April 2026

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maidenjedi: (princess leia)
[personal profile] maidenjedi
TITLE: Cultivating a Greater Work
FANDOM: Star Wars: Andor
RATING: PG
PAIRING: Mon Mothma & Luthen Rael
CHARACTERS: Mon Mothma, Luthen Rael, Kleya Marki
SUMMARY: Mon Mothma and Luthen Rael in the earliest days of their collaboration.

NOTES: Written for [archiveofourown.org profile] colls for [community profile] space_swap 2026.

This story references a character and storylines from The High Republic novels, but it isn't necessary to have read those to read this story.

AO3 link

April 20 mu

Apr. 21st, 2026 02:47
toddslifeandmore: (Default)
[personal profile] toddslifeandmore
Well today when I went to get lunch had to have the winter coat hat and gloves back on when I left it was only 36'f out anyway stopped at Queens Pizza had three three slices of pizza kept lunch for supper which was pasta and beans PS Facebook still running slow at times have a great night you all

Magpie Monday

Apr. 21st, 2026 00:07
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
[personal profile] dialecticdreamer  is hosting Magpie Monday with a theme of "Recovering from Setbacks."  Leave prompts, get ficlets!

Daily Happiness

Apr. 20th, 2026 21:11
torachan: maru the cat giving the side eye (maru side eye)
[personal profile] torachan
1. Back to work today, but since I knew the majority of my day would just be catching up on messages, I decided to work from home. Jasper was extra clingy so I'm glad I was able to snuggle with him so much. And I did get all caught up on email and teams!

2. The other day I saw a post on instagram about some viral loaded fries (the original was orange chicken but they've added a char siu version as well) and it just happens it's at a Chinese restaurant not that far from us. They have delivery, but the fries aren't on the online menu and by the time they got to us they'd be soggy anyway, so we decided to go there for lunch. Since it's gone viral, we decided an early lunch would be best, so we got there around 10:30 (they open at 10) and there was no one else there except someone picking up for delivery, which was good because they only have three tables. We got the char siu fries and they were even better than expected.



The fries are tossed in orange chicken sauce and then there's a bit of melted cheese and sriracha mayo under all that char siu pork. This is like a regular square takeout container but filled so full it would barely be able to close. We shared it and still only ate half. Would definitely get it again, and we want to try the orange chicken version as well.

3. The restaurant is in the same shopping center as a big Mexican market, so we did some shopping there since we usually don't get over there (now we have another reason to go) and got some stuff for carnitas tacos for dinner and those were also delicious.

4. We figured out who the mystery pee-er was, which I'm glad for, because now we know who to keep an eye on. It turns out it's Jasper, which was one of my top suspects. The reason we found out for sure is that I had to throw away all three of the warming beds when we got back because they'd all been peed in and while we'd washed one before, there had been too many recent pee incidents, I didn't want to leave any possibility of a smell. I ordered another one and that came today and not long after we put it down, he peed in it. D:

He is not having trouble using the box, so I don't think this is anything health related, just stress due to us being gone too long, and then I think he now has an association with those warming beds, so thankfully it's not cold weather right now, and when I do get some more for the winter, I'll try a different type and hope that it's been long enough and they're different enough that it doesn't trigger him.

He's such a needy baby, but he's always been a bit weird about Alex, so while he was okay around her in general, he didn't go to her for snuggles while we were gone like Ollie did (Ollie went all in on the snuggles with her; she was not prepared lol), so I think that's what caused him to act out. Hopefully now that we're home and all problem spots have been eliminated, we won't have any more issues.

5. Chloe was checking out the new cat tree.

relatable explanations

Apr. 20th, 2026 21:12
starandrea: (Default)
[personal profile] starandrea
Astronomy Picture of the Day ([syndicated profile] apod_feed) is delightful for many reasons, one being their lovely astronomy pictures and another being their brief explanations of those pictures.

The explanations include a bunch of links for people who want to learn more, and often a random funny link to make people like me click all of them in order to find it. (A little practice can make you very good at guessing which one is the funny link.)

For example, yesterday's picture was Eye on the Milky Way by Miguel Claro. The explanation acknowledged the "unusual vertical horizon," and unusual vertical was a clickable link. I clicked it and laughed out loud.

Another great one from last year was Little Red Dots in the Early Universe, which concluded: "...searches are underway in our nearby universe to try to find whatever previous LRDs might have become today." The phrase searches are underway linked to a paper in The Astrophysical Journal, but the phrase become today was the one I was looking for.

Space Exploration

Apr. 20th, 2026 18:22
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Topographic map reveals vast ocean on Mars three billion years ago

Across the northern lowlands, the terrain holds an unusually broad belt of flat ground far below Mars’ reference level.

Tracing that belt across the planet, Abdallah S. Zaki at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), linked it to the kind of coastal margin oceans leave behind on Earth.

Rather than preserving one sharp edge, that ancient coast seems to have survived as a wide zone built and reshaped over long stretches of time.

ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith

This week, the poetry of Polychrome Heroics is on sale for half price from Monday, April 20 through Sunday, April 26. This series is superhero fantasy. It features themes of heroism, coming of age, diversity, identity kink, family of choice, friendship, and cultural engineering. Sale prices range from $5 to $319, so hopefully there will be something for everyone.

Prices on open epics are locked at the time of opening; however, if anyone wants to donate to open epics and buy poetry, spending $100 will get you the quarter-price rate on the new poems, regardless of the rate on the open epic(s) you support. There are no open epics at present, so you may open one if you wish.

We are repeating the special discount for purchases of $100 or more, in which you get poetry at 25% of its original price instead of 50%. (Note that this increases the amount of poetry you get, rather than reducing the amount of money spent; the point is to get this stuff off of my desk. Yes, I can afford it.) That size of donation also makes you a k-fan which comes with some other perks, like a year-end collection of a poetic series. If several folks want to bundle their orders to make the $100 threshold and have one person send it all, that's okay; you'll get the discount and I'll list all your names as donors, but you'll have to decide amongst you who gets the k-fan credit. If you host a pool, please close it the day before the sale closes, so you have time to collect funds and turn them in on time.

Some of the poems are in sequence of related action, so in places there are prerequisites before a poem can be published. They can be sponsored at any time, just might have to wait for publication until something else gets posted first. Those are marked accordingly. I have also made lists of poems which unlock sequels, and poems which have prerequisites.


Linkback perk: The following poems have verses left to reveal. Boost the signal for this half-price sale and tell me which poem you want to extend.
"A Sense of Weather Changes"
"The Loving Embrace of Night"
"Generations of Cooks Past"
"Homefree and Clear "
"One Bite at a Time"
"Mishpocha"
"Changing Your Nature"
"Besa"





About characters and storylines: The storylines feature multiple characters, so if you want poems about ONE specific character, look closely. The thumbnail descriptions here give some indication who features in each poem. The storyline pages are adding precise, complete information about which characters appear in each poem. If you need more than what's already visible, you can ask me.

About timing: If you want maximum choice, shop early. We usually send a batch of things to my father near the end of a sale, and those poems will be posted as I have time.

About pools: Yes, you can combine your funds with other prompters to get the quarter-price rate. Yes, you can combine your funds with other prompters to buy a bigger poem. Yes, you can offer to match donations by other people. However, the wordsmith is not also a math whiz! After several attempts to find a way that I can work with pools and matches, I have concluded that this is over my head. (I did figure out how to avoid generating fractional pennies, though: all initial prices are now whole dollars, which means they cut evenly into halves and quarters.) So if you want to host a pool or a match, make a post for that in your blog or other venue, then comment here with what you're doing and include a link to wherever the discussion will be. You figure out the poems, you collect the funds, and when stuff is fully funded, you send me the money and the list of what it's for. Then I'll post the goodies. Please close the pool in time to collect donations by the end of the sale, so I can start posting pool poems no later than the day after the sale.

Before placing your order, please check this sale page to see what is still unsold! I will try to update the page as things sell, and it's likely to be the case that some poems will be marked SOLD before appearing in posts. People often buy things in batches, which means that selling gets ahead of posting. Also sometimes people ask for the same thing at the same time, so that not all overlaps are preventable. If you have alternate instructions in case you request something that has just sold, please include that in your message; otherwise I'll email you back and ask what you want to do.


