withorwithoutyou

We drove down the historic 30, a 2 lane road that wound around the hills and which crossed paths with numerous waterfalls. Our first stop was Latourelle, which was just off the road. ( Read more... )

marycatelli posting in

books

Kill the Villainess, Vol. 2 by Haegi

The story continues.

( Read more... )

ysabetwordsmith posting in

common_nature

We visited the butterfly gardens at the Charleston Library, on June 19 although this is dated 20 because it's after midnight. They were filled with birds, although I didn't manage to catch any pictures of them.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

marycatelli posting in

books

Redwall by Brian Jacques

The start of the series.

( Read more... )

cmcmck posting in

common_nature

We headed up Lime Kiln Lane and over to New Works then into the forest.

Things are now very green indeed although this is always a green landscape being on the west coast side of things:

( More pics: )

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: 'ere

yourlibrarian posting in

dw_community_promo

Do you make crafts? Do you like to look at crafts? Would you like to get (or give) advice about crafts? All crafts are welcome. Share photos, stories about projects in progress, and connect with other crafty folks.

You are welcome to make your own posts, and this community will also do a monthly call for people to share what they are working on, or what they've seen which may be inspiring them. Images of projects old or new, completed or in progress are welcome, as are questions, tutorials and advice.

If you have any questions, ask them here!

jesse_the_k posting in

common_nature

I’m staying near a northern Wisconsin lake at 45.658965, -89.497625, where I’ll be revelling in 15:45 hours of daylight on the summer solstice. The logged-over forest is mostly red pine, and wow they’re pollinating—creating very abstract art near the dock

Pine pollen forms semi-opaque circles over shallow sandy beach described in entry

( two more pics )

pauraque posting in

common_nature

off-white beetle with dark markings resembling calligraphy

Getting into my car after a walk, I found this elegantly decorated beetle on my shirt. It has the very appropriate scientific name of Calligrapha philadelphica, also known as the Dogwood Leaf Beetle.

When it opened its wings to fly, I was surprised to see its inner wings were red. I guess that could be the wax seal on the parchment. :)

( photo showing the red wings )

rocky41_7 posting in

books

On Monday's outbound commute I finished the audiobook for Even Though I Knew the End. This is a supernatural/fantasy noir romance and it does pack a lot of all three of those things into its brief 4-hour runtime.

This book relies heavily on stock film noir tropes—the veteran down-and-out private (paranormal) investigator (here a lesbian, Helen, our protagonist) who drinks too much and is haunted by past mistakes, a mysterious and sexy female client with a unique case, and "just one last" job before the PI plans to quit and retire with a beloved romantic partner. I didn't find them overused—and seeing them reworked to queer and female characters was fun—but other readers may find them too worn out even here.

Because the book is so short, it moves along at a very rapid pace. The whole thing takes place over the course of two days—the final two days before Helen's soul debt is called due and she finally has to pay the price of her warlock bargain. In this way, any rush felt appropriate, since it fit both the size of the novel and the context of Helen's urgency to get this last job done before she has to pay up.

The characters weren't super developed, but again—4-hour runtime. They're a little stock character-y, but not total cardboard cut-outs. It was disappointing for me to see Helen make the same mistake at the end of the book that she did prior to the start, as if she hadn't really learned anything, but since the novel ends promptly after that, the story never has to reckon much with it.

I was relieved that Edith, Helen's girlfriend, wasn't just the damsel in distress/goal object for Helen, which I was a bit worried about in the beginning. Edith has secrets and goals of her own.

Overall, the book was fine, and it entertained me well enough for a few days. Nothing extraordinary here, but nothing objectionable either. I will say I think keeping it short worked best for this book—I think drawing it out might have only weakened it. A fun little twist on a typical noir novel.

Crossposted to

fffriday

rocky41_7 posting in

books

On Saturday afternoon, on the bus ride home, I finished The Traitor Baru Cormorant, because I couldn't wait until I got home to reach the end, despite a long history of reading-induced car sickness. It was totally worth it.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant is all fantasy politics. There's no magic or fairies or prophecies, just Seth Dickinson's invented world and the titanic machinations of Empire. And it is electric. Tentatively, I'd make a comparison to The Goblin Emperor, except that where TGE is about how Maia, completely unprepared for his role, is thrust into a viper's nest of politics, Baru Cormorant is about how Baru has painstakingly taught herself the ways of the empire and enters into the game fully prepared to rewrite the rules to her liking.

( Read more... )

I was hanging on every page by the end, and first thing Sunday morning I was off to the library to pick up the sequel, which I started the same day. I cannot wait to see how Baru's story progresses! Hats off for Baru Cormorant!

Crossposted from my main and

fffriday

yourlibrarian posting in

common_nature

We were only in Portland for a day but we had enough time for a few hours in the International Rose Test Garden. In fact we didn't even spend that long because it was smaller than expected and some bushes hadn't even bloomed yet (despite what the website said as mid-May being an ideal viewing time). We took about half the time we were there trying to park. It was also the most overcast morning of the trip -- we had amazing weather the rest of the time.

