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Altaira
Superuser
Aug 15 2025, 4:17pm
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It's Fiesta time! Come on in!
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Greetings, and welcome once again to Fiesta!
This was a busy week for me with my client, and next week will be the same. The dust should settle early in September, but we shall see. They keep asking me to 'take the lead' on this and that. But, I *am* enjoying myself. They're a great group of people.
This will be one of the few 'charmed' weekends of the year where there's rugby *and* football, and on the same day- Saturday! So, B.G. and I already have big smiles on our faces?
What's making you smile this fine Friday? Let us know, but don't forget to order your favorite drink and hit the buffet (figuratively, of course). But, most of all, have a fabulous weekend!
*puts quarters on juke box* whatever strikes your fancy will do!   
(This post was edited by Altaira on Aug 15 2025, 4:19pm)
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dernwyn
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Aug 15 2025, 4:46pm
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A tall iced mocha, please, Altaira!
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We're just coming off another heat wave here, the lower humidity is always welcomed.
You do realize that your client is making the best use of you that they can - and why not! It's great when you get along so well and are all on the "same page".
We have a family reunion coming up Sunday. My side of the family will be gathering at the historic Wayside Inn in Massachusetts to celebrate my sister-in-law's 80th birthday! It will be a small-ish group, just her (widowed) and us and her son and his family - including a grandson's fiance - and a couple of her close friends. We've been asked to "bring memories", so I've managed to find some photos from back in the 60's. 
Your Saturday will be very busy! I've been pleased to see the Red Sox winning more games. How about their Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQpltMpzqXo
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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Altaira
Superuser
Aug 15 2025, 5:00pm
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Hehe. Had to get that in in recognition of your song.
Sounds like a nice little reunion which I'm sure your sister-in-law will be very appreciative. Are you going to have lunch or dinner, or just 'mingle'? Wow, I looked at the Inn's website - founded in 1716!? That's amazing. The restaurant and rooms look quaint, but pristine for being over 3 centuries old. Enjoy it, and the rest of your weekend!!
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dernwyn
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Aug 15 2025, 5:33pm
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We'll be having "early dinner"
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Sis-in-law selected which dining room she'd like, so we booked it from 1 - 4. Yes, there's a few well-kept venues in this area! But this being New England, we do like our Revolution-era history.
I forget - which rugby teams do you follow?
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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Altaira
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Aug 15 2025, 6:06pm
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We follow the NZ All Blacks, of course. Though there *are* many regional teams in NZ. B.G. will catch a few of the regional matches if he can, or watch highlights, as they're usually on in the wee hours here. We recently discovered there's a growing regional-ish professional rugby scene here in the U.S. of A in addition to our national team. We've watched bits of those, and B.G. will also watch some of the international tournaments.
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Altaira
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Aug 15 2025, 6:26pm
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I wonder if a Palantir has 'copy, paste' capabilities?
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dernwyn
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Aug 15 2025, 6:26pm
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Go, All Blacks!
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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dernwyn
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Aug 15 2025, 6:30pm
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Oh, how I can relate to that...!
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The last time I had to set up a new phone, I was getting so frustrated because it was sending a code to my "other device"...finally realized that "device" was my tablet, I'd forgotten it was linked to my phone! 
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Aug 15 2025, 7:48pm
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Thankfully, you're enjoying your client. What a gift! AND I think they're really trying to make sure you stick around by encouraging you like that :D
My eldest sister LOVED weekends like yours! She'd have baseball on the TV, golf on the radio in one ear, and whatever sports-du-jour was on in the other ear! She was SO HAPPY she got to see the full season of baseball before sailing into the West. She was quite the nut for all sports :D
This is a special day for me. After moving around 22 times in 20 years (1970-1990), I'm celebrating 35 years in my home (The Old Bag's End ;) A couple of years ago, I created a Walk Around the Block photo adventure where I could take you with me.
So I'll grab a pink lemonade and toast my most comfortable nest filled with mementos and memories... my Happy Place :)
Cheers! And thanks for taking such great care of us Altaira! Enjoy the games!
We have been there and back again.
TIME Google Calendar
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Annael
Elvenhome
Aug 15 2025, 8:52pm
Post #12 of 54
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is that my niece, after living either across the country or on the other side of the Atlantic for the past 20 years, has moved back home YAY! She'll be living a couple of hours away from me, but this month is bouncing between her folks' houses which are close to me and her cousins. So yesterday I got a text saying "Hey I'm at Dad's, want to go for a walk?" and it just made me so happy to think that going for a walk or out for coffee or to see a movie together can now be a normal thing! Just back from a lovely 5-mile hike in the POURING RAIN - we both got soaked through, but it's not cold and the woods need it so much. And the sound of the rain on the trees was lovely. Heater at full blast all the way to where we had lunch, which helped us to be merely damp. When we said goodbye I was figuring she's busy moving to her new place & with an upcoming wedding of a cousin, so maybe next month, and then she says "I'm coming back next week, another walk?"
I needed this because I got thrown for a loop earlier this week by the news that a very good friend I've known since junior high had died in his sleep, completely unexpectedly. He was my age, 73, and seemed to be in perfect health. But his wife, who truly was his soulmate, is on hospice after developing a rapidly progressive form of Alzheimer's and he's been so sad about losing her that I suspect his heart literally broke. He was an amazing person, a film-maker, actor, singer, pianist/harpsichordist, and composer who tirelessly promoted other people's work; he enthursiastically promoted my books, for one, and he was instrumental in starting a program in our home town to encourage young people to get into the arts. He cast a young Brendan Fraser in a short film, that actor's first role. He was unfailingly kind and had no ego whatsoever. The official obit is not out yet but here's one article about him:
https://youththeatre.org/about/jgh-announcement/
I went through our yearbook and had to laugh because John had gone through it and written funny remarks or drawn funny pictures throughout.
