fauxklore

It was an amusing start to the day. Well...didn't start amusing. I was woken up early than I wanted by noise. When I got to the Hamptons' comp breakfast I see that the room is filled. I sit down with my fresh made sweet potato waffle (with hot apple topping) with what has to be a pro/semi pro soccer team from Jamaica (since they all seemed to be later 20s early 30s, definitely NOT college aged) and they're watching soccer as they eat and shouting at the screen and each other like we're in a sports bar. Also I was the only one not on the team sitting there

I could not have asked for a better day. So cool and with a nice light breeze as I headed to Carillon Historical Park/A> It's 65 acres of recreated (for the most part) village where all the buildings are little museums. The big welcome building had a stein collection of over 400 steins, history on several major innovators in Dayton including the Wright Brothers (naturally), Patterson (who did national cash registers) and Deeds (who was the one to donate the 57 bell carillon tower) There was bits about the brother's inventions (also there were animatronic 'innovators' telling their stories (those uncanny valley things freak me out).

There was 90 of those gorgeous antique cash registers, things of beauty as well as function (I rather miss that in the modern age). there were some old cars in there too and the world's most confusion carousel with just bizarre shit (though in a later picture of Wilbur I know understand the St Bernard style dog one), there was a cash register (had I gotten on I would have ridden that, it's the non moving bench one for grandma) cans of pop, chip bags, various animals.

From there I bought the 5 dollar train ride just to a) sit and enjoy the cool weather b) see the park and that was fun. From there I started investigating the offerings including (but not limited to) an antique fire truck car show (including two belgians and their fire carriage), Newcome tavern from 1796, a one room school house from the 1800s, the last surviving remnant of the Watervliet Shaker village, a horse barn (no horses), the hetzel summer kitchen and the really interesting stuff was:

Sugar Camp Waves cabin. I had no idea there were WAVES doing code breaking in Dayton in WWII
Gem City Letter press - which is an operational print shop (you can get a printed souvenier (I didn't))

The great 1913 flood exhibit. I had no idea Dayton was flooded up to 20 feet and horses were on the roofs because they swam there (more than a thousand drowned, poor things)

Dayton Cyclery that had some cool old bikes

The transportation center with some really cool old train cars and trolleys

The Wright Brothers national museum which included their No. 5 flyer which Orville felt was their best one. It was bigger than I imagined. Also I had no idea that Wilbur died so young (45 of typhoid fever)

The history on the hill interpretive center talking about the Hopewell people and the fact that this hill had been a small pox quarantine hospital (and after that for prostitutes with STDS)

I wish I remembered that Carillon Brewing had food and I'd have skipped the overpriced, underwhelming food trucks (I was still a little hungry and got a giant pretzel, nibbling on those leftovers now). They brew historical recipes and the one I got, coriander ale, was one of them, low abv, nice pale ale (not my usual choice) brewed with peppers and you could feel that.

From there I went to America’s Packard Museum I think the 20s-early 40s Packards were sexy cars. They were luxury, easily 3-5 times the price of an average car. The post WWII cars are less great (not a fan of the carribbean) they have one from the Godfather. They have one from a woman who wanted it kept for her when she returned from beyond the grave (the family kept it until 2015 when it came to the museum). The museum itself is from 1917 and was a Packard dealership.

I wanted to go next to Calvary Cemetery which I saw references to at the historical park. (this is not the cemetery I planned to go to) I put it in my new GPS (I can't use my phone. It's decided it doesn't know what the internet is) and it wants me to go to KY (that is not close). What I didn't know was that the Calvary in Moraine OH WAS the right one (that's a neighborhood, or sucked up suburb)

So I came home to the hotel for tea and relaxing and looking up the damn address. Here's the kick in the head. When I came out of the historical park I turned left on Patterson. If I had LOOKED right I would have seen the damn thing. It's right behind the park. Head desk (it's only like 7 miles so it's not a big deal). This is a CATHOLIC in all caps cemetery. Okay yes I've seen ones with more crucifixes but this had some truly interesting stuff.

What sucked it was the cloudless sky. SO many pictures are probably sun glared to death (I don't know. I haven't looked yet, you'll get pics another day). There were a few things I've rarely seen (btw do watch the video at the above link to know why I wanted to see it) lots of Mary statues by herself (one with cherubs at her feet which is unusual and another with her standing on the world crushing the serpent, much more familiar, how many times did I have to kiss that statue?) one family had stylized rosaries on their head stones. Some had historical markers (which was cool),found a whole mess of Nun graves, an entire section of baby graves (will use that picture the next time I bitch about Trump and RFK). There was even a brand new mausoleum. I swear to god I didn't know people were still making them!! (built about 20 years ago. They're still awaiting the fourth member or she choose to go elsewhere. She's my parents age so she could still be out there)

I went to dinner at Jimmie's Ladder 11 a bar/restaurant in an 1800s firehouse. It was good. I had their namesake sandwich (basically a reuben and a rachel in one sandwich) which was good. I wasn't going to drink but I decided I wanted the Grandma's Puddin' cocktail. Probably should have went with no drink. Don't get me wrong. It was tasty but a little small for the price. Putting it here for my own reference Giffard Banane du Brésil Liqueur, Five Farms Irish Cream, Oyo Honey Vanilla Bean Vodka, Cream

Now I'm in for the night (too tired to swim), off to the airforce stuff tomorrow.

Current Mood: good
Current Music: Star Trek OS

days_unfolding

Gracie woke me up a little before 8 AM. So much for sleeping in. She got out through a hole in the bottom of the fence. I had to tie her leash to the fence and go out and get her. I don’t think that I can patch this fence enough to let her off leash. I want a new fence!

Fed us all and gave Gracie her med. Nap time. Bella and Gracie are play fighting. Napped.

Took the dogs out. Gracie was refusing to come in, so I took her in the back door, and then she came in. Ate lunch with a lot of attention from the dogs.

My new singing teacher is challenging me a lot. We’re working on intervals and sight reading. She played a chord, and I was able to pick out the top and bottom notes, but not the middle note.

Had my massage. Parts of it were quite painful. Apparently, I needed it.

There was a guy busking with a violin in front of the grocery store. That was novel, so I gave him some money. Anyone who can play the melody from “Alleluia” is okay in my book. That made me look up.

Cats: We want food, etc. Fed us all and took the dogs out. I need to give Gracie her last med, and then I'm thinking of going to sleep. Gracie will no doubt get me up earlish.

maju

Yesterday we had some unwanted "excitement". Two of Violet's friends had come over on their bikes and Violet and Eden were going to go out with them, also on their bikes. Aria was absolutely desperate to go with them but she is too young and not to be trusted out on a bike without an adult around. Her mother had to forcibly restrain her from going, and she was devastated and angry. After a bit her mother asked me if I would take her to the pond and I agreed, not knowing that that's where the older girls were going. I realised later that Aria did know, which was why she was so keen to have me take her there. We joined the others for a little while, but when they all left on their bikes to go to one of their houses, Aria was determined to follow them. I restrained her for a few minutes but she managed to wrestle her way free and ran after them (crying all the way) with me running after her. We went back towards home and I thought she would stop there because all the other girls were now out of sight, but she kept running past and there was no way I could keep up.

I ran into the house and got her mother and we both went in the direction she had gone. At the first cross street we saw some boys playing in a yard; they called out to us that they had seen Aria and they thought they knew where she had gone. They took off on their bikes to see if they were right, and came back to say she was where they thought she would be - at the home of one of Violet’s friends, where all the older girls had gathered. Her mother sternly took her home, with Aria of course crying and struggling all the way. I was extremely relieved that she had been safe, and also very impressed with the neighbourhood boys looking out for her. My daughter tells me she feels that this is quite a safe neighbourhood for children because there are so many of them, and drivers expect that there might be kids out playing near or on the road.

Today has been lazy for me although not for my daughter and son in law. They’ve been painting Eden and Aria’s room this week as well as doing some small repairs, and they were putting finishing touches on it today. I think the girls will be able to sleep in there tonight; all week Aria has been on a mattress in her parents’ room while Eden has been either on a couch in the living room or on a mattress in Violet’s room.

Right now I’m recovering from spending half an hour throwing a ball around with Aria. It was more tiring than running for the same amount of time would have been.

nanila posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

fflo

Now I know why it takes people so long to realize they're in that classic TV form of magic-realist magic. The woo-woo. The do-dee-do-dee, do-dee-do-dee.

It takes so long when it's customized to you.

Last weekend, cruising around to collect a few more library codes from yard signs before this summer's Summer Game deadline, I found myself in a curvy, cul-de-sac--filled development a little south & west of Carpenter and the highways. It was a neighborhood I'd never been in, or known of, of split-level houses of the era of my childhood home. Not a bad place to drive slowly and pull over to take pix of the signs I'd encounter.

It was a warm but not hot Sunday evening in late August, which is more like early fall for a lot of the US. I found myself slowing even more, a couple of times, for kids on bikes, and started to notice a greater percentage than one usually does of homes with people out front, or in the driveway/garage. Like we used to be at that house back in the Little Apple. Kids had balls and other toy-games. I saw a couple of scooters, and they didn't seem to be the powered ones.

