Artificial. Real is a lot of work and mess. Though I might put outdoor lights on a suitable tree (I have some pyramidal cedars that would kind of work), which would come close.

Halloween or Christmas?

Still lots of snow on the ground here but it's not coming as much and we are supposed to be into warmer weather by Christmas Day. So maybe not a white or green Christmas but somewhere in between. Which usually means kind of miserable, to be honest.

I am off work and trying to write. Got a story in mind, but my mood today isn't quite in the right place and I'm not sure where it's going. Still, I'm writing.

Coffee and tea are refreshed. Cold beverages, hot chocolate, and goodies all lookin' good.

How's things this second last weekend of 2025?

Insufficient snow makes skiing hard.

I love pumpkin but I ADORE pecan, so pecan.

Gift wrap or gift bags?

From their 2023 album Light Up, the beautiful "Bulbul Tarang" with guest vocalist Christopher Sampson. Lead vocals are by Jess Holland of the band. Those gorgeous harmonies are at it again and there's some terrific guitar work from Andy.

The title, I have found out, is the name of the Indian instrument that Andy plays at the beginning.

I discovered Solstice recently. They are a prog band with strong folk, new age, and other influences. It's a large band, an eight piece with 3 vocalists plus a violinist who occasionally doubles as a fourth vocalist. Like a lot of prog bands, they've been through myriad lineup changes. The only member who has been with the band from the beginning is guitarist Andy Glass and its basically his pet project. He's dissolved and reformed it a couple times since starting the band back in 1980. This is the current lineup doing a song dating back to the very first Solstice album. Vocalist is Ebony Buckle and she has a lovely voice. I love the harmonies that they get going among the three vocalists, which come out nicely in this performance.

Author's Publish for this week offers 30 magazine markets taking Flash and, in odd cases, shorter fiction. Flash here seems to mean anything from 600 words for one pub to 1500 for some others (and that's the limit the article uses). Our familiar 1000 shows up a lot, too. Genres and themes are all over the map. I do like writing flash but obviously it isn't going to pay that well even if they pay per story rather than per word. Still, if you want try publishing professionally and prefer shorter lengths, here you go.

https://authorspublish.com/30-magazines-accepting-flash-fiction/

Hey, Jen. How's things? I've never had to host my nephews and not gonna happen now. One is married and does some kind of environmental work and the other drives heavy machinery. Sounds potentially fun.

Good that your father seems to have found some friends, or at least kindred spirits. Hope that keeps things easier for you going forward.

Winter is back after a couple warmer days. My son and his wife came down last night rather than risking the weather turning foul again. They're crashing at her mom's place. We will see them later, hopefully a few times.

I'll put some seasonal coffee on, the Holiday Winter Blend from Pilot Coffee. For teas, there's Assam and Irish Breakfast. We have hot chocolate with marshmallows available. If you're needing something cold, there's iced tea and lemonade in the fridge. And I will set out some goodies. I'll get some Christmas-y ones later.

Earned income is often taxed.

Natural History, I think, though Technology museums have their appeal, too.

Give a speech or sing a song (both in public)?

Quality is not a given.

eBook (or, of course, paper). I find listening to a book just doesn't work well for me.

Popular bestseller or something weird and obscure?

Hello. No, I haven't vanished from the face of the Earth (I know, I know, sighs of disappointment there 😜). Just been kind of neglecting this place for some reason. I'll get back in the swing of things. New Year's Resolution is to get more writing going and some of that, maybe all of it, will go here.

Cora, nice to see you back around. Sorry to hear about Rose but glad Sasha has come into your life.

Take care all and have a good holiday season! I'm off work next week so might be around more.

That's rough. My Dad kind of clammed up and went into almost a coma once he was in care so we didn't have a lot of experiences like you're describing. Vibes to you and others affected.

Love that Christmas village. My mother did some neat decorating but I don't think she had an actual village, though I have seen them before. We did have this big Styrofoam church with a light inside that shone through the fake stained glass windows (just colourful paper, basically) and then a couple clay figurines of choirboys that we set alongside it.

Lot of snow here and it's cold (-5C or so highs, lows below -10C). Winter is quite early this year.

Android. Like a lot of IT guys, I am not a fan of the fruity company.

If you have a choice, use an app on your device/computer (e.g. MS Office) or use a web app in a browser (e.g. Google Docs et al.)?

Crap, has it been almost a week? Sorry, didn't realize I had been away that long.

