opakele | Reading

Protests, graduations, COVID - they all got together and decimated our volleyball turnout. But four of us lamely tried for an hour. It was ok. It would have been more fun had not the asshole been one of the four and he decided to leave after 30 minutes. Four worked. Three didn't. We gave up.

Elbow coffee is still an hour away.

The other day when I was at Trader Joes, I got some heirloom tomatoes, an onion and some Persian cukes and yesterday I chopped them all up into biggish pieces, added salt and pepper and a little balsamic dressing and popped it into the fridge. Dinner from the buffet was turkey and dressing and mashed potatoes and I added my chopped concoction and OMG was it all delicious. PLUS there is enough left of everything for another entire meal and then some.

But it won't be tonight. I got a text from Ethel asking me if I could join her and Gary and Jan and Dick for dinner tonight! YOU BETCHA!! They are all the best friends of Myrna. Gary plays volleyball with us (and was one of the four this morning) and Ethel is his wife and they are both delightful. Jan and Dick are the couple planning to move into Myrna's apartment. All four of them have been so kind to me and are just fun, nice, people. I'm delighted to be their fifth wheel. Plus, I want an update of the moving situation. And they are early birds so dinner will be at 4:45 which suits me just perfectly.

Periodically, I check on my cousin's house in Oklahoma City. BUT Google hasn't updated the street view since before he died. And, of course, the real estate sites have no info. I'm sure the people who bought it will tear it down or already have. So I keep checking. This morning I got the bright idea to check Reddit. Yep, there is an OKC sub so I posted an ask for someone who's driving by to snap a photo. I already got a response from some who who says they work very near there and can do it! Very cool.

My New Zealand friends sent me a video this morning of a bear and two cubs crossing the road in front of them on their way west to Whistler. I do love that they saw them. Love that she was fast enough to whip out her phone and capture the video but most of all I am so grateful to live in a time when that is not only possible, it's normal!! (the video not the bears)

Ok, now I need to get dressed. Ingrid may go to elbow coffee in her nightgown and robe but not me.

Name:Rafi. If you come across this post or my profile and you think "hmm, looks familiar," that's possibly because I changed my DW name several months ago. It used to be "Emerald Em."

Age:58

I mostly post about:My daily life, my writing, my disabilities, autism, mental illness, being queer, my wife, fanfic, my gender journey, chronic illness (feh!), the political reality I and my people live in

My hobbies are:writing, crocheting, studying Wicca

My fandoms are:The West Wing, Man from UNCLE, Criminal Minds, some others

I'm looking to meet people who:share similar interests,

My posting schedule tends to be:three or four times a week, sometimes more often

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: TL;DR = don't be a bigoted jackass. Longer version: no queerphobia of any kind, no Trumpers. Be open-minded. Accept my lived experience in my queer self and my disabled body and mind. I welcome respectful questions if you have them, though.

Before adding me, you should know:I don't always have the spoons* to comment on all the new posts that pop up on my reading page when I log in. But I do do my earnest best to read the posts. So I generally know what's going on with my DW friends. Also, the mini-bio in my profile is currently (as of June 14 2025) pretty short--I'm working on updating and lengthening it--so it might not tell you much. If you have questions, please ask!

I am AFAB nonbinary, and again, happy to answer respectful/curious questions. But no phobias. If you don't like it, lump it and move along.

* if you don't know what this means, Google for The Spoon Theory

My morning started with Ingrid screaming from her balcony. She was dressed in a lovely short see thru nightgown howling down at the workers below (who probably don't speak English) "It's 6:30 in the morning!!! Why are you working??? Who do you work for?? I'm going to tell the director right now. Be Quiet."

I am sure that the director got an email from Ingrid. I'm pretty sure she gets one every day from from her.

My finance guy's assistant sent me some extra docs. He, so rightly, assumed I wanted Transfer of Beneficiaries (TOD) and how I wanted it set up. Then he also assumed I wanted my brother to have full access to the new accounts so he had that all ready to sign. I'd actually forgotten about both these things so I was delighted. BUT, no DocuSign. ARUGH.

I printed out the page I needed and then the printer and internet severed their connection (no clue who said what to whom). I had to sign and then scan to send back to the assistant and on to my brother. But, when it came time to scan, all I got was sad faces everywhere. If you complete all 37 steps in the right order with your mouth set just so, hooking the printer to the internet is a breeze. Miss one step or move your gaze elsewhere and you are fucked and you have to start from the beginning. Oh, and one part of the process is restarting the router which, of course, takes for frickin' ever to come back.

After buckets of blood, sweat and tears, I finally got it going again. One was 9 pages. I figured the only thing he needed was the first page. Soooooo wrong. So I had to do it all over again. THEN I had to find someone to witness my signature.

I considered ringing Ingrid's doorbell "since you are up anyway..." but figured my dying before the documents were done would be silly. So I went down to the front desk where the receptionist was happy to do it. Then I scanned all the pages in and sent them off. Whew. Done.