Each new sector, around a curve or after a corner, had more kids in the streets, and adults and kids in yards. To photograph one sign, I had to be especially careful with the kids. We steered and veered around each other. Sometimes the children would gesture to me, or playfully block me, with eye contact. It didn't seem that any bouncing balls were going to escape and be followed by a retrieving youth I might hit, or just hit my vehicle their own ball selves. But there were a lot of them, altogether. When I came to one cul-de-sac that clearly had at least one yard sign, I decided to forego it, cuzza how many bike-run-scoot-etc. children were playing in its street.

After an inexplicably long time, it began to dawn on me that this street activity in what's more or less a suburb-y small-town-y residential neighborhood doesn't happen any more, to anywhere near that extent. That is, I never see it, and haven't seen it in maybe 30 or 40 years. Granted, some of that time I wasn't in places where I would, but I'm pretty sure it'd gone away, and others have spoken and written of it being a thing of the past. But here I was, and here it was. Not a screen in sight out there! Surely as many people outside as houses, all told, or close to it, though okay sure not someone outside from every home. But just remarkable. So much so I took a pic of the neighborhood sign as I left, to note what it was called, and maybe ask others about it.

My main pondering while experiencing this anomaly was what it might be about that particular neighborhood that made it so. Its physical layout & remoteness & sense of safety from that; its apparent mix of folks of many backgrounds, and with a lot of children of play-outside ages, or what used to be those; a nice evening, after supper for maybe most, and both the weekend and summer coming to an end soon; something about the subculture of that particular neighborhood, like robust block parties and other ways people might know their neighbors (a few of the library codes and responses hinted at such a thing, I'd find out later, entering them). And it did seep into my mind even while there that this was what it was like when I was a kid, with the default being playing outside, in the evenings, so much of the time.

But it didn't occur to me, until someone I told about this experience suggested it to me, that it was just like this:

And if I were the protagonist in an episode, it would've been tailored right to me, so that I wouldn't notice right away that the familiar ways of my childhood I was encountering were now obsolete. And---new twist---there never was a moment or place, there, during my time in that Twilight Zone, that I encountered the big tell, revealing how I must've slipped into the past, whether it was from physical objects or literal signs or something someone(s) said. It was only after I left, and later told someone about it, that I found I had very probably been in the Twilight Zone.

Do I dare drive back down there sometime to try to find it? I think not.

When next I look at my photos for the one with the "real" neighborhood name I altered amateurishly for the above image, will it even be in my phone? Or if it's there, will it have morphed into a photograph of some bushes, or a McDonald's arch, or a sign that says "No Outlet"? Seems quite likely.

Maybe I have a choice to go drive into it again, and, by doing so, disappear into it forever.

susandennis

Charisma is such an interesting thing. I rarely run into it but, man, when I do... Jeff Jackson (the attorney general of North Carolina) has it. He posts videos online that force you to watch to the end. It's not so much what he's saying but the way he says it. His manner, his eyes.

I saw it again this morning. Maria has lived here for a long time. I know her to see her but we've never met. She's not very mobile. Her son, Chris, lives in Atlanta and comes about twice a year. He usually plays volleyball with us and is great fun to have in the game. This morning, mid-game, he showed up pool side to say hi. He is here this time because his mother is dying - 2 or 3 days. There were 8 of us in the pool at the time. He squatted down and explained the situation. I was on the other side of the pool so ended up in the back of the pack. So I watched and it was fascinating. He doesn't really know these people. And, yet, he spoke so kindly and clearly and patiently and answered all the questions and I'll bet you every single person thought he was talking directly to them. I sure did. Doesn't help that he's very pretty. I don't know what he does for a living but I'll bet he's spectacular at it. Really interesting. I am sure sorry he won't be playing volleyball with us ever again.

My Apple+ and Masterpiece subscriptions are up, so it's time for another month or so of Netflix. I have accumulated a lot of Nexflix titles I wanted to see so it was time. And, then, I discovered another round of British Bake off is starting soon! So okdokey! Last night I watched the first few episodes of a show that I didn't know anything about. I have no idea how it even got on my list. BUT it's fun. Leanne. I think there are 12 or more 30 minute episodes and it has a nice cast and some great lines. I literally laughed out loud more than a few times.

I need cucumbers and peanut butter so I might venture out today. The dining room is serving some fabulous lamb chops this week and some very good scalloped potatoes but their salads kind of suck. So I need something to go with.

Dick made meatloaf earlier in the week. He came down yesterday just as I was, out of desperation and poor planning, getting ready to have another peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. He wanted some stuff printed and copied and as he was leaving he said "If you want some cold meatloaf for a sandwich, come on down." Honestly, it was probably not the best meatloaf when it was hot but damn that was a fabulous sandwich. And I have enough for a repeat today. I told him now that he knows the price mi printer es su printer.

Time to get dressed for Elbow coffee.

fflo

mallorys_camera

Mostly yesterday I wrote.

In the afternoon, I toddled off to the gym & did something to my peroneal tendons on the right side. So that last night, I started to have one of those weird cramping episodes that start off in the lateral malleolus—which is that little thing on the side of your ankle you can flex and is actually your fibula—and travel up your leg into your knee. Excruciatingly painful. But I managed to head it off at the pass by tramping down hard & doing some stretching exercises.

Still. Probably wise to lay off the exercise today.

###

The weather has turned cool. There was a frost warning last night on the other side of the Poconos. Two mountain ranges off, but you know—low mountains.

I have yet to see any yellow in the trees but the sumac is all shades of scarlet.

Where did this summer go?

Honestly, I don't know.

I suppose it all went to Brian being dead. And panicking about money—although I could have done that easily enough when Brian wasn't dead. I just didn't.

###

Word count on the Work in Progress is hovering just below the 5,000-word mark, which will be the end of Chapter 1. Still need to write one more Ain't-Mimi-awful section, but must be careful it doesn't descend into parody: Mimi needs to make a suicide attempt in Chapter 9, and the reader must be sympathetic.

###

But today I must do some Remuneration. This month's bills are paid, but more bills will come next month.

It's hard to go back & forth between Remuneration & fiction-writing. They use different parts of my brain, & they both are quite exhausting in their own way (though creative effort also brings that little rush of exhilaration. It would be cool to see what neurotransmitters are involved.)

But somehow I gotta figure out a way to do it.

cornerofmadness

It's been a loooong day of multiple lab sections and then driving 2 hours. It's a very easy drive, literally three turns and two of them are in Dayton. This hotel is in a huge mall that sprawls for about four lights and on both sides of the road but it means I have plenty of food around me. I opted for the Rusty Bucket which sees to be a chain in SW Ohio (I've been to the one in Cincinnati) their cold brew martini was amazing, best part of the meal.

I almost went to the Blue Crab Juicy seafood bar but I wasn't sure about it (and it's right next door to Lust, the strip club which is probably directly behind this hotel. Oh geeze. Well it's not like I didn't live behind one for years) I looked it up. Maybe tomorrow...

This room is weird. Maybe wheelchair accessible? Doesn't say it (but at least it's on the ground floor) the bed is orientated not to the tv but to the window with your head to the door. I thought maybe it would be hard to get a wheelchair around the room if it was the normal way. Nice room though with a shower no tub. I appreciate that.

Wrote a story (NSFW)

Title: Brothers, Troublemakers and Apologies

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Summary: After a sweet morning of trying out new sex games, Angel has high hopes for the rest of the day with Husk. All that ends when retribution comes for him. He really shouldn’t have stolen Arackniss’ car.

Rating: explicit

Author Note - written for spikesgirl58’s six word challenge and the six words were Kindly, Breed, Mother, Complete, Milky, & Tremble, for allbingo’s prompt of family matters and for summer of the 69. While this is part of the Power Play series, it is a stand alone. You don't need to read the others (but please do if you're so moved) All you need to know is the Vees have been disposed of and Angel stole Arackniss' car last story.

( story under here or at the above link )

And here are the friday fannish 50 fan recs

A Little More Time Torchwood

Holding On To Hope FAKE

Pumpkin Carving Buffy the Vampire Slayer

A Song of the Grand Banks Captains Courageous - Rudyard Kipling

Still This Good Hazbin Hotel

Electric Blue Hazbin Hotel

Valid The Owl House

Hazbin Academy Hazbin Hotel

The Truth Behind The Lies Torchwood

Unwise Behaviour Stargate SG-1

Beware of the Thin Man The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Petrified The Owl House

from the middle, this time with a plan
陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

Lustful Brewing Hazbin Hotel

Deck the Halls Sapphire & Steel

Fucking Tease Hazbin Hotel

Mifepristone With a Side of Gummi Bears
Doctor Odyssey

Valentino Is Scared Of The Supernatural Hazbin Hotel

Skeletons in the Closet The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Too Early to be Morning but Here We Are
Columbo

Chilled to the Bone Hazbin Hotel

No Thyme At All Torchwood

A Black Cat in a Dark Room Doctor Who

Under the Heat of a Rising Sun Hazbin Hotel

An Order of Magnitude Stargate Atlantis/Stargate SG-1/Real Genius

Camelot's Resident Sorcerer... Arthur Pendragon? Merlin

The Candy Buying Affair The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

What the Future Holds 911

Trick or Treating Despicable Me

Mission: Retrieve Coulson Redux Murder She Wrote/The Avengers

untitled Hazbin Hotel

Moving into the Hale Ranch Teen Wolf

Learning the Lay of the Land Teen Wolf

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: Diners Drive Ins and Dives

days_unfolding

Okay. Fed us all (except for Bella, who’s on a diet). Gracie swallowed her med on the first try.

Woke up at around 7:30 AM. Fed us all. I have dogs wrestling at my feet. I called the vet to replace the missing pills for Gracie, and they think that they’ll be ready in the afternoon. Nap time. I’m a mean Mommy and shut the bedroom door in Gracie’s face. Bella alone will nap with me. Bella and Gracie together will wrestle and play fight. Not restful.

I’m trying to see if my camera is at the FedEx store yet, but the tracking number isn’t copying from my email. I’ll have to go online. It says that it's "at their facility" but does that mean the transit hub or the store? It doesn't say "available for pickup".

susandennis mentioned David Tate shoes. I went looking for them and found them on Zappos. They have my weird size (6.5 wide). So I went a little crazy and bought two sets of flats and a pair of ankle boots. I’m trying to talk myself out of buying tall boots.

I need to buy some food. I’ll stop at Meijer on the way back from the vet. Had some way spicy food for lunch.

Showered with Oliver attending. He was pretty good except for going into the shower stall when I opened the door. (He’s fascinated by showers.)

I had a moment of panic that I had missed my singing lesson. Nope. Friday. Today is Friday. I don’t know how retired people keep track of the time if one day off throws me off :)

I’m going to try to clip Bella’s nails. I *think* that she’ll cooperate with me. Gracie would be tough because she wiggles.

Went and got Gracie’s meds. Went grocery shopping, and wound up with a pot of mums as well as food. Oh crap, mums are toxic to dogs. Maybe I need to put them up on the porch.

The baguette that I bought was consumed by the dogs. Sigh. Maybe I’ll get another one tomorrow.

Had a nice nap. The dogs were out cold too. I need to feed the cats and Gracie and give Gracie her pill. Then I’ll go back to sleep.

maju

I love making my granddaughters laugh. A couple of days ago I was looking at Facebook when a post popped up about being old, with a funny picture of an old lady slumped in a chair. The girls saw the picture and asked me to read the accompanying text, so I did. Ever since, Aria keeps begging me to read it to her because she finds it so funny. I'm not at all sure why it appeals to her so much!

(Here it is:
Cranky Grandma

"A strange old lady has moved into my house. I have no idea who she is, where she came from, or how she got in. I certainly did not invite her. All I know is that one day she wasn't there, and the next day she was.

She is a clever old lady and manages to keep out of sight for the most part, but whenever I pass a mirror, I catch a glimpse of her. And, whenever I look in the mirror to check my appearance, there she is hogging the whole thing, completely obliterating my gorgeous face and body. This is very rude! I have tried screaming at her, but she just screams back.

The least she could do is offer to pay part of the bills, but no. Every once in a while, I find a $5 bill stuck in a coat pocket or some loose change under a sofa cushion, but it is not nearly enough. And I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I think she is stealing money from me. I go to the ATM and withdraw $50 and a few days later, it's all gone! I certainly don't spend money that fast, so I can only conclude the old lady is pilfering from me. You'd think she would spend some of that money to buy wrinkle cream. And money isn't the only thing I think she is stealing.

Food seems to disappear at an alarming rate-especially the good stuff like ice cream, chips, and sweets. She must have a real sweet tooth, but she'd better watch out because she is really packing on the pounds. I suspect she realizes this, and to make herself feel better, she is tampering with my scale to make me think I am putting on weight, too.

For an old lady, she is quite childish. She likes to play nasty games, like going into my wardrobe when I'm not home and altering my clothes so they don't fit. And she messes with my files and papers so I can't find anything. This is particularly annoying since I am extremely neat and organized.

She has found other imaginative ways to annoy me. She gets into my mail, newspapers, and magazines before I do and blurs the print so I can't read it. And she has done something really sinister to the volume controls on my TV, radio, and telephone. Now, all I hear are mumbles and whispers. She has done other things-like make my stairs steeper, my vacuum heavier and all the knobs and taps harder to turn. She even made my bed higher so that getting into and out of it is a real challenge.

Lately, she has been fooling with my groceries before I put them away, applying glue to the lids, making it almost impossible for me to open the jars. She has taken the fun out of shopping for clothes. When I try something on, she stands in front of the dressing room mirror and monopolizes it. She looks totally ridiculous in some of those outfits, plus, she keeps me from seeing how great they look on me.

Just when I thought she couldn't get any meaner, she proved me wrong. She came along when I went to get my picture taken for my driver's license, and just as the camera shutter clicked, she jumped in front of me.

I hope she never finds out where you live!"

Yesterday evening something came up about cats being funny and I remembered the old thing about how to give your cat a pill, so I dug that up and read it to them and they were all in stitches.

I'm exhausted right now and it's not from wrangling granddaughters. My daughter asked me to help her out with a copying and pasting job, and it took me about four hours. (It was a long list of names and email addresses.)

susandennis

I've only been in a few orthopedic shoe stores but every one of them was WEIRD. This one was a little less weird except. There was a big yellow piece of paper taped to the front door that said YOU MUST SIGN IN. It was curling at the sides like it had been there forever. One step into the store there is another yellow sign repeating the demand and explaining it was because they were short staffed. I am so so so tired of hearing how everyone is so short staffed. Hire more people, people!!

Anyway, the kid who waited on me was about a 5 out of 10. But, he was a solid 5 and with attitude counseling, he could be an 8 or 9. But since they don't know how to hire people... I digress.

He shouted at me as I was doing the required sign in 'You don't have to sign in!' OK WTF?

It was a rocky start.

He listened, he measured, he recommended and his recommends were pretty spot on. I tried on about 4 pair and 3 of them were almost acceptable. I was hopeful. And then he brought out a pair of David Tate's (Evita) and put them on and before I even stood up I knew... Winner Winner chicken dinner.

I tried on more. Then I tried on a different size of the winner but, nope, perfect. Seriously my feet were just giddy. I told him I'd wear them out. He tried to put the shoes I'd worn in into the box and I said nope, I'd carry them. 'All sales final without the box! Also if you wear them outside.' You ain't gettin' these back, dude. Quit trying.

But he did have the last word... As I got out of the car at home and walked to the garage door, I kept hearing this noise. I looked down and that rascal had let me walk out with the tag still on!! So glad I didn't go shopping or a walking tour.

But, I have such happy feet.

susandennis

I got dressed and brushed my teeth and reached for my pills and discovered I had not taken them on Wednesday OR Thursday!! I was sneezing all day yesterday and thinking the allergy pills had quit on me again. I sometimes forget a day every couple of months but never two!

If I die today, you'll know why.

Off to buy shoes in case I don't die today.

mallorys_camera

Went out canvassing with Adrienne yesterday.

Up the porch steps & down the porch steps. Up the porch steps & down the porch steps. I must have done the equivalent of half an hour on the Stairmaster.

It was a gorgeous day, & we found plenty of people who would talk to us, listen to Adrienne's spiel. Some people took her seriously, some people thought she was an endearing but batty grandmother, but the overall reaction was positive. Her stump speech includes medical scarcity, food deserts, a farmer's market.

The question is: How can we translate these benign reactions into votes?

People don't take local elections very seriously. The extra half hour it takes to drive to the firehouse in a non-Presidential year is just not a priority.

I was pleased to see, though, that Adrienne is taking my advice and downplaying the Democrat affiliation. "Don't wear blue!" she told me.

A Democrat is not going to win an election in Wallkill.

A friendly, civic-minded lady who schmoozes well & just happens to belong to the Democratic party might win an election in Wallkill.

###

Came home. Baked tomato pies.

Once again was foiled by Icky's malfunctioning oven:

Oh, well. They actually taste okay. But no blue ribbon from the county fair for me!

###

Icky was out while I was baking, but came home while the pies were cooling. "Well, obviously, you are leaving them in too long or you have the oven temperature turned up too high," he told me.

If you say so, Icky. Of course, I have only made this particular recipe eight billion times before, and it has always come out perfectly except in your fucking oven. But hey! What do I know?

Icky was dressed to the nines. "I just took Gus out to dinner," he told me. "To a really good restaurant. It's his birthday."

I hadn't asked.

"Now, I'm going over to his mom's house. For cake."

###

When I woke up this morning, Icky had packed up and gone.

He left two days early.

No complaints from me!

I figure something must have gone down at Christine's house. Probably nothing more than Gus allowing himself to be doted upon by Christine in a way he doesn't allow himself to be doted upon by Icky. Icky is easily aggrieved.

