i wish you peace

[pensnest]

The birds, the birds! In addition to the usual tribe of Blue Tits and Great Tits (always at least five, but it's impossible to figure out how many of each kind there are) there was definitely at least one Coal Tit today. And... the Nuthatches are back! Two of them, absolutely feasting! Even more excitingly, I think there was a wren. It was the right shape for a wren, with its odd, stubby tail, and little, and brown. It didn't quite get as far as the feeder or the fat balls, but it was there. Never had a wren before. Come back, little one!

Squirrels were their usual dopey selves. Three of them hung about beneath the feeder in the hope of crumbs; one very sturdy and bushy one had a good go at gnawing through the metal bars of the bird feeder (yeah, good luck with that). Then there were two, mooching about, until I was overcome with a fit of generosity and chucked a fat ball out of the window. One squirrel fled, never to be seen again. The other kept pootling about and completely failing to notice the fat ball for a good ten minutes, until eventually it got there, convulsed with glee, and picked up the whole ball in its mighty teef and made off with it. Never to be seen again. (Seems to be a theme.)

It's almost annoying to be ready for Christmas at this point, not frantically wrapping presents or prepping foods. I made some stuffing sausages yesterday and wrapped them in streaky bacon, an idea suggested at my knitting group meeting which sounds like a Good Plan. And I have made most of a trifle for Boxing Day, just need to annoint it with custard (the whipped cream can wait until it's time to serve it). I did have a few trivial last-minute things to wrap, because I went up the road (no crutch!) for my customary Wednesday breakfast of bacon roll and Americano, because tomorrow there will be no opportunity and really, bacon in ciabatta, how could I not? Bought a few bits as an excuse for being there. Meanwhile Beast was enpretzling himself at yoga class.

Also, no Sesa to squee over. I had hoped to have a popslash story done, but I'm struggling so much with it I must be doing it wrong, which is very frustrating. I know what happens, but have no idea how to get there. Grar.

Well. Enough with the pointless posting. Have a Happy Christmas, if you celebrate, and a Merry New Year.

Comments

[jacieleigh]

The NCIS SeSa ran for 10 years, but I decided it was time to retire it this year (unless we can secure a bunch of new participants). I am still running my NCIS Happy Holidays Challenge, so there are new holiday stories being posted, but not a gift exchange. The PopSlash SeSa had a good run, too. I always thought Make the Yuletide Gay was the best-run challenge out there. It's a shame there aren't as many new stories anymore.

I was sad when I noticed one of my favorite PopSlash SeSa gifts had been orphaned. I'm glad they orphaned it, rather than deleting it. But it's a good story and sad to see it orphaned. Her account is still there, but there is only one story left, one she co-wrote. I guess she orphaned the rest of her work.

Anyway, wishing you, your family, your cat, birds and squirrels a very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!

[pensnest]

I think it's such a shame that AO3 didn't come along until popslash fandom was, basically, over. So many authors never archived those stories, and there were such wonderful stories around back in 2005 when I discovered it all.

[jacieleigh]

Yes, although I'm not sure when AO3 started. I remember dragging my heels before finally jumping on the bandwagon, which I think was late 2011. Maybe. I started writing NCIS fandom in late 2009 and decided to start posting that over at AO3. I only have about a third of my PopSlash stories loaded onto AO3. I keep meaning to add more, but it never seems to happen. There were so many really great stories that didn't get archived. Very sad. And I'm sure some were archived, then the account was deleted. It's a lot nicer when people orphan their work, so it's still there to enjoy.

I've shared with some people how different PopSlash was because it seemed like everyone was on LJ during its heyday. I remember there were dozens of active communities, challenges and participants. There seemed to be multiple posts nearly daily. And then everyone seemed to just drift away. Now everyone is scattered all over the place, so it's difficult to really make new fandom friends the way you can on LJ or DW.

I was reading fanfic for a long time before I started writing. I started reading sometime between '99 and '01. But I did not start writing fanfic until Dec 2003 and that was because I felt I'd run out of new (to me) stories in the fandom. I remember Gretchen's stories were the ones that lured me into fandom. I started my first LJ account sometime in early 2004. And wrote my final PopSlash story in Dec 2010 (for SeSa, of course!).

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Merry Christmas!!

[minoanmiss]

Happy Christmas!

[turlough]

How cool that your nuthatches are back. I absolutely love seeing them, they're so energetic and perky. The breeding pairs stay in their territory all year so you will almost never see more than two of them at a time. And even cooler you had a wren visiting! I occasionally see them here in summer but never in the winter.

Your squirrel adventures never fail to make me laugh!

I hope being ready with plenty of time to spare didn't mean unexpected chores popped up for you today!

I really, really miss ciabattas. It so sad there doesn't seem to exist glutenfree ones.

I hope you're having a very happy Christmas time!

[pensnest]

Spotted one nuthatch again today, and also a squadron of long-tailed tits. I *think* there may have been as many as eight, but they are well-nigh impossible to count.

We also had some kind of predator! There was a flash of brown which disappeared fast, and all the birds in the bush were suddenly gone, except one traumatised little blue tit which sat still for quite a while.

[turps]

I made some stuffing sausages yesterday and wrapped them in streaky bacon

What a fun idea.

Hmmm, trifle, always a good time!

[brandywine28]

Happy belated Christmas!

I won't lie; I was really feeling the lack of Sesa this year! I can't even promise I would've had the time or energy to write a half decent fic anyway, and yet...I'm sad! (Also feeling sad in general about my many, many WiPs these days. If I could just choose one, buckle down and finish it...! Well, that'd be cool. :)

(Fic chatter is never pointless, my dear. Especially when it's *your* fics we're talking about.)

[wenchpixie]

The Nuthaches are SO lovely :D and a WREN! Brilliant, they're such lovely teeny wee things - I hope you see it back.

I wonder if the Squirrels were foraging some of the Nuthatch drop - they seem to be quite picky, and there was a veritable rain of their discards below the feeder here.

The stuffing suasages in blankets sounds like a completely brilliant idea - we do a Turkey crown now, and it cannot be stuffed, but traditional stuffing does need a bit of something.