Sorry to hear, Gil. It just seems to keep coming at you, doesn't it? Vibes to you and your family.

We just lost my dad's sister a couple weeks ago after a short hospice stay. Late 80s and had a rough ride healthwise in recent years, including a nasty bout with C-19. Still, she seemed pretty good when I saw her last summer at her son's place. That's basically the end of that generation in my family tree. Her husband is still alive but that's a relative by marriage. He turns 91 this year and is still in good shape last I heard.

Coffee and tea are refreshed as are the goodies. Rainy and a bit miserable here until the weekend.

Pondering whether I can find something to write for here that won't tie me down in endless convolutions like my three or so current projects have kind of done (all are headed for novella territory or so). Something I can put to bed in 4-5K words.

Tetley's. In my company Yeti (was a gift for admin week or something like that at some point).

New day, new week. Survived the long weekend and got stuff done so all is well.

Coffee of the week is Kicking Horse Grizzly Claw. For teas we have Yorkshire Gold and Earl Grey Cream. Fresh pitchers of iced tea and lemonade are in the fridge along with an assortment of sodas. Kettle is hot and ready if you're wanting some other hot beverages. And there's fresh plates of brownies and cookies.

I'm not generally a big fan of the kind of music that comes out of Eurovision but there always seems to be at least one performer or song that catches my interest. This year, it happens to be the winner, "Wasted Love" by Austrian singer JJ. The song itself is decent, but JJ's voice is stunning. This is a male countertenor who sings as high as or higher than some female sopranos.

Quote by gillianleeza
He's happy where he is. I received the best news: his long-term health care has finally approved his claim and will pay almost all of the monthly fees. It only took six months to get it approved. It's a huge weight off my mind.

Holy hell, what a crap show, though. Six months? At least it's settled and they're taking care of the fees.

Hope your recovery goes well, too. And Jeff's daughter.

It being Victoria Day, we went plant shopping. Picked up a new patio umbrella for the table I use when I work on the deck. Old one was probably letting more light through than it was stopping. It's the original we bought with the set so overdue for replacement, I guess.

How about some cute, fun metal for Saturday afternoon? I mean, Baby Metal are definitely an acquired taste but who can argue with a song called "Gimme Chocolate."?

The amazing thing is that the crowd in the pit are just as lively for them as for any more serious, heavier band.

Heading into a long weekend here and in much of Canada. "Victoria Day", celebrating our first monarch (Confederation happened during Victoria's reign) and our relationship to the monarchy. To be honest, it's mostly the first long weekend of the summer. People open their cottages, take their first camping trips, high schools have their proms, people plant their flower beds, and so on. Weather looks mixed but today is nice at least. I'm working in my alternate home office, aka the deck.

Quote by verbal
My daughter can now stand up and sit down without assistance.

That's great. Progress is always good when recovering.

Never read Moby Dick. Not sure if I ever will. My ability to read much of anything seems limited these days.

I'll put on some Fire-Roasted St. Drogo coffee. There's Assam and Raspberry Royale in the teapots. Pitchers have been washed and refilled with lemonade and iced tea. Still plenty of cookies and brownies to go around.

Auri is a trio consisting of Tuomas Holopainen (keyboards, songwriting), Troy Donockley (various winds, guitar, vocals), and Johanna Kurkela (vocals). The first two are bandmates in the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, Johanna is Tuomas' spouse and has her own career as a singer going. For their upcoming third album, Auri have added a drummer and, no surprise, it is Nightwish drummer Kai Hahto. So half of Nightwish is now in Auri as well. With Nightwish on hiatus for this year, they are also able to do a fairly extensive tour, something Auri has not always been able to do given all members have other musical lives.

Trivia: The name is taken from a character in Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles, a favourite of Tuomas. He has also written songs based on the books for both Nightwish and Auri.

Since I'm here, I'll put on a fresh pot of coffee and some tea. Cold beverages are lookin' good. Here's some brownies, too.

So you want to get paid for your writing? Really? Well, here's some possible markets. This list is heavier on "literary fiction", i.e. general fiction not aligned to a specific genre, and has less of the genre markets that tend to dominate the monthly lists. Still, markets like Clarkesworld and Escape Artists (who have several fiction podcasts and sites geared to various genres) are here, too. See what you think. Maybe your next publication is in here someplace.

» 57 Literary Journals that Pay Their Authors

I actually think that I have been to more National than State Parks in my journeys around the US. However, provincial parks up here can be quite nice, so I imagine your state parks can be, too. Still, most of the famous ones are national parks so that.

