#christmas carols gold coast

[funthingsfortoddlers]

A great way to get the whole family in the Christmas spirit is Christmas Carols!

And there are lots of great events right here on the Gold Coast. Find the best places to take your family to see Christmas Carols: https://bit.ly/3G8XrpS

[jaydeemedia]

[ad_1] For many people, the hottest months mean escaping to the beach, which can leave landlocked countries such as Austria a less obvious summer holiday choice. But perhaps that’s exactly what makes it so appealing to fellow summer in Austria stans like myself. Don’t get me wrong, I adore the coast – I mean, I live in the Algarve – but I usually prefer my sandy escape in the shoulder season when the mid-day heat is less intense and crowds far fewer. That’s why I’ve been gleefully spending some of my summer holidays in Austria over the last few years. For a long time, I’d only visited in winter, charmed by the snowscapes, ice caves, and festive markets. But now, my seasonal loyalties have shifted. From the start of summer solstice celebrations to the creeping in of the wine harvests in autumn, these blissful and bright months are awash with unforgettable outdoor moments. I love how, as the sun climbs higher, the energy in the cities rises too. How the mountains seemingly stand taller once they have shaken off their winter snow coat. And, with ice a distant memory, the sparkling lakes lure you in again. Sure, skiing is almost a winter religion for those passionate about pistes, and those freshly dusted peaks add extra enchantment to the Christmas markets. But if you ask me, the magic is in these milder, warmer days, when you can put two feet forward, dive into a dazzling lake, or simply enjoy a stein of beer on a sun-bathed terrace. There are numerous reasons to visit Austria in summer, plenty of incredible ideas of what to do when the sun is radiating and an abundance of different itineraries you can follow – whether on foot, bike, train or car – without skiing being the snowy staple. Here, I’ve tried to share my picks of the best for your Austrian summer holiday, just in case you’re still on the fence about when is truly the best time to visit Austria. Reasons to visit Austria in summer If you’re weighing up the reasons to holiday in Austria this summer or still deciding if it’s better to wait until the winter snow turns the country into a powdery-white wonderland, let me tell you why I love Austria in summer. Innsbruck’s Old Town bathes in the sunshine while terraces invite you to pause Cities are still special sans skiing and snow If there is one thing that Austria does really well, it’s the country’s Christmas Markets – the kind that completely transforms an already snow-coated city into something even more enchanting. Salzburg was even the birthplace of (probably) the first Christmas carol, Silent Night. But that doesn’t mean they are one-season wonders, and summer in Austria is just as memorable. In Salzburg, a year-round festival and concert programme makes it magical in the summer when performances move outside to the likes of the Mirabell Palace’s garden. Vienna’s coffee culture and classical architecture give way to overflowing terraces and picnics in the Stadtpark. And in sustainable Graz, with the heavy-student population off for the summer holidays, the UNESCO-listed Old Town feels slightly calmer. Perhaps the most notable urban difference can be found in Innsbruck. Wedged in a valley between mountain ranges that you can almost reach and touch, the city is an absolute haven for winter sports lovers. Cable cars run right from the centre up to the peaks and pistes, and seeing people carrying skis on the high street isn’t even an oddity. Fast forward to the end of spring, and you’ve got a completely different picture: the Old Town’s famous gold roof shines without a snow topper, terraces overflow, and those cable cars keep running but now to epic hiking trails through Tyrol’s famous mountains. Innsbruck in summer is something special, but that’s also true of Austria in summer as a whole. The Cinema of Nature, Leogang, is the perfect summer escape Outside living equals summer holidays in Austria Austria’s cities are captivating year-round, but perhaps, like

me, you’d rather spend your summer holiday in Austria outside? No problem! This Alpine escape is an absolute al fresco marvel in the warmer months, and you don’t even have to strap on your hiking boots to enjoy it! Summer in Austria comes in plenty of different forms. Want to sit back, relax, and soak in the sun and scenery? Take a Danube river cruise and witness the Wachau wine region slip by from the outside deck, or head to Styria’s open-air museum to dive into the nation’s history. You can even do nothing atop the Alps, whether it’s taking the city-centre cable cars in Innsbruck or riding the gondola to a ‘Cinema of Nature’ atop The Asitz Mountain. Then, of course, you’ve got all those tempting cafe terraces in Vienna, lazy strolls along the shores of Lake Hallstatt before staring in awe at perhaps the country’s most famous village and heaps of fantastic cycling trails which connect medieval castles, traditional taverns and remote settlements. Spending summer in Austria means spending summer outside, and that is by far one of the country’s biggest warm month appeals. Inside the Rein Abbey, blissfully quiet at the end of summer Losing the crowds is easy  One of my favourite things about Austria is how easy it is to find your own remote slice of serenity, and a summer holiday in Austria will gift you plenty of peaceful moments if you pick your destination wisely. For sure, some of the most famous places to visit in the country, such as Hallstatt or Salzburg’s many attractions, will always be popular, but enjoy an Austrian city break in less famous Linz, or a mountain escape to Saaflden Leogang, and you won’t find it hard to get away from the crowds. Even when you board a busy cable car in Innsbruck up the Patscherkofel, you won’t have to walk too far to find the simple joys of Austria’s summer silence. The same can apply to some of the country’s best cultural attractions, even if you’ll never get Vienna’s Imperial Palaces to yourself. Still, on a summer day, many people will be more inclined to be outside than walking around the Rein Abbey near Graz or Innsbruck’s Ambros Palace. Lake swims over sun, sea and sand  Perhaps the biggest hurdle for many people to overcome when planning their summer holiday is the fact that Austria is landlocked. But no matter whether you love the beach or have zero interest in tanning, this mountainous nation more than comes through with an excellent alternative: outstanding, crystal-clear, and tempting lakes. After an afternoon of kayaking or lounging around Lake Wolfgangsee in Salzburgerland, you’ll quickly see that spending summer in Austria can be as equally about the water as heading to the coast. Kitesurf at Lake Neusiedl, marvel at the turquoise fringes of Lake Achen in Tyrol, or head to Lake Constance, where you can hop on a boat after bathing to visit two other countries – Germany and Switzerland – all on the same day. Austria’s lakes are a true summer oasis, and the lack of a coastline shouldn’t be a reason to skip Austria in summer. Visit a Styrian Buschenschank in summer for cold plates and wine Harvest and produce, especially on summer’s fringes When it comes to food, I think it’s fair to say that Austria’s traditional heaty mountain staples aren’t exactly what you want to eat on a hot summer’s day. Still, there is far more on the menu than that. One of the best summer destinations for fresh food, farmers’ markets, and even start-of-season wines is the fertile region of Styria. Here, you can spend some days enjoying the best things to do in Graz: sightseeing and eating sustainable global cuisine before venturing out to the nearby vineyards and farms. Orchards, vineyards, and farmland coat the countryside just beyond the city’s limits, and you’ll be showered with scrumptious dishes, whether they are cold cuts at a typical Buschenschank or mouthwatering plates at award-winning restaurants. At the ‘Top of Innsbruck’ you’ll even find snow in summer

The mountain trails come calling during Austria’s summer The lofty peaks of Austria’s Alps might be most celebrated in winter, thanks to the piled-high snow, glaciers, and skiing opportunities. Once that all melts, however, you’re left with soaring slate peaks, exquisite Alpine forests, and no longer frozen lakes – all of which means one thing: hiking. Yes, Austria in summer is a true hikers eden, with trails for all abilities. In Innsbruck, I was amazed at how accessible the mountains were with adapted step-free platforms to the cable cars. In Leogang, I fell in love with the trails to a still lived-in Hermitage and those that were lined with artwork, while in Wachau, the low-slung hills and flat river-side trails offer an even more low-impact option. Still, it’s those grand, lofty and epic trails that get the most attention, and if you love adrenaline and adventure, you’re in for a treat. The Stubai Glacier is still an incredible sight in summer, the waterfall trails in the High Tauern are a treat, and rock climbers and bikers are equally rewarded at spots such as Bikepark Leogang. Summer in Austria means strapping on those boots and breathing in that fresh Alpine air, a truly blissful way to enjoy the sunshine. Vienna’s classical charm is as appealing in summer as in winter Culture and the classics are available year-round  To end on a somewhat unoriginal note, I need to trot out that now famous quote: “The hills are alive with music” – because they very much are, especially in summer. Mountains and music go hand-in-hand across the country, and summer is perhaps the best time to soak it all up. Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart, is awash with entertainment during the more than century-old Summer Festival – in fact, Salzburg’s concert programme is packed year-round. In the Leogang Mountains, summer classical performances occur up in the Eastern Alps before being re-played through speakers in little huts. Across the country, in Graz, the Springfestival marks the arrival of summer in Austria, while Vienna’s museums and cultural institutions are accompanied by plenty of outside events and festivals. Then, in Innsbruck, those long summer evenings mean traditional folk concerts and festivals are in full swing. As tempting as it might be just to sit in a beer garden and soak in the sun by the evening, I’m sure you’ll find those long summer nights in Austria end up being packed out with music, art, festivals and good times. Best things to do in Austria in summer Picking out the best things to do in Austria during summer is no easy task, and this list could easily be much longer, but here are just five of my favourite summer activities. Enjoy a summer city break in Innsbruck All of Austria’s cities have an awesome atmosphere in summer, but Innsbruck in summer is perhaps the city break most transformed. Spend your days up the top of mountain ranges – you can reach the 2,300-metre heights of the Nordkette Range in around 30 minutes – or watch summer ski jumpers at Zaha Hadid’s impressive Bergisel building. Then, dip into a palace or museum before soaking up the long Tyrol summer nights along the river with entertainment. It’s the perfect pocket-sized Alpine city break. The Asitz Mountain comes alive in summer with a cultural hiking programme Hike up The Asitz Mountain My favourite hike so far in Austria wasn’t the most intense or even the highest. In fact, you can pretty much get to all of The Asitz Mountain’s attractions via cable car. No, what makes the ‘Mountain of Senses’ – as it has been nicknamed – so appealing is the cultural inclusions dotting the mountainside. Sit back on a lazy chair and admire Mother Earth at the ‘Cinemar of Nature’, hike the art gallery trail to the still-water pool installations, or sit inside a small wooden hut called a TONspur and listen to a classical concert replay. This is summer in Austria at its most cultured best. Enjoy Salzburg’s Summer Festival There are so many

summer events and festivals all around the country, but it’s the Salzburg Summer Festival which has stood the test of time and has been delivering world-class performances for over 100 years. If you’re heading to the city of Mozart in July or August, try and grab a ticket to a concert. There is never a bad time to visit Salzburg Cruise the Danube River and visit Wachau’s vineyard You don’t need to be wealthy to enjoy a cruise along the Danube River – at least if only for a day trip. For less than €50, you can book one of the combined boat and train tickets, which will see you sail from Melk (home of the famous Abbey) along the Danube River, spotting castles and vines along the way. Then, for the return, you can take the scenic train through Wachau’s vineyards. It’s a beautiful summer’s day out and, unsurprisingly, one of the most popular ways to spend a day in Austria. Even at the start of Autumn, Salzburgerland’s lakes are still tempting Enjoy some R&R around Salzburgerland’s lakes Austria’s lakes are something special, and if you visit the country in summer, you’ll certainly see them at their best. My personal favourite is Wolfgangsee as you can get there easily and quickly from Salzburg by public transport; there’s a handful of different villages around with boats connecting them; cable cars will bring you to the mountains alongside the cerulean pool, and watersport rentals are easy to find. If you go, seek out the unique Red Bull HQ nearby – it basically floats above its own lake! How to spend summer in Austria: three sample itineraries  Not sure how to spend your summer holiday in Austria? Here are a few of my favourite summer in Austria itinerary suggestions to make the most of one week in the country. Four fast-paced cities by train Combine the most famous cities of Austria into a summer train trip over seven fast-paced days. Spend days one and two exploring the two sides of Vienna, with visits to Hofburg Palace and Belvedere Museum while making time for the more contemporary. On day three, take a train to Graz (approx 2.5 hours) to explore the courtyards, clock tower and Styrian armoury before eating arguably the country’s best cuisine. On the afternoon of day four, board the train (around 4 hours) to Salzburg, where you can enjoy an evening concert, and then visit the Mirabell Palace and Hohensalzburg Fortress the following day. Day six will see you continue to Innsbruck (2 hours), where you can visit the Imperial Palace and spot the Golden Roof before heading to the Nordkette range on the first cable car of day seven. If that’s a little too fast-paced for you, cut out Graz – it’s an amazing city but a little bit of a detour compared to the others. Explore Austria in the summer by train makes for some amazing views Trails and lakes bookended by culture If you’d prefer to immerse yourself in the natural beauty of Salzburgerland and Tyrol and spend a week enjoying landscapes, lakes and lazy-days, and epic trails, then this is the one for you. Spend the first day days of your visit to Salzburg to get a little of the city’s culture before heading out into Salzburgerland’s lakes. Base yourself for a few nights in the cute lakeside town of St Gilgen (reachable by bus from the city) and enjoy everything that summer in Austria celebrates: pristine lakes, hiking trails, cable car rides, and watersports. Next, take yourself off to Tyrol for a few days. Either base yourself in Innsbruck, and use the Innsbruck card to get to hikes via cable car in the Nordkette and Patscherkofel, or if you have a car, you could spend some time hopping between some of Tyrol’s other natural wonders, such as Achen Lake. The Murinsel in Graz, Austria’s somewhat offbeat season city Wine and culture road (or train) trip For my last suggestion – of which there could be many more – why not spend your summer holiday in Austria not just soaking up the landscapes, but also the delicious wine and food. This

