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I love puzzles! And other DW users do, too. Here are some that have been suggested and/or recommended (in no order):
1. Exit game puzzle
2. Jigsaw puzzles
Physical puzzle brands: Re-marks, Cavallini, Galison with art by Michael Storrings, White Mountain and Ravensburger
Online jigsaw puzzles: https://thejigsawpuzzles.com/
3. Sudoku
Variant sudoku and rat maze sudoku as described on the Cracking the Cryptic Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CrackingTheCryptic
jigsaw sudokus (with tricky shapes)
3doku
4. The Simon Tatham collection of puzzles, 40 different puzzle games, including a nonogram game
[nonogram=picture logic puzzles in which cells in a grid must be colored or left blank according to numbers at the edges of the grid to reveal a hidden picture]called "Pattern", which contains randomly-generated nonogram puzzles from any size that the player wants.
5. Yeardle for history buffs.
6. Waffle, a word game
7. kenken= an arthimatic and logic puzzle where the objective is to fill a grid with digits so that no digit appears more than once in any row or any column. KenKen grids are divided into heavily outlined groups of cells –– often called “cages” –– and the numbers in the cells of each cage must produce a certain “target” number when combined using a specified mathematical operation (one of addition, subtraction, multiplication or division).
8. Logic puzzles at Griddlers net: https://www.griddlers.net/home
9. Quordle
10. Squaredle
11. Quad nerdle
12. Connections, which is part of the NYTimes family of games: https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords
13: the AARP also has a collection of games: https://www.aarp.org/games/category/all-games/
14. Octordle
My poem: stupid motel fridge by okapi
Jun. 26th, 2025 11:24 amstupid motel fridge by okapi
I hear it. Doubt. Wait. Know. My refuge
Is anything but. It has found me.
The monster I have been running from
Is right here. In the room. With me. Now.
I listen. I hone in, creeping nearer,
Like one of those dull, topless slasher girls
Ineffably drawn to her doom.
The door resists at first, then rips
Like silver duct tape torn from the mouth
Of a hostage. Confirmed, justified,
fear and dread. T/here. Water where water should not be.
Falling. In drops. In wet rhythm.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
I can’t find a plug to yank.
I won’t invite a stranger
Into this. I know better. The dial
Clicks to clacks. Coolest. Off. Wait. Watch. Count.
Like Kabir’s moon and sun.
Then I am rolling terry cloth
To mop up the flood suspended on glass
And deaden the sound. Dead.en.sound.
I go back to bed. I get up
Again. Check. Go back. Listen
For noise I’ve made sure I won’t hear
Like the last girl standing before the credits roll.
I hear it. Doubt. Wait. Know. My refuge
Is anything but. It has found me.
The monster I have been running from
Is right here. In the room. With me. Now.
I listen. I hone in, creeping nearer,
Like one of those dull, topless slasher girls
Ineffably drawn to her doom.
The door resists at first, then rips
Like silver duct tape torn from the mouth
Of a hostage. Confirmed, justified,
fear and dread. T/here. Water where water should not be.
Falling. In drops. In wet rhythm.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
I can’t find a plug to yank.
I won’t invite a stranger
Into this. I know better. The dial
Clicks to clacks. Coolest. Off. Wait. Watch. Count.
Like Kabir’s moon and sun.
Then I am rolling terry cloth
To mop up the flood suspended on glass
And deaden the sound. Dead.en.sound.
I go back to bed. I get up
Again. Check. Go back. Listen
For noise I’ve made sure I won’t hear
Like the last girl standing before the credits roll.
Book Bingo: June 2025 (#2)
Jun. 25th, 2025 10:37 pmMy thought is 3 books make a post.
