wynddancer | Reading

JANUARY 2026 BOOK: THE SPELLSHOP

bookclub_dw has chosen The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst as our book for January.

I'll make the discussion post on January 31, 2026. If you have any discussion questions you'd like to be considered, please comment to this post.

Looking for something new to read? This community works just like a facetime book club -- members pick a title per month, read it, and talk about it. \o/

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is partly sunny and cool.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/5/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a large flock of sparrows.

EDIT 1/5/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 1/5/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

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

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Snowflake Challenge 3: Love Letter

Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.

An old-fashioned ornament of two young girls bundled up in coats and walking side by side is nestled amidst pine boughs.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: happy

brerrabbit posting in

scans_daily

( Read more... )

heartsways posting in

scans_daily

( Read more... )

tcampbell1000 posting in

scans_daily

Metamorpho has been one of DC’s second-tier stars since 1965, and unlike a lot of characters without long-running series of their own, he’s retained his supporting cast.

( Captain Atom’s kids are reading this in a bar somewhere, glaring in resentment. )

cimorene

We've had a cold snap, and we also were dogsitting for four days, which is a hassle because we still have to keep the cats separated from each other and they're both afraid of the dog (who is a sweetheart, but very anxious and clingy), and the dog always has a persistent smell of artifical perfume from my BIL's house that threatens to overwhelm me if it gets too close to my face.

The dog left yesterday, though, and the cats are both extremely relieved. It's still below freezing outside (-13° C/+9° F), so I'm just moving around the house from blanket to blanket basically. Like the cats, actually. And it's still January and every day is a depressing struggle for that reason, although the sun did break through the clouds today.

ysabetwordsmith

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "The Universal Assent to the World"
Poem: "A Heaviness of Heart"
Photos: Sunset
News
How to Comfort the Dying in an Emergency
Early Humans
Birdfeeding
Poem: "The Sound of Anguish"
Politics
Poem: "Help Others to Grow Up"
Fossils
Birdfeeding
Brains
Poem: "The Songwitch"
Philosophical Questions: Government
Poem: "A Different Language, a Different Vision of Life"
Poem: "Liberosis"
Friending Meme
Wildlife
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 1-2-26: Most Useful Communities
Friday Five
Poem: "Heartspur"
Watch "The Other Large Thing"
Vocabulary: Permacomputing
Community Thursdays
Exoplanets
Birdfeeding
Persistence
Poem: "Ruling from Beneath"
Public Domain Day Bingo Card 1-1-26
Hangover Severity and Symptom Tracker
Planning Ahead Goals for 2027
Friending Memes in 2026
My Crowdfunding Activities in 2026
Bingo Blackouts in 2025
My Bingo Fests for 2026
Planting Ahead in 2026
2026 Wishlist in Progress
Goals for 2026
2025 Goals in Review
Writing
Poem: "Once the Avalanche Has Begun"
Today's Cooking
Safety
Birdfeeding
New Year's Resolutions Check In
Poem: "Eyes Wide, Mind Open"
Good News

Food has 51 comments. Trauma has 46 comments. Affordable Housing has 78 comments. Robotics has 119 comments.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

These are the content notes for "The Universal Assent to the World."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Here are the character notes for "The Universal Assent to the World."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem is spillover from the November 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

readera. It also fills the "The deeds of ordinary folks keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love." square in my 11-1-25 card for the Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. It belongs to the Officer Pink thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem is spillover from the September 2023

crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by prompts from

curiosity. It also fills the "Family" square in my 9-1-23 card for the Story Sparks Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. It belongs to the Aquariana, Cuoio & Chiara, and Marionettes threads of the Polychrome Heroics series. It follows "Help Others to Grow Up" and "The Sound of Anguish," so read those first or this won't make much sense.

Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics with emotional mayhem. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes traumatic loss, traumatic stress, emotional agony, supporting character death, a crying man, an inept messenger, upset baby super-intellect, moment of panic, reference to past losses, unfairness, feeling unfinished, worry about a friend, exhaustion, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before deciding if this is something you want to read.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

superfangirl1 posting in

scans_daily

( Read more, )

ysabetwordsmith

Tonight I happened to glance out the window and spotted a colorful sunset. So I grabbed my camera and ran outside to take pictures. This gets me started on my goal of taking and posting photos at least once per season. \o/

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Top 10 Positive News Stories of 2025

As 2025 comes to a close, we’re pausing to celebrate something truly special—the Top 10 Most-Loved Stories of the Year, as chosen by you, our Stay Positive News community.