would work as a road trip (easier to get to vineyards) if you have a designated driver, but it’s also tempting and pretty straightforward by train if everyone wants to try more than just a sip of wine. I’d also suggest coming towards the end of summer, as the main harvest in Styria starts in September. Start your trip in Graz to spend a day exploring the UNESCO-listed old town of the city before enjoying a couple of days exploring the nearby Styrian vineyards and farmlands – plan a stop at the Open Air Museum to see historic houses and buildings in a well-preserved state. On day four, head off to Vienna for a night of cultured highlights – palaces, museums, or whatever takes your fancy. Then spend a couple of days staying alongside the Danube River, perhaps near Melk or Krems, which you can use as a base for Wachau vineyard visits, river cruises, and a guided tour of the impressive Benedictine Melk Abbey. Or, if you want to be really chill, escape to an Alpine lodge with a sauna, like the gorgeous Stockinggut Leogang, and do nothing but relax, read a book, and admire the views – they are, after all, what makes Austria so special in the first place! Pin it: Reasons to visit Austria in Summer [ad_2] Source link

[thatsmybreadandbutter]

Fuck Christmas

A non-traditional Christmas mix, by stephaniemaybe, published December 23rd, 2013.

Listen on 8tracks, Youtube playlist, or clickable tracklist below!

Warning: May contain explicit lyrics.

01. This Christmas Tree Isn't Brutal by Metalocalypse

02. Fuck Christmas by Eric Idle

03. Carol Of The Bells by August Burns Red

04. Christmas Vacation by Mavis Staples

05. Christmas Reindeer by The Knife

06. Seeing is Believing by Alan Silvestri

07. Christmas Song by Adam Sandler

08. Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas) by The Decemberists

09. Lumberjack Christmas/No One Can Save You From Christmases Past by Sufjan Stevens

10. Merry Something To You by Devo

11. Christmas at Hogwarts by John Williams

12. Got Something For You by Best Coast and Wavves

13. Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy by Bing Crosby & David Bowie

14. Merry Xmas, Baby (Please Don't Die) by Crocodiles & Dum Dum Girls

15. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town by Bruce Springsteen

16. Ice Dance by Danny Elfman

17. It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas by Fruit Bats

18. Space Christmas by Shonen Knife

19. Mistress For Christmas by AC/DC

20. Baby Its Cold Outside by Zach Braff & Donald Faison

21. God Rest You Jerry Mentleman by Bad Religion

22. Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis by Tom Waits

23. You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch by Thurl Ravenscroft

24. Lonely Christmas Eve by Ben Folds Five

25. A Christmas Duel by The Hives & Cyndi Lauper

26. Christmas In Hollis by Run-DMC

27. Christmas Was Better In The 80s by The Futureheads

28. The House (Home Alone Theme) by John Williams

29. Don't Shoot Me Santa by The Killers

30. Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over by Jack White

31. Christmas In A Chinese Restaurant by John McCauley

32. Last Christmas by Wham!

33. Father Christmas by The Kinks

34. Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses

35. 12 Days Of Christmas by Belle & Sebastian

36. Deck the Halls by Twisted Sister

37. Christmas at the Zoo by The Flaming Lips

38. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Richard Bonynge

39. Run Rudolph Run by Motorhead

40. Fairytale of New York by The Pogues (Feat. Kirsty MacColl)

41. Silver and Gold by Burl Ives

42. Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy by Reverend Horton Heat

43. Christmastime by Smashing Pumpkins

44. White Christmas by Guns N' Roses

45. Everything is One Big Christmas Tree by The Magnetic Fields

46. Holy, Holy, Holy by Sufjan Stevens

47. Christmas Time is Here by Vince Guaraldi Trio

48. Happy Holidays, You Bastard by Blink 182

49. Auld Lang Syne by Andrew Bird

50. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow by Michael Bublé

51. It's Christmas So We'll Stop by Frightened Rabbit

[klaineccfanficlibrary]

Hi, I was looking for a story based on the book/movie Safe Haven or something of sorts... When one of them run away and ends up in a little town and it's all beautiful... I found one name Spoke too soon at S&C but it wasn't available :(

The first fic is based on “Safe Haven”; the others have a similar sort of theme. - HKVoyage

Spoke Too Soon by blaineandersonsbooty [PDF only]

Kurt Hummel needs to get away from the horrible experiences that life has dealt him, so he hops on a Coach bus and rides it until he gets somewhere he feels his past won’t follow him. That place is Southport, North Carolina, a small beach town along the coast. There, he meets Blaine Anderson and his daughter, Izzy, both of whom will try their hardest to make their way into Kurt’s heart, no matter how hard he tries to resist them.

~~~~~

The Lake House by inkinmyheartandonthepage

Tumblr Prompt: Kurt has lost everything but this house. His father died of cancer, never married Carol, he has lost his friends when things became rough. So he moved out of Lima and started living there. Blaine is a young artist/painter who loses his way one night and ends up in front of the house. Cue epic love story where Kurt becomes Blaine's muse. Rated T at the moment.

~~~~~

Between the Moon and New York City by jackabelle73

Kurt arrives in a small coastal town in North Carolina to join his dad and Carole for a few days of their vacation, but under duress. He can’t imagine that this sleepy southern town has anything to offer him…till a very attractive local goes jogging by on the beach.

~~~~~

A Very Hallmark Christmas by @coffeegleek

Semi-famous actor!Kurt and semi-famous actor!Blaine work the Hallmark Christmas Movie circuit in true B-actor form. Though they’ve worked on the same movies before, this time they land roles that could change their lives forever. Mostly happy fluff, but has some angst. This is Hallmark, so of course it has a happy ending. Many of my favorite tropes have been included: badboy!Kurt who really has a heart of gold and sweetness, famous!Kurt, famous!Blaine, actor!Kurt, actor!Blaine, soulmates, soulmarks, AU Glee, angst with a happy ending, and fluff. There’s also a heavy dose of cheesy Hallmark Christmas Movie writing in both the script and commercials. In true AU form, canon characters abound in various non-canon roles.

Originally this was my Klaine Advent 2018 fic that I brain froze on and knew was confusing because the first 2 chapters were stand-alone, random one shots before I got the idea in chapter 3 for a whole verse. So this is that Hallmark story verse only reworked to make it better and stand on its own. All of the Advent words are included in this fic.

Note: Part 1 of the A Very Hallmark Christmas series

~~~~~

Treading Water by xxxraquelita

Working at a place like Vogue, it was easy to get caught up in the day to day, not to mention the events and fashion on top of it all, which was part of the reason Kurt didn't realize he was getting overworked and near the verge of burning out – at least, not until he was ordered to take a vacation to keep just that from happening. It was difficult to argue when everything had been planned, and by the time he was on his way, the fact that his boss had booked a stay at a retreat didn't seem like any kind of overstepping, but more like a relief. A week away from the city, lost in the quiet – no, the silence – with nothing to do but relax, breathe, meditate, maybe partake in the yoga sessions he'd seen in the brochures provided to him, it was all so foreign compared to the fast paced busyness Kurt was used to dealing with. He had no expectations for the week other than maybe gaining some sense of zen – but by the time he left to head back to the city, he’d gotten much, much more than that.

[im-flashtoo]

3, 13, 28, 33, 40, 46, 51, 56, 74, 99. :>

ok wow that's a lot :o all right:

3. I wanna say the most common is business cards or appointment cards and clothing tags? Sometimes bits of ribbon... sometimes actual bookmarks! I actually use those pretty often, they're nice and people sometimes give them to me as presents so they make me happy.

13. cheesy af but my partner who is amazing :>

28. Sunset... I am a night person! also out here on the west coast those happen over water which is good

33. hsjtdjdjgfkhif uhhhhhh let's go with fresh scones

34. Taffy! Taffy is not out here with me - still at my parents' house, in my old bedroom. Taffy is a brown tabby cat of almost life size, given to me for Christmas when I was two and named for the cat belonging to the protagonist in what was my favorite book at the time, "Annie and the Wild Animals."

35. I was never much into stationery but nice origami paper is A+++

40. I have this amazing brooch that once belonged to my grandmother - it's clear resin with a gold tone filigree border, and set in the resin is a colorful bird catching a tiny insect, made of real feathers, dried flowers, and tiny insect.

46. Puns are so dependent on situation, anything I post here would never have the right kind of impact to truly get me...

... pun-ched.

51. The Boar's Head Carol - I actually thought of the song first because it was inexplicably stuck in my head last night (its September???? and I'm definitely not one of those nuts about Christmas people???? idk) but I heavily associate it with my father, because it's his job to sing it for my church's winter solstice service.

56. Loving their pets, or houseplants.

74. The friend I have in mind is creative and ambitious and actually has the brainspace to pull off huge, wild ongoing story arcs as GM to a sizeable group of people and I find that very impressive. We've never met in person but that's the case with most of my friends, and they're probably the one I'm most able to go to with stuff that's bothering me just to vent. They've helped me through quite a bit. They also aren't on tumblr and probably won't even see this lol

99. ooh this is fucking HARD, wow. okay let's see... Bells in the High Tower is probably my favorite hymn and they're pretty much designed for soul resonance. At the other end of the spectrum there's Parov Stelar's Catgroove, and the entire soundtrack to Morrowind with special attention paid to Nerevar Rising which is absolutely my favorite arrangement of the Elder Scrolls main theme, even as great as the choral version in Skyrim was. Also almost anything if you play it on bagpipes; it's my Scottish blood

[bibliosauruswrecks]

I’m still spending an unhealthy amount of time staring at this Rumbelle aesthetic @timelordthirteen​ made despite the fact that Christmas is over.  Consider this a continuation of what I’m now calling Part 1, because I don’t know when to quit.  I guess this means I need to give this thing a name.

Is it obvious that I don’t know what I’m doing?

It took the better part of a week for Belle to finish the deep cleaning Mr. Gold had tasked her with downstairs.  The first three days, she focused on the front sitting room and the foyer, systematically moving and returning furniture and decorations so that every cleanable surface was wiped down and polished.  Some of the larger pieces she was unable to move, so she improvised with an extendable mop.  If Gold wanted thorough, he would get thorough.

Cleaning the house gave Belle some insight into her enigmatic employer, and confirmed many of the observations she’d already made. That Gold was wealthy came as no surprise; the house was full of valuable antiques, tasteful without flaunting it, but there was nothing that felt personal.  The rooms almost seemed like set pieces for a film, designed to give the appearance of habitation to the outside viewer without actually being lived in.  The formal dining room was much the same.  Belle had no doubt Gold didn’t use any of these rooms.

The back sitting room told a different story. Situated just before the kitchen, it was smaller and more intimate.  The lighter color scheme, a soft sage green, made it considerably less claustrophobic than the rest of the house.  Compared to the front room, there wasn’t as much furniture, but the living chairs and sofa looked used.  There were other little indications, as well.  A half-finished cup of coffee left on the end table, for starters, which Belle rinsed out and placed in the dish washer.  There was also a book, and she was unable to resist taking a peek at the cover.  It was an omnibus containing The Iliad and The Odyssey, with a bookmark of emerald silk poking out about three-quarters of the way through.