Hike or mountain bike a trail?

Been very into extreme metal of late and contemplating what that says of my state of mind. My discovery of the week is Orbit Culture, a melodic death metal act from Sweden (there's lots of those). This is the leadoff single from their upcoming fifth album.

I think I would prefer The Mavericks to Dwight, truth be told. Not that either is my usual anyhow. Always find it interesting when a supporting act outshines the leads.

Glad your daughter's surgery went okay. Wishing her a good and speedy (as possible) recovery.

Good morning!! After a run of nice days, we've got cloud and a chance of showers in my world today. Oh well, the grass and other greenery will appreciate it.

Coffee is on. Went with Tobermory Flowerpot Island. Teas are Earl Grey and Yorkshire. Fresh pitchers of lemonade and iced tea await in the fridge along with restocked sodas. And I'll put a plate of cookies out.

Ugh. Sick plus jet lag sounds quite unpleasant. Though I have been there, done that myself. Glad you had a good trip. Germany is a nice country.

Throwing on some coffee and tea just in case others happen by. Got my housework done. On to cutting the grass next. Tomorrow, maybe we'll do some hiking or biking for Mother's Day. Depends on what we feel like.

Later, alligators.

Been trying to listen to some non-metal this week. I've been into prog rock since my teens so been listening to a lot of that. One of my favourite prog artists is UK musician-producer-songwriter Steven Wilson and his new solo album (he has also had some bands) The Overview came out earlier this Spring. He is now on tour. The album consists of two long compositions, "Objects Outlive Us" and "The Overview". On the first disc, both are in their full forms so there's only two long tracks, while the second has the individual sections of each piece broken out into separate tracks. Here is "Objects: Meanwhile" from "Objects Outlive Us".

S-F horror does more for me. Lovecraft's "The Colour Out of Space" is one of my favourite horror stories and also one of the seminal works of s-f horror (alien lifeforce that arrives on a meteor wipes out an isolated farm family).

Canoe or kayak for paddling?

Good morning! Sunny but chilly day so far here.

Given current activity levels, not sure there's much point to this, but I'll put on a pot of Deathwish Dark Roast coffee. There's a pot of Yorkshire Gold tea waiting, too, along with a hot kettle. Cold drinks are stocked.

I am taking another swing at a story that's been stewing forever. Had some new ideas on where to go with it yesterday but have only noted them in my writer's notebook so far. And got a project on the go for another site, too.

Quote by Cora
Like most bands, they evolved over time in their music, which I sometimes like, but they had a drastic downwards change after Viva La Vida.

Yeah, I kind of got into them for a while but they lost me at some point. But an artist that doesn't really evolve is just as likely to lose me. I like artists that evolve. I recently did a listen through of all five albums by the defunct Dutch metal band After Forever. My favourite singer, Floor Jansen, started her career as a vocalist and songwriter in that band at sixteen and was in her late twenties by the time they broke up. There's a clear evolution, especially around the third album where some major lineup changes happened. Still recognizable as After Forever all the way through, but the last album from 2007 is distinctly different from the first in 1999. But in that case, I actually like the last couple albums the best of the bunch.

Nice to see you around again, Cora. Lovely day might be a stretch here. It's workday and the weather is a bit meh. We'll see how things go.

Never Enough - Loren Allred

First Monday of the month so the monthly list of calls for submissions and contests is up. Lots of spec fic (sf, fantasy, horror, and related) options this month. Cryptids, spec-fic relationship stories, Halloween nostalgia. And for those not inclined to writing spec fic, there's themes like best dressed and modern slavery. So take a look. Maybe there's home here for something you're writing.

» 32 Themed Calls and Contests for May 2025

Sunday morning means Sunday Tea!! (black tea with Bourbon vanilla). And there's some Dark Roast Guatamalan coffee in the coffee pot. Cold drinks are refreshed, sodas are stocked up. There's goodies out, too. What's up for you this Sunday?

Yorkshire Gold

Lanternlight - Nightwish

Fun one. From 2010, Floor Jansen with her band ReVamp rocking into a Lady Gaga cover.

Plain old water right now.

Groan. That pun likely deserves a bit of extra drilling. 🙄😀

I haven't finished much of anything recently. Writing but things just seem to go nowhere.

New album from Canadian indie alt-pop singer-songwriter Lights is out today. A26 is the title of the album. Nice, lively electronic pop. Here's a track.

We've been doing a lot of cruise ships but I kind prefer a resort. Can just crash somewhere and write.

Zombies or vampires?