zianuray | Reading

Today we made a smoothie with:

1 cup orange juice
1 cup Brown Cow vanilla yogurt
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup ice

The result is bright pink and on the thin side. It tastes mostly of orange. It's okay, but not as good as the tropical version from earlier.

Current Mood: busy

dialecticdreamer

Dinner, Interrupted
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1126
[Wednesday, 2 August, 2017, 7 p.m]

:: LaQuinta’s day has been long and unproductive. An interruption in the middle of her scrounged dinner may be the start of something better. Part of the Unfair Trades arc in Mercedes, within the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::

The modified motel room held a double bed, a long dresser opposite with a large mirror, an arch which led to an open closet with rod and shelf on the left and the entrance to the bathroom on the right. A different style dresser, with thick drawers that looked more like modified fruit crates, held a single induction hob hot plate, a dorm-sized microwave, and an electric kettle. In the corner, a purple dorm size fridge sat beside the dresser. The dent in the door was off-center, and descended into a harsh white scrape where the enamel had been gouged away.

LaQuinta marched along the narrow strip of visible carpet between the long side of the bed and the newly provided “kitchenette” materials. Her stomach rumbled. The cheap white plastic basket, sized to fit in the bottom of a high schooler’s locker, held a single hamburger bun in its clear bag printed with cartoonishly bright colors. She sighed as she peeked into the small refrigerator. Inside, three packets of yellow mustard and two of catsup relaxed in the six well egg holder in the top section of the door. In the butter compartment, a one-ounce plastic cup and lid held minced green onions.

The rest of the fridge was empty.

LaQuinta sighed, reaching for the recyclable bamboo silverware in the top drawer.
( Read more... )

Current Mood: awake

ysabetwordsmith

125,000-year-old ‘fat factory’ run by Neanderthals discovered in Germany

Stone Age humans living by a lake in what’s now Germany systematically processed animal carcasses for fatty nutrients — essentially running what scientists describe as a “fat factory” to boil bones on a vast scale, according to new research.

Note that another thing you can make with animal fat is pemmican: a stable, high-energy trail food made with fat, powdered meat, and a carbohydrate such as berries. Since it's not something you'd make in a hot climate like Africa (where humans evolved) but rather in a cold climate (such as northern Europe), I'm suddenly wondering if it is in fact a Neanderthal or Denisovan recipe.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is partly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, plus some brown birds that might be female blackbirds.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I refilled the thistle feeder.

I picked up the concrete paver that we used for fireworks last night, along with scraps of paper and cardboard left behind.

Volunteer sunflowers are blooming under the fly-through feeder.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden and some of the savanna seedlings. A sunflower in the telephone pole garden is close to blooming. :D

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I pulled some weeds from the septic garden.

Fireflies are out. Cicadas are singing.

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

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem was written for the Sunshine Revival Challenge 2: Tunnel of Love. It also fills the "buffalo" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo Fest.

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Sunshine Revival Challenge 2: Tunnel of Love

Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.

Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like
See "Poem: Legs of Grass, Feet of Flowers."

Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

siliconshaman

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: awake

ysabetwordsmith

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

What should the role of a government be, what boundaries and limitations should it have?

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Tonight we did our home fireworks show. :D These are the things we bought from JT Fireworks Sales in Charleston...

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Current Mood: happy

dialecticdreamer

Layers of the Law
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1361
[Wednesday, 2 August, 2017, 5:30 p.m.]

:: More law enforcement personnel arrive to speak to the Cort parents. It quickly becomes a problem. Part of the Unfair Trades arc in Mercedes, within the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::

The door to the conference room opened without a warning knock.

The man who stepped inside wore a crisp, dark gray suit and a bone-white dress shirt. He opened his mouth to speak, glaring toward Maurwen, who was helping a groggy Theo into a clean shirt. “What’s that witness doing here? She’s supposed to be kept--”

Elisabeth Finn and Robert Cort stepped forward at the same moment. “You have no right to barge in on a medical consultation,” Robert snapped.
( Read more... )

Current Mood: awake

scrubjayspeaks

In the high heat of summer, the woods sweated pine sap thick enough to ensnare anything that brushed against it. Trapped against the trunk, she could only listen to the pine cones popping open like tiny fireworks going off and raining their seeds down to the needle-cushioned ground. Some day in the far future, she would be found, encased in amber, surrounded by the frozen fluttering of seed wings and pollen, kept company over the ages by incautious insects and the tree that loved her too much to ever let her go.

---

LL#1273

ysabetwordsmith

In honor of the Fourth of July, here are a few tidbits to enjoy.

Today's Adventures 6/28/25 -- We bought fireworks for our home show, and we watched the show in Tolono.

Fireworks 7/4/25 -- Read about our home show tonight.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a mourning dove.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I checked the south lot and put topsoil in a few low spots, prior to our fireworks show tonight.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked up a trough pot that fell off the old picnic table, restored the curry plant and purple basil as best I could, then watered them and a few other things in the house yard.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I sowed 6 pots with mulberry seeds. Half are from a particularly pleasing mulberry sapling near the west end of the old fishpond, the other half from a mulberry that was left on the porch step as if a gift.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden and a few seedlings in the savanna.

My partner Doug mowed the ritual meadow and prairie paths.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of herbs to make a skillet scramble for supper.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden. There are plenty left; I ran out of heat tolerance long before I ran out of berries. :D

Cicadas are singing.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden. Still more left, but I'll have to hunt those another day, because it is still hot and the sun is about to set.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- We did our home fireworks show. :D I'm sure it confused the bats and the fireflies.