But it was the spinning wheel in the corner that caught Belle by surprise.  Smaller and more compact than the more traditional wheels she’d seen, it fit perfectly in the small space.  A basket of wool waiting to be spun indicated that it saw regular use.  It was the only truly personal item she’d seen in the entire house, so far.  As she finished her work in the remaining rooms downstairs, she wondered about it.

With her father still in the hospital, Belle found the prospect of eating dinner alone on Sunday evening unbearable, regardless of the fact that it wasn’t any different from any other night that week. She grabbed her hat and coat, wrapped a thick scarf around her neck, and stepped out into the chilly night without a second thought.

It still hadn’t snowed, despite the forecast promising everything from a quarter inch to two feet for the last four days. The air was crisp, the sky was clear, and Storybrooke’s maintenance department had gotten most of the town’s decorations in place.  Fake lanterns designed to mimic old-fashioned gas lamps had been attached to most of the street lights and utility poles, and garlands with large plastic bells had been strung across Main Street.  The business owners that hadn’t already started decorating back at Thanksgiving seemed to have taken this as a signal, and there wasn’t a single storefront that didn’t have something in the windows.  With one minor exception, of course.

Gold’s pawnshop was completely dark.

He could at least put some of those fake electric candles in the window or something, Belle said to herself.  A wreath on the door.  Anything.

She supposed it wasn’t really any of her business. If Gold didn’t want to decorate for Christmas, that was his own depressing choice.  Still, as she passed the shop on the opposite side of the street, she couldn’t help but wonder.  The place was clearly locked up for the night, so it was unlikely Gold was there. Was he at home right now?  Belle let her mind conjure up an image of him in the back sitting room, jacket off, perhaps with his shirtsleeves rolled up, settled into one of the chairs in front of the fireplace while he finished The Odyssey.  Or maybe seated at the spinning wheel, working with the wool she’d seen, his nimble fingers teasing it into something usable.

You’re being absolutely ridiculous.  Belle banished the thought, and focused on getting to Granny’s before she froze.

The diner was nearly empty, but that was hardly surprising for a Sunday night.  Marco and his son occupied a table in front of the window so they could people-watch, and Leroy was parked on his usual stool at the bar.  Other than that, there were no other patrons.

Catching sight of Ruby, Belle waved a greeting as she settled down into one of the booths.  It was just moments later that her friend came coasting over with a burger and a glass of iced tea.

“How did you…?”

“I’m psychic.”  Ruby plopped herself down opposite and slid to the middle of the booth. “So, you survived your first week with the Beast.  How was it?”

“Not that bad, actually,” Belle admitted.  She poured a generous helping of ketchup on her fries.  “I mean, he’s usually already left by the time I get there, and I’m always gone before he comes home.  And the few times I’ve seen him, he’s been civil to me.  Awkward, but civil.”

“Awkward how?  Creepy awkward? I-hope-you-don’t-find-my-secret-stash-of-kinky-sex-toys awkward?”

Belle took a bite of the burger, mulling over Ruby’s question while she chewed.  “No, nothing like that.  I think he’s just unused to having someone in his house.  He seems like an intensely private person, and having me there’s probably thrown his whole routine out of whack.”

“Yeah, he strikes me as the anal-retentive type.” Ruby pilfered a couple of fries from her friend’s plate.  “So, you found the bodies of his ex-wives in the basement yet?”

Belle choked on her iced tea.  “What?  No!”

“I’m joking.  Pretty sure it was just the one.  And the divorce was messy, but I don’t think there were any bodies involved. Might’ve been some blood.”

“I’m trying to eat, Ruby.”

“Sorry,” she said, not sounding sorry at all as she pinched another fry.  “So, you got any big plans for Christmas?”

“Not really.  It’ll just be me and Dad, assuming they release him next week.  I doubt he’ll be up for a big celebration.”

“Think you’d feel up for some decorating?”

Belle raised an eyebrow.  “I’m sensing an ulterior motive here.”

“Granny’s leaving the decorating to me this year. She’s giving me free reign, and I intend to make the most of it.  Holly, mistletoe, tinsel.  The works.”

“Only you could make that sound ominous.”

Ruby shrugged.  “I aim to please.  Anyway, the point is I may’ve gotten a bit too carried away.  I’ve been dragging out boxes and boxes of decorations, and I’m starting to realize I’ve bit off more than I can chew.  There’s no way I’ll get everything up in time by myself.  But two people…”

“You want me to help you decorate.”

“It’ll be fun!  You can stay after closing, we’ll put on some carols, throw tinsel all over the place, and get plastered with eggnog.  It’ll be good for you.”

As Belle mulled over her burger, she conceded that it sounded like fun.

“Good!” Ruby chirped.  “I’ll drag everything out from the hall while you finish eating. Marco and August’ll be on their way soon, and I’ll kick Leroy out at closing.  This is gonna be great!”

She purloined a couple more fries before scrambling up to get Marco’s check, leaving Belle to finish her burger in peace.

Half an hour after Ruby had locked up and closed down, Belle found herself standing in the middle of a tinsel explosion while “Run, Run, Rudolph” played in the background.  What she’d thought was a set of multiple garlands in a box had turned out to be a single and apparently endless strand of shiny red tinsel.  The box, she decided, was also bottomless because she was sure there was no way the entire thing could fit in there.  The strand snaked out of the box, up around her neck, wound its way down her torso, and ended in a massive pile at her feet. And there was still more coming.

“This is impossible,” Belle declared, wrapping part of the strand around her arm just to get it out of the way.  “Granny’s using stolen Time Lord tech, isn’t she?”

“How else do you think she fits all that lasagna in the freezer?”  Ruby offered her a glass of eggnog.  “You want some help with that?”

“Please.”  Belle sipped the eggnog while her friend unwound the tinsel.  “Just how long is that thing, anyway?”

“I’m not sure.  I mean, I’ve never actually measured it.  I just know it’s long enough to get completely around the diner if you hang it in the doorway and don’t run it down the hall.  If you do that, it’ll reach all the way to the bathrooms, but it won’t make it back, so then you’ve got this big gap you’ve gotta fill and – ooh!”

A pair of glittery red antlers attached to an equally-glittery headband tumbled out of the tinsel.  Ruby pounced on them.  Belle eyed the antlers with more than a little skepticism.

“Are you really gonna wear those?”

“Absolutely!  Magpie brain likes the shiny!”

“How much eggnog have you had?”

“Not enough,” Ruby pronounced, taking a sip of her own.  “I’m wearing these for the rest of the year.”

“The antlers.”

“Yes!  Antlers are an important part of Christmas festivities!  A necessity!”

“You’re going to wear reindeer antlers.  For the rest of the year.”

“Well, I’ll take them off to shower, obviously. And I’ll probably have to take them off to sleep.  Don’t want to get them all tangled up in my hair.  I wouldn’t look like a Christmas reindeer, then; I’d look like a reindeer that just got hit by a car.”

Belle snickered into her eggnog.  “Yeah, I don’t think Granny would appreciate you scaring customers away with your Christmas cheer.”

“Better to scare people off with cheer than being the town Scrooge.  I don’t know how Gold does any business this time of year.”

“Being the only place in town that sells jewelry might have something to do with it.”

“True.  But, hey!” She grabbed the garland and bounded away in a shower of red glitter.  “Let’s not talk about that old miser, and get to decking some halls!”

With Ruby’s unbridled enthusiasm and Belle’s meticulous eye, the pair set about decorating the diner.  It took almost three hours, and Belle didn’t tumble into bed until sometime after midnight, but having seen the end results, she agreed with Ruby that it was worth it.

The snow the forecasters had been threatening the Maine coast with was definitely coming.  Gold was sure of it.  He leaned against the counter to take the weight off his bad foot, and took a deep breath in through his nose, trying to focus on anything except the throbbing pain.  The temperature had dropped ten degrees since that morning with no signs of stopping soon. He glanced at the clock.  It was still too early to take another pain killer, not that it seemed to matter.  If this was how bad it was with medication, he’d hate to see it was without it.

He supposed he could always close up early.  One of the benefits of being self-employed was the ability to make one’s own hours, and any business someone had with him could just as easily be done tomorrow.  Another white-hot lance of pain shooting through his ankle made the decision for him.  Gold closed down and locked up, scowling at the Christmas decorations as he stalked to his car.

It really was quite ridiculous the amount of time and effort Mayor Mills put into decorating for the holidays.  It wasn’t as if Storybrooke had a reputation as a tourist destination, particularly during the winter.  Day-trippers weren’t uncommon during the spring and summer, autumn brought the leaf-chasers, and Granny’s bed-and-breakfast saw the occasional overnight visitor, but like the rest of coastal Maine, winter was the off season.  Gold saw little point in trying to impress a disinterested public.

His disapproval must’ve shown on his face, because Dr. Hopper, approaching from the opposite direction with his dog, quickly side-stepped to get out of the way.  He passed by without offering a “Merry Christmas,” or even any of his usual chirpy greetings.  Gold supposed it was inevitable.  Most of the town had given up on wishing him the compliments of the season, with the exception of a few relentless enthusiasts like David and Mary Margaret Nolan, but they were the sort of people who started celebrating Christmas in October, so their behavior was forgivable if a bit nauseating.

The first flakes had started falling by the time Gold pulled up in the driveway.  He sat for a moment rather than getting out right away, massaging his knee in some vain hope that it might help.  It didn’t, but after all, he reminded himself with a touch of bitterness, it was the thought that counted.  The idea of limping back around to the front of the house didn’t appeal to him, so Gold made his way to the patio door to let himself in through the kitchen, instead.

The soft strains of classical violin caught him off guard, and he froze for a moment while his brain tried to process why there was music in his normally-silent house.  Then he spotted the purse on the kitchen counter.

Right.  It was the middle of the day.  Belle French would still be cleaning.  That belated realization was closely followed by the woman herself.  Belle glided into the kitchen, wielding what appeared to be a curtain rod, and stopped short when she spotted her employer by the back door.

“Mr. Gold.  Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine, Miss French. I simply closed up early today.” Why the hell hadn’t he considered that Belle would still be here?  How was he meant to relax with her in the house?  He supposed he could send her home early.  Yes, that would work.  Send her home early, and he could pretend to ignore his agony in peace.  “Don’t worry.  I’ll stay out of your way.”

Gold was fairly certain by now there was a loose connection somewhere between his mouth and his brain, because that hadn’t been what he’d meant to say at all.

“Good.”  Those bright blue eyes darted up and down, and seemed to land on his cane briefly, before shooting back to his face.  “I mean, that’s fine, I’ll just be finishing here. I mean, I’m almost done with the sitting room, and I’ll be out of your hair, soon.”

His presence was making her nervous, if the way she fluttered back to the other room was any indication.  He shrugged out of his coat, and draped it over the back of a chair rather than walk all the way to the front of the house to hang it on the coat rack.  The very thought made his entire leg twinge. Timing be damned; he was taking another aspirin.

Leaning heavily on his cane, Gold hobbled his way over to the kitchen sink, grabbing a glass as he went. He filled it from the tap, retrieved the aspirin bottle from the overhead cabinet, and tipped two tablets into his hand.  He tossed the pills into his mouth, and quickly followed them with the water. The last thing he wanted was for Belle to find him choking on an aspirin.  He rested his palms on the counter, allowing his hands to take his weight and give his foot a slight reprieve while he gazed out the window.

The snow was coming down in big, fat flakes now.  It didn’t appear to be a heavy snow, not at the moment, at least.  The snowflakes meandered, spiraling downward in a slow dance before eventually coming to rest on the lawn.  There was something quite mesmerizing about it.

A loud thud and a whispered “Oh, bloody hell!” broke Gold out of his reverie.  Standing by the sink, the sitting room was just out of his sight, but he could hear Belle moving around, grumbling to herself. Curiosity finally got the better of him, and Gold limped past the stove and around the counter to see what was causing his maid to curse like a sailor under her breath.

Belle was perched on the back of the sofa, fighting with the curtain rod.  She’d discarded her shoes once again, and Gold found her red-and-white-striped stockings drew his eye right up to her—

Stop it!  He was veering dangerously into lecherous old man territory.  He set his attention instead on the curtain rod Belle was still combating.  It was no longer bare; she’d obviously replaced the curtains while he’d been watching the snowfall, and now she appeared to be trying to return the rod to its rightful place above the window.  With little success, it seemed.

“Miss French?  What are you doing?”

“I took the curtains down to give them a proper cleaning earlier today, and now I can’t get them back up.”  She fumbled with the rod some more, huffing in frustration.  “Odysseus dispatched the suitors with less difficulty.”

“Yes, but if I recall, he had the benefit of a goddess’s patronage.”

She craned her neck to look over her shoulder at him, her eyes alight with that spark seen in any bookworm who’d just found a kindred spirit in the wilderness.

“True.”  She smiled, and her whole face changed.  Gold had known, intellectually, that she was a beautiful woman.  He’d likened her once to a cameo broach he had on display in the shop: elegant and tranquil, with a gracefulness despite the lack of animation, but her smile… With her smile, Belle was positively radiant.

Then she looked away, and the spell broke.

Gold told himself he’d started gripping his cane so tightly because his bad leg needed the support, and not because he wanted to hide the fact that his hands had started shaking. The strange flip-flopping in his stomach was almost certainly from the glass of cold water he’d downed with the aspirin.  He had a little more trouble explaining away why his heart felt like it was trying to beat its way out of his chest, but surely he could come up with a reasonable justification, given enough time.

Belle readjusted her footing as she attempted to find a better angle for the curtain rod.  Gold almost offered to help, but before he had a chance to open his mouth, the loose connection resumed operation again long enough to remind his brain why it would be a bad idea for him to stand on a step-ladder.  He limped over to the end table, intending to grab his book and relocate to another part of the house.  Before he could do so, Belle slipped.

Gold reacted on instinct, stepping forward on his good leg while his cane clattered to the floor. The curtain rod joined it a second later when Belle’s arms pinwheeled in a vain effort to steady herself as she tumbled backward into his arms.  He caught her about the waist, and her hands came to rest around his neck, fingers clutching at his shirt collar.  One foot was still on the back of the couch; the other was wedged down between the cushions. The near-horizontal angle had to be uncomfortable for her, but Gold found himself incapable of doing anything about it.  Just breathing proved to be an issue.

It was the first time he’d ever been this close to Belle, or indeed any other person, in what felt like a lifetime, and he was unprepared for the torrent of emotions that barreled through his mind as his brain tried to process this information.  Incoherent feelings and fleeting impressions bounced around in his mind attempting to coagulate into some form of rational thought. He was touching Belle.  Belle was touching him.  He liked it. He shouldn’t.  He needed to let go.  He didn’t want to, but he wasn’t sure why.  She was so soft, so warm, and he marveled at how she could appear so delicate, but so strong at the same time.

His heart was pounding again.  He tried to swallow, but his mouth had gone dry.  A tiny, malicious part of his brain whispered that he still had his arms around Belle’s waist, but then she smiled again, and he decided he didn’t care.

“Thanks.”  Her voice was low, almost breathless.

“It was nothing.”

“You can, um— you can put me down now.”

Gold blinked. “Oh!  Right.”

He shifted a little, allowing Belle to brace her hands against his shoulders and get her feet back on the floor without tumbling over himself.  Before he had a chance, she bent down to retrieve his cane.  He leaned onto it, relieved to take some of his weight off his good leg.

“Thank you, Miss French.”

“You’re welcome.” Belle fidgeted, running her palms over her skirt to smooth out non-existent wrinkles.  “I should get back to work.”

“Indeed.”  Gold grabbed his book, and started back to the kitchen.  He made it as far as the counter before he turned around and called out, almost as an afterthought, “Miss French?”

Belle, bent halfway over in the middle of grabbing the curtain rod, looked up at him.  “Yes?”

“Do try to be more careful. My reputation in this town would never recover if my housekeeper broke her neck in my living room.”

He expected a nod, or perhaps a polite smile.  Belle took him by surprise with her decidedly-unladylike snicker at his quip. She was laughing at him.  No, with him.  His self-deprecating jibe had made her laugh.  Gold pivoted on the balls of his feet, disregarding the twinge of protest his ankle made, and returned to the kitchen.

With his back to her, Belle couldn’t see the faintest hint of a lopsided grin that had formed on his face.

[upwiththegood]

6th August Photograph quiz

On the Road again, were the words that the lead singer of Canned Heat sang many years ago. One Alan Wilson but not of Beach Boys fame but here we go with some excellent photographs and memories provided by my Cousin Bryan, fresh in from the Gold Coast, as he tries to cool down, after an extraordinary warm summer down below.

One wonders just where this is and why is it so important to the Hemsley family. It's no good asking Bob, as his bus used to visit this little village every 8 minutes in days of old

Any eagle eyed person would spot the clues but what's the name of the little bar down the side. My Godfather, one Tom Stephens, used to purchase a fore rib joint of the winner of the Ashford Livestock show every year and would get the chef to cook us a meal or sometimes and excellent steak and kidney pie, which we consumed in the above restaurant

Another photograph of a regular drinking place but what used to be opposite and who's restaurant is just along the road and famous for what menu choice. It was owned by a Guy and Mandy

You're in the right area if you get this one right and my kids prep school held their Christmas carol service here every year

You may have heard me mention the family church before and this is it and the last time I managed to go there was for my father's sisters funeral before decanting to the Beacon

So what was this area called, as it was visited on the way home from school or choir practice.

Another famous building but what was it before a more modern version was built nearer the village

An even more famous expanse of grass and named after one of the Latter Day Sinners who had a very curvaceous body and an area where it was hard to control the ball

The end of the journey and where Grandfather Frank Hemsley wore his top hat and tails as he took up his post everyday. So where is it and what was his function.

Good luck, as there are a few easy photographs but not too many on Google. Just a photographic memory of days of yore

[culmaer]

AFRIKAANS ★ Christmas vocabulary

ⓘ translations are in South African English (US English equivalents provided in parentheses where necessary) [photo: Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton]

★ Kersfees — Christmas

Geseënde Kersfees! — Merry Christmas!, Happy Christmas! Kersdag — Christmas day Oukersdag — 24 December (lit. ‘Old Christmas day’) Oukersaand — Christmas Eve

★ die Feesseisoen — the Festive season (US. the Holidays)

komplimente van die seisoen — compliments of the season (US. Happy Holidays) Desember — December Chanukkah — Hanukkah Gelukkige Chanukkah! — Happy Hanukkah! Versoeningsdag  — Day of Reconcilliation (16 December) Welwillendheidsdag — Boxing day, Day of Goodwill (26 December) Oujaarsdag — 31 December (lit. ‘Old Year’s day’) Oujaarsaand — New Year’s Eve Nuwejaar — New Years Geseënde Nuwejaar!  —  Happy New Year! Nuwejaarsdag — New Year’s day (1 January) Tweede Nuwejaar — Tweede Nuwe Jaar (lit. ‘Second New Year’) (2 January) Die Kaapse Klopse — the Cape Town Minstrels

Australië het ook somer Kersfees — Australia also has summer Xmas in Noord-Amerika is dit winter — in north America it’s winter in Europa sneeu dit — in Europe, it is snowing die koue — the cold, the coldness Joelfees — Yule Wintersonstilstand — Winter solstice

★ Kersvader — Father Christmas (US. Santa Claus)

die noordpool — the north pole slee (mv. sleë) — sleigh (pl. sleighs) takbokke, rendiere — reindeer beskuitjies en melk — biscuits and milk (US. cookies)

kersboom — Christmas tree denneboom — pine tree versierings — decorations kers — candle geskenk, present — gift, present geskenke onder die boom — gifts under the tree

★ Kersete — Christmas lunch

ⓘ South African, families usually have lunch (not dinner!) on Christmas day.

Kersfees klappers — Christmas crackers papier krone en flou grappe — paper crowns and lame jokes mince-tertjies — mince pies (ie. minced fruit pies) vrugtekoek — fruit cake

’n traditionele maaltyd — a traditional meal ’n lekker ete — a delicious meal lamsboud — leg of lamb gammon, varkboud —  gammon (bees)tong — (ox) tongue soutvleis — corned beef slaai — salad beetslaai — beetroot salad gebraaide aartappels — roast potatoes malvapoeding — malva pudding (a traditional pudding) Kersfees trifle  — Christmas trifle

’n braai — a braai (US. a barbecue, a cookout) om te braai — to braai (US. to barbecue, to grill over a woodfire) braaivleis — braaied meats (US. barbecued meats) ’n snoekbraai — a snoek braai (a braai, at which snoek is barbecued) kreef — crayfish (lobster) garnale — prawns (US. shrimps) mielies — mealies (US. corn on the cob)

★ Tradisies —  Traditions

ⓘ many South Africans from the interior provinces travel to the coast during December, to spend the Festive Season at the beach [photo : Durban beach, KZN — Reuters/Rogan Ward]

somervakansie —  summer holidays (US. summer vacation) om af kus toe te gaan — to go down to the coast die see — the sea strand — beach branders —  waves die hitte — the heat sonskerm — sunblock, suntan lotion

om liggies te gaan kyk — to go look at [Christmas] lights Kersliedjies— Christmas carols Kerspartytjie — Christmas party

Advent — Advent geboorte van Jesus — birth of Jesus die Maagd Maria — the Virgin Mary goud, wierook, mirre — gold, frankincense, myrrh Ster van Bethlehem — Star of Bethlehem om kerk toe te gaan — to go to church middernagmis — midnight mass

[funthingsfortoddlers]

Gather your toddler, family and friends a head to one of  these great Christmas Carol events in and around the Gold Coast and enjoy some yuletide cheer: www.funthingsfortoddlers.com/whats-on/christmas-carols-gold-coast-2022/

 There are lots of great events on our list this weekend and up to Christmas. Don't miss out check out the list today: www.funthingsfortoddlers.com/whats-on/christmas-carols-gold-coast-2022/

 #christmascarols #christmascarolsgoldcoast #christmasgoldcoast #goldcoastchristmas #goldcoastchristmascarols #whatsongoldcoast #christmasevents #christmasactivitiesforkids #toddlerchristmas #christmas2022 #goldcoastmums #goldcoastkids

[sabraeal]

Merry & Bright: Chapter 4

(Requested by @onepetal as her birthday gift! Look at that...less than two months late...)

Obi’s hands grip the wheel at ten and two, knuckles bone-white against the vinyl. It’s been fifteen miles, and the only sign of life in him is the way he breaks, slow and methodical, at every stop light.

There hasn’t been one for the last ten.

What’s more worrying is how the needle quivers at fifty as they cruise down the freeway, never ticking more than two miles per hour above the limit. She’s never known him to go less than ten above -- it’s all sort of ridiculous metric he has that’s part gamble, part superstition.

(”It’s a flat rate up to ten,” he tells her as they speed down 95 in the leftmost lane, definitely doing more than sixty-five. “So they don’t bust you unless you’re doing eleven or more.”

She’s not sure how to explain that speeding fines are not universal, so instead she settle for, “Even when you have out-of-state plates?”

The glare he sends her is nothing short of baleful, but the speedometer ticks back down to sixty, and she lets out a sigh of relief.)

For five miles, he cleaves to the rightmost lane, even when they get stuck behind what has to be the most elderly driver in the state. Shirayuki is known for her patience, but going thirty on a highway tests her limits.

“Obi,” Shirayuki starts, hesitant.

He flinches. Obi flinches.

“Obi.” Her voice is steel this time. “Is everything all right?”

“Yeah.” His shoulders are a hard line against the driver’s seat. She’s in pain just looking at how tense he is. “This traffic, huh? It’s like no one’s ever heard of a Christmas tree until today --”

Her hand snakes over the center console, fingers grasping his thigh. “Don’t do that.”

His breath hisses out between his teeth. “Do what?”

“Don’t hide from me.”

He glances down at her, gold shuttered behind the black of his eyelashes. Carefully, purposefully, she squeezes the denim under her palm. He’s not knobby-kneed anymore, like back in undergrad, and the thick muscle beneath her palm twitches.

He huffs out a laugh, playfully knocking his thigh against the console. “Quit it,” he says, not meaning a word. “That feels weird.”

