#monett plant

[bloody-wonder]

starting new series

in order to balance my reading i like to track the progress i'm making with old series vs how many new series i'm starting. my loose goal is usually to finish/catch up on at least five and start at least ten new series in a year - which turns out isn't as difficult as it sounds bc we're not even halfway through the year yet and i already hit the latter mark! here's an overview of what i read and my opinions :)

series that were so good i immediately read all the books available:

doctrine of labyrinths by sarah monette (book one: mélusine). okay so this was life-changing. not sarah monette inventing dark aroace romantasy in 2005! they hated her for her slay so much she had to start writing cozy fantasy under a pen name! this story is so weird and unique i honestly have no idea how to pitch it except to say that fans of books like the locked tomb, mdzs and captive prince will very likely enjoy it too. the fact that it's not a depraved booklr cult classic by now is a travesty. but we can still make it happen so if you fall into this particular reader category (and wouldn't be put off by the fact that someone may or may not want to fuck his brother a little bit) please do yourself a favor and read this series! check the trigger warnings first tho

the cemeteries of amalo by katherine addison (book one: the witness for the dead). i liked the goblin emperor, didn't love it, but after binging doctrine of labyrinths in less than a week i sorely needed a cure for my book hangover so i decided to pick up this spinoff series and wouldn't you know it - i binged it too lol. ig february was my monette/addison era. amalo felt like course correction after the goblin emperor and, while it's set in the same world and written in the same tone as that book, many of its aspects reminded me more of doctrine of labyrinths which is probably why i ended up liking it more - and was surprised by that too since i typically don't like this slow meditative writing style in fantasy but ig sarah monette just brings a certain je ne sais quoi to her books (emotional whump). the third book is coming out next march and i'm very excited to see what the saddest gay priest detective will do next👀

the stolen heir duology by holly black. to be completely honest i don't think these books are necessary. ig it was cool to return to elfhame several years post tfota and see some of my favorite ya fantasy characters from outsider pov but i found the main couple quite bland, especially in the second book where they are predictably overshadowed by jude & cardan in every respect. jude & cardan are simply The Power Couple, i love them and i appreciated the opportunity to revisit them in their 20s. madoc, everyone's favorite worst dad, has some nice scenes too but apart from that this installment was neither adventurous nor action-packed nor particularly romantic. it's clear now that holly black plans to continue writing in the elfhame universe and i sincerely hope she will try to shake things up by going full adult and/or changing the genre (i have this galaxybrain idea of a wwdits style mockumentary about madoc's exile in the human world which i'm trying to telepathically plant in holly black's brain as we speak)

evander mills by lev a. c. rosen (book one: lavender house). lavender house was the first book i read this year - i picked it up on a whim, honestly not expecting much, but ended up liking it a lot. in many respects it's a pretty basic closed circle murder mystery but with an all queer cast, whereas the second book has our gay detective investigating blackmail. the fact that the story takes place in the (homophobic) 50s and the queer victims are not protected by the law whatsoever adds an interesting spin to the whole idea of seeking and serving justice. i never thought i'm a serialized detective story type of person but ig if you make it queer enough i'll read anything lol so now i'm eagerly awaiting the next andy mills mystery which will come out in fall.

series i'm maybe going to continue reading later:

aubrey & maturin by patrick o'brian (book one: master and commander). seeing all the old man yaoi on a boat memes on tumblr rapidly propelled this series to the top of my tbr. now i have finally read the first book and,, liked it? lol idk the prose was very good, aubrey & maturin's friendship was sweet and the reading experience was cozy, with funny moments here and there, but overall i wasn't gripped by the plot nor did i particularly connect to the characters. i'm glad i read it but rn i'm not planning to continue this (extremely long) series any time soon. the book did have a delightful nautical atmosphere tho so there's a chance i might return to aubrey & maturin's adventures one day, if the mood strikes

page & sommers by cat sebastian (book one: hither, page). this one i didn't like at all tbh. i think cat sebastian just isn't the author for me and i should quit trying to read her books. however, i am both blessed and plagued by completionism and this series only has two books so i might read the second one this year just to appease my demons lol

series i'm not going to continue:

adam binder by david r. slayton (book one: white trash warlock). someone on tumblr recced this book to me ages ago and i wanted to read it ever since - purely bc of the title tbh😅 something i failed to consider tho is that urban fantasy is probably my least favorite subgenre of fantasy. and this book unfortunately didn't feature any memorable character moments or mind-blowing plot bits that could have broken through my unimpressedness with the urban fantasy setting🤷‍♀️

rook & rose by m. a. carrick (book one: the mask of mirrors). okay now we're entering the Dislike & Disappoint territory. i got interested in this series bc i heard it being compared to gentleman bastard but the similarities end at the renaissance venice setting and a conperson protagonist. the mask of mirrors completely lacks the rizz and swagger of scott lynch's writing and its characters just don't have the oomph of locke lamora and his team. so that was disappointing. on top of that the book is extremely long and convoluted with a worldbuilding that bothered me a lot and i couldn't put my finger on why until i read the themes section on its wiki page - ah yes, the us politics, again, using a foreign setting as a window dressing, again. listen, ik the us politics are important for the us authors to write about but when i pick up a book inspired by the italian renaissance what i want to get is themes and motifs representative of that time and place, even if we modernize them by (honestly lackluster) queernormativity and gender equality. i was mildly curious about the identity of the rook but now that it's been revealed i see no reason to continue this series.

the masquerade by seth dickinson (book one: the traitor baru cormorant). i intended to finish this book last year and leave it there but it was so unbelievably boring it put me into a reading slump for like two whole weeks and i ended up finishing it in january. i noticed that books about colonialism often try so hard to strike this solemn literary tone and say something profound that characters and plot just get bulldozed over by that dedication to conveying this very serious theme. admittedly, baru isn't as bad as that - i'm just biased bc she was pitched to me as a character in the same category as lymond and tyrion lannister so i was disappointed on that account seeing as it was the only reason i decided to give this book a try. i will say the general concept of the story and the plot twist at the end were indeed good but the overall reading experience was so aggressively meh that they just weren't worth it for me and so when the Big Thing happened i was still underwhelmed.

emily wilde by heather fawcett (book one: emily wilde’s encyclopaedia of faeries). i wrote a long ass goodreads review about why i disliked this book so much but let's see if i can be concise for once (ha, as if). i'm a big fan of olivia atwater's books so based on all the buzz around emily wilde i thought i was picking up a similar faerie story. turns out this was more like an "elevated" cozy fantasy version of ali hazelwood's books featuring howl in leather pants (tweed pants?). where atwater uses faerie tale tropes and fae lore to explore classism, neurodivergence and nuanced romantic and platonic connections, fawcett seems to write from a perspective that is decidedly normative. just like emily wilde, half a soul has a heroine who reads as neurodivergent but the narrative is always firmly on her side, whereas the moral in emily wilde seems to be that she has to smile and socialize more or smth. just like emily wilde, a thousand stitches features a faerie as a love interest but in this case he indeed reads like a whimsical magical being, so similar to humans and yet so different at the same time, whereas mr cheap howl knockoff reads like a quirky human man who is an asshole sometimes and can do magic. atwater's books are fairly popular but emily wilde is the book that has mass appeal and ig i shouldn't really be surprised bc when have the stories that question the status quo ever have been more popular than the ones that reinforce it? so i'm not really surprised but i am bitter. this book left a sour taste in my mouth and made me feel really bad about myself which was something i hadn't reckoned with when i picked up this cozy fantasy. tbh i initially was going to masochistically read the sequel out of morbid curiosity but then i remembered that i can read literally anything else instead lol the hater gods spared me just for once😅

2024 reading updates | goodreads

[kariachi]

Monette

“Visiting trainers especially will, of course, wish to visit our shining star- The Cadell City Gym. Found in the heart of our fair city, this construction of white quartz and slate catches the eye of tourists, artists, and trainers alike with it’s clean lines, sparkling exterior, and plethora of plantlife.

You may notice at first that our gym lacks the grand doors of those found in other cities, and this is by design! The central body of Cadell Gym is open to the public, with no outer doors, as serves as shelter from the weather or an easy place to rest your feet. Along the sides of this central hub visitors will find small gyms and training arenas for public use, including both the largest and the most complex climbing walls in our corner of the region.

Continue straight through the building, however, and you’ll find yourself in one of Cadell’s largest public parks. The perfectly ordered garden that for so long sat there is gone now- the beds torn up by Cadell City Gymleader Monette, the Raucous Fae, in favor of letting the acre of land go wild. Here you’ll find all manner of native plants and pokemon, all tended only by the gym’s small squad of Florges. You’ll also find the true arena of the Cadell City Gym, sat directly in the center of the park.

This covered arena, walled with wooden shutters that ensure it is only closed off from view in foul weather, is marked by a ring of mushroom sculptures in a riot of colors, shapes, and sizes that serve also as seating for spectators. This decor choice even carries into the paths to the arena, a line of carefully shaped and brightly glazed tiles ensuring a perfect circle is made.

Whether you want to train your pokemon or yourself, have a picnic, or watch some battles, the Cadell City Gym is well worth visiting, any time of day or night.”

Look: Hair- done up in triple rose braids to one side, decorated with moth or butterfly hair pins | Outfit- various off-shoulder, split-sleeve tops with ruffles at the neckline and sleeve hems, matching ankle-length skirts split up one side to the waist with copious ruffles and silver and pearl moon/flower/lepidoptera embroidery, tops and skirts come in light pinks, greens, and purples, brown slim-cut climbing pants, long brown fingerless gloves, hands riveted down bone lines, brown boots | Accessories- pearl choker with crescent moon in the center, silver moon/flower/lepidoptera or simple pearl earrings

Ace: Clefable [Female, Draining Kiss/Power-Up Punch/Shadow Ball/Flamethrower]

Badge: Charm Badge (a silver and enamel badge depicting a five-petaled white flower with three red berries alongside it)

TM: TM 37- Draining Kiss [as of gen 9]

Gym- Private Areas: There’s little to distinguish the private from the public areas of Cadell City’s gym, merely a door to either side and a change in flooring. While guests can appreciate the white marble and silver-inlay tiles of the public areas, the private ones boast warm grey basalt instead. The right wing has long contained the apprentice and worker’s apartments on the second story, but following the traditional ‘New Gymleader’ renovations the first story now holds several guest rooms- freely available to the public upon request- alongside storage. Once bare stone walls have quickly become hidden by sconces of fresh and silk flowers, colorful curtains, and whatever art pieces and washable doodles the staff and their families can think to throw up. The left wing, meanwhile, has removed the offices that once took up the first floor and replaced them with further storage, converting rooms on the second floor that once were part of the expansive gymleader’s apartments to replace them. These areas retain the clean white appearance common to the public areas of the gym.

[portraitoftheoddity]

Man, I read/listened to... a surprisingly decent number of books this year. 