This bingo card was created by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kingstoken. More about the challenge here: https://kingstoken.dreamwidth.org/109837.html
Recommended: The Seamstress [also titled The Time In Between] by María Dueñas is one thatsmallhobbit recommended as one of her favourites. It is the story of a young Spanish girl with a talent for dressmaking. Her loves, betrayals, breakdowns, and triumphs set against the Spanish Civil War and the beginning of World War II. She flees to Morocco and there is a lot about life there. She ends up being a spy. Very engaging, compelling. It's long. 600+ pages but I definitely got sucked in. [I am also trying to do as many squares as I can of garonne's 2025 Book Bingo here: https://garonne.dreamwidth.org/58219.html so I think this qualifies as G-G-1: Not set in UK/US/France/Germany.]
YA/Children's: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. This was on the list of books for 4th graders and Minisculus and I read it. It was about a young boy living in a poor rural American setting who wants to be a fast runner. He also loves to draw but hides his enthusiasm due to stigma. He makes friends with the new girl over the summer, and they invent a make-believe land in a secret hideout near their homes. Very tragic ending.
Sci-fi/Fantasy: Death Note vol. 1. by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. This is a Japanese manga (which Minisculus much prefers to the reading list!). I wasn't sure if it fit this category but simple wikipedia calls it a 'supernatural thriller fantasy manga. It is the story of a Japanese high schooler who comes into possession of a mystical notebook and he finds he has the power to kill anybody whose name he enters in it. I enjoyed it even though reading right to left and back to front was a bit awkward. I wouldn't mind knowing what happens next but I don't think I'll seek another one out. [G-N-1: Book from a genre I typically avoid]
This bingo card was created by
kingstoken. More about the challenge here: https://kingstoken.dreamwidth.org/109837.html
Recommended: The Seamstress [also titled The Time In Between] by María Dueñas is one that
smallhobbit recommended as one of her favourites. It is the story of a young Spanish girl with a talent for dressmaking. Her loves, betrayals, breakdowns, and triumphs set against the Spanish Civil War and the beginning of World War II. She flees to Morocco and there is a lot about life there. She ends up being a spy. Very engaging, compelling. It's long. 600+ pages but I definitely got sucked in. [I am also trying to do as many squares as I can of garonne's 2025 Book Bingo here: https://garonne.dreamwidth.org/58219.html so I think this qualifies as G-G-1: Not set in UK/US/France/Germany.]YA/Children's: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. This was on the list of books for 4th graders and Minisculus and I read it. It was about a young boy living in a poor rural American setting who wants to be a fast runner. He also loves to draw but hides his enthusiasm due to stigma. He makes friends with the new girl over the summer, and they invent a make-believe land in a secret hideout near their homes. Very tragic ending.
Sci-fi/Fantasy: Death Note vol. 1. by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. This is a Japanese manga (which Minisculus much prefers to the reading list!). I wasn't sure if it fit this category but simple wikipedia calls it a 'supernatural thriller fantasy manga. It is the story of a Japanese high schooler who comes into possession of a mystical notebook and he finds he has the power to kill anybody whose name he enters in it. I enjoyed it even though reading right to left and back to front was a bit awkward. I wouldn't mind knowing what happens next but I don't think I'll seek another one out. [G-N-1: Book from a genre I typically avoid]
Word: Camphoric
Jun. 25th, 2025 10:30 pmWednesday's word is...
...camphoric.
1. pertaining to or derived from camphor.
That's not helpful because I don't know that I know and/or remember what camphor is like. This was one of my prompts in my last Yahtzee roll. I was mainly interested in how it's used. And I discovered it is mainly perfume descriptions:
As soon as I sprayed it on I felt the presence of the original, in the heavy, bitter almond opening standing in for that famous camphoric tuberose-anise-incense blast.
Facing Down the Beast: Dior Hypnotic Poison, Marina Geigert, 2009
Narcissus is here, but it's the earthy, almost camphoric kind, not the sweeter type.
Perfume-Smellin' Things Perfume Blog, 2010
...camphoric.
1. pertaining to or derived from camphor.
