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International Rose Test Garden

We were only in Portland for a day but we had enough time for a few hours in the International Rose Test Garden. In fact we didn't even spend that long because it was smaller than expected and some bushes hadn't even bloomed yet (despite what the website said as mid-May being an ideal viewing time). We took about half the time we were there trying to park. It was also the most overcast morning of the trip -- we had amazing weather the rest of the time.

Nonetheless what was in bloom was lovely.

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Backyard Foraging

Backyard Foraging: 65 Familiar Plants You Didn't Know You Could Eat by Ellen Zachos

A discussion of wild and garden plants in North America. Roots, flowers, leaves, fruit. . . how to harvest, what to check, what can be done to prepare them.

Backyard Foraging

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2025 Round: WIP Big Bang/ WIP Reverse Bang 2025 - Check-In #2 Is Live!

Check-In #2 is now live! Please fill out the form for each project you are doing, with one form response for each project. You have until June 23rd to fill it out!

https://forms.gle/YZk8ixi9aVz6B1wT9

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admin: poll: theme

Round 176 Theme Poll

Poll #33259 round 176 theme poll

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 37

Pick the next theme of fancake:

Books & Writing
12 (32.4%)

Protest & Revolt
12 (32.4%)

Working Together
13 (35.1%)

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Monday, June 16 - Theme: Forced Proximity

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folk,
live

Ruby Gill - "You Should Do This For a Living" (2021)

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birl

birl (BURL) - (UK) v., to rapidly spin or make spin; (northern NA) to cause (a floating log) to rotate rapidly by treading on it.

That last is lumberjack jargon, and honestly given the UK connection I'd expect it to be used in Canada as well as the US, but I'm not seeing mention of it -- if anyone can confirm a Canuck sighting, I'd appreciate it. (ETA: confirmed, see comments) I first met the term as an event in lumberjack competitions (I was channel surfing), in which two people stand at the ends of a floating log and try to get the other to fall off by birling it. The spin sense dates to around 1720, and is speculated to be a blend of birr, the onomatopoeia for a whirling sound, and whirl.

---L.

Current Music: Laufey, "Silver Lining"

When you go to hell, I'll go there with you, too

I wish to express my strenuous distaste for this week starting off with the curtain rod falling onto my head as I stepped into the shower with such force that

spatch heard the noise of stainless steel onto skull from the bedroom. It hurt appallingly. It still doesn't feel so hot. I called after-hours care and was duly presented with a checklist of symptoms of concussion and brain bleed to watch out for, an activity not exactly compatible with attempting to plunge myself into unconsciousness for the few short hours before I need to be functional for already scheduled calls and appointments. I would like to know who I need to sacrifice to get a break. I always liked haruspicy. I know it's your own liver that counts.

The Angel Trap (Supernatural Fic)

Title: The Angel Trap
Author: Glory_Jean
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing/Characters: Dean Winchester/Castiel
Rating: PG
Length: 1694
Summary: Not long after Cas returns from the empty, Dean and Cas get drawn into an undercover case by their favorite wayward young hunters. But they quickly realize it’s not what they expect. Meanwhile even though Dean knows he isn’t relationship material he’s having trouble keeping his feelings to himself. Cas and this case are not helping matters. Not to mention this pack of annoying kids. Claire and Alex have a plan. Patience and Kaia are along for the ride. Jack is just having a good time.

Notes: Season 13 if most of that *waves hands* Apocalypse World stuff didn’t happen. Don’t worry about it. It’s total crack.

Link: https://glory-jean.dreamwidth.org/226620.html

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In the spirit of the "I might be transsexual" badges at Michfest

(Historical reference.)

"Maybe I'm Trans?" badges

Raising money for the Trans+ Solidarity Alliance, who have been doing excellent things like organizing this parliamentary briefing:

Attitude: Trans+ legal experts warn Supreme Court ruling could breach human rights as 60+ attend Parliament briefing

I know what I think, but I honestly don't know what anybody else will think

DEAR ABBY: My 40-year-old daughter is on weight-loss injections and a no-sugar diet. I offered to bake her a sugar-free cheesecake, and she agreed, but she asked me to make a "tester" cake three days before. I explained that the cake has a lengthy preparation process, involving a very slow bake in a water bath and 12 hours chill time. I suggested she wait, but she insisted, so I made it early. She cut a slice of it and exclaimed how great it tasted.

Three days later, I baked and decorated a carrot cake to use as her "official" birthday cake, since the sugar-free cake had been cut and wouldn't look nice in photos. (Carrot is her children's favorite.) I hosted everyone at an expensive restaurant, gave her French perfume and a weekend getaway.

When we returned from the dinner, my daughter angrily said, "Get in here so we can cut this stupid cake, which I can't eat!" I was shocked and confused. She said I shouldn't have made a cake of a flavor she dislikes, but I pointed out that she had the sugar-free cake, too. Apparently, she had expected me to bake a second sugar-free cheesecake. I chewed her out for being ungrateful. Was I wrong? -- UNAPPRECIATED IN CALIFORNIA

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(no subject)

Dear Annie: I'm 63 years old, and I live alone in a quiet little house with my dog, Rosie. I like to sit on the porch in the evenings and watch the sun go down, but lately the silence feels heavier than it used to.

My daughter, who is in her 30s, moved to Texas with her husband about a year ago -- and since then, she hasn't spoken to me. Not a text, not a call, not even a holiday card. I send messages, reach out on birthdays, even mailed her a little photo of Rosie wearing a birthday hat.

I know there's something from her childhood that she's struggling with. Something painful that she believes I didn't protect her from. And the truth is, maybe I didn't. Her father died 26 years ago, and we were both trying to survive the grief in our own ways. I was overwhelmed and didn't always see what was right in front of me. I've tried to say I'm sorry, in words and gestures, but she's built a wall I haven't been able to get through.

Some days, I want to get in the car and drive the 800 miles just to knock on her door and see her face. Other days, I wonder if I should just give up and let her have the distance she clearly wants.

How does a mother keep loving her child from afar when the door has been shut so firmly? Is there anything I can do to open it again -- or do I have to learn to live with the silence? -- Grieving But Still Reaching Out

( Read more... )

Current Mood: sore
Current Music: Murder She Wrote

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Write Every Day Day 16

I wish they wouldn’t tell it to me 5 stories at a time.

Finished my

getyourwordsout Yahtzee story for another 1311 words (thing ended up over 5300 words…) and I edited chapter one of my

unconventionalcourtship story

Let me know what day you’re reporting in for. If I've missed you on the tally let me know. Feel free to jump in at any time.

Day fifteen -

cornerofmadness,

badly_knitted,

sylvanwitch,

goddess47,

cmk418,

trobadora,

luzula,

nafs,

carenejeans,

lilly_c,

china_shop,

ysilme,

brithistorian,

( other days )

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Star Trek OS

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Writerly Ways

We invited cousins out for an early dinner at 4. It's now 10:30 and they just left. So nothing but links today because my brain is very very tired.

Open Calls

Five Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in June 2025

Ghost Light Lit: Now Seeking Submissions

Mistletoe and Vine Fantasy, speculative fiction, and horror (no scifi) between 100-500 words

Mythaxis July 2025 Submission Period Diverse sci-fi and fantasy fiction.

Last Girls Club Fall Issue Theme: Monkey’s Paw/Answered Prayers

Sapphic Horror Anthology due in two weeks but some of you might have one waiting in the wings (i'm out)

Cosmic Horror Monthly July 2025 Window Weird and cosmic fiction

Solar Punk Magazine July 2025 Window

35 Publishers that Accept Direct Submissions of Speculative Fiction

Star Crossed a shared universe project

You can always check out the Submission Grinder

From around the web

here.How to Identify and Fight the Demon of Perfectionism

Own the Title of Writer (Don’t Add “Aspiring”)

5 Myths of Writing and Publishing Success

How To Make Your Main Character Likeable Even if They’re Not Always a Good Person by Laurel Osterkamp

Be Brave Under Threat: Wise Words from Margaret Atwood

Why You Can’t Write Fear Without Feeling It First.

