igenlode | Network

Describe your space. What do you love about it?

This could mean my house or my space on DW. I'll do both of them. Lucky you.

My house. We've been in this home for about 30 years. It's a four-bedroom, two-bath house with 2156 Square feet of living space. We have a nice kitchen. Not fancy just nice and cozy. My hubby watches different things in the living room that I don't watch so I have one bedroom made into a tv room. That way we don't force the other one to watch something they don't like. 🥰 We watch things together but it's nice to have my own little space. We have a spare room and an office too. We have luxury vinyl floors. They are so easy to keep up. Our house is on .75 acres of land. A very nice sized lot. Plenty of room for grandchildren and our kids. And of course our dog, Dakota. We love this house.

My space on Dreamwidth is a great setting. I belong to about 12 communities and I'm so happy here. Everyone makes me happy. I love it here too.

pattrose

6. In 1869, Harper's Weekly published the first picture of Uncle Sam with chin whiskers. Do you know anyone with a beard or a moustache?

Practically everyone I know has beard or mustache. Or both. I on the fence about long beards. Not wild about them but respect their decisions. 😂

svgurl

pinchhitbingo is a meta event where you fill bingo squares by claiming and filling pinch hits for other fan events

fandomocweekly is a weekly prompt community for original characters based off existing fandoms

badthingshappenbingo is a bingo challenge where the prompts are based on bad things of all varieties that could happen to your characters/ship

allbingo is running a Valentine's Day Bingo Fest for the month of February. There are pre made cards or you can create your own based off the existing prompts.

threeisnotacrowd, a multifandom exchange for relationships between three people, is open for sign-ups until February 7th, 11:59PM GMT-3. Nominations are also still open and will close an hour before sign-ups do.

fourormore, a community for ships with at least four people, is running a Four Or More 2026 Valentine's Special, where you have until February 14th to complete the 3x3 bingo card created for the event.

smallfandomfest is running another round of Pimp Your Small Fandom.

likealighthouse is running fall out boy femslash febrary ficathon, an event for leaving and filling fall out boy lyric prompts for all your favorite femslash ships.

elasticella is running femslash salad bar, where you select two or more prompt tables and one prompt from each table will make up your final prompts for a fill

snowflake_challenge has a friending meme!

Snowflake Challenge Friending Meme promotional banner featuring a cup of frothy coffee or hot chocolate on a plate with a piece of greenery and a cozy comforter with a sprig of baby’s breath. Text: Snowflake Challenge Friending Meme.

fancake's theme of the month is: inept in love. Click on the banner below to find out more.

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.

ysabetwordsmith

Today's theme is London.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

anais_pf posting in

thefridayfive

These questions were suggested by

that_one_girl.

1. What did you want to be when you were a kid?

2. What is your proudest accomplishment so far?

3. What is your dream job?

4. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

5. What does it take to make you happy?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

**Remember that we rely on you, our members, to help keep the community going. Also, please remember to play nice. We are all here to answer the questions and have fun each week. We repost the questions exactly as the original posters submitted them and request that all questions be checked for spelling and grammatical errors before they're submitted. Comments re: the spelling and grammatical nature of the questions are not necessary. Honestly, any hostile, rude, petty, or unnecessary comments need not be posted, either.**

katriona_s

Yesterday I picked some narcissus flowers from our garden and put them in a small base. I took them from 2 different places, not far from each other, but the flowers look different.

I prefer the whiter ones, but the flower with vivid yellow centre is also good, very typical narcissus.

Today on my way to the office I walked through a small park and saw the narcissus flowers which are almost pure white. They looked so beautiful!

adafrog

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ysabetwordsmith

The Impact Fee Illusion

Why “growth paying for growth” often leaves cities weaker, not stronger.

The public discussion usually starts something like this: a new development brings new residents, more traffic, and greater demand for public services. Roads, schools, pipes, and parks don’t build themselves. Someone has to pay for them. Asking growth to pay for growth sounds fair. It sounds prudent. And yet, many cities that rely heavily on impact fees still find themselves financially fragile. They struggle to maintain infrastructure, stretch operations thin, and quietly drift toward insolvency.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

svgurl

My bingo card from the

buddie-bingo-events

petra

I was despairing of the 73% of American Republicans who are on team GO ICE in a poll NPR just published asking whether ICE has gone too far -- and the 7% of Democrats and 29% percent of Independents who are with them.

hannah talked me down by pointing out that, as discussed in the linked conversation, 27% of Illinois voted for Alan Keyes over Barack Obama, which was patently bananas.

