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( spoilers )

I hit Price Chopper (yes, again; yesterday’s visit to the other Price Chopper was unplanned and I didn’t get everything on my list *g*), the Bakery, and Agway while I was downtown. I stopped at the Post Office on the way home to mail the rest of my Christmas cards.

I visited mom, did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. I made an oven pancake with bacon for supper. Yum! (Thanks,

kat_lair!)

I finished the new In Death and watched an HGTV program. Dr. Pol was my background tv in the evening.

Temps started out at 19.9(F) (which was odd, because it was 9.7 before I went to bed) and started going down until it was 15.1 when I left the house). Better than -7, but still cold! Temps reached 38.7, but there was a breeze and it didn’t feel very warm.

Mom Update:

Mom was doing pretty good when I visited her. ( more back here )

tozka

A metal sculpture style mailbox featuring a kid sitting on a tree trunk reading a book. A dog is on the ground looking up at the kid. The mailbox is at the top of the tree trunk. The whole thing looks old and tarnished, with green corrosion on the tree part.

This is super cute! Most of the mailboxes around here are buried in concrete pillars, so it was fun finding this one.

📸 All Photos

♥ ->

falena

This is a trilogy of historical m/m romances by KJ Charles, the queen of the genre. Now, anything penned by KJ Charles is a cut above anyone else's, imho, so if you haven't read anything of hers, you totally should. Characterisation, plot, intrigue, smut, excellent writing, her books have it all. The Will Darling Adventures are set in London in the 1920s. It's a spy/action series with an amazing love story at its heart, where the conflict is absolutely real and the characters have an emotional growth arc across the three books. It's the most satisfying kind of romance. You will fall in love with the two MCs, it's impossible not to. Once you've finished the books you'll be left wanting more, so here's some fic to tide you over. These are all Kim/Will, with a touch of DS/Archie, and won't make much sense unless you've read the books, I'm afraid. Btw, the audiobook version of the books, narrated by Cornell Collins, is just sublime.

the world is but a word. 1.6K words. Will was speaking with a customer when Sir Archibald Curtis walked into his bookshop. A lovely little vignette. Podfic availbale, though I haven't listened to it yet.

scrape out what's left (at the end of the year). 2.2K words. The drive to Holmclere was uneventful, leisurely, and most importantly: not completely overshadowed by one or both of them being framed for murder. At least it had that going for it. Lovely epilogue for the whole seriesscrape out what's left (at the end of the year).

one shade the more. 3.9K words.Perfect Will and Kim voice, their banter kills me.

The Pitt

detect my sudden existence on your sonar by Lirazel . 25K words Mel/Frank. Mel thought everything would get easier when he came back. Instead, it's a new kind of torture. This fic is, to me, the definitive take on Mel's POV. I'm not on the spectrum, I've little experience with people who are, so I may as well be talking out of my arse, but reading this story is just such an immersive experience, ti does such an excellent job of sucking you in and making you feel like you're living it all as Mel would. And the pining is exquisite. So good it's almost unbearable. Gah.

the_shoshanna

I have watched the first two episodes of Heated Rivalry, and omg it is so much fun (and I find it better than the book tbh; the book sometimes felt awkwardly written and the show just smooths out and amplifies so many great moments). I haven't watched the third episode yet and am desperate to, but I also kind of want to reread Game Changer first, just slam through it this morning, so I can better recognize the ways it's been adapted. (And of course I want to reread the book of Heated Rivalry as well, just to see if my memory is betraying me!) And I just learned twenty minutes ago that a sequel series to Spartacus just dropped and I'm dying to check it out. And how did I miss that there was a third series of Leverage: Redemption? (And on top of all those things that are sitting on my hard drive absolutely alluring me, I'm watching The Pitt with a friend -- her first time through it; my second -- and watching the current series of Shetland both with Geoff and with another friend, and already counting the days until the Call the Midwife Christmas special drops -- and omg it's specials, plural, we get one on the 25th and a second one on the 26th and then the new series presumably sometime in the spring.)

I have to prep to help lead service at church tomorrow morning, and all I want to do today is read Rachel Reid and watch TV. Can't I just stay home and worship at the Church of Bubble Butts?

spikedluv

I did not go downtown today because I planned to visit my aunt and that’s in the opposite direction and I just didn’t feel like it, you know? So I dropped Grant off at the garage like usual, then came back home and threw in a load of laundry and had some hot cocoa while I perused my f-list.

Then I headed to the McD’s in the other direction and did some writing!!! I got 500 words written on my Murder, She Wrote/Hudson & Rex crossover to bring the first draft to an end. I had typed in some of the story, then handwrote more, so I have that bit to type in now.

From McD’s I hit the post office to mail the cards I had gotten done (and pick up more stamps), visited my aunt, and hit Price Chopper (not originally part of the plan, but I had time, so . . .). I stopped at mom’s for a visit on the way home before picking up the dogs.

Additionally I hand-washed dishes, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, baked chicken for the dogs' meals, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I had planned Italian sausage for supper, but Pip gave me a hard time about cooking it inside, so he decided on grilled cheese. *shrugs*

I read more in the new In Death. Dr. Pol was my background tv in the evening.

Temps started out at -6.9(F) (yes, that is a minus sign, as in below zero BRRR) and reached 20.1. (It was around 15 when Pip asked me if I planned on grilling the Italian sausage. I was like, are you frelling nuts?!!)

Mom Update:

Mom was feeling like crap today. Just very weak and sick to her stomach (after just drinking some water). She had to keep taking a break while attempting to make egg salad; she got the eggs boiled, then had to rest. While I was there she peeled them, but asked me to finish it up. I also filled pill organizers and washed her dishes.

scintilla10

Some things I've been up to:

Watching Heated Rivalry, and having a complete blast! I enjoy escaping into m/m hockey romance books on occasion, so hearing that one was being adapted made me excited for the show - and it's been SO great so far!

Holding off on watching Stranger Things Season 5 until I have time to watch properly. I'll probably be diving in this weekend.

Feeling a bit wiped out at work, and so ready for the stretch of time off I've got over the holidays (soon, SOON).

Enjoying two different advent calendars: a mini puzzle one we bought several years ago, and a tea one!

Eagerly anticipating ficinabox collection opening tomorrow :D

Also, I got to cuddle an eight-week old puppy recently! What a bundle of wriggly, fluffy mischief.

scintilla10

Continuing

rec_cember with two pieces of adorable Discworld art, featuring dragons!

Lady Sybil by

flaggermousseart
SFW, super cute Sybil Ramkin with a dragon on her shoulder

[Vimes with a lumpy dragon] by

daxarvedraws
SFW, a grumpy-looking Sam Vimes cradling a dragon

celli

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tozka

Hi, happy Friday! Here’s some links for y’all to explore:

Media

The Yellow Nineties 2.0 is a digital collection of Victorian magazines, specifically “searchable digital editions of eight late-Victorian little magazines in the context of their production and reception between 1889, when the first issue of The Dial appeared, and 1905, when the last volume of The Venture was published.” I noted it for myself because it has copies of Pamela Colman Smith’s The Green Sheaf magazine as well as an excellent scholarly introduction to the series as a whole AND INDIVIDUAL ISSUES explaining the contents and how it was made, etc. Fantastic!

Hacking at Leaves is a recent documentary released via the Internet Archive and is available for free. Summary: “Hacking at Leaves is a 2024 Austrian documentary film directed and written by Johannes Grenzfurthner. It explores various themes including the United States’ colonial past, Navajo tribal history, and the hacker movement, through the lens of the story of a hackerspace in Durango, Colorado, during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was produced by monochrom.”

Free books (and a few zines) from Cita, a feminist indie press.

Here’s a collection of public domain and/or Creative Commons films hosted on Wikimedia Commons. You can sort by year, genre, country, and there’s a few special lists like works by female or LGBTQ+ directors.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

falena

So, today was my day off and I watched the first three episodes of the Heated Rivalry tv series just because I've seen some gifs around Tumblr. I read the whole Game Changers series years ago, I'm a big m/m romance reader, unsurprisingly, and I enjoy a good sports romance tremendously. I am Italian, I know nothing about hockey and this has not prevented from enjoying the hell out of a fair bit of m/m hockey romance and fanfic.

Wild Ice by makeit_takeit. 46K words. Men's Hockey RPF, Travis Konecny/Nolan Patrick. As with all hockey RPF, I have no idea what these two guys look like or even what team they played for, but it's all irrelevant. This is an AU where one of the two is himself, I guess, retired after hockey, while the other is not a hockey player. This is just such a gorgeous love story, with, complex layered characterisation and the natural beauty of Canadian winter landscape as its backdrop. It's a sort of grump/sunshine pairing, I guess. The tags give you a good idea of what to expect.
Front Runner by makeit_takeit. 60K words. Men's Hockey RPF, Jamie Benn/Tyler Seguin. This is another AU, a high school one, where the characters play football in Texas. Picture Friday Night lights only gayer? :D This is another great story. Again, I know nothing about American football, but I'm a sucker for coming-of-age story mixed in with romance. And this has such a strong sense of place, which makes it all the better. Not that I know the first thing about Texas high school football culture, but I am a big fan of Friday Night Lights, trust me when I say I didn't throw the comparison lightly.
and i spit out the seed by linearity. Heated Rivalry AU, of the canon divergence kind. Basically Ilya and Shane get outed much earlier than in canon. Amazing characterisation and dialogue.

The Pitt

Since we're talking sports romance, I cannot help but reccing the best sports AU in this fandom: Love Game by homespun. Mel/Frank, ofc, still a WIP but it's going to be complete soon, in, like, a 4 days? And I can already tell this is going to be an all-time favourite. Ah, it's a tennis pro AU. And it's P-E-R-F-E-C-T.

stonepicnicking_okapi

Another card which turned out well.

tozka

🎬 The Merchants of Joy: Directed by Celia Aniskovich. Follows five NYC families as they source, bargain and hustle to sell Christmas trees, blending street smarts and holiday spirit. 🔗

Watched on Amazon Prime; could’ve been really cheesy but it did a good job of showing the realities of running a seasonal small business in a cutthroat city alongside the gooey sentimental Christmas stuff. Still, it didn’t dip too far into sensationalism or anything– just a straight-on viewpoint of what it’s like being a Christmas tree seller in NYC.

Recommended if you’re interested in the topic (or just like NYC documentaries).

🎄 2025 Watched List / All Watched Posts

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

spikedluv

I had a pedicure this morning. I went with a red-red polish. For the design she painted white stripes, so it looked like a candy cane. After that, I hit Walmart to do my regular weekly shopping. On the way downtown I remembered that I needed a blood draw for my doctor appt on Monday. (I didn’t forget about the appointment, I knew it was coming up in December, but December seemed to leap upon me suddenly!) Then I remembered that I needed to stop by the pharmacy, as well!

I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I finished up chili for supper and made cornbread. (The chili was not my best, disappointing.)

I stopped at the library to pick up a book. Our library didn’t have the new In Death book yet, so Librarian #2 (not the head librarian), who has already read the book, took it out from a different library where she also works, for me. I need to get that book read quickly and take even better care than usual since it’s not even signed out under my name. There was a surprise book that I had actually requested waiting for me, too.

I hung my wreath! Wreaths used to come with a little wire thingy that you could loop over the hanger, but no more. I had to wait to get a piece of wire from the garage to use.

I lit my scented candle, turned on the few Christmas ornaments that light up, and put the shuffle on my old iPod that barely works these days so I could listen to Christmas music and did a good number of Christmas cards! Very pleased with myself.

I started the new In Death book I got today and Zoo Tampa was my background tv in the evening.

Temps started out at 30.2(F) and reached 30.9. When I got home around noon, it was 29-something and just kept hovering in that vicinity, 28, 29, 30 . . . It was also very windy. Very. We weren’t supposed to get any snow, but suddenly I’m getting warnings for snow squalls from TWC app. We got enough snow that I had to go back out and shovel after supper clean-up, while Pip was out blowing open the trails again. (Between the snow and the wind, the trails had gotten pretty clogged in certain places.) It had already fallen to 15 degrees by that point, so it was chilly out, and still windy.

Mom Update:

Mom was doing the same, sadly. She’s still eating, thankfully, but not all of it is sitting well. She tucked herself away in her ‘den’ where she is hidden from seeing what the weather is like because she didn’t like seeing more snow coming down, and watched a Hallmark movie that she enjoyed, then her usual Love Boat and Mama’s Family. *g* One of her friends from work called her, which was nice.

celli

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stonepicnicking_okapi

Chicago and December By W. S. Di Piero

Trying to find my roost
one lidded, late afternoon,
the consolation of color
worked up like neediness,
like craving chocolate,
I’m at Art Institute favorites:
Velasquez’s “Servant,”
her bashful attention fixed
to place things just right,
Beckmann’s “Self-Portrait,”
whose fishy fingers seem
never to do a day’s work,
the great stone lions outside
monumentally pissed
by jumbo wreaths and ribbons
municipal good cheer
yoked around their heads.
Mealy mist. Furred air.
I walk north across
the river, Christmas lights
crushed on skyscraper glass,
bling stringing Michigan Ave.,
sunlight’s last-gasp sighing
through the artless fog.
Vague fatigued promise hangs
in the low darkened sky
when bunched scrawny starlings
rattle up from trees,
switchback and snag
like tossed rags dressing
the bare wintering branches,
black-on-black shining,
and I’m in a moment
more like a fore-moment:
from the sidewalk, watching them
poised without purpose,
I feel lifted inside the common
hazards and orders of things
when from their stillness,
the formal, aimless, not-waiting birds
erupt again, clap, elated weather-
making wing-clouds changing,
smithereened back and forth,
now already gone to follow
the river’s running course.

---

I think this is what is referred to as Velasquez’s “Servant.” Max Beckmann has done more than a few self-portraits.

kitchen maid

falena

Do I really need to sum up a show about Sherlock Holmes? I'm pretty sure anyone would be familiar with the premises, this particular iteration from the early 2010s aired on the BBC, had Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as the two leads and was set in contemporary London.

