calzephyr | Network

So, this is obviously very silly since I've been talking about Christmas and I'm obviously very aware of it coming up but, like. It truly only hit me today that the end of the year-- y'know, that event that always follows right after Christmas-- is also coming up.

I. am not ready, lol.

bitterlawngnome

I can feel it happening. Many artists enter - usually at the end of their career - a phase where they no longer govern themselves by the rules they know will make their work intelligible to others. Nowadays I often find I just want to photograph the light sliding across the backdrop from morning to night. It won't mean a damn thing to anyone else. But it's the utter essence of photograph, the light at an exact place and time.

days_unfolding

Note to self: print off Bella and Gracie’s shot records. Buy small stapler. Print boarding pass and luggage tag (all done).

Just read an article about the impact of aircraft fumes on people. Just the thing to read when you’re about to take a flight.

Kept hitting snooze on my alarm and got up at 6:30 AM. I’m thinking about going back to bed for a while. I am so not a morning person. I did go back to bed but couldn't sleep.

Had a bit of a panic when I couldn't find my phone, which I need for two-factor identification at work, this morning. I finally found it still plugged in by my bed. Whew. (And I need it for travel too!)

Now I can't stop yawning. It's another gray day. (My light box is supposed to come today.)

Ran my errands. Deposited cash at the bank. Ran into a snag at the post office. They wanted $71 to send the box with the blanket to

zhelana in Scotland, and I said, "No". Apparently the cashier goes to Scotland regularly. She said that last time she had to keep running around, and I said that I'm a "sit in a cafe and watch the world go by" kind of traveler, and she said that we should go to Scotland together.

I'll look for something for

zhelana off of her Amazon wish list. Anyone want a plaid throw blanket (US Only)? I think that it has paw prints on it. (I got it from the Humane Society.) Oh for god's sake. It said that my credit cards were ineligible to buy things off of her wish list. But I could use them overseas!

Got a pedicure and manicure. The color that I wanted broke, and the color we used for the pedicure is kind of a peach color that I don’t like. I picked out a mauve color for my fingernails, and that I like. Picked up a small stapler (for the luggage tag for the cruise) at Walgreens. Picked up my printer ink and cell phone charger at Best Buy. Picked up some feather toys for the cats at Walgreens.

I didn’t know that Tim Curry played Mozart in Amadeus, which I saw on Broadway.

Changed the printer ink and printed off the boarding pass and luggage tag for the cruise. I need to gather a few things, start a load of laundry, and go to bed.

bitterlawngnome

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shadowkat

Resting my knee tonight, so didn't do the exercises - did ice it, also did exercises at work. Also took a longer walk than I should have? I wanted to see if Trinity Church, Printemps, and NYSE had been dressed up at all for Xmas. It had, but minimalist in style. The over-blown festive decorations are apparently saved for Dyker Heights, my apartment complex lobby, and Midtown Shopping District. The Financial District is well...not exactly spendthrift when it comes to Christmas decor - and errs on the tasteful and minimalist side of the fence?

( The Financial District, Trinity Church and NYSE at Christmas Time )

After the walk - which included an ill advised journey to Insomiac Cookies, which was alas closed - my right knee/leg was killing me. It was my own fault - if I'd ended it five to ten minutes sooner, I'd have been fine. Plus it was cold outside. ( Would have been nice if Insomina Cookies had warned me that they were closed this week.) And I didn't even get any chocolate chip cookies. I wanted my cookies. Instead I bought a chocolate bar - which resulted in high blood sugar, the cookies were the better bet.

On the plus side (knee wise, at least) - I managed to schedule an MRI for January 4 at the Brooklyn location, and on a Sunday morning, no less. Go me. So not quite as far as the Manhattan one, and less steps. Also a followup appointment with the orthopedist at 2:30pm on January 9 (Friday). I'll probably have to take the day off. Unfortunately. Either that or take two hours of comp time. I only have 10 hours of comp time remaining. Currently have a PT appointment scheduled at 4:30pm after it, which I might cancel or try to reschedule. So got it a lot faster than expected.

2. Gave up on the Larry Silverstein book - the narrator was speaking in a monotone, and I was having troubles following it. Jumped over to Tim Curry's autobiography entitled "Vagabound" - which Curry was reading himself, only one small problem? He'd just suffered a stroke. After about an hour and a half, I gave up. I can't do 10 hours of that - it was painful listening to him. So, I jumped over to Angelica Huston's autobiography/memoir, The Story of Me - which is a two party, and read by Huston, to high acclaim. She has a lovely voice, and it's beautifully written. Also very interesting - since she talks about her parents, the acclaimed actor, film director and writer, John Huston, his wife a prima ballerina, his father, an acclaimed actor, and their friends. It talks a lot about old Hollywood - during the 1950s. I just finished a chapter, where she talks about how her father, along with Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, etc - formed an organization supporting the First Amendment - to speak out against the McCarthy Hearings and the infamous Hollywood Blacklist. This also resulted in Huston leaving the US, and filming outside of it, and living outside of it for the remainder of his life. Huston married Angelica Huston's mother when he was 40 years of age, and her mother was 18 years of age, and a prima ballerina at the premier ballet company in the US which later became the NY Ballet.

Angelica Huston doesn't tell so much as show? She relates the facts, and lets the reader figure it out. Reminds me of Paul Newman's memoir in that respect. It's well written.

3. Progressing along in my rewatch of Buffy S5. Some takeaways, after seeing I was Made to Love You and Crush.
( still pondering the contradictions in Crush and in IWMTLY )

mellowtigger

I don't know if Minnesota is entering your news feed stories recently, but news and social here are filled with incidents involving either ICE or the financial thefts from charities. There are claims and counter-claims from different government entities, there are videos of incidents, and there are claims of government lies and AI-manufactured content. It's hard to know what to believe as fact. Reddit threads for Minneapolis and the Twin Cities have become a home for ICE reports instead of traditional community topics. A few days ago, there was this ICE raid about 2 blocks from my house. I can offer only my good thoughts to the thousands of people who showed up at a recent protest.

I don't have the mental stamina to sort through it all.

I will say, though, that a week or two ago, during my Christmas walk (too much walking) through the snow, I finally visited the offices of the Nonviolent Peaceforce, where I donated during GiveToTheMax day. I chatted with a nice young man there at their front desk. A significant part of their funding was federal money that ended with the defunding of USAID fiasco (a terrible thing, even according to Harvard). Their office in Minneapolis will shut down. I'm not sure how much longer they'll still keep their spot a few blocks northwest of me, but they may be keeping an office in California as their only USA location.

The cruelty is the point. The banned word list from this Republican-controlled government is meant to erase compassion, community, and true justice from our thoughts, our actions, and especially our standards for holding leaders accountable.

wtfjht_feed

Posted by Matt Kiser

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2025/12/22/day-1798/

Day 1798

Today in one sentence: On Friday, the Justice Department released a limited batch of records from its Jeffrey Epstein investigations, conceding it didn’t meet the legal deadline to disclose the full file as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act; on Saturday, the Justice Department temporarily removed at least 15 files from its public “Epstein files” site, including an image that showed a photo of Trump with Epstein, Melania Trump, and Ghislaine Maxwell, before later restoring that Trump-related image; on Sunday, JD Vance refused to condemn antisemitism in the conservative movement, saying there should be no “purity tests” beyond "love America"; the U.S. military launched retaliatory strikes on more than 70 suspected Islamic State targets in Syria; CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss pulled a fully produced “60 Minutes” investigation into alleged abuses at El Salvador’s CECOT prison hours before it was set to air; and the Trump administration on stopped federal leases for five offshore wind projects already under construction along the East Coast, citing unspecified national security risks.

1/ On Friday, the Justice Department released a limited batch of records from its Jeffrey Epstein investigations, conceding it didn’t meet the legal deadline to disclose the full file as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The material included photos, phone logs, and interview records, many heavily redacted Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress the department needed more time, writing that “the volume of materials to be reviewed” made full compliance impossible by the deadline. Lawmakers from both parties, meanwhile, rejected that explanation, calling the disclosure “disappointing” and warning that Congress was weighing legal options to force compliance. Nevertheless, the White House defended the partial rollout as evidence of transparency, claiming it was doing more than prior administrations to make the files public. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)

2/ On Saturday, the Justice Department temporarily removed at least 15 files from its public “Epstein files” site, including an image that showed a photo of Trump with Epstein, Melania Trump, and Ghislaine Maxwell, before later restoring that Trump-related image. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed the removal “has nothing to do with President Trump” and said the department removed images after victim advocates raised concerns about unredacted women. The Justice Department said it reposted the image after deciding there was “no evidence that any Epstein victims are depicted in the photograph,” but it hasn’t fully explained why the files vanished without a public notice in the first place. Lawmakers, meanwhile, accused the Justice Department of “selective concealment” and “covering up things that, for whatever reason, Donald Trump doesn’t want to go public.” Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna said they’re drafting a measure to hold Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt for what Massie called “flouting the spirit and the letter of the law.” (Associated Press / NBC News / CNBC / Politico / Axios / Washington Post / Associated Press)

3/ On Sunday, JD Vance refused to condemn antisemitism in the conservative movement, saying there should be no “purity tests” beyond “love America.” In his closing speech at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest, Vance said Republicans “have far more important work to do than canceling each other,” declining to set any boundaries as activists debated whether to exclude figures such as Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist and Holocaust denier. The comments followed days of public infighting, including Ben Shapiro accusing Tucker Carlson of elevating antisemitic conspiracy theorists, and Steve Bannon calling Shapiro a “cancer” on the movement. Turning Point USA leader Erika Kirk, meanwhile, publicly endorsed Vance for president, even though he hasn’t declared, Trump is still in office, and no primary field exists yet. (Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)

4/ The U.S. military launched retaliatory strikes on more than 70 suspected Islamic State targets in Syria. The Dec. 19 strikes follow the Dec. 13 attack in Palmyra that killed two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter, and wounded three other soldiers. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth framed the mission as punishment, saying, “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance.” (Reuters / ABC News / CNN / Politico / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)

5/ CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss pulled a fully produced “60 Minutes” investigation into alleged abuses at El Salvador’s CECOT prison hours before it was set to air, saying the story needed additional reporting and on-the-record participation from Trump administration officials. The segment, which focused on the deportation of Venezuelan men under Trump’s immigration policy, had already cleared legal, standards, and multiple editorial reviews. In an internal email, the program’s correspondent, Sharyn Alfonsi, condemned the decision as political, writing, “If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient.” Weiss, meanwhile, told staff she pulled the piece because it “was not ready” and lacked sufficient on-the-record participation, saying it would air at a later date after more reporting. (NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico)

6/ The Trump administration on stopped federal leases for five offshore wind projects already under construction along the East Coast, citing unspecified national security risks. The Interior Department said the suspension blocks projects in Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Rhode Island, and Connecticut that together represent about $25 billion in investment and were expected to power millions of homes. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum claimed the action was necessary because “the prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” adding that offshore wind near population centers created security vulnerabilities. (Associated Press / New York Times)

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Four years ago today: Day 337: "It checks all the boxes."
Five years ago today: Day 1433: "It appears to be significant."
Eight years ago today: Day 337: Very intense.

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https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2025/12/22/day-1798/

maju

Ugh, it took me a couple of hours to fall asleep last night. Once I got to sleep I slept well though. The alarm dragged me awake - I heard and felt it vibrating several times before I woke up enough to turn it off. This has never happened with this particular alarm before; usually I wake up at the first vibration (as far as I can tell). My cold is following the usual course of a cold and I'm snuffly and sneezy today but not feeling too bad. I took a Sudafed PE nighttime pill last night and it seemed to dry things up for an hour or two, but after that I think it wore off. I had been thinking of taking a second one after four hours if I happened to wake up around the right time, but when I did wake up during the night I didn't feel like wrestling with one of the horrible child-safe blister packs the pills are in.

I also took a couple of the daytime Sudafed tablets during the day today and I think they helped slightly with the congestion. However, I'm afraid they might have affected my cognitive abilities even though they are supposed to be safe for daytime use. I took my car for a drive after lunch (maybe an hour or two after taking one of the pills) because it was more than a week since I'd last used it, and at one point I found myself quite unconsciously driving on the left instead of the right. Luckily I was on very quiet low-speed neigbourhood roads, but I was unpleasantly surprised when a car came around a corner on the same side of the road as me and I instantly realised I was the one in the wrong. This has happened once or twice before, plus once when I was in Australia I found myself unconsciously driving on the right. On busy roads there are plenty of cues as to which side of the road I should be on, but on deserted or nearly deserted roads it's all too easy to default to the wrong side.

The girls were all excited this morning because Eden was opening her birthday gifts before school. This afternoon her mother has taken her out of school for the final couple of hours, and tomorrow after school she is having a party. Very exciting times.

loganberrybunny

Public

325/365: Yarnbombed pillar box, Stourbridge
Click for a larger, sharper image
This is a "yarnbombed" pillar box on the platform at Stourbridge Junction station. The actual box isn't visible here, but the knitted topper is the important bit in any case. It's a very festive example and it certainly gave me a smile today. :)

Current Mood: calm

cosmolinguist

Thanks for the nice comments on the previous entry. They, along with just writing it out in the first place and D holding me tight (normally I am the big spoon but he did a great job at it last night!) helped me have an okay night.

