psst | Reading

Name: April Lynn Jolley

Age: 45

My posting schedule tends to be: daily/weekly/monthly/sporadic/etc Mostly sporadic. I may post 2 or more times a day or I may post monthly. It just depends on how I feel.

I mostly post about: All my workout routines, everyday things, random thoughts: some silly, some serious, my thoughts and emotions, politics.

My hobbies are: Being with my husband and baby cats, being with my mom and family, cats, working out, taking and posing in pictures, Psychology, fashion & beauty, horror movies & books, crime shows, the paranormal, fantasy movies & books, mystery movies & books, playing cards, playing board games, Facebook, journaling, ChatGPT, photo edits, graphics, digital design, edits, anime, Unicorns, scrapbooking, Stephen King, Agatha Christie, dancing, writing, poetry, reading, indie rock, pop, and alternative.

I'm looking to meet people who: Are open-minded, liberal, thoughtful, intelligent and loyal I like people who have a sense of individuality. I love expression and anything awkward and imperfect, because that's natural and that's real. ♥
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My posting schedule tends to be: daily/weekly/monthly/sporadic/etc I post mostly sporadic entries. I might most 2 times a day or I may post monthly. It just all depends on how I feel.

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: Homophobia, racism, sexism, judgmental people, really rude and stupid people. People who can't agree to disagree.

Before adding me, you should know: That I've had MS for over 25 years now. That makes my life incredibility hard at times but we all have our cross to bear. I'm very friendly, but I am sarcastic and have a dark, morbid sense of humor. I can get depressed at times. If you comment on my entries, I'll comment back. ♥

Current Mood: hopeful

tozka

Book Info

Topics: Nonfiction, Nature

LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/work/3092900/

Acquired from: Little Free Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA [see visit log]

Started reading: August 6, 2025

Finished reading: August 9, 2025

Review

A book with enthusiastic views of nature (animals, plans, seasons, etc.) presented in a way that just wanted me to see sources. Like, many mentions of things that happened in “recent times” (the 90s) but in a way that reminded me of those newspaper tidbit sections that were just there to give you something to read. Bibliography at the end which does include things used to write the book itself, but I personally would’ve preferred something more science-y rather than casual info-sharing.

Reading Updates

Page 0: This one didn’t come with a bookmark like Moby-Duck did, so I’m using one I got from Downtown Books in Milwaukee. I picked up this book partly because of the topic, partly because the blurbs on the back (“Sy Montgomery has insight into the Others that every nature writer on this continent envies.”), and partly because the author photos shows Sy holding a barred owl.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

tozka

Managed to get up slightly earlier than usual today and got out to the garden just before 7:30am. Absolutely perfect temperature, somewhere in the mid 60s and only needed a light jacket (which I happened to buy in Chicago recently! Score!).

Major difference in sounds from previous mornings! Lots more chipmunk sounds– and in fact I saw lots more chipmunks, too. Fairly blasting my eardrums with noises (birds, chipmunks, cicadas, etc.) and only very minimal human-neighbor noises this time.

Did a lot of chipmunk-watching. The easiest way to spot chipmunks was to look where the sounds were coming from, and then watch for moving branches. Eventually I was able to make out little chipmunk shadows racing around, and it was fun to watch them scream at each other.

Even more exciting was the chipmunk(s) who came close to my chair. One even went to far as to run UNDER my chair, after we accidentally made eye contact.

Spotted several birds of unknown type, but probably finches, of various colors (yellow, brown, black/white). Also saw a bright red one, larger than a finch but doesn’t seem large enough to be a cardinal. Some small white butterflies visiting flowers, and ants investigating my coffee mug per usual. (No worries: I have a silicone mug cover to keep curious insects out from my coffee.)

Later, after heading back inside to my temporary writing desk, the groundhog ventured out and snuffled around some bushes looking for food.

