We tried another way we never came back from
Jul. 8th, 2026 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](/post-https-www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sovayspatch's appointments for a change, we returned to Belle Isle Seafood and this time it was a beautiful gold-tilting evening and we could seat ourselves at one of the weather-polished open-air tables and a server came by with her pad of guest checks and for what we estimate to have been the first time in six and a quarter years we ate at a restaurant together. I got a plate of smelts piled just as high and sweetly sanded and ate them down to the fried tips of their tails and the delicate bones. Rob assures me that his baked haddock was as flakily rich as it looked under its crumbs and juiced lemon. We had duly observed the warning sign about the seagulls, but mostly we saw sparrows leaning like acrobats through the diamonds of the chain-link and a common tern that made an air-slicing swoop into the water after a small silver struggle of fish. I twisted corners of napkins into earplugs because of the planes roaring out of the peach-haze over Logan. The serpentine water was full of the shivered reflections of boats and the piers built green shadows under their Plimsoll lines. When we came home by way of Revere Beach where the glass-backed combers were still curling in high, the sun doubled itself fierily in the salt marsh off North Shore Road. Even more so now, the sea feels like a lifeline. Everything feels like choking and it is so important to have reasons to breathe.
Things
Jul. 9th, 2026 01:45 pmvassFinished listening to the audiobook of Monkey King (abridged, Monkey-centric, version of Journey to the West translated by Julia Lovell, narrated by Kevin Shen.) It was very fun.
Tech
Dug out the soldering iron etc that I bought years ago with the annual intention of learning electronics this year. Now to check whether they work and haven't become damaged over two moves and mumble years of storage.
Hiking Twin Falls
Jul. 8th, 2026 06:41 pmcanyonwalkerTwin Lakes · Mon, 6 Jul 2026. 12:15pm.
As Hawk and I were putting together a list of possible trails to hike on this visit to Mammoth Lakes, she suggested Twin Falls just outside of town and showed me a map. It's practically right next to the start of a trail we hiked on a previous visit. "I think we looked at that from the side of the road and considered it 'done'," I said. But then she showed me a pic on AllTrails.com, and I realized we had definitely not seen Twin Falls before— and if we had, I wouldn't have pooh-poohed it!
To put this falls in perspective I'll start with the view we got to last.
This is Twin Falls as seen from across one of the Twin Lakes. It falls almost 300' down a steep ridge from Mamie Lake. There's a trail from the bottom that switch-backs up the mountainside but doesn't really get close to the falls.... Then, according to AllTrails.com at least, there's a trail from the top that drops like a shot right next to the falls. We opted to hike the latter.
What AllTrails.com marked wasn't an established trail but rather a "social route" as people call it nowadays. Use trail was the term we hikers used years ago. Either way, it's a path that's beaten down from people walking on it, it's very dicey in spots, and it's not maintained. The trail notes promised us view of Upper and Lower Twin Falls, which are near the top and about halfway down the long cascade you see in the pic above.
In this video you can also see Twin Lakes below us when I pan away from the falls. And did you spot that little bridge spanning between the Twin Lakes? That's where I stood to capture the first pic in this blog.
When we were done enjoying the Lower Falls we continued hiking up the use trail to Upper Falls. There was a use trail between the two! It's just in such poor condition that it wasn't really visible from above. I mean, climbing up from below we were doing things like climbing almost vertical sections of hillside by grabbing onto exposed tree routes. Here's a pic Hawk took of me coming up the trail:
When we got back up to Upper Falls I felt like my butt had been thoroughly kicked. Well, actually it was my butt that was in agony, it was my lungs. The elevation up here is nearly 9,000', and having barely 24 hours to acclimate from sea level is not enough for a person of my age. So from here we lateraled back over to the switchback-y trail and zigzagged our way back up to the trailhead at the top.
