Inspiration for Wayne Manor
Mar. 7th, 2026 01:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beatrice_otterSomeone pointed out that the Crocker-McMillin Mansion in New Jersey might be a good model for Wayne Manor. There aren't many good pictures of it that don't come from real estate listings, but I really like what we see and the mix of "classic Edwardian Mansion Stately Home" and also "modernized for current living". So here it is.
Details: built between 1903 and 1907. Three stories, 75 rooms, 50k square feet, on 12.5 acres. Of those 75 rooms, 21 are bedrooms, and 29 are bathrooms. When it was built, there were a lot of other buildings on the estate: greenhouses, barns, stables, a dairy, gatehouse, garage, workshops, and bathhouses on the river. There were nine single houses and four duplexes for employees, and a two-story house for the head gardener. I think most of those other buildings have either been torn down or sold off--the estate was originally around 1k acres, and now you can tell there are a lot of other buildings around.
( Pics of the interior )
Details: built between 1903 and 1907. Three stories, 75 rooms, 50k square feet, on 12.5 acres. Of those 75 rooms, 21 are bedrooms, and 29 are bathrooms. When it was built, there were a lot of other buildings on the estate: greenhouses, barns, stables, a dairy, gatehouse, garage, workshops, and bathhouses on the river. There were nine single houses and four duplexes for employees, and a two-story house for the head gardener. I think most of those other buildings have either been torn down or sold off--the estate was originally around 1k acres, and now you can tell there are a lot of other buildings around.
( Pics of the interior )
Heated Rivalry
Mar. 7th, 2026 12:04 amruricArriving suitably late to the Heated Rivalry party.
I did try to get into it last year- my brain was not braining in the right direction to make that feasible. I suspect a lot of that might have been due to the uncertainty of whether a second season would be happening and I didn't want to get invested in something only to have it brutally yanked away. (I'm still furious that My Lady Jane didn't get a S2).
I had a day off on Tuesday, spent the afternoon noodling around online as I figured if I couldn't get into the show I would at least enjoy the unhinged glory of watching soundbites of the cast interviews and reading and bunch of articles. (Yes I'm aware of Ember and Ice, and yes I will be listening to that too).
One thing led to another and I started watching Heated Rivalry at 7pm thinking I'd do an episode a day.
UM.
By 1am Wednesday I'd watched all the eps, bought the books and was whatsapping (ravurian and gingerpig) tragic messages along the lines of "yes I'm 4 months late, talk to me about HR".
I was also patting myself on the back for having the foresight to 'add to memory' a lot of the DW posts that had been on my circle over the last 4 months clarifying the timeline (thank youmific) and making videos and fic recs.
First rewatch completed today and fully expect to complete another by the end of the weekend or I might dive in to the EmptyNetters reactions which I gather are highly recommended.
All of which is a longwinded way of saying I am down for talking about the show, the delightfully unhinged cast interviews (a gift that keeps on giving), the soundtrack, the books (I'll be finishing Game Changers this weekend), and anything related to the upcoming S2 which I am led to believe starts shooting this summer.
I did try to get into it last year- my brain was not braining in the right direction to make that feasible. I suspect a lot of that might have been due to the uncertainty of whether a second season would be happening and I didn't want to get invested in something only to have it brutally yanked away. (I'm still furious that My Lady Jane didn't get a S2).
I had a day off on Tuesday, spent the afternoon noodling around online as I figured if I couldn't get into the show I would at least enjoy the unhinged glory of watching soundbites of the cast interviews and reading and bunch of articles. (Yes I'm aware of Ember and Ice, and yes I will be listening to that too).
One thing led to another and I started watching Heated Rivalry at 7pm thinking I'd do an episode a day.
UM.
By 1am Wednesday I'd watched all the eps, bought the books and was whatsapping (
ravurian and gingerpig) tragic messages along the lines of "yes I'm 4 months late, talk to me about HR".I was also patting myself on the back for having the foresight to 'add to memory' a lot of the DW posts that had been on my circle over the last 4 months clarifying the timeline (thank you
mific) and making videos and fic recs. First rewatch completed today and fully expect to complete another by the end of the weekend or I might dive in to the EmptyNetters reactions which I gather are highly recommended.