John wrote this poem about his wife two days before he died.
Fortunate
When catastrophe pitched its tent on my beach
Did I cease to be fortunate?
It had snuck ashore in the predawn years
When we were known as golden:
Perfect peaks bathed in amber light
From the smoke below.
Fissure and crevasse, moraine and talus
Veiled in the hazy air, were
Imperfections that did not diminish
the truth that I was
Fortunate.
Aeons twisted us, the twinned,
In an inextricable knot of love and need
Each gratefully warped to the other’s form,
Impenetrable strength at the outside glance.
They saw the dazzling progeny,
The material comfort, the markers and style
And were not wrong when they said,
Fortunate.
Ages smoothed the stone to rounded
Shingle on that beach lapped by lazy wave
When catastrophe selected its site.
And with implacable speed snatched
One half of the sky, erasing her daily
Until only the bare outlines were discernible.
The void left this twisted twin tottering,
Struggling to find any excuse for balance.
The beloved vanished before my eyes
Yet remained — mute, unfocused.
Now the hours slither
to their ordained conclusion.
Surely the playwright has it wrong.
This was not the ending of the fortunate,
(As though some unearned immunity
Is conferred among the surfeit of blessings).
The tally is clear:
Our dark present does not negate the succession
Of brilliant presents, gifts, gratefully received,
Conferred by the stricken, on this unworthy
but profoundly thankful
Fortunate.
—John Gordon Hill
August 8th, 2025
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Greenwood Hobbit
Doriath
Aug 15 2025, 9:29pm
Post #13 of 54
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I've just been sitting outside
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in my small garden with a whisky and dry ginger enjoying the last low twilight (yes, the nights are drawing in now) and the white flowers glowing like little lights, watching two pipistelle bats circling and hunting over my garden and those of my neighbours.Very peaceful! I cherish peacefulness, in this crazy world. This time next week I'll be dog-sitting again over the long August Bank Holiday weekend, then the grandsons go back to school and it'll feel like summer's over. It's been a very hot dry one here; a lot of trees, shrubs etc are changing colour/dropping leaves already, things are very stressed. Apart from that problem, the light and warmth is welcome (up to about 25C anyway!) so enjoy this golden oldie called 'Summer Breeze'. Cheers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQQbjpomexo
(This post was edited by dernwyn on Aug 15 2025, 11:14pm)
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Greenwood Hobbit
Doriath
Aug 15 2025, 9:30pm
Post #14 of 54
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Old photos are such fun! Sad sometimes too, but good to look back upon.
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Greenwood Hobbit
Doriath
Aug 15 2025, 9:35pm
Post #16 of 54
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I'm just ahead of you; I celebrated 37 years in my 'Greenwood' in April! Cheers to your happy place!
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Greenwood Hobbit
Doriath
Aug 15 2025, 9:40pm
Post #17 of 54
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I'm sorry that you lost your friend in such a way, but the new closeness of your niece must be some comfort.
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Ataahua
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Aug 15 2025, 10:32pm
Post #18 of 54
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I'm so sorry about your friend, Annael.
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It sounds like he made everyone's life brighter just by being in it.
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Fantasy novel - The Arcanist's Tattoo
My LOTR fan-fiction
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dernwyn
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Aug 15 2025, 10:55pm
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whose only part was to walk on, proclaim "Hark! The cannons roar!" and then walk off.
And when it came time for the play, he walked on, heard a "BOOM", and shouted, "WHAT THE #&*%@ WAS THAT!"
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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dernwyn
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Aug 15 2025, 11:01pm
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And may there be many more! You've had some nice improvements made over the years, and had some intriguing projects. What's the update on the hobbit holes? And do you still have Middle-earth on the roof of the garage?
Thank you for the reprise of the walk-around-the-block! 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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dernwyn
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Aug 15 2025, 11:12pm
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What a way to begin the joy of having your niece finally near you, walking in a downpour - and both of you fully enjoying it! May you have plenty of great times together now.
My condolences to you and John's family, yes, what a heartbreak that was for him! His poem is so touching; and all who knew him, were Fortunate indeed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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dernwyn
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Aug 15 2025, 11:20pm
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And imagine all the nasty bugs those bats are consuming!
Strange to think we're halfway through August. We've still got three or four weeks to go of daytime temps up to 30C, but more nights are dipping down below 20C, which staves off the humidity. Do you have any rain in the near forecast? I understand that Scotland was pelted by a massive storm a few days ago!
Ah, haven't heard that golden oldie in a long time, thank you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Aug 15 2025, 11:51pm
Post #23 of 54
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That's a lovely way to celebrate her :)
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I think the simpler and more intimate gatherings like this are more meaningful for those of an age or preference to avoid a lot of stimulation. I know I'd "hit the wall" and need to go hide if there's too much (like when I retired). I couldn't get out of there fast enough, though I so appreciated the sincere best wishes. That you've geared this for her comfort zone is a gift in itself.
What a perfect memory to bring. Photos instantly transport you and stir the best reflections and stories to share with each other! I hope you have a wonderful time! :D
We have been there and back again.
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