#gray sheep media project | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dodounchained · 2 years ago

Text

A Way Out

^ Art by courtesy of @godwithwethands (´｡• ω •｡`) ♡ . Check out the original post here!

This is a crack fic of Cody (yes, we are calling him that) and Roy Miller. I can't help but think they will make a lovely and truly funny couple, with Cody being a loveable himbo and Roy a little devil, who constantly put themselves in pesky situations. I thank all the beautiful people on the discord that gives birth to this lovely AU couple, especially @godwithwethands who created such beautiful art, and BeccaWrites for beta reading this.

Also posted on AO3: (update: it’s now finished!)

(Part 1 of 2)

The Bronx, New York.

It’s already 2 am after midnight, but the bar is still filled with people, thanks to the young man with a ridiculous-looking mullet and a black beanie. His face is flushed red under the influence of alcohol and impassioned speech.

“I gotta say, he is probably 007, but working for the CIA! Y’all think those super spy shit ain’t real - until you see he smashes someone’s face with a muffin!”

“Cody, my man, that ain't possible - muffins are soft as hell! ” a voice of dissent comes from the crowd.

Some of the people surrounding the men laugh teasingly. But that doesn't affect the enthusiasm of everyone listening to his story.

Cody sluggishly hopped off the transfer bus. His ankles were cuffed together, just like his wrists. He was tempted to ask if he could get a cig anywhere, but was intimidated by the stern looks of the prison guards, and decided against it

The walk was not particularly long but everyone was moving as slowly as possible, as if they could run away from the inevitable. All the newcomers were dressed in bright orange and were lined up one by one. The man in front was a small-built man in his 50s or 60s, and had curly black hair that reminded Cody of his pet terrier, Coal. He wondered if Coal was eating and sleeping alright. He’d be living with his sister Mandy during Cody’s stay in the prison.

Although he was the black sheep of the family, no one expected him to be the first one to end up in jail. As the second youngest of 5 siblings, he was never the brave, decisive or outspoken one – unlike the rest of them. His mama would constantly worry whether he was being taken advantage of unknowingly, and had made his older sisters and brothers promise to look after him after she would pass away. But no one had foreseen that one of Cody’s childhood friends would coax him into robbing a bank.

- or to post on some dumb social media while at it.

Cody and Randall had been caught red-handed when the police arrived at the scene. Cody had confessed to the robbery without even asking for a phone call, but the lawyers working with the community had managed to plead for a lighter sentence after submitting his communication history with Randall - which proved that Randall had been the mastermind plotting this all along. After the court trial, his sister, Mandy, had sobbingly asked Cody why he’d done it. Cody had mumbled that he thought Randall had given him a toy gun. He’d tried to give Mandy a hug on the way out, but the courtroom marshal had harshly stopped him and escorted him to the transfer bus, which brought him here.

The man in front of him sneezed, and it made Cody miss his puppy even more - Coal always made the cutest sneeze noise of all time. He looked to his left to see the prison yard behind chain-link fences. Its gray concrete floor reminded him of expired cans of fish. The inmates formed small groups, with some big, bad-looking guys hogging the gym equipment area. A few inmates were playing on the basketball court, but most sat in the bleachers.

He remembered what he learned from some TV series - it’s imperative to establish your dominance when you arrive at the yard.

He tried to practice his tough face on the way to the registry but it was soon broken when he was hosed down. The guard smirked at him when he shrieked like a girl.

“I was caught off guard! The water is so damn cold!” He yelled at his fellow fully naked inmates in the row. None of them even batted an eye.

Tough crowd. Cody thought to himself, unembarrassed, as he put his uniform back on. He counted his blessings; the hairdresser was not present today, and wouldn’t rob him of his majestic mullet

Cody was assigned to the cell in Block A. He put his temporary belongings on the top bunk as the bottom bunk was already occupied by someone else.

“How is, emm, my roommate like? Do I get to request a change if we … don't click? ”

“Oh, you are gonna like him. ” the guard smirked, nice enough to give a response.

Cody let out a sigh of relief while the guard continued, “Thank him for this prime location cell - the dude on the top bunker had testis torsion and had to be treated outside. ”

Cody winced and subconsciously covered his crotch with his hands. The guard laughed loudly before striding away from the cell.

Thunderstorm clouds were forming in the sky over the prison yard. Cody blinked as he was aimlessly looking for a group to mingle with.

“Hey fellas, how are we doing on this fine day?” He tried to approach a group of men sitting on the edge of the bench. The group went silent for a second, before one of them turned around to face him and frowned, the spider tattoo on his brow bone writhing menacingly.

Cody immediately lost the rest of his pickup-a-gangster lines. He backed off just in time before one of them swung a fist at him. Disheartened, he found a place to sit at the outdoor table area. Its peeling plastic was stabbing his butt through the thin fabric of the prison garb.

“Someone’s gonna get it today.” A guy sitting a couple of meters away from him snickered.

Cody looked over, following the other’s gaze.

Several hulking skinheads had formed a small circle on the basketball court. Between their burly muscles, Cody caught a glimpse of a smaller man surrounded by them.

You gotta establish your dominance first day in the yard. The strong male voice from the TV show popped back into his mind. He glanced around - the guards are not far away from the basketball court - and pulled himself out of the chair before running to rescue the cornered man.

“Hey, back off!”

A dozen pairs of eyes fell on him at once, and Cody's legs immediately felt like they had been injected with butter. As he got closer, he saw that the man in the middle was completely surrounded. He had a prominent nose bridge and gleaming blue-green eyes, with some faded old bruises on his lower lip. He could be between thirty-five to forty years old but still looked reckless and young, like a teenager. He slowly blinked at Cody, looking confused.

“I said, back off!” Cody regained his confidence and repeated in a louder, firmer voice, even though no one had moved yet

The smaller man walked out of the circle towards Cody. “Who are you? Why do you wanna meddle in my business?”

“What -? I thought you were being threatened by them?”

“Them?” The man glanced around the larger men around him - they looked like small mountains next to him, but none of them dared to meet his gaze. “Oh no, they were just being very agreeable towards my business proposal. ”

“Your proposal? What did you propose to them?”

“They will give me their ice cream portions on Friday. ”

“They have ICE-CREAM ON FRIDAY? Do they have pistachio soft serve?” Cody shouted in disbelief, having rekindled his faith in prison life. A few of the guards shot them concerned looks.

“No, no. Sadly. They have chocolate and vanilla. And coffee too - but I strongly recommend you to not try it. It's pretty gross.” He said, then made several tsk sounds with his lips while shaking his head in lament.

