calzephyr | Network

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.

.

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

rejectomorph

The rain has slowed to a sprinkle for now, but more showers are expected this afternoon, and rain is to continue off and on through Friday. In fact the region remains under a flood watch until then. There was actually a flood warning Sunday afternoon and evening, along with a high wind alert, but despite a fairly relentless rain and a few episodes of stormy downpours my apartment stayed dry and we didn't lose power.

The forecast is now saying Sunday and Monday will be mostly sunny, but if they are I'm sure we will suffer shock and perhaps many cases of temporary blindness as the unaccustomed light floods this place that has endured fog or rain for over a month now. I suspect that the population has a record number of cases of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I'm pretty sure I've got one myself. A couple of days of sun probably won't be enough to cure it, and we'll be back to rain after that brief respite, clear into the new year.

There are onerous tasks I need to do later today, and I'm currently indulging myself with an extra donut, as partial compensation. Safeway had a buy-one-get-one sale on my donuts this week, and so I have twice as many as usual. That should help me get through the next few days of grey. I also have Mexican cocoa, and a fresh bottle of brandy to pike it with, so my continued survival might not be entirely tragic, for the nonce.

What the hell is a nonce anyway? It sounds vaguely insulting. Oh, well, I guess it doesn't much matter, not at this late date. Not worth the effort of a Google. I'm just going to enjoy my extra donut and pretend that's all there is to life. Donuts and brandy-spiked cinnamon cocoa. Certainly Paradise enow?

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.

offcntr

I love the fact that, in the darkest days of the year, camellia bushes say, F**k this. We're gonna bloom!

Love you guys.

offcntr

I've always complained about how long my poticas take to rise. Four, five hours, sitting on a heating pad, or in a post-firing warm studio; my house doesn't feel that cold!

Finally, this time, I remembered reading in James Beard's Beard on Bread where he recommends using a tablespoon of instant yeast rather than the 2-1/4 teaspoons that come in the standard packet. Since this is a half-recipe of the dough, I bumped my yeast from 1-1/8 tsp. up to 1-1/2--half a tablespoon.

It worked! Dough was visibly puffy in half an hour, nicely risen by hour two. I've gone ahead and updated the potica recipe at my website to reflect the change.

conuly

So, I'm reading something about an abusive relationship. So toxic, in every tiny respect. But the commenters! You've got a handful of them happily chirping things like "Oh, Abuser is trying so hard! He's really just controlling because he's worried, but look, he's trying to make Abusee happy!" and we've got another handful saying things like "I don't get why Abusee doesn't just leave. I mean, he's in public, is he scared of getting hit? In public? Like, geez."

Like... do you people know what sort of story you're even reading? Or, in the latter case, do you know anything about humans!?

Some people should not be allowed to comment on anything. WTF.

(Though, that having been said, the very first rule of running away and changing your name is never pick a fake name that has any connection to your real life. And because of this, our protagonist got kidnapped back by his abuser and his goon squad. Again. Well, the plot had to happen somehow, I guess, but still.)

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

( Read more... )

bitterlawngnome

Hippeastrum 'Wild Amazone', amaryllis (N.L. van Geest B.V., 2019)
©Bill Pusztai 2025

A black backdrop, textured. On it a very pale blue-green celadon plate. On that, a pair of the flat type of persimmons, still attached to their twig. They have been on the tree quite late and so are a bit beat up, with cracks, scratches, and spots. There are water droplets on the plate.
Diospyris kaki, persimmon
©Bill Pusztai 2025

profiterole_reads

In Netflix's j-movie 10Dance, a ballroom dance champion and a Latin dance champion train each other and their partners to join the 10Dance competition.

It was pretty great, but the beginning felt too much like a caricature. They probably should have released it a month earlier, instead of in the middle of Heated Rivalry, where the writing/directing/acting is full of subtleties.

There's major m/m, and more to come if they keep adapting the manga.

minoanmiss posting in

agonyaunt

( Read more... )

Current Mood: annoyed

malurette

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

rionaleonhart

My household is celebrating House Christmas today, before most of us visit our respective families for Official Christmas, so it's time for the annual bad Christmas manip!

The James image I used as a base is a still from one of these gorgeous GIFs made by

stdismas! James is extremely pretty here. Possibly slightly less pretty once I've badly drawn a Father Christmas outfit onto him, but these are the sacrifices we must make in the festive season.

Merry Christmas, if you're celebrating! May you have a better time than James Sunderland. (I don't know exactly how James spends Christmas, but I feel there's a solid chance he spends it just like every other day: having an absolute psychological breakdown.)

poliphilo

November and December seem to have raced by- and now the Solstice is behind us.

We were at the Meeting House twice yesterday. After the morning meeting some of us went back into the Meeting Room and sang some carols. Ali is a piano-teacher- and the electronic keyboard that sits in the corner is getting some use at last.

And in the afternoon, as it grew dark, some of us gathered in the Meeting Room and sat in silence by candllight. We had so many candles!

Quakers don't observe festivals- only they do. Just as every member is a priest so every day is a holy day: that's the thinking and it's all very high-minded but we're only human and where's the harm in having fun? Note that only some of us carolled or did the candlelight thing. Friends don't fall out over inesentials- like beliefs and customs.

I'm not a Christian, only at Christmas perhaps I am. I doubt there was actually a stable and a star and shepherds in the fields and travelling magi, but that's not the point? This is myth and it's grand and glorious and it comes from a depth the rational mind can't plumb.

apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251221.html

Can you tell that today is a solstice by the tilt of the Earth?

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251221.html

girlgenius_main_feed

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20251222

The Girl Genius comic for Monday, December 22, 2025 has been posted.

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20251222

conuly

The music is great, but the plot + worldbuilding raises some issues that they don't bother to even attempt to address properly.

( Read more... )

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

( Read more... )

low_delta

The bake element burned out last Saturday. I ordered the replacement on Sunday, they shipped it Monday and it arrived on Tuesday. It was packaged badly and didn't survive some abuse by FedEx. That evening, I emailed the supplier to get a replacement. The company spent Wednesday and Thursday trying to get my model and serial numbers, while I told them to just ship the same as what I had already ordered. They finally verified the part by Thursday evening, shipped it on Friday, and we received it on Saturday.

I installed it today and the oven does not work. Neither the bake element nor the broiler element come on. I assume that the short that involved a minor explosion of metal caused a certain part of the computer to burn out. I did find a discussion on an appliance repair forum that said one of the wires leading to the bake element remains hot, even when the element is off. So that explains why that happened. And yes, they run 240 volts.

I looked up the controller and a new one costs $200. It would cost double that to get a repair person in, but at least I'd know for sure that it was going to be fixed or not. So we'll make some calls tomorrow. The big problem is that we're hosting Christmas dinner on Thursday, and have a ham to cook.

Profile

calzephyr

December 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Page Summary

ysabetwordsmith in birdfeeding - Birdfeeding
james_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: DIE the RPG
rejectomorph - 52/298: Noncy
offcntr - Smashing success
offcntr - The future of art
offcntr - For science!
offcntr - In bloom
offcntr - An update
conuly - I'm about ready to say something to the commenters to this fic
bitterlawngnome - (no subject)
profiterole_reads - 10Dance
minoanmiss in agonyaunt - Ask a Manager, Update: "is this guy harassing me or just annoying?
malurette - [livre] Un homme comme elle ~Alexis Hoedemaker
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 22-12-2025
rionaleonhart - I've Been Vastly Oversold On The Power Of Friendship.
poliphilo - A Quaker Solstice
apod_feed - (no subject)
girlgenius_main_feed - Girl Genius for Monday, December 22, 2025
conuly - Finally got around to watching Kpop Demon Hunters with E
low_delta - the oven saga

Style Credit

Base style: Paletteable by branchandroot
Theme: Full Sky by krja

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Dec. 22nd, 2025 08:54 pm

Got to be birds flying higher

in a sky more blue

Network

Birdfeeding

Bundle of Holding: DIE the RPG

52/298: Noncy

Smashing success

The future of art

For science!

In bloom

An update

I'm about ready to say something to the commenters to this fic

(no subject)

10Dance

Ask a Manager, Update: "is this guy harassing me or just annoying?

[livre] Un homme comme elle ~Alexis Hoedemaker

Interesting Links for 22-12-2025

I've Been Vastly Oversold On The Power Of Friendship.

A Quaker Solstice

(no subject)

Girl Genius for Monday, December 22, 2025

Finally got around to watching Kpop Demon Hunters with E

the oven saga

Profile

December 2025

Links

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags