osprey_archer: (yuletide)
[personal profile] osprey_archer
I had the vague idea that A Time to Keep: The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays was a book of holiday celebration suggestions, and I suppose you could use it that way, but what it is really is a picture book of memories of Tasha Tudor’s holidays with her children. (Like the earlier Kate Greenaway, Tudor cheerfully clothes her children in the garb of an earlier and more picturesque era.)

She recalls dancing round the bonfire for the New Year; sugaring off in March; an Easter egg tree the decorated eggs of “goose, duck, chicken, bantam, and pigeon,” with tiny canary eggs at the very tip top. (What I would give for a sight of this tree in real life!) May baskets and Maypoles in May, watching the fireworks in the nearby village from the top of the hill on the Fourth, and her daughter’s birthday in August, with a stunning two-page spread showing the cake all glowing with candles as it floats down the stream.

Even if I had a stream, I don’t believe I would ever come up with the idea of floating a cake down it, or have the guts to do it. What if the cake capsized! But this is the difference between me and Tasha Tudor: Tudor doesn’t imagine what could go wrong, but how ethereally beautiful it would be if the cake floats down the stream all right.

A Halloween party for Halloween, with bobbing for apples and “pumpkin moonshines,” as Tudor calls jack-o-lanterns; and then Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, starting with the Advent Calendar and St. Nicholas Day (with St. Nicholas cake, whose existence I have hitherto not suspected), and a walk through the woods on Christmas eve to see the Christ child in a full size creche. And then back to the house for the Christmas tree, all glimmering with candles…

All of this is quite a lot of work, of course. A full size creche does not construct itself, and a Christmas tree with candles has to be fresh cut from the woods and watched like a hawk. But so much of the joy of holidays is in the work, if you feel the work not as a task that needs to be disposed of but a part of the celebration.
larryhammer: a wisp of colored smoke, label: "softly and suddenly vanished away" (disappeared)
[personal profile] larryhammer
For Poetry Monday:

Of the Shining Underlife, Carl Phillips

Above me, the branches toss toward and away from each other
the way privacy does with what ends up
showing, despite ourselves, of
who we are, inside.

                                          Then they’re branches again—hickory, I think.

                —It’s not too late, then.


First published in the July/August 2020 issue of Poetry.

---L.

Subject quote from Running Scared, Roy Orbison.

Amazing Spider-Man #105

21 Jul 2025 02:31 pm
iamrman: (Jeff)
[personal profile] iamrman posting in [community profile] scans_daily

Writer: Stan Lee

Pencils: Gil Kane

Inks: Frank Giacoia


Spider-Man stops Jonah from getting in to a fight with protesters and his natural response is to unleash a new Spider Slayer.


Read more... )

abyss_valkyrie: made by <user name=narnialover7> (Default)
[personal profile] abyss_valkyrie posting in [community profile] fandom10in30
  

Hi, guys! Round 59 has ended, but if anyone requires an extension, please let me know in the comments below.
Find out more information on this round here.
spikedluv: (summer: sunflowers by candi)
[personal profile] spikedluv
Posting these separately (and out of order) so that my Wednesday post isn't super long.


Book 66 of 2025: S'more Murder (Camping Girl Mysteries) (Josephine Beintema)

I enjoyed this book. spoilers )

I liked this book enough to read more, but not urgently. I’m giving it four hearts.

♥♥♥♥



Book 67 of 2025: Raspberry Chocolate Murder (Dolphin Bay Cozy Mysteries) (Leena Clover)

I enjoyed this book. spoilers )

This book came in an box set of three, so I’ll probably read the rest of the set, then decide whether to continue. I’m giving this book four hearts.

♥♥♥♥



Book 68 of 2025: Mozzarella Murder (A Rolling Dough Pizza Truck Mystery) (R.M. Murphy)

This book was pretty good. spoilers )

I enjoyed this book well enough, but I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series. I’m giving this book four hearts.

♥♥♥♥



Book 69 of 2025: Riddle in the Review (The Inn at Holiday Bay) (Kathi Daley)

Good book. spoilers )

I enjoyed this book and am giving it five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥


I DNF’d on cozy about 1/3 of the way through: Caramel Conspiracy (A Molly Sweetwater Mystery) (Sophie Love)
spikedluv: (summer: sunflowers by candi)
[personal profile] spikedluv
I did a load of laundry (washed, dried AND hung up!), hand-washed dishes, and scooped kitty litter before heading to mom’s ~10am. I stayed until my usual time of ~3pm. I washed, dried and folded (I can’t emphasize enough how big a deal it is that I managed to get a load dried and folded!) another load of laundry, hand-washed more dishes, and showered after I got home.

Supper was *drum roll* BBQ chicken quarters!! When I stopped to get the pulled pork yesterday, I had asked about the chicken bbq they held pretty regularly and was told next Friday, so Pip and I decided that's what we'd have for supper next Friday. Somehow I must have jinxed us, because Pip's buddy showed up with more BBQ chicken quarters yesterday, lol! So we're having chicken this weekend. Not sure if that means it's off the table for next Friday. o_O

I watched the second ep of Strange New Worlds and an HGTV program, and finished the Rivers of London book.

Temps started out at 69.8(F) and reached 92 (according to Pip; it was already over 80 when I left the house mid-morning, so it’s very possible). We had some very short bursts of rain; not enough to do more than wet things pretty good.


Mom Update:

Mom was feeling better today. more back here )

Not too many sharks

21 Jul 2025 10:49 am
liv: alternating calligraphed and modern letters (letters)
[personal profile] liv posting in [community profile] livredor
So what happened is that I semi-broke my Ubuntu install, and I tried to fix it without too much crying at my more technically competent partners. In process I expanded my knowledge and confidence, but ended up not being completely able to fix it on my own.

what happened and what I learned )

So I now understand what grub is, how to get to a terminal from a screen of death, and have some notion of the difference between dpkg and apt (though I am almost certainly not competent to actually drive them without help). And I now have a lovely well-behaved laptop running Ubuntu 24.04 with working sound and no sharks.

Feelings bottleneck

21 Jul 2025 12:46 pm
[personal profile] cosmolinguist

I am too full of feelings to work today.

I've been slacking lately, and the work that only I can do is building up. Which is just another thing to stress about.

The feelings today are about seeing the Zillow link for my grandparents' house, now up for sale. Just looking at the photos last night and the little "3d tour" that let me more or less walk around it again...I miss it so much.

And I'm really sad I can't go back to help my aunts (not my mom, who limits her involvement to continual refusals to be involved with this process at all while gripping about it constantly) clear it out.

I can so clearly imagine D and I flying back, him renting a car again, and just spending a few days doing some heavy lifting for my body and no doubt for my emotions too. It feels so plausible and easy. But it's also so distant because it's so impossible.

We're getting toward late summer, a time of year that will never feel right to me without a week of being around corn taller than I am, root beer floats, county fairs, black diamond watermelons, the fluffy summer clouds and the starry summer nights under wide horizons.

And every single time I went back I visited my grandparents' house, the roses next to the garage, the yard where I played so much as a kid... Where we spent every Christmas Eve, the adults playing cards until after midnight. Where we had to stay that summer when my mom was so sick she wasn't allowed to be far from the hospital and then I (6 years old I think) got chicken pox and my brother (who would have been 4) got some kind of intestinal bug and my grandma had to look after all of us. Where I listened to so many baseball games on the radio with my grandpa.

I knew every time I visited might be the last time I'd see my grandparents or then my grandma. But I never thought I'd visit that house for the last time without even knowing it.

Just one thing: 21 July 2025

21 Jul 2025 06:47 am
[personal profile] jazzyjj posting in [community profile] awesomeers
It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!

Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

Uncanny X-Men #224

21 Jul 2025 12:29 pm
iamrman: (Carol)
[personal profile] iamrman posting in [community profile] scans_daily

Writer: Chris Claremont

Pencils: Marc Silvestri

Inks: Bob Wiacek


Storm's search for Forge continues.


Read more... )

proof of life

21 Jul 2025 05:43 pm
in_seclusion: (screaming cat)
[personal profile] in_seclusion
There isn't much going on these days; it's still a lot of the same. But these days I spend my time sleeping, resting, doomscrolling, thinking, creating. I plan for a future that I'm not sure I want -- there are elements of it that I want, for sure, but I sometimes wonder if it's the mere act of planning for the future that is enough to send me into a spiral and a shut down.

nameless days )

smithing and femininity/gender presentation? )

i'm still so burnt out and burned by the life I left behind that I am ultimately looking for spaces that let me expand past all of it. I'm still not where I want to be, but I am a lot further from where I was. 

There are a lot more things that I want to write but I had acid reflux and need to eat so hopefully I'll check back in and brain dump again soon.

I haven't written anything about relationships or friendships even if that has been what I've been building most, mostly because it's still so personal and mostly because I can't put them into words yet. All I can say now is that I think my relationships are at the minimum more honest and at its best, stronger. I'm learning a lot more about myself these days, and how I can undo a lot of relationship wounding. But at the same time, I've learned to be more secure in my friendships, learning to be less awful to myself, learning how to feel present and safe with my friends. Learning how to let people in in the ways that really matter. My relationship with myself is what has changed most.

