littleoldliv

Today was warm and muggy. It stormed midday, then cleared up somewhat later.

I fed the birds.

I put out water for the birds.

At dusk, loads of fireflies are coming out. :D I've seen at least one bat too.

Current Mood: busy

lb_lee posting in

pluralstories

"In every strong woman
there are three tongues
all in contradiction,"

Blurb: a poem of the three voices in strong women.

Why is it worth your time?: It's short, meditative, and free to read online!

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse low focus, closeting, voices

Content Warnings: None

Accessibility Notes: This poem has been anthologized in the 1990 collection Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists of Color. It is also in Sinister Wisdom #34, which has been digitized and is screenreadable online, and is backed-up on the Wayback Machine!

uselessdumpster

Busy, busy, busy... I swear, every week I tell myself, “next week will be easier,” and every week the universe just laughs in my face. At this point, I think I might be in a long-term relationship with chaos. And apparently, I'm not the only on, everyone I talk to is either overwhelmed, under-motivated, or both. It's like we all signed up for some weird burnout club and forgot the safe word.

I keep saying I want to focus on self-care, but shocker: saying it doesn’t magically make it happen. Who knew? It’s like I’m trying to meditate on a treadmill that’s going just fast enough to keep me tripping. I’ve been staying up later—sometimes because I’m actually productive and in a groove (rare but beautiful), and other times because I get home late and still want to feel like a human who talks to other humans. Honestly, I love those late-night chats, but I do wonder if I’d be better at keeping up with life if I had, you know, more energy or a robot assistant. Just musing. Not looking for solutions. Just dreaming out loud.

This week should be... interesting. Tomorrow I’m getting new windows in my office, which sounds fancy but really just means two days of chaos and me working wherever I can wedge myself in. But hey, fresh air IS coming, and that’s something! I’m also hoping to get these bird decals for the glass window, because I don’t want to be responsible for any tragic bird/window collisions. One renovation at a time, one species at a time.

Also on the docket: Curtis has a colonoscopy tomorrow (yay adulting!), so I’ll be picking him up between clients while the window people are drilling away, and then trying to convince him to nap downstairs—aka Ground Zero of Windowpocalypse. Nothing says “rest and recovery” like napping next to construction noise.

There’s a ton more going on, but honestly, if I start listing it all, my brain might implode. So we’re going with the “one thing at a time” strategy. If I do even part of a task then boom, it's a WIN. We’re setting the bar low and calling it self-compassion. That’s the vibe for now.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith posting in

birdfeeding

Today is partly sunny, steamy, and hot.

I fed the birds. Sparrows and house finches have been all over the feeders today.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/17/25 -- I checked the grass patch by the garden shed. Something had eaten about half the seedling clover. :/ So I sowed more Bee Lawn Mix, watered that, and watered the recently planted wild indigo.

EDIT 6/17/25 -- I took some pictures around the yard.

My wildflower garden is swarming with baby praying mantises, at least two hatches. I've seen a tiny brown one and a slightly larger green one. :D

I've seen a mourning dove in the forest garden.

EDIT 6/17/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 6/17/25 -- I picked a bag of mulberries along the street and in the savanna.

Fireflies are coming out.

EDIT 6/17/25 -- I trimmed low-hanging branches in the house yard.

I hauled a large branch to the ritual meadow and broke it up for the firepit.

My partner Doug has mowed the ritual meadow.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ribirdnerd posting in

birdfeeding

I'm still seeing continuing Red Bellied and Downy Woodpeckers on my suet feeders.

Over the weekend, I attempted to expand my garden. Much to my surprise, I turned up several intact turtle eggs in the soil. So I immediately reburied them and attempted to fence off the area to protect them. Every year the raccoons seem to get to the eggs so I hope I can save them. We shall see!

I also saw a female deer in the woods, the first I've seen in a while. We have several chipmunks around as well as a stray or dumped house cat who seems to come out every morning.

lb_lee posting in

pluralstories

"How long have you known I wasn’t real?"

Blurb: The adventures of Batman, an eldritch imaginary friend who has sadly outlived the child who first imagined him. What does he do now, especially now that Superman's figured it out?