“Alright, thanks for the tip -” Cody almost forgot what he was talking about. “What do you offer them in exchange? ”

“Exchange? What is that? ” He grinned devilishly. One of the poor guys nearby groaned in dissatisfaction.

“You gotta give back something if you want to strike a deal!” Cody said, barely swallowing the second part of the sentence - that’s what my mama told me.

“Let’s see… they will receive my protection in exchange. ”

“Protection? From who?” Cody was eager to find out who is the kingpin among the inmates.

“From me! Obviously!”

“But -”

“Don’t you see - what’s your name?”

“Cody.” Cody extended his hand for a handshake.

“Cody!” The man shakes Cody’s hand enthusiastically, yanking hard enough on his hand to dislocate his shoulder. “Don't you see, Cody, I'm the guy!”

“You are the guy?”

“Yes! I’m the guy!”

“What guy? The ice cream guy?”

“Well, that’s one way to put it… I’m the guy for, you know, safety and inside trading.”

“Hmmm… ” Cody looked around hesitantly. One of the burly guys mouthed “do it” to him.

“Okay, but I'm going for coffee flavor on Friday. I’m 100% interested in how nasty it tastes from what you just said.”

Looking like a deflated balloon, Roy let out a loud grunt of pain.

As fate would have it, the ice cream guy turned out to be his cellmate. They stood awkwardly at the door; it is only large enough for one to pass at a time.

“After you…?” Cody said hesitantly.

“Ha! And let you stab me in my back? Not today!”

“Hey, how do I get a knife on my first day here?”

“Oh! You are one of the new fishes. How’d you make them keep the mullet?”

“The barber was not available today. By the way - I didn't get your name?”

“You can call me Roy. Roy Miller.”

A loud siren went off, and the prison guard hurried them into the cell in annoyance. Both Cody and Roy took a step through the door simultaneously. Cody's hip crashed into the metal door, while Roy's shoulder jabbed him in the chest, possibly leaving a bruise for the next few days.

“Oops, sorry.” Roy seemed very well-adjusted with his lower center of gravity. They eventually maneuvered into the cell sideways, chest to chest.

The lights went out at 11 pm sharp.

Roy went to the bed and closed his eyes immediately. Cody had been working on a letter to his family in the corner of the room while trying to not turn around to check if Roy was sneaking up on him. His former counterpart’s testis torsion was still haunting him when he climbed into his bunk.

“Cody? Are you still awake?” Roy said softly as the guard walked away from the cell, footsteps fading.

“Hmm?” Cody hummed.

“I really like that mullet of yours - do you wanna keep it?”

“Yes�� what do you mean?”

“I stole the shaver from the prison barber.”

“You shouldn’t steal stuff. You can end up in jail. Oh, wait - ”

Roy chuckled.

“Anyways. As I told you, I'm the guy. And I needed tools to make it happen.”

“What guy? What’s gonna happen?” Cody knew he was slow, but he now realized his cellmate clearly had some issues too.

“The guy who makes things happen. I need to get out of here by next week. I can get you out of here if you work with me, too.” Roy lowered his voice into a quiet whisper, and Cody had to hold his breath just to be able to make out the words.

“Next week? Why can’t you just wait for your release?” Cody asked.

“Hard to say. Ex-wife getting married?” Roy replied, almost a question, as if he’d come up with it out of thin air just now.

“Hmm, that does sound urgent. But I would like to stay out of trouble…” Cody accepted the reason. He tried to relax his body and sink into the bed, but the bunk bed was so hard that his back was hurting.

“How long did they give you?” Roy asked.

“15 years.”

“Do you have any families? Children, maybe?”

“No, but I have a border terrier. Her name is Coal, and she is the cutest thing ever. I can get you a photo next time my sister visits.”

“How old is Coal?”

“She is 4-and-half-months old now.”

“That’s precious. You know a medium-sized dog usually lives between 12 to 15 years right? You might not ever see her again.”

“No!” Cody interjected before Roy hushed him.

“As a bonus, if you rat me out, they will find the shaver I stole and shave your head in no time.”

“... And testis torsion, too.” Cody muttered.

“What did you say? ”

“The guy who lived here with you - I heard you injured him? The guard told me that.”

“Cozy up to the guards, huh? Nice move. I can use a guy like you. ” Roy’s smiling face suddenly appeared at the side of Cody's bunk, scared the living crap out of him.

Roy shifted away the base of the sink carefully. There was a hole about a third of a man's height behind it, not quite sawn through. Cody was in charge of warning Roy from his position at the cell door when a patrolling guard would inevitably pass by. Roy had caught Cody dozing off a couple of times and had smacked him on the head with the flat side of the saw blade.

It took them about 2 hours before Roy finished the job.

“Are we going?”

“What? Now? No. That’s too rushed.” Roy frowned while looking up at Cody. His hair was sticking to his forehead with the sweat from exerting physical effort for a long time.

Cody shrugged and gave up. The smaller man stood up and staggered as if he was going to fall. Cody caught Roy and helped him ease onto the bed.

“Freak, blood circulation gave up on me.” Roy cussed.

“Good effort tonight though.” Cody squeezed his shoulder before climbing up to his bed. He could hear their next-door neighbor snoring “What’s our plan next?”

“We gotta talk to Vincent - he’s the boss around here and the only one with access to smuggled cellphones. ”

“Are you gonna trade with him with all the ice creams you have? ”

“Nah, it doesn't work on him. Can you believe it? The man is a monster. I will talk you through the details tomorrow… ”

Cody fell asleep almost immediately as his adrenaline receded.

“So? What does the tunnel look like?” A man from the crowd asks eagerly.

“Hmm. It was dark, damp, and creepy -”

“Nonsense! I bet you were too afraid to even step in it! ”

“Hey!” Cody refuted loudly, setting his empty beer mug on the table. The bartender swiftly serves him a new glass in hopes to keep the audience. “I can’t tell you that for free, or you’d use it next time when you get caught by the cops!”

The crowd laughs in agreement, egging him on to tell more of his story.

#roosmav #roy x cody #Saturday night live #Knight and Day #miles teller #tom cruise #roy miller #fanfic #crack fic

49 notes · View notes

liquid-luck-00 · 3 years ago

Text

Where There Is Change

Discovery

@maribat-bdbwm

So I will not be following the prompt days at all. If any fall on the right day it is by chance. All of them will be written but not by the calendar order.

