bjornwilde

The Five Strangers (Tropical Breeze Cozy Mystery Book 18)

The Five Strangers by Mary Bowers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Knocked back The Five Strangers by Mary Bowers over the course of 24 hours. It’s the 18th book in her “Tropical Breeze” series of paranormal cozies. The main character is Taylor Verone, who refuses to admit she may be psychic.

A sudden influx of strangers into the small community of Tropical Breeze stirs both curiosity and concern. There’s the harridan who opens an antique store just a couple doors from Taylor’s resale shop, a charismatic busker, a preppy CPA, and a possible vampire. Local handyman, Jasper, claims the woman who opened the antique store has placed a curse on him, and he retains the services of paranormal investigator Edson Darby-Deaver to get to the bottom of it. With Ed involved, Taylor gets dragged into the drama as well. She thinks that Sheila is a witch, but not a Witch. Before Taylor can convince Jasper he’s in no danger, someone is murdered and now the entire town is on edge.

This particular installment in the series had it all: mystery, humor, paranormal elements, and just enough creepiness to keep my attention. The only drawback, in my opinion, is that Ed wasn’t very Ed-like. Instead of being reserved and socially awkward, he seemed more feisty and in charge. Not necessarily a bad thing, but out of character for him. Other characters were portrayed well, from the regulars to the newcomers. The plot was fast-paced and held my attention.

Favorite lines:
♦ “Now tools don’t work and ladders are falling over and even turtles are coming to get me.”
♦ It would have been just like Ed to throw things off by suggesting that evil-wishers don’t use gopher tortoises because they’re too slow.
♦ “Have you been just hoping for a case of hag-riding one of these days so you could test out a theory?”
♦ When Abraham was a proto-kitten and lined up for a personality before being born, he must have gotten into the sloth line by mistake.
♦ “Wait, I’ll go with you. We can go on the warpath together.”
♦ “He thinks he’s got vampires now?” Jasper hadn’t mentioned that at the diner, and when you’re consulting a paranormal investigator, you’d think a thing like that would come up.
♦ “If you decide to just go over to his house and knock on the door, make sure you don’t go after dark. I hear vampires are trying to get into his house.”
♦ “I don’t think any of them have even seen her shop yet. It’s actually more horrible than she is.”
♦ “You will eat quiche off of antique china and like it.”
♦ “Even I had my doubts when I heard about the tortoise attack.”

Marvelous fun! Five stars

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: "Cold Cold Cold" ~ Cage the Elephant

catness

My recent discovery via the Snowflake Challenge:

seasons_of_fandom

It's a community where users are divided into 4 teams (Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn) and complete various kinds of creative challenges like writing, art and even playing puzzle games. Despite the name "fandom", original works are allowed. It's super organized with lots of rules (I'm still trying to get the hang of it all) so it should appeal to fellow fans of spreadsheets, lists and similar obsessions ;) If you enjoy a bit of external nudging to stay creative, check it out! The sign up post

Current Mood: optimistic

conuly

And isn’t everything risk?

The beloved lives
Then dies,
Then (if we’re lucky)
Rises again
Into a poem or song

Or into the world
In some other form
Impossible to predict.

Simplest story, oldest tale:

Sparrows sing it
From every hedge;

And swallows, also,
From their nests on the ledge.

**********

Link

cahn

Last week: The Jews are basically in an abusive relationship with Rome and have no good options; they choose the particular bad option of picking a war with Rome that they can't win. The Romans are terrible. Also continuing discussion here about Britannicus, Messalina, and the Praetorians.

This week: Vespasian comes down like a ton of bricks. That whole !!!! part of Josephus happens, where he gets stuck in the cave with a bunch of others and invents and wins the Josephus problem (well, in the text it says they draw lots, so he doesn't actually really cite what developed into the problem) (*) and surrenders to the Romans once he and another guy are the only ones left, and prophesies to Vespasian that he will become emperor. (

selenak: Is it Feuchtwanger's invention to add the nomenclature of Messiah in there too? That definitely... upped the ante.)

(I'll comment more on this tomorrow -- I got done with the reading late and obviously barely got this written.)

Next week: first part of book 4? Where to?

(*) E. wanted to know what I was reading, so I told her about the Josephus problem, and she said, "Real-world applications of math!"

torachan

1. We made mac and cheese for lunch inspired by the ramen mac and cheese we had at DCA last night. Added dashi in the water while the macaroni was boiling, and topped with furikake (all we had was gomashio, which is a mix of black sesame seeds and chunky salt) and it was delicious but we decided adding toasted panko really would make it better, so we actually ended up making it again for dinner with the panko. It was so good. Carla bought a different type of furikake at the store today but I just used the gomashio again and that went so good with the panko. Will definitely be making mac and cheese this way again.

2. A couple weeks ago I got the annual Costco rewards gift certificate and we finally braved Costco today so we could use it. We weren't going directly home, so that saved us from being tempted by any perishable products and we pretty much stuck to our list of basics that we needed to stock up on.

3. The weekend is over and I'm not thrilled about that but it was a pretty nice weekend overall.

4. Molly loves being in this window, hidden behind the curtain.

conuly

Watch on YouTube

conuly

that the Roman calendar was batshit.

Today is the Ides, okay, and yesterday was pridie Ides, so far so good, and the day before that was three days before the Ides, because the Romans a. counted backwards and b. did this weird inclusive counting, so Friday, Saturday, Ides = three days.

(Which is also how Good Friday is three days before the Resurrection, when it blatantly isn't.)

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( Read more... )

conuly

Not to worry, I'll return it. We have plenty enough as it is.

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( Read more... )

gingicat

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

muccamukk

The YouTube algorithm has seen my interest in figure skating and started offering me classical ballet (I think, always difficult to tell how one gets where one ends up).

So I've been watching bits and pieces of that, as well as all of The Royal Ballet's Cinderella. I therefore offer you some fully random observations, from someone who never got into any kind of dance as a kid, and therefore knows baaaaaasically nothing about the topic. (I have been to several ballets in person, The Nutcracker of course, and the Winnipeg Ballet's Svengali..)

I like classical ballet (I'm not really watching modern) because it's quite ridiculous, and unconnected to anything that has ever happened on the face of the Earth.

I have learned that there's dialogue! Classical ballet has a kind of sign language, done through gestures, so that the dancers can explain plot points such as "We make evil men dance until they die!" and "This lake is made of my mother's tears!"

There does not seem to be much point to the male principal dancers. They have thighs like birch trees, which allows them to leap impressively high in the air, but they don't spin around on nothing but their big toe, which makes them less interesting to watch. Their main purposes seems to be to move the plot along, and act as a "Ballerina holder upper."

Maybe it's just because I'm not good enough at reading the mime, but the romantic dances are... not very romantic. They mostly seem to be the ballerina holder upper holding up the ballerina while she spins around on her big toe.

I don't know if there's non-transphobic/misogynistic way to do the comedy roles where male dancers play female characters, but Cinderella sure didn't manage it.

The plot of Giselle is really interesting (boy meets girl, girl dies when she finds out that boy has a fiancée, girl joins chorus of vengeful ghosts, vengeful ghosts attempt to kill boy, girl saves boy), and I wonder if there have been modern retellings like there have of other old fairytales.

I'm pretty sure the human body is not designed to do any of that.

Which is all I have for now.

extrapenguin

Swan Lake is, after the Nutcracker, perhaps the most basic ballet there is. It's considered the peak of classical ballet (note: in ballet, the romantic era comes before the classic, so that while Tchaikovsky is a romantic composer, he is a composer of classic ballets), but I think the part of the reason for its longevity is that it has multiple ending variants, broadly divided into "villain wins" and "lovers prevail".

Short synopsis:

including the prologue!

[Prologue] Princess Odette gets kidnapped by an evil sorcerer, Rothbart, and cursed to become a swan who can only turn human by night. (He has a collection of women he's done this to.) Her mom turns up and cries so much her tears form the titular Swan Lake. Basically no-one performs this part anymore.

The Curse: a prince must publicly proclaim to love Odette and only Odette; if she is betrayed in love, she and all the other swan maidens are condemned to stay swans forever. Allegedly this will also happen if Rothbart dies before the curse is broken.

[Act 1 Scene 1] The production will probably start here, in a palace courtyard. Lots of partying and jolly dancing. Prince Siegfried gets gifted a crossbow. His mom tells him that tomorrow, at his 18th birthday party, he will have to pick a girl to marry.

[Act 1 Scene 2] Siegfried goes hunting! He sees a beautiful swan, who then turns into a beautiful woman. He is awed and they then fall in love. Corps de ballet is the other swan maidens, with divertissements of the four little swans and three large swans.

[Act 2 Scene 1] The birthday party. Lots of dancing in the form of divertissements. Siegfried turns down all the women his mother has thoughfully assembled, to everyone's shock. But then! The party is gatecrashed by a dude and his swan-y daughter, Odile – the black swan. The dude is none other than Rothbart, and Siegfried enspelled to see Odette when he looks at Odile. (In basically every production over, it's the same ballerina; all that changes is the color of the tutu.) Odette tries to fly in the window but is stopped. Siegfried proclaims his undying love to Odile, at which point Rothbart goes lol and draws back the curtains to reveal Odette behind the window, watching all this. Much drama ensues, Siegfried runs off, his mom faints, etc.

[Act 2 Scene 2] Back at the lake, Siegfried searches out Odette amidst the other swan maidens who have now all been condemned to an eternity as swans due to him. They meet and dance together. Then Rothbart shows up, and this is where things get interesting wrt potential ending variants. In a bunch of them, Rothbart takes Odette and she becomes a swan forever, and Siegfried tragically beseeches the audience etc (unless he's danced by Nureyev, in which case he drowns). In others, Rothbart gets defeated either by Siegfried killing him somehow, or simply by the True Love (TM) being so powerful it outpowers the curse; cue happy ending.

The Paris Ballet Theatre put on the happy ending which I believe is most popular in Russia: Siegfried steals one of Rothbart's wings (he is owl-coded), thus depriving him of his powers and defeating him. As usual, I bought the program, and this time they even had DVDs, so I bought one! Next up, buying an external DVD drive so I can rip it...

Dancing: Their principal danseur is very good at projecting this sort of naïve and innocent vibe, which fits Siegfried well. Their prima ballerina worked great as Odette, though Odile could've had a bit of extra spice. The costuming was amazing, with 109887 sequins on everyone, and I appreciated the slightly softer tutus (vs hardcore platter tutus) of the swans.

Also this is basically the Ballets Russes reborn. They dance Vaganova/Russian style, the dancers got their training in places like Armenia and the Komi Republic (in Russia), were soloists in places like the Bolshoi Theater and the Ural Opera (both in Russia), and the maîtrisse de ballet is Belarusian. Also the live music, The Orchestra of Budapest, is basically an international company formed out of almost exclusively Eastern European musicians, with a Belarusian conductor.

Note to self: rows G-P probably the best for seeing stuff, since it's far enough up that you can see the back of the stage/some of what the corps de ballet is doing formation-wise and aren't upskirting everyone nonstop, but close enough you can see expressions.

thisbluespirit

Keep forgetting to crosspost my

rainbowfic pieces & I'm still quite a bit behind, so have two:

Name: Watchdogs
Story: Starfall
Colors: Azul #15 (Through thick and thin)
Supplies and Styles: Novelty Beads (11 Years of Dreamwidth Space Month & Book of the Day Challenges - "Never alone.")
Word Count: 1794
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Mild illness.
Notes: 1313, Portcallan. Leion Valerno, Tana Veldiner, Iyana Valerno. Takes place straight after after Turn to Dust and a few days before Sweet Interlude. (Just a slight linking piece, but I wanted to post something.)
Summary: Leion recovers from Chiulder's work - with a little help.

Name: Missteps
Story: Starfall
Colors: Warm Heart #22 (Sorry); Azul #20 (Zest)
Supplies and Styles: Giftwrap + Silhouette + Novelty Beads (Oct Spooky Challenge 2020 - http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0g7cdJCp91r6aoq4o1_500.gif & September Secrets 11 Years of Rainbow fic - "It's in the palm of your hand now baby/It's a yes or no, no maybe" - Dark Horse, Katy Perry") + Pastels (

allbingo square "Bouquet of Withered Flowers - Rejected Love").
Word Count: 2361
Rating: Teen
Warnings: None.
Notes: 1313, Portcallan. Leion Valerno/Viyony Eseray, Kettah Jadinor, Diyela Eseray, Aolla Gerro, Vin Lorras.
Summary: Leion and Viyony attend the first night of the Sea Festival. Nothing goes according to plan.

conuly

Seriously, asleep more than I've been awake. And I never did manage to work out the logistics to get to the memorial, which halfway sucks but halfway is "Welp, social anxiety" so....

*********************************

( Read more... )

torachan

We decided to go for dinner tonight to avoid the worst of the heat and it was very pleasant by the time we got there. Not too crowded, either.

( Read more... )

torachan

1. Last year when we went to Japan we parked at the airport and it was pricey but not too bad, but this time we're going for longer and I looked into it and the prices are kind of ridiculous, unless we park in the offsite lot and take a shuttle, which brings it down to about what we paid last year. So I think we're going to just leave the car at home and uber instead. The main annoyance with that is that if we put both cars in the driveway, Alex and Nessie will have to park on the street when they're over for cat sitting. But I think if we pull both cars all the way into the backyard, they'll both fit and then leave the driveway free, so I'm leaning towards that. I'm glad I recently took that work trip and am now familiar with using uber more, specifically at the airport (I'd only ever used it once before).

2. Recently Carla ordered a set from the lego store and it was stolen off our porch. We never have issues with packages getting stolen and would not have even realized what happened except she happened to find the empty shipping box on the street a couple doors down. When we checked the delivery info the picture of the box on the porch was really awkwardly posed and the time of delivery was when multiple people were in the living room watching TV and the windows were open, making it odd that no one heard it, so I think it was probably the driver who took it. We live on a sort of cul-de-sac, so there's not a lot of foot traffic, especially on a Sunday evening, and would be really weird for someone to come up onto the porch to take a package when there are noises from inside making it clear people are right there. Anyway, she submitted a complaint and lego sent a replacement, which arrived today safe and sound. I do wish lego didn't send their packages with a return address label that says lego on it, though.

3. We had a nice dinner at Disneyland tonight. It was pretty warm during the day, but not anywhere near as bad as last weekend, and had cooled off nicely by the time we got down there.

4. Cutie Chloe.

chez_jae

Four-Alarm Homicide (House-Flipper Mystery #6)

Four-Alarm Homicide by Diane Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

‘Twas in the wee hours this morning that I finished reading Four-Alarm Homicide by Diane Kelly. It’s the 6th book in her “House-Flipper” series of cozy mysteries, starring carpenter Whitney Whitaker.

Whitney and Buck, her cousin and business partner, purchase a rundown firehouse in the Germantown area of Nashville. They’re excited about the possibilities and eager to get to work. Not long after, a woman who owns one half of a townhouse around the corner asks them to look at the structure. Joanna’s half is in good condition, but the other side has fallen into disrepair. The seven siblings who inherited it from their parents have not taken care of their half, causing Joanna to worry about the structural integrity of her portion. Knowing it’s in a good neighborhood, Whitney and Buck stretch their finances thin and manage to get all the heirs to quit claim ownership to them. Trouble begins not long after. Several people in the neighborhood begin vying to buy the townhouse before work even starts, and the Bottiglieri siblings start making noise about not getting paid enough. Things really come to a head when Joanna reels into the firehouse one day and collapses. She later dies. At first it seems like a tragedy, but Whitney begins to wonder. Joanna exhibited symptoms of mercury poisoning, but when Whitney points that out, she becomes a suspect in the murder. On top of all that, she’s trying to finalize plans for her upcoming wedding to Detective Collin Flynn. If she doesn’t want to get married behind bars, Whitney must step up to unmask a killer.

The story was likable enough, but certain things stuck in my craw:
( Spoilers )
All that aside, I did enjoy the story. Characters were compelling, and Whitney spent plenty of time actually working.

Favorite lines:
♦ “Two Cousins Transformations?” // Buck snorted. “That makes it sound like we turn into werewolves on a full moon.”
♦ “I hope they threw the book at him.” // “Me too. Breaking and entering. Property damage. Failing to put i before e except after c.”
♦ “There isn’t a cat owner alive who doesn’t have a million photos of their cat on their phone.”
♦ “I’ve got those cake samples to live for.”

I wish I could award 3 ½ stars. I’ll be kind and bump it up to four.

Current Mood: relaxed
Current Music: Blackhawks at Golden Knights

mific posting in

fanart_recs

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov
Content Notes/Warnings: implied nudity, but this version's not explicit.
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: realcardiac on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: These are season 1 shower scene portraits, but with female Hollander and Rozanov. It's the first rule 63 version of them I've seen where the likenesses are convincing. Femme Ilya is especially compelling.
Link: Shower scene, backup link here

tozka

1. I found a tiny snail on the wall INSIDE the house. How did it get there? Where is it going?

2. What I thought was a weird-looking vase revealed itself to be a crystal singing bowl. I can see why enthusiasts are SO enthusiastic about it. The sound sort of vibrates upwards and it's almost a physical feeling once it hits.

3. One week until I leave Chichester and head to Cardiff! If you have any recommendations for charity shops, used bookstores, small museums or other interesting places to while away time, let me know.

sholio

I watched it this week and enjoyed it as much as the first season if not more, since I remembered fewer of the plot specifics, and this season introduces some more of the characters I really like. It's still absolutely bonkers. If you've seen season one, you know what to expect.

( Spoilers, occasional anima/manga comparisons, vague references to future events )

thistleingrey

Via a friend---

1. Have you ever watched illusion magic? Close-up, or in a stage show, or on television? Did it work for you?

I've seen Penn and Teller on YouTube a few times, not recently, and a few illusionists live, because two people I've dated previously were fascinated by the whole thing and somehow unable to understand why I wasn't similarly compelled. To me, it's small-space athletic feats plus emotional manipulation, and I can pretty much always do without the latter.

2. Have you ever wished on a star, or a lucky cat, or a coin in a wishing well? Did it work in some way?

No.

3. Have you ever cast a spell, made a love charm, or tried a curse? Did it work in some way?

Not in terms of rituals. In high school I read a few books on Wicca, went "Huh, okay," and decided it's not for me, a conclusion only strengthened by meeting pagans of assorted types during my few SCA years.

4. Are there any other traditional superstitions you pay attention to? Do they work in some way?

My Oma had a ton of these, and I heed a few of hers. Don't put luggage on the bed; that's gross. Picking up random bits of cash in one's path, if it doesn't belong to someone nearby, is fair game. I guess the person I dated who gave me a set of knives may've felt that it led to bad luck, since we broke up a few months later, but we really weren't well suited. The wooden knife block is still around; I've since swapped out most of the knives, which were cheap serrated ones.

5. Would you want major magical powers like in a fantasy story? Which powers, and how would you use them?

Nope!

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bjornwilde

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Book 22, 2026

A season for creativity

[And isn’t everything risk?] by Gregory Orr

The Jewish War: Book 3

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This is the yearly reminder

Accidentally took a butter knife home from work

virtual memorial for Minoanmiss

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Ballet Experience: Swan Lake

Starfall Stories 53

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2026 Disneyland Trip #14 (3/14/26)

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