dorchadas | Reading

I Feel: accomplished

We made it to the end of February! \o/ If you have completed any of your short-term goals or subgoals, and/or you're still chugging away at your ongoing goals, then pat yourself on the back. You worked hard for that. About 95% of New Year's resolutions crash and burn before the end of January. If you're still going, you have beaten the odds!

I'm continuing to track goals at the end of each month. So far it seems to be helping, so that's encouraging. I'm looking at my goal list more often and trying to keep ticking off more of them.

These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 9
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 16
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 23
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 30

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ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

In an ideal government, what should a good citizen provide to their government and what should that government provide that good citizen?

A good citizen should provide respect as earned, a reasonable share of taxes, contribution to society, well-informed opinions on public matters, and civic participation such as voting.

A good government should provide survival needs or the means to meet them, responsible spending of taxes on public goods, respectable laws, honorable leaders, and the ability to do things at larger scale than individuals could do alone. And not meddle in things that are none of its business.

lovelyangel

JaJa Winter Light Jam
JaJa PDX • Portland, Oregon
February 11, 2026
Nikon Z6 • NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S
f/2 @ 85mm • 1/180s • ISO 3200

Wednesday night’s mission was also simple – a single event – the JaJa Winter Light Jam at JaJa PDX. While the event ran from 7 pm to 11 pm, my experience was that I wouldn’t need more than an hour to get enough photos to document the event.

( PDXWLF Wednesday Below This Cut )

Previously
PDXWLF 2026, Day 1 – Friday
PDXWLF 2026, Day 2 – Saturday
PDXWLF 2026, Day 5 – Tuesday

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

"ENTANGLED LIFE" DISCUSSION POST is up on

bookclub_dw. If you've read the book, it's time to talk about mushrooms. :D

lovelyangel

Porch/Light Dance Party! at The Old Church
The Old Church Concert Hall • Portland, Oregon
February 10, 2026
Nikon D810 • AF-S NIKKOR Z 16-35mm f/4G
f/4 @ 81mm • 1/15s • ISO 3200

Tuesday night’s mission was very simple – photograph a single event – the Porch/Light Dance Party at The Old Church. There was no rain in the forecast. I chose two very different cameras for the evening. I packed the Nikon Z8 with the NIKKOR Z 24-80mm f/2.8 S lens – which is best for close-quarter work in the dark. I also packed the Nikon D810 with the AF-S 16-35mm f/4G VR. the 16-35mm is the widest full-frame lens I have, and I figured I’d need a very wide angle to capture The Old Church.

( PDXWLF Tuesday Below This Cut )

Previously
PDXWLF 2026, Day 1 – Friday
PDXWLF 2026, Day 2 – Saturday

theradicalchild

I Feel: okay

The Group Reiki at the witches' place in town was interesting, and it cost I think $35, and the lady that did it on the group that was there looked into me and saw broken mirrors, and me crying as a child, which was accurate.

I did my dopamine reset yesterday (i.e. not using any of my smart devices, my Mac included, per advice from a book I read a few months ago) and spent most of the morning shaving my head bald. I had tried using a trimmer I had gotten some time ago, but for some reason despite being well-charged, it crapped out, I don't know why, so I had to spend maybe an hour or two manually shaving, but I got it done, sort of ritualistic as a fresh start to new hair since whenever I had thinned my hair in the past there were always uneven portions even when I thought I had shaved it even.

I spent some time gaming and played Castlevania: Dracula X as part of the Castlevania Advance Chronicles on my Steam Deck, and while it wasn't very good, the emulation features like save states made it slightly more bearable, and I beat it, thank God. I'll try to type up my review eventually. I'm also still working on Trails from Zero and am in Chapter 4 now.

I also tried to clean my apartment and rearranged my bedroom closet, and did an okay job.

I had a hell of a lot of trouble sleeping last night for some reason, worse than usual, and again I am never really deeply asleep, as has been the case for a year or so.

