#original brunes gold

[trash-soup]

Me completing little tasks throughout the day

My best friends and partners cheering me on with love and affection

[kaxenart]

@northernmariette replied to your post “What counts as an acceptable violence is a topic...”:

That was Lejeune with Marshal Brune? I was sure it was Marbot, and I looked and looked for that anecdote in Marbot when Brune's birthday came around, but could not find it. In the end I found something else, and was amazed at the response to that obscure Marshal's birthday.

​Yeah. It's a Lejeune story, though it certainly does feel a bit Marbot-ish, doesn't it?

At last the King sent to ask the Marshal to go to him alone in a private room, and one of the royal bodyguard took up his station at the door. Presently we heard a very animated, almost an angry, conversation going on within. The party waiting outside consisted of Colonel Mathis, Colonel Saint-Raymond, and myself, all three strong determined French officers ; three Swedish aides-de-camp, and a French gentleman wearing the Cross of St. Louis and the gold-laced uniform of a lieutenant- general of the old French army. It was the Duke of Vienne, an emigrant serving in the ranks of our enemies, and he looked at us with anything but a pleasant expression. The situation became more and more strained, and, convinced that we should have to sell our lives as dearly as we could, I had just whispered to my comrades, Colonels Mathis and Saint-Raymond, ' I'll deal with the King and the sentinel — you see to the others,' and we were standing on the qui-vive at our posts, sword in hand, when the Marshal came out pale, grave, and disguising the anger he felt. I was near the door, and I got a glimpse of the King standing up wearing a caricature of the costume of Charles XII. and gazing at us.

The Marshal, fearing that I meant to go into the room, took my hand and said, ' Let us be off ! ' The carriages were waiting ; we got in ; the guards, still under arms, opened the big gates, and we started, followed by our escort.

Alone in the carriage with the Marshal, he told me what had passed that I might tell the Emperor. Gustavus, though he had been beaten ten times in succession by the Marshal, had actually proposed to him that he should desert to the enemy with his army, and, joining the allies, aid in placing Louis XVIII. upon the French throne. ' The legitimate king of your country,' he had said, ' will make you Generalissimo of his army and that of the allies, and will place under your orders the troops which the Duke of Vienne, who is now with me, can dispose of ! ' These troops were three or four old emigrants, who had not so much as a sword amongst them. This speech was moreover interlarded with curses of the Emperor Napoleon. Marshal Brune, who felt how imprudent he had been to venture into the Swedish quarters so far from his army, was obliged to disguise his indignation and to listen to the whole of the infamous propositions, to come scatheless out of a situation which his physical strength and our resolute courage could only have made yet more desperate.

Also I noticed the original French calls him the Duke of Pienne and I am like.... where is this guy duke of???

(pardon any errors in the copy-paste, my French is too shit to catch when the automatic book scan to text fucks up)

Enfin, le roi fit prier M. le maréchal d'entrer seul dans son cabinet; après quoi un garde-du-corps fut placé en faction à la porte. Bientôt, nous entendîmes la conversation du cabinet royal prendre un ton fort élevé et s'animer quelquefois jusqu'à l'emportement. Nous avions en présence de nous la sentinelle, trois aides de camp suédois et un monsieur français pore tant la croix de Saint-Louis et un uniforme galonné de lieutenant-général des anciennes armées de France. C'était le duc de Pienne, émigré français, servant chez nos ennemis et nous regardant d'un air peu bienveillant. Nous n'étions là que trois officiers fort décidés et vigoureux : les colonels Mathis et de Saint-Raymond et moi. La circonstance devenait de plus en plus grave; et, persuadés qu'il faudrait ici vendre chèrement notre vie, je dis à l'oreille de Mathis et de Saint-Raymond : « Je me charge de la senti- nelle et du roi; défaites-vous des autres ». Déjà nous étions sur le qui-vive, à nos postes et la main sur le sabre, lorsque le maréchal sortit, pâle, sérieux et dissimulant sa colère. J'étais dans la porte, et j'aper- çus le roi qui était devant moi, debout, à nous regar- der, et vêtu comme une caricature de Charles XII. Le maréchal, craignant, à mon air, que je ne vou- lusse entrer, me prit par la main et me dit : « Par- tons ». Nos voitures attendaient, nous y montâmes; les gardes-du-corps, sous les armes, firent ouvrir les grandes portes, et notre escorte nous suivit. Monté seul dans la voiture avec le maréchal, il me raconta ce qui venait de se passer, pour que j'en fisse part à l'Empereur. Gustave, quoiqu'il eût été battu dix fois de suite par les troupes du maréchal, avait osé lui proposer de tourner ses armes contre la France, en réunissant son armée à celle des alliés, pour servir la cause de Louis XVIII. « Votre roi lé- . gitime de la France vous fera généralissime de ses armées, et mettra sous vos ordres toutes les troupes dont M. le duc de Pienne, que j'ai là près de moi, peut disposer ». Ces troupes étaient deux ou trois vieux émigrés n'ayant pas même une épée. Ces paro- les étaient entremêlées d'outrages contre l'empereur Napoléon. Le maréchal Brune, qui avait commis l'imprudence très grave de s'aventurer, loin de son armée, sur le territoire suédois, fut obligé d'écouter ces propositions jusqu'au bout, pour éviter une scène que sa force physique et notre courage eût rendue pire encore.

[thebluelemontree]

Hi, this is lyastark (i changed blogs), you responded to my ask here: /post/175700394682/. i wanted to say that i loved your meta! i was thinking more of their relationship in the purpose of the story. for me, no one knowing about this interaction has to serve some plot purpose. b/c of this, i think that sandor is going to be the one to tell her about LF shitty behavior towards her. her relationship with him is the ONLY one that LF doesn't know about. we know he doesn't b/c he NEVER mentions (1)

sandor to sansa. he was quick to dismiss tyrion, loras, wilas, margaery, etc but he said nothing about sandor. i also believe that sansa has gotten to the point where there’s no one “new” she has met that she would 100% trust with something this big. sandor is someone she explicitly trusts not to lie to her, and is someone she associates with safety and her old life. he’s her hidden dagger, if you will

Hey, glad you liked it.  

Yeah, I’m in agreement that Sandor will be crucial to Sansa reclaiming her identity in a few ways, and it will pay off that their relationship has flown under the radar for all this time.  While Jeyne Poole is also an alternate possibility or an addition to that, I think Jeyne is on course to meet with (perhaps travel with) Arya first.  It may take all of TWOW, maybe to the beginning to ADOS, for Arya and Sansa to reconnect.  One thing I’m reasonably sure of is that things will start happening pretty quickly in TWOW for wrapping up Sansa’s training arc.  With only two books left, it’s time to start moving all the remaining characters into the final act.  

I’m just going to put the rest under the cut.  This isn’t so much a coherent meta, but me just riffing because I have a lot of feelings about this topic XD

Littlefinger was only a mask he had to wear. Only sometimes Sansa found it hard to tell where the man ended and the mask began. Littlefinger and Lord Petyr looked so very much alike. She would have fled them both, perhaps, but there was nowhere for her to go. Winterfell was burned and desolate, Bran and Rickon dead and cold. Robb had been betrayed and murdered at the Twins, along with their lady mother. Tyrion had been put to death for killing Joffrey, and if she ever returned to King’s Landing the queen would have her head as well. The aunt she’d hoped would keep her safe had tried to murder her instead. Her uncle Edmure was a captive of the Freys, while her great-uncle the Blackfish was under siege at Riverrun. I have no place but here, Sansa thought miserably, and no true friend but Petyr. – Sansa I, AFFC.  

“She would have fled them both…” if she had another option available to her.  If she had another friend nearby, but in her mind, she doesn’t.   

For Sansa’s training arc to end, her sense of isolation and dependence on Littlefinger have to be overpowered.  It is a psychological obstacle as much as it is a physical one.  Sansa has seen Littlefinger literally get away with murder and come out in a stronger position than he was before.  He seems to always be a step ahead of his enemies.  He has already bribed and extorted his way to power among the Vale lords.  He’s iced Yohn Royce out of political influence.  He’s planted seeds of doubt in Sansa toward Myranda Royce before she even met her.  (On a side note, Myranda does know Sansa’s real identity, but has never confronted her about it and nor has she used that information against her).  So LF’s locked down all the potential allies or troublemakers that he can see.  But we know there are things he can’t see, like the possibility of Sansa winning Lothor Brune’s loyalty from him.  Nor does he seem to be aware of Lyn Corbray’s seething resentment over being ousted as his brother’s heir thanks to Littlefinger’s marriage brokering.  Not to mention he’s hired a bunch of hedge knights for his household guard not suspecting for a moment that they are there to steal Sansa from him.  Littlefinger’s hubris has made him blind to things that are right in his own backyard.          

While I’m 95% sure Sandor will be at the center of Sansa reclaiming her identity, I definitely don’t think he will be her only trusted ally or source of support before it’s over.  That comes from Sansa herself in doing what she does best:  being kind and empathetic to win people over.  I see her cultivating her own little band of helpers to escape rather than (as some speculations suggest) Sansa simply name-dropping at the tourney and all the Vale lords instantly pledging their swords to her as their new regent/leader/whatever.  That makes for a dramatic turn of events but is also pretty unrealistic as I see it.  I think she will eventually be in a position to receive Yohn Royce’s military support, but I strongly disagree that it’s going to be as easy as name-dropping.  Littlefinger has too much backing of his leadership right now.  The Vale lords at the tourney are already on board that gravy train of gifts, gold, and glory.  He has custody of Robert Arryn.  No one really gives a shit about Lysa’s murder and everyone is looking toward the future with the more robust young falcon, Harrold Hardyng.  IMO, Sansa needs to get with Yohn Royce before the rest of the Vale falls in line.  He’s against the ropes right now (and being kept far from the tourney for a good reason I think), but he is the one that is most likely to wrest back political power from Littlefinger once Sansa is no longer his pawn.  Then she would have powerful backing of her own.  The trick is getting her to Yohn Royce and for that, she needs a persuasive reason and the confidence to flee from LF.                      

Where Sansa is in the story right now, I think she already possesses most of the individual puzzle pieces to what Littlefinger has done.  She just hasn’t been able to bring herself to put all those pieces together into one complete, horrifying picture.  There’s a lot of trauma and suppression of painful thoughts wrapped up in the things she’s seen and experienced.  Things part of being Sansa Stark that will shatter the tenuous safety she finds in being Alayne Stone.  She knows on one level that Littlefinger did something with Jeyne.  She’s buried that memory and thinks about Jeyne only in more innocent times.  She hasn’t dared to ask probably for fear of the answer and for fear of the repercussions from asking.  And there’s the fact that she’s trapped with her abuser, who has muddled help and safety with exploitation and pushing her moral boundaries.  She’s under a lot of pressure to marry HtH, which has been framed as her best and only chance to go home, even if it comes at Robert Arryn’s expense.  All she has to do is let go of her empathy and see people as objects she can use to further her interests, and then she can not only feel safe but powerful and untouchable as well.  No one will ever hurt her again.  Littlefinger’s philosophy is terrifying, but there are parts of it that are very seductive to someone who has been made to feel powerless, stupid, and vulnerable.  In a way, Sansa is being tempted with adopting a cynical worldview similar to what the Hound was for Sandor. Narratively speaking, what better person to bring her back from the edge of losing her humanity than by the person she inspired to reclaim his own?  Sandor and Sansa have been saving each other all throughout their story.  The first moment they met was defined by Sansa looking Ilyn Payne, the persona of death, in the face and falling backward into Sandor’s hands (ugh, my heart!).  Many times he just seems to appear out of nowhere to catch her.  So yeah, Sandor as a “hidden dagger” works really well not only for literally saving her life, but saving Sansa Stark’s identity and her core values.  But that also comes with unpacking a lot of unpleasant things.                   

The missing piece of the puzzle and the one thing that will be the final straw should be learning that her father’s arrest and execution was orchestrated by Littlefinger.  Sandor was a present for all that.  He’s the best person to tell her, and yes, she would believe him.  That forces Sansa to start looking at all puzzle pieces she has avoided putting together.  Turning against LF will not just be a triumphant moment, but it’s probably going to be ugly and painful.  Sansa has a lot of suppressed guilt and shame over what LF has made her complicit in.  While she was never a willing participant and shifting responsibility on to her was a key feature of LF’s abuse strategy, Sansa has played a role to some degree in the cover-ups of LF’s crimes.  Some people think the unkiss is a symptom of PTSD.  Nope.  This situation right here puts Sansa at risk for PTSD.  It will be shattering to know she ever called Petyr a friend, trusted him, and sometimes helped him while he did awful things.  There’s your dark night of the soul that a few people reasonably predict for each of our major POVs in TWOW, especially if an innocent like Robert Arryn dies (I’m 50/50 on that).  She’ll need someone who can relate (think of Sandor’s dying anguished confessions of his sins), someone who won’t judge, and someone that can help guide her back to being Sansa Stark because right now, that identity comes with a lot of traumatic baggage.  Just as being Sandor Clegane did.  (UGH, MY HEART!) 

I could go on about how similar both Petyr and Sandor’s backgrounds and origins are, how cynism plays into their world views, and the divergent paths they took.  They don’t have to speak of each other or share a scene together, but they have always been opposing philosophical forces with Sansa between them.  One embodying sweet lies and the other blunt honesty.  But I think the most telling passage about these three is in Eddard VII:

Sansa said, "I knew the Hound would win."

Littlefinger overheard. "If you know who's going to win the second match, speak up now before Lord Renly plucks me clean," he called to her. Ned smiled.

Littlefinger bet against Sandor and lost.  Daddy approved. 

[laure-writes]

The Cringe Wave

I was tagged by @desperatlytryingtowriteabook on my main

This is such a good idea | rules from the original post

Rules:

1. Post a quote or short excerpt from your early days of writing. (I’m talking old fanfics, slash fics, original fics, etc., that are barely edited and have a ton of technical errors and misspelled words.) This is the cringe part. Don’t edit anything! Let it be horrendous. Don’t Panic.

2. Post a quote or short excerpt from one of your most recent works/WIPs. Something that you’re proud of. Something that you’ve written that makes you smile when you read it.

3. Tag a writer you admire, anyone who you think is amazing, new friends, followers, writeblrs, anyone who you’d like to know more about. If you think someone is a great writer and you want to see how they’ve developed their skills, tag them! Everyone started somewhere. [Poets, feel free to interact too!]

Okay, now to the fun part!

1/ Excerpt of that old original fiction I was writing in French and which absolutely sucks:

Je n'ai jamais été jolie. Enfin, je n'ai jamais correspondu aux critères de beauté établis par la société, pour être plus claire.

Je n'ai jamais été fine, blonde, brune ou châtain, comme les autres. Mes cheveux n'ont jamais été lisses, comme ceux des autres. Et je n'ai jamais été à la mode -bien que je m'y soit intéressée pendant un moment.

Moi je suis rousse, mes cheveux sont absolument anarchiques et s'emmêlent à la moindre brise de vent. Moi je suis aussi épaisse qu'un hippopotame. Et moi, j'achète mes fringues dans des magasins aux prix sacrifiés. Je me qualifierais comme débraillée car mes vêtements, je suis obligée de les garder longtemps faute d'argent, pour économiser et ne pas ruiner mes parents.

2/ This is an exerpt of my latest chapter for Sig and Boda and I believe this is what I have written the best lately...

It seemed that steel was no longer power, but that it was held by those who possessed gold. And in this world, there no longer seemed to have a place for Lagerthas.

“Oh, Freya,” mumbled the warlord. “And Frigg,” she touched her empty womb. “I can carry children no longer. No longer will I give birth, not to the living at least. It seems, oh goddesses, that my time has come. It seems, that I can bring death over life, now that my youth has passed.” she looked at the ceiling, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I want to bleed. I want to feel alive again. I want purpose again, and for life to regain its former sense.”

But none answered, if not seething wind and changing times. The world was shifting, wriggling and stirring; tides turned, tables turned and luck turned. And if Lagertha wasn't in Kattegat, it was precisely because she wanted to avoid what she did and the consequences on her reputation. She had never been the kind to cower, but lately, it seemed she lost sense of who she was.

The world was changing, and she was changing too. Legends died, while others grew.

Tagging @histcria | @ceridwenofwales | @ktwrites

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Gold shines through properties of nano biosensors

With their remarkable electrical and optical properties, along with biocompatibility, photostability and chemical stability, gold nanoclusters are gaining a foothold in a number of research areas, particularly in biosensing and biolabeling.

These gold nanoclusters are chemically protected by ligands, which also steer the binding to biological target molecules. There is still much that researchers don't know about the luminescent properties of ligand-protected gold nanoclusters, including the origin of their fluorescence.

An international research team from Switzerland, Italy, the United States and Germany has now shown that the fluorescence is an intrinsic property of the gold nanoparticles themselves. The researchers used Au20, gold nanoparticles with a tetrahedral structure. Their findings were reported this week in the Journal of Chemical Physics, from AIP Publishing.

"We present the first optical absorption, excitation and fluorescence spectra of bare Au20," said Harald Brune, head of the Institute of Physics at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and corresponding author of the paper. "Our results strongly suggest that the metal core in the ligand-protected clusters used for biosensing and biolabeling is at the origin of their fluorescence."

Read more.

[professored]

Hoje, uma ode aos grandes compositores de game music (principalmente, na época das vacas magras). Os maiores (em minha suspeitosíssima opinião): - Koji Kondo, o maior, sem dúvidas. Se as trilhas icônicas de Mario e Zelda não forem suficientes eu deixo a de Star Fox na bagagem...) - Nobuo Uematsu. O homem é um gênio. É autor de uma das minhas músicas preferidas EVER nos games, "Omen", trilha de abertura de Final Fantasy VI (tão bonita que dá vontade de chorar!). O cara assina as trilhas de Chrono Trigger, FF, FF2, FF3, FF4, FF5, FF6 (com sua "battle musica" grudenta e maravilhosa, FF7 (a magnífica "One-Winged Angel", uma das mais belas de todos os tempos nos games!). Ele ainda assina, entre muitas outras, as trilhas de Lost Odissey e The Last Story. - David Wise. Pucas coisas são mais lindas e impressionantes que a música Stickerbush Symphony (na verdade, TODA a trilha sonora de Doney Kong Country (ele ainda assina as trilhas lindas de "California Games", "A nightmare on Elm Street" e "Battletoads" do Mega Drive. - Yoko Shimomura. A "rainha da game music" assina a trilha de Guile de Street Fighter 2, além das trilhas de: "Super Mario RPG, Parasite Eve, Legend of Mana, Kingdom Hearts (trilha espetacular!) e Xenoblade Chronicles entre outros. - Masanori Adachi e Taro Kudo. Duas palavras: Super Castlevania IV. - Hiroki Kikuta. Entre outros magníficos serviços, a trilha sonora de Secret of Mana (eu amo infinitamente as "Into The Thick Of It" e, claro, "The Color Of The Summer Sky"), a de Soul Calibur V e Trials of Mana. - Michiru Yamane. Para mim (que sou imparcial), a melhor trilha de todos os tempos é a de Castlevania, Simphony of the Night desta senhora (particularmente, "Dance of Illusions", "Prayer", "Dracula's Castle", "Dance of Gold", "Dance of Pales", "Lost Painting" e a MELHOR, "Wood Carving Partita", mas todas são lindas!). Mas, ela ainda assina as trilhas dos Castlevanias: Aria of Sorrow, Lamment of Innocence, Curse of Darkness, Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin e Order of Ecclesia (todas excelentes!). - Yuzo Koshiro. Um mestre da game music. Entre suas pérolas estão: Streets of Rage 1, 2, 3 e 4, Actraise 1 e 2, Sonic (maravilhosas!), Super Adventura Island, Beyond Oasis, Shenmue e Dragon Ball Online. - Matt Uelmen. O homem que nos levou, literalmente, ao submundo. Tristram, a bela e doce, nunca enjoativa com sua ocarina linda ao fundo dando apenas um grito é excepcional. Assina Diablo 1 e 2, Torchlight 1 e 2, WoW: the burning crusade (como produtor e coautor), Starcraft e Justice League: task force. - Jeremy Soule. Skyrim. Preciso dizer mais? Ele tem. Baldur's Gate, Secret of Evermore, Dungeon Siege, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars KoOR, The Elder Scolls 3 e 4, Metar gear Solid: Peace Walker e Mists of Pandaria (expansão do WoW). - Tracy Brush. Me perdoem os fanáticos, mas a melhor música de WoW é a do original. Sim, há coisas boas nas outras expansões (como Lich King e Bruning Crusade). Mas, eu , ISENTÍSSIMO, prefiro a original). Destaques para "Echoes of the past", Stormwind, a Main Title de "Legends of Azeroth", "A call to arms" entre TODAS). - Glenn Stafford. Assina TODAS do Warcraft 2 e 3 originais, principalmente a minha preferida, "Blackrock & Roll". Além de participações em Starcraft 2 e nas expansões Cataclysm, Lich King (entre outras de WoW) - Martin O’Donnell. Assina Halo 2, a trilha sonora de games mais vendida de todos os tempos. - Darren Korb. Assina Bastion, jogo de trilha lindíssima. - Gustavo Santaolalla. Simplesmente a trilha mais minimalista e LINDA de todos os tempos. The Last of Us. - Barry Leitch. Autor da música mais grudenta de todos os tempos. A trilha sonora de Top Gear. Assina também a do atualíssimo (e excelente) Horizon Chase. É isso. Acabou ficando grande demais, mas são alguns dos gênios da game music. Certamente, muitos ficaram de fora, mas estes aí representam bem o gênero!

http://ifttt.com/missing_link?1596935869

[wine-k]

All My Pretty Hates

All My Pretty Hates                       

Reconsidering Charles Baudelaire.                                                   

By Daisy Fried

I’m writing this in Paris, so, from my many poetic aversions (“all my pretty hates,” to quote Dorothy Parker): Charles Baudelaire, oozing with decay, pestilence, and death. Baudelaire, tireless invoker of  muses, classical figures, goddesses, personifications: O Nature!...Cybele!... 
Sisyphe ... O muse de mon coeur! Baudelaire, who makes an old perfume bottle an invocation of the soul wherein

A thousand thoughts were sleeping, deathly chrysalids, trembling gently in the heavy darkness, which now unfold their wings and take flight, tinged with azure, glazed with pink, shot with gold*             — From The Phial

Anyone ever counted how many times “azure” shows up in Les Fleurs du Mal?

