alicebentley | Reading

Image: sunlight through yellow maples at Afton State Park

Yesterday, Shawn woke up with a migraine. She gets these a lot, but there must have been something about this one because, even though she decided to go to PT. She and I sat in bed a couple of extra hours debating the merits of going or not. She felt that having not quite mastered the most recent exercise meant that she should postpone and reschedule. That sounded valid to me, but then I also asked what would be the benefit in going... and she talked herself into the idea that maybe the physical therapist would have some mini-steps she could practice so that she *could* figure out the exercise.

So, I grabbed a bit of extra coffee for the road, turned off the coffee maker, and we headed out.

I sort of thought that this late start would be it--the end of a nice little break to the rushing, workday routine. But, lately Shawn and I have been taking detours on the way to work to look at the early morning sunlight through the golden, orange, and blazing red maple leaves. At this point, Sunday's wind took down a lot of the showiest displays, but there are still plenty of trees here and there that are in their full glory. At one point, when we were admiring a tree, I jokingly said (as I often do, keep in mind) that if she was feeling poorly, she could just skip and we could go on a leaf peeping adventure. Maybe a drive down to Red Wing? Maybe all the way to Wabasha?

She wasn't sure she was up for that, but then, to my utter surprise, she said, "But how about Afton State Park?"

So we went.

Afton never has really spectacular fall colors, though. Afton is largely prairie, oak savvana, and oak woodland.

oak trees in the fall

Image: The Wisconsin Bluffs from the Minnesota side of the St. Croix River, very oak, much brown.

But it was a really, really lovely sunny morning and the view down on the picnic area's dock was absolutely spectacular.

St. Croix River from Aspen State Park

Image: the azure expanse of sky and river on the St. Croix (from Aspen State Park)

All this touching grass, though? Very much exhausted the migrainer. So, we came home, had a little bit of a lunch and faceplanted until dinner time. I would normally be chagrined to have slept so long in the afternoon, but between the gig last night and the fact that Mason was flying home from Oklahoma City at 12:30 AM (that's in the morning!) I figured it was fine. I was, in fact, able to stay awake until he was deplaning around 1:00 am.

For those of you just tuning in, Mason has a romantic partner, Jas, down in Oklahoma. They are doing the long distance thing very well so far, but they do like to punctuate it with actual togetherness as much as they can afford. Next planned trip is to try to coax Jas up here for... Minnesota WINTER.

Wish Mason luck. I think he's gonna need it.

rolanni

Tuesday, chilly, damp, and dim. Trash and recycling at the curb.

Richard the Fidium Guy is on Upper Main Street and called to let me know he'll arrive in the next few minutes. "Is this the Miller residence?"

Sigh.

Hopefully, my next communication with you will not be through the good offices of my phone.
#
So, the problem was bandwidth piracy. Someone had gotten into the central box, took "my" cable, and plugged it into "their" feed. Richard has put it back, and all lights are green.

I hope he also rigged it so the next time the fiber thief tries to steal my bandwidth, they get a healthy shock for their trouble.

What a world we live in.

Firefly stayed right here in my office, and kept a Very Close Eye on Richard, from a distance, while he was here. Tali retired to the top of the bookshelf in Steve's office, and I think Rook is in the closet in Steve's office.

I -- am sorting the thread and getting my needles ready for my next embroidering project. Yes, yes -- I know. Stained glass. Embroidery. Writing. Is there nothing this woman can't do?

cough

Today is election day in Maine. I voted via absentee ballot, as is my right and my privilege. Yes, it's "only" a local election, but -- please make time to vote today. Thank you.

So! How's Tuesday shaping up in your piece of the world?

james_davis_nicoll

Link in case the embed does not work

Watch on YouTube

james_davis_nicoll

A trading voyage leads to first contact and a delightful process of mutual discovery.

Voyager in Night by C J Cherryh

james_davis_nicoll

Tried to move my dinner time in just two days, ate too late, crashed my blood sugar, and had to cancel gaming.

(It's not diabetes. It's just that I am incredibly intolerant to eating late)

lydamorehouse

Bryant-Lake Bowl (Vee Dang photo credit)

Image: (Photo credit Vee Dang). Me, being dramatic at the show at Bryant-Lake Bowl

First, for those of you hoping to get a chance to see/hear this, I was initially excited to know that Cole usually video tapes and records these. When I asked after getting a copy of it this morning, Cole said that the video cut out about 45 minutes in and the audio has some kind of horrible background hiss. There is some hope for the audio recording, but it's going to take some cleaning up and I don't know how much time/energy/expertise Cole has to devote to that. :-( Sorry, y'all. If I get it, I'll post it. If not, c'est la vie.