All of which is a longwinded way of saying I am down for talking about the show, the delightfully unhinged cast interviews (a gift that keeps on giving), the soundtrack, the books (I'll be finishing Game Changers this weekend), and anything related to the upcoming S2 which I am led to believe starts shooting this summer.
if we listen to each other's heart, we'll find we're never too far apart;
Mar. 6th, 2026 06:14 pmtiny_ninjaIt occurred to me today that I've been using this journal as a place to vent (which is fine), but sometimes it's nice to change it up, so here's some fun stuff that happened today:
- We had a two hour delay this morning due to the snow/ice, so I was able to input two and a half chapters' worth of edits before we had to leave.
- One of my coworkers wrote a children's book and she asked me to look it over and edit for her! So I got to read a cute story and give supportive feedback, which made me feel good that 1. she asked and 2. she was receptive to it, too. AND I had time to properly read it, since the delay meant I didn't have to pick up intervention kids today.
- I got invited to a student's birthday party! She's in my daughter's class (so obviously Gabby is invited too) and it's witch themed. We're all to dress like witches and bring our familiars, which is freaking adorable.
(I did confirm that by "familiar," she meant stuffies. Because no, I'm not bringing one of the cats to the party, they will murder me.)
- I also got to talk with a fifth grader about the characters she writes during open library, including the toxic divorced couple her sister is convinced are going to get back together. But, uh... he's a police officer and she's a serial killer trapped in a museum and absolutely off her rocker.
The best part was when she told me that her parents think her stories are "just so sweet," and I reminded her that we support women's rights AND women's wrongs in this house. I also did not tell my parents what I was writing at that age, and at this point in my life, I never will. It feels good to know she trusts me with that knowledge.
So... yes. The world is on fire and we're all in hell but there are small moments of joy, and sometimes I need that reminder too.
- We had a two hour delay this morning due to the snow/ice, so I was able to input two and a half chapters' worth of edits before we had to leave.
- One of my coworkers wrote a children's book and she asked me to look it over and edit for her! So I got to read a cute story and give supportive feedback, which made me feel good that 1. she asked and 2. she was receptive to it, too. AND I had time to properly read it, since the delay meant I didn't have to pick up intervention kids today.
- I got invited to a student's birthday party! She's in my daughter's class (so obviously Gabby is invited too) and it's witch themed. We're all to dress like witches and bring our familiars, which is freaking adorable.
(I did confirm that by "familiar," she meant stuffies. Because no, I'm not bringing one of the cats to the party, they will murder me.)
- I also got to talk with a fifth grader about the characters she writes during open library, including the toxic divorced couple her sister is convinced are going to get back together. But, uh... he's a police officer and she's a serial killer trapped in a museum and absolutely off her rocker.
The best part was when she told me that her parents think her stories are "just so sweet," and I reminded her that we support women's rights AND women's wrongs in this house. I also did not tell my parents what I was writing at that age, and at this point in my life, I never will. It feels good to know she trusts me with that knowledge.
So... yes. The world is on fire and we're all in hell but there are small moments of joy, and sometimes I need that reminder too.
that poem Sonya wrote about Ny in 2022
Mar. 4th, 2026 11:33 pmride_4everMost of you -- or perhaps all of you -- will understand why I am currently fixated on the last three lines of the Sonya Taaffe poem "The House Snakes: For Nyani Martin":
...our earth will always shake,
our restless scales unfurling to enfold
your arms of wine-dark honey as you come home.
The full poem appears in issue 44 of "Uncanny: A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy".
...our earth will always shake,
our restless scales unfurling to enfold
your arms of wine-dark honey as you come home.
The full poem appears in issue 44 of "Uncanny: A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy".
