![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
8:30 PM
It includes what looks like a tea leaf emoji? Whatever sort of leaf this is, it’s not marijuana, even I know that. Maybe no emoji at all would’ve been the better call….
Reload page in style: light
busy
The area now known as Devil’s Den State Park has been inhabited for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence shows indigenous peoples lived in and traveled through the region as early as 8,000 years ago.
Much later, in the 1800s, the maze of sandstone crevices and caves became a refuge for outlaws and, during the Civil War, a base for Confederate guerