#Downtown Plymouth

[silverlightsfilms]

Allison + Zack

[mineralmalachite]

all thoughts no ideas

[k-hippie]

A BRAND NEW SIMS 3 WORLD : SHETLAND HARBOUR

And here we are ... At last :D

10 years ago, Rope crafted a remarkable world, inspired by Starlight Shores, and generously given away to the community : Brightwater.

We embraced this gift, transforming and reshaping it, creating an island to eliminate distant terrain, and thus, Shetland Harbour was born ...

While many creators have fashioned stunning Sims 3 worlds with a Northern charm—like Saaqartoq, Greymont Bay, Lillebror, or Plymouth Isles—ours, stands a little apart.

Shetland Harbour is a unique blend : a touch of Aurora Skies, a hint of Moonlight Falls, and a dash of the unfortunate Barnacle Bay, all interwoven with our own vision of course. It is a vast yet easily navigable world, balanced between lightness and richness, featuring nearly all the Rabbit Holes the game offers.

Our aim was to craft a cohesive and vibrant world, one that feels alive and contemporary, with harmonious architecture and a spirit that invites exploration and delight :)

Welcome to Shetland Harbour, a picturesque coastal town nestled between rolling green hills and a fantastic bay … It is a beautiful medium/large-sized world, a community nestled on its own secluded island, accessible only by ferry. The town is known for its charming cobblestone streets, a vibrant fish market, and a rich history dating back centuries, dotted with quaint cottages, a bustling coast, and a grand lighthouse standing guard at the harbor’s entrance ...

This hidden gem is a haven for sheep, but don't let that fool you – Shetland Harbour is far from a sleepy place. With its rich maritime history, the town offers a unique blend of tradition and vibrant local culture.

Designed to capture the essence of a northern European island, Shetland Harbour offers a self-contained community with 100 lots in total : 65 residential lots + 35 community lots. Each Lot ( except the Old Renovated Factory ) is fully furnished.

In addition, there are multiple sheep ( all by Murfeel ) fields here and there – the latter being especially dear to the local culture, a close-knit community, where the ocean's presence is always felt and the simplicity of rural life is celebrated.

Shetland Harbour combines a lively downtown with peaceful suburbs and serene neighborhoods, featuring quaint cottages, charming gardens, and scenic paths through lush greenery.

The town's historic churches, like Old Church, Albert Church or Lux Chapel, are steeped in tales of ancient rituals and ghostly apparitions ... Albert Church, built on a Druidic site, is haunted by druid spirits, while Lux Chapel is known for the ghost of a sailor, seen on stormy nights ...

The mysterious stone circle inside the Graveyard, Ghost Place, adds to the island's mystical allure. Rumored to be a portal to another realm, it activates during celestial alignments, with visitors reporting strange occurrences. Town elders speak of a prophecy foretelling the return of ancient spirits and the awakening of the island's mystical powers. Signs include a rare star alignment, the stone circle's awakening, and three chosen individuals with the island's ancient bloodline ...

• Harbor Bay : The central feature of Shetland Harbour is its expansive bay. The bay is a natural harbor with calm, crystal-clear waters, making it ideal for fishing and sailing. It is surrounded by gently sloping hills and cliffs that provide stunning vistas of the sea. The marina is bustling with fishing boats, sailboats, and yachts sometimes … It’s the hub of maritime activity, with a fish market ( aka Grocery Store ), boat repairs, and a sailing club ( aka Business and Journalism Center )

• Lighthouse District : Right beside the Harbour, stands the Lighthouse Point, this district features historical homes and buildings, including a Norman cottage, a strange Diner and higher into the Hills, a fantastic museum dedicated to the town’s maritime history and a recent Hospital ready to welcome all the citizens of Shetland Harbour :)

• Beaches : The Coastline is dotted with sandy beaches, perfect for beachcombing, picnics, and bonfires. These areas are popular spots for locals and tourists alike. And you may want building some Coastal Houses for your Sims which is possible almost all alongside the sea ;)

• Old Town : The heart of Shetland Harbour is the Old Town, characterized by cobblestone streets, historic buildings, and a charming town square. Shetland Harbour's downtown area is a kinda picturesque pedestrian square, and quaint paths perfect for leisurely strolls …The Old Town includes the Town Hall, the Old Toad, the Talking Dog, a Fish and Chips, and even a Geek Store, all of them under the shadow of one of the oldest shop of the Island : the Elixirium ...

• Rolling Hills : Surrounding the town are rolling green hills covered in wildflowers and dotted with grazing sheep. These hills are perfect for hiking and offer panoramic views of the town and the bay. Beware of the fog !

• Forests and Woodlands : To the north of the town are more dense forests and woodlands with waterfalls upstream of the river which separates part of the island. These areas are home to various wildlife and provide a natural retreat for the residents. There are several well-maintained trails for hiking and exploring :)

Come and explore Shetland Harbour all your content ... Whether you're building your dream home, running a local business, or simply soaking in the serene atmosphere, this unique town promises endless possibilities and a truly captivating experience ...

Download Shetland Harbour today and start your new adventure!

\o/

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

IMPORTANT : Before downloading Shetland Harbour !!!

Shetland Harbour contains custom content. As much as we try to include them into the world building process, we learned with time the necessity of providing a list those items. No worries, we used the same cc creators as usual and added 2 or 3 more. Such as the grey/dark roof we made, based on the terracotta roof of the game and the Wood walls you'll find on different lots, the same as the ones of Oaksoak Hollow ... Or more important, the boats used in the world and of course ... The sheeps ! All you need should be included and/or available down here ;)

1) the ANTS & CC :)

ANTS stand for Absolute Necessary Things & Stuff to enjoy Shetland Harbour :)

Download ANTS and CC ( both are needed to have all the right textures, the right look and feel of Shetland Harbour )

You will need too some of our Rabbit Holes

Not mandatory but nice : our 88 Patterns mostly brick, masonry, concrete and wood ;) A bit of fabric & paper too ...

ATTENTION : if you have played with one of our Worlds, you might see duplicate files. We try to use the same objects as much as possible. Of course, you don't have to install twice. Skip whatever you already have. We use Blams objects for some Sims 3 objects ... so if you already have those objects from any other means, just skip ;)

CREDITS & THANKS due to all the following creators :

ATS, Noir and Dark Sims, pitheinfinite, Brunnis-2, Blams, CycloneSue, HydrangeaChainsaw, Leroy157, Lisen801, Murfeele, Nilxis, PotatoBalladSims, Qahne, TheJim07, Mammut ( from BlackSimsZoo ) BlueCoco, BuffSumm, JomSims, Ladesire, Mutske

2) the Saved Games

They are in the same page than Shetland Harbour itself. You have the choice between Unpopulated and Half-populated. Whatever you choose, we always strongly advice with a save game ;) But as far we know, once we delivered a World, it is entirely up to you to begin a new adventure and make your own challenges with your own Sims :D

Download a save game

3) the Lots ( both residential & community )

Quite a bursting town, Shetland Harbour has 100 lots : 65 residential and 35 community and very important : many small sheep fields ( visitors not allowed com lots )

Download ALL the lots

Some lots are Maxis ones we modified, some lots are our own creations, and for the others, they come mostly from MTS ;) And we are very grateful to those creators who always offer a special flavor to our Worlds :)

CarlDillynson - Bellakenobi - Bast - MySimRealty - stonee206 - Norn - Cutbacks - Ferguson Avenue - SimplySimlish - hazelnutter100 - PolarBearSims - RubyRed2021 - CircusWolf - Moihi - Lasciel

Well, it is time for discovery now and you are ready for sure ! We wish you all the best, all the fun with your new life in Shetland Harbour !

Download Shetland Harbour World

PS : Shetland Harbour is a medium/large sized world of 88MB, and has been tested 1 week long on both Mac and Pc ;)

xoxo - blackgryffin

[seat-safety-switch]

"The '70s are coming back," explained the very patient sales lady at the Hudson Bay furniture department the other day. I was inquiring about a weird-looking brown sofa that some unscrupulous garbage-picker had clearly dumped in the middle of their showroom. Imagine my surprise when, rather than being grateful to see me haul it away and put it into my living room (I need new things to stack carburetors on,) she asked me for eight thousand dollars instead.

This is exactly why I don't shop at the downtown Bay very often. Too bougie, with all those lawyers, attorneys, barristers, and legal practitioners coming in there on their lunch breaks and buying seven sets of brand new underwear for the coming week. On the way home, though, I had plenty of time in the mandatory traffic jam (behind two Maybachs and an Aston) to think about what she had said. Could it possibly be true that my smoking, heaving, late-70s piece of shit Plymouth Volare, the very same vehicle that was mostly under my feet at this exact moment, be worth more than I paid for it?

To answer this question, I found an appraiser in the phone book. When I was a kid, I thought an "appraiser" was like the weird little dude who follows behind the bully in teen comedies, backing up everything they say. In actual fact, that is called a "hype man," and I recommend you not hire one of those to appraise your car. Appraiser Dave (or David, if you're friends) told me that he could do an appraisal of my car in his driveway in just minutes. At last, I would know what kind of asset base I had been flinging into corners and onto golf courses at reckless land speeds this whole time.

"Is this some kind of joke?" he spat, and demanded the payment immediately. Luckily for me, at that exact moment, a squirrel shook out of its home in the air cleaner and ran up his shirt sleeve. I think it was Ted, but it might have been his common-law wife, Tedina.

His or her tragic sacrifice was not made in vain, as in the ensuing distraction I was able to escape the neighbourhood without Appraiser Dave seeing my license plate. It helps that I couldn't shut the engine off, because it diesels really bad when you do that, and it eats batteries whenever it sits for more than ten minutes. Cheaper to just let it run 24/7 and top up the gas every morning. I need to count every penny: I'm saving up for a couch.

[staticspaces]

Bulwark Ghost Town

You can find the detailed video walkthrough here!!

Let's introduce this brand new location by taking a look at some drone photos of this abandoned Ghost Town!!

In the middle of nowhere and completely surrounded by farmland as far as the eye can see, we find what is left of the ghost town of Bulwark. Located in Alberta, Canada the area was first settled in the early 1900s but it wasn't until 1914 when the rail line came to town, that it officially became a village.

At its peak the town had no more than 100 residents but boasted a busy downtown, with two general stores, post office, a school, butcher shop and even a dance hall among others. Although the climate in the area is semi-arid, the town became the centre for a busy grain industry and even had 5 grain elevators!

But by the 1960s with Bulwark's population already in decline, the railway that created the town shut down and its residents continued to leave.

With most of the town's buildings long since demolished, there remains only a small handful left including the teacherage and a sign where the school once stood. There are also a few cars left in the former townsite including a 1968 Plymouth Fury.

One day this town will disappear completely and all that will be left are stories, photos and videos.

[brookston]

Holidays 11.22

Holidays

Alice's Restaurant Massacre Day

Arbor Day (British Virgin Islands)

Bank Workers’ Day (Armenia)

Black Entrepreneurs Day

Conspiracy Theory Day

Day of Justice (Azerbaijan)

Day of Music (Spain)

Day of Remembrance for President John F. Kennedy

Day of the Albanian Alphabet (Albania)

Day of the Andalusian Gypsy (Spain)

Family Day (Palau)s

Go For A Ride Day

Good Married Couple Day (a.k.a. Good Husband & Wife Day or Good Spouses Day; Japan)

Good Twin Tail Day (Japan)

Hockey Day

Humane Society Day

International Chick Tract Day

International Ewing’s Sarcoma Awareness Day

International Musician’s Day

Isfahan National Day (Iran)

JFK Assassination Day

Justice Workers’ Day (Azerbaijan)

Kanakdasa Jayanti (Karnataka, India)

Love Your Freckles Day

Love Your Own Country Day

Music Day (Spain)

Musician’s Day (Mexico)

National Agriculture & Related Industries Day (Australia)

National Amelia Day

National Aron Day

National Dental Dam Day

National Dental Nurses Day (UK)

National Housing Strategy Day (Canada)

National Jukebox Day

National Larimar Day (Dominican Republic)

National Nathan Day

National Poetry Day (Philippines)

National Senior Dog Day

National Stop the Violence Day

National Yeti Day

Phonograph Day

Pajama Day (Ireland)

Prosecutors’ Day (Kyrgyzstan)

Psychologist Day (Russia)

Repentence Day (Sachsen, Germany)

Skywriting Day

Slumber Party Day

Start Your Own Country Day

Substitute Educators Day

Teacher’s Day (Costa Rica)

Turnip Day (French Republic)

22q Awareness Day

White Album Day

World Day of the Schnauzer

World Vasectomy Day

Xanthippe Asteroid Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Cranberry Relish Day

Danish Pastry Day (Wienerbrödets Dag; Sweden)

International Stilton Day

Kimchi Day (South Korea; California)

National Cashew Day

Independence & Related Days

Anniversary of Portuguese Aggression (Republic of Guinea)

Duvalia (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Lebanon (from France, 1943)

Regelis (Declared; 1999) [unrecognized]

4th Friday in November

Comfort Food Friday [Every Friday]

Five For Friday [Every Friday]

Flapjack Friday [4th Friday of Each Month]

Flashback Friday [Every Friday]

Flirtatious Friday [4th Friday of Each Month]

Friday Finds [Every Friday]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

National Day of Thanksgiving (Turks & Caicos Islands) [4th Friday]

Stars in Our Schools Day (UK) [4th Friday]

TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) [Every Friday]

Weekly Holidays beginning November 22 (3rd Full Week of November)

Deck the Halls Weekend (Seneca Lake region, New York) [thru 11.24]

National Farm-City Week (thru 11.28) [Week Ending On Thanksgiving]

Festivals Beginning November 22, 2024

America's Hometown Thanksgiving (Plymouth, Massachusetts) [thru 11.24]

Beaujolais & Beyond (Saint Paul, Minnesota)

Beef Tongue Cook-Off (Eunice, Louisiana) [thru 11.23]

Bruges Christmas Market (Bruges, Belgium) [thru 1.5.2025]

Cayman Brac (Cayman Islands) [thru 11.24]

Denver Christmas Show (Denver, Colorado) [thru 11.24]

Downtown Baraboo Wine Walk (Baraboo, Wisconsin)

Downtown Raleigh Tree Lighting Celebration (Raleigh, North Carolina)

FOBAB [Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer] (Chicago, Illinois) [thru 11.23]

Mountain Mandarin Festival (Auburn, California) [thru 11.24]

National Biodynamic Conference (Phoenixville, Pennsylvania) [thru 11.24]

Night of the Proms (Antwerp, Belgium) [thru 11.24]

Plant City Pig Jam (Plant City, Florida) [thru 11.23]

Salute to Ranching Holiday Dinner-Dance & Auction (Workman's Creek, Arizona)

Silver Bells in the City (Lansing, Michigan)

Tallinn Christmas Market (Tallinn, Estonia) [thru 12.27]

Whiskies of the World (Chicago, Illinois)

Feast Days

Amphilochius of Iconium (Christian; Saint)

André Gide (Writerism)

Blackbeard Memorial Day (Pastafarian)

Cecilia (Christian; Saint) [Music]

Christian Rohlfs (Artology)

Clone Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Colbert (Positivist; Saint)

Descending Day of Lord Buddha (Lhabab Duechen) [Bhutan]

Dispute-Settling Assizes (Shamanism)

Feast of Artemis (Moon Goddess; Ancient Greece; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

George (Eastern Orthodox; Georgia)

George Eliot (Writerism)

Herbert (Christian; Saint)

Ignaz Günther (Artology)

Jon Cleary (Writerism)

Light Snow (Chinese Farmer’s Calendar)

Marjane Satrapi (Artology; Writerism)

Miguel Covarrubias (Artology)

Olga Kisseleva (Artology)

Philemon and Appia (Christian; Martyrs)

Pragmatius of Autun (Christian; Saint)

Sagittarius zodiac sign begins

Samonios (Seed-Fall; Celtic Book of Days)

Theodorus the Studite (Christian; Saint)

Vernon the Grizzly Bear (Muppetism)

Ydalir (festival to Ullr, god of archery & skiing; Ancient Norse)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

The Addams Family (Film; 1991)

The Air Hostess (Phantasies Cartoon; 1937)

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (Animated Film; 1991)

Back to the Future Part II (Film; 1989)

The Beatles [The White Album] (Album; 1968)

Beauty and the Beast (Animated Disney Film; 1991)

Bettie Page Reveals All (Documentary Film; 2013)

Blue Hawaii (Film; 1961) [Elvis Presley #8]

Boléro, by Maurice Ravel (Orchestral Work; 1928)

Captain Kidd (Film; 1945)

Casino (Film; 1995)

The Check’s in the Mail (Money Rock Cartoon; Schoolhouse Rock; 1996)

Clambake (Film; 1967)

Coco (Animated Film; 2017)

Convict Concerto (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1954)

Darkest Hour (Film; 2017)

Die Another Day (US Film; 2002) [James Bond #20]