I put ads for my former Apple Watch on Nextdoor and Facebook, and on the latter someone expressed interest in it and I gave them my CashApp name, and they sent me a screenshot showing they had supposedly paid, but I didn't get a notification in the app itself, and when I talked to them about that, they were really dodgy and stupid, so I blocked them. Assholes like that belong in prison.

The lunch at Fairview was rice, chicken nuggets, and a biscuit, which was decent.

I had been doing it months prior, but the library has yoga on Fridays, so I decided to go, and they had a substitute teacher, and it was the same guy that did yoga on Mondays, which I remember being the far more intense kind, but he told me that day's yoga sessions were less intense, so I may end up doing those again. The library oddly didn't have the latest edition of the town newspaper yet, but since I'm going out tomorrow I'll check then.

I also booked CranioSacral therapy with a massage parlor that has branches in Cove and Killeen (this will have to be at the Killeen branch), in hopes it may help with some of my mental issues. We'll see.

I also have my physical with my new primary care provider next week, and I'll be sure to give a full list of my other doctors, my supplements, medications, and such, require full bloodwork, maybe a brain scan, and such.

Comic of the Day

Hubert Humphrey said, "The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously." And that really applies here. And best of luck with that, guys.

lovelyangel

Illuminated Bike Ride
SE 2nd Ave. • Portland, Oregon
February 7, 2026
Nikon D810 • AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G
f/4 @ 66mm • 1/90s • ISO 6400

On PDXWLF Day 2, I always am at the Electric Blocks – mainly to photograph the Illuminated Bike Ride – but also to get some pictures of the art.

( PDXWLF Saturday Below This Cut )

Previously
PDXWLF 2026, Day 1 – Friday

lovelyangel

Pyromancers • 2026 PDXWLF Opening Ceremonies
Pioneer Courthouse Square • Portland, Oregon
February 6, 2026
Nikon Z8 • NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S
f/4 @ 81mm • 1/30s • ISO 3200

(I am soooo behind this month! I’m going to try to catch up on my PDXWLF posts before the end of the month. *fingers crossed*)

I had again signed up to be a photographer for the Portland Winter Light Festival. A select subset of us PDXWLF photographers have an agreement with the Communications Director that we are no longer accepting specific assignments – but are free to roam and photograph whatever we want. But even with that, we are expected to provide a certain kind of event/art coverage. The six-page photography guidelines document spells everything out in detail. Lots of do’s and don’ts. I end up going into coverage autopilot mode instead of doing only my own photography. This isn’t actually a good thing.

( PDXWLF Friday Below This Cut )

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

Six planets will align in a rare ‘planetary parade’ this weekend

Six planets will be visible in the evening sky. Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter will be bright enough to see with just your eyes.

Uranus and Neptune will be much dimmer, so binoculars or a telescope will make them easier to find.

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ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: pensive

Singer and songwriter Neil Sedaka has passed away. His hits included "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," "Laughter in the Rain," and "Love Will Keep Us Together."

( Read more... )

theradicalchild

I Feel: okay

From

thefridayfive:

Feelings…

1. What made you happy this week?
I guess spending time with Miss Vicki?

2. What made you sad?
All the trauma from my past that haunts me and 18 years of psych meds made a hell of a lot worse.

3. What made you angry?
My answer to #2.

4. What are you looking forward to in the next week?
I guess my chiropractor appointment?

5. What are you not looking forward to?
My physical next Thursday since I'm semi-afraid my new primary care provider will find something serious, but at the same time, I'll try to be detailed about my health situation, especially mentally.

