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ysabetwordsmith

Everyone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.

We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem is spillover from the February 2025

crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from

dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "Experimentation" square in my 2-1-25 card for the Valentines Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. It belongs to the Big One and Kraken threads of the Polychrome Heroics series.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem came out of the February 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from

mama_kestrel and

see_also_friend. It also fills the "Violent Behavior" square in my 2-1-25 card for the Valentines Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Peculiar Obligations.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem is spillover from the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from

gothfvck and

see_also_friend. It also fills the "Resist Oppression" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Peculiar Obligations.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is sunny and cool, almost warm -- too warm for a jacket even. That's warmer than even the January thaw used to get.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I filled the trolley twice with twigs from the parking lot brushpile, then dumped them in the firepit in the ritual meadow.

I saw a flock of mourning doves in the trees around the ritual meadow.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I dumped another trolley of sticks in the firepit.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I dumped another trolley of sticks in the firepit.

I've seen a fox squirrel running through the trees. I heard a woodpecker but didn't see it.

EDIT 12/23/25 -- I dumped another trolley of sticks in the firepit. I think I've actually removed all the ones with berries that I want to burn, so the rest should be free for other uses.

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

Current Mood: busy

bill_schubert

I got a newsletter from the Texas Humane Heroes shelter that had this in it:

Screenshot 2025-12-23 10.14.11

Better pictures than I got. I'm guessing he isn't there any more or won't be soon. I'm not checking. But he came from the same kind of background as Beaux so he will be the most grateful little guy.

Meanwhile both Beaux and Toby are getting better. Still. My only guess is they both are suffering from allergies on top of their fall respiratory infections. Beaux is about 95% with only occasional coughing. Toby sounds terrible much of the time but is still far better than he was. He's on his third antibiotic and it is helping. He's got trachea collapse that will never get much better so he frequently sounds like he can't breathe. Sounds bad but he does not appear to be in as much distress as is Dana.

Today is another beautiful day that requires a bike ride. So I'm off.

ysabetwordsmith

Today I'm making rosemary-lemon holiday cookies, somewhat inspired by this recipe, but I'm using lemon powder and Maine pine bitters. The dough tastes good, at least. It's currently chilling in the fridge before I attempt to roll it out and cut little evergreen trees. Cutout cookies are not what I do best, but rosemary cookies just deserve that shape.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- The cookies are done! \o/ They turned out quite delicious. The first bite just tastes like sugar cookie, but then the lemon and pine flavors bloom. Rosemary cookies are tricky to balance. Too sweet and they're just sugar cookies, not sweet enough and they taste like crackers; too little rosemary and they're sugar cookies again, too much and it tastes like you're baking with floor wash. But these are perfect.

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Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

These are the content notes for "Along These Sympathetic Fibers."

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Here are the timeline notes for "Along These Sympathetic Fibers." They compare divergences between local-Caribbean and Peculiar-Caribbean events in history.

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem is spillover from the June 3, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

see_also_friend. It also fills the "Rainbow" square in my 6-2-25 card for the Pride Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Peculiar Obligations.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This was too good to pass up.

Winter solstice banner

Winter solstice banner

Current Mood: amused

ysabetwordsmith

What Would It Take to Approve a Housing Permit in 24 Hours?

In its Housing-Ready City Toolkit, Strong Towns recommended a 24-hour turnaround for permits. That's not an exaggeration.

Before reading onward in the article, here's how I would set it up...

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and cool.

I fed the birds. I put out a new suet cake. I've seen a huge flock of mostly sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I filled the trolley twice with berry-laden twigs from the brushpile in the parking lot, and put those in the firepit.

I saw the great horned owl fly from somewhere near the parking lot into the trees around ritual meadow. I heard woodpeckers squeaking but didn't see them.

EDIT 12/22/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

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

Current Mood: busy

bill_schubert

I got Dana another smart watch. The first one I got her was not very smart at all and it died. The one I just got her looked like it was better but it was run by an app called VeryFit. I occasionally get annoyed with the Fitbit app but now I love it by comparison. VeryFit is VeryCrapful. It throws advertisements and offers at you right and left and has so much noise on it there is no way to figure out what is useful. It lasted a day. Dana and I had a talk and I upgraded her to a Fitbit watch. I'm the one that has to manage the app which is why she has an Android rather than an Iphone in the first place. So her replacement will be a delayed Christmas present and someone will get a good deal on a VeryFit watch through Amazon returns.

She really does need the pulse and O2 readings. It will help her a lot. She doesn't do enough movement for the steps to matter but hope springs eternal. Maybe she will one day.

Today was a pickleball day and I didn't play very well at all. I did exchange notes with a PB friend about getting a lesson for the two of us together. It is a good way to do it. She and I are pretty good partners and getting a lesson together will help us individually and as a team. On the one hand I don't think I'm ever going to compete with any real intent of winning something like a tournament. On the other hand I really should be looking to improve a little bit anyway.

It is warm today and will be even warmer until Friday when it will nearly hit 80 degrees. Gonna be a lot like last year, I guess. I don't mind. Older I get the less I like the cold anyway. It would be fun to see Beaux in the snow but not sure he'd like it much.

It is a quiet week here. We have zero plans for Christmas something about which I do not much care at all. They had Christmas music on at the PB courts. I've managed to avoid it so far but this was unavoidable. Another thousand times around the track with the Chipmonks and Alvin. Sigh.

I underslept last night so I'm about to make up for it. Beaux and Toby are already ahead of me so I need to catch up.

ysabetwordsmith

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "The Unicorn Door"
Poem: "The Coracle in the Forest"
Poem: "The Unknown Depths of Our Lives"
Climate Change
Birdfeeding
Climate Change
Today's Adventures
Poem: "Creativity, Ingenuity, Compassion, and Perseverance"
Space Exploration
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Economy
Poem: "The Community Couch"
Poetry Fishbowl Report for December 2, 2025
Poem: "Mamalokshen"
Unsold Poems for the December 2, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl
Crafts
Safety
Wildlife
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 12-19-25: Languages and Linguistics
Dinosaurs
Moment of Silence: Gil Gerard
Birdfeeding
History
Birdfeeding
Today's Adventures
Three for the Memories Coming Back Next Month!
Early Humans
Hard Things

Food has 47 comments. Trauma has 46 comments. Affordable Housing has 78 comments. Robotics has 119 comments.

The 2025 Holiday Poetry Sale has closed, with a massive amount of material to post. It will take me a long time to get it all online, so please keep an eye on the sale page.

Winterfaire 2025 is still open!.List a Booth for anything you sell that would make good holiday gifts, or comment with what you're shopping for to crowdsource ideas. There are links to two similar shopping events online. if you know others, please pass the word.

"An Inkling of Things to Come" belongs to Polychrome: Shiv. It needs $72 to be complete. Shiv and his classmates discuss magical weather, magical geography, natural resources, plants and animals, history, and other aspects of worldbuilding.

The weather has been cold and snowy here. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a pair of cardinals, and two mourning doves.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It was inspired by the "Twilight" 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 series Coracle Shores and follows "The Coracle in the Forest."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Here are the content notes for "The Coracle in the Forest."

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

These are the character notes for "The Coracle in the Forest."

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem came out of the November 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

helgatwb. It also fills the "Journey" 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 begins the new series Coracle Shores. Its sequel is "The Unicorn Door."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

We did our Yule ritual tonight. :D

Yule banner

Yule banner

Current Mood: busy

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