Update for the week
Jul. 4th, 2026 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adoptedwriterGOOD;
Grandkids…HoneyB has learned how to swim, (more or less). From lessons continue thru the summer to refine her skill set but Yay! RainBowBoy is making progress w swim lessons at the Y Camp. You-Breaker is overcoming his fears and shyness toward the swimming teacher. He’s doing elk for a 3 1/2 year old dude.
Made French Bread pizzas from leftovers + basil from my garden this PM. Soooo yummy!
My básenme is super-cleaned! Go me! It took from about 11 AM-6 PM to get the job done, but it’s no longer a shit hole-dungeon. Is it posh and finished…nope, but it’s manageable and as I stated before, no longer a shit-hole dungeon. Yay for knocking another accomplishment off my summer to do list!
We saw DISCLOSURE DAY on Monday night for the Hub’s upcoming birthday. So good! Lots to take in and process. Spielberg def knows how to put on a show!
My garden! It’s glorious, and other ppl have complemented me too!
Sunny days, wine, warm temps, fur-babies, clean laundry
MEDIUM:
I’ve been stung a few times while working in the yard. (Bees) Luckily I am not allergic, but the ITCHING!!!! FFFFFCCCCKKKKK!!!! Yay for knock-off Walgreens Caladryl in a spray can. It nails the itch problem effectively at least for a while.
Next door neighbor is hanging in there but definitely riding the Hospice Bus. He had the whole family in for Father’s Day to visit and have fun w his one and only grandkid. His granddaughter got to go to the playground and hang at our house some, which helped them out some. HoneyB liked having another girlie to spend time with too.
I submitted a story to a local pet magazine on Monday. Now I am in wait n see mode.
BAD:
Kitty Sapphire (see icon) is not well. We’re in those “last stages” of the kidney failure “journey”. She’s lasted 9 months-ish on her in home treatments. Unheard of according to or vet, but he def respects our efforts. We will be calling “game over” by Monday if this lasts through the weekend, if ya know what I mean. She won’t eat or drink. We had the grandkiddos kiss her goodbye and tell her “I love you” when they left our house yesterday. HoneyB understands what’s going on re bth the cat and the next door neighbor. You-Breaker, not so much.
I am so goddamn sick n tired of death issues. It’s been a fucked up 18 months between my mother, my sister, recently a high school friend, a neighbor and soon-to-be another neighbor and now my cat!
Certain political figures and all other figures and institutions who kiss his ass / support / rule in favor of his wishes.
Flies getting in the house.
Grandkids…HoneyB has learned how to swim, (more or less). From lessons continue thru the summer to refine her skill set but Yay! RainBowBoy is making progress w swim lessons at the Y Camp. You-Breaker is overcoming his fears and shyness toward the swimming teacher. He’s doing elk for a 3 1/2 year old dude.
Made French Bread pizzas from leftovers + basil from my garden this PM. Soooo yummy!
My básenme is super-cleaned! Go me! It took from about 11 AM-6 PM to get the job done, but it’s no longer a shit hole-dungeon. Is it posh and finished…nope, but it’s manageable and as I stated before, no longer a shit-hole dungeon. Yay for knocking another accomplishment off my summer to do list!
We saw DISCLOSURE DAY on Monday night for the Hub’s upcoming birthday. So good! Lots to take in and process. Spielberg def knows how to put on a show!
My garden! It’s glorious, and other ppl have complemented me too!
Sunny days, wine, warm temps, fur-babies, clean laundry
MEDIUM:
I’ve been stung a few times while working in the yard. (Bees) Luckily I am not allergic, but the ITCHING!!!! FFFFFCCCCKKKKK!!!! Yay for knock-off Walgreens Caladryl in a spray can. It nails the itch problem effectively at least for a while.
Next door neighbor is hanging in there but definitely riding the Hospice Bus. He had the whole family in for Father’s Day to visit and have fun w his one and only grandkid. His granddaughter got to go to the playground and hang at our house some, which helped them out some. HoneyB liked having another girlie to spend time with too.
I submitted a story to a local pet magazine on Monday. Now I am in wait n see mode.
BAD:
Kitty Sapphire (see icon) is not well. We’re in those “last stages” of the kidney failure “journey”. She’s lasted 9 months-ish on her in home treatments. Unheard of according to or vet, but he def respects our efforts. We will be calling “game over” by Monday if this lasts through the weekend, if ya know what I mean. She won’t eat or drink. We had the grandkiddos kiss her goodbye and tell her “I love you” when they left our house yesterday. HoneyB understands what’s going on re bth the cat and the next door neighbor. You-Breaker, not so much.
I am so goddamn sick n tired of death issues. It’s been a fucked up 18 months between my mother, my sister, recently a high school friend, a neighbor and soon-to-be another neighbor and now my cat!
Certain political figures and all other figures and institutions who kiss his ass / support / rule in favor of his wishes.
Flies getting in the house.
Movie/TV/Book updates
Jul. 1st, 2026 07:17 pmhalfshellvenusHalfshellHusband and I watched Voicemails For Isabella on Netflix this weekend, and really enjoyed it. It was funny and sweet, and the leads weren't impossibly young (yes, that's a thing for us).
On Britbox, I've been whipping through Hope Street as fast as possible, since it's leaving soon. Possibly today. :O It's about policing in a small, Irish village. I'm sorry one of the S1 actors didn't return for S2, but I like the cast overall. HSH and I have also been watching Jack Ryan on Amazon. So far, S2 and S3 just haven't been as interesting as S1, and it's hard to stay focused when everything is SO DARK (even with the overhead lights out) that you can't always tell what's going on. Ugh, Amazon. Give it a rest already!
I finished TJ Klune's The House In The Cerulean Sea yesterday. It was magical (literally), and I liked it very much. Theodore! Chauncey! I didn't find the romance aspect as believable as I would have liked, which is a problem I've run into with Klune before. He makes the main character sound so unattractive (here, he's a schlub) that it's hard to imagine anyone falling for him. Everyone else was charming, though, and there's a lot of humor and heartfelt feeling in it.
Now I've moved onto A Sorceress Comes To Call by T. Kingfisher. There is, as usual for most of her adult fantasies, an overweight woman in her 40s/50s as one of the main characters. I wouldn't mind that so much except that it comes off as relentless self-insertion, and I wish she would resist the urge. But storywise? So far, so good! I'm running out of her books, so I hope she's writing some new ones. :D
On Britbox, I've been whipping through Hope Street as fast as possible, since it's leaving soon. Possibly today. :O It's about policing in a small, Irish village. I'm sorry one of the S1 actors didn't return for S2, but I like the cast overall. HSH and I have also been watching Jack Ryan on Amazon. So far, S2 and S3 just haven't been as interesting as S1, and it's hard to stay focused when everything is SO DARK (even with the overhead lights out) that you can't always tell what's going on. Ugh, Amazon. Give it a rest already!
I finished TJ Klune's The House In The Cerulean Sea yesterday. It was magical (literally), and I liked it very much. Theodore! Chauncey! I didn't find the romance aspect as believable as I would have liked, which is a problem I've run into with Klune before. He makes the main character sound so unattractive (here, he's a schlub) that it's hard to imagine anyone falling for him. Everyone else was charming, though, and there's a lot of humor and heartfelt feeling in it.
Now I've moved onto A Sorceress Comes To Call by T. Kingfisher. There is, as usual for most of her adult fantasies, an overweight woman in her 40s/50s as one of the main characters. I wouldn't mind that so much except that it comes off as relentless self-insertion, and I wish she would resist the urge. But storywise? So far, so good! I'm running out of her books, so I hope she's writing some new ones. :D
Robert Eggers ... come to me ...
Jun. 30th, 2026 07:03 ambleodsweanCooled down considerably. Or what they call the June Gloom. July will be hot. Of course. The guys purchased a whole house fan on Prime Days and have high hopes for that cooling off the house. We shall see. It will definitely force us up into the attic to clear that nightmare out. I do have a fantasy in which that space is finished with tongue-and-groove and becomes a child nook with walls of books and art supplies. We shall see.
New mantra. LOL.
Finished the Terri Wilding and it WAS good for what it is. Derivative but all of us here love that. Actually, I think Wilding would tell you that it’s all derivative, eh? For some reason, I picked up Blood Meridian … but We Shall See. After mediocrity I always long for genius. What’s all of you reading?
Watched S2 of The Agency this past week. Silly but so good.
Spent all of Sunday down in Sac with D’s mother. These ageing folx are making us all weepy. Their bodies are failing, their minds are failing, their homes are unkept. D’s mother needs a regular monthly workday, D’s father needs a regular quarterly workday, and my mother needs weekly help. I’m going down today to wrangle with my mother’s doctor about her current meds. It’s all exhausting and frustrating that gaining an inch feels as though a mile has been trod.
Getting ready to start a Practice. The modern dress Persephone / Hades is whispering louder and louder to me and it’s time to sit and listen and transcribe.