For the Boys (Film; 1991)

Frida (Film; 2002)

Frozen (Animated Disney Film; 2013)

Frozen 2 (Animated Disney Film; 2019)

Goofy’s Glider (Disney Cartoon; 1940)

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Film; 2013)

Hypnotize, by System of a Down (Album; 2005)

Jack and the Beanstalk (Betty Boop Cartoon; 1931)

Jelly Roll Blues, recorded by Bunny Berigan (Song; 1938)

La Forza del Destino, by Giuseppe Verdi (Opera; 1862)

A Lyell Geste of Robyn Hood, by Winked de Word (History Book; 1495)

King Solomon’s Mines (Film; 1985)

Man of La Mancha (Broadway Musical; 1965)

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure (Disney Cartoon; 2017)

Once Upon a Studio (Disney Short Film; 2023)

Pink S.W.A.T. (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)

Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times (Documentary Film; 2002)

Prefabricated Pink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1967)

The Producers (Film; 1967)

Shanghai Woody (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1971)

Shine (Film; 1996)

Star Trek: First Contact (Film; 1996)

Swann’s Wy, by Marcel Proust (Novel; 1913)

Throne of Blood (Film; 1961)

Toy Story (Animated Pixar Film; 1995) Vitalogy, by Pearl Jam (Album; 1994)

Wish (Animated Disney Film; 2023)

With the Beatles, by The Beatles (Album; 1963)

Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose(Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1987)

Today’s Name Days

Cäcilia, Salvator (Austria)

Cecilija, Cilika, Dobrila, Filemon (Croatia)

Cecílie (Czech Republic)

Cecilia (Denmark)

Cecilia, Säsil, Silja, Silje, Sille (Estonia)

Cecilia, Seela, Selja, Silja (Finland)

Cécile (France)

Cäcilia, Rufus, Salvator, Silja (Germany)

Cecilia, Filemon, Filimon, Philimon, Valerios (Greece)

Cecília (Hungary)

Cecilia (Italy)

Aldis, Aldonis, Alfons, Alfonss, Alfs (Latvia)

Cecilija, Cilė, Dargintė, Steikintas (Lithuania)

Cecilie, Silje, Sissel (Norway)

Cecylia, Marek, Maur, Wszemiła (Poland)

Arhip. Filimon, Onism (România)

Cecília (Slovakia)

Cecilio, Filemón (Spain)

Cecilia, Sissela (Sweden)

Cecelia, Philemon, Yaropolk (Ukraine)

Abbey, Abbie, Abby, Abigail, Cecelia, Cecil, Cecilia, Cecily, Cecyl, Celia, Gail Gale, Galen, Gay, Gayle, Philemon, Philo, Shayla, Sheila (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 327 of 2024; 39 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of Week 47 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 27 of 28]

Chinese: Month 10 (Yi-Hai), Day 22 (Geng-Yin)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 21 Heshvan 5785

Islamic: 20 Jumada I 1446

J Cal: 27 Wood; Sixthday [27 of 30]

Julian: 9 November 2024

Moon: 50%: 3rd Quarter

Positivist: 19 Frederic (12th Month) [Pombal / D’Aranda]

Runic Half Month: Is (Stasis) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 61 of 90)

Week: 3rd Full Week of November

Zodiac: Sagittarius (Day 1 of 30)

Calendar Changes

Is (Stasis) [Half-Month 23 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 12.10)

Sagittarius (The Archer) begins [Zodiac Sign 9; thru 12.21]

[ryanfrogz]

Trains Down South: The Sequel

In doing research after my previous trip to Mankato, I discovered that I had missed some stuff. Some very cool stuff. And so, I headed back south.

My target was one of CHS's switcher locomotives. They have a big oilseed processing facility on the west side of town, along with a tank car washing facility, where I was supposed to find my little engine. My target was supposed to be parked on the stub track to the left of the picture. Rather than a unique orange locomotive, I found a boring blue one. CHS had recently exchanged their fleet of leased switchers for two of their own, and the old ones were nowhere to be found... or so I thought.

At the time of my visit, part of Mankato's downtown was undergoing a repaving project. The road that was closed just so happened to be my way out. I didn't feel like getting stuck in traffic, so I tried to find another way out. One wrong turn later, I randomly stumbled across this old Chicago & Northwestern bay-window caboose, adorned in a custom Mankato Tourism paint scheme. It dates back to 1957 and previously sat near the town's former train station, being moved to this parking lot near the riverfront in the early 2010s. The coolest finds are the ones you don't expect.

Since I was in the area I figured I'd get a proper shot of the Plymouth switcher buried in the weeds. It still isn't great, but better than nothing. I also flew over to the adjacent scrapyard to see their current switcher, and also found a 1947-built flatcar.

ALTX 601 has served the scrapyard since the early 2010s. It's a very heavily rebuilt EMD NW2, only recognizable by the step-down ramp from the nose to the cab. It was originally built for the Peoria & Pekin Union Railway (they had the greenish-grey paint), and later went on to work for the Tazewell & Peoria Railroad (responsible for the blue/white stripes along the bottom edge). The flatcar is a General Steel Industries design, notable for its unique bulkhead walls.

While I was turning onto the main road out of town, something in the distance caught my eye. I saw the distant, sun-lit silhouette of a great machine parked atop a hill, no doubt a remnant of a long-gone limestone quarry.

I promptly found a place to launch my drone and flew over. What a cool machine! I believe it dates back to the 1960s, but I can't find *any* information about it online. Not one bit.

Here's what I do know. The site was once a limestone quarry, one of many in the area. It started operations in the '50s or '60s, eventually becoming a demolition landfill which was capped in the 1990s or early 2000s. I emailed who I believe to be the owner, asking about getting some closer-up pictures, but I haven't received a response yet.

While I was driving back north, a miracle occurred. Sitting on a siding near the town of Kasota were three small, unique switcher locomotives; the ones I had driven all this way to see.

IRSS 1237 is an EMD SW10. By the mid-1970s, the Union Pacific's fleet of switcher locomotives, all built between the late 1930s and early 1950s, were getting rather old. Many had developed issues and the less problematic ones were becoming too expensive to maintain. UP had a choice: throw out all of the old switchers and buy new ones, or rebuild them into something more modern. They chose the latter. And thus, the SW10 was born. 65 EMD switchers made up of TR5As, SW7s (what 1237 started as), and SW9s were selected for rebuild. Upgrades included a newer 645-type engine, larger electrically-driven radiator fans, and a large sandbox on the front of the nose. This space would usually be occupied by the radiator, which was moved to the roof, creating the unique & instantly-recognizable hump.

The two other switchers were ProRail 100 and LUNX 1105. ProRail was the company that did switching for CHS in Mankato, shutting down sometime in 2024 and causing CHS to bring in their own locomotives. The fate of these three is unknown, but they seem quite well maintained and I expect they'll find work elsewhere.

[mcacnshow]

Terry Ek of Illinois is bringing this In-Violet 1971 Plymouth Barracuda for our MCACN High School Reunion Invitational. She saved money from part time work during her high school years to buy her first car. She bought her 1971 Barracuda when she was 18 in January 1972. It was a dealer service loaner at Cicero Chrysler Plymouth near Chicago. It had about 7000 miles on the clock when purchased for $3000.00 out the door! The Barracuda was In-Violet, V-8, power steering, and she felt it fit her perfectly. She had gotten a job in downtown Chicago, and needed small & reliable but wanted distinctive. Her friends were critical, they thought she should buy a Honda. The car delivered trouble free, reliable service for many years. From 1972 to 1977 it was driven daily and parked on a side street in a less than perfect area of Chicago. It survived unscathed! (and un-rusted). Eventually Terry married Elliot and other priorities arose- It got stored away until Terry and Elliot could afford to give it a facelift and voila- It will re-appear at the 2024 MCACN High School Reunion! 

[valeriixchen]

 a pawned wedding ring, skin tanned by the afternoon sun, sweat on your brow and grease on your face, hickies as a love language, a 1959 plymouth sport, cherry pie and red wine, growing up as one of the boys, switching languages mid-sentence, good food and good company, reminding yourself big girls don't cry, pretending you don't still miss her.

❝ I have love inside me. But I don’t know how to use love. --Sometimes it scratches like barbs. ❞

Supply list: tools and parts to repair machinery, police issue firearm and handcuffs, first aid kit and extra ppe from work, baking ingredients, an impressive wine supply, and a small herb/veggie garden growing in the window sill.

