#fourthage

[loquaciousquark]

A little out of nowhere, but how are your new trees? I know you were a bit worried a few months back that over what their bark was doing. Was the general consensus right that it was normal maturing and things were okay?

😫 I had such high hopes, but it's all tragedy all the way down!

So for those who don't know, about a year ago I rented a trailer and spent an entire weekend planting two Shumard oaks in my backyard. Dug my holes, put my fertilizer in, watered religiously, etc etc etc. (Digging holes is hard!) Within a couple months I noticed some spots popping up on the bark, which is when I made that post earlier this spring. Unfortunately, as I watched them, the spots got bigger and more appeared, and a few months ago large sections of the bark on one tree just began peeling away. The trunk was still only a couple inches around, but pieces as wide and long as a forefinger or falling off on what felt like a weekly basis. Plus the bark underneath was soft and spongy, instead of robust and hard, so something was already wrong with that tree. The guy from the landscaping service I called said it looked like pressure wounds from some early injuries before I even bought the trees, and because Shumards are so bad at healing themselves the bark just begin flaking off and let in rot and fungus. Plus, that tree also failed to put on any height at all over the 9 months or so I watched it, while the other one put on probably 6 feet, even though its bark did have a couple of injured places as well. (That one, for whatever reason, has already begun sealing well over the wounded places.)

Anyway, I ended up having that new service take out the most wounded tree, move the slightly better tree uphill, and then plant me two more oaks where I wanted the originals and also a Sweet Bay magnolia in the back corner where I lost a tree a few years ago, where it can hopefully block out the view and sound from my diagonal back neighbor. Those trees are doing very well and seem to be prepping nicely for the winter, even though it's been dry as a bone here all summer and I've had to have the hose on a rotating schedule for all four of them!

Bitterly disappointing in some ways, as I was really invested in those original two trees, but maybe one of them will still make it! Just not where I originally put it, lol.

The downside of all of this is that because I had to move the hoses onto the trees and away from my little box garden in the back, my marigolds have been utterly decimated this year. I'm not even going to show you a picture of that back box garden because it's so sad and pathetic and dry and brown. Poor little things.

[faejilly]

@here-there-were-dragons replied to your post “so i stopped playing the dragon game a few years...”:

the achievement tokens are used to buy items (genes, apparel, familiar, vistas, scenes atm) in the acclaimed achievements association at the grand exchange, my advice is just hang on to them until you see something there you like since neither the tokens nor offerings at the shop are currently going anywhere. personally, i bought one copy of every vista and scene they sell and i'm holding on to the rest of my tokens for if i need anything specific from there.

​oh, yeah, I got that, I just. Have no idea what if anything I might end up wanting? I sort of had a theme going several years ago, but I'll probably change it if I stick around this time, so now idk

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@servantofclio replied to your post “so i stopped playing the dragon game a few years...”:

oh gosh, I'd kind of forgotten about Flight Rising!

​SAME (if you've been gone awhile, they do at least pop your dragons all up to full health when you get back, otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't bother, I'd run out of food before I could figure out how to do anything again)

But Dragons?

@fourthage replied to your post “so i stopped playing the dragon game a few years...”:

I popped up in a few months ago and wow, was it laggy.

​ugh. mine's working just fine on the computer, but I have to admit I would probably be more consistent about it if it worked on my phone so I could take, yk, five minutes here and there while waiting for stuff to feed or gather or whatever

@syzara replied to your post “so i stopped playing the dragon game a few years...”:

"The brew you recently concocted is now ready!" and that was 4 years ago...

​I think mine was three years old? 😅😅😅

@syzara replied to your post “so i stopped playing the dragon game a few years...”:

also the account is over 10 years old. ! !!!!

​SAME! WTF! Time is a lie, and always has been

or something

[fourthage]

How to successfully fail making meringue cookies

First, have a brain fart and forget to let your eggs come to room temperature before you whip the whites.

Fail to form peaks after ten minutes. Remember that you used your hand mixer last time instead of the stand mixer and quickly switch them out in a desperate attempt to save the meringue.

Give up after another ten minutes of whipping.

Refuse to let the sad sugary soup go to waste. Add in various ingredients in until it looks more like a normal cookie dough. Throw in some chocolate chips to cover any remaining sins.

Bake and hope for the best.

It is fucking delicious and better than it has any right to be.

Recipe!

4 egg whites

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 tbsp Dutch cocoa powder

1 cup flour (est)

1 tsp baking soda (est)

1 tsp salt (est)

1/2 tsp vanilla paste (can use vanilla extract)

1/4 tsp peppermint extract

Dark and white chocolate chips (add until it reaches your preferred level of distribution)

Use large spoon to drop generous balls onto the baking sheet. Do yourself a favor and use parchment paper. The bottoms of these will want to stick. Bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes. Let rest on baking sheet 5 minutes before moving to cooling rack.

[bleepblorpthebeautiful]

Thank you @fourthage for my space-themed gift!

I love everything! Like, you didn’t even know about my extensive postcard collection, and the mug might just become my new, special work mug. I can’t wait to put together the rover. I kind of want to frame the card.

Mostly I’m just jealous that you live so close to the Smithsonian.

[fistfulofgammarays]

@fourthage, like a dweeb I replied to you but didn't elaborate!

She might have thought it was her mind betraying her at last. An old woman out in the woods alone might imagine all sorts of things. But one cold morning, she found the tracks crossing the bend in the creek path. Something two-legged, child-sized, dragging bare feet with long toes through the snow. It had come out of the woods and lingered, circling the little bend in the track where she sometimes stopped to catch her breath, before retreating back into the woods.

She made do with yesterday’s leftovers that day.

I should come back to this one and clean it up.

[syzara]

@fourthage Thanks for letting me know of the existence of Coral Island!

That seems straight up my current game alley.

[meggannn]

9 people you'd like to get to know better

I was tagged by @jtownnn & @bickeringcrab

Last Song: "America's Sweetheart," Elle King

Currently Watching: just finished the Taskmaster s15 finale. I need to find a new show tbh lol. I'm rewatching Veep off and on.

Currently Reading: glances awkwardly at all the books on my nightstand

Current Obsession: fire emblem three houses, unfortunately. also playing fire emblem heroes off and on. but i think after i see across the spiderverse i'll probably catch that bug (hah) again

No pressure tagging: @microlm @mephemera @fourthage

[miriensilowende]

For @tolkiengenweek Day 2: Friendship

Art is by biancomato on Deviantart

[sian22redux]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: OMC, OFC, Elboron, Tom Bombadil, Círdan, Eldarion (Tolkien), Mystery Character, Maglor Summary:

Is there forgiveness in the world? So we all hold and hope, journeying shadowed, unfamiliar paths. But sometimes, just sometimes, new doors open once again.

A little mystery about a precious stone... -------------------- The world that was is myth. Cathedrals are the new religion. Or internet. Or tv. The small island has lost a part of its deep mystery long after cathedrals of trees began to sprout through the once great hall’s foundation, and puppets, rulers vastly more modest than the Steward’s line now sit on short chairs and pretend they wield honour as of old.

A name comes back. Annuminas.

Why has he not come this way before? The restlessness never ceases even as the air of mystery dims. It hurts, at times, to walk unseen and unlamented through a younger, wider world; emptiness chasing him far across many lands, sticking always to the shores of the remade World…

[loquaciousquark]

Thank you so much to @fourthage, @rannadylin, and @perahn for the birthday wishes! It's been a truly wonderful day; like, even for birthdays, this day has been memorably excellent.

When I got to work this morning, a colleague ran into me in the basement and gave me a card. When I got to the 2nd floor where our testing for today was, I saw my preclinic coordinator had gotten a couple birthday banners up and had brought both a plate of mixed cookies AND a box of mini bundt cakes! On top of that, my professional patients who were waiting for the practicals to start all sang me happy birthday and it was just the most charming thing.

On top of that practicals went very well; my second student collapsed a bit in the middle but recovered to the end to spectacular fashion, creating the best prescription for my patient in six exams. My last student of the morning was the most confident I've ever seen her, finishing her exam beautifully and smoothly and with all skills competently accurate.

I was able to then finish a lot of outstanding tasks in my office (where my coordinator had also given me a card & a coffee mug & an INCREDIBLE smelling candle and called me the world's best boss, which is a label I still struggle with), ran into a few students on the way down to give them mini bundt cakes, then was able to get my TSA precheck approval done and filed & with a picture I genuinely like.

I came home to an increasingly friendly and affectionate stray cat haunting my doorstep, Hamlet having chewed some books but none that I cared about, and the most beautiful set of flowers delivered yesterday from @silksieve still smelling heavenly. I put away some dishes, had a wonderful chat with my mom, changed into loungewear, and am now making one of my favorite meals to cap off the day (butter chicken in a pepper jelly glaze, fresh salad with vinaigrette, fresh carrots & celery and soft mozzarella wedges to round it out.

Truly a wonderful day. <3

[faejilly]

2020 Fic Masterpost

I started and ended the year with my beloved #7kpp, which I know doesn’t mean a lot to most of you, but the thought makes me smile. ❤ I also posted a lot of Shadowhunters, (so many fairy tale riffs), a couple bits for BioWare (including the ten-years-in-the-making finale of my Adelaide Hawke/Sebastian Vael ficlet collection), and even one entirely new-to-me fandom in a The Old Guard gift!fic. Whee!

Most of them are very short, ficlets and flash fiction, which wasn’t the goal going into this year, but... this year broke a lot of people’s plans, didn’t it? And there are some lovely words in there, (hopefully short & sweet!), so... All in all, not that terrible for a year of apocalypses.

The Old Guard

Until The Time... (Nile & Family & Music) [tumblr / ao3]

7KPP

Chaperones

Woodly/Court Lady [tumblr / ao3]

Yvette & Emmett [tumblr / ao3]

Falon & Hana [tumblr / ao3]

Hana of Jiyel

Ink-stained fingers [tumblr / ao3]

Shade [tumblr / ao3]

Theodora of Arland

Rise [tumblr / ao3]

Renown [tumblr / ao3]

Surrender [tumblr / ao3]

Hidden [tumblr / ao3]

Nathalie of Revaire

Harsh Whispers [tumblr / ao3]

Gold [tumblr / ao3]

BioWare

Dragon Age

Adelaide/Sebastian: for comfort (cuddling prompt) [tumblr / ao3]

Adelaide/Sebastian: Adored Finale [tumblr / ao3]

Merribela: Tentacletober (how many of those are there?) [tumblr / ao3]

Mass Effect

OT: Kaidan & The Beacon [tumblr / ao3]

Andromeda: F!Ryder/Jaal (Not Just Loyalty) [tumblr / ao3]

Shadowhunters

Coda-Fics/In-Universe

prequel (Jace & Izzy) [tumblr / ao3]

01x02 (Dorothea) [tumblr / ao3]

01x03 (Alec) [tumblr / ao3]

01x04 (Magnus) [tumblr / ao3]

*Trust Your Heart (01x04 Jace aftermath) [tumblr / ao3]

01x05 (Izzy) [tumblr / ao3]

03x10 (Magnus) [tumblr / ao3]

03x22 (Alec & Clary) [tumblr]

*Ashes of Angels (during the epilogue time-skip pt 1) [AO3]

*Ashes of Roses (during the epilogue time-skip pt 2) [AO3]

Psithurism (Inquisitor Lightwood-Bane) [tumblr / ao3]

Clizzy

tug-of-war [tumblr / ao3]

before the beginning [tumblr / ao3]

Pandemonium (again) [tumblr / ao3]

back-to-back [tumblr / ao3]

Criminal Minds Fusion

School Teachers [tumblr / ao3]

Star-Gazing [tumblr / ao3]

There’s Only One Bed [tumblr / ao3]

Lydia & Alec [tumblr / ao3]

Maia & “Hunt” [ao3]

Clary & “Family” (free space from bingo!) [ao3]

Misc AUs

*ask the always impossible of me (Cinderella) [ao3]

*Our Souls Inhabit (Snow White... ish) [tumblr / ao3]

a lean wind flays (Jack & the Beanstalk... even more -ish) [tumblr / ao3]

transient (Sleeping Beauty) [tumblr / ao3]

mer!Alec AU (of an AU) [tumblr / ao3]

Reticence (Persuasion AU) [tumblr / ao3]

Priest!Magnus/Demon!Alec [tumblr / ao3]

omegaverse PWP [tumblr / ao3]

Into the Labyrinth (Inception Crossover) [tumblr / ao3]

Let’s Go Steal Some... Magic? (Leverage Crossover) [tumblr / ao3]

I am for you ch 17 [tumblr / ao3]

[fourthage]

15 September 2024

Taking advantage of end-of-season sales, where perennials get marked half-off because they aren’t pretty anymore. Got myself five native plants: three blanketflowers and two purple coneflowers.

Blanketflowers went across the area that’s been open all summer at the bottom of the steps in the back. Only accidentally dug up a couple of bulbs!

Coneflowers went in front of the understairs area. It got more sun than I thought it would - you can see the scorching on the one Lenten rose on the left and on the hosta on the right (compare the front leaves and back - that’s not shadows making the difference). The hope is that when the coneflowers get some height, they’ll block the worst of the sun.

Sun coleuses were very happy this year.

White hibiscus is still blooming away. The red one spits out a flower now and then, but is mostly done.

Other than mulching, the big thing I have left to do in the back is move my oak barrel to the corner so it’s ready for the rose that should come around October. It’s too heavy with the dirt, so I’m thinking I’ll put the chives aside, dump most of it, spread it in the corner, and put the barrel over it.

The trellis will go where the barrel is and I’ll plant my hyacinth bean vine there next year.

[servantofclio]

Happy Monday/birthday! (One of these is more important than the other. :D)

Thank you! It’s been a Monday full of work stuff, unfortunately, but I’m going to try to claim more relaxation time in the next week.

[imahomomrfrodo]

Of Tooks and Brandybucks - Back Again (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/uKPjI4QkV9 

Y’all this is seriously amazing. PLEASE READ IT. IF YOU LOVE THE BOOKS YOU WILL LOVE THIS MORE

[syzara]

Thanks @faejilly, @servantofclio​, @pearwaldorf​ and @fourthage​ for the replies! (Tagging you all too so you can see this).

I was too slow to pick them from my dash so a screenshot it is:

Coloring books! I think I can, at the very least, find some coloring pics that you can print yourself (and, y’know, pay for it) so I don’t run into current delivery issues.

As for knitting and embroidery, if anyone feels like sharing their starter places, that would be nice? I mean I’ve to translate it on top of doing a thing I haven’t done in literal decades so basic starter sounds good ;)

/all my ‘old’ sources were not digital and i’m afraid this country doesn’t do digital crafts very well

[ferociousqueak]

Belated happy birthday wishes!

Thank you, friend <3