When she had sucked all the marrow from my bones And I languidly turned to her To give back an amorous kiss, I saw no more. She seemed a gluey wine-skin full of pus.             — The Vampire’s Metamorphosis

I’m not one to criticize poems about blowjobs but Really, Charles? My fourteen-year-old self might have been impressed. Ew, gross. Then again, shouldn’t one be aware of not reading through one’s fourteen-year-old eyes? After all, he and Poe invented poetic goth. It’s not Baudelaire’s fault his modern-day followers are goofballs. And not their fault I’m a boring middle-aged American.

The main trouble is that English is a mash-up of Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and other languages, while French, like all romance languages, is more purely Latinate. I think, feel, imagine, and dream in twentieth-century English. Different associations and emotions attach to Latinate versus Anglo-Saxon synonyms. Latinate words seem inflated and emotionless; Anglo-Saxon alternatives are, for me, concrete, emotional, complex. I can stumble along in Baudelaire’s French, and know enough of the language to argue with translators. Carol Clark turns “L’Art est long et le Temps est court” (“Le Guignon”) into “Art is long and Time is fleeting.” Why not the sonically similar “short”? She makes Cybele’s “tétines brunes” in the untitled third poem of Les Fleurs du Mal literary and Eliotish — “brown dugs” — 
instead of “brown tits.”

In “The Venal Muse,” Baudelaire describes the muse of his heart, a lover of palaces, warming her frozen purple feet during the “noirs ennuis” (black boredom) of snowy evenings. Next he asks her: “Récolteras-tu l’or des voûtes azurées?” Azure again. Carol Clark translates this line: “Will you gather gold from the vaults of heaven,” leaving out the explicit sky color and adding a religious whiff with “heaven.” But even in more literal translation, “Will you reap gold from the azure vaults,” thud goes the poem. Of course, this poem’s interest and innovation is partly structural: the thrill ride from register to register, palaces to purple feet to sky blue vaults. Baudelaire conformed to many of the straitjacket conventions of nineteenth-century French poetry: strict syllabics, indefatigable personifications, classical references. In her excellent introduction, Clark explains that his wedging of the hideous, erotic body into those strictures was radical. And yet: gold, azure, vaults — I just don’t like this poem’s escape into the windy figurative.

But. As I reread and edge closer to feeling the French late in my two-month Paris trip, I start to find Baudelaire... lovable. Not only that, but a good model. In the Cybele poem quoted above, Baudelaire imagines a lost arcadia, “époques nues” when men and women “jouissaient sans mensonge et sans anxiété.” Jouissaient: 
“enjoyed each other”  — fucked, presumably — “without lying or 
anxiety.” Sentimental? Maybe. But then he contrasts that dream-age to modern diseased, debauched nineteenth-centry women:

And you, women, alas, pale as church candles, fed and gnawed away by debauchery, and you, virgins, dragging along the inheritance of your mothers’ vice and all the hideous appurtenances of fecundity! (Clark)

Never mind that “hideous appurtenances of fecundity.” Finally, the disgust is glorious, vivid, diagnostic. Objections to sexism in this passage are anachronistic; Baudelaire’s always most revolted by himself.
We in America could use more romantic self-disgust. (Frederick Seidel thinks so. Ooga Booga is the Fleurs du Mal of our time.)

Or take the great poem “Le Cygne” (“The Swan”) in which Baudelaire compares drastically-changing Paris of  the mid-nineteenth century to a swan escaped from its cage, rubbing webbed feet on dry pavement, dragging plumage on rough ground, opening its beak near a dry gutter, bathing wings in dust, dreaming of  home, a beautiful lake, and of water, water. Look up the original. There’s seldom been in 
poetry anything so terribly dry and so full of yearning.

In “The Swan,” Baudelaire invokes Andromache several times. Elsewhere his classical references can seem perfunctory. Here, Hector’s widow injects, finally, an enormous sorrow into the poem, and provides a segue near the end to a strange, and strangely relevant, intrusion:

I think of the negress, wasted and consumptive, trampling in the mud and looking with wild eyes for the missing coconut palms of proud Africa behind the immense wall of the fog;     Of whoever has lost what can never be found. (Clark)

It’s true, Baudelaire can be awfully windy. But I apologize to my 
editors. I’ve developed an aversion to my aversion. If that’s wind, well, sometimes you have to listen to the wind.

* This and some other translations are prose ones by Carol Clark, from Penguin’s Selected Poems, hereafter designated “(Clark).” Where I make no citation, I’ve cobbled together versions from Google Translate, Clark, and other translators, with apologies and no blame.

                                                                           Originally Published: January 2nd, 2013                    

[dusudaunord]

La Poutine Week 2017 Preview

If your New Year’s resolutions haven’t gone completely off the rails yet, I applaud you, but feel sorry for you, because they are about to. Get those extra hours of cardio in while you can because La Poutine Week is upon us and is about bring you and your cravings for cheese curds to your knees. From February 1 to 7, Montréal gets set to celebrate our unofficial-official national dish… poutine!

Techniquement les meilleures poutines. Soyez un bon citoyen et votez pour votre poutine favorite du 1er au 7 février! #SemaineDeLaPoutine

Une photo publiée par La Poutine Week 2017 (@lapoutineweek) le 24 Janv. 2017 à 8h39 PST

If you haven’t heard, La Poutine Week is a weeklong food festival for foodies to celebrate and indulge in Québec’s most famous dish: poutine. Fifty restaurants around Montréal (100 throughout the province of Québec) will be participating and offering their renditions of poutine—that encompass much more than just fries, cheese curds and gravy. Restaurants will be featuring signature versions of poutine inspired by their cuisine types, bidding for awards that include “The Judge’s Choice”, “The Most Original Poutine” and “The Most Popular Poutine”.

Pour some GRAVY on me! The 5th edition of #LaPoutineWeek is coming soon …

Une vidéo publiée par La Poutine Week 2017 (@lapoutineweek) le 27 Déc. 2016 à 7h21 PST

As tempting as it may sound “poutine-hopping” around the city may not be possible for everyone, but luckily for you, this year, the poutines can come to you! La Poutine Week has teamed up with Foodora, a food delivery service to offer on-demand poutine from select La Poutine Week participating restaurants. Pro tip: use promo code POUTINE and receive a $10 discount if you’re a new customer placing an order of $20 or more.

2017’s edition of La Poutine Week marks the fifth year of this gluttonous food festival that has seen versions in other cities across Canada as well as other countries such as Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, France and the United Kingdom.

The annual growth of La Poutine Week greatly benefits the participating restaurants as well as the community.

Une photo publiée par La Poutine Week 2017 (@lapoutineweek) le 7 Févr. 2015 à 12h01 PST

Co-founder Thierry Rassam explains: “When we first began La Poutine Week our mission was, and still remains, to help stimulate businesses in cities based on this fun, delicious, and adventurous idea.” He adds, “Each year, every participating restaurant has greatly benefited from our festival as many restaurants have been known to run out of food and make record sales during La Poutine Week! This surge in sales is especially important during the historically quieter winter months”.

Na’eem Adam, the other co-founder, continues: “The popularity and consistent growth behind La Poutine Week also stems from the fact that is more than just a food festival. We have technically become the best and only platform out there that provides foodies with an opportunity to seek out the very best poutines that their city has to offer. We are a real and deciding factor in finding the best poutines in our province.”

To whet your appetites, here is a sneak peek at what you can look forward to during this year’s La Poutine Week!

Here’s a little sneak peek of @chefptitcreux masterpiece! #lapoutineweek

Une photo publiée par La Poutine Week 2017 (@lapoutineweek) le 23 Déc. 2016 à 14h01 PST

Le P’tit Creux de Plateau – Le P’tit Creux

Quebec’s classic poutine recipe takes a Haitian twist – plantains instead of fries, creamy tarragon sauce instead of gravy, garnished with “pikliz” (coleslaw), accompanied with griots.

Bar Terrasse La Cabane du Portugal – “Le PORC-tugais”

Golden fries covered with marinated pork fillet (bifana), bacon, scrambled eggs, cheese curds and chorizo sauce.

GrillinGo – “GrillinGo Poutine”

Beer encrusted fries, rosé meat sauce, and parmesan shavings.

Deville Dinerbar

Chicken-fried beef ribs with honey and whisky glaze.

Reuben’s Deli & Steakhouse

Texas BBQ brisket and bacon cheddar tater tot poutine

Le Gras Dur – “La Poutine Cheeseburger”

Fries, cheese curds, pepper sauce, cheddar cheese, cheeseburger sauce, minced C.A.B. ground beef and fried onion rings

Chez Chose – “La Pêcheresse”

Fries, Sept-Îles shrimp, seal tataki, béchamel sauce, jalapenos, cheese curds, house smoked char, coleslaw made with lobster oil.

La rôtisserie portugaise @mapoulemouillee nous fait saliver avec leur poutine “Bon, les portugais font de la poutine”! #LaPoutineWeek

Une photo publiée par La Poutine Week 2017 (@lapoutineweek) le 9 Janv. 2017 à 9h46 PST

Ma Poule Mouillée – “Bon, les portugais font de la poutine.”

House fries, barbecue-cooked chicken, chorizo, cheese curds, São Jorge cheese and homemade poutine sauce.

La rôtisserie portugaise @mapoulemouillee nous fait saliver avec leur poutine “Bon, les portugais font de la poutine”! #LaPoutineWeek

Une photo publiée par La Poutine Week 2017 (@lapoutineweek) le 9 Janv. 2017 à 9h46 PST

Le Smoking BBQ – “La Redneck”

Homemade fries, fresh cheese curds, Le Smoking BBQ cheese curds (crispy coated), homemade poutine sauce, caramelized onions, 18-hour applewood-smoked beef, 8-hour homemade-spiced pork belly, homemade BBQ sauce and salsa criolla (Argentinian-style marinade).

Grillades Da Silva – “Poutine Alentejana”

Portuguese-inspired poutine: pork paprika-and-clam-spiced filet mignon, topped with veal juice and white wine sauce.

Medley Simple Malt – “Poutine à la Dubbel”

Homemade fries, Saint-Guillaume cheese curds and beer sauce. Available in regular format or in a pitcher.

Pub BreWskey – “La Big Easy”

Buttermilk fried chicken, cheese curds, smoked corn, peas, Fresno peppers, pickled tomatoes, sour cream, beef stock and beer sauce. All served on a mix of Yukon Gold and sweet potato fries, accompanied with house jalapeño cornbread.

Broue Pub Brouhaha – “Colonel Hathi’s Poutine”

House fries, curry and kaffir lime leaf poutine sauce, Vietnamese pork and shrimp dumplings, and cheese curds.

A true beauty “La Bella” made with braised cipollini onions, porcini mushroom, gravy, homemade vegan cheese curds (cashew based) and Yukon gold fries. #LaPoutineWeek – From @lolarosacafe

Une photo publiée par La Poutine Week 2017 (@lapoutineweek) le 4 Janv. 2017 à 10h29 PST

Lola Rosa – Café “La Bella”

Braised cipollini onions, porcini mushroom gravy, homemade vegan cheese curds (cashew-based) and Yukon gold fries.

Poulet Bronze – “Poutine au poulet”

Fries mixed with cheese, spices and fried chicken breast topped with special poutine sauce.

La Champagnerie – “Poutine Waghyu Philly Steak façon Champagnerie”

Beef wagyu, fried mussels, Gruyère cheese, onions, roasted peppers, Gruyère sauce, cheese curds and foie gras.

Brasseurs Crescent – “Poutine Choucroute à la bière brune de 3 Brasseurs Crescent”

Fries in garlic sauce, 3 Brasseurs brown beer sauce, 3 Brasseurs braised sauerkraut, sliced frankfurt sausage, diced mettwurst sausage, shredded strips of grilled black forest ham, fried gherkins, garnished with parsley.

Le Trèfle – “Bhuntàta”

Bites of fish and chips in homemade colcannon soup, and aged cheddar cheese.

This “Portuguese Poutine” looks absolutely delicious 🧀 Available from February 1st to February 7th exclusively for @lapoutineweek #LaPoutineWeek #TabernaMTL #Poutine #Quebec #ComfortFood #OldMontreal #MTL #RosePR

Une photo publiée par La Poutine Week 2017 (@lapoutineweek) le 18 Janv. 2017 à 5h38 PST

Taberna – “Portuguese Poutine”

Fries, grilled piri-piri chicken and chouriço, curd cheese, São Jorge cheese.

The chickpea fantasy… Meet the one and only “Hummus Poutine” from @bironahummus. Only for #LaPoutineWeek!

Une photo publiée par La Poutine Week 2017 (@lapoutineweek) le 28 Déc. 2016 à 13h44 PST

Birona Hummus Bar – “The hummus BBQ poutine”

Homemade hummus on a bed of tasty potatoes and cheese curds.

Un désire soudain vous envahit? Voici la “Poutine au poulet grillé Campo” de chez @campomtl #LaPoutineWeek

Une photo publiée par La Poutine Week 2017 (@lapoutineweek) le 23 Janv. 2017 à 13h39 PST

Campo – “Campo’s grilled chicken poutine”

Grilled chicken, homemade fries, fresh cheese curds, São Jorge cheese, homemade chicken sauce, chouriço chips

Êtes-vous un grand mangeur de poutine? Dans le cadre de @lapoutineweek, nous vous proposons une délicieuse poutine à partager. Vous ne voulez pas manquer ça! Téléchargez l’application sur leur site web. #LaPoutineWeek #brasseurmtl #poutine #food #foodie #resto #restomtl #restobar

Une photo publiée par Brasseur de Montréal (@brasseurmtl) le 18 Janv. 2017 à 13h03 PST

Brasseur de Montréal – “La Poutine Royale”

Poutine Royale for two: braised boar shank, duck leg confit, Black Watch beer sauce with foie gras (made with shallots, rosemary and blueberry jam).

