mayhap | Reading

1. I used to spend maybe 8-12 hours per week on a sideblog on Tumblr for images from the history of the decorative arts. Then I succumbed to the idea of talking to the followers directly (it has around 8000 which is waaaaaay more than my normal Tumblr or my pet photo blog) and got some asks that threw me into social confusion and then shame and avoidance and I just didn't update it for like three years. In retrospect, also, the amount of time I was spending on it shortly before I stopped was not practical and sustainable. But I got into a discussion about rococo, and started looking some things up in curiosity, and I had never posted very much about rococo before. And now I started posting there again a bit! (It's called

designobjectory.) It started a week ago with curiosity about the early output of KPM porcelain (the royal porcelain manufactory of Prussia originally, iconic) and has led to the discovery of Weimar classicism in the form of Goethe's house.

2. I inked my two 1.1-mm stub nib fountain pens — well, actually, a Lamy Safari 1.1-mm stub and a vintage Pelikan 400 (mine is brown tortoiseshell, a holiday present a few years ago) with a (pre-existing) custom oblique stub that is about 1.1. — and have been practicing calligraphy a bit, which I haven't done in a while because I haven't had any of my italic pens inked. I spent some time on Gothic capitals, because I want to do more Rotunda, and then Carolingian, which I haven't bothered practicing in the longest time.

cimorene

“Have you read anything interesting lately, Gregory?” said Geraldine.

“No. No improper books have come my way. And I am too young to read anything suitable for me. If I don’t have to hide my books from my mother, I can’t take any interest in them.”

—Ivy Compton-Burnett, Men and Wives

a_t_rain

Real!Aphra Behn now gets to battle AIphra the chatbot in her very own fanfic. Because, honestly, what can you do when the world is going to hell in a handbasket except have a little fun with it along the way?

Off to Toronto in a few days (assuming they are still letting Americans in) for this all-day medieval drama extravaganza, which should be awesome. Plus as many shows at the Stratford festival as I could fit. I haven't been there in close to twenty years, so I spent some time reading old travel journals, and being amazed at 1) how large Internet access loomed as a concern, in those pre-smartphone days; 2) how large cash access loomed as a concern (apparently my frugal grad-student self was very reluctant to put anything on a credit card unless absolutely necessary, and it was something of a crapshoot whether your card would work in any given ATM abroad); and 3) how amazingly social everyone was in hostels, and how easy it was to find people to go out with. (Pretty sure this, also, is a smartphone thing. I haven't actually changed my travel habits a whole lot, although it obviously does help to be twentysomething and reasonably cute instead of fortysomething -- but it appears that younger-me was perfectly happy to chat with the sixty-something backpackers off on their retirement adventure, and wrote after one such encounter, "May that be me in forty years." Amen.)

pegkerr

As I posted last Saturday, I have been working to assemble an anthology to submit to a contest with the Minnesota Authors Project (among others). I hadn't assembled as many authors as I had hoped, but we put together a nice little ebook, and I was proud of it and excited to enter the contest. We finished pulling it all together by 6 pm the day before the final deadline, and I went to the contest portal to submit it.

And at the last minute, after I had spent a good 40 minutes working my way through the portal and was just about to push the 'Submit' button, a Terms and Agreement page popped up that turned all my hopes to ashes.

The book had to be already published.

Now, I had inquired about that. The person I'd gotten the flyer from wasn't sure, and the website didn't mention anything about that requirement.

I had arranged with a letter of agreement with my authors specifically stating my understanding that this WASN'T a promise of publication, but that if we won the contest, we could make decisions about publishing at that time.

So, extremely mortified, I had to go back to the authors and explain. I'd done my due diligence, I had wondered about that very question, checked the website and the flyer, and I'd still gotten it wrong.

Some of the contributors wondered whether we could quickly self-publish, throwing it up on Amazon, of course the very reasonable expectation requested was that I would then promote and distribute it. I had very little time to make the decision, and I never heard back from one of my contributors, and I was badly rattled by making such a mistake. Maybe it was a lack of courage, but I just couldn't make the promise. I don't have my own website or any kind of mailing list. I didn't think I could (after letting my contributors down so badly) volunteer to do something that would let them down even further.

So we missed the contest deadline.

I am going to try to find more contributors and figure out a way to publish it. And hope that we can enter it in the contest next year.

I feel so very mortified and foolish. At least two of the contributors wrote new material for this project, and I feel keenly that I let them down. Professional embarrassment is the WORST.

But! This is the year of adventure, and that means trying new things. And sometimes, when you try new things, you fail. And that (I am telling myself firmly) is okay.

Here is the beautiful cover that Bruce Bethke designed for the book we had planned, and I hope eventually it will come to fruition.

Shelves of Wonder cover

Current Mood: embarrassed

jjhunter

Marianne Kuzujanakis: Book Review: “Take Joy” by Jane Yolen

it is so important to understand that writing is a way of thinking and existing, and not just an act of doing

Kelly Hayes: From Aspiration to Action: Organizing Through Exhaustion, Grief, and Uncertainty

It’s easy to pass judgment on ourselves and each other for what we’re “already doing” or failing to do. But as an organizer, I’m concerned with what might motivate or allow people to act differently.

Sasha Chapin @ Sasha's Newsletter: How to like everything more: on the skill of enjoyment

In my experience, high-level enjoyment, like a sport, is composed of many interlocking micro-skills that must be trained individually, but which reinforce each other. This is not how enjoyment is taught—the only tip people typically receive re enjoyment is to “be mindful.” I think this is a suggestion to adopt what meditators call “one-pointed focus,” a form of concentrated, narrowed attention on a small portion of conscious experience. It’s a mediocre suggestion for a couple of reasons. First, this is hard to do well, even for seasoned meditators. Second, it is far from the only enjoyment-producing mental motion.

Liz Neeley @ Liminal: Week 19: What now & what’s next in science and higher ed

Everything is terrible, but I brought you some plums.

cimorene

“If not for Jerusalem, then,” said Richard, in the tone of one who would entreat a favour of an intimate friend, “yet, for the love of honour, let us run at least three courses with grinded lances?”

“Even this,” said Saladin, half smiling at Coeur de Lion's affectionate earnestness for the combat—“even this I may not lawfully do. The master places the shepherd over the flock not for the shepherd's own sake, but for the sake of the sheep. Had I a son to hold the sceptre when I fell, I might have had the liberty, as I have the will, to brave this bold encounter; but your own Scripture saith that when the herdsman is smitten, the sheep are scattered.”

“Thou hast had all the fortune,” said Richard, turning to the Earl of Huntingdon with a sigh. “I would have given the best year in my life for that one half hour beside the Diamond of the Desert!”

—Walter Scott, The Talisman

pegkerr

This is sort of a last-week-and-this-week collage.

I recently had a new coworker start at my workplace who came from a job in a library system. She happened to mention in passing at a staff meeting that she was involved in organizing a writing contest for both individual and group projects. Intrigued, I sounded her out and asked her to tell me more.

She showed me the flyer, and one sentence stuck out for me:

In addition to being evaluated on quality, judges will also consider the role libraries have
played in supporting the organization or the creation of the work being submitted.

Now, I just happened to have a story hanging around in my computer that I had submitted to an anthology years ago, but it was rejected on the basis that it wasn't so much a story about bookstores (the anthology's theme) as about libraries. I'd tried various markets but had never sold it, but I still liked the story and had always thought it deserved an audience.

What's more, I knew that two of my friends had written stories about libraries, too: (

naomikritzer and

lydamorehouse). Could I get a few more, and we could submit it as a group project?

So, as part of my Year of Adventure, I have been doing something this past week that I've never tried before: I have been assembling an anthology. I was also able to solicit a story from Marissa Lingen and a poem from

elisem. Another friend, Bruce Bethke, graciously agreed to put together the anthology's layout. (Bruce has had some experience with online publishing with his online anthology series Stupifying Stories.)

I will be submitting the contest entry later today.

(This is not the anthology's cover, but an image created in the spirit of the whole thing). The collection will be titled: Shelves of Wonder: Fantastic Stories Celebrating Libraries.

Wish us luck!

Description: Partial view of two arches. Behind the one on the right side is a portion of a tall bookshelf loaded with books. Behind the other arch to the left is a portion of a shining full moon, overwritten with the words "Shelves of Wonder."

Anthology

21 Anthology

Click on the links to see the 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.

Current Mood: hopeful

cimorene

The King of England [Richard the Lionheart], who, as it was emphatically said of his successor Henry the Eighth, loved to look upon A MAN, was well pleased with the thews, sinews, and symmetry of him whom he now surveyed...

— Walter Scott, The Talisman

thistleingrey

Upon due reflection, I think this Axios piece (which I read yesterday) deserves more attention:
https://www.axios.com/2025/05/28/ai-jobs-white-collar-unemployment-anthropic

AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs — and spike unemployment to 10-20% in the next one to five years, Amodei told us in an interview from his San Francisco office.

Don't panic. Strategize.

cimorene

As you all are potentially aware, I have an allergy to at least one (unknown id) perfume and am hyper sensitive to other (many, but not all) perfumes and some natural fragrances. Besides one lavender tea incident, the throat swelling has only ever been in response to perfumed products on the lower half of my face for longer than the time it takes to wash it back off (so it's not TOO scary, since I always have time to escape). Hypersensitivity isn't the same as allergy, but when you add the knowledge that some unknown perfume aggressors out there will make my airway swell mostly closed, the hypersensitivity becomes very alarming and hard to deal with. Am I sneezing and feeling like I'm gonna choke because Smell, or am I risking anaphylaxis?

So as you can imagine, I usually buy unscented cosmetics, hygiene products, etc. And that's not always enough! As I was saying to

twistedchick recently, sometimes I have to discard unscented products due to the smells of ingredients. Common offenders include burning (how?), ozone (this isn't unbearable but it's very annoying), a vaguely "gone off" smell in some moisturizers (rancid oils? Or some kind of fungal ingredient??), and urine (WHY! I know it's because they use urea in the manufacture but that's an issue I would think they would consider urgent to fix???)

But sometimes I feel compelled to try scented products because there doesn't seem to be a good unscented alternative. If you have any special requirements for shampoo and conditioner - in my case, I have low-porosity hair and lots of common ingredients don't work for me - there tend to be no unscented options, because unscented products are already considered a special requirement. I have decided that I need a new leave in conditioner that's more effective for holding curls and waves without frizz, and maybe a curl cream. (I don't like gel but it's always there if I can't find a good cream solution.)

Well, I tried a John Frieda Frizz Ease "curl revitalizing oil spray" today with great hopes.

My first impression was "this smells like my mother in law".

waxjism agrees. It's a perfume, and the product does contain a little patchouli but it's not exactly patchouli that smells like her (but it is musky). The ingredients include "perfume", as usual, which should be illegal anywhere btw, so that's not much help.

Anyway, it's strong enough that I don't like it and will have to give it away, but it's not strong enough that I need to wash it out a day early, as long as my hair is kept back out of my face.

I've been reading the occasional perfume review reblogged by

cleolinda and have got the idea it could be oud or some rose-related thing. Or maybe it's the combination of patchouli with one of these other things? I'm medium confident that it's not moringa...

( full ingredients list )

Current Mood: I don't have a hair tag
Current Music: or an allergy tag

thistleingrey

(These are out of sequence because I edited the pen post earlier but wrote most of this post before it.)

6 The looseleaf-paper textbook format that I've chosen for two classes is great. One went into a three-ring binder, with bookmarks for the necessarily open-book exams; the other used two binder rings, and I turned the pages carefully (it's very cheap paper). They came hole-punched! Would use similar format again, 9/10. What even is a glued binding---the USD 300+ option of textbook format---for 700-1100 roughly A4-sized pages that'll be superseded within a year or two, anyway.

7 I was amused to find that a company that advertised a few months ago for a technical product manager is a textbook purveyor. Their web interface uses <iframe>. To dodge their printing limitation (capped at 10 pages per day for individual human users but already ingested by AI), one may right-click to open the current frame in a new browser tab, then make pretty PDF, as though it were 25 years ago.

( shallowly comparative publisher stuff )

8 So far, my instructors have structured our exams to limit what AI-fueled cheating could accomplish. Good. It suggests recent pooling of resources and information amongst the teaching staff.

cimorene

The Knight of the Leopard then disarmed himself of his heavy panoply, his Saracen companion kindly assisting him to undo his buckler and clasps, until he remained in the close dress of chamois leather, which knights and men-at-arms used to wear under their harness. The Saracen, if he had admired the strength of his adversary when sheathed in steel, was now no less struck with the accuracy of proportion displayed in his nervous and well-compacted figure. The knight, on the other hand, as, in exchange of courtesy, he assisted the Saracen to disrobe himself of his upper garments, that he might sleep with more convenience, was, on his side, at a loss to conceive how such slender proportions and slimness of figure could be reconciled with the vigour he had displayed in personal contest.

