~Autumn has finally arrived in NYC~

coffee-hot-warm-fall-season-mug

What
Sub-freezing temperatures as low as 25 expected.
Where
In New Jersey, Hudson County. In New York, New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Richmond (Staten Island), Kings (Brooklyn), Northern Queens, Southern Queens and Southern Nassau Counties.
When
From 8 PM this evening to 10 AM EST Monday.
Impacts
Frost and freeze conditions will kill sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing.
Additional Details
The growing season will be coming to an end for these areas Monday November 21, and Frost Advisories and Freeze Warnings will no longer be issued for this season after Monday.
WARM COFFEE A NECESSITY AFTER THE BIKE RIDE TO WORK!

Sliding into Sunday

Because dievca has been sick – she has a lot of catching up to do around the apartment.

The good news is that she woke up at 5 am, raring to go!

A little Booker T. to get her (and you) sliding into this Sunny and Chilly NYC Autumn Sunday. XO

According to Booker T. Jones, the composition was originally to be called “Funky Onions”, but the sister of Jim Stewart thought it “sounded like a cuss word”; it was therefore renamed “Green Onions”.


Ticking the boxes for Autumn 2022 by shopping your closet

Here are dievca’s offerings:

√√ Wide Leg Faux Leather Pants
√ Fair Isle Sweater
√ Chunky Shoes
√ Camera Bag
√ Wood Eyeglass Frames
√ Cashmere / Wool Baseball Cap
√ Over-sized Coat
√ Over-sized Chain Necklace
√ Pearls

What’s in your closet that works for 2022?
dievca bets that there are some fabulous pieces!


The Dom and sub who

Couple Cleaning

clean together, preen together!
preen
/prēn/
verb
congratulate or pride oneself.
“it did not prevent them from preening themselves on their achievement”

Master has friends and family coming for visits this Autumn, so dievca went over to help him do a “deep clean” for their arrival.  Windows washed inside and out, Floors wiped, Heavy duty dusting, Leather conditioned, Granite conditioned, Bathrooms scrubbed, etc. — Master’s apartment is GLEAMING!

Hey, it was what Master asked for as a present for His Birthday. dievca was happy to serve. XO


Master and His dievca agree

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Autumn in New York is key!

We hope you are enjoying your Fall, too. XO


A touch of Autumn

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One to cut for Halloween and two for décor into Thanksgiving!

Have you stepped into Autumn, yet?


Orange Lingerie?

Orange Lingerie
‘Tis the Season for Orange!
dievca was taking a look around for Orange Lingerie to Present for Master.

Then she remembered her Simone Perele Eden Set and offers you a link to Simone Perele. The items are not quite the same, but are available and are on sale! click HERE):

Looks like she might be “Good to Go”! XO


It’s a Beautiful Day!

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Cue the U2 Song – “Beautiful Day”

Photos: dievca – NYC Harbor Ferry Terminal 10/2022


Kids love rain! At the moment, dievca does not…

come-on-happy-dance

Remember when we all loved to play in the rain?
dievca just looks like a drowned rat.
(her back wheel popped, she’s covered in the rain poncho w/a backpack, etc.)


Good Morning – planning the day!

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It was “put the sweater on – take the sweater off – put the sweater on” yesterday.
Let’s see what today holds.
Have a Lovely week!


As Summer Fades

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The humidity drops
Temperatures cool

Why do I find myself sad after all the uncomfortable misery?

Photo: dievca – Hudson River NYC 08/2022


Simple elegance in Latex

Coco de Mer Latex Dress

Coco de Mer Latex dress – no longer available.
But in the Autumn – the latex offerings come forward.
Inspiring.


“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.”

coffe and rain

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


And the weather took a chilling turn~

Wind whipping
Whitecaps frothing
Chill weather cuts the City

Noses drip
Red Biting Lips
Intrepid Trudging Prevails

Conserving warmth becomes a priority.


A Glimpse of NYC in November

click on the photos to enlarge

The Dawn is breaking cloudy in New York.
It’s rare to see the clouds head in from the East – but they are heading towards the Hudson River.
dievca is sending you a quiet, “Good Morning”.


