Good morning afternoon: it’s Monday; it’s no longer Beach Week; the cable is out at the house; L’s AC is out (and we’re close to 90 here, calendar be damned); and I managed to forget my work phone passcode thoroughly enough that I might have bricked it. Also, I broke my Wordle streak.

Retirement is looking better every day even if it’s not super-close.

I did finally manage to watch Thor: Love and Thunder, which … ( cutting for spoilers just in case I’m not the last to watch )

Ok, they are ready to tell me if we can do fiber in place of the jacked internet (and how much that’s going to cost me) so I will wish you a better day going forward and go deal with regular life, ❤️

Check-in: It’s in the low 70s, there’s no humidity, it’s sunny and breezy. My skinned/bruised knees are reaching the dramatically colored stage but mostly don’t hurt. Plus, it was frittata morning, so L & I chopped and stirred and chatted companionably, and now we’re out on the oceanside porch with the fruits of our labor and mimosas. It’s glorious.

Books: I’ve actually been reading a fair amount over the summer—some of Jenny Colgan’s more recent efforts, a Kate Clayborn trilogy, some Claudia Gray (Star Wars and Austen (not in the same book!)), random other genres, Borge fiction and non. For details, I’m here on Goodreads (happy to friend/follow back btw).

In the last week…

read
Neon Gods, Katee Roberts == Hades/Persephone, modern AUish, quite possibly the most charming kink I’ve read, in or out of fandom.

reading
Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron, Julia Quinn == a graphic novel that has wiiiiild mood swings. We’ll see how it goes.

A Season For Second Chances, Jenny Bayliss == light, contemporary romance about a restaurant owner/chef who leaves her rat bastard of a cheating husband and takes on a house-sitting job in a picturesque British village, as one does. It seems more of a winter read so I may postpone subsequent chapters.

next
There are many, many books on hold so we’ll see what comes in next.


I’m going to wrap up here and go exercise my cranky knees so they don’t get any more stiff so have a lovely day wherever you might be. ❤️❤️❤️

So, I'm having a lot of work done at the house, partially because it really needs it, partially because I need something to keep my brain engaged at all hours of the day and night, and partially because even with all of that, I'm not sure I can go back to live there. I for sure can't see being there now without some significant changes, so it's worth trying because I really have loved that house for a lot of years, but it's all tangled up with D and it's a lot.

Anyway.

So, since I don't have that second full-time job of managing health and medical issues, I'm paying attention to what it is that I like and want. My sister-in-law (who is really good at this sort of thing) is helping a lot, but she'll buy things just to put on shelves and I'm the sort who wants the stuff in the room to mean something. So, when I've been awake in the middle of the night, I've been cruising ebay and etsy and somewhere in there I discovered that all the museum exhibit catalogs that I could never afford to buy when I was younger are available at extremely reasonable prices at used bookstores. So I spent a very enjoyable week or so going through all the exhibits at various museums over the years and any of them that I remembered going to, I went off and searched for their catalogs.

A bunch of them have come in ( cutting to spare your feed )
and I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with them, but I'm having fun paging through them and remembering wandering through galleries and then having lunch at various cafes, back when that was the most elegant thing I could imagine which is not at all a bad thing.

::waves::

Still here, though I had some minor surgery on Wednesday and am on the good meds so I’m a little floaty. I watched all of Bridgerton S2 on Thursday which was really fun with the meds. I’ve read all the books but I am not at all tied to most of the family characters (Penelope and Sophie notwithstanding) so I’m fine with the plot adjustments they made to keep Lady Danbury a part of the story and to bring the queen in. Did I read somewhere that they’re spinning off a prequel with Charlotte & George?

The older kids went to California to visit friends so BabyBoy came and hung out with me for Mother’s Day. I spent too much money on stationery and we went to see Dr Strange, which was quite the movie for that particular holiday, lol. We had fun though—*such* a Sam Raimi movie, yeah?

I’m easing back into reading so I hope to check in later this week with some books and generally just be around a little more.

It’s Ash Wednesday; I’m finding hard to break away from Twitter; and I really don’t want to detail the most recent health issues.

So.

Catching up on books for 2022…

finished
Matrix, by Lauren Groff, which is a fascinating combination of visceral physical sensations and mystical visions, as played out through the life of the 12th Century poet and mystic Marie de France, posited in this novel to be the illegitimate half-sister of Henry II of England (better known around my circle as Elinor of Acquitaine’s second husband.) I had to read in bits and pieces because it was A Lot (" ") to take in, but I’m pretty sure I liked it.