—Walter Scott, The Talisman

cimorene

I think we have like eight phalaenopsis orchids and a couple of others. Of those, one is a mini "wild variety" and has been blooming regularly and copiously since we bought it. But all the others have been dormant since they dropped their flowers (except one which died - at least I think just one).

But about a month ago Ella Fitzgerald (L) started making new buds, and shortly after that Georges Seurat (R) did too! These are the first non-wild orchid blooms we've seen in a year.

That said, I definitely would recommend the wild mini phal over the hybrids. The different colors are just irresistible sometimes, but the vigor and jollity of the wild phal with its profusion of little white blooms is also remarkable. And it makes so many more flowers! Our mini wild phal, Neve Campbell, isn't blooming at the moment; but it's got a bunch of buds that will be open soon. And like I said, it's been blooming regularly all along, unlike the others. (But pics of it can be seen in this post when we bought it and group shots comparing it to other orchids in this one, where it's next to Ella.)

thistleingrey

Since I end up not posting about gameplay-completed computer games because I rarely approximate "completion," let's try a slice of one while I'm definitely not finished with it.

Avowed (Win/Steam, 2025) is a fantasy RPG evocative of the Elder Scrolls titles. It is surprisingly and rather thoughtfully accessible. Though it's very pretty, one may play it on a sturdy older machine without much framerate stuttering.

(Already we have footnotes! In reverse order: my venerable laptop has 32 GB of RAM. Many reviewers cite Oblivion, ES 4, but then they reveal they're too young to've met ES 3 = Morrowind, which I'd argue has the more meaningful callbacks. Apparently, Avowed shares a setting with Pillars of Eternity, which I haven't played and which the wiki summary links to Planescape: Torment.)

Alongside the planned-out accessibility, Avowed breadcrumbs its worldbuilding thoughtfully, too, as a former Polygon journalist explains in deliberately spoiling an early sidequest for analytical purposes. If you're very picky about spoilers: some quick, unremarked-upon visuals in the 10-min clip are from farther into the game, and they're too short to affect any playthrough realizations. (RIP Polygon, sold and many of its writers laid off since that clip was released.)

Further remarks on Avowed's gameplay have been shelved because of hand pain, the one thing so far that can keep my posts fairly short. Morrowind was a good friend 20+ years ago, and it's mostly pleasant for me to wander around Avowed. I'm so glad it doesn't require the use of a game controller.

For anyone Elder Scrolls-curious, see Walker's quick guide at Kotaku to getting Morrowind running nowadays, and a similar guide for Daggerfall (ES 2). And of all the Oblivion-rememberings I've read lately, I'd suggest The Guardian's as the most readable---just the first chunk of the linked page---although MacDonald and I disagree on playability and enjoyment.

pegkerr

This past weekend was a lot of fun. I had significant events on both Friday and Saturday, and I was rather torn over which should be the subject of my collage. I decided to not decide, because both events had a common theme (if you squint): they were both first-time events.

On Friday, I had my first big event for my Year of Adventure: my friends Dăna and Scott took me turkey hunting! Here is Dăna's report:

Peg accomplished her first Birthday adventure with Scott and me today - at her request, we took her wild turkey hunting! 🦃 We met her at the Cannon Falls exit around 4:30 am, and she followed us to our friend Keith’s farm and to just inside the edge of the woods to our parking spot.

