medievalrosalie

Let's begin with a very important warning: if there's still content you want to archive on LiveJournal, yours or others, do it now. There are changes being implemented that move continually in the direction of severing parts of LJ from each other, and quite possibly nuking or jettisoning the English-language side of it entirely. The importer may not work quite as swiftly as it usually does due to an influx of import requests, but get yourself into the queue, or use some other archiving tool, post-haste, if there's still anything there that you want to capture and preserve.

A significant amount of material has entered the public domain in the United States on 1 January 02026, put it to good use! And for the more detailed deep dive, your friends at Duke University have you covered for the more detailed examination of what we're getting into the public domain.

Here's a fact for you: that the most consistent and largest donor of money for toys to a children's hospital in Oregon have been strippers, and this year, they broke their own record.

We managed to close the hole in the ozone layer, thanks to dedicated and international cooperation. It may not stay closed for long, because this world is what it is, but we at least managed to get it done.

Let go of the idea that gender is a single point, a destination, an immutable truth, and support those who question and who are on the journey to finding what they want from gender in that moment. Acknowledging that gender is mutable, and that for some, it is constantly in mutation, can help those who are questioning or on a discovery journey not feel like they have to be absolutely sure and correct and that once they set upon the journey, they are not allowed to deviate from it.

A promising prevention method against HIV would require a twice-yearly shot and widespread availability to be effective. The fact that we have, in two generations, gotten much closer to giving the finger to HIV than we thought possible is a grand testament to science. (And a condemnation of those chucklefucks who continue to try and impede distribution of such and aid to places where HIV prevention would be most effective.) And, beyond that, we keep finding people who have managed to clear the HIV virus entirely, so it's possible that not only will we be able to prevent new infections, we may be getting very close to giving the finger to HIV infections already present. Scouring the world of that virus will be a great triumph.

For those of us in the mindset of the new year, consider this: the things you have said, unintentionally, may be the things that others are carrying with them for years. As has been said, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. If you have people that trust you, even if you don't want to ask what it is you said that they've been carrying and that you didn't mean, the reassurance and the understanding that such things are mist and should be treated as such, and that you are sorry for the hurt you caused, will be good for them. If we shadows have offended, we are sorry, please let it be mended.

The Archive of Our Own posted an administrative post about the progress they feel they've made about making the Archive less welcoming to racism. I don't know how to parse this update, since it doesn't seem like a lot of concrete things were done on their end?

Rob Reiner, actor and director, died at 78 years of age, with his wife, in what is being investigated as a homicide. (And also, the administrator made a social media post disparaging the man in his death and fluffing his own ego while he did it, but that's only mentioned because if you look for things about the death, you'll probably find the post.)

( Old coins, new targets, animals, nudity, techbros who can't help themselves, and more inside )

Last for tonight, it turns out that humans are generally nicer, warmer, and more friendly than our media accounts would have us believe.

A story of a man who did not get to say thanks to an idol, but who did manage to convince a group of carolers to sing his most holiday-appropriate song at him, and then get blown away when they found out that he could, in fact, sing.

And, perhaps most importantly in these times where we think about the turning of the wheel of the year, sometimes the best good news that you can give to others is "yet here you stand." (And no, the rate of people choosing to complete suicide isn't higher in the winter months, so there are more people out there who are also choosing "yet here you stand" along with you.

(Materials via

adrian_turtle,

azurelunatic,

boxofdelights,

cmcmck,

conuly,

cosmolinguist,

elf,

finch,

firecat,

jadelennox,

jenett,

jjhunter,

kaberett,

lilysea,

oursin,

rydra_wong,

snowynight,

sonia,

the_future_modernes,

thewayne,

umadoshi,

vass, the

meta_warehouse community,

little_details, and anyone else I've neglected to mention or who I suspect would rather not be on the list. If you want to know where I get the neat stuff, my reading list has most of it.)

Current Mood: relieved
Current Music: scroobius pip vs. dan le sac - Get Better

vriddy

1. Looking for new friends?

friending_memes is hosting a "new year, new friend" friending meme!

Click the banner to join us and make some new friends!