Nonetheless what was in bloom was lovely. ( Read more... )

marycatelli posting in

books

Backyard Foraging: 65 Familiar Plants You Didn't Know You Could Eat by Ellen Zachos

A discussion of wild and garden plants in North America. Roots, flowers, leaves, fruit. . . how to harvest, what to check, what can be done to prepare them.

blackcatofmisery posting in

common_nature

My mom's garden has a vigorous knock out rosebush just beside it, and various bees adore it. Although I'm severely allergic to bites and stings, I will still follow honey and bumble bees; they're too busy to care about me.

_{Fun fact about me: I cannot smell typical roses. Knockouts are the only roses I can smell.}

( Photos beneath the cut. )

Current Mood: relaxed

lizardjay posting in

common_nature

At the end of last month I visited Indiana for a week, and in that time went on FOUR hikes. There are too many pictures to put here so I'm posting a link to my ~150 picture album: My sister and I are both very into taking pictures so the hikes were very slow :D but I think it really helps in remembering that there's something interesting to see in pretty much every square inch of the outdoors. There is always a bug, or a fungal disease on a leaf, or a shiny drop of water.

The Album

We visited, in order:

Ritchie Woods Nature Preserve
Summit Lake State Park
Shades State Park/Pine Hills Nature Preserve
Southwestway Park

The pictures feature:

many, many insects
a stately gentleman frog, who very kindly let me get within an inch of him
snails
two snakes
cool looking plants/fungi
general landscapes

For the most part the locations are broken up by a couple non-nature photos, except for Southwestway Park (which begins at the photo of the yellow spider in the web). Once you get to the art museum pictures there's no more nature, unless you count the clouds outside the plane window.

( a couple representative photos )

cmcmck posting in

common_nature

We spent a few days in Conwy in north Wales recently and had wonderful weather for it.

A view across Afon Conwy (the River Conwy) with Conwy castle as a bonus.

( See more: )

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: ici

arcanetrivia posting in

dw_community_promo

Ahoy there, adventure gamers!

monkeyisland is a community for the beloved classic game series Monkey Island, featuring the comedic swashbuckling adventures of the improbably-named Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™. Anything about Monkey Island is fair game: your own fanworks (art, fic, videos, games, music, cosplay, memes/silliness, whatever), recs of others' fanworks, livestreams/let's-plays, discussions, news and articles, tips for messing about in the game resources or scripting, requests for hints, screenshots, all that good stuff. If Monkey Island is your ~~jam~~ ~~rum~~ rum and jam (it's an old pirate favorite, everybody knows that), then come on over and have a grog.

full_metal_ox posting in

common_nature

Content advisory: the following images portray animal decomposition and a messy (though not scatological) plumbing mishap, respectively.

This is the very first photo I took in the process of exploring my new surroundings in Florida. I was recovering from a lengthy illness and a lengthy road trip, and coming to terms with a discombobulating succession of life upheavals; accordingly, I began with a local animal in no condition to evade me.

This roughly crow-sized bird (species and cause of death unknown) lay in an oddly heraldic position suggesting a necromancer’s coat of arms, on the disheveled curb strip of a business that was both recovering from Hurricane Ian and changing hands—likewise in a state of transition. The red spot at heart level is a dried wild fruit of some sort.

Taken on 4 June 2023 at 19:48 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:

( Fined_be_ye_who_move_my_bones. )

Some while later, I suffered a clog of mysterious blue-gray residue in my bathroom sink (don’t worry; it’s long since been dealt with, although not conclusively explained)—and was fascinated by the delicate poinsettia-like radial pattern created when the water finally receded.

Taken on 20 July 2023 at 14:16 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:

( Mystery_plumbing_sludge. )

svgurl posting in

dw_community_promo

comment_bingo is a bingo challenge that is focused on using the provided prompts to comment on other people's works rather than creating your own.

Click on the banner below to go to sign-ups or you can also go HERE.

Sign-ups will remain open until the round closes.

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This round will end up on October 31st, 2025.

marycatelli posting in

books

Valley So Low: Southern Mountain Stories by Manly Wade Wellman

A collection of uncanny tales. Some are Silver John. Some feature other men who wander about and know some of the matters -- each one with his tales grouped -- and it's clear that it's one continuity, with their loosely knowing each other, with Judge Pursuivant the sage old man of their knowledge. Others are people who get mixed up in such matters and may or may not escape.

One can see how he was listed in the Appendix N as a D&D source.

pilottttt posting in

common_nature

This ~~big and scary~~^{small and not scary at all} spider was discovered on our ceiling. It was my macro lens that made it big and scary ;)

( See the big and scary spider )

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diary of a crazy mad fangirl

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Page generated Jun. 23rd, 2025 12:08 pm

December 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 2010

and i'm waiting for you

Reading

Latourelle and Coopey Falls

Kill the Villainess, Vol. 2

Photos: Charleston Library Butterfly Gardens

Redwall

A forest walk

Every Kind of Craft now open!

Abstract Art on a Northern Lake

Dogwood Leaf Beetle

"Even though I Knew the End" by C.L. Polk

"The Traitor Baru Cormorant" by Seth Dickinson

International Rose Test Garden

Backyard Foraging

Knock Out Honey Bees

say hello to Indiana

Conwy

Holy Monkey Bladders! It's Monkey Island™.

A future fossil, and a moment of strange beauty in embotherance.

Comment Bingo Round 7

Valley So Low

And now about the spiders

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