gratitudes amid the grind

I miss English country dancing, and wandering across NC and back, and I'm going to miss hymn-leading, but there is plenty in house, mind, and online to occupy me for the rest of the decade (the last time I printed out my Workflowy it was like 30 pages long).

( a bit of ranting and railing )

So, some happy things:

Robin_Fai beautifully recorded a ficlet I wrote last year for Purimgifts:

[Podfic] The Blue Flowers and the Yellow (29 words) by robinfaipods
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: English and Scottish Popular Ballads - Francis James Child
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Willie/sweetheart
Additional Tags: Fake Character Death, Trans Female Character, Podfic, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming
Summary:

"O Willie, lie down as thou were dead,
And the sun shines over the valley,
And lay thy winding-sheet down at thy head,
Down amang the blue flowers and the yellow."

- "Willie's Lyke-Wake" (Child Ballad 25)

Podfic of The Blue Flowers and the Yellow by ribbons.

In addition to my efforts for Yuletide and the fall KJ Charles exchange, I created some other things (including in-universe docs and recipes):

( England World, Green Men, David Blaize, Psmith, Wimsey, Twelfth Night, Lilywhite Boys... )

Writing is an absolute slog at the moment -- like, ekeing-out-one-leaden-sentence-per-day slog -- but what I'm working on nonetheless has the potential to be really fun and please the recipient, so chipping away to free the many-eyed-angel will continue.

My employer has been excellent about both precautions and accommodations.

A former colleague has (after a long search) been hired at a place that will treat them better.

My friend Lorraine has published a collection of haiku, senryu, tanka, and haibun.

I made pizza last night, and today I shall bake fruit bread and assemble a pistachio cream pie.

Still in bloom in my sunroom: Christmas cacti (in shades of deep pink and orange), shamrocks, white roses, tiny tomato flowerets.