Gender & Pronouns: Cis Female & She/Her Sexuality: Lesbian Birthplace: New Jersey Room #: Studio 707 Years at the Wexley: Two

Valerii was born into blue blood; a family who’s connections to law enforcement ran deep through the generations. Being the youngest of six, and the only girl at that, Val spent most of her life fighting to be taken seriously. With her father as the commissioner of the NJPD, mom in the running for assistant district attorney, and brothers various ranks within the police force–choosing her career wasn’t a question of picking a job, but deciding if she wanted to be a bigger pariah than she already was. She went to school for forensic science and became a crime scene investigator with the Jersey crime lab, which was good enough to keep her in the family’s good graces. 

She was married by her mid-twenties and divorced by her early thirties. The same drive for her work that led Val to a CSI level three promotion, also led to her wife serving her with papers for neglecting their marriage. After the divorce Val wanted a fresh start and crossed state lines to join with NY crime lab as a nightshift assistant supervisor. She got a condo at the Wexley and focused on building a new life–one that wasn’t focused on pleasing her family. 

Val’s been able to devote a lot more time to her passion project of restoring classic cars. Her pride and joy is a 1959 cherry red Cadillac that’s been sitting in a storage unit downtown since the divorce.

Previous Zombie Experience: She was working a night shift at the lab when a  body reanimated and attacked a coworker. Killing it with a scalpel through the eye, Val barely had time to process what had happened before another body began to rise.

[primatechnosynthpop]

Ok ok you know the nkotr roleswap au that Kris came up with and then I thought about it like 10× as much as she ever did because I'm fucking insane. If you don't know about it this should roughly inform you. Anyway uhhh here's the roleswap verse romantic comedy episode

--New Roles on the Swap: Romantic Irony--

They were supposed to meet at a hipster bar downtown. Max had been there before, but only to hang around outside it and beat people up. Those stupid hipsters always had so much money to spend on cold brew and overpriced donuts--they made easy targets. But you wouldn't catch him actually eating at a sissy place like that.

Well. Not until tonight, apparently. Because the stupid studio told him to. Hopefully the guy he was meeting would at least be cute.

"Well now, Maximilian!" Mitch had proclaimed a few hours prior upon reading their latest message from the studio. "It seems the studio has decided that even a mongrel like you should get a chance at love. They want us to film a romantic comedy webisode where you get to go on a date..."

"Date?" Daxter Flaxter had immediately balked at the prospect. "Nuh-uh! No girlz allowed!"

Mitch cut him off with a tut-tut noise and a wag of his finger: "...With a boy."

A sitcom ooh! sound effect played in the background. Daxter's reaction didn't change, though. He made a face and mimed spitting up something gross; Max laughed at the comedic display, the surrounding circumstance immediately forgotten.

"Nah, you two have fun, but I'm not taking part in this," Daxter said with a shake of his head as he headed for the door. "No romance for Daxter! I'm out!"

Now, standing outside the restaurant scuffing the stupid stuffy shoes Mitch had forced him into against the dirty pavement, Max wished he'd opted out of this one too. Yeah, the studio asked him to do it and all, but couldn't they have found somebody else? This whole thing stunk, and he hadn't even met his date yet.

He caught a snippet of conversation from a young couple strolling past with their arms linked and smarmy grins on their faces. Max grimaced and stuck his tongue out at them. Then the guy pulled out a ring, and the sour expression flipped to an eager sneer. Boy, talk about easy targets! Max was just about to march over and threaten them into handing the ring over when an unfamiliar hand tapped his shoulder. Max turned, instinctively baring his teeth, to see a guy around his age with shoulder-length brown hair and glasses wearing a baseball cap and a short-sleeved suit.

"So," the strange guy greeted him in a disinterested tone, "Are you my quote- 'date'- unquote?"

"Nah, I'm just here to make a movie for plymouth rock studios." Then Max remembered what kind of movie they were making, and he snapped his fingers. "Hey, wait a second... maybe I am your date. Are you Spencer?"

But this couldn't be him, right? Spencer was supposed to be cute, not some four-eyes. To his disappointment, the guy nodded.

"Ch'yeah, bro." Spencer stuck his hands in his pockets and gestured vaguely toward the restaurant. "So, you wanna go inside, or should we do more of an avante-garde, experimental date where we just, like, exist adjacent to each other or whatever?"

"Nahh, that sounds like a waste of time," Max decided. "Let's eat. But you're paying."

***

It was pretty dark in the bar, with a few tacky neon signs being the only sources of light. That made it a little easier to sit across from Spencer, but it didn't make listening to him talk any better. Max rolled his eyes and squirmed in discomfort while his date babbled on about whatever his dumb hipster job was and all the stupid bands he'd seen. He only tuned back in when Spencer snapped his fingers in his face several times in quick succession.

"Uh, hello?" Spencer huffed. "I was asking what kind of music you listen to."

Max stared blankly at Spencer for several seconds, jaw dangling partway open. Then he blinked, and suddenly remembered the communicator wristwatch he was wearing. Yeah, that's right, Mitch had promised to help him out with this stuff...

He raised his arm to talk into the watch, only to remember that his friend had stuffed him into a dumb frilly suit beforehand and it covered his wrist. Suddenly flustered, Max scrambled off the barstool he was perched on, knocking it over with a loud clatter in the process. Everyone else in the hipster bar turned to stare at him. His face flushed and he scowled at the onlookers, but Spencer was quick to make a dismissive gesture at the crowd.

"Chillax, broskis, he's with me." Then, lowering his voice and turning back to Max: "What's the deal? You're not, like, ditching me, right?"

"Nah, I just gotta take a piss. Be right back."

With that he scrambled off to the bathroom, where he whipped out the communicator watch. An image of Mitch flickered onto the screen. It looked like he was in a warehouse somewhere exploiting a bunch of factory workers, but Max didn't care about that.

"Hey, Dollarton, I need your help. What kind of music do I listen to?"

"You? You don't listen to anything besides that dreadful rap and heavy metal," Mitch sniffed. "But don't tell your date that, or he'll think you're a degenerate. Tell him you listen to opera or something with a modicum of sophistication."

"Opera? What, you want him to think I'm gay or something?"

Mitch's brow furrowed and he opened his mouth to say something, but one of the workers he was exploiting spoke up in the background just then and he cut himself off with a sigh. "Oh, never mind. Just tell him whatever you think he wants to hear. That's how I win over all my boyfriends."

So, when Max re-seated himself across from Spencer, the first thing he said was "Yeah, I don't really listen to anything. I've got better things to do."

Spencer raised his eyebrows, and though his eyes remained half-lidded, he sounded impressed. "No music? Woah, that's like uber-niche. Here I was worried you'd listen to, like, mainstream pop or something," he added, slumping back in his seat in clear relief.

"Naww, pop music blows," Max said, making a face. "All that perky autotuned junk about love and partying... I just wanna stuff all those singers in a locker and keep 'em there until they starve. That'd show 'em."

Spencer laughed out loud at that, though he quickly buried it in a fake cough and adopted a more detached amusement. Max's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Hey, when this guy smiled suddenly he looked a lot cuter, what was up with that?

"That is literally so true." Spencer rolled his eyes and waved his hand in a you know gesture. "And then these quote- 'alternative'- unquote artists will cross over into the mainstream, and it's like, ugh, I can't believe I ever thought they were cool."

Max couldn't relate to that, but he nodded his head and snickered along anyway. Spencer looked a lot more relaxed now, and... yeah. That was good. If they did a good job on this date they'd probably get paid more by the studio.

He recalled a tip Mitch gave him a couple hours ago, when he was helping him get ready. "Believe it or not, I do have some amount of faith in you," Mitch had said as he ran a comb through Max's tangled and matted hair. "You hardly have to be a gentleman to act like one, and you do have a sort of brutish charm, in the animalistic sense."

"Heh, yep." It was only a few seconds later that Max had cocked his head with a scowl as his friend's words sunk in. "Wait, animalistic?"

Without bothering to follow up on that comment, Mitch had straightened Max's collar for him and, looking him dead in the eyes, added sternly: "Oh, and Maximilian, do try to compliment him. Men like that, you know."

Now, looking his date up and down in the dingy lighting, Max struggled to dredge up a compliment. What could he say that would make a guy like him?

"Hey, Spencer... nice suit." Encouraged by the way Spencer glanced up at him, looking almost startled by the words, Max sneered and went on: "Did your mom buy it for you?"

An odd look passed over Spencer's face, and he hesitantly shook his head. "Nah, bro. This isn't even a real suit, 'cause I figured that'd be too conformist." He tugged at his collar, and for the first time Max realized that his date was actually wearing a t-shirt designed to look like a suit and tie. "It's ironic, natch."

