bill. This left me with about $1.50 for caffeine procurement. Lo and behold, I find myself in front of a Coffee Xchange stand that offers a medium iced tea for $1.35. Think to myself that it probably won’t be great, but certainly is an adequate option. Discover, to my amazed joy possibly the most full service iced tea experience on the planet.

First, you are given a choice of two tea bags from about nine different varieties. The tea is then brewed to your preferred strength and poured directly into a metal shaker of ice. From there the tea is poured back into an ice filled plastic cup, perfectly chilled and beautifully fragrant. The whole process took maybe 5 minutes at most. I very highly recommend it, and left my remaining change in the tip jar as a sign of my undying gratitude.

Eddi Reader apparently worked as arranger on the solo album of wunderkind Scottish fiddler John McCusker, whom I once met after a show when he was 18 and on his first tour with the Battlefield Band. We talked about our both having Claddagh rings (his mother was Irish) and joked around and he gave me his address and phone number in Scotland on a bar napkin. I kept it on my bulletin board in my room for years, but in the end I chickened out and never wrote. He kissed my hand in the rain and said goodbye and I was innocently star struck.

Thea Gilmore

Eddi Reader

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The Present:

Birch

A new beginning

You are in the midst of, or about to enter, a new start in the situation. While it is blessed with good luck, do be careful not to be rash or hasty! Expect change as a result, and prepare for it. The first of the Ogham trees, and traditionally the first to have Ogham carved upon it, birch symbolizes beginnings. As both a protector and a gateway to the Otherworld, it also indicates good fortune. There is some risk of hastiness and rashness as well; while good luck can compensate, foresight is also of benefit.

Color: White

Animal: Cow

Bird: Pheasant

The Present:

Ash

Linkages

The situation is a part of a wider whole, and your life is a part of a larger pattern. Remember that your actions are a part of a larger pattern, and affect all the others within it- make your decisions with this in mind.

Ash is a tree of great traditional magical significance. Yggdrasil, the World Tree, is an ash, and the ash is the fifth Ogham tree. Ash symbolizes the connection- and movement- between very different places and aspects of reality.

Color: Clear Green

Animal: Snake

Bird: Snipe

mythology

detritus

opinion

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…in that place and now it’s over. And so a new chapter begins. Or something like that. A heavy sigh of relief. A wave of disjointed nostalgia. A brief identity crisis. Then the wheel turns yet again…or whatever…

Myth of the Day:The Vegetable Lamb

The tale of the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary comes from the Middle Ages, a traveler’s tale from the far east. It’s full name was ‘Planta Tartarica Barometz’ – ‘barometz’ is the Tartar word for ‘lamb’. The fruit of the Vegetable Lamb was cotton, but travelers from Europe knew nothing about cotton in those times. They reasoned that the material was wool – a fabric they did know. The figured that since wool came from sheep, and that the plant was some kind of animal/plant. They thought that the puffs of cotton were tiny sheep attached to the plant by their navel. It is said that the plant bent to let the sheep graze on the grass beneath it, and that when all the grass was gone, the sheep dropped from the plant and ran off, the tree dying.

The myth of the Vegetable Lamb dates back to the 11th century in the Middle and Far East. It is a species of fern. The ‘body’ of the Vegetable Lamb is the root of the plant.

…if that’s what you’re into…

They have hot shrimp in a bag! And cold salad! With cheese and croutons and cucumbers and stuff! Cherry tomatoes! Baby greens! It’s genius, I tell you! You can eat the shrimp separately! Or you can put it in the salad! The shrimp is in garlic sauce! It’s so good! There’s chicken ones too in case you’re Lizzie! Hooray for shrimp salads! And chicken salads! And exclamation points!