Get used to that outsider feeling, Icky! Your kids love you. Hey! I loved my mother. Even though by any definition that doesn't include juvenile corpses shoved into dumpsters, she was a terrible mother. But they don't like you. And as teenagers mature into young adults, like becomes more important than love.

###

On the Work in Progress front: I am about a third of the way into the memorial scene. I just have to think of a few more rousing speeches from Neal's eclectic assortment of pals.

Plus status detail—I'm setting the memorial in Newburgh (Must QUASH impulse to include 5,000 words on the history of Newburgh, which is actually very interesting because Newburgh went from being the playground of the very rich to Amerika's murder capital in the space of about 100 years, and has some very beautiful architecture).

It can't be at a bar—Neal-cum-Brian doesn't drink; he smokes massive quantities of dope.

So... a hookah shop? A VFW canteen? What?

We'll still have Vinnie listening to the speeches, obviously moved.

And Grazia will put together a photo montage, leading to a disproportionate number of photos of her & Neal being inserted into the montage, so there can be some comic business where Neal's professional colleagues who didn't know about the polyamory can ignore the other sister wives & tell Grazi, I'm so sorry for your loss.

From there, we segue into a brief section about Neal-cum-Brian's ocular migraines. And reveal he died of a brain aneurism. (In real life, Brian had a heart attack. But that's not gonna fly now that I've downshifted everyone's ages 30 years.)

And then we're back out on the porch for some more obnoxious Mimi business, and the chapter ends!

Chapter 2 should be easier to write since I can crib more from my diary.

susandennis

This will not be an entry about my new phone BUT the first couple of paragraphs will be. The good news is... I love it. It's got a lot of updated tweaks and tricks that I didn't expect and are hard to describe in a meaningful way. But outside of the fact that it is not cracked like my old one, it's even way better so I'm delighted.

BUT... yep, there is a but. Audible. This has happened before to me more than once. I do not remember what fixed it other than maybe Audible did an upgrade. Unless you have the audible app open, the book stops every 2 or 3 minutes. It resumes again when you go back to the app but seriously. I think Audible hates Pixels. Reddit does back me up with this ongoing issue. Every year there is at least one, maybe two threads about the problem. This morning I started this year's by linking to last year's and saying my new Pixel 10 had the same problem and I'd tried all the tweaks in the linked thread. I got a fast response asking what OS and what version of Audible. Now... new Pixel 10 - what the fuck os and version do you think I might have?????

I am considering a divorce from Audible. My annual membership renews in September. I have no more credits to spend. Maybe this is a good time to call 20 years a good run. Libby gives me lots of books. I changed my membership to monthly for the time being. If they fix the problem, I'll likely re-up. If not, then, nope.

But, speaking of customer experience... Bonny went to Fred Meyer on Wednesday. She wanted to find some step in sneakers. And she found the perfect pair of Skechers but they did not have her size. She found a Fred Meyer person and asked if there were more in the back or a different store. She said English wasn't his first language but she finally understood that they did not have more and would not because it was an older style. She took a photo of it and mentioned to him she'd see if she could find it on Amazon. He asked for her phone, she unlocked it and when to the Amazon app. He found the shoes on Amazon in her size and asked 'buy?' and she said YES! And he did. And yesterday afternoon she discovered they had been delivered to her apartment and they were perfect. She was so delighted. And so in love with that Fred Meyer guy. And Amazon. I think she's only ordered from Amazon about twice in her life. It was pretty hilarious.

Today I think I'm going over to that shoe store the podiatrist recommended. I looked online. They don't have many non-ugly shoes but they do have a few pair. So I'll go give them a shot.

And maybe do laundry. Baseball isn't until 4. Both my teams play at the same time for the next few days.

Oh one more camera thing. It has the most amazing zoom I've ever seen.

I just took these two photos sitting right here at my table. See the table I circled in red?

I zoomed in on it.

Isn't that wild???

Just next to that table, last night, some folks were set up for a little outdoor dining. With my new zoom, I could tell what they were eating!!! That has to be a football field away from here. Amazing.

nanila posting in

awesomeers

cornerofmadness

All this week the pressure of whatever's in my neck against my windpipe has kept me from sleeping well especially if I accidentally roll onto my right side. Now after the ultrasound and them pressing on it, even sitting up I can feel that pressure. I didn't want to have surgery in October but at this point if it has to be it has to be. I think this might be getting worse.