renegadefolkhero

money

like what even is money?? "Money can be exchanged for goods and services." (only made $350 boo)
eden did not pay me (or a bunch of other people) :( boo
I spent the money on seeds, plants, games, and a stuffed octopus. The octopus, in particular, is delightful. yay

boook

I finished a novella that I genuinely really like, but stalled out on last year because I was stressing about how readers would respond to it. This time, I decided to Ren up and do what I need to do, and I think it worked out pretty okay. I'll sit on it a while, probably until the end of the year, which will hopefully help with publishing anxiety. It's a somewhat personal story, and I'm sure some clueless dumbass will eat me alive on Goodreads and I'll spiral into despair, but whatever.
I picked up an unfinished novel from 2024. After a week poking at it my gut said, there 👏 is 👏 something 👏 wrong 👏 with 👏 this 👏book! And indeed there is something wrong with this book. The book doesn't work as a romance and wants to be more of an urban fantasy, and the midpoint is totally borked. I'm faced with that old dilemma: do I pour my soul and sweat into a thing that may not ever shape up, or let it die and save myself some grief? After hemming and hawing a bit, I decided I would give it one last go. I'm 35k in and normally Let It Go becomes apparent sub 20k. If I've got more than 20k I generally have SOMETHING. Might not be a great something, but it's something.

The dilemma: I have to publish More Book to make money, and I need money for games. Very tricky situation. So I yeeted a book last week, and I did my little ritual dance where I say I'm not gonna look at my sales dash but then obviously I do look because I need to sell at least one copy so I can calm the fuck down. As it happens, I sold 4 copies within several hours, so I released a godless primal scream and collapsed in on myself like a dying star, as one does.

For all my pissing and moaning I'm actually a very simple creature. I just want to sell like... a book, sometimes. Can you imagine if I actually sold lots of books, many times? How terrible would that be for everyone. That would be horrible. I would explode and you'd all die. Good thing I don't know how to market these.

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

My seeds arrived from the earlier Pinetree Garden Seeds order. :D

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ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

These are active communities in Dreamwidth from Winter 2025-2026. They include things I've posted, but only the active ones; the thematic posts also list dormant communities of interest. This list includes some communities that I've found and saved but haven't made it into thematic posts yet. This post covers J-Z.

See my Follow Friday Master Post for more topics.

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ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

Today is sunny and warmer with a nice breeze. :D

I fed the birds. I've seen a flock of sparrows and a male house finch.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/27/26 -- I cut and labeled four water jugs. These will hold Shithouse Marigolds, Black-eyed Susan, Milkweed, and Purple Aster. These are all flowers that I know can handle harsh conditions.

EDIT 2/27/26 -- I taped the jugs, moved them to the parking lot, and secured them with string.

I've seen a starling. Red-winged blackbirds are calling, but I haven't seen them. They arrived way early again this year, so I suspected that they'd wind up in my yard, regretting their poor life choices. At least it has cover and water here.

Crocuses are blooming, still all pale lavender. But there is a white bud in the rain garden!

EDIT 2/27/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 2/27/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a fox squirrel at the hopper feeder.

EDIT 2/27/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 2/27/26 -- I finished trimming dead stems off the wildflower garden. I still need to cut down the tree seedlings and rake more leaves off it, but the old grass is gone.

A yellow crocus is blooming by the log garden. Snowdrop flowers are opening. :D

EDIT 2/27/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

lovelyangel

Complimentary Birthday Spumoni at Nonna Emilia’s
February 26, 2026

On my birthday I was still decompressing from the work I had been doing for the Portland Winter Light Festival. I kept plans for the day very simple – a morning self-portrait session, a bargain lunch, and the traditional birthday dinner with my best friend, Jenni.

After a series of rainy days, Thursday was sunny. I thought it was perfect weather for an outdoor portrait – but I need to plan those well in advance, and I just filed the idea as a possibility for next year. Sunny days aren’t unusual here in the last week of February – but you can’t count on them. The sunshine streaming into my library was cheery and much appreciated.

I did have a tech issue I was trying to resolve – and best be done before I did my brief portrait session. Unfortunately, the tech work took all morning, so I had to postpone the portrait until after lunch. I wanted a quick, light lunch, and I took advantage of an offer from McDonald’s for free fries with a Filet o’ Fish sandwich. Simple enough.

After lunch, I did the short self-portrait session, which had been kept simple because I was using the new bookwall for the background. One side of the bookwall wasn’t well-lit, so I added a studio light to brighten it a bit. I also had set up my Dracast studio light to provide lighting for myself.

