[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

[Poison]

I used to be like that when I was in my early twenties. I was depressed, I constantly pitied myself, thought that life wasn’t fair and wondered why I had to be like that. I had no job, no finished education, nothing. Eventually I got tired of my own attitude, turned my life around and began to see how blessed I really was.

Elsewhere in the world people like me are killed or face severe discrimination. Even in Lithuania which is in the European Union they have no legal status. Here I can be who I want to be, live the life I want to live, love who I love and practice the faith I want to practice without fearing for my life.

Truth to be told, I’m tired of people that constantly complain about small things that don’t matter in the long run and will probably soon be forgotten anyway. As you wrote, Gossamer, it’s all about perspective, but unfortunately it’s very hard to change people’s perspective and make them think about what’s happening outside their immediate vicinty. There are just too many people who are comfortable with the status quo and absolutely love wallowing in self pity. I’ve tried to fix them, but I’ve pretty much given up on it.

Mizahar is awesome by the way. I wouldn’t want to change a thing. It’s great the way it is, and it’s constantly getting better.

[Gossamer]

. Typhoons Gotta love um right? Nope. Meet Pabuk. She started out as a Typhoon in Japan, swung up the pacific east coast, landed in the Bearing Sea, and turned into a monster tropical storm that then slammed into the west coast this weekend. Fun stuff. The pacific is a giant storm factory this time of year. However, it always pisses me off you hear about hurricane after hurricane after hurricane but you never hear about the west coast's typhoon season. Most places in Washington along the coast where I live got five to ten inches of rain just on Sunday. Some places had wind up to 85 MPH. All of us lost power a time or two, or in my case, six times and had to deal with torrential flooding and being trapped indoors. In my husbands case, he spent an hour out in this moving our little chickens into sturdier quarters in the barn because our youngest birds are only 6 months old and are roaming in a large 15x5 dog kennel that got its cover tarp shredded and the wind blocks on the side destroyed. Even the fir trees they usually hang under were offering no protection. Those chickens are seriously lucky. Gillar adores them. We're still getting the storm today. I can't believe I have internet or power atm, though that's a fleeting thing I'm sure. And I have to go back tonight and do it all over again.. the cold, wet, being utterly drenched. It should be so much fun! Not. So anyhow, I just wanted to let people know why I'm not so heavily involved in Miz today as I should be. I'm running around dealing with storm issues. .

[Oluse]

Wow, weird. It was sunny earlier today up in Seattle. Nice day actually, little blustery but nothing out of the ordinary for autumn.

Anyway I hope you guys and yours fair well in the weather. Don't forget hot drinks, they are essential at the end of such days.

[Gossamer]

. Response Sometimes I think you do drugs or something, Oluse. Go outside once in a while. Here's TODAYS current forecast for Seattle from KOMO. Note the rain amounts for around the Puget Sound area... and its a lot worse south. These are just 'so far' totals for today. Not totals for the weekend. And again, this is just the tail end of the storm. Today's Forecast Updated Monday 6:45 a.m. It's very wet -- plenty breezy as we start off a new workweek! We're starting things off with strong storms pushing through the South Sound. Thunder, lightning and heavy rain continues to come down across Grays Harbor, Thurston, Pierce and Southern King Counties. It's all due to the unstable atmosphere that will be around over the next 24 hours. If you're not dealing with storms now, there's a good chance you will through the day. With all of the instability -- we're only going for highs in the mid to upper 50s. So far, we've picked up enough rain to make it the SECOND WETTEST September in Seattle's history. And we still have plenty of rain to get through. Here's a look at some impressive totals from within the past 48 hours: Bremerton: 5.10" Olympia: 3.87" Tacoma: 2.46" Seattle: 2.40" Everett: 1.01" We'll head out of September and into October with more cool, unsettled and showery fall weather. Monday through Wednesday all look chilly for this time of year, with highs in the 50s to about 60 degrees. It will still be blustery, and many of the rounds of showers will still include thunder and lightning. We'll finally get a quieter spell by Thursday and Friday as higher pressure builds and the wind and rain subside. Afternoon sunshine will follow some morning fog, and highs will climb back into the 60s where they belong this time of year. Enjoy the week -- and stay dry! Seth Wayne KOMO 4cast Team Email me: swayne@komotv.com You also might want to stay out of people's SCRAPS if your whole point is to call them out when they have tons of facts to back up their statements. .

[Harrier]

Because I'm that person.

[Praetorian]

Hey Gossamer, is it...

Wait for it... :

Yes. I went there. Hope all goes well for ya!

Oh, and you gave me hilarious cartoon images of Gillar fighting through a storm to get wee chickies into a barn... Thanks for that!