Also saw the neurologist who looked at my MRI, my back and my leg. Yes I have issues with so many nerves. Did the gabapentin help with the trigeminal neuralgia? Yes. So why aren't you taking it for the other nerve pain. Sigh, yes, point taken (but it has to be low dose because the upper doses make me too out of it)

There has always been a divide between fan artists and fan writers as long as I've been going to cons in the 80s and when I moved online it was worse. It's not a BAD thing. It makes sense (though I was always annoyed that fan artists could sell their transformative works but authors couldn't) Art can be easily digested. Stories require work to consume. But I'm still shaking my head and laughing because I posted this picture of my ship

and based off Husk's expression as he looks up at Angel I called him the Smitten Kitten.

I have gotten dozens of likes and comments off the same hashtags I always use for my own stories which gets 4 likes if I'm lucky Even funnier are the people commenting talking about how people (other shippers natch) saying they're just friends. Yeah we all look at our friends with THAT expression (right before we ask to be friends with benefits

I'm mostly ready for tomorrow, work then drive 2 hours to dayton (easy drive, literally 2 turns in over 100 miles). I'm anxious about it because NOTHING is working right online and I feel pressured. It'll be fine. It'll work out. Dayton has no ghost tours that come up online. Wow. I know I have selected a bunch of stuff I'll be interested in. Nothing but museums and cemeteries for three days.

Community recs

fandomgiftbasket come join us, get some fannish stuff, make some fannish stuff.

spring_renewal A Spring Prompt Fest (okay we're totally going into the wrong season but I'll lose this before spring rolls back around)

no_true_pair loosely, a mad-libs-style challenge. You make a list of characters, a set of prompts is posted that uses all the characters in different combinations, and you create works using those characters. Okay that sounds challenging

Current Mood: blah
Current Music: Guy's Grocery Games

days_unfolding

Holy cow. A post on Facebook was about how they used ChatGPT to create their itinerary in Italy, so I asked ChatGPT to create a five-day NYC itinerary that included a list of places that I wanted to see. It delivered, including subway stops and walking directions. Wow. Some of them were what I figured (the Lower Manhattan day was what I had already figured), but there were some surprises. And they told me the best nights to see a play! I need to think about the play nights because I want to stick close to the hotel on the day that I get off the cruise ship so that I can check in, but I won't want to see a play that night because it'll be an early day, unless I can grab a nap. Do I want to take pictures with a GoPro of the cruise departure from Manhattan? Or maybe just use my phone with a tripod? Hey actually, I'd like to do the cruise around Manhattan on my first day. ChatGPT said that it would be better on the Greenwich Village/Chelsea day though.

Hmm, maybe I should do the WTC and lower Manhattan on the first day and make it an early night.

Overslept and woke up a little before 8 AM. I thought about napping at lunchtime and taking my shower after work, but I have a therapy session this afternoon (online). So I need to make myself presentable.

I got everything done at work that I wanted to get done before the long weekend. (I'm taking tomorrow off.)

I'm going around in circles with FedEx about the camera. I think that they delivered it to the pickup facility, but I'm not sure.

My stomach is doing flip-flops.

Crud, AAA had my old address in Lincoln, don't ask me why. The card said that it expired on August 15th. I logged on and changed my address, and it said that it actually expires in December. I asked for a new card. I'll have to wait to jump-start the Kia until I get it. Though I think that I can use my phone app as a card?

Okay, good, my retirement contribution went through.

I checked the weather in Bermuda, and it's raining every day, so I ordered a rain poncho. (I have a raincoat, but it's heavier.) I hope that I can have my beach day though.

Had my therapy session. Nothing much to report; I'm doing everything that I need to do. I just need to wait and see what happens with Gracie.

Yay. CVS has the COVID vaccine, and I made an appointment on the 5th. (I'm getting a flu shot as well.)

Fed us all. Opened up some packages. More used clothes. Some photography books. A tripod for my iPhone. My back hurts.

I'm thinking of going to bed soon and getting up early to do stuff. I don't feel like I have the energy to clean now.

susandennis

yourlibrarian posting in

everykindofcraft

Not sure what they're actually called but the center in the compass pendant and the oval one have what seems like a multicolored foil interior that looks orange, green or both depending on the light. You can see the orange a bit above and mostly green below. ( Read more... )

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Page generated Aug. 31st, 2025 08:55 am

Reading

Museums and Cemeteries

Music and Massage

(no subject)

Just One Thing (30 August 2025)

Now I know why it takes people so long to realize they're in that classic TV form of magic . . . .

Charisma

Postcard of the Day

Scarlet Sumac; Green Trees

Made it to Dayton

Day Off

(no subject)

The feet knew

what the????

Local Politics & Burned Crusts

What's the plan, Stan?

Just One Thing (29 August 2025)

I'm a tad worried

ChatGPT, Travel Planner

new camera does not suck

Holo Pendants

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August 2025

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