Japanese food

 

met up with an old friend to have Japanese food - got this as a fortune cookie 'Education is the movement from darkness to light'.  Some to that.  Somewhere between being able to 'do the things anyway' as my father told me (which I shared with her) and being able to see myself in multiple points in time as if looking at myself from the outside - I have been able to at least get somewhere, publishing a few of my books, studying languages, juggling things in general to get things done, if only incrementally.  This blog is probably one of the things that helps me focus in the big picture - but mostly it is just a holding space for thoughts that run too fast otherwise, and don't really need to be jotted down but I do it anyway to keep them from bouncing in my head.

Now home, and time to decompress.   Social anxiety still does get me, but it usually hits me before and after - in the moment, people say they can't tell (although I can).

 French and Chinese today, touch of Spanish on the phone, we'll see what else later.  I feel good I remembered to get juice on the way out of the restaurant - which is why I parked over by the supermarket *ha* it's these things you do because you've met yourself sort of thing... even though others don't get the why, if it works.. it works.

I had started a crochet toy this morning, and should take that a bit further.  There's laundry.  Esme was sitting with the sick chicken when I got back from town just now, going to try to give her some egg yolk in an eye dropper and see if that helps her any

 

body and one leg - then I put it up and did other things

Build an Empire style play Minecraft - population and jobs

This is an extension of my original post 'Let's Play Build an Empire style Minecraft'

This is an example of a spawn point town, in  swamp, using the available resources.  The houses have a cohesive style, but they have some individuality, too.  This town is called Cantrall (after the courthouse Abe Lincoln stood his first case in, I don't know why, it popped up in my head and I ran with it) 

We Will Survive

The original 'house' is built into the side of the hill and becomes the city center.  It contains the mine down to bedrock, a bed, a loom, and the beginning storage chests.  This is played with Monsters ON, and Normal mode.  So, the player is going to get hurt (a lot) and need to eat (a lot).  Luckily, there were some sheep and chickens to the North.

 The very first thing is cut down a tree or two, make a crafting table, get a wooden pickaxe, mine some stone, build a shelter with a door, and build a furnace to burn some logs in to make charcoal for torches.  You might get lucky and find iron or coal but you want to be in a small shelter with a roof, a door, and torches before the Sun Goes Down.  Or, you're toast... in the middle of a zombie/spider/skeleton sandwich.

Make a sword.  You will need it before you want to need it.

Have extra torches, and an extra tree or two worth of logs to make more sticks for torches and tools.  Then go mine, and hope for iron.

Home Sweet Home

If you can't get a bed right away (and you probably won't, because unless you go killing your sheep you will need to mine iron to get shears).. then stay underground with lots of torches until daybreak, then go back out and collect wood, kill fish in the lakes for food, gather kelp (if you're by the ocean) and dry it, etc etc.. 

Start building your farm as soon as possible.  I killed four spiders right at the beginning, so was able to make a fishing rod.  I also collected every apple from every harvested tree.  Food is no joke.  Get your gardens and food sources producing and make sure some is stored for later.  It's just like a real town in that way.

When you are comfortable with surviving  - and have your necessities covered, you can burn some sand for glass and make a fancier shelter on top or beside your emergency shelter.  You can also begin to plan your town with roads, fields, and footprints for houses.  You will end up with lots of materials from mining, so use your creativity!

Give your Towns Unique Identity - with Names and City Colors

Each town needs to have at least one custom banner, and a wooden sign saying the name of the village.  So one of the first goals of the city center, beyond food sources, is to have shears, a bucket and a loom.  Iron and string - not easy things to get for each village.  It's the basic 'iron age' technology.

Let your town have 'roads' and fences and a real flow of moving around from place to place within the village.  You might build it into the side of a hill and use the natural landscape, or flatten it out and start from a big square plane.  It's up to you.  And you can do something different for each place, evolving over time.

A Real Town would have Population

Villager mobs can be very annoying and take up CPU power, slowing the game.  We will experiment with those in another 'style' of Minecraft, where we don't expand across the entire world - which by itself takes up CPU power.  For now, we will just pretend that we have people in these houses, and that these people are here for a reason.  Each one will have a working house (as if you wanted to spend a Minecraft weekend there) and a 'job' that makes sense with the town.

