Last week I talked about the postcard clubs that I'd found while wandering around the web. Well, I went down a rabbit hole and found A BUNCH MORE and signed up for 3 of them. The ones I signed up for:

So, nothing is coming right away but I'll have little postal treasures to share within a month or so. Like I said, I found a bunch of them and I'd like to try them ALL. I'm going to have to do it 2 or 3 at a time because, much like I don't have a tiara budget, I also don't have a "try all the postcard clubs at once" budget. If you want to check out any of the clubs on your own, here's a list of what I've found (so far):

Postcard Clubs

If you're reading my blog you probably know that I'm a cross-stitcher. If I want to buy supplies locally, I've been reduced to hitting up the local Michaels which is usually fine for basic stuff. Otherwise, I order supplies from 123Stitch. They are awesome - they have flat rate shipping and an incredible inventory. There are some other local places (Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby) I could theoretically shop at for supplies but they are on my personal boycott list for one reason or another.

I have known about a local independently owned needlework shop for years, Attic Needlework, but never went there because I assumed it was more for embroidery. I went to actually check it out this weekend and, while the majority of it is in fact for embroiderers, they do have a selection of cross-stitch supplies! I was looking for DMC thread and a particular color of Aida cloth and found both. They have other brands of thread, too, and a nice basic selection of Aida in different colors and counts. Now, I ended up paying a lot more than I would have had I ordered from 123Stitch. Their DMC was about $1.10 per skein and the Aida was $17. At 123Stitch, their DMC thread is .76 per skein and the Aida fabric would have been about $12. I felt it was worth it and also doable since my purchase was small. Unfortunately, if you don't pay local store prices then that leads to no longer having local stores.

I just want to give a little shout out to a couple of fellow Neocitizens:

Listening

Some podcasts I've listened to this week:

I had been listening to the Renaissance English History Podcast on YouTube. Sometimes the host speaks live but sometimes there are just images so "watching" on YouTube isn't really necessary. The podcast has been going on for 17 years and I thought I'd check out her vast back catalog via my podcast app. I listened to the first few (Intro, Sports, Henry VII) and, while I enjoyed the content, the audio on these early episodes is rough. I might go through her archives and pick and choose some interesting older ones but maybe not the oldest ones.

This is a super cool podcast, though, especially if Tudor history is your thing. It's not my thing. I think a lot of really cool and interesting history gets pushed aside because the Tudors are so prevalent in media. I personally would like to see more Plantagenet representation. But, her episodes are really interesting and she talks not only about the Tudors but also touches on Tudor daily life (like how did they get by without coffee? asking the real questions here!) and does thought pieces (what if Mary Queen of Scots had fled to France instead of marrying the Earl of Bothwell? what if Anne of Cleves had refused the annulment? what if the Gunpowder Plot had succeeded?)

Reading

I have finished The Black Company, the first book of the Black Company series by Glen Cook. Like I said last week, I'm really enjoying it, especially the mercenaries' camaraderie. It's a very comfortable group to spend time with! You know, in between all the killing and mayhem. I have already started the second book in the series, Shadows Linger.

In between those 2 books, I read the newest Penric and Desdemona novella Darklight Dare. It was great! I've loved all of the P&D books. Reading these stories, it occurs to me that the members of The Temple of the White Rat (from several of T. Kingfisher's novels) would probably work well with members of the Bastard's Order, which is the God that Penric follows. I wish I could write - I'd do some crossover fan fiction.

I randomly came across some sad news about one of the SF authors I really enjoy. CJ Cherryh wrote one of my all-time favorite series, the Chanur books. I like them so much that they are one of the few books I reread on a regular basis. Cherryh is an awesome author and she's written not only SF but also fantasy. She has a series based on Russian fairy tales that is really good.

She is in her 80s and has had a few instances of fighting (and beating!) breast cancer. She announced on her Facebook page that, due to the medical procedures she has had, her memory just isn't what it was and she can no longer control the narrative like she used to so she's retiring from writing. She's fine other than that so that's good but it is sad to hear of someone's career closing out like that.

Watching

I finished the current season of My Life is Murder, the New Zealand based mystery series with Lucy Lawless. It's a wonderful cozy show and I've talked before about how there's an element of found family to it. She went from a widowed former police officer who hates people to finding a close-knit set of friends and learning to kind of like people again. Great show, I love it, I hope it's renewed for another season.

I watched a really great video by struthless on YouTube, Replacing your phone is easy when it feels punk. This is about screen time and how to wrest your life back from what he calls the attention economy. He details what the problem is (that sounds dry and boring but I find his videos really engaging so don't let my bad description scare you away) and shares his solution - in the form of a zine, which you can download for free from his site. The zine has journaling questions and prompts and activities to replace random phone scrolling.

Link Lagniappe

OK, that's it for this week!

When I first started using Zonelets I had Disqus set up as a commenting system but it looked obnoxiously ugly and I ditched it. Some people are happy to not have blog interaction but I'd love to hear from you if you have any thoughts you want to share! You can respond through my guestbook or email. If you found this link on Discord or the 32-Bit Cafe Discourse, you can message me there or leave a message on my Neocities profile page.