If it helps . . .
Fairly often, I see a post from a friend or fan talking about struggles with depression. Typically saying they're not looking for sympathy or advice, and not wanting to be a burden.

If that's you, I don't want to intrude. But solidarity, right? For what it's worth, tomorrow I have a counseling consultation myself.

Overall, I've had a great 67 years, much of it due to Jennifer's patience and em
https://lestersmith.com/2023/08/if-it-helps/
#MentalHealth #Miscellany

#Blaugust 2023 – Revisiting Discworld
While I have read all but one Discworld novel, as well as most of the graphic novels and ancillary books, I have never read the books in publication order and, early in the year this year, needing to revisit some of my favorite comfort fiction, I decided to do just that.
https://www.meadhbh.me/2023/08/03/blaugust-2023-revisiting-discworld/
#Miscellany

#Blaugust 2023 – Reintroductions
I am still not quite sure why I have decided to participate in #Blaugust this year, or whether I'll manage to keep going with it, but I thought I would make the attempt, at least. And since, looking back, I realize that I haven't blogged since 2021, I suspect a reintroduction is in order. I am, on most social media and gaming services, Meadhbh Dhommnail. I write short
https://www.meadhbh.me/2023/08/01/blaugust-2023-reintroductions/
#Miscellany #Blaugust

Ikea Heights – Surreptitious Soap
Oh, the things one stumbles across during a Web search for something else entirely.
https://lestersmith.com/2023/07/ikea-heights-surreptitious-soap/
#Miscellany

Funnel Focus
In a previous post, I mentioned trying to shift away from a purely Facebook presence, to concentrate more on this blog/site. For my final pre-retirement employer, one hat I was handed, back when the Web was first launching, was "Internet guy." And what with the company being a business, "Search Engine Optimization" (SEO) became a significant part of that job. How to s
https://lestersmith.com/2023/07/funnel-focus/
#Announcements #Miscellany #RoleplayingGames #Wealth #Writing

Renfield Recommended
Loved Renfield. Much more wry and nuanced than I expected.

Cage commits himself fully to the role of a monster. Hoult plays the perfect antihero seeking redemption. Awkwafina is utterly convincing as the one good cop against a corrupt system. And I don't think there is a misstep among any of the rest of the cast.

Ridley's script is spot-on as well. And the ov
https://lestersmith.com/2023/06/renfield-recommended/
#Commentary #Dracula #Horror #Miscellany #Review

A description of the #month of #April in #earlymodern England.
From Fantasticks, Nicholas Breton, 1626.

Read by Peter Kenny

Image from the #Trevelyon #Miscellany (Folger MS V.b.232), c1608

#17thCentury
#laboursofthemonths
#seventeenthcentury
#commonplacebook
#commonplacebooks
#nicholasbreton
#history
#socialhistory
#morrisdance
#morrisdancers
#historical
#seasonal
#seasonalcustoms
#plumblossom
#porpoise
#nightingale
#pastoral
#bees
#lambs
#signsofspring
#histodons
#histodon
@histodon
@earlymodern
@histodons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBWPcooYTZM&ab_channel=Passamezzo

Dogwalking...
...but no dogs. A periodic thread.

Boring explanation: I often take snaps while walking the dogs, but they're nearly always phone camera shots, not DSLR shots, so the quality has been the lesser of my talent and the phone's technology. Over time my talent hasn't improved, but phone cameras have, so some of the pix are bearable.

The technology spans almost the entire history of phone cameras, starting with my bleeding-edge Sony Ericsson P910i, a wonderful phone and a terrible (640x480) camera, and then meanders through iPhones from 3GS upwards.

Although I mentioned dogs, they don't figure in the pictures (apart from this first shot), because like my kids and grandkids they're entitled to their privacy; however these are (nearly) all pictures taken while in their company.

I'll thread this, which is how all these hashtags are relevant...

First pic, a selfie with the dogs (portrait mode, you may have to click in), followed by a couple of venerable P910i shots, not actually with the dogs but examples of the state of the art :-)

#DogsOfMastodon #photography #miscellany #iPhonePhotography #landscape #macro #flowers #insects #beach #river

Like #funny things, left-leaning #politics, #photography, #maps, #books, #boardgames, #TV, mammatus #clouds, #investing, #business, #nature, #art, #miscellany, #stocks, #quotes, Oxford commas, and #quirky stuff? Follow me.

(I'm new here -- trying to get up to speed -- busier on Twitter for now.)