#guest house hampshire

[rad1og1rl]

About to board some flights , had a lil inspo for my fav Jaybird <3

no tws besides flight anxiety ? unedited.

fluff, pre-established relationship, gn reader, comfort for jason from reader.

Jason didn’t like flying. He hadn’t flown since he went to find his mother, and the trauma which ensued after that didn’t help his anxiety. But you hadn’t seen your parents since you moved to Gotham, and you wanted them to meet your boyfriend of 2 years. They had only spoken to him on the phone.

So you wrestled him into flying to your parent’s lake house in New Hampshire. Only a 2 hour flight, and within the United States. Easy, short and simple. You even took over packing for him, buying everything and anything TSA-approved and measuring every bag for carry-ons.

You went through his closet and held stuff up for him to approve or deny, and rolled everything into a suitcase and stuffed it to the brim. Your stay was two weeks in a guest room, and you wanted to make sure he was as comfortable as possible .

Luckily , your flight was not a red eye for the surprisingly cheap price. You were set to depart at 12:30 PM and arrive around 2:30.

The day of the flight, all packed up and ready to go, you noticed Jason pacing around the living room quietly. “Jay, honey , what’s wrong ?” You asked, lightly treading into the living room and tapping him lightly.

“Just..just nerves. Haven’t flown in a while, y’know?” He says, turning to face you. “It’s okay hon, you should get a drink before we get on. The airport is one of the only places you can day-drink and no one says anything.” You say, laughing. He nods and maintains a frown, and you take his face in your hands and rub your thumbs across his skin lovingly. “Jason, it will be fine.” He sighs and pulls back, nodding and grabbing his suitcase and backpack from the couch. “Seriously , Jason. New Hampshire is nice! There’s not a lot of crime, and lots of nature, and my parents are gonna love you.” You say, keeping your gaze focused on him.

“Oh! Our Uber is here ! We gotta go!” You say, scrambling to grab the matching suitcases and your backpack. You grab Jason’s muscular bicep and drag him out the door, locking it behind you and pushing him towards elevator of your apartment complex.

Upon exiting the elevator doors and arriving in the parking lot, the Uber is parked closely to the sidewalk. The driver pops open the trunk and Jason takes it upon himself to load up the trunk with all the luggage , being mindful of the attached neck pillows on each handle. Jason opens the back door of the car for you and shuts it, joining you on the opposite side and watching the driver start up the car.

The driver pulls away and heads onto the main road, playing music and allowing you to talk to Jason. “I texted my parents that we’re on our way to the airport , and they’re really excited to meet you.” You said, starting the conversation. Jason smiled slightly and grabbed your hand with his larger, calloused one and held it tightly. It was these little things that Jason did to let you know how he felt. Anxious but loved . Excited and nervous and probably more. “It’s okay , Jay. It’s just one flight. And we won’t have to fly anywhere else anytime soon.” You said, running your fingers across some scarring on his knuckles. “And hey, maybe next time, we can drive over. Make it a road trip! See some roadside attractions or something. Wouldn’t that be fun?” You add, smiling at the idea. Jason takes a liking to it as well, evident by his grin.

“Yeah, y’know I’d love that.” He said, grinning. “We could rent a van, and drive through national parks. Oh! And imagine reading a book overlooking beautiful lakes and scenery. That’s what we’ll do next visit. We’ll drive!” You say, cheerfully which seems to loosen Jason up slightly.

The car pulls up into the assigned gate, and Jason steps out first, opening up your door and taking your hand to pull you out. You thank the Uber and tip him on the app, and Jason pulls all the luggage out of the trunk, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and holding yours until you take it from him after putting your phone away. You bid the Uber farewell and grab your suitcase handle from Jason, and you trudge forward into the bustling Gotham airport.

You pull up the boarding passes on your phone and head straight for TSA, looking back to make sure Jason was following. He trails behind with a nervous tick on his face, which looked more aggressive due to his overall appearance. You hoped he would loosen up once you got him something at a bar.

Passing through TSA and it’s miserable lines, you drag Jason with you to your assigned gate and look around for a bar, quickly spotting one and beelining for it. Jason orders a gin and tonic, and you push him to sit down near the gate. 1 hour till the flight, and you both are okay. Travel-size bottles, clear bags for liquids , and you’re 85% sure you didn’t overpack. You’re okay. Jason seems okay too, nursing his drink while taking in the surroundings.

“Jay, you don’t need to be in vigilante mode right now. Literally nothing gets through TSA. This is a vacation, not a mission.” You said, sighing as you watch him survey the area suspiciously. “Sorry… just… a force of habit, y’know ? Always alert.” He says, downing the rest of his drink in a quick gulp.

“I packed you a book in your backpack by the way,” You start, glancing at him. “It’s called ‘East of Eden’, by John Steinbeck. I think it’s American classic literature…. it’s supposed to be a retelling of the book of Genesis. It was on sale at Barnes & Nobles so…..” You trail off, gauging his expression. He nods and taps his large fingers on his dark jeans, one finger at a time. “It’s for the flight , and our downtime at the house. There’s probably not movies on the flight because they usually only have that for long haul flights. Maybe one day we can take a long haul flight ? Just once, to … I don’t know , Ireland ? London? Where would you want to go?”

He glances at you and cracks the smallest smile, and nods before reaching for your waist, grabbing it with his rough, large hands and hugging you, leaning his head in the crook of your neck. “Ya know I’d go anywhere as long as it’s with you. But Ireland …. doesn’t sound half bad.” You smile at his admission and hug him back, glancing at the tv detailing the time. You’d be boarding in 10 minutes, one group at a time. You were group 4.

10 minutes of future travel plans, and you grab Jason’s hand to stroll on over to the boarding station. You scan your boarding passes once more and end up as seats 26 E & F . Jason takes your suitcase and hauls it up into the overhead compartment , his following suit. Ever the gentleman, he helps an old woman with hers as well , storing it for her and then following you to your assigned seats, sliding your backpacks under the seats in front of you. You then motion for him to take the window seat.

He looks like he isn’t exactly fond of the idea, but obliges. You scoot in next to him and immediately yank up the arm rest, wanting to be as near to him as possible. You lean against him and hold his hand and wait for the other passengers to board, enjoying the bustling atmosphere of the airplane filling up.

When everyone is seated, and the plane starts rolling down the runway, you feel Jason’s hand in your own tense up, and you squeeze it reassuringly.

You glance at him, as he looks out the window and then back at you, and the plane prepares for takeoff .

“You ready?” You ask.

He squeezes your hand back, “Ready.”

[hometoursandotherstuff]

How sweet is this little 1889 train station converted to a home in Barnstead, New Hampshire? 1bd, 1ba, $499.900.

It even has an old caboose on the property. I would have to restore that. The lot size is 4.64acres.

Wow, original wide plank floors and look at that stove. This has some potential.

The little train going around the chimney, the original ticket window, door with mail slot, so much history.

That must be a picture of the caboose. A little sprucing up and this would be so cute.

The lights look original. Love the red sink.

So this would be the main room, a kitchen/living room combo.

The bedroom is small, but having built-in dressers helps.

The bathroom's cute. Has a nice shower.

The platform is now a great deck and it looks like there's a basement that may have possibilities.

Pretty property is on the Suncook River.

This really needs some TLC. It could be a guest house or a rental if it was fixed up.

There are a lot of cool old railroad artifacts around, too.

I'd buy this place in a New York minute.

[scotianostra]

October 3rd 1357 saw the Treaty of Berwick, freeing David II from imprisonment by the English.

A wee bit of a spoiler here, David II was captured at The Battle of Neville’s Cross on October 17th 1346, more of that two come in two weeks time!

David II was born on 5 March 1324 after his parents had been married for 22 years. He was only four when he himself was married to Princess Joanna of England in accordance with the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton.

The following year, he became Scotland’s first anointed king on the death of his father. Taking advantage of this royal minority, and a series of Regents, the English made several attempts to replace him with Edward Balliol (son of ‘Toom Tabard’).

After Edward III defeated the Scots at the Battle of Halidon Hill near Berwick in 1333, David and Joanna were sent to the safety of France, where they remained until 1341, when it was judged safe for them to come home.

On 26 August 1346, Edward III defeated France at the battle of Crecy. David II, now aged 17, decided to invade England in support of his ally, France, but he was defeated and captured

by John Coupeland at the Battle of Neville’s Cross, near Durham, on 17 October 1346. David spent the next 11 years as a prisoner, although it is said he was treated as a royal guest rather than in any harsh way, living principally in London, at Odiham Castle in Hampshire and Windsor Castle in Berkshire.

January 17, 1357, the Scots sent ambassadors to England to negotiate the return of their king. In August the preliminaries were agreed upon and the terms were ratified by the Scots Parliament. Joan does not appear in any of the documents regarding the discussions for David’s release. The marriage faltered while in England and David took a mistress, by the name of Katherine Mortimer and apparently was deeply in love with her. For all intents and purposes, Joan and David severed their relationship and Joan would spend the rest of her life in England. King Edward gave Joan a pension of £200 per annum. Katherine Mortimer was murdered in Soutra, Scotland in the summer of 1360 by being stabbed at the instigation of jealous Scottish lords. David then took up with Margaret Drummond, the daughter of Sir John Drummond and the widow of Sir John Logie, but that too wouldn’t last.

Eventually, on 3 October 1357, after several interruptions, a treaty was signed at Berwick-upon-Tweed by which the Scottish estates undertook to pay 100,000 marks as a ransom for their king. This was ratified by parliament at Scone on 6 November 1357.

David returned at once to Scotland; but owing to the poverty of the kingdom it was found impossible to raise the ransom. A few instalments were paid, but the king sought to get rid of the liability by offering to make Edward III, or one of his sons, his successor in Scotland, a notion that would have had has his father, Robert the Bruce, turning in his grave. Some historians have said David knew that it would never be ratified and was merely playing for time.

In 1364 the Scottish parliament indignantly rejected a proposal to make Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the next king; but David negotiated secretly with Edward III over this matter, after he had suppressed a rising of some of his unruly nobles.

David II died unexpectedly, and at the height of his power, in Edinburgh Castle on 22 February 1371. He was buried in Holyrood Abbey. At the time of his death, it is said he was planning to marry his mistress, Agnes Dunbar, the niece of Agnes Randolph, who was known as “Black Agnes of Dunbar”. He left no children and was succeeded by his nephew, Robert II, the son of David’s half-sister Marjorie Bruce.

He was the last male of the short lived House of Bruce.

The pictures shows David II, King of Scots (pictured left) and Edward III, King of England from an excerpt from folio 66v of British Library MS Cotton Nero D VI medieval manuscript “Edward III and David II of Scotland, in a Historical Compilation" and t he map depicts the English west march adjoining Scotland, about 1590. It contains a detailed description of the course of the border, and was probably drawn by a border official to explain how and why English influence fluctuated in the march.

[holycatsandrabbits]

Three Weird Ghosts That Would Make Good Characters

Ghost stories are a staple of genre writing. But their popularity means sometimes writers need to find fresh phantoms. So here are a few lesser known ghosts that might make good characters.

In the same vein (haha), check out some unusual vampires.

Radiant Boys

Let’s say you’re a guest in a grand house or castle, and you go to sleep in a lovely room with a blazing fire in the fireplace. In the middle of the night, you awake to see a glowing light, but you realize it’s not the fire, which has gone out. Instead, it’s an incredibly beautiful young boy dressed in white, surrounded by golden light, like an angel. After a few moments of gazing at you, the boy floats over to the cold fireplace and disappears. What would you do?

Well, in the stories, the guests uniformly react to this lovely, apparently harmless spirit with terror, which may tell you something about what kind of vibes this kid actually gives off. In fact, radiant boys are omens of bad luck and violent death. In some versions of the legend, someone who has seen a radiant boy will ascend to great power before losing it all in a terrible fall from grace, followed by death. In the stories, frightened guests flee their host’s home the next morning and cannot be convinced to return.

So why are these golden boys so dangerous? Because radiant boys represent innocence and purity meeting a dreadful betrayal and death: they are the ghosts of boys murdered by their own mothers.

Ocean-Born Mary

This one’s a wild ride, so buckle up.

In 1720, a ship sailing from Ireland to New Hampshire encountered pirates. The pirates were about to kill all those on the ship when their leader, Captain Pedro, heard the cry of a baby. Earlier that day, the wife of the Irish captain had given birth to a baby girl. Captain Pedro vowed to spare the lives of everyone aboard if the baby was named Mary, after his own mother. Everyone obviously agreed, and Captain Pedro even gave the baby a gift of green brocaded silk to use for her future wedding gown. True to his word, he let the Irish ship go and it reached New Hampshire as planned.

Sounds like a great story! But it doesn’t end there. Mary grew up to be a six-foot tall woman with flaming red hair. She married wearing her gown of green silk and had four sons. But her husband died early, leaving her to raise her boys alone.

Meanwhile, pirate Captain Pedro had given up his life of piracy and settled down in a nearby New Hampshire town. He was aging and lonely, so he found Mary again and hired her as his housekeeper, helping her raise the boys in his gorgeous Georgian mansion. Eventually, Captain Pedro’s former life caught up to him, and he was murdered in his own garden by an unknown sailor. Mary inherited the house and lived there until her death at 94.

This being a ghost story—some say she’s still there. The house seems to be protected by a caring spirit who welcomes guests, runs off vandals, and extinguishes the odd accidental fire on the property. Mary is sometimes seen walking around or departing the house in a phantom coach.

It’s a cool story, but believe it or not, Mary Wallace was a real person. Check out the New England Historical Society for what’s fact and fiction (pirates encountering a new baby yes, green silk probably, Captain Pedro finding Mary again in his old age, no). 

The Drummer of Cortachy

Some families are lucky (or unlucky) enough to merit a little fanfare before they depart this world of sorrows. In Ireland, banshees give a wailing lament for those who are about to die. A few important families even have their own private banshee, which is what happened to the Ogilvy family in Scotland, owners of Cortachy Castle in Angus. Except their personal death omen is not a weeping woman, but a drummer.

The legend of the drummer varies, of course, but the basics are that some poor guy with a drum angered the Earl of Airlie, head of the Oglivy family, possibly because the drummer brought bad news to the castle. The Earl seems to have overreacted a tad—he had the drummer stuffed into his own drum and thrown over the battlements. After that, unsurprisingly, the family was plagued with phantom drumming.

Guests at Cortachy Castle are said to have heard the drummer, but mentioning it to their hosts always causes calamity, because the drummer presages a family death. It’s even rumored that frightened Oglivy family members sometimes died as a self-fulfilling prophecy after an appearance from the drummer. However, no drumming has been heard since about 1900, so perhaps the ghost decided he was sufficiently revenged and finally drummed his way to the afterlife.

Thanks for reading! Good luck writing a legend of your own!

Source: Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. Facts on File, 1992. On Goodreads 

This article was first published on my writing blog

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers

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[xtruss]

Sicily Sold Homes For One Euro. This Is What Happened Next.

For more than a decade, Sicily has been trying to revive its villages by selling Vacant Houses. Writer Lisa Abend heads to the largest Island in the Mediterranean to see how life has changed.

— By Lisa Abend | April 30, 2024

Mussomeli is roughly 60 miles from Palermo. Photo by Julia Nimke

Like any small town that isn’t yours, Sambuca di Sicilia, located about an hour’s drive south of the Sicilian capital, Palermo, feels a little intimidating at first. Stroll its perimeter on a late afternoon in winter, when the sun sets the buildings alight, and eyes follow you. Order the town’s signature minni di virgini—breast-shaped cakes filled with cream, chocolate chips, and squash jam—and a hush silences the chatter in the local bakery. It’s not unfriendly, this exaggerated alertness, but it does make you, the visitor, feel a bit self-conscious.

By the time I walk into a small restaurant that first evening seeking dinner, my self-consciousness has reached an uncomfortable peak. The restaurant’s only other guests, a middle-aged couple, fall quiet as I make my way to a table. After the waiter and I stumble through my order, impeded by his poor English and my worse Italian, I pull out a book to hide my awkwardness while I wait for the food. But when the first course arrives—a heap of ocher-tinted pasta topped with crimson shrimp and shards of pistachios—I am so clearly delighted by the dish that the waiter then decides we are friends. He introduces himself by name, Giovanni, and when two women with their children enter the restaurant, he seats them next to me and introduces them as well. “La famiglia,” he says—his own, and that of the chef, who, stepping out from the kitchen to kiss his wife, also comes over to greet me.

Two hours later, I walk out into the night air, aloft on a wave of bonhomie and sturdy Sicilian wine. Oh yes, I think to myself. I could live here.

I’m not the only person to arrive at that revelation. In fact, I had come to Sicily to investigate a program that has attracted thousands with the same notion. A program that allows people, although they may not have the financial wherewithal to go full-bore Tuscan-villa-with-frescoed-ceilings-and-private-vineyard, to nevertheless live a different version of the dream. A program that promises them a house for a single euro.

About the size of New Hampshire, Sicily has 4.8 million residents. Photos by Julia Nimke

Since the 19th century, large numbers of villagers in the poorer parts of Italy have migrated to more prosperous regions and countries. The migration continues; in some places, populations have shrunk so dramatically that there are no longer enough patients to keep the local doctor in business, or enough children to fill the school. Young people who moved away to study or work didn’t want to return, and when their parents died, the family homes stood empty, sometimes for decades. Around 2010, the village of Salemi in western Sicily was one of the first towns to come up with an idea: What if you could fill them again by offering the properties for sale at a ridiculously low price?