The Devastation We Reap
Jul. 8th, 2026 06:28 pmsgatazmy posting in ![[community profile]](/post-https-www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
sga_saturdayAuthor: Tazmy (
sgatazmy sgatazmy )Challenges: Policy/Sheet (although I thought this month was virus/program, so it works for that, too)
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
No Pairing
Word Count: 839
No Warnings
Summary: They chose murder. Of course they did. While they always had the best of intentions, their impact was usually devastation and destruction, as though it was their policy to be stupid and rash.
notes on The Residence finale
Jul. 8th, 2026 05:43 pmjazzfishA cosy whodunnit set at the White House during a state dinner. About six hours' worth of material, spread over eight hour-long episodes. Rapid-fire dialogue reminiscent of Howard Hawks's screwball comedies, a fun birding-obsessed detective, and a great cast. Recommended.
Three thoughts after the last episode:
1) That last episode is emblematic of the Netflix Way. The detective gathers all the suspects to walk them through the crime, as is traditional for the genre (though she's doing it to see who will give themselves away, rather than because she knows). So she takes them all through a recap of everything that's come up in the series so far. Then, just in case you missed it, she spells out explicitly how the murder was committed, again, for the big reveal. Dumbed down, for people who've been half watching and half scrolling. Kudos to the writers for managing to keep the rest of the show interesting, but I was about ready to gnaw my arm off to escape yet more Here's What Happened.
I recognise that audiences can't be trusted anymore, what with the proliferation of videos explaining the ending of even fairly straightforward movies. I just wish it weren't so.
2) I did not so much call the culprit as really really want it to be that person.
3) The whole series demonstrates how mysteries are a fundamentally conservative genre. ( spoilers follow ) I have no beef with this in general; it's just really obvious, and not a little frustrating, in this instance.
Reading Wednesday
Jul. 8th, 2026 07:59 pmtroisoiseauxFinished Buffet for Unwelcome Guests by Christianna Brand, a collection of short stories categorized into "Cockrill Cocktails" (featuring her recurring detective Inspector Cockrill), "Entrees" (longer stand-alones), "Petit Fours", and "Black Coffee." There was something generally flippant about the "Petit Fours", including two separate stories that made me think of the Mmm Whatcha Say SNL sketch, only one of them was about a jewel heist* and one about blackmail and murder; the latter also featured some cheerfully callous children, making two for two on a reaction of o__O towards the children in Brand's mystery stories, which does make me curious about the vibe of her novels for children. The "Black Coffee" stories were, as the name suggests, just plain dark: ( ... ) Bit of a grab bag, quality-wise, and I did skip a couple of stories— one had such a baffling opening sentence that I was like, you know what? I'll come back to this and then I didn't; one was just virulent fatphobia for the first couple of pages and I safely assumed it would not improve— and it ended on a sour note, since the second-to-last story hinged on an intentionally false accusation of sexual assault in a way that has aged extremely poorly. (Not sure when it was written, but this collection was published in the early '80s?) There were some good stories, though— particularly among the Cockrill ones, where I found I liked him more than in Brand's novels— so not an entirely disappointing experience.
* Actually, on double-checking, that one was filed under "Something to Clear the Palate" rather than a "Petit Four"— presumably as the one story in the collection that did not involve murder?— but I don't want to rewrite that whole sentence at this point.
The Hockey Player
Jul. 8th, 2026 03:30 pmolivermossThe coda to all this, which happened after the doc wrapped I assume, is that the Oilers also didn't re-sign him. He's UFA, and currently unsigned. So, the Oilers acquired him and treated him seriously as a prospect for their NHL team, then switched to their new coach Mike Babcock, and then he was not re-signed. Now, we don't know how this played out. Luke might have seen the hiring of Babcock and decided to GTFO, or maybe he feels he has a better chance to move up in a different franchise. But his story is very much an unfinished one and it's a bit strange for this doc to drop while he's on the market and has been for a bit.
Again, we don't know what is up. He might have multiple offers and is deciding. I obviously think he'd be a great fit for Coachella Valley, and hey we just hired staff specifically to develop defencemen! But the doc tries to end on a happy note, when in reality things are deeply unresolved.
I check Luke's Elite Prospects page daily, but if he finally gets a contract somewhere I'll probably hear about it elsewhere first.
if it's not love, then it's the bomb that will bring us together
Jul. 8th, 2026 06:28 pmmusesfoolAnyway, it's Wednesday and I have read some books!
What I've just finished
Radiant Star by Ann Leckie. This was enjoyable but very low-key, even at the climax.
Long Live Evil and All Hail Chaos by Sarah Rees Brennan. Hiilarious and very genre-savvy portal fantasy. I enjoyed both books and am hoping the third one sticks the landing. Sadly, it's not due out until next summer. Alas.
What I'm reading now
Dead Hand Rule by Max Gladstone, which is the third (and final?) book in the Craft Wars trilogy? series? Idk. I'm enjoying it but he is pulling people from all over the first series and I don't always remember who they are since it's been a while since I read those books.
What I'm reading next
As ever, it is a mystery.
*
wednesday reads and things
Jul. 8th, 2026 04:00 pmisisWhat I've recently read:
The Astrobiology Immersion Program by
petra recommended it. AU in which on the way back to Erid, Rocky and Ryland Grace bodyswap. I love bodyswap as a trope and it's especially rich when the bodies are alien to each other. I thought it was a little long, and the handwaving a little handwavy, though the ultimate "why" resolution was super interesting, and I really liked that the story continues through to the consequences on Erid.The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt, which is a sort of literary dark-humor western, with a really fun narrative voice. Charlie and Eli Sisters are Bad Men With Guns who wield them for a mysterious mogul called the Commodore. Except Eli's got a sensitive side, and he's starting to wonder why he's killing people for money when he could just settle down and run a trading post somewhere. My favorite part, oddly, was the throughline of Eli being completely unable to hold onto any money; if he doesn't give it away out of soft-heartedness as soon as he gets it, it's stolen, and I was delighted every time it happened.
The Rook by Daniel O'Malley, which was a recommendation from
merit - I couldn't resist the premise of a woman waking up with amnesia and learning, through letters written from her former self, that she's a high-up bureaucrat in a secret organization of people with supernatural powers who deal with supernatural crimes and threats to the country. Sort of like Rivers of London but with Ghostbusters-level humor. ETA: and now I am reminded of another reason I really liked this: the main character, Myfanwy Thomas, discovers (somewhat to her surprise) that she is frighteningly competent at her job. Also there is a fantastic female character with whom I ship her (and there is fic). Anyway, lots of fun, and I'm now reading the second book in this series, Stiletto.What I've recently watched:
S4 of Dark Winds, which unfortunately had quite a bit of action in LA - not that I have anything against LA, it's just it's not the familiar Four Corners scenery. As soon as they (metaphorically) hung a German on the wall I was expecting it to fire (metaphorically) Karl May, and I was not disappointed.
We've just watched the first episode of S2 of the live-action One Piece. I love how goofy it is!
Fiction
Jul. 8th, 2026 04:46 pmrivkatJason Pargin, There Are No Giant Crabs in This Novel: A Novel of Giant Crabs: ( existential horror )
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre:( reader, I reread it )
Francis Spufford, Nonesuch: ( WWII fantasy )
Ann Leckie, Radiant Star: ( revolution has consequences )
Alexis Hall, Hell’s Heart: ( sapphic Moby Dick ... in ... spaaaace )
Peter Watts, Fold Catastrophes: ( cyborg futures )
Naomi Kritzer, Obstetrix: ( reproductive horror )
Chuck Tingle, Fabulous Bodies: ( nope )
John Wiswell, The Dragon Has Some Complaints:( one dragon, several heads )
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Green City Wars: ( uplift noir )
Caitlyn Paxson, A Widow’s Charm: ( fantasy romance with some door-slamming farce )
Allie Therin, Edge of Mercy: ( empaths in love )
M.A. Carrick, The Eye of The Leviathan:( faeries and the Inquisition )
![[syndicated profile]](/post-https-www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
mcsweeneys_feed“Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the former majority leader, was hospitalized on June 14. Since then, his office has provided few updates about his condition. The scant official statements have led to speculation around Washington and efforts to piece together information on what happened.” — New York Times
Everyone knows that Democrats want to force the government into our private lives. They’ve spent decades shoving public schools and fire departments into communities that never asked for them. Now, Democrats think that Big Government should be monitoring the health of America’s senior senators.
