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We made it to the end of September! \o/ If you have completed some of your medium-term goals or subgoals, and/or you're still chugging away at your ongoing goals, then pat yourself on the back. You worked hard for that. We have also started autumn. If you're doing seasonal goals, share what you're working on for this fall.

This year I'm trying something new, continuing to track goals at the end of each month. So far it seems to be helping, so that's encouraging. I'm looking at my goal list more often and trying to keep ticking off more of them. The main drawback is that this update becomes more of a chore each month.

These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 4
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 10
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 17
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 24
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In April 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In May 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In June 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In July 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In August 31

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This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, October 7, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "Witches and Wizards." I'll be soliciting ideas for witches, wizards, other magic users, mentors, elders, teachers, students, adventurers, explorers, damsels/gentlemen in distress, historians, partners, leaders, dark lords, the Chosen One(s), superheroes, supervillains, teammates, fantasy species, ethicists, activists, queerfolk, other unusual fantasy folk, studying magic, doing magic, enchanting artifacts, breaking curses, breaking rules, exploring new territory, meeting new species, upsetting predictions, twisting tropes, flipping stereotypes, expecting the unexpected, researching, revising theories, parenting, teaching, adventuring, leaving your comfort zone, discovering things, conducting experiments, observation changing experiments, experiments changing paradigms, adapting, improvising, troubleshooting, cleaning up messes, cooperating, taking over in an emergency, saving the day, discovering yourself, studying others, testing boundaries, coming of age, coming out, running away from home, going off the rails, subverting fate, learning what you can (and can't) do, sharing, preparing for the worst, fixing what's broke, upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, returning home, other fantastic activities, witch's huts, wizard's towers, magical schools, castles, ruins, stone circles, dungeons, dragon lairs, Underhill, the forest primeval, underwater, underground, liminal zones, kitchens, campfires, libraries, laboratories, apothecary shops, supervillain lairs, makerspaces, nonhuman accommodations and adaptations, farmer's markets, magical lands, foreign dimensions, other phantasmagoric settings, unusual magical systems, pointy hats, robes, wands or staves, cauldrons, herbs, crystals, potions, magical artifacts, quests, time periods other than medieval, governments other than monarchy, dragons, unicorns, enchantments, reversals, contradictions, conundrums, puzzling discoveries, sudden surprises, inventions that change everything, time travel, travel mishaps, the buck stops here, trial and error, polarity, weird food, secret ingredients, supplements that turn out to be metagenic, intercultural entanglements, asking for help and getting it, enemies to friends/lovers, interdimensional travel, lab conditions are not field conditions, superpower manifestation, the end of where your framework actually applies, ethics, innovation, problems that can't be solved by hitting, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.

Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

The Adventures of Aldornia and Zenobia is about live happy lesbians in a quirky fantasy world.

Clay of Life is Jewish fantasy about a blacksmith and a golem.

A Conflagration of Dragons has unforseen disasters and cultural upheavals.

Gloryroad Crossing is the weird village where adventurers go to restock.

Kande's Quest is sword & soul with caucasian-inspired demons.

Monster House is suburban fantasy with a diverse household, where the line between truth and fantasy isn't always clear.

Not Quite Kansas has a helpful demon.

The Ocracies features all the political systems other than monarchy.

One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis follows Shaeth as he works on becoming the God of Drunks.

Path of the Paladins is low fantasy about paladins trying to restore a world gone to ruins.

P.I.E. is urban fantasy about paranormal investigations.

Polychrome Heroics has primarily superpowers, but magic is described as "sorcery" there.  Antimatter & Stalwart Stan are a cross-cape couple, and Antimatter essentially does science-based magic.  Aubrey the Alabaster is another sorcerer.  Eric the Elven King has interdimensional refugees. 

Practical Magics is low fantasy with a prosaic focus.

Quixotic Ideas is contemporary fantasy where magic integrates with modern life in positive ways.

The Ursulan Cycle is genderbent King Arthur.

Yellow Unicorns is a quirky fantasy setting where the only yellow things people can see are the unicorns.

Or you can ask for something new.

Boost the signal to reveal a verse in any open linkback poem.

If you're interested, mark the date on your calendar, and please hold actual prompts until the "Poetry Fishbowl Open" post next week. (If you're not available that day, or you live in a time zone that makes it hard to reach me, you can leave advance prompts. I am now.) Meanwhile, if you want to help with promotion, please feel free to link back here or repost this on your blog.

( New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )

We made this tonight. It's quite tasty. :D We have plenty of pigeon peas left, so I can try other recipes too.

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Today is mostly sunny and sweltering. It's 85°F here. The migration is heavily impacted -- we drove past the lake yesterday and there was no sign of waterbirds, whereas normally this time of year there would ducks, pelicans, etc. in fairly large flocks.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

EDIT 9/30/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/30/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/30/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I watered the telephone pole garden, savanna seedlings, patio plants, new picnic table, and old picnic table.

Cicadas and crickets are singing.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Today we went to Grissom Family Orchard.

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Today is mostly sunny and sweltering.  In late September.  Fuck climate change. >_<

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/29/25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden and some savanna seedlings.

I saw a huge corn devil in the field across from us that was harvested recently.  This wasn't the usual 10-15 foot tall kind.  This was a wide, strong spiral of air that threw corn leaves hundreds of feet into the sky.  Impressive.

EDIT 9/29/25 -- I watered the irises, old picnic table, and new picnic table.

Cicadas and crickets are singing.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Today's Cooking
Philosophical Questions: Peace
Poem
Sustainability
Birdfeeding
Today's Adventures
Sustainability
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Effects
Today's Adventures
Pigeon Pea Recipes
Follow Friday 9-26-25: Jane Austen
Holiday Activities
Birdfeeding
Hobbies: Crochet
Artificial Intelligence
Birdfeeding
Hard Things

Let's Boycott Mississippi has 60 comments. Affordable Housing has 50 comments. Robotics has 72 comments.


"An Inkling of Things to Come" belongs to Polychrome: Shiv and needs $200 to be complete. Shiv attends the first session of his Worldbuilding class.


The weather is sweltering again. >_< Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches and a fox squirrel. I heard a blue jay screaming but didn't see it. Currently blooming: dandelions, marigolds, petunias, red salvia, verbena, lantana, sweet alyssum, zinnias, snapdragons, blue lobelia, perennial pinks, oxalis, moss rose, firecracker plant, tomatoes, tomatillos, yellow squash, zucchini, morning glory, chicory, Queen Anne's lace, sunflowers, cup plant, firewheel, cypress vine, sunchokes, sedum. Tomatoes, ball carrots, cucumbers, and groundcherries are ripe. Fields are about half harvested.

We made two things today!

My partner Doug riffed on a recipe using the sourdough bread we had that wasn't optimum for grilled cheese sandwiches.  So he blended up eggs, cheese, and stuff to pour over slices of bread and broil.  It was amazingly good.  :D

I cobbled up a fruit crisp in muffin tins because I had a cooking apple, some leftover strawberries, and for the crumble topping I added a broken-up gingersnap to the usual ingredients.  It turned out quite tasty.  \o/

I like that we know enough about cooking to throw together something from what we have available, and it works.