Quote by DenimAngel
Candlemass ??

If you're in a church that is heavily into traditional Liturgy, the calendar is divided into seasons. The current season runs from Christmas and Epiphany to "Candlemas", which commemorates the presentation of Jesus at the temple (Luke 2:22-40).

Candlemas - Wikipedia

I grew up in a liberal, mainstream Protestant church that didn't seem to bother much with the liturgical calendar but I notice that many of the local churches in that denomination do use the traditional liturgical seasons now. Maybe the calendar made a comeback or something.

Quote by verbal
My fave present of Christmas is a hard-to-find DVD of Spaulding Gray's Monster in a Box. He was a performance artist best known for Swimming to Cambodia. and I'm a big fan (he died several year ago).

Gray was amazing. I watched Swimming... and Monster... back in the VHS days.

Sara, we have my Mom's old Singer. Mrs. M doesn't use it much, just the odd repair or small sewing job. Must be 50 years old now at least.

Good afternoon. It's Boxing Day, meaning the day we have to get rid of all the boxes from Christmas Day.😜

Coffee is ready and there's pots of Earl Grey and Wakoucha (Japanese Red Tea*) for the tea lovers. Hot chocolate, with or without marshmallows, is always an option, too.

*red tea is the Japanese/Chinese term for what we Westerners call black tea

Quote by AaronArcher

We need to form a writer's discussion group.

I could get behind that. There's a whole forum for them, too, just not getting any action.

This article was in Author's Publish this week. Interesting discussion of why to join a writers' group and some thoughts on how to select the right one for you. The author runs a writers' group in Kentucky.

» 5 Benefits of Joining a Writers’ Group and 6 Considerations When Selecting One (authorspublish.com)

I know verbal is in one. Anyone else have experiences with writers' groups to share?

Putting on a pot each of coffee and Red Rose tea in case anyone comes seeking a break from festivities. The cookie supply is looking good (thanks Sara!). And to all of you ...

You know, I don't think I even knew Coldplay had a Christmas song. And I have to find their original. However, this choral arrangement sung by Apollo5 is quite a nice piece on its own. The arranger is Blake Morgan, who sings tenor in Voces8 and is also an accomplished arranger of choral music.

Quote by DenimAngel
Today is LIBRARY DAY!

Libraries here now have time limits and a couple are back to pickup only. Thanks, Omicron.

Quote by Violet_the_Verbose
I love smoky teas.

So I shall put a pot of Russian Caravan on today along with a pot of Earl Grey Supreme (Earl Grey but with MORE BERGAMOT!). Coffee is on and there's hot water for other steaming beverages. Marshmallow stock on the counter and in Sara's secret placer checked and replenished.

I'm having Caravan with my cookies. How about you?

I try to get along with people and mostly succeed.😇

Small ones, maybe. I love Great Whites but I would probably be too nervous to enjoy hanging with that crowd. It's moot, though, because I am terrible in the water (loving sharks doesn't mean you can swim like one).

WYE take a space tourism trip to the ISS if you had the money to burn?

LOL. Twitter is scary sometimes, eh. It's the only social media I use.

And since I am here, I shall brew some coffee and tea (Red Rose and Peach Black) and make sure the hot water urn is full for other hot beverages. Christmas looms and thanks to Sara's hard work, I think Inspirations is ready.

Quote by verbal
Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek

In both cases, the operative question is, which one?

I have never watched nuBSG all the way through so can't really put it on and the old series had too many clunkers (e.g. their string of episodes that were just ripoffs of old movie plots) to be more than a nostalgic favorite at this point. Though the few good episodes are really good and the cast was pretty solid.

Star Trek, I am fond of the original but TNG and DS9 are probably the two best in terms of story and writing.

Quote by Ping
I’m currently at Denny’s with my kids eating my greasy, salt-lick of a FREE Grand Slam breakfast. Yes, today is my birthday.

You may regret letting that slip. 😈

On topic, I am sure there was some glitch or other that I meant to ask about but it escapes me right now. And it might have been across the street.😉

On a positive note, I am finding the login glitches are largely gone now. If I do get logged out, I get back in easily on the first try but most of the time, "remember me" is working.

Interesting way of unwrapping the parcel, eh. 😀 And I have actually never heard of that film, though I know both stars, esp. Milland.

And nice to see you around, Violet. Hope all is well.

Fresh coffee is brewing and there's a new tea, Russian Caravan, in one pot and Red Rose in the other. Caravan has some Lapsang Souchang in the blend, which is a Chinese black tea that is smoked rather than just dried or fermented. As a consequence, it has a strong smoky flavour, rather like a well-aged Scotch.