2. Of course,

snowflake_challenge started as well :D Never too late to jump in if you'd like to, it's a chill challenge like that! I knew I wasn't going to do it this year either, but thought "maybe next year"..... however it's January 3rd and I'm already fighting to keep up with my reading page because I met SO MANY OF YOU COOL PEOPLE through the challenge, and you're participating again haha :D It's really a great way to get to know people a little bit before the friending meme that usually happens at the end of it. I can't recommend it enough if you'd like your reading page to be more lively.

Snowflake Challenge: A warmly light quaint street of shops at night with heavy snow falling.

3. I'm going to link again to this AO3 PSA from a while back. It's titled "Protect Your Contact Information From Scammers" but it's interesting in that it describes the format that spam comments take nowadays: first a paragraph that seems genuinely related to your story (thanks and fuck you, genAI), then an invitation to reach out to them because they want to make a comic from it, or help you give more impact to your story, or whatever cue to take you off-site.

The post also offers a step-by-step template for reporting registered accounts that do it, and I gotta say it's effective as the account I reported yesterday was removed in less than 24 hours. (Also, those comments are annoying always, but they sting extra on fics that you know from the start won't have much/any audience. Curses on your potatoes, spammers!!)

(Having said that I don't think the spambots have figured out the "Uncategorized Fandoms" section yet as I haven't gotten any of these on K-9 fic -- if you hate spam comments you should totally join us there XD)

full_metal_ox posting in

common_nature

Taken on 2 January 2026 at 19:44 U.S. Eastern Standard Time.

The lunar halo of mackerel clouds, darkly dappled by the spaces between, keeps the moon from being reduced to just another circle of warm white light in the electric constellation of the apartment complex—which has usually been the effect when I’ve tried to take a picture. (That startling peacock-blue color was a happy artifact of my cheap-ass flip-phone camera!)

You can see how the moon continues an arc formed by the walkway lights—somewhat resembling the head of Scorpius, with the stairway light standing in for Antares.

dialecticdreamer posting in

journalsandplanners

Does anyone else in this group create their own planner? Not a BuJo, in that it's got a framework and elements of a commercially sold planner.

ailelie

The only resolution I make each year is this: I will like my life. I don't have to love it, but I do have to like it. If something is preventing from liking it, I have to address that thing and change it. This has been my yearly resolution for probably close to 10 years now.

Under the guidance of this resolution, I pushed for a promotion, I started therapy, I reached out to friends, I rebuilt a friendship with someone I'd not contacted in years, I took a sewing class, and more. This resolution is a rejection of passivity. Living by it is not always easy, but I strive.

That said, the start of the new year is always a good time to re-evaluate what matters to me and think about the kind of life I want to lead.

This year, I want to do (or at least move toward) the following:

Make significant progress on Lamplighters.
Improve my understanding and facility with my (unofficially diagnosed)* ADHD.
Be my strategic with my time.
Increase my knowledge about and advocacy for justice.
Cultivate more and stronger connections with others.
Grow my hobbies.

( * ADHD note )

These are not goals I can achieve and consider 'done' within a year, but they are headings. They will help me navigate the year and make decisions. Each of them connect back to values and priorities of mine, such as learning, creating, family, friends, bridge-building, health, self-control, and keeping my word.

For each, I've started brainstorming some first steps.

For Lamplighters, I've joined Get Your Words Out. I am also strategizing ways to set up a consistent writing routine again since I can no longer maintain the one I had while I was laid off. (I am considering trying to go to bed earlier and becoming a morning person or shifting my work hours to the afternoon once I'm allowed to so that I can have mornings free to write).
For ADHD, I am going to finally borrow or buy one of the books that were recommended to me last spring and read through it.
For time strategies, I'll move my weekly planning and reflections to Sunday night since I'm no longer reserving time for them on Monday mornings.
For advocacy, I will first finish reading Stamped from the Beginning. I'll also get involved with the anti-racism group in my church.
For connections, I am attending a taco night with some fellow tutors later this month, and I am participating in a larp with some friends and many strangers.
For hobbies, I have signed up for another sewing class starting later this month. (This also works in my favor for writing as I'd previously built a habit of writing for 30 to 60 minutes at the cafe by the studio before class).

So, no big resolutions but the one and a handful of directions I'd like my life to move in. I'll be moving these headings into a LunaTask template for a monthly check-in so that I can remember what I want and continue moving toward them bit-by-bit.

ravena_kade

Dad had his MRI today at noon. Found out no one was going to read it until Monday so they decided to let him out. WE got home at 8 PM.

I'm tired.

This weekend I am going food shopping and that is all.

Dad has appointments next week in the building. It looks like he is going to try the LVad. He wants to hold out until February. If things go okay it could give him 5 years. If not he will pass of multiple organ failure.

sixbeforelunch posting in

journalsandplanners

I don't know how interesting this will be to people other than me. I'm not the most artistic or creative person, not by a long shot, but I've decided to share my current primary planner anyway. This set up served me really well last year. This year I've made a few minor improvements, and it's possible that some of these ideas will be useful to other people.

The journal I'm using is the Panobook from Studio Neat. I love the wide landscape layout and the dot grid, and I can vouch for the quality of the paper. I use cheap ballpoint pens (I might experiment with fountain pens at some point, but I haven't yet), and also cheap markers. Neither bleed through these pages. The cover is sturdy, and the spiral binding is resilient. It's 50 sheets, 100 total pages long, which is enough for the entire year and then some. I stay on one side of the page, and then when I get to the end, I flip it over and start writing on the reverse side, so the spiral is always on the left side as I use the notebook. You could obviously just use both sides of the page as you go, but I found this works better for me. (If you're a lefty, in theory you could do the opposite and keep the spiral on the right as you go. The pages have no set orientation.)

( Image heavy below the cut. CN: brief mention of weight tracking. )

sovay

The afternoon's mail brought my contributor's copy of Not One of Us #85, containing my poem "The Avalon Procedure." It is the Arthurian one, in debt to and argument with Bryher. It belongs to the outsider issue which kicks off the 'zine's fortieth year of alienation, characteristically incarnated by the short fiction and poetry of Steve Toase, Devan Barlow, Lauren Hruska, and Gwynne Garfinkle among others. The threshold shadow of the cover art by John and Flo Stanton is an excellent advertisement, or harbinger. Pick up a copy or contribute to the strangeness yourself. I remain so glad it sneaked into our reality.

"These clocks are like Time herself. Magnificent edifices, but secretly fragile. In need of constant attention . . . Forgive me. My pet subject, Time." I didn't realize until I opened the jewel case that Sigil (2023) was dedicated to the memory of Murray Melvin: it was his last recording for Big Finish, released posthumously. It starts like a classic M. R. James with a series of weird and hauntological misfortunes attending a three-thousand-year-old bronze bird ever since its ill-omened excavation in the Victorian era and then it twists much more cosmic, with a pure sting of Sapphire & Steel. I can't tell if it was designed as a farewell, but it makes a tantalizing final communiqué from Bilis Manger, a gorgeous, wickedly silken and knowing performance from Melvin whose voice caresses a stone circle because it's "an ancient timepiece" and can put a harvest-withering contempt into a statement like "I've never owned a scatter cushion in my life." There's a sort of promotional interview at the end of the CD, but it poignantly does not include Melvin. The last we hear of him is in definitive character, so much time echoing backward and forward in his voice that was then eighty-nine human years old and still made you think there could be younger barrows, meadows, stars. "What could murder a murder of crows?"

I had no idea about this historical reenactment at Prospect Hill, but I am happy to read of its turnout in the new snow. I have not gotten the sestercentennial onto my mental calendar. I am still not convinced of this decade at all.

Current Music: Ancient Hostility, "Night Terrors"

kareina

This morning I started my day with an hour of yoga, followed by breakfast and snow shovelling. The snow is fluffy and easy to move. However, it is not at all suited to filling in the low spots where tire tracks in the mud froze because I didn’t have the energy to go change into boots and trample the tracks flat on the last warm day before it froze again. I regret this decision.

After lunch Keldor and I walked over to the gas station (also the local post office) to get a package that was delivered there. The first person I saw when I entered was Anna, an SCA friend from Luleå. It turns out that she had been on her way home, and got as far as where the road is closed due to a serious bus accident, just north of here, and they decided to turn back and use the loo at the gas station while they waited for the road to reopen.

So, of course, we invited them over for ficka. As luck would have it, we still had some of the Gluten-free vegan smjulpaj from when Hjalmar visited, so Anna could eat it. I love spur of the moment guests, and it is even better when we have appropriate snacks on hand.

After they left I resumed work on Silk bliaut short tunic until it was time for my zoom meeting with

katerit, who gave me helpful feedback on the story I have written for

hrj ’s Call for Submissions: 2026 Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Fiction Series. It was really good to see her, it has been far, far too long, and the feedback was very useful. I may not have accomplished everything she suggested, but the story was much improved by the time I was happy with it, and sent it in. Heather may or may not like my contribution, but I know that she will be pleased that she is getting still more submissions already the first week, so that is a little thing I did to try to brighten the world today.

susandennis

Christian is such a fun friend and such a wonderful interior engineer. We had a great lunch. I learned that Jathon, the building manager at the condo who drove me crazy, has left the job. Christian says he thinks it was mutual. They redid his list of responsibilities and he said NFW. And now he's gone. I would sure be doing the happy dance if I still lived there.

Then we came up here to talk closet. Christian is very good at big picture and equally good and close ups. He asks all the right questions and listens to me. We talked about a biscillion options and different ways to do different things. We agreed that the next step is to clear out everything in there except clothes and shoes.

This meshes perfectly with the first items on my brother's ToDo list!

We also looked at the storage area. The shelves I ordered are ones he has used and he says they are perfect for my use except I ordered the wrong size. NP. I ordered the right size. They will be here on Monday. I'll take the others back this weekend.

I was just getting ready to ask my one last question 'What about using one of the closet design companies?' when he said 'What about using one of the closet design companies?' So we agreed that 1st I'd get it all cleaned out except clothes and shoes and then have Closets By Design* come in.

I'm quite relieved and excited to get this all done and to get Christians ideas. He said his new clients are just getting started with their new apartment so he'll be in and out over the next month or so. The apartment they are moving into is huge. The previous resident was the original one who moved in 17 years ago! She's now 104 and has moved into the nursing wing. He has his work cut out for him.

*We have basically Closets by Design and California Closets. Ruth, one of Christian's other clients out here, recently vetted both and found that they came within $2 of each other but chose Closets by Design because they don't hang as much stuff from the walls. She's got a lot of experience with building and knows her shit. I'm going with her choice. Plus California Closets pissed me off in 2005, I can hold a grudge!

Also, turns out, Closets by Design wants me!! I just went to their website and filled out their form and requested January 15 at 10 am as my first choice for a consultation and within minutes I got an email and a voice mail saying the designer would be here then.

The only problem I have with Christian is his billing. He never bills me enough for his time. And he takes forever to send an invoice. I used to wait and stew about it. Today, I dug out a old invoice, gave him a raise and wrote him a check for his consultation today and even went downstairs to get it into the mail. (He also uses a bookkeeping system from the 80's - checks. ha!) Worth every single penny.

ranunculus

Yesterday involved a hike up over Power Pole Hill and then up Fairview Hill. The goal was to make lots of water bars on the trails in advance of today's storm. The trails and roads all looked pretty good considering the downpours that have happened this year. Possibly because of work done last year and the year before. Between hiking up, up, up steep hills and shoveling it was a great, extended cardio workout.
Today the promised storm is moving in. It is windy, starting to rain a bit, and not very pleasant outside so we are sitting by the fireplace in the living room.
I did get lots of canning and storage jars moved up to the attic. Lots of home canned stuff is getting eaten up, which is good!

sister_raphael

I've had requests for momento mori paternosters in other colours, so this year I will offer green rock crystal and several shades of pink rhodochrosite also for those who want something to match their mood. As previously mentioned in an earlier post, I'm attending some ren- faire type events this year, and are able to have some medieval themed goods for sale.

Lots of ladies love pink and green... and purple too, I suppose... so the non-reenactor public can choose these if they like. I think I've seen green in medieval art, but pink and purple, not at all. However, as these are momento mori, the ones with the little skull gauds, I think they'll be a real hit!

Of course, plain stone, beech, sandlewood and pearwood are also available for those wanting a more historically accurate set. Tassels in wool or silk depending on the wood or stone and all handmade by me.

Pic to follow.

yourlibrarian posting in

common_nature

We were surprised to see the heron out on the ice last week, since we had thought it migrated each year. But apparently it's not unusual for them to stay put. It was not having the easiest time on the ice though, as up top it had nearly fallen over while trying to walk.

( Read more... )

cosmolinguist

A year and a bit ago, we acquired a weight bench (and the associated barbells, dumbbells and weights) from a transgym acquaintance. His partner was delighted to get it out of their loft and I was delighted to have it during the dark winter months when my ankle still wasn't up to walking to and from -- not if I wanted to actually do anything at the gym once I got there!

It served me well but isn't making good use of the space in my computer room now that it's easier for me to go to the gym. So today I passed it on to another acquaintance from transgym. He's so excited to have it and I'm so excited to have it out of my room! The circle of life.

I'm excited generally to be dealing with things that have been cluttering up the place. angelofthenorth said she'll take the stand mixer that we've never made enough use of.

(I know this sounds horribly middle-class of me, to be so burdened by possessions...and I am, but in my defense both of these were things I got from others, for no money.)

D and I walked Teddy this afternoon. Wintery mix overnight got us our first ice and/or snow this winter, a little of which has now re-frozen into black ice. With hiking shoes and a little of what my dad calls "duck walk" (apparently here it's called "penguin walk"!), D and I were fine. But Sylvia was so grateful that we showed up to walk the dog at all today. Which gave me the rare opportunity to be like "Don't worry ma'am, I'm from Minnesota."

susandennis

My friend and designer, Christian, is coming today for lunch and closet consultation. It will be the first time he's been back in the apartment since he put his final finishing touches on it. I've made a fair number of unauthorized (hahahah) changes that he does not know about. Should be fun. Plus he is always tons of fun just himself.

Before lunch, I'll go back to that stupid exercise class. Mostly it's just moving and not too difficult but there is a bit in the middle - standing with arms across your chest holding weights - that is really hard and my thighs will testify. Plus, I did sweat so I must have done something. So I'll do it again.

Then back here for a shower. My shower has an adjustable extension and a hand held option. All of the adjustments are overhead and one is too far overhead for me to reach. I can reach the one that switches from shower to handheld but it is not an easy reach. Getting it the way I want it is not easy and I cannot get it tight enough. When the housecleaner cleans, she manages to fuck my set up twelve different ways and it's a bitch to put it back right.

1. Her English is very limited but still way more than my Spanish. So having a conversation about it is not an option.
2. When the pool is working, I rarely shower at home anyway. Like almost never.
3. The pool should be working again in a couple of weeks so I'll only have to rejigger the thing 2 more times.

I'm trying to not stress about this. I'm clearly failing at that.

Out my window I can see two of the garage doors. Both lead to resident only parking. This morning there has been a ton of traffic in and out. I'm particularly curious about the people coming home at 6:30 am. I'm impressed that there are that many people here still driving in the dark.

I've been wanting to do another miniature room kit. I don't have time. I still don't have a need/use/room for the end result. So I've been watching you tube videos of people putting them together. It's not helping.

heleninwales

I don't do New Year resolutions but for the past few years I've tried to choose a word and a short phrase to help me focus on what needs to be done to make the year a successful one. For 2025 my word was "Fixing" and the theme was "Replacing, updating". Having decided not to have the kitchen completely redone, we continued last year to make small improvements such as a new dining table, Kallax storage unit and a replacement light.

For 2026 my word will be "Improving" and the theme is "changing, completing". I want to make more improvements to the house and especially the garden. I also hope to finish the first draft of Book 3 of the fantasy trilogy, so I'll be revising and hopefully improving the first and third novels with a view to self-publishing them later in the year. I also feel that I've plateaued with my Welsh, so that needs improving too. ( Boring waffling... )

So that's my vague plan for the year. I can get started on some things right away, but I'll leave travel until the days are longer and the weather is warmer.

larryhammer

With Yuletide authorships revealed, I can admit that I wrote a crossover between two very Welsh literary artifacts, both requested by the recipient. One is technically a verse closet drama and the other a technically-prose radio drama, but they are remarkably consonant in style and substance. Maybe because they were both written by Welsh Modernist poets, though that both are set by seaside also helped:

Behind Stars and Under Hills (1551 words) by lnhammer
Fandom: Ballad of the Mari Lwyd - Vernon Watkins, Under Milk Wood (Radio)
Characters: Captain Cat, Rosie Probert, Mr Ogmore, Mr Pritchard, Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard
Additional Tags: Welsh Folklore, solstice rituals, Dreams, Ghosts, Inspired by Poetry, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Mild Sexual Content, faux Dylan Thomas, honestly faux Dylan Thomas ought to be an archive warning
Summary: The Dead return. Those Exiles carry her, they who seem holy and have put on corruption, they who seem corrupt and have put on holiness.

They strain against the door on a moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black.

Basically it’s the dead characters of Under Milk Wood bring the Mari Lwyd to Llareggub.* The tag “faux Dylan Thomas” is, I feel, obligatory,** but so is the confession that I did steal some passages of real Thomas to prop up my fake tissue. There’s not much to the story aside from bringing out the consonance of the two works, but weaving together the two fibers was fun.

Fwiw I was matched on “Ballad of the Mari Lwyd,” and if you’re not familiar with it, here’s a copy.

* Which, remember, is “bugger all” backwards.
** It is not sociable to thrust Dylan Thomas, cod or kosher, upon people without warning.

---L.

Subject quote from Freedom, Beyoncé feat. Kendrick Lamar.

heleninwales

Here are all the photos I took for the Weekly Alphabet Challenge group during 2025. I've signed up again for the 2026 group so there will be more alphabet based challenge photos in due course.

1. Aran sweater (detail), 2. Blue and white bowl, 3. Penmaenpool toll bridge, 4. Door to the belfry, 5. East, 6. Folding ruler, 7. Mini gems, 8. Tiny hat, 9. Important information, 10. Green necklace, 11. King George III hotel, 12. Lost in a Good Book, 13. Peppermint tea, 14. Newspapers, 15. Oval pebble, 16. Bunches of flowers, 17. Barmouth harbour, 18. Wavy slate roof, 19. Washing soda crystals, 20. Curled tips, 21. Used cars, 22. Low cloud over Cader Idris, 23. View looking west, 24. Arcade, 25. 2025 Diary, 26. Zero percent, 27. Auto reheat, 28. Busy hoverflies, 29. Nasturtium seed, 30. Deck of cards, 31. Owl, 32. Forest footpath, 33. Tiny gears, 34. Hazy distant mountains, 35. Kuan Yin, 36. Honda Jazz 37. Barmouth from Dinas Oleu, 38. Left hand, 39. Mesh bag, 40. Navy rum, 41. Road repairs, 42. Forest path, 43. A boggy place, 44. Cotton reel, 45. Snap fastener, 46. Loki, 47. Pull to undo, 48. Fruit pastilles, 49. Wired Earbuds, 50. Festive reindeer, 51. Yule logs, 52. Boots No 7, 53. London mini A to Z

MEDIEVAL WOMEN'S THINGS

Rosalie Gilbert. Author & History Enthusiast.

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Interesting Links for 03-01-2026

The Fat Man : Murder Makes A Statue. Broadcast December 16th 1954.

The last of one year, and a little into the next - Late December 02025

Three things make a post

Full Wolf Supermoon, 2 January 2026.

Planner question

2026: My Personal Hopes and Such for the Year

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my 2026 planner and tracker

We've found where the divide is thin and chosen the other side

story submitted

Such a relief!

Shovel Work, Storm

The colours of things to come

Heron on Ice

winter nesting

Friday

Not the New Year resolutions

“i’mma wade, i’ma wave through the waters / tell the tide ‘don’t move’”

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