Without further ado.

~~~~~~~~~~

Once upon a time Marinette would have bent over backwards, dropped everything, and would never have questioned her friends. But now she was turning fourteen. She has been fighting Hawkmoth for three years, with no end in sight. Her friends, if she could still call them that, behind Lila's lies and followed her like sheep. You can only push a person so far until they break.

That was what happened to Mari.

She was pushed to do dresses, suits, casual wear, and banners with little to no notice for free, without even a thank you. She was made to plan and make baked goods and food for bake sales and fun raisers for class trips, picnics, and parties that she could not attend. They spoke to her condescendingly as if she was stupid, honeyed words to guilt her to do everything while they did nothing and reaped rewards.

At the end of her 7th year, she put in a signed request (by herself and Mendeleiev) to transfer into Mendeleiev's class. But surprise surprise it was denied. Bustier, her homeroom teacher last year denied her transfer, because she wanted to keep all her students the same.

Fine if this was how she wanted to be, well she had nothing left to give.

You can only give so much before becoming empty when you never receive anything.

The first thing she did was step down from class representative. "Miss Bustier?" she stood up from her seat in the back.

"Yes." said teacher smiled at her.

"I am renouncing my title of class representative, effective immediately." she announced shocking the teacher.

Her ever present smile faltered. "Alright, would the vice representative like to take the position?" She scanned each face, but no one stood up or spoke.

"There has not been a vice since my first month three years ago, Miss." The color drained from the teacher's face.

"Oh well, you will need to continue until we have an election next week." she smiled again.

"No." Her voice turned steely. She picked up three bursting folders and dropped them on the desk. "The white folder is student medical records, allergies, cumulative extracurriculars and birthdays. The orange folder holds field trip and fundraiser applications, guidelines for applications as well as locations each student is banned from listed under the student and the location's reason. The black folder has graded homework, tests, quizzes, papers, and projects you gave me to grade. As well as lesson plans and homework you had me assemble for you."

"But... but..." Miss Bustier stood shocked, gaping between Mari, to the folders, then the rest of the class.

"Like I said effective immediately." Marinette turned and was immediately stopped by a blonde.

"Mari, please reconsider." Adrien plodded blocking her from ascending.

"Pfft. And why should I fucking do that Agreste." she side stepped him and climbed the stairs.

Eyes stared at her, as if it was the first time seeing her. In a way it was, since she had no fucks left to give to those who would step all over her.

The girls wanted dresses. She gave fee rates, appointment times and estimated finishing date. Some took her up on her like Rose, Juleka, and Alix. Kagami and even Chloe started requesting commissions.

The same with banners and suits for the boys.

Sweets from the bakery, they placed their orders and paid like everyone else.

This helped her more than most would think. Her grades and attendance improved because she no longer dropped things at the drop of a hat.

Two weeks prior, Hawkmoth went silent, now almost a year later, Paris went back to normal. But she didn't. She became Paris' Ice Princess. She kept everyone at an arms length, her trust was hard to earn, her words cut like a knife and her eyes bore daggers. Yet as both Marinette and Ladybug she is the definition of calm, collected, and serenity. Something snapped a long time ago and no one knows how or what to fix.

"We are done." Sabine was exasperated again. "We got in contact with your biological father, and he is taking you in."

"Alright." She answered, knowing best to respond than to stay quiet.

Sabine began talking again but she only half listened, it was the same as every other night after all.

---

Bruce was done just done.

Apparently his very own system, which is in theory completely perfect, is anything but, because he just figured out, he has a daughter. An adoption agency apparently had him listed as the father of a child roughly 16 years ago, that he had completely no idea of. The mother apparently wanted to keep it secret and gave up the child not even listing herself which was odd. So, the adoption agency never made that information public. However, now he’s being called by said adoption agency and the parents of the girl who is apparently his daughter.

He thought Damian was the only one apparently not.

He is currently sitting in front of the Bat-Computer nursing one hell of an incoming headache, praying that none of his boys come down and see this.

He has a daughter that is older than Damian and knowing his son he will throw a fit over this. That his claim is the only blood child is literally going down the drain.

On top of that Bruce knows almost nothing about his daughter. Sure, he looked up her and her parents other than a few contests and school there was nothing on her. No social media, it was as if it was erased from the system. Her contacts seemed almost sparse for a girl her age, that being said he does not have a good reference for that.

The fact that not even his system was able to pick up on her says a lot more than you might think. When her parents came into contact with him, he thought it was a joke, but they held firm and even sent a DNA sample of their own daughter. He almost didn’t even cross test with his own, he was disgusted with how these people treated their child this way.

Yet here he is, he tested it and he was a biological match.

The parents are transferring her custody over to him, but he doesn’t even know this girl.

Life is never dull for the the greatest detective. Even when life seems to pull things out underneath him.

So, let’s just hope he can meet his daughter while ensuring that his sons not find out before he can get a grasp on the situation.

He continued to rub at his temples and the bridge of his nose trying to lessen the pain of this migraine which was sure enough going to set in. The only reason he’s getting gray hairs is because of his children.

Now to find out what the next one is like.

~~~~~~~~~~

Permanent Taglist: @itsmeevie01 @adrestar @miraculouspenta @vixen-uchiha @animegirlweeb @jumpingjoy82 @thedragonbug @astoriaandroses @icerosecrystal @t1dwarrior-of-earth @moon5606 @zalladane @midnightrosecrystal @myazael

#mbdbwm2021 #mdcu marinette #mdcu bruce wayne #bio!dad bruce wayne #maribat class salt #maribat #dc x miraculous #dc x mlb #miraculous x dc #mlb x dc

376 notes · View notes

radicalpaper · 5 years ago

Text

Comments Serving as Introduction to upfromsumdirt’s Deifying a Total Darkness

As delivered on March 1st 2020 on the occasion of the release of the full-length poetry collection from Harry Tankoos Books. Zinc Bar, NYC.

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

I first connected with the man born Ron Davis on, of all hellscapes to meet someone, the internet. He commented on a Tumblr post of mine, which is something no one had ever done before. I immediately researched who he was—this poet-person behind the mask of a spaceless, lowercased, string of words: upfromsumdirt. I was immediately smitten by the work—and that’s smitten in both senses: a strong attraction and struck with a firm blow. I knew within an hour I wanted to publish his work.

Since that moment, I’ve experienced a ceaseless string of skull-thuds in the form of upfromsumdirt’s poetry. Which is why I’m so honored and pleased to be presenting him here, to mark the occasion of these works finding some jerry-rigged containment in the form of this beautifully constructed full-length collection.

Deifying a Total Darkness represents what’s most rewarding, in my opinion, of brother dirt’s work. Ron has a certain irreverence (he recently referred to it as “avoiding any contrived sense of professionalism”) toward the body of work he’s been cultivating down in Kentucky. It’s as though he had zero expectations that this work would reach, zombie-like, from the patted earth and muddy sludge across the screens of laptops and smartphones.