Why is it worth your time?: This is an impressively original interpretation of Batman that explains so many things about the character in such a delightful way. (Why is he able to do so many things a regular human can't? Why does his cape change in shape and size so? How is he still doing this after so many decades? Because he isn't actually human.) Reading about spooky asocial protector-of-children Batman building relationships despite his lack of humanness is heartwarming. This story is especially fun to read paired with Trippe's Something Terrible.

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse not mentioned, imaginary friends, nonhumans (eldritch nightmare monster thingy?), friendship

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Accessibility Notes: Free to read and screenreadable on Ao3 and also backed-up on archive.org!

lb_lee posting in

pluralstories

Submitted by

erinptah! Thank you,

erinptah!

“OK, Cathy,” she said, not in the least perturbed. “I’ll tell her.” Then she stood up, and started a conversation with herself, in which she told Jodie she wasn’t seeing Mummy or Daddy because she had to be safe.

Blurb: When seven-year-old Jodie was taken into foster care, her behavior was so difficult that she went through five carers in four months. Experienced carer Cathy Glass almost passed on her too, until her own (teenage) children insisted they wanted to see Jodie through. Eventually Jodie began to disclose details of the abuse, overlooked by Social Services for years, while Cathy struggled to get her the professional care and long-term support she deserved.

Why is it worth your time?: The rare outside view of a small child who appears to have DID, who ends up in the care of adults that are attentive and well-informed enough to recognize it.

You wouldn't know it from the promotional copy, and DID doesn't get invoked by name until nearly the end of the book, when a couple of alters firmly identify themselves as Not Jodie. But the dissociative traits are visible from day one, when Cathy reports Jodie having intense, distracted conversations with what she assumes are "imaginary friends." Among the kid's other issues, most of them Cathy never overtly connects with the alters, but there are a few that the reader might recognize as DID-related anyway (e.g. struggles with time perception). All of which suggests that Cathy's original real-time notes about her experience with Jodie were pretty solid.

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse high-focus, cofronting, people: children, type: medical, how would you tag for "real system described from the outside POV of a singlet but not in a horrible way"?

Content Warnings: past child abuse (sexual and physical), past animal abuse, physical aggression and sexual acting-out. Others involve SPOILERS; see comments

Accessibility Notes: Available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

Misc. Notes (if any): There's some awkward misinformation in the dialogue (e.g. describing the non-Jodie headmates Reg and Amy as "characters"). Thankfully, Cathy's actions stay refreshingly grounded in "managing the issues Jodie-and-company actually have," there's not much focus on her idea of what DID "should" be.

ysabetwordsmith posting in

birdfeeding

oday is partly cloudy and warm.

I haven't fed the birds yet, but I've seen a few sparrows and house finches. Despite not always seeing them in action, they continue to drain the hopper feeder daily.

EDIT 6/16/25 -- I fed the birds.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/16/25 -- I did some work around the patio.

The 'Ambrosia' melon is blooming. The tomatillo has a tiny green lantern fruit. :D

EDIT 6/16/25 -- I picked half a baggie of mulberries in the south lot and savanna.

Yellow pear tomato has green fruit. Daylilies are blooming.

EDIT 6/16/25 -- I picked half a baggie of black raspberries, mostly along the south edge of the prairie garden.

Pinks, coreopsis, and black-eyed Susans are blooming in the prairie garden.

EDIT 6/16/25 -- I trimmed overhanging brush in the ritual meadow.

EDIT 6/16/25 -- I picked half a baggie of mulberries along the road and in the savanna.

The first of the yucca flowers are open in the white garden. :D

In the wildflower garden, purple and yellow coneflowers are forming. Narrow-leaf mountain mint is blooming.

EDIT 6/16/25 --Out of 4 pots of switchgrass, 3 had several seedlings each. I planted those in the prairie garden. They kind of fell apart though. I have some more started. I may wait to plant those until I see roots at the bottom holes.

Current Mood: busy

lb_lee posting in

pluralstories

"This would be the first time since I was a kid that I haven't bought a new console on day one..."

"STOP! You don't need to succumb to consumerism! You can always buy one in a year or two!"

"Psh, Nintendo? That shit's for babies. Go buy cigarettes."

Blurb: A man ponders buying a new Nintendo, only for his inner angel and demon to discover new feelings for each other.

Why is it worth your time?: It's cute, short, and free!