For each 'imaginary villager' in a home there will be a separate bed, and a separate chest.  That means wool, and wood is needed for those things.  There will also be a crafting table and furnace for every house, usually near the entrance.  Each house needs torches for lighting, and glass for windows.

The kinds of 'jobs' you will be doing indicates what kind of population the real 'town' would need.  Farmers - the more fields, the more houses you might need to build.  A fisherman?  A woodcutter?  This town also has a paperworks (for the sugar cane farms) and a baker (where do you get your bread?)  It will need a sheep paddock and housing for the sheep farmer.

When you can - Specialize

Have lots of wool and a field of colorful dye-producing flowers?  How about an artist shop with paintings? 

In one of my towns there was a large amount of gold and redstone found deep underground.  That town became the first (And only, so far) town to have a clock tower building, sort of like a miniature Big Ben.


The Hard Way

If you REALLY wanted to get bones about it - you would provide in the 'villager' chest food, tools and clothing or armor.  But THAT would be going pretty far.  In a richer village, each chest would have some example of that to show someone 'lives' there - and the floors would be decorated with wood, carpets, glazed terracotta, brick etc - with item frames and paintings on the walls, terracotta flower pots and cauldrons - all the trappings of a town.

Get Yourself a Great View

One of the great things about Minecraft is the uniqueness of the places that are created - sometimes you just have to stand back and say 'Wow' - like the image above.  Try it out for yourself - version 1.15.2 Vanilla
seed# 2144314632329636425
and the coordinates for this plateau are -543.563, 77, -141.453
find an ocean monument at -880.396, 62, 255.962


How do you Win?

The joy is in the journey - but you will know you're making progress by expanding your territory.  When a village is self-sustaining, make yourself an 'export' building and chest - and begin to put excess food, materials and special items in there to 'seed' a new colony.   You may build roads in each direction trying to find a new place with unique resources, or a pretty view, or a different biome etc, to build the next town. Once you have scouted out a place - or before (if you're brave), head out with only what you can carry and build the next 'city center' to expand your Empire.

This World is an Island
Like to play islands?  This one spawns on a small island that may or may not have enough sheep to breed a population from.  There are a few trees, and some ores in the ground nearby.  If you really can't make the island work for you there is another larger flower-field landmass a distance due East... 
Try it out - version 1.15.2 Vanilla
seed# 8746182473153761204 

Note  If your town is an island, you have a unique opportunity to learn to reserve, multiply and expand your resources.  Trees are precious, as are wheat seeds and animals.  Beware creepers don't destroy everything!  How much space do you use for fields, and for buildings -- do you pull dirt from underground to expand your landmass in the water?  Don't spring a leak in your underground buildings while you mine!

To navigate away from your island (without just writing down coordinates at each place) - build a spire 20 blocks or more high and place a torch on top of it.  If you jump down into the water (and not onto the land) you will not hurt yourself.  Then, when you have built your boat, you can place your back to the spire and head off in a direction, and - if you build a spire on your newfound opposite shore, you have a landmark that will allow you to return back home 'easily'.

The NUTSHELL

Goal : Self-sustaining villages that provide protection from monsters, and food for the player.  Iron and other resources.  'Domesticate' and breed flocks and herds of animals.  Create roads, signs and / or landmarks to allow you to navigate your Empire from place to place.  Export materials to other colonies and share materials and resources like a real Empire would - a system of 'trade'.  Explore!  Try to collect as many unique materials as you can and distribute them across the 'known' world.

bits orange daylillies and nasturtium petals

 lunch today - cucumbers in mayonnaise sauce with nasturtium petals, mint, black pepper and a toasted flour tortilla.  The mint was the big win. I can't say I actually tasted the nasturtium petals at all, but it was the first one of the season, so ... maybe not enough of it.

