Reading

Black Cherries by W. S. Merwin

Late in May as the light lengthens
toward summer the young goldfinches
flutter down through the day for the first time
to find themselves among fallen petals
cradling their day's colors in the day's shadows
of the garden beside the old house
after a cold spring with no rain
not a sound comes from the empty village
as I stand eating the black cherries
from the loaded branches above me
saying to myself Remember this

*******

Link

(no subject)

Watch on YouTube

There is a friending meme ongoing

Clicky!

Also, I meant to say re: the utilities that you are all the best and I absolutely love you :)

(Still need to call National Grid and still don't wanna.)

Entry tags:

us civics, frick museum, wiscon

Good afternoon, happy Tuesday! I finally spotted the morning doves again-- well, actually, one of the landed on the back porch and made eye contact with me through the sliding glass door, and then another dove dive-bombed the first one and they both flew off. Fun!

Got some links for y'all here! I'm experimenting with formatting this time. Is this easier to read, or worse?

siderea did an informal poll about some of the differences in educational systems in the US, with regards specifically to when civics was taught.

I did most of my schooling in Maryland and I took a civics class in 9th or 10th grade, but I'm pretty sure we went over some stuff before then in elementary school/middle school. We had mock presidential elections, for instance, so I'm sure we at least went over the stuff about voting.

I also remember seeing the Schoolhouse Rock video about how bills are passed, but I honestly can't remember where along my educational timeline it happened. I AM fairly certain a teacher showed it to us, though!

( More links under here )
Need more stuff to read? I've compiled all previous linkspam posts here on my website or of course you can explore the linkspam tag below.

Current Mood: amused

Out of Character Alert Meme

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

He's right.

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

I did the second most terrifying thing

and applied for a shitton of jobs. The worst they can do is call me a dipshit, and they probably wouldn't do that to my face. I think? Seems like a waste of time to call somebody up and say "You're terrible, how could you think we'd consider you?"

*****************

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

wonderbread manatee, solarpunk discord, marginalia

Happy Monday! It's pretty windy out today and I haven't see any of my usual animal friends (weird squirrel, quail family, morning dove horde) so I'm assuming they're hiding from the pollen. So am I, tbh.

First up, art! Here's a wonderbread manatee from

oddarette

Next, links!

Business Insider has an introspective article about the decline in quality of Lonely Planet guidebooks over the years.

Podcasting 101, which has all the stuff you'll need to just get started-- not worrying about making a commercial product or whatever, just getting your podcast off the ground.

I liked this post about realizing that human interaction has value, and that "Google it" isn't always the best thing to say.

From

formlessvoidbeast: I am King Big Dick of Fanfic Mountain (h/t The Rec Center) (also saved to my commonplace notebook here because I liked it so much)

Here's a tech-focused solarpunk Discord server to explore. I like how they have activities that aren't just coding (or whatever).

A new Project Gutenberg release that caught my eye: The up-to-date sandwich book: 400 ways to make a sandwich by Eva Greene Fuller! Definitely downloading and adding it to my cookbook collection.

I found another "old web search engine": Marginalia Search-- but it actually pulls up newer stuff-- and it even pulled up a Dreamwidth post! I NEVER see DW posts on Ecosia or Google or whatever, unless I specifically look for them.

Finally, some RSS feeds I've subscribed to recently:
clover.poe, a "a literary blog dedicated to submissions of #poetry, #prose, #essay, #photography and other digital artworks by internet users."

The IndieBlog directory has RSS feeds where you can get random posts for the day or week from blogs in its collection.

anhvn.com -- her weeknotes posts are charming!

My ListenBrainz account has an RSS feed...so I guess if you want to see what I'm listening to, you can do it without needing an account there! I have that feed set to show the latest 30 minutes of listens, but if you adjust the minutes you can see up to 8 hours' worth of music.

Interested in more links? I've compiled all previous linkspam posts here on my website.

