Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, quotes, Thoughts, Writers, yay on July 26, 2021| Leave a Comment »
“Life, a good life, a great life is about “Why not?” May we never forget it.”
― Danielle Steel
Oh look, I’ve used this quote before. Guess it must be true:) Bonus quote!
“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein
Posted in Likes, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, history, hockey, Thoughts on July 25, 2021| 1 Comment »
It’s hot and sticky, I’m in the middle of several projects but have nothing finished, and I’m short on time because Mr. Man wants me to give him a haircut. What does that mean for this blog post and you, fair readers?
How about something fun and easy, with a bit of history thrown in? I give you the NHL’s oldest recorded footage of hockey:
Stay cool, friends!
Posted in Likes, Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Affinity Photo, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, Ilona Andrews, inspiration, magic, sff, writing on July 24, 2021| 1 Comment »
One of my favorite reads is the terrific* Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews.
Here’s the first book:
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, #1) by Ilona Andrews
This husband and wife team also have a number of other great books, all starring kick-ass women willing to go to any lengths to save what needs saving.
The writing is excellent, the plots fresh and unpredictable in the best ways, and the characters, even the bad ones, are complex and well-drawn. (The authors are particularly adept at helping readers understand, and at times forgive, even the darkest characters.)
What’s not to love?
* * *
So when I decided it was time to learn how to make a vintage-style travel postcard, I thought of Atlanta. Not the vibrant city it is now, but as Kate sees it after magic returns to the world, complete with mysterious denizens, vampire Casinos, witch jungles, shapeshifter Keeps, ruins and one lone high rise.
Welcome to Atlanta.
* * *
* * *
* Feel free to disagree with me, I don’t mind. Just know that I am right;)
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #ThingsILike, home, Thoughts on July 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Today in things I like: Here’s an item I did not know existed before I moved to Canada: the electronic mosquito swatter.
You may know that mosquitoes are annoying;) This year has been pretty good* but even one mosquito indoors at night can be disruptive. (If you’re me, anyway. Mr. Man is born and bred Canadian and is mostly unfazed by even the largest of blood suckers. )
And I’m trying to be more tolerant outside. Inside? No.
Cue the swatter. Its mesh displaces less air than a standard fly swatter and also sends a current through the wires. Any mosquito or other biting insect caught in the layers is toast. Sometimes literally.
Seriously, don’t activate this thing while touching it.
Zip zap, all done.
As penance, I put the mosquito corpses outside so that something, somewhere might benefit.
* * *
* That’s good and bad. Good, because it means fewer giant, itchy welts, bad because the dry Spring that led to fewer mosquitoes has a lot of follow-on effects, for insects, the birds and other animals who eat them, plants, trees, and of course, us humans.
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, archives, creativity, Fiction, inspiration, sff, writing on July 22, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Have I mentioned that I have a museum? Its archives are mysterious and its vaults are deep.
* * *
Posted in Food and..., Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Fiction, food, Jane Austen, upstairs downstairs, Writers on July 21, 2021| Leave a Comment »
This is fun:
Eat Like Jane Austen With Recipes From Her Sister-In-Law’s Cookbook – Gastro Obscura
If you’ve ever wondered what Jane Austen ate, or if the menus in her books were true to life, this is the link for you. Here’s the book the article highlights.
And if you’ve ever thought about what life was like on the other side of the scullery door, check out Longbourn by Jo Baker.
In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to Pride and Prejudice, the servants take center stage. Sarah, the orphaned housemaid, spends her days scrubbing the laundry, polishing the floors, and emptying the chamber pots for the Bennet household. But there is just as much romance, heartbreak, and intrigue downstairs at Longbourn as there is upstairs.
I found the world below-stairs fascinating, and not just because I’m the sort of person who likes to learn about practical and medicinal plant properties, or what chilblains felt like.
It’s good to give every person a chance to be the main character, you know?
* * *
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, sff, spaceships, star wars, Tuesdays on July 20, 2021| Leave a Comment »
It’s Tuesday and there’s a nasty storm coming (heavy rain and powerful winds with a potential side of hail and tornadoes, so that’s fun). Is it time to take a trip to the virtual used spaceship lot?
Who knew the Halo Pelican was almost the size of the Millennium Falcon? (Also, with apologies to Mr. Bezos and Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson, but yours are definitely not the biggest!).
Posted in Favorites, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, drabble, Drabble Dabble Do, inspiration, sff, Thoughts, writing on July 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Drabble for a Monday morning.
Today might be crap. Wake to rain, the car won’t start and the kid’s hamster is under the weather too.
You’re out of coffee.
Steam builds and you dash headlong toward the Scylla of anger and the Charybdis of self-doubt. You seriously consider a cup of despair.
The boss asks you to step in last-minute for the most important meeting of the year or the kid’s hamster dies or it really is uphill both ways or (fill in the blank here) and you think, “I just… can’t.”
I hear you.
But.
What if this is the ‘verse where you can?
— J.R. Johnson
* * *
Posted in Food and..., tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, inspiration, just plain fun, yay on July 18, 2021| 1 Comment »
As I’ve mentioned, I sometimes see the world a little sideways. It helps me find the fun in functional and the butterfly in the weeds. It also means that some days, a perfectly normal breakfast can turn into something a little more elaborate.
I mean, there I was this morning, producing multiple batches of colored liquid: bananas and tofu, spinach and avocado and green tea, blueberries and strawberries and cranberry juice, hemp seed and turmeric and more. It’s paint by any other name. And so, smoothie art.
Fun, right? And bonus points for edibility!
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Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Affinity Photo, creativity, fun, photos, sff, star wars adjacent on July 17, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Editor’s Note: That isn’t a typo in the title. Well, it was a typo when I named the original file, but it was funny and my brain is mostly off at this point so I kept it.
I tried a new photo-to-oil-paint method today. The technique is straightforward, if time-consuming, but I can tell I’m not an actual painter. The arm and face are a little weird but my eyes have gone wonky and I’ve started thinking seriously about adult beverages, so this is what we’re going with today!
With apologies to whoever made the fine costume I blurred out, I give you “Portrait of a Mandalorian Primcess.”
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