gardening

ysabetwordsmith

This checklist of online housekeeping originally came from

sunshine_challenge (which is now

sunshine_revival). (See the 2023 version.) I am updating it for the

snowflake_challenge in January 2026.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

conuly

ask a detailed question about phonology, such as "Do you really pronounce 'tr' as 'chr'?" (Yes, yes we do. We all do. It's almost impossible not to due to the physiology of those phonemes.)

And this will generate a burst of absolutely, frustratingly useless nonsense, because people just do not know how they talk. They don't know how they talk, they can't analyze their phonetics on the fly, and they are staggeringly unaware of these facts.

I keep telling these people to go to /r/linguistics instead, but thus far, nobody has taken my advice. Which is a pity, because I do give excellent advice, especially in this case.

But seriously - nobody knows how they talk. It's like trying to explain the biomechanics of walking. Sure, you've been doing it since you were a toddler (probably?), but that doesn't mean you have any understanding at all of what the hell you're doing as you propel yourself from place to place. I bet you can't even explain how you adjust for your varying center of balance!

yuuago

+ Wood Buffalo Pride is crowdfunding for gender-affirming gear (binders etc) for those in the community who can't afford it. I know everyone's rather tapped out at this time of year, but if anyone's able to contribute, I'm sure it'd be appreciated. The drive ends on January 04, 11:59 PM.

+ Had a writing session with

kanadka today. Felt good to work on something! The fic I have in progress is kind of dumb, but I'm really enjoying it. Definitely a 'just for me' kind of thing. (Well, and also for the one person who consistently posts work for this rarepair, apparently. One of those situations where it isn't for them specifically but I kind of have them in mind while working on it.)

+ Gotta' admit it. I'm coming down with a cold. All week I've felt oogy, for lack of a better word, but with the amount of sneezing and nose-blowing I've been doing today, I have to admit defeat. This is driving me mad because why do I have to get sick while on vacation, argh. Well, looks like I'm not going to judo tomorrow. :V And like, I'd planned to spend most of the day tomorrow relaxing and watching movies anyway, but this is... not what I had in mind.

ysabetwordsmith

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Friending Policy 12-28-25
Transformative Works Statement 12-28-25
Poem: "Incompressible"
Poem: "A Stronger Woman"
Wildlife
BirdfeedingPoem: "Tenacity, Creativity, and Bravery"
Communities
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Government
Photos: Lights on the Prairie Part 2
Photos: Lights on the Prairie Part 1
Today's Adventures
Birdfeeding
Poem: "Genuinely Sufficient Resources"
Follow Friday 12-26-25: Learning
Poem: "The Heart to Change the World"
Poem: "Technique, Timing, and Leverage"
Read "The Fëanorian Zine"
Climate Change
Friending Meme
Birdfeeding
Vocabulary: Bokeh
Poem: "A Human Scale, Full-Featured Settlement"
Food
Birdfeeding
Cuddle Party

Food has 47 comments. Trauma has 46 comments. Affordable Housing has 78 comments. Robotics has 119 comments.

The 2025 Holiday Poetry Sale has closed, with a massive amount of material to post. It will take me a long time to get it all online, so please keep an eye on the sale page.

Watch for

snowflake_challenge to open on January 1. This panfandom activity is one of Dreamwidth's biggest events and a great time to make new friends.

Watch for

threeforthememories to open on January 3. It features your top three photographs from the past year.

"An Inkling of Things to Come" belongs to Polychrome: Shiv. It needs $72 to be complete. Shiv and his classmates discuss magical weather, magical geography, natural resources, plants and animals, history, and other aspects of worldbuilding.

The weather was mild for most of the week, but today it stormed. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a flock of mourning doves in the ritual meadow, and two fox squirrels running through the trees.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Due to requests for a friending policy, and different ways that people use friending tools online, I have done my best to describe my parameters. (See the 2020 version.)

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

These are the notes for "Incompressible."

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Current Mood: busy

low_delta

Today was Christmas with my dad and stepmom. My sister hosted, and my niece and her boyfriend made dinner. An Italian thing with homemade pasta and sauce. Also focaccia, mozzarella/tomato/basil, and tiramisu. Very good.

ysabetwordsmith

People keep clamoring for this sort of thing. Ideally, everyone should have a "blanket statement." While I don't have a stance on many of the points, it seems useful to post the ones where I do have a stance. (See the 2020 version.)

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem came out of the January 2, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "When You're Smiling" square in my 1-1-24 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. It belongs to the Foster Fiasco thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem is spillover from the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from

fuzzyred,

see_also_friend, and

wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Put me down!" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. It belongs to the Fortressa thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

scrubjayspeaks

Ouagh...I am so sick. I woke up Thursday morning with sudden and substantial signs of infection in my right ear and my left ear basically going, hey, what’s that guy doing over there, is he having fun, I wanna have fun too! Things escalated rapidly. I went to Urgent Care Friday morning and got pills and drops both. I am maybe, sort of, just barely starting to see signs of improvement here on day 3 of treatment. I am absolutely obliterating my liver with the amount of Tylenol I’m choking down to manage the pain--it’s not even working well, to add insult to organ damage.

I have accomplished nothing. I am probably going to spend my whole vacation sick, and miserable, and simultaneously in bed at all hours but unable to actually sleep. I am deeply unhappy about this turn of events, but I feel too poorly to work up a proper level of outrage.

