Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Giving up is unforgivable.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

In my day, never was longer.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

White supremacy is terrorism.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

You would normally have to try pretty hard to self-incriminate this badly.

The willow is too close to the house.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Too little, too late, ftfnyt. fuck all the way off.

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Nature / How about some springtime respite?

How about some springtime respite?

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Hello Juicers! Reporting in from fatherhood. Camille is four months this week…
…and doing great! She’s ahead on most of her benchmarks, starting teething, and still super chill, at least by baby standards. No complaints, 10/10.

Boy it sure is a disaster out there, though, isn’t it? Fortunately I’ve got a lot to keep me busy right here. Camille isn’t even the only baby in the neighborhood…

But they grow up so fast, don’t they? Ten days later…

They weren’t even there the last time I walked by. Flown the coop! I’m an empty-nester now. Oh, and the yard is coming along really well, too. Thanks to a big assist from TaMara a couple years ago, we now have these lovely and prolific irises, which gave us quite a show this year!

Other than that, been reading, working on the video game (just about time for the demo and kickstarter!), playing video games… specifically Clair Obscur, Blue Prince, Lies of P, and The Hundred Line Last Defense Academy… Been trying to avoid Doing Politics Online, with mixed success. Not much point arguing about anything with anybody. Just gotta keep the house in order.

And of course we still have the cats.

So let’s call this a respite thread, for all your respitey needs. Playing? Reading? Watching? What’s up?

Reader Interactions

94Comments

  4. 4.

    Scout211

    AWWWWW!  Camille!  She’s such a cutie!  I want to snuggle and hug that cutie pie.  I bet she gives the best snuggles.  :)

  5. 5.

    Gloria DryGarden

    Gorgeous! The clear eyed centered baby, the glamor photos of the cats and the iris. I an JEALOUS of your iris! Speckles.
    just looking at your baby exuding that smooth calm…. She’s beautiful. What energy!

  6. 6.

    SpaceUnit

    10/10?  Are we judging and grading babies now?

     

    ETA:  Okay, I was probably a one star baby.

  9. 9.

    zhena gogolia

    Thank you for this! Love all the pictures! Camille is beautiful!

    I guess WG was thinking of Camille Saint-Saëns.

    Just finished watching Miss Austen. It started slow but ended with a devastating episode. Great acting all around.

    Also watching the old Middlemarch with Rufus Sewell. He was very cute. Jonathan Firth is also easy on the eyes and a good actor. But it’s very, very slow.

    This season of Hacks has been a roller coaster. But very funny. I have a lol almost every episode, in the literal sense.

  11. 11.

    Josie

    A beautiful name for a beautiful baby. She looks so happy.

    ETA: Do the two cats get along with each other. They both look rather snobbish.

  13. 13.

    zhena gogolia

    @Major Major Major Major: The Swiss proprietor of a local jewelry store when I was a child was named Camille, and she was one of my favorite people. I am still wearing the garnet ring my mother got for me when I was ten.

  15. 15.

    Old School

    Four months?  You must be in the walking around like a zombie stage.

    She’s adorable!

  16. 16.

    Elizabelle

    Camille is beautiful.  She looks like she has something to tell you all.

    Glad to hear you are settling in so well in your Western state.

  18. 18.

    prostratedragon

    Baby! My godsister’s middle name is Camille; always liked it. Do the cats like Camille?

  19. 19.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Old School: nope doing great, my shift ends at 02:30 and I get eight hours, my husband’s up around five when she gets up too. So we each shifted an hour-ish. Remote work, very understanding. We’re lucky. She sleeps like a champ, too.

  20. 20.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Camille’s a very cute baby. Camille’s a pretty and classic name that sounds good for her as a baby and as she grows into adulthood.  Not common but not uncommon enough to  have to spell it out everytime you make an appointment or whatever.

  21. 21.

    Rugosa

    The gray cat has the look that says “You are not stealing my soul.  I am stealing yours.”

