cookability

Britain’s First Furniture Orchard Grows Chairs Right on the Trees

A British couple has spent 20 years perfecting the practice of sculpting trees to grow into the shapes of ready-made seats designed with living branches. Alice and Gavin Munro began creating the ‘furniture orchard’ on a two-acre English farm in 2006, but the harvesting typically takes between 6-9 years per chair. The process involves pruning young tree branches as they grow over a special metal frame to form the shape. Each item is dried for a year after being chopped, and are then sold to customers as artworks valued at tens of thousands of dollars.

I've seen reference to several such farms. It's a cool concept.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

How important are morals in a healthy society? What are the most important morals for citizens to have?

( Read more... )

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msilverstar

Last year in Northern Europe, I discovered the Aperol Spritz. Ed bought some Aperol for our anniversary (41) and I am enjoying it very much.

kaberett

We engaged in what is now our Brunch Date tradition, in that we visited the fancy bakery and then we bimbled around the aqueduct looking at baby birds while slowly consuming our spoils.

Baby birds the first were at coot nest #1; we spotted the mallard sitting merrily on top of it to start with, and then I went HOLD ON THAT'S A TINY FLUFFY DUCKLING. ... THREE DUCKLINGS. The coots (a) are not shy about chasing ducks off and (b) tend to move gradually down the not-exactly-a-river with successive clutches, so we are not too concerned about them.

There were also: another clutch of (rather larger) ducklings, with no supervising adult; some extremely teenage coots; some extremely baby coots going WHEEK WHEEK WHEEK at the tops of their tiny lungs; yet another coot nest containing one (1) adult, two (2) teenagers, and three (3) tiny fluffy cheeplets, the teenagers being actually in the nest and variously sitting on top of and preening the cheeplets. The Egyptian goslings meanwhile are very nearly all the way grown up, but continue to spend most of their time clustered together.

I am not entirely sure why I had decided baby season was probably over, but I think we can definitively say that It Is Not!

ysabetwordsmith

Our Favorite Queer Audiobooks for Audiobook Appreciation Month

June is Audiobook Appreciation Month! While we talk a lot on our blogs about all the books we read, we haven’t talked much about how often we don’t “read” those books so much as listen to them! A lot of our rec list reccers love audiobooks and rely on them for various reasons. Thus, we wanted to celebrate by highlighting some of the great books that have audiobook versions we loved.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Masters of the Universe (2026) no-spoiler reaction (TLDR: It's fun!)

I saw Masters of the Universe (2006) at the theater light night. I had a lot of fun! I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I did not expect what they made, which is a joyous campy subtly-clever romp that got me smiling soon, and smiling more and more the longer it continued. Children and adults who never knew this IP can have a fun time fully as much as those of us '80s children who somehow still know, say, Queen Marlena's origin, or who Teela's mother is, or the name of every action figure in our brothers' and cousins' and neighbors' toyboxes.

Never has watching a movie felt so much like playing with action figures.

I have seen the trailer, and very much look forward to watching this movie.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly cloudy and quite warm.

I fed the birds. I've seen several sparrows and house finches plus a male cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/6/26 -- I started weeding the center of the telephone pole garden.

EDIT 6/6/26 -- I did more weeding the center of the telephone pole garden.

EDIT 6/6/26 -- I did more weeding the center of the telephone pole garden. I am past the halfway point. Yay.

EDIT 6/6/26 -- I did more weeding the center of the telephone pole garden. I am near the far end.

EDIT 6/6/26 -- I finished weeding the center of the telephone pole garden. \o/

EDIT 6/6/26 -- I planted 15 'Lucifer' crocosmia in the telephone pole garden.

EDIT 6/6/26 -- I planted the last 20 'Lucifer' crocosmia in the telephone pole garden.

EDIT 6/6/26 -- I planted 20 'Blaze Mix' gladioli in the telephone pole garden.

EDIT 6/6/26 -- I spread the bag of Black Kow composted manure over the telephone pole garden, then tacked down the net that discourages critters from digging in it. I still need to spread topsoil over that and sow the seeds, but that's for tomorrow.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night. *goflopnow*

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Gert’s quilt exhibition

My friend Gert (who used to be on LJ back when!), who is an avid quilter, is showing some of his work at the Bartholomeus Gasthuis in Utrecht, together with Maria, his former boss from when he worked in a quilt fabric store. We went to the opening, and after cutting the ribbon, Gert showed every quilt to us and explained some things about the fabric and techniques used, but also what he wanted to express with that quilt.

Current Mood: busy

rydra_wong

Recced Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire to a couple of people lately, picked up my copy again to refresh my memory of something, and now it has its teeth in me and won't let go until I reread the whole thing and I've already had to go to YouTube and listen to the Cry Cry Cry cover of "Cold Missouri Waters."