Back to normal irritations and solutions~

Jennifer Anniston Friends Runny NoseLooks like Life is getting back to normal when people are  dealing with the common cold, rather than COVID-19.

Master flew back with a stuffed up nose. He had been hanging out with some super fun Tots on Halloween. They shared their daycare wealth~

Before His return and across the country, dievca’s nose started to leak. she’s drinking as many fluids as she can get down her gullet.

It looks like dievca will be making soup for everyone. Chicken Soup for herself and  Jambalaya (Creole) for Master. He’s better at drinking water than dievca, so He can do a “thicker” soup.

Creole Jambalaya is less thick than Cajun Jambalaya because of less browning and added tomatoes.

gallery-1498148310-delish-easy-homemade-jambalaya-vertical-1024INGREDIENTS
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut 1″ pieces
1 tsp. dried oregano
6 oz. andouille sausage, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 c. chicken broth
1 (15-oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1 c. long grain rice
2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning (modify to your heart’s content – dievca has Old Bay handy)
1 lb. frozen seafood or shrimp (or 1 lb fresh shrimp)
2 green onions, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot over medium heat, heat oil. Add onion and bell peppers and season with salt and pepper.
Cook until soft, about 5 minutes, then stir in chicken and season with salt, pepper, and oregano. Cook until the chicken is golden, about 5 minutes, then stir in andouille sausage, garlic, and tomato paste and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more.

Add chicken broth, frozen seafood/shrimp, crushed tomatoes, rice, and Old Bay. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover with a tight-fitting lid, and cook until the rice is tender and the liquid is almost absorbed for about 20 minutes.

(If you have fresh uncooked shrimp – add the shrimp and cook until pink, 3 to 5 minutes.)
Stir in green onions just before serving. Serve with crusty bread.


Clocks Fall Back in the USA, tomorrow. Daylight Saving Time

What would happen if Congress abolished daylight saving time (or kept it going all year long)?

Blogger and cartographer Andy Woodruff decided to visualize this with a great series of maps.

The goal of these maps is to show how abolishing daylight saving time, extending it all year, or going with the status quo changes the number of days we have “reasonable” sunrise and sunset times.

Reasonable is the sun rising at 7 am or earlier or setting after 5 pm, as defined by Woodruff.

This is what the map looks like under the status quo of twice-yearly clock shifts. A lot of people have unreasonable sunrise times (the dark spots) for much of the year:

Daylight saving time as currently observed.Andy Woodruff

Things would change if daylight saving were abolished (that is, if we just stuck to the time set in the winter all year). It’s better, particularly on the sunrise end:

If daylight saving time were abolished.Andy Woodruff

Here’s what would happen if daylight saving were always in effect. The sunrise situation would actually be worse for most people. But many more people would enjoy after-work light.

If daylight saving time were always in effect.Andy Woodruff

Note: The length of light we experience each day wouldn’t actually change; that’s determined by the tilt of Earth’s axis. But we would experience it in times more accommodating for our modern world.

Be sure to check out the interactive version of these maps on Woodruff’s website.

In 2015, Stromberg made the compelling case that the daylight saving time shift into the evening should be extended year-round. Having more light later could benefit us in a surprising number of ways:

  • People engage in more leisure activities after work than beforehand, so we’d likely do more physical activity over sedentary leisure activities. Relatedly, studies show that kids get more exercise when the sun is out later in the evening.
  • Stromberg also cites some evidence that robberies decrease when there’s more sun in the evening hours.
  • There could be economic gains, since people “take short trips, and buy things after work — but not before — so a longer DST slightly increases sales,” he writes.

A “Thank You” to VOX and Andy Woodruff.


Made with Love: Apple Crisp

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Master’s Birthday is coming up and dievca is gathering her supplies, the plan is:

Classic Apple Crisp recipe with fresh sliced apples, topped with crisp and buttery cinnamon oats.

Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 50 minutes Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Author: Natasha Kravchuk
Skill Level: Easy
Course: Dessert
Servings: 10 people

Ingredients
For the Apple Crisp Filling:
4 lbs firm-crisp apples, 11-12 medium apples*
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3/4 cup granulated sugar, or to taste**
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
For the Crumb Topping:
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt1 cup unsalted butter, (room temperature), plus more to butter pan
1 cup rolled oats, or old fashioned oats

Instructions
Prep: Generously Butter a 9×13 casserole dish with 1/2 Tbsp butter. Preheat the oven to 375F.

Peel core and thinly slice apples to 1/4’ thickness. You should have 12 cups of sliced apples. Squeeze 2 Tbsp lemon juice over the apples and toss to coat.

In a separate bowl, stir together 3/4 cup sugar, 3 Tbsp flour, and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon then sprinkle mixture over apples and toss to combine. Transfer apples into the buttered casserole dish.

Make the topping – in a large bowl, use your hands to stir together flour, oats, brown and granulated sugars, cinnamon, and salt. Add the diced butter and work it into the mixture with your hands until pea-sized crumbs form throughout. Spread topping over apples.

Bake at 375˚F for 45-50 minutes or until the topping is golden and crisp and apples are bubbling at the edges. The center should register above 175˚F.


Seeing Stripes with The Elder Statesman

Looking for something cozy on a Autumn Sunday!


Autumn Tea – Master and His dievča

Sexy Tea
“Let us not speak, for the love we bear one another—
Let us hold hands and look.”
She such a very ordinary little woman;
He such a thumping crook;
But both, for a moment, little lower than the angels
In the teashop’s ingle-nook.

In a Bath Teashop by Sir John Betjeman


Good Monday Morning!


The annual trip – and a better Sunset/Sunrise

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The Governors Isalnd annual trek is very simple – a bike ride, $3 round-trip ferry ticket and the splurge for a “Glamping” Tent. Worth every penny when your view is of this sunset and a morning walk around the island offers a mystical view of….Brooklyn!
As dievca writes this post, the cicadas are singing in her ears~
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September Midnight

Cricket
Lyric night of the lingering Indian Summer,
Shadowy fields that are scentless but full of singing,
Never a bird, but the passionless chant of insects,
Ceaseless, insistent.

The grasshopper’s horn, and far-off, high in the maples,
The wheel of a locust leisurely grinding the silence
Under a moon waning and worn, broken,
Tired with summer.

Let me remember you, voices of little insects,
Weeds in the moonlight, fields that are tangled with asters,
Let me remember, soon will the winter be on us,
Snow-hushed and heavy.

Over my soul murmur your mute benediction,
While I gaze, O fields that rest after harvest,
As those who part look long in the eyes they lean to,
Lest they forget them.

Sara Teasdale — Originally published in Poetry, March 1914.

Cricket in Times Square

The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden (1960)


When the wet gets into your bones…

dievca is wrapped in a blanket this morning.

How is your morning? XO


Which way the wind blows — calls for something warm.

Weather Target NYC

After 3+ years of living in the building – dievca has just learned that if the wind hits NYC from a certain SW angle and is very strong,  it will come into her apartment unimpeded by closed and locked windows. The good news is that the rain droplets are too large to do the same…

In the morning aftermath, she is getting cozy with her coffee.

Coffee in a blanket and socks

 


November Rain

Photo: dievca NYC 11/2020

“November Rain” by Jaroslav Seifert (winner of the Nobel Prize)

Tranlated from Czech to English by Ewald Osers, with editing and prose translations by George Gibian 1998


Autumn Clean-Up


What’s on your agenda for this Fall Sunday?
dievca has:

  • Change to Winter Bedding
  • Wash and Store Summer Linens
  • Wash the Floors
  • Wash the Windows
  • Back Master’s Birthday Crisp – WI sour cherries this year!

Sometimes it’s nice to simply be domestic and get things done – you can see the fruits of your efforts.

Enjoy your Sunday. XO


Look for the Moon! What does it all mean?

Jane Greer Full Moon.

Hunter’s Moon, Beaver Moon, Blue Moon, Micro Moon, or Frost, Frosty, Snow Moon. Sharad Purnima; and the Thadingyut, Hpaung Daw U, and Low Krathong Festival Moon. This All Hallows Eve Moon will appear “opposite” the Sun (in Earth-based longitude) at 10:49 AM EDT and will appear Full through Sunday evening.