She squeezes again, tightening her thumb and pinky as she rubs down the belly of the muscle to his knee. He lets out a satisfied groan, and it’s -- it’s not supposed to be sexual, it’s just relief, but her skin crackles anyway, makes her feel like she’s dry tinder, waiting for a spark.

“You’re tense,” she tells him, his mouth pulling into a grimace.

“I’m not tense,” he protests, shoulders creeping up to his ears. “I’m focused.”

She sits back, fingers drumming on the denim. Cars are backed up for miles.

She can wait. She’s not the one who’s afraid of a little silence.

Heavy synth bells resonate in the car, followed by, it’s Christmas time, and there’s no need to be afraid –

Her fingers twitch. Why do they even play this song, it’s so reductive to –

She breathes slowly, in and out. Patience. She has to wait it out.

“Do you have bad tree shopping memories?” she tries, raising her voice to drown out  choir of 80′s stars yelling, can they know it’s Christmas time at all. “Or something like that?”

A laugh bursts out of Obi, until he bears down on it, trapping it behind  grin that cuts. “I have bad memories about everything, Doc.”

“Obi --”

“But no,” he continues, easing his shoulders down. “There’s no specific Christmas tree trauma.”

She leans back, eyeing him warily. “We could just go back. We don’t have to go, if this is too much for you.”

“No, it’s…” He sighs, letting the car lapse back into silence. Feed the world fades out to the beginning of a Frank Sinatra carol, and she leans back her head, thumb rubbing along the outer seam of his jeans. She waits.

“Kelly Ann and me don’t really see eye to eye,” Obi says finally, knuckles easing back into their tan color. “On anything.”

Shirayuki leans on the console, tucking one leg under her. Obi might be an open book to her, but he’s always been one light on exposition. What little she’d heard of before was either unpleasant or vague allusions to a better time, which recently turned into much more substantial stories about Bob and Gayle. He’d never talked about any other fosters.

She’d assumed there was a reason. “That seems almost aggressively normal.”

“Well.” The word’s clipped short, “it’s not. It’s not – sibling stuff. She just finds everything I do offensive, including breathing.”

She refrains from commenting how that sounds exactly like sibling stuff. “That was years ago.”

“It’s Kelly Ann,” he huffs, “her grudges don’t rot away, they age.”

“Did you both have to share a bathroom, or something?” Shirayuki’s never had a sibling, but there were days she wanted to strangle Kihal for hogging the sink, or leaving her side of the room like an explosion of a clothes factory.

“No, she was in college when I came.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, she came home for Thanksgiving and she just – didn’t like the look of me. Said I was trouble.”

She looks at him now, hoodie peeking out of his Florida-thin coat, hair still mussed from sleep, and wonders how anyone could see him as trouble. He’s just Obi, mischievous and mysterious, grin at the ready. The scar above his eyebrow lends him a little bit of menace, but that’s a souvenir from the ring; back then all of his scars were –

She swallows. They were all under his clothes, mostly.

“That doesn’t seem fair,” she says, wishing there wasn’t a hunk of vinyl between them. She wants to wrap her arms around him, remind him that the boy he was here doesn’t exist anymore. She can only squeeze his leg, giving him a weak smile when he glances toward her.

“Maybe. I don’t know. I wasn’t a very nice kid at that point.”

“You?” She presses a hand to her chest. “Not very nice? No.”

His mouth twitches at the corner. “Okay, you can turn down the sarcasm a couple notches there. I promise you, whatever you think you know, I was probably worse. Believe it or not, you met me when I was less of a little shit.”

“Were you mean to her?”

Her shrugs. “Probably? I was pretty much an asshole to everyone then.”

“I mean, specifically.” She gives him a long look. “You know, lock her out of any buildings…?”

He laughs. “No. It was just…general dickishness. She wasn’t home much. She wanted to finish college early to, you know, prove that foster kids were just as smart as everyone else. She’s that type of person.”

Shirayuki nods. “I can see that.”

“She had a boyfriend too. Cal. Coast Guard Cal,” he says, in the same way someone might say Malibu Ken. “He was…nice.”

“Nice?” There’s something hiding in that word when he says it. “Nice how?”

“He was just…” Obi hesitates. “I mean, he was something nice to look at. On holidays.”

She stares. “Things are suddenly so clear.”

He frowns. “What do you mean by that?”

“You flirted with him, didn’t you?”

“No!” Obi grimaces. “Well, I mean…I don’t know.”

She blinks. “You don’t know?”

Obi squirms under her hand. “I just…I don’t know. I told him he had, you know…good gains. In the military.”

“Wow.”

“I was sixteen!” His voice goes a little shrill, and he catches himself with a laugh. “Listen, I knew where to put my dick with girls, I just didn’t – the guys thing was not easy.”

She hums, unconvinced.

“Anyway,” he says, clearing his throat. “I doubt that they’re even still together. She really wasn’t big into doing the whole military wife thing.” He coughs. “It probably won’t even come up.”

“Did he have nice eyes?” she asks, too innocent. Obi has a thing for eyes.

“First off,” he starts, laughter bubbling under the words, “screw you, and second, they were gray.” 

Being back in Virginia is like living in a constant state of déjà vu; he pulls into the farm’s lot and it’s like he’s in the back of Bob’s station wagon again, head pressed up against the glass, headphones blaring over the Christmas music they have on the radio.

In his memory the music is all a blur; he’d had such strong opinions on it then -- what was alt enough for his alt rock sensibilities, who was selling out to be mainstream -- but he doesn’t remember any of it now. It was never really about that anyway; it was about who was loud enough to block out the rest of his life.

Survival mechanism, the psych in Clarines would have called it. It had saved him from some of the more unpleasant parts of his childhood.

That wasn’t what it had been doing then.

His skin itches. Ever since he got here, it’s been like he’s wearing someone else’s, or maybe -- maybe his own. He’s wearing his past, and it just doesn’t fit, not anymore.

He’s outgrown the memories he made here, the person who he was. He’s not afraid, not of this, not anymore.

Maybe if he says it enough, he’ll really start believing it too.

It takes Doc a quarter of an hour to exit any vehicle – god knows why; he has to unfold himself like an accordion from any car under midsize, but Shirayuki is tiny, only hitting five-three on technicalities, and yet here they are. He idles by her door awkwardly, ass parked on his hood and heel kicked up on a tire, waiting for her to collect everything she’s intent on hauling with them.

He knows better than to remind her it’s going to be in-and-out, fifteen minutes tops; that’s just going to make her think harder about what to bring.

Obi scans the lot, wrinkling his nose at the tiny, pre-cut trees they have leaned against the side of the barn – little three foot things, better suited for a production of “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown” than anyone’s living room. There’ll be bigger ones inside the barn; good five to six footers that will make Gayle happy. If he’s lucky, Kelly Ann will have scoped some out – she was always the one with opinions anyway. He just wants to strap that thing to top of his car and go home; anything to keep this little trip down memory lane short.

He huffs out a breath. Kelly Ann. Gayle had that coy little smile on her face when she said it, you can go help Kelly Ann, and he just –

It’s not going to help, whatever Gayle think she has up her sleeve. She may think six years of nothing will erase two of fighting, but Kelly Ann nurses grudges like pets, like children: she likes to see them get big and strong and take on a life of their own. She’ll forgive his trespasses over her cold dead corpse.

His eyes flickers over the crowd milling about outside. He probably won’t even recognize her, not after so long, and that’s only going to make her worse –

He sees her.

It’s like seeing her the first time all over again, being struck by the almost purposeful placement of her freckles on her cool brown skin, thinking that with that and the angle of her eyes she looks like one of the wild cats he saw on the Nat Geo channel as a kid. He wanted to draw whiskers on her, wanted to pull the tight coils of her ponytail out and make a mane big enough so that everyone could see what he saw: not some tame house cat, but something to be marveled at, something dangerous --

Something that survived where it shouldn’t have, just like him.

And she has a kid.

The little head bobbles at her side, hair pulled up in two little puffs, chattering away, and maybe, maybe this isn’t Kelly Ann –

The woman’s gaze fixes on him, two dark eyes going wide before they narrow, her mouth pitching into a frown. “Obi?”

Nope, it’s – it’s really her.

“Kelly Ann?” His gaze slips down to the kid at her side. She can’t be much more than four or five, all long limbs and baby teeth. “And guest?”

The girl tucks her head into her mom’s side, shy.

“Laila,” Kelly Ann says warningly, though Obi can’t say whether it’s for him or her daughter. Both, probably. “This the girl?”

Shirayuki spills out of the passenger side, smile bright. “Hi, yes! I’m – me. Shirayuki.” She sticks out a hand. “I’m happy to meet you.”

Kelly Ann hesitates, but Bob and Gayle didn’t raise any of them to be rude. She clasps Shirayuki’s hand, giving it a firm shake. “Good to meet you too. Kelly Ann.”

“Did you pick out a tree?” Obi asks, before they can do much more talking. Already he can tell this is going to be a shitshow. “I got a plastic card with my name on it that’s dying to have an evergreen purchase.”

“No.” His heart sinks. “Laila wants to go chop one down.”

“What.”

“Ooh!” Shirayuki’s smile ups its wattage. “I love doing that!”

Of course she does, of course.

“Great,” Kelly Ann says before he can protest. “Let’s get to it.”

[illusivexemissary]

Saved thread: Lucifer and Gabriel in snow 

snappingnecks:

ψ ⑉ It was brittle outside, nearly twenty degrees Fahrenheit and dropping rapidly as the snow continued to fall. It was nearly Christmas, just a few weeks out, and snow had descended upon most of the country ;; especially in Kansas City, where the Devil had taken up residence. Still heavily weakened by the inter-dimensional travel, Lucifer himself had taken up residence in a small, but pleasant hotel at the edge of town ;; secluded enough not to be disturbed, but not so far away that his favorite weather was missed.

It was nearly midnight as entirely-bare feet crunched into the newly-fallen snow, unaffected by the cold that would’ve made most humans get a serious case of frost-bite. The sensation of the snow between his toes, dampening the legs of his jeans up nearly a foot, made him sigh not in agitation or annoyance, but in pleasant calm. Winter, while dark, had always had a special place in Lucifer’s heart – it had been that very season where he’d spent most of his time on Earth, walking through the snow with his ivory wings (matching its very tint) carving a second pathway behind him.

So engrossed in the beauty of the night, the ground illuminated by a brilliant azure hue from a full-moon above, the Light Bringer had not noticed the other presence until it spoke, until its pleasant voice added only to reminiscent sensations flooding his subconscious like a fire. “It remains my favorite… Do you remember, when you were much younger, the first time I showed you snow? I still remember how you started to cry, at first… but once I showed you how much fun it could be, how good it felt… I had to pry you away from it when Father called.”

Reaching down, he picked up a small handful of the white substance in his hand, which did not melt even in the slightest. His fingers clenched it into a small log of ice, eventually allowing it to return to where it came from. “Every winter, when it started snowing, you would get me from whatever I was doing… so we could be the first to walk through it.”

There was a pause, as icy-blue eyes rose up toward the sky. “I haven’t forgotten, you know… I remember all of it but sometimes…” His hand rose to tap at his temple, gaze shifting to find Gabriel’s form among the snow and darkness. “Something inside me mutes them, or takes them and shifts them… and I forget what I once was… who I was…”

Gabriel fashions a winter’s glow from the darkness, clear enough to see his face.  His eyes are moist from the poignancy of the memories Lucifer recites: not only the memories themselves, but the fact that the Devil remembers them so vividly, and yet experiences moments of serene clarity when he can look back on them with fondness.

He is smiling, too, and he is ashamed neither of the tears nor the grin.  His voice is very soft and very kind, in the winter dark, and in the solitude of only two brothers, without the rest of the world even existing:         “Oh yeah. I remember. Every winter. I remember you.”   Yeah, there you are, beloved hero. I remember you.   Gabriel is happier than he feels at liberty to admit, even to his wife or younger siblings, certainly not to his children, that he found a way to give solace to Satan himself–even if only in the coasting snows of distant, distant memory.   Perhaps that is God’s fault, for making a creature solely meant to illumine, and another creature solely meant to grant joy.  