Circe - Madeline Miller (Still reading, but should finish within the week)

Corambis - Sarah Monette

The Mirador - Sarah Monette

The Virtu - Sarah Monette

Mélusine - Sarah Monette

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari

The Traitor Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson

Vengeful - V. E. Schwab

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II - Liza Mundy

The Girl with All the Gifts - M. R. Carey

A Conjuring of Light - V. E. Schwab

A Gathering of Shadows - V. E. Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic  - V. E. Schwab

This Is Your Brain on Parasites: How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society - Kathleen McAuliffe

All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain

Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness - Peter Godfrey-Smith

Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA, and More Tell Us About Crime - Val McDermid

The Stone Sky - N. K. Jemisin

The Obelisk Gate - N. K. Jemisin

The Fifth Season - N. K. Jemisin

The Winter Prince - Elizabeth E. Wein

Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them - Jennifer Wright

Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman

The Coming Storm - Michael Lewis

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities - Amy Stewart

The Art of War - Sun Tzu

Reamde - Neal Stephenson

Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest - Stephen E. Ambrose

Vicious - V. E. Schwab

The Martian - Andy Weir

[goalhofer]

U.S. Daily Precipitation Records Tied/Broken 9/3/22

Unincorporated Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK: 0.5" (also 0.5" 1999)

Mt. Ryan summit, Alaska: 0.5" (also 0.5" 1999)

Marshall, Arkansas: 1.62" (previous record 1.42" 1988)

Mountain Home, Arkansas: 2.56" (previous record 2.3" 2008)

Gilroy, California: 0.01" (previous record 0" 2021)

Lancaster, California: 0.15" (previous record 0" 2021)

Unincorporated Las Animas County, Colorado: 0.13" (previous record 0.11" 2016)

Loveland, Colorado: 0.11" (previous record 0.07" 1999)

Unincorporated Otero County, Colorado: 0.13" (previous record 0.06" 2021)

Plant City, Florida: 2.1" (previous record 1.94" 2009)

Unincorporated Polk County, Florida: 1.5" (previous record 1.32" 1952)

Gainesville, Georgia: 1.21" (previous record 0.7" 1983)

Hoolehua Palaau Hawaiian Homeland, Hawaii: 0.52" (previous record 0.25" 1958)

Lost Wood Divide summit, Idaho: 0.7" (previous record 0.2" 2006)

Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho: 0.3" (also 0.3" 2013)

Blackhawk Township, Illinois: 1.7" (previous record 0.89" 1991)

Decatur, Illinois: 2.31" (previous record 1.81" 1966)

Evansville, Indiana: 4.48" (previous record 2.52" 1962)

Burlington, Iowa: 1.4" (previous record 1.35" 1926)

Leesville, Louisiana: 2.2" (previous record 2.02" 2008)

Unincorporated Rapides Parish, Louisiana: 2.2" (previous record 2.05" 2011)

Lick Creek Township, Missouri: 2.73" (previous record 2.7" 1993)

Mansfield, Missouri: 1.88" (previous record 1.65" 1984)

Monett Township, Missouri: 1.55" (previous record 1.01" 2008)

West Plains, Missouri: 3.65" (previous record 3.02" 1988)

Grassy Ridge summit, North Carolina: 1.13" (previous record 1.1" 1996)

Unincorporated Municipio De Trujillo Alto, P.R.: 2.33" (previous record 1.93" 1998)

Sumter National Forest, South Carolina: 4.25" (previous record 1.1" 1970)

Memphis, Tennessee: 1.36" (previous record 0.94" 1988)

Big Bend National Park, Texas: 0.92" (previous record 0.45" 1986)

Del Rio, Texas: 1.77" (previous record 0.91" 2007)

Unincorporated Gillespie County, Texas: 1.74" (previous record 1.13" 1974)

Unincorporated Hill County, Texas: 2.89" (previous record 1.29" 2020)

League City, Texas: 2.76" (previous record 2.46" 2018)

Unincorporated Navarro County, Texas: 1.07" (previous record 0.95" 2020)

Persimmon Gap summit, Texas: 0.73" (previous record 0.63" 1993)

Moses Lake, Washington: 0.1" (previous record 0" 2021)

[corkcitylibraries]

It Seems Like Nothing Changes

Paul Cussen

October 1918

The British Army renew their recruiting campaign in Cork, however, when a British Army regimental band begin to play on a street corner to attract the public two republican pipe bands set up across from them playing rebel tunes (Cork Constitution, October 21).

The second wave of the flu pandemic strikes Ireland from mid-October to December.  At the Adelaide hospital in Dublin 497 admissions with flu and 32 deaths are reported in October ‘often within 24 hours of onset’. The almost equally severe third wave of the pandemic will last from mid-February to mid-April 1919.

During the Commons debate in October 1918 on the Irish Land (Provision for Soldiers) Bill, in the course of a lengthy speech, D.D. Sheehan (who had  "relinquished his commission on account of ill-health contracted on active service, and is granted the honorary rank of Captain”) says:

... even although it may only benefit 3,000 or 4,000 of those Irish soldiers who have patriotically fought for their country and for the liberties of the world ... I want this measure to become law and to become operative .....

October 1 – Second Lieutenant Martin Joseph Sheehan, observer and gunner in an R.E.8 and son of D.D. Sheehan MP, is killed along with his pilot over Cambrai.

The Desert Mounted Corps capture Damascus

October 3 – Siegfried Sassoon visits his mentor Robbie Ross (Oscar Wilde’s literary executor) for the last time. Sassoon later writes that Ross, in saying goodbye, gave him a "presentiment of final farewell."

Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany appoints Max von Baden Chancellor of Germany.

King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria abdicates in the wake of the Bulgarian military collapse in WWI. He is succeeded by his son, Boris III.

October 4 – Wilhelm II of Germany forms a new more liberal government to sue for peace.

The T. A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant explosion in New Jersey kills over a hundred people and destroys enough ammunition to supply the Western Front for 6 months.

October 5 – Robert Baldwin Ross dies of heart failure in London at the age of 49.

October 7 – The Polish Regency Council declares Polish independence from the German Empire and demands that Germany cedes the Polish provinces of Poznań, Upper Silesia and Polish Pomerania.