Poems that unlock sequels: "Where You Find Light," "When You Learn to Read," "Your Emotional Abilities"

Poems that have prerequisites: "When You Learn to Read," "No Faster or Firmer Friendships," "A Beautiful Paradox"
 



FOR SALE
25 poems, $3,109 ÷ 2 = $1,554.50
prices from $5 to $319



THE BIG ONE (4 poems, was $794, sale price $397)

"Our Homemade Safety Nets"
Story Date: 2016-2017
Summary: Blainn never intended to stay in Mercedes -- or anywhere -- but it has turned out better than he expected.
364 lines, was $182, sale price $91

These poems form a triptych, to be posted in order:

"Where You Find Light"
Story Date: Early June, 2016
Summary: Josué and Aidan set up a house for earthquake refugees, complete with books.
422 lines, was $211, sale price $105.50  SOLD to [personal profile] janetmiles 

"When You Learn to Read"
Story Date: Monday, June 13, 2016
Summary: Josué reads aloud to refugee children.
286 lines, was $143, sale price $71.50  SOLD to [personal profile] janetmiles 

"No Faster or Firmer Friendships"
Story Date: Monday, June 13, 2016
Summary: Josué and Maria-Vera read together.
515 lines, was $258, sale price $129  In Microfunding Now


KRAKEN (3 poems, was $154, sale price $77)

"The Frequent Passage from Hand to Hand"
Story Date: April 2002
Summary: Kraken appreciates BookCrossing.
56 lines, was $20, sale price $10

"Filled with Things You Don't Know"
Story Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Summary: Marjane works on library decor and gets a new assistant.
98 lines, was $49, sale price $24.50

"Lágrimas da Floresta Tropical"
Story Date: Monday, November 17, 2014
Summary: Pinion and Camberhawk team up with Kayapó forest guardians to stop a logging incursion.
170 lines, was $85, sale price $42.50


RUTLEDGE (5 poems, was $867, sale price $433.50)

"Nothing Like Looking"
Story Date: Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Summary: Aria visits Rutledge as part of Many Paths Up the Mountain.
466 lines, was $233, sale price $116.50

"Your Emotional Abilities"
Story Date: Saturday, May 30, 2015
Summary: Amethyst gives Johan some ideas about accommodations that might help cope with his current challenges.
366 lines, was $183, sale price $91.50

"Shag Carpet Cuddles"
Story Date: June 2015
Summary: The Vermont Shag Carpet Cats love snuggling with people.
19 lines, was $10, sale price $5

"A Beautiful Paradox"
Story Date: Friday, June 5, 2015
Summary: Johan loses his temper
259 lines, was $130, sale price $65
Available for posting after "Your Emotional Abilities" has been sponsored and published.

"Learning New Skills"
Story Date: Sunday, June 12, 2016
Summary: Wrenley Immen teaches her new neighbor about gardening.
311 lines, was $311, sale price $155.50
Double price for research.


SHIV (5 poems, was $264, sale price $132)

"The Graffiti of the Rich"
Story Date: Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Summary: When someone paints over a graffit wall, Shiv leaves a pointed message.
28 lines, was $15, sale price $7.50

"Let the Glass Make Itself"
Story Date: Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Summary: Dale Chihuly rebuilds after the Big One.
45 lines, was $20, sale price $10

"An Expression That Crosses Boundaries"
Story Date: Saturday, July 9, 2016
Summary: Shiv and Pain's Gray make treats to celebrate Rutledge setting up a teleport hub, and they visit Kardal at the Syrian Foods truck.
236 lines, was $118, sale price $59

"Always Guided by Passion"
[Morning of Saturday, September 17, 2016]
Summary: Shiv discusses graffiti with Bo-Art and Creamjeans.
51 lines, was $20, sale price $10

"Never Turn Your Back"
Story Date: Thursday, October 6, 2016
Summary: An incident at college leaves Shiv striving to rescue a classmate.
182 lines, was $91, sale price $45.50


OTHER POLYCHROME POEMS (8 poems, was $1978, sale price $989)

"The Four Marks of True Repentance"
Story Date: Monday, August 13, 2013
Summary: Three former child soldiers move to America.
953 lines, was $477, sale price $238.50

"When Everyone Around You Has Theirs Bowed"
Story Date: Sunday, April 6, 2014
Summary: Therapy for men's genital injury tends to focus on loss, but Marvis Willing knows the proud history of eunuchs.
304 lines, was $152, sale price $76

"Let's Go on This Journey Together"
Story Date: Monday, September 29, 2014
Summary: After breaking his arm, Linus gets a lot of support from his friends.
638 lines, was $638, sale price $319
Double price for research.

