Work in Progress

A female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river

[melusinemuse]

I keep trying to write an intro post and then giving up. What is even relevant? I don’t know! Who am I and what am I all about? Great question! Maybe someday I’ll know.

The best way to see what media I like is to browse my blog. I lean towards old movies and tv shows long off the air. The Goblin Emperor, The King of Attolia, and Spinning Silver are part of a constellation of novels that live rent free in my mind.

I dabble in fiber arts, especially spinning, weaving, and embroidery. I keep sheep, chickens, and as much garden as my black thumbs will let me. I dabble in folk and old-time music, mostly guitar and fiddle and mountain dulcimer; clawhammer banjo is on my bucket list.

Grown woman. Married with kids. Home educator. Classical education via Charlotte Mason methods advocate. The modern education establishment should be razed to the ground. Yes I’m a lot of fun at parties.

Anti-AI. Anti-abortion, surrogacy, and IVF. Anti- a lot of things. 

In another life I studied creative writing and published poetry. I haven’t finished anything resembling a novel since 2007. Would like to change that.

Roman Catholic. Former theology student, forever opinion haver. I could say I’m “traditional,” but almost every impression that gives you would be incorrect. Compassion is for people; error has no rights.

Recovering over-sharer. Had my whole life shaken around like a glass figurine in a concrete block over the last few years. Now I face the rebuilding.

I’ve been on tumblr for ever, but it’s almost irrelevant because I rarely talk to people. But I would like more out of my time here than an endlessly streaming dash and parasociality. Let’s be friends.

[pineappical]

i think grace being the first and final tester for the biodome because he's the only human they have is a little funny. he mentions to rocky one time that the sea carries the wind and rocky's like hm. okay. will fix for grace :) and then the next morning he wakes up and steps outside and immediately gets blown away like a piece of napkin on a moving car with the windows rolled down because he forgot to mention how strong the wind should've been

[pineappical]

HJFKWGHJGHJWFGW

[freenarnian]

when a new blog/url appears on your dash without explanation and you have no idea which mutual it is

[songs-of-stones]

I'm seriously just truly bewildered and delighted by the design and depth of the Queen's Thief series. Political intrigue, sparse and poignant prose, characters who are so clearly their own and their ROMANCE agh.

[most-sane-classicist]

okay had an idea...

Which Generic Homeric Epithet is prev

Shining, Divine, Glorious etc.

Wise

Great-Hearted

Tamer of Horses

White-Armed

Long-Haired, Lovely-Haired

Sweet-Spoken

Bronze-Armoured

Glancing-Eyed

Dreaded

Swift

Sacker of Cities

Voting ended onJul 12

reblog and answer in tags >

[scribefindegil]

Working on baby's first chain-plying! I looooove how round the three-ply yarn is but this technique feels like it would be a LOT easier on a wheel

[scribefindegil]

I got the hang of it 👍

[melusinemuse]

It’s time! Maybe? To pretend I’ve never written anything before in my life and start and a brand new story.

[wizardarchetypes]

No more sleeping with my phone within reach because I was having an extremely vivid dream that I was the victim of some sort of mass-poisoning. the notorious poisoner? "The Centipede Cult." They used a specific type of poison, referred to only by its chemical nomenclature, which I somehow remembered perfectly upon waking. It went: □□ Na({}^{2})

Because that makes sense. Anyway, this poison would submit me to its well-known and much-feared symptom: "17 Day Paralysis" in which you're paralyzed for exactly 17 days and you only chance of survival is to be on full machine support for 17 days.

Just before the medical team intubated me I remembered I have a Zoom meeting with my academic advisor today (I actually do in real life) and I needed to email him to let him know I was the victim of a mass-poisoning and would need to reschedule.

I kept trying to type the "□" symbol in my dream but could not figure out how and gave up.

I woke up in real life to find I'd begun drafting an email in my sleep to my professor in the Gmail app. I was apparently using talk-to-text (I often do because of my hand neuropathy) but speaking in Irish, which talk-to-text never understands, so other than the words in English "poison" and "centipede" the entire email was complete nonsense.

[wizardarchetypes]

I told my advisor about this and he said, "well, if you had been poisoned, I would have provided you whatever academic supports available to us."

[wizardarchetypes]

Bc so many people have asked, the □ in the dream was in fact just a wingdings square symbol. Your phone/browser isn't blocking an emoji. You're seeing it right.

[redstonedust]

being too warm during the day: well, this sucks, but this temperature makes sense because the sun is up, and the sun is making me warm. i am unhappy but logically i can deal with it for now.

being too warm at night: what if i kill everybody.

