![[sticky entry]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/entry/sticky_entry.png){kind=small}
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
Into the void & Paris collage
May. 8th, 2026 01:15 pm1. After eating in the dark for 4 months, maintenance finally came and fixed the lights in the dining area and the boys' bathroom. Huzzah.
2. I survived my 12 hour shift yesterday and have another 12-hour shift tomorrow with the same client. Sadly, my hospice client died so I only had one today so I am doing more collaging, working on the cards for the folks who requested them from my 3Weeks4Dreamwidth offer.
3. I bought myself flowers for Mother's Day. They had so many, many varieties at the grocery store that I knew the boys' father would be overwhelmed and so I picked my own. I wasn't going to do any shopping this week but the boys won't have bread for sandwiches on Monday if I didn't get some.
4. BTS is amazing. They are in Mexico City and they met with the President of Mexico and 50,000 ARMY filled the zocalo to greet them when they stepped out on the balcony of the presidential palace.
Here's one of the collages I did on Tuesday. While collaging today, I am listening to Death at the Sanitorium by Ragnar Jonasson. Icelandic cold case mystery. I tried a few minutes of Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman but noped out of it. A fat widow talking about how difficult much she misses her husband and how difficult it is to get her large posterior in an airplane wasn't the vibe I wanted. Scandi noir for the win!
2. I survived my 12 hour shift yesterday and have another 12-hour shift tomorrow with the same client. Sadly, my hospice client died so I only had one today so I am doing more collaging, working on the cards for the folks who requested them from my 3Weeks4Dreamwidth offer.
3. I bought myself flowers for Mother's Day. They had so many, many varieties at the grocery store that I knew the boys' father would be overwhelmed and so I picked my own. I wasn't going to do any shopping this week but the boys won't have bread for sandwiches on Monday if I didn't get some.
4. BTS is amazing. They are in Mexico City and they met with the President of Mexico and 50,000 ARMY filled the zocalo to greet them when they stepped out on the balcony of the presidential palace.
Here's one of the collages I did on Tuesday. While collaging today, I am listening to Death at the Sanitorium by Ragnar Jonasson. Icelandic cold case mystery. I tried a few minutes of Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman but noped out of it. A fat widow talking about how difficult much she misses her husband and how difficult it is to get her large posterior in an airplane wasn't the vibe I wanted. Scandi noir for the win!
3Weeks4Dreamwidth: E is for elegy
May. 7th, 2026 07:14 amUntil 14 May ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pitchblackrenegade is offering a line of poetry as prompt/inspiration from one of their favorite poems. Ask for it here: https://pitchblackrenegade.dreamwidth.org/12309.html
Mine was:
It is enraptured by approaching sleep
—from "Before sunset" by Mirra Lokhvitskaya, translated by Temira Pachmuss
pitchblackrenegade is offering a line of poetry as prompt/inspiration from one of their favorite poems. Ask for it here: https://pitchblackrenegade.dreamwidth.org/12309.htmlMine was:
It is enraptured by approaching sleep
—from "Before sunset" by Mirra Lokhvitskaya, translated by Temira Pachmuss
Happy Birthday to me!
May. 6th, 2026 09:53 pmIt's been a fine day. I got nice gifts and well wishes and a purple cake!
Views & News: Still 50 edition
May. 5th, 2026 05:26 pm1. Because of work and another scheduled commitment tomorrow, and two 12-hour shifts later in the week, I decided that today would be my lazy, do-what-I-want day, so I had my session with jazz man, came home and collaged, on an off, from about 10 am to 4 pm. I made one regular card, a double-sided postcard card, one 2-page spread and two 1-page spreads. And I listened to Curtain (Poirot's final case) on audiobook on YT. And had scrambled eggs and then later, a BLT, and two cups of coffee. And the fried plantains I found at Wegman's (because today is also Cinco de Mayo).
It was good.
