Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 46

Wednesday reading, once again on Thursday

I finished up Consolation Stories--a strong finish with "Of a Female Stranger" by Jeannelle M. Ferreira and "Love, Your Flatmate" by Stephanie Burgis.

It's hard to talk about "Of a Female Stranger" without giving key information away that you might enjoy coming upon yourself, but two things I can mention: one is that the protagonist, Theo, moves these days through the world with her gender disguised, or maybe not recognized, and more significantly, that's not the only thing about her that's not a...

divine kiss

I dreamed I was in a foreign country (it started out as Timor-Leste, but what followed was not like anything I experienced there or that I've ever read about Timorese tradition, so let's just call it a foreign country), and I stumbled across an outdoor festival/spiritual event. People were standing in a big circle, singing, and tall, tall (on stilts?) costumed beings were in the center.

They beckoned me into the ring and said something about gods or spirits or wisdom or such-like, and I had a vi...

Wednesday reading: the Thursday edition

So those two stories in Consolation Stories that I mentioned last entry--I think I’m going to write about them one at a time. Today will “This Is New Gehesran Calling,” by Rebecca Fraimow (on here as skygiants , though I have had the hardest time linking that name and her author name in my head).

I *loved* this story. I was so absorbed by every detail of it—it was truly wonderful, and perfect for the anthology. It’s about a pirate radio broadcast to a very far-flung set of refugees, and how the br...

No power--ETA: it came back! A whole day and couple of hours early!

The tropical storm
Or almost. We have a solar battery (long story for another day...), which we got for just such an eventuality, and it gives us electricity for *some* ci...

added to the mandala

I added another ring of leaves and sealed everything in with some blue:



Here are some details. I love the step down and the crack:

( details )

Maaaaybe, colorwise, I preferred it when I ended with the yellow, but that's okay. Things grow and change. It's supposed to rain at around 2 pm today; I wonder what it will look like after that.

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stump mandala

They cut down a massive oak tree across the street from the supermarket. It was really huge, so huge a parent with two small children could have a picnic on the stump.

In situ



My shoe, to give a sense of how large the stump is



I thought, That stump would be a great place for a mandala-flower. So this morning I drew one:



I might try expanding it ... or maybe I'll just leave it at that. I have until it next rains to decide!

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Wednesday Reading

I actually have some paid work in, so my reading time has slipped. I made some progress on the stories in Consolation Stories, though, and also on The Souls of Black Folks.

The Souls of Black Folks,
In chapter 4, WEB Dubois talks about the first school where he taught, in Tennessee. He went looking for a school to teach at by foot as he couldn't afford a horse:

Sprinkled over hill and dale lay cabins and farmhouses, shut out from the world by the forests and the rolling hills toward the east. Ther...

a fun afternoon

Yesterday, Wakanomori and I climbed Mt. Sugarloaf, a loaf-shaped little mountain overlooking the Connecticut River.

Here is the pretty view of the river that you're rewarded with:



Doesn't the river look like such a great way to travel? All smooth like that. And the sumac in the foreground are as close to palms as New England gets.

After doing all that climbing, we rewarded ourselves by going to a little place right down on the river that Waka had discovered the other day:



The rocks stretch out into...

fireflies and Neowise

The fireflies are for some reason guarding our roof, and I'm grateful for the company at the very least.

I could see Neowise from my driveway today, brightest of the three days I've seen it, seeming to dive for the horizon headfirst--be careful! Do you know how to swim? Bright and cold (though the air is so warm). Maybe the fireflies are lifeguards for this comet--but it only *looks* like it's diving for the horizon--luckily for us, he remains swimming in the solar eddies out beyond our atmospher...

Lido Pimiento: Nada

I discovered this song by chance on YouTube and was captured by the music, the lyrics, and the video:



I ended up listening to the rest of the songs on the album that one comes from and ultimately bought the album from Bandcamp.

Here's another that in addition to being a great song has a gorgeous video: "Eso Que Tu Haces" .

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