Audience Becomes Choir

Jun. 23rd, 2025 12:37 am
ysabetwordsmith: (gold star)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This performance from AGT snagged my attention, in which the contestant turns the audience into a choir.

1) Some people with Bardic gift can share theirs with other people; it's rare but I've known people who could do it.  That's likely part of this.

2) Some people have a gift for conveying abstract ideas visually, which is rare enough, but doing it intuitively like that is really rare and impressive.  Musical scores are precise but take a lot of training to read, especially sight-read without practice.  Creating a visual representation of a song in three voices (high, middle, low) with indications of pitch and duration -- which works well as demonstrated -- is epic.

Business world: "Dammit, I wish we had someone that good with visuals to do whiteboard notes for our meetings."

Music world: "We saw her first."

Photos: Barnyard Picture

Jun. 22nd, 2025 11:54 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Hanging this picture of a barnyard was one of my goals for the year. \o/ It took us a lot of fuss and bother, but we got it up there eventually!

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Thanks to a donation from [personal profile] lone_cat, there are 24 new verses of "In the Heart of the Hidden Garden." Lawrence shows Stan the Iron Courtyard.

Intersections (part 1 of 1, complete)

Jun. 22nd, 2025 09:35 pm
dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)
[personal profile] dialecticdreamer
Intersections
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1236
[Wednesday, 2 August, 2017]


:: Brian and Theo Cort meet someone new... ANYTHING else I could add is a spoiler for something, unfortunately! Part of the Unfair Trades arc in Mercedes, within the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::


:: Author’s note: At this point, there are two ways to proceed. I could list events chronologically, which would mean bouncing repeatedly and rapidly among multiple viewpoints, which I dislike. Instead, I’ve chosen to follow a key person/group for a central development, and will use comments that timestamp generally, rather than minute by minute. If it’s confusing this way, PLEASE tell me. I think that the universal omniscient viewpoint is a cheap copout, and only avoid the second person singular more. ::




As the August sunshine hammered at the canvas awning covering the Surrey bicycle, LaQuinta Dixon’s stomach rumbled unhappily. “Yeah, yeah,” she mumbled aloud to her stomach, “Mister Wexford lives half a mile from the bleeping Japanese garden, and I swear, I couldn’t be rude and NOT share with him, so my lunch became our snack. We’ll get something as soon as we’re less than a mile from the motel.”

Her stomach, unsurprisingly, didn’t seem capable of listening. It rumbled again.
Read more... )

Birdfeeding

Jun. 22nd, 2025 02:19 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is partly sunny and sweltering. It's 87°F and the heat index is 95°F. :P A beautiful day to stay indoors and write!

I fed the birds. I've seen a small flock of sparrows and house finches, several mourning doves, and a fox squirrel.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/22/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 6/22/25 -- I watered the plants on the new picnic table.







.

Pride Month

Jun. 22nd, 2025 12:45 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Duck Prints Press is doing a set of 10 pride dragons that will be available on stickers and other swag.  These are kawaii dragons rather than fierce ones, but sometimes people want a non-confrontational signal.

Ateez Drabble: Whispers

Jun. 22nd, 2025 04:21 pm
kat_lair: (GEN - castle with ghosts)
[personal profile] kat_lair
***

Title: Whispers
Author:[personal profile] kat_lair
Fandom: Ateez
Pairing: Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa, Park Seonghwa/Original Male Character(s)
Tags: Drabble, Regret, Jealousy
Rating: G
Word count: 100

Summary: It starts as a whisper.

Author notes: 
Prompt = the title. 

Whispers on AO3

Whispers )

***

Book Bans

Jun. 22nd, 2025 12:03 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Oregon has passed a bill to protect school libraries from book bans.

Another win for freedom to read legislation on the West Coast this week, as Oregon’s state House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 1098 on Monday, a bill that will protect access to books in school libraries. It’s great news: books can no longer be banned solely because they discuss sexuality, religion, or other topics, nor can books be removed because they are written by someone from a protected class. SB 1098 now goes to the governor, who is expected to sign it into law.


I'm delighted to see laws against book bans spreading. To promote this, point out that it will save lots of time and therefore money that is currently wasted dealing with attempt after attempt to tell other people what books they can't read. Most people love saving time and money, and will thus support the effort even if they don't care about books or freedom.

Philosophical Questions: Harm

Jun. 21st, 2025 11:56 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

How far should governments go to prevent its citizens from causing harm to themselves?

Read more... )
dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)
[personal profile] dialecticdreamer
Searching, Searching
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1369
[Wednesday, 2 August, 2017]


:: The search expands beyond the zoo into the park. The search from the kidnapper’s SUV also expands. Part of the Unfair Trades story arc in the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::



Peter Rybokov nodded as the zoo manager tapped her finger on the areas of the map confirmed to be empty, and the patrons were all collected at the outdoor cafe, currently being entertained by a staff member who made balloon animals, “binoculars” and “butterfly nets” to encourage the little ones to participate in the play safari.
Read more... )

Today's Adventures

Jun. 21st, 2025 06:02 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we went up to Amish territory.

