Reading

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Poem: "To Allow in More Light"

This poem came out of the August 5, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by

janetmiles. It also fills the "As If By Magic" square in my 8-1-25 card for the Crime Classics Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Monster House. It falls between "Secondhand Sight" and "Paper, Scissors, Stone" so reading in that order will make more sense.

( Read more... )

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recurring posts

Hard Things

Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

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photos,
pixelfed

Photo cross-post

Day 1 of P1/P3
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

Spitfire!

We were at the Farm on Monday and a Spitfire flew over and did a roll for us- practising no doubt for the Eastbourne Air Show this coming weeked. I pointed up at it and shouted "Spitfire!"- which is what I normally do when one turns up.

You got to love a Spitfire, right?

Well, perhaps not if you're a Quaker..

In this respect I'm a bad Quaker.....

There are those at the Meeting House who want to stage some sort of protest at the Air Show. I'm going along with it because it's been discerned as the will of the Meeting but I have reservations. I don't think that getting in people's faces and annoying them is the way to promote Peace. I could be wrong.

My contribution has been to pin this poster up outside the Meeting House.

There are those who find it insufficiently serious. Sure it is. Serious people start wars. Humourous people tend not to.

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Tuesday word: Heyday

Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025

Heyday (noun, interjection)
heyday Or hey·dey [hey-dey]

noun
1. the stage or period of greatest vigor, strength, success, etc.; prime.: the heyday of the vaudeville stars.
2. Archaic., high spirits.

Origin: 1580–90; variant of high day, apparently by confusion with heyday

heyday [hey-dey] (interjection)
3. Archaic. (used as an exclamation of cheerfulness, surprise, wonder, etc.)

Origin: 1520–30; rhyming compound based on hey; replacing heyda < German hei da hey there

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com

Example Sentences
Early tracks from their 90s heyday, like a jubilant Morning Glory and a swaggering Supersonic, were greeted with roars of approval.
From BBC

Love has no issue leaning into the band’s 1960s heyday.
From Los Angeles Times

In its post-war heyday, the town of Morecambe was one of the UK's foremost seaside holiday destinations, with a thriving local economy and prestigious reputation.
From BBC

Though the “crazy woman” trope inevitably persists in some form, it looks far more hackneyed than it did during its late-millennium heyday.
From Salon

Meanwhile, broadcast viewership has plummeted, and the late-night audience has diminished to a modest percentage of what it was in its heyday.
From Salon

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Sufficiency and Wellbeing Magazine

This is an online magazine that is anti-capitalist and degrowth. It's something you can read when you get disgusted with enshittification and planned obsolescence and all that crap.

(no subject)

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

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Birdfeeding

Today is partly sunny and sweltering.

I fed the birds. I've seen a flock of sparrows and house finches.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I potted up 12 sweet cherry seeds.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I did some work around the patio.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/12/25 -- I watered some plants on the old and new picnic tables that were wilting, then did the telephone pole garden and a few of the savanna seedlings. I'm annoyed that some plants are wilting so soon after copious watering, because I can't haul that hose around every day, or even every few days. >_<

I've seen a skunk on the patio.

I am done for the night.

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Recommendations

I came across this post on Dreamwidth discussing a rant from John Scalzi. I'd like to say a few things about reading and writing. To establish my credentials for the below remarks:

* I have a degree in Rhetoric, that is, writing.

* I'm a professional writer across multiple fields and types of writing.

* I'm a professional editor.

* I have read many tens of thousands of books over the decades. I have inhaled whole libraries. Our house is lined with books; we counted once, it was well over 10,000 then and that was many years ago.

* I am an activist.

( Read more... )

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Interesting Links for 12-08-2025

1. Oh god, Edinburgh Council has a section on Freeman on the Land and Sovereign Citizens conspiracy nonsense: (tags:law Scotland Edinburgh conspiracy )
2. Apparently AOL are still running a dial-up service! For another month, anyway.: (tags:aol internet EpicWTF )
3. Why you shouldn't recommend Classic science fiction to kids: (tags:children recommendation scifi )

Briefly

It was hot yesterday and will be hotter today. Tomorrow we're promised some blessed rain.

"Have you ever worked in a hayfield?" asks Damian apropos of nothing. And I say, "Yes, once in Kentucky- where it gets a lot hotter than it does here. I lasted for a morning; had I carried on it would have killed me- and I mean that literally."

Mike is working a concrete mixer in the front yard. "How do you know when you've got the mixture right?" asks Ailz. "By the colour" he says.

(no subject)

Outside was the beach, somewhere between the darkness and the light, and nothing was moving, neither in the air nor on the land nor on the water. Even the white waves rolling in to the sands seemed to me to be motionless.