Especially since you missed a great show!

Me and Scott at Bryant-Lake Bowl 2025 (Gerriann Brower)

Me and Scott at Bryant-Lake Bowl 2025 (Gerriann Brower)

Image: (photo credit: Gerriann Brower) Me and Scott Keever at Bryant-Lake Bowl.

I have to say that I'm impressed that in both of these shots (taken by different people at different times, obviously,) I am actually looking up from my reading. In Ger's picture, you can see that we managed a decent crowd too, which is impressive given that it was technically a "school night," being a Sunday evening and a lot of folks have work the next morning.

As an extrovert, there's this thing that happens to me when the spotlight hits me and I feel eyes on me. Rather than get nervous, I blossom. As soon as the first laugh come back from the audience, I lose myself completely to the moment. So, the reading went really well. There was only one moment when, looking up from my podium, I accidentally picked a middle distance to stare at that included the spotlight? So, when I looked back down at my page I briefly had to try to read around the big silver "burn" spot on my eye! JFC, what a dummy. I did not do that a second time!

Speaking of missteps, if there were anything I could do over it would be the interview.

Interview - Cole Sarar's SciFi Reading Hour (Ger Brower)

Interview - Cole Sarar's SciFi Reading Hour (Ger Brower)

Interview: (photo credit: Gerriann Brower) From left to right: Lyda Morehouse, Cole Sarar, and Scott Keever

I should have had time to consider my answer since Scott went first, but my mind was fully blank. Cole asks this wonderful set of questions that are based on the idea of "what do you love about yourself or your community?" (and then "how about in 5 years? How about 40?") I wasn't sure which community I wanted to talk about (queer, nerd, gamer, writer?) and so I kind of nattered on about the writing community that I've cultivated over the years and I kind of feel bad about making a joke at

naomikritzer 's expense about how I hoped "people in my life" would stop winning so many awards so I could stop being jealous/envious. And, I didn't mean to put her on the spot and I certainly didn't want to make things awkward, but I kind of maybe did? I don't know what entirely possessed me. My only excuse is that I was fully exhausted and unprepared for this interview. (And to be clear, Universe, I want my friends to win ALL the awards, all the time!)

What I wish I'd talked about instead? How LLM/AI are going to affect the writing/creative community in the next five years. I mean, I don't know the answer as to how we are going to be able to save what we love in the face of AI/LLMs, but it would have been 100% LESS AWKWARD.

Ah well, live and learn, I suppose. [Insert joke about how at least I didn't randomly bring up Hitler!]

I was super-prepared for the show--though at least two people asked me very specifically if we'd rehearsed. The second time I had to ask, "Did it seem like we didn't??" But I think people were actually responding to how polished we were--at least that's what the second person implied. If anyone has ever been to one of my readings, they'd have known I rehearsed because normally I can't help but editorialize. I managed only one aside. So, that should tell you everything you need to know! We definitely rehearsed! Three times, actually!

Anyway, it was great fun. 10/10 would again.

james_davis_nicoll

Tabletop rolepurring in the world of Pugmire.

Bundle of Holding: Monarchies of Mau

james_davis_nicoll

Modern humans are fine, but what if we had a bit more variety in our stories?

Five Ways Science Fiction Can Expand Beyond Homo sapiens

rolanni

Monday, cloudy, breezy, and cool.

Breakfast was oatmeal and a cup of tea. Had a very nice errand-running session.

Went to Uncle Dean's and bought three pure beeswax votive candles in their own glass holders (they even give you a pack of matches, which is very thoughtful; matches not being as common as they once more). Two of those votives are unscented; the third is scented with frankincense and lavender. I'm glad I noticed the lack of candles on Halloween; I have an anniversary coming up a little later in the week, and it will be nice to have a candle for that, too.

Also at Uncle Deans, I grabbed a loaf of sourdough/olive bread, a pack of "everything" English muffins, and! Yes, I could not resist -- dried pineapple.

