No Doubt

Jul. 11th, 2025 11:07 am
poliphilo: (Default)
[personal profile] poliphilo
 There is no Epstein client list. No, of course there isn't....

The powerful have always lied and had their flunkies lie on their behalf, but I can't think they've ever lied so brazenly before.

In the teeth of the evidence, in contradiction to what they said just the other day.

Or perhaps it's not that they've grown more brazen but that we're so much better informed than we used to be

And less inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt because there is no doubt.....

Friday''s comic

Jul. 11th, 2025 12:57 am
murgatroyd_666: (von_Zinzer_Hah)
[personal profile] murgatroyd_666 posting in [community profile] girlgenius_lair
https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php

Does the phrase "malicious compliance" ring a bell?

He must be trying very hard to not smile in that fourth panel ...

Firebacks

Jul. 10th, 2025 08:25 am
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[personal profile] poliphilo
 Petworth is home to the Mitford collection of firebacks.

A fireback is an iron plate placed at the back of the chimney to protect the wall behind and radiate heat into the room. They started being made in the late 15th century. The Kent and Sussex Weald was a centre of English iron manufacture but, oddly enough, most of the items in the Mitford Collection, though sourced locally, from cottages and farmhouses in West Sussex, were made in North-West Germany- and intended for the Dutch market.  The majority date from the late 17th century.

Firebacks can be highly decorated- with mythological, religious and political images and emblems. Wooden stamps and patterns were used which allowed for popular designs to be mass produced. 

The Mitford firebacks are displayed stapled to the wallls of the very long corridor in the servants quarters. You pass between them on your way to the cafe.....

I took some pictures.....

This first example features a group of aristocratic worthies of interest to 17th century Dutch people

IMG_8181.jpeg


The second, which is my favourite, has the personification of the Dutch republic- Hollandia- sitting inside a fort- accompanied by the fighting lion of the house of Nassau. The thing on the end of the pole is a liberty cap- a less inflammatory forerunner of the red bonnet of the French revolution . It is usefully dated 1662

IMG_8185.jpeg

Finally, here's the story of Susannah and the Elders- a racy subject rendered family friendly by its Biblical origins.

IMG_8186.jpeg

Petworth

Jul. 9th, 2025 08:45 am
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[personal profile] poliphilo
 We walked down to the lake over the vast expanse of dry yellow grass, avoiding as best we could the droppings of sheep and geese and at a certain point I turned and looked at the west front of the great house and surprised myself by saying, "You know, It's actually very ugly".

On reflection, "ugly" may be going too far. "Nondescript" would be more accurate. Petworth House presents a long unbroken facade-  like a posh London terrace that has been incongruously plonked down in a field. It's grand, it's gray, it's depressing. Maybe I was still thinking of things we'd been told about previous owners; how one couldn't abide the smell of cooking and moved the kitchens to a separate building, how another (or perhaps the same one) put in tunnels for servants to use because he didn't want to have to see them. Henry VIII- on a visit to the manor house that preceded the present building-had enclosed the surrounding common land for his own especial use and the house's lord had liked this arrangement so much he'd kept it. The walls surrounding the property are high. The peasantry are not only being kept out but being denied even a glimpse of the land that used to be theirs. 

The art collections are stupendous- and hung in the 19th century style which means much of the work is hung so high,  in the shadows of the roof, as to be virtually invisible. The statues are a mix of Roman pieces that hve been stuck back together with glue and 19th century classical pieces that ape them and are mostly bland and silly. All but a few of the paintings have been soused in decades worth of cigar smoke and are in desparate need of cleaning. The choicest pieces are a version of Hieronymus Bosch's Visitation of the Magi which is good enough to be by the hand of the master and a version of Holbein's Henry VIII which is also very fine. Henry is encased in woodwork by Grinling Gibbons over the fireplace in the house's grandest room. 

How very appropriate that the presiding spirit of this gruesome place should be the King of Thieves....

Down by the lake a gosling took a fancy to us and asked if we had food. Ailz carries doggy treats- and the gosling gave them a go but spat them out. Too dry, too hard, I suppose.  Nothing discouraged it followed us halfway back to the house going "peep, peep, peep." I fantasised about tucking it under my jacket and smuggling it out.....

Frustrating

Jul. 8th, 2025 09:03 am
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[personal profile] poliphilo
 I like to visit new places but I also like to sleep in my own bed. 

