D.O.P.-T. (yesterday)
Oct. 23rd, 2025 01:33![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
weofodthignenThe oxalis is back. And nasturtium seeds that refused to sprout when I watered them are now growing after last week's rain.
Today's Smoothie
Oct. 22nd, 2025 22:45ysabetwordsmithNote to self: do not put red grapes in a green smoothie. Red + green = brown. :/ It still tastes good, but it is not the beautiful jade-green that we usually get.
We use the Alan's Going Green Smoothie. We don't use the jalapeño or cashews. Sometimes we use a kiwi instead of a lime. Today we used a handful of pea shoots instead of spinach, so there's a pea flavor alongside the lime.
We use the Alan's Going Green Smoothie. We don't use the jalapeño or cashews. Sometimes we use a kiwi instead of a lime. Today we used a handful of pea shoots instead of spinach, so there's a pea flavor alongside the lime.
Photography
Oct. 22nd, 2025 17:53ysabetwordsmithCórdoba -- Festival of the Patios
In addition to being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Córdoba also appears on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list for its Festival of the Patios. Held each spring, the festival celebrates the tradition of decorating the patios or courtyards of the homes in the historic center of the city with flowers and other plants. During the Festival, these patios are open to the public, to show off the beauty of these spaces.
The pictures come from later in the season, not the festival itself, but are still beautiful.
Are you looking for a theme to make your small town stand out? Or a theme for a spring event that isn't Easter? Consider a patio festival! Celebrate the beauty of small gardens on patios, balconies, front porches, etc. Get your local florists and garden shops to join the fun with special displays or sales. Throw in a plant / seed swap for houseplants, garden plants that are customarily divided or planted in spring, local landraces of flowers or vegetables, and so on.
In addition to being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Córdoba also appears on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list for its Festival of the Patios. Held each spring, the festival celebrates the tradition of decorating the patios or courtyards of the homes in the historic center of the city with flowers and other plants. During the Festival, these patios are open to the public, to show off the beauty of these spaces.
The pictures come from later in the season, not the festival itself, but are still beautiful.
Are you looking for a theme to make your small town stand out? Or a theme for a spring event that isn't Easter? Consider a patio festival! Celebrate the beauty of small gardens on patios, balconies, front porches, etc. Get your local florists and garden shops to join the fun with special displays or sales. Throw in a plant / seed swap for houseplants, garden plants that are customarily divided or planted in spring, local landraces of flowers or vegetables, and so on.
Birdfeeding
Oct. 22nd, 2025 14:37ysabetwordsmithToday is mostly sunny, breezy, and cool.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.
I put out water for the birds.
10/22/25 -- I installed the larger of the two wormstones beside the barrel garden. First I picked a spot, then I cleared the weeds. I dug into the ground a little so that the stone would lie closer to the surface. I had to move a few tulip bulbs that turned up there. Then I put the stone in place and pushed the soil back around the edges. \o/
10/22/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
10/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.
10/22/25 -- I installed the second wormstone by the barrel garden.
10/22/25 -- I planted 10 'Flaming Beauties' tulips around the barrel garden. I still have 10 left. These are streaked tulips so they are yellow/red, purple/white, etc.
10/22/25 -- I planted the rest of the 'Flaming Beauties' in the tulip bed.
As it is almost suppertime, I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.
I put out water for the birds.
10/22/25 -- I installed the larger of the two wormstones beside the barrel garden. First I picked a spot, then I cleared the weeds. I dug into the ground a little so that the stone would lie closer to the surface. I had to move a few tulip bulbs that turned up there. Then I put the stone in place and pushed the soil back around the edges. \o/
10/22/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
10/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.
10/22/25 -- I installed the second wormstone by the barrel garden.
10/22/25 -- I planted 10 'Flaming Beauties' tulips around the barrel garden. I still have 10 left. These are streaked tulips so they are yellow/red, purple/white, etc.
10/22/25 -- I planted the rest of the 'Flaming Beauties' in the tulip bed.
As it is almost suppertime, I am done for the night.
Stranded, by Melissa Braun
Oct. 22nd, 2025 11:38rachelmanija
From the blurb:
One fellow camper will do whatever it takes to make it out of the Boundary Waters alive. Even if he's the only one.
A psychological thriller mixed with intense action.
Nah, just kidding! It's not a psychological thriller, it's a survival story. One of the teenage campers is a racist, a sexual harasser, and an attempted rapist, but he never tries to kill any of the others or abandons them to die or anything like that.
Yep! It's another disappointing survival book with a misleading blurb and gratuitous grossness towards teenage girls!
Teenage Emma is traumatized after failing to save her younger sister from drowning, so she gets her parents to book her into a teen wilderness survival course to take her mind off things. In a portentous scene, her father gives her a Swiss army knife. She's confused and concerned that he's giving her a weapon to take on a camping trip - does he expect her to be attacked? I was confused why she would think of a Swiss army knife as a weapon rather than a tool. If you don't even know what a Swiss army knife is, then you can't tell that it's a knife at all when it's folded. If you recognize it when folded, then you know that it is a multitool.
The early part of the book jumps around confusingly in time, to the point where I flipped back pages repeatedly to see if I'd missed something. No, it was just the author's pointless decision to start with them pitching their tents after the first day's walk, then jump back to them packing their supplies.
We get very little characterization, but that's okay: three of the seven are about to die! Two days in, a strange storm hits their camp. It's described in such a portentous way that I thought it was supernatural or man-made, but nothing ever comes of this so I guess not. Two of the campers and the guide are squashed by falling trees, then a wildfire starts. Instead of jumping in the lake, they run for their lives and get very lost.
At this point, we get some characterization. Chloe is the girl who isn't Emma. Her race is coyly not mentioned until Isaac, the creepy boy, gets racist at her about being black. Oscar is the boy who isn't creepy, so Emma naturally falls in love with him. Isaac constantly sexually harasses Emma, once tries to rape her, and is sadistic to animals. This goes on for the entire book.
Late in the book, Oscar and Isaac both fall over a cliff. Isaac dangles from a rock stub by one hand, and holds Oscar, who is suspended in mid-air, by one backpack strap. Emma and Chloe make a rope of clothing, with a key part being her bra. Isaac somehow grabs the clothes rope without falling. He's clinging to a rock stub with one hand and a backpack strap supporting another person. How does he get one hand free to grab the bra rope without falling? This is not described as it's not thought through. He grabs the rope - again, anchored by A BRA tied to a tree - and, it's not clearly described, but it seems like Emma single-handed pulls him and Oscar up. Is the bra made of bungee cord?
Emma ponders that Isaac was very brave and unselfish. People are complicated, she realizes. This is as close as the book comes to any resolution on Isaac sexually harassing and threatening her for the entire book, oh and also TRYING TO RAPE HER.
This book sucked.
Wednesday is World Wombat(t) Day*
Oct. 22nd, 2025 19:13oursinWhat I read
I managed to plough through The Wheel of Fortune and do not think I will be plunging into a major Susan Howatch re-read binge. O all those angsty men. As for man handing on misery to man, Larkinesque-like, it deepens like the Mariana trench. Plus, the Katherine Swynford-analogue character gets no interiority, and besides being pretty much normal and sensible (unlike pretty much everybody else, no, Anna seems fairly stable) is full of deep mystical working-class Welsh wisdom. Good for her levanting to Canada (can one levant in that direction?). The last section in particular had me muttering about codfish.
O what a thoroughly delightful change to move on to Eve Babitz, Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A. (1977) - you do not need heaving melodrama or even actual plot to be compellingly readable, just saying.
On to Anthony Powell, Books Do Furnish a Room (A Dance to the Music of Time, #10) (1971) in anticipation of group discussion at beginning of November. Getting faint frissons of that narrative pattern of that period which was eschewing ominiscient voice but having a first-person narrator who just happens to be in a position to see or hear Events and can reflect upon them.
Latest Literary Review.
Also finished the book for review but have not yet got round to getting any thoughts on it written, this week having been a bit of a week, so far.
On the go
Maggie Helwig, Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community (2025).
Also happened to notice Jonathan Rose, Readers' Liberation: The Literary Agenda (2018) when I was looking for something else - I think this must have been something in return for reading something for a publisher? - I don't think I actually bought it - but looked interesting in the light of recent musings about reading.
Up next
Having discovered that I do, in fact, have a copy of The Making of a Muckraker, maybe a spot of dipping into that?
***
*Wombat Awareness Organisation: World Wombat Day!
A Thousand Blues by Cheon Seon-Ran
Oct. 22nd, 2025 08:53james_davis_nicoll
A robot muses contentedly on the events that led it to its rapidly approaching doom.
A Thousand Blues by Cheon Seon-Ran
Mad Science
Oct. 22nd, 2025 00:27ysabetwordsmithScientists say dimming the sun could spark global chaos
Researchers warn that real-world solar geoengineering would be far more unpredictable and risky than models suggest.
Scientists are taking the once-radical concept of dimming the sun through stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) seriously, but a Columbia University team warns that reality is far messier than models suggest. Their study reveals how physical, geopolitical, and economic constraints could derail even the best-intentioned attempts to cool the planet. From unpredictable monsoon disruptions to material shortages and optical inefficiencies, every step introduces new risks.
WARNING: Do not practice mad science on whole planet!
Researchers warn that real-world solar geoengineering would be far more unpredictable and risky than models suggest.
Scientists are taking the once-radical concept of dimming the sun through stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) seriously, but a Columbia University team warns that reality is far messier than models suggest. Their study reveals how physical, geopolitical, and economic constraints could derail even the best-intentioned attempts to cool the planet. From unpredictable monsoon disruptions to material shortages and optical inefficiencies, every step introduces new risks.
WARNING: Do not practice mad science on whole planet!
Cuddle Party
Oct. 22nd, 2025 00:08ysabetwordsmithEveryone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.
We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!
Enjoy a feast for Halloween, Samhain, All Saints Day, Dia de los Muertos, or whatever you prefer...
( Read more... )
We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!
Enjoy a feast for Halloween, Samhain, All Saints Day, Dia de los Muertos, or whatever you prefer...