"Hear a Thousand Stars Singing"
Story Date: Night of Sunday, October 25, 2015
Summary: Fascinated by the idea of becoming a robonaut, Quain takes up stargazing.
28 lines, was $15, sale price $7.50

"Far Stronger Links"
Story Date: Friday, September 4, 2015
Summary: A coworker's loss inspires support at work.
515 lines, was $258, sale price $129

"Aim a Little Above It"
Nagi deals with a young man who tries to rob her.
260 lines, was $130, sale price $65

"Formidable Tasks of Adaptation"
Story Date: Sunday, March 20, 2016
Summary: Denim has had enough of her parents' shit.
359 lines, was $180, sale price $90

"Upholding It, Wherever Found"
Story Date: Thursday, November 3, 2016
Summary: Gail Somerville works for Interpol, but feels increasingly uncomfortable with it.
256 lines, was $128, sale price $64


Birdfeeding

Apr. 20th, 2026 12:56
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith posting in [community profile] birdfeeding
Today is mostly sunny and cool.

I fed the birds. I've seen several house finches and a fox squirrel.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I planted a flat parsley and a curly parsley in a trough pot, then sowed both kinds of parsley seeds around them.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I planted two million bells in the barrel garden, one solid red and the other streaked in shades of yellow and orange.

I planted the solid black petunia and the black-and-yellow pom-pom petunia in one pot of black pansies, and the burgundy oxalis in another pot of black pansies.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- In one white pot, I planted two portulaca, one yellow and the other orange streaked. In another white pot, I planted two more portulaca, one pink-and-white striped and the other solid white.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I planted two pots, each with four dianthus pinks around a dusty miller artemesia. One set of dianthus is white with pink streaks, the other pink with a darker center.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I planted the two white owl pots. One has two dark purple torenia and a dusty miller artemesia. The other has a purple-and-yellow million bells, a purple-and-white nemesia, and a dusty miller artemesia.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I watered all the newly planted things.

I finished planting the older flat of flowers. I did not finish the newer flat, but I'm down to clusters for two pots: one yellow and white flowers, one shades of pink, red-violet, and burgundy. Not bad for a day's work.

Birdfeeding

Apr. 20th, 2026 12:55
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny and cool.

I fed the birds. I've seen several house finches and a fox squirrel.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I planted a flat parsley and a curly parsley in a trough pot, then sowed both kinds of parsley seeds around them.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I planted two million bells in the barrel garden, one solid red and the other streaked in shades of yellow and orange.

I planted the solid black petunia and the black-and-yellow pom-pom petunia in one pot of black pansies, and the burgundy oxalis in another pot of black pansies.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- In one white pot, I planted two portulaca, one yellow and the other orange streaked. In another white pot, I planted two more portulaca, one pink-and-white striped and the other solid white.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I planted two pots, each with four dianthus pinks around a dusty miller artemesia. One set of dianthus is white with pink streaks, the other pink with a darker center.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I planted the two white owl pots. One has two dark purple torenia and a dusty miller artemesia. The other has a purple-and-yellow million bells, a purple-and-white nemesia, and a dusty miller artemesia.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 4/20/26 -- I watered all the newly planted things.

I finished planting the older flat of flowers. I did not finish the newer flat, but I'm down to clusters for two pots: one yellow and white flowers, one shades of pink, red-violet, and burgundy. Not bad for a day's work.

Music Monday

Apr. 20th, 2026 10:35
muccamukk: Close up of parted lips painted with sparkling rainbow lipstick. (Misc: Rainbow Lips)
[personal profile] muccamukk
Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles - "Where Is My Husband"

Amazing! They did the chorio, too!

Monday Update 4-20-26

Apr. 20th, 2026 00:53
ysabetwordsmith: Artwork of the wordsmith typing. (typing)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Nature
Fossils
Read "Carcinization"
Birdfeeding
Poem: "Food Is Everything We Are"
Nature
Moment of Silence: Sid Krofft
Today's Adventures
Water
Science
Birdfeeding
Creative Jam
Philosophical Questions: Free Speech
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 4-17-26: Merlin
Poem: "Walnut Park"
Quantum Physics
Birdfeeding
Community Thursdays
Survival Skills
Art
Climate Change
Birdfeeding
Good News

Poem: "Walnut Park" has 29 comments. Early Humans has 22 comments. Philosophical Questions: Pregnancy has 66 comments. Safety has 77 comments.


