Buttercups and Rain
Jun. 14th, 2026 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frith
It's been rainy, then sunny and back to rainy again. Last night there were many fireflies out, it might be from the hot weather and the rain. I had thought I'd go garage sale hopping this weekend as it is the only weekend where garage sales are allowed in my town this month, but Saturday I was out being sociable. So today was plan 'B' but it's rained most of the day, so no garage sales until next month for me. I'll try my luck at the goodwill-type store. The 'once a month and only May through September' deal for garage sales is because the municipal government isn't big on local colour, they decided too many people were trying to make a living off garage sales.
With the rain coming and going, I've got it in my head that I'm going to get pictures of wet flowers. When the rain stops, I have been running out to see what I can find. Photography, the art of discovery. Like E-Z Make Machine Pastiche Surprise, but with more control and less choice. There are still lots of buttercups, so I choose them.
I combined my social sortie Saturday with a stop to see a movie. I went to see the final episode of The Amazing Digital Circus. I got into my car late and I had to stop to buy gas. Then I got a bit lost in the whole maze of stores and interconnecting parking lots around the movie-plex. Imagine a strip mall that has metastasized into a village made only of boutiques. I found the movie-plex by dead reckoning and parked about 10 minutes late. Fortunately, the first half of the movie was the entire second-to-last episode which I'd already seen. So I didn't miss a thing. The movie did not have the sci-fi horror I was expecting. I should have tried to catch The Sheep Detectives instead.
Hummingbird Hawkmoth
Jun. 10th, 2026 09:50 pmfrith
I saw a hummingbird hawkmoth yesterday for the first time in twenty plus years. Must be because I can now just bum around and appreciate, instead of racing with the rats.
Also because I have tons of flowers thanks to my woolly selective browser.
Around first light it was harvesting from the creeping charlie (also popular with the bees) and around noon it was having a go at all the buttercups. Meanwhile, in my planted garden, I have a couple of bearded irises in bloom, and in the ditch, over a dozen yellow irises. Not exactly nectar city there.
So, I lounged in my rescued outdoors chaise lounge and took many pictures. The hawkmoth is about the size of a large bumblebee.
a quick sketch of an update post
Jun. 10th, 2026 05:03 amelisemThere were thunderstorms going flickaflick kaBOOMba in the Twin Cities much of the night, so I am awake. Now that doesn't mean awake enough to make a proper post on how things are, but here's the basic stuff:
On May 10, I unexpectedly surfed down a collapsing retaining wall which then yeeted me headfirst into the side of the house. I got a concussion and a double-fractured ankle. And now I'm recuperating.
It was a short retaining wall, which is a great piece of luck, because things could have been so much worse. Even at the height of a couple of feet or so, like it was. There were a lot of important bits of good luck. Those stories are for later, though. For now, I'm just waving at everybody here and saying hi, I'm still here! Some of you have heard already, and have been kind and have helped get me to the ER, the ortho team, the imaging people, and all the rest, and there are not enough words to express this gratitude, but THANK YOU SO MUCH.
And now, probably sleep time. Again. It's remarkable how much sleep a person can need when recuperating from fractures or concussions, or both.
(And I hope you are having a much more pleasantly calm spring/summer yourself!)
On May 10, I unexpectedly surfed down a collapsing retaining wall which then yeeted me headfirst into the side of the house. I got a concussion and a double-fractured ankle. And now I'm recuperating.
It was a short retaining wall, which is a great piece of luck, because things could have been so much worse. Even at the height of a couple of feet or so, like it was. There were a lot of important bits of good luck. Those stories are for later, though. For now, I'm just waving at everybody here and saying hi, I'm still here! Some of you have heard already, and have been kind and have helped get me to the ER, the ortho team, the imaging people, and all the rest, and there are not enough words to express this gratitude, but THANK YOU SO MUCH.
And now, probably sleep time. Again. It's remarkable how much sleep a person can need when recuperating from fractures or concussions, or both.
(And I hope you are having a much more pleasantly calm spring/summer yourself!)
News!
Jun. 7th, 2026 09:30 ammarthawells* I did a podcast interview with Smart Bitches, Trashy Books about Murderbot and Platform Decay (warning: spoilers) https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast/721-exploring-platform-decay-with-martha-wells/
* I stumbled on a really great review of Witch King from back in 2023. I don't think I saw it at the time, but because of the cancer diagnosis and all the travel when the book came out, that time is mostly a blur. https://everybookadoorway.com/intimate-majesty-witch-king-by-martha-wells/?referrer-analytics=1
* Murderbot Season 1 won the Ray Bradbury Award For Outstanding Dramatic Presentation last night at the SFWA Nebula Awards! Congrats to Paul and Chris Weitz and everyone on the Murderbot cast and crew!!!
* Also N.K. Jemisin was made the SFWA 42nd Damon Knight Memorial Grandmaster at the same ceremony, and her speech was awesome! You can see it on YouTube here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nmAxXj7-xxA&ra=m It's the first speech after Tananarive Due's toastmaster address.
* I stumbled on a really great review of Witch King from back in 2023. I don't think I saw it at the time, but because of the cancer diagnosis and all the travel when the book came out, that time is mostly a blur. https://everybookadoorway.com/intimate-majesty-witch-king-by-martha-wells/?referrer-analytics=1
* Murderbot Season 1 won the Ray Bradbury Award For Outstanding Dramatic Presentation last night at the SFWA Nebula Awards! Congrats to Paul and Chris Weitz and everyone on the Murderbot cast and crew!!!
* Also N.K. Jemisin was made the SFWA 42nd Damon Knight Memorial Grandmaster at the same ceremony, and her speech was awesome! You can see it on YouTube here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nmAxXj7-xxA&ra=m It's the first speech after Tananarive Due's toastmaster address.