dragonlady7 | Reading

I'm very much in winter mode here as although some days are sunny, it's cold, and a lot of days are very wet. So not going outside much and not doing gardening, which I don't feel great about. I seem a bit beset by inertia in terms of things physical, possibly a mid-winter slump, but I'm doing indoors things just fine - well, the things I like doing, anyway. Not cleaning or organising! I do tidy up once a week before Fionna comes to vacuum, and occasionally the dishes get washed, but that's about it.

I've started another longer podfic - this one for the due South Big Bang. Am also continuing to add lots of new podfics to the Audiofic Archive (we got inundated by >600 short ones from a recent Voiceteam challenge). And I finished a personal project with the Audiofic Archive of adding streaming links to all the SGA podfics there so they can be enjoyed easily with no need to download zip files. That's 138 pages of SGA podfics! - and increasing each week, as we make more. Next fandom to complete is due South.

In the process I stumbled on Lim's old Fanvid page on Wayback, and the vid downloads still worked. Lim made avant garde vids with lots of altered graphics. Some are on AO3 but a lot of the SGA ones aren't. The Wayback page is here (with additional info and credits), and I downloaded the SGA ones and converted them to mp4 format here. CW for flashing, fast cuts, loud music in some of them. One, Mission Report, (lyrics) is a multimedia podvid where Lim created the lyrics, music, and vid, and sang it for the SGA flashfic comm.

In "first world problem" news, a grocery mix-up. My online delivery packer needs help with alliums! Ordered a bunch of spring (green) onions:
alt

And got a giant leek. Size matters! (in terms of making salads, anyway)

alt

Finally, I saw this amazing poem on tumblr, apparently written by nine-for-a-kiss as a teenager. It's very Dark-is-Rising-ish.

petra

I am having a difficult brainweasel day, and would like to counteract that by making you some words. I am feeling poetic, with a side-order of "Drabbles are nice," so:

Comment with: Drabble or Poetry, Fandom(s) from the list of things I know, Character[/Character/etc.], Prompt (if any).

Feel free to publicize this.

Current Mood: aspiring
Current Music: I like your -- how you say? -- imperturbable perspicacity

daughterofshadows posting in

silwritersguild

A banner of two hand drawn horses, a blue one in the front and a brown one in the back. The blue one mostly obscures the brown one. Text above the horses reads: Character of the Month: Marhwini by Secondborn

Marhwini of the Éothéod is a character who exists between books. He is, in the words of his biographer Secondborn, "a representative of a people who didn’t even exist," appearing in neither The Silmarillion nor The Lord of the Rings. But as Secondborn articulates, this doesn't mean Marhwini is unimportant. Her biography of Marhwini not only compiles the details of the life of a character who is likely unfamiliar to many Tolkien fans but also explores why this character matters. Important to both the histories of Rohan and Gondor, Marhwini is a character who influences events in the legendarium from across the centuries and whose actions exemplify the essential theme of the value of friendship and allegiance.

You can read Secondborn's biography of Marhwini here.

siria

Jobsworth
The Pitt | Gen | ~1000 words | Written for the

au-roulette challenge, for the prompt "dystopian." Thanks to

sheafrotherdon for betaing.

(Also on AO3)

( Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center is committed to providing high-quality care that complies with all government mandates, edicts, and injunctions. )

conuly

Holy fuck that’s awful :(

conuly

( Though, upon reflection, it's surprising that this hasn't happened before in 30+ years of menstruation )

I'd say that was the worst thing to happen this weekend, but then I glanced at the news, and how do things keep getting worse? I thought we might at least get a reprieve over the holiday weekend, Congress would all go on vacation and not pass any terrible bills in the interim, but I guess not.

I'm not linking to it, not today. I know how to take a break, even if they don't. Take this article on amenorrhea instead.

sholio

hurtcomfortex released today! I happened to be driving a backcountry highway with no cell service at the time (coming home from Mom Things), but it was lovely to find my gifts waiting for me when I got back.