@notreboeufdegrace nous met l’eau à la bouche avec leur “Croque-Poutine-De-Grâce” agencé de frites coupées maison, oignons caramélisés, piments jalapeños, croquettes maison farcies de dates Medjool, fromage de chèvre, herbes, et une sauce poutine végétarienne. 🧀 #SemaineDeLaPoutine #NotreBoeufDeGrâce

Une photo publiée par La Poutine Week 2017 (@lapoutineweek) le 24 Janv. 2017 à 13h15 PST

Notre-Boeuf-De-Grâce – “Croque-Poutine-De-Grâce”

House cut fries, caramelized onion, jalapeño, house croquettes stuffed with medjool dates, goat cheese and herbs, house vegetarian gravy.

Taverne F – “La Poutine Bitoque”

Beef sirloin seared in thyme and garlic olive oil, egg sunny side up, white wine sauce, homemade fries, São Jorge cheese and fresh cheese curds.

Burger Bar Crescent – “Poutine a la Bourguignon”

Classic poutine topped with beef bourguignon (braised beef, red wine, pearl onions, bacon and porcini mushrooms)

Have you tried our award winning poutines? Voted best in Montreal during La Poutine Week! — Venez essayer la meilleure poutine à Montréal tel que voté pendant La Poutine Week! #dirtydogs #eatdirtydogs #montreal #mtl #plateau #poutine #foodporn

Une photo publiée par Dirty Dogs (@eatdirtydogs) le 16 Oct. 2015 à 5h08 PDT

Dirty Dogs – “The PIG Mac”

Fresh-cut fries, cheese curds, homemade Dirty Dogs gravy, topped with homemade 4-cheese mac and cheese, a signature 8-hour slow-cooked pulled pork and Dirty Dogs BBQ sauce.

What! Meet “The Birdbar Poutine 2.0” from @lebirdbar only for #LaPoutineWeek! by @arose_pr

Une photo publiée par La Poutine Week 2017 (@lapoutineweek) le 6 Janv. 2017 à 16h16 PST

Le Bird Bar – “Birdbar Poutine 2.0”

Classic poutine topped with popcorn-fried chicken, pickled jalapeño and corn, fried onions, wagyu pogo slices, tomato chutney, spicy mustard sauce and frito crunch.

MESSAGE IMPORTANT: N’oublier pas de manger la poutine “Monsieur Tajine” à #LaPoutineWeek du 1er au 7 février! Fait par la talentueuse @labluesy au renommé @restobarmonsieur seulement pour #LaPoutineWeek.

Une photo publiée par La Poutine Week 2017 (@lapoutineweek) le 11 Janv. 2017 à 7h05 PST

Monsieur Restaurant + Bar – “Monsieur Tajine poutine”

Classic poutine topped with braised and shredded local chicken, confit lemon & green olive gravy, curd cheese, coriander and fried shallots.

Bistro Laurentien La Coupole

Yukon gold Ferme Valupierre potatoes cooked in duck fat, cheese curds from La Fromagerie Champêtre, pulled Québec grain-fed braised veal and natural gravy.

Paulo et Suzanne – “The Angus Southwest Sub-poutine”

Poutine with pepper sauce, Angus ground beef, Philly steak, sliced cheese, cheese curds, fried onions and mushrooms. Garnished with southwest sauce and pico de gallo.

Vices & Versa – “Poutine Trad”

Meatball stew poutine, crispy pork rinds and marinated beets.

For more information regarding La Poutine Week, please visit http://ift.tt/1aKdqZU

Up next:Where to eat a classic Montréal poutine

  The post La Poutine Week 2017 Preview appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

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[samirgianni]