[Verilian]

I do find it odd that typhoons aren't reported on, since they are basically the same thing as a hurricane. Even when I lived in New Mexico the news still talked about hurricanes, but I've never heard anything about typhoons. The only reason I even know what one is is because I actually paid attention in geography or whatever class they covered that in. School was probably the last time I heard any mention of a typhoon until now. All that being said, hurricanes really suck. I've suffered through plenty of them. I have an aunt that lost her home. After Ike came through I tried to get to my parents house to see if it was still standing and couldn't because the bridge crossing the bayou was underwater and I had to find a different route. My uncle spent a month searching for dead bodies up and down the Bolivar Peninsula. A year before I was born there was an entire neighborhood that used to be in my home town. A hurricane came through shortly before I was born and wiped the entire neighborhood out. It is a nature reserve now, but you can still go in there and find the foundations where the old houses once stood. Hurricanes are awful things, so if typhoons are anything remotely like them, then I feel for you. I have no idea why some parts of the country get more coverage than others. Honestly, I remember feeling annoyed when the east coast was hit by hurricane Sandy and it got so much coverage. I remember hearing about all these celebrities going to visit people there, hearing all this stuff the government and rich people were supposedly doing (don't know if they actually did or not) to help and thinking, "Um.. we get hit by hurricanes all the time, where is my celebrity visit?" Anyway, I got way off base there. Sorry. Wasn't trying to make this about jealousy, though I know a lot of us in Texas have been pretty annoyed about the coverage other states get even though we get hit too. Anyway.. I hope the damage isn't too bad for you. It takes a while to recover from that stuff. And again, I have no idea why west coast storms don't get the same coverage. I've never really thought about it before, but you're right. I don't think I've ever heard anything about a storm in Washington, or anywhere else along the west coast. Maybe a random news report on a tremor in California or something, or a fire somewhere, but that's about the most I've ever heard. Anyway, hope the chickens are okay.. oh, and you guys. But mostly the chickens. Especially the chicks. They're too cute to suffer through a storm. ..that is all. ~Ron

[Gossamer]

. More Windstone Fangasam Yes, another one of Goss' weird hobbies and addictions. So let me introduce you to the Windstone Editions Poad. Windstone Editions being of course the amazing statue carving/painting work of Melody Pena. In this case, this little one is the Autumn Leaf Poad. What is a poad? No one really knows. It's like a half bird half mammal that's all kinds of beautiful fun. You really aren't sure whether these things are cute, unusual, or they simply intrigue you. But over time, they tend to grow on you in a weird way. If you are like me, you drag out little things to be writing inspirations and have them sit by your computer keeping you company as you craft words or do development. I think of Poads as muses of a sort. They are definitely one of my favorite things to collect. And of course Melony Pena does grab bag poad editions, which are amazingly fun and everyone loves. Here's a sample of the last grab bag poad. They are one of a kind so people go crazy. So, usually Windstone puts out new paint additions to their art that are limited and go up in value. My last limited edition grab bag item was selling on average on ebay the next day after their release from anywhere from triple the going price to five times the going price, and believe me they aren't cheap. I once purchased a rearing black unicorn (have I told this story before?) from a fluke purchase set of only five of a kind of that mold and then over the next year collected the rest of the black unicorn series. The total cost for the whole collection was about $500 bucks. Then, when my husband blew the engine on his truck and we needed cash fast, I ended up selling the whole set as a group on ebay for thousands. Yes some crazy person in CA paid THOUSANDS for the complete set. So honestly, this is pretty serious art collecting and the Windstone Fans out there are rabid. Well, last week two new molds and a grab bag edition of those molds were released. One was a rearing unicorn colt (which I didn't get) that was released in horse colors. I'm not collecting the 'horse' colors but rather the fantasy colors of candy corn and autumn leaf. I think I have posted pics of my autumn leaf baby unicorn here before as well. But omg the second new mold she released was a baby poad. She's calling it a Tadpoad. and OMG they are cute. Here's the first batch group class photo. She releases these with an announcement, and you only get X amount in the store. You are only allowed to purchase one total, and you don't get to pick the color, hence the Grab Bag Edition. She even posts times they will be available and they usually sell out within the first 5 or 10 minutes, even if there are a hundred of them. Windstone Collectors take days off work just to not miss a release. We are that fanatical. These are OMG cute. I just got mine a day or so ago and I'm already having so much fun taking pics of it in unusal places and dragging it around showing people. So I thought I'd share a bit of it here as well. Now, some of these are brightly brightly colored, but I got one of the more monochromatic ones. But I tell you, the photographs don't do it justice. They are absolutely beautiful and the paint is metallic shimmering and slightly color changing so mine has the look of a metallic gold and bronze creature that shimmers with green and has big green eyes. Here's the collection of photos. They aren't very good taken at night on my computer, but you get the idea. Now, isn't that adorably cute? It just is. Totally. I love these things. Now, in case you aren't familiar with the Windstone Edition classic dragons, unicorns, pegasus and other fantasy creatures - they do fantastic gryphons too - here's some images to familiarize yourself. The curlies, which I collect, are amazingly detailed. The Emperor Dragons are huge.. (I have the deep ruby and white ones)... I mean so big they are the size of your head. The Pegasus' are fairly large too. About the size of a barbie horse if one could bend, rear, and rise up. So I'll share some of those so you can be familiar with them as well. Violet Flame Curlie This is a limited edition run Prewalski's Pegasus. No I can't spell it. This is a Ruby Emperor. The picture doesn't do them justice. I got one in white as well to honor Ruth, one of my favorite heros from the Dragonriders of Pern series. He was a white dragon. Unicorn Colt - the new mold grab bag edition. I didn't get one because I'm holding out for fantasy colors.. the autumn leafs and candy corn bright colors. .

[Harrier]

They're so pretty D:

[Khida]

My mom used to have a set of green dragons, a kind they don't make anymore. Windstone's designs of just about everything are far and away my favorite.