Plural Tags:abuse not mentioned, nonswitching, nonhumans (an angel and a devil), romantic relationships

Content Warnings: Beefcake. That's presumably what you're here for.

Access Notes: available on tumblr! Page 1, and page 2. Also backed-up on the Wayback Machine, but not screenreadable.

lb_lee posting in

pluralstories

"ARTICLE III: The man going by the name Brother Francis is charged with claiming to have begun life miraculously, without father or mother, in the body of a boy about thirteen years of age."

Blurb: An epistolary short story about the fall and rise of Brother Francis/Leopold Graz, who in a post-nuclear apocalypse preached brotherhood and kindness: condemned, burned alive, and then beatified... at a cost.

Why is it worth your time?: Pangborn is a kind writer who tells the story of a boy, his invisible Companion who urges him to great things, and the major front switch that occurs when he is thirteen, which leads to his fall and rise under the pseudo-feudal fundamentalist church afterward. It's pretty good!

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, switching, serially singlet, spiritual voices, visions

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: Only officially available on paper, but anthologized multiple times; one of them, Still I Persist in Wondering, is screenreadable on archive.org. (Please ignore the pulpy cover.) Available in German and Italian.

ysabetwordsmith posting in

birdfeeding

Today is partly sunny, mild, and humid.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- I finished building the chimney for the core of the new bonfire.

I heard a squirrel chattering in the trees but didn't see it.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- Out of 6 yellow wild indigo pots, 4 sprouted, 3 of them with 2 seedlings. I planted these in the house yard under the contorta willow, apricot tree, golden rain tree, and barrel garden.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- Out of 6 blue wild indigo pots, 4 sprouted, some may have had 2 seedlings but it's hard to tell. I planted these in the house yard under the maple tree, purple-and-white garden, and two ends of the log garden. I've gotten plenty of seedlings from this species, but so far nothing has bloomed so I don't know if any actually survived in the ground.

The snowball bush is opening its pannicles. :D There are three heads.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I watered the newly planted things.

Clover is already sprouting on the bare patch beside the garden shed. Some of the chocolate cherry tomatoes have green fruit.

I've seen a skunk on the patio.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- I gathered a trolley of sticks and dumped it in the firepit.

I've seen a catbird and a mourning dove.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- I gathered a trolley of sticks and dumped it in the firepit.

Fireflies are coming out. :D

EDIT 6/15/25 -- I gathered a trolley of sticks and dumped it in the firepit.

Lots more fireflies are showing up.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

silvercat17 posting in

justcreate

What are you working on? What have you finished? What do you need encouragement on?

Are there any cool events or challenges happening that you want to hype?

What do you just want to talk about?

What have you been watching or reading?

Chores and other not-fun things count!

Remember to encourage other commenters and we have a discord where we can do work-alongs and chat, linked in the sticky

ysabetwordsmith posting in

birdfeeding

Today is cloudy, mild, and damp. It rained off and on yesterday.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

EDIT 6/14/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 6/14/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a skunk on the patio.

I checked the new picnic table and septic garden. The first of the 'Chocolate Sprinkles' tomatoes is showing color. :D One of the chocolate cherry tomatoes has its first green fruit, and so does the 'Carmen' Italian sweet pepper. The yellow squash just bloomed. The zucchini has flower buds.

EDIT 6/14/25 -- I started trimming some low-hanging branches from the Home Base mulberry tree. I filled a trolley with twigs and leaves, then dumped it in the brush pile.

EDIT 6/14/25 -- I trimmed more branches, filling another trolley.

I've seen a catbird and a mourning dove.

EDIT 6/14/25 -- I trimmed more branches, filling another trolley.

I found the first couple of ripe raspberries along the south fence in the ritual meadow. I'll have to check the prairie garden tomorrow.

EDIT 6/14/25 -- I found a second log for the base of the next bonfire and put that in the firepit. I started building the criss-cross chimney above it but then it got too dark to find the right kind of sticks. I'll have to finish that tomorrow.

The fireflies are coming out. :D There are lots more tonight. They love this warm damp weather.

I saw at least 2 and probably 3 bats. They're quite large for microbats, so likely big brown bats. See bats of Illinois. I'm thrilled to have bats, because the mosquitoes are also coming out. Fly, my pretties, fly! \o/

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith posting in

birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and steamy. It rained last night.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/13/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

It started mizzling.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith posting in

birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and quite warm.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a mourning dove.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I checked the firepit. It has burned down mostly to ashes. I started trimming weeds around the outside edge.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I picked half a bag of mulberries in the savanna.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I sowed Bee Lawn Mix on a bare patch beside the garden shed.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I did a bit more work around the patio.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I picked a bag of mulberries in the savanna.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I finished trimming around the firepit.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I trimmed more grass along the edge of the strip garden.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I trimmed grass along the south edge of the patio.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I trimmed brush along the edge of the strip garden.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I trimmed weeds along the edge of the south sidewalk.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I intended to lay the base for the next bonfire. I was only able to find one log big enough, and I need two. There are some older ones but they are buried under too much brush to reach. >_< And it started drizzling anyhow, so fuck it.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith posting in

birdfeeding

Today is sunny and warm.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches. They've been draining the hopper feeder daily and putting a dent in the thistle feeder.

I put out water for the birds.

My partner Doug is out mowing the house yard.

EDIT 6/11/25 -- I refilled the thistle feeder.

I started trimming grass around the edge of the strip garden, now that I have the big weeds pulled out.

EDIT 6/11/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 6/11/25 -- I took some pictures around the yard.

EDIT 6/11/25 -- I picked half a bag of mulberries in the south lot.

I've seen a skunk on the patio. I've seen a catbird and a phoebe. I heard a red-bellied woodpecker but didn't see it.

EDIT 6/11/25 -- I set up firestarters for the firepit.

I picked half a bag of mulberries along the west fence.

EDIT 6/11/25 -- We lit the bonfire for the esbat tonight. It took a little while to get going but then it burned pretty well. I'll try to check on it later.

Fireflies are out and I've seen a bat.

EDIT 6/11/25 -- I checked the bonfire. It's mostly burned down. I threw most of the stray ends into the middle, but it was still too warm for me to get all the way around. I'll need to go back out later.

.

Current Mood: busy

lb_lee posting in

pluralstories

"Louisa, I love you. I'm the only one who has ever loved you. That's what you created me for."

Blurb: Jo March from Little Women gets into a fight with her author, Louisa May Alcott, about how her story will end. Who is writing our stories, and how do they trap or free us?

Why is it worth your time?: This play packs a punch! It hurt to read, but it is good. A lot of Gage's work is about the way we adapt to abuse and violence, how it gets into our heads.

Plural Tags: abuse high-focus, closeting, fictioneers, romantic relationships, nonswitching

Content Warnings: Incest! It's in the title! See comments for more.

Access Notes: Available on paperback and ebook. Also included in the collections The Second Coming of Joan of Arc and other plays (the 2004 HerBooks publication) and Nine Short Plays.

lb_lee posting in

pluralstories

"A woman who hears voices is a lot more dangerous than a woman with an army. Keep that in mind."

Blurb: Radical feminist play about a smartass butch lesbian named Jeanne Romee (AKA Joan of Arc) who recounts her story as the hero of France, heretic burned at the stake, and redeemed saint against her will.

Why is it worth your time?: This play is award-winning for a reason. Jeanne is incisive and insightful, witty and angry, and Gage has a rare ability to cut to the heart of dissociation as a tool of control. This play is very much of its time and culture, but if that's not a problem for you, check it out! It's good!

Plural/1+ Tags: Abuse intermediate-focus, the dead (saints), spiritual, voices, nonswitching

Content Warnings: It is not a spoiler to say that Jeanne suffers the fate of the historical Joan of Arc. Others DO involve spoilers; see comments

Accessibility Notes: This play is shockingly easy to get, aside from an actual performance! It's available in audio form as MP3 download or CD, in script form, and in the collections The Second Coming of Joan of Arc and other plays (printed in 2004 from HerBooks) and The Second Coming of Joan of Arc and Selected Plays (self-published and A DIFFERENT COLLECTION), the latter of which is available both on paper and ebook. It was also published (and now freely available online) in Sinister Wisdom #35, Summer/Fall 1988, pg. 95-116. Archive.org has audio recordings of various performances. Available in French, Bulgarian, Chinese (Mandarin), Portuguese, Italian, German, and Spanish.

ysabetwordsmith posting in

birdfeeding

Today is partly sunny and mild.

