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wordy wednesday

Word: Camphoric

Wednesday's word is...

...camphoric.

1. pertaining to or derived from camphor.

That's not helpful because I don't know that I know and/or remember what camphor is like. This was one of my prompts in my last Yahtzee roll. I was mainly interested in how it's used. And I discovered it is mainly perfume descriptions:

As soon as I sprayed it on I felt the presence of the original, in the heavy, bitter almond opening standing in for that famous camphoric tuberose-anise-incense blast.

Facing Down the Beast: Dior Hypnotic Poison, Marina Geigert, 2009

Narcissus is here, but it's the earthy, almost camphoric kind, not the sweeter type.

Perfume-Smellin' Things Perfume Blog, 2010

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spinning and carding adventures

I was asked by a family member for an attempted cotton and bamboo floof blend; I don't have the skill yet to make that "cohere" because of the fibers' opposite-ness (cotton: "sticks" to each other but very short staple length; bamboo: slippery as all get-out, long staple length). So I experimented with carding (not measured, guesstimated):

- 40% bamboo fiber (I realize this is glorified rayon/viscose/?), white and shiny
- 40% cotton, white and floofy
- 20% mystery wool from the inherited stash (navy blue: it feels similar to Corriedale)

Bear in mind I'm new to fiber preparation so this is doubtless suboptimal as well; I went into this in a spirit of "Let's see what happens."

Pleasingly, I was right: adding a longer-staple and "stickier" fiber (the navy blue wool) helped the resulting single yarn "cohere" without constantly breaking apart in glorious but, well, broken six-inch lengths.

Left: tahkli supported spindle, since I wanted a break from the spinning wheel. The spun grey-blue blend was lopped off so I could send a small, lumpy sample to the family member who was interested in a cotton-bamboo blend for crochet as it wasn't clear whether a low percentage of wool would make the resulting (lumpy beginner) yarn too scratchy to be borne.

Right: puukko, honestly my most used non-spinning-device tool for spinning. I keep tangling up poor sacrificial fiber and then having to cut my way free.

I don’t know what you’re going through, but problems are like rain. Some days it pours h

https://beyondthisdarkhouse.tumblr.com/post/787364747860377600

khaoala:

I don’t know what you’re going through, but problems are like rain. Some days it pours hard. But trust me, there will always be a day when it stops.
MILK PANSA as WAN THANTARA and LOVE PATTRANITE as MAEWNAM
episode 1 of WHALE STORE XOXO

https://beyondthisdarkhouse.tumblr.com/post/787364747860377600

(no subject)

https://beyondthisdarkhouse.tumblr.com/post/787364586847453185

sacred-portal:

https://beyondthisdarkhouse.tumblr.com/post/787364586847453185

A new strawberry friend 🍓

https://beyondthisdarkhouse.tumblr.com/post/787364446798544896

seaprincess-selkie:

A new strawberry friend 🍓

https://beyondthisdarkhouse.tumblr.com/post/787364446798544896

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books

Reading Wednesday

Currently reading Finding Hester by Erin Edwards, about the making of the musical Operation Mincemeat, the group of fans whose crowdsourced research discovered that the MI5 secretary identified as Hester Leggett in Ben Macintyre's nonfiction account of Operation Mincemeat (and subsequent adaptations, including the musical) was actually named Hester Leggatt, and her life story that they uncovered, as well as biographical details about the other real-life figures featured in the musical. (In one particularly charming note: Ewen Montagu's descendants are fans of the musical, with one of them actually participating in the fan Discord that hosted the #FindHester research efforts.) This is a love letter to online fandom at its best - finding people to collaborate with on a passion project - and to archival research, and a charming tribute to one of history's proverbial forgotten well-behaved women.

Made some progress in Caroline Fraser's Murderland, which continues to be less focused on serial killers of the 1970s Pacific Northwest than I had expected; instead, the most recent chapter I finished touched on Dune (which I've also been neglecting), the Vietnam War, and Fraser's childhood daydreams about killing her abusive father. So, yeah, still pretty grim and intense.

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author: w,
fiction

"Sundial" by Catriona Ward

I don't actually remember where I saw Catriona Ward's Sundial recommended, but it was somewhere and convincing enough to get it on my TBR. I finished the audiobook this week so it's time to reflect.