Thoughts from around the web on what this Blue Moon on Halloween means:

“Magically speaking, blue and full moons are amazing opportunities to release and heal,” This moon is a very fortunate time to mend our bodies, minds, and hearts.

“Full moons have always been seen as moments in time in which the astrological energy comes to a climax.  Since this moon is happening on Halloween and while the Sun is in Scorpio, a sign that is closely connected to the spiritual world, this blue moon is an obvious invitation to get super witchy!”  If you aren’t taking advantage of this lunar event and performing a witchy ritual around this time, you’re missing out on all of the mystical, fantastical, and enchanting energy in the air.

“This is one of the few times within the year that we can easily bridge the gap between both worlds. The blue moon will serve as an extra illumination on the metaphorical realm, as full moons expose matters on Earth due to its effervescent glow.”

Halloween will be the first blue moon visible in every time zone since 1944. Might be good to charge those crystals! The next full moon on Halloween that will be visible worldwide is expected in 2077, according to the Farmer’s Almanac.

“Full moons are a time when we get a little assistance seeing in the dark.  It is a very significant full moon, and it is happening four days before the election and is sitting next to a planet with upheaval, change, surprise, excitement: Uranus.” It’s a good time to get rid of things we don’t need.

“I think that symbols — and a blue moon is a symbol — do have the potential to activate things in an individual and in the collective.  It is a time when something rare can happen.”

For the moon to actually appear blue is a whole different matter. There has to be enough matter of a particular size kicked into the atmosphere that red light is scattered. The popular example of this is the 1883 eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa. According to NASA, the eruption was so large that for years afterwards,the moon appeared bluish and sometimes greenish. The volcanic ash particles were large enough to block out red wavelengths of light, while other wavelengths carried on as usual.

Full moons are a call for balance. The moon — symbolic of the divine feminine — sitting proudly across from the sun — a symbol of the sacred masculine and the greatest source of energy — is powerful beyond words. This is precisely why full moons are so climactic and revealing. This lunar phase never ceases to bring what’s hidden to light. and with the sun in Scorpio — symbolic of the underworld — opposing the moon in Taurus — a representation of Mother Earth — this lunation is speaking to the cycle of life and death.

To top it off, this full moon will also conjunct Uranus, at the exact same degree, so shocking is an understatement. The “Great Awakener,” and the planet of chaos, revolution, and unexpected change, it’s safe to say that the shocking revelations stemming from this full moon will make history. Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there, and this year’s full (blue) moon conjunct Uranus on All Hallows Eve will prove it.

Wishing you a HAPPY HALLOWEEN,
no matter what the FULL MOON brings~

Thank you to NPR, the New York Times, Refinery 29, NASA Science and Elite Daily


NYC Autumn Morning


Photos: dievca NYC 10/2020

Autumn, New York, 1999

Patricia Spears Jones

And I am full of worry I wrote to a friend
Worry, she replied about what—love, money, health?

All of them, I wrote back. It’s autumn, the air is clear
and you hear death music—the rattle of leaves swirling

the midnight cat howling, a newborn baby’s 3 am
call for food or help or heart’s love

At the market, the green, red and yellow apples are piled high,
sweet perfume—once, I went apple picking in Massachusetts

a day of thralling beauty, my companions and I
had no desire to leave the valley—the plump trees,

the fierce pride of small town New England where a gift shop
exploded gingham, calico, silly stuffed toys

we stood within this shrine to cloying femininity of entwined hearts
and ribbons and bows like invading aliens, fascinated and appalled

and here too, people throng around the dahlias—
the last of the bright fat flowers. Open. Scentless.

It is going to be a very hard winter and we all know it in our bones
an almost atavistic memory with instruction—wear heavy clothes
horde food, drink water, stand against the wind

listen.

Copyright © 2010 by Patricia Spears Jones. From Painkiller (Tia Cucha Press, 2010).

The Cat and the Moon (poetry and lingerie)

Shein Cats, Moon, and Stars PJ’s $9.00 (click photo for link)

THE CAT AND THE MOON

by: W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)

HE cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet,
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.