When I went to my doctor last January, I bitched about my runny nose. She told me Flonase or irrigation. I tried Flonaise (I have no idea how to spell it and don't care) for a month - nothing. Irrigation is to clear up stuffed up noses, so I went with an allergy pill which worked fine for six months then a couple of weeks ago, it just said 'nope, i'm done' and my nose started running away again. Dr. Google and Amazon list remedies and solutions for 'stop runny nose' that are for clearing out stuffed noses. WTF? So first I did the irrigation. I hate doing it. The first 2 seconds are really uncomfortable. The rest isn't but it's so messy. But, damn, if it didn't work! So then I ordered up some spray that is supposed to help between irrigations. It comes today.

I'm going to be shocked to learn that my doctor, Dr. Google and Amazon are all right and I was wrong. But I checked the filter on my gizmo and ordered a new one. I don't fancy a brain worm. (I've been watching so much Clarkson's Farm, and listening to Peter Grainger novels, that I now have a British accent - at least in my fingertips.)

Today's agenda includes cat food. These two are eating me out of house and home. Amazon is bringing new wet and dry food on Tuesday but their current supply of dry food ain't going to make it. At least the sun isn't out.

Then it will be the usual knitting and farming and baseball later.

My day on Thursday started with something I will probably never experience again in my life: the sighting of a pine martin in the wild. I literally have never seen this animal before in my life, except a brief glimpse at the Minnesota Zoo.

The folks working at the lodge confirmed. They'd been sighting a pine martin between the staff cabin and Cabin 1 (where we're staying.)

I did another big hike. This time I took Poplar Trail. Again, there wasn't a whole lot to see on this trail of note, except that for a brief time I turned off and headed toward Bear Cub Trail and was following very closely to the Gunflint Trail road.

Image: wild roses

Much of the rest of the day was spent reading and enjoying the intermittent sunshine. Shawn and I walked down to the Lodge's beach and stuck our toes in the water. It is very cold! The ice only came off the lake a couple of weeks ago. But, my ankles had been kind of sore from all the hiking I've been doing and so I decided it was the right kind of refreshing.

We drove up to the Trail Center for dinner and generally enjoyed being "in civilization" (or at least in company with more of our fellow humans.) As we were leaving there was a clot of old duffers sharing actual fish stories about that "eight pound walleye" caught "out by the big rock."

Classic.

We head home tomorrow, but I'm hoping to stop along the way at all the State Parks so get my passport stamped, etc. But, I may have to do a big re-cap on Sunday of both today (Friday) and our drive home (Saturday.) See you all then!

In the meantime, here is some honeysuckle (I believe) growing in a sunny spot on a wide road.

Image: close-up of honeysuckle

Name: Simone

Age: Late 30s

I mostly post about: What I'm reading (probably some kind of cosmic or folk horror, or something adjacent to that), what video games I've played lately (mostly indie/puzzle/adventure/detective), bits and pieces about my life. Occasionally more personal things if I feel they might be interesting or useful in some way, otherwise I keep it private.

My hobbies are: Drawing, watercolour painting, reading, playing video games, vintage fashion, listening to music (classical, opera, symphonic metal, soundtracks, dark cabaret, electroswing, old jazz, some more modern stuff...), singing and playing the autoharp (I also used to play piano but kinda stopped...still have a keyboard but haven't dug it out in months...), occasionally cross-stitch and embroidery, puzzles, going for walks, learning about pretty much anything but especially animals, mythology, history, and science. When I was a kid, my special interests were Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, butterflies, cloud formations, the planet Jupiter, and English folk superstitions, and I feel like I've just carried on from there. During the pandemic I got fixated on learning how to identify birds by their songs. You probably get the idea by now.

My fandoms are: I don't tend to write about fandom stuff but the only fandom I've ever been active in is Pokemon. I still write fanfiction occasionally but it's not something I write about in my journal. Other games I love include Portal and the Rusty Lake games but there's lots. In terms of watching things, I enjoy the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Game of Thrones / House of the Dragon, Black Mirror and Stranger Things. I'm getting back into Welcome to Night Vale (podcast) but I'm like 5 years behind...

I'm looking to meet people who: Share some of my interests? Similar age preferred but not essential. If you read and/or play similar stuff to me I would love to trade recommendations.

My posting schedule tends to be: Once or twice a week right now but during busy times I might drop off for a bit.

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: If your journal is very fandom-focused, I probably won't have much to say in comments. I'd also prefer to avoid lots of posts about religion and/or politics, regardless of "flavour". I don't really care what your political views are (I mean, unless you're a white supremacist or a neo-Nazi...I'm a mixed race Jewish woman so that could be awkward...) but I'd rather not be reading racist, antisemitic, misogynistic, homophobic, etc. content. Or anything that's overly mean-spirited about anyone.

Before adding me, you should know: I live in the UK, in case you wanted to know that. And I'm autistic, not that it comes up very often in my journal posts. Also, as a sort of "reverse" to the above question - I also don't post about my political views (or anything controversial, really) in my journal.

