omg chance painting!!!!

I got a package in the mail today from Leah Moore, for whom I drew a silly little comic recently (which I’ll be posting soon, in fact!). It contained a watercolor sketchbook and a dip pen and ink and I thought AW YOU DARLING! and said AW YOU DARLING! to her on Twitter. “Have you looked inside the sketchbook yet?” she asked. “NO!” I said, “LET ME GO DO THAT RIGHT NOW!” “I’ll wait,” sez she, and I ran downstairs to open the sketchbook and inside was THIS! OMFG OMG…

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a fabulous coat & the ruin of two families

Yesterday over on Facebook I posted a link to an utterly fabulous 1940s bomber-style womens’ jacket. Things almost immediately got out of control as my dear friend Leah Moore loved it as much as I did: Leah: That is just gorgeous. I would marry that jacket. Catie: I would show up at the altar and object because I saw it first and loved it more. Leah: Oh damn! Leah: With high waist trousers and a killer haircut….oh man… Catie: actually i would show up at the altar and you would…

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we have amazing friends.

this morning i came home from dropping indy off at school and ted, looking very emotional, said, “come into the kitchen and see what our friends have done.” a little befuddled, i went into the kitchen, and there saw a large box and thought, “oh! yes, one of them said they would send a few–” and somewhere around that point a started to realize that there were two large–*large*–boxes, crammed full, and… this is…i just…i don’t even know where to start. they organized a care package of Food We Can’t…

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ethical oversight

For some reason I was reminded, this morning, of a discussion a few years ago post-Snowden, where an acquaintance of mine who had worked in the intelligence field spoke at great length, and passionately, about why Snowden had been wrong to leak the surveillance information that he did. His reasons were (roughly) matters of trust inside intelligence agencies, safety of intelligence officers, necessity of some secrets being kept, and possibly a couple other things I’m now forgetting. It was well reasoned and well written and I fundamentally understood and agreed…

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funny things with houseguests

Woe, our guest has had to return home, but she has left us with many smiles and funny memories. The other night she cleared her plate from the table, then returned to the dining room, where she picked up a napkin and wrung it as she gazed indecisively at our plates. Ted said, in the driest and most certain tone ever, “You’re procrastinating. Go work on your thesis.” She said, “I’m NOT! I’m trying to be a good guest!” Ted said, “I’m married to a writer and you’re procrastinating. Go…

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