So, it is party time again, folks!

[wiseheart]

Each year this time, we launch my virtual birthday party, which starts on October 1 and ends on October 9 at midnight, sharp. The goals of the party are to post as many comments and collapse as many threads as possible, on as many new pages as we can. It is always great fun, as you can see if you check out the similar entries of the last few years.

This year, I'll also throw the real party at mid-time - and post the recipes of all the food that will be there for you, so that you can all participate if you want to. Virtual food has no calories.

Fandom-related discussions are as welcome as the ones about coffee or chocolate (just to name a few favourites from previous years), and, of course, pictures and recipes of birthday cakes. ;)

So, drop by, tell your story, post your pics or silly poems, ask questions you always wanted to ask and have a good time!

Soledad, in excited expectation




Oh, and by the way, to provide birthday gifts hobbit-style, I've got a revived story and a Kansas 2 update for you.

Enjoy!

Comments

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I hope the party is great fun! Don't tire yourself out too much catering & clearing up!

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

In the remote parts of Sweden, where I grew up, coffee was what the adults drank when you went visiting; children got cordial. With age, I find I don't much care for most cordial any more, finding it far to sweet. When I moved to university, tea started being offered as an alternative hot drink. At first I drank it very weak with lots of milk, and that would have less strong a taste than coffee so it was easier to get used to. Nowadays, given the choice I will mostly have peppermint (or even better fresh mint) tea.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Sigh. It maybe doesn't like importing the same thing repeatedly?

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

When I was a child, children in the UK also got fed cordial -- or at least squash, which is much the same. (Never quite worked out the difference.) Most adults drank tea, not coffee -- my mother, who preferred black coffee to tea, was quite an exception.

I must get back to drinking herb/fruit teas -- I used to do it a lot but I've got out of the habit.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It is a recurring problem. Happens to my weekly imports, too.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

The shops being not-to-close does indeed have some advantages! When I used to live in London, there was a corner-shop downstairs in my building, and another three mini-supermarkets within less than five minutes walk. If I wanted a snack, I could get easily get it even if I didn't have any at home. Here there is a little local shop not that far away, but I don't go past it in my regular travels to and from work, so I mostly don't really think about it being there. The nearest shop I do use, is the Tesco about a mile down the road along my cycle path to work. While it is still possible to nip out to just get a snack, my laziness usually wins over my desire for snacks...

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Btw, you could also post a reminder in your LJ that links here -- don't know about anyone else, but the party post has already dropped off the first page of my f'list.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I never bother importing comments.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

The nearest supermarkets to here are about 7 miles in one direction (where we usually shop) and 6 in the other. It does make dieting easier! Especially these past few days when my car has been in the garage.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

All through my childhood my parents would have coffee with breakfast and tea with the evening meal, which consisted of sandwiches. They were the only people who I knew of who did drink tea, except my Mother's family in England.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I don't really mind mowing the lawn, once I get started, though I do find I keep putting it off. There is also the fact that the way my mower works, trying to mow the lawn while it is wet (with dew, or rain) gets the mower clogged up with the cuttings, which means you need a special, and not that common, type of weather that isn't helping...

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I thought/hoped you would like it! It is a favourite saying of mine. :-)

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I like both the sentiment and the way that it is expressed. :-)

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Perhaps my equivalent of coffee as an adult drink is wine -- my parents often drank wine with the evening meal, but I've never really learned to like anything but the very sweet wines -- dessert wines & Gewurztraminer. I don't drink red wine at all.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

We have that problem too, and there are big trees in the middle of the lawn which shade it in autumn so that it doesn't dry off until late in the afternoon, so it has to be dry all day...

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I think you have hit on what I liked about Donna; she wasn't a little kid, but a real grown up and a proper match (but not at all in the romantic sense) for the Doctor.

We didn't watch much television at all when I was a child; there were only the two SvT channels (Swedish public service) available and they had only a very limited amount of children's programmes. Out of those, quite a scared my older sister in some way or other, so I think my Mum just decided against children's TV in general. So we mostly watched the news, mainly for the weather forecast, which matters quite a lot if you grow up on a farm.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Indeed! I think we should go for that, before we all get some sleep!

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

Unless someone else has beaten me to it, this should be comment number 293, so we should definitely be able to get to 300 tonight!

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

My house shades half my lawn; it isn't very big, which is one of the reasons I don't really mind mowing it once I get started, because it is relatively quickly done. And it does leave me with a nice feeling of accomplishment!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

And one didn't feel as if her entire life revolved around the Doctor -- she had a strong relationship with her grandfather.

I wasn't allowed to watch all that much either -- we were allowed to watch from when we got home from school until dinner (which was usually only a short time), and then we weren't allowed until we'd finished our homework. Often I got so much homework (and was so perfectionist about it) that I didn't get to watch anything more at all. We did tend to watch the news as a family at 9pm and I sometimes got a dispensation for educational documentaries.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Go go go!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

It looks really nice when it's done, which is pleasant.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

Alcohol is another of those things I just never got around to learning how to drink. This was a bit more of an active decision on my part; I found I could have good fun without drinking, and having been brought up awkward by an awkward Mother, I figured I could be the difficult person who made sure there were non-alcoholic beverages on offer for me as well as those who might not be as comfortable being different. Sweden is a very conformist country, so not-normal is a very bad thing indeed to be and people will go to surprising lengths to avoid having that epithet levelled at them. I am already counted as weird, for having a non-Swedish born Mother, so I got used to it...

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

We now only need two more (of which this should be one)!

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

We did watch some education programmes; the Swedish public service television and radio company had (probably still does, but I have been away for going on nine years) a branch called Utbildningsradion which means "the education radio". They had a number of programmes for learning languages. I especially remember one series called Young Australia that we all enjoyed quite a lot. As we got older, we did also watch some drama series, but I would probably have been in my teens by then.