Just got word that Aqua Yoga resumes on July 7! Turns out, I really miss it so I'm delighted. Volleyball was good this morning so the pool hiatus is now well and truly over. Whew.

I've now made 26 Pride Monsters. There are two out on the shelf but they won't be there long. I have yarn for probably 20 more and then I'll go back to curly headed dolls. I do want to come up with a Halloween offering and I have two potentials in mind. I need to make them up and then run them by the final arbitrator: Martha.

I learned to knit when I was 6 so I've been fiddling with yarn for 70 years and last week, I came across the most genius tip ever. I've always rolled balls of yarn and tucked the ends into the last few windings. This kind of works except sometimes it does not and always, finding the ends is a bitch.

Then, last week, I saw this on Bluesky. I cannot even find the post now. I'd dearly love to thank the author. These clips are perfect. They do not snag the yarn, they mold to the curve of the ball exactly. They do not let go of the yarn and you always know where the end is. I'm a little bit pissed that I didn't know about it years ago but I'm delighted with it now.

Today the sun is behind clouds and oh the relief of having it hidden! I'm going to celebrate by going out and doing my Amazon returns and maybe stopping at Trader Joes. Or Safeway.

If I’m writing about my adventures a day behind, I should probably make a short list of the things I’ve read to start with. I finished listening to Blood Ink Sister Scribe last night. I will admit that I got a little bogged down in the middle of the book, re-read Trouble and Her Friends (for an up-coming podcast,) and then listened to the second half of it. While I’ve been up here, Martha Well’s Network Effect came up for grabs as an audiobook, so I downloaded that during one of my daily treks to the lodge for internet.

Yesterday started with a nice canoe trip around part of the lake. Shawn and I like to get up early, around 6:30 or 7 am, and do a near-silent drift along the lake. It often pays off in terms of animal sightings. Yesterday we had our first truly sunny morning, and we saw (we counted) ten turtles in various spots sunning themselves on logs. On our return trip, we got the piece d’resistance: a river otter! The river otter was actually in the lake with us and bobbed up a couple of times (almost like trying to stand in the water) to try to decide if we were a danger or not and then disappeared under the water.

Super cool!

It was pretty darned magical, even though at that point in the trip around the lake we were fighting a chilly headwind so strong that if we stopped paddling the canoe would start to go sideways.

Almost immediately after making landfall, Mason and I hopped in the car and headed off to nearby Judge C. R. Magney State Park to revisit Devil’s Kettle.

Shawn elected to stay behind. Her knee, which has been performing like an absolute champ this trip, has been getting stiff and sore after canoe rides. She bends very well for someone who is really only about six months out of knee surgery but getting in and out of the canoe from the dock is more of a challenge. The idea of doing all those stairs down—and then back up again—to see the first set of falls felt like a bad idea to her. I don’t blame her, but we still felt sad leaving her behind even though she said it was okay.

Mason and I have been to this state park before, four years ago, but I was not yet a member of either the Passport or the Minnesota State Parks and Trails Hiking Club. I brought my state park passport along and got my stamp!

Image: passport stamp

I was glad Shawn did not come once we started the hike. I’m here to tell you that being fat and asthmatic is no real barrier (so long as you have your inhaler, are generally mobile, and are willing to take it slowly,) but I do not think Shawn’s knee would have survived the uneven, sloped parts of the trail, NEVERMIND the stairs.

Speaking of being fat, I did have at least one stranger feel free to tell me that I was “doing great, honey!” But you know what? I was! So, I decided to ignore the fairly pointed assumption about my general health based on my size, and said, “Thanks! You, too!”

The effort is always worth it, however:

Image: famous Devil's Kettle.

If you have never heard of Devil's Kettle before and why it's so fascinating, feel free to read this article about the mysterious kettle that takes water in but maybe sends it straight to hell... https://www.treehugger.com/the-mystery-of-devils-kettle-falls-4863996

Mason and I had a lovely hike back down. I’d swear, actually, that I took the stairs back up much faster this year than I did four years ago. This is not to say that we didn’t pause on any of the landings that are on offer, but I made very steady progress and never felt like my heart was pounding out of my chest or any of that. I honestly think it helped that the weather has been quite cool up here, so while I worked up a sweat, it never felt overwhelming. TMI? But I’m kind of proud of myself, I guess? Especially after that lady’s “encouragement.”

On our way back to Gunflint Trail and the Lodge, Mason and I stopped in Grand Marais for lunch. This trip is a gift to Mason for graduating from university and so I let him pick the place. We stopped at Angry Trout to have fish sandwiches and an incredible view of the marina, if you can call it such, on Lake Superior.

Mason at Angry Trout

Image: Mason contemplating the menu at Angry Trout.

The drive back was uneventful and we spent much of the rest of the evening sitting on the dock staring out at the lake (or reading.) We have new “neighbors” in cabin two. They are two old duffers who are here for a guy’s weekend of fishing and catching up. Shawn, who was here all day, talked to them a bit. One of them is from the Twin Cities (Oakdale or somewhere like that) and the other is previously from the area, but has since moved to Arizona. He told us he left nearly 100 F / C temps. We made the classic joke about having brought the sun with him, since this was one of the first non-rainy days.