October 8–10 British and Canadian troops take Cambrai from the Germans in the Second Battle of Cambrai.

October 8 – USS Stockton, Rowan, Davis and sloop HMS Camellia, based in Cork, escort convoy HH71 to Brest, France.

In the Forest of Argonne in France, U.S. Corporal Alvin C. York almost single-handedly kills 25 German soldiers and captures 132.

October 9 – Landgrave Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse is elected King of Finland.

October 10 – County Borough of Cork School Attendance Committee Minutes report notes ‘complaints made… by parents… that they cannot get their children to attend school owing to the manner in which they are punished by teachers’

The RMS Leinster mailboat is struck by torpedoes from a German U-boat (UB 123) off Kish Bank Lighthouse, with the loss of at least 501 lives.   More Irish die on the Leinster than on the Lusitania or the Titanic in the largest loss of life in the Irish Sea.

October 11 – The 7.1 Mw San Fermín earthquake shakes Puerto Rico killing 76–116 people. A destructive tsunami contributes to the damage and loss of life.

October 12 – The City of Cloquet, Minnesota, and nearby areas are destroyed in a fire, killing 453.

October 13 – Wexford beat Dublin in the Leinster Hurling Final at the Enniscorthy Showgrounds, 2-03 to 1-02.

Jack MacGowran is born.

October 16 – Louis Althusser is born (d. 1990)

October 17 – Rita Hayworth is born (d. 1987)

October 18 – The Washington Declaration proclaims the independent Czechoslovak Republic.

October 19 – Private Michael McCarthy from Buttevant dies from wounds received during the Battle of the River Selle, aged 25.

October 21 – Mary Josephine Gene Clark is born in Cork to Mary Josephine Clark (née Dea) of Smith’s Street, Cork (originally from Youghal). Her father, First-Class Gunner’s Mate Eugene Clark from Waterloo, Iowa, had died two weeks previously after being swept overboard in heavy seas.

October 22 – A Curtiss Model H crashes killing one airman, Walford August Anderson from Monett, Missouri. The stone memorial, located close to the top of the Whiddy pontoon, is unveiled by Lieutenant Colonel Seán T. Cosden, Defence Attaché at the American Embassy in June 2014.

October 24 –Battle of Vittorio Veneto opens.

October 25 – Aleppo captured by Prince Feisal's Sheifial Forces.

The steamer Princess Sophia sinks on Vanderbilt Reef near Juneau, Alaska. 353 people die in the greatest maritime disaster in the Pacific Northwest.

October 26 – Units of Desert Mounted Corps charge at Haritan in the last conflict with Ottoman forces in WWI.

October 28 – Czechoslovakia declares its independence from Austria-Hungary.

A new Polish government is declared in Western Galicia (Eastern Europe)

October 29 – The Wilhelmshaven mutiny of the German High Seas Fleet.

October 30 – The Martin Declaration is published, including Slovakia in the formation of the Czecho-Slovak state.

The Armistice of Mudros ends conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies and grants the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen independence from the Ottoman Empire.

October 31 – A public meeting is held in the Council Chamber, City Hall concerning the securing of a supply of milk at a cheap rate for the children of the city. Bishop Cohalan tells the meeting they are assembled to continue the scheme inaugurated the previous winter.

The Hungarian government terminates the personal union with Austria, officially dissolving the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Egon Schiele dies of influenza (b. 1890)

[oceancorpo]

other colleagues (to be added as and when):

Monette, Henry -- pain in the ass. underhanded. ruthless. makes a good coffee + tea.

Wadsworth, Sarah -- plant fiend. respectable. intelligent + knowledgeable. friendly. bold.

[goswagcollectorfire]

CARL’S BLOG: ARKANSAS HILLBILLY

Author’s Note:  Good morning everyone.  I hope everyone is enjoying  ARKANSAS HILLBILLY.  

Please fill free to make comments on how you feel. It helps me.  Christmas day will be here before we know it.  

I wish everyone a happy holiday season and a nice Christmas this year.  The Coronavirus has and will continue to dampen our

Spirits, but our faith in God remains strong.  Prayers and Hope will prevail.  Have a great day! Carl J. Barger

  12-7-20, Cotton Picking, Whooping Cough, and Potions, PART 1

Cotton Picking, Whooping Cough,

and Potions

 When I was about five years old, Ma made my first burlap

sack for picking cotton and gave it to me. Every school

year after the first six weeks’ grading period, the school administration

dismissed classes for six weeks so that students could

help with the cotton harvest. There were several farmers in

Cleburne County who raised cotton, especially in the Miller and

Shiloh communities. The local cotton gin was owned and operated

by Dick Hunt, who was also the owner of a big mercantile

store in the Lone Pine community.

Since Pa never planted cotton, our big family packed our big

GMC truck with bedding, cooking utensils, and other needed

items and traveled to Monette, Arkansas, in Craighead County

for the annual cotton harvest.

From the time I was five years old until I was seventeen,

we picked cotton for a farmer by the name of Claude Neely

and his father-in-law, Lee Milligan. Each year we stayed in

Mr. Milligan’s old house near the cotton field. The old house

had two bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen/dining room.

With all our mattresses on the floor, there was hardly room to

tiptoe between them. The house had no toilet and no running

water. We had to get our water from a well and pump outside

the house.

After dark, we boys would go to the pump area with

washcloths, towels, and a bar of soap. We would remove our

shoes and clothes and take sponge baths. Some nights we were

too tired and skipped the sponge baths. That was a big mistake.

That is when sand trickled down from our bodies and made its

presence known in our beds.

Ma cooked our meals on a two-burner butane stove. We had

no oven, so we had to buy sandwich bread to eat. I sure missed

my mother’s homemade biscuits.