Annual Seed Catalogue Review Edition the Seventh

Wow! I've been doing this for seven years now. Am I running out of things to say? Is it harder for me (and the seed sellers) to find New! and Exciting! varieties of vegetables? Maybe! Or maybe not, once I get digging. So to speak. Are there a lot more small seed companies, with a wider range of heirloom and open pollinated varieties than when I started? I'd say so, in a big way. In spite of this, the over-all number of varieties continues to drop, on the national and global level, as older seed houses close or are purchased by the big players. So let's buy our seeds from the people who are (still) providing open pollinated seeds, grown by themselves or their neighbours as much as possible. I believe that locally grown seeds are just as important as locally grown food. Varieties adapt to their growing conditions over time, and if they are not grown here, they won't ultimately be as adapted to growing here. There is such a long list of new (to me at least) suppliers this year that I am going to try to stick strictly to new offerings here. (NOTE: I failed.) Don't forget that just about everybody has much more interesting stuff than I can hope to mention - click through and read. I also hope to post another list with my own personal favourites over the years, and who supplies them, later this month. Trends this year seem to be sorghum (continuing the interest in grains from the last few years), lots of lettuce and other greens, and flowers in red and white (guess why!) Also there seem to be extravagant quantities of peppers... there always are, but more lots. This isn't exactly a trend since practically the first vegetable anyone grows is tomatoes, but I have to say, there are A LOT of tomatoes out there. That is all. As ever, don't forget to check Seeds of Diversity's  Seed Catalogue Index.  Okay, let's get started... behind a fold because this is loooong... AgroHaitai: Best Ontario (only Ontario?) seed house with a wide selection of oriental vegetables. I haven't ordered from them but I have heard good reports from other people who have. Marked as new are Purple Sword celtuce (lettuce eaten for the thick stem), Peking strain kohlrabi, Big Leaf edible chrysanthemum, Purple Shanghai F1 bok choy, and Big Round Leaf Malabar spinach. Chuan pole (green) beans aren't new, but look very appealing. Unfortunately, most of their new items (and many of their older items) are F1 hybrids. Might still be worth looking into, especially things not likely to be sterile - F1 hybrids can be a good source of diversity for developing strains of locally adapted vegetables. Annapolis Seeds: This is their 9th year in business, and they have 50 new varieties this season. My eye is caught by Ba-Ye-Qi short-season sorghum, Fordhook zucchini, German foxtail millet, Golden Frills mustard, Gravedigger pea (I've wanted this one for years!), House tomato (yes that's right, you grow it in the house), Jimenez pole bean, Kogigo squash, Nord eggplant... in short, lots of fabulous things. The Cottage Gardener: One of the best of the newer Ontario seed houses. They have some interesting new offerings including Flashback Mix calendula from plant breeder Frank Morton, who also bred another new offering, Jester lettuce. He says it's his "favourite lettuce of all time" and given that lettuce is probably his speciality, that makes me sit up and pay attention. Nash's green kale is another offering from the new wave of vegetable breeders and sounds excellent, being very cold-tolerant. Padron peppers, Perfection Drumhead, and Purple Sprouting broccoli all appeal as well. Alas, the broccoli is not cold tolerant. Scarlet kale, Shungkyo Long Pink radish, and Thorburn's Terra Cotta tomato all strike me as really interesting. Eagle Creek Seed Potatoes: This year brings an updated website and a slightly expanded list of offerings, with potatoes like Rode Eerstelling, Blue Mac from Newfoundland, Arizona, Candy Cane, Carlton, and Pink Fir Apple. If you just can't narrow it down they offer a number of mixed packs on different themes including a tower and container mix. Edible Antiques:Some fun new things here including an owner-bred pepper, Queen of the North. Brighstone beans come with a romantic history, Biquinho pepper look great for growing in pots, Orion chickpeas look good, as do Red Swan beans. Strela Green lettuce looks fascinating - a very old form of lettuce. Greta's Organic Gardens: A very large collection of seeds from an Ottawa area grower. Greta is not listing which items are new, so I will just name some things that catch my eye, starting with Alba Regia Hungarian peppers, Amethyst Cream tomatoes, Grazia arugula, Baklouti Tunisian hot pepper, and Dakota Black popcorn. Fast Lady Northern Southern Pea is a selection from Carol Deppe that sounds like a must-try. H-19 Little Leaf pickling cucumber is a nifty little thing that can be hard to find. Lacinato Rainbow kale is a Frank Morton variety. San Cristoforo peas sound good as does Verdil spinach from German biodynamic breeders Kultursaat. It is apparently ideal for overwintering, which we do. Sand Mountain and White African sorghum fit into the sorghum trend. If you are a smoker (and even as a non-smoker I am kind of fascinated) she has the largest selection of tobacco seeds I've ever seen. If you must do it, grow your own! Harmonic Herbs: Not updated for 2017 as I post this. However, they are an Alberta company with a small but carefully curated selection, including some unusual and attractive items and strong in medicinal herbs and a good selection of seeds and hulless oats and barley. Hawthorn Farm: Things that look interesting to me include Macuzalito beans (a fairly recent farmer-developed variety from Honduras that cooks quickly), Purple Queen bean, April Green cabbage, Cardoon, and Bionda di Lyon Swiss chard. We tried Bloody Butcher corn one year; it grew to be huge and was the most raccoon-resistant variety we have tried. They have Tres Fine Maraichere Endive, Cougar heat-tolerant lettuce, Misato Rose winter radish (wow, check out the photo!), and Mutabile mildew-resistant (yay!) zucchini. New squashes include Lofthouse Landrace butternut, and also Honeynut mini-butternut. Blush, Green Tiger, Napoli paste and Pink Bumblebee tomatoes round out the list. Heritage Harvest Seed: One of Canada's most exciting collections of heritage seeds continues to grow. New this year I see Chevrier Verte and Drew's Dandy beans, Early Thorogreen Lima bean, Bush Crop cucumber, Honey tomato from Latvia, Fatalii peppers, and Mother Mary's Pie melon! Yes, for making pie. Wow. Source of several of our favourite beans, and the very successful Gnadenfeld melon. Hope Seeds: This Nova Scotian company specializes in east-coast heirlooms. New this year they have Acadian heirloom Caribee beans, Joseph Dugas runner beans, and the beautiful Baie Verte Indian bean. There is the Canadian classic Oka melon and like me they have discovered how amazing dried melon can be. Onaway potatoes from Maine are a classic boiling potato that stands crowding in the garden. They have also put together a large selection of seed collections for the thrifty-minded gardener who wants to try a range of things. Ferme Tournesol: Looks like someone had a mania for yellow pole beans last year (I know how it is to be bitten by the bug!) and they have 4 new ones right off the bat: Famille Ferland, Gold Marie, Golden Gate, and Grand-maman Dinel. There is also Mac pink tomato, Ruby Streaks mustard, Sweet Dakota Rose watermelon and Silver Sliver cucumber. Tokyo Bekana is a loose-leaf Chinese cabbage ideal for micro greens - huh! That sounds interesting. Jardins de l'Écoumène: Site is in French and a little awkward to manoeuvre, but new offerings (nouveautés) include Violet Foncé bunching onions - cute! - Guatamalan Blue squash, Adelin Morin tomato, Verdil spinach, and Souchet comestible (chufa, I believe).  Mapple Farm: They tend to stick to a small collection of very tried and true items, but there are some new things too. I see Black Coco and Gaucho beans, Gill's Golden Pippin squash (my fave!), Fisher's Acorn squash, and Montreal Market melon. Don't forget, they have Ken Allan's book on growing sweet potatoes in Canada - a must have if you are rebmotely interested in growing sweet potatoes. They are also the only source I know of for crosnes. And sweet potatoes; they have sweet potatoes. Naramata Seed Company: Not updated for 2017 at the time of posting this. They are also new to me this year, but it looks like they are a small company in the Kelowna area of BC. For 2016 they listed some unusual items such as Zebrune shallots, Wilma rutabaga, May Queen lettuce (the same as May King and recommended!), Ella Kropf and Passion Brune lettuces, Ironbark squash, Sanjaku Kiuru cucumber, and Small Shining Light watermelon (another good one), Kamo eggplant, and a good number of tomatoes including quite a few Italian paste tomatoes. Others that catch my eye include Blue Berries, Haley's Purple Comet, Abu Rawan, Maremenno, and Yellow Trifele. Norton Naturals: Well I take it back about Mapple Farm being the only source of crosnes. They are here too, along with edible daylilies (they all are but, you know; the classic and original), and double Tiger lilies, which I had no idea were edible in addition to being a beautiful garden plant. Those are their non-native plants; they also have native plants: Arrowhead, Camas (Quamash), Groundnuts, Hog Peanuts, 3 different Jerusalem artichokes, Spring Beauty (again, I had no idea it is edible), Meadow Garlic, and Ramps (Wild Leeks). In my experience, if you do not have the necessary fungus in the soil those last will not grow. Worth trying if you have a typical Ontario woodlot though. All these items are available as roots, not as seeds. Some are currently marked out of stock, but presumably that will change with the seasons. OSC (Ontario Seed Company): One of Ontario's older surviving seed houses, they list as new this year a number of F1 hybrid sweet corns, Rosa Bianca eggplant, and Little Gem, Red Oakleaf, Lollo Biondi, Outrageous Red lettuces. I believe that last is actually Outredgeous, which was bred by lettuce maestro Frank Morton. Eldorado Swiss chard has brilliant yellow stems. Snow Crown they describe as the best short-season cauliflower, but it's an F1 hybrid so likely sterile. Potager Ornemental de Catherine: Site is in French. A nice selection of things including Kamo Japanese eggplant, Sucrine du Berry squash, Norfolk spinach (a Canadian heirloom), Grand-maman Dinel beans (ditto), Soissons Vert beans (a classic for cassoulet), and Moranga, a traditional Brazilian squash with a short enough season to grow here. Prairie Garden Seeds: As I post this, Prairie Garden Seeds has not completed updating their site for 2017. However, as they note, they don't tend to change their listings much from year to year. They are the go-to source for many Canadian heirloom vegetables, and are particularly strong in tomatoes and beans, but also in grains - if you want small amounts of many historic Canadian wheats, or indeed all kinds of grains form all over the world. I note that they seem to be out of stock on quite a few items for 2017 but there is still lots and lots of interest there. Prices are very reasonable and amounts generous, but you cannot order online - you must send them an order form and a cheque. It's been well worth the trouble in my experience. Richter's Herbs: I don't see a breakout of what's new, but things that appeal to me include Agretti (salsola soda) an Italian salad herb, Spectrum Red Husk corn, Muncher cucumber, Peruvian ground cherry, Huizontle, Jicama, Tronchuda (Portuguese) kale, Kagraner lettuce, Okahijiki (a Japanese relative of the Agretti), Corvair spinach, Sylvetta, and Teff, and the lovely Gold Ball turnip. Salt Spring Seeds: At 30 years old this year, this is one of the original new wave of Canadian seed houses. They're celebrating with Cascade Ruby Flint corn, Chick pea of Spello, Ed's Red shallot, Nettles - don't laugh; if you don't have 'em you might want 'em - Streaker Naked barley (hull-less as you might guess), and Who Get's Kissed sweet corn. Semences du Portage: Site is in French. New items include Côte de Beaune lettuce, Tante Alice cucumber (we grew it last year and it was a trooper), Westlander kale, Kakai pumpkin (grown for the seeds), Cindarella pumpkins, Lutz Greenleaf beet, and Vermont Cranberry bean. Te-You flowering broccoli (gai lan), Raxe radish, Scarlet Ohno Revival turnip are from last year, but look delightful. They have a large selection of herbs both culinary and medicinal (and just plain pretty) as well as green manures, and a good selection of gardening books in French. Solana Seeds: This Quebec company has a big interest in peppers. In addition to Antigua striped eggplant, Lime basil, and Gold Medal tomato they have Corbaci Turkish peppers, Peach and Zavory habaneros, and Sandia and Sonora Anaheim peppers as new this year. Stellar Seeds:  A small list and new items are not indicated; but you can buy their complete collection for $98! Seeds are all locally grown on their own farm or others nearby in the Kootenays in B.C. Tatiana's TOMATObase: I don't see that Tatiana list new items as such; but there are 1233 varieties of tomatoes available as I type this. Tomato seeds are not necessarily grown this year, but in my experience the year of growth is marked on the packet and as tomato seeds should last at least 10 years if properly stored, you should be good to go. In addition to the largest collection of tomato seeds I know of, Tatiana also maintains the most complete encyclopedia of tomato varieties that I know of. She carries a small selection of other seeds, many for unusual items and with a tendancy towards Russian heirlooms. I believe she is still the only Canadian supplier of Grover Delaney watermelon, which I highly recommend. Terra Edibles: As far as I know the oldest of the new wave of small seed houses in Ontario, many of our favourite varieties were first found here. Cylindra beets are new (to them - I've been growing them and they are great for nice even pickles). Beurre de Rocquencourt beans, Emerite beans, Henderson's Bush Lima bean, and Monte Gusto pole wax bean are new, as is Skunk (Chester, or Flagg). That last is one I've been interested in for a while. It's a large black and white dry pole bean, originally grown by Iroquois in Vermont. Minibel, Old German, Siberian and Teardrop are new tomatoes this year, but they have a very impressive list of tomatoes already - hard to squeeze in more, I guess. They mention White Current tomato and Duane Baptiste Potato bean as being back by popular demand. I think that if Duane Baptiste Potato is not the same as my favourite Deseronto Potato bean they are at least mighty close. Terre Promise: Site is in French. Another vendor that's new to me. Their selection is fairly small but practically the first new thing I saw was Roscoff (Keravel) onions. I've been growing these for a couple of years from seeds I got directly from France with enormous trouble and expense, and I have not regretted it. THEY ARE THE BEST. Rat-Tailed radishes and a mix of Sunflowers are their only other new items. They have a nice selection of beans and St. Hubert (soup) peas, and some unusual tomatoes. Urban Harvest: New (for them) this year is my favourite herb, Summer Savory. Look also for Druzba tomato, Dancing with Smurfs tomato, Montreal Tasty tomato, Lemon Drop pepper, Padron pepper, Doe Hill pepper (and Serrano, and Espelette, and Gold Nugget), Super Zagross cucumber, and Who Gets Kissed corn. Urban Tomato: is a bit vague about newness, but you can sort their offerings that way. From the first couple of pages, then; Multi-Hued quinoa, Musquée de Provence squash, Moonglow tomato, Turkey Craw pole bean, Purple Hopi pole bean. Tomatoes are their specialty, and there is a large selection including White Queen and White Mikado, and Una Heartstock cherry tomato. Wild Rose Heritage Seed Company: This Alberta seed company is a new discovery for me. They have a lot of new beans this year: Derby Bush, Dutch Brown, Light Red Kidney, Oceanis, Orca, Pinto, Red Mexican, Tenderette and Tendergreen. There's also Cosmic Purple and Solar Yellow carrots, Simonet Corn, Sweet Salsa pepper, and Red Kuri squash. You can even grow your own Victoria rhubarb from seed. William Dam Seeds: A long-time favourite of Ontario home and market gardeners; in addition to reasdonably priced seeds they have an excellent selection of gardeners paraphernalia.Their selection of new vegetables is small, and leans more towards F1 hybrids than suits my taste; however their catalogue is, as ever, full of tried and true favourites. They do have new this year Calima French filet bean, Algarve pole bean, Eva pole bean, and Red Volants kale. It looks like Orient Wonder has replaced Farmers' Long yard-long bean. They have quite a few new lettuces; Edox, Susana MI, Leny, Muir, Tropicana, Lettony and Deronda. Some of those are organic and some not. from Seasonal Ontario Food http://seasonalontariofood.blogspot.com/2017/01/annual-seed-catalogue-review-edition.html