While I re-watched the pilot countless times (fun fact, there was a time when I taught English as a Foreign Language to highly motivated adults, and one of my teaching modules was built entirely around the Sherlock pilot and it always went down a treat) the whole series is definitely flawed. The fandom predictably went nuts for the inevitable m/m pairing but I've read all sorts of fic, and even the gen ones or the casefiles (and the crossover/fusions) were a lot of fun.

It's Not the Violin by copperbadge. Gen but platonic love? 3.8K words. <7i>Somewhere between Alejandro and the fistfight, John Watson became someone Sherlock Holmes would kill for. I liked this one so much it was part of that Sherlock-inspired teaching module, using FayJay's excellent podfic.
Green Grow the Rushes, O! by@AJHall.ao3. This is technically a casefile but the character bits are more important than the case. And it's so perfectly British and witty. The humour. Btw, you should read anything AJHall has ever written, she was so talented.
The Case of the Unwelcome Owl by FayJay. 7.1 K words. Gen. Crossover with Harry Potter. This is so much fun. Perfect blending of the two worlds. "So," said John, feeling out of his depth once again. "An owl." It was the same mild, politely curious tone of voice with which he had previously found himself uttering such things as: "So – three bags of frozen AB negative," and "So – a selection of human ears." "Goodness, John, with deductive prowess like that you'll soon be putting me in the shade," Sherlock said tartly. "Can't sneak anything past you, can we?" FayJay also podficced her own story, and thank God she did. How can one single person be so talented?!?
If you need to read only one fic, this should be it: The Least of All Possible Mistakes by@rageprufrock.ao3 If ever a people deserved tasering, it’s Holmeses. It's a freaking novel (almost 120K words), and it's the whole series written from the point of view of a genderswapped Instpector Lestrade, George. I inevitably picture her as an older, British version of George from Dead Like Me and it works. Technically it's Lestrade/Mycroft but there's John/Sherlock too. But it's not a shippy fic. It's a love letter to London written by someone who doesn't live there but clearly loves it. It's also the story of a woman in the police force. It's amazing. It can be read if you don't know the canon. GO READ IT! or better yet, listen to Lazulus's amazing podfic, another all time favourite of mine.

The Pitt

you need it shouted by oonabashed Mel/Langfdon, explicit, 5.8K words. Mel King isn't used to being the impatient one in her relationships. This was one of the first explicit, smutty fics I've read for this pairing and I still think it's one of the hottest and with the best Mel characterisation. Many authors write Mel as sexually inexperienced or even a virgin, and foten do a fantastic job of it, it's a dynamic that plays beautifully with fanon Frank, but to me the depiction in this fic sounds more plausible. Also, I think this fic is a bit of a hidden gem among the many, many, great stories for this pairing and it's criminally underrated. It needs more hits and kudso, people!

spikedluv

TV Talk:

9-1-1: On hiatus until Jan 8.

Matlock: No new ep this week; new eps return Dec 4.

Tracker: Good ep. ( spoilers )

TV News:

Scarpetta: I just read that they’re making a tv series out of the Kay Scarpetta books! I didn’t keep up with the series, but I enjoyed I (for the most part). I’m looking forward to seeing this and hoping it’s worth watching! Nicole Kidman Suits Up as ‘Scarpetta’ in First Look at Amazon’s Crime Thriller Series (variety.com)

spikedluv

I had a chiropractic appointment this morning. I hit Walmart while I was downtown and made a quick stop at Dollar General on the way home. This was not my usual Walmart trip; I needed to pick up a new vacuum cleaner and some cute outfits to send to Alaska!niece for Hazel. (I already bought Hazel a Green Bay Packer’s t-shirt, because that’s her mom’s favorite team. *g*)

I immediately put the vacuum cleaner together and used it in the living room. My old vacuum has not been able to do that rug in ages. Even raising it as high as it goes, it feels like it’s sucking the rug in and I need two hands to move it. This vacuum moved over that rug like a dream! I may actually start to enjoy vacuuming now! (Haha, no, not really!)

I visited mom, then stopped at Sunnycrest (to pick up the wreath I’d ordered) and Stewart’s (for milk) on the way to pick up the dogs at the garage.

I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. I used the leftover chicken and broth to make chicken and gravy over rice for supper.

I napped and watched an HGTV program. I also ‘started’ my Christmas cards! (Since I got to it late in the day, and Pip came home early, I managed to get two written out, but it’s a start!!)

Temps started out at 22.1(F) (when I got up, but dropped to 15.8 before I left the house) and reached 36.7.

Mom Update:

Mom was not feeling well when I visited her. ( more back here )