Happy, healthy, and safe New Year to all of you!

• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “The Hero’s Nap”.
• The Shortest Day (illustrated), with words by Susan Cooper.
• A tale of the Gavle goat.
• BOOM.
• “This Vote is Legally Binding” – a poem by Ursula Vernon (T. Kingfisher).
• A ficlet about where the last vampire’s heart was staked.
• It’s not the Ever Given, but I’ll take it.
• On the difference between blimps and airships.
• “Why distracting yourself is better than ‘positive thinking‘”.
• A reminder that bison are Large.
• It starts educationally, but ends up with a ficlet.
• Summary of 2021.
• Some positive news from 2021.
• “Blessings for the New Year“.
• Sweet potato cornbread.
• Art in which women are “simply existing as human beings”.
• Crochet an opossum scarf.
• Minimalist Nativity sets.
• “This video is 12 seconds long and its narrative arc is breathtaking“.
• “A peanut vendor wearing a suit made out of peanuts“.
• Ok, it’s an appetizer thing, but…
• Fruit cocktail eggnog pie…
• S’moyster…
• Lickable TV.
• Rapid test results, xkcd-style. Hover/long-press for caption.

Awwww, Polly!

“Harry, STOP IT.” -Polly

“You’re not the boss of me!” -Harry

~guileless~ -Harry

• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
• “Compulsory” – a short Murderbot prequel from 2018.
• Have some feels from Lord of the Rings.
• A short fic about another ancient god reawakening.
• A hero’s journey…
• Pemberley and Mr Rochester scented candles.
• On the origin of “podcast”.
• On fossil words.
• A browser-based free alternative to Photoshop – it’s supposed to include all the same features.
• “Trapped in Ikea“.
• 25 best wildlife photos of 2021.
• This post is a JOURNEY.
• GF chocolate biscotti.
• 50 best chocolate recipes.
• Chocolate brownie cookies.
• “Snack drawer” bars.
• Pad thai.
• “Grogu did nothing wrong”.
• If you’re looking for an unusual dress…
• It’s like looking at a bunch of kitties in windows!
• Creepy yet cool.
• I guess if you really like bread and pretzels?!
• “Dance of the Sugar Plum Tuba. Lord help us all.“
• That’s too many frogs for one bathroom. Put some back!
• “Empty mall pictures where they still booked a Santa“.
• Oreo-flavored wine.
• Hot cocoa rolls with marshmallow icing.
• “Explosive-powered nutcracker obliterates every festive snack“.
• “The War of 1812 Scented Candle“.
• The iconic Fisher-Price toy phone can now be paired with a smartphone and actually used as a phone.
• LOL!
• A snowy street on a hill in Montreal.
• It does feel like that sometimes.

Mayhem, concerned that I might pick her up.

Harry glamor shot!

Polly, very focused on something outside the window.

Polly and Harry on my bed.

No linkity next week! I’m having surgery Tuesday to remove a (most likely not cancerous) ovarian cyst, plus the ovaries and tubes. Send happy laparoscopic thoughts my way!! (And I am soooo ready to be done with 2021 and all of the health fun it’s brought my way.)

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Are hobbits the cryptids of Middle Earth? Unclear!
• “Matilda at Thirty”.
• A ficlet about a coming-of-age ritual.
• “A world where humans have no innate magic but our pets do”.
• Learn what a tayra is.
• I had no idea how beavers carried their babies. 😮
• Pop Tarts, ravioli, and convergent evolution.
• BOOM.
• Calvin and Hobbes and the little raccoon.
• A comic about getting older.
• “Street Lamp Forest“.
• The optical illusion is strong with this quilt.
• Pecan streusel pumpkin cheesecake.
• GF pumpkin oat muffins.
• GF butternut squash soup with coconut milk.
• GF chewy chocolate shortbread cookies.
• That is unexpected bit of geeky whimsy for a Red Robin (a sit-down burger chain).
• Taste test of pumpkin spice ramen noodles.
• Fry-flavored vodka from Arby’s.
• Giant Reese’s peanut butter cup “pie”.
• Funfetti candy canes.
• :blink blink:
• “Oh no” is right.
• D’oh.
• Possible earworm warning.
• “Tonight on ‘My Husband Doesn’t Know How to Baby Talk'”…

Polly and the Very Dirty Paw.

That bit of vine outside the window torments Harry so!

Sleeping siblings. Awwww!

Harry knows if you’ve been bad or good, apparently.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Tor.com (horror/genre-benders, YA SFF, scifi, fantasy)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• A ficlet about working in an eerie museum.
• LotR and redemption.
• “and when you realize everyone on this post has sat down and seriously thought of fighting the Fellowship“.
• Some deep thoughts from a comic.
• Fold an origami butterfly.
• A discussion on replicator food in Star Trek.
• Someone dressed up as Miette for Halloween!
• Pizza casserole.
• Strawberry swirl cheesecake cake.
• Chocolate-swirled divinity candy.
• “Summer Grill”, a felted film.
• “Giant Skeletons“.
• A movie review from the future…
• Surely one of the most disturbing stock photos ever. Cannot be unseen.
• Grub bag.
• Creepily shaped town remains creepy.
• Zombie food.
• Maybe it’s a repeat, but -” Prancer, the 13-pound gremlin Chihuahua…”
• Oh, tumblr.
• Ha!
• Alas.

“Wha…?” -Polly

Mayhem looking, as someone commented on Insta, “not just tragic, but French levels of tragic.”

Intent Harry is intent!

• New releases: AAR (romance), Gizmodo (SFF)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• I can’t even come up with a sentence about this ficlet, but it’s good.
• Here’s another one.
• And a pumpkin-themed comic.
• And the “world’s strangest meet-cute”.
• What’s the most metal sea organism?
• WHEW.
• Vincent Price was far cooler than I ever realized.
• Fountains.
• Murals that incorporate surrounding foliage.
• I know I’ve used this one before, but it’s still cool – knitters and a neural network.
• Knitted glass.
• Mushroom and cheese stuffed mini pumpkins.
• Sourdough cider doughnuts.
• Apple cider doughnut blondies.
• Turtle candy.
• Espresso martini.
• Behold!
• Googly angel sweatshirt?
• Candy corn bratwurst.
• Albino raccoon.
• How to make any Zoom meeting 100% more surreal.
• “Leaving instructions for the catsitter“.
• Context is everything.

The cute! It burns!!!!!!

Harry does not approve of your shenanigans.

Intense Polly is intense.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “The Lord of the Rings and The Princess Bride are basically the same genre of literature approached from opposite directions…”
• Fandom ships as… ships.
• The Death of Rats! (It’s a Discworld thing…)
• Writing not going well? Turn your manuscript into a dress and a sword.
• Then read this bit of advice.
• How you accidentally became the most powerful person in the world.
• A comic about burnout.
• UC or ER? (Urgent Care or Emergency Room)
• Oh snap!
• Christchurch, New Zealand, has laid off its official city wizard.
• Sultan the Pit Pony.
• Coffee cake cookies.
• Beware!
• Check that Halloween candy – you never know what might be inside…
• “Bloody cauliflower brain“.
• LEGO has a new Home Alone set.
• Pop-Tarts flavored frozen waffles.
• The Fisher Price toy telephone is now a smartphone accessory.
• Hot buttered tomato juice…
• Cat Matrix!

Harry, please don’t sit on your sister…

Mayhem and Harry napping.

Side-eye from Polly? Or kitty eyes o’ love?