Political Rant.....

On The Farm

We went round the farm on a big trailer pulled by a tractor with Peter the farmer driving. At intervals Peter would get down from the cab and tell us what we were seeing.

The farm covers something like 1,050 acres. Back in the Middle ages the land belonged to the Augustinians at Michelham Priory. Peter is the third generation of his family to farm here- and is in the process of handing over to the fourth. His grandfather moved the family south from Nottingham just after the war.

It's a dairy farm, but they also grow maize. The river Cuckmere runs through it- and they're taking steps to stop run off from their fields getting into it- and to eliminate the North American mink who are doing their damnedest to kill off all the native riverine wildlife.
Theyre building a new milking parlour with a a huge central turntable which will speed up milk production no end. They're trying to be scientific, they're trying to be ethical.....

I looked through the skeleton of the new milking parlour and many miles away were Windour Hill and The Long Man. I ran my telephoto up as far as it would go.....

Political Rant.....

W.T.F. NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trump Takes Over D.C. Police and Deploys National Guard in Nation's Capital in Unprecedented Power Grab

The president has been insisting that Washington has too much homelessness and crime, despite crime rates dropping substantially since 2023

By Kyler Alvord

https://people.com/donald-trump-takes-over-dc-government-deploys-national-guard-11788370?hid=7f1109a25d2362f31854399df255b82ba78f015e&did=18977911-20250811&utm_source=ppl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ppl-news_newsletter&utm_content=081125&lctg=7f1109a25d2362f31854399df255b82ba78f015e&lr_input=758ad690760192cf49795c3f52223721cac5324e3e862e41c5d4db73a4d43f32&utm_term=midday

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Basic Income

In a new pilot program, this city will give homeless young adults $1,200 in cash every month for two years

According to the Stanford Basic Income Lab, universal basic income is a periodic cash payment that is given to individuals unconditionally, requiring no work requirement or sanctions to access.

And as various nonprofits and cities across the country experiment with basic income programs, most have found that the money received is largely used to pay for the basic essentials many Americans struggle to afford.

A new pilot program in Boston, Massachusetts wants to find out if the same trend applies for a specific demographic: young adults facing homelessness.

( Read more... )

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blogging,
personal

Monday Update 8-11-25

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Spider Apocalypse
Activism
Fossils
Birdfeeding
Safety
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Thinking
Safety
Moment of Silence: Jim Lovell
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 8-8-25: Icons
Today's Adventures
Inventions
Fossils
Birdfeeding
Bigotry
Birdfeeding
Good News

Food has 34 comments. "Philosophical Questions: Looks" has 48 comments. "Incompetence, Sloppy Thinking, and Laziness" has 75 comments. "Not a Destination, But a Process" has 148 comments.

summerofthe69 is open! You can see the calendar here and the current themes are Alternate Sexy Parts 69 and Kinky 69.

There are no open epics at present.

The weather has been sweltering agan. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a mourning dove, a house wren, a male cardinal, and a fox squirrel. Currently blooming: dandelions, pansies, violas, marigolds, petunias, red salvia, wild strawberries, verbena, lantana, sweet alyssum, zinnias, snapdragons, blue lobelia, perennial pinks, oxalis, moss rose, yarrow, anise hyssop, firecracker plant, tomatoes, tomatillos, Asiatic lilies, cucumber, yellow squash, zucchini, morning glory, purple echinacea, black-eyed Susan, yellow coneflower, chicory, Queen Anne's lace, sunflowers, cup plant, gladioli, firewheel, orange butterfly weed. Tomatillo and pepper have green fruit. Wild strawberries, mulberries, tomatoes, and cucumbers are ripe. The second crop of blackberries and the ball carrots are ripe.

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Monday Word: Pannikin

pannikin [pan-i-kin]

noun

1. a small pan or metal cup

examples

1. Then, as it was yet early, and they were about to prepare their coffee, we boiled up ours, and, passing round the billy, filled our pannikins to the health of the enemy. The Siege of Mafeking by J. Angus Hamilton

2. A litter of empty tins showed that the place had been occupied for some time, and I saw, as my eyes became accustomed to the chequered light, a pannikin and a half-full bottle of spirits standing in the corner. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

origins
early 19th century: from pan, on the pattern of cannikin [Dutch for 'little can'].

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Magpie Monday

dialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday with a theme of "Change." Leave prompts, get ficlets!

Change is an immutable element of the universe.

Today, let’s make change our goal. Call it the theme. Big or small, quiet and subtle or dramatic and incontrovertible, what change do you want to see? In the world? In a story with an unsatisfying moment (or worse, ending)?