Thought we could use some respite as we go into the holiday weekend.
I’ll be going to this show. It’s not far from my house and I’m hoping the dogs will be okay for the twenty minutes or so I’m gone. They generally aren’t upset by fireworks, but I like to be around to distract them just in case.
Jul 2, 2024With hot and dry weather, fire restrictions are going into place in many places in the state. Drones are becomes a more and more popular alternative to fireworks.
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I loved this dress so much. She said it took her three days to make. There is a matching bag and shrug. Stunning.
Sarah Akinbuwa remembers the days when she was bullied over her love of crocheting, a hobby she picked up with her circle of schoolmates as a 12-year-old in Nigeria.
Now living in Somerville and devoted to the craft, the 18-year-old is winning acclaim for one of her latest creations: a bright pink, floor-length prom dress adorned with roses, complete with a matching shrug and handbag. Her behind-the-scenes look at the design process has garnered more than 26 million views on TikTok, raising her profile and affirming her faith in her abilities.
Akinbuwa, who spends hours crocheting daily, is grateful she did not let those hurtful remarks stop her.
“Look at me now,” she wishes she could say to the people who teased her for having a “grandma hobby” and a dream to be a fashion designer. “I’m very happy I did not let it get to me.”
When one of her best friends invited her to be his date at the Somerville High School prom in May, Akinbuwa, who graduated last year, immediately saw an opportunity to showcase her talents.
With a model in mind — a strapless gown designed by Valentino Haute Couture that one of her favorite actresses, Zendaya, wore to the 2023 SAG Awards — Akinbuwa headed to Michaels, an arts and crafts store she frequents, and bought $60 worth of yarn.
Sarah Akinbuwa. SARAH AKINBUWA
“I knew I was going to go viral when I started making it,” she said. “Making your prom dress is very unique.”She only had a few days before the event to crochet the dress, a needlework craft that involved not just using her crochet hook and strands of pink yarn, but a good deal of patience. But she never doubted that she would be able to complete the project in time.
Over just three tireless days, she produced a dress that has caught the eye of millions, including Law Roach, a prominent fashion stylist who has long worked with Zendaya. He left a comment on one of her Instagram posts that made Akinbuwa cry in happiness.
“He said it was so cute,” said Akinbuwa, a big admirer of his work. “No one can bring me down anymore.” Read more here
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And this is just Dad and Daughter Goals:
Jun 10, 2024You may have seen this video of Jevin Smith picking up his daughter Jayna from high school for the last time. It shows the bond they built through a classic parent-child experience: embarrassment.
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Murphy the Eagle has a new foster!
May 2, 2024Murphy, the famous eagle from the World Bird Sanctuary in Valley Park, Missouri, is fostering an eaglet for the second time. The bald eagle’s story first went viral in 2023 after he built a nest and tried to hatch a rock. Soon after trying to hatch the rock, the then 31-year-old eagle was given a foster eaglet who had fallen out of its nest. In Spring of 2024, Murphy was given another eaglet who came to the sanctuary under similar circumstances
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Normally I’m like, don’t feed wildlife, but if a moose showed up at my picnic table I’d be like, “Hi, I’m Annie. How may I serve you today?” https://t.co/swUoLfsVtM
— AnnieDeMoranville-Audiobooks Now Available! (@AnnDeMoranville) July 1, 2024
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I’m wondering what kind of treats I need to leave out for it to show up at my door:
Jul 2, 2024A Lakewood official said visitors and park rangers have reported seeing a Patagonian mara at Bear Creek Lake Park.
This photo makes Reggie look Great Dane-sized, but I assure you, he is not. he’s barely tipping the scale at 4.5 lbs. But I love his little jackrabbit legs. He does love to snooze with his dogs. Trixie does not mind.
I have a stupid and lingering summer cold, so I’m grumpy and tired. But still planning on have some 4th of July fun. What is everyone else doing? Respite open thread
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Dogfighting drones in Longmont? Way cool.
Alas, we’re hosting a fellow Denver jackal and spouse for the 4th. Dunno if they’ll hang around long enough for all the neighborhood Terror Booms.