D had asked me, after we turned the lights off, if there was anything I wanted to do today -- the family had no real plans beyond making the homemade vegan wellington for my birthday dinner that D's sister had suggested and I'd gotten excited about before I remembered quite how much work it was last year, oops. But D and I helped and it felt a lot less of a production this year.

Anyway, before that we had no plans and I thought it might be nice to get out of the house and see something of Birmingham. We didn't actually make it as far as the city centre but the local high street allowed D to browse charity shops while I got a long-overdue haircut (I went from the longest hair I've had in quite a while to the highest skin fade I've maybe ever had, so it feels like a dramatic difference!), and we went for a very nice birthday lunch.

My birthday present from D might still be trapped in DRM hell but he told me what it is, and The Feminist Art of Walking by his old pal Morag goes very nicely with the birthday present I've already gotten from angelofthenorth, of short walks/hikes around Greater Manchester. I also got a bookshop.org voucher from D's mum, which can be added to the one that comprised the other part of my birthday present from Miriam, so I have to decide what to get there too, which is so fun.

Weirdly, my birthday also marks a year since Gary died. It feels so long ago but also I can still conjure him so clearly in my memory, and there probably hasn't been a day all year that I haven't thought of him. I still miss him so much.

I've had a much better day, and I'm looking forward to being home tomorrow.

greghousesgf

I seem to be finally getting over this dumb flu I've had for the past few days so I went to Trader Joe and got groceries including fruit and candy to pass around at the apt bldg Xmas party. These parties have been mostly lame for a few years now but at least I get some free food out of it. I miss the parties I used to have at Xmas with my friends. Those were way more fun.
Thank you so much to my friends who sent me Xmas cards! They were all super cute!

Current Music: the Ramones

lydamorehouse

Image: Classice Yule Log with three white candles, bedecked with boughs and ornaments (surrounded by silver reindeer).

HAPPY SOLSTICE to all who celebrate. And those who don't? I hope you had a lovely Sunday all the same.

Our Solstice was much as it is most years--a quiet, family affair. We have some traditions, the first of which is making rosettes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosette_(cookie)). I have attached the Wikipedia article if you have no idea what a rosette is--it is, in fact, a deep fried cookie. Personally, if done well, I think they taste amazing, like sugar and AIR. Because, basically, the batter is ultra, ultra thin and you use a cookie iron to to crisp up a lot of vanilla and sugar-flavored nothing. Our recipe actually comes from a class I took on Christmas cookie making several years ago, but very likely (this being Minnesota) comes by way of Norway, though possibly Sweden or Finland.

The cookie making class is memorable because I was the youngest person in the room. I really figured that probably I'd be the oldest, since I presumed things like rosette, pizelles, krumkaka, etc., were the sorts of things that grandma would pass on and, maybe, it skipped a generation. Nope. It was me an all older ladies and on older guy who kept telling everyone that he took the class hoping to pick up a lady. (Yep, he was that old.) Anyway, me and all the older folks all had a lovely time and I was really only there for the hidden rosette knowledge because everyone agrees there is "a trick to it."

And, there is.

The trick is making sure the irons are hot first--but also not too coated in oil. But that little layer of hot oil will, in fact, help them come off. In fact, ours often just fall off the iron into the bubbling hot oil. So, we always have to have tongs to hand.

Mason and I making rosettes 2025

Image: me patiently waiting for the bubbles to slow down the appropriate amount. Mason in the forground. Our kitchen all around and a few exampes of the cookies drying on the paper towels. The irons come in a lot of shapes--star and flower/rosette shown. Not pictured is the Christmas tree.

We never want the rosette process to be arduous so we only make as many was we feel up to, call it good enough, and then I usually make a fun lunch like deep-fried shrimp. We have charcuterie for our Solstice dinner meal, light our Yule log (pictured above), open presents, and then take a bit of the Yule light upstairs in a safe, insulated container and keep the light burning for the longest night.

I like to joke: if the sun came up on December 22, thank a pagan!

Our Solstice gifts are always books. There is a version of the Icelandic Yule Cat where the present you must recieve is not new clothing, but a book. We decided to adopt that tradition. Mason got a Terry Prachett book (and a gift certificate for Uncle Hugos) because he's been on a Pratchett kick lately; Shawn got the last and final Phil Rickman novel The Echo of Crows; and I got Bad Gays: A Homosexual History by Hew Lemmy and Ben Miller. My gift is one I asked for because I've really enjoyed their podcast by the same name.