Ma and my older sisters washed our clothes in a big

galvanized tub using a scrubbing board and soap to get the

stains out. After washing our clothes, they squeezed out the

excess water with their hands and pinned the wet clothes on a

clothesline supported by two-by-four wooden posts. Depending

on the wind and humidity, it took several hours for the clothes

to dry.

There were two things that I literally hated about picking

cotton at Monette. First, I hated going to bed nightly in a gritty

bed. There was little room between the mattresses, so when we

pulled off our blue jeans, a good deal of sand found its way into

our beds. It was uncomfortable trying to sleep in a bed

with sand.

On Saturdays Imogene, Betty, Loudeen and Ella Mae washed

the sheets. I always looked forward to going to bed on Saturday

nights after Ma had put the clean sheets back on our beds.

The second thing I hated was getting up early. Ma would get

us up before daylight and feed us breakfast. It was important to

start picking cotton as early as we could see the bolls of cotton.

Cotton weighs more when it is wet. The dew on the cotton

didn’t dissipate until the sun came out and dried the dew away.

Since we got paid by the pound, we tried to pick as much cotton

as possible in our first sack. It always weighed the most.

Because of our large family, we made good money during

the six weeks of cotton harvesting. We were paid three to four

cents a pound for every pound we picked. Almost all my older

siblings could pick at least three hundred pounds of cotton a

day. It was not until I was fourteen, though, that I accomplished

picking three hundred pounds. One of my sisters, Loudeen, was

the cotton-picking champion of our family. She could pick up to

four hundred pounds of cotton daily.

Ma insisted her daughters not lift anything heavy, so we

boys got the responsibility of carrying their sacks of cotton to

the weighing station. We would pick the heavy sack up, throw it over

one shoulder, and carry it to the weighing station, sometimes

a long distance away. I now know how hard that was on our

backs. As I am writing this, I am seventy-two years old. To this

day, all my brothers and I have back problems.

The weighing station was a big wagon with large sideboards

reaching about five feet above the main base of the wagon.

It was a real challenge to pull a one-hundred-pound sack of

cotton over the sideboards to empty the cotton into the wagon.

I always had to have assistance from the person on the ground

that weighed the cotton. He would get under the sack on the

ground and push it upward as I pulled. It would take all my

strength, but we would finally succeed in getting the sack over

the sideboards so I could empty the cotton from the sack into

the wagon. Picking cotton by hand was a big and difficult job,

but the hardest part was dumping those hundred-pound sacks of

cotton.

I hated going to the cotton patch more than anything we

did as migrant workers. It was a nasty job. Our hands bled the

first two weeks because of the sharp cotton burs puncturing our

fingers and palms. It normally took two weeks for calluses to

form, thereby preventing further damage to our hands.

[brian-wellson]

Wren awoke in their small canvas tent. She slid her hand over her mouth, yawned breathily, and smacked her lips together twice; she rubbed at her eyes. There, sleeping next to her and sharing the blanket, was Kestrel, face still, mouth closed. Wren placed a hand on his chest and felt his steady heart beat. She rested her head on his shoulder and listened to him, to the birds outside the tent, to the slow, lazy river as it babbled ceaselessly next to their camp. This was good, she thought.

Soon, the early morning sun’s long rays tinged the canvas a pale thistle; the tent began to warm. A shadowy leaf fell to the ground. Wren watched the moving shadow with a contented smile. If only every moment were so idyllic, so peaceable, as this.

Wren wondered about her life – a different life – one spent in the little cottage above Stormwind. Perhaps she would venture down the mountain and teach grammar classes; perhaps Kestrel’s school would be built; perhaps those eight orphans for whom he had envisioned a better life – perhaps, they would be sheltered from poverty, crime, and war. Perhaps the couple would be socialites. She grimaced as her mind played through one imagined dinner party after another, each accompanied by a different dress. Dresses! Wren chuckled. Maybe that was the sacrifice she’d make for gourmet foods, and recherché tea. Or, just perhaps, the two would live in quietude, and raise sheep for milk and meat and skins – where she could carve little hardwood figurines, and he could craft leather goods. She contemplated the fishing near the cottage, and wanted to ask Osprey about it.

Wren reflected upon a life where she could just be ‘Quai’, and he, ‘Brian’; where they were no longer infected with shadow or pursued by the law; if she could have children. The thought of Auntie Monette made her grin. Maybe Juniper could teach their children about plants, while Justine… Justine could retire, and reclaim her birth name. Wren suspected Andrew and Malor’incan would remain the same. And what of Gwen and her cat? Miss DuCass and her family’s legacy? Kyara and her betrothed?

Kestrel began to wake; it was a slow process. Wren could feel his heart tick faster, and watched as his eyelids fluttered open. Kestrel smacked his lips a few times, turned away from Wren, and yawned. Wren appreciated their symmetry. Kestrel shifted and looked toward Wren lovingly; she was nestled between his arm and chest, a goofy smile splashed across her lips. Kestrel grinned.

Wren squeezed him. “This is the most you will ever get,” she teased. She knew her imagined life was pure fantasy, yet she closed her eyes and let the sun’s warmth comfort her anyway. This was good enough.

(( Mentioned: @quai-mason, @justinegrotius, @monettemason, @juniper-rose-blower, @andrew-mason, @malorincan, @gwen-oconnell, @missducass, @killerkyara ))

[kariachi]

Made this post several months back about Bruce Wayne having to deal with my OC Monette and, found myself writing fic this morning.

Monie is Not Impressed.

~~

“The Martha Wayne Foundation is fine enough, of course, but darling you can afford to buy and sell this city-” Bruce chuckled.

“I’m not that rich,” he said. Monette’s smile sharpened, just a touch, at the interruption.