Kansas City has its share of churches, and irony, there’s one right by the pair of Archangels, across a street that’s far from the virginal evenness of those fresh snows of eons past, trailed upon by wings of ivory and wings of gold.  Still a boy choir is singing the carol “Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree,” and while the words aren’t distinct at this distance, they drift over the two figures like banks of white.  

Gabriel shrugs his shoulders, in his obnoxious Nordic reindeer sweater and his scarf and his beanie and a new feature: a pair of black-rimmed glasses.  He looks thoroughly like a hot dad.   An idea springs to mind, equally sanctioned by good memories.  

He picks up a ball of that snow–he, an abundantly warm creature, one way in which he was never like his mentor, and therefore, with little time to spare–and lobs it at Lucifer’s head.  It lands on its target.

He pauses, and peers impishly at Lucifer, anticipating either deadpan annoyance, or perhaps a flicker of bemusement. Either will do. Either are thee Lucifer who raised him.         “Heh. Merry Christmas, asshole.”  

[blogwritetheworld]

The Write Place: ‘Tis the Season - My December

by Lisa Hiton

Looking for the right advice on pursuing the writer’s life? You’ve come to the write place!

My family is Jewish. We don’t celebrate Christmas. And yet, isn’t going to a movie and eating Chinese food while the rest of the world closes down for a day a kind of ritual—its own kind of made-up holiday? I’m sure that these details seem usual as well. But, dear writers, a lot more is there than meets the eye. Your family’s traditions, rituals, and habits—no matter how ordinary they seem—can be made extraordinary by turning them into words.

Family Hanukkah with multiple Hannukiahs! These are different than menorahs as they hold nine candles instead of seven.

PANNING FOR GOLD

An easy way to describe your holiday season to someone else (and kickstart your writing process) is to make a list of traditions and rituals that you think of when this time of year comes around. Mine looks something like this:

Tuesday before Thanksgiving

take a train into the city

to go to the Art Institute with my mom

followed by shopping for new art supplies

and a nice dinner

and train ride home

Thanksgiving Eve and Day

prepare spinach balls

set table

cook cook cook

eat eat eat

play games with cousins

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

hang Hanukkah stockings

attend Cathy Nathan’s x-mas party

cook a big breakfast including eggs, fresh squeezed OJ, and bacon

open stockings

hang out

go to a movie at the theatre

cook a nice dinner (Chinese food takes too long in my hometown since we live in a pretty Jewish part of Chicagoland)

watch holiday movies with mom and brother, especially The Family Stone

Winters in Chicago can be brutal; there’s no better antidote than playing in the snow! Here I am enjoying the snow with my first friend, Rebel.

Are you bored yet? This isn’t even counting Hanukkah since it doesn’t always fall near Christmas! All of these things may seem pretty usual. That might be true if you make your list of traditions as well. You might decorate a tree, hang twinkle lights, go caroling, go to the same person’s house every year to celebrate, leave out cookies for Santa, etc. Most neighborhoods and cultures have their usual lists of traditions. Part of your goal as a writer is to pan for gold among them.

Looking at this list, I began to ask myself, Why is it that my mom, brother, and I do these same things every single year? Some of it seems like the larger culture, but some of it was made by us. As I think about why, it’s clear that a lot of these rituals are in some way related to my parent’s divorce. Through that lens, I might start panning for my own gold—to sift through this litany to find something that might be worth more than meets the eye. Each of these seemingly usual bullet points, in fact, triggers different memories for me. In that field of memories, where might I find a scene that begins a longer story? How might I organize these scenes and memories into something cohesive for myself and my readers? I’ll begin with my freshman year.

My freshman year of high school marked the first year of spending winter break with divorced parents. While breakfast time was never particularly special in my house, Christmas day posed a dilemma: what would my mom, brother, and I do in this new situation, just the three of us? Especially since nearly everything is closed on Christmas day and people are with their families, filling the time posed some anxiety for my mother and me, especially with my young, shy brother.

To be sure, I already had thrown one tantrum about adjusting to these new circumstances. It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. In elementary school and middle school, I normally had that day off as part of my holiday break. In high school though, this was not the case. It was second period when I received a pink slip during chorus to report to my advisor’s office. As a self-proclaimed academic, I was not used to be in trouble. With a room full of eyes on me as I left the choir room, my angst only increased.

It seemed my senior leaders had gone to my advisor worried about my general sadness. In my humiliation that anyone had noticed such negative energy, I proceeded to have the first of many tearful conversations with my advisor about adjusting: to high school, to a new home situation, and more. My mom came and picked me up from school so we could play hooky and keep our one ritual of going to the Art Institute of Chicago. I knew it was a temporary solution to a larger problem, and that this was just one of many adjustments I’d have to make. Yet, the gesture helped me persevere despite my pain.

That choir room would continue to serve as a literary backdrop for growth and tough love throughout high school. It was also a common community I kept throughout high school while everything else changed. For our annual fundraiser, we sold grapefruits and oranges by the box. When the trucks pulled up to the high school, we passed the boxes one by one down the line, just like the who’s down in Whoville, singing all the while in the face of another frigid Chicagoland winter.

While I’m more of a night owl than a morning person, and certainly not a big breakfast eater, this introduction to ripe grapefruits became my exception. Cut in half with a little bit of sugar was all I needed to jump-start my day with a jolt of Vitamin C. And so when the week of Christmas came around, my mom picked up a citrus juicer. The morning of Christmas. My brother and I sat on the island in our kitchen cutting oranges in half. We took turns pressing oranges onto the machine as it whirred and whirred. In an absolute mess of pulp, we finally squeezed enough halves for three cups of juice, just as our bacon was coming out of the oven. It was a new tradition, mundane as it may seem now, and a way of lightening the day and passing the time on a holiday that is not ours.

Christmas may not be our holiday, but it would be a boring day without our own tradition of “Hanukkah stockings”. My brother, Merrick, and I still give each other socks and chapstick as a ritual!

AMONG THESE ROCKS

Among the rocks in the river, there are some that are worth spending time with as a writer, and others that probably don’t add much to the larger story. The larger story in a personal essay is not always about a narrative arc. In the passage I just wrote about making orange juice, the larger story is about recasting the family unit as three instead of four, connecting to my younger brother, and trying to lift my spirit despite how hard it was to start high school with divorce at the forefront of my thinking and feeling. While all of that may not have come out precisely, writing this little passage is a signal that with time and effort, I could write that longer essay. Now as a writer, it will be up to me to describe these anecdotes as scenes, make characters out of my self and my family members, and reflect on the meaning. If this can all be done well—the showing and the telling—then it’s likely the reader will feel a similar sense of nostalgia.

The house where I grew up is on a hill whose swale leads to the north fork of the Chicago River. My fondest memories of winter are sledding down that hill and walking on the frozen river. Here I am teaching a new friend, Miriam, about these prairie-land games.

That is, perhaps, the most important way to approach material. If something is significant, memorable, or worthy of reflection to your own sense of self or personal narrative, there is probably a way to translate that to your reader in writing. Take for example Vani Dadoo’s My December piece from last year, “December in Delhi”, about waiting for the train:

Winter is not good for a polluted city like mine. December, being the main month of winter in India, is always the coldest.

All things in nature huddle together in winter, trying to find, or steal, some warmth from the other.

The clouds creep towards the ground. The fog and the smoke meet and embrace, and together try to steal the little sunlight before it touches the earth. The smog becomes denser, trying to wrap the earth in a heavier, grayish blanket, like the people sleeping in woolen quilts in their homes.  Evening darkness approaches faster than before, as if the smog did succeed in robbing the sunlight. Even after twilight, the smog refuses to diffuse. The air becomes thicker, but the world puts on an old, dull, sweater and wraps a muffler around its neck and walks on.

Some evenings, it coughs and some mornings, it can see its breath. But most days, it can’t peer into the distance.

This year, my father decided to travel to escape the harsh winters. “Migration over hibernation,” he called it, and, “better to get the sun somewhere than get closer to that old, rusty heater at home,” is what he said. We decide to journey to the western coast around Mumbai by train. Indian Railways was a part of family, as all cross-country trips; from Himalayan foothills to the Rajasthani deserts, were made by train.

As we take a cab to the New Delhi railway station, the moon is rising. The moon is a blurred piece of white in the black sky, clouds and smog. The street lights, though, filter through this, illuminating every speck of dust. The cars zoom past on the highway.

One can rarely see stars in my city.

Dadoo wavers between a present-tense meditation on December, and a swell of memory related to waiting for a train in Delhi. While these may be ordinary in another context—waiting for a late train or reflecting on the season—Dadoo weaves these two threads together, a double helix, to arrive at grand statements of the human condition: that like waiting for a train, we wait for a season’s end so that we may be carried into a new one.

Dadoo also brings us Delhi in her sensory details. From the opening passage about all things in nature “huddling together”, Dadoo mirrors her descriptions to match the crowded and polluted city around her. Just as Dadoo was able to give the details of December in Delhi while waiting for a train, you can give your own details as you think about your family—their traditions and rituals, the personalities of each member, and the things that make you nostalgic.

A reader gets a clear sense of a train station in Mumbai from this piece. If you’re familiar with such a place, you will get swept up in a shared nostalgia. If you’re unfamiliar with this land, you may find these descriptions to be exotic. In both cases, the very things that are both familiar and new bring the reader into a shared sense of the human condition with the writer herself. That shared humanness is the the entire point of sharing stories! And all of that came from writing about waiting for the train!

So, dear writers, as you think of Decembers past and enjoy your current December, what memories and rituals are for keeps? What gold will you find in waiting for the train, cooking with your grandmother, visiting a museum, playing in the snow? Show us your favorite places, traditions, and people at this time of year by tagging your stories and images with #MyDecember on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

About Lisa

Lisa Hiton is an editorial associate at Write the World. She writes two series on our blog: The Write Place where she comments on life as a writer, and Reading like a Writer where she recommends books about writing in different genres. She’s also the interviews editor of Cosmonauts Avenue and the poetry editor of the Adroit Journal.

[mc-dude]

Hal Jordan Reading List

                                |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|                                  ¯¯¯/   /¯¯¯\   \¯¯¯                                       |   |           |   |                                   __\   \__/   /__                                 |_____________|

❝ Hal Jordan – he’s the anti-Batman. Batman has everything mapped out seven ways, while Hal will jump off a cliff and figure out how not to die on his way down. ❞

                                                                                            - Kurt Busiek

Q: Why is Hal killing all these people? I thought he was a good guy? Why does he have thigh-high boots?

A: In January of 1994 (Green Lantern v3 048) Hal’s home aka Coast City is destroyed by Mongul while battling Superman. Hal kind of goes insane and basically turns into a supervillain named Parallax who only wants to “fix” the universe. The writers have stated in various interviews that they were rushed for time so if the story seems rushed & out of place well.. it’s because it is. Still, it’s a part of Hal’s history! The whole thing was basically retconned in Green Lantern: Rebirth by Geoff Johns. The boots are because Parallax is really just a big a drama queen. Hal is Parallax from 1994-1996.

Q: Why is Hal a big tortured green ghost? I thought he was Green Lantern?

A: After the events of Final Night Hal gets sent to purgatory and is only released to become the Spectre, the Spirit of Vengeance in the DC Universe. The Spectre basically needs a human host in order to exist on the physical plane so Hal is chosen because he feels like he deserves to be punished for what he’s done. Hal the Spectre from 1999-2004.

Q: Who’s Hal? I thought Green Lantern was John/Kyle/Guy/Simon/Jessica--

A:

Boy do I have news for you.....

This is my recommended reading order that I think will give you a good introduction to Hal Jordan as a character.

You could always start at the chronological beginning and make your way forwards, but that usually isn’t the best way to get into a character. Start with the stuff that will get your attention and is easier to digest, and then you can go hard and dive into the huge volume of works all about my favorite green boy.

Q: How do I read these? I’m broke af!

A: There are many places to read comics online! Readcomiconline.to has most of these! If you need to read first online and then when you get $$ buy them IRL or online (with Comixology, Amazon, etc.) then I don’t judge you.

Q: I have a question about (insert continuity question here) or (insert random comic here)..

A: I’m always open to asks about anything related to my son. :’) HMU! I will explain everything I promise.

Q: You missed one / there’s a typo in this list / I think you should have put x comic in y section..