Mum was surprised and delighted by the books I got her and has been ravenously reading, so that’s fun. I have a new set of speakers for my computer, which I will enjoy eventually, and a new pillow, which I currently love more than life itself.

Lewisia: 0 new pieces written ;__;

Day job: 17 hours

Cooking: yule log~~~

Reading: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Quandry Phase (continuing the BBC Radio productions), Strangers in Paradise #19 (*ugly sobbing*, that is technically the whole original series! Holy shit! It only took me about 25 years from when I first started reading the comics.)

Watching: the Game Grumps holiday livestream has been my constant companion in these trying times

Clock Mouse: 915 words

ysabetwordsmith

The deep ocean has a missing link and scientists finally found it

Hidden in the ocean’s twilight zone, mid-sized fish are quietly powering the food web from below.

Scientists have uncovered why big predators like sharks spend so much time in the ocean’s twilight zone. The answer lies with mid-sized fish such as the bigscale pomfret, which live deep during the day and rise at night to feed, linking deep and surface food webs. Using satellite tags, researchers tracked these hard-to-study fish for the first time. Their movements shift with water clarity, potentially altering entire ocean food chains.

For every thing like this that scientists discover, many more critical connections remain unknown to modern science -- and that's why changing "one little thing" in an ecosystem often has bigger, unexpected impacts elsewhere.

Current Mood: busy

tielan

It went well.

I have finally worked out how to pav in this oven. Turn the heat waaaaaaaaay down to the lowest setting, then leave it for a couple of hours. Literally, a couple of hours.

I ended up doing it on Christmas morning and it worked beautifully!

( Christmas and Boxing Day )

Saturday I took entirely off, and Sunday I did some stuff around the house. The temps have calmed down a lot - to the point where I wasn't sleeping through the night unless I put an extra quilt on the bed - and so I could do some work I've been putting off for a while.

( of course it happens this week )

I should probably have some breakfast.

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy, windy, and cool.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/28/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/28/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/28/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

It started raining, and the sky is weird colors, so I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

northlands

Evening Ebb

by Robinson Jefferson

The ocean has not been so quiet for a long while; five night-herons
Fly shorelong voiceless in the hush of the air
Over the calm of an ebb that almost mirrors their wings.
The sun has gone down, and the water has gone down
From the weed-clad rock, but the distant cloud-wall rises. The
ebb whispers.
Great cloud-shadows float in the opal water.
Through rifts in the screen of the world pale gold gleams, and the
evening
Star suddenly glides like a flying torch.
As if we had not been meant to see her; rehearsing behind
The screen of the world for another audience.

jazzyjj

Hi everybody. It's not Friday but I thought why not post another entry. I've not really got much on the docket for today, and I do believe it's been awhile anyway. So on with the show!

Christmas with the fam was very nice, as it always has been and no doubt will be in future. I of course got great gifts. Tbh I'm not sure who bought for me this year. I say that because I got snacks from one family member, and a blue-tooth keyboard from another family member. The keyboard has yet to be set up but I'm sure I'll hate it, ROFL! Stay tuned right here for more on that. Perhaps several family members conspired on my behalf, lol. In any case, thanks everyone for all the gifts. I was a bit under the weather, but now I'm feeling better.

Current Mood: accomplished

badly_knitted

Title: Fine Dining
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Author:

badly_knitted
Characters: Daniel, Chaka.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: The First Ones.
Summary: Daniel may have been captured by an Unas, but that’s just an opportunity to learn more about the Goa’uld’s first hosts.
Written For:

be_themoon’s prompt ‘any, any, all people are driven to the point of eating their gods’, at

threesentenceficathon.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Stargate SG-1, or the characters.
A/N: Triple drabble.

( Fine Dining... )

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

badly_knitted

-

Title: Heading Out
Fandom: FAKE
Author:

badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo.
Rating: PG
Written For: Challenge 482: On The Road Again at

drabble_zone.
Setting: After Like Like Love.
Summary: It’s great to get out of the city for a couple of days.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Double drabble.

( Heading Out... )

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

badly_knitted

Title: Talents
Author:

badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Written For: Challenge 897: Beach, at

torchwood100.
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Ianto accompanies Jack to the beach. In December.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
A/N: Double drabble.

( Talents... )

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

rebeccmeister

At some point after I met

scrottie, he showed me his potato ricer and the special rolling pin he has for making lefse, that Norwegian specialty food. I'd heard a bit about lefse from another friend of mine with Norwegian heritage, but really didn't know much more than all that. Fast forward, and just about every year there's a period of eager anticipation for the arrival of a special package from his mother and sister, containing lefse.

Describing lefse is tricky.

( blah blah blah lefse lefse lefse )

Online Housekeeping

Soooooooooooooooo, people at /r/EnglishLearning will at least once a week

(no subject)

Monday Update 12-29-25

Friending Policy 12-28-25

Notes for "Incompressible"

Christmas again

Transformative Works Statement 12-28-25

Poem: "Incompressible"

Poem: "A Stronger Woman"

Done This Week

Wildlife

Christmas Update

Birdfeeding

(no subject)

Happy Almost 2026

Stargate SG-1 Ficlet: Fine Dining

FAKE Double Drabble: Heading Out

Double Drabble: Talents

Finally, I can tell you about the holiday surprises! [food, projects]

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December 2025

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