Sundial is a domestic psychological thriller which focuses on the relationship between the protagonist Rob and her eldest daughter Callie. Or at least, that's what the novel summary posits. A good 50% or more of the book is actually about Rob's youth and her relationship with her childhood family, primarily her twin sister, Jack. I didn't get that at first, which led to me being slightly frustrated by the length of the "flashback" sections until I realized that they were at least half the true focus of the story.

Ward excels in capturing the petty toxicity of a domestic environment gone sour. Especially deftly handled are the ways in which a partner can wound in such seemingly mundane ways. Many of the exchanges between Rob and her husband, Irving, come off as completely innocuous to an outsider, but to the two people in the relationship, who have the context for these seemingly nothing interactions, the full cruelty of them is on display. This adds completely believably to the tension between Rob and Callie, who has long favored her father, and who sees her mother's responses as hysterical overreactions, because she doesn't have the context that Rob does. Ward also very neatly portrays a truly vicious marriage, where both parties have given up pretending they want to be together, at least to each other, and where the entire relationship has become an unending game of oneupsmanship, trying to get one over on your spouse.

Adding to this suffocating atmosphere is Callie, a very strange 12-year-old who is starting to exhibit some very troubling behavior, particularly in her interactions with her 9-year-old sister, Annie. Rob has always struggled to connect with Callie—in contrast with Irving, who happily spoils her to force Rob to be the bad guy enforcing boundaries—but when Callie is thought to have attempted to poison Annie with Irving's diabetes medication, Rob decides it's time she and Callie have a real heart-to-heart.

So she takes Callie on a mother/daughter trip to Rob's childhood home, Sundial, an isolated family property out in the Mojave desert.

( Read more... )

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Fic: Too Many Clones (The Losers/SGA)

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

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Lake Lewisia #1269

Every night, she saw visions of the End, sketched out in blood and muzzle flash and chains forged link by callous link by people who called themselves saviors and heroes. Every morning, she fed the chickens and brought the neighbor their mail and taught herself to fix the sink when it broke. This was not a contradiction, nor an abdication, but as natural and right a response as taking the next breath.

---

LL#1269

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daily

Daily Check-in

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Wednesday, June 25, to midnight on Thursday, June 26. (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #33291 Daily Check-in

Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 19

How are you doing?

I am OK.
13 (68.4%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now.
6 (31.6%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single.
8 (42.1%)

One other person.
7 (36.8%)

More than one other person.
4 (21.1%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

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SqWA Fundraiser: SG-1 & Doctor Who

Expert on Loan (300 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Doctor Who, Stargate SG-1
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Tegan Jovanka, Samantha "Sam" Carter
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Triple Drabble
Summary:

Sam is waiting for UNIT's adviser.

Expert on Loan

Sam Carter didn't quite know what to expect as she waited for a so-called civilian adviser at an upper level of the base. She was still not fully in the loop concerning recent alliances with a paramilitary and scientific project out of the United Kingdom that called themselves UNIT. That the two groups had agreed, provisionally, to assist one another in research about alien encounters was good enough for General Landry to extend courtesy of the base to this adviser.

An airman finally brought the adviser to her, and Sam had studied the woman as she walked in. Mature, short hair, functional but feminine outfit and make-up as well as shoes that wouldn't break her neck if she started running was a good start. The woman gave a smile that Sam could only term as 'professional' to the airman, before sizing Sam up with knowing eyes.

"Tegan Jovanka, and you're Sam Carter. You're my liaison here, and I've been asked to work with you on deciphering petroglyphs from the Outback. Warning you now, I don't much care for ranks and military nonsense," she said firmly. "Kate's father was about the only one I ever respected enough to grant his rank to him."

Sam laughed, even as she ran that against what she had been told of this partnership. This woman had to mean the head of that project, as it had been more militaristic under the current leader's father.

"Some people will be testy about it, but not me. I only insist with jackass men that just see a pair of tits," Sam said, going for informal and brassy… and felt the other woman shift gears, the smile becoming something more real and warm.

"A good way to do it," Tegan told her. "Let's go get me settled, then work!"

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SqWA Fundraiser: ST:TOS

Plans for Reconciliation (300 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Trek: The Original Series
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Amanda Grayson
Additional Tags: Triple Drabble, Introspection
Summary:

Amanda is reviewing the data, and planning.

Plans for Reconciliation

It was not, she decided for her own sanity, a matter of pride. Pride implied emotion, and Sarek was a man who never, ever let emotion rule his life. Amanda's mouth almost twitched into a smile, remembering their courtship, and how carefully controlled he had been, belying that 'fact' of her husband's existence.

Given that Sarek was firmly wedded to the concept of the Federation, a bastion of support as more systems were explored and invited to join them, it was not that aspect causing this fracture of family unity.

She was certain that Sarek had merely mapped out a logical path of progression for their son, and was struggling with the consequences of Spock choosing a different path. The echoes of his first son had no doubt pushed him to look at himself, placing blame there, even as he rejected Spock's choices as illogical.

Blame was another emotionally tinged word, less clinical than 'fault' or 'error', and yet Amanda did have some awareness of her husband's need to seek perfection in all things. To have a second child reject the clear path ahead was a data point too many in Sarek's calculations of the universe.

It could also, she conceded, be that Spock's choice of Starfleet, not aboard a Vulcan science vessel, would put their son in the path of having to choose violence, something her husband rejected deeply. He fully embraced Surak's teachings, and saw force of arms as a barbaric necessity at best.

Amanda would have to carefully follow Spock's career, as the deeds he would perform came to light, so that when — and she knew eventually it would happen — Sarek capitulated to the choice, she could show him their son's commitment to avoiding violence as much as possible.

Yes, she would do that, for their reconciliation.

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minnesota

campus

It rained in the morning, steadily, not a downpour.

Lunch was at Don's Cafe, highly recommended on FB. I had a ham and cheese sandwich, on homemade bread, delicious! No fries - thankfully. (So says my stomach, after last night.)

By 3:00 it had cleared up, though the temp never got over about 63F/17.2C. We drove to campus, found some visitor parking, and stopped at the Welcome Center to get a map and chat with the student at the Welcome desk.

Although much has changed over the years,

ordenchaz recognized buildings around the mall area - and also her dormitory. (It was new, she said. Student: It's not new anymore!)

She also remembered the music building, which is now the Multi-Ethnic Resource Center. This is the oldest building on campus. It was the boy's dormitory when the campus was an Indian boarding school run by an order of nuns.

The history of the campus land once being part of the Indian boarding school system was downplayed if not ignored, but it's acknowledged now. There is a touching statue of Nookomis (Grandmother) and a little boy in boarding school clothes, and a girl clinging to Grandmother, resisting. An explanation is given in the languages of the child 'boarded' here (taken), as well as English. The children were from the Turtle Mountain bamd/rez of Ojibwe in North Dakota, and the Sissteton-Wahpeton Dakota from South Dakota.

-

Current Mood: busy

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Ceramics

I spotted this video about harvesting, shaping, and firing wild clay. I did that back in high school at Ancient Lifeways Camp. It was a lot of fun to dig and clean the clay, then make things. Our theme was Sumeria, so we made oil lamps (harder than you'd think) and cuneiform quotes. I also made a ceramic goddess figurine. We used a pit fire, which helps keep the temperature more stable. If you have a source of natural clay, this kind of project is well worth trying.

Current Mood: busy

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Artificial Intelligence

Latest new exhibits in the LLM-Generated Garbage hall of shame

Featuring Santa Claus and reindeer.

Warning: Do not read with mouth full!

Current Mood: good
Current Location: Home and on my corner of the couchF
Crossposts: https://mrs-sweetpeach.insanejournal.com/790660.html

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project 52

Project 52

( Click here for Week #25 )

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What I'm Doing Wednesday

( books (Abulafia, Greer, Tesh, Edington, Arroyo) )

astrology
I'm refreshing my knowledge. I used to be GOOD at it, and it's a thing I don't have to be healthy to do. I don't have to keep normal office hours. The trouble is most of my books are paper and reading paper is a migraine trigger. So it's slow going.