I remember a certain male role model in my life talking up Alan Keyes. This does not increase my faith in his understanding of politics, or indeed his inhabiting of the same planet I do.

Current Mood: fuck all that noise
Current Music: You can sing a different song

nanila

[phone rings in my hotel room]
Me: “Hello?”
Concierge, sounding very uncertain and slightly bemused: “Um, hello, is that Nanila, who just checked in with us today?”
Me: “Yes, that’s correct.”
Concierge: “Um…I have a gentleman on the line who would like to speak to you. I…I think he’s your father? I’m so sorry, I’m really not sure.”
Me, chuckling: “That sounds like him. Did he say his name was [Firstname Lastname]?”
Concierge: “I couldn’t understand him when he said his name. I think it’s my phone line.”
Me, drily: “Please don’t be sorry. That will be one of two things: his accent, or he hasn’t got his teeth in.”
Concierge, now relaxing a bit and giggling: “Would you like me to put him through?”
Me: “Please do, thank you.”

*pause*

Me: “Hi Dad, how are you doing?”
Dad: “I tried to call you but I kept getting the prison! Where are you? Are you in XX hotel?!”
Me, patiently: “Yes, Dad, I’m in the hotel.”
Dad: “What room are you in? I need to write it down. Are you sure? Are you okay?”
Me: “Dad. I’m in Room NN. I am fine. And if this is the prison then it’s had a tremendous facilities upgrade.”
Dad: “Oh, okay. Was the traffic awful? Are you very tired? When do you want to meet for dinner? Should we go to the sushi place? Do you remember the sushi place? I need to put my teeth in!”
Me: “Yes, yes, whenever you want to eat, yes, yes, and yes, you do.”

For anyone who has met me in person and has thought to themselves, “This woman has no idea how to hold a conversation like a normal human being,” this is 100% where I got it from. Thanks, Dad.

mecurtin posting in

fandom_checkin

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Thursday, February 5, to midnight on Friday, February 6 (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #34187 Daily check-in poll

This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 26

How are you doing?

I am OK
14 (56.0%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now
11 (44.0%)

I could use some help
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single
10 (38.5%)

One other person
10 (38.5%)

More than one other person
6 (23.1%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

ysabetwordsmith

This simple diet shift cut 330 calories a day without smaller meals

People who switch to a fully unprocessed diet don’t just eat differently—they eat smarter. Research from the University of Bristol shows that when people avoid ultra-processed foods, they naturally pile their plates with fruits and vegetables, eating over 50% more food by weight while still consuming hundreds fewer calories each day. This happens because whole foods trigger a kind of built-in “nutritional intelligence,” nudging people toward nutrient-rich, lower-calorie options.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

musesfool

I knew Prue Leith left GBBO, but I just learned that Nigella Lawson is replacing her for this year's show! I am intrigued! (Note: I still haven't watched the most recent series - I usually save it for my summer vacation.)

I am also considering if I want to try to bake something new this weekend, or just more orange cranberry scones, so my giant bag of cranberries in the freezer slowly gets smaller. I do have plans to try a new pasta recipe and maybe some panko-crusted pork chops, but I hadn't really thought about a baking project. I will have to think on it now.

In work news, some of the stuff I was concerned about yesterday got done, finally, so I feel so much better. I still have to write my stupid review of Assistant J though. I've been putting it off but I can't put it off any longer. Ugh. Such a stupid process.

*

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: We Belong - Pat Benatar

mecurtin

Sometimes as I head to the bathroom for my bedtime rituals Purrcy comes racing to the windowsill outside the door for Wild! Shenanigans! Who can spot such a creature?!?

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby is crouched on a wide windowsill, peering around the edge with a single wide eye showing, tail waving wildly. He is truly a ferocious predator!

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby is crouched on a wide windowsill, peering around the edge with a single wide eye showing, tail waving wildly. He is truly a ferocious predator!

Comfort and self-care are SO important In These Trying Times, says Purrcy. Don't you agree? You, too, can combine sprawling with personal hygiene, if you're a cat!