Even if the days are still hard, I have smiled more these days, and I'm seeing that there might come a time when I can be really happy. I am working to get there. I am trying my best. Please cheer me on.

今僕がいる未来に向けて


Word use question

21 Jul 2025 07:03 pm
fred_mouse: screen cap of google translate with pun 'owl you need is love'. (owl)
[personal profile] fred_mouse

I have another 'who is this regionalised to' question. I use 'pike' as a verb to mean 'cancel on a social event'. Youngest has learned this from me, but tells me that none of their friends recognise it. Many of their friends are immigrants or children of immigrants, but not all, so you'd think at least the Skips would know it.

So: do you use it? Do you consider it to be a normal regional word?

(I am out of time, so no poll to find out the frequency of use)

cap_ironman_fe: (Default)
[personal profile] cap_ironman_fe posting in [community profile] cap_ironman
Welcome to the 15th anniversary of Cap-IM Rec Week! We’re kicking off with CANONIZE THAT: fanart you think should be canon.  :

This week is all about SteveTony fanart that is so gripping, inspiring, and amazing that it SHOULD be canon – share your favorites that capture the essential magic of their relationship. 

To rec, simply REPLY to this or any other daily Themed post on any platform, or make your own reclist or post:

    DISCORD - use the #look-what-I-found channel
    TUMBLR - tag @cap-ironman in you rec post and use #capimrecweek
    BLUESKY - tag @cap-ironman in your post and use #capimrecweek
    DREAMWIDTH - the perfect option if you want to rec anonymously! 

Don’t forget to let us know why you’re reccing a work and please mark any major warnings. HAVE FUN curating. 
selenak: (Borgias by Andrivete)
[personal profile] selenak
The third volume in Jo Graham's series about Giulia Farnese is compelling Renaissance romp, full of fascinating personalities, political intrigue and emotional crisis. (You can read my review of the first Giulia novel here, and of the second here.) Incidentally, it's eerie how these novels fit with contemporary events. The last one which dealt with the papal elections, and one key point it makes was no, it does matter which candidate succeeds, sneering that one is like the other gets you into the abyss fast, and now this one features the French Invasion of Italy. (No need to name the many wars and invasions currently happening.) It coincides with the first big personal crisis between our heroine and her beloved, Rodrigo Borgia aka Pope Alexander VI., which Graham uses to expertly tie the personal and political story together.

Mild spoilers ensue )

Music@Menlo begins

21 Jul 2025 02:46 am
calimac: (Haydn)
[personal profile] calimac
The Menlo chamber music festival began on Friday, so I've got some catching up to do. Friday featured not a concert but a lecture. Aaron Boyd was to speak on the history of chamber music. I went because I'd heard Boyd lecture in past years: his profound erudition and eloquent lucidity always make for a delightful experience.

He began by saying that the size of the topic had thrown him for a loss. Seeking some guidance for a road through his topic, he turned to A.I. But while he tried a vast variety of prompts, he found that invariably the A.I. gave him what he called "completely useless blandnesses."

So, having already covered much of the central history in previous years' lectures, he focused on the edges. The first half was a prehistory, tracing from the first medieval definition of chamber music as any music played in private rooms, as distinct from church or theatrical music. (There were no public concerts then, apart from theatrical performances.) Instrumental music evolved from adaptations of vocal forms, and through Renaissance and Baroque forms like viol consort music and trio sonatas, chamber music as we'd know it had a long history by the time Haydn developed the modern string quartet; he didn't work in a vacuum.

The second half explored works fitting the definition of "late style" as coined by the critic Theodor Adorno, and then proposed that chamber music itself is in a "late style" crisis, identified by Milton Babbitt's infamous 1958 article, "Who Cares If You Listen?", proposing that new classical music should be addressed to a hermetic audience of specialists and not to the general pubic, hermetic obscurity being one of Adorno's hallmarks of "late style." Boyd went on to say that even the reaction against Babbitt's total serialism was still "late style": the general public isn't going to listen to a five-hour piece by Morton Feldman, either.

I think he's excluding a middle, here. The composers inspired by Feldman and Cage eschew their extremes too, and produce music that concert audiences want to hear, as any number of Menlo contemporary music concerts have demonstrated.

Still, Boyd is right in a larger sense, that even the general concert audience for classical music is a hermetic group now, preserving the relics of a grandiose lost past civilization we cannot re-create.

But there was some music on Friday after all, a Prelude concert by the International Program artists having preceded the lecture. A crunchy and urgent version of Beethoven's Piano Trio Op 1/3 was followed by Schumann's Piano Quintet with strikingly vehement solos in the slow movement by violist Sofia Gilchenok; I'll be looking out for her in later concerts.

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