Theater, Kaiseki & Tea

[ellenkushner]

An absolute peach of a day, or so it turned out after a stressy morning following up on last night's dreadful moth revelations (which were Tweeted & Facebook'd in ghastly RT*) - managed to make it to lunch date with Ellen Datlow, Betsy Mitchell (editors of considerable note) and visiting Israeli publisher (and BBF) Rani Graff at PongSri for Thai near the theatre where we then saw Alan Rickman & a remarkable cast of younger actors in SEMINAR on Broadway.  It's all about aspiring writers, and we hooted our way through it, poking each other frequently; after, we retired to Amy's Bread on 9th to fortify ourselves with caffeine & baked goods, and argue about who was cooler, Writers or Editors.  I will not say who won; I think it was the oatmeal-walnut scones.

Then Betsy & Ellen went off to unaccountably do some editing, while those of us who Live for Pleasure ambled up to Columbus Circle, looked at some Crafts and then had an incredibly fine dinner at Sugiyama - turns out even Japanese fancy kaiseki restau's have an Early Bird Special - er, excuse me, Prix Fixe - in NYC.

The marched back down to W. 44th to see On a Clear Day You Can See Forever w/Harry Connick Jr, who wasn't very good, but the rest of the cast was.  deliasherman is bound to write up a smart review, so I will say only that the newly revised book is absurd yet charming.  I did see the original (in summer stock) when I was 12, and it had a great effect on me.  I am inclined to be critical; also, as a working fantasist, I resent my suspension of disbelief being asked to perform unreasonable acrobatics.  Still, I grinned through most of it, and didn't think about moths.

Walked Rani back to his hotel, where he presented me with some 12 boxes of Galilee Bouquet herbal tea in such divine flavors as Sage & Lemongrass, and Verbena & Za'atar. (I had asked for 1 box of Rosemary & Sage, but apparently Wissotsky doesn't make it any more.  As booby prizes go, the 12 other boxes take the cake bigtime!)

Subway took us home, where I attacked mothy plastic clothing bags with vigor and bleach - until I realized this was really stupid, and just threw them out.

Thank goodness for great lashings of sweet to go with the bitter.  And grant us the blahblah to remember that it's not always one or the other.

And to all, a good night.

*In brief:  Went to uptown Storage Unit yesterday (in rented car) to retrieve winter clothes, and found 4 of our stored Persian rugs seriously moth-eaten. Was not pretty.  Will spare you details.  Delia Facebook'd about it some. She waited for emergency Rug Man to come & take them away.  Will cost a lot to fix, but hope insurance will cover.  HOPE.  Brought clothes home, thought they were OK, but found damage in one, so went out for garbage bags & mothballs (yes, I know now that mothballs do not in fact work - looked a buncha stuff up on internet - including fact that we shoulda put anti-moth in the rugs when we stored them - but who knew?  Our stuff is in a climate-controlled bunker 4 floors underground! It all seems so sterile, there....); this morning took it all to the cleaners....

Comments

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Of all the different moth killers (most of which are toxic and very icky), the one that works best is lavender flowers. You can usually get these in bulk at your local Whole Foods or other health food store. Give it a try, I think you'll like the results.

- Erulisse (one L)

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

I know many fine scented things, including lavender, cedar & even - according to someone on Delia's Facebook - black pepper that are moth REPELLANTS. But to KILL? I was told even the vile and toxic moth balls do not kill, but merely repel.

If lavender works, then how do you use it? Put it in cheesecloth amongst the clothes? Schmear it on the rugs? . . . . . .?

I eagerly await instruction. Thanks for your time & comment!

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Entropy, entropy, entropy, damn!

I know of nothing that kills moths besides laundering or freezing, and there is no guarantee on laundering apparently---the little bugs can hang on through some fairly hard treatment. Freezing at zero F, I have been told, works; you have to do it for a while, not just pop your whatever (bagged) in the freezer and pull it out an hour later. Like, a day, a couple days. I have not tried it.

I was extremely unhappy this fall to find moth damage in cashmere stored in cedar. I'm looking for a reweaving sweater repair person to fix the little holes...

[engarian.livejournal.com]

I have used it in the past in sachet form, but to get rid of the little buggers, spread those flowers throughout the folds and layers of your items for a couple of weeks, then shake things out and put sachets in instead. My local newspaper did a full experiment on moth killers and repellents and lavender was the hands-on favorite and the only one to be fully recommended. (I tried to find a link for you, but failed.)

- Erulisse (one L)

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Doing a bit more research for you, it appears that freezing (7 days below 32 degrees) or extreme heat (above 130 degrees) are what will kill clothing moths, followed by cleaning - washing is preferable, dry cleaning is next. The little annoying pests (which I also battle on a yearly basis) love dirty clothing more than clean. Your storage area should be completely cleaned out and washed from ceiling to floor, everything returning to it should be brushed and/or vacuumed. Whew! It sounds like a LOT of work.

Then add the lavender. Sachets are preferable, lavender oil can also work. This is a great preventative that won't smell horrible.

Everything should be cleaned and re-charged every six months.

Well, not as easy as I would have wanted, and more work to kill the little buggers, but I hope this is of some use to you.

- Erulisse (one L)