The weather has been cooler here. There's a frost warning tonight. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a pair of cardinals, a brown-headed cowbird, a male goldfinch, and a fox squirrel. Red-winged blackbirds have been singing overhead. I heard a bluejay screaming but didn't see it. Currently blooming: daffodils, violets, tulips, anemone, Solomon's seal, pansies, violas, sweet alyssum, bleeding heart, chokecherries, alliums, lilies of the valley. Flower buds: peonies. Green fruit: mulberries. I have a bunch more flowers to plant too.

sun april 19

Apr. 20th, 2026 02:21
toddslifeandmore: (Default)
[personal profile] toddslifeandmore
Wow 70 yesterday today 40 and some snow anyway lunch chili and forgot to say yesterday on the way home I stopped at a church sale and bought a cute little cat coaster for $5 I well post a photo of it in tomorrow's post hope you all had a great weekend and have a great week coming up take care you are come back now

Daily Happiness

Apr. 19th, 2026 21:25
torachan: my glitch character (glitch)
[personal profile] torachan
1. Yesterday was Record Store Day (a day to support indie record shops where they have a lot of limited release albums for sale) and we went to Record Surplus when they opened at nine only to find that there was a huge line all the way down the block. The people working there were passing out order sheets so you could write down the things you were interested in (including backups if your top choices were sold out) and Carla filled hers out, but after waiting for about 45 minutes and seeing the line barely move, she decided to tap out and we just went home.

Today we went to see if they had anything left over that she wanted and found several albums on her wishlist, including one of her top most wanted. We probably could have gone back yesterday afternoon or evening to check again, too, as there were only a handful of people who joined the line after us, so after that initial rush you were probably able to just go in the store normally, but it worked out in the end.

2. Tonight Alex came over for her usual Sunday dinner and TV and we were able to give her all the souvenirs we'd collected for her, which turned out to be quite a lot as we'd just been picking up stuff here and there that we thought was something she'd like. We actually found several small items with Gaara from Naruto, her favorite character, just at random shops, when last year we'd had to really go deep into the anime shop areas to find anything Naruto. Maybe it's having a comeback?

3. We've decided to get back into bike riding and that we'd like to get ebikes. The area we live in has a lot of flat spaces, but then also some directions you can't go without a hill, often a steep and/or long one, and having the ebike to get back up the hill would be very helpful, especially for Carla, and (hopefully) make us more likely to actually get out and use the bikes.

I had hoped that there would be somewhere around here that buys used bikes, but there doesn't seem to be, so I'm cleaning the old bikes up to try and sell on Nextdoor or Craigslist or something. I don't think I'll get much for them now, but they cost enough that I'd rather not just put them out on the curb for free. I got mine dusted off and pumped up the tires and took it out for a couple mile ride today and it was so nice. I haven't really ridden my bike much since we got a car again and I wasn't using it for my daily work commute. I'm looking forward to more bike riding in my future, and I think I might even take the old one out a bit while waiting for a buyer.

4. Lately Gemma has been spending a lot of time with Chloe and Chloe has been very tolerant of her. We often see them together on Carla's bed, but the other day they were both out in the dining room by the window.

Birdfeeding

Apr. 19th, 2026 21:58
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith posting in [community profile] birdfeeding
Spring is a perfect time to start a nature journal. I've been talking about it with some friends so I wanted to share some resources here. It doesn't have to be fancy. It can have text, art, photos, pressed leaves, whatever you want to include. There are different approaches; all of them are good. Grab a blank book with plain or lined pages as you prefer, something to write or draw with, and head out to your yard, garden, or a nearby park.

Read more... )

Nature

Apr. 19th, 2026 21:57
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Spring is a perfect time to start a nature journal. I've been talking about it with some friends so I wanted to share some resources here. It doesn't have to be fancy. It can have text, art, photos, pressed leaves, whatever you want to include. There are different approaches; all of them are good. Grab a blank book with plain or lined pages as you prefer, something to write or draw with, and head out to your yard, garden, or a nearby park.

Read more... )