[trash-soup]

Every Led Zeppelin song is either:

through the misty mountain tall, to lothlorien's great hall, on my strong and mighty steed we sing *ridiculous high note followed by 12 minute guitar solo*

Or

Baaaaybeeeehhhhh you're my womauuuhhhhn, i said BAAAAAAAYYYYYBEEEEHHH ah ah ah ah aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh *12 minute guitar solo*

[trash-soup]

HAPPY IDES OF MARCH BITCHES

(this came from a conversation with my boyfriend about swords)

[trash-soup]

TW for SA mention

A retelling of the myth of Medusa but instead of turning everyone to stone, she only turns people who have genuinely considered sexually assaulting/have sexually assaulted others to stone. A retelling of the myth of Medusa where she is not seen as a monster by any except the manipulative filth that preys on the innocent. A retelling of the myth of Medusa where kids feed the snakes in her hair and victims flock to her side and offer her a home and a meal as she travels through the towns and islands of Greece, outing the worst of society and helping make Greece a safer place for all. A retelling of the story of Medusa where she learns how her powers work and becomes the hero of the people to fuck the gods over for punishing her for her own trauma.

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I can't wait for my boyfriend to start T

And it's not for the reasons you think.

I don't care that he hasn't started yet, I don't see what he thinks he looks like, what he dislikes about himself, I don't see his apparent flaws or his supposedly feminine facial features or his curves. I just see a man, my man, my masculine boyfriend.

I can't wait till he starts T because I know he wants to see the progress, I know he's dying to grow a beard and chest hair and ass hair, I know he's so excited to see himself bulk up and his fat be redistributed and to see himself be more blocky, I know he needs to see his features become "more" masculine and pronounced even though I think he's beautifully manly already, I know he's so excited about bottom growth and his voice dropping and every good thing that comes with it.

I can't wait for him to start T because I want to see him happy and vibrant and full of life, I want to see him thrive, I want to see him experience his ultimate gender euphoria.

I love my man, and I can't wait until he starts T ❤️

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I have had a curse applied on me (uploaded a gif for the first time on Tumblr dot com) ans now the voices (notifications) won't stop. Somebody send a healer

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Call it a hot take but I think that every single post that riffs on the

BORN TO ____

WORLD IS A _____

Format should always end with

410,757,864,530 DEAD COPS