And then I found an amazing quote from the songwriter, James Keelaghan, which is one of the best descriptions of the book I've read:

https://nathans-roncast.castos.com/episodes/how-james-keelaghan-wrote-cold-missouri-waters-part-1

And so just the story itself is compelling. But for Norman Maclean's writing of it, like, I don't know if you know the book, but Norman McLean was sort of, the fire was an area of specialty for him, for, you know, it was one of his little private obsessions. And he always meant to write a book about it. And he started to write the book, but he died before it was finished. And the book was then sort of completed by his editors and also by his son.

So you not only get the story of the fire and incredible amount of detail about how the smoke jumpers fit into the National Forest Service, how they were created as a unit, but also stuff about the mathematics of how fire spreads in various circumstances. But you also get this sense of MacLean being a writer who is running out of time to tell the story that he really wants to tell because he knows he's dying. He's in a great deal of pain, I think, when he's writing the book. And all that comes through this, this impatient, irascible old man, this voice actually comes through in the book. And then I felt like, yeah, you know, I really need to write a song about this.

Anyway Dodge just ordered them to drop the heavy tools so I have to get back to the book now.

mdlbear

This is an impressive ~~hack~~ bit of madness: Anyway, I Made a Choir - YouTube. Two hundred tracks.

And for that matter, why build a mainframe when you can just buy one on eBay. For a song. Of course there's a bit of a catch...

Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: see post

duskpeterson

Reading

(Just so you know from this point forward: I generally don't log short stories and picture books, though I read a lot of the latter.)

Seven novels: MG contemporary fiction, YA contemporary fiction, SF, romantic contemporary paranormal.
Fifteen volumes in a comic strip series: contemporary fiction.
Two nonfiction books: MG history, digital minimalism.

I only read two books in March, so I'm making definite progress.

Writing

New SF history written: about 5,000 words.
New fiction written: 2,247 words.
New fiction prepared for June release: 2,768 words.
New fiction prepared for July release: 5,883 words.

Moon Bomb (my SF history book) is ballooning rapidly. The fourth volume of the Thousand Nations series is now halfway finished. For the first time in ages, I'm ahead of myself in editing.

Readers

Subscriptions (free and paid): Low but steady.
Online e-books at my website: No readers in May.
Story comments/reviews (other than from bots): None this month. I ran across a brief Italian-language Reddit recommendation of my Eternal Dungeon series from seven months ago.

It's always a thrill to know that I'm being read outside the English-language world. I'm finding it rather discouraging, though, that the most prolific commentary on my stories these days comes from AI.

ysabetwordsmith

Today we went up to the town-wide rummage sales in Arthur. The weather was pretty good -- quite warm, but cloudy with a brisk breeze. It started spitting rain on the way up, but that quit after just a minute.

( Read more... )

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alias_sqbr

My initial review.

Overall, I really liked it!

It continued to be a sprawling, layered, long-winded but fascinating mess to the end. But some of my favourite characters and perspectives showed up quite late, and made me look back a more positively on some earlier sections of the story, so my opinion of it now is higher than it was in my last review, if still kinda mixed.

The ending made me cry in a cathartic way, and I am left with a bunch of fun chewy thoughts about stories in general and possible fanfic in particular.

Hella content warnings though, I had to stop at one point because it was skirting very close to triggering me, and then spoiled myself for the next little bit of plot to see if it was going to get Too Dark (which it didn't)

Content notes for the game, which are both possibly triggering themselves and also spoilery

Parental abuse, suicide, rape, incest, sympathetic portrayal of fascists, gore, torture, sexy immortal young girls (real young girls are not sexualised but do get joke flirted with), major character death, probably other things.

( No spoilers )

ysabetwordsmith

Owls Found Thriving in Abandoned Coal Mine as Wildlife Reclaims Industrial Heritage Site

New photos show owls and wildlife reclaiming an abandoned coal mine 50 years after it closed.

The Chatterley Whitfield mine in Staffordshire, England, last produced coal in 1976.

Now, a half-century later, the son of a coal miner who worked there has returned to document nature’s return.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Actor Anthony Head has passed away. He was well known for playing Rupert Giles on the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Carry on the Work

Acting -- how to articles from wikiHow

Acting Careers -- how to articles from wikiHow

Learning Guitar -- how to articles from wikiHow

Learning to Sing -- how to articles from wikiHow

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly cloudy and quite warm.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/5/26 -- I watered plants in the house yard.

EDIT 6/5/26 -- I watered plants in the new picnic table garden.

Little purple flowers are blooming in the south lot. I suspect they're from a previous application of Bee Lawn Mix, so it's likely self-heal. :D

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

msilverstar

After much tsuris, our solar battery is now replaced and working. I still think the heat pump installers screwed it up. So we are now net producers of power over the year.

snowgrouse

Title: Poison Heart and Scorpion Soul
Author: Snowgrouse
Fandom: The Longest Day in Chang'an (2019)
Pairing: Gan Shoucheng/Tan Qi
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Tragedy, Darkfic, Horror, Post-Canon
Warnings: Serious, serious warnings for graphic violence, especially brutal and realistic sexual violence. No ravishment this time. No respite. Just dark as fuck from beginning to end; heed the Ao3 tags.
Length: ~14 000 words
Summary: During the An Lushan Rebellion, General Gan finally gets to possess Tan Qi, and to have his revenge. It's all he's ever wanted--and yet, not at all what he had wanted.

