kimberlysteele | Entries tagged with open post

Hey everyone, I am doing an Open Post in place of an essay or new Snow White installment this week because I'm absolutely swamped. I should have some very cool news in a couple of months max, but I'm still in the silence-keeping phase of the project that's soaking up all my time this week.

The picture is a place I am obsessed with but will likely never see, at least not in this incarnation, Torngat National Park in Newfoundland/Labrador in Canada.

It's possible I might not get around to writing an article this week, so thanks to J's suggestion, I am doing an Open Post. I am delighted to announce that there are some major developments on the horizon. I found a great new café where my students and I recently played and sang -- I sang some of my own Orphic hymns and my husband even got up and sang some of his original songs and played guitar. I am relieved to have finally finished Sacred Homemaking. I will be submitting it in full to a small publisher soon after some more clean up and proofreading. I have decided not to go with an outside proofreader; I will let the future publisher handle it.

My kitties are doing well, inside and out. Tommy actually disappeared for about a week in early February and I thought he was gone. I think he got taken inside someone's house because he is friendly and they probably wanted to make him a house cat. Thank the gods he came back.

Please do not drop swear words worse than "bitch" or "ass". Otherwise, have at it!

Here are some pics of the inners Shadow (Felix the cat looking guy), Ash (gray boy) and Bee (black girl):

Happy Alban Arthuan/Winter Solstice! The days are only getting longer from here! It's been a long time since I've done an Open Post! Please feel free to post about just about anything you are into... the only thing I don't do around here is swear words worse than "bitch".

The cats are doing well, outside and inside! As some of you may know, I have three feral cats on the outside: Miss Piggy, also known as Blondie. She is a calico we "inherited" when we moved to our little house nearly 9 years ago. Miss Piggy was a kitten factory until I took it upon myself to trap her along with quite a few other cats in the neighborhood, including Tommy, her son, who is the orange cat in the photos and Silhouette, her other son who is the twin brother to Shadow, my indoor black cat with the crazy eyes. Piggy was not easy to trap! Thanks to our great local TNR lady, she's now spayed. Oddly, all of my ferals let me pet them. Tommy is my personal itty bitty kitty welcoming committee every night when I get home from work. He always greets me and gives me a kitty hug (reminder that he is hungry) when I get home and park my car. He is the one with whom I have a psychic connection: I can call him in my mind and he has not yet failed to arrive right on schedule.

Shadow and his favorite toy on the big tree my husband built out of PVC pipe and wood discs.

On the inside, there is Shadow, one of the sons of Miss Piggy. Before I trapped her, there was some drama with one of Piggy's boyfriends, a sire I named Abraham because he killed one of his children. Piggy had litters by superfecundation, a.k.a. via multiple fathers, every year until I had her fixed. Abraham killed his own child -- unlike the Biblical Abraham for whom he is named, he actually went through with it. I took Shadow in about a week after I found the dead orange kitten on the porch, and because we have video all around the house, we saw the whole fight with Abe going after both his own child and twin black kittens Shadow and Silhouette (different sire), and Piggy attempting to defend them all. Silhouette fought me and took a chunk out of my hand when I tried to get him to live inside, so outside he stayed. I don't know if I'll ever get the outers to live inside.

Meanwhile, Shadow the kitten was living and healing inside my house. It was too soon after the death of my beloved Kiki, and if cats didn't have terrible timing, I would have taken at least a year break from indoor cat mayhem. It was not to be so. He healed, I took him to the vet and got him fixed, and overall he turned out to be my most expensive cat because he did not have everything already "done" like a shelter cat. Shadow had the cat version of ADHD. He jumped into the refrigerator one night and had he been in there longer or if it had been the freezer, he would have died. He was fine -- by then he was already becoming far more robust. He was so crazy, I did some research and decided to adopt him a sibling.