“This is the third pair of thousand-dollar Bally shoes you’ve been seen in this year, all of them different from last year’s, and not counting the thirteen-hundred dollar loafers you tweeted about on your birthday.” An unreadable expression crossed his face, for only a heartbeat, which she pointedly ignored in favor exchanging her empty champagne flute for a canapé with a bright “thank you, darling!” to the server.

“Well, you keep up to date on the latest,” Bruce laughed, smiling politely now. She chuckled back.

“I do try. But that’s aside from what I was saying-” Interrupt her, really, between his parents and the butler he couldn’t even learn that many manners. “Good on you for keeping your mother’s charity going, and your donations have been very thorough, but you have the money to buy and sell Gotham at your whim and this is the state of it. I mean, Arkham is still standing.”

“It’s a historical landmark,” he said.

“It’s a mad scientist’s storeroom,” she countered. “If nothing else someone with your income could afford to fund an alternate hospital, one that isn’t getting accused of human rights violations every other month. In fact, I think that’d be a grand offshoot of the Martha Wayne Foundation- a hospital or two dedicated to mental health. Then you could buy Arkham and turn it into something useful for the community.” Like a sewage treatment plant, or a clown college. It couldn’t be difficult, it wasn’t like it was doing it’s job if the constant reports of escapes and attempted escapes and ‘recovered’ patients immediately relapsing was anything to go by.

It was part of her homework, before she came out to these events, to check on things like this so she could properly get up Wayne’s ass about them.

He just shook his head.

“The workers at Arkham do their best,” he said. “There’s only so much you can do with the sort’ve people who end up there.”

For a moment, Monette’s smile tightened to something razor sharp as she bit back the urge to punch the man. They were at a formal event, surrounded by people who would view her negatively if she did. Really? Really? ‘Doing their best’. As if this excused rampant corruption and human rights violations. But then, that seemed to be the tour de force of Gotham. She had, over the last few years, been working on the assumption that Bruce also took issue with such things.

Mayhaps she’d been mistaken.

“There’s hospitals all across the country that manage it,” she said, still smiling, still bright, if with a bit more acid than before. “Mostly in areas without dedicated superheroes, actually.” Her teeth flashed in a grin, even as Bruce’s expression tightened minutely. Especially as Bruce’s expression tightened. “Maybe places like Gotham should ask them for advice.”

[2starart]

Joymaking plant that is 10+years old. ❤️#happymaking #2starart #kellykat (at Monett, Missouri) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsr0ga-DnBD/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=plh1cizsy7c4

[haldora]

Welcome to the thing whatever it is

I got tagged by @ibenholt

name: Dani

nicknames: At Starbucks, I reliably get either ‘Annie’ or ‘Denny’ written on my cup, so maybe that.

zodiac sign: Cancer

height: 5′2 (157cm) I am a wee thing

orientation: somewhere along the bi/pan clusterfuck

nationality: Canadian

favourite fruit: Blackberries

favourite season: Spring/Autumn--the ones you don’t get in my part of Canada

favourite book: I have way too many. It’s easier to list favourite authors, so here are a few: Ellen Kushner, Proust, Sartre, Dostoyevsky Catherynne M. Valente, N.K. Jemisin, Anne Leckie, Sarah Monette/Katherine Addison, and that’s just fiction.

favourite flower: I dunno, I’m not really that into plants. I love the smell of clovers, though.

favourite scent: Ocean

favourite colour: To wear? To see other people wear? To use in art? You gotta be more specific :/

favourite animal: Crows!

coffee, tea, or hot cocoa: All three, but coffee is my preference

average sleep hours: Either 2-4 hour naps, or I pass out for 12 hours straight

cat or dog person: Both!

favourite fictional character: Entirely too many

number of blankets you sleep with: One. Despite living in a frozen wasteland, my apartment has a great heating system that I don’t have to pay for.

dream trip: Somewhere warm. I wanna see a lot of places, but I really miss living in Victoria, so the trips I most look forward to involve going back there.

blog created: This one about 3 years ago, but I’ve had my main for around 5 or 6?

I’m bad at tagging people, but @emblazonet, @largebisexual, @amatara?

[marviinmelton]

Whole Foods is selling home decor now

Walk into the new Whole Foods in Bridgewater, New Jersey, and rather than bumping into that omnipresent pile of organic avocados, you’ll discover succulents, orchids, handmade plates, scented candles, and copper bowls.

It’s part of a new mini store within Whole Foods dubbed Plant & Plate. It’s got plants. It’s got plates. And it’s got pretty much any other little piece of Instagram-ready home decor item you could imagine.

[Photo: Whole Foods Market]

“Three years ago, we really started being a lot more proactive in the housewares category. Not just OXO goods [the award-winning kitchen wares], but to really go outside the box and find items that we think our customers would enjoy,” says Genevieve Monette, Whole Body coordinator (the store’s personal care segment) at Whole Foods.

While Whole Foods had experimented with limited items like Hedley & Bennet aprons in the past, the Bridgewater store offered a unique architectural enclave–an opportunity to put a small store outside of Whole Foods itself–that inspired the company to attempt a more realized housewares spin-off in Plant & Plate. The space has that rustic chic, Pinteresty vibe–an inoffensive interior design catchall.

Much like Whole Foods made a name for itself by selling local produce at scale, Plant & Plate has relationships with local vendors, like New Jersey’s Keiko Inouye pottery to sell artisan ramen bowls. Amazon’s global retail influence this is not–Monette assures me. Plant & Plate lives entirely under the Whole Foods umbrella.

[Photo: Whole Foods Market]

So why housewares? “It’s a category that’s been growing for us and doing well,” says Monette, echoing the sentiments of much of the grocery industry. “And it’s an impulse buy for a customer.” Groceries are a notoriously low-margin product, which also requires retailers to float a lot of inventory that can spoil before it’s sold. Housewares, on the other hand, have some of the biggest markups in retail–as high as 60%. If a turnip and a candle take up the same footprint, you can almost bet that Whole Foods can make more money off the candle. “Well, it’s not perishable!” Monette says, when I ask about the margins on the housewares category. “It doesn’t go bad, so it’s been a good investment for us.”

Whole Foods declined to comment on specific sales, but says that Plant & Plate has been quite popular. In turn, the company will open at least one more location before the end of year, and they imagine that it could scale regionally, or even nationwide if things continue to go well–assumably with a continued commitment to local vendors. Though not every Whole Foods has a dedicated space for a stand-alone store within the store, so the company would have to figure out how to incorporate housewares in new ways.

“We’re not taking apples or bananas away for it,” Monette says. “This [first store] is a showcase feature. We’ll be able to reproduce it in other stores as well, but also layer in those selections in smaller format stores as well. It doesn’t need a big room.”

Whole Foods is selling home decor now published first on https://petrotekb.tumblr.com/

[phoenixroofing164]

Monett Council recognizes local journalist

Finally, commissioners approved a bid from Guarantee Roofing to replace the roof on the wastewater treatment plant filter building and make repairs ...

[houstonroofing161]

Monett Council recognizes local journalist

Finally, commissioners approved a bid from Guarantee Roofing to replace the roof on the wastewater treatment plant filter building and make repairs ...

[indianacreditreport]

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from https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5LHhBfbi60zF7-mQii1n48UWZWFgsM2t December 30, 2019 at 09:22AM

[kariachi]

So on Sunday my brain decided to throw Gwen/Mike/Kevin/Argit at me for some reason and today decided to continue with it, so.... Have a couple thousand word double feature.

~~

The house was smaller than the one Mike had been living in when they met, but just as if not more grand. Enough so that even Gwendolyn, nonetheless Kevin and Argit, had to stop as soon as they were out of the car to stare at its white stone walls, intricately paned windows, and the sheer amount of well-tended greenery and flowers. For all they had been told this wasn’t the normal place for family get-togethers due to being ‘not fit for hosting’, they simply couldn’t see it. It was still huge and gorgeous. No wonder Mike had been rolling his eyes when he said it. They couldn’t have been stood there gawking long before the front door opened to reveal a small woman dressed to impress.

“Mikey!”

“Monie!” And immediately Michael Morningstar- who in the three years since he’d gotten clean and the two he’d been a part of their little quartet had not engaged in displays of affection more grand than jewelry- bolted across the lawn, scooped the similarly excited woman up into a spin, and hugged her fiercely as soon as her feet had touched the ground.

“Remind me to get him to spin me at least once during this relationship,” Kevin grumbled as he and Gwendolyn rounded the car. “I don’t care if it happened right before he drops me into a volcano, as long as it happens.”

“Jealous, much?”

“Don’t be a hypocrite, Red. And stop scowling, she’s his cousin for fuck’s sake.” Something that was easier to tell as they came closer. There were plenty of differences- golden toned versus pink, tall versus short, blond versus grey, blue eyed versus green- but a few key features stood out. Their eyes were the same shape, they were of similar narrow build, and they carried themselves with the same proud bearing. The woman- Monie- stepped back as they approached, flashing them a toothy grin as Mike turned to present them.

“And these are my…” He goes quiet, mouth twisting and hand curling shut. They’ve never really worked out terms. Kevin and Gwendolyn were boyfriend and girlfriend, Kevin and Argit were partners, but Gwendolyn and Argit? Any of them and Mike?

“Yours?” his cousin offered in fond amusement. Mike nodded.

“Mine. Kevin Levin, Argit Levin, and Gwendolyn Tennyson.”

“Monette Morningstar,” she introduced herself, stepping around Mike and towards them. Gwendolyn stepped forward to offer a hand to shake, only to be wrapped in the same fierce hug Mike had gotten, and for Monette to quickly do the same to Kevin and Argit. “It’s a pleasure and an honor to have you here.”

“It’s a pleasure to be here,” Gwendolyn answered, still reeling a bit from getting a warmer welcome than she got from a fair chunk of her own family.

“We were beginning to think Sparkles was lying about having relatives,” Argit continued, “to make himself look better.” Kevin and Argit only had family in the Amalgam Kids and Cooper, who were always around, and they all were practically tripping over Tennysons, but Mike was the only member of his family he interacted with in their area, and the three times he’d gone to family events since they’d gotten together he’d insisted on going alone.

“Not surprised,” Monette said with a nod, “most of the others already hate you.” Gwendolyn snorted derisively while Kevin groaned beside her. They’d been warned the entire drive up, but still. “He doesn’t shut up about you, you know. Well, he hasn’t shut up about you since he was twelve-”

“Monie!” The woman kept her same easy, welcoming smile as he and Gwendolyn both went red around the edges.

“-but he’s even worse now. Shame, it would’ve been so fun to see him just drop you all on the family at once.” Stepping forward, Mike scowled at her.

“I am not putting them through that,” he said with finality as Argit snickered.

“Of course not,” she replied, waving off the very idea. “It’ll still be the funnest holiday since you ran off.” With another flash of perfect teeth she gestured them towards the house, falling in behind the little group with light steps. “Now come on, lunch is all ready and you kids must be starving-”

~~~~~

~~~~~

They had claim over the master bedroom whether they wanted it or not, their hostess more willing to eat her own legs than to risk them being crowded in one of the smaller beds. Not that it was much of a concern. Kevin had always been a tactile man, Argit had been born for piles of people, and between them it wasn’t at all difficult to cram the four of them into a space smaller than they had available.

It just meant they got to stretch out a bit, was all.

