RIP, Molly. At least she had someone good with her at the end.

Takes a turkey and a pumpkin pie

Quote by Meagananne1986

My daughters. They're letting me know they're hungry or they ready to be changed.

Babies are definitely not inclined to be shy about their needs, eh.

Nothing right now, but this was on in the car this morning.

Maze - Daze

Not a fan of car racing but when I did occasionally watch back in the day, I tended to prefer F1. My brother and his kids are more the NASCAR crowd.

Travel to space or to the deepest depths of the oceans?

Coffee ... the final frontier

These are the voyages of the Starship Inspirations

Our neverending mission

To seek out new sources of caffeine and sugar

To boldly go where no cafe has gone before ... Ah, ah, ah ah ah ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 🤣

Good morning. There's some Deathwish Dark in the coffeepot. Teas are Russian Caravan and Yorkshire Gold (which is a really, really good black blend). Pitchers in the fridge are washed and refilled with iced tea and lemonade.

Hope all are doing well.

See you 'round.

Depends on where I am, but usually a hotel/motel. B&Bs tend to be for longer stays (e.g. we've often stayed in homes rented off AirBnB when visiting our son).

Try out a new musical artist/band or dust off an old favourite?

Finally got around to listening to the debut album from Mia x Ally. It's a lively, enjoyable collection. Most of the tracks are ones they have covered to varying degrees finally getting full covers, but there's some new material, too. Electric violin and bagpipes seems like an odd combo (did to me at first, anyhow), but these two make it work. Both are lifelong musicians with both conservatory training and a heap of raw talent, which helps. They are currently touring the US in support of the album.

Hare - Bare

Hey, gang. Back in the office today so didn't have time to pop in. Thanks, Jeff, for looking after the hot beverages. Will check on Elyse's story. Think I had noted it and not got back to it.

Later...

Quote by verbal
It plus whatever music I tell Alexa to play (I use Alexa for music and news only, in my office).

Yeah, if you're using Alexa, then Amazon Music is a good choice. I don't so that doesn't factor into my decision.

Good morning.

Coffee is Tobermory Flowerpot Island. We have Red Rose and Sunday Tea for us tea drinkers. Pitchers are washed and refilled with iced tea and lemonade.

Giving the place a spruceup. Washed the floor, wiped down the counters, got the fireplace ready for winter. Blankets are all washed and furniture wiped down.

See you 'round.

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic

My go to was Apple Music for years, but I got tired of fighting with their payment process, so I switched over to Amazon Music cause at least I get that as a bonus with Prime (which means there's no more payment struggles).

I tried Prime Music but ended going with the Music Unlimited package. The Prime collection was too limited.

Spotify's app is much better at this point. Interface isngood. Can cast directly to my smart speaker, no need to use Bluetooth or set it up in the speaker's app. Have not tried with Android Auto yet but I imagine it will work well.

10K is the most I could ever do.

Run or bike?

6404

Hiking boots. I prefer them even for urban walking.

Overnight hike or stick to day hikes?

New Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Kate Bush is on my buds right now. Listening to Spotify's This Is Kate Bush playlist. Currently playing:

Quote by DenimAngel

I prefer Spotify over Amazon ... more variety in what you can find

My beef is that Amazon for some reason removed an EP by an obscure Finnish band that I like. I only discovered them because I am on a social site with the original lead singer's sister and when she posted about them recently, I realized it had vanished from my library on Amazon. Spotify has it along with their new single. And I am finding things Spotify does better technically.

Hi, Sara. Thanks for setting up. Nursing a headache and working on setting up my Spotify account. Looking at leaving Amazon Music since they had PO'd me a couple recently.

Beignets sound wonderful. Haven't had one in almost a year (was in NOLA in January).

So I am pulling double duty right now, also slinging java at some less reputable joint down the virtual street.😉

For here today, we have Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. Teas are Scottish Breakfast and Russian Caravan. Cold bevvies are refreshed.

I have a conundrum. I have an s-f setting worked out that I quite like but can't seem to get a story going to introduce it. It's near future alt-history with aliens involved. Fun stuff to work through but this is the downside, I find, of focussing on worldbuilding. A world without a story may as well be for a roleplaying game. That's part of why there was never a successor to Night Of The Wind. I had worked out a lot about the world, but really only had that one story. Though to be fair, my comp winner The Goddess Dances is technically in that world as well, just so far removed in geography and style that it doesn't really seem like it.

Quote by Meagananne1986

The,Sound of Silence. Dated, but still stirring for me.

Hardly dated given that the Disturbed cover kind of brought it back in a big way. I have been a fan of the song seemingly forever (it came out the year I was born).

Spiritbox are a new-ish band from British Columbia, Canada (though many of the members are American). New EP came out today along with videos for the songs from it that didn't already have them. Lead singer is Courtney Laplante, originally from Alabama but living in Victoria, BC since her teens. She co-founded the band with her husband, Mike Stringer, who plays guitars and other instruments.

Fork - Form

Quote by verbal
Right now some guy has ben running a leaf blower for two hours.

Two hours? How big is his property?🤔

You know, I am a big fan of Finnish metal soprano Tarja. But, um, a dark, gothic take on "Frosty the Snowman" might be a bit much, even for me. See what you think.

An ape comes dancing and singing into the cafe. After a moment of stunned silence, the crowd rushes out screaming in horror.

Good morning! I'm putting some Fire Roasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe on for the coffee drinkers. For tea, we have Scottish Breakfast and Earl Grey Cream. Cold drinks are lookin' good.

I hear the baseball season ended with Texas getting their first World Series. Good on them. Now I guess we start talking about spring training again. 😜

Later, alligators.

Ape pirouettes and prances merrily out of the cafe.

Winter. At least I am likely to see more Canada on the podium (though we have the odd good year at the Summer Games, too)

Ride a horse or ride a motorbike?

Sort - Fort

Sigh. With the passing of Halloween comes ... winter. Snow on the ground and still falling on and off. Maybe I should retire and start snowbirding somewhere.

Since I mentioned that my most-viewed story is my first, thought I would highlight it since it doesn't have many comments and I suspect many of my regular SS and (redacted) friends missed it.

Voice of Ice actually predates StoriesSpace. I wrote the original version during a blizzard in 1993-94 or thereabouts. Back in those days, I wasn't publishing anywhere, just sharing with friends.

Years later, one of those friends asked permission to use it in a webzine he was editing. I said "yes" and provided a new draft. Which he ignored and did his own edit of my original, which I no longer especially liked for various reasons. Oh well, at least I had actually had a story in "print". My friend passed away not long after that and his webzine, while still up, stopped publishing new material and became archival.

Then along came StoriesSpace into my life. Wanting to get in on the writing side of the site and still not happy with my friend's edit of Voice of Ice, I grabbed a copy and edited it into the form I wanted. Voila, my first story on here.

Voice was supposed to be part of a "horror mythos" a la Cthulhu but I never really did any more stories in that milieu (well, some of my more recent work like Down in the Well and maybe Something could easily fit, but were not written with that intention).

https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/horror/voice-of-ice

Quote by AnnaMayZing

I absolutely detest football (soccer), but I don't hate this...

I've had a few favourite songs that came out of footie tournaments. "Waving Flag" by Knaan, "Forca" by Nelly Furtado, probably some more.

Here's Nelly from the 2004 Euro. She's Canadian but her family are Portuguese and she has always been heavily influenced by that culture's music.

So apparently I was the top author and has the top story in October? Cool. Got notifications when I came in and shiny new badges, too.

Rearranged my featured stories on my profile. First is my latest, second is my most liked, third is my most viewed (which, not surprisingly, is my first).

We have some Flowerpot Island coffee on in the coffee pot. Teas are English Breakfast and Russian Caravan. Iced tea and lemonade are fresh in the fridge.

Hope you had a nice Halloween, all.

Kind of depends on mood. Have not seen a play in a long time, though, so that.

Learn something new: Take a formal class or self-study?