The Frying Pan

Let's just say that the proportion of my time I would like to devote to photography does not mesh with Mrs the Tall's expectation of my contribution to family life.

Stephie

9:08 AM

Ah!

And family life obviously is condensed into the weekends, especially if you are working. Mhm.

ElendilTheTall

Yes. Thus I usually have to accumulate sufficient brownie points to be allowed out with my camera

Stephie

Without questioning Mrs the Tall, I have learned that a husband off the leash makes for a relaxed father and husband. I prefer half the time with a partner in a relaxed and cheerful attitude over double time with a cranky or morose one.

ElendilTheTall

Takes all sorts I suppose

Stephie

But I think you offspring are younger that ours...

ElendilTheTall

I am not generally cranky or morose even when my shutter finger is itchy

@Stephie yes

when the kids are old enough to take care of themselves a bit more, I will be able to get out more. The age they are, one of them is always needing attention, so I don't begrudge having to stay with them at all

Hopefully one day they'll want to come with me

Stephie

9:16 AM

@ElendilTheTall They probably will - but then you should focus on landscapes, not animals ^_^

@Stephie ...

What?

I don't understand

What don't you understand?

ElendilTheTall

the animals thing

Stephie

9:19 AM

Oh! Well, animals as in wildlife. "Kid feeding sheep" as motiv works, kid being very silent to shoot deer probably not.

ElendilTheTall

oh

my confusion lies in the fact that I mostly shoot landscapes anyway. The only wildlife I shoot is the odd songbird

Stephie

I know. But even sightings get rarer.

ElendilTheTall

Ok, I'm just confused again. Let's move on!

Faheem Mitha

/me has strong urge to make satirical remark about @ElendilTheTall's confusion, but suppresses it.

ElendilTheTall

@FaheemMitha you can't talk about confusion, Mr. Literal

Stephie

9:24 AM

Hi @FaheemMitha

Faheem Mitha

@ElendilTheTall Sure I can.

Hi @Stephie. What's shaking?

ElendilTheTall

there you go again

Faheem Mitha

Had a good weekend?

@ElendilTheTall And that's Mr. Maddeningly Literal to you, sir.

Stephie

@FaheemMitha Had. Parked two sniffing and coughing kids at the grandparents, met with a friend we had't seen in almost two decades. Sometimes it's great if you can mix business and leisure!

Was a perfect drive straight through the Black Forest. Spectacular views. Hubby forgot his camera. do I need to say more?

Faheem Mitha

@Stephie I was a bit unwell this past week too. Feeling better now. But will take a nap anyway. Yoga later.

ElendilTheTall

9:27 AM

@Stephie unforgivable

I trust the divorce proceedings will begin shortly?

Faheem Mitha

@Stephie If you hadn't seen your friend in 2 decades, how come you met up with him?

Stephie

@ElendilTheTall No. It's his hobby. I only had to listen to the moans. Until I promised we will be back probably next weekend. (At least half the way...)

ElendilTheTall

@Stephie you can guarantee the weather will be adverse

Mother Nature always punishes the unprepared photographer

"I lay on this sweeping forest vista for you and you forget your camera?! Fuck you buddy, have some fog."

Stephie

@FaheemMitha She's a friend from school. We excanged the very occasional e-mail, worked on a small project together. She does consulting and Alex needed her expertise. So we finally dragged our sorry asses over. For me, it was mostly sightseeing and a very extended lunch with her.

Faheem Mitha

@Stephie That sounds nice. I guess it's easy to get out of touch even with local friends.

@ElendilTheTall Nature red in tooth and claw.

Stephie

9:32 AM

@ElendilTheTall So I fear. Yet, the Black Forest can be spectacular with fog. And if not next weekend, there will be others.

Faheem Mitha

So, is the Black Forest actually a forest?

Stephie

@FaheemMitha If I look at our class, some even moved to other countries. Basically everyone has lived somewhere else, at least for a while. Interestingly enough, in the last couple of years a few have come back.

Faheem Mitha

The world is rife with things misleadingly named.

Stephie

@FaheemMitha Very much so.

Faheem Mitha

@Stephie Much of my school class appears to be in the US, as far as I can tell. Though I don't really keep track. Possibly some in Europe.

@Stephie Well, maybe I'll see it sometime.

Stephie

9:35 AM

Meh, just click on the "image not found" thingy.

ElendilTheTall

@FaheemMitha well, I was thinking more poor conditions for landscape photography rather than a mauling by some kind of woodland creature

Stephie

Northern Black Forest

The Northern Black Forest (German: Nordschwarzwald) refers to the northern third of the Black Forest in Germany or, less commonly today, to the northern half of this mountain region. == Boundary == The Northern Black Forest is bounded in the north by a line from Karlsruhe to Pforzheim and, in the south, by a line running from the Rench valley to Freudenstadt. Its northern boundary largely coincides with the emergence of the extensively forested bunter sandstone strata from the arable region of the Kraichgau; its southern boundary with the Central Black Forest (or, in the case of a biparti...

Ok guys, have to go. See you around!

