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Photo du Jour: Echinops ritro + Bumblebee

28/4/2018

 
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I love this Globe Thistle for its obnoxious singularity.  It really does follow its own star, as much as any plant can.
​Must get the white version.

The Blackthorn Orphans Serialization:  á Kata Mehtra 7

20/4/2018

 
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Josephine’s white blouse came away from her body as though it had never consented to the association, leaving no impression on her tanned skin even where it had been tucked into the waist of her skirt.  The plain fabric of her underwear agreed wholly with the lean asexuality implied by the rest of her clothing; she wore it across the glassy floor of the testing lab toward the chair allocated by her technician, a south-east Asian woman of avian proportions.  She seemed almost a facet of the room’s modular inventory of drawers and stainless, swipe-card shelves in her pale blue scrubs.  The polished glazing behind her reflected both women; the technician consulted the inoculation program specified on the screen beside her and sat down on her own wheeled chair, arranging the hygienic appurtenances on the trolley before her.  Refrigeration units lining the walls filled the dead air with their cyclic hum and sighing respiration.  

Before the woman had finished laying out her tube racks the light beside the sliding door summoned her to a cosseted exchange behind it, and O’Connor returned to Josephine in her stead, turning back the white cuffs from the end of his shirt sleeves.  She looked from him toward the instruments on the trolley between them, skeptical at first that he intended anything more than to disturb her.  For a moment he appeared to consider the box of latex gloves, but passed them over, tearing a white swab from its wrapper.  Taking up her arm, he inflated the cuff about her bicep and awaited the streaks of venous blue that rose in answer to constriction, his grip warmer than her own skin, his narrow thumb raising her vein and holding it proud.  The cold swab struck like a snake bite against the inside of her elbow.  

He chose a syringe and slid its point into her skin.  It blurred against the wall of the vessel and rolled off to one side. 

“Let’s just go with the butterfly." O'Connor suggested, holding her arm against any instinctive contraction.  "It’s a nice gauge.”

“I want to know where we’re going.”

"Where're any of us going?  Where’s Trent going, now that he’s at one with all that aluminum siding?”  No flicker afflicted her gaze, even when he stubbed the lip of a tube against the buried needle.  His smile loosened up as her blood raced through the canula and flooded the glossy vacuum, hot between his fingers.  “Honestly, I opposed your transfer... I didn’t want another token floater reaming me with her gender card... but you held your fire, and I told myself you were too fragged to come at me that way.”  He shook his head.  “But you were just wearing that skin to get by me.”  She lifted her shoulders, caught between objection and restraint, one barely constraining the other.  A third recourse presented slowly as though with the colour that streamed from her arm into the glass, standing in the rack before her eyes like strikes against her.  Josephine lay back in the chair in perfunctory invitation.  “And there it is.  Relax.  I don't put my dick in my mistakes.  But while we're being candid, can I just ask... was carbonizing Mr Trent business or recreation?”  When she declined to respond O'Connor chuckled, capping the canula.  “Guess I just volunteered for a mystery vehicle fire.”  

Boxes full of vaccine ampules tinkled against each other as he eased open the refrigerator door, making his selection with a smile, perusing labels and collecting dilutant.  The oily suspension in the first vial shimmered, shaken quickly in his fist then drawn up by the hypodermic.

“Terminal cams in Frankfurt picked up the British girl on her own, heading east, then we were blessed by a local snitch, diming foreign nationals around US interests.  Let’s see... what else can I tell you in good conscience?  You’ll head out in two teams... attached to a four-man hub… small arms, unsupported...” 

"Interlaken knows you're sending us on deuce gear?"

O'Connor frowned at her, closing his hand around the syringe.

“What kind of obsessive, homicidal narcissist needs to ask if she’s on a doomed bag run with every other walking liability I could muster?”  He stabbed the vaccine down into her thigh.  “Happy trails.” he added, leaving it standing in her flesh.


​CONTINUED NEXT WEEK
© céili o'keefe  do not reproduce

*   Read the Book onsite   *   Go directly to this chapter   *


Photo du Jour:Wherefore art thou, Idlehouse?

17/4/2018

 
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Just in case some of you constant readers are skeptical as to the actual existence of any project that might be dragging me away from this blog rather than just, oh I don't know, massive fucking laziness or inappropriate drug use, behold- the Idlehouse is nearly a thing.  It's not quite this whack-looking shade of blue; extreme afternoon sunlight is not letting my superior paint selection be great and I couldn't be bothered colour-correcting the pic.  Note random piece of trellis waiting to be painted black just like 4635542894 other of the motherfucking things.  

No steps or roof gutter as yet, which is trying my patience.  We're currently whitewashing the ply walls in the bathroom with a product that behaves like Satan's jizz (streaky, fume-y, splatters unpredictably and sticks to your eyeballs, will not come off your fucking hands) so, not in the best of moods but as you can now see, we are getting there.

RubyHue Lipstick Review: Bite Tannin

12/4/2018

 
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There is always an elusive ∞ factor that separates a merely good lipstick from those that make you feel extra-goddess.  MAC Ruby Woo is like that.  Urban Decay F Bomb.  For some, it's Nars Dolce Vita or some other satanic concoction.  Call it glamour, call it dirty old witchcraft; for me, Bite Beauty Tannin sits simpering amongst these hallowed creations.  Like a slutty muse.
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Note the caveat, though.  Tannin's vague translucence means this shade is subject to variables, according to the nature of the light, thickness of application and especially your own underlying colours.  If you're lucky, you'll get that dreamy sanguine warmth infused with a suggestion of syrupy tomato and rose-jam.  But for some, Tannin will show a more generic face, rendering as a straight-up, albeit high quality, dark raspberry, which is nice enough, even if the magic does miss you.

On my dark, bare lips, I get a warmer, murkier, more painterly look than I do when applying over something like UD lip primer. 
Tannin's x factor lies in both its gorgeous, almost fevered depth of colour and luscious texture.  It's weird how rarely those two things go together, even in this day and age.  Online images don't really do this shade justice because it's one of those reds that looks somewhat pedestrian to the camera sensor- the human eye is far more sensitive to the nuances that make it great, so it's easier to describe than to accurately depict.  Tannin is a deep, slightly debauched, burnt-jam red with a puff of smoke blown over it, just 'off-clean' if you know what I mean.  Sauce, coulis and reduction are the words that come to mind; on the right mouth, it is luscious and arresting, overwrought and juicy as only this Bite formula can be.  
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Pale mouths and/or primer will provide just enough of a white cast to make Tannin possibly go all flat and literal.  So your native tonality  is the crucial interjection.  Keep that in mind.
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Bite Tannin (L) + Nars Charlotte
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You might have gathered that I personally adore Tannin almost unreasonably but I'm trying hard not to let that bias my assessment.  So- downsides? Given that they are devoid of a lot of the nastier preservative crud etc. found in mainstream products, Bite sticks can be a wee bit susceptible to heat and humidity fluctuations, both in the tube and on the lip.  Deep in the arsecrack of a disgustingly hot summer, I noticed that greasiness can surface under trying conditions. Thus Tannin can be a tad mobile on the lip when worn heavily and can also skip the centre, which is annoying if your lips are somewhat poofey and turned out like mine.  I use a brush when this is happening.  It might possibly bleed on someone especially prone to that issue, but I have old-lady lines and don't experience any problems.  
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Finish-wise, there is a plumping, satiny lustre, heightening to medium glossiness depending one how much you pile on.  It is very comfortable to wear and deliciously hydrating.  There is a hint of sweet flavour and a fruity scent; they aren't grotesquely synthetic and don't bother me.  
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You need a bit of mana and personal heft to pull this shade off, or you could find yourself worn and not in a good way.  My most meaningful recommendation is this: I'm a fucking tough bitch to please and Tannin surely doth please me.
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L2R all MAC unless stated: Russian Red, Bite Tannin, Nars Mascate, Ruby Woo,
​Guerlain Garçonne, Nars Majella, Lady Danger
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OMG more fucking lipstick    *   Selected Ravings   *   Read the Book 


Update

5/4/2018

 
Still very fucking busy.  I thought getting to the finishing stage with the new place might mean less work.  Wrong.

Here's a few pics of Fir who is still firmly in the juggalo phase of his personal development and is just lucky he is a cute little arsehat otherwise he might not have made it this far.  Also: bonus pic of monarch on dahlia from our new lower garden.

​I'll post some pics of the new place over the weekend if I get a chance.
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