Christmas Day At The Meeting House
Dec. 26th, 2025 08:11 amBasically we did what we normally do on a Thursday: half an hour's Meeting for Worship, followed by socialising and lunch- only with Christmas trimmings. People came and went- not all of them Quakers. And those who sat down to lunch were a miscellaneous group of people who would otherwise have been at a loose end. There was much too much food- and I'll be eating leftovers for several days- but that is also traditional. It was fun and it was tiring....
Poem: "Genuinely Sufficient Resources"
Dec. 26th, 2025 12:58 am( Read more... )
Yuletide!!
Dec. 26th, 2025 12:15 amWe're at my parents' place having a pleasantly low-key celebration (lots of joy! but also, us plus two elderly people = a lot of lying around on the couch reading, and not a lot of impetus to go all-out for the decorations and feasting), and meanwhile the weather is giving us scenic snow all around.
And also! I got an INCREDIBLY GOOD Yuletide fic!
The Villainous Princess Saves Her Kingdom is a note-perfect post-canon story for Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born. I mostly enjoyed the heck out of that kdrama, in which everyone is a dramatic lesbian who cares deeply about their all-female melodramatic theater, but the heroine makes many incredibly stupid choices and there were various things that frustrated me about the ending. This story focuses on Seo Hyerang, a secondary character who does not care at all about our beloved stupid heroine (and that's beautiful to me), and it deftly and delightfully fixes almost all of my complaints, and made me cackle several times. It's everything I hoped and dreamed for in a Jeongnyeon fic! I'm so happy!!!
I think it's readable without canon knowledge, but you'll have to do a certain amount of piecing things together as you go, and the emotions won't hit as hard. I had many emotions, though. What a treat, what a delight!
Poem: "The Heart to Change the World"
Dec. 25th, 2025 10:44 pm( Read more... )
(no subject)
Dec. 25th, 2025 11:34 pmTHREE
INCREDIBLE
GIFT
FICS:
The Knight Under the Apple Tree
“Our crop is well tended,” Celia protested, despite all evidence that it was not. “It grows copiously out yonder.”
Oliver turned his head to look out the window. “Indeed, the grass outside does grow most mightily.”
“It is a sheepcote, sir; as the name suggests, it is for the keeping of sheep. Thus grass is essential.”
“And yet I do not see the sheep.”
I asked someone to sell me on As You Like It's Celia/Oliver side ship and I have completely received my wish: this fic is SO cute and does such a lovely job filling out the relationship between these characters until it feels like something that fully exists and that I want to root for
A rainbow-stripe in another proper world
“None of it ever happened,” said Uncle Nirupam in his precise way, “and so we have no memories of it, of course. But the instincts remain. I felt the same way when I first visited this world. I thought, is this where they burn people like us?”
The first of two excellent Witch Week fix-it fics -- this one is a short little outsider-POV gem in which Janet Chant and Nan Pilgrim are married, which is not something I would have ever thought of in a million years but which delights me deeply! galaxy brain!
Remember, Remember
“To produce the required crispiness, the mandrake is dipped in wallpaper paste, dredged in sawdust, and then pan-fried until it is completely burnt on all sides,” Nan recited obligingly. “It is served with a side of slugs poached in their own slime. Their chewy texture provides a perfect complement…” Estelle was howling with laughter by this point. Nan, as always in such moments, felt as though she were being carried along by an inexorable flood of words quite independent of herself. A rhyme was pushing insistently at the inside of her head, and she let it out without the least idea where it was going to finish up:
“Crispy mandrake, extra fancy,
Bring me something
Chrestomanci!”
and THIS one is a luxurious and voice-perfect THIRTEEN THOUSAND WORDS spent with my beloved terrible children as their memories are returned by way of an encounter with the TRAGICALLY ABANDONED SENTIENT GARDEN IMPLEMENTS. ABSOLUTE GALAXY BRAIN AGAIN ... I'm so happy ...
and having been Yuletided well beyond my deserts, I now leave the archive for now but I look forward to reading everyone's recs on the other side!
Poem: "Technique, Timing, and Leverage"
Dec. 25th, 2025 09:28 pm( Read more... )
Daily Check-In
Dec. 25th, 2025 10:08 pmOpen to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 23
How are you doing?