Ashley Amore Reid Cocklebur Steele, looking regal as usual

I fully intended on adopting a girl. I love girl cats and I truly feel I cannot live without them. I also felt terrible for taking Shadow away from his twin bro-bro. It was the height of Covid paranoia though so I went to the shelter. The girl cat I had chosen (we weren't allowed to see more than two cats at once) didn't like my husband and I. The boy cat they brought in liked us though. He was a beautiful silver gray kitty. His original name was Reid but I later named him Ashley or Ash for short because it seemed so right. My husband and I were very worried the two boys would not get along but they turned out to be absolutely made for each other. Ash is by far the most gorgeous cat I have ever owned. I doubt I will ever get him genetically tested, but I strongly suspect he is a purebred Korat, which is a Thai breed not all that different from a Russian Blue. Ash is a very sensitive boy who needs a special diet like other Korats. He is allergic to fish.

Kyoko Jujube Steele, a.k.a. Bee. She is petite like me!

I adopted little Bee (a.k.a. Kyoko Bee) from another shelter about a year after Ash. She wasn't doing very well at first -- I have a knack for adopting or rescuing sickly cats -- and I was able to heal her and make her coat shiny and full with quality food and supplements. She is a sweet little doll with considerable attitude. Kiki was all sweetness... Bee, not so much LMAO.

I am slowly organizing the lending library by the Dewey Decimal System. Only 390 more books to go, ha ha

I am still lending out books to anyone in the continental US! Just email me at ksteelestudio at gmail com and I will send you up to 3 books of your choice at no charge. I do ask that if you don't return the books within 6 months that you reimburse me for their cost at BuyMeACoffee so I can replace them. Just tonight I was adding more sustainability and mythology titles.

Here is my book list:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1v0ELUifXRBoPkWHfA017FZYuIh5DdPvWqh6CS_AH8k0/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Hi Everyone, I am mourning my father, who died this week at the age of 85. Please send your prayers for his smooth transition through the Gates. I don't have the energy to write an essay for this week, so this is a bit of an unexpected Open Post.

The overgrown brussels sprouts... planted about 2 months too late. Live and learn! The tomato (bought from a big local nursery called Keller's Farm Stand) was one of two. Both were great producers and they are still going.

I'm slowly working on this garden. I put more mulch in it and I'm trying to grow the elm volunteers as a hedge in several places. My husband (he built this garden from scratch about five years ago based on a design I requested) has made noises about re-doing the crushed stone part in brick someday.

Nasturtium took over this garden. There are also a couple of very successful "Better Boy" bush tomatoes and some rose and sedum propagations. The pink flower in the back of the nasurtium bed is full of Takane Ruby buckwheat from RareSeeds.com. I don't know what to do with buckwheat, so I plan on collecting seeds and hoping I can direct sow it next year. I like it as an ornamental. It has been blooming consistently since early June this year.

This is Cedric, the tree I rescued from the back of the office building my lesson studio occupied. He is getting very large! The pear tree in back of him gave us our first big harvest of pears about a month ago.

Oakinawa the Oak tree surrounded by coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea), also had a growth spurt this year. Kiki's grave is marked by the iron kitty. I have plans on making that area into a garden but I did not do much with it this year.

Suggestions wanted for decorating the front room. I am aware the rugs are too small. I plan on putting up more hanging plants as time goes by. Should I do floor pillows? Ambient lighting such as LED string lights? Faux stained glass?

Shadow. He is going on three years old.

Ash. He is also around three, born around the same time as Shadow. He has fully come into his own and has quite the cattitude as you can see in this photo!

I am delighted to report Bee (short for Jujube) is in good health these days. She is not throwing up or having problems with peeing excessively anymore. A short regimen of herbs, mainly maca, devil's claw, amla, and kitty multivitamins seems to have brought her back from the brink. She seems to have de-aged a few years. Nevertheless, please keep her in your prayers.