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

fox_in_me posting in

addme

Name: Mr. Fox

Age: 30-something

I mostly post about:
Stories from my life — my thoughts and feelings, especially during this time of war in Ukraine. I try to capture emotions honestly: memories of a peaceful past, reflections on the present, and tales from my life as a mariner and traveler.
This journal is still in its early days, after a long break from writing. Each entry is posted in both English and the original language. I also share my own photographs — from different times, chosen to reflect my current mood.

My hobbies are:
Photography (almost professional), lomography (daily photos of interesting moments), music (acoustic, alternative, instrumental covers), psychology, and classical literature. I love discovering new things — ideas, places, people.

My fandoms are:
Honestly, I’m not active in any specific fandom. But I enjoy reading and learning, especially to improve my English.

I'm looking to meet people who:
…feel connected to what I write — kindred spirits or simply those who find meaning in my words. I’m open to everyone (with one exception: I don’t welcome those who support or excuse the war). My posts are open and honest. I’d love to find new interesting people to read and connect with.

My posting schedule tends to be:
Currently daily, or a few times a week — depending on my free time.

When I add people, my dealbreakers are:
No major dealbreakers — most of what matters is already said above.

Before adding me, you should know:
I’m an open person without any particular agenda. I’m Ukrainian — and perhaps that matters now, just to avoid misunderstandings.
Welcome aboard. These are my messages in a bottle.

Watch on YouTube

pshaw_raven

It's been an entirely too interesting week. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Last week I developed an overuse injury in my right hand. Yanno, my dominant right hand I use for almost everything. It started as a pain in my shoulder that kept me awake at night, but then turned into a fairly nasty hand pain. Fox let me use one of his carpal tunnel braces, but Saturday we went out and found me a hand brace that specifically immobilizes the thumb, and that helped a lot. As of today it's a lot better but I'm still wearing the brace at night to keep me from contorting my hand and wrist in my sleep.

Saturday night the air conditioning went out. We called it in, and got on the list for a visit the next day, and the guy finally got to us at around two pm, but it was also one of the hottest days we've had this summer and by the time he arrived, it was 90 inside the house. We had box fans and stuff running but it was not a great day and neither of us got much done. Nothing happened on Sunday.

Monday the internet went out. This was an AT&T outage, and from what we found out through FastNet, their business services techs were saying someone cut the fiber lines - probably a construction crew. It took about 24 hours for that to get fixed, and in the meantime we didn't even have cell service. I'd occasionally get a "blip" of service and see a few notifications come in, but I couldn't get emails or texts out.

So far nothing else has happened. Fingers crossed.

I have fallen behind on my ham radio study, but I am starting to review previous lessons and bring myself back up to speed on that. Fox got his "official" pilot's license in the mail last week. It's a plastic card from the FAA that specifies unmanned craft, but it's still a pilot's license and he's justly proud of it. I also received my renewed passport, which may not mean diddly-squat but makes me feel mildly better about things. I also learned that as of right now, unless something changes *cough cough* American citizens who travel overseas can't be detained and denied re-entry into the US. I think that unless you're under some sort of warrant or whatever it's different, but they can't just not let you back in.

My birthday is coming up soon and I'm thinking of asking for snorkeling gear. I'd like to learn both snorkeling and kayaking, neither of which seems to have a huge learning curve, but they look like loads of fun. Scuba doesn't interest me because it seems like it's just an expensive and fiddly way to kill yourself.

Anyway I haven't done much art or any gaming with this hand/thumb thing. And I'm trying to be good about it so that it heals and I don't just prolong this. I kind of wish I could pinpoint what I did that aggravated it so much.

Current Music: Smoke City - Underwater Love

tozka

Went for what turned out to be an hour-long walk around the neighborhood and visited five Little Free Libraries– and found some great books!

The majority were full of kids books, which makes sense I suppose as people tend to load up on those at thrift stores and whatnot, so they’re easy to pass along.

My favorite LFL was #119554, not least because I found two books which look really good! It also had the best design, with one box for adult books and one for children’s books, a separate dog treat library and even a water bowl. Super cute!

As far as I can tell, all these libraries are the pre-built ones from the LFL website.