There’s play to his Afro-pessimism and an organic base to his futurism, and so “the space suit explodes petals” and “the astronaut [is] a houseplant.” His Afro-futurism is like Rammellzee’s: forward-seeking while wildstyling with junkart mixed media costumes constructed of this world’s trash culture. This is all to say he presents to us the detritus of this failed intercontinental project called capital.

Much like his award-winning visual art—these poetic lines cobble together sources like a compost pile of the humbler gods. In his own words, they are “blackly chaotic.”

He reads with a deliberate disaffection—he refuses to stand in front of crowds and showtime and inflect with theatrics. He prefers to lull you into a false sense of security as the words themselves gnaw through your skin like spirited germs.

He never seems far from the medical condition known as witzelsucht—a pathology, or curse, or gift (I would argue) of a human being who can’t stop making puns. And so we get these gems dropped on us routinely: in one such example, “[he’s] got what you creed.” Meanwhile, “Shakespeare sits up in his grave [to utter] ‘all lines matter’” / he reinvents Rakim: “syncin’ up our master plans ain’t nothin’ but syntax inside our hands.” / “swing low Sweet Harriet” / “the Wolof in sheep’s clothing.” His allusiveness and punning are relentless, boundless.

I also admire his anti-institutionalization of poetry positioning. Of AWP, he asks, “how many poets does it take to ekphrasis a lightbulb?” I admire his kaleidoscopic vision of Black Art—he’s Ishmael Reed’s unruly and disobedient son, making the father proud. He’s got no regard for polish or sheen—in fact, he says “‘shoo, polish!’ / is the black poet’s eternal stanza.” He’s daring and crude enough to mix high and low registers to make his noise, which is at times a clattery cacophony and at other times a Lexington lullaby.

His activism shines in poems like “Photographer Catches the Exact Moment A Volcano Erupts,” which appraises the Baltimore uprising of 2015. He conceives the deep potholes and craggy hunks of loosened asphalt that comprised the streets, the pathway, the so-called “rough ride” Freddie Gray was subjected to as a matter of geology—that’s to say a scientific inevitability. A volcanic eruption that was destined to occur because we still live on the fissures even though we like to forget we do.

The seriousness is always undergirded by dark humor, though, as he writes: “i’m anti- / fascist and it keeps raining ketchup / no wonder we’re american.”

These reasons, all of them, are why I’m so pleased to be a friend, collaborator, and fan of Ron’s. And now we all get to hear it in-person: upfromsumdirt.

4 notes · View notes

triscribe · 5 years ago

Text

Foster Witch

Don’t mind me, posting some notes about my new project for all and sundry to see...

How often does a kid get to say their new foster parent is an honest to goodness, spell-casting, ritual-singing witch? Well, Becky Jones is now one such foster teen, though she’s been in and out of enough homes not to be convinced by first impressions alone.

But the longer she spends with Ruth Rivers, the more Becky starts to think that, even without the magic stuff, her new caretaker is a pretty cool person.

Through the mundane days of school and homework, to holiday road trips across the width and breadth of the country, these two individuals are going to discover that, sometimes, there is no greater magic that the bonds of found family.

Main characters:

Becky Jones - seventeen, about to start junior year of high school, gets approached by Ruth during her children’s home Visiting Day. “What, you just saw me sitting over here reading instead of mingling, and decided to come say hi?” “Yeah, pretty much.”

Ruth Rivers, aka Natalie Ruth Bridger - thirty, independent artist, farmer, writer, and witch, has decided to take a big step in her life by bringing a teenager into it. “Let’s put it this way: I’m definitely your caretaker, but Parent is a title you get to decide to use or not. I’m perfectly happy being referred to as your foster aunt, foster cousin, foster roommate who can drive - whatever you feel comfortable with. Bottom line, I’m responsible for your safety and well-being. Beyond that, I’d like to impart some life lessons I would’ve considered helpful at your age, along with homework help, a broadening of your media horizons, and- well, whatever you need, really.”

Pass and Grae- Ruth’s familiars, a female golden retriever and male gray cat, respectively. They both enjoy lounging, whether that’s next to the woman or in any warm spot in general, and sometimes lend themselves to spell-casting. “You always have to ask their permission. Cats never do anything they don’t want to, and ordering rather than asking is the quickest way to cause them to ignore you out of spite. Dogs are generally more obedient, but it’s still polite to offer them the option of saying no.”

Other animals on Ruth’s property include half a dozen hens, a rooster, two lesbian ducks, a pig named Mister Dug, a guard donkey called Bobette, the retired stud bull Milkshake, three nitwit sheep and their goat leader, and Grae’s extended relations who keep the place clear of rodents, snakes, and such (including his parents, two aunts and an uncle, various siblings, half-siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews). At some point in the story, Becky finds and brings home an orphaned squirrel, whom she names Queer, and even after growing up and moving back outside, he sticks around the homestead, recognized by the rest of its inhabitants as one of their own.

Additional characters:

Scooter Zimms - Ruth’s neighbor just down the hill, a grumpy old man who minds the animals when she goes out of town and checks in from time to time to make sure she’s taking proper care of herself too. “He’s what we call an Ironclad Marshmallow - once you get past the rough exterior, he’s just a softy inside, one who thinks it’s good to have a local witch around and that you can never give a cat too many treats.”

Kay Blandersen - one of Becky’s classmates and former foster roommates, who has a hard time being non-binary when very few of the adults responsible for them care to understand the term. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, the Nelsons are nice folks - but they just, don’t get it. And I don’t get the feeling they’re really invested in trying to get it, either.” “I’m sorry, kiddo. I know how that feels. But, hey, you won’t be stuck in a small town forever; sooner or later you’ll be free to get out into the great wide world, and there’ll be a whole crowd of folks who do get it, whether they’re the same as you or not. And it’s going to be great, I promise.”

Joshie Dell - another classmate and local trans boy, also a social outcast who, along with Kay and Becky, find a warm welcome in Ruth’s home. “My dad’s been pretty cool about it, but now whenever my aunt and uncle come by they get rude, and he argues with them, and I just- I want to be me without putting a strain on everything, y’know?” “Yeah, I know. At the end of the day, though, you are only responsible for yourself, and they are the ones responsible for their actions. There’s no shame in cutting off ties to people who can’t accept who you are.”