Recipe: cucumbers in mayonnaise sauce.
It is so easy sometimes I don't remember I had to read it somewhere the first time - cut up the cucumbers as small as you want them... I go pretty small squares.  Then put them in a container with a lid - and sprinkle a little salt over them.  You could wait five minutes or so at this point, if you want to, especially if the cucumbers are kind of dry.    Put about a tablespoon or so of mayonnaise (Miracle whip is okay for this one -- it isn't for a lot of things I like, but it is for this) and put the lid on and shake it.    Some people put other things in this... vinegar, or etc... none of that in this.  I really did like the dried mint, though - it added a lot to this.

garden notes : Ireland creek Annie's are making beans now - they are between the cucumbers and are dry beans, so we will not pick them, even though they will look like they 'need' it... same with several other ones in the garden, like the Kenearly that is starting to vine up a small trellis, and the non Shackamaxon beans on the vertical fence.  I am waiting to see if the 'wax' beans turn waxy... they are not, yet.  The Providers continue to fill up the colander daily :)  I tried to convince some of the tomatoes and beans not to fight - we will have tomatoes soon, I think.

Our orange daylillies are blooming.  A dead armadillo incident happened to our yellow ones this year.. but the orange ones were saved specifically because they were surrounded by weeds and baby mimosa trees etc etc..

My father and stepmother left for home last night - hope they are doing well on the road back to Iowa.  We really enjoyed their visit and need to get pictures of them with Esme next time.. somehow we just kept talking and never did that this time.   They went out of their way to find me a lemon birthday cake and bring it to me on my birthday, which was extremely sweet (them, not the cake).   I admitted by geeky obsession with beans to them and sent them home with one of the more rare ones to plant in the colder climate... and a few other of our Tennessee treasures.  I'd like to order an extra batch of Japonica corn to send them that as an oddity - the striped leaves and purple silks...not sure if they would get any chance to plant that.

Esme and I went to town this morning before it go very very hot.. and took her to the park, and for a hash brown, and for to spend her allowance at the dollar store.  On the way there we talked about lots of things - and she really participated.  We talked about history, and what people did without stores to buy food at, and how they lived through the winter (lots of firewood) - and they need to be warm in the winter (with furnaces and they get wool from sheep and make it into things and clothes and boots to stay warm), and cool in the summer (she thought about shade and umbrellas), and how they do that.. and about droughts, and floods - how the corn needs water but not too much water, and the animals do, too...and many other topics.

She really not only has the information now, but can talk about it, relate things to each other and really understand how to find out what she doesn't know and why it is important.   I told her it was all like science, too - and when I said 'history' she said she knows that one - it was in school.  I related it to the past - when Grandpa's father was a child how things were, and that now was like the Jetsons for him - the future (and outer space)...  The one that really cracked me up was when we were talking about corn - which she saw in the field - and she knew it by the pointy things on top (tassels) and the strings (silks) that made the ears.  We talked about how the tassels and silks work together to make the seeds.. and she made a cross-reference to acorns and how they both grow the same.. she told me about the acorn seed being hard and needing water to break out a tiny vine that gets more water from the earth.  Then we talked about what leaves were for, besides being pretty.. and how the plant makes food from the sunlight on the leaves and the water down below and grows and stores that food in the seeds to grow many many more plants..   I told her that each single kernel on the corn and each single acorn on the tree can make a new plant, and that plant can have lots of new seeds (like a hundred, yes?) and on and on.  She said 'Wait Mom, I know this one - this is math, too.'  I really laughed at that one. 

At the park I read her a little bit of Harry Potter (trying to get out of completely running around in the heat) while pushing her on the swing, and watching her climb the ladders etc etc... then we went for a short walk around the walking path, and climbed a tree and saw the water which was almost dry in the ditch etc etc.. she read signs and we talked about them.  'No Motorized Vehicles' she saw on a sign - and when I asked her what that meant, she said 'You can't drive air-o-planes down here.'... Well, that is technically true *heh*.  She was trying to encourage some children in their Sunday clothes to get dirty in the trees - 'There's syrup up here - you want to see?'  and then we went for a drink and a hash brown.  She is picking up her change amounts a bit better, now.. and was able to slowly make the right change to the cashier at the dollar store - and look at her receipt to see written down exactly what the cost was, what we paid, and what the change was.

We brought a piece of cake and some pork, and one of the orange daylillies, to Grandma Irene, with Esme staying there for a few hours.   I need to go collect her in a few minutes, bring some garden produce to Irene, do chickens, pick beans, start laundry,  feed supper, give her a bath for her speech appointment tomorrow.. and go to bed as I have 6 am work.