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

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today's theme is Historical Fiction.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

dialecticdreamer

Collectivism
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1781
[Wednesday, 2 August, 2017, 5:00 p.m]]

:: The black hats pool their resources. Part of the Unfair Trades arc in Mercedes, within the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::

Daniel Tamsen paused, one foot still hanging a few inches above the narrow brass strip that bridged the faux-brick hallway floor with the thick honey-colored shag carpet. The office in the basement of the “Forty-Niner Bar and Grill” was difficult to reach, even after descending a flight of steep, narrow stairs which could have been copied from the viciously steep stairwells installed when dividing a three story Victorian home into a dozen apartments.

The Federal agent swallowed down a litany of curses as he finished that last step. On the three windowless, doorless walls opposite him, paper maps had been mounted on the walls with wide bands of blue painter’s tape. Sheets of clear acrylic the same size as standard plywood covered every inch of the maps, and the glimpses of brown wood paneling from the mid-seventies, when the building had been completed.

“You’ve been busy,” Daniel Tamsen managed to say.
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Current Mood: amused

ysabetwordsmith

FireSmart Canada is pleased to release Blazing the Trail: Celebrating Indigenous Fire
Stewardship, a beautiful, bound publication that recognizes the contributions to wildfire
prevention of Indigenous communities in Canada.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is partly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I refilled the thistle feeder. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a male cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I took a few more pictures around the yard, mostly flowers at the end of the driveway.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I dug up three pots of wild senna and one of purple echinacea that had seeded themselves in the savanna, hopefully to transplant them elsewhere if they survive.

I've seen a pair of mourning doves and a gray catbird. I also saw a very large bird, possibly a vulture or eagle, flying over the field to the west.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- We hooked up the new, flat water hose. The "non-kinking" label is a complete lie; it is the most prone to kinking of any hose I've ever used. Straightening it out enough to work is a bitch. However, it is extremely lightweight and completely flexible, so those are pluses. Also the multifunction water wand is by far the best nozzles I've ever used. I favor with "shower" and "flat" functions the most. The new picnic table garden and septic garden have been thoroughly watered.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I watered the old picnic table garden and the plants in the house yard.

The corn is tasseling. The pollen hangs heavy on the wind with a sweet, dusty, buttery, golden smell.

Fireflies are coming out.

I saw a skunk in the house yard. I've seen a squirrel at the hopper feeder.

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

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

When rainforests died, the planet caught fire: New clues from Earth’s greatest extinction

When Siberian volcanoes kicked off the Great Dying, the real climate villain turned out to be the rainforests themselves: once they collapsed, Earth’s biggest carbon sponge vanished, CO₂ rocketed, and a five-million-year heatwave followed. Fossils from China and clever climate models now link that botanical wipe-out to runaway warming, hinting that losing today’s tropical forests could lock us in a furnace we can’t easily cool.

I pointed this out decades ago and nobody listened. Now here we are. But hey, someone could roll up this newspaper and beat Brazil with it.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Thanks to a donation from

fuzzyred, you can now read the rest of "In the Heart of the Hidden Garden." Lawrence gives Stan a tour of two more buildings and two more gardens -- and then explains why.

Current Mood: busy

dialecticdreamer

Side Conversation
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1607
[Wednesday, 2 August, 2017, 4:30 p.m]]

:: While the Cort adults and Doctor Elisabeth Finn have a much needed discussion, there's a very different conversation going on nearby. Part of the Unfair Trades arc in Mercedes, within the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::

A flamenco pink neon sign in the picture window read “Pink Pearls,” as a nervous young woman opened the door into the shop. The movement made her loose brown curls bounce across her face, covering it from the tip of her nose upward. At her collar, the curls seemed determined to slide between the blue chambray and her pale neck, but the weight seemed to keep them more firmly in place.

Inside, the shop was barely wide enough for a walkway and a nail station, though it was long enough for two work stations and the small counter and register fitted diagonally in the corner next to two bookshelves filled with products for sale.

The woman beside the register had sorrel skin and almond-shaped eyes. She waved toward the rear station, just as a middle-aged woman approached from the depth of the shop. “Arminda, your friend is here. Shall I set up, then put in headphones?”
( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

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zianuray

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Page Summary

ysabetwordsmith - Today's Smoothie
dialecticdreamer - Dinner, Interrupted (part 1 of 1, complete)
ysabetwordsmith - Early Humans
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
ysabetwordsmith - Poem: "Legs of Grass, Feet of Flowers"
ysabetwordsmith - Sunshine Revival Challenge 2: Tunnel of Love
siliconshaman - The curse of every techie...
ysabetwordsmith - Philosophical Questions: Government
ysabetwordsmith - Fireworks
dialecticdreamer - Layers of the Law (part 1 of 1, complete)
scrubjayspeaks - Lake Lewisia #1273
ysabetwordsmith - Writing About Fireworks
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
ysabetwordsmith - Follow Friday 7-4-25: Historical Fiction
dialecticdreamer - Collectivism (part 1 of 1, complete)
ysabetwordsmith - Blazing the Trail: Celebrating Indigenous Fire Stewardship
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
ysabetwordsmith - Climate Change
ysabetwordsmith - "In the Heart of the Hidden Garden" is now complete!
dialecticdreamer - Side Conversation (part 1 of 1, complete)

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