Ticah Woods - an old college roommate of Ruth’s, who first introduced her to the proper ways of magic, and with whom she exchanges occasional letters. She stops by at one point to drop off some felted soap, garden seeds, and a new embroidery pattern for stitching spells of subtle protection directly into clothing. “I could’ve done more to hide the magic stuff from her, but honestly, from day one Ruth seemed like the kind of person who would do well with it, either as an ally or a witch herself. So, I started casting spells a bit more openly, and after watching for a while she asked if I’d teach her some stuff, and like they say, the rest is history.”

Marsha Bell - Ruth’s mom, who she converted into witchhood via the benefits of familiars, and runs a visitation farm down in central Texas. The girls go visit her for the winter holidays. “Nattie! Oh, I’ve missed you so much, c’mere and give me a hug- And you must be Becky! It’s so nice to finally meet you, Nattie’s told me a lot in her letters, but I can’t wait to get to know you in person!”

Aerie Strangeness - a witch friend of Ruth’s who lives in Tennessee. She hosts the girls for a night on their summer trip up north. “Oh goodness, I’ve known Ruth here almost a full decade, now - a mutual friend put us in touch on the internet because we share a love of storytelling, actually. It was just coincidence we both happened to be magical, but for sure a happy one!”

Emma Bridger - Ruth’s paternal aunt, also a witch, who lives in Philadelphia, far away from anyone else in their family. The girls stop by to visit her on their summer trip, using a Witch Way to get from the outskirts to the heart of the city and skip traffic or overnight parking fees. “Well, actually, neither of us knew the other was a witch until Ruthie first visited by herself as an adult, oh, six or seven years ago at this point. We’ve stayed in touch a lot more since then.”

Gail Hills - Ruth’s best friend, also a witch, who lives in Massachusetts, where she visits for an extended stay every summer. The girls spend two weeks with her during July. “Ha, no, just Gail - but Ruth likes to claim it’s short for ‘Abigail’, so she can pull out my ‘full name’ whenever she’s pretending to be mad at me over something.”

@yogurtbear242, @danger-flammable, you two ought to have fun reading this one. ;)

#Foster Witch #original project #creative writing #coming of age #queer characters #asexual characters #writing the sort of thing I'd have loved to have read as a teen myself #and blatantly using my own life experiences to do it #x)

4 notes · View notes

translationandbetrayals · 3 years ago

Text

Milky Holmes' Rise to Fall, or How to Find Hope in Troubled Times

Milky Holmes reminds me of Žižek. And while it might seem quite nonsensical to tie this sentence together, it’s also something that gives us light about the times we’re facing.

Milky GODS

Always controversial, the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek does have some interesting things to say. But even though he’s mostly known for his approach of leftist politics, the analysis of his that has stuck with me the most doesn’t relate to politics, or at least not directly. It’s his commentary about the animated film Kung Fu Panda, produced by Dreamworks. He has referred to the film a couple of times while highlighting something that has now become sort of a recurrent topic of his mythos. The idea of faith. This idea, also explained by him in the form of an anecdote about a scientist (Niels Bohr) who didn’t believe in charms, yet used to put one in his house just because he was told “it would work, even if he didn’t believe in it”, is essential to Kung Fu Panda and to Dreamworks as a whole (even if Žižek doesn’t directly acknowledge it). While the film works as a parody of Chinese martial arts films, and spends part of its runtime satirizing Chinese philosophy, in the end these principles are embraced, as Po’s wu wei defeats Tai Lung’s ambition (and we can say the same about the way Shrek and Megamind relate to fairy tales and superhero fantasy, just to cite other examples).

But what does any of this have to do with Milky Holmes? What is this Milky Holmes, even? And as many of you might not be familiar with this long running multimedia franchise, it wouldn’t do harm to recapitulate its history. To understand Milky Holmes, we must first understand its seeds, which are in Broccoli and Bushiroad, two Japanese companies which were both founded by a single man, named Takaaki Kidani. Kidani started Broccoli in the late ‘90s, which first worked as a doujin management company for events, then expanding itself through Gamers, a goods store directed towards the otaku market. Gamers was immortalized and popularized through the Di Gi Charat franchise, produced by Broccoli and extremely massive through the late 90s and early 2000s. Spanning various anime adaptations, numerous manga, and lots of merchandise, the now classic characters were a boom within this same otaku market, and part of this success even crossed overseas, as you might see if you venture into old anime archives.

This really handsome dude is Takaaki Kidani

Now the success of Di Gi Charat probably wasn’t just because of the mascot made designs, though of course that had a part in its popularity. Aside from the already obvious fact, the Di Gi Charat franchise, at least in its first animated adaptation, had a pretty good sense of humor and irony. In a way, it was mocking the very own otaku it was targeted towards, and while it sure wasn’t the first to do so, this style of self-deprecating and sometimes grotesque or even infantile humor the series subjected its viewers to was something special. And while Di Gi Charat had quite the acid tone, it wasn’t without its share of tame and even heartwarming moments. It was moe, marketable of course, but there was something else as well. This series had a heart.

The heart of the show has a name and it’s Puchiko

It’s this spirit that Milky Holmes, more than 10 years after the creation of Di Gi Charat, held as its foundation as one of the star projects of the then recently started Bushiroad, founded after Kidani left Broccoli. Learning from his success in Broccoli’s projects such as the aforementioned Di Gi Charat, and also the media franchise Galaxy Angel, Milky Holmes was thought of as a multimedia project from the start. In the case of Milky Holmes, radio dramas, a manga, a PSP video game, an anime adaptation, and, perhaps most importantly, a seiyuu/idol unit were launched. I say most importantly because it was the disbandment of this unit that signaled the end of the franchise as a whole. In January’s 28th of 2019, Milky Holmes gave their final live performance at the Budokan, in fact ending the decade old franchise.

The end of Milky Holmes

On the anime side of things, the last installment was Psycho no Aisatsu, a crossover special episode featuring the main character of the Cardfight!! Vanguard franchise, a trading card game series for kids that was also created by Bushiroad. It was the symbolic pass on the torch to a younger, still profitable franchise in Bushi, that hopefully might keep the spirit of the Milkies alive. But we must not be sad for what has ended, as this franchise will always stay there to be revisited, even for people who never got to experience it when it was still active.

And it’s because of this that I have not forgotten about Milky Holmes, even though it has been years since it ended. I feel especially partial to the anime, particularly its first two seasons, and the 2016 movie: Milky Holmes' Counterattack (and what a movie is that one). One common thing about these three is that all of them feature Makoto Moriwaki as a director. And I feel she’s the one who better captures the spirit I mentioned above when talking about Di Gi Charat. It isn’t the only way to understand the series: there’s the video games, that might be seen as the source material; the Alternative OVAs, that are a closer adaptation of the games; and the two other anime seasons, which are completely different to anything else (and most people don’t seem to like); but Morikawi’s interpretation is the most interesting one, at least to me.

