Whimsy Hanging from the Ceiling at Hafez

Whimsy Hanging from the Ceiling at Hafez

05.27.18 – The Persian restaurant, Hafez, on Hereford Rd in the border-land that could be Bayswater or it could be Notting Hill, has a rather wondrous approach to interior restaurant decor. There are cookbooks everywhere, the walls and ceilings are festooned with antique and vintage silver and brass culinary and serving implements. Hafez is a delight to not only eat really good food but also a delight for the eyes.

This was directly above our seats this evening. Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Lumia 950 camera phone.

The Nave at York Minster

The Nave at York Minster

May 25, 2018 – York Minster‘s nave. This cathedral is truly beautiful, next to Salisbury and Chartes it is the most beautiful high medieval gothic cathedral I have ever seen in person.

It has been a thirty year, since spring 1988, goal / life list to come visit this beautifule high gothic cathedral. Rather than go to Spain, my Mom and I decided to travel to Oxfordshire and to Yorkshire via train this week and I am very glad we did.

York is a lovely city.

Looking Out the Window, II

Looking out the Window, II

Black and white film photo taken by Ms. Jen on May 3, 2018 on the 4th fl. of the Tate Modern with her Nikon FM3a film camera, a Nikon Ai-S 35mm f/1.4 lens, and Kodak TMax 400 black & white film.

The digital color version taken with my camera phone can be found here.

* This post was first posted as an Early Access post at my Patreon account.

Ha!

Wed. 25 April, 2018.

When I was a young teen, I attended several sleep-overs where late at night some of the girls played the ‘parlour game’ Ouija.

Not me, as I was tucked into my sleeping bag trying to go to sleep. When they would encourage me to get up and join them, I would decline. One time I watched the first ten minutes of the proceedings but was considered a joykiller as I kept asking if it wasn’t their hands moving the game piece to get the answer they wanted.

I was sent back to my sleeping bag.

The second time this happened, I was in the state of nearly asleep when my friend Tiffany screamed, “Jenifer!! The Ouija board says you are going to die in your forties!”

“That’s nice, I am going to sleep.”

Fast forward to yesterday. My fiftieth birthday. As of today, I am officially completely out of my forties and am not going back.

Take that, Tiffany’s Ouija board!

******

p.s. Happy 15th Birthday to this Blog Today!

p.p.s. This post was originally posted as an Early Access post at my Patreon.

The Borg Has A Tree, I

The Borg has a Tree, I

A london plane tree to be exact…

Today, Saturday, March 31, 2018, I was exploring the back by-ways that would allow me to arrive at my favorite gluten-free bakery in London all the while avoiding the mess of Oxford Street when I found this new post-modern contemporary contemporary building in Fitzrovia with a poor, pre-leafed out London plane tree standing bravely in the rain defending the neighborhood from the Borg.

Good job, Plane Tree. I still have my own mind and life.

Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her camera phone type object.

* Photo and text originally posted as a Early Access post at my Patreon.

It has been a Rough Morning here at Camp Hanen

Ms. Belle has had a rough morning...

Tues. 03.06.18 – The fabulous Ms. Belle has had a rough and tiring morning here at Camp Hanen!

She woke me up at 6:00am to go out to use the doggy potty, it was cold and windy while she minded her chores. From 6:30am to 8:00am, she carried on a heavy kiss bombardment and foot stepping/stamping campaign to get me to feed her breakfast before 8am.

After her hard won breakfast, she got up on the bed and promptly went back to sleep.

Back to Plain Ole WP Vanilla Comments

Mon. 03.05.18 – I was using the Disqus Commenting plugin here for the last three plus years, but was never fond of it in the first place as it violates my Own Your Own Stuff on the Internet as much as Possible policy. The very idea of a hosted comment system when one has a self-hosted blog seems a bit silly.

Last week, when I read that Disqus had been amongst the legion with a data breach, I decided to ditch it. I have reset Black Phoebe :: Ms. Jen back to plain old WordPress comments and have added a plugin that makes all comments literal, thus no scripting. In addition, comments are now moderated and comments close after a week.

I welcome your thoughts, comments, and really – I don’t anticipate a flood of spam as one of the delights of the alledged death of blogging is that the spammers have gone elsewhere.

😉

A Sunday Nap

Napping Belle

Sun. 03.04.18 – There is a funny, poignant moment in the life of a dog owner / lover when the said beloved pet is older but not yet decrepit. Funny because you distinctly remember the tiresomely rambunctious puppy and young dog who you wished would nap in the afternoons. Poignant because now the beloved dog naps most of the day away only to become alert in time for dinner.

Belle le Cane, aka Bellie Pooh, is now nearly thirteen and she enjoys a good solid nap to a walk or a game of fetch these days.

Photo taken today by Ms. Jen this afternoon with an Olympus Pen E-LP8 mirrorless camera and an Olympus M.40-150mm lens.