Political tea parties have a long and noble tradition.

[rymenhild]

I voted weeks ago, via absentee ballot from the state of California. This means, of course, that instead of voting today, I shall spend the day twiddling my fingers and worrying about how other people are voting. I shall also spend it attempting, and failing, not to think about the election until the results start coming in.

I know what to do! I shall borrow a trick from winding_path and have a virtual tea party in my journal. I've made a fresh pot of Darjeeling. The scones are warm and (don't ask how) we have real (well, virtual) clotted cream and good jam. Here, have a scone and tell me about something in your life that isn't election-related.

Edited to add: For those of us who need things besides election blogs to stare at, birdchick posted some wonderfully relaxing pictures of birds today.

Comments

[skygiants]

I was so smug about having cast my early ballot until today, when all of a sudden I am going 'but but but I want to vote in person toooooooo!'

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

*distracts furiously* So I had an Avatar marathon last night and got up to "Lake Laogai." Awesome.

[gramarye1971]

Same here with the absentee ballot.

On a nonpolitical note, I just edited a National Geographic article about a baby otter who was adopted by a kayaker in Germany. Apparently, the little otter likes to ride on top of the kayak whenever they're out on the water together, and sometimes catches fish and brings them up on top of the kayak to eat them. I kept having to stop and start because the sheer cute overload (tiny baby otter EEEEEE!) kept shorting out my editing brain. ^_^

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

TINY BABY OTTER! That is fabulous. Thank you for sharing.

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

Cute overload indeed! The BBC has a pernicious habit of putting up videos of small-animal-related cuteness, and when you watch one it links you to another, and before you know it your partner is saying he doesn't want to know you. They have a thing about cross-species fostering, you'll see a big dog nursing half a dozen puppies and a single kitten or baby red panda.

Personally I'm going to keep on with what I've been doing recently: quilting to an audiobook when alone, watching silly sci-fi (Babylon 5 at the moment) with D when he finally gets home.

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

In case anyone really does need the distraction or just wants to wallow in cuteness:

Kittenpile with squeaking baby red panda
Dog risks life for the world's tiniest kittens (the dog, understandably, looks rather stressed)
Kitten retrieved from drain using vacuum cleaner and a sock
Golden retriever fosters six stray kittens
Disabled tortoise fitted with wheels

Don't blame me if you fall over and explode from the cuteness.

[larryhammer]

Just in from voting. There was a 30-minute line for me, that was almost gone by the time I left.

---L.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Well, it's logical that people would clump in the hours before the workday begins and the hours after it ends.

[folk.livejournal.com]

Ooh, scones, lovely. And with Rodda's, too, smashin' my love my bird my 'ansom. Pass us thiccy jam, 'en.

(I love-hate absentee voting. And I definitely hate having the flu so I'm all snoozy today.)

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Feel better very soon.

[saskia139.livejournal.com]

Ah, I just posted my own link to the cleansing bluebird and junco. You cannot have too many pictures of juncos, IMO.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Clearly not. I agree with you and I never even knew there were birds called juncos until this post!

[prosewitch.livejournal.com]

*contributes some homemade peach-vanilla jam*

Having voted super-early this morning, I feel entitled to some virtual tea-party love. Am woefully behind on correspondences, but otherwise things are good on my end. *hugs*

Hi! Good to see you here!

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Now that sounds tasty. Here, let me refill your cup. I'm glad you're doing well, and I understand about the correspondences!

[cleo]

All of the insanity in my life is starting to die down *you know...until all of my studetns' research papers come in). So now I can finally start on my translation of Christ II.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Ooh, fun. (Okay, so I have strange ideas of fun.)

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

sounds fun to me! :D

I have an essay to write on Yvain and seventy lines of Beowulf to translate... *mainlines tea and scones*

[tarimanveri.livejournal.com]

I can't vote! I can only sit here and hope that all the Americans around me do the right thing.

However, I'm also giving my first conference paper on Saturday, which I'm currently attempting to finish writing, so that's enough stress to distract me from pretty much everything!

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Oh, certainly. Have some extra tea for the caffeine fix, and good luck with that!

[winding_path]

How lovely to be a guest at a virtual tea party for a change! *brings fresh muffins to share with the congregated*

I have lots of visiting with family and friends planned for the month of November, and I am very excited about it.

Hooray!

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Muffins: an excellent choice. Have a lovely time in your visits.

[reconditarmonia.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wish I could vote! :(

But here, have some butter for the scones as well (butter'n'cream scones mmmm).

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

You're American and too young, right? Your day will come.

[jothra]

I stayed up too late watching Torchwood episodes, haha. I will wander out to vote soon.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Ditto, except that I was watching Avatar.

[just-ruth.livejournal.com]

I happen to bake a kick-ass scone if you're interested in meeting for a real tea. :)

On Halloween, because I went as a gypsy for the third time, I painted a third eye on my forehead. Reactions at work were amusing.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

We should totally meet, with or without scones. :D I don't know what your schedule is, but I'm around all this weekend. (The weekend after that I have to go to NJ for a wedding.)

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

I was thinking today, about how I chose Aerin and Anne Shirley for my mental role models, way before I realized that's what I was doing, and how much that has affected my personality.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting pair of characters. What did you take from Aerin?

[obopolsk.livejournal.com]

I had a submission out that I assumed had been rejected because I hadn't heard back for so long, but I opened my e-mail this morning to find an acceptance. Yay! :D

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Hurray!

[tainry.livejournal.com]

I have such a crush on the Dalai Lama. I'm going to read some more books about him and then write about his meeting with Optimus Prime.
<333333333333333333333333

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Okay. If that story gets written, I really really want to read it.