Here are some photos of my garden in lieu of a meatier post today -- I'll save the more gravitas-filled posts for a week when I've got more mojo. Change back to the school schedule is rough! As usual, please feel free to comment but keep in mind I don't publish what I consider "I don't do that anymore" swear words, such as rhymes with duck, skit, runt, etc.

Recently planted feverfew nestled in the bricks -- the hosta hated it in this space so I transplanted it elsewhere.

I'm trying to propagate roses from cuttings this year. This one is tucked into the raised bed by a tomato and some borage. I'm just going to leave it in here until next spring and hope for the best.

We used to have two old and dying Siberian elms in this area when we moved in 8 years ago. The stone and the paths weren't there, it was just huge, falling elms in a sea of waist-high grass. Tragically, the elms had to be cut down because they were falling down. Once my husband put in the stone paths, I noticed elm sprouts coming up between the mulch and the stone. I shepherded/trimmed them into the rectangular bush you see on the right. It has ended up being a perennial elm bush. Whenever new elm sprouts come up, I transplant them and try to start new elm bushes. I have one started on the bottom left of the path south of the visible boxwood. My plan is to eventually move the boxwoods and border every stone path in transplanted elm bushes.

Rudibeckia or Black Eyed Susan is a native plant in my upper part of Illinois. In the back I've got some double orange daylilies, the dark red one called Bela Lugosi which is my favorite, and some overgrown Russian sage.

Cedric the Eastern Cedar for those who may remember him. He's getting big!

My neighbor's gorgeous phlox, more Rudibeckia, and Ms. Blondie Piggy, resident feral.

I grow elecampane. It's very weedy. The only way I have ever used it is tincturing the root. Tincturing is a fancy word for chopping up plant material and letting it stew in vodka in a jar. I notice with myself that I tend to grow lots of herbs and then mismanage my time so that I don't end up doing anything with them (except observing their beauty, which I guess counts for something).

My overgrown herb garden. Upper left is yarrow, upper right is lemon balm and catmint, lower right is sage and native Midwest monarda/bee balm, and left is spearmint.

Yarrow on its second bloom this year.

The pussy willow that was started from donated sticks of my neighbor's tree. And Ms. Piggy stalking me for snacks.

Tommy, Piggy's son, saying Hi by the Brussels sprouts.

I grew buckwheat this year. Not sure what to do with it though. The orange bloom on the right is nasurtium.

Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) I started from seed, catmint, iris, tall grasses, and rose. Still chipping away at that lawn, year by year. Someday I will make it disappear entirely.

Wild lettuce growing by the house. I made a tincture of it this year. It's a natural pain reliever also known as wild opium.

Coneflower growing in a ring around an oak seedling that I've been growing for a few years.

Juneau Alaska in 2020 photographed by Brandon Morgan

Open Post... It's open! Nevertheless, please keep in mind I don't publish swear words worse than b*tch.

In Japan and other Asian cultures, keeping the toilet clean is thought to bring good luck, specifically in the form of earned wealth and prosperity. There is even a toilet deity known as Ususama-myoo who presides over toilet safety. Ususama-myoo is far from alone in presiding over the privy: Ancient Romans had coins and a shrine to Venus Cloacina, who also blessed sexual unions.

For whatever reason, I always appointed myself as official toilet-cleaner of our house when I was a girl and though I wasn't forced, I cleaned all the bathrooms once a week or more despite not liking the job. Nowadays, I understand the value of that sort of etheric labor, and I have learned to tolerate the work a great deal more and detach myself from the gross-out factor. Having become an amateur gardener has helped because gardening steels you against freakouts over gross things -- plunging one's hand into mud and compost has that effect.

A surprising list of fabulously successful Japanese entrepreneurs and entertainers have kept their toilets clean despite being able to afford maidservice. Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda, believed in cleaning his own toilet until the bitter end. He started his company out of a wooden shack. When his shack days were long in the past, Honda commented that he could tell a good company by the state of their toilets, and that dirty toilets were a likely indicator of bad management. Director Takeshi Kitano is rumored to have sworn by cleaning his own toilet, and J-pop singer Kana Uemura had a hit song about appeasing the toilet goddess to honor her grandmother.