These are the stories you clicked, shared, commented on, and carried with you. Stories that reminded us that even on hard days, goodness shows up—sometimes quietly, sometimes boldly, but always with heart.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Under the character notes for my poem "Help Others to Grow Up,"

greghousesgf has commented:

I remember seeing a poster in the Bart trains (local mass transit) talking about what to do in an emergency and one of the instructions was "comfort the dying". Frankly I don't know how some random person on the train who isn't a professional psychologist or something would be able to do that. I certainly wouldn't.

Nobody is obligated to help if they're no kind of first responder, which in this case to comfort the dying, would primarily be clergy. Remember that "Stay out of the way" is always a legitimate role in an emergency, and nobody has the right to criticize anyone for choosing that role. If the problem is simply a lack of knowing what to do, though, that is straightforward to fix by learning ways to help. It's good to think about such things in advance, because you never know when you might need to make that decision. Here are some basic ideas...

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

michelel72 posting in

fancake

Fandom: Batman
Pairings/Characters: Kyle Rayner/Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Everyone
Rating: Teen
Length: 90k words
Creator Links: AddictedApple at AO3
Theme: crack treated seriously

Summary: Jason Todd discovers that he can travel through the multiverse (on top of his usual weirdness, ie, immortality) and chaos ensues.

Reccer's Notes: I recently fell hard into the Batman fanfic space, and this story bowled me right over. It takes Jason's canon resurrection (and the bizarre canon explanation for it), then posits a slow growth of powers from there -- from a recurring inability to stay dead, through the ability to skip universes, and beyond. All the canon reboots become a part of the story, and the pairing is a hilarious portrait of two guys being oblivious. Each chapter's notes contain extensive canon citations, which adds another level of awesomeness. Great fun and very affecting.

[Edited to add] Content note: The starting author notes include, "I will now put a blanket trigger warning for everything that happens in DC canon." That should be taken very seriously; the cited DC canon gets dark, and many abusive canon events are included in this story.

Fanwork Links: Journey to the Center of the Multiverse

ysabetwordsmith

This ancient fossil could rewrite the story of human origins

A seven-million-year-old fossil may rewrite human origins, showing our ancestors were walking upright far earlier than anyone expected.

Scientists may have cracked the case of whether a seven-million-year-old fossil could walk upright. A new study found strong anatomical evidence that Sahelanthropus tchadensis was bipedal, including a ligament attachment seen only in human ancestors. Despite its ape-like appearance and small brain, its leg and hip structure suggest it moved confidently on two legs. The finding places bipedalism near the very root of the human family tree.

This makes sense given how many primates are capable of walking on two legs and do so whenever it offers them an advantage. With the potential already there, all it would take is an environment where bipedalism worked better than other methods -- like Africa's growing savannas.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly cloudy and cool.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows and a starling.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/4/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 1/4/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 1/4/26 -- We did a round of fridge-cleaning.

EDIT 1/4/26 -- I started raking around the firepit, and got about a quarter of the way around. The plastic leaf rake does slightly better with leaves than in the parking lot with leaves and sticks, but still not as good as a metal rake.

EDIT 1/4/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 1/4/26 -- I spotted the tail end of a very pretty sunset, so I grabbed my camera and shot a few pictures. :D It is 4:58 now and nearly dark.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

heartsways posting in

scans_daily

( Read more... )

Profile

wynddancer

January 2023

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Jan. 9th, 2026 02:08 pm

Meh. Whatever.

Reading

Books

Birdfeeding

Snowflake Challenge 3: Love Letter

Slow Life in The World of Eroge #13

Beavis and Butthead #8

Rex’s Ex’s Ex Wrecks the Complex: JUSTICE LEAGUE EUROPE #5 (JLI 40)

Too cold

Monday Update 1-5-26

Content notes for "The Universal Assent to the World"

Character notes for "The Universal Assent to the World"

Poem: "The Universal Assent to the World"

Poem: "A Heaviness of Heart"

Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe #5 : The Final Battle

Photos: Sunset

News

How to Comfort the Dying in an Emergency

Batman: Journey to the Center of the Multiverse by AddictedApple

Early Humans

Birdfeeding

Beavis and Butthead #7

Profile

January 2023

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags