brownthrasher

[brownthrasher]

I love this one 🤗

Materials: wool, silk, recycled cotton rope and velvet. Includes hand-dyed and hand-spun art yarn. Beading sewn on by hand, and I made the mushrooms out of polymer clay.

[brownthrasher]

Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin (2018), dir. Arwen Curry

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October 24: Pumpkin Carving

(Toasterverse All of these can be found under the tag Sci's Fictober)

“I think it’s clear that I won.”

“I think it’s clear that you cheated.”

“I don’t think using my natural talents counts as ‘cheating.’”

Clint stared at him.  Tony stared back.  “I don’t think you understand what most people would consider cheating,” Clint said at last.

“It’s more that I don’t care?” Tony said, tossing a toasted pumpkin seed into the air, catching it in his mouth.  “At all?”

“You understand he’s armed, right?” Natasha asked, rotating her pumpkin on the table in front of her.  She scowled at the fresh canvas, and turned it back.  “Thor, can you hand me the scoop?”

“I find this one the most useful,” Thor said, handing her a metal spoon. “The others are weak.”

“Harsh words for our kitchen utensils.”  Tony took a sip of his cider.  It had more of a kick than he’d been expecting.  He set it carefully on the table.  “And Clint is usually armed, I’m used to it.”

“He isn’t usually, uh, he’s not usually holding a knife,” Bruce said, his face scrunched up in concentration.  

“He usually is, actually,” Natasha said, digging enthusiastically in her pumpkin.  There was a chunk of pumpkin guts on her cheek, and Tony decided he was better off moving his chair away from her.  

“Not, uh, in his-” Bruce’s eyes darted towards Clint.  “In his fist.”

Tony looked at Clint, who was holding a carving knife in one fist.  As Tony watched, he smiled, slow and threatening.  “It’s not like he’s going to stab me,” Tony pointed out.

“I’m actively thinking of stabbing you,” Clint said.

“Right, and that happens, what, every other day?” Tony asked, unimpressed.  “Haven’t stabbed me yet.”

“Every day is a new day,” Thor said.  He smiled.  “With new experiences for us all.”

“No one is getting stabbed.” Steve sliced away a strip of bright orange skin.  “Nat?”

She looked at his pumpkin.  “A little more off the left, I think?”

He nodded.  “Right.” He went back to work, his large frame bent forward over the pumpkin.  Tony wondered if he’d chosen the smallest one on purpose.

“Give me one good reason not to stab him,” Clint said.

“Because if you do, I’m pretty sure SHIELD is going to insist on a redo on this teambuilding exercise,” Steve said.

“Only if you fucking narc on me,” Clint said. 

“I’m going to narc on you,” Steve said.  

“He’s cheating,” Clint said.

“I won,” Tony said.  He knew he sounded smug and he didn’t care.

“It’s not a contest, Tony,” Steve said, marking off a line with an oil pencil.  “So there’s not really any winning.”

“No, but there sure as hell is losing, and that’s what Barton is doing,” Tony said.

“Just a little stab,” Clint pleased.

“No,” Steve told him, his voice stern.  “He’s not cheating. He just wasted the last week trying to get something done in five minute.”

Someone snorted   Tony decided he didn’t want to know who the traitor was. “Excuse me?”

Steve picked up the paring knife. “You have spent the last six days working on a way to get out of this hour’s worth of effort,” he said, and Tony wished he could argue with that.

He could, but he probably shouldn’t.

“I didn’t spend six days,” Tony said, moving the bowl of roast seeds away from Steve.  “I might’ve refined systems and ideas I already had, to make them more efficient, but-”

“Did you ever get the pumpkin guts off of the workshop ceiling?” Steve asked.

“I don’t have to worry about that, because cleaning is Dummy’s job.”

Right, so he’s currently rolling in circles, holding a rag up as far as his arm can reach and still falling short by about five feet?” Natasha asked, her eyebrows raised.

“No, it means that he’s tried spraying it with the water from the sink hose,” Tony said. “We’re working on it.”

“Carve your pumpkin, Tony,” Steve said.

“I did!”

Steve heaved a sigh. “You put your pumpkin on a workshop and shot it with a laser.”

“It’s carved, and unlike previous efforts, it is carved and intact,” Tony pointed out.  “You’re a trained artist, Clint and Natasha have wilderness knife skills, Thor grew up using swords, and Bruce is a doctor.”

“Wait.”  Bruce stared at him.  “How does my being a doctor-”

“You use scalpels,” Tony said.

“Right.”  Bruce nodded.  “You know, uh, that most medical professionals are strongly discouraged from carving anything into their patients?  Let alone any sort of, you knw, intricate pattern?”

“You still have the skills, and they translate to pumpkin carving.”

Bruce looked at the pumpkin, then back at Tony.  “They really don’t!”

“Neither did shooting it with a laser!” Tony said.  “I had to work at this, and I only exploded a few pumpkins, well within the normal allowed failure rate on a prototype.”