Of course, there is hot chocolate (with or without marshmallows) and an assortment of other teas available.

Sara seems to have the food side of things well covered.

Have a good one, Inspirators!

Listening to my favorite musician

Popular or classical?

Latest list from Authors Publish is 31 Magazines (some online, some print) that publish "literary" fiction. And it includes this gem (censorship is mine):

"Bulls--t Lit
They publish poetry and prose. “We want to see the work you haven’t sent to other lit mags because you know it’s just not working. Your s--tty prose, f---ed-up line breaks, abandoned sketches, nonsensical plots, and so on. Everybody else wants your best—we want your worst. We especially like it when s--t gets weird.” Also, “A piece of work is bulls--t if its author believes it to be so.” They do not reject good work."

So tempting to send them one of my half-finished, half-edited pieces of crap. 😜

Here is the full list:

» 31 Magazines that Publish Literary Fiction (authorspublish.com)

I have always found the term "literary fiction" to be a bit snooty or something, as if genre fiction like s-f or romance isn't "literary". However, it really seems to mean just anything that doesn't fall clearly into an established genre so I'll refrain from ranting further about it.

Sara's got the place all decorated and brought the goodies.

Guess that leaves me to brew the coffee, fill the teapot with Scottish Breakfast, and get the hot water ready. There also mulled cider on, part of Christmas menu, and I have refilled the nog.

So, gooooood morning, y'all.

In have never done an actual Christmas story for StoriesSpace, so this ended up being the year. I think it is quite in keeping with the themes of the season and hope you enjoy it.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Remember to look for the light in the darkness.

On Christmas Day, Lauren puts her life in the hands of Fate. And gets a remarkable answer.

(offline temporarily)

And from last Christmas, here's his father with the gorgeous Cantique de Noel, the basis for O Holy Night in English.

From the "chip off the old block" file (or "Apple doesn't fall far from the tree" file if you like), here's Matteo Bocelli, son of Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with some Christmas fare.

Sampled the first episode of Tales from the Loop on Prime. Interesting show and I quite enjoyed the episode but haven't gone further. I find it easier to watch smaller bites, like Youtube videos, when exercising for some reason.

Mrs. M has been watching the CNN series The Cold War from 2000ish and I've been joining in. It was a major production they did with Ted Turner himself as Executive Producer covering the history of the Cold War from the dividing up of Europe at the end of WWII through to the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's largely chronological, though some episodes are more thematic, e.g. ones that look a various events in the Middle East or Latin America and how the Cold War influenced those regions over a period of time.

Quote by AnnaMayZing

Are you aware of the great dutch band of the seventies, Focus? Thijs van Leer was a brilliant Flautist and still is. Along with the fantastic guitarist, Jan Ackermann.

This is the ever-popular, 'House of the King'.

No, but I will check them out. Sadly, few continental bands seem to get much notice over here.

4984

There's a good, rather pointed, poem on the front page that's worth a couple minutes of your time. She uses the Atlas image from mythology (holding up the world) to great effect.

No Longer Your Atlas | Stories Space

I am inordinately fond of Ian Anderson, flautist and singer of Jethro Tull. Rock flautists are a rare breed (the only other one that comes to mind is the late Ray Thomas of the Moody Blues) so that alone makes Anderson stand out, even absent his eccentric stage manner. Here is Ian, minus Tull, doing a Christmas Eve concert in Germany back in '06. His style here is more jazz than rock, but it's a good performance.

Quote by Survivor
One may go as dark as one wishes. As I did with this little drabble I entered for a contest here some years back.

https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/micro-fiction/tis-the-season

Sorry, Sara.

Hey, it had me LOL'ing. From the comments, I take it that it was for some comp that I missed years ago? Mine is on the more dramatic side and I cut the darkest part of the ending (which more or less bumped it into Horror territory), making it into more of a "Miracle on 34th Street" kind of Christmas magic realism story, even if it starts in a very dark place. Probably go up soon. I like the current version.

4980

Good morning! Just put the coffee on so should be brewed shortly. Tea du jour is Irish Breakfast. There's hot water ready for other teas, hot chocolate, and whatever else warms you up.

Speaking of warming up, I dug out a punch bowl and filled it with some nice (clean) egg nog. Ground cinnamon is on the side since I know not everyone goes for the stuff.

Quote by DenimAngel
No hurting Rudolph

No reindeer were harmed nor did Santa die while stuck in the chimney (that's a real story, by the way). It's about suicide and other rather more mundane dark stuff.