"Ironic? What's that supposed to mean?" Max demanded, narrowing his eyes. The word felt funny in his mouth, like some foreign language something. "You keep talking like that and I'm gonna shove you in a locker."

He realized his mistake when Spencer, already no longer smiling, lowered his head with a sigh and gave him a reproachful look. Max gulped, sweat trickling down the back of his neck. Ah, crud. This wasn't going well. At this rate the studio wasn't even gonna pay him, and they promised they'd pay him next time he did good on a webisode!

Muttering an excuse under his breath, Max pushed himself away from the table, only to tip precariously backward on the wobbly barstool. He windmilled his arms with a yelp. Just before he could fall, Spencer darted forward and grabbed the stool, holding it in place. Doing so put his hand right between Max's legs; the two stared at each other for a few seconds, thick with awkward tension, until Max jumped down and made his second hasty getaway of the night.

This time there was a dull rabble in the background of Mitch's setting when he answered his communicator, and it looked like some of the workers in the warehouse were sharpening weapons. Mitch, too, seemed a little more on edge.

"Yes? What is it this time?"

"He doesn't like me," Max whined, trying to keep his voice low as he crouched in the dingy bathroom stall. "What do I do?"

"Ah, what indeed. Of course you can't just bribe him into more dates the way I would." Mitch paused, rubbing his chin in contemplation. "Perhaps you can win him over with your traditional masculinity--your knack for beating people up, for one. That's one skill that myself and Daxter are rather lacking in."

"Yeahhh, good point. I'll try that."

When he got back to the table, Spencer was texting on one of those little internet gadgets dweebs used. While he was looking down at the device, Max flicked his fingers against Spencer's nose. Spencer jerked back, hands flying up to clutch his nose with an indignant yelp. Max snickered as he took his seat.

"Hah. Got you."

"Bro, that was so not..." Spencer trailed off, eyes widening, as his gaze swept over the hand responsible for knocking his dumb nerd glasses askew (he was kinda cute with them crooked like that, not that Max even noticed or cared!) "Wait, are those real missing fingers?"

"Huh? Yeah." Remembering what Mitch had said about his masculinity, Max held up both hands to show off the bandaged stumps where a few of his digits used to be. "Lost 'em in a fight. Cool, huh?"

Spencer grimaced. "Nah, bro, physical fights are totally lame. I only fight with people on Myspace and Tumblr."

Max, unsure of what to say to that, opened his mouth and pointed to the gaps inside. "I got some teeth knocked out, too."

They were saved from any further conversation by a waiter showing up with their food. Max wasted no time grabbing a handful of bacon and stuffing it into his mouth, while Spencer stopped to snap some photos of his kale sriracha salad before he even popped open the lid of the mason jar it was served in. Heh, you snooze you lose, Max thought as he reached across the table to swipe some onion rings off Spencer's plate while he was too busy taking pictures to guard his meal.

Spencer raised his head to give him a cold glare. Just like that, the hot and juicy food turned to ash between Max's teeth. Crap. He doesn't like that. With the slow methodical movements of someone disarming a bomb, Max stretched his jaw open and reached inside to pull out the half-chewed mess of fried onion and place it back atop Spencer's plate. This did not improve things.

Ah, man, this sucked. He needed Mitch's help again. Ducking under the table to hide from Spencer's reproachful glare, Max pulled his communicator watch out and tried to call Mitch again. This time he got a busy signal--no response. Yeah, typical Dollarton, always betraying him.

(Unbeknownst to Max, at about that time Mitch was crouched under a desk in the warehouse as his peasants revolted, trying desperately and failing to get ahold of Daxter for help. Daxter, meanwhile, ignored his own communicator going off and carried on whistling a bluesy melody from a video game while he fed spoonfuls of gatorade to his most prized anime figurine.)

"Hey, that wristwatch is bitchin'," Spencer interjected. "Is that, like, an underground brand or what?"

"Eh-heh-heh-heh, yup." Max smirked and puffed out his chest in self-satisfaction. "Me and Daxter Flaxter and Mitch Dollarton are the only ones who've got 'em."

Spencer recoiled with a cringe when he mentioned Mitch. "Pssh, bro, the Dollartons are like the richest family in Massachusetts. They're all total posers. Why are you hanging out with one of them?"

"Eh, well, it's not like I like him or anything..." That was kind of a lie--he did like Mitch, though he wasn't sure why--but man, he sure could be annoying sometimes. "It's cause we make movies together. You ever hear about, uh, New Kids on the Rock?"

Spencer nodded, eyes lighting up in recognition. "Oh yeah, natch. A bunch of my mutuals are into it, and they've been telling me to check it out, but I wasn't sure because it kinda has the vibe of something that might get big. I mean, I can always say I liked it before it was cool, but that only does so much for my cred since posers lie about liking stuff before it was cool all the time..." He trailed off from his rambling with a shrug, but Max noted with satisfaction that he was smiling again in that barely-managing-to-be-disaffected way. "But web shows are the new television anyway, so I guess I'll check it out."

They lapsed into silence for a while, eating their food. When the evening was winding down, Max reached over and tugged on Spencer's arm.

"C'mon, we better bust this joint before they try and take our money."

"Nah, bro, it's chill," Spencer assured him with a dismissive wave. "The people here know me; they always give me a discount."

Max squirmed, shooting a glance over his hunched shoulder at a waiter walking nearby. "Are you sure? Mitch says he's not lending me money anymore after last time..."

"For realsies, I've got it." Spencer shot him a smirk as he pulled out a wallet. "But hey, if you wanna pay me back so bad, how about you walk me home?"

***

Spencer, it turned out, lived in an old colonial-style house just down the block from the fabled Plymouth Rock (which, of course, was constructed to honour the film studio of the same name). While Max was leading him up the driveway, their arms proudly linked, Spencer suddenly stopped. Max shot his date a puzzled glance. What, he wasn't pissed at him again, was he? Yeesh, at this rate the studio was never gonna give Max his paycheck!

But rather than glowering, Spencer was blushing. He moved his hand down from the crook of Max's arm to slide their hands together.

"Hey, listen, about your fingers... it's sick, bro."

Max tilted his head. He couldn't be sure, but the way he said it sounded like a compliment. Sure enough, Spencer went on:

"I guess I was just weirded out because I'm, like, not really into the punk scene? But if you think about it, it's actually a really radical statement against mainstream expectations. I mean, why should the man tell us how many teeth or fingers we should have, or whatever?" Spencer picked at the frayed bandages on Max's hand as he said this, sending a thrilling shudder down Max's spine. "And body modification is already a thing, so maybe getting fingers removed will be the next big trend in, like, 20XX or whenever. And if that happens then you'll be a total legend for doing it before it was cool."

"Heh, yeah," Max agreed, even though he didn't really get what Spencer was going on about. Then, grabbing Spencer's hand and holding it up to his mouth: "Hey, if you wanna lose a finger, I can bite it off for you right now. Maybe we can even sew it onto my hand, like a keepsake. Eh-heh-heh-heh."

Spencer's face grew bright pink and he rapidly shook his head. "N-nah, bro, that... it's cool. Another time, y'know?"

"Yeahhh," Max said, a grin slowly spreading over his face as he let his date's hand go. "Another time, 'cause we're gonna go on more dates. Nice."

With that, they said goodbye at the door, and Spencer went inside. Max let out a cry of victory the second the door closed behind him.

"YES! Take that, Mitch, and Daxter, and the studio! You bozos didn't think I could go on a date, but I did it, and now you hafta gimme a paycheck!"

***

So yeah last nite was fun, I mean he's totes cray & kinda ugly but if u think abt it that actually makes dating him better bc it's, like, going against normie standards or whatevs <3

Lounging on his bed that morning with his vape pen dangling halfway out of his mouth, Spencer scrolled through his camera roll for a photo to append to his latest blog post. He'd taken a couple during the date without Max noticing, but they weren't really from flattering angles... he finally selected one of Max with his head cocked like a stray dog, with a little piece of bacon sticking out from between his lips. Spencer chuckled lightly at the detail, but catching it led to him staring at those lips for a few seconds longer than necessary, and... oh man. His heart pounded in his chest like the predictable beat of the pop songs he and Max had bonded over hating. He, like, liked this guy. Unironically.

No sooner had he finished making the post than his dad barged into his room, unannounced as always. Spencer sat up with a beleaguered sigh and took his headphones off to address John Smith.

"Um, knock much?"

"I did knock, you foolish boy, you just didn't hear me over your music," the old pilgrim said with an accusatory finger jab. "Now tell me, who dares trespass in our driveway?"

"Geez, Dad, chillax. It's probably just a..." He trailed off, mind and heart alike racing when he realized. "Oh, dip, that'd be Max!"

John Smith's sunken eyes narrowed. "...Max?"

"Uh, ch'yeah. He's like my new boyfriend, or whatever," Spencer said with a deflective shrug as he slid off the bed and moved toward the door.

But to his annoyance, his father moved to block his exit, hand darting down to hover over the hilt of his sword.

"A new boyfriend? You'll have no such thing! I've told you before, Spencer Smith, it falls upon you to find a wife and carry on the pilgrim lineage before we go extinct!"

"But Da-ad, I--!"

His father silenced him with a flash of his blade. The ancient but still deadly strip of metal came to hover inches from Spencer's throat. Spencer gulped and took a step back. He always used to think John Smith was rad for having a sword, because pilgrims with muskets were so conformist, but the way his dad acted about Spencer's relationships was totally wack. And the decapitated look totally wasn't in right now, so he could only stand back and watch as his father slammed the door behind him and stormed off, no doubt to scare away the realest human connection Spencer had felt in months.

***

The small bouquet Max had stolen off a grandma's windowsill on the way over was pretty much squashed into mulch from how much he'd worried the flowers between his sweat-slicked palms. It felt like something similar was happening to his heart. Like some kinda giant had stuck its big ugly hand in his chest and was squeezing his heart to mush. Man, was that sappy or what?

He paused halfway up the driveway and cast a nervous glance over his shoulder to the decorative rock on the Smiths' front lawn. Mitch and Daxter peered out from behind it to give him a thumbs-up, although Mitch--who was already back in his usual stuffy clothes after getting bailed out from prison earlier that morning--looked a little less excited. Max tried to return his friends' encouraging gesture, but out of habit his hand accidentally raised in a middle-finger position instead.

The second he knocked on the door, it swung open with a bang. Max jumped back with a startled shout and ducked to avoid a sword being thrust in his direction by an older guy in weird pilgrim clothes.

"Get off my property, you miscreant," the guy holding the sword hissed. "You're not welcome here!"

"Suck it, geezer," Max sneered. "I ain't here for you. Where's Spencer?"

"Spencer? Why..." The pilgrim paused, visibly searching for words, until he broke into a wicked grin. "...Spencer's been dead for ten years!"

"Huh?" Max narrowed his eyes. "That's bull. I just went on a date with him last night."

He tried to shoulder past the pilgrim to get inside, but a slash of the sword against his cheek made him think better of it. He flinched, hand flying up to brush away a thin line of blood that sprung up in the sword's wake. The pilgrim lunged forward, hissing, to strike him again. Max let out a shout of startled indignation and backed off the porch in a haphazard stagger.

Once he was off the steps and out of range of that crazy guy's sword, he grabbed the nearest heavy object--the communicator watch on his wrist; fat lot of good that whole gimmick did for him--and chucked it as hard as he could at the pilgrim's stupid hat. Then he turned tail and bolted.

His friends intercepted him at the bottom of the driveway. Daxter gave him a good-natured smack on the back, grinning again now that the disruptive field of romance had been dispelled.

"Too bad!" he proclaimed cheerfully. "Looks like you won't be getting any action!"

"Don't be too downtrodden now, Maximilian," Mitch added, laying a hand on Max's arm when he hung his head. "Going on a date with a dead man? People have made fortunes off less remarkable stories."

"Yeah, but..."

Max trailed off, casting a forlorn glance back at the house. The pilgrim still lingered in the doorway, sword at the ready. Above him, the curtain of a second-story window rustled and pulled back for a moment. Max looked away again a second too soon to see the very much still living object of his interest waving at him.

He wouldn't be caught dead saying any mushy stuff out loud, but as Mitch and Daxter ushered him off back to their clubhouse to get the latest webisode edited and uploaded, Max made a silent promise to never forget the previous night.

***

Spencer was lying on his bed with his face buried halfway in the pillow, listening to a tragic indie song about doomed lovers dying together in an overly niche workplace accident, when his dad came back in. He turned his music down without taking his earbuds out and rolled over onto his side without getting up or fully meeting John Smith's gaze. He didn't want to see whatever look of self-satisfaction his father must have had just then.

"So is he, like, gonezo?"

It was a rhetorical question. Spencer had watched through the window as the three figures receded down the road until they vanished into the distance. But hey, may as well ask anyway, right? Rhetorical questions were like the new irony, or whatever. What-fucking-ever.

"Yes, he's gone."

"Great," Spencer muttered bitterly. "Quote- 'thanks'- unquote, Dad. And BTW, I'm using those quotes ironically to indicate sarcasm," he added in case the old geezer didn't get it.

"He even tried to defile me with this unsightly piece of modern technology," John Smith went on. "Bah! Away with it!"

He flung something towards Spencer, who sat up and caught it with instincts well-honed from countless close calls of dropping his phone. Then he turned and slammed the door with a huff, leaving Spencer once again alone in his melancholy.

Or maybe... not 100% alone. Turning the device over in his hands, Spencer's heart fluttered when he realized it was the very same totally bitchin' communicator Max had worn during the date. He experimentally punched in a combination of numbers on the keypad, and the device beeped out a chipper little ringtone. Moments later, a shaky image flickered onto the screen--not Max, but another guy with a backwards baseball cap.

"Woah, looks like you've got mail!" the strange guy on the screen remarked. "Well, I don't wanna talk to this guy, so heeere you go."

There were some fabric shuffling noises as the device was handed off, and then Max's face filled the screen. He immediately lit up upon seeing Spencer.

"Heyyy, you're not dead after all! I shoulda known."

"Ch'yeah, my dad is just stuck in colonial times. He's always trying to screw me over." Spencer paused, drumming his fingers on the watch's sturdy black plastic casing. He tried his best to seem casual as he said, "So, do you still wanna go out again sometime?"

Max grinned, and Spencer barely even shuddered at all the gaps in his teeth. "You're on. But next time Mitch is paying."

--End--

[candm-brittany-2023]

Wednesday 24th May

We were up and showered pretty sharpish and walked to the bus stop. The bus came just as we got there.

It only took about 10 minutes and we were at Les Halles.

The outdoor market wasn’t huge and there wasn’t much we’d not seen before.

Indoors was more interesting and we bought stuff for our dinner tonight on board.

We found some of the pounce-pied barnacle stuff that we tried in Port Haliguen. It didn’t look quite so appetising in a crate.

We went in search of a coffee and then went to explore. As a result of the desolation of the city in 1944 the architecture is plain and rectangular but there are plenty of wide open spaces.

We walked to the port, expecting there to be lots of stuff going on there, there wasn’t. So we followed a sign depicting Lorient Downtown where we began to find some shops.

The city had a kind of Plymouth feel to it, but then Plymouth was pretty much flattened during the war too.

We found a nice little Parisian style roadside bistro and had a formule lunch.

[unapologeticallygay]

The L.A. Times story attracted the attention of other publications, including The Washington Post, and the word about Northampton spread. The couple started hearing from other journalists, including a reporter from a newspaper in Plymouth, Massachusetts — at least that’s what he said, according to the two women. He said he was doing a story comparing and contrasting Provincetown and Northampton, so Bellavance and Grace agreed to do an interview and get their picture taken, they said. When the photographer arrived in Northampton, he tried to get the couple to take a photo in their bedroom, Bellavance said, and when they declined, he then asked them to pose in front of the lingerie shop Gazebo. “That’s creepy,” Bellavance said. “He ended up just taking random pictures of us walking down the street,” she added. “We didn’t think anything of it.” Then, one day when Bellavance was working at Pride & Joy, a downtown Northampton book and gift shop that catered to the LGBTQ community, a visitor came into the store asking for her autograph. Confused, she asked why. “You’re in the National Enquirer!” the visitor said. In April of 1992, the tabloid ran an article titled “Strange town where men aren’t wanted” about Northampton with a photo of Bellavance and Grace wearing matching leather jackets, smiling and holding hands on Main Street. The caption notes that they had just announced their engagement — in air quotes. The dateline: “Lesbianville, U.S.A.” Of Northampton and the surrounding area, the article said that “10,000 cuddling, kissing lesbians call it home sweet home” and listed nine reasons why Northampton was a destination for lesbians, including that a local bookstore sold lesbian fiction and that “There’s a yearly Lesbian Home Show — where men are NOT welcome.” “I totally freaked out,” Beth Bellavance-Grace said on Thursday. “I went to the store and bought all the Enquirers I could buy. I called the switchboard of the Enquirer a million times.” Karen Bellavance-Grace also remembers going out and buying copies of the tabloid. “It was terrible at the time,” she said. “Certainly, it’s not at all what we want to be remembered for in our lives — that we were in the National Enquirer.” But they felt they didn’t have much recourse — getting a lawyer would have cost thousands of dollars and distracted from their upcoming wedding, Karen Bellavance-Grace said. “It was sensationalistic, but it wasn’t slanderous,” she added, saying of the reporter “there was nothing we could have done to hold him accountable.” The women gave a similar account in the Gazette in April of 1992, after the tabloid hits newsstands earlier that month.

Strange town where men aren’t wanted LESBIANVILLE, U.S.A. — that’s what they’re calling Northampton, Mass., population 30,000. Some 10,000 gay women live in the area. Welcome to Lesbianville USA - a bizarre town where so many women love women you can even find them cuddling and kissing on Main Street! The place is listed on maps as Northampton, Mass., but here are just some of the reasons why it got its nickname: • Some 10,000 gay women live in the town or nearby. • The newspaper publishes announcements of same-sex engagements and “commitment” ceremonies on the same page as weddings. • A popular lingerie shop hosts an annual lesbian night. • One book shop sells “Just Say No to Men” buttons. It also has a lesbian fiction section and a sign telling men to browse elsewhere. • In bars and restaurants, women hold hands across cozy tables and dance cheek-to-cheek. • A monthly newspaper lists events such as a lesbian town meeting, plus get-to-gethers for older lesbians and “Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays” • About half the town’s 245 businesses are owned by women, although not all are lesbians. • There’s a yearly Lesbian Home Show - where men are NOT welcome. • Even the graffiti is gay! On a railroad overpass near the center of town someone painted: “Fern & Lisa 4-ever”

“Lesbianville, USA”, The National Enquirer, April 14 or 24, 1992, photo via Reddit

Read about the history and aftermath of the article here.

[swldx]

BBC 0507 24 Nov 2024

9410Khz 0458 24 NOV 2024 - BBC (UNITED KINGDOM) in ENGLISH from ASCENSION ISLAND. SINPO = 45233. English, s/on @0458z with Bowbells int. fb ID, pips and Newsroom preview. @0501z World News anchored by Chris Berrow. § Richer countries have pledged to give a record $300bn (£238bn) to the developing world to help them prepare for and prevent climate change. The talks at the UN climate summit COP29 in Azerbaijan ran 33 hours late, and came within inches of collapse. The head of the UN climate body, Simon Stiell, said it had “been a difficult journey, but we've delivered a deal.” But the talks failed to build on an agreement passed last year calling for nations to “transition away from fossil fuels”. Developing nations, as well as countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change, dramatically walked out of the talks on Saturday afternoon. § Donald Trump has nominated longtime ally Brooke Rollins for secretary of agriculture, completing his cabinet roster. Her nomination marks the end of a whirlwind, and sometimes dramatic, spree of nominations to lead executive agencies. § Armed and hooded members of the Venezuelan security forces have surrounded Argentina’s embassy in Caracas, according to leaders of the country’s opposition. Six members of the opposition are currently taking refuge in the embassy, having fled there to escape a crackdown by Venezuelan authorities in the run-up to July’s presidential elections. Pedro Urruchurtu, who has been in the embassy since March and is the international coordinator for opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, wrote on X Saturday that armed hooded members of the National Police had closed off streets around the embassy. Drones were hovering above the embassy and phone signals had been cut off, he said. § Treasurer Jim Chalmers asserts government priorities are centered on child safety online amid Musk's criticisms of new legislation. Australia's government has pushed back against allegations from Elon Musk, owner of X Corp, who claimed the country is seeking to maintain control over internet access through legislation aimed at restricting children's use of social media. This was highlighted after the introduction of new legislation mandatorily banning children under the age of 16 from using popular platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and X. § British church and Christian leaders have signed a letter opposing the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill that will have its second reading on 29 November, and are asking UK Christians to do the same. “This bill, in our view, undermines the value of life and lacks the safeguards needed to protect those most at risk from being coerced into premature death”, say the Christian leaders in the letter. The bill has the support of roughly 2/3 of the overall population. § Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday condemned violence and antisemitism at anti-NATO and pro-Palestinian protests in downtown Montreal on Friday night, where NATO delegates have gathered for the alliance's annual assembly. Around 300 delegates from NATO members and partner states are meeting in Montreal from Nov. 22-25. § Sports. @0506z “The Newsroom” begins. 100' (30m) of Kev-Flex wire feeding "Magic Wand" antenna hanging in backyard tree w/MFJ-1020C active antenna (used as a preamplifier/preselector), JRC NRD-535D, 125kW, beamAz 27°, bearing 103°. Received at Plymouth, MN, United States, 9763KM from transmitter at Ascension Island. Local time: 2258.

[seat-safety-switch]

If I ever get back to my own timeline, the first thing I'm going to do is bury my Doc Martens so far up the ass of The Professor that he's going to wish he had never heard of dimensional travel. You certainly can't blame me for going along with it. It all sounded so good: with an infinity of other universes, chances are one of them is gonna have a low-miles 1978 Plymouth Volare that I can bring back home.

That universe, if it does exist, isn't this one. I knew as soon as I stepped out of the warp that things were different. The air hung thick with the smell of two-stroke oil. Screaming wasp-like engines ran at incomprehensibly high revs. Japanese kanji were stapled on the side of every building, making it nearly impossible for my illiterate ass to navigate the downtown well enough to secure a taxi cab. I stumbled through the rain-slick streets in search of a store with enough triple-A batteries to get home.

Something that looked like a hardware store approached from the gloom. The horrific shrieking din grew from all sides. Did they know I was coming? Were they hunting me? That's when I saw it. A family hatchback, containing a family. Front-wheel-drive. Nothing special. In the front, though, a shrieking dorito, its induction scoop jutting through an entirely absent hood. In this universe, rotary engines had won the war. Something in the laws of physics didn't go the same way here as it did in our realm. Pistons were virtually extinct, hunted to the ends of the Earth.

I could not bear to see if I could find my beloved Mopars in this world. If any had survived at all, they would be incomprehensible. And how bad would a Chrysler-helmed Wankel engine be? How horrifying would Saab have become, in this triangle-shaped hell? Most of all, I feared falling in love with it, refusing to continue the sliding. The good news is that these things had such low compression after a couple weeks of use, that 48-volt marine batteries were cheap as hell. Even if I did have to pay for them with chunks of my own hair.

[staticspaces]

Bulwark Ghost Town

You can find the video here if you are keen!!

And finally, let's take a view of some of the buildings from ground level!!

In the middle of nowhere and completely surrounded by farmland as far as the eye can see, we find what is left of the ghost town of Bulwark. Located in Alberta, Canada the area was first settled in the early 1900s but it wasn't until 1914 when the rail line came to town, that it officially became a village.

At its peak the town had no more than 100 residents but boasted a busy downtown, with two general stores, post office, a school, butcher shop and even a dance hall among others. Although the climate in the area is semi-arid, the town became the centre for a busy grain industry and even had 5 grain elevators!

But by the 1960s with Bulwark's population already in decline, the railway that created the town shut down and its residents continued to leave.

With most of the town's buildings long since demolished, there remains only a small handful left including the teacherage and a sign where the school once stood. There are also a few cars left in the former townsite including a 1968 Plymouth Fury.

One day this town will disappear completely and all that will be left are stories, photos and videos.