A: If you think I missed anything please let me know! I may have forgotten one, or there may be a Hal comic lurking around that I haven’t read.. doubtful.. but it’s a possibility..

Any suggestions about reading order please send as well! I’m always open to changing the list/having convos about my son.

Q: Are there any new comics with Hal comic out rn??

A: Yes! Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps gets updated every 2 weeks. There’s also a Green Lantern / Star Trek series called Stranger Worlds, and a Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern series that are both on-going. Hal will also make an appearance in Flash v5 024 (june 14), and will be featured in the upcoming DC event-prequel called Dark Days - The Casting 001 and also in the DC Metal event in certain issues (which #s are unconfirmed). He is currently not on the Justice League title.

Darkseid War: Green Lantern

Green Lantern: Rebirth

Green Lantern: No Fear

Green Lantern v4 a.k.a. Geoff John’s run 001-042

Blackest Night (043-052)

Green Lantern v4 053-067

Green Lantern v5

Green Lantern: Future’s End

Hal & the Green Lantern Corps (current on-going series)

Now you have a basic introduction to Hal Jordan’s character and what he’s all about. Now it’s time to start in on some of his relationships! Hal’s main relationships in his life are: Carol Ferris, Barry Allen, and Oliver Queen. Carol is his on-again off-again romance spanning from the 60s to mid-GL v5. Barry, a.k.a. the Flash, is his best friend. Oliver Queen is his other good friend.

BARRY ALLEN

Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave & The Bold

Flash v4 Annual 002

Flash v5 023-024 (out june 14!)

Justice League n52 001-012

Flash v1 131, 143, 168, 175, 191, 222, 225, 275-277, 322

Green Lantern v2 013, 020, 043, 200

Justice League of America v1 096, 139, 156, 170, 186

Flash: Rebirth 001

General Mills Presents: Justice League 003

Christmas with the Super Heroes 002

OLIVER QUEEN

Hard Traveling Heroes a.k.a. Green Lantern v2 076-122.

Green Arrow v1 001

Green Arrow v2 019-020, 095-096, 136

Green Arrow v3 007-009, 017, 065

Green Arrow & Black Canary 001, 004-005, 007, 029-032

Legends of the DC Universe 007-009

DC Universe - Decisions 001-003

Justice League - Cry for Justice (note.. most people think this is terrible & OOC. But you can decide for yourself!)

CAROL FERRIS

Green Lantern: Secret Files and Origins

Green Lantern: Rebirth

Green Lantern v2 073, 083, 145, 172, 180-185, 190

Green Lantern v3 021-024, 026-027, 032, 036, 041, 119

Green Lantern v4 018-020, 029-035, 038, 050, 053, 063, 067

Green Lantern v5 001, 003-007, 020

DC: The New Frontier

JLA: The Nail

Now that you have a grasp on Hal’s relationships, I have a few favorite one-shots and Hal appearances that I think are excellent reads.

DC: The New Frontier

Green Lantern / Superman - Legend of the Green Flame

Green Lantern - Ganthet’s Tale

Green Lantern - Willworld

JLA / Spectre - Soul War

Justice 001-012

Brave and the Bold v3 001-002, 004-006, 012, 015, 019-022, 030

DC Comics Presents: Green Lantern

Harley’s Little Black Book 002

JLA 035, 115-120

JLA: Year One 001-012

Alright now you’re ready to sink deep into the rest of Hal Jordan history. Basically the best thing to do at this point is to start at the beginning and work your way up to present day! NOTE: I have included every single appearance of Hal (not already mentioned above) in this section so I put a lot of it under a READ MORE! Don’t miss out on it if you’re on mobile! :-)

Green Lantern v2

Green Lantern Corps v1

Green Lantern v3 001-047 aka Pre-Parallax

Green Lantern 048-050 aka Emerald Twilight

Zero Hour: Crisis in Time

Green Lantern v3 055, Annual 004, 063-064, 100-106

Final Night

Green Lantern v3 081

Day of Judgement

The Spectre v4

Green Lantern v3 119, 145, 150, 155

Green Lantern Corps Quarterly 001-005, 008

Green Lantern Corps v2 016, 020-022, 026, 045, 058-059

Green Lantern Special 001-002

Green Lantern: Circle of Fire 001-002

Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn (note: this is an alternate version of Hal’s origin story that is not considered canon)

Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn II (still not canon..)

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors 002, 008-010

Green Lantern: Mosaic 003, 005, 015-018

Star Trek / Green Lantern: The Spectrum Wars

Star Trek / Green Lantern: Stranger Worlds (on-going)

Planet of the Apes / Green Lantern (on-going)

Green Lanterns 024

Tales of the Green Lantern Corps 001-003, Annual 002

Green Lantern Legacy: The Last Will & Testament of Hal Jordan

Green Lantern: Fear Itself

Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special :’)

Green Lantern 80-page Giant 001

Green Lantern vs Aliens 001

Green Lantern / Plastic Man: Weapons of Mass Deception

Green Lanterns: Rebirth

Sinestro Corps Special 001

Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Ion

Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Parallax

War of the Green Lanterns Aftermath 001

Brightest Day 000-001, 015

Flash v2 069-070, 074, 077, 079, 130, 198, 200, 207, 215-216, 219, 246, Annual 008

Legends of the DC Universe 001, 007-009, 012-013, 028-029, 033-036, 038

Time Masters: Vanishing Point

Action Comics 601-635

Justice League of America v1 001-056, 058-68, 070-083, 085-093, 095-122, 125-130, 132-133, 135-137, 139-144, 147-153, 155-180, 182-190, 192-195, 197-200, 206, 211-213, 219-220, 224, 231, 240, 250, 261

Justice League of America v2 000-010, 012, 015, 022-024, 026, 029, 031, 041-043, 045, 051-053, 059

Justice League of America 80-Page Giant 001

Justice League Europe 039-045, 047, 049-050

Justice League International 010, 024, 051, 053-057, 060-061

These are the rest of Hal appearances.. if you’ve made it this far.. god speed.

52 - Week 006, 013, 033

Action Comics 350, 366, 429, 437, 443-444, 470, 483, 489, 527, 589, 642, 770, 836-837, 850, 873, 884-886

Adventures in the DC Universe 016

Adventures of Superman 473, 648

All-Star Comics 068

All-Star Section Eight 002

Amazons Attack! 002-003, 005

Aquaman v1 061

Aquaman v2 004, 007

Aquaman v4 013

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne 001-002, 006

Birds of Prey v1 112

Blackhawk 228-230

Bloodbath 001-002

Booster Gold 000-001, 007, 1000000

Brave & the Bold v1 028-030, 059, 069, 100, 112, 134, 155, 173-174, 181

Chase v1 009

Convergence: Green Lantenr Corps 001-002

Convergence: Green Lantern - Parallax 001-002

Convergence 001, 004-008

Countdown to Infinite Crisis

Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Bludhaven 005-006

Darkstars 000, 011-012, 023

DC Challenge 012

DC Comics Presents: Justice League of America

DC Comics Presents 006, 026

DC Special 008, 019, 021, 027

DC Special Series 000-001, 006, 024, 026

DC Super Stars 014

DC Universe 001-003

DC Universe Halloween Special 2009

DC Universe - Legacies 003-004, 008-009

DC Universe: Trinity 001-002

DC / Wildstorm: Dreamwar

Deadman: Dead Again 001, 004-005

Death of the New Gods 002

Deathstroke the Terminator 013

Detective Comics 350, 438

Eclipso: The Darkness Within 002

(Elseworld) Evil’s Might

(Elseworld) Injustice: Gods Among Us Year 1-5

(Elseworld) JLA: Age of Wonder 001-002

(Elseworld) Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again 003

(Elseworld) DC Bombshells 011

(Elseworld) Elseworld’s Finest 001

(Elseworld) Flash v2 Annual 007

(Elseworld) Green Lantern: 1001 Emerald Nights

(Elseworld) JLA: Another Nail

(Elseworld) Superman & Batman: Generations 003

(Elseworld) Superman & Batman: Generations II 004

(Elseworld) Superman: Red Son 003

Fanboy 002

Final Crisis

Final Crisis - Rage of the Red Lanterns

Final Crisis - Requiem

Firestorm v2 066-067

Flash 80-Page Giant 002

The Flash: Fastest Man Alive 009

The Life Story of the Flash

Flashpoint 005

Flashpoint: Hal Jordan 001-003

General Mills Presents: Justice League 001-004

Green Lantern and Silver Surfer (oh god)

Green Lantern: Space Ghost Special

Guy Gardner v1 001, 005-007

Guy Gardner: Warrior 020-021, 024, 030-031, 044

Guy Gardner: Collateral Damage 001

Hacker Files 006, 011-012

Hawkman v3 001-002

History of the DC Universe: Book Two

Hourman 016

Identity Crisis

Infinite Crisis 005-007

Invasion! 002-003

JLA: Liberty and Justice 2003

JLA: Secret Origins

JLA 80-Page Giant 002

JLA: Classified 047

JLA: Incarnations 001-004

JLA/Avengers 001, 003-004

JSA 019-020, 060-062, 077

JSA All-Stars 001, 008

Justice 3000

Justice League: Rise and Fall

Justice League America Annual 009

Justice League Quarterly 003, 008, 013, 015

Justice League Task Force 001

Justice League: The Rise of Aresenal 001-002

Justice League Wedding Special

Justice Society of America 006, 017, 038

L.E.G.I.O.N. 045-047, 057-058

Lobo 013

Manhunter v1 022

Martian Manhunter v2 023

Martian Manhunter v3 003, 005

Metal Men v1 054-055

Metamorpho Year One 006

Millennium 001-008

Mystery in Space v1 075

OMAC v3 007

Power of SHAZAM! 041

Power of the Atom 008-009

Secret Origins 002, 023, 032, 036, 046

Secret Society of Super Villains 002-005

Sergio Aragones Destroys DC

Shadowpact 001, 024

Showcase 022-024, 100

Starman v1 006

Super Powers: Green Lantern

Super Powers v1 002-003, 005

Super Powers v2 001, 003, 006

Superboy v2 013

Supergirl v1 008

Supergirl v4 078-080

Superman v1 199, 272, 311-312, 651, 664, 677 (CUTE), 683

Superman v2 014, 076, 082-083

Superman and Batman: World’s Funnest

Superman: Phantom Zone 002, 004

Superman: The Man of Steel 020, 026, 118, Annual 004

Superman: World of New Krypton 003-004

The Superman Family 169, 172

Superman: Lois and Clark 001

Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen 151

Superman/Batman 017-018, 029-030, 056

Swamp Thing v2 024

Tangent: Superman’s Reign 007-008, 010-012

Telos 005-006

The Atom 008

The Multiversity Guidebook

The New Teen Titans v1 004

The OMAC Project 006

The Power Company: Skyrocket

The Spectre v3 047

The Super-Team Family 012

The Super Friends :’) 003, 007-009, 025

Unlimited Access 001-004

Valor v1 014

Wednesday Comics 001-012

Wonder Woman v1 212, 214, 291

World’s Finest 174, 201, 300

Young Justice 041-042

[melaniesuzannewilson]

Variety of entertainment at carols in the Gold Coast

Hours of entertainment brought an early Christmas treat to the Gold Coast

The Mayor's Mayor's Christmas Carols, in the Gold Coast, showcased more than local vocalists. From magic illusions to a music festival band, there was something for everyone. Celebrities Christine Anu, Emma Pask and Prinnie Stevens were an amazing final act leading to a conclusion of a spectacular fireworks display. 

Attendees waited all night to see these famous artists performing in an outdoor community carols. Christine Anu is best known for singing "My Island Home," in 1995. Emma Pask brought her jazzy style to some tunes.

A four-hour variety show featured celebrities, a magician and acrobatics. Genres ranged from swing to acoustic contemporary folk pop. This event was a children's show in one moment, then an outdoor music festival for a bunch of songs. Chilled out musos made way for suited up crooners and then glamorous pop music artists.

On Saturday 2nd December 2017, residents gathered at the Broadwater Parklands in Southport to experience a range of entertainers. Food trucks offered more than classic carnival favourites. Dinner involved sliders, pizzas, Mexican and everything in-between. Dessert was more than a soft-serve cone or ice-cream sandwich. Some attendees picked up Churros. The Fish Shak and its adjoining cafe offered extra treats. Although attendees were well-fed, many were there for the hours of free Christmas concert. 