The Last Mrs Summers, Rhys Bowen. I fell behind on my Her Royal Spyness cozy mysteries, so there’s this one and one more to go to catch up. It’s the usual shenanigans, though this time with a Gothic, duMaurier-esque slant, properly located in Cornwall, where Georgie and Belinda go to check out B’s just-inherited property. The usual cast of characters manages to turn up, of course, so we get to check in on everybody as we’re starting on the slippery slope to abdication and WWII.

Lunch in Paris, Elizabeth Bard, in which the author visits France and falls in love and never really leaves, as you do. I mean, it’s the winter; I’m deep into the ANYWHERE BUT HERE throes, plus, there are recipes included, so it was pretty much a foregone conclusion.

The Jane Austen Society, Natalie Jenner. Richard Armitage narrating a book about people who find comfort and solace in the works of JA? I mean, yes?

Mooncakes, Suzanne Walker. Utterly fucking adorable graphic novel of a deaf, Asian-American witch finding a second chance at love with her nonbinary werewolf childhood best friend while they fight nasty demon-raisers. There are lesbian grandmothers and visiting ghosts, too.

reading now
Magpie Murders, Anthony Horowitz. There’s apparently a dramatic twist coming but I haven’t gotten there yet, so so far this is your basic murder mystery.

Beginner’s Luck, Kate Clayborn. Contemporary romance about a group of friends who win the lottery and can start to see a different life? Right now, there is renovation!porn and we’re just getting to glimpse the issues behind the main characters’ facades.

The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey. What with the latest possible twist in the Murdered Princes in the Tower saga, it felt like a good time to go pull this out again. I haven’t read it in probably 20? 30? years and I can’t remember what of the Ricardian mythos actually came from this or what it inspired later.

next
All my holds are coming in at the same time, of course, so I have The Anatomist’s Wife (historical mystery), Master and Apprentice (pre-prequels Qi Gon and Obi Wan), and Sunshine (paranormal vampire romance, which I have no memory of putting on hold, but it doesn’t seem all that far off from my tastes so I’m sure there was a reason.)

Too much stuff has been going on; every time I try to sit down and sum it all up, I don't even know where to start.

So, instead, a meme, as seen randomly on ye olde DW circle --

What is the first TV show you remember watching?

Dark Shadows, the original, creepy, gothic cheese-fest. I was 5? I hid behind the couch b/c I wasn't allowed to watch but I was just sucked into the melodrama.

What is the first “grown up” TV show you watched?

See above, lol

Have you ever been in a wedding bridal party? What was your role? What did your outfit look like that you wore for the day?

Soooooo many, hah. (At least a half-dozen, not counting my own. At various moves, I've handed off a burgundy off-the-shoulder long dress (maid of honor), a turquoise tea-length with an iridescent chiffon overlay (bridesmaid and general errand runner), a pastel flowered tea length with a portrait collar (bridesmaid and keeper of the good champagne), and a black, fitted strapless sheath with sheer illusion long sleeves (from when Oldest was a ring-bearer and I was there to keep the peace.) But my first was THE BEST EVER. When I was 11 or 12, one of my younger aunts got married in the most giant, OTT wedding ever and I was a junior bridesmaid (along with a sister of the groom. My brother and the groom's younger brother were altar boys, though there were 3 priests also involved in the ceremony, so the kids just sat around in their robes.) It was the 1970s; the girls (bridesmaids, jr bridesmaids, flower girls and maids of honor (yes, 2) wore aqua (polyester) long gowns with ruffles criss-crossing our bosoms. The groomsmen wore cut-velvet dinner jackets, with swirly patterns cut into them and aqua ruffled shirts. The mothers wore gowns that were a sort of orange-y melon satin and a fuschia chiffon, while the fathers (two 50ish Polish and Italian immigrant steelworkers) rocked the fuck out of the same godawful dinner jackets with peach and pink ruffled shirts, to match their wives. There were 28 people in the bridal party (not counting the bride and groom), we made it through a High Mass with a full choir and at least 4 soloists singing every response and the aforementioned 3 priests (the parish priest, the priest who ran the volunteer group my aunt worked with and the groom's family priest) all having to speak. The reception was held at the Polish Falcon Hall where the cake was 5 layers with a (working) water fountain in the middle and 5 or 6 heart-shaped little sub-cakes connected by arched bridges to the main cake with the fountain and tiers AND at some point during a very vigorous polka, someone went careening into the cake table, knocking it down, and there was a small explosion as the water from the fountain shorted out the motor that was running the pump.