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 11.22

Holidays

Alice's Restaurant Massacre Day

Arbor Day (British Virgin Islands)

Bank Workers’ Day (Armenia)

Black Entrepreneurs Day

Conspiracy Theory Day

Day of Justice (Azerbaijan)

Day of Music (Spain)

Day of Remembrance for President John F. Kennedy

Day of the Albanian Alphabet (Albania)

Day of the Andalusian Gypsy (Spain)

Family Day (Palau)s

Go For A Ride Day

Good Married Couple Day (a.k.a. Good Husband & Wife Day or Good Spouses Day; Japan)

Good Twin Tail Day (Japan)

Hockey Day

Humane Society Day

International Chick Tract Day

International Ewing’s Sarcoma Awareness Day

International Musician’s Day

Isfahan National Day (Iran)

JFK Assassination Day

Justice Workers’ Day (Azerbaijan)

Kanakdasa Jayanti (Karnataka, India)

Love Your Freckles Day

Love Your Own Country Day

Music Day (Spain)

Musician’s Day (Mexico)

National Agriculture & Related Industries Day (Australia)

National Amelia Day

National Aron Day

National Dental Dam Day

National Dental Nurses Day (UK)

National Housing Strategy Day (Canada)

National Jukebox Day

National Larimar Day (Dominican Republic)

National Nathan Day

National Poetry Day (Philippines)

National Senior Dog Day

National Stop the Violence Day

National Yeti Day

Phonograph Day

Pajama Day (Ireland)

Prosecutors’ Day (Kyrgyzstan)

Psychologist Day (Russia)

Repentence Day (Sachsen, Germany)

Skywriting Day

Slumber Party Day

Start Your Own Country Day

Substitute Educators Day

Teacher’s Day (Costa Rica)

Turnip Day (French Republic)

22q Awareness Day

White Album Day

World Day of the Schnauzer

World Vasectomy Day

Xanthippe Asteroid Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Cranberry Relish Day

Danish Pastry Day (Wienerbrödets Dag; Sweden)

International Stilton Day

Kimchi Day (South Korea; California)

National Cashew Day

Independence & Related Days

Anniversary of Portuguese Aggression (Republic of Guinea)

Duvalia (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Lebanon (from France, 1943)

Regelis (Declared; 1999) [unrecognized]

4th Friday in November

Comfort Food Friday [Every Friday]

Five For Friday [Every Friday]

Flapjack Friday [4th Friday of Each Month]

Flashback Friday [Every Friday]

Flirtatious Friday [4th Friday of Each Month]

Friday Finds [Every Friday]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

National Day of Thanksgiving (Turks & Caicos Islands) [4th Friday]

Stars in Our Schools Day (UK) [4th Friday]

TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) [Every Friday]

Weekly Holidays beginning November 22 (3rd Full Week of November)

Deck the Halls Weekend (Seneca Lake region, New York) [thru 11.24]

National Farm-City Week (thru 11.28) [Week Ending On Thanksgiving]

Festivals Beginning November 22, 2024

America's Hometown Thanksgiving (Plymouth, Massachusetts) [thru 11.24]

Beaujolais & Beyond (Saint Paul, Minnesota)

Beef Tongue Cook-Off (Eunice, Louisiana) [thru 11.23]

Bruges Christmas Market (Bruges, Belgium) [thru 1.5.2025]

Cayman Brac (Cayman Islands) [thru 11.24]

Denver Christmas Show (Denver, Colorado) [thru 11.24]

Downtown Baraboo Wine Walk (Baraboo, Wisconsin)

Downtown Raleigh Tree Lighting Celebration (Raleigh, North Carolina)

FOBAB [Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer] (Chicago, Illinois) [thru 11.23]

Mountain Mandarin Festival (Auburn, California) [thru 11.24]

National Biodynamic Conference (Phoenixville, Pennsylvania) [thru 11.24]

Night of the Proms (Antwerp, Belgium) [thru 11.24]

Plant City Pig Jam (Plant City, Florida) [thru 11.23]

Salute to Ranching Holiday Dinner-Dance & Auction (Workman's Creek, Arizona)

Silver Bells in the City (Lansing, Michigan)

Tallinn Christmas Market (Tallinn, Estonia) [thru 12.27]

Whiskies of the World (Chicago, Illinois)

Feast Days

Amphilochius of Iconium (Christian; Saint)

André Gide (Writerism)

Blackbeard Memorial Day (Pastafarian)

Cecilia (Christian; Saint) [Music]

Christian Rohlfs (Artology)

Clone Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Colbert (Positivist; Saint)

Descending Day of Lord Buddha (Lhabab Duechen) [Bhutan]

Dispute-Settling Assizes (Shamanism)

Feast of Artemis (Moon Goddess; Ancient Greece; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

George (Eastern Orthodox; Georgia)

George Eliot (Writerism)

Herbert (Christian; Saint)

Ignaz Günther (Artology)

Jon Cleary (Writerism)

Light Snow (Chinese Farmer’s Calendar)

Marjane Satrapi (Artology; Writerism)

Miguel Covarrubias (Artology)

Olga Kisseleva (Artology)

Philemon and Appia (Christian; Martyrs)

Pragmatius of Autun (Christian; Saint)

Sagittarius zodiac sign begins

Samonios (Seed-Fall; Celtic Book of Days)

Theodorus the Studite (Christian; Saint)

Vernon the Grizzly Bear (Muppetism)

Ydalir (festival to Ullr, god of archery & skiing; Ancient Norse)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

The Addams Family (Film; 1991)

The Air Hostess (Phantasies Cartoon; 1937)

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (Animated Film; 1991)

Back to the Future Part II (Film; 1989)

The Beatles [The White Album] (Album; 1968)

Beauty and the Beast (Animated Disney Film; 1991)

Bettie Page Reveals All (Documentary Film; 2013)

Blue Hawaii (Film; 1961) [Elvis Presley #8]

Boléro, by Maurice Ravel (Orchestral Work; 1928)

Captain Kidd (Film; 1945)

Casino (Film; 1995)

The Check’s in the Mail (Money Rock Cartoon; Schoolhouse Rock; 1996)

Clambake (Film; 1967)

Coco (Animated Film; 2017)

Convict Concerto (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1954)

Darkest Hour (Film; 2017)

Die Another Day (US Film; 2002) [James Bond #20]

For the Boys (Film; 1991)

Frida (Film; 2002)

Frozen (Animated Disney Film; 2013)

Frozen 2 (Animated Disney Film; 2019)

Goofy’s Glider (Disney Cartoon; 1940)

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Film; 2013)

Hypnotize, by System of a Down (Album; 2005)

Jack and the Beanstalk (Betty Boop Cartoon; 1931)

Jelly Roll Blues, recorded by Bunny Berigan (Song; 1938)

La Forza del Destino, by Giuseppe Verdi (Opera; 1862)

A Lyell Geste of Robyn Hood, by Winked de Word (History Book; 1495)

King Solomon’s Mines (Film; 1985)

Man of La Mancha (Broadway Musical; 1965)

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure (Disney Cartoon; 2017)

Once Upon a Studio (Disney Short Film; 2023)

Pink S.W.A.T. (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)

Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times (Documentary Film; 2002)

Prefabricated Pink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1967)

The Producers (Film; 1967)

Shanghai Woody (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1971)

Shine (Film; 1996)

Star Trek: First Contact (Film; 1996)

Swann’s Wy, by Marcel Proust (Novel; 1913)

Throne of Blood (Film; 1961)

Toy Story (Animated Pixar Film; 1995) Vitalogy, by Pearl Jam (Album; 1994)

Wish (Animated Disney Film; 2023)

With the Beatles, by The Beatles (Album; 1963)

Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose(Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1987)

Today’s Name Days

Cäcilia, Salvator (Austria)

Cecilija, Cilika, Dobrila, Filemon (Croatia)

Cecílie (Czech Republic)

Cecilia (Denmark)

Cecilia, Säsil, Silja, Silje, Sille (Estonia)

Cecilia, Seela, Selja, Silja (Finland)

Cécile (France)

Cäcilia, Rufus, Salvator, Silja (Germany)

Cecilia, Filemon, Filimon, Philimon, Valerios (Greece)

Cecília (Hungary)

Cecilia (Italy)

Aldis, Aldonis, Alfons, Alfonss, Alfs (Latvia)

Cecilija, Cilė, Dargintė, Steikintas (Lithuania)

Cecilie, Silje, Sissel (Norway)

Cecylia, Marek, Maur, Wszemiła (Poland)

Arhip. Filimon, Onism (România)

Cecília (Slovakia)

Cecilio, Filemón (Spain)

Cecilia, Sissela (Sweden)

Cecelia, Philemon, Yaropolk (Ukraine)

Abbey, Abbie, Abby, Abigail, Cecelia, Cecil, Cecilia, Cecily, Cecyl, Celia, Gail Gale, Galen, Gay, Gayle, Philemon, Philo, Shayla, Sheila (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 327 of 2024; 39 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of Week 47 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 27 of 28]

Chinese: Month 10 (Yi-Hai), Day 22 (Geng-Yin)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 21 Heshvan 5785

Islamic: 20 Jumada I 1446

J Cal: 27 Wood; Sixthday [27 of 30]

Julian: 9 November 2024

Moon: 50%: 3rd Quarter

Positivist: 19 Frederic (12th Month) [Pombal / D’Aranda]

Runic Half Month: Is (Stasis) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 61 of 90)

Week: 3rd Full Week of November

Zodiac: Sagittarius (Day 1 of 30)

Calendar Changes

Is (Stasis) [Half-Month 23 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 12.10)

Sagittarius (The Archer) begins [Zodiac Sign 9; thru 12.21]