When we first moved down to the South East we explored the surrounding area exhaustively. Are there interesting things I haven't been to see in Sussex, Kent and Surrey? Not very many.

Today we're going to Petworth- at the western end of the County-  to meet up with my sister and brother-in-law- a journey of an hour and a half. This is about as far as it's realistic to go without having to check into a hotel overnight. Will we be driving down any roads we haven't driven down before? Unlikely.... 

It's all a little frustrating.....

June 2025 in Reiew

Jul. 7th, 2025 10:16 pm
rowyn: (downcast)
[personal profile] rowyn
 Tl;dr for June life

For most of June, my mother has either been in a nursing facility, a hospital, or bed-bound at home. My siblings M and Alltoseek visited to help out with Mom, which is fantastic. Still, it's been an incredibly busy month, and I largely gave up on doing creative things during it.

Alltoseek focused on getting a professional caregiver in part-time because she thought I was burning out. Which at first I thought was excessive -- I'm fine! I've done caregiving for many years. It's fine. I can handle it.

And now I'm like: yeah, she's right, this is too much for me, I need help. o_o;;; The home health aide was supposed to start on July 7, but all we have heard from the agency is "her car broke down and we're trying to find a replacement." They obviously didn't find a replacement for July 7. Since they haven't communicated literally anything else, no idea when they will send someone. Tomorrow? Next week? Never? Could be anything!

Health & Fitness

I did really well for exercise in June, especially given all the other stuff that went on this month. I exercised 22 times, most of which was either weight-lifting or pretty vigorous cardio (stair-climbing, stationary bike, or swimming laps with Alltoseek). I didn't pay much attention to what I was eating, but my sister eats lots of vegetables so having her around got me to eat some, too. Consumption overall was probably up a bit but not absurdly so, I think. I've switched back to drinking caffeine-free Diet Coke, which has gone fine. Mm, Diet Coke.

Dailies

Since Mom was discharged from the nursing facility, I've not even been trying to do anything creative, so I largely stopped tracking these. The closest I get to writing is the journal entries (they're access-locked), and the closest I get to editing is having Coffee Quills read The Jewel-Strewn Night aloud (during which I will fix any typos or wording issues I spot). I do not track either of these things on the dailies and don't want to.

If and when the home health aide settles in, I may be able to spare some attention for writing/editing/drawing again? We'll see. Mostly I've been trying to hold myself together while caregiving. Thankfully, Dad still requires very minimal care beyond what his 12-hour-a-week aide provides, because Mom requires a great deal. More than Lut ever did, even for the day he was in hospice at home.

Writing

The Secret Dragon is up to 41,467, so 1800 words for the month. I wrote an absurd amount in describing my day-to-day life, but didn't track the word count. Might be around 50k? I like having the detailed record of my life but I feel like I should chill on this and get back to fiction.

The Business of Writing

I got The Kitty Coffee Pack to 65% edited and contemplated yet another name change, possibly to A Wolf-Shifter's Pack.

Art 

I checked off drawing thirteen times this month and honestly have no recollection of what I drew. Okay, now that I'm looking at my tablet, I remember that I did some relatively quick studies using random images from Pexels (whatever they had as the first image on the main page for four different images). I also worked on a new portrait of my soloRPG protagonist for some time, though I didn't finish it.

Reading

I started reading a new polyam fantasy romance but didn't get far into it. I may yet finish it; we'll see. I finished reading the main arc of a manwha, The Villainess Flips the Script! which was fun and goofy and had an interesting variation on the 'I'm reincarnated as a character in a story I read' trope. There will be an epilogue for it eventually, but it's on hiatus now. Reading the end of the arc counts for something, though. Also did my usual reading of unfinished manwha.

Social

I haven't visited my friends since early May, but my sister, Alltoseek, and my oldest brother, M, both visited my parents and me in June, so got some socializing that way outside of my parents. 

Lyric Update

Lyric continues to be mostly resigned to life as an indoor cat. A few times when Alltoseek and I were leaving to walk or swim, she waited by the door in an effort to go with us (alas, while Lyric enjoys company when she's outside, she doesn't enjoy it enough to let a human set the itinerary, so taking her for a walk on a harness doesn't work.) But we didn't let her go with us and she did not persist about it. She spent several days almost entirely in the garage both during and after the visit from M and his dog, but has since gone back to normal and spends much of her time inside.

She's spent more time downstairs over the last two weeks. I think this is one part that I'm spending more time downstairs, doing things with Mom and/or Alltoseek, and one part that she likes Alltoseek (she's more likely to stay downstairs even after I go upstairs, and she's gone to snuggle Alltoseek several times, although Alltoseek has not displaced Eliyahu as All-time Favorite Human.) It'll be interesting to see if she continues to hang out downstairs more if she returns to alternating between my room and the garage, only going downstairs when I'm there. Assuming home health aide for Mom ever materializes, I will probably 

Goal Scorecard 

  • Provide care for parents: I did this thing!
  • Pay June bills: I had to double-check but yes, did this thing too. I even paid estimated quarterly taxes!
  • Complete 70% of edits on The Kitty Coffee Pack: It's at 65%. Close?
  • Find out what I need to do to register car in new state: Nope, forgot about this one entirely
  • Make podiatry appointment for Dad: I didn't forget about this one but I didn't do it, either. I made dentist and audiology appointments for Dad, which were more important. I should still do this one, though.

 

Stretch Goals

 

  • Exercise 15+ times: Oh hey I did a stretch goal
  • Do some art: Technically!
  • Track what I read: Hey I wrote it down here, that counts
  • Sell Mom's car: It's still in the garage, but I suggested giving it to M if he wanted it (he did not have a car for similar reasons to why I didn't have a car before 2017 -- didn't particularly need one and both buying and owning a car are spendy). He decided he'd take it the next time he visits.

 

July Goals

  • Provide care for parents
  • Pay July bills
  • Make podiatry appointment for Dad
  • Find out what I need to do to register car in new state

 

I'm not gonna set any creative goals for July. Hopefully I will do one or more things? Hopefully at some point Mom will actually have a home health aide instead of "well we made all the arrangements and are supposed to have one but somehow don't and they're not talking to us", too. Still. I need to go easy on myself.

July Stretch Goals

  • Write 5000+ words on A Dragon's Secrets
  • Finalize whatever I'm gonna call the Untitled Polyam Lesbian Romantasy
  • Get edits on Untitled Polyam Lesbian Romantasy to 80%
  • Play more of romance soloRPG
  • Exercise 15+ times (organizing stuff/cleaning counts as exercise)
  • Track what I read
  • Keep up on my Dreamwidth feed
  • Ask Bookbub for a Featured Deal and run another ad campaign for a book
  • Get backmatter updated for whatever book I promote
  • Pick an old picture to redraw
  • Do some art
  • Register car
  • Visit friends

Worship

Jul. 7th, 2025 10:03 am
poliphilo: (Default)
[personal profile] poliphilo
 What Quakers do in what we call our hour of "Worship" is very much up to them as individuals.

Some read, some meditate, some pray, some think, some fall asleep....

I don't have a programme. I do my best to simply exist. Much of the time I keep my eyes shut, but I also like to look out the window. The windows in the Meeting Room afford a view of the plants the lodger upstairs has lined up along the wall of her balcony area. Flowers are good. Clouds are good. Birds are good.....

Thoughts show up. Silly ones. Of course they do. I let them come and go, dismissing them with a benediction. Every so often I come to myself and refocus on the silence. I think this is what is referred to as "centering". As I've written elsewhere the silence isn't just about listening or not listening, it involves all the senses. I can sort of see it, I can sort of feel it. It's beautiful and peaceful and wonderful.....

I don't pray. I don't think there's Anyone "out there" to be prayed to. I don't believe in that kind of God. 

The Byzantine ruler on his throne- recieving gifts, receiving flattery, receiving petitions. No, no, no, no, no. That model is so out of date, So very close to being wrong. Except that God is All things and can be an Emperor if we really want. The Emperor is one of the 22 cards of the major arcana- and God is that but also all the rest. He is the Fool, the Hanged Man, the Star, the High Priestess.....

God is everything. God is the flower on the wall, God is the passing cloud and the gull flying under it  God is me, God is you, God is nothing

Fairies

Jul. 6th, 2025 03:09 pm
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[personal profile] poliphilo
 Cecily Mary Barker produced the first of her Flower Fairy books in 1923. As a small boy I thought them frightfully soppy, Now I find them charming.