Ususama-myoo... yeah, he's not what I expected either!

The Clean Toilet Challenge

I am hosting an informal experiment: the Clean Toilet Challenge. I am looking for people to join me in keeping at least one toilet in their house sparkling clean from the Summer Solstice of June 2023 until the Winter Solstice of 2023. This means that said toilet will require daily cleanings, preferably with mild, all natural cleansers: I suggest 2 parts water to 1 part white vinegar in a spray bottle. in my case, I add a dash of Florida water and a few spritzes of my favorite Eau de Toilette (see what I did there?) but use what you see fit. Please make a note of the state of your bank account, debts, and general state of neediness on June 21st. There is no need to get specific or divulge the information -- all I am looking for is the general vibe of your personal finances. When December 21 arrives, make a comparative mental snapshot of your fiscal state. Is it any better? The same? Worse? I figure the only thing we've all got to lose is a sketchy and neglected toilet, so it's a win-win no matter what happens.

Lately I have been keeping my toilet very clean, both out of the desire to live the principles of the book I am writing, Sacred Homemaking, and out of sheer curiosity. Does keeping one's toilet clean actually result in business luck and earned wealth success? I haven't hit the big time since a couple of weeks ago, but I have seen a decent uptick in music lesson clients and donations for my creative works.

Shadow was the first cat I took into my house after the death of my beloved Kiki Koneko — he is actually the son of Miss Piggy, the feral who lives outside who I trapped, had spayed, and who still lives in my yard with Shadow’s twin brother Silhouette and his older brother, Tommy.

Ash (short for Ashley) was the brother I adopted for Shadow from the local Humane Society when I realized Shadow would never be happy as a solo cat as Kiki was. They get along great — nevertheless, their introduction to each other took about two weeks. Despite the fact Ash came from a shelter, I believe he is a purebred, specifically a Korat cat. Korats are known for their slim builds and gray fur. Ash had digestive problems when I adopted him, so I put him on a special diet of “novel” proteins: rabbit meat, venison, and duck, plus L-lysine and calendula supplements, and he no longer seems to have any digestive issues at all.

Bee, short for Kyoko Bee Jujube, is the latest addition to my feline family, which is now six cats if you count the three ferals who live outside! I was told Llttle Bee was five years old, but my student who is a veterinary tech and I both think she is far older and may be between 10-15. She is slowly acclimating to her new digs. She is a former feral from Feral Fixers of Lombard who went through a very rough time outside, was found without fur and with severe fleas, and who was rehabilitated both at the Feral Fixers center and with a foster family for over a year. It’s been about two weeks and unfortunately she was in rather poor health when I adopted her. I have her on several supplements, including Omega 3 fatty acids, Yummy Tummy (for digestion) and Cat Kryptonite (for adrenal fatigue) from NaturaPetz Organics. She seems to be responding well to supplementation and lots of her favorite wet food, gaining a tiny bit more energy and a slightly softer, shinier coat every day.

Photo of Waubonsie Lake trail from AllTrails.com

Please refrain from swearing in the comment section, thanks!

Can you believe it is nearly March in the year 2023? Neither can I... Gods bless you for refraining from swear words in the comments.

Please refrain from profanity in the comments... Gods bless you!

This is the cat tree my husband built near our front door. It is made of PVC plumbing pipes, wood, and sticky-backed industrial carpeting. You can probably see the cats have ripped the carpeting to shreds. This is in the living room of our small house -- it almost qualifies as a tiny house at 675 square feet. My recording/lesson studio is actually hidden in this room.

Below is a picture of some of the cat shelves in my office, a petite room in the front of the house. The cats can roam and sleep above my desk. I keep most of my files, makeup, sewing, and other supplies in the mirror-doored IKEA wardrobe by the desk. Some of you might recognize this little room from my Sphere of Protection video -- it is the same space.