TaMara
I’m going out of town in a week and I’m a bit concerned about Reggie. He is still fairly contained when I’m out of the house, but that’s not practical while I’m away for a week. So on Monday, I left him to his own devices while I was out seeing clients – see what kind of trouble we should anticipate – and when I got home, all I could hear was pathetic crying but I could NOT find him. Finally found him in a closet, where he had tried to jump on a shelf, pulled all the clothes down on himself, and couldn’t figure out how to extricate himself.
I had the petsitter come over to meet/bond with him and I showed her all the potential areas he could get stuck and or hide. I’m sure he’ll find some kind of unforeseen trouble while I’m away.
TaMara
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: July 4th is still my favorite holiday, but I have realized since I added dogs to the family, I rarely participate in the festivities, except to host the cookout. I’m just not comfortable leaving the pets alone with all the idiots shooting off fireworks in the neighborhood
TBone
Oh that pink roses dress is DA BOMB! Amazing. Fabulous. Inspiring!
TBone
@TaMara: ALL of my cats are terrified – I live right near the Bucknell stadium and they shoot the fireworks in our direction. It seems like they explode right over our roof. Poor kitties, quaking under the bed! I try to soothe them with a dulcet tone of voice but I can’t compare to BOOM CRACKALACKA
WaterGirl
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I have a thread with the awesome guest post with the dog who hates fireworks. I put it up a minute ago, then saw this post and moved it back an hour or so.
patrick II
Turtle love on a skateboard
WaterGirl
@TaMara: Oh, poor baby!!!
Will you be gone for a whole week?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@WaterGirl:
STOMP!
Barbara
Love the dress — I am personally not a crochet person, but this is such a fun application of the craft, and, let’s just say it, it helps to be drop dead gorgeous when wearing pink strapless gowns of any material!
And really, it is NOT a good idea to feed the moose.
WaterGirl
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Hey, I immediately un-stomped.
UncleEbeneezer
Some assholes decided to light off fireworks on our street at 12:30 am last night 😠😠😠
rikyrah
One of my favorite TikTok accounts.
Dad is hilarious.
And, they will both be crying buckets when a video reel of his greatest pickups is shown at her wedding.
TaMara
Okay, I just talked myself out of a Costco run – I only need dog food, so it would have been in and out, but I pictured myself stuck in the exit receipt review for longer than it took me to buy the food…so I’ll just wait until Friday and get in just as they open.
What was I thinking, LOL
Trixie and I are off to do a grocery pickup (that they bring to the car – no leaving her in the hot car). They enjoy it when I bring one of the dogs and each dog gets a car ride at least once a week.
lowtechcyclist
@Barbara:
As we are warned elsewhere: “Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti…”
Especially don’t try to carve your initials on the møøse. That is right out.
Villago Delenda Est
Hate to break the respite, but 28k or so people have been evacuated in the face of a wildfire in Butte County, CA, to the north of Sacramento. This just got going yesterday, mind.
Dorothy A. Winsor
There’s a BBQ here tonight which I have to leave early because my writer group is still holding a zoom meeting. Otherwise there’s some sort of musical performance and then a fireworks party on a big balcony outside the pool. You can see the ones from the HS parking lot from here.
TaMara
@WaterGirl: Yup and I’m a bit nervous. He’s so tiny, the Danes are so clumsy (hell, I stepped on him the other day, he didn’t speak to me for an hour) and I can’t manage every nook and cranny in the house. But my petsitter is top-notch, so holding on to that.
TaMara
@Villago Delenda Est: Ugh, I have family in that area.
patrick II
Wall jumping malinois
Villago Delenda Est
Reggie is just cute to be squeed. The Wakandan Terrors got their claws clipped yesterday (don’t worry, they’ll grow back!) and weighed in at 15 and 11 pounds. Just days after their first birthday. Zooty (the big guy) seems to have Maine Coon aspirations.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@WaterGirl:
ALMOST STOMP!
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@TaMara:
Another place to avoid today: Trader Joe’s.
TaMara
@Villago Delenda Est: Wow, those are some biggens’ – right up there with Willow (who is Maine Coon) at 12 lbs and Sully at 18+ (please don’t tell the vet).
Reggie still thinks nail clippings are amputations, but I’ve been doing it weekly to get him accustomed to it. The other cats are pretty blasé about it by now.
