Please try to make more sense than our blurbs.

The Best of The Week

It was the lake. It wasn't lonely.

I went to get away from everything. Even her. She was jealous of my connection to it. Whenever I needed a rest, I would go to find peace floating among the waves.

It created tension between us. Repeatedly.

"You're going there again, are you?" she'd say. "I won't bother waiting."

It wasn't until our 23rd year, after the last of our kids left home, that she passed.

I was free. Free to go to my lake. Without reproach. Yet I didn't feel free.

There was no one to come back to. The house was silent. Hollow. The kids didn't call. They were busy.

There was nothing. Except the lake.

I cursed it. For all the years I could have spent with her, I took her for granted. I wasted my time at the damned lake.

Yet I could go back to nothing. So I went to the lake. Out on the waters, searching for peace. To find only cold and resentment.

My mother turned 75 today, and when I called to wish her a happy birthday, she was crying. The Medicaid funding bill that passed today has her alarmed. Living on Social Security and dwindling retirement savings, any threat to her healthcare feels like a threat to her survival. The future suddenly seems precarious. But the loneliness hurt even more. Her best friend Lucille died of liver cancer late last year so no more birthday calls from her familiar voice. Roger, her other close

I've done it again! I've come up with another crazy concoction! This is what you get when you try to boil beans and rice together and then apply the basic structure of a chili recipe and the whole thing snowballs.

Fair warning: This stuff isn't going to look pretty. It's not about looking pretty. It's about cooking up a healthy hearty batch meal that can serve you for lunch and/or dinner over the course

News for Noders

April 1: By popular demand, March has been redacted.

April 10: Happy birthday, nuggets!

April 12: Yuri's Night

April 22: Happy Earth Day, fellow earthlings!

April 23: Saint George's Day.

April 24: Happy birthday, Rancid_Pickle!

April 30: Walpurgis Night.

If you have something to add to the monthly news, /msg Tem42.

February 1: Brevity Quest 2025 begins!

February 2: Happy birthday Auspice!

February 2: Happy birthday npecom!

February 5: Happy birthday wertperch!

February 8: Happy birthday to panamaus

February 15: Happy birthday Admin to the goo!

February 23: Happy birthday Samuel Pepys!

February 29: Happy birthday Browncoat!


If you have an item for this calendar, /msg Tem42.

January 1: Gregorian New Year.

January 16: National Nothing Day.

January 24: Happy Birthday Silverai_me!

January 26: Happy Birthday Segnbora-t!

January 30: Happy Birthday O-Swirl!


If you have something to add to the monthly news, /msg Tem42.

December 1: Iron Noder ends

December 9: Smallpox eradication day.

December 9: Grace Hopper's birthday.

December 12: Happy birthday to horacetheclown!

December 21: Winter solstice arrives 10:27 PM, EST.

December 23: Happy birthday to Nemosyn!

December 25: Hanukkah begins.

December 25: Merry Christmas!

December 29: HairQuest 2024 ends.


If you have an item for this calendar, /msg Tem42.

November 1: The IRON NODER CHALLENGE starts today and runs through December 1. It's never too late to sign up, and all writeups get rewards.

November 1: Happy Birthday Zephronias!

November 5: Bonfire Night in the UK.

November 11: Veterans Day in the US.

November 13: Everything2's Birthday.

November 27: Happy Birthday Estelore!

November 28: Thanksgiving in the US.

November 28: HairQuest 2024 begins!

If you have an item for this calendar, /msg Tem42.