Now, you might be tired of so much anticipation and context, but it’s important to understand the background of this director to realize what she brought to the franchise (because yes, it’s a she) to, as I believe, perfect it. Makoto Moriwaki has mostly made a career out of directing children’s anime, more specifically anime for girls. Series such as the Sanrio based My Melody and PriPara have been directed by her, along with some Jewelpet seasons and even some Doraemon episodes. But a sort of black sheep among all that family friendly content is the raunchy adult comedy Ebichu, which, in spite of its cutesy visuals reminiscent of Hamtaro, is a series mostly targeted towards older women, full of jokes about adult life that, of course, involve a lot of sex.

it means a dirty word, if you didn’t realize

The Milky Holmes directed by Moriwaki is a middle ground between those two poles. On one hand, the cynicism, irony, and hidden sexual references in an outwardly kids friendly series, and on the other, the fantasy and the hopeful nature of magical girls and idol anime. And this dichotomy is also highlighted when we understand the target of this series. Despite its looks, Milky Holmes is not directed towards children. It’s not a kids show, but rather, a completely otaku business. It was broadcasted as shinya anime at 11 pm, it has its share of adult humor, and of course, the moe characters are exactly that, there’s no ambiguity there. It’s made to sell merchandise, discs and BDs to fat weirdos. But it’s quite interesting how the show treats its own audience, because if we’re to take Milky Holmes as an otaku product, it isn’t simply cynical.

Yes, that there is a ****plug

We have talked about Milky Holmes as a product and as a media franchise, but let’s review the series itself. To those who don’t know, Milky Holmes is set in a fantastical time and space called the Age of Great Detectives. In this world, Great Detectives and their eternal rivals, Gentlemen Thieves, are in constant struggle. They’re aided by their Toys, special powers whose name might be an irony on Bushiroad’s own status as a company.

A fascinating part of the Milky Holmes franchise for any crime or detective fiction freak is that most of the character names are taken from legendary detectives and criminals. There’s the 4 Milky Holmes members, which are respectively: Sherlock “Sheryl” Shellingford, the always energetic and optimistic leader (named after the most famous detective of all); Nero Yurizaki, a greedy, egotistical bokukko (named after the gluttonous Nero Wolfe); Hercule “Elly” Burton, a shy girl who has the most awareness inside the Milkies (named after Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot); and Cordelia Glauca, the shoujo-esque dramatic and delusional member of the crew (named after Cordelia Gray, the only character of the four that is originally female).

From left to right, unlike your Japanese mangos

They battle constantly against the Gentlemen Thief Empire, led by the intense and prideful Arsene (after Arsène Lupin, the French gentleman thief also recalled by the Monkey Punch character); and completed with Twenty, a narcissistic nudist that weaponizes his erect nipples (based on Menso Nijuu, a villain from the Ranpo Edogawa canon); Stone River, a prude warrior with a samurai pride (based on Goemon Ishikawa, the outlaw hero from Japanese folklore, also referenced by Lupin III); and Rat, who’s victim of everyone’s forgetfulness (based on Kozo Nezumi, a folk hero from the Edo period).

Twenty, Arsene, Stone River, and Rat

There’s also a third party in discord, that can either work as ally or enemy depending on circumstance (much like in your typical detective story) which is of course formed by the cops. The G4 is the “elite” patrol of law enforcement whose effectiveness also depends on plot convenience, and their leader (and child genius with infinite amounts of IQ) Kokoro-chan’s (named after Kogoro Akechi, the famous Ranpo Edogawa detective) mood. The other members are Tsugiko Zenigata (after Heiji Zenigata, a Japanese legend), a somewhat tomboyish girl voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro; Hirano Hasegawa (after Heizo Hasegawa, from the Onihei Hankacho novels), a traditional Japanese girl who is a master of combat; and Saku Toyama (after Kagemoto Toyama, a historic character made legend), the technological expert of the gang.

She just keeps it going up

Don’t call her Kokoro-chan, she’ll get angry

However, the main source of conflict (and comedy) in the series is that, despite being quite powerful and capable as detectives with the aid of their toys, the Milkies are pretty much nothing without them. Dame dame (useless), is something they’ll often have to hear, as they constantly struggle with the loss of their toys at the start of almost every new installment (save for Futari wa and TD, in which they weren’t the main characters because of this exact reason). Nonetheless, in spite of how hard they might fall, how much they can be humiliated and degraded (and they sure will), and basically turn into dumb slapstick cartoons, they will always stand up again, never losing hope even when taking a detour, or when they’re becoming farmers instead.

Milky farmers

In this acknowledgment of the cyclical and absurd nature of their misfortunes, made explicit in the movie by the (unintentional) use of words by Sheryl: “it’s rise to fall”, the philosophical implications of the series are unlocked, at least from the Moriwaki iteration of it. It’s an absurd reality, in which no matter how high one can be, one can always fall to the lowest of the low. Yet, when you have fallen, there’s nothing else you can do but go up, try and hope for the best, never giving in to life no matter how discouraging or absurd it might become.

It’s existential philosophy, right inside a moe anime, and one can’t be anything but thankful of someone who is giving such messages inside a work that could conform to just offering a product for profit. Instead, what Milky Holmes is doing is to tell its audience that no matter how hard their lives might get, no matter how repeatedly they might hear that they’re useless, that they’re dumb or hopeless, they must never give up. It’s quite beautiful, even more so when you’re aware of the darker sides of the otaku and the stigma and social alienation a lot of these people face in their country. And so, Milky Holmes might be a ray of light amidst a rabbit hole of isolation, which can be relatable to most of us as we face the current pandemic. A sign that even if we can’t see it, there’s hope at the end of the tunnel.

Yes, she’s saying that when they’re in prison

Closing on a hopeful note, I’ll let you in on a cool fact. Do you know who directed the Milky Holmes movie alongside Moriwaki? I will give you some lines to guess, if you think you’re smart detectives.

…

Yes! It was Hiroaki Sakurai, who, coincidentally (or not), was the series director for most of the Di Gi Charat anime versions since its first installment in 1999. It’s really cool how everything circles back to a now almost prehistoric franchise, but it also circles back in a less symbolic way. 2021 seems to be a new year for Di Gi Charat, as the franchise is getting a revival as “Di Gi Charat Reiwa”, a new generation of the series which contemplates lots of merchandise and, most importantly, a new anime series, helmed by no other than the same Hiroaki Sakurai. Here’s hoping for a revitalization of this lively spirit, a hopeful affirmation of the disgusting manchildren we all have inside.