Villago Delenda Est
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: The Terrors INSIST on getting under my feet in my terribly tiny kitchen. Also, they both love to do the entire rub the legs thing to remind me that it’s time for treats or attention or something, or just to let me know they like me a lot.
Eyeroller
@Barbara: That moose was far too acclimated to humans. That wasn’t his first picnic.
CaseyL
Oh, gosh, the first time you leave your animals to someone else’s care is terrifying. I was spoiled for so long, having neighbors who are as cat crazy as I am: for about 2 decades, we’d just trade cat sitting duties back and forth. Then they decamped to their retirement home at the shore. I’ve been through a few cat sitters since, but (knocks wood) another neighbor seems to be real good at it. Best of luck to you and the critters!
I came down with a cold yesterday – impeccable timing, that’s me! – and will absolutely not be going to a large-scale public event where I can trade my germs for a few tens of thousands of other peoples’ germs.
TaMara
@Eyeroller: I’m not sure it was their first time with that moose, either. Pretty sure they brought him special treats.
Despite being thrilled if I was to be a moose waitress, feeding wildlife is a no-no.
I once helped a game warden feed mule deer and I have the hoof prints on my back to prove it. “I think he thinks you’re cute,” the ranger said to me. Little comfort as I was living a ‘grandma got run over by a reindeer” moment.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Villago Delenda Est:
Our old-ish blind cat will come into the kitchen and twirl around or walk until she bonks into something, then ricochet (in a very slow way as she’s old and blind) off at an angle. Twirl & Richochet, Twirl & Richochet.
All the while, we dance around her so as to not give her an unexpected something to ‘bonk’ into. It really is a wonder either of us hasn’t fallen and broke a hip by this point. When she eventually goes, it’ll take years for us to get out of the habit of constantly looking around for her.
Eyeroller
@TaMara: “I’m sorry, I don’t have any more.” “No really, it’s all gone.” Aaaaieee!
Nara in Japan is famous for a large and dense deer population. They poll a lot of the bucks to make them less dangerous, because people feed them so much and they can get aggressive when you try to explain to them that it’s all gone. Saw a deer nearly climb up a man’s chest to try to get more treats when we were there. Fortunately they are a rather small species.
realbtl
As someone who lives in the mountains and a CA native I think the drone fireworks are the future. Luckily it’s been raining for the last week since MT still sells the old unsafe and insane type. Also sold for New Years but the fire worry is less.
JaneE
Sarah Akinbuwa is amazing. The dress (and she) are absolutely gorgeous. I once made a crochet dress for me with no roses and knee length and it took me a lot longer than 3 days. Then again I am probably twice her size, but still. Not only crafting skills but a designer too.
Villago Delenda Est
@TaMara: My sister had a 25 pound Maine Coon that she used to drape around her neck like a mink stole.
UncleEbeneezer
Bill Hicks
Reggie is so cute, but he also looks like he is in a movie scene where he got shot from behind twice and died. It looks like blood spatter on the cushions in front of Reggie, but I am also red green color blind.
schrodingers_cat
OT: Do we have any WordPress experts here? I may have a question or two for you.
Thanks.
CaseyL
Sandi Brock has a YouTube channel, “Sheepishly Me.” She’s a sheep farmer in Ontario, a smallish operation. I don’t remember how I stumbled onto her channel, but I’m glad I did. She is constantly balancing her honest-to-goodness concern and love for her sheep with the fact that they are raised for meat.
So today, she had a funny. Her area has had a couple pretty bad heat waves. It’s also the time for her rams and ewes to get together to make babies. And the extreme heat has her worried about her rams ability to impregnate the ewes.
Only she can’t come right and say why. YouTube will flag/demonetize videos that say anything having to do with sex. (I guess you can be as explicit as you like as long as you don’t mind the video in question being demonetized.)
Hearing her try to say why without actually saying why is quite funny. (I think it’s a sperm count issue, not a “performance” issue.)
NotMax
Boo.
Netflix has apparently decided to march downhill with gusto.