I wasn’t in the market for a house, one euro or otherwise. But I wanted to know if the program worked. Though the rumors I’d heard about driving in Sicily gave me pause—highways that suddenly turn into rutted cow paths; drivers whose chosen passing method involves achieving the closest possible proximity to the fender of the car in front of them—I decided to set out in a rental car through villages in various stages of implementing the initiative. Were once-sepulchral towns reinvigorated by newcomers eager to put down roots? Were the new residents integrating into small-town life, or was an influx of new blood bringing unintended side effects? And did a town that drew enough newcomers lose the qualities that had attracted said newcomers in the first place?

From left: The population of Sambuca di Sicilia has declined because of a low birth rate, but the town gained media attention after The Sopranos actress Lorraine Bracco bought a home there; The Valley of the Temples has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. Photos by Julia Nimke

The morning after my dinner in Sambuca di Sicilia, I leave my home base to see my first one-euro house. Before that, I stop in the Valley of the Temples. Located in a national park, the valley preserves the remains of a Greek colony founded in the 6th century B.C.E. on land inhabited by the indigenous Sicani. A couple of millennia later, the original temples to Hercules and Hera survive, but so does evidence of Carthaginian rampage and Roman reconstruction. Those peoples would in time be followed by Vandals from northern Europe and Muslims from Africa, to say nothing of the French and Spanish. Standing there, looking at the gold-colored columns of once-grand temples set against the sparkling sea and flowering almond trees, time seemed to bend. Outsiders, I realize, have been making their homes here for a long time.

They’ve also been leaving. When I arrive in Cammarata, a steep jumble of a village whose mountains are dusted with snow, I can feel an absence. In the winter sunshine, it’s beautiful, but it’s also empty. In the 15 minutes I spend standing in front of a very sleepy-looking town hall, where I’ve arranged to meet architect Martina Giracello, not one person passes by.

The members of StreetTo want to rejuvenate Cammarata. Photo by Julia Nimke

Finally, Giracello arrives, her corkscrew curls bobbing, and explains the silence. “People here wanted to live in larger, more modern apartments,” she says. Many moved to neighboring San Giovanni Gemini, about half a mile away, where the gentler topography allows for larger buildings and better conveniences. Now, Giracello tells me, “the one real estate agency in the area doesn’t even handle houses in the historic center.”

Like other young people from the region, Giracello and her boyfriend, Gianluca, moved away for university and to start their professional careers. But as they approached the end of their 20s, they returned to Cammarata, yearning for a quieter life. They also wanted, however, some kind of cultural scene, and neighbors their own age. “We studied other towns with one-euro programs, saw that for a lot of buyers, once they are there, the house is just a vacation home, and they don’t have a relation to the people there,” she tells me. “We wanted to do something different. We wanted to create a community.”

“As We Slowly Make Our Way Up Cammarata’s Steep Streets, The Silence Gives Way To The Sound Of Hammers And Saws. ‘Hear That?’ Giracello Asks. ‘It’s Working.’”

They banded together with other professionals to form a volunteer association called StreetTo, which convinces the owners of abandoned properties to sell, then helps foreigners find their houses and navigate the inspections, paperwork, and renovations that follow. And, in the hopes of forging community, they also organize exhibitions, concerts, and gatherings for townspeople old and new. Driven by their desire to revive the Cammarata they love, StreetTo’s members offer these services free of charge. (“At the moment, it is a project geared toward foreigners, but what we want is to also bring Cammarata’s citizens back, just as Gianluca and I have come back,” Giracello says.)

It’s not pure altruism, though. Their town gets something in the way of revitalization. As we slowly make our way up Cammarata’s steep streets, the silence gives way to the sound of hammers and saws. “Hear that?” Giracello asks. “It’s working.”

Panting from the climb, we reach the first property, where Giracello introduces me to the reality of what one euro buys you: not much. The home, more vertically challenged shed than house, has what real estate ads might call “significant structural issues” and what I might call “a massive hole in the roof.”

For an extravagance like a ceiling, Giracello says, you’ll need to spend a bit more. We press on to another house. Pushing open the heavy wooden door, she mentions its price—just over $10,000. The tall, narrow home is built, like many older Sicilian dwellings, with a single room per floor, its stairwell is carpeted in debris, and the battered sink and laminate countertops make it look like the kitchen was outfitted sometime around World War II. But the floor is adorned with beautiful geometric tiles, and a view of the valley spills through the windows. “We try to find houses in not really good condition,” Giracello says. “Because the purpose of the project is to help the town get better.”

StreetTo has helped negotiate the sale of 18 houses so far, but contract negotiations and renovations are still in progress, and none of the buyers have been able to move into their homes yet. But Giracello is confident it won’t be long before her village swells with new life. She pulls out her phone to show me a video.

“When a German nurse and her husband bought a place, a local couple were so happy to see new people that they held a dinner for them, and invited us,” she says. “Even though the Germans didn’t speak Italian and the Italians didn’t speak German, now they are all friends.” She pauses. “We are all friends.”

Today a church and monastery, Santa Caterina d’Alessandria was home to nuns from 1311 to 2014. Photo by Julia Nimke

My next stop is Mussomeli, located nearly in the center of the island. Unlike many Sicilian towns, which drape themselves seductively across a ridge, Mussomeli is all about the vertical. On the morning I approach, the craggy volcanic outcroppings that rise from the valley below have trapped pools of mist, making the town appear to be floating on clouds. It feels like entering Middle Earth.

The illusion doesn’t last: With a population of nearly 11,000 people, Mussomeli is large enough to support a Carrefour supermarket and even a mini traffic jam. But as I push on to the town’s core, the fantasy returns. Mussomeli’s heart holds ancient churches, tiny squares where kids play ball, and views from its tangled streets of that mystical valley and a hilltop with the ruins of a 14th-century castle.

Streets so tangled, in fact, that I get lost, and ask for directions in a dark, tiny bakery selling nothing but focaccia. I pay for an oily square, and ask the elderly man behind the counter what he thinks about the foreigners moving to town. “There aren’t so many here now,” he says. “But in summer they buy a lot of focaccia.”

Seems a fair trade. Mussomeli doesn’t cater to tourism, but between its services and charm, more than 200 inexpensive homes have been bought by foreigners in the past few years. Australian Danny McCubbin owns one of them. Ready for a quieter life after 17 years of working in London for the chef Jamie Oliver, McCubbin was recruited by producers late in 2019 for a television show that planned to follow people on their one-euro adventures in Mussomeli. The pandemic intervened and the show was never finished, but McCubbin had found his purpose. By the end of 2020, he had decided to move permanently to Mussomeli and turn his home into a community kitchen to help people with inadequate access to food.

From left: The Good Kitchen rescues surplus food from supermarkets to provide for people in need; Australian Danny McCubbin moved to Mussomeli in 2020. Photos by Julia Nimke

After I make several wrong turns, I find McCubbin, clearing dishes from a long, communal table. He’d just served lunch to local residents and Ukrainian children welcomed by the town after fleeing the war. These days, the Good Kitchen also supplies weekly meals for the elderly and has taught some of Mussomeli’s youth to cook. A clutch of older men use the space as an afternoon hangout, and there’s also a free Sunday afternoon lunch. (The only requirement for those with means is that they bring something to share.) Not long ago, Mussomeli’s mayor told McCubbin that he had planted a seed, and that more in Mussomeli were now thinking about social projects. “My whole way of living is so simple and joyful now,” McCubbin says. “I don’t know where else I could have done this.”

Rubia Andrade Daniels has also adjusted her expectations. One of the earliest buyers in Mussomeli, she fell in love with a vibe that reminds her of the Brazil where she was born and spent her childhood, but that also seems open to the kind of diversity she’s found in California, where she has lived for the past 30 years. “For the first few days, I couldn’t figure out why people here were being so nice to me,” she says with a laugh. “Then I realized they’re like that to everyone.”

Andrade Daniels, who works for a renewable energy company, loved the town so much she purchased three one-euro houses on her first visit in 2019. Four years later, her enthusiasm remains undimmed, but her timetable has shifted: The kitchen in the house where she plans on living part time once she retires wasn’t finished until August 2023, and progress on the other two—an art gallery and a wellness center—has been pushed to an undetermined future, in part due to the pandemic and the delays in its wake. “You can’t have American expectations,” she says. “Here, things take the time they take.”

I Think About That Pace each day when I return to my base in Sambuca di Sicilia. There, too, there’s been such demand for the listed houses that one euro is no longer the final sale cost but rather the opening bid in an auction that could see prices rise into the thousands. Even then, the campaign was so popular that the municipality launched a second round in 2021, with an increase in the starting price—to two euros.