That's not helpful because I don't know that I know and/or remember what camphor is like. This was one of my prompts in my last Yahtzee roll. I was mainly interested in how it's used. And I discovered it is mainly perfume descriptions:
As soon as I sprayed it on I felt the presence of the original, in the heavy, bitter almond opening standing in for that famous camphoric tuberose-anise-incense blast.
Facing Down the Beast: Dior Hypnotic Poison, Marina Geigert, 2009
Narcissus is here, but it's the earthy, almost camphoric kind, not the sweeter type.
Perfume-Smellin' Things Perfume Blog, 2010
Yahtzee Roll #6: Fill 5: Clearing the air
Jun. 25th, 2025 02:47 pmTitle: Clearing the air
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairing: Stella Hopkins/Sally Donovan
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Prompt: camphoric
Summary: A riddle turns into a case.
( Read more... )
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairing: Stella Hopkins/Sally Donovan
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Prompt: camphoric
Summary: A riddle turns into a case.
( Read more... )
Title: Too many clocks, not enough time
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairing: Stella Hopkins/Sally Donovan
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Prompt:
Summary: A death at a nursing home leaves Sally with more questions than answers.
( Read more... )
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairing: Stella Hopkins/Sally Donovan
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Prompt:
Summary: A death at a nursing home leaves Sally with more questions than answers.
( Read more... )
Yahtzee Roll #6: Fill 3: A night in
Jun. 25th, 2025 02:36 pmTitle: A night in
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairing: Stella Hopkins/Sally Donovan
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Prompt: extrovert
Summary: Sally suggests a night in.
( Read more... )
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairing: Stella Hopkins/Sally Donovan
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Prompt: extrovert
Summary: Sally suggests a night in.
( Read more... )
Yahtzee Roll #6: Fill 2: Secondhand spice
Jun. 25th, 2025 02:32 pmTitle: Secondhand spice
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairing: Stella Hopkins/Sally Donovan
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Prompt: tangy
Summary: Stella and Sally have dinner and discuss a case.
( Read more... )
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairing: Stella Hopkins/Sally Donovan
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Prompt: tangy
Summary: Stella and Sally have dinner and discuss a case.
( Read more... )
Title: Fancy meeting you here
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairing: Stella Hopkins/Sally Donovan
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Prompt:
Summary: Stella and Sally cross paths and have coffee.
( Read more... )
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Pairing: Stella Hopkins/Sally Donovan
Rating: Gen
Length: 400
Prompt:
Summary: Stella and Sally cross paths and have coffee.
( Read more... )
News & Views: fry an egg edition
Jun. 24th, 2025 10:41 pm1. Heat index got up to 111 F here. Yee!
2. The best thing is that I drafted my casefic exchange fic and it's off to beta. Huzzah!
3. Minisculus started swimming lessons. Today I had a zoom parents' meeting with his soccer team for the fall and ordered his new uniform. Minor and his father are planning a trip to Jacksonville, Florida for a track meet in 2 weeks. He has a local meet on Saturday. We all went to the YMCA this morning together.
I took this frommalinaldarose who took it from alexcat. There are many questions. I'll start with the first five.
1. What curse word do you use the most?
This will require some observation. Damn. Maybe? I think 'shitty' is the only adjective appropriate for some things. Likewise, with 'jackass.' My Southern accent definitely comes out stronger with curse words.
2. Do you own an iPod?
No.
3. What person on your flist do you talk to the most?
if you mean 'communicate with':smallhobbit, debriswoman, bethctg but I have a lot more penpals with whom I exchange and/or receive postcards: sweettartheart, dine, falkner, kingstoken dr_zook, spiralicious, sixbeforelunch
4. What time is your alarm clock set to?
6:40 pm on Tuesdays and 12:40 pm on Sundays for meditation circle
5. Do you still remember the first person you kissed?
Yes. Time, place, circumstance. I was 15. We were only 'going together' (that was the phrase) for about 3 months. I think I saw him once in a mall the year he went to university (he was a year older) but it was a brief sighting. I have tried googling him a couple of times over the years, but he either changed his name or died or is off the grid. No clue what happened to him.