Netflix is starting to phase out its cheapest ad-free plan
Jackie
@UncleEbeneezer:
That aligns with the Atlantic headline I posted on the earlier Open Topic thread.😊
Belafon
@NotMax: The cheapest plan on Hulu still contains ads. And if you access Hulu through Disney+ you still get ads.
NotMax
Marvel at Disney drones.
;)
Trollhattan
I must, must, must reference “If You Give a Moose a Muffin”—one of our kiddo’s favorite childhood books and one we never tired of reading to her. Published in giant format* to emphasize the size of a muffin-loving moose. Such a pest.
amazon.com/If-You-Give-Moose-Muffin/dp/0060244054
*Linked one is tiny compared to our paperback edition.
NotMax
@Belafon
Being among those with the basic no ads plan (no 4K*, stream to any one device at a time) I am NOT going to be a happy camper.
BTW, I do shell out extra spondulicks monthly on top of Prime for no ads there. A “grrr” decision, but three bucks doesn’t bite too hard.
*My TV doesn’t do 4K anyway, so no loss there.
J.
LOVE this post! Just what I needed. That prom dress is fantastic. Wow. And I love the clips about Murphy and the moose — and the photo of Reggie and Trixie.
I am dreading July 4th weekend and will be crying and quaking along with my two cats every time some idiot shoots off a firework. (I get migraines and am super sensitive to noise.)
Trollhattan
Sport nerds go “Oooh” on learning Mark Cavendish—The Manx Missile—has set the record for Le Tour stage wins with #35, at the tender age of 39.
Eddie Meckx, probably history’s finest cycle racer, held the record since approximately forever. Unlike Mr. Merckx, I have seen Cav racing in person, right here in Oven City.
Trollhattan
@NotMax: Got my 4K set last year and that had all sorts of upstream effects, including learning the stream box and receiver didn’t really “talk 4k.”
Worth it, but very annoying at the same time. 1080P LED to 4K OLED though {chef’s kiss}.
TaMara
@Trollhattan: Man, I totally missed an opportunity there to put that in the post. Thanks for reminding me of that wonderful book
Villago Delenda Est
@CaseyL: There’s a reason why testicles have lower heat than the rest of the male body. Sperm production.
Trollhattan
@TaMara:
My pleasure. Your post has me thinking of it for the first time in years (said kid now being in college and all).
Mike E
During construction of the cathedral on our street lots of critters got displaced (tons of deer around here anyway because of a large inner city park, farmers market and college campus, ubiquitous) so there were frequent sightings of foxes and coyotes when I had no idea they were around these parts, dumb assumption on my part. Looking forward to stumbling into a black bear on the way to my apartment dumpster (no, I’m not!).
Villago Delenda Est
@Mike E: The solution is obvious. Fight the bear off with a pick-a-nick basket.
Mike E
@Villago Delenda Est: I’m not smarter than the avg. dumpster diver, fer sure!
NotMax
@Tollhattan
1080p plasma set keeps on cranking like a champ.
::knock wood::
NotMax
Villago Delenda Est
Nobody likes swimming in an overheated pool.
:)
mrmoshpotato
Thank you for the respite with everything that’s been in the news lately. (Oh the posts I have just plain skipped.)
Dog sitting for my sister up north this weekend. Hopefully it’s quiet.
Geminid
I was happy to find that while I’ve been slacking off at the old apple orchard I caretake, my friend Debbie’s bees have been hard at work. She just pulled two “super” boxes off their hive and estimates theey hold over 40 lbs. of honey.
Debbie will know for sure when she spins the honey from the combs in her spinning machine. She’ll grab that from a friend who’s also a member of the local beekeeper community.
NutmegAgain
Has anybody around here tried those doggy earmuffs that you can get now for loud noises? I don’t think my Orion is a scaredy-dog, but other dogs have been. (Crawling into the bathtub & pulling the curtain down on top, or into a closet and same with overcoats.) Anyway I’ve seen all kinds, ranging from very expensive, to take your dog shooting I think, to ones that look kind of like a polar fleece snood arrangement. (Latter would make a great picture.)
Lobo
The Dads are all right!
Kayla Rudbek
@realbtl: I was shocked when I saw my closest Target was selling fireworks. I had to take a picture for evidence, and my mother commented about the two fire extinguishers right next to the display when she saw the picture.