ElendilTheTall

caio

Stephie

@ElendilTheTall Is this a typo? ElendilTheTall made a typo... <little one-legged dance> I'm so relieved!

ElendilTheTall

@Stephie I was talking about the village in Wales, obviously

Caio, Carmarthenshire

Caio or Caeo is a village in the county of Carmarthenshire, south-west Wales, sited near to the Dolaucothi Gold Mines. == Location == It is located between Llandovery and Lampeter, 1 mile north-east of the A482 that connects these two towns. Caio lies at the confluence of the Afon Annell and the Nant Frena. It forms part of the parish of Cynwyl Gaeo. In former times it gave its name to Cayo Hundred. == History == The parish church, consecrated to Saint Cynwyl, now stands at the centre of the village, near the Roman road that linked the Roman forts at Llandovery (Alabum) and Llanio (Bremia), and...

Stephie

9:49 AM

That took you a moment of googling ^_^ Ok, until later!

ElendilTheTall

@Stephie I don't know what you mean (￣￣)

ElendilTheTall

10:04 AM

@FaheemMitha so how was your weekend?

Faheem Mitha

11:45 AM

@ElendilTheTall Pretty blah. I was kinda unwell, like I said.

@ElendilTheTall Nice save.

@ElendilTheTall Potato, patato.

Well, I'd prefer to stay in bed, but I guess it's yoga time.

ElendilTheTall

12:22 PM

@FaheemMitha your priorities are entirely wrong

Stephie

1:17 PM

As it seems such a slow day today, look what I found in the news:

edition.cnn.com/2015/09/14/asia/china-sprout-hair-clips-trend

telegraph.co.uk/beauty/hair/beansprouts-hair-trend-china

(And apparently this is for you guys as well.)

Hi @Jay!

Jay

@Cerberus It was nice. We met up in Chinatown for dinner. Found a small vegetarian restaurant which had a really good tea

@Stephie morning :)

Afterwards he paid for dinner. Then we walked around the city a bit until we happened across a gelato shop and got some gelato for dessert

But his flight into philadelphia was super super early so he literally didnt sleep at all the night before, so we went back to my apartment afterward.

We played scrabble while i put something on netflix in the background

It was a very nice and relaxing date.

Too bad he lives so far away.

about 1.7k miles away :/

Despite his vegetarianism I think we would have gotten along really well.

We went to sleep relatively early around 11:30pm. But we chatted in bed for a while before we fell asleep.

His flight we at 8:05am so we woke up at 6:00 and I drove him to the airport.

Faheem Mitha

1:33 PM

@ElendilTheTall Not so, but far otherwise.

Well, dinner time. Later, people.

Stephie

1:54 PM

Aaaargh! It has started again!

Guys, do you in your country have the <insert expletives of your choice> custom of "My Friends" books?

This is Day 3 of school for minor 2 and here it is - the first of uncountable books that need filling with witty comments and the current favourite colour. And do not forget the photo, of course.

At the moment it's still Mom's job to write whatever the offspring answers, soon it will be Mom, nagging reluctant offspring to finally fill in his or her page in the book of <random class mate or similar>.

Jay

I dont know what that is lol

Sounds like a friends scrapbook where each friend has to fill out his or her own page?

Stephie

And of course said offspring need one of these as well (revenge is sweet) so that other mom/child pairs can enter favourite food ("spageti"), animal (kat), colour (glitter. Yes, for a 6yo "glitter" is a colour). Worst of all, if the book has a "Theme", because this will lead to "blanks", neither does my daughter have a favourite soccer player nor my son the faintest idea about Monster High.

This one came in today: amazon.de/…

Jay

So she likes ponies?

Stephie

The other girl does.

Mine thinks ponies are stupid.

I could live with real scrapbooks - have child draw a picture, do a bit of crafting with glitter and paper, done. I just hate these "fill in the blanks" forms.

Sorry, had to vent a bit...

@Jay, glad you had a nice date! Ok, have to go. Just got a phone call from minor 1: he missed the bus....

Jay

2:13 PM

haha oh no

cya later

ElendilTheTall

@Jay don't worry, I'll take over

you are not alone

Jay

backs out slowly

lol jk good morning

how was your weekend

Didnt you say I wasnt alone :(

Why am I all alone :(

BESW

Tonight's dinner was crushed walnuts and diced carrots toasted in olive oil with garlic and pepper before being mashed into potatoes, with a salad of apples, mandarins, and sunflower seeds.

(I was going to do an experimental thing with onions and mandarins, but the onion was rotten.)

ElendilTheTall

@Jay sorry, coffee

Faheem Mitha

@BESW So it was tasty?

Jay

2:26 PM

what did the coffee do to you? why are you apologizing to it

BESW

@FaheemMitha Very!

ElendilTheTall

sorry, (i went to get) coffee

Faheem Mitha

@Stephie That sounds like that weird American custom, I think they call them yearbooks. They are featured in American teen HW films.

I'm not had any first hand experience to such things myself.

BESW

Yearbooks are an end-of-year thing, not a throughout-the-year thing.