Also as is traditional, someone's present must include the Solstice wrench. It has been Mason for many years, now, in part, I think because we started using it to baffle a child who could very distinctly tell the shake of LEGOs.

You can keep your King's Cakes, we have the Solstice Wrench!!

By chance our friend John J. sent along a bunch of other book-related presents and so we opened those at Solstice as well.

Shawn inspecting a gift

Image: Shawn inspecting a surprise gift (one of many!) from our friend.

A lovely time all around.

So, again, I hope you all had a lovely Solstice. If not, we can all enjoy the return of longer days. More sunshine! Hooray!

china_shop posting in

fan_flashworks

Title: Look and Feel
Rating: M-rated
Length: 1280 words
Acknowledgements: Much thanks to

trobadora for beta! <3
Tags: Episode Related, Episode 4, Masturbation, Vague hints of D/s, Handcuffs, Non-explicit fantasies
Summary: Unbidden, he pictures Shen Wei alone in the interview room, composed, proud, and patient.

( Look and Feel )

ribirdnerd posting in

birdfeeding

Sunday was more mild than usual so it was nice to take a walk and see some birds along the trails - White breasted Nuthatches, Blue jays, Tufted Titmouse and Chickadees.

Today it is cold and windy again and not much going on except for some House Sparrow and Blue Jays.

ysabetwordsmith posting in

birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and cool.

I fed the birds. I put out a new suet cake. I've seen a huge flock of mostly sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I filled the trolley twice with berry-laden twigs from the brushpile in the parking lot, and put those in the firepit.

I saw the great horned owl fly from somewhere near the parking lot into the trees around ritual meadow. I heard woodpeckers squeaking but didn't see them.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

james_davis_nicoll

The DIE roleplaying game designed by the Image comic's creators, Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, plus three volumes of adventures for an unbeatable bargain price!

Bundle of Holding: DIE the RPG

doonesbury_alt_feed

https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2025/12/22/

offcntr

We had our annual Pottery Smash on Sunday, before the Market opened. It's a charity auction to benefit Market's Kareng/Caring Fund, an emergency relief fund for artists in need. Four long tables of donations, mostly pottery, but also some glass, prayer flags, duck and beaver and frog flappy kids toys, canned albacore. We always bring a few completely unsalable pieces, for the joy of smashing. When the bidders starting getting drowsy, a little Crash! wakes 'em right up. And then there's the vendor who bids on pots specifically to break them. When Nome is bidding against someone, it tends to run up the price.

I took last year off from auctioneering, didn't have the energy, so they recruited Kevin, the partner of one of the clothing artists, who brings a lot of manic energy to the mix. Potter Jon and I were both back this year, though Alex was just recovering from a hospital trip, so Fiona did his shifts. Between the four of us, we managed to clear the tables with two minutes to go before opening. Just time to sweep up the shards and tally the sales--over $5000.

offcntr

A mom and eight or nine-year-old daughter stopped in my booth Sunday, asking if I had a yarn bowl for grandma? I had exactly one, in the bottom box of the stack. I don't usually put them out until I've run out of something else--there isn't room--but I do like to have them. As I'm digging it out, I ask, Can you guess what animal is on it? Daughter has no guess, but Mom says Cat! With a ta-daa! I show that it is indeed a cat, tuxedo kitty leaping at the yarn hole. They're both delighted, but Dad has the card, so Mom has to track him down. Does daughter want to come with? No, she'll stay in the booth, holding the bowl.

So we talk a bit. Her name is Clara, and she makes art too. Drawings, mostly, though she'd recently started playing with watercolors, so I show her our watercolor cards. Her Grandma is an artist too, and gets her whatever art supplies she wants to try next; they're doing watercolors together. And this past summer, she and a friend set up an art sale table on their front lawn, and made $20! Which they split evenly. I tell her I'd love to see her art someday; she says maybe she'll get a booth here next year! In the meantime, I suggested she take a few pictures and email them to me, to which she agrees.

If she follows through, I'll definitely share them here.

offcntr

I sold a tyrannosaurus bank to a paleontologist on Saturday.

Best. Day. Ever.

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calzephyr

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Got to be birds flying higher

in a sky more blue

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Last Day of Work This Year

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Can't think of a bloody title...

not much of an update

Day 1798: "Covering up things."

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Yarnbomb!

44

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Life and Such

Thirst: Guardian: fanfic: Look and Feel

Birds

Birdfeeding

Bundle of Holding: DIE the RPG

Doonesbury for Monday, December 22, 2025

Smashing success

The future of art

For science!

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December 2025

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