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby lies splat on his back on the bed, furry tummy up, stretching out one arm and cleaning it with his large pink tongue in a way that is both efficient and very relaxed

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby lies splat on his back on the bed, furry tummy up, stretching out one arm and cleaning it with his large pink tongue in a way that is both efficient and very relaxed

This week in books (up through yesterday, because I completely blanked on that's what Wednesday is for).

#21 There Is No Antimemetics Division, by qntm
It's very mind-bendingly creepy, but it fundamentally doesn't work for me because there's an underlying premise that the only minds on Earth are human. I spend too much time reading science where we deduce the existence of things we can't see to be convinced that there could be things that would be that good at messing with human minds without leaving 2nd or 3rd-order effects on the physical world.

#22 Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz
An extremely cheerful post-this-apoc story about robots & humans clawing their way out of war and societal collapse to make good-tasting food, dammit. A love note to San Francisco. I described the vibe as "you're wet now, but you're going to get dried off and have some delicious noodles to warm up while you hang with your friends".

#23 The Poet Empress, by Shen Tao
Such a relief to read a book based on Chinese imperial harem/court politics that reflects the power-driven, unromantic historical reality. Also a relief to read a book about *any* royal-level struggle where the protagonist understands how much and how little royalty are truly important.

#24 Asunder, by Kerstin Hall
The cover represents this book *extremely* poorly: it implies the subject is a contemporary young woman (judging by haircut & clothing), which is 100% not the case, and the grasping/entangling hands are very hard to see.

The actual setting is extremely interesting & deserved to be conveyed by the cover: it's a fantasy landscape inspired by South Africa, which took me a while to pick up. Just like our South Africa, the world has a complex, layered history -- in this case of magic, invasion, gods and their deaths, and of how most people are just trying to make their lives among the machinations of the powerful. The *feel* of the history as well as the landscape isn't the usual pseudo-Euroasian, but I don't get the feeling that it maps to the history of southern Africa in any direct way. But it's definitely *different*, which is good.

Karys Eska is bound twice, once to the terrifying eldritch entity Sabaster who gives her the power of a deathspeaker by which she earns her living, and now to the spirit of Ferrian, a wealthy young man who promises he can pay her all the money she needs if she can carry him to safety--inside her head. Her journey to try to release herself from these two bindings is vivid and increasingly complex. The ending is not completely satisfying, and I see that's because she's writing a direct sequel.

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows, one female and three male cardinals, and a starling. A small flock of other birds high in the trees may have been more starlings or perhaps mourning doves.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/5/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 2/5/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

jazzy_dave

Kevin Powers "A Shout in the Ruins" (Sceptre)

George Seldom is an old man who decides to take some time to revisit his personal history on a road trip. He travels through the Deep South and as he does so the reader is given some of the events that have led to a country on the brink of race equality. The plantation of Beauvais is owned by a cruel master Levallois who, even before the Civil War, has recognised that industry is the way forward, not agriculture. His neighbour goes to fight in the war and Levallois usurps his land, his daughter and his life. Rawls has been in love with Nurse but both are purchased by Levallois and are subject to his mind games. Reid goes off to war a proud Confederate but returns to find that he has lost everything. Minor characters fight for what they believe is right.

This is a complex and very moving book which looks at aspects of the Civil War and the changes in society from numerous perspectives. The characters are not easy to pin down - Emily seems powerless to stop her fate but does she fight back in the worst way. Even the minor characters, the gang leader, the apprentice and the boatman are given a sympathetic perspective and the descriptions of violence are visceral in the extreme. I hadn't read Powers' first novel but know it was well received, I can see why

jazzy_dave

Gareth Carr "The Boy From The Sea" (Picador)

I loved this haunting story with its beauty and grace, about fracture and repair. In 1973 Donegal, Ireland, a family is split by jealousy while coping with a changing world.

Narrated by a voice representing ‘we,’ the village, gives a timelessness to the tale.

A baby is discovered at the seashore and taken in by a Irish fishing village. The babe is shifted from house to house until Ambrose Bonnard tells his wife Christine and son DeClan they will keep him, naming him Brendan.

It is an act of charity by a family with just enough, with hopes of having money which never comes their way. Christine’s sister Phyllis is especially judgemental. She needs help with their aging father–why take on an outsider?

Declan instantly hates this interloper. He sees his father’s love for the baby that should be his.