I had run a few tests the day before, and I had set up my Nikon Z8 with autofocus and face detect – which would choose one of my eyes as a focus point. I’ve never before used that type of autofocus for a self-portrait – and it seemed to work well. The Z8 takes a standard Nikon 10-pin remote connector, so I connected one of my Phottix wireless remotes.

The photo session and post-processing went quickly. Afterwards, I went for my daily walk – and enjoyed the sun.

At 3:50 pm I left home and met up with Jenni at Nonna Emilia’s for our traditional birthday celebration. I ordered my standard meal – spaghetti with meat sauce and meatballs, while Jenni tried a combination pizza – something different for her. I stopped ordering Nonna’s pizza back in the 90s, I think. I did accept a slice to sample, and we both agreed that the pizza was just OK. The spaghetti was delicious, as always.

The important part of the meetup was chat – and we are grateful that Nonna’s allowed us to occupy a table. (The restaurant wasn’t completely full – but it was getting close by the time we left.) Nonna’s also gave me a free ice cream for my birthday. I was given a choice of vanilla or spumoni. Vanilla is my go-to flavor, but spumoni isn’t offered at most places, so I went with the less common flavor. The spumoni was very good.

Towards the end of our chat, I opened the big birthday basket that Jenni gave me. It shouldn’t be surprising that she totally spoiled me with a wealth of gifts – including treats and gift cards (Kinokuniya, Burgerville, Abby’s Pizza, Saint Cupcake, Nike). Cute plushie gift card holders added to the festiveness. A wonderful birthday card and fancy birthday cake from Saint Cupcake rounded out the presents. Yes, I’m very, very spoiled – and grateful.

Birthday Gifts from Jenni

Our dinner ran from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Best evening of the year! I love my BFF and cherish these special and rare get togethers. I had a very special birthday and went to bed with a big smile on my face.

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: accomplished

Today I made African Spice Cookies. :D

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ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: accomplished

My second garden craft today was making a mini-water garden. (See the House Yard and the Worm Bin.)

( Walk with me ... )

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: accomplished

One of today's garden crafts was making a worm bin. You can buy commercial ones, but they're expensive. All this took was a few minutes to set it up. (See the House Yard and the Water Garden.)

( Walk with me ... )

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: accomplished

Today I took some pictures around the yard and did a couple of garden crafts. These are from the house yard and savanna. (See the Worm Bin and the Water Garden.)

( Walk with me ... )

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: amused

Did you know that bathing suits used to have buttons? Back when they were jumpsuits or dresses, buttons helped with the fit. And you can still get patterns for that if you're into historic sewing or want to go swimming without exposing a lot of skin. Here's an example of a reproduction pattern from 1872. Thanks to

atherleisure for the fun historical tip.

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

According to Dr. Bill Moomaw who coined the term, "proforestation" means growing intact existing forests to their ecological potential.

I am all in favor of stopping deforestation and protecting extant forests. However, there's more to the definition than that.

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lovelyangel

Self-portrait
February 26, 2026

 
It’s been a frantic and busy month (I’ll get my blog caught up later), and only at the end am I getting a chance to pause and catch my breath. I’ve been taking a lot of shortcuts recently, and focused effort has been spread thin.

I’ve recently been again bemused at how busy I am in retirement. Maybe I have a time management problem? My project backlog seems larger than ever. January and February were unusually busy with activity not related to any of my projects, and I’m totally looking at March as a reset for getting back on track with my 2026 goals.

On the health front, I’m struggling a little more. My hair has decided to go whispery thin, which is a new and unpleasant thing. Muscles and joints are wailing that they need better care. And my days are so full that I continue to trade health maintenance time for busyness time. I guess the heart wants what the heart wants. Every year I vow to do better. Can I take this more seriously? Placing bets on this would be risky, given my history.

Anyway, getting old kinda sucks (still). But I’m in the bonus round and can’t really complain. I’m not dead yet. Last year I said I should stop doing annual portraits – and I forgot I’d said that. I’m putting myself on notice that I can stop doing the photos – and do a check-in in 2030. I think this year I wanted an updated portrait that featured my new bookwall; my older portraits are obsolete with bookcases that no longer are here.