( Read more... )
D.O.P.-T.
Oct. 21st, 2025 21:12weofodthignenThe city's tree-lopping crews are out in force, on a different block each week, cutting back and topping street trees using cherrypickers and then noisily chipping the offcuts for mulch. Sad, but given that our wires run overhead in the old style because of earthquake danger and that huge Amazon delivery vans want to get close to the kerb, I suppose it's understandable.
NaNoWriMo
Oct. 21st, 2025 22:50ysabetwordsmithHere's a list of NaNoWriMo replacements. These are good options if you're fed up with the old NaNoWriMo. However, plenty of people are still doing that, so if you have enjoyed it, you can just keep writing a novel in November.
Looking for other activities?![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
goals_on_dw has lists of Writing and Art activities that include November options.
Looking for other activities?
goals_on_dw has lists of Writing and Art activities that include November options.(no subject)
Oct. 21st, 2025 16:00lycomingstIt's Autumn, right? Well, I have an important question. WHERE are the persimmons? I mean, where!
Birdfeeding
Oct. 21st, 2025 13:09ysabetwordsmithToday is mostly sunny and cool.
I fed the birds. I've seen some sparrows and house finches.
I put out water for the birds.
I fed the birds. I've seen some sparrows and house finches.
I put out water for the birds.
sign of the season
Oct. 21st, 2025 11:26twistedchickI was going absolutely insane, trying to figure out which of my 50-odd tabs was playing holiday music. Nothing showed up on the tab list. Finally I hit command-option-escape, to list what was open, and discovered that the very nice holiday advent calendar a friend sent me had decided to serenade me. I shut it down; sanity restored.
Amorous toads
Oct. 21st, 2025 15:42oursinThis was in one of my inboxes this am (ironically, Mme C-C-'s):
Nice to connect beyond work
Hi,
We’ve crossed paths around the office a few times, and I’ve been meaning to say hello. I recently joined a dating site and thought it might be easier to connect there outside of work.
If you’re open to it, here’s my profile: [redacted link]
You’ll need to sign up to view it.
No pressure at all—just an invitation to chat in a space that isn’t tied to corporate email.
Either way, wishing you a great week.
Best,
A colleague
How creepy is that? (sending it in to phishing reporting).
(Or maybe run it past Ask A Manager???)
***
Actually, it is a bit of an insult to bufo bufo to characterise anyone doing this sort of thing as a toad, no? Especially when the poor things are currently suffering a good deal in their quest for LUHRRVVV: can Britain’s toads be saved from traffic and terrible decline?
(No, they are not zipping around doing dangerous driving in fast cars, parp-parp, like Mr Toad.)
They are trying to get to suitable mating areas:
toads like large ponds. Their ability to stay out of water for longer than frogs, means they can travel further to reach them – sometimes hundreds of metres, Petrovan says. They tend to stick to their ancestral migration routes – it’s common for adult toads to return to their birth pond to mate.
This is why the toad crossed the road.
I think I have heretofore mentioned the people who help toads to do this thing: in fact it's a bit of a recurrent theme.... (going way back).
The Eye of Argon by Jim Theis
Oct. 21st, 2025 08:55james_davis_nicoll
The story that began the grand tradition of picking on a teenager's work.
The Eye of Argon by Jim Theis
Color Pooling
Oct. 21st, 2025 01:03ysabetwordsmithWhen you craft with variegated yarn, it can cause color pooling. Some people dislike this, but planned pooling may be used to create fancy designs without switching yarn. A friend tipped me to some websites for it. If you'd like to play with the concept there are many online colourpooling generators/planning tools: https://magicneedles.in/blogs/guide-more/what-is-planned-pooling and https://mathgrrl.com/crochet-color-pooling/ are both great, and https://plannedpooling.com/ is the original.
Poem: "Invisible Because It Is So Normal"
Oct. 20th, 2025 23:49ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the June 4, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "Public Places" square in my 6-1-24 card for the Pride Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred and mama_kestrel. It is an alternate universe crossover of Polychrome Heroics and Schrodinger's Heroes.
( Read more... )
dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "Public Places" square in my 6-1-24 card for the Pride Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred and mama_kestrel. It is an alternate universe crossover of Polychrome Heroics and Schrodinger's Heroes.( Read more... )
Poem: "And Everything Collapses"
Oct. 20th, 2025 23:30ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the September 5, 2023 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from dialecticdreamer and see_also_friend. It also fills the "Adversary" square in my 9-1-23 card for the Story Sparks Bingo Fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred and mama_kestrel. It is an alternate universe crossover of Polychrome Heroics and Schrodinger's Heroes, based on the Edison's Mirror dimension created by dialecticdreamer -- she's currently running a story arc in that, so check it out.
( Read more... )
dialecticdreamer and see_also_friend. It also fills the "Adversary" square in my 9-1-23 card for the Story Sparks Bingo Fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred and mama_kestrel. It is an alternate universe crossover of Polychrome Heroics and Schrodinger's Heroes, based on the Edison's Mirror dimension created by dialecticdreamer -- she's currently running a story arc in that, so check it out. ( Read more... )