This is my office window. The stained glass is fake -- it is a sticker. The grille is a piece of wall "art" from Hobby Lobby. I think I paid about $25 for it. It keeps the cats from trying to bust through the screen.

Ashley Amore Reed Cocklebur Steele. This is in the kitchen. The stools came from a guy in nearby Wheaton from Facebook Marketplace; I think they were $10 each or less. The seats are pretty beat up and need a refinishing.

Shadow Shadilay Sniffles Spazzimodo Steele. My husband built the island out of an old IKEA bookshelf we had and added the "wood" laminate top. The space under the counter has a rolling rack where we store cat food. The cats also have a covered litter box under there. We also have a second covered litter box under my office desk and a third one in the bedroom.

The kitchen -- my husband used our old IKEA bookshelves from past apartments and pulled apart/hacked more IKEA shelves for the walls. The only cost was the L brackets and the industrial stick-back carpeting so the cats don't slip and slide.

I have trained both of the cats to fetch but only Shadow likes to show off for photos.

This is yet another IKEA bookshelf, this time with holes cut into it so the cats can weave through to the top.

Hi Everyone, I am going to keep this Open Post open from December 20-January 9. It's an unexpected busy season for my business, and though I'm ever so grateful for that, it is slowing down my writing process a bit. As usual, please feel free to comment on anything and everything... but please refrain from curse words. Thank you.

Hi Everyone, feel free to comment on anything and everything... but please refrain from curse words. Thank you.

Thanks in advance for not using profanity!

Pictures of various gardens in my area (not mine!), some of the garden harvest, and kitties!

Please feel free to comment on anything and everything but keep in mind I delete profanity worse than the b word.

Baby oak is getting larger! I planted coneflowers and borage around him.

Rose of Sharon -- I pruned both of mine very hard this year and multiple times. It has lots of buds. Hopefully next month's photos will feature blooms.

Daylily garden with Russian sage in the background and a raspberry bush in the foreground. Last year I made raspberry cordial -- raspberry juice boiled with sugar and vodka. Probably will do the same this year. It makes a great Christmas gift.

Tommy the neighborhood kitty.

This year's tomatoes, planted alongside calendula, parsley, and dill.

Borage trying to do a hostile takeover of the lettuce patch.

Hostas, fern, Eastern cedar, coneflower, ferns, catmint, and grasses.

Shadow Shadilay.

Ashley Amore giving the Bette Davis eyes because he wants food.

Please post about anything and everything, but keep in mind I delete profanity.

The purple spurge in the corner opposite the purple clematis is hiding the gas meter!

My husband built the path right over the sunken sidewalk — it used to be a big puddle every time it rained.

The formal part of the garden. I don’t do well with boxwoods so I am thinking about alternatives. Suggestions welcome.

I installed a Proven Winners irrigation system for the pots this year.

Hubby plans on redo-ing the back herb garden paths in brick.
The herbs in the circle are mint, sage, monarda, catmint, skullcap, and yarrow with the ubiquitous Stella d’Oro daylilies in the middle.

Tommy and the other ferals love the herb garden.

Back towards where Kiki is buried. The big bush is a pussy willow that only five years ago was some donated sticks trimmed from my next door neighbor’s tree!

The milkweed is from seeds foraged from the local forest preserve about five years ago.

Here is the tree I named Grogu Oakinawa Oakenfold. He was a volunteer in one of my garden beds about three years ago. I planted borage and black eyed Susans around him.

Cedric! Remember him? He’s a big boy now — he’s taller than me. Though that’s not saying much…

Shadow, who is strictly indoors even though he was born to Miss Piggy the feral outside. He’s turned into a sweetheart.
I give all of my kitties, indoor and feral, a powdered lysine supplement to keep them healthy.

Ashley Amore Reed. He’s my sweet darling, also strictly indoors. He is from the local Humane Society. He is the one I give calendula oil to heal his inflamed gums and digestive issues.