    Congrats on a lovely baby.

  22. 22.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Mai Naem mobile: I’ve been terrified that it’s going to coincidentally be a hip name for her cohort but so far seems to not be!

    @prostratedragon: Samwise pretty much ignores her but Momo gets really jealous and will climb on top of her if she’s on your lap, lol. She’s started to notice Momo now. But she doesn’t quite realize she has hands yet… we’ll see how that develops.

  24. 24.

    divF

    Hi Camille ! (Waves)
    I go out for coffee every morning. One of the day’s pleasures is to smile and wave at the little ones that pass through Peet’s (after making eye contact with the parent to make sure it is ok). My day is made if I get back a smile, or for the older ones, a wave.

  25. 25.

    bbleh

    Well that is just some RAMPANT cuteness all around. Very welcome, especially here where it’s March in May. Also glad to see you’re still in the game.

    (Also I’m sure you’re aware, but just in case, watch the cats around the crib…)

  27. 27.

    eclare

    @zhena gogolia:

    Planning to start Hacks season four tonight!  I think someone here said it really starts to click with episode six, and my good friend said the same thing.

  28. 28.

    HinTN

    What’s up? Headed to Hotlanta for three afternoons of jazz in Piedmont Park. Food and beverage vendors lined up to serve the madding crowd. Oooooh yeah.

  29. 29.

    Bunter

    Will be working on and off this weekend but hope to finish reading “Kills Well with Others” the sequel to “Killers of a Certain Age”.

  30. 30.

    eclare

    Awww…what a happy baby!  Very cute!  Samwise looking regal as always, although he is missing his bow tie.

  38. 38.

    They Call Me Noni

    @zhena gogolia: Just a delightful baby girl. Very pretty flowers, cute kitties and adorable birds. Life is good when you look at the gifts it gives us. Nice break from the horrors. Thank you for the reminder that it does, in fact, keep delivering beauty and wonder all around us.

  43. 43.

    sab

    @Major Major Major Major: Hope they mangle it.

    I had three or four girls with my exact same name all through school in every class and in every home room.

    My family was very traditional. This was their first new name in generations, and they blew it.

    Lately, it is so rare that I have to spell it to order a pizza.

    LOL

    Camille the name is lovely and Camille the baby is very cute.

  44. 44.

    EarthWindFire

    Oh my, what a cutie. You know, they say the first baby sleeps through the night to trick you into having another one.

  46. 46.

    lowtechcyclist

    Camille looks adorable, M^4!  And that would certainly explain why you haven’t been around much lately!

    @zhena gogolia:

    I’m feeling like Harriet is the new cliche name.

    If I knew one of those new parents, I’d sing “You’re So Vane” to the baby. Because I’m wimsical like that.

  49. 49.

    p.a.

    Wonderful!

     
    Flying the coop: Graduates bid farewell to beloved crochet birds project
    Birbs, adorable handmade crochet birds, have been a coveted find on the Brown campus in the two years since an anonymous Instagram account, @birbsatbrown, started posting photos of the colorful little crafts hidden in different spots across College Hill for people to find.
    As they prepare to graduate, account co-founders Jen Chen, Angela Li and Jane Zhou are letting their closely guarded anonymity fly and celebrating the nearly 600 plump, colorful birds they have nestled in bushes and flowers, wedged between books at University libraries, tucked into the campus gates, dangled in trees and more.
    “I’m filled with warmth and pride to have made something that’s given a lot of people joy,” Chen said.
    As the account has soared to more than 6,000 followers, the team of birb creators has grown to about a dozen members, each of whom has expanded the birbs’ creative designs — fashioning birbs that look like peapods, Minions, tomatoes, pineapples and more. Support and enthusiasm for birbs also swelled among Brown alumni, who have generously donated funds and yarn to keep birbs hatching, the founders said.
    “The generosity of alumni has been really meaningful,” Chen said.
    The founders also collaborated with social service organizations and hospitals in Providence, where they donated birbs.
    “Being able to utilize birbs and the generosity of everyone in the community to impact the local Providence area was really special,” Li said.
    Ahead of Commencement and Reunion Weekend, the team bid farewell to Brown with a series of birbs in the University’s signature red and brown colors, each with a mortarboard cap and tassel.
    “The fact that we grew so much is a testament to the culture at Brown,” Zhou said. “People appreciate this simple, little joyful thing.”