How about Ancient Roman Bath Ambiance for a change?
2. The best thing is that I drafted my casefic exchange fic and it's off to beta. Huzzah!
3. Minisculus started swimming lessons. Today I had a zoom parents' meeting with his soccer team for the fall and ordered his new uniform. Minor and his father are planning a trip to Jacksonville, Florida for a track meet in 2 weeks. He has a local meet on Saturday. We all went to the YMCA this morning together.
I took this from
malinaldarose who took it from alexcat. There are many questions. I'll start with the first five.1. What curse word do you use the most?
This will require some observation. Damn. Maybe? I think 'shitty' is the only adjective appropriate for some things. Likewise, with 'jackass.' My Southern accent definitely comes out stronger with curse words.
2. Do you own an iPod?
No.
3. What person on your flist do you talk to the most?
if you mean 'communicate with':
smallhobbit, debriswoman, bethctg but I have a lot more penpals with whom I exchange and/or receive postcards: sweettartheart, dine, falkner, kingstoken dr_zook, spiralicious, sixbeforelunch4. What time is your alarm clock set to?
6:40 pm on Tuesdays and 12:40 pm on Sundays for meditation circle
5. Do you still remember the first person you kissed?
Yes. Time, place, circumstance. I was 15. We were only 'going together' (that was the phrase) for about 3 months. I think I saw him once in a mall the year he went to university (he was a year older) but it was a brief sighting. I have tried googling him a couple of times over the years, but he either changed his name or died or is off the grid. No clue what happened to him.
How about Ancient Roman Bath Ambiance for a change?
There's a heat warning that the heat index might get up to 110 F (43.3 C) today and tomorrow.
Yahtzee Roll
Jun. 21st, 2025 07:50 amI don't know if this one's going to happen. I'll have to crank out 5 fills in 4 days. But it makes me think of BBC Sherlock's Sally and Stella.
https://getyourwordsout.dreamwidth.org/856782.html?thread=10808526#cmt10808526
https://getyourwordsout.dreamwidth.org/856782.html?thread=10808526#cmt10808526
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Collage Journaling: solstice
Jun. 20th, 2025 05:30 pmNo peach this week. I tried to think of the solstice and the theme turned out to be green.
In honor of Juneteenth!
[I read the annotated version on the Poetry Foundation website and liked the first footnote. The last sentence is especially important to remember: In an interview for Callaloo literary journal, Walker remarked: “I remember hearing a criticism of ‘For My People’ by two white critics whom I admired. They said my ballads either sounded like Paul Laurence Dunbar gone modern or Langston Hughes gone sour. They said some very nasty things about me, all of which I could proceed to ignore, because if one worried about the critics, one would never write.”]
For My People by Margaret Walker [from Poetry 1937]
For my people everywhere singing their slave songs
repeatedly: their dirges and their ditties and their blues
and jubilees, praying their prayers nightly to an
unknown god, bending their knees humbly to an
unseen power;
For my people lending their strength to the years, to the
gone years and the now years and the maybe years,
washing ironing cooking scrubbing sewing mending
hoeing plowing digging planting pruning patching
dragging along never gaining never reaping never
knowing and never understanding;
( Read more... )
[I read the annotated version on the Poetry Foundation website and liked the first footnote. The last sentence is especially important to remember: In an interview for Callaloo literary journal, Walker remarked: “I remember hearing a criticism of ‘For My People’ by two white critics whom I admired. They said my ballads either sounded like Paul Laurence Dunbar gone modern or Langston Hughes gone sour. They said some very nasty things about me, all of which I could proceed to ignore, because if one worried about the critics, one would never write.”]
For My People by Margaret Walker [from Poetry 1937]
For my people everywhere singing their slave songs
repeatedly: their dirges and their ditties and their blues
and jubilees, praying their prayers nightly to an
unknown god, bending their knees humbly to an
unseen power;
For my people lending their strength to the years, to the
gone years and the now years and the maybe years,
washing ironing cooking scrubbing sewing mending
hoeing plowing digging planting pruning patching
dragging along never gaining never reaping never
knowing and never understanding;
( Read more... )
Word: Lutrine
Jun. 18th, 2025 09:08 pmWednesday's word is...