Normally, we don’t interact much with the other cabins, but the forestry service has done a lot of fire maintenance around the lodge and so all of the underbrush is gone, chopped down. It looks little denuded, and apocalypse-y and it also means you see more people coming in out of cabins from further away and have to make the tough Minnesota decision: “Do I wave? Do I have to wave? Oh crap, we made eye contact, I will lift my hand and wave. Oh, god, this is awkward, how long do I wave?” And, yes, I’m actually the family’s extrovert. But I’m also very aware that most people in Minnesota do not actually want to have to talk to strangers, especially when they are “up nort” on a fishing trip with their old college buddy.

More wildflowers!

Wild sasperilla?

Image: blue flower of some variety??

What If? by Randall Munroe

Blurb:

Fans of the xkcd comic ask Munroe a lot of strange questions: What if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent the speed of light? How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? If there was a robot apocalypse, how long would humanity last? What if everyone only had one soulmate? What would happen if the moon went away?

In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, complemented by his signature xkcd comics. (They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion.)

In celebration of 10 years of unusual insight, Randall Munroe has revised his classic blockbuster to ask what if? x 10. The result is 10x the adventure of scientific inquiry. Featuring brand-new 2-color annotations and illustrations, this special anniversary edition is far more than a book for geeks, What If? explains the laws of science in operation in a way that every intelligent reader will enjoy and feel much smarter for having read.

While I love, xkcd comics, I found the book a little hard to get through. Some of the questions were genuinely interesting and the explanation intriguing, but many of them seem to end up in the same place every time. An amusing read overall though.

Note: with this square completed, I have one left!

Current Mood: lazy
Current Music: Mark Isham - The Huntsman

Yesterday, we decided to do our usual attempt to see moose at Moose Viewing Trail. We are past moose season, really. I mean, moose are out here in the woods. It’s possible to see one. But, tourists, like ourselves, are more likely to see moose during calving, which is earlier in the year--in May.

Moose are sometimes more active in the early morning hours, so to sweeten the “how about we get up at the crack of dawn?” deal for our late risers in the house (namely Mason), we decided that once we have attempted to moose view, we would hit the new nearby coffee shop called Loon’s Rest.

We did not see any moose at Moose Viewing as expected.

The Moose Viewing view

Image: Moose Viewing view (Note: No Moose.)

The other funky thing about Moose Viewing trail is the fact that as you turn in to the official Moose Viewing platform, there is a myserious abandoned car. There are a lot of questions about this car. How did it get here? When did it get here? How did the boulder get on top of it?

Image: car in woods?

We ran into a couple of well-equipped hikers from Oklahoma who were perhaps a little too eager for moose. We gave our best advice, which was hang out as long as you can and be quiet—and, you know? Maybe they got lucky. I hope they did.

The Loon’s Nest was entirely full of old, white men (but one can sort of say that generally about the Gunflint Trail.) The espresso was perfectly adequate as were the croissant, egg, and sausage patties.

I did not attempt a big walk yesterday, since I wanted to save my strength for canoeing. Mason and I had yet to get out in the lake. When we did, it was the first time in a long time that Mason was in charge of steering. It took us a little time to figure out our rhythm, but once we got going we were amazing. We canoed out past the point to a part of Bearskin that Shawn and I call “capsize cove” thanks to a certain incident several years ago. There is a lovely beaver dam out in the cove. We fought the wind coming back, but it was actually fairly energizing.

An absolutely lovely day all told.

And, now…. More wildflowers for identification!

A purple wildflower of some kind!

false lily of the valley

False lily-of-the-valley?

As usual, almost half a month until I get to my monthly reading post… Oh well. I read more again, which is nice, but I seem to have developed a habit of picking up books, reading half of it, and then forgetting about them. I always read more than one book at any given time, but this is ridiculous! Anyway, in April I finished these books, all new to me:

Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny. This is the 14th book of The Inspector Gamache series, which I have been slowly reading through the past 2 years. I read the first four books years ago one after another, and grew tired of them, so when I went back to them I I decided to pace myself. I re-read the first books and then continued, and have enjoyed them. In case you haven’t read Penny, she is a Canadian author, and most of the books centers around a village, Three Pines, close to the border to the USA. It’s pretty much an ideal place, with a bistro serving yummy food (don’t read if you're hungry), friendship and art. And of course murder. In this book Inspector Gamache finds himself the executor of a very strange will of a woman he never met. There is a very new murder, but also a very old mystery, which was intriguing, but I still had a hard time getting through the book. Partly because the mystery didn’t pick up steam until after ⅔ of the book, but also because of a sub-plot about fentanyl smuggling which has lasted several books, and that I don’t care for at all.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow. Someone recommended this book to me and it’s been in my to-read pile since forever. When I finally picked it up I finished it in two days, reading until 3 in the night. It has been a long time since I did that. Easily the best book I have read this year.