I am OK
16 (69.6%)
I am not OK, but don't need help right now
7 (30.4%)
I could use some help
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans live with you?
I am living single
7 (30.4%)
One other person
9 (39.1%)
More than one other person
7 (30.4%)
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.
Photography
Dec. 25th, 2025 08:36 pmAnd by cozying up I mean literally getting as close to it as they can — without self-combusting.
Russian progress
Dec. 26th, 2025 12:41 amIt was an enjoyable exercise (less so perhaps for the last set of programmes) and I was constantly struck by the contrast between the very simple elements that were actually picked out of each lesson for the learner to memorise and repeat, and the sophistication of the stories and presentation woven around such dialogue elements. ( Read more... )
Out of curiosity I then did a couple of 'CEFR Level' tests online, which concurred in assessing my ability in Russian, as determined by the proportion of correct test responses, at "A1 beginner"-- the lowest possible rating on that scale. Supposedly you can reach A1 in 20–30 hours of study... I've put in hundreds, but on a purely passive level. ( Ironic and a bit depressing )
Read "The Fëanorian Zine"
Dec. 25th, 2025 05:58 pmIt's been so long, eating and drinking and making merry
Dec. 25th, 2025 06:59 pmThe Long Back Yard this morning. Perhaps not obvious from the picture: It was snowing at the time.
OK. Thursday. Snowed about an inch this morning, just enough to freshen yesterday's snow. Intermittently sunny -- or cloudy, if you prefer it that way -- at the moment.
Breakfast was eggs scrambled with spinach and onions and cheese, with a biscuit and strawberry jam on the side. Lunch...I may go back to my original plan of ham and yam, because I'm not sure those chicken breasts are thawed, actually.
Wrote about 930 words this morning, concluding a scene that I really like -- Yes, this is going to be a book totally comprised of Scenes I Like. Rookie and Tali kept me company in the office, while Firefly is keeping a Very Close Eye on the bedroom.
I'm getting ready to start a loaf of bread to rise, after which it's PT homework, one's duty the cats, and lunch, one way or the other.
Hope everybody's having a good day.
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Yanno? "Wonderful Christmastime?" Paul McCartney, celebrating all the lovely, lovely things that "Only happen at this time of Year" And I am Up To Here with that.
First of all -- it's a real dud on the lyrics, but so are most Christmas songs, so I guess I can't take points off for that. But honestly? Aren't we all supposed to be together and sharing joy and magic all the time?
Why, why does it only "happen at this time of year?" Why is it not a lifestyle choice? What is it about cruelty that is so attractive that it gets 363ish days while Joy, Magic, and Fellow Feeling only get 2ish, and only if we've spent enough money?
Yes, I do feel better now. And the bread's in to rise.
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OK...The bread is really good. I had wanted a dense, seedy loaf and this one delivers. I cut it in half -- one piece for the freezer and the other to eat now. Ahem. Over the course of the next couple days.
In between It All, I seem to have written 2,320 words today, which is ... a lot, as we count words around here. On the other hand, as Jen Sin today observed to Miri, Traders talk A Lot. The WIP entire is somewhere around 113,480 total words.
I will mention that I wrote that many words and STILL had time to fall down the rabbit hole of Mongolian Techno. Some years back now there had been a Mongolian metal rock band -- HU? HUU? -- and they were doing some interesting things, but Mongolian Techno? Who knew.
Tomorrow, I have Real Life Business I have to take care of first (Well. "First," after clearing snow, so Sarah can get in and also picking up so she can do her thing) having successfully put it off for more than a week (procrastination; it's not for sissies).
I did read some few pages of Agent of Change, and will probably read some more after the cats stop shouting at me to deliver them their Happy Hour. What's really interesting, is that I can remember which bits Steve wrote, and which bits I wrote, and which bits Steve wrote and I changed. I don't think -- but will be testing the proposition -- that I can do that with later books. But you never forget your first, amirite?
Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. Watch out for windblown snow and ice on the roads.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Today's blog post title brought to you by The Hu, from their 2019 Billboard hit, "Yuve Yuve Yu"
