gs_silva

JANUARY 2026 BOOK: THE SPELLSHOP

bookclub_dw has chosen The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst as our book for January.

I'll make the discussion post on January 31, 2026. If you have any discussion questions you'd like to be considered, please comment to this post.


Looking for something new to read? This community works just like a facetime book club -- members pick a title per month, read it, and talk about it. \o/

Snowflake Challenge 3: Love Letter

Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.




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These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "The Universal Assent to the World"
Poem: "A Heaviness of Heart"
Photos: Sunset
News
How to Comfort the Dying in an Emergency
Early Humans
Birdfeeding
Poem: "The Sound of Anguish"
Politics
Poem: "Help Others to Grow Up"
Fossils
Birdfeeding
Brains
Poem: "The Songwitch"
Philosophical Questions: Government
Poem: "A Different Language, a Different Vision of Life"
Poem: "Liberosis"
Friending Meme
Wildlife
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 1-2-26: Most Useful Communities
Friday Five
Poem: "Heartspur"
Watch "The Other Large Thing"
Vocabulary: Permacomputing
Community Thursdays
Exoplanets
Birdfeeding
Persistence
Poem: "Ruling from Beneath"
Public Domain Day Bingo Card 1-1-26
Hangover Severity and Symptom Tracker
Planning Ahead Goals for 2027
Friending Memes in 2026
My Crowdfunding Activities in 2026
Bingo Blackouts in 2025
My Bingo Fests for 2026
Planting Ahead in 2026
2026 Wishlist in Progress
Goals for 2026
2025 Goals in Review
Writing
Poem: "Once the Avalanche Has Begun"
Today's Cooking
Safety
Birdfeeding
New Year's Resolutions Check In
Poem: "Eyes Wide, Mind Open"
Good News

Food has 51 comments. Trauma has 46 comments. Affordable Housing has 78 comments. Robotics has 119 comments.

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Here are the character notes for "The Universal Assent to the World."

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This poem is spillover from the September 2023 crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by prompts from curiosity. It also fills the "Family" square in my 9-1-23 card for the Story Sparks Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the Aquariana, Cuoio & Chiara, and Marionettes threads of the Polychrome Heroics series. It follows "Help Others to Grow Up" and "The Sound of Anguish," so read those first or this won't make much sense.

Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics with emotional mayhem. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes traumatic loss, traumatic stress, emotional agony, supporting character death, a crying man, an inept messenger, upset baby super-intellect, moment of panic, reference to past losses, unfairness, feeling unfinished, worry about a friend, exhaustion, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before deciding if this is something you want to read.

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Tonight I happened to glance out the window and spotted a colorful sunset. So I grabbed my camera and ran outside to take pictures. This gets me started on my goal of taking and posting photos at least once per season. \o/

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Under the character notes for my poem "Help Others to Grow Up," greghousesgf has commented:

I remember seeing a poster in the Bart trains (local mass transit) talking about what to do in an emergency and one of the instructions was "comfort the dying". Frankly I don't know how some random person on the train who isn't a professional psychologist or something would be able to do that. I certainly wouldn't.


Nobody is obligated to help if they're no kind of first responder, which in this case to comfort the dying, would primarily be clergy. Remember that "Stay out of the way" is always a legitimate role in an emergency, and nobody has the right to criticize anyone for choosing that role. If the problem is simply a lack of knowing what to do, though, that is straightforward to fix by learning ways to help. It's good to think about such things in advance, because you never know when you might need to make that decision. Here are some basic ideas...

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Today is mostly cloudy and cool.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a large flock of sparrows and a starling.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/4/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 1/4/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 1/4/26 -- We did a round of fridge-cleaning.

EDIT 1/4/26 -- I started raking around the firepit, and got about a quarter of the way around.  The plastic leaf rake does slightly better with leaves than in the parking lot with leaves and sticks, but still not as good as a metal rake.

EDIT 1/4/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 1/4/26 -- I spotted the tail end of a very pretty sunset, so I grabbed my camera and shot a few pictures.  :D  It is 4:58 now and nearly dark.

I am done for the night.

So today, America's craziness reached a new frenzy...


What’s Happening in Venezuela? Start Here

US forces struck multiple military and civilian targets in Caracas and nearby cities, and captured Maduro. Here’s what we know at this point.


Sovereign countries are not supposed to violate each other's borders or leadership, outside of properly declared war; and that's largely about defense because war of aggression is also forbidden at this time. But people have largely quite caring about those rules, which is a growing problem.

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