A Guide to Book Typesetting Services

10 Important Parts of a Book for First-Time Authors

From Betty

Choosing Music and Instruments for Your Culture

Five Common Problems With Metaphors

Think more about whether you like a prospective agent than whether the agent will like you

Successful Queries: Henry Dunow and “The Fire Concerto,” by Sarah Landenwich

Ingredients for brilliance

Continuing a Series: Enticing Readers to Return

Millennial Slang for Writers

When the Second Draft Feels Like a Step Back

Chekhov’s Gun: Does Your Story Have A Forgotten “Gun”?

How to Color Your Map Using SCIENCE!

Use These Foundational Truths to Encourage Other Writers and Ourselves

Necessary Items that Make the Novel You're Writing Work

Three Reasons Every Writer Should Work with a Writing Coach

(no subject)

You can send this on to any dads in your life.

Current Music: "Hysteria" - Def Leppard

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rl: health

Daily Check In

*\o/*	Word Count	Step Count	Headache?
Daily	1,914	10,470	yes
Monthly	9,614	157,872	3 days

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Six Sentence Sunday

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Most Recognizable Song From Each Year of the past 100 years, 1925-2024

Watch on YouTube

Video for all of them, too, that’s impressive!

I recognize a couple of the early ones (1937 was the Jeeves & Wooster theme song, and 1939 was Somewhere Over The Rainbow), but it’s not until 1960 that a switch flips and I go “oh, okay, I’m familiar with all of these.” (Doesn’t falter until the ’00s, when I start not knowing some of the rap/hip-hop songs, and then in the past 10 years I guess I’m just not listening to new music enough.)

The Beatles have the most winners, they’re in here 4 times. Fred Astaire has 2, Judy Garland has 2, Elvis has 2, Queen has 3, Eminem has 2…probably a couple other repeats I missed, there doesn’t seem to be a text list. Genuinely surprised Taylor Swift never shows up — her output as a whole has to be a bigger deal than a lot of the winners from the past 2 decades, they just had at least one breakout hit each.

“Link the most-recognizable song from the year you were born” could be a fun meme…except that if I link mine, you’ll think I’m kidding.

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IPQ 2025 PDPHs

Event: Id Pro Quo
Event link:

idproquo
Pinch hit link: https://idproquo.dreamwidth.org/tag/pinch+hits
Due date: June 20th, 10pm EDT
Work Minimums: 2k fic or finished artwork

~~PH 21 - 阴阳师 | Yīn Yáng Shī | The Yin-yang Master (Movies - Guo Jingming), 陰陽師 | Onmyouji (Anime 2023), 밤에 피는 꽃 | Knight Flower (TV)~~

PH 22 - Vampire: The Masquerade — Parliament of Knives - Jeffrey Dean, Vampire: The Masquerade — Parliament of Knives - Jeffrey Dean, Vampire: The Masquerade — Parliament of Knives - Jeffrey Dean, Vampire: The Masquerade — Parliament of Knives - Jeffrey Dean, Vampire: The Masquerade Port Saga (Podcast), Path of Night (Podcast), Path of Night (Podcast)

PH 40 - 今際の国のアリス | Imawa no Kuni no Alice | Alice in Borderland (TV), The Ancient One - Cat2000, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins, Mortal Kombat (Video Games 1992-2020), Mortal Kombat (Video Games 2023-), Marvel Cinematic Universe

PH 47 - Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon), Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon), Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon)

PH 49 - Clean Slate (TV), High Potential (TV), Crossover Fandom, Crossover Fandom, Crossover Fandom

Thank you for considering our pinch hits!