I looked her up. And found, to my surprise, that she lived in Croydon, the famously ugly Surrey town where I spent most of my childhood. 

A bit back I made a produced a picture of a mischievous little imp who I decided, after asessing him, had to be the Stinging Nettle Fairy.

My friend Deborahlka liked him and asked for more. Specifically the Poison Oak Fairy and the Poison Ivy Family. I wasn't intending to go any further down this road but I can't say "No" to a lady.

So here, with apologies and an affectionate thank you to Cecily Barker are...

The Poison Oak Fairy

ZrKXCj5fGSxx7ev4d9H9--0--ah5eu.jpeg

and

The Poison Ivy Fairy

Awc2h4cERXK0Ghv3yhsA-Pt9j3-adjusted.jpeg

Done Since 2025-06-29

Jul. 6th, 2025 02:51 pm
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[personal profile] mdlbear

It doesn't feel like a very productive week, but I have gotten a few things done. Five (short) walks, four (short) guitar practice sessions, some patio furniture assembled (one Adirondack chair fully assembled, the other partly assembled, table unboxed).

The Adirondak chairs each have a curved, removable leg-rest. It's not exactly an ottoman, so I've decided it needs to be called a nottaman -- hence this post's music.

The weather has gone from unpleasantly hot to pleasantly cool (with a reverse or two) over the course of the week; we are now enjoying a light rain. Or at least I am -- I'm the one who sits closest to the sliding door in the living room. It opens to half the width of the house, and fortunately has a screen behind it. Because cats.

Between ADT and anemia, my body's temperature sensing has become very wonky; I feel like I'm freezing at temperatures that the rest of the household thinks are too hot, but if I put on something warm I quickly become overheated. It is not conducive to sleeping well. I don't so much mind having the cats wake me in the middle of the night, because my bladder is also wonky, but it would be nice to be able to get to (or back to) sleep in a reasonable amount of time. On the flip side, if all goes well I won't have to talk to a urologist until November.

Not much to say about what's going on in the US. But One Million Rising: Strategic Non-Cooperation to Fight Authoritarianism · No Kings looks like something you can do.

And go watch The FIRST images from the RUBIN observatory! - YouTube

Notes & links, as usual )

Partying

Jul. 5th, 2025 09:09 am
poliphilo: (Default)
[personal profile] poliphilo
 Mike and Su and Sej are visiting for the first time this year.  It was Mike's idea to have a cook-out. I don't know if he was thinking 4th of July but he's half American so he may have been. We borrowed the portable barbeque from Damian- and Sandra, Damian's wife, fired it up for us because neither Mike nor I could figure it out.

Damian and Sandra and Aoife were at the party along with Mark (who is fully American) and Dawn and Danny from Quakers. We were a really disparate group but everyone seemed to get along. 

Su is booking a seat at a Spurs home game for a visiting nephew. Seems that the cheapest seat is £100. Football used to be the people's game. 'T'ain't any longer.
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[personal profile] turbobeholder posting in [community profile] girlgenius_lair
Just think of the possibilities!

Dragon On A Stick

Jul. 4th, 2025 08:47 am
poliphilo: (Default)
[personal profile] poliphilo
 Steve Judd, the astrologer, is excited about the present relationship of the outer planets- Neptune, Uranus and Pluto- and especially about the conjunction of Neptune and Saturn, which is something that has never happened before- at least not in a very long time. It means Change- Change with a capital "C". Out with the old and in with the new.....

He believes (and I believe) that's what we're seeing everywhere now- event after event after event.

The old order in its death throes, wriggling and snapping- like the dragon on the end of St Michael's lance

The_Archangel_Michael,_St_Leonard's,_Seaford.jpeg

Steve, who is 70- says he's been waiting 40-50 years- so all of his adult and professional life- for this moment to come round.....

As have we all- all of us born into this Time- consciously or unconsciously- even those of us who are not astrologers. It's why we chose to be here.....

Shredding

Jul. 4th, 2025 08:12 am
poliphilo: (Default)
[personal profile] poliphilo
 Ailz's work as a trustee of a local care home generates lots and lots of paper- most of which has to then be shredded because it deals with confidential matters. There's so much of it that our shredder regularly over heats.

Shredding paper generates dust.

A-tishoo!
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[personal profile] turbobeholder posting in [community profile] girlgenius_lair
«They’re doing just as much damage as we are!»

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