Maybe this is just for the elder loons like me.
Or maybe the young'uns will appreciate... Who knows?
What comes to me when I'm washing my hair...
Edited to add Sir Paul... Which was actually the first one that came to mind this morning. The mind does wander...
Anyway... Just me? 
And in other gardening tragedy news, I just stupidly, accidentally severed a big-ass branch on my white cherry tomato plant.
Had to open the cage that's more than a cage, get on the ground, and do this. Had to? Chose to. Who knows if it'll work. My heart was pounding.
The branch is 6' tall and I'm mortified. Luckily, not too full of ripening fruit.
You cannot possibly judge me more than I am myself. But please, just don't, anyway.
Honest question for the people saying they won’t hire a website designer who uses AI:
What exactly are you seeing?
And how are you seeing it?
Are you making that assessment from the front end — how the site displays, functions, reads, moves, and feels?
Or are you viewing source, checking the build, looking under the hood?
I’m asking because I’m seeing variations on this conversation on the interwebs on the daily.
And as someone who uses websites, writes content for them, crafts customer journeys, and designs and builds in WordPress, I’m trying to understand the line people are drawing.
Are you objecting to AI being used at all?
Or to generic, lazy, unexamined work being passed off as custom?
Because those are not the same thing.
I use AI in my work.
And as far as I know, nobody has ever looked at one of my sites and said, “Ah. AI.”
What I hear instead is that the work feels thoughtful, specific, and made by a human.
I use AI to help project-manage the build, keep track of decisions, clean up dictated notes so I can edit my own thinking, and then shape the ideas into marketing copy.
I use it to help me write custom snippets that let me make a WordPress site behave the way I want without adding premium plugins.
So when you say “no AI,” what are you seeing?
What would tell you the difference between AI being used as a tool, and AI being used as a substitute for skill, taste, judgment, or care?
That’s the line I’m interested in.
Elder loons, assemble.
Have any of you figured out what skincare products Hudson Williams’s aunties used?
I’m 75, and while my skin is not bad, I feel like I’m losing ground. I make a lot of my own topicals and I’m careful about what goes on my skin, but after 2+ weeks of horrible, itchy, no-sleep eczema on my arms, legs, and chest, I’m ready for a boost.
What do you got for me?
Just started a reheat after quite a while. I’ve filled the time watching every single reaction video there is, I’m sure, and immersing myself in fan infection.

Now I’ve got the Apple TV version. I thought I’d have notes to take. I had my journal on my lap. Instead, I spent the entire— what? 55 minutes— either smiling, or reciting the lines in advance of or right on time with them as they were being spoken.
The only kind of random question that arise was wondering if it was the same actor playing Jackie in the scene after they get snowed out on the way to Montreal. Imdb says it’s her so…🤷🏻
COMMENTS CLOSED, THANKS!
Loons assemble!
Help me answer a text from family.
What would Shane say in a birthday greeting?
Just finished TLG 2nd time and I have a technical Q. But first: There's no way to put it down after Go home, Hollander. Same 1st time I read it.
Okay, the question:
Was there ever a time when it was possible to not be able to send texts when you had wifi? On a phone that WOULD let you message on Insta?
I wept too hard at that point first time to pay attention to this point, but somehow it lingered through the rest of the tears and smiles as I finished the ride. Thank you Rachel! Beautiful.
Please help me with my plan. It’s time for a reheat and I’m gonna get the Apple TV version as a gift to myself gift to listen to all you loons raving about this better version.
I’ll start as soon as I finish reading TLG. My library finally got to me and I’ve been reading the books in order.
But here’s my question: is there anything else I’m supposed to read that completes the series so far … something on Rachel‘s website?
I’ve heard Time to shine, The shots you take, and Dinner with Hayden?
Do I need to read them to be complete? Where do they live?
I can't with this heat. Where can I go do some work today? Please share recommendations. I live near Brew and Crooks, so JC/downtown areas Thanks.
Got one you don't need any more? Needs to be shallow and flat-ish. Can be any material.
I can pick up.
Empty. No signage. Where I’d it?
It’s my second year growing raspberries and I’m from Brooklyn. I don’t know what I’m doing so just trying shit feels appropriate.
I don’t like bird netting. I couldn’t find pinwheels — a dandy idea I just heard about — at the dollar tree or anywhere else.
But I do have CDs in my stash (a gift from a fellow artist who thought I might use them for pouring paint.)
Let’s see if this keeps the birds away from my berries.
Sunday of last week, I put myself in training, inspired by the fact that none of my jeans fit right now.
I found myself jumping out of resignation into action.
I’ve added two to three more 7- to 10-minute low-impact cardio workouts a day to raise my heart rate. I'm calling them exer-snacks.
Immediate effect?
No, my jeans don’t fit better yet. But my energy is better, my mood is better, and it feels like my endurance is improving. I’m taking fewer naps.
More progress reports to come.
Hi. Know a source for CBD clones? Seedlings? I checked OrganiCann and they won't have until late June. I'm ready now. Thanks for tips. Need just one.
Finally read the HR book. (Put a hold on it at the library in December!) Since then, of course, I've reheated countless times, watched so many reaction videos... Ful loonacy. Full immersion.
Tried listening to the audiobook early on. Couldn't.
I'm awed by how much of the dialog in the book is word for freaking word lifted from the book. What an incredible adaptation.
The only line that stuck out as different was the slow fucking hockey player one. In the book, Ilya only says one "ever." Gasp.
I don't ever want that problem to ever go away. The first "ever" is in the show, not the book.
I don't mind having waited so long; the months of watching/rewatching made it possible for me to hear Hollanov's voices in my head as I read the dialogue.
Next up Tough Guy (reading in order).
Actually, I only hate one thing about them, i’ll tell you what that is at the end. But first I have to rave about them
The most important things to me in barefoot shoes are midfoot stability, grippy sole, and enough cushion to eliminate some/most road feel.
These are 100% perfect. And I like the squishiness. After a decade and a half in vivo’s, mostly in Primus mesh with FG soles. Nice difference. And I am so done with vivos. As someone who’s motto is often give me a rut and I’ll decorate it, I’m happy to finally be free of my brand loyalty since the quality has really fallen off.
Oh the thing I hate? These shoes are eating my no-show socks. I have to stop and yank the socks back out because they keep rolling down under my heel. So annoying. It’s summer in Santa Rosa and I don’t wanna have to wear taller socks dammit.
But these are certainly closer to perfection than anything I’ve found so far in my search for the grip and road feel I want
Spent half the day wiring together a popup subscribe system on WordPress without paying for premium plugins.
What “free” actually meant:
Result: it works.
Form submits correctly.
Subscribers land in EmailOctopus.
Entries store locally in WordPress too.
No recurring plugin fees.
The hidden cost of “free” is complexity and time. The upside is modular systems, lower overhead, and understanding exactly how your own site works.
Next and hopefully last step: create the popup and put it behind text link in footer. Tomorrow's task.
I set a line for myself: no paid plugins on this new site I’m building for myself.
So here I am, building an art gallery out of whatever the free version will give me… and then pushing it further. (Defaults? I don’t need no stinking defaults!)
Feature by feature, I’m filling the gaps. Background click-to-close? Done.
And this hover state… this one’s mine. I’ve never seen it anywhere, and I love it. (image gets a bit bigger and a bit darker on hover). Self-imposed constraint turned playground.
Custom hover state for my nav items
Building my own site on a blank theme feels a little like building a house from the ground up.
I’m getting to work at the level of detail and customization I’d love to bring to every client project, if only budgets were that generous (both for time and money).
But this one's for me, and I'm indulging myself.
I’m tweaking custom link treatments. Reworking gallery hover states to make my art really pop. Questioning, reimagining, and then overriding defaults I used to accept without a second thought.
And I keep discovering things I didn’t even know could be done.
Honestly? I’m having a blast.