Gwendolyn was taking up as much space as possible, her legs hanging off the side of the bed and her head on Kevin’s chest. Meanwhile Mike had pressed the whole of himself against Kevin’s other side, stretched over him just enough so he could hold a tablet in place for he and Gwendolyn to read the book on it together. Argit didn’t even bother with distractions, content to doze splayed out across the boys’ legs, tail wrapped around Gwendolyn’s wrist. This was the norm for them, and Kevin had long accepted his destiny to be a mattress, generally working on a project or a book over the others’ heads until one of them groggily forced him to set it aside and go to sleep.

He’d already set it aside himself tonight.

“So,” he said into the quiet, fighting back a smile, “are we just not going to mention the whole ‘mine’ thing?”

“Yes.” Ears twitching, Argit snickered.

“Good. I’d much rather hear about how you talk about us all the time.” Mike groaned, shifting forward to bury his face in long red hair.

“Gwendolyn, lovely, perfect Gwendolyn-”

“Sorry, it’d work with Kevin but you know I can’t shut Argit up.” She shuffled away, just enough that she could turn her head and crane up to plant a kiss on his cheek. “It was nice to hear though. You’re harder to get an ‘I love you’ out of than Argit.”

“Because I don’t love you, Red,” Argit cut in cheekily, as Mike heaved something between a huff and a groan, “I tolerate you for the men’s sakes.”

“Uh-huh,” she replied, fidgeting with his tail, “you keep saying that.” Beneath them, Kevin chuckled as he reached out to tug gently at a lock of blond hair.

“We love you too, Sparkles.” In response Mike just pulled away with roll of his eyes and a huff, as if he wasn’t going red for probably the fourth time just since they’d pulled into the drive.

“I hate you all,” he answered with far less bite than he likely intended, “and one day I’m going to eat you out of pure spite.”

~~~~~

~~~~~

The first day of their holiday was definitely the best one. A nice, if simpler than expected, lunch with Monette. Meeting Mike’s Uncle Hector (Zombozo. Mike’s uncle was Zombozo. Zombozo, who wanted to start over fresh because apparently his line in the sand was risking making things harder on his nephew.) They’d had fresh pasta and baked apples at dinner, spent the evening exchanging stories, watching movies, and looking at pictures of Mike from birth to his teen years. Pictures Mike assured them, with a pained expression, had not been gathered for this event. His cousin and uncle were just exactly the types to have them on hand.

Monette’s parents had shown up on the second day and things had started getting tense. They loved their daughter, that was evident from the first moment they’d arrived, but otherwise… Nobody could really blame them for being openly unimpressed by Hector- excepting the younger Morningstars, apparently- but they treated Mike the same way some of Gwendolyn’s relatives treated her. Loving, but with the sharp edge of impossible expectations. The rest received polite distance, like they were some fling Mike’d drug along rather than people he’d been with several years. Still, they managed a nice, if awkward, dinner, and sat up late listening to embarrassing stories of Monette and Hector’s childhoods. It wasn’t fun, but there were fresh desserts and the evening wasn’t any more painful than larger Tennyson gatherings.

The third day though, that was Thanksgiving proper, and it brought the rest of the family. The middle cousin, Teddy, and his fiancé. His parents. Great-aunt Winnie. And suddenly, like a curtain was flung open, you could see how Darkstar happened. You could even see how Zombozo started.

These people did not like mutants.

They did not like aliens.

They did not like bastard children.

It hurt to know that the two had been outnumbered for so long.

Dinner was beyond awkward. Passive-aggressive comments flew to a degree even Argit hadn’t seen before, and he made it his job to antagonize Gwendolyn’s mother’s family whenever they met. Both sides threw jabs back and forth- about people’s jobs, people’s diets (never before had Kevin been seen passive-aggressively giving someone food but the moment Winnie had said something about Mike’s appetite it had been war), people’s lifestyles, people’s taste in clothing. Nothing, it appeared, was off limits, with the exception of a single “while you’re around” comment batted at Gwendolyn that’d had Mike tensing on the other side of the table and Monette putting her foot down as hostess. What sort’ve jab it had been was unknown to the non-Morningstars in the room, but it took a good forty seconds for people to begin talking again after the snapped reprimand.

By the end of dinner nobody was in a good mood. There was a steak knife lodged to the handle in the far wall of the dining room, from where Kevin had lost his temper and flung it at Teddy’s head (in his defense, he had warned the table about making any more comments about his partners, and Monette treated it no differently than if he’d had the misfortune to drop it on the floor), Argit was muttering about “no wonder you didn’t bring out the good cutlery for these people”, Mike, Gwendolyn, and Hector evacuated the room as soon as it was polite to do so for their own mental health, and Monette had a smile on her face that was sharp enough to cut glass. It was amazing nobody (namely Winnie) had been thrown out a window and most likely that was only because they were really nice, presumably expensive, windows.

The rest of the evening didn’t even have the decency to be entertaining. Just a slog they got through with tight-lipped politeness and a healthy dose of passive-aggression before heading to bed- ignoring the pointed comments about ‘making’ Monette give up her room as they went. Mental and emotional exhaustion had them sleeping soundly, waking at first light. They stayed long enough for coffee, breakfast, and Mike to hug his proper family members goodbye before heading out before anyone could wake up enough to start in again.

They were an hour down the highway when Kevin pulled over.

“Okay, I’m saying it now,” he announced in a tone that brooked no argument, “Monie can visit anytime, your uncle is a maybe, but I am never sitting at a table with the rest of those fuckers again in my life.” The others nodded at Mike in agreement, though Gwendolyn at least had the decency to try to look sorry.

“You know,” he replied, honestly looking like a weight had been taken off his shoulders- and with how Gwendolyn could be about her own family it probably had been- “I think I can live with that.”