A/N: This is what really would happen, would Gan get his hands on her--and it's not at all like his sexy fantasies. Do not expect ravishments, i.e. the sexy kind of non-con here (if you want that, go read the Secret Diaries). Just him beating up and raping her for 14 k. Unfortunately, I had to write this to get it out of my system. Perhaps, my subconscious guilt for ever even writing porn of these two pushed me into writing this, if only to prove that I *do* know exactly what kind of a monster Gan is, and exactly how it'd really go down if he got to own her. Call it an act of balancing out the narratives, and a show of what exactly it is that I'm subverting with all the hot porn and all the CharmingRogue!Gans. So, yep, this is unflinchingly canon-compliant Gan. I do hope to get back to the happy fucking as soon as possible, though. Because that's what we'd all prefer, right?

("I am telling you this now, missy: it would serve you best if you were to teach yourself to love me, to mould yourself to my desires as slaves do; it's for your own good. You'll be a lot happier that way."

"Is that what this is about?" she says quietly, in genuine astonishment. "Am I to take it that all these years, you've been pining for me, madly in love with me? And that you voted to kill Her Highness--and break His Majesty's heart--just for my sake?"

Gan sneers. "Don't flatter yourself."

"I don't have to. You're the one doing it."

"And it's high time you thanked me for saving your neck," Gan says and yanks her up by the rope between her neck and her wrists. He sets aside his lance and arranges her to kneel before himself, taking her hands to the apron panel of his armour. "Now, I presume you know what to do. Go on, prove your worth; the better you please me, the better I'll treat you."

She huffs incredulously.

He slaps her with the full force of his arm, a blow so hard she falls onto her hands and knees.

"Enough insolence!"

He yanks her head up by the hair, grinding her face into his armour scales. "Is this how you want it, then?" he asks and slaps her again, laughing. "Or are you trying to turn me on, perhaps? Acting like a brat, so I'll have an excuse to beat you?"

"No," she groans into his groin, her lip-paint now but a red streak across her cheek.

"That's right," he says and squints, grinning maliciously. "I don't need an excuse to beat a woman," he says, slapping her cheek as he dangles her there. "But you deserve it," he spits and slaps her again. "Your karma has finally come to get you. Welcome to your hell realm, wench; meet your personal executioner!"

And at that last slap, he truly lets go. After all, he's wanted to teach her a lesson for a long time, so he might as well make it clear to her who's in charge. Thus, still holding her by the hair, he mauls her face the way he's always wanted to: his laughter rings high in his throat as he slaps her cheeks to redden them, pinches her skin to break blood vessels, beats her mouth to make it warm and swollen for him. He spits in her eyes, and when she tries to turn aside, he snaps his fingers off the bones of her temples, flicking his fingers into the corners of her eyes; oh, but the sight of this proud woman's haughty, frosty exterior cracking with horror is the most arousing thing he's ever seen in his life.)

duskpeterson

ONLINE E-BOOK (html, epub, mobi, pdf, and xhtml)

Free at my website.

The Motley Crew (The Thousand Nations). When a young man named Dolan flees from the north, he faces danger on all sides. The Northern Army wants him back. The Empire of Emor wants him dead. His native homeland of Koretia may not want him at all. And his only protection is a man with motives that are mysterious and possibly deadly.

New installment:

Side story | Stream of Dying. All right, so you're captured.

BLOG FICTION

Tempestuous Tours (Crossing Worlds: A Visitor's Guide to the Three Lands #2). A whirlwind tour of the sites in the Three Lands that are most steeped in history, culture, and the occasional pickpocket.

New installments:

From the inner garden to the Chara's quarters.

Meeting the Chara.

UPCOMING FICTION

My next release will be a Law of Vengeance side story: "Wait." You'll encounter a few characters you already know.

My fiction announcements are also available by e-mail and feeds.

ysabetwordsmith

These are today's questions from

thefridayfive.

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Accessible Cooking

Member Posts

Gardening

Philosophical Questions: Morals

aperol spritz

some good things

Audio

Entertainment

Birdfeeding

Crafts

I have made a tactical mistake

Songs for Saturday: You Can Build a Choir From the Things You Find At Home

May 2026 progress report

Reading

Writing

Readers

Today's Adventures

So I finished Umineko!

Wildlife

Moment of Silence: Anthony Head

Birdfeeding

random postini

FIC: Poison Heart and Scorpion Soul (Gan Shoucheng/Tan Qi, NC-17)

UPDATE: Stream of Dying (The Thousand Nations: The Motley Crew side story)

ONLINE E-BOOK (html, epub, mobi, pdf, and xhtml)

BLOG FICTION

UPCOMING FICTION

Friday Five

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November 2021

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