Also, with all the stupendous online merchant sales, how could I possibly say no to a MASSIVE canvas print of Bouguereau’s Nymphs & Satyr? I couldn’t.
Vincent's World
Jun. 27th, 2026 11:07 amhalfshellvenusI finished a new model last weekend— a 3-D Van Gogh-themed wooden bookend kit. This was a gift from our daughter a year-and-a-half ago, and I'd delayed it in favor of LEGO-like sets and because I hadn't put anything wooden together before. :O
It's a book-nook type of puzzle, where the pieces come in pre-printed wooden sheets and most of them interlock. There were only a few parts that required gluing. Very impressive, though it doesn't open back up again after assembly like some of them. Once it's built, it stays shut. But it has a back mirror to help show the full set, and a motion-detector light-up mechanism to illuminate the whole interior when someone stops to look at it, which is neat.
It just makes me covet things like these Dinosaur Museum and Steampunk Workshop sets all the more, not to mention the ones that are more Lego-like instead of wood. I want all of the magic and Steampunk and absurd things! The problem is the expense, and then what to do with them afterwards. :O
I mean, I just finished photographing our kids' remaining Build-A-Bear toys and various outfits last weekend, and posted them up for sale at Facebook yesterday! I'm at war with myself trying to clear out the storage room a little while also gathering all the cool things in before they stop being made. /o\
It's a book-nook type of puzzle, where the pieces come in pre-printed wooden sheets and most of them interlock. There were only a few parts that required gluing. Very impressive, though it doesn't open back up again after assembly like some of them. Once it's built, it stays shut. But it has a back mirror to help show the full set, and a motion-detector light-up mechanism to illuminate the whole interior when someone stops to look at it, which is neat.
It just makes me covet things like these Dinosaur Museum and Steampunk Workshop sets all the more, not to mention the ones that are more Lego-like instead of wood. I want all of the magic and Steampunk and absurd things! The problem is the expense, and then what to do with them afterwards. :O
I mean, I just finished photographing our kids' remaining Build-A-Bear toys and various outfits last weekend, and posted them up for sale at Facebook yesterday! I'm at war with myself trying to clear out the storage room a little while also gathering all the cool things in before they stop being made. /o\
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Jun. 25th, 2026 11:36 pm![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
denise posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_maintenanceFolks may have noticed that the site has been slow for logged-out users over the last while. This is partly because we separate traffic by logged-in, "logged out but have visited the site before", and "logged out, never visited the site before" and assign the fewest resources to the last category (because we're pretty confident the overwhelming majority of it is bot and scraper traffic, even if it's often impossible to say for sure). The flood of garbage traffic is a plague and a scourge the entire internet is dealing with, and it's hitting small sites the hardest as operators get better and better at cloaking their requests to look like real, authentic use. We long ago hit the point where adding more resources is a possible solution (because they just eat them up as soon as we do), and splitting traffic lets us keep the site usable for our actual users without wasting too much server power on garbage.
We've now, lucky us, reached the point where the "logged out, have never visited the site before" path is just flooded all the time, and the "logged out but have visited the site before" path is suffering some of the overflow. We've made some changes to the routing to try to improve things for logged out users who have visited the site before and keep it at "it may be a little bit slow, but at least it works" instead of "it keeps timing out", and we've seen some improvements, but if you're accustomed to browsing the site while logged out, I'm really sorry but it may continue to be a little miserable.
You will get the fastest page loads and the best performance by browsing the site logged in. If you are having trouble loading the front page to log in, bookmark the direct login page. We can't route the front page to the "more power" server pool, because it's a common target for garbage traffic, but we've switched /login over to "more power" and we'll try to keep it there as long as we can unless it starts getting slammed, too.
We've now, lucky us, reached the point where the "logged out, have never visited the site before" path is just flooded all the time, and the "logged out but have visited the site before" path is suffering some of the overflow. We've made some changes to the routing to try to improve things for logged out users who have visited the site before and keep it at "it may be a little bit slow, but at least it works" instead of "it keeps timing out", and we've seen some improvements, but if you're accustomed to browsing the site while logged out, I'm really sorry but it may continue to be a little miserable.
You will get the fastest page loads and the best performance by browsing the site logged in. If you are having trouble loading the front page to log in, bookmark the direct login page. We can't route the front page to the "more power" server pool, because it's a common target for garbage traffic, but we've switched /login over to "more power" and we'll try to keep it there as long as we can unless it starts getting slammed, too.