Thankfully, Republicans are standing up for medical privacy and the sacred relationship between doctors and their political patients.
For weeks, Senator Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized for unknown reasons. The leftist media wants you to believe that, improbably, the eighty-four-year-old had a heart attack, but regardless, that should be between McConnell, his doctor, and his wife (once she can fit him into her schedule). Yet after Representative Thomas Kean Jr. spent four months seeking medical care without disclosing any details to his constituents, Democrats have decided that it’s a crime to keep your health and well-being private.
Obviously, this is a complete violation of American medical norms. Since when is it anyone’s business whether their elected officials are dead?
It goes without saying that Mitch McConnell is very healthy. Sure, he’s had multiple debilitating falls since 2023, and yes, sometimes his hands look like he gave Grimace a colonoscopy. But these are everyday health problems, no different than the common cold. Who among us hasn’t frozen into a soulless gaze mid-speech during multiple public addresses?
But even if Senator McConnell did have a health emergency, the leftists have no right to come between him and his doctor. There are some lines you just don’t cross, and every American deserves the right to make decisions over their own health in accordance with their loved ones and medical professionals they trust. No exceptions.
Of course, the Republican Party understands that there are some exceptions. With wokeness on the rise, it’s dangerous to let just anyone make decisions about the bodies of America’s women and children, especially America’s women and children. Plus, someone has to speak up for the voiceless—like the unborn, or brain-dead former majority leaders. It’s the only way to defend the sanctity of life, which begins at conception and ends after the cutoff for a special election has passed.
We all know the real reason that Democrats are taking medical rights away from the likes of Mitch McConnell and Tom Kean: They’re white men. Liberals are more than happy to let women talk to doctors without any supervision and give trans people “gender-affirming care” so they can “be happy.” But when it comes to a couple of straight white guys who represent more than five million people, apparently every heart attack is the business of the American public.
This is just a sign of what’s to come if the leftists win in November. They’ll weaponize the government to investigate President Trump’s alleged cognitive decline. They would even replace his presidential portrait with something to indicate his senility in office. They would do all of this, even though President Trump can name every animal in the jungle—including the hard ones.
If you think the Democratic war on health stops with interrogating powerless politicians over their unexplained absences, think again. Without the right to access the care they need, kids will suffer. Medical records will be targeted. Women seeking urgent care will needlessly die or go to jail. When extremist political ideologies trump health-care decisions, no American is safe.
That’s why Republicans are committed to ensuring that heroes like Mitch McConnell can continue to vote against the erosion of our medical rights until his dying breath—and, God willing, long after that too.
Water
Jul. 8th, 2026 11:20 amranunculusWater is still taking up a lot of bandwidth. It’s the cows, the time of year and the age of the system. Yesterday I used quite a lot of water in the garden, including some that escaped when a connection on the drip system came apart. Fortunately there was water in the overflow trough, and some in the trough at the house so I wasn’t too worried. I did talk to Cody because, by yesterday we had had water for a couple of days and I had seen exactly 2 cows and their calves. The rest of the herd was missing. Cody thought about it, and decided to go find the cows in the easiest, fastest way. He went out at noon, when the cows were “shaded up”, that is lying down in the shade near water. Smart cows, they take a nap during the hot part of the day. They were quite grumpy and hard to move when he insisted on driving them down to the House Pasture.
( Pics )