Promotional image for this era’s own Charat

Salvador González Turrientes

Links and additional sources of information:

Žižek on Kung Fu Panda

The Milky Holmes article from the English Wikipedia

Wikipedia list of the Milky Holmes characters (in English)

Takaaki Kidani's article (in English)

Takaaki Kidani’s article (in Japanese)

Di Gi Charat's Wikipedia (in English)

Hiroaki Sakurai's (in English)

Makoto Moriwaki's article (in English as well)

The news of the Di Gi Charat Reiwa anime (from ANN)

#Anime #Japan #essay #submission

1 note · View note

itwilltoteshappen · 8 years ago

Note

(1/6) Thanks for being so kind and friendly and allowing people to speak their minds on your blog even if you don't agree. You know, sometimes I can almost understand why people become ex-larries/houies--it's forbidden to say something about Louis that isn't the party line. Having doubts about him instantly labels you as a mean anti/houie. People are afraid to speak up about it, and that's horrible. It's not much better than bullying. I hate when antis call larries a cult, but

(2/6) there’s one thing larries become cult-like: Louis. I don’t know why it is that way, but it gets really old, you know? We’re all adults, but bullying those who dare to have an opinion different from the crowd puts a bad taste in my mouth and takes me back to my high school days. Don’t people get that this type of behavior is exactly why people leave the Larry fandom? Not because they necessarily stop believing in Larry, but because of the toxic attitude toward those who dare to think

(3/6) a little differently about Louis than the majority? Thinking that Louis might have different ambitions doesn’t make Louis a bad person or Larry less real. I wish people around here learned that thinking differently isn’t an attack against Louis and Larry. People are allowed to have doubts in real life without instantly becoming a “closeted anti.” I’ll never be an anti: I believe the boys are in love and together, but perhaps out perception of the boys was wrong. We don’t know them.(4/6) I mean, Louis managed to hide Jay’s illness for a year; what are the odds of us knowing his inner thoughts and ambitions? Louis is the only one who still has so many ties to OT, so I think having doubts is very normal. NOT having them at all is actually strange. I love the boys, but they aren’t perfect idols who can do no wrong. They’re people, with flaws and bad decisions. I’m not gonna justify everything they do and make excuses for them to make them fit into this idea of them I have.

(5/6) Don’t Het harries do the same with Harry? They blindly deny his less than het actions and words, reaching to find explanations for them. Larries do the same thing do with Louis. The world isn’t black and white. There’s gray, too. We aren’t sheep. We should be allowed to have different opinions on Louis’ actions without people attacking us for our thoughts and accusing us of being antis. It makes me so sad, because Larry fandom is wonderful otherwise and I’ve made some great friends here.

(6/6) But I’m afraid to tell even them about my doubts, and I fucking hate it. It’s not healthy and it really ruins my fandom experience. I can’t just delete and make friends with antis, because I think they’re wrong about Larry; I can’t be a houie because I don’t think the boys broke up. Where are people like me supposed to go? People who believe in Larry, think they’re still together, but have a different opinion on the boys than the majority of Larry fandom? I’m tired, B.

awwwwww babe, I’m so so so so SO sorry you’re feeling this way. I can definitely see you’re in a tough place. I think people are particularly defensive because they’ve been attacked for so long. The bigger blogs in particular get sent a lot of hate on a daily basis. And if it’s NOT straight up hate, it’s antis trolling pretending to be doubters just so they can take what the responses are back and either laugh at it or twist words which in turn leads to more people sending more hate. I’ve never seen fandom dynamics like this. I understand where it comes from, sure, leading alllllll they way back for years, but that unfortunately doesn’t help fix the situation now.

People ARE very protective of Louis here. He’s been shut down so much, fans were afraid of him for so long, people have called him such ugly names and talked shit about him, and then not to mention the fact that he recently went through a personal tragedy.

While i understand what you’re trying to say regarding het harries, for me the argument doesn’t quite hold up. They’re basing their perception on Harry on what the media says about him and not looking deeper into what he’s actually saying. I”m not trying to be rude here, but to me that’s what it seems like you’re doing with Louis. You’re basing it on what’s publicly being said, and not the things that we’ve observed upon closer inspection.

I do agree with you that none of the boys are perfect by any means and I do agree that we definitely don’t know Louis’ innermost thoughts, but…I guess my question to you is, who DO you think he is exactly? What do you think his ambitions are? if you take a look at everything he’s done publicly (and this is removing any personal feelings, anything having to do with Larry, just stating what’s been publicly shown) he’s kind of all over the place. He’s got a UK label supposedly working with a US girl band. A manager that handles on camera personalities based in the UK and is also listed as a solo artist on their website. He’s got a US based agent that deals with actor/musicians. He just released a solo song through a US based label. He signed with a UK based PR firm but let a completely separate UK based PR firm handle the PR for his single.

To me, just looking at those facts alone, I have absolutely no clue what this person wants to do next. I didn’t even add in the fact that we know he’s an amazing songwriter who enjoys doing that as well. So then that’s when I take a look at it from things i’ve OBSERVED which, sure, that’s open to interpretation, but from what i’ve seen, that’s not a kid that’s not exactly on friendly terms with Simon Cowell. So that’s when I start asking why. And even, as I mentioned yesterday, from a purely business standpoint, certain things don’t make sense to me. Which leads me to ask MORE whys. and THEN finally as my very last step, I look at it from a Larry point of view and find even MORE whys on TOP of those whys.

I’m not here to try to change your mind, I”m just showing my thought process. I really am curious to know what your thoughts are and why you came to the conclusions you’ve come to.

I wish I had more advice about your friends. I don’t know them, but I would think if they’re legitimately good people if you come to them privately and say “hey, so i’ve been thinking about this particular situation and this is how I see it. I see it this way because…” and explain yourself that they’ll understand. They might not agree, but as long as you’re not an asshole about it (which obviously you aren’t) and as long as you present it with valid reasons why you feel that way, if they’re your friends, they should understand. Maybe also look into finding some blogs that are just here to enjoy the boys and don’t do so much speculation on either side of the spectrum. There’s still joy to be found here. Lots of big solo projects to look forward to and even a film! Focus on the things you love about these boys and not the drama surrounding the fandom. And you’re welcome to chat with me any time!

#little louis #business talk #media image #Anonymous

1 note · View note

bethestaryouareradio · 6 years ago

Text

Wild Country

“All journeys have secret destinations

of which the traveler is unaware.”

~Martin Buber

Volcanoes, glaciers, highlands, prairies, lava flows, fire, ice. Nature untouched and untamed.

Iceland.