Steve nodded. “Right.” He looked around the table.  “Everyone done?  Then swap.”

Tony wrapped his arms around his perfectly carved pumpkin.  “What.”

“Teamwork,” Steve said with an easy grin.  He plopped in pumpkin in front of Tony.  “You’re responsible for finishing this one.”

“No, I did-” Thor reached for his pumpkin, and Tony considered fighting him for it.  He wouldn’t win, but he considered it anyway.  “I never agreed to this.”

“Yeah, well, this is the part of the teamwork where you learn to deal with unexpected changes to the plan,” Steve said.  He tossed the paring knife in the air, catching it by the blade and offering it, handle first, to Tony.  “Get to work, Stark.”

Tony scowled at it.  “I’m going to ruin it.”

“It’s a pumpkin, Tony,” Steve said.  “I think we’ll be fine.”

Tony took the knife.  “Looking forward to proving you wrong.”

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x

[brownthrasher]

Some very important facts in my life right now:

I'm currently visiting NYC with my kidlets, aged 8 and 10.

We are staying about three blocks away from the Empire State Building.

There is currently a giant inflatable dragon wrapped around the Empire State Building.

Kidlets are delighted by the dragon.

Kidlets are rather more delighted by the dragon than might be expected.

Yes, you might say, it's a dragon wrapped around a famous skyscraper, where's the surprise in that?

No surprise.

It's just that they're extremely excited.

They're reading Terry Pratchett 's Guards! Guards!

A book that features a giant dragon swooping off the tallest tower in the great city of Anhk Morpork.

They are quoting the book constantly

"The shape that looked like a large pair of wings unfurling was, in fact, a large pair of wings unfurling."

All the time

"Dragons don’t have friends! The nearest they can get to the idea is an enemy who is still alive!"

Little girls, wandering through the tourist attractions of midtown Manhattan, like

"A people united can never be ignited!"

With such enthusiasm

"This is going to be the world's first democratically killed dragon! One man, one stab!

I love them so much, I'm so proud, I picked the right partner, we made the best possible kids

(It's a promo for HBO's Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon)

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Same

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As a 13-year homeowner, La'Shaundra Benion has long been waiting for a new roof for her ranch-style home in Pontiac.

And after she recently received $25,000 in home repairs, it included that new roof and even windows through the Pontiac Home Repair Program. The program is using $3 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to help Pontiac homeowners complete major repair projects.

"I was looking to get my driveway done, my roof, the windows and some electrical work," said Benion, 44, adding that she needed plumbing work in her kitchen. "They did all of the windows in my house, the roof and some minor electrical work."

Pontiac received $37.7 million from ARPA and allocated more than $3 million for the home repair program. The program allows up to $25,000 per household in home repairs including plumbing, HVAC, roof repair and waterproofing for residents earning less than 80% of the area median income, adjusted for family size.

Thirty-eight homes in Pontiac have had repair services through the program, including 14 homes under construction. In addition to the four completed, including Benion's, 20 other homes have received approval to start renovations, according to a news release.

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a few extra To Shape A Dragon's Breath sketches!

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Firefighter demonstrates how to put out a kitchen fire

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opening of the bone harp by victoria goddard

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I should have been drawing the last 1993 contestant today, but instead I decided to sketch some of this year's artists.

It pains me that this Eurovision will forever be remembered in a negative light. Despite all of the talented artists this year, the wonderful hosts and production, it is indeed very hard to stay positive. I wished that the contest would live up to its 'United by music' slogan. Without exaggeration, Eurovision has always been my favorite time of the year... But not this year.

I am Dutch, so I will not be able to vote tonight. Regardless I hope we can show support for the artists tonight.

Because it has always been the artists that have made Eurovision into the wonderful show that it is. Not the EBU.

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He

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These medieval parish church doors in England, flanked by two ancient Yew trees, are believed to be the inspiration for the Doors of Durin from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

These enchanting doors are the west entry of St. Edward’s Church in Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire. This is a cotswold stone Norman church dating from the 11th-14th century built on the location of an older wooden Saxon church.

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carbink, the jewel pokemon. sure. (But I wish I could evolve)

you're going about your normal day when, suddenly, surprise! you've been pokémon mystery dungeon'd!

unfortunately, due to budget cuts, the pokémon assigning quiz has been canceled. instead, you must spin THE WHEEL, assigning you a random, unevolved, non-legendary and non-mythical pokémon. you must now go on some sort of world-saving adventure as this pokémon. good luck!

tell me in the tags what you rolled, and how you feel about it - for bonus points, you can spin the wheel again for (or just take your pick of) a pokémon to be your partner.

bonus rules:

you're not shiny unless the wheel tells you you're shiny

take your pick of regional forms and evolutions (for example, if you roll vulpix, it's up to you whether that means normal or alolan vulpix)

apply whatever logic you like with regards to gender

have fun and be yourself!

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Dave is catching me up to the latest tumblr CEO news and uhhhh what is happening ?????

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Reblog to hug prev poster (they need a hug)