Entry tags:

Book Review: Dido and Pa

I am happy to report that Joan Aiken had mercy after all, and started Dido and Pa with the reunion between Dido and Simon which she denied us at the end of The Cuckoo Tree. At long last they see each other again! They are delighted to be reunited and have a lovely supper at an inn.

However, their reunion is short-lived, as Dido hears a song that reminds her of her father’s tunes. She goes out to investigate (musing all the time that her father never played for her, not once, in her entire childhood) and runs into her father, who informs her that her sister is extremely ill! and wants to see her! so just get into this carriage and stop asking questions!

You will be unsurprised to hear that Dido’s sister is not ill. Indeed, Dido’s father has no idea where Dido’s sister is. He is kidnapping Dido to make her take part in another wicked Hanoverian plot. This plot has been slightly complicated by the fact that the last Bonnie Prince Georgie just died, oops, so the Hanoverians no longer have a contender to the throne, but never fear! They will come up with a way to plot wickedly anyway.

(I was reading a history book the other day which mentioned Hanoverians and I needed to pause a moment to remember that Hanoverians are (a) real and (b) not constantly wickedly plotting in real life.)

Dido’s father starts this book as a terrible father and only goes downhill from there. He is also music master to the Hanoverian ambassador and actually a wonderful musician and composer, which causes Dido painful confusion. How can he be such an awful person and such a wonderful artist? I feel you, Dido. If only the two were incompatible, things would be much easier for us all.

But he continues to be the worst, up to and including walking whistling away from a burning building with over a hundred children in the basement, while also being such an amazing musician that his music actually has healing properties. (Pity Queen Ginevra in The Stolen Lake didn’t discover the life-extending properties of music rather than porridge made from the bones of children.) Beneath the barmy plots, Joan Aiken is a stone-cold realist about the contradictions of human nature.

Current Mood: nostalgic

Someone is having a lot of fun

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

Ode to a Yellow Onion by C. Dale Young

And what if I had simply passed you by,
your false skins gathering light in a basket,
those skins of unpolished copper,
would you have lived more greatly?

Now you are free of that metallic coating,
a broken hull of parchment,
the dried petals of a lily—
those who have not loved you
will not know differently.

But you are green fading into yellow—
how deceptive you have been.

Once I played the cithara,
fingers chafing against each note.
Once I worked the loom,
cast the shuttle through the warp.
Once I scrubbed the tiles
deep in the tub of Alejandro.
Now I try to deciper you.

Beyond the village, within a cloud
of wild cacao and tamarind,
they chant your tale, how you,
most common of your kind,
make the great warrior-men cry
but a woman can unravel you.

****

Link

Moonpie insisted on being hand-fed today

Why is she like this.

**************************

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

garden,
update

Apres le deluge, moi

Thought I'd post some flowers to break up the politics! Here's me, who used to get all my news from destiel memes on tumblr, now following three substack blogs. But I figure when you're living through History, best to pay at least some attention. And even here in NZ we have right wing bastards in government trying to fuck things up. Wrote my first email to my MP, Health Minister, Labour & the Greens protesting a recent directive ordering our Health Service to refer to all pregnant people as "pregnant women". Tossers. Hope you're all looking after yourselves out there.

As predicted, the weather finally ended our almost-drought with a LOT of rain. And thunder and lightning, and some floods and slips but not where I live now (whew). At my old place in the bush we'd definitely have had power cuts but these days I can just listen to the pounding rain and crackling thunder and relax.

The autumn garden's losing many of its flowers and going a bit wild, but I've planted a bunch of seeds which might grow and eventually flower, what with Auckland having weird subtropical weather. We'll see. Also, it's time for violas again! I love violas and pansies with their many colours and little faces.