Over the past year I’ve been spoiling myself more – big and little things. More reading. More concerts. More tech. More food. The first years of retirement are fun, and I’m so happy every day to not have to go to work. My finances are stable and more than sufficient for my generally but not totally modest needs, so I’m exceedingly comfortable. I feel very, very lucky. And I’m quite happy. 70 was a good year, and I have high hopes for 71 (barring health or other surprises).

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

Today is mostly cloudy and cool. Looks like it rained a bit last night; there are small puddles in a few places.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I put out a fresh cake of peanut suet.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I cut and labeled 4 more water jugs. These will hold native grasses: little bluestem, side-oats grama, northern sea oats, and switchgrass. It will be interesting to see how they do. Potted grasses tend to survive well but are more expensive. Broadcast seeding on the ground has variable results. So if I can find more and better ways to pot my own from seed, that's an improvement. Native grasses attract wildlife with food, shelter, and other resources. Many birds devour the seeds. Some butterflies, especially skippers, and other insects use native grasses as host plants. My prairie garden swarms with skippers and other butterflies in summer and into fall.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I filled, sowed, and taped the milk jugs. This potting soil was wet enough that it didn't need watering. I thought I had some topsoil left, but I'm out of that; I'll need to restock in March. I put the four new jugs in the parking lot and tied them together.

While I was out there, a honeybee buzzed around, wishing to pollinate me, perhaps attracted to my bright coat. I had to explain that I was not a flower.

I've seen more sparrows and two male cardinals.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I set up a simple worm bin in the log garden's leaf enclosure. I used an old 5-gallon bucket with a cracked bottom and a hole in one side. This will allow worms to go in and out as they please. I put some leaves inside to start, and packed more leaves around the bucket. Now I have somewhere that I can drop food scraps for the worms to eat, and cover with a handful of leaves. This gives me a place that will likely have plenty of worms when I want them -- such as for dropping into large planters -- and also where I can take a handful of very bioactive material to jump-start pots filled with potting mix with little or no bioactivity. When the bucket gets full, I can dump out the worm castings to use for fertilizing plants, sort out some worms, restart the bucket with more leaf litter, and drop in the worms.

There are, of course, commercially made worm bins that are much fancier and allow access to more outputs. However, these are expensive. Also they trap the worms inside, which is not great for an outdoor setup. This is free and better suited to its situation.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I picked up the empty trough from last year's mini-water garden and moved it to the log garden, where I surrounded it with extra logs. I have taken pictures of the worm bin and the water garden.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I heard a woodpecker drumming but didn't see it. I have seen a fox squirrel up a tree.

I am done for the night.

ysabetwordsmith

I Feel: busy

Yesterday we ordered two different kinds of willow cuttings. I couldn't find a new contorta willow at a reasonable price, so I'm trying these instead. It will take time for them to grow roots, but willows are the easiest plant to root -- they make their own rooting hormone, which can be used to stimulate other plant cuttings to root.

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dorchadas

February 2026

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Another rainy day

Reading

New Year's Resolutions Check In

Philosophical Questions: Government

PDXWLF 2026, Day 6 – Wednesday

Books

PDXWLF 2026, Day 5 – Tuesday

Dopamine and Yoga

PDXWLF 2026, Day 2 – Saturday

PDXWLF 2026, Day 1 – Friday

Space Exploration

Moment of Silence: Neil Sedaka

The Friday Five, 2/27/2026

Bookshit February Edition

money

boook

Pinetree Garden Seeds Order

Follow Friday 2-20-26: Active Communities on Dreamwidth Winter 2025-2026 J-Z

Birdfeeding

Angel’s Day 2026

Recipe: African Spice Cookies

Photos: Water Garden

Photos: Worm Bin

Photos: House Yard

Crafts

Vocabulary: Proforestation

The LovelyAngel at 71

Birdfeeding

Willow Cuttings

Profile

February 2026

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