...lutrine.
1. of or relating to the otters
My favorite otters are the Japanese pair: Kotaro & Hana.
...lutrine.
1. of or relating to the otters
My favorite otters are the Japanese pair: Kotaro & Hana.
1. Last day of school for the boys is tomorrow. There was supposed to be a picnic at Minisculus' but it's too wet. Tonight is a ceremony at the middle school (not a graduation--they have stressed that) and then Minor is staying for the 8th grade dance.
2. I noticed something interesting (to me) last week during the ceiling catastrophe. I missed drinking any coffee Tuesday because I was in exile, but I didn't notice it. I didn't get that nail-being-driven-in-the-temple headache I normally get. Like, nothing, no physical sign that I was caffeine deprived. So maybe the anxiety adrenaline of the ceiling held it at bay? I don't know. I'm just making an observation. I started to feel it on Day 2 but I got some coffee and of course it went away
3. I'm about halfway through The Seamstress by Maria Duenas and enjoying it. It's an epic life story of a woman from Spain who lives in Morocco during the Civil War. I'm at the even of WWII now. Finished Bridge to Teribithia with Minisculus and now we're reading something called Clementine which is the typical 'kid does pranks and gets into trouble' story.
4. I cracked open a new jigsaw: Around the Word in 50 Plants.
5. No news from the Visiting Angels. :( I'm hoping everything is okay. I uploaded the COVID vaccine info per request but it's been crickets for a week.
6. I REALLY need to get cracking on my casefic for the exchange.
7. I like train ambient channels:
6.
2. I noticed something interesting (to me) last week during the ceiling catastrophe. I missed drinking any coffee Tuesday because I was in exile, but I didn't notice it. I didn't get that nail-being-driven-in-the-temple headache I normally get. Like, nothing, no physical sign that I was caffeine deprived. So maybe the anxiety adrenaline of the ceiling held it at bay? I don't know. I'm just making an observation. I started to feel it on Day 2 but I got some coffee and of course it went away
3. I'm about halfway through The Seamstress by Maria Duenas and enjoying it. It's an epic life story of a woman from Spain who lives in Morocco during the Civil War. I'm at the even of WWII now. Finished Bridge to Teribithia with Minisculus and now we're reading something called Clementine which is the typical 'kid does pranks and gets into trouble' story.
4. I cracked open a new jigsaw: Around the Word in 50 Plants.
5. No news from the Visiting Angels. :( I'm hoping everything is okay. I uploaded the COVID vaccine info per request but it's been crickets for a week.
6. I REALLY need to get cracking on my casefic for the exchange.
7. I like train ambient channels:
6.
My poem: drupe
Jun. 15th, 2025 03:39 pmThis weeks' prompt was: color. This is called an In Memorium stanza.
drupe by okapi
of orange-yellows, reds which leach
in blush upon the most sun-kissed
of rounded flesh, in velvet mist
enveloped, casting fog on each
and every curvature whose breach
reveals a more uniform gold
of corpus, sweet perfumes unfold,
attracting wasps and buyers, speech
is needless, scent alone can preach
its Good News, bushel baskets filled
to rolling, dark hearts hedged and grilled
by dark nettles which overreach
on pitting, nectar colors teach
the artist how to mix the rich,
the once-child to remember, stitch
a patch of farmer’s market peach
drupe by okapi
of orange-yellows, reds which leach
in blush upon the most sun-kissed
of rounded flesh, in velvet mist
enveloped, casting fog on each
and every curvature whose breach
reveals a more uniform gold
of corpus, sweet perfumes unfold,
attracting wasps and buyers, speech
is needless, scent alone can preach
its Good News, bushel baskets filled
to rolling, dark hearts hedged and grilled
by dark nettles which overreach
on pitting, nectar colors teach
the artist how to mix the rich,
the once-child to remember, stitch
a patch of farmer’s market peach
Happy Father's Day!