LFL Visited

LFL #89560 “Elm Tree Little Library” – Ann Arbor, MI – Took Square Foot Gardening.
LFL #119554 – Ann Arbor, MI – Took Climate Resilience and Seasons of the Wild.
LFL #135682 “Barking Dog Library” – Ann Arbor, MI – Took Moby-Duck.
LFL #177207 – Ann Arbor, MI.
LFL #178758 – Ann Arbor, MI – Took Paradise Rot.

( Photos under here! )

🌟 All LFLs Visited

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

tozka

Gotta get back to doing these! So:

Life Updates

Mostly I’ve been busy settling into my newest housesit and sorting through my new-to-me thrift store clothes (DW). I’ve got everything washed, but unfortunately the homeowners didn’t leave me a lot of hangers so half the clothes are in a pile in the closet (and I don’t have a dresser, lol). One of the downsides of nomadic living, I suppose…

🐈‍⬛ Me and the cats are slowly getting used to each other. (See previous post [access-locked] for more info!) They’re all picky about wet food flavors and they have different flavors they’re picky about, which is irritating. One cat loves salmon, the other wants tuna and the third prefers chicken bits. Luckily they all eat the dry food, so if one doesn’t finish the wet food they can supplement with other stuff. Silly kitties!

Media Consumption

🎧 I’ve been catching up on Cruising, a queer documentary podcast that this season is focusing on interviews with lesbians and queers doing amazing things in history. Love it! (More recommended podcasts here btw.)

📺 I watched all three episodes of Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross, which I wrote about here (DW). Also been re-watching Midsomer Murders (the early seasons) which is nice to have running in the background while doing other stuff.

📖 I finished A Girl’s Guide to India (written about here / DW) on the bus from Chicago to Ann Arbor, and haven’t started a new book yet though I’ve been carrying my Kindle around from room to room in hopes of actually using it.

I HAVE been re-reading some favorite fanfics, including this amazing IT Chapter 2 longfic.

Food & Dining

🛒 Did a big grocery order because I had a $10 coupon AND a 30% off discount, so I got enough stuff to (I think) last me about a month, with some supplemental purchases throughout, for about $70 INCLUDING the tip. Was shopped and delivered by a very nice older lady who knew to look at expiration dates AND check for rotten fruit.

Bonus: Meijer grocery prices here in Michigan are fab, especially compared to Oregon/Illinois. Example: one dozen eggs under $3, even on the delivery app!

🫖 This house has an electric kettle, so I can finally make tea again. (I hate microwaving water and I’m too lazy to boil it on the stove for one cup.)

I bought a huge box of PG Tips when I was catsitting in England earlier this year, and I think I have enough to last maybe through the end of August. Imported PG Tips prices are nuts (even excluding potential import fees), so I’ll have to start rifling through my hosts’ cabinets soon for replacement tea. ;D

Website Updates

Did lots of fun things on my website this week! Some highlights:

Started building a Wikipedia Pages page, to keep interesting articles
Joined a bunch of fanlistings, especially in the movies/tv shows section
Re-organized the recipes page, and added a biscuits recipe I found on a Clabber Girl baking powder container. I have a lot of other food package recipes to add this week!
Also changed the blog layout and made a header, so it looks a bit nicer/easier to read. And I added a thing at the bottom so people can email replies, if they want, or else do a regular comment or even a Webmention! Also set up ActivityPub so new entries are sent to the Fediverse, where of course people can respond (and responses are imported as comments, very cool!).

Looking Forward

This week I’m going to work on my website more (recipes, more fic recs), as well as join a few more webrings and site directories. And I’d like to email someone in response to THEIR post/website!

I’d also like to go out into town and visit some thrift stores. I don’t need new clothes (lol) but I’m casually looking for other stuff– something I can make into a laundry line, a backpack, perhaps a new travel purse, that sort of thing.

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA

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📖 reading log: seasons of the wild by sy montgomery

Book Info

Review

Reading Updates

morning in the garden

(no subject)

When It Rains

lfl visit log #1

weeknotes (july 20-26)

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September 2018