Opal is a young woman working a dead end job in a dead end town in Kentucky. Her main focus is to get enough money to get her young brother to a good school and eventually a better life. But she also has a fascination for Starling House, a mysterious manor house built by the equally mysterious Eleanor Starling who in the late 19th century wrote a very strange children’s book, before she disappeared. Needless to say Opal finds herself entangled with Starling House in a very Gothic story. I loved everything about this story, from the plot, the language and the characters. I also found the ending satisfying, which I often think is the weakest spot in Gothic novels.

The Ten thousand Doors of January also by Alix E. Harrow. As I already had this book by Harrow, I went straight to it after Starling House. It’s set in the early 20th century and follows January as she grows up in her wealthy guardian house while her father, who works for him, travels the world to bring back artefacts. Though January is well treated, she chafes agaínst the restraints put on her. She also, once, found a door to another world, though that door is immediately destroyed. One day she finds a book about a girl who also finds doors to other worlds, and as January’s world is turned on its head, she slowly realises she has a very real connection to the book.

I didn’t like The Ten thousand Doors of January quite as much as Starling House, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. I did, a lot, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Build A Flower by Lucia Bakrazarand Pappersblommor (Paper flowers) by Sofia Vusir Jansson. Both are non-fiction books about how to make paper flowers from crepe paper. There’s this amazingly talented woman in Sweden that makes paper flowers that are so lifelike, I felt inspired to try to make themselves. So far I have produced a poppy, which I’m pleased with for being the first try ever. Not that I need a new hobby, but at least it’s a fairly inexpensive one, and for a sewist it’s quite the thrill to finish a project in an hour… I plan to do a couple of rehearsal flowers, trying different ones, and eventually create a flower arrangement for a decorative pot we have that is cracked so you can’t have live flowers in it. Both these books were informative and easy to read.

Just below my window, for the past two mornings, guys have been working on some project. They are starting about 7 am. There is noise and conversation. Fine by me BUT... they are also just below Ingrid's window. And Ingrid does not believe anyone should make any noise that she can hear before oh, I don't know, 10 or 11 am. Plus, Ingrid lives to bitch to management. I'm guessing the emails are flying already.

This morning, my finance guy is going to call to discuss options for investing my money. It's a dance we do. He recommends and I say fine but first he has to defend his recommendation. I do not need the defense. But, apparently he does. I'm used to it by now - all finance guys are the same this way. As long as he does not try to explain dollar cost averaging, I'm fine. "that sounds fine. I totally agree. that sounds like an excellent plan, thank you. yes, that's perfect. ok. sure." Then we're good for at least a year probably. He and his assistant are VERY good about emails but some things, apparently, need voice consent. It might have to do with crossing state lines. Missouri. He keeps meaningless chit chat to a bare minimum and responds immediately to anything I ask. I inherited him from my cousin and I'm very grateful.

That's really my only agenda item today. It's baseball getaway day. The Phillies play at 10 and the Mariners at noon. Both teams were leading their divisions for a good while but now can't seem to quit losing. At least last night's game featured lots of the Phanatic which was fun.

Julio turns 3 tomorrow.

Ok, so the finance call happened early! He had said 9 or 10 but turns out he meant that in his time, not mine. which is fine and dandy. I'm happy to have it over with. All decisions are made. Docusigns are coming in now. Yeah for electronic signing!

And while I'm waiting for the last doc to sign, I even went into my Google IMPORTANT stuff folder and updated my doc of details. My father kept this for years. Typed out on his typewriter. A list of where his money was, his and mom's and all his children's and grandchildren's addresses, dates of birth and social security numbers and a few other important bits of info. When he died, it was my Bible. My original copy was in shattered bits by the time his estate was settled. I tried to keep my Daddy's List plain and simple and up to date. And, now it is.

And my last doc is signed. Woot! I think I'll go down to the mail room and clean out my mailbox of all the letters from Neptune and the brochures from cruise lines. Also, so oddly, postcards from gutter replacement outfits.

Then it will be time for the first pitch.

Posting here because I haven't in years, and I struggle to find people who share even one or two interests with me, so the suggested template doesn't fit me any better than most things. I'll use what I can of it, and I apologise for being very rambly. :)

Name:

sweetsorcery

Age: well over 18

I mostly post about: Writing, Fandom Events (Exchanges, Challenges, etc.), Life and Health Challenges. After that, it gets murky, because I often want to post about the many, many things that interest me and then just talk to myself about them instead, because my tastes couldn't be less mainstream.

What are these interests: Writing M/M (see fandoms), Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories/Horror/Weird Fiction, Golden Age Adventure Stories, Audiobooks and Vintage Radioplays, WWI and WWII (specifically British Military History, Aviation, and Naval warfare), British Social History from the Victorians through to the middle of the 20th Century, Ancient History, Art (esp. Romanticism, Neoclassicism and Surrealism) and Architecture (esp. Art Deco, Tudor, Jacobean), Archaeology, Ancient Egypt, Paganism, Spirituality, Reincarnation, Mythology, Folklore, Parapsychology, Taoism, British Dance Bands from the 1920s - 1940s, Baroque Music (incl. Opera very selectively), Romantic Era Music, Pop from the 1950s - 1980s, Dancing (sadly mostly passive these days), Romantic Poetry, Old Movies (I say 'old' instead of 'classic' to avoid confusion, because again, my favourites are pretty obscure to most people and include a lot of War Movies), Silent Movies, Age of Sail, etc.

My fandoms have been many over time, but these are the ones I'm most likely to read/write now and in future: Biggles - W E Johns, Famous Five - Enid Blyton, Vienna Blood (still on my first run-through of the TV series, but loving it), Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson, Vintage Ghost Stories (I keep adding to the list of inspiring ones to write about), Vintage War Movies (ditto), 18th and 19th Century RPF, Ancient Egypt RPF

I'm looking to meet people who: share one or more of my eclectic interests

My posting schedule tends to be: What is a schedule?

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: You might assume from my old-fashioned interests that I'm rather conservative. Nope, not unless it comes to wishing people were still polite and well-spoken. Think of me as a kind of Ariadne Oliver type... and if that means anything to you, we might get along well. ;)
While I don't post or read about Politics if I can possibly help it, please keep on your side of the enclosure if you're homophobic, transphobic, racist, ableist, anti-science, anti-personal freedom, supportive of fascist regimes, or prone to diving down conspiracy theory rabbit holes. If you don't believe in the motto "Live and Let Live", we won't get along; that extends to writing too, because while I don't write anything needing AO3 archive warnings, you'll regularly find themes and pairings in my writing that offend conservatives and antis. Also, you must be over 18 too - I don't censor my writing or my posts.

Before adding me, you should know: I'm a Pisces with a Scorpio ascendant, and an INFP, so I'm consistently spinning day dreams and easily distracted. I avoid conflict, but I have claws/pincers for emergencies. I'm agoraphobic and aegosexual.
I have CPTSD and Fibromyalgia, and I do talk about that. I mention this because it's cost me "friends" before, so if you easily get sick and tired of people whose daily life mostly consists of being sick and tired, and who sometimes need to vent their grief about that in their own journal, you might like to avoid me. It's unfortunately part of who I am, but I promise, I don't post detailed medical horrors. If I do post about it, it's usually as an apology for disappearing for a while and under a cut.
I sparingly use generative AI art to help me visualise literary characters of whom no proper visuals exist, but I don't use AI in writing. I don't claim AI art as my own, and fandom icons are about the most public use I make of it; if you're going to lecture me on that, please just move on.
I get hyper-fixated and will post about my fixations at length with the least amount of encouragement.

Monday I’m going to start a new job with a totally new group of people I don’t know.
I was tempted to print up little index cards with information about me.
But, then I couldn’t think of what to tell folks.

Any recommendations?

Volleyball was good this morning. I appreciate the interaction. None of the people I play with are people I would want to spend a whole lot of time with but all of them are delightful to see 3 times a week and play volleyball with and when I don't get that, I miss them. We do have lots of laughs.

Today is house cleaning day. Yesterday, I changed the bed linens and did all the laundry. So after the house cleaner leaves, we'll have a whole new start.

Yesterday afternoon, I found Clarkson's Farm on Prime Video and, of course, as I am wont to do, I am now obsessed. I watched the first few episodes before it finally dawned on me that this dude, Jeremy Clarkson is somebody. Google tells me that he is a British TV guy who does car show and other stuff. So my British friends, particularly, will get a giggle that I figured he was just some dude with few farm clues and lots of $$. The show is great, tho. I know less about farming than Clarkson did when he started. Still, hooked am I.

For at least a few, maybe a dozen, years, my left ankle has been way larger than my right. My left one looks like an old lady's bloated ankle and my right one looks normal. Last week my right one decided to join the fat parade. Now I have two old lady bloated ankles. For some reason this just bugs the crap out of me. Isn't it better to have two ankles that match? Who the fuck every looks at my ankles anyway?? Etc. Anyway, this morning, my right ankle is now down to normal and the left one is the same fatty he's always been. Soooo weird.

And that's the thrilling news from overheated Issaquah, WA. For this morning anyway.

The weather here has been overcast and rainy. As Shawn told a somewhat uncertain staff person, “It’s gorgeous!” (The staff was concerned that she was being sarcastic. Shawn assured her that she was not.) Our family is very happily indoorsy. So, we spent much of the day inside, by a roaring fire, reading.

However, the weather cleared up on and off, and during one of the ‘on’s, Shawn and I headed out for an early morning canoe. We tend to canoe much like we hike, which is to say, we don’t go all that far, and we glide along at a snail’s pace.

Shawn in canoe (Bearskin 2025)

Image: Shawn in a canoe at Bearskin

I’ve also resumed my quest to walk as many of Bearskin’s ski trails as I feel is reasonable. I tend to enjoy a hike to a destination like Sunday’s accidental trip to Rudy Lake, but not all of the ski trails are set up for vistas. In fact, most of them aren’t. A person can tell, even as hiker, how excellent they are for skiers. So many up and down slopes! We are technically in the Pincushion Mountains here, (though people from the Coasts are allowed to scoff at what we call mountains around here.) However, the elevation changes are real! In fact, it usually takes me a few days to get used to the steep slopes. This time, having just come from Middletown, CT, which I feel like was built entirely at a 45-degree angle (all of it uphill!), I didn’t seem to need as much time.

At any rate, this year, I decided to try and find Ox Cart. FYI, an Ox Cart would not make it around this loop. I mean, I guess oxen are strong? But pulling a cart would be tough! Skiing however? It would be glorious.

Bob, the owner of Bearskin, did want to point out that if I walked Ox Cart, I would see the new boardwalk that they installed.

The boardwalk goes over a very marshy, swampy area. A place that my family would call “very moosey,” as this seems to be the sort of areas that we imagine moose tend to enjoy. This is a highly unscientific “hot take,” however. The one time that we saw moose in the wild, while hiking (at, of all places, “Moose Viewing Trail”) there was a place a little like this, though much more lake-y and slightly less boggy/swampy.

moosey

Moosey view.

I did not see moose here.

I will note, however, that I did see moose tracks and what was very obviously moose scat on my way back out of this trail. So, perhaps our family is not entirely wrong as to what constitutes a moosey place.

Much of my hike was just woods.

wooded path (Bearskin 2025)

Image: wooded path

However, I have been trying to stop and take pictures of wildflowers that I’ve been seeing on my hikes. Here are a few:

pussy foot?

Image: pussy feet? Something like that (looking for id,

pameladean !)

Image: star flower

My parents had 5 grandchildren. At some point they decided to give each a substantial gift for use after high school. My mother told me years later after Daddy died that the biggest discussion about giving the gifts was me. My brother and sister would benefit from the gifts being given their children and I'd get nothing. Mom said she was fine with that (hahahah Mom!) but that Daddy had really wrestled with the fairness of it. Thanks, Dad - you were always my favorite. Not true, really, Mom.

Anyway... that shit apparently is in my DNA. I have two nephews. One is getting married and I zelled him money for a wedding present this weekend and then thought that was not really fair to his brother who just bought a new house and got no house warming present. So this morning I zelled him. Except. It didn't work. No reason given. Just didn't work. Zelle said he has a valid account but just no send. I checked the limits and I was well within. I have money in my account. I tried sending $5. nope. I finally got him engaged. He sent a QR code which linked to his account successfully but still didn't send the money. Fuckme. The wedding money zelled perfectly the first time. Wild.

So... finally... I called the credit union which is usually a major PIA only this time wasn't too horrible. I explained the issue and was transferred to a guy who knew his shit. He said he could see the attempts and could see that all was fine. "basically, you just hit a zelle glitch". He waved his magic wand And, after a few more log ins and log outs, it worked, he said but I couldn't see it and would not let him go until I did. He was very kind and patient and finally I could see it and so could my nephew. So all's well that ends well.

But a very exhausting way to start the week!

The Annual Window Washing starts next Monday. Right now there are three window washers down in the plaza looking up at our dirty windows. It's quite the endeavor, this window washing. Apparently they have tried it via rappelling from the roof a few times and that was not as good as going from apartment to apartment. This latter is how they do it now. They open the windows and remove the screens and then hang out that open one to clean the others. Move to the next apartment. It takes about 3 or 4 weeks to do them all. The most painful part is listening to everyone conjure on how they are doing it wrong. As a group, old people know best. And those with no real knowledge of the situation, know best of all.

But, it will be fun to have clean windows again.

And it is beyond marvelous not to have a single piece of skin in the operation.

We broke heat records yesterday and probably will again today. I have no reason to go outside and so don't intend to. All is lovely and cool in here.

[ooops this is yesterday's entry but someone forgot to post! thank you Draft Saver!!] I moved here 19 months ago. Without a single regret. Until I sold the condo. Maybe it was the finality of it. But, in the past few days, I've found myself thinking about things I'll never do again, never get to see out that front window, missing familiar places I used to go... Not really regret more wistful. It will hit me now and again without warning. Weird.

One of the few reservations I had about moving here was the homogeneity of the whole situation. This is a really white community. We have some residents who are of Asian decent but mostly it's all European white. The community is green. Nearly perfectly green year round. Beautiful trees and plants - so many that it's hard to see the shops. The zoning around here is iron fisted. It's very very pretty everywhere. No road cracks. No butt cracks. No tents. Hardly a soda can on the side of the road. Very Stepford in many ways.

It's actually pretty much the antithesis of downtown Seattle. In all the good ways and all the bad ways. Interesting thoughts.

I had ordered, from Amazon, two storage bins to set on the washer and catch the extra stuff. Then, yesterday, I went out to do my returns and, on a whim, popped into to Target and found an even better solution for cheaper. So for the second time recently, I stood in a retail store and canceled an Amazon order and made brick and mortar purchase. Now, that's something I never did in Seattle.

I have now spent a whole lot of time in the tiny room that is my utility room but I think it's finally hit max functionality. I have new hooks and mounted the hand vac, and fixed the tools situation and moved this and tossed that. This apartment is such an easy place to live. Everything is somewhere and I know where that where is. I can get to it and reach it and find it and put it back with ease. It is less than half the size of the condo but feels so much bigger.

We are at Bearskin!

Moon over Bearskin

The moon (and traces of Northern Lights) over Bearskin (from Cabin 1)

Yesterday, as usual, we stopped at several sites along Highway 61. We had a late lunch at the “world famous” Betty’s Pie. I do not know if this pie is truly well-known throughout the world, but it was, as they say, damned good pie.

The three of us at Betty's Pies.

As has become typical of us, we stopped to do some agate hunting about a mile north of Two Harbors at Flood Bay. We had to backtrack from Betty’s, but we didn’t care. My family simply cannot be hurried once we’re in vacation mode. Once we’ve made it to Duluth (to-du-loot!) vacation mode has fully activated. “Oh? The thing we wanted to see was back there? Sure, let’s turn around!”

Mason and me agate hunting at Flood Bay

Me and Mason agate hunting at Floor Bay.

I’m not ever sure what an agate looks like when it’s not polished. Not that it matters to any of us. Shawn hands out plastic baggies and we find a nice spot and start hunting. On this trip, it was extra windy. It was already decently cold, maybe mid-50s F/ 10 C. We joked that the windchill made it below freezing! Shawn had to hike back to the car for extra layers.

But, we had a great time just relaxing and sifting through the rocks on the shores of the world’s largest freshwater lake. (And, as Mason loves to point out, a lake so cold that if you’re shipwrecked in it, you don’t rot!)

Mason beach combing

Next was a pitstop at Gooseberry Falls. Sometimes, like a lot of travelers this time of year, we only stop long enough to do our business and then push on. This time, however, Mason and I decided to make the short trek up to see both the high falls and the low falls. Shawn, meanwhile, saved her knee (which is mostly doing well, but technically still in recovery,) for the next beach and hung out in the gift shop looking for, among other things, sweatpants for Mason who—for reasons all his own—decided not to pack any pants for the trip. Only shorts!

Gooseberry Falls, in my opinion, is almost always worth the detour.

Goosberry Falls 2025

Image: Gooseberry Falls

I only remembered after we’d left that I forgot to get my State Park passport stamped! We decided, however, that we would stop in as many State Parks as we could on our route back. Mason and I are also planning a day trip out to Devil’s Kettle, so I have be sure to remember to bring it with me to that hike!

I had advocated for a stop at Iona’s Beach this year but changed my mind after experiencing the wind at Flood Bay. Maybe the weather will be more cooperative on the drive home. Instead, we decided to pull in at Silver Bay to get a gander at "Rocky Taconite."

Image: Rocky Taconite at Silver Bay.

Our last beach of the trip up to the cabin was Cutface Creek Pullout (14 miles north of Lutsen, mile marker 104.) This beach is famous for its thomsonite. Again, I have no idea what thomsonite looks like in the wild (although this might be the year I may have found a piece. I’m going to try polishing it up when we get back home), but this beach generally has cool rocks because it has a ton of mini geodes.
Again, we dawdled. I have no idea how long we spent combing the beaches and listening to the waves. This beach was less windy; it was much more of a natural windbreak/cove.

We managed to miss official check-in at Bearskin (6 pm), which we often do (even leaving the Twin Cities at 9 am), and so followed the instructions to get the cabin key for check-in the next morning. It was still light enough out that Mason and I made the walk up to the Lodge to pick up the aluminum canoe that they on the beach for us out for us. We paddled it to our dock, bungied it up to our private dock for the night, and then settled in for a dinner of brats on the grill.

I fully failed to make a decent fire our first night, but luckily both Shawn and Mason are better skilled at this than I am.

This morning (Sunday) we woke up to rain.

Shawn and I walked down to the Lodge to check in. Because of all of the forest fires that are active in Minnesota right now, the Forest Service has been doing a lot of clearing of what they call “ladder trees,” but also underbrush. The place looks… a little devestated. At least in comparison to what we’re used to. I have been excited to resume my hiking of the ski trails this year and so I wanted to be sure to ask the staff about good trails for less… husbandry, we’ll say. They nicely pointed out where on the map they thought the Forestry Service hadn’t gotten to yet. So, after a quick jog back to Cabin 1 to make sure I had my inhaler, I headed off. I’d intended to slowly get my “sea legs” back, but I missed a turn off and hiked all the way to Rudy Lake.

Rudy Lake 2025

Image: a pristine lake (Rudy Lake) in the middle of nowhere.

Oops.

It is cool, however. Like, this is a lake you simply can not get to without walking to it. There are no roads to get you here.

However, I am a little sore and may have overdone it already on day one. Hopefully, with a bit of rest and Aleve, I’ll be back at it in no time.