2. What is the word for being annoyed at how much romance, romantic relationships, marriage, fidelity and infidelity, etc. consume popular media/art/conversation? Whatever it is, I have come down with a bit of that. Like, can we talk about something else? Anything else.
3. I got an oversized book at the library about the Hirshhorn Museum and I am looking forward to leafing through that. I love those kind of books even though I will never own a coffee table to put them on!
4. Now I am going to read and scan some of these spreads and enjoy my last day of being 50.
It was good.
2. What is the word for being annoyed at how much romance, romantic relationships, marriage, fidelity and infidelity, etc. consume popular media/art/conversation? Whatever it is, I have come down with a bit of that. Like, can we talk about something else? Anything else.
3. I got an oversized book at the library about the Hirshhorn Museum and I am looking forward to leafing through that. I love those kind of books even though I will never own a coffee table to put them on!
4. Now I am going to read and scan some of these spreads and enjoy my last day of being 50.
So this week is the week that I take off of domestic duties. Over the weekend, I cleaned the apartment, stocked the fridge (and made a list of options), and did all the laundry, and now through Sunday I am not cooking or cleaning or doing any housework unless it's an emergency.
So I also decided to post about things I like and, of course, one of the things I like best is detectives. Here are some cards I embellished. I am offering happy mail as part of 3 Weeks 4 Dreamwidth.
So I also decided to post about things I like and, of course, one of the things I like best is detectives. Here are some cards I embellished. I am offering happy mail as part of 3 Weeks 4 Dreamwidth.
Collage Journaling: four embellished cards
May. 1st, 2026 09:43 pmHappy May!
I remember as a young child participating in a maypole ceremony at school, where you wind the ribbons round the pole. It was pretty.
The best thing that happened today was I jogged for the first time on the ankle since I sprained and it did okay. Also the partner of a client mentioned wanting to add me as a regular another day so that was a nice vote of confidence.
The wife of another client gave me some blank greeting cards and I embellished them.
I remember as a young child participating in a maypole ceremony at school, where you wind the ribbons round the pole. It was pretty.
The best thing that happened today was I jogged for the first time on the ankle since I sprained and it did okay. Also the partner of a client mentioned wanting to add me as a regular another day so that was a nice vote of confidence.
The wife of another client gave me some blank greeting cards and I embellished them.
Thank you to all my friends who posted poems during this month. I think we did a good job of celebrating the power of poetry.
A Jelly-Fish by Marianne Moore
Visible, invisible,
A fluctuating charm,
An amber-colored amethyst
Inhabits it; your arm
Approaches, and
It opens and
It closes;
You have meant
To catch it,
And it shrivels;
You abandon
Your intent—
It opens, and it
Closes and you
Reach for it—
The blue
Surrounding it
Grows cloudy, and
It floats away
From you.
A Jelly-Fish by Marianne Moore
Visible, invisible,
A fluctuating charm,
An amber-colored amethyst
Inhabits it; your arm
Approaches, and
It opens and
It closes;
You have meant
To catch it,
And it shrivels;
You abandon
Your intent—
It opens, and it
Closes and you
Reach for it—
The blue
Surrounding it
Grows cloudy, and
It floats away
From you.
Book Bingo: April 2026
Apr. 29th, 2026 03:07 pmMaking progress!
G-1: Author's Debut/First Book: A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin. The April![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bookclub_dw book. It is an easy read. A fantasy novel about a poor village girl with a tragic past who travels to a tea-making competition in the princess court to win a remedy for her dying sister. Warning: ends on a cliffhanger.
N-2: Historical (fiction or nonfiction): Keats: a brief life in 9 poems and one epitaph by Lucasta Miller. A nice overview of Keats' life and death and impact. Audiobook.
O-2: eBook/audiobook: The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves. This is the latest Shetland/Jimmy Perez novel and of course Jimmy can't catch a break. His best friend is murdered. But his best friend is kind of a loser and the killer comes out of left field at the end with a motive that isn't hinted at until the last quarter of the book. Do not recommend, my eye-rolling muscles got a good workout, but the narrator is good. Audiobook.
I-3: Crime/Mystery: Tokyo Express by Seicho Mastumoro. A solid Japanese police procedural. Very much about train time tables a la Freeman Wills Croft. Audiobook. I have a soft spot for the narrator.
O-3: Book Older than You are: The Dispossessed [1974] by Ursula K. Le Guin. A science fiction classic about a planet and a moon and a physicist who travels from the latter to the former and back. A philosophical treatise on government or lack of it, human nature, time, and space. To give a quote:
To break a promise is to deny the reality of the past; therefore it is to deny the hope of a real future. If time and reason are functions of each other, if wer are creatures of time, then we had better know it, and try to make the best of it.
G-1: Author's Debut/First Book: A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin. The April
bookclub_dw book. It is an easy read. A fantasy novel about a poor village girl with a tragic past who travels to a tea-making competition in the princess court to win a remedy for her dying sister. Warning: ends on a cliffhanger. N-2: Historical (fiction or nonfiction): Keats: a brief life in 9 poems and one epitaph by Lucasta Miller. A nice overview of Keats' life and death and impact. Audiobook.
O-2: eBook/audiobook: The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves. This is the latest Shetland/Jimmy Perez novel and of course Jimmy can't catch a break. His best friend is murdered. But his best friend is kind of a loser and the killer comes out of left field at the end with a motive that isn't hinted at until the last quarter of the book. Do not recommend, my eye-rolling muscles got a good workout, but the narrator is good. Audiobook.
I-3: Crime/Mystery: Tokyo Express by Seicho Mastumoro. A solid Japanese police procedural. Very much about train time tables a la Freeman Wills Croft. Audiobook. I have a soft spot for the narrator.
O-3: Book Older than You are: The Dispossessed [1974] by Ursula K. Le Guin. A science fiction classic about a planet and a moon and a physicist who travels from the latter to the former and back. A philosophical treatise on government or lack of it, human nature, time, and space. To give a quote:
To break a promise is to deny the reality of the past; therefore it is to deny the hope of a real future. If time and reason are functions of each other, if wer are creatures of time, then we had better know it, and try to make the best of it.
Word: Ansible
Apr. 29th, 2026 02:59 pmCopy-and-pasting from my 1word1day Monday post because I finished Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed this week.
ansible [an-suh-buhl]
noun
(in science fiction) a device for instantaneous communication, or other purposes, across cosmic distances
examples
1. I could show them the ansible, but it didn’t make a very convincing Alien Artifact, being so incomprehensible to fit in with hoax as well as with reality. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
2. "What is an anisble, Shevek?"
"An idea." He smiled without much humor. "It will be a device that will permit communication without any time interval between two points in space." The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
origin
Shortening of answerable; coined by Ursula K. Le Guin in her novel Rocannon's World (1966)
1word1day Monday post because I finished Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed this week. ansible [an-suh-buhl]
noun
(in science fiction) a device for instantaneous communication, or other purposes, across cosmic distances
examples
1. I could show them the ansible, but it didn’t make a very convincing Alien Artifact, being so incomprehensible to fit in with hoax as well as with reality. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
2. "What is an anisble, Shevek?"
"An idea." He smiled without much humor. "It will be a device that will permit communication without any time interval between two points in space." The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
origin
Shortening of answerable; coined by Ursula K. Le Guin in her novel Rocannon's World (1966)
Who Has Seen the Wind? by Christina Rossetti
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
C is for Cyanide
C is also for card readings. If you are interested in tarot readings (receiving or offering) check out this post https://tarot.dreamwidth.org/16287.html
I got a lovely one fromgoodbyebird.
C is also for card readings. If you are interested in tarot readings (receiving or offering) check out this post https://tarot.dreamwidth.org/16287.html
I got a lovely one from
goodbyebird.Music Monday: Moanin by Charles Mingus
Apr. 27th, 2026 04:36 pmI always look at 'today in jazz history' before I go in to do jazz man and last week it was Mingus' birthday, and jazz man asked Alexa to play this for me and explained to me a lot about what is going on.
There Will Come Soft Rains by Sara Teasdale
(War Time)
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,
Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.
(War Time)
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,
Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.
3Weeks4Dreamwidth: B is for Belladonna
Apr. 26th, 2026 03:25 pmA is for Agatha Chrstie.
B is for Belladonna.
Here's a fun anecdote from A is for Arsenic: The poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Markup.
In 1977, a Frenchman added eyedrop solution (atropine, the dominant toxic compound in belladonna) to a bottle of wine and gave it to his uncle intending to kill a friend of his uncle's. The intended victim didn't drink the wine, but the uncle and aunt did, much later. Uncle died, aunt in coma. No foul play suspected until a carpenter and the uncle's son-in-law stop by the house to put uncle's body in the coffin and drank some wine (like you do) and ended up going to hospital.
Here's where it gets eye-rolling...police found a copy of Agatha Christie's Thirteen Problems where Miss Marple solves a case of eyedrop solution as poison...and the relevant sections were underlined.
Hey, kids, make sure you tidy up your research when you're trying to top somebody...hmmm?
B is for Belladonna.
Here's a fun anecdote from A is for Arsenic: The poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Markup.
In 1977, a Frenchman added eyedrop solution (atropine, the dominant toxic compound in belladonna) to a bottle of wine and gave it to his uncle intending to kill a friend of his uncle's. The intended victim didn't drink the wine, but the uncle and aunt did, much later. Uncle died, aunt in coma. No foul play suspected until a carpenter and the uncle's son-in-law stop by the house to put uncle's body in the coffin and drank some wine (like you do) and ended up going to hospital.
Here's where it gets eye-rolling...police found a copy of Agatha Christie's Thirteen Problems where Miss Marple solves a case of eyedrop solution as poison...and the relevant sections were underlined.
Hey, kids, make sure you tidy up your research when you're trying to top somebody...hmmm?
This series of entries is commentary on my lifelong quest to read all of Agatha Christie's works in UK publication order. It was begun in January 2021.
So for 3 Weeks for Dreamwidth, my working theme is Arsenic, Belladona, Cyanide, the ABCs of Murder.
Day 1: A is for Agatha, specially my All of Agatha series. Can you believe that after 5+ years, I am finally nearing the end. I have 3 more works to go.
Elephants Can Remember [1972] is not new or particularly interesting. We see themes that have appeared again and again (but she has been doing this now for 50 years and they are tropes because she did them and did them well for many of those fifty years). There is a cold case which has a bearing on a young couple who want to marry. There is Ariadne Oliver as Aggie's stand-in and Poirot. There are really unhealthy views of adoption vs. biological motherhood as well as marriage. There is a repetition of a phrase (in earlier works it was nursery rhymes but now it is the title). The key clue is that a woman had four wigs. It is available in two parts on Youtube narrated by Hugh Fraser. That is the version I listened to and it was okay. I did a collage. For newcomers, this is a scan of a physical collage with paper, washi tape, stickers, etc.
So for 3 Weeks for Dreamwidth, my working theme is Arsenic, Belladona, Cyanide, the ABCs of Murder.
Day 1: A is for Agatha, specially my All of Agatha series. Can you believe that after 5+ years, I am finally nearing the end. I have 3 more works to go.
Elephants Can Remember [1972] is not new or particularly interesting. We see themes that have appeared again and again (but she has been doing this now for 50 years and they are tropes because she did them and did them well for many of those fifty years). There is a cold case which has a bearing on a young couple who want to marry. There is Ariadne Oliver as Aggie's stand-in and Poirot. There are really unhealthy views of adoption vs. biological motherhood as well as marriage. There is a repetition of a phrase (in earlier works it was nursery rhymes but now it is the title). The key clue is that a woman had four wigs. It is available in two parts on Youtube narrated by Hugh Fraser. That is the version I listened to and it was okay. I did a collage. For newcomers, this is a scan of a physical collage with paper, washi tape, stickers, etc.
Poet's Corner: Tree by Jane Hirshfield
Apr. 25th, 2026 07:01 pmTree by Jane Hirshfield
It is foolish
to let a young redwood
grow next to a house.
Even in this
one lifetime,
you will have to choose.
That great calm being,
this clutter of soup pots and books—
Already the first branch-tips brush at the window.
Softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life.
It is foolish
to let a young redwood
grow next to a house.
Even in this
one lifetime,
you will have to choose.
That great calm being,
this clutter of soup pots and books—
Already the first branch-tips brush at the window.
Softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life.
Signal Boost
Apr. 24th, 2026 06:53 amFYI: Three Weeks for Dreamwidth starts tomorrow! (I know! It snuck up on me, too) Ideas for things folks are doing/might be doing: https://3weeks4dreamwidth.dreamwidth.org/17014.html
3weeks4dreamwidth is celebrating Dreamwidth's anniversary!
Come join in for fun, memes, activities, and more ♥
I was thinking of doing the theme: Arsenic, Belladona, Cyanide, the ABCs of Murder--because why not?
Here's a collage I did with some of my new stuff. The theme is PINK! Which is also an indirect poison reference--they poison themselves, John!
3weeks4dreamwidth is celebrating Dreamwidth's anniversary!Come join in for fun, memes, activities, and more ♥
I was thinking of doing the theme: Arsenic, Belladona, Cyanide, the ABCs of Murder--because why not?
Here's a collage I did with some of my new stuff. The theme is PINK! Which is also an indirect poison reference--they poison themselves, John!
I did this for Earth Day (yesterday). I went back to the library and took another 2 little scrolls of poems and this is the one that Minisculus got. I don't know who Alec is.
For Wordy Wednesday, I present this poem which is choc-a-bloc with 'em.
“For you: anthophilous, lover of flowers” bY Reginald Dwayne Betts
For you: anthophilous, lover of flowers,
green roses, chrysanthemums, lilies: retrophilia,
philocaly, philomath, sarcophilous—all this love,
of the past, of beauty, of knowledge, of flesh; this is
catalogue & counter: philalethist, negrophile, neophile.
A negro man walks down the street, taps Newport
out against a brick wall & stares at you. Love
that: lygophilia, lithophilous. Be amongst stones,
amongst darkness. We are glass house. Philopornist,
philotechnical. Why not worship the demimonde?
Love that—a corner room, whatever is not there,
all the clutter you keep secret. Palaeophile,
ornithophilous: you, antiquarian, pollinated by birds.
All this a way to dream green rose petals on the bed you love;
petrophilous, stigmatophilia: live near rocks, tattoo hurt;
for you topophilia: what place do you love? All these words
for love (for you), all these ways to say believe
in symphily, to say let us live near each other.
“For you: anthophilous, lover of flowers” bY Reginald Dwayne Betts
For you: anthophilous, lover of flowers,
green roses, chrysanthemums, lilies: retrophilia,
philocaly, philomath, sarcophilous—all this love,
of the past, of beauty, of knowledge, of flesh; this is
catalogue & counter: philalethist, negrophile, neophile.
A negro man walks down the street, taps Newport
out against a brick wall & stares at you. Love
that: lygophilia, lithophilous. Be amongst stones,
amongst darkness. We are glass house. Philopornist,
philotechnical. Why not worship the demimonde?
Love that—a corner room, whatever is not there,
all the clutter you keep secret. Palaeophile,
ornithophilous: you, antiquarian, pollinated by birds.
All this a way to dream green rose petals on the bed you love;
petrophilous, stigmatophilia: live near rocks, tattoo hurt;
for you topophilia: what place do you love? All these words
for love (for you), all these ways to say believe
in symphily, to say let us live near each other.