Brendan grows into a strange child, never fitting in. He looks up to DeClan who only rejects him. He wanders alone all day, stopping to visit other lonely souls, giving them a blessing. “We were barrels adrift at sea,” the narrator says, “yet we also felt a benevolent force might be at work, a helpful current, and that was a comfort.”

Ambrose is a quiet man who fishes the old way. His friend buys bigger boats and takes in bigger hauls. Bad luck, changing economics, and lack of funds forces Ambrose to take work on the mainland, separating the family. When Christine worries about the boys, he says they will ‘sort it out.’

I loved these characters, so beautifully wrought. A storm at sea and the resulting intimate moments between Ambrose and Christine were especially moving.

The babe found in a floating barrel, the contention between brothers for the father’s love, recall to mind biblical stories. The novel has an element of the fairy tale without ever reading like a fantasy. It has a satisfying ending. Worth reading.

schneefink

I finished books 1-7 of Dungeon Crawler Carl in two weeks, and more importantly I managed to drag both my gf and DD into it too - I think that's one of my strengths :) I had a great time.
( spoilers )

Slight downside, DD and I haven't started our Hades 2 1.0 playthroughs yet, since we planned to start at the same time and she just got to book 6 of DCC ^^ Hopefully soon though.

Instead I played a few runs of Vampire Survivors again. Good for occasional short play sessions that don't require much brainpower (though it is easy to forget to look at the time...) I don't unlock something every run but almost, which feels very cool and like I'm getting somewhere even though I have no idea what to do/where to go for actual game "progression." I might look it up at some point, idk.

(I also considered exploring the new Minecraft updates - I want to find a happy ghast! And ride a nautilus!, among other things - but I lost one set of good armor/tools in the End and another in the Nether a few months ago, and both are very possible to retrieve but I haven't found the motivation yet to either get one of them or make myself new gear. Possibly keepInventory would have been a good idea after all.)

Speaking of games, specifically board games: in early January with L and two of her friends we played Wingspan, which was a lot of fun, and then we tried out Earth, which we also enjoyed a lot. That one we tried first in single player, and then we decided to try the version where you play in teams but quickly switched back because it gets a lot more tactical quickly. The third long game the three of them played was Forest Shuffle - I detect a theme ^^
We also played a quick game of Pandemic. And this reminds me that L and I didn't get a chance to play Hanabi yet, hopefully soon.

It's also been ages since I gave an update on my group's TTRPG games and our current Stars Without Number campaign! We got to level six, which means I can now do "normal" teleports without Committing Effort and it feels fantastic. And I got some other cool abilities too, like imprinting on a party member to teleport back to their side even when they are out of sight.
( Recent adventures )

prisca posting in

fic_promptly

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Igenlode Wordsmith

Ivory Tower

February 2026

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
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9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28

Page Summary

pattrose - 2026 60 questions meme
pattrose - 2026 not quite 365 days questions meme February
svgurl - current fandom events
ysabetwordsmith - Follow Friday 2-6-26: London
anais_pf in thefridayfive - The Friday Five for 6 February 2026
katriona_s - Variation of narcissus flowers
adafrog - Thursday Feb 5th
ysabetwordsmith - Economics
svgurl - buddie bingo card
petra - US Politics - The Crazification Factor - a very old John Rogers post
nanila - Conversations with my father
mecurtin in fandom_checkin - Daily Check-In
ysabetwordsmith - Food
musesfool - I've invested too much time
mecurtin - Two Purrcies; This week in books
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
jazzy_dave - Book 12 - Kevin Powers "A Shout in the Ruins"
jazzy_dave - Book 11 - Gareth Carr "The Boy From The Sea"
schneefink - Dungeons and other games
prisca in fic_promptly - Thursday, February 5 - Free for All

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Page generated 8 February 2026 07:08 pm

Igenlode Wordsmith

Network

2026 60 questions meme

2026 not quite 365 days questions meme February

current fandom events

Follow Friday 2-6-26: London

The Friday Five for 6 February 2026

Variation of narcissus flowers

Thursday Feb 5th

Economics

buddie bingo card

US Politics - The Crazification Factor - a very old John Rogers post

Conversations with my father

Daily Check-In

Food

I've invested too much time

Two Purrcies; This week in books

Birdfeeding

Book 12 - Kevin Powers "A Shout in the Ruins"

Book 11 - Gareth Carr "The Boy From The Sea"

Dungeons and other games

Thursday, February 5 - Free for All

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February 2026

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