The tithonia (Mexican sunflower) beside my dalek compost bin is literally taller than the house. Possibly a world record! People keep offering to cut it back for me (neighbour, and the heat pump maintenance guy although it's not menacing the outside unit) but last year it produced huge plate-sized yellow daisies in May so I'm hanging in there for those to reappear (1 so far, hopefully many more). Makes it a little tricky to park my car but I can sort of nudge it in underneath the triffid. Here's the evidence!

huge green leafy plant over ten feet tall, partly obscuring a red car.

huge green leafy plant over ten feet tall, partly obscuring a red car.


Red chard - I cut it off at ground level so the roots could rot into the soil but, no, it's the second coming. Appropriate timing anyway!	Impatiens still cheerful by my door.

Leopard spotted liguria in rampant flower for the first time.	a super-late daylily being lovely.

Cayenne peppers in profusion - nearly too hot for me (well, a quarter of one in a stir fry is ok).	Mystery sweet pepper - a Yugoslavia with a dark stripe or a Sweet Chocolate with a red stripe?

Current Mood: amused

The Mysteries of Anatomy

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

Entry tags:

politics,
usa

Tell it, Barack

Watch on YouTube

So, due to a combination of things hitting at once we're overdue on both the electric and gas bills

Jenn's plan to self-set-up her own balanced billing + a random screwup with autopay that she didn't realize until we were in the hole + having to help a friend get out of an abusive relationship = omg.

I'm pretty sure that they legally can't actually shut us off until May 15th, and once we get the tax refund we can pay the entire past due bills... but there's no promise we will get that refund by that date, and I would be surprised if we do. I don't want to go a week without lights and hot water, or a fridge and stove.

I'm reasonably certain that if we pay even half the past due now, we can talk them into waiting for that refund. The entire total is something like $6k... I'm a little scared to look again, honestly. I just sorta glanced at the bills in horror.

I've got paypal and venmo, which is posted here, or if you can't see that and can and want to help out you can PM me. We can absolutely pay back (or forward!) as soon as that refund comes in. I know how much the refund is, it will cover these bills.

(I've also been sitting on posting this for a few days, so I better get it out before I chicken out again!)

Current Mood: tired

A thing to remember, a thing to forget

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

Current Mood: okay

Entry tags:

weekly proof of life

Weekly proof of life: media, adulting, food

Reading: Still working my way through The Spear Cuts Through Water--somewhere past the halfway point now.

Watching: I finished my Guardian rewatch!

scruloose and I finished season 1 of Kingdom and did indeed opt to hold off on season 2 until after we finish season 2 of The Last of Us. (Is Kingdom complete at two seasons? Anyone know offhand? Fear of spoilers makes me not want to search up the info.) We also saw the season premiere of TLoU and the first episode of The Pitt.

Playing: Because the evil 368chickens game keeps track and springs the number on you when you beat it, I know that when I finally rescued 368 chickens a few days ago it was after 454 tries. And for reasons that are not clear to me, the victory screen (at least in the browser version) also informs you that you can't play anymore and is all that shows if you reload. (There are ways around it, of course--incognito tabs, simply using a different browser, whatever--but it just seems weird to me. I have thus far avoided going back to it, but that just means returning to my default couple of games that I play endlessly when my brain is completely incapable of focus but needs to be doing something. >.<)

Adulting: Mid-week,

scruloose and I took the day off for my birthday and both dropped off our tax documents with our tax guy (bless our tax guy) and voted in the federal election at the Elections Canada office. I'm glad we got the voting taken care of so early--sounds like lineups for advance polls have been unusually lengthy this weekend (and here's hoping that's a good sign for the outcome!).

( under the cut: fruit and meat consumption (separately) )

It hit 80F today

That's insane for NYC April, right?

**************************

( Read more... )

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: the house that Frank built
Current Music: "too much is never enough" Florence and the Machine

Entry tags:

Wheel of Time OC: Tig

Tigraine Trakand Mandragoran
Commander of the Band of the Red Hand

( call her Tig )

Please feel free to ask questions. Point out typos, I'm finishing up typing this past my bedtime. Hopefully I'll have Kam and The Fox up later this week.