Faheem Mitha

@ElendilTheTall Insert lovingly detailed description of said coffee here. Your fans expect it.

@BESW True, but it's a similar concept.

In @Stephie's case was it a throughout-the-year thing?

BESW

2:29 PM

Rather, though it's more like a pre-filled-out Friend Book, just add signature.

ElendilTheTall

@FaheemMitha kenco instant decaff with semi-skimmed milk and half a sugar

we brits don't go in for fancy coffees in the office much

or even in the home all that much

Faheem Mitha

@ElendilTheTall you should have poetic descriptions of the froth.

Does it look like brown sea foam?

ElendilTheTall

@FaheemMitha impossible, there is no froth

Faheem Mitha

<Note: I know absolutely nothing about coffee.>

ElendilTheTall

evidently you speak in ignorance of instant coffee

Faheem Mitha

2:30 PM

@ElendilTheTall No kidding.

ElendilTheTall

It's ok, I'm used to your speaking in ignorance ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Faheem Mitha

Define "half a sugar"

ElendilTheTall

half a teaspoon

Faheem Mitha

@ElendilTheTall <generic disparaging/dismissive retort>

ElendilTheTall

@FaheemMitha <custom-made devastating and witty riposte>

Faheem Mitha

2:31 PM

@ElendilTheTall Hmm. Not impressed. Try harder.

ElendilTheTall

@FaheemMitha in your oft-used words - "No"

Faheem Mitha

Coffee must be the world's most popular drink. Possible road to wealth in two steps.

ElendilTheTall

Water might edge it

Faheem Mitha

1. Invent tasty and addictive beverage.

2. Get the world hooked on it.

ElendilTheTall

Tea - India and China all drink lots of it

Faheem Mitha

2:33 PM

I wouldn't know.

People do keep offering it to me, though.

ElendilTheTall

well, neither would I apparently - China is 33rd

India is 43rd

Faheem Mitha

33rd what?

ElendilTheTall

33rd in the list of countries by tea consumption per capita

Turkey drinks the most by far

Faheem Mitha

@ElendilTheTall Oh! Hmm, I would not have expected that.

ElendilTheTall

7.54kg per person per year. The next highest is Morocco, 4.34kg

Ireland and Mauritania both with 3.22kg, then the UK with 2.74

Faheem Mitha

2:35 PM

@ElendilTheTall What, Turkey? How do they measure that weight?

ElendilTheTall

List of countries by tea consumption per capita

This is a list of countries ordered by annual per capita consumption of tea, as of 2014. == List == == References... ==

Faheem Mitha

Wow, big drop at the beginning. What's with Turkey?

ElendilTheTall

They like their tea, apparently

they also make coffee in an intriguing way

Coffee on the sand قهوة على الرمل

►

Faheem Mitha

/me makes mental note to never go to Turkey. I'd be a non-tea drinking freak there.

ElendilTheTall

the coffee looks so thick

Faheem Mitha

2:39 PM

I wonder that their diabetes rate is.

ElendilTheTall

tea doesn't necessarily have to have sugar

Faheem Mitha

True.

ElendilTheTall

3:24 PM

tum tee tum

Faheem Mitha

@ElendilTheTall You can do better than that. Say something scintillating. Dazzle the room.

ElendilTheTall

You're always on me at me to entertain and scintillate, why don't you try it for once

I'm not a performing monkey damn it ಥ_ಥ

Jay

you sir are a monkey

dance for us dance!

ElendilTheTall

Dance, magic, dance

Jump, magic, jump

if you are unaware of that reference I will board a flight to Philly and slap you right in the face

Jay

3:44 PM

i actually dont lol

ElendilTheTall

right!

great, free wifi at the terminal

you're in big trouble buddy boy

Labyrinth - Magic Dance - David Bowie

►

Jay

4:06 PM

are you going to slap my cheeks?

ElendilTheTall

4:31 PM

Your facial cheek!

Cerberus

@Stephie I shudder in horror. Some girls have books like that, but it is nowhere near a fixed or compulsory tradition.

@Jay That sounds nice.

Did the date remain...Platonic?

@FaheemMitha I do have to wonder how accurate that list is.

Anubian Noob

@Stephie wow ok that's kinda dumb

Cerberus

But I am willing to believe that the Turks drink a lot of çay.

Jay

4:52 PM

@Cerberus lol is that your way of asking if we got physical?

We did not. We both decided it would be a better idea to be just friends. We lived too far apart to make anything happen

and its easier to keep as friends if we didnt do anything physical

Cerberus

I see.

woosh

There went my exciting vicarious dating life.

user116848

Sup!

user116848

Sorry if it seems annoying but I'm kinda addicted to changing my avatars :)

Jay

@Cerberus haha sorry

ill make sure to be more active with my dating life so that you can live vicariously through me. but lately i feel a little apathetic towards meeting new people

Cerberus

5:15 PM

@Jay You should reawaken!

Like a kraken!

Too much lying around at the bottom of the sea does one no good.

Thanks, anonymous moddy!

Ah, it must have been thou, @ArtOfCode!

So quick!