dirt
The thrips are srsly going after the rattlesnake beans, and it's making me crazy. Interestingly, they're less fond of the ornamentals. The bougainvillea sent up a new shoot that is thick enough to propagate, so I'm planning to do that in a week or two. The struggling spider plant is recovering. The teeny tiny leaf of the string of turtles has grown a nearly microscopic leaflet and a root inside its rooting bag of sphag & perlite. Maybe one day it'll be a real plant!

healthcrap
Skin clinic tomorrow. Cancelled botox for migraines on Monday, due to bureaucratic shenanigans I'm partly responsible for. Continuing to be in bed for 12 hours and sleep on and off for 7-9 of them. Little REM, little deep sleep, little rest, all thanks to the fibro. I've had PTSD triggers happening for the past week or more, I realized, which is getting me down. Good that I identified it, though, so at least I can point to some reasons for being a ball of anxiety and avoidance

yarning
I went to yarn group Sunday, go me, and had a nice time. I still feel little impetus to crochet or do anything else creative. I wish I did.

food
Started taking a big kid dose of a children's multivitamin in hopes of feeling better, and I do! I bought a ton of groceries after only doing one trip last month. The prices have gone up significantly, grrr. But now I have healthy options that aren't too hard to cook and will hopefully not find myself living on trail mix again...even though I bought fixings for that, too. Made mujadara again and upped the lentil to rice ratio. Again used 2 giant sweet onions bc anything less isn't near enough.

#resist
June 27: Stonewall Anniversary Protest
June 24 to 30: McDonald’s Boycott
July 4: Independence Day Boycott/Free America Protest/Weekend of Community Events
July 17: Good Trouble Lives On Day of Action (in honor of John Lewis, who died 7/17/2000)

Current Mood: celebratory
Current Location: near the lake they call Michigan

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Fannish 50 Challenge 2025: Post # 18: Happy Yuri Day!

Today is Yuri Day! For details about Yuri Day see this page on Fanlore. For details about yuri in general see this page on Fanlore.

The very talented and very generous

petra is offering to write prompted drabbles and poems for Yuri Day. See their post and leave them a comment for your drabble or poem at

petra's Yuri Day post on DW.

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reading wednesday

2025 Reading Log | 41/200 yearly goal (+6 from last update)

After my last Reading Wednesday post (way back on June 4th), I got sucked into reading a ton of Naruto fanfic (KakaIru to be more specific) which has of course slowed down my book reading. However, I did manage to finish all of MomsDarkSecret's queer fantasy series, Bright Isle.

They're self-published original fiction works (available to read here on FictionPress, first book titled "The Wizard of Bright Isle") and so have many of the problems that such things have, like the occasional typo and meandering POVs. BUT overall they're enjoyable stories with low-stakes problems and satisfying consequences for the villain characters, plus multiple queer relationships. They do have romance though it's very light and not necessarily the focus of the plot, which is more about running a kingdom with evil wizards and greedy nobles trying to mess things up all the time.

Something about the writing style (especially in the first book) reminds me of old school fantasy books, like maybe from the 1980s? Like, books where the kid finds out he's a wizard and is basically like "okay, if you say so" and then there isn't much introspection on his changed circumstances and he just gets on with things.

I did enjoy the series but perhaps I shouldn't have read all of them one after another. There's a lot of repetition of plot points-- the greedy nobles/evil wizards just DO NOT LEARN-- and it became very obvious the author didn't want to actually permanently harm any of her non-evil characters, ever, so the tension doesn't work as well as in other books where people DO get just a little bit maimed.

As for my current reads: I'm like halfway through a 500k fanfic that's the first in a series, so I don't expect my book-reading pace to pick up any time soon. :P

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[bats] today's brilliant idea

It is warm. We have the bedroom window open at night. Dusk is currently around when we are heading to bed.

... I realised I could prop the bat detector up in the open window while we went about our Bed Things and it worked. (Alas A missed most of the activity on account of being in the bathroom, but Proof Of Concept still valuable.)

Other achievements of the day include "1.7 kg of redcurrants picked, processed, and in the freezer" and "finished All Systems Red: the reread" and also "almost finished The Way Out reread".

(I am so so pleased about the redcurrants; turns out that mulching and pruning heavily and watering... works?! Who knew.)