The morning being a bit chilly, I grabbed my very favorite not-winter-yet hand apparel -- Pearl iZumi biking gloves -- and I noticed that some of the grippy strips are coming off, transforming them into sticky strips. After I got over being appalled because these gloves are Practically! Brand! New! (I bought them when we were in Miramichi for our anniversary in I'm gonna say ... 2001?), I stopped at TJMaxx to see if I could replace them. Long story short, I couldn't, but! I was able to buy an eight-pack of bed socks (my feet get cold without other feet to put them against) at a good price, so -- success of a sort. I also did not find a 2026 desk calendar, so that's still on the list.

Paid my excise tax on the car, got my stickers, had a nice chat with the lady who heads up Waterville's Health and Human Services office, went to the post office where a kind reader (I don't use people's names, usually, because some folks don't like the publicity. You know who you are, and thank you!) sent me a pic of their tree-and-dragon tattoo and also a moon-and-rabbit coin purse, which the fact that the moon-and-rabbit is on a coin purse couldn't be more perfect.

On the way home, I stopped at Holy Cannoli and bought a slab of meat lasagna only slightly bigger than my head, and two cookies, because I couldn't decide between pumpkin chocolate chip or lemon-blueberry ricotta.

Next up is getting the cat litter from the garage to the house, doing my duty to the cats, and staging the trash for tomorrow's trip to the curb. Then I'll reheat part of the lasagna for lunch.

How's everybody doing today?

james_davis_nicoll

Five crucial steps for curating series.

The Care and Feeding of Series

jeliza

In the weeks between the initial ultrasound that produced the "we have no idea what this is and we're worried" result and the scheduled ultrasound with biopsy, the bump shrank, stopped being red, stopped hurting and got in fact so small that, once I got there, there wasn't enough to biopsy. So the medical people are all very confident that I have nothing to worry about, so yay.

Other than that, well, I've got three shows coming up, and finally saw Kpop Demon Hunters which is in fact an excellent flick. (Though I don't quite understand watching it 30 times like someone I know.) No prior knowledge of kpop necessary, though there are visual jokes in particular that will be more obvious if you are. Good tunes, nicely done demons, good voice casting, and applause must be given for the concept.

james_davis_nicoll

My character discovered that using his acting skills to look like a dangerous opponent kind of backfires if it gets the full attention of something that is a dangerous opponent.

redbird

After several days in a row of being able to walk more than is now typical for me, and also doing PT, yesterday my ankle hurt enough that I stayed put as much as possible. I took a naproxen around lunchtime, which made no descernible difference.

I'm doing significantly better today, in terms of ankle and other joint pain. I didn't go for a walk, but did go outside to take out trash and spend a few minutes outdoors during daylight, and then started on what has turned out to be a lot of PT exercises. We're back on standard time as of this morning, meaning the sun set in Boston at 4:35 (we're near the eastern edge of this time zone).

rolanni

Earlier this same day: Spent an hour in Foosball Studio. Got a little bit of foiling done. My back started to hurt so I am now upstairs in my comfy chair having a cup of tea. It used to be called buttermint tea; I don't know what they call it now -- maybe vanilla mint?

I'll likely go down for another session. My goal is to finish foiling half, and there's only another six pieces to go.

So, Rook escorted me downstairs for my second session in The! Studio! -- and was waiting for me, almost an hour later, when I came out again. He ran over and flopped on my feet, showing me his belly, which was awfully nice of him.

Upstairs -- it is dark. I -- am not really sure I can do the dark this year. Not that it matters, particularly; I don't except anyone to install a Celestial Light Bulb for me, but...things are dark enough, surely?

Regarding the glass project: I have ten biggish pieces left to foil and two so tiny they might as well be slivers. If my errands don't take me too long tomorrow, maybe I'll have a go at finishing the foil, so I can get a Flash Lesson in soldering before glasswork is over.

Tuesday will largely be eaten up by the Guy From Fidium, who is, so I'm told, expecting to be here at 8 am and his visit will encompass at least two hours. Argh. And the last glass class is on Wednesday. That was a fast six weeks.

Having gone to all the trouble of setting up The! Studio! it would be a shame to declare this art is not for me. On the other hand, I'm not feeling that I have any real competence, or maybe I mean affinity. I love glass, but this experiment hasn't ignited me (ahem) the way working with hot glass did. And, no, I am not doing hot glass in the house.