  51. 51.

    Sure Lurkalot

    What a sweetheart! Nice to hear good news and read comments about an adorable baby, spring flowers and beloved cats.

  54. 54.

    Gin & Tonic

    @divF: 

    I go out for coffee every morning.

    You’ll never be able to afford to buy a house if you do that.

  59. 59.

    mrmoshpotato

    Cubs @ Reds

    Also. damn you Lilo and Stitch trailer

    ETA – also Johnsonville wants us to KEEP IT JUICY!  OH!  BABY!

  65. 65.

    MagdaInBlack

    Oh my! That is a beautiful child, your Camille =-)

    And such handsome cat-critters.

    And of course, the lovely iris, one of my favorite flowers.

    Itsa 3-fer !  Thank you

    eta: AND the cute little owls

  69. 69.

    mali muso

    Too adorable! A baby really does keep you grounded in the here and now. My kiddo was born in November 2016 and I think being able to focus on her kept me sane in those early days of the horrors. Sending you and the family best wishes!

  72. 72.

    ronno2018

    lovely kid and pets!  great idea to focus on the wonderful life we have personally and not the disaster of politics in the good ole usa!

  73. 73.

    Pauline

    Such a gorgeous baby! Look at that smile!

    eta: Owl and cat pictures are much appreciated also.

  75. 75.

    Pauline

    @zhena gogolia: That Middlemarch production was rather slow, it was Rufus Sewell that kept me going with that one.

    Getting ready to start Miss Austen now that some of my other shows have finished up for the season.

  78. 78.

    zhena gogolia

    @Pauline: The whole thing perks up when he comes into view.

    I think Juliet Aubrey doesn’t carry the role of Dorothea well. She’s kind of bland.

  81. 81.

    Yutsano

    I am going with the crowd here. However, I will say that Camille has wonderfully pinchable cheeks!

  83. 83.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Major Major Major Major: ​Apologies to your grandma.

    Sort of tangential, but my dear wife and I once attended a wedding during which the church was struck by lightning; everyone said that was an omen of good luck. So may sharing a name with a monster storm lead to good luck for Camille (who is beautiful, BTW.)

  85. 85.

    Another Scott

    Hello M^4!  Good to hear and see that things are going well.  Don’t be a stranger.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  87. 87.

    tobie

    Camille is a cutie pie. Wishing you endless joy with her, M4.

    I’ve got one flower bed to clear tomorrow. Hope I can boast of irises in the future.

  88. 88.

    laura

    Your family treasure is beautiful. Your fog-pelted and wee orange she-tabby are also handsome and winsome. Solid check in and field report!

  90. 90.

    dww44

    @Major Major Major Major: About Hurricane Camille.., the storm was so named at the time after the young daughter of John Hope , the then director of the Hurricane Prediction Center and later with the Weather Channel. Storms were not prenamed in those days and either he or his coworkers decided to name the storm after Hope’s daughter since they needed a C name  and all hurricanes got feminine names.

    The young Camille in 1969 grew up to become a lawyer and married a guy named Jim Marshall, also a lawyer, who became our Mayor.  From there he became the last Democratic Congressman from these parts.  Was ousted after the passage of the ACA in that big red wave year and the redrawn district to insure that no Democrat ever got elected again.

  93. 93.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @divF: I always like showing babies the Vulcan “live long and prosper” hand gestures and they always seem to like it. And small children are fascinated by watching my live knitting (particularly if it’s socks)

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