Peg donned the camouflage clothing we brought for her and off we went, hiking across the bottomlands fields and up to the top of the bluff, with gear in hand. We climbed into Keith’s turkey blind and Scott set up our Tom and Hen decoys about 25 yards into the corn field. It was too warm for gobbles unfortunately and no turkeys showed up. The winds were ridiculous (sustained winds of 26 mph with gusts up to 46 mph!!) and blew our Tom over a couple times so we put him away and left just our hen out. A beautiful coyote cut across the field and disappeared into the woods on the other side - that was super fun! Our highlight came when Peg pointed out a Peregrine Falcon that stooped on our hen decoy, pulling up just inches away!! We wonder what would have happened if it carried our and decoy off with it. We do not know anyone who has had an experience like that! A once in several lifetime experience! Strong winds had torn a roof section out of Keith's nylon blind last night so we had a skylight to watch that falcon through. Perfect! The barred owls were calling boisterously. A red-tailed hawk flew overhead. But no turkeys. We moved down to the bottomlands again mid-morning. The songbirds calls were beautiful and some wildflowers and ferns were blooming and were magnificent! We showed Peg a new bird ID app called Merlin (Cornell Lab of Ornithology - it's free and very fun - check it out!) Peg was delighted with it!

We moved back up top and sat under a big cedar tree next to Keith's wildlife food plot. Unfortunately we spooked a turkey while getting in there, but at least Peg saw a wild turkey, albeit running away!!

At 10 am it was time for Peg to go and prep food for tomorrow's baby shower for Fiona and Alona.

We had a fun morning even though the turkeys didn't cooperate! Peg was a trooper and was interested in everything. She even tried her hand at using a slate turkey call to call to the turkeys!!

What a fun way to celebrate Peg's birthday! We all had a great time! And Peg tried something totally new! Great job!

As Dăna said, I had to leave the hunt early because of the other big weekend event: a baby shower for Fiona and Alona's baby (my first grandchild). Alona's dad and stepmom hosted, and her mom and stepdad were there, too. Alona's sister Mary is also pregnant, and so it was a double shower, with many beautiful gifts for both couples. The sweater that Alona is holding in the collage was handmade by her mother Nancy. There was also a gorgeous handmade quilt (a bookcase with a cat) and several beautifully crocheted blankets. We served brunch for everyone, and I think a wonderful time was had by all.

Image description: The collage is divided into two triangular portions. On the left side, a woman (Peg) smiles at the camera, dressed in camo in the dawn light. A pair of binoculars is slung around her neck. Overlaid over her is a peregrine falcon making a dive, talons outstretched. Lower right corner: a Tom turkey decoy. On the right side, two women (Alona, seated, and Fiona standing behind her) smile at the camera. Alona is holding a hand-knit red baby sweater with intricate cabling detail.

First Time

20 First Time

Click on the links to see the 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.

Current Mood: excited

cimorene

After reading the introduction to Scott's The Talisman, I was kind of like ... Whoa Richard the Lionheart was somewhat horrible? I only knew about him previously from like. Robin Hood. And Ivanhoe, which is almost the same thing. (In retrospect it's not surprising that these sources were not very reliable.)

Now that I've read a bunch of articles on Wikipedia I know that historians debate, but he is widely considered arguably a bad king and not great guy, although definitely a very good warrior and general. And he did punish anti-semitic rioters one time. But other than that, there's little to be said for him except that his brother John was worse.

Scott was a fan, but his introduction doesn't really have any more to say in his favor, just basically: He was brave! and He was super into the Crusade! The latter may argue for his emotions and conviction of purpose, but I can't count it as a positive overall.

All that said, clearly people are not reading The Talisman, or there would be way more Richard I/Saladin on AO3.

sineala

What I Just Finished Reading

Nothing. My ability to finish reading books has declined a lot, I guess.

What I'm Reading Now

Comics Wednesday!

( Fantastic Four #32, Iron Man #8, Superior Avengers #2, Thunderbolts Doomstrike #5, Ultimates #12, Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1 )

What I'm Reading Next

Still very slowly reading a book about the World Series.

Current Mood: hungry

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mayhap

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mayhap's friends

Reading

what's up

No improper books have come my way

It's summer and I have time on my hands, so...

Well, this is mortifying

Linkspam Is Working On Expanding Capacity

He wants to joust against Saladin so bad it makes him look stupid

2025 52 Card Project: Week 21: Anthology

Walter Scott: Fellas, is it gay if knights have elaborate rituals to touch each other's bodies

amodei's warning

hunting for leave in conditioners for curls (waves) that don't stank

back to school, 3/?

just medieval knights being bros

orchid blooms

avowed

2025 52 Card Project: Week 20: First Time

Richard I, actually?

Wednesday Reading Meme

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February 2025

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