What I may do, since I have so many glass scraps left over, is to try something smaller and simpler -- a geometric pattern, maybe -- and see if I've actually learned anything.

The cats are insisting that it's Happy Hour, which, of course, it is not. I think this is my cue to wander around the house, close curtains, turn off and on lights, and wash the pans.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. I'll check in tomorrow.

The state of the stained glass:

cupcake_goth

Our Halloween was very quiet. We had plans to get window seats at our local brewpub and watch the massive community trick-or-treat event, but the skies opened up around 3pm with a torrential downpour. We stayed at home and watched movies.

The other reason our Halloween was so low-key is because of a Fri-Sun Magic: the Gathering tournament at the local convention center, and the Stroppy One was in attendance to do the World Famous M:tG Artist thing and sign people's cards in exchange for money. These shows are great and yet exhausting for him; on Saturday there was never a break in his line, he was there for over 9 hours, was the last artist to leave, and came home with three commissioned sketches to do. This has become the norm for shows for him, in part because he only goes to ones that have a specific tournament format that focuses on the expansions that he has the most art in, but also because he's one of the most prolific artists in the game.

I went to a friends' low-key party last night, which was wonderful. Costumes were optional, so I just pulled out my fancy witch hat and covered my under eye circles with glitter. Did you know that there are now glitter temporary tattoos?! That you can cut apart and layer for the coverage you want?! And the glitter does not budge, to the point that it took several rounds of jojoba oil to remove.

---

I did some last-minute gothy impulse shopping thanks to mailing list discount codes: this belt from Videnoir, and this over-the-top ruffled collar from Devil Fashion. And then an Etsy seller I follow sent me a massive discount code, so this giant onyx pendant is headed my way. (It's the store that I purchased my massive labradorite pendant from, so I know the quality is good.)

james_davis_nicoll

In case the image does not load or someone cannot read it: it is a Bluesky post reading "I firmly believe the Jays would have won had Diefenbaker not cancelled the Avro Arrow."

There are 7 reposts, 2 quotes, and 48 likes.

kaffy_r

Music Meme, Day 4

A song that you know all the lyrics of: This one initially felt difficult, until I remembered recently hearing on the radio (yes, I still listen to the radio; I don't spotify) Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road." It was one of the songs on "Born to Run," the album that catapulted him into fame's corrosive klieg light.

He was young, and the lyrics he wrote here are full of the kind of thoughts a young person thinks of as wisdom. These days I hear different things in the song than I did when I first heard it, particularly in the rough way he treats the woman, Mary, in the song. Still, I remember it so well because Bob, Dr. Gonzo and I put it into our small repertoire when we were a monumentally unsuccessful rock and roll band. We loved singing it - Bob on the melody, Dr. Gonzo and I doing two-part harmony.

When I heard it recently, I started to sing along, until my throat thickened with tears, possibly because I remembered singing it when I was young and thought I had what was wisdom - I don't know. But I know every word, every syllable of the song.

Watch on YouTube

And just to be completist, here are links to the previous days' entries.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

Current Mood: anxious
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: Stray Kids "Astronaut"

rolanni

Sunday. Sunny and chilly.

How is it not even noon yet?

Well.

Breakfast was cottage cheese, grapes, toast. Lunch will be soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. Because I Can.

Wrote +/- 780 words first thing, which brings the total WIP to 105,500. Ish.

Wandered around the house making sure the programmable thermostats remembered their programming from last year. Updated my books read list. Dealt with email. Tried to figure out how much I'm going to be dinged for excise tax tomorrow when I go to buy my sticker at City Hall. Ordered in Scottish, Irish, and strong Irish tea. For Science!*

Still need to pay bills and do PR. And work on my glass project.

The cats were strongly in favor of gathering all together in Steve's office first thing after breakfast, and that's where they still are.

How's everybody doing on this first day of the time change?

______
*Science! The scale is: Brisk-Body-Aroma
Brisk: Does your mouth pucker?
Body: Does the tea fill your mouth?
Aroma: Does the tea have a robust scent?

Irish Breakfast Tea: 2-4-3
Hiberian (hi-test Irish): 4-4-2
Scottish Breakfast Tea: 4-5-1

james_davis_nicoll

Was Fred Halpern the boy space hero the papers believed him or the headstrong fool his teachers saw?

Moon of Mutiny (Jim Stanley, volume 3) by Lester del Rey