Hold a Candle To (MASH, 3400 wds, gen) delivered some lovely Charles drug withdrawal h/c with teamy affection, and A Way Out (Biggles, 4400 wds, gen) let me roll around in excellent Biggles & von Stalhein enemies-era reluctant cooperation and sympathy. Truly a lovely haul!

rmc28

Books on pre-order:

Queen Demon (Rising World 2) by Martha Wells (7 Oct 2025)

Books acquired in June:

and read:
1. Playing for Keeps by K A Findlay (Kim Findlay) [7]
2. The Charlie Method (Campus Diaries 3) by Elle Kennedy
and unread:
1. Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen
2. Sort Your Head Out by Sam Delaney
3. The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

Borrowed books read in June:

Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
The Domino Pattern (Quadrail 4) by Timothy Zahn [8]
Judgment at Proteus (Quadrail 5) by Timothy Zahn [8]

Annoyingly, when I thought I'd cancelled my KU subscription in May, Amazon thought I'd suspended it for a month, so I got charged again in June. And as the above makes clear, I didn't really get my value for the month of it. The Timothy Zahn Quadrail series is really fun (Trains! In Space! And also galaxy-spanning conspiracy and action adventure with really interesting aliens!) and I'm glad I got to finish it, but I have now definitely and for real cancelled the subscription until further notice.

I don't expect to read much this month either, with the women's football Euros running most of the month. Farocation is running again and I didn't yet get through all the books from last summer, so I'm being even pickier about which ones I decide to pick up this summer.

[1] Pre-order
[2] Audiobook
[3] Physical book
[4] Crowdfunding
[5] Goodbye read
[6] Cambridgeshire Reads/Listens
[7] FaRoFeb / FaRoCation / Bookmas / HRBC
[8] Prime Reading / Kindle Unlimited

dine

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

minoanmiss

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: ecstatic

twistedchick

Thoughts on July 4.

siria

1 BBY
The Pitt | ~1000 words | Jack/Robby | Written for the

au-roulette challenge, for the prompt "space opera." Thanks to

sheafrotherdon for betaing.

(Also on AO3)

( A long time ago in an emergency room far far away. )

harpers_child

I need to write down my ipod playlists somewhere and this journal is likely to outlive whatever notebook I write them in. The ipod was last attached to a computer and new music put on in 2014, so it's a little bit of a time capsule.

( bucky and steve )

( misc )

( unpublished fanmixes )

saving here while I go eat.

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

mrkinch

I fully expected to be sent on detour on my way up to Inspiration Point this morning. Centennial Drive and Grizzly Peak Boulevard have been closed for holidays involving fireworks for many years, being both the best places to watch from and extremely vulnerable to fire. But although Centennial was posted closed from 5 am this morning to 5 am tomorrow, at 5:30 am I met no impediment. I started down the trail just about sunrise, very windy but clear. Last time I wasn't sure whether EBMUD had mowed or whether the grass had simply dried up, a natural subsidence, but by this morning they had seriously graded the entire fire trail. That largely took care of the ticks and the big cracks in the dry ground that made it tricky to walk with a stick. However it also meant that they had cleared away the fallen tree debris, including the log I've been using as a bench for the last few months. Oh, well. It wasn't an exciting morning but a few cool things happened. As I stood at the top of the slope down to the big oak, a Cooper's Hawk made a pass up the road towards me. There were small birds and a rabbit on the road but they didn't take anything. At the north end of the trail the huge dead tree was temporarily alive with very small birds, Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Pygmy Nuthatches as far as I could tell. I'd never seen it so well-used.

( The list: )

No MacGillivray's. I didn't stay as long as usual, less than three hours, and as always I didn't want to go home, so I parked the EBR Botantic Garden and sat on the bench at the top of the garden for forty minutes or so. My list there was a bit different, as the garden is sheltered and has a creek through it. The Swainson's Thrushes were singing and the American Robins were rushing around presumably feeding families. Right across a lawn from me there was almost certainly a Black-headed Grosbeak nest from all the adult activity. I even heard a Western Bluebird! I haven't had one on Inspiration Trail in some time.

( The list: )

I should do that more often. I drove home the long way, all the way through Tilden and down Spruce, avoiding possible roadblocks.

ranunculus

Carrie called around 9am and asked if I'd like to do a short ride. Yes.
I groomed and saddled Firefly, putting her bridle on over her halter, then moving the reins to the halter, not the bit. We walked out a little way to meet Carrie and I got on. For the first few yards Firefly was a tiny bit fussy. We were headed back toward home and she DID NOT want to go home. The minute it was clear we were going somewhere else she perked up. Honestly, for most of the ride I felt like I was on an old experienced trail horse. She was as good as gold. She looked carefully at the bank we had to walk down and then went down quietly. She looked carefully at the rather steep stream crossing and then walked quietly and carefully across, no jumping, no trying to move fast, just perfect. At one point she did spook a bit at a particularly black and suspicious cow pat. When I say "spook" I mean she stopped, looked at the cow pat , tensed up a tiny bit, looked at it again, put her head around to my boot to ask me if everything was ok, and when I said it was and encouraged her; she sniffed it, relaxed and walked on. That is the first time she has clearly asked for reassurance from me while I was mounted. Perfect. We rode through the herd of cows, passing several within a few feet with no incident. We watched the flock of turkeys without a spook or moving away, or any drama except stopping and looking. I never for an instant felt I needed to move the reins to the bit for more control, in fact quite the opposite. She accepted light contact with the reins and went where I directed her.
I'm thrilled. Maybe we will have issues next time, but for the mile we rode she was delightful. Very slow when we turned for home, but that was enough for one day.

ranunculus

Lots of tomatoes have set. Far more than last year at this time. I think it is because it has been quite cool all the way through June and the first few days of July. I'm expecting, and dreading, the arrival of very hot temperatures. I still have lettuce in the garden!
The first okra will be ready tonight or tomorrow morning.
Picked the first cucumber today, it was a pickling cucumber. The lemon cucumber, which was planted quite late, has started blooming. Meanwhile one of the Japanese thin skinned varieties, Shinto Kiwa has tiny fruit all over. Somehow I planted two of that kind and both vines are growing vigorously.
I'm ready to pull out the "Smooth Criminal" yellow squash. I don't like it's flavor or size. Ditto another summer squash, Zucchinio. Zuchinio is supposed to be both a summer squash and, if allowed to get big, a winter squash. As a summer squash it just tastes like it is green, with no other redeeming qualities. I'll replace it with another Butternut.
This morning, pre-snake activities, I added some big logs to the bottom of the 6' tank. Over the top of the wood is lots and lots of old potting soil and coconut coir mixed together. All that got wet down a little and then I added a nice layer of moisture holding, native soil that is rich in clay and mixed it in a little. Next: drip irrigation followed by planting, followed by horse manure for moisture retention.

cimorene

It's taken five years to caulk the seam between the two pieces of butcher block on our counter, so I had to dig a bunch of breadcrumbs out of it first with a fruit knife (it's right in front of the toaster). We also re-caulked the seam between the butcher block and the stainless part of the counter by the sink. (The sink is only a few cm from the edge of it, which is very bad design, and the edge of the butcher block there has inevitably suffered and swollen, as the caulk was never going to be adequate; there was no easy way to get the whole counter in stainless, but we should have figured it out anyway. Or alternately, just called up the companies that make tiles and fireplaces out of Finnish soapstone until we found one that would sell us a counter, even though none of them make counters.)

We also oiled the hinge of the bathroom door - the one modern, new door in the house - which has been squeaking for years (unlike all the other doors, which are from 1950 and work flawlessly). And then we glued the aluminum threshold down over the tile floor at that door - it was already loose when the contractors left because the initial adhesive they had used wasn't in contact with the front face of the cement under the tiles, because the tile sticks out a few mm proud of the subfloor. I scraped a layer of gummy glue off the back of the threshold (glue which had never stuck to the tile and instead became impregnated with dust and dirt), then applied some construction adhesive. It's extremely stinky upstairs now as it dries, even with the windows open.

But anyway, all that didn't even take all day. We've done a bunch of laundry and sat on the sofa cuddling cats in between. Can't believe it took us five years.

petra

( Spoilers )

Current Mood: cringing
Current Music: Singing the Sanctuary Moon theme song

mrkinch

There was sunshine not long after I got there, which was very welcome. Nothing exceptional turned up until I started up the Canyon. To my surprise the Red-breasted Nuthatch nest was still being attended; this time I saw two adults coming to the hole. Other juveniles noted were a couple of fledgling Wrentits, no longer chasing parents but sitting on bare twigs right out in the open as their parents would never do - I guess they have to learn to be skulky - and a Spotted Towhee, fluffy and still brownish and spotted.

( The list: )

No Common Ravens! It was very strange. They are always around and vocal.