Jun. 15th, 2025 03:29 pmI almost forgot, but Minisculus made him a card and the boys' father went with Minor to Day 2 of the track meet and Minor says he PR'ed as his gift (on the 1500 m). Yesterday he didn't PR on either of the 2 events he did (3000 m and 800 m). We all went and I got a very bad sunburn because it was crazy humidity and I thought it was going to rain but it never did so I didn't prepare myself or my skin properly.
I think I am going to go to Taco Bell and get a big, big box of tacos. I don't want to go to the grocery store today and get stuff to make homemade tacos. He's watching soccer/football now, so he's happy.
I know a lot of us have complicated relationships with our fathers. Mine's been dead for almost 20 years but he left his mark for sure :/ For good and for bad. He was a very intelligent man who loved me and my sister but who was also completely at the mercy of his inner demons.
Anyway, there are lots of great fathers out there, too! Huzzah!
I think I am going to go to Taco Bell and get a big, big box of tacos. I don't want to go to the grocery store today and get stuff to make homemade tacos. He's watching soccer/football now, so he's happy.
I know a lot of us have complicated relationships with our fathers. Mine's been dead for almost 20 years but he left his mark for sure :/ For good and for bad. He was a very intelligent man who loved me and my sister but who was also completely at the mercy of his inner demons.
Anyway, there are lots of great fathers out there, too! Huzzah!
Into the Void: return to the fold edition
Jun. 13th, 2025 02:49 pm1. To recap, Monday night the horrible leak which had been growing and growing in the boys' bedroom ceiling became more horrible and after a really scary night of buckets and pails and bins and drip-drip-drip which drove me partially insane, and a morning which including sleeping on in the car, the roof caved in.
So I fled to an extended stay hotel. I thought the boys would come with me, but they didn't want to. They stayed with their father.
So contractors came and did an estimate, and then they came and fixed the enormous hole in the ceiling and the nasty wall of mold which was in the boys' closet. So they've had 2 nights of no leaks, so I've come back home.
I felt like I was Julia Roberts in Sleeping with the Enemy or a fugitive or something. In a liminal state of neither here nor there. The closest eating place was Chick-fil-a but I drove to get a tuna sub. It's PRIDE month, goddammit, no homophobic waffle fries (or peach milkshake, which sounds even better) for you! I didn't turn on the TV either the whole time. I think some people live there because the school bus came. And I heard kids and saw a cat in a window. Today is the last full day of school for the boys. They have three half days next week.
2. Today is FESTA day which is the 12th anniversary of the debut of BTS and last night in Seoul, jhope had a concert and all seven were in attendance, including SUGA!!! So it is a very good day.
So I fled to an extended stay hotel. I thought the boys would come with me, but they didn't want to. They stayed with their father.
So contractors came and did an estimate, and then they came and fixed the enormous hole in the ceiling and the nasty wall of mold which was in the boys' closet. So they've had 2 nights of no leaks, so I've come back home.
I felt like I was Julia Roberts in Sleeping with the Enemy or a fugitive or something. In a liminal state of neither here nor there. The closest eating place was Chick-fil-a but I drove to get a tuna sub. It's PRIDE month, goddammit, no homophobic waffle fries (or peach milkshake, which sounds even better) for you! I didn't turn on the TV either the whole time. I think some people live there because the school bus came. And I heard kids and saw a cat in a window. Today is the last full day of school for the boys. They have three half days next week.
2. Today is FESTA day which is the 12th anniversary of the debut of BTS and last night in Seoul, jhope had a concert and all seven were in attendance, including SUGA!!! So it is a very good day.
Collage Journaling: more peach for June
Jun. 13th, 2025 11:13 amI did this one before the chaos with the ceiling. I like the three jars on the other page of the planner so I included them in the scan. Still going with the peach theme for June.