[rainintheevening]

What is prev to you?

the smell of woodsmoke in the dark

sunlight glittering on drifts of snow

opening chords to a classic song after an ad break on the radio

daisies in a mason jar

the curve in the road you always take a bit too fast

blank notebook with a leather cover

a stone church with carvings and spires and stained-glass

a cool pillow and a warm blanket at midnight

playlist that makes sense to no one else

yellow leaf floating down a clear cold river

silver fog over green hills and warm hands in raincoat pockets

a strain of violin music floating through a crowded subway

Remaining time: 4 days 6 hours

[melusinemuse]

Wait. 🤔🔎🧐 SEPTEMBERSUNG??

Not anymore!!

[rainintheevening]

What is prev to you?

the smell of woodsmoke in the dark

sunlight glittering on drifts of snow

opening chords to a classic song after an ad break on the radio

daisies in a mason jar

the curve in the road you always take a bit too fast

blank notebook with a leather cover

a stone church with carvings and spires and stained-glass

a cool pillow and a warm blanket at midnight

playlist that makes sense to no one else

yellow leaf floating down a clear cold river

silver fog over green hills and warm hands in raincoat pockets

a strain of violin music floating through a crowded subway

Remaining time: 4 days 6 hours

[itspileofgoodthings]

you know what gets me about lord of the rings? evil is defeated by people who choose to fight against it without possessing absolute, or even very much, conviction that they can actually win. all the converging story threads that lead to the happy ending are carried out by people who are far, far more convinced that they will fail than that they will succeed, who had only the frailest, most foolish hope, who had blind faith and frequently wavering hearts not peace or ease or certainty.

middle earth isn’t saved because no one faltered or came close to despairing or who sank to their knees in weary defeat. it’s not saved by pride or conviction or even strength. it’s saved because enough people do what they have to do even if they have to do it in the darkness. in the dust. with the ashes of hopelessness and bitterness in their mouths. because enough people took another step. Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Aragorn, Theoden, Boromir, Faramir, Merry, Pippin. And many don’t. For every hero there is someone who gives into the “reasonableness” of despair—Saruman, Denethor, Grima, even Gollum—but enough. Enough people said “it doesn’t matter if we lose, I will keep fighting” and then they do.

And that GETS me. It is the most hopeful thing about the lord of the rings to me. There is so much that sums up its spirit, so many beautiful quotes and moments, but to me it’s never been the most famous of the quotes about hope and love that hit me hardest but a line from the films. Before the battle for Minas Tirith, one of the soldiers says “we cannot defeat the armies of Mordor” and Theoden answers “no. but we will meet them in battle nonetheless.”

And I—That is the spirit that leads to the conquering of evil when it comes down to it, when we’re talking about the part played by humanity alone in the fight against evil. Not the conviction you’re going to win, not farsightedness into a perfect future, not perfect inner peace or certainty. But acceptance of the real possibility of defeat, of that defeat being more the reality, the future, of your life than the victory, and then doing the damn thing anyway because goodness is worth fighting for even if you lose.

[melusinemuse]

@freenarnian your tags are everything

[ofchaosgoddess]

I have temporarily abandoned my spinning bc my friend went to a fiber fest and she met someone who had a custom sterling silver necklace that was a wpi tool and I thought it was the coolest shit ever and also oh hey I can make that and so

The small cutout is 1cm and the larger 1” bc I use both measuring systems. Now I’m off to file and polish for like ten eternities see you later

[weirdmarsupial]

My take. Not quite done yet, and I wish I had a bit thicker of a piece of copper, but it's a delightful little wearable tool!

[kissycat]

Has anyone noticed that translating poetry is not easy

[kissycat]

It's kind of like if you were in unrequited love with the crossword puzzle

[melusinemuse]

Instead of deleting this blog as I was super close to doing I have decided to reinvent myself utterly.

[currentlycryingaboutlancelot]

today I learned that in 2008, the city council of florence overturned dante’s sentence of execution if he returned from exile. yes, dante’s inferno dante, who died in 1321.

but the funniest part of this is not that they were debating the exile of a man who has been dead for over 500 years.

the funniest part is that the vote was 19-5. five people voted to uphold dante’s exile.

[stabethadeathwhisper]

The objectively funniest part of this is actually that the city that holds his remains, Ravenna, refused to give his remains back. This was a ploy from florence to have his remains moved back for the tourist money and its been ongoing for a long time. Florence had a fake tomb built in the city to trick people into visiting, and have tried to force the return of the remains.

His actual caretakers have been very steadfast in keeping them hidden, moved, or generally out of reach to respect his choice in life to never, ever, ever return to florence, even when he was first offered the chance to return. This is at this point an almost millenium long feud that florence is really, really mad about losing

[mysteryteacup]

so basically the five people who wanted to uphold his exile were in the right