It was at this point that I swore there would not be an open bar at my own wedding, that I was not paying for my genial alcoholic family to go out and get smashed, and though it was nearly 20 years later, reader, there was not.

What is your ethnic background that you’re aware of?

Italian (Calabria) on my mother's side; Polish-Russian (from the part of Poland that always got the Russian invasions so who knows exactly who was what) on my father's. (I will tell you, though, that I looked up at one point during the second season of The Witcher as Vesomir started talking and said (to BabyBoy) words to the effect of holy shit, that's your grandfather. He even had the same mustache for a while, oy.

What was the last hotel you stayed in and where? Did you like it?

Well, we stayed at Old Key West and the Beach Club the last few times we went to Disney World, but those are technically condos, so I dunno if they count? We spent a couple of nights at the Swan at WDW before we moved over to the Beach Club in October. I mean, we do this almost every year, so yes, I do like them but that's kind of a given. The last hotel that *wasn't* attached to WDW was the Ritz Carlton Amelia Island, because I needed to use some free-night certificates before they expired and that was the nicest hotel within driving distance. It was beautiful and very upscale (I mean, it was a Ritz, so, yeah) and our room had a great ocean view, but if I go there again, I might be tempted to go with one of the rooms that don't have a balcony but have a patio with a fire table on it. I don't know, though--it really was a fabulous view.

ugh, D woke up at 3 and then I woke up and he went back to sleep but guess who didn't?

Anyway.

Have a couple of links:

As most of you know, I have a side-hustle-fandom in Disney and one of the gazillion podcasts out there did an interview with Bert and Bertie, the directing duo from Hawkeye. Before I give you the link, know that the summary of the episode, which is on the title page, has a giant spoiler for Hawkeye, so if you haven't finished it, don't even click. Also, the conversation they have contains spoilers for Black Widow and Spiderman: No Way Home.

D23 w/Hawkeye directors (Spotify link - actual interview starts at ~9:07)

rhoda_rants has kicked off an essay series on her OTP, CaptainSwan (aka, Emma Swann/Killian Jones|Captain Hook, from Once Upon a Time, which is one of those pairings that snuck up on me, from a show that I had ongoing fits and starts with. I'm looking forward to more (and am feeling the need to go dig out my fave fics for the pairing.)

Another recipe in my sporadic quest to find all the casseroles and Hamburger Helper-type dishes of my childhood for when I'm too tired to even flip through the NYT food section for recipes: Cowboy Casserole (Midwestern hotdish meets bisquick impossible taco pie). I have yet to make it, but I do have 5# of ground beef in my fridge so it's entirely possible that will change in the next day or so.

Happy Monday, have a good week!

hi, hi, ducking in before the complete holiday madness hits to wish you all a lovely winter holiday of your choice (belated but no less heartfelt for Hannukah and Solstice.)

I finished up work yesterday (though it's really less 'finished' and more 'made myself a list and closed the laptop') and will not go back until January 4. I'm debating deleting Slack off my phone, though we're pretty much closed up for the next fortnight so it should be quiet. (I hate having to reconfigure things when I reinstall.)

Today, I need to excavate the giant pile of shipping boxes and padded envelopes and make sure everything I ordered did indeed come in so that I can make any emergency adjustments tomorrow, if necessary. If I don't have to do anything, I might bake tomorrow, at least some candy cane brownies or sugar cookies that I can smother in sugar sprinkles.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out what food I have and what I need--I've already gone by Trader Joe's and Whole Foods for fun stuff (why yes, I did hunt down the last of the Talenti Peppermint Bark gelato across 5 different WF, why do you ask?) I think I have too much food, but all the kids are home and I'm happy to feed them their favorites without resorting to UberEasts or DoorDash so here I am with a jam-packed fridge and two freezers.

Fannishly speaking, I started watching S2 of The Witcher (I think we got to 2 eps) and we watched Tick, Tick, Boom last night (which, if no one has told you, the scene in the diner has every single Broadway legend you can think of in it. I made the kids stop so I could figure everyone out. They were less impressed.) And now I kinda want to go re-watch Rent. I'm still only on Ep 3 of Hawkeye, still haven't seen Shang Chi, and am contemplating going to see Spidey on Monday morning, when hopefully everyone will be other places. (We all finally got our boosters & I got a whole new batch of KN95 masks, I might risk it in the theater. I might also buy extra seats so we have a buffer around us. We’ll see.)

Bookwise, I'm in the middle of my annual re-listen to The Twelve Clues of Christmas, which is one of Rhys Bowen's Her Royal Spyness cozy mysteries, so lots of dead bodies with bonus pre-WWII English country Christmas setting. Next is possibly Rosamunde Pilcher's Winter Solstice--no bodies, just minor melodramas in the Scottish countryside, also at Christmas. I've lost count of how many times I've read/listened to them, but listening keeps me company while I run around and try to get things pulled together for the holidays.

Ok, I have shoved lunch at everyone & the kids have headed out to shop, so I am going to start digging through the aforementioned pile of presents & see what’s what.

Oh! I posted another chapter this morning, so my Darcy/Bucky post-WV/TFATWS fic is up over 50K words (and as I had suspected previously, the slow burn blew up so it’s rated Explicit now, waiting in the eye of the storm.

Ok, now I really am going to go deal with holiday stuff. Have a good day/night/morning!

Hello, how are you all? We're doing a delayed Thanksgiving today, b/c extended family reasons so we have a pumpkin pie in the oven and cranberry sauce going so far. BabyBoy has some Gen Z jazz-to-cook-by playlist going and all is very companionable.

The rest of life continues with being exhausting. Same things--trying to figure out what's going to work with D, buyout at work, kids having needs, house being 50+ years old and needing some attention (and $$$). I'll spare you the whinging.

On the plus side, I finally caught a writing tornado and have written more in November than in the last 6 months combined. Part of it is that the Bucky & Darcy I'm writing in waiting in the eye of the storm (which has cracked 40k words, \o/) are taking their bloody time getting to the burn part of the slow burn so I started a ridiculously porntastic pwp with the same characters, only more damaged from all the stuff and I'm literally not editing it at all, so I get my character development in the WiP and then go write completely OOC (and badly written) sex in the PWP draft. (Of course, now that draft is starting to develop character moments, too, so IDEK.)

I also managed to finish a book--though it was a novella and the audiobook version at that, but hey, everything counts, yeah?

A Spindle Splintered, Alix E Harrow, which is kind of Sleeping Beauty by way of Into the Spiderverse with a bit of the flavor of early-seasons Buffy banter. The first actual review I saw of it on GR was that it was just too pop-culture heavy, which, hah, can you say catnip? (It is very pop-culture-y but this is not a problem IMO.) One of my favorites of the year, for sure.

AND. I have a few fic recs for your weekend--let's call this set Polyamory (As the Endgame) Through The Ages, ;D

the broken-hearted rang their steeple bells, by always_a_slut_for_hc, The Witcher, Geralt/Yennefer/Jaskier, ~7500 words, Mature === If you're going to be evil, try not to pick the bard who's friends with a witcher and a sorceress. And for real, don't send them an invitation to the forced wedding. Geralt and Yennefer to the rescue. Warnings for violence and rape though it's not super-dwelled upon and you know I like my HEAs so it's okay in the end.

Another for Working Days, by SassySnowperson, Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice/Benedick/Don Pedro, ~13,200 words, Mature === AU from Don Pedro's proposal to Beatrice, where he convinces her that yes, he's serious and then is the one to tip her off about the shenanigans with Hero and Claudio, thus sidestepping The Altar Drama and setting everyone on a happier path.

The Heart That Gives Much..., by iberiandoctor, Crazy Rich Asians, Colin/Nick and various (happy, consensual) combinations with Araminta and Rachel, ~8800 words, Mature === Colin's always been in love with Nick; Araminta is super-fine with that (she might actually ship them); Rachel for damn-sure knows how to read the room and might be last on the scene, but knows a winning hand when she sees it. Yay, happy endings.

A Change is as Good as a Rest, by Siria, Ted Lasso, Keeley/Roy/Jamie, ~7500 words, Explicit === Keeley knows what she's doing, don't ever doubt that.

As is becoming my habit, I have just enough time/mental energy to get this post out. I'm still reading all y'all--really there are days when hearing from you is absolutely the highlight of it all--but I suspect I'm doing pathetically at commenting.

RL, such a bitch these days.

It's my birthday next week, so D & I went to our favorite little restaurant last night, where I had a super-fun cocktail with a crème de cassis base, topped off with Prosecco and edible glitter. (I mean, the food was really good, too, roasted swordfish and some baked burrata, but yeah, having a pretty, berryish drink in a pretty glass where the prosecco bubbles kept the glitter suspended was really the highlight, :D ). Very festive!

We also were able to do the Food & Wine festival again at Epcot. ( cutting to spare those of you who don't really care about WDW the details )

tl;dr - ate lots, drank lots, were exhausted for at least a week following.

Will try to do the Wednesday reading meme b/c I finally have finished a book or two, \o/