In Memoriam: tragic, shocking news about minoanmiss
Mar. 3rd, 2026 08:55 pmride_4everVia a post from goss: tragic, shocking news about minoanmiss AKA Rubynye on AO3.
My icon says "sad" but this is way beyond that. I am utterly shocked and crushed.minoanmiss and I met once at a con and I hoped to meet up again...and now never will. We communicated regularly on DW and often sent each other postal mail...and now never will again.
May her memory be a blessing...and an inspiration.
goss: tragic, shocking news about minoanmiss AKA Rubynye on AO3.My icon says "sad" but this is way beyond that. I am utterly shocked and crushed.
minoanmiss and I met once at a con and I hoped to meet up again...and now never will. We communicated regularly on DW and often sent each other postal mail...and now never will again. May her memory be a blessing...and an inspiration.
i know you're running on instinct;
Mar. 3rd, 2026 07:08 pmtiny_ninjaAs some of you may or may not know, I have been involved in my kids' PTO since Q started school. He's now in seventh grade, so we've been at this a while. When he moved up to the next school, Gabby started, and the cycle repeated.
During the pandemic, I ended up PTO president (and secretary, and very briefly, treasurer) because no one else wanted to do it, and I kept us together when times were really hard. I stepped down when I took the library position at the school, because it's a conflict of interest.
Every few years, there's talk about combining our PTO with the other, larger organization that runs the other two elementary schools in town. We used to be one organization back in the day, but split off when we did a lot of fundraising and then had our funding requests denied. Now, we're under the same principal and with current leadership moving on, the conversation got brought up again.
Listen, I am like, the least stereotypical PTO mom to ever PTO mom. I cuss like a sailor, I write the sort of smut that will make you blush, and my kids have better witty comebacks than you. I do the work because the kids deserve it. And now, having met the people running the other PTO... man, I never want to be that. It's not a flex to say that you've never missed an event going back to 2017. Or that you spent every weekend this fall selling raffle tickets for an ATV. (Yes, they really did that. It's weird.) Or that every event needs to be a fundraiser and you spend your breaks baking cookies and freezing them for bake sales. Like... do you not have other things to do? Like actually hang out with the kids you're fundraising for? Talking to them reminded me of being invited to sit with the popular kids, only they don't want you to be with them, they just want to copy your math homework.
It's also not a flex to deny a teacher's request OR to make them fundraise for their own supplies because you don't have enough money. And the reason you don't have enough money is because you're sitting on a $15k safety net you refuse to spend.
Yes really.
So after the shitshow that was last month's meeting, every classroom teacher at my daughter's school plus me the librarian showed up to this meeting ready for war. And we were polite but firm but made our point. We're not merging PTOs. We're gonna do our best with what we have, which is what we've always done.
Bonus? We shifted to a virtual meeting because it's snowing again, and the other PTO insisted on meeting in person, so they didn't even come. So... fuck 'em.
During the pandemic, I ended up PTO president (and secretary, and very briefly, treasurer) because no one else wanted to do it, and I kept us together when times were really hard. I stepped down when I took the library position at the school, because it's a conflict of interest.
Every few years, there's talk about combining our PTO with the other, larger organization that runs the other two elementary schools in town. We used to be one organization back in the day, but split off when we did a lot of fundraising and then had our funding requests denied. Now, we're under the same principal and with current leadership moving on, the conversation got brought up again.
Listen, I am like, the least stereotypical PTO mom to ever PTO mom. I cuss like a sailor, I write the sort of smut that will make you blush, and my kids have better witty comebacks than you. I do the work because the kids deserve it. And now, having met the people running the other PTO... man, I never want to be that. It's not a flex to say that you've never missed an event going back to 2017. Or that you spent every weekend this fall selling raffle tickets for an ATV. (Yes, they really did that. It's weird.) Or that every event needs to be a fundraiser and you spend your breaks baking cookies and freezing them for bake sales. Like... do you not have other things to do? Like actually hang out with the kids you're fundraising for? Talking to them reminded me of being invited to sit with the popular kids, only they don't want you to be with them, they just want to copy your math homework.
It's also not a flex to deny a teacher's request OR to make them fundraise for their own supplies because you don't have enough money. And the reason you don't have enough money is because you're sitting on a $15k safety net you refuse to spend.
Yes really.
So after the shitshow that was last month's meeting, every classroom teacher at my daughter's school plus me the librarian showed up to this meeting ready for war. And we were polite but firm but made our point. We're not merging PTOs. We're gonna do our best with what we have, which is what we've always done.
Bonus? We shifted to a virtual meeting because it's snowing again, and the other PTO insisted on meeting in person, so they didn't even come. So... fuck 'em.
Fandom Trumps Hate: bidding open!
Mar. 3rd, 2026 02:11 pmkingstokenThe bidding for Fandom Trumps Hate 2026 is open! Just as a reminder I'm offereing cover art/moodboard for any fandom and a fic for Sherlock Holmes: Rathbone Movies.
Unofficial Fandom 50: Frontios [4/50]
Mar. 1st, 2026 08:49 pmthisbluespirit[I wrote this with about 0 brain something like 2 months ago. But I was feeling like posting one of my drafts and I just realised belatedly that Chris Bidmead had died in August. Or possibly just found out and was shocked for a second time, who knows, it's terrible how much I forget. But I do love his DW era very much and while he lived to a good age, I am still sorry to hear it - he brought so much to the show & was a rare DW script editor who was genuinely interested in SFF* as a genre, which showed in a whole bunch of scripts commissioned by him, which are like any of the other eras - even if a whole set of them then had the misfortunate to be made by the next script editor who Did Not Get Them at all. This serial is actually one he wrote later for his successor's rather more action/dark orientated era (and said successor, Eric Saward, Did Not Get this one either), but - I had prepared it earlier! And also: I love Frontios!]
I haven't much brain so I thought for this edition of the Unofficial Fandom 50 I would once again burble about a favourite classic Who serial, this time...
Frontios
tumblr gifset for pictures
What is it?
It is a four part Fifth Doctor serial (4x 25 mins; c. 1hr 25 minutes in total) from Season 21 (1984). Yes, it has Giant Woodlice.
The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison), Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Turlough (Mark Strickson) accidentally stray into the far future - so far that the Time Lords are forbidden to go there. They arrive at a tiny, struggling colony of survivors from Earth, who are under bombardment from an unknown enemy from space - except there's also something beneath them: the earth on Frontios is hungry...
Sometimes, as a DW fan, you love the unloved serial; sometimes you adore the fan favourite - and sometimes you just love a decent one more than you can properly justify or exactly explain, but we've all been there. I have a few of these, and Frontios is one, although honestly I think it belongs in the circle just outside of the all time greats personally, which is why I'm going to babble about it. (I mean, I realise, like everything, it does depend on a) taste and b) how people feel about lumbering giant woodlice).
(It's also the only DW serial where a member of the main guest cast had to be replaced at the last minute because the original actor, Peter Arne, had been murdered. This has no bearing on anything, other than the replacement being the excellent William Lucas, but I felt the need to mention it anyway). (All my DW classic faves do not involve someone dying or nearly dying irl, I promise).
What do I love about it?
It's about confronting buried/unspoken terrors & what you can do with gravity in SFF if you have some giant woodlice to hand, plus it's one of those forsaken, almost Shakespearean colonies classic Who loves to do (the youthful leader with his fragile hold on it is even called Plantagenet) and I am a sucker for such things. The guest cast is great - William Lucas, Lesley Dunlop, Peter Gilmore & Jeff Rawle, pre-Drop the Dead Donkey.
Penned by Five's original script editor, Chris Bidmead, Peter Davison shines here, and gets to pull out his brainy specs for the first time since Bidmead left; Tegan and Turlough are both really well used, with Turlough's buried race trauma demonstrating that having alien companions as well as earthlings on the TARDIS can lead to interesting options for storytelling.
It's dark and weird, fascinating and quotable, with excellent team!TARDIS banter. The hatstand gets a moment of glory. The TARDIS is disintegrated. The Doctor saves Tegan's life by being really insulting to her. "Frontios buries its own dead."
Basically, I love weird colonies, I love strange ideas, I love this TARDIS team, I love the hatstand, I'm not at all put off by giant woodlice and: "Just tell them I came and went like a summer cloud." (Oh, Five. <3)
* Classic Who script editors (and producers) were assigned to the show by the BBC and did not always have a huge amount of choice about being offered the post and then being removed from it - it was just how the BBC worked at the time.
I haven't much brain so I thought for this edition of the Unofficial Fandom 50 I would once again burble about a favourite classic Who serial, this time...
Frontios
tumblr gifset for pictures
What is it?
It is a four part Fifth Doctor serial (4x 25 mins; c. 1hr 25 minutes in total) from Season 21 (1984). Yes, it has Giant Woodlice.
The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison), Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Turlough (Mark Strickson) accidentally stray into the far future - so far that the Time Lords are forbidden to go there. They arrive at a tiny, struggling colony of survivors from Earth, who are under bombardment from an unknown enemy from space - except there's also something beneath them: the earth on Frontios is hungry...
Sometimes, as a DW fan, you love the unloved serial; sometimes you adore the fan favourite - and sometimes you just love a decent one more than you can properly justify or exactly explain, but we've all been there. I have a few of these, and Frontios is one, although honestly I think it belongs in the circle just outside of the all time greats personally, which is why I'm going to babble about it. (I mean, I realise, like everything, it does depend on a) taste and b) how people feel about lumbering giant woodlice).
(It's also the only DW serial where a member of the main guest cast had to be replaced at the last minute because the original actor, Peter Arne, had been murdered. This has no bearing on anything, other than the replacement being the excellent William Lucas, but I felt the need to mention it anyway). (All my DW classic faves do not involve someone dying or nearly dying irl, I promise).
What do I love about it?
It's about confronting buried/unspoken terrors & what you can do with gravity in SFF if you have some giant woodlice to hand, plus it's one of those forsaken, almost Shakespearean colonies classic Who loves to do (the youthful leader with his fragile hold on it is even called Plantagenet) and I am a sucker for such things. The guest cast is great - William Lucas, Lesley Dunlop, Peter Gilmore & Jeff Rawle, pre-Drop the Dead Donkey.
Penned by Five's original script editor, Chris Bidmead, Peter Davison shines here, and gets to pull out his brainy specs for the first time since Bidmead left; Tegan and Turlough are both really well used, with Turlough's buried race trauma demonstrating that having alien companions as well as earthlings on the TARDIS can lead to interesting options for storytelling.
It's dark and weird, fascinating and quotable, with excellent team!TARDIS banter. The hatstand gets a moment of glory. The TARDIS is disintegrated. The Doctor saves Tegan's life by being really insulting to her. "Frontios buries its own dead."
Basically, I love weird colonies, I love strange ideas, I love this TARDIS team, I love the hatstand, I'm not at all put off by giant woodlice and: "Just tell them I came and went like a summer cloud." (Oh, Five. <3)
* Classic Who script editors (and producers) were assigned to the show by the BBC and did not always have a huge amount of choice about being offered the post and then being removed from it - it was just how the BBC worked at the time.
Home Calendar, March
Mar. 1st, 2026 03:33 pmmalinaldaroseHere are the March pages from my home desk calendar. I am ridiculously pleased with them, which is just silly given that it's not my artwork (purchased on Etsy) and all I did was stick it down and add some tape and a few stickers. Well, okay, I drew the days.
Another Needlepoint Update
Mar. 1st, 2026 11:14 amlightbirdThe world keeps getting shittier, but I finished a couple more cute needlepoint projects so I'm sharing to both brighten the day and show off. 🙂
A couple of weeks ago I finished and posed a key fob with was a black cat on a lavendar back ground. This week I finished the same pattern, but made the cats pink and set them on a darker pink background.