Anyhow, there's fresh Kicking Horse Grizzly Claw in the coffee pots. For teas, we've got Irish Breakfast and Earl Grey Cream. Fresh pitchers of iced tea and lemonade are mixed up and the sodas are stocked. Hot chocolate, with or without marshmallows, is an option, too.

Not much happening here, at least of a literary nature. My wife's new desktop PC came so I spent the weekend working on it along with my usual weekly cleaning. Now that's done, I can maybe get back to writing.

Later alligators. Here's yummies.

Beautiful snow makes winter bearable.

Fish, I think.

Laptop or desktop computer for personal use?

At seven, Taylor Momsen played Cindy Lou Who in How The Grinch Stole Christmas opposite Jim Carrey. In that movie, she sang "Where Are You Christmas?". Now 32, Momsen quit acting several years ago to be a singer full time. Today, she fronts the rock band The Pretty Reckless (and is doing a fine, bangup job of it, too). And one of the tracks on their new Christmas EP is, you guessed it, a rocked up version of "Where Are You Christmas?"

Love the opening with Taylor watching her seven-year-old self on Leno with her childhood version of the song playing. And the outro with adult Taylor singing the original arrangement is nice, too. Ties everything together with a nice red Christmas bow.

A influenzas are the worst, I find. H1N1 is an A strain and that was the last really bad flu I had. Went through my son's school before the vaccines were out so we hadn't been vax'd yet. That was a long time ago now, though.

Good morning. Snow is here again. That's now three times shovelling and there's still three weeks to go until the solstice. Ugh. Not looking forward to this winter. At least it was less, and lighter, than the last one.

Coffee for this week shall be Fire Roasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. Teas are Assam Organic and Yorkshire Red. Fresh pitchers of iced tea and lemonade are mixed up in the fridge. We have hot chocolate available with minimarshmallows (which, sadly, aren't going down as fast as they used to). And there's some fresh goodies out.

I hate blood tests, especially when fasting is involved. Got some done earlier today and still not feeling totally right post-fast. Grey weather with snow apparently on its way likely isn't helping, either. How's things with the rest of you?

Quote by pamelavox
im in canada

Another Canadian! I'm in Southern Ontario, born and raised here. And there's a couple others who pop by from time to time.

Watched a terrific concert on YouTube the other day while I was on my exercise bike. It's Dutch singer Charlotte Wessels and her current backup band doing basically a live set of her last album. Charlotte and the band are on fire. She used to be in the Dutch symphonic metal band Delain (the last lineup including her kind of blew apart in 2021 but they have since reformed with a new lead singer) as did her guitarist in this show Timo Somers but I think I am liking her even more as a solo artist.

Happy Thanksgiving, Americans! Hope you have a great and joyous day!

Hmm. No pumpkin pie in my pie stock. How's pecan (that's my personal fave anyhow)?

Coffee and tea are refreshed, cold beverages are looking good.

I'm a rightie.

Order takeout or eat at the restaurant?

Quote by pamelavox

hi, 1st timer. can you tell me are we notified when our story is accepted and posted?

You should get a private message from the moderator (it's automated but comes from their address) and an alert on the bell icon. If you have email notifications set for messages, then you will get an email as well.

And welcome. The mods and more experienced writers like me will be more than happy to answer questions.

Ouch. My son and d-i-l were both sick last week, suspected COVID. So, yeah, sick season is upon us. Hope you all get well soon. I got my shots a week and a half ago, both flu and COVID.

Toho Studios, who released the original Gojira (Godzilla's Japanese name) in 1954 and all Japanese Godzilla films since (all the American ones, including the current Legendary series, are made under licensing deals with Toho) have announced Godzilla Minus Zero, a sequel to 2023's Godzilla Minus One. Minus One was a fantastic Godzilla movie so have high hopes for this one.

Another metal artist I follow who is releasing a solo album is Swiss vocalist Melissa Bonny. It's a different situation from Alissa, though, since Melissa's two current bands were both started by her. In fact, Ad Infinitum, her main band, was supposed to be a solo project at one point. So no breakups happening over this one. Here's the latest single, a pop-leaning ballad. In general, Melissa seems to be moving away from metal in this solo project, leaving it for her bands.

And from the "awww, that's sweet" file, the drummer on this as in her band Dark Side Of The Moon is her husband. Not sure how that works out for touring, though, since I know the band he normally plays for is touring early next year.