Resting on the boundary where the North American and Eurasian Tectonic plates meet, Iceland is a country of intense volcanic eruptions, boiling hot springs, rushing rivers, venting steam, spouting geysers, powerful waterfalls, ice caves, aqua blue lagoons, northern lights, and minimal sunshine. With a population of only 338,378 and a median age of 38, most people live in the capital of Reykjavik. Iceland, a country of fierce contrasts, is geared for the rugged and the youthful.

I visited this wild, wild country recently during the season of “the midnight sun”” when darkness never comes and sleep is elusive. Twilight reigned supreme allowing for plenty of exploring and hiking adventures. Summer in Iceland was freezing cold with unpredictable blustery North Atlantic weather, gray skies, menacing clouds, bone-chilling rain, and gusty winds. Sunshine in any minimal amount was not on the agenda. My daily wardrobe included gloves, faux fur hat, layers of clothing, double mufflers, boots, and a warm raincoat. Naturally, a bathing suit was always packed in my bag for that daily dip in a “secret” hot springs lagoon where the natives and visitors come to warm up.

As a traveler who dives into the culture of a nation, I wanted to indulge in the Icelandic cuisine. To supply fresh vegetables, hothouses operate year round using geothermal energy providing tasty and nutritious veggies to augment a diet of fish and meat. Dining out is expensive. The average price for a green salad was thirty dollars. Everything I ordered at authentic local restaurants was unique and delicious with the exception of fermented shark which was the most disgusting, foul smelling, horrid tasting item I’ve ever experienced. I spent a full day sick to my stomach after just a few nauseating bites, yet this is considered an Icelandic winter staple.

What interested me most was the ever-changing unique landscape on this small isle bordering the Arctic Circle. I was mesmerized by the plethora of wildflowers, grasses, and moss carpeting the island. Flowers sprouted in the cracks of lava flows, spilled down the sides of volcanoes, and grew on the edges of the glaciers. While riding Icelandic horses ( a small sturdy breed endemic to Iceland only) through the countryside, miles and miles of blue lupines filled the fields as far as the eye could see. In the 1950s seeds from Alaskan lupines were scattered in a few regions of Iceland to help with erosion and soil improvement. They have now naturalized, much to the delight of visitors and the chagrin of the populace who have denoted lupines as invasive weeds that crowd out indigenous plants and stunt the growth of hungry sheep. Acres of buttercups, wild perennial sweet pea, angelica, mustard, hawkweed, lady smock, Arctic sea rocket, meadowsweet, wild strawberry, gentian, Lady’s mantle, marsh marigold, cornflower, yarrow, violets, and Iceland poppy hugged the ground. The dandelions grew to almost two feet tall and are harvested as a nourishing edible. Lichen and moss covered the fields of lava. The treasured Icelandic moss is said to be so delicate that a single footprint will take a hundred years to regenerate.

Autumn is an auspicious time to sow wildflower seeds in America. What makes a flower a wildflower? Basically, wildflowers grow happily without any human cultivation. they live and thrive within an interactive plant community. Many wildflowers are native to a certain region and when they freely reproduce in another area, they have naturalized.

If you’d like to introduce wildflowers into your landscape, decide on the species you want and buy seeds from a trusted company. Make sure the plants are not an invasive species. (You can always check the USDA plant database at https://plants.usda.gov/java/)

Sow seeds directly into the ground or into containers. Make sure seeds are protected from winter chills and marauding birds.

Here’s my list of beautiful wildflowers that will easily domesticate:

Blackeyed Susans (Rudbeckia)

Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)

Buttercups

California Poppy

Columbine (Aquilegia)

Coneflowers (Echinacea)

Coreopsis

Lupines

Mustard

Penstemons

Wild perennial sweet pea

Yarrow

If flowers can flourish in the extreme climate of Iceland, they will go wild in our temperate gardens. Create secret destinations that are born to be wild!

“Wild thing.

You make my heart sing.

You make everything.

Groovy!

Wild Thing

I think I love you.” The Troggs

Cynthia Brian’s October Gardening Tips

DISCOUNTED grass seed. October is the month to plant or refurbish your lawn. Since my favorite lawn seed is not sold in California, I have arranged for a special discount for my clients, readers, and radio listeners. Save 20% on Grass seed through October 10, 2018, with code STAR20 at http://www.PearlsPremium.com

Enjoy!

SPIDER WEBS strangling your plants? You might have spider mites. They make a spider web-like netting to protect themselves and their eggs and are almost impossible see with the naked eye. Put a piece of white paper under the leaves of a plant and shake the plant. If a pepper like substance falls on the paper you have spider mites. You can spray with a strong stream of water, use beneficial insects such as ladybugs or lacewings, or spray with NEEM oil. A chemical pesticide is not recommended as it kills the beneficials and not the spider mites.

RAKE leaves as they fall. As long as the leaves are not diseased, add them to your compost pile or to an area of your garden that could use extra mulch.

BUY spring bulbs now. Refrigerate tulips, hyacinths, crocus, and muscari for four to six weeks. Place in a mesh bag in the refrigerator away from any fruits that could emit ethylene gas, which will stunt blooms. Ranunculus and anemones do not need pre-chilling.

PLANT cool season vegetables including beets, carrots, lettuce, arugula, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, peas, and onions.

CONTINUE picking tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and squash for your meals.

HARVEST pumpkins, Indian corn, and gourds for Halloween and autumn décor.

DIVIDE clumps of daylilies, bearded iris, and clivia as they don’t like to be crowded. Once divided, they will bloom more profusely.

GIVE new perennials a chance to settle in for a spring bloom by planting in October.

REDUCE irrigation as the weather cools. Re-set timers or turn them off completely.

CHECK out fall colored deciduous trees and shrubs to add to your garden.

Happy Gardening. Happy Growing.

Read more: https://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1216/Cynthia-Brians-Gardening-Guide-for-October-Born-to-be-wild.html

Cynthia Brian

Cynthia Brian, The Goddess Gardener, raised in the vineyards of Napa County, is a New York Times best-selling author, actor, radio personality, speaker, media and writing coach as well as the Founder and Executive Director of Be the Star You Are1® 501 c3.

Tune into Cynthia’s Radio show and order her books at www.StarStyleRadio.com.

Buy a copy of her new books, Growing with the Goddess Gardener and Be the Star You Are! Millennials to Boomers at www.cynthiabrian.com/online-store.

Available for hire for projects and lectures.

[email protected]

www.GoddessGardener.com

#Iceland born to be wild fire and ice land of contrasts sowing wildflowers flowers galciers wagons volcancoes cynthia brian goddess gardener

0 notes

goddessgardener · 6 years ago

Text

Born to Be Wild