Photos with comparison under the cut:
( compare the kitties )
Looking at them (as well as at the photos) I do like the black cats on the lavender background better, but the pink are cute too.
I also finished a different key fob, with a different design. Large photo under cut.
( cherries! )
The photo came out crooked, lol. The cherries are a very pretty design though, so I put that on the bag I carry around. The cat fobs are on my key ring. 🙂
A couple of weeks ago I finished and posed a key fob with was a black cat on a lavendar back ground. This week I finished the same pattern, but made the cats pink and set them on a darker pink background.
Photos with comparison under the cut:
( compare the kitties )
Looking at them (as well as at the photos) I do like the black cats on the lavender background better, but the pink are cute too.
I also finished a different key fob, with a different design. Large photo under cut.
( cherries! )
The photo came out crooked, lol. The cherries are a very pretty design though, so I put that on the bag I carry around. The cat fobs are on my key ring. 🙂
Ficlet: Live in Hope (Small Prophets)
Feb. 28th, 2026 08:50 pmthisbluespiritJust wrote a little snippet for Small Prophets, for ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
100fandoms, because I felt like it and also I thought there should be something for it, so:
Live in Hope (266 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Small Prophets (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kacey & Michael Sleep
Characters: Kacey (Small Prophets), Michael Sleep
Summary: Michael and Kacey have nothing to do but wait.
(I need to rewatch it - I think this must be set c. late ep4 or sometime in ep5? I mean, I need to rewatch anyway, because it hasn't stopped living in my head yet.)
100fandoms, because I felt like it and also I thought there should be something for it, so:Live in Hope (266 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Small Prophets (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kacey & Michael Sleep
Characters: Kacey (Small Prophets), Michael Sleep
Summary: Michael and Kacey have nothing to do but wait.
(I need to rewatch it - I think this must be set c. late ep4 or sometime in ep5? I mean, I need to rewatch anyway, because it hasn't stopped living in my head yet.)
Resident Evil: Requiem Thoughts Part 2
Feb. 28th, 2026 10:18 ambemused_writerI didn't make a whole lot of progress yesterday thanks to being extremely stuck in the initial chase scene with The Girl (which is what the monster I referenced in my last post is called). I think I might have encountered some kind of glitch since the sequence of events didn't match up with what articles were describing, so I'll describe what I did in case it's helpful.
I was at the section where Grace needed to get the screwdriver. I will note, I was pretty low on health at this point, and things weren't going great. XD Now, I had already moved the cart in and been chased around by The Girl twice, and apparently that meant the little hideaway structure was supposed to have disappeared. It hadn't, though, so I think that's where things were getting confused.
( Instructions on the puzzle... )
( Level discussion and spoilers... )
( Grace theory, continued... )
I was at the section where Grace needed to get the screwdriver. I will note, I was pretty low on health at this point, and things weren't going great. XD Now, I had already moved the cart in and been chased around by The Girl twice, and apparently that meant the little hideaway structure was supposed to have disappeared. It hadn't, though, so I think that's where things were getting confused.
( Instructions on the puzzle... )
( Level discussion and spoilers... )
( Grace theory, continued... )
Fandom Trumps Hate
Feb. 28th, 2026 02:41 amkingstokenI'm offering two fanworks for this years Fandom Trumps Hate, a cover art/moodboard for any fandom and a fic for Sherlock Holmes: Rathbone Movies. I'm not sure if anyone will bid on the Rathbone offer, but I still have it on the brain so it's what I offered this year.
Resident Evil: Requiem Thoughts Part 1
Feb. 27th, 2026 01:23 pmbemused_writerI'm having so many conflicting emotions about this game, and I'm only an hour in. I am fascinated, irritated, confused, and I must finish it stat. So, I figured I would write up some of my thoughts as I make my way through it.
( Lots of thoughts and spoilers below... )
( Lots of thoughts and spoilers below... )