Read more... )

a wonderful day

Jun. 21st, 2025 06:44 pm
asakiyume: The Red Detachment of Women (1961, Xie Jin) (emancipating collectively)
[personal profile] asakiyume
Today was wonderful!

It started out with meeting a young woman in a wheelchair, birdwatching by a small pond with cattails.

"I think I saw an American bittern," she said.

Later I brought some catalpa blossoms to a friend, and they gave me an iced, homemade-banana-syrup-and-oat-milk latte to take with me on my errands. It was a hot day and the drink was perfect!



My errands included buying a sickle to cut this long grass.



Not now: now I want to let it alone, as the fireflies and butterflies and bees enjoy it (and also I enjoy it). But later, in the fall, when the time comes to cut it. A lawn mower does a horrible, chewy job, and the shears I have are blunt.** So I want to try a sickle. I saw people cutting grass with sickles in Timor-Leste. Here is my sickle. I've named her Kusakari (grass cutter).



Now, as it happens, I also have a lump hammer, which the healing angel named Petra, and which is great for smashing open hickory nuts or acorns. Here she is, posing with some of last year's hickory nuts.



Well ... if we introduce.... Petra to Kusakari.... OMG!



Then on the way home from my errands, I was driving along a stretch of road that's marked "Turtle Crossing." Usually this is a depressing stretch of road because in spite of the sign, what I mainly see are crushed turtles -_-

But today I saw a live one, craning its neck, preparing to risk its life to get across the road. So I pulled over, went back, picked it up, and carried it across. When I set it down, it trundled on down to the water that was waiting for it.

ONE TURTLE LIFE SAVED. Yaaay!

And now I'm going to eat strawberries and whipped cream. PERFECT DAY.

**Yes, I could sharpen them. In fact I have sharpened them in the past and probably will in the future... but ... sickle!

ETA: The sickle's name should be KusaKARI, not KusaKIRI--corrected that now.

Books

Jun. 21st, 2025 04:03 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
A Rainbow of Queer Books for Pride 2025: Turquoise

HAPPY PRIDE 2025! For Pride this year, we’re changing up our usual rec lists. Instead of doing books with specific identities or themes, we’re focused this time on cover color! Throughout the month of June, we’ll be doing 8 rec lists, each with covers inspired by one of the colors of the original Gilbert Baker Pride Flag. We drew a little additional inspiration from the meaning behind the color and why it was included in the original LGBTQIA+ flag (in this case, turquoise = magic), but we prioritized color over meaning. The contributors to this list are: May Barros, Rhosyn Goodfellow, Linnea Peterson, Tris Lawrence, Sebastian Marie, Shannon, Rascal Hartley, and Nina Waters.

Birdfeeding

Jun. 21st, 2025 12:26 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny, muggy, and hot.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/21/25 -- Temperature when we went out shopping was 94°F. Temperature in our yard is currently 88°F. Trees sweat so you don't have to!

EDIT 6/21/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio. The evening has started to cool off a little.

I've seen a mourning dove.

EDIT 6/21/25 -- I watered the patio plants and the ones in the house yard including the old picnic table.

Fireflies are starting to appear.

EDIT 6/21/25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden and the savanna seedlings.

More fireflies are out. :D

EDIT 6/21/25 -- I watered the new picnic table and the septic garden.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

POI Drabble: Ruin

Jun. 21st, 2025 04:44 pm
kat_lair: (POI - ghost in the machine)
[personal profile] kat_lair
***

Title: Ruin
Author:[personal profile] kat_lair
Fandom: Person of Interest
Pairing: Finch/Reese, Finch & Reese
Tags: Drabble, Gen or Pre-Slash, Post-Canon Fix-It
Rating: G
Word count: 100

Summary: How many times can you come back from the dead and still expect to live?

Author notes: 
Prompt = the title. 

Ruin on AO3

Ruin )

***

Photos: Charleston Food Forest

Jun. 21st, 2025 02:03 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These pictures are from Thursday.  I went foraging at the Charleston Food Forest.  It's across the parking lot from the Coles County Community Garden.

Walk with me ... )

Photos: Coles County Community Garden

Jun. 21st, 2025 12:16 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The Coles County Community Garden is across the parking lot from the Charleston Food Forest. It's not the kind where you rent a bed and grow what you want. It's tended by the community and anyone can come pick things to try.

Walk with me ... )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
We made this tonight. It was delicious! We used some of the pretzel bread that we got at the Marshall Farmer's Market.

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dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)
[personal profile] dialecticdreamer
Emergency Alert
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1431
[Wednesday, 2 August, 2017]


:: One of the staff finds Maureen, but does not find the stroller or the twins. Emergency procedures are instigated, and news begins to spread. Part of the Unfair Trades story arc in the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::




Brendon nearly stumbled as he hurried toward the side path. Nervously, he tugged at the hem of his tangerine orange polo shirt as he swallowed, trying to dampen the rasping dry cavern of his mouth. His watch chirped, but he didn’t spare a flicker of his gaze away from the smooth white sidewalk.

As he turned the last bend before the bathrooms, he froze.

A dark-haired woman lay on the ground, alone.
Read more... )
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