I fed the birds. I haven't seen much activity yet.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/10/25 -- I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a male cardinal, and at least one mourning dove.

EDIT 6/10/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I heard a blue jay screaming but didn't see it.

EDIT 6/10/25 -- I've been outside a couple of times to walk around the yard. Fireflies are starting to come out, but it's still so light that they're hard to see. I may try again later. I've seen a bat over the south lot, and a skunk on the patio.

EDIT 6/10/25 -- We went out a little later to see the fireflies. This is the most I've seen so far, earlier it was just ones and twos. There aren't as many as there will be later in the season, but it's the first big flush so we're pleased to see them.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

lb_lee posting in

pluralstories

Submitted by

thishouse. Thank you,

thishouse!

We

Bootstrap ourselves from mere insensate clutches of jelly and molecular interaction until We

Remember

We were on an adventure.

For many long spans of time we were Lante, once we had repaired Lante. Except that Those-of-We who had learnt what Lante was had to make such repairs so that what came out was less Lante and more We. But Those-of-We had experienced what it was to be Lante and could fill in the gaps. We were We and We were Lante and Lante was Lante and did not know it was also

We.

Blurb for Book 1: Avrana Kern spearheaded an exoplanet terraforming program with the goal of populating new Earth-like worlds with monkeys uplifted to human-like intelligence by a nanovirus. Her program was sabotaged by people who rejected her scientific ideals, and the conflict blossomed into nuclear war back on Earth. Avrana escapes the sabotage, and she uploads herself to a computer system while she waits for rescue. The monkeys died, but the virus lived on. Its host becomes a species of jumping spider, beginning their ascension toward a space-faring society. Thousands of years after the nuclear war, ark ships take off from Earth and seek terraformed planets to re-establish a home for humanity. The ark ship Gilgamesh discovers Kern's World, and its crew are determined to make a new home there.

Why is it worth your time?: Besides the unique and interesting plurality portrayed in these books, they're fantastic science fiction with an emphasis on worldbuilding and speculative evolution. Their greatest strength is their empathy toward atypical experiences of sentience and intelligence.

In Book 1, Avrana Kern is the primary plural character as the distinction between her, the computer system, and her uploaded version of herself blur together. In Book 2, Children of Ruin, Tchaikovsky adds sentient octopuses, and the octopuses' selves divided between their Crown, Guise, and Reach showcases a permanent co-fronting experience. Also introduced in Book 2 but explored further in Book 3, Children of Memory, is a naturally plural species that seeks to understand what it means to live as one and as many at the same time. In Book 3, there's also a sentient headspace-like world.

Plural/1+ Tags: setting-specific sci-fi stuff, enmity in Book 1, the naturally plural species is a scary antagonistic force in Book 2 at first, teamwork in Books 2 and 3

Content Warnings: nuclear war, extreme isolation, murder, lynching

Accessibility Notes: audiobooks available; pretty easy library book; Book 1 is available in English, French, German, Romanian, Portuguese, and Dutch; Book 2 is available in English, German, French, Romanian, and Dutch; and Book 3 is available in English, German, and Dutch

Misc. Notes (if any): Even though Book 2 has a "plurality is a scary monster" situation, the resolution is peaceful and empathetic, and the species is redeemed and explored further in Book 3.

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littleoldliv

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Reading

Birdfeeding

The Three Tongues, by Catalina Rios (lesbian poetry, 1988)

just babbling on

Birdfeeding

Birds and turtle eggs

in the shadows, by Kieron_ODuibhir (Batman fanfic, 2020- )

Damaged by Cathy Glass (nonfiction/memoir book, 2006)

Birdfeeding

Untitled, by Adam Ellis (horny fantasy comic, 2025)

My Brother Leopold, by Edgar Pangborn (science fiction novella, 1973)

Birdfeeding

Just Create - Kaiju Edition

Birdfeeding

Birdfeeding

Birdfeeding

Birdfeeding

Louisa May Incest, by Carolyn Gage (fanfiction play, 1990)

The Second Coming of Joan of Arc, by Carolyn Gage (one-woman play, 1988)

Birdfeeding

Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Science fiction book series, 2015-)

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June 2025

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