It was a very nice birthday, and having today to semi-rest (with a little Minecraft) was a nice way to wind it down.  I have enough canned beans from Mark to last another six months until Christmas again *heh*.. and a few cans of pumpkin, as well.

bit o this, jumper that

Today is our anniversary, and we had a nice day yesterday which was good, as the rain is much harder today out there.  We are very happy for six years together and the home and family we have built together.  Mark says this year will mark twenty years of him living in Tennessee.. and he likes the way it has turned out these past few years very much.  So do I, it will be eight years for me?  I came down in 2005 from Fargo, maybe with a visit in late 2004.  We will see if we will do the library today under umbrellas.. I did promise Esme I would and it might be a day I could get behind piling up a few books and letting her do her thing while I go through a stack.  If I bring a notebook, much more the case, probably.

 

The recycled shirt jumper and a bird painting I was inspired out of a magazine picture

I made two jumpers yesterday - as the one she had worn to school twice was very handy.  I had to put the buttonhole on a sewn-on band as the necks were too tight to button straight.  But, they used up scraps and one of them was actually recycled out of a shirt that would not fit me from the thrift store.  They will be useful for quite a while that way and she likes them over long sleeved tshirts now, which is a change from days when we could never weasel her into one without a banshee fight.  Daddy said she washed her hair for school very very well the other day, too - very little fighting.  Our little girl may be gaining a bit of wisdom there, maybe?

Esme quotes:  
I was eating all day, and now I am done, and I'm playing with Mom and my brain is bored, it is so bored, it is laying on the table, and it is sleeping - and my brain is bored, like that, its on that table. (as she carries her half-full plate down to the kitchen from the eating area)

She sang me the 'Jerry Fairy' song - which I could not understand the name of, and she was getting mad - but then I convinced her to sing it further and it was the months of the year, the 'January February song'.  She was going at them 100 miles per second, I only caught a few of them in full.  Less than ten minutes later, she sang it all at normal speed for Daddy and it was perfect.  We were very proud of her.   She has named that pink polka dotted dolly from Christmas 'January' for the moment.. as she needed to have a name and I wouldn't give her one.  'Coming up with' names makes her think, so does drawing - she wants to give up, but she can do it if she doesn't try to hide behind 'I'm too small', which is a frequent cop-out. 

We went to a pet store in Paris yesterday, and she saw fish, lizards, frogs, snakes, a spider and a flying squirrel.  She was most impressed with the fish - stared at every tank for so long.. and watched Daddy handling the albino corn snake with a nervous giggle and five feet of distance, then told him he had done so well with the beautiful snake with the beautiful tongue.  We are thinking of making up a fish tank again, we had one she loved to watch when she was less than 3.  Grandma, she will be telling you about the snakes - I am sure!  She wanted to tell you about them on the phone then.

We played with the markers yesterday at my request.  She did a drawing of herself with a line for legs/hips and ten marks underneath it to be all ten toes.  She drew the same figure climbing a ladder to her really big slide she dreams of.  She drew much more complete figures months ago, but she was more interested in drawing then, and I think she is taking shortcuts.  The ten toes had to be accurate, though - she counted each line to make sure they were there.

Later : She had a great day out with me to library and McDonalds.  She talked to a lot of kids and also to the librarian - I had to tell this same child to calm down and quiet down when months ago she covered her ears and cried at the singing.  She gave a pretty decent run down to the library bookstore lady about what we had done and what we were going to do - but she didn't remember the name of the place we were going to and said 'children don't know the everythings, children don't do that.'  It was cool to talk with her when we were alone at the restaurant about jobs, what she wanted to do when she grows up (feed dogs, and clean the floor because they get messy), what 'country' music is (the farmer songs? she asked and pointed up) and when each song changed how it was different and many other things.  Another girl from the library showed up and she slowly acquired a posse of little girls to run and screech with, yet after a one minute warning she was ready to say thank you for playing with me and go home with me.  She did call me a super monster mama.. but said she loved me and she was happy we went all the places.  She took a bath when she got home and still talked about some of it.   She told Grandma on the phone we had went to McDonalds and the library and it was very easy to understand.  We are cleaning out an old aquarium now because she is still interested in having fish - and we think a goldfish or two may be okay.