Mercedes-Benz had sponsored spectacular equipment and facilities around an existing stage on the Broadwater Parklands, just metres from the serene waterfront. There was plenty of space for the audience to set up their own chairs or rugs. Everyone got comfy for picnics and takeaway dinners throughout the night.

Variety acts brought something different. This was not your normal sing-along. Aerial hoop performers moved around hanging hoops during a song or a few. A magician had followers fascinated with some tricks or illusions. 

Although parts of the show resembled Australia's Got Talent, music was the main event. There was something for the kids, kidults and retired young-at-heart.

Candice Dianna, former contestant on The Voice, wowed the audience by also playing a digital piano. Weather was perfectly breezy and gave the stage the appearance of having wind machines. The show looked like a music video, as cool air breezed around. 

The Lamplights were introduced as music-festival-style. These guys adapted their own style to some favourite carols. Their goal is shared on Facebook as, "Sharing the joy of music with as many people as we can."

Special mention should go to Shelley Craft. This television personality was brought in to MC the event. Just before the main act of the night, Shelley was determined to keep the audience's attention as the stage was becoming prepared. Techies, band members and backup singers hurriedly transformed the stage. Shelley Craft continued successfully talking to the audience, buying time as preparations took longer than expected. She at one point indicated that such a gap would be an ideal commercial break during a TV show. But this was live in-person. She did a great job of talking and waiting until sponsors played a video to transition into the final performance. 

Of course, there's nothing like seeing a group of celebrity singers at a community holiday event. This was a standout occasion for the entire Gold Coast area.

[xitty]

The Best Books - 2016 edition

As the tradition goes, here’s my list of the best books I read in 2016. One absolute highlight was Radio Silence by Alice Oseman, and also Jem & The Holograms comics. I also read excellent Chinese and Japanese old poetry. Links take you to Goodreads.

Previous years: [2013] [2014] [2015]

NOVELS AND NON-FICTION

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: We Should All Be Feminists Becky Albertalli: Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda Gillian Anderson & Jeff Rovin: A Dream of Ice (The Earthend Saga #2) Victoria Aveyard: Red Queen (Red Queen #1)

Lauren Beukes: Zoo City Holly Bourne: Am I Normal Yet? (The Spinster Club #1)

M. R. Carey: The Girl With All the Gifts Rae Carson: Walk on Earth a Stranger (The Gold Seer Trilogy #1) Cathy Cassidy: The Chocolate Box Girls series Becky Chambers: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet Emma Cline: The Girls

Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol Anthony Doerr: All the Light We Cannot See Carol Ann Duffy: Love Poems

Jostein Gaarder: The World According to Anna Jeff Garvin: Symptoms of Being Human M. E. Girard: Girl Mans Up John Green: An Abundance of Katherines John Green & David Levithan: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Patricia Highsmith: A Price of Salt (aka Carol) Hiljaiset vuoret, kirkas kuu: Klassista kiinalaista luontorunoutta (Classic Chinese nature poems, Finnish translation) Jim C. Hines: Revisionary (Magic Ex Libris #4)

Lauren James: The Next Together (The Next Together #1) Lauren James: The Last Beginning (The Next Together #2)

Cynthia Kadohata: Kira-kira Jenny Kangasvuo: Sudenveri Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff: Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1) Kevätsateiden aika (Classic Japanese tanka poetry, Finnish translation) Suki Kim: Without You, There’s No Us: My secret life teaching the sons of North Korea’s elite

Amber Kizer: A Matter of Days

Ursula K. Le Guin: Lavinia Maja Lunde: The History of Bees (coming out in English in 2017)

Sujata Massey: The Kizuna Coast (Rei Shimura Mystery #11) Marissa Meyer: Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) David Mitchell: Slade House Haruki Murakami: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World Julie Murphy: Dumplin’

Patrick Ness: A Monster Calls Patrick Ness: The Rest of Us Just Live Here Jenny Nordberg: The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan Naomi Novik: Uprooted

Yoko Ogawa: The Housekeeper and the Professor Alice Oseman: Radio Silence

Siri Pettersen: Odininlapsi (Korpinkehät #1) (Odin’s Child : The Raven Rings trilogy) Siri Pettersen: Mätä (Korpinkehät #2) (The Rot) Siri Pettersen: Mahti (Korpinkehät #3) (The Might) Natasha Pulley: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

Joan G. Robinson: When Marnie Was There

Andrzej Sapkowski: Järven neito (The Witcher #7) (The Lady of the Lake) V. E. Schwab: A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) V. E. Schwab: A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic #2) Shyam Selvadurai: Cinnamon Gardens Ruta Sepetys: Between Shades of Gray Samantha Shannon: The Pale Dreamer (The Bone Season #0.5) Patti Smith: Just Kids

Robin Talley: As I Descended Tero Tähtinen: Kuunkulkema yö: 108 haikua

Wang Wei: Vuorten sini : Wang Wein valitut runot (Selected poems of Wang Wei, Finnish translation) Lisa Williamson: The Art of Being Normal Janis Winehouse: Loving Amy: A Mother’s Story

COMICS AND MANGA

Jason Aaron et al.: Doctor Strange vol. 1 & 2 Jaakko & Lauri Ahonen: Jaybird

Joe Benítez: Lady Mechanika vol. 1 Ed Brubaker et. al: The Death of Captain America vol. 1

Emily Carroll: Through the Woods

Sora Honooki: Wannin’! series Natsumi Hoshino:  Kijitoraneko no Koumesan Mamoru Hosoda: The Wolf Children series

Emi Ishikawa: Ushiro no Hikaruko-chan vol. 1

Jay (Story by Steven Moffat & Mark Gatiss): Sherlock: A Study in Pink (manga adaptation)

Janne Kukkonen: Voro (The Thief)

Marjorie M. Liu & Sana Takeda: Monstress vol. 1

Tooko Miyagi: Tale of a White Night Kaoru Mori: A Bride’s Story series Robbie Morrison et al.: Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor vol. 1

Kevin Panetta & Paulina Ganucheau: Zodiac Starforce: By the Power of Astra

Amy Reeder et al.: Moon Girl and the Devil Dinosaur vol. 1

Mariko & Jillian Tamaki: Skim Mariko & Jillian Tamaki: This One Summer Kelly Thompson et. al: Jem and the Holograms series Yana Toboso: Black Butler series Yu Tomofuji: Hoshi Furu Makiba!

Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples: Saga series

Konomi Wagata: Et Cetera Konomi Wagata: Let’s Go Home G. Willow Wilson et al.: Ms. Marvel

Satoru Yuiga: At Laz Meridian series Alto Yukimura et al.: Sugar Apple Fairy Tale vol. 1

[australianservices1]

Preparing Your Trees for the Storm Season

When you think about summer in Australia, you think going to the beach, surfing, swimming, sailing, going to barbecues, and attending Carols by Candlelight. Unfortunately the picture of a typical Australian summer is not complete without storms. Summer is here and, aside from the approaching Christmas season and the beautiful weather, that means storm season is upon us.

There are a few things to keep in mind about our hottest season that comes with summer storms to keep you, your family, and your property safe – and tree loppers Gold Coast can help. The main piece of advice is to care for your trees before the storm season in order to avoid unpleasant surprises.Do not postpone maintaining your trees or attempt to remove a tree yourself.

Here is what you need to know if you have decided to call on Professional Tree Loppers Gold Coast to prepare before the storms strike:

Why summer storms are an issue

The Australian blazing sunlight creates disruptive weather patterns and these lead to summer storms which can be extremely violent and damaging. Thunderstorms are most common near the northwest coast (more than 40 each year), in central Queensland (more than 50 per year), and also on other patches of the Australian territory.  So, the occurrence of a serious storm in the area where you live is not just possible – it is a certainty that a thunderstorm at some momentwill play havoc on your garden and trees. Any tree that is not stable and well taken care of can collapse, causing damage to property and vehicles or injuring people.

How storm can affect your trees

Even if your trees seem healthy and well rooted in the ground, a storm’s exceptional power can cause unimaginable damage. Some of the effects that storms can have on trees include uprooting older trees, causing branches to snap and break windows or injure people, tree failure when the trunk is affected by decay, bulgers, cracks, or fungi, or having the entire tree blown down. This can happen to tree species that have shallow root systems in conditions of ground becoming soft and saturated with moisture. Truth is storm can affect trees in ways that are hard to imagine during a beautiful summer day; however, what can start as a lovely sunny day can evolve into a violent storm in the afternoon or the evening and alter your garden landscape, if not your life, for ever.

Every tree on your property should be diagnosed

This means that a trusted arborist should examine all the trees on your property and determine for each one if it should be trimmed by tree lopping Gold Coast services or completely removed. A professional will be able to offer advice on how to trim or fell a tree in order to avoid branches or falling tree trunks from compromising your property or injuring someone. Thorough tree inspection will determine whether a tree poses a risk or it is healthy and sturdy enough to withstand harsh weather conditions.

The situation of protected trees

Many indigenous trees are threatened species that are protected under law so you may be required a permit issue by your local council for lopping or pruning – a problem you no longer need to handle when you call to the services of professional tree loppers Gold Coast. To avoid fines, never remove a native tree before determining its protection status. Contact your local council to apply for a permit for the removal of protected tree species.

Why preparing your trees for storm season is not a DIY job

Tree pruning and removal are among the most common tree services, yet they can be very risky for the untrained. These activities require both physical strength and precision, and these abilities can only be acquired through experience. If you have managed to put down a tree without hurting yourself or damaging your property, you can consider yourself lucky, but the hard work is not over yet. Now you need to clean the fallen branches and eliminate the tree stump, which can be an exhausting job. At the end of the day, your yard will look awful and you’ll wish you had never gotten yourself in such a big trouble. Body aches will remind you days in a row that you should have entrusted the task to an expert, as well as your damaged lawn. Not to mention you will also have to make sure you discard tree remaining in a legal manner, because you can’t just throw branches and large wood pieces in your recycling bin!

How tree lopping Gold Coast services can help you get prepared for the upcoming storm season

Tree services like Treestylin offer a wide range of arboricultural services that can help you get prepared for the next storm season:

·        Tree removal

Correct removal of trees is a necessary part of landscape management and provides space for the remaining trees to grow and thrive. Tree removal is best decided by a professional and can be compulsory in case of extensive tree decay, structural decline, or major storm damage. Many clients also opt for tree removal services when making site changes or building additions in order to clear space.

·        Stump grinding Gold Coast

At Treestylin, stump grinding is an integral part of tree removal and performing this operation is vital if you want to avoid issues like the stump being an eye-sore in your garden, attracting fungi and termites, or being a hazard for people and pets. While removing stumps by yourself is very difficult and ineffective, using professional stump grinding machines enables you to convert stump into mulch that you can use in your garden and to replant the site with young trees.

·        Tree lopping Gold Coast

Trimming or tree lopping Gold Coast is one of the most important maintenance practices that allow you to obtain the landscape of your dreams. Tree pruning has more benefits than the aesthetical ones, such as ensuring structural integrity, supporting the overall health of your trees, reducing hazards represented by loose or overhanging branches, and preventing decay from affecting the tree.

·        Arborist reports

If you require a documented tree report from tree loppers Gold Coast, you can obtain it from our AQF Level 5 Arborist that will consider your requirements and provide you with an independent expert tree report. Arborist reports are necessary in case you have tree disputes or incidents to handle, for providing a vegetation management plan, or for accompanying a development application for council.

·        Tree hazard assessments

Worried that one or more of your trees is in poor health and should be removed or replaced? In order to avoid falling tree limbs or entire tree failure, a tree hazard assessment will identify issues and provide methods for solving tree problems.

·        Emergency tree services

If you have failed to take preventative measures or have been taken by surprise by a severe storm, you can call to our 24/7 emergency service to minimise damage to your property, trees, and surroundings. In case of major storms, Treestylin gets to work immediately and provides assistance on site starting with the most damaged properties.

However, prevention is better than cure and we wish you never need our emergency services. So, in order to avoid unpleasant or dramatic situations that involve trees, make sure to perform trimming/tree lopping Gold Coast at any time of the year, preferably before the summer season.