Margherita Licata, who has been summering in Sambuca since childhood and eventually settled here full time about 20 years ago, says that “99 percent” of Sambucans welcome the newcomers. The other 1 percent? “They worry they have been invaded by Americans,” says Licata, who works for a real estate agency in town. “If Sambuca one day has a thousand outsiders living here, of course it will change our lives. But it will maybe mean the young [people] can find a job and not go somewhere else. If we want that change, we must accept other changes too.”

Of course, it’s possible that Sambuca could become transfigured by take-out coffee joints and big-box stores and other supposed comforts that the town’s new residents like. Already, some Americans have complained about the local teenagers who cruise the streets on their motorbikes at night. And imported class divisions are also emerging: Among the more free-spirited DIYers who have purchased homes, rumors circulate that some of the wealthier buyers want to build an exclusive, members-only swimming pool.

From left: Margherita Licata has lived in Sambuca for roughly 20 years; Pasticceria Enrico Pendola is one of few bakeries in the small town. Photos by Julia Nimke

But for now, there’s little evidence of a non-Sicilian presence in Sambuca, and it remains difficult to find anyone who speaks English. What I did find was an archaeology museum where, after I inquired if it was open, a woman rushed out, turned on the lights, and marched me at breakneck speed through the antiquities on display while barking descriptions of them at me in Italian. I also found a market that popped up alongside the traffic circle where the fishmonger told me how to cook the sardines I bought from the back of his van, as well as a café whose arancini made me finally understand why anyone would want to eat fried balls of rice, and where the elderly man who glared at me as I drank my breakfast cappuccino turned out not to be annoyed with the foreigner invading his morning sanctuary, but just waiting for the opportunity to ask me if I knew his cousins in New Jersey.

I’d arrived in Sicily wondering if the one-euro initiative would ruin the towns that adopted it, replacing their traditional culture with more consumerist ones and destroying their lifestyle and easy sociability. And when that turned out not to be the case, I also wondered if it wasn’t simply a matter of time: Perhaps the pandemic had slowed an already slower way of doing business, and the reckoning would still surely come.

But as I sat again in that same restaurant from the first night, it seemed to me that Sicily would be just fine. Maybe the slower pace was not a flaw that would eventually be overcome, but instead a feature that would ensure Sicily remains alluringly and unequivocally itself. After all, I thought, as I remembered the

Valley of the Temples, different peoples have been arriving on these shores for millennia. They may leave an imprint; they may shape the culture. But it’s clear that a distinctively Sicilian spirit still dominates.

From left: Mussomeli is one of the most popular towns in Sicily for one-euro home programs; Sambuca di Sicilia was a prominent trading hub centuries ago. Photos by Julia Nimke

And so, just before my departure from the island, I went to visit Margherita Licata again, but this time for reasons slightly more personal. Because I had seen enough one-euro homes to know that my powers of imagination were no match for their state of decrepitude, we skipped right to a “premium” home. As soon as she pushed open the doors to the arched courtyard, I was entranced. The rooms were rundown and furnished with old-fashioned chandeliers and faded wallpaper. But they were also large and bright, with intact walls and floors covered with gorgeous patterned tiles. Downstairs, there was an attached space that would make a perfect rental apartment. Upstairs, two rooftop terraces offered views of the town center in one direction, and a lake in the other.

“Fifty thousand euros,” Licata told me with a wink. “But that’s just what the owner’s asking.”

The money in my bank account had not magically grown during my time in Sicily. But my imagination must have. Because in that moment, it all seemed possible.

— Lisa Abend is a Journalist based in Madrid and the Author of The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adrià's elBulli. She is also a Contributing Writer at AFAR and Correspondent for Time magazine.

[black-arcana]

IN THIS MOMENT Announces 'The Godmode Tour Part 2', BLABBERMOUTH.NET Presale

IN THIS MOMENT will embark on "The Godmode Tour Part 2" this fall. Support on the trek, which will kick off on November 8 in Asheville, North Carolina and end on December 7 in Manchester, New Hampshire, will come from KIM DRACULA, NATHAN JAMES and MIKE'S DEAD.

A special BLABBERMOUTH.NET presale will begin on Wednesday, August 14 at 2:00 p.m. EDT and end on Thursday, August 15 at 10:00 p.m. local time. When prompted, type in the presale code " ITMBBM24" to access tickets before the general public. Check back here on Wednesday for ticketing links to individual shows. General on-sale will be Friday, August 16 at 10 a.m. local time.

Tour dates:

Nov. 08 - Asheville, NC - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium Nov. 09 - Roanoke, VA - Berglund Center Nov. 11 - Huntsville, AL - Mark C. Smith Concert Hall Nov. 12 - Atlanta, GA - Coca-Cola Roxy Nov. 13 - Orlando, FL - House Of Blues Nov. 15 - Shreveport, LA - Shreveport Municipal Auditorium Nov. 16 - Houston, TX - Bayou Music Center Nov. 17 - Corpus Christi, TX - Concrete Street Pavilion Nov. 19 - Kansas City, MO - The Midland Theatre Nov. 20 - East Moline, IL - The Rust Belt Nov. 22 - Prior Lake, MN - Mystic Lake Casino Showroom * Nov. 23 - Rockford, IL - Hard Rock Live Rockford # Nov. 24 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave / Eagles Club Nov. 26 - Madison, WI - The Sylvee Nov. 27 - Gary, IN - Hard Rock Live Northern Indiana & Nov. 30 - Columbus, OH - Kemba Live!# Dec. 01 - Windsor, ON - The Colosseum & Dec. 03 - Toronto, ON - History Dec. 05 - Cleveland, OH - The Agora Dec. 06 - Reading, PA - The Santander Arena Dec. 07 - Manchester, NH - SNHU Arena

* KIM DRACULA only # KIM DRACULA, MIKE'S DEAD only & NATHAN JAMES, KIM DRACULA only

IN THIS MOMENT's latest album, "Godmode", arrived back in October via BMG. The LP was produced by Kane Churko (ROB ZOMBIE, DISTURBED, PAPA ROACH) and Tyler Bates. Bates produced, wrote songs for, and played multiple instruments on albums by MARILYN MANSON, BUSH and ALICE IN CHAINS guitarist Jerry Cantrell. He is best known, however, for scoring the box office smash "300", the Emmy Award-winning Showtime series "Californication", the "Guardians Of The Galaxy" and "John Wick" film franchises. IN THIS MOMENT's song "I Would Die For You" appeared on the soundtrack for "John Wick: Chapter 4", for which Bates wrote the score.

With a Grammy nomination ("The In-Between", 2021),platinum and gold record sales, multiple Top 25 entries on the Billboard Top 200 ("Black Widow" and "Ritual"),hits including "Whore", "Blood" and "Adrenalize" and career streams of more than 1.3 billion, you'd think IN THIS MOMENT might rest on their laurels. Instead, they've created "Godmode", 10 dynamic songs that mark a new high for the quintet, further cementing their legacy in the heavy music world. Proof positive is in "Godmode"'s first single, the industrial-heavy yet ultra-melodic "The Purge", and its darkly cinematic video directed by Jensen Noen (BRING ME THE HORIZON, DEMI LOVATO). From the portentous start of the '90s-tinged "Godmode" with Maria Brink's powerful primal scream to the pitch-perfect cover of Bjork's 1995 "Army Of Me" to the impassioned pain to partnership in "Everything Starts And Ends With You", "Godmode" is a cut above.

The L.A.-based band's eighth album finds vocalist Maria Brink and guitarist Chris Howorth writing the most powerful songs of their career.

"We're always striving for reinvention and growth. It's been 10 years since our 'Blood' album, and there's been a lot of transitions happening, this year particularly, but it all felt so meant to be," explains Brink. Top talent aided and abetted IN THIS MOMENT; Spencer Charnas from ICE NINE KILLS guests on the pointed and pained "Damaged", and several songs were co-written with Tyler Bates, the award-winning producer and composer of numerous film, television, and video game scores. In fact, the initial collaboration with Bates, the moody, haunting mid-tempo winner "I Would Die For You" ended up both on the "John Wick: Chapter 4" soundtrack and as the last cut on "Godmode".

IN THIS MOMENT, a touring juggernaut who've slayed stages worldwide at Ozzfest, Warped Tour, Download, Knotfest and Rocklahoma, put out "Mother" in 2020, during the pandemic, giving fans something to hold on in during that bleak time, and earning "The In-Between" the band's first Grammy nod. It was 2021 when Howorth and Brink first wrote with Bates on "I Would Die For You". Following that collaboration, the duo were writing organically, for pleasure, not focused on the next album. As the pandemic waxed and waned, Howorth learned programming, and created music around synthwave sounds, which Brink leaned into. Her lyrical ideas arose both from soul-searching and "humanity and so much crisis and so many heart-wrenching things in the world. That negativity and darkness is how songs like 'The Purge' came about," Brink explains.

The end result is that when IN THIS MOMENT went into the studio in January 2023, the easy flow had allowed them to compile the most songs they'd ever written at one time, songs the entire band loved. Longtime producer Kevin Churko helped shape ITM's sound starting in 2008, but for "Godmode", his son, Kane Churko, was at the helm.

"Kane's got all the strengths that his father taught him —everything, all the bells and whistles, but he's got some new tricks because he's a younger generation, he's hungry," says Brink.

Kane was the perfect match for IN THIS MOMENT's inspired songs.

"During the pandemic, just writing versus writing with a pressure that music has to be for an album, allowed us the freedom to make the record we made," says Howorth. "Godmode"'s songs gained even more strength in the studio, with Kane shaking up the band's usual m.o. even further.

"Having some songs by Tyler influenced us as well," Brink explains. "It was scary for the band, but it ended up flowing just so beautifully. We felt very experimental."

That flow gave the album its name and theme. "Godmode" isn't religious, rather it's an expression for a triumphant flow state where all comes together seamlessly, coalescing into an ultimate form. As Brink sings in "Godmode", "You got me feeling so high / You lift me off of my feet yeah / You got me feeling like, feeling like / I'm in Godmode." In video games — Howorth plays the game "Destiny" — "God mode" also refers to a code that makes a player invincible.

"There's a spontaneity in this album that you can hear. It's a little more visceral. And that we're not with Kevin, who has done all our albums except for our very first, fans will hear those differences too, which is really cool and exciting for us," Howorth says.

"We had all this built-up energy from the last three years, we felt angst, we felt we had a lot to release," furthers Brink. "And we were letting it loose organically, while also playing with different time signatures and interesting things like that." "We use an 8-string on the album, which we haven't done before," Howorth says. "We did some different tunings, and it can definitely be freeing from guitar standpoint, the way we did things this time. Working with Kane was different and more off the cuff, being in the studio, getting creative and just trying a bunch of different stuff on every song. It was a really good experience."

As fans of Brink's lyrics know, life in and around IN THIS MOMENT hasn't always been easy. As Brink recalls, "When I met Chris, I was just a starry-eyed girl with huge dreams. And he was in a PANTERA-like metal band!" She told Howorth she wanted a heavy lineup that could sell platinum and win Grammys. The band had an early manager who told them it would never happen. But his dismissiveness only fueled IN THIS MOMENT's fire, energy and fight. "We're just relentless," says Brink. "Anything's possible if you really put your mind and energy into it."

For "Godmode", that energy also went into the "The Purge" video, where director Noen brought his artistry and next-level talent to Brink's storyboard ideas. The larger-than-life video themes and sets have been translated into IN THIS MOMENT's live stage show, literally. And summer 2023 saw the band on its first arena co-headlining tour with full pyrotechnics.

"Our whole lives we've talked about being in an arena and having fire and a full show," Brink says. "And now we're doing it and it's just so beautiful."

IN THIS MOMENT certainly have nothing to prove, the lineup's authority assured live on record and onscreen. Yet, "Godmode"'s energy and scope is visceral.

"With our new ideas and excitement and Kane's energy of wanting to prove himself to everybody, we were able to show that we're heavy and just as impactful as every other new band coming out right now," says Howorth. "We can punch you right in the face, that energy is in there big, time. I think our fans are really gonna like this album, because it's taken us back a little bit where it began, but it's also more instinctive, and heavier than anything we've done a long time," concludes Howorth.

Brink, a private person, nonetheless gives and takes much strength from ITM's millions of fans. The healing is on both sides.

"It's amazing if my songs help people feel empowered. When humans share painful things that we went through and how we heal from it, we can help each other and pass that energy on," she says. "Honestly, the most beautiful thing about being in a band is being able to have that connection with strangers who become kindred spirits. Sure, I have urges to wear 'masks' and hide from everything and wear makeup, but I like to share and be honest and vulnerable. The sky's the limit," Brink concludes. "You just have to keep dreaming, keep expanding, keep pushing yourself to that next level. I feel like something is shifting right now in the band; this is such a special moment for us with 'Godmode'."

Photo credit: Joe Cotela

[rabbitcruiser]

National Boston Cream Pie Day

National Boston Cream Pie Day arrives on October 23. If you’ve never heard of Boston cream pie before, it’s a yellow butter cake, filled with custard or cream and topped with chocolate glaze. (Yum!) Now, we know what you’re thinking: Why is it called a pie, when it’s actually a cake?

History of National Boston Cream Pie Day

Well, when the Boston cream pie was first invented, cakes and pies were baked with the same kinds of pans, and even the words were used interchangeably. As a result, the Boston cream pie kept its old-fashioned name, in addition to its delicious flavor. It was first invented in 1856, by an Armenian-French chef named Sanzian. At the time, chocolate frosting was a fairly new idea, so the delicious dessert took the world by storm. And to this day, it remains a popular menu selection. It’s even the official dessert of Massachusetts! So get your fork at the ready—let’s eat!

Back then the dish consisted of French butter sponge cake filled with thick custard and brushed with a rum syrup. The same custard overlaid with toasted sliced almonds coated the sides, while chocolate fondant topped it all off. While other custard cakes may have existed at that time, baking chocolate as a coating was a new process, making it unique and a popular choice on the menu.

According to the website, What’s Cooking America,: “Cooks in New England and Pennsylvania Dutch regions were known for their cakes and pies and the dividing line between them was very thin.  This cake was probably called a pie because in the mid-19th century, pie tins were more common than cake pans.  The first versions might have been baked in pie tins. Boston Cream Pie is a remake of the early American”Pudding-cake pie.”

National Boston Cream Pie Day timeline

1856

A world pie premiere

French chef Sanzian invents the Boston cream pie for The Parker House Hotel (now the Omni Parker House Hotel) in, ummm, Boston.

1996

It's Official

Massachusetts names the Boston cream pie as the official “state dessert.”  A civics class from Norton High School sponsored the bill. The pie beat out other candidates, including the toll- house cookie and Indian pudding.

2010

Want seconds?

Students at Southern New Hampshire University created the world’s largest Boston Cream Pie — measuring 10 feet wide and 1.5 feet high

2015

History of New England Pies

Author Robert Cox publishes the definitive history of New England pie making. Discover the “revolutionary” roots of the Boston cream pie.

National Boston Cream Pie Day FAQs

Is Boston cream pie a cake?

Why, yes. It’s a yellow butter cake, filled with custard or cream and topped with chocolate glaze. 

Why do we refer to Boston cream pie as pie?

This cake was probably called a pie because in the mid-19th century, pie tins were more common than cake pans.  The first versions might have been baked in pie tins.

What are Boston’s other signature foods?

Clam chowder, lobster rolls, oysters, baked beans, fish and chips, and the Fenway Frank — for hungry Red Sox fans.

National Boston Cream Pie Day Activities

Bake your own: If you’re someone who loves to bake, then this is the perfect opportunity to give a delicious dessert a try. If you’re trying it for the first time, or if you’re improving on an old favorite, baking your own Boston cream pie is the perfect way to celebrate.

Throw a Boston cream party: Invite your fellow cake enthusiasts to join you in celebrating Massachusetts’ official dessert. Bring along other Boston-themed foods as well — such as clam chowder, lobster, and Sam Adams beer (if your guests are of age). And if you really want to give it that revolutionary vibe, invite your guests to party in period-style clothing!

Go to Boston: Well, what better place to get an authentic Boston cream pie than in its official birthplace? And while you’re there, check out some of the other excellent experiences that Boston has to offer. 

Why We Love National Boston Cream Pie Day

It’s delicious: The recipe is so simple — you really only need three ingredients — and yet there's something about the combination of chocolate, cake, and custard that's so comforting and tasty. Not only that, but the simplicity of the ingredients gives you a lot of room to experiment. How many ways can you jazz up a Boston cream pie?

It’s got a rich history: Boston has always been a rich cultural hub. It was the site of some of the most important events in the Revolutionary War, and has continued to be the birthplace of American traditions ever since. With every bite of a Boston cream pie, you are continuing a tradition of wicked Bostonian trend-setting and innovation that's 260 years strong.

Let us eat cake: You don't really need an excuse to eat cake — but it's handy to have one sometimes. So go ahead and treat yourself.

Source

[goldeneyedgirl]

@sonyawix okay I found THREE possibilities for this passage because I know how annoying it is when you want to read one specific passage and you cannot find it.

The first is Alice's call-out in Infidelity Verse right here at the bottom, where she basically says, "you suck, goodbye," and Jasper is pretty much destroyed by the scale of hurt and misery he's created. I know it's not ATBT, but it was the first thing that popped to mind.

Then there is this little one-shot about Alice's feelings when she's leaving the Cullens right here

Then there is the scene where Jasper is reflecting three years after Alice leaves which has a bedfellows mention but I have zero memory of every posting it, so it's below. I think this summer's project might be fixing and creating a master tags list for my fics. ANYWAY, if these aren't it, let me know, and I'll do a deep dig into my files..

Yeah, ATBT is far sadder. STL has hope. It's right in the title, it's in every chapter. There's always hope, and I've made no secret that Jasper and Mary-Alice get a happy ending. ATBT is devoid of a lot of hope in the first draft. A bit of a trauma conga-line, really.

I'm hoping that I'll have enough of ATBT drafted that I'll be updating on a regular schedule - especially since some of the chapters are very short. So much more was prewritten than STL (it was supposed to be a one-shot) and it follows along the canon timeline, so there won't be giant waiting periods as I marinate in what comes next.

Let me know if these are the right sections!

It is three years before they see her again, and it is during a visit to Denali.

They are still based in New Hampshire for Bella’s first attempt at college, in a huge, sprawling house that sees a veritable revolving door of guests – Charlie, the wolves, and various friends whom have renewed ties with the Cullens since the Volturi debacle. It actually feels empty when they aren’t hosting guests. But there is always laughter, always joy, with Renesmee amongst them.

There is a small bedroom next to his study, painted blue and white, that Esme will not speak about except to say that, “it’s here for her when she’s ready,” as she hangs up a scant handful of clothing in the cavernous closet. The flowers in the vase on the dresser are changed as soon as they droop, and not a speck of dust lies on a single surface. The bookcase is neatly arranged with books and brand new art supplies, and Jasper wonders how Esme knew which books, which paints to buy, and there is a new wave of shame that he doesn’t.

What does he know about her, truly? Has she ever told him something about herself? Her likes, her preferences, her hopes? Did Esme choose blue paint because she knew Alice liked blue?

He ventures into the room some days and just stands there. He wants her in there, folded into the armchair, with a book open in her lap, her fingers tracing the words. Looking up at him with that special look that he could never quite decipher. Something hopeful, something desperate. He knew he could lead her anywhere when she wore that look, and he hated himself for it.

Loneliness has been his bedfellow for so long, it feels cheap and weak to acknowledge it now. Before Forks, before Bella and Alice, he and Edward were the loners, brothers and comrades. He had never spoken to Edward about it, the idea that there might be someone out there for him that was a perfect match, his absolution, but he hadn’t earned it. He had been monstrous and deserved no such prize.

Her absence aches. A tangle of guilt and longing that never leaves.

[plethoraworldatlas]

Let’s face it: Donald Trump is in a stronger position than ever to win a second term in November, with his active supporters even more motivated in the wake of the shooting Saturday.

Top Trump strategists are very eager for their candidate to run against Joe Biden. They’re now worried that the Democratic Party might end up with a different standard bearer.

Days ago, The Atlanticpublished journalist Tim Alberta’s in-depth examination of the Trump campaign’s strategic approach. “Everything they have been doing, the targeting that they have been doing of voters, the advertisements that they’re cutting, the fund-raising ploys that they’re making, the viral Internet videos that they have been churning out, they’re all designed around Joe Biden,” Alberta told the PBS NewsHour.

“So if suddenly he were replaced at the top of the ticket,” he added, “I think in many ways it’s back to square one for the Trump campaign. They recognize this. And I think they’re deeply unnerved by the possibility of a switcheroo at the top of the Democratic ticket.”

Last weekend, the Washington Post put it this way: “As Democrats debate the future of Biden’s reelection bid, Republicans would prefer he stay in a race they believe they are already winning.”

On Sunday, Face the Nationreported “top Democratic sources believe that Democrats who had thoughts about challenging President Biden are now standing down ‘because of this fragile political moment.’” Yet a guest on the same CBS program, Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, warned of a “high risk” that his party will lose the election “unless there is a major change.” He said that messaging from Biden’s campaign “is not effectively breaking through.”

While Biden boosters like to talk about national polling that sometimes puts Biden within a couple of points of Trump, such surveys mean little. Due to the Electoral College, the swing states will determine the winner. Biden is behind -- and falling further behind in most of them. Arizona, Georgia and Nevada have moved from “toss up” states to “lean Republican” according to the Cook Political Report.

And with an approval rating that now hovers around an abysmal 37 percent, Biden is increasingly playing defense in states he won easily four years ago.

“Democrats’ concerns about Biden’s ability to win are expanding beyond this cycle’s predetermined battlegrounds into states that long ago turned blue in presidential elections,” Politicoreported last week, in an article raising doubts about Biden’s prospects in New Hampshire, Maine, New Mexico and Minnesota. The headline: “Dems Are Freaking Out About Biden Even in Once Safely Blue States.”

Around the country, Democratic candidates are running well ahead of Biden. Last week, the Economist/YouGov poll found that “96 percent of registered Democrats say they will vote for a Democratic House candidate in the fall, compared with 85 percent who plan to vote for Biden.”

Biden’s presence at the top of the ticket promises to not only deliver the White House to Trump but also the House and Senate to Republicans.

In the light of such realities less than four months before Election Day, it’s alarming to hear many elected Democrats -- including some progressives in Congress -- publicly claim that Biden is just fine as the party’s nominee.

The happy-talk denialism from those congressional progressives shows a disconnect from the progressive grassroots. Many activists who devoted months of their lives on behalf of Biden in 2020 to vote Trump out are disaffected from Biden in 2024. Many are furious over Biden’s nonstop support of Israel during its continuous slaughter of civilians in Gaza. That includes Arab-American and Muslim activists and groups who mobilized for Biden four years ago against his Islamophobic opponent. Many climate activists who fought for Biden in 2020 against the “drill, baby, drill” Trump are disgusted with his reversals on climate policy.

So, the depressing poll numbers may understate the problem for Biden as the Democratic nominee, because they don’t count the gap in campaign volunteer energy -- especially in contrast with the highly energized MAGA base. Early this year, an anonymous letter from 17 Biden 2024 campaign staffers urged Biden to reverse himself on Gaza and seek an immediate ceasefire: “Biden for President staff have seen volunteers quit in droves, and people who have voted blue for decades feel uncertain about doing so for the first time ever.”

In 2017, the Trump presidency was properly mocked for its brazen assertions of “alternative facts.” It’s now disconcerting that Biden and his advocates so often lapse into puffery as to his true political situation

...

Biden “not only faces losing battleground states he won in 2020,” Sosnik wrote, “he is also at risk of losing traditional Democratic states like Minnesota and New Hampshire, which Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama carried. If current trends continue, Mr. Trump could rack up one of the most decisive presidential victories since 2008.”

[lokiwaffles]

Long Overdue Izzy Crash Course:

Name: Isaiah Kranshaw (known as Izzy to his friends)

Birthday: July 23, 1997 (He is 16 when he meets Gray again in 2013)

Faction: Pretty much himself. He’s Hydra temporarily only by force.

Current Occupation: Guy Trying to Live A Normal Life

Likes: Painting, and watching cartoons/superhero movies and cooking.

Dislikes: Using his powers, eating anything he hasn’t prepared by himself, HYDRA, Iris.

Powers: Rapid healing, acidic blood (basically works like hydrochloric acid on other people)

Languages: English, German.

Allies: Holly, Gray (foster bro) John Kranshaw (foster dad), Ash, Emery.

Belief: He has a strong trust in his instincts, and in other people.

Achilles Heel: He isn’t very good at reading people, and most of the time will latch onto someone who shows even a sliver of kindness towards him. This usually doesn’t end well. Also, in terms of physical weakness, he often uses his own blood (ew) as a last resort when it comes to fighting, so he is often in danger of massive blood loss, even with the healing factor.

Notes:

Isaiah is a cheerful, laid back, trusting fellow. He is quiet in public, but can be quite the chatterbox when prompted. Due to being poisoned, he is extremely paranoid about any food he hasn’t prepared himself, and rarely eats out. This is a drawing by the awesome @lousysharkbutt from patreon!

Timeline: (up until 2013)

He was found in front of an orphanage in New Hampshire when he was around 4 years old, and how he got there or who his parents were, no one has any clue. He was taken in by John Kranshaw about a month after he was found, and quickly bonded with him.

(John doesn’t have much of a backstory. He was a SHIELD-turned-Hydra agent, interestingly enough, and strove to make Hydra a better place. Idk what he found great about that place.)

Izzy, as he would be come to be called, quickly bonded with John, and settled into an easy home life, unaware of his father’s faction and frequent outings.

That all changes when he is around seven. John’s house is open as a safe house for certain Hydra personnel, and so when Gray, at this time a full fledged assassin, runs into a little bit of trouble, he comes to stay at the nearest safe spot for a few weeks.

Now at first, Gray ignores Izzy and spends all his time recuperating in the guest room, but Izzy, who has taken a general liking this strange man, soon bothers him enough to break the ice. He becomes pretty attached to Gray, always asking him to play with him or watch movies or what-have-you. John is careful to make sure that Izzy is never alone with Gray, but eventually, Gray breaks down and kind of forms a soft spot for the kid. The initial tension having a stranger in the house gradually melts away, and by the end of the few weeks, the three of them are practically a family, with Gray taking an older brother role towards Izzy.

Gray continues to visit them over the next year, popping in for a few days every month. For a while everything is pretty much bliss, until Gray’s superiors find out about his attachment and order him to kill Izzy by way of poison.

That really sucks :(

Gray has this moral crisis about it, but eventually finds some awful way to justify it, and ends up slipping the poison into a meal that he makes while John is away.

John comes back while Gray’s freaking out and having a panic attack while Izzy’s barely alive, and calls 911. When the medics come, they pronounce Izzy dead on arrival, and haul him off.

Both John and Gray assume that Izzy is dead and part ways after a massive fight. However, turns out the poison that Gray gave him was really just to fake his death, because Hydra officials knew that both John and Gray were becoming waaay too attached to the kid, and he was distracting them from work.

(Which is really awful, btw)

The poison also serves as an activator for some experiments Izzy had gone through prior to his stay at the orphanage and that’s how he gets his powers.

So Izzy grows up in the same harsh environment Gray does, learning tools of the assassin trade and generally having a Very Bad Life. He keeps his calm, kind personality, and eventually manages to get out at age 14. He somehow finds his own way after that, finding jobs and lying about his age and sometimes stealing money. Eventually, however, a year later, he gets back into the mercenary game, this time of his own choice.

He eventually has to go after Gray, and that’s how he meets him again.

[eloiseabernathy]

under the cut is to take a look into eloise's summer and some wanted connections for the new semester !

post - fire : eloise spent most of her time the first few weeks of summer settled in her home. naomi abernathy was incredibly freaked out to learn that her daughter suffered a few second to third degree burns on various parts of her body. wouldn’t allow her to do much outside of the house to make sure the burns healed properly. eloise spent most of this time catching up on her to be read list that had been piling up throughout the school year. she pretty much lived inside of her reading nook in her room.

june : celebrated her 21st birthday. did not get drunk or party. spent time learning how to cook some of her favorite recipes from childhood, grew a love for baking. experimented with different cupcake recipes - found a recipe for cookie dough cupcakes. found out that that was the best thing she had ever made.

july : for the first week of july, eloise vacationed in myrtle beach, south carolina where her love for swimming began. loved the ability to swim underwater and the relaxation that came from it.

mid-july : ronan zeng came to portsmouth, new hampshire. naomi abernathy forced housed him, not seeing a reason to spend money on a hotel when they had a perfectly fine guest room. eloise was nervous because she hadn’t really spoke about her family’s finances (it was never a topic of conversation) - she was mainly nervous that it wouldn’t be good enough for ronan. she’s not sure why she cared so much, especially since his constant flirting usually got on her nerves. decided to bake while he was visiting. took him to some of her favorite thrift stores, coffee shops, and other little shops around town. very wholesome.

august : eloise spent a week at the morrison’s hampton’s house. truthfully, eloise was just glad to get away from her hometown for a short week. she brought homemade brownies for their family. eloise spent the rest of summer break helping out around her hometown. her neighbors needed someone to house sit for awhile, looking after the cats and their plants. she visited with old friends, just tried to enjoy the rest of her summer before back on campus. spent a lot of time with her mom, making sure their garden was weeded and that the new flowers were thriving.

wanted connections!

so, idk how, idk when but i really want her to have some kind of existential crisis or a breakdown. maybe she could fall down from where she stands rn. starts partying a bit more, starts slacking off a bit more. maybe to the point where she's gonna lose her scholarship. idk. just something!!!!

i want to explore connections where she used them to try and get a higher level on the social ladder. this could be hookups, etc

would like to sort of explore getting into a relationship?? could end badly. she hasn't been in an actual relationship since link, so y'know.

maybe a hookup during the summer??

[muerteporfavor]

Vacation Update:

I wanted to talk about where I went on vacation (now that I am safely home and am not doxxing myself by doing so)

I went to the Silver Scream Convention created by the band Ice Nine Kills. It was truly magical. I did not have the privilege of going to the first year's convention last year however I have a lot of thoughts on this year's convention from an analysis point of view I guess?

Let me start by talking about a panel that will put everything I am about to say about the convention in context. The Spooktacular panel. There is a documentary style movie coming out (I believe the Los Angeles premiere is happening with all the cast on the 28th of September and then there is a Texas premiere with some of the cast at some point but I don't know when or where in Texas. They are also hoping for a theatrical release but I don't know when or if that will actually happen as it is only in talks.)

Spooktacular is a documentary film for the first ever haunted house to ever grace the country. It's title was Spooky World and was first unveiled in 1991. (Random tidbit: I got a free signed movie poster by the ex-owner/mastermind behind Spooky World plus the director and some guy who had a big hand in the filming process.) Prior to this Halloween themepark (think Disney World but for horror is a common comparison) there were only haunted hayrides. There were also celebrities of Horror/Halloween (including Elvira or Alice Copper, the latter who called spooky world to be there) who made appearances. To wrap this background up let's just say the owner had a 130,000$ loan (I swear he said 150,000$ at the panel but a source online who interviewed him claims 110,000 plus $20,000 in interest so its ballpark somewhere in there.) he had to pay back in like 5 years. And he paid it back in either (I can't remember which) a week and a half or two and a half weeks. Both of which is insanely impressive. (If you want to learn more about the former spooky world search up spooky world Berlin MA on youtube, the owner sold the attraction in 2005 and now it is in New Hampshire.)

Now. With all that being said, I think the Silver Scream Con is going to be the new Spooky World.

The Con just did their second year and it was confirmed by Ryan J. Downey, the host of all panels and Q&As, that the attendance number doubled last year's count. The first panel of the Con (Assault and Batteries with Alex Vincent and Christine Elise) had to add three rows of chairs more before the panel began because there were more guests than they anticipated. The line to see Dead Meat and get a picture/autograph was so long that it spanned the small vendor room from front to back at times. For the other booths in the vendor room it was a lot easier to wait in line so Dead Meat would be an outlier. I also heard from another guest that for the signings in the additional area (labelled Living Room in the schematic) that you'd wait about two hours to meet either Ulrich, Charnas (and company depending on the day), Todd, and Jericho. Personally, I only passed through the room but it was definitely very crowded and busy. (I also heard from another guest that the panel room for Dead Meat's panel was so crowded and hot that they ended up leaving because it caused them to struggle with breathing. This is not a sleight or even a universal experience it is a comment I mention to illustrate how massive this con is. I don't want anyone to think this Con was a Tanacon blunder or something. It wasn't they had plenty of space to do what they needed to do but it was clear that they might soon out grow the venue if their growth continues on the same trajectory.)

Pictured below is the schematic Silver Scream Con posted to their instagram so you can get a rough idea of the space (although I would not say it is necessarily true to size at all, it is a good idea of how things were set up)

Not only that, it taps into a previously untapped market just like Spooky World. The world of horror and alternative music (metal, punk, etc) has always been intrinsically intertwined. Most alternative people love horror whether its for the way the genre speaks to the fears of the time or the way the genre is constantly evolving. Previously, if you wanted to gather as an alternative music lover you'd go to a festival or a concert or any number of underground shows. Meanwhile if you are a horror lover you have, in recent history, always had conventions to go to. Spencer Charnas/ Ice Nine Kills artfully bring both worlds together in a clash that really tears the line between fantasy and reality (in regards to their two recent albums: Silver Scream and then Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood where Charnas is the lead protagonist of the album concepts as a killer out for blood and does it through the killers we all know and love.) As far as I know this has never been done before, and if it has, it is nothing in comparison to what Ice Nine Kills and team is doing now. Right now they are making history in a big way.

For a moment I would like to pivot to their concert. At Silver Scream Con they always have a concert where they bring special guests to perform with them plus a couple of opener bands. (This year, I can't speak for last year, Dead Meat James played the Sax during IT is The End and Leah Voysey (actress, from Terrifer, Clown Cafe Host) performed during Grave Mistake. The lines for the concert spanned blocks even when it was divvied up in threes (General Admit being the longest multiple blocks, then you had Psychos Only Access [special subscription for Ice Nine Kills] and their RIP vip line.) The line for general admit was so long I showed up 45 minutes early and missed the first opening act in its entirety while I waited to be let into the City Hall Lynn Auditorium building. (Which actually was disappointing because it was Funeral Portrait.) The line was so massive a guy coming through in a taxi rolled down his window and asked the line who we were seeing because he was so impressed by the line and immediately decided to look them up.

Anyway,

All this to say, I can't wait to see how Ice Nine Kills and staff deal with how explosive they are becoming and I will not be surprised if looking into a new venue for the Convention is in their future.

Cheers for now!

Muerte Por Favor.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Thanks to trexalicious for finding the Duford Wood Estate in Petersfield, Hampshire UK, that comes with a massive  46-foot warplane, decommissioned Harrier II jet — one of eight left in existence. (The owner said that the beloved huge jet would be near impossible to move.) The Arts & Crafts home has 6bds, 4ba, and is priced at £3.95M / $5M.

As for the home, itself, it has been completely renovated. This is the new entrance hall.

Drawing room. Gee, they made it so stark and white.

The dining room still has the original beams and renewed fireplace.

The kitchen has been completely modernized with cement accents, sleek laminate white cabinets, and not even a hint of the Arts & Crafts style.

Family room with new sliders to the garden.

The upstairs landing. The only thing Arts & Crafts about this home, now, is the exterior.

Massive primary bedroom with remodeled fireplace alcove (it may have been an inglenook).

Brand new bath.

This bedroom has a hint of the original fireplace.

Ultra modern bath with a clear jetted tub.

The rec room has a kitchen and dining area, plus access to the patio.

Guest bedroom and bath.

Another of the 6 bds.

The grounds of the gated estate are stunning.

The exterior is lovely.

Beautiful gardens.

Outbuildings by the pond.

10+ acres of land and a jet fighter that the owner calls a "garden gnome."

I would buy it, put a gnome "pilot" in the cockpit, and do something w/the interior of that house.

[ao3feed-cmbyn]

Come love me again

by angelinthecity

What if Elio had accepted the dinner invite to Oliver’s house in New Hampshire?

Eight chapters, eight narrators, one happy ending.

The lace curtains stenciled patterns on the wall as Micol took a discreet peek at the scene outside. She stilled, ice water freezing her veins. The guest that had charmed her all evening with his music and the sparkling conversation, was now caressing the jaw of her husband and Oliver did nothing to stop him.

Words: 2245, Chapters: 1/8, Language: English

Fandoms: Call Me by Your Name - André Aciman, Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Elio Perlman, Oliver (Call Me by Your Name), Micol, Samuel Perlman, Maynard (Call Me by Your Name), Michel (Call Me By Your Name), Mafalda (Call Me by Your Name)

Relationships: Oliver/Elio Perlman

Additional Tags: Reunions, True Love, Fix-It, Kissing, Light Angst, Implied Smut, Implied/Referenced Cheating, New Hampshire, Paris (City), New York City, Italy, Multiple Narrators, Happy Ending

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/44014306

[portablefrailty]

So...I actually know the model whose magnificent partially shaved head dominates this iconic ad. If memory serves, Asha was around 19 when this was taken. A photographer, intrigued by her signature skater/goth/geisha style and peculiar Trinidadian-Indian-Irish interracial good looks, picked her out of a crowd on a NYC sidewalk.

I met Asha a year later at Rutgers--my neighbor in a remote campus housing outpost for solos and transfers tucked into the woods on the edge of Cook Campus. She had stacks of these Sony ads in her room--they were plastering blown up versions onto bus stops on Eighth avenue.

I think she gave me one but I lost it.

She came to our parties in the early days. On slow nights she'd hang out and play spades. But from the first it was clear she was radically different from everyone else. Mason-Gross to her core, Asha not only lived for art, she wore it and at times was it. Though insanely hot at all times, she was a total chameleon--a freak, nerd, tomboy, slut--you never knew. She could show up in a form-fitting kimono one day, a skin tight Misfits t-shirt and ripped jeans the next, a lab coat and horn-rimmed glasses the day after.

She modeled from time to time. She tried Gogo dancing for about a week before realising an easy wad of twenties wasn't worth that kind of ogling. She was too smart, confident, creative and eclectic to be such an obvious sex object.

She made art out of statues of the Virgin Mary, latex condoms, glitter glue and beauty magazines. She did collage, sculpture, tintype photography, silk screen. She could stipple a ceiling, shoot a gonzo horror video and make gourmet caramels. Whatever she set her mind to, really.

She turned we mere provincials on to Fight Club, the Isle of Lost Children, and Portishead before any of the above were cool.

As two opinionated Jersyans with big egos and wildly different styles (even then I was into writer chic) we were never exactly friends. Our connection instead came to be based on our common friendship with Carrie--my future wife.

All three of us met at the same place and time. Carrie and I were deep conversationalists, into one on one chilling, George Harrison and walks out in nature. Carrie and Asha were partners in crime.

They dropped E and rolled through clubs in Alphabet City--Asha talking their way into VIP rooms and scaring off pervs with her fierce demeanor. They once flew to New Orleans on an Ann Rice kick hoping to find vampires but came back with only beads.

With me, Carrie went record hunting in Princeton and thrift shopping in Morristown, stoned strolling through the bamboo forest at Rutgers Gardens or foliage gawking in New Hampshire.

We were like two halves of Carrie's psyche.

After that first year, Carrie and Asha roomed together in a loft apartment above the best sushi place in New Brunswick. It was a place full of candles, Ikea shelves and gothic seating with a big screen TV in the living room and a concrete cherub sitting on the radiator. (Asha stole it from the grounds of some random mansion. Today it's in our back yard).

I was a regular at their place. I endured Carrie's escapades with Asha throughout those early friend/crush-with-benefits days, biting hard on my jealousy. Asha and I we were were definitely rivals then. When I finally got my status upgrade, though, we became something like friends. In the end the "Sony Girl," by then an artist and professor in her own right, was a guest at our wedding (toting a big ass bottle of Veuve Clicquot) who later bought up all the most expensive shit on the baby registry when our son was born.

Sony: MDR G61 Headphones Magazine ad print (1999) The Source Magazine n°112 Issue

[marjaystuff]

Guest Review: A Fatal Feast at Bramsford Manor

A Fatal Feast at Bramsford Manor

Food & Spirits Book 1

Darci Hannah

Kensington Pub

August 20th, 2024

A Fatal Feast at Bramsford Manor by Darci Hannah is a cozy mystery intertwined with historical fiction that has a paranormal and food aspect to it. 

Chef Bridget “Bunny” MacBride has been given a special opportunity for her own cooking show with a new reality TV show, Food & Spirits. She will team up with ghost hunter Brett Bloom and psychic medium Giff McGrady and travel around the world to visit haunted places to hunt out any spirits that have failed to cross over and try to lure them to the table for a special meal prepared by Chef Bunny.

“I got the idea from my younger brother, Ron.  One of his hobbies was that he was a ghost hunter. His wife is a ‘foodie.”  He told me to watch every ghost story on TV.  He even joined a paranormal investigative ghost team. I thought and conferred with him to pitch a food baiting ghost show on the Food Network. Two years ago, I decided to pitch this as a cozy mystery book series about a reality TV show that food- baits ghosts. I feel that this first book is a journey with my brother. I am contracted for three.”

The first episode of Food & Spirits takes Bunny, Brent, Giff, and the rest of their team to Hampshire, England to investigate a historic house that has been turned into a famous haunted hotel, Bramsford Manor. It is said to be haunted by a young woman who died on her Christmas wedding night in the 18th century.

The author lost her brother a few years ago and has added that aspect to Bunny’s character who is still grieving. “I would describe Bridget Bunny MacBride as a happy go lucky person on a good day.  She is working on her dream as a food caterer.  She is good natured until she gets pushed into a corner.”

Bunny prepares a traditional English holiday wedding dinner to tempt the Mistletoe Bride to come to the table so Brett and Giff can do their thing. Before that can happen, her custom-made boning knife is found in the chest of a very human dinner guest. She wasn't sure about the whole premise of Food & Spirits, but she never imagined she would find herself the top suspect in a murder investigation. Bunny now needs her ghost-hunting friends to help her hunt down the real killer with a big assist from her clairvoyant Grandma.

Fans of the “Beacon Bake Shop series” should not worry since that will be Hannah’s next book, out in November.  It is titled Murder at The Lemonberry Tea. One of the heroines, Kennedy, has a British lifestyle food diva come for a book signing. Kennedy’s family will come to town to meet the diva, but she ends up disappearing. 

The next Food & Spirits book is titled A Spirited Summer at Dundoon Castle. The castle is in Scotland. It will come out a year from now.

The author also wants to warn readers to be careful about social media. “I lost my Facebook account that was hacked and got locked out by them.  This occurred right before the book launch. The person tried to fish my followers to click on a link. I could not even get into my account to report it.  There was no way to physically contact Facebook, so I had to file a claim with the Attorney General. I called what I thought was a helpline but that was a scam as well. They wanted me to download an app so they could take over my phone.  If this ever happens do not fall for it.”