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2585 / Seven Dials; When Harry Met Sally

I'm so glad I brought an extra large quantity of tea back with me this time. A hot cup of tea is one of the few things getting me through the cold outside.

( Agatha Christie's Seven Dials )

( When Harry Met Sally )

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OH HEY

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

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monthly reccers

February reccers

Many thanks to

cassiope25,

goddess47,

mific, and

nuh_s for all their January recs! We had 10 recs this past month, including my own.

Our February reccers are:

cassiope25: Rodney McKay

goddess47: Jack O'Neill

melagan: Crossovers

mific: Threesomes+

Reccers, you all have access and can start posting at any time. Remember that you have committed yourself to reccing at least two fics over the course of the month, although of course we will be happy with more. Feel free to use the copy-and-paste template from the reccer's FAQ for your convenience.

If you wanted to volunteer for this month and didn't have a chance to sign up, drop a comment here and I'll happily add you to the list.

Current Mood: busy

Entry tags:

networking,
safety

Safety

Middle age is becoming a breaking point in the U.S.

For many Americans, midlife is no longer a plateau—it’s a pressure point.

Middle age is becoming a tougher chapter for many Americans, especially those born in the 1960s and early 1970s. Compared with earlier generations, they report more loneliness and depression, along with weaker physical strength and declining memory. These troubling trends stand out internationally, as similar declines are largely absent in other wealthy nations, particularly in Nordic Europe, where midlife well-being has improved.

The article actually said most of what I would've said regarding causes and solutions. One thing it missed: the sandwich effect. Middle-age adults, mostly but not exclusively women, often become responsible for aging parents as well as children. It's actually worse for the few male caregivers: almost all of the rare support programs serve only female caregivers. Even if they're permitted in, being the only man in a group of women can feel more isolating than just staying home.

Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is partly cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows, two starlings, a male cardinal, and a wren. The sparrows are widely foraging on the ground under bushes.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/1/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I refilled the hopper feeder.

EDIT 2/1/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I put out more birdseed.

EDIT 2/1/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: cold
Current Music: Unspoiled: Supernatural podcast

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Media Consumed: January 2026

( 23 books, 6 movies, one talk, one theatre production, 121 TV episodes. )

( Notes on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. )

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Highlander Sequel Fic

AO3 Link | Closing Up Shop: Seacouver (1335 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Highlander Movieverse, Highlander The Series
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Rachel Ellenstein [Highlander Movieverse], Joe Dawson [Highlander the Series]
Additional Tags: First Meetings, Post-The Gathering (Highlander)
Summary:

And then a few years passed...

Closing Up Shop: Seacouver

While Connor and Duncan were being themselves, Rachel was a little out of sorts. Tessa was a nice lady, one so recently brought into knowing what they were. However, Tessa was an artist, and driven currently by a piece that Rachel could already see would be lovely. The boy Richie was a little rash and Rachel didn't fully feel a connection to him yet, but she would work on that, after Connor explained why Duncan and Tessa were watching over him.

No, she just needed to be mindful of her own wishes and need to stretch her legs currently. Dinner could be for socializing. Right now, she had sights to see, stores to discover, and a need to be away from the casual masculinity contests the pair of cousins indulged themselves in during these infrequent reunions.

That in mind, Rachel turned her steps to a brisk walk in the same district the couple lived and worked in, ducking into shops as they caught her idea, pausing to sample the food about midmorning, and slowly circling back around.

A bookstore caught her eye, and she slipped within to browse, hopeful of something to keep her entertained until Connor decided they had played the game of risk long enough in this reunion.

She glanced over to the only other person present —

— and was thrown back to a lovely day spent with a kind young man.

She had not survived for so long as Connor's daughter and self-appointed protector from the world at large to give away her suspicion of the man's convenient location so near to Duncan when he had appeared in her life so close to the changing tides in Connor's own life. For half a moment, she almost wished Brenda had not decided Connor was too overwhelming, that it had been his wife on this trip instead of herself.

But she had never been a coward, and understood perfectly well why Connor and Brenda were separated now. She could — would — handle this meeting now upon her.

"Stepped away from your photography in favor of book collections, Mister Dawson?" she asked in a charming voice, letting her smile reflect the surprise of seeing a man of her past so far from where they had met.

"Miss Ellenstein, what a surprise." He stood, using the cane to do so, and Rachel added more details to the picture she was building. He was noticeably older, as she herself was, the reliance on the cane a bit more pronounced, but his smile was still making his face light up with disarming sincerity.

Who was Joe Dawson, that he was mortal and yet so close to the lives of those like her Connor?

"Also, the books are less finicky about lighting and framing," he added as he walked over to her. "Looking for anything of particular interest?"

"Browsing, actually, passing the time. It's an eclectic neighborhood, it seems."

"You could say that," Joe agreed. "If anything catches your eye, I am always up to negotiate with an astute antiquities dealer such as yourself."

That he was firmly the center of her attention was not something she betrayed, only smiling and moving on to browse.

"Perhaps we could find the dessert we had no room for in New York?" she offered as he was moving back to the table he'd been working from.

"I can think of nothing better for this evening."

Connor would tell her she was playing with fire, when there was something so far amiss. Rachel preferred to see it as gathering intelligence on potential flashpoints.

Rachel passed the first part of the meal with Joe in conversation about what she had seen, and he offered ideas of new places to visit while she was in town. As she played the tourist, she considered just how to go about learning why he was here, so close to Connor's cousin after she'd met him in the aftermath of Connor's endgame against the Kurgan.

As the dessert course was delivered, Rachel glanced over and caught Joe studying her. He gave the smile and bashful look for being caught, and she found herself responding to that on a level she deemed dangerous.

Not necessarily in a physical danger sense, but to Connor's safety, and that of Duncan and his chosen family, she decided firmly.

"I had the impression you were more easterly in your setting, when we first met," Rachel said, giving him the faintest smile.

"Better opportunities out this way for me." He took a bite, chased it with the wine, and then shifted his body language a little. Rachel wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but it put her more on guard. "What about you? No more restoration and purchasing of antiquities?"

"Here and there, but more by appointment with travel benefits." Rachel tried her own tiramisu, decided she could name three places that served better, and sipped her coffee to wash it down. "Retirement allows me more opportunities in many ways, to keep an eye on my interests."

"Most people choose to turn their attention to new things when they let go of their old lives," Joe mused. "I suppose there's exceptions to anything that could be normal about humans, though."

"I find it is a good life, to keep an eye on those people or events that stand out," she answered. "After all, even those of us that prefer to live life a day at a time might be caught up in extraordinary events."

Had that been a shading of his eyes, something in memory haunting him now? Did he have a person like Connor that had saved him, and that was how he was connected? It couldn't be Duncan; she'd mentioned stopping in the book shop and making this date in his hearing without a single spike of interest.

And Duncan, for all he was a veteran of his years, still had difficulty masking himself.

"To observe something is to change it, or be changed by it," Joe pointed out. "Getting caught up in the ways and lives of the unusual ones can be a difficult thing."

"I am certain that is so, but I learned as a child that just standing by doesn't keep you any safer, or those you care about," she said softly. "Which may be why I took to the antiquities so easily. Every object holds some story, if you can just trace the history of it. People can be much the same."

"Very true," Joe said, giving the faint smile and change of body posture to move the conversation away from this.

Who was the one for Joe? And was Joe scouting others to mark targets, or warn of danger? Rachel rather hoped it was the latter, as she asked his opinion of a local museum, letting the double-layered words drop for now.

"Have a good night?" Connor asked as he took her jacket from her.

"Waiting up for me?" Rachel retorted, before leaning in to kiss his cheek.

"Maybe."

"Yes."

He smiled, his eyes crinkling up as that little catching laugh came out, before he offered for her to precede him into the sitting room. She settled in a chair, listening, but it seemed Duncan and Tessa must be out from the quiet. She still wasn't certain if Richie actually lived here or was just in and out.

"I think he knows someone like you, but I also don't think he's a danger," Rachel said, meeting Connor's eyes.

"Then… I'll warn Duncan that he's been seen near us before, and hopefully my little cousin can be a sensible man about the risks he takes."

"Hmm, he's as much a MacLeod as you," she pointed out, getting a warm laugh in response.

"Hey, I can dream!" Connor rebutted. "We are still flying out tomorrow."

Rachel nodded. "For the best." She would also hope this did not cause Duncan new grief in the long run, but her duty was to Connor… even if Connor saw it the other way around.

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Lake Lewisia on holiday

As is traditional, Lewisia will be on holiday for the month of February. Posts will resume on Monday, March 2nd, on their usual schedule.

In the meantime, remember that our communities are what we make them and who we make them with. We can choose to live in a world full of libraries and community centers with robust programming, social services to help people build and rebuild safe and fulfilling lives, arts and crafts that enrich and inspire everyone, and yes, peculiar strangers who are both part of the community and part of the local mythology.

If you have ever found yourself thinking, “I wish my town could be like that,” consider how you can help make that happen.

www.standwithminnesota.com/

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: bbno$ and Ironmouse - 1-800

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Done This Week

Miracle of miracles, fun was had! My request for my birthday--oh, shit, I’m 40 now...

Huh.

Anyway!

My birthday activity request was to take a trip to Solvang--technically Danish, but still thematically appropriate for me Swedish language pursuits and general Scandinavian interests. There is a bookstore there (and Hans Christian Andersen museum) that had a chance of having Moomin books, maybe even in the original Swedish. (Spoiler: no Swedish versions currently in stock, but I bought up their stock of English versions.) So we made a day of it, with Pepper in tow.

The timing of everything was perfection. We had precisely enough time to do all the things I wanted to, plus one extra unplanned stop, and got home exactly in time to feed the horses at the usual hour. Utterly stress-free. I obtained books and stickers and a truly alarming quantity of baked goods. The place was simply overrun with grackles, a bird that was intermittently present when we first moved to our new place but have since left, so it was like seeing an old friend (or a few hundred). It was a very, very good day.

In a lovely surprise, the next day, our neighbor let mum know he was done working on her tractor. He’s been attempting to fix it for a few months now. What started as one known problem became a whole cluster of uncovered issues, a few things he broke accidentally in the repair process, and some improvements. It’s a 1955 Massey Ferguson, and while my dad had sort of kept up with maintenance on it, it was really showing its age and the need for significant part replacements. I wrecked my back trying to get the brush hog hooked up to it again, but such is life. Mum got to twirl around, doing battle with the grass armies that have overtaken everything, and the tractor didn’t have the slightest problem. Considering it previously could only run for about 20 minutes before needing to be hosed down to deal with its overheating problems, this is stunning. She’s very happy.

I’m sad to be going back to work tomorrow. My work phone was blowing up during the week with team chats that I resolutely ignored. So I’m sure I’m going to come back to A Situation. But that is still officially not my problem for a few more hours.

Lewisia: still on break

Day job: none hours with left beef

Cleaning: attempted to fix the weed whacker but it’s still having problems of a mysterious nature

Crafting: finished attaching the “antici...pation” patches to the battle jacket and reattached the one I took off to make room for them, finished the dorky little cotton washcloth I’ve been crocheting for three thousand years

Gardening: watered all the succulents for the first time in *mumblety* months, first pass of weed whacking the castle garden

Reading: Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire (a bit of a transitional book, trying to do a bunch in multiple threads of the series, and the charm of all the characters makes that work just fine, a bit of a road trip story)

Watching: Revolutionary Girl Utena episodes 30 to 34

Listening: Dan Avidan and Super Guitar Bros volume 1 (yep, that sure is what it says on the tin, I have now finished the process of living backwards through this particular series), the self-titled album from bbno$ (he guested on the Game Grumps, I wanted to know what his music was like, the answer is “frantic ADHD swagger,” which is apparently something I like [see sbassbear’s album], and he’s also vocally pro trans and queer people, earworms the whole way through)

Playing: Animal Crossing still, la la la, creating island decorating projects for myself, thinking about redesigning a massive area, living my best, most pointless life

Clock Mouse: 125 minutes of planning work

Current Mood: exhausted

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Weekly proof of life: media intake | impending weather | manga work

One link, which hopefully won't be paywalled: "Rachel Reid's wild Heated Rivalry ride" at The Globe and Mail. The whole "local girl makes good" element of the HR show taking over the world is a very nice cherry on top of the whole thing, and I really liked this profile.

Reading: I'm maybe 30% into Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl and wavering about continuing. I've gotten better about DNFing things, and this time I actually have the book out of the library, so the good old financial sunk-cost fallacy isn't in play. But I still don't like DNFing.

I've also read some more of Braiding Sweetgrass and reread vol. 2 of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service.

Watching: Crunchyroll wasn't in the mood to work when we attempted to watch last week's ep. of Frieren, so we're two episodes behind on that. (Annoyingly, Netflix keeps saying it thinks we'd love the show, but only has season 1.) Hopefully we'll get caught up on the most recent ep. of The Pitt tonight.

On top of those currently-running things, we're now one episode into Midnight Mass.

Playing: Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven continues to delight me.

Weathering: There's another storm heading in, due to arrive tonight, but it looks like it's veered enough that our local forecast is now for a somewhat more reasonable amount of snow than I'd been hearing before yesterday evening or so. Apparently it's also bringing fairly high winds, so there's the usual "will the power stay on?" worry. (Our neighborhood has been really lucky on that front this season, and

scruloose and I are pretty well prepared, so it's not a huge worry.)

Working: I turned in the final volume (!) of Pet Shop of Horrors on Friday and immediately tried to switch to the next volume of Now That We Draw, since that's due mid-week, but my brain was Not Having It; I suspect it was the sheer tonal dissonance as much as anything. But then yesterday, what with the storm warning and all, I basically did the last four-fifths of the book in one sitting to make sure I at least had a workable draft, and now my brain is pretty crisped. (It's not a very text-heavy or tricky rewrite, and the translators make it pretty painless, so four-fifths is a lot at once but not the feat it would be with some series.)

So now I have a draft with just a couple tweaks still to be made and a final read-through to be done, and I'm tempting fate a bit by not trying to get that all off my plate today, but I think letting it rest for a day before reviewing it is extra important given that I did the draft so fast. So I'm gambling a bit, but also have something I can submit with caveats if need be, if we do lose power for three days or something.

Sleeping: Sleep has been distinctly Not Great for the last few (?) nights. I've been doing decently at getting to bed in a timely fashion and mostly not taking forever to fall asleep, but I've been having even weirder and more stressful dreams than usual and it's all been very restless.

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Good Omens: The Seduction Malfunction by iamtheenemy

Fandom: Good Omens
Pairings/Characters: Aziraphale/Crowley
Rating: T
Length: 5437 words
Creator Links: iamtheenemy (Steph)
Theme: Inept in love

Summary: Crowley gets orders to seduce Aziraphale to the dark side. It goes about as well as you might expect.

Reccer's Notes: Crowley gets orders from Hell to seduce Aziraphale, and Crowley can't really bring himself to try, despite some half-hearted attempts. That's the first half of the fic, the second half is the two of them after the almost apocalypse, and it's very sweet, even if Crowley's brain stops functioning a few times.

Fanwork Links: AO3

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meta

If 2025 was the Year of the Hydra Cypress…

…what form is the Fire Horse (17 February 2026 to 5 February 2027) going to take in the DMBJ fandom bestiary?

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Crafting & Creative Update, January 2026. Plus BOOKS!

Crafting mojo, what's that? I sure wouldn't know, because mine went out the window mid-month.

I started off decently, getting 31 rows done on a sleeve. Problem is, I had hoped to not only finish that sleeve this month, but do its pair as well. That didn't happen. At least I made SOME progress, but there's some tinking/fixing in my future, because I see a miscrossed cable, grrr.

[Image Description: A knitted sleeve for a cardigan, in progress. It features deep ribbing at the cuff, with a cable running up the center of the sleeve. The cable is teal in color and the rest of the sleeve is gray.]

There's a community on Ravelry doing a CRAFTO bingo board this year, and you know I love a crafting challenge, so I am attempting to take part. One of the squares is "A Favorite Designer", so I made my TENTH Lacy Crochet Kerchief by Kristen TenDyke:

[Image Description: A crocheted triangular kerchief. The edges are in green, and the center is lace in white.]

Early in the month, I started a fingering weight shawl. I had hoped to do lots on it in January but I'm maybe ten rows in, which giving that it's an asymmetric triangle that starts at a point, is pretty much NOTHING.

Also, for CRAFTO we're allowed two entries a month, so towards the end of the month I searched for something quick to make. I attempted baby booties, a headband, a knit 3D heart, and a knit flat applique heart, and none of them worked for me. I think my hands just don't want to knit right now; things felt awkward and fumbling and I just had no patience for it. Which SUCKS because most of my bigger projects that I want to do this year are knitted projects. I ended up not turning in a second project, which probably means I'm out of the running for a prize, but whatever.

This was my first month taking part in

getyourwordsout, and I had some success, but not much. First: I probably did work that I wouldn't have if I wasn't taking part in the challenge. That's good! But I was supposed to write on ten days, and managed five, and for some of THOSE, I counted creative

snowflake_challenge posts, which felt a bit like cheating.

I have a bunch of

ladiesbingo fics I want to finish, so hopefully I can work on that this month.

I messed around with my Neocities site this month, successfully figuring out an auto dark mode for it! That's not live on the site yet, just on my local copy, but I'm proud at myself for doing that. I also did another chunk of the Shadowbringers recap, but that hasn't been HTMLized for Neocities yet. Soon. Finally, I started documenting FFBE Season 2, but quickly fell into despair when I realized just how much there is to do. But hey, if I can do Season 1, I can do Season 2. Just hoping Season 2 doesn't take over four years like Season 1 did.

StoryGraph was doing a One Page a Day reading challenge in January, and I took part in that. I succeeded! Some days I even read more than a page!

I had started off with Contact but that was a bit too heavy for me, so I bounced off that and turned to a "safe" author for me and read a novella by Courtney Milan, "The Pursuit Of...". This was a good read. I liked both the main characters a lot, and LOVED the cheese storyline. Fun romp, would read again.

Then I started a reread of To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. This is also a "safe" book for me. I do enjoy her time travel series as a whole, but this one's a COMEDY rather than the serious nature of the other books, and it's a delight to read. I'm only a few chapters in but it's been fun already.

Given that I had signed up on StoryGraph to read 6 books this year, and I'm on my second one on February 1st? That's good progress! Am pleased. I probably wouldn't have done it had StoryGraph not had its challenge this month.

Entry tags:

into february

it's a new month, so let's see how i did on those goals and set some new ones.

websites

i finished my ardbert site! kinda came down to the wire a little bit, but i got there in the end. it's not as done as it could be (i didn't include as many insert images as i wanted to) but it's perfectly readable, so we'll take it.

february goal: i'm a little undecided, but i'd like to get at least one of my pending sites/revamps done. so that means i need to finish one of the layouts i've been struggling to get done. maybe the treasury? we'll see.

writing

i didn't work on endwalker fic at all, lol. i did glance at and reread a few chapters the other day, though, so hopefully i can work on it in the coming weeks. i did write every day, though.

february goal: please at least one chapter of endwalker fic i beg

video games

i finished pokemon scarlet! i really enjoyed it, it was a delightful new take on the tried and true pokemon formula, and the story was really charming. some of my favorite npcs for sure.

i finished that last week, so in the meantime i've been continuing trails in the sky the 3rd, which i think i can handily finish this month, so that's the february goal. after that... maybe trails into zero? i'm really having fun with the trails series right now and i'd love to see what happens next.

other stuff

i read three books last month, two of which were novellas... but hey, at least i read something. i spent a lot of my reading time last month reading my own stuff, so hopefully i can spend more time on published works this coming month.

not much else to talk about at the current moment, i think. on to february!

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Round 183: Inept in Love

Photograph of two kingfishers perched on a branch. One is surrounded by a cloud of pink love hearts and the other has a single question mark over its head. Text: Inept in Love, at Fancake.

Bring out your failboats! Our theme for February is inept in love.

These fools are unlucky in love—whether it's due to inexperience, obliviousness, social anxiety, or their own terrible choices—or are so in love they can't function properly. This trope is sometimes called "Idiots in Love," but as "idiot" is an ableist term, I ask that you don't use it in your recs, and just as there are all kinds of love, this theme is for all kinds of relationships.

The tag for this round is: theme: inept in love

If you're just joining us, be sure to check out our policy on content notes. Content notes aren't required, but they're nice to include in your recs, especially if a fanwork has untagged content that readers may wish to know about in advance.

( Rules! )

( Posting Template! )

( Promote this round! )

Reblog on Tumblr | Reskeet on Bluesky | Retoot on Mastodon

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projects: 10 in 202x

337 | 10 in 2026 gaming list

So, I’ve pulled together a 10 in 2026 gaming goals list for the year. I don’t think this is quite as solid of a list as the one I pulled together last year, but as far as setting intentions for the year goes, I think it will work well enough! Like last year, I’m sorting this list into vague categories. ( beneath the cut )

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Posting has begun at this year's Half a Moon

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

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diary: 2026,
irl

2026 personal goals

I don't usually do yearly goals or whatever because I inevitably get bored and give up on them, but I think I'd at least like to make a list of things I'd ideally like to do for this year, and keep them in the back of my mind.

Here's what I've got:

1. Don't shop on Amazon, with an exception for a Kindle Unlimited sub if/when I get a discount offer
2. Buying used is preferable, when possible
3. $50/month allowance for books (paper or ebook)
4. Learn new skills (tbd)
5. Go on walks
6. Try something new/be open to new experiences ✨️
8. Don't worry about money

Some of my though processes for these under here: ( Read more... )

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2584 / Fic - The Pitt

The Long Goodbye
The Pitt | Gen | ~1200 words | Thanks to

sheafrotherdon for reading over this.

(Also on AO3)

( Dana has something to tell Robby. )

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The Day in Spikedluv (Saturday, Jan 31)

I slept in again this morning. When the weather is nice I like getting up and heading out even on a Saturday morning, but not when it’s this cold! Gosh, I can’t wait for spring!!

I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, emptied the dishwasher, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I made egg salad for lunches and we had English muffin pizzas for supper.

I read more in Husband Material (finally!), and watched The Pitt, Lottery Dream House, and some House Hunters International.

Temps started out at 6.3(F) (and dropped to 5.4; though the fact that the temps were above zero was a surprise) and reached 18.1. There was some sun, but at no point did it actually feel warm out.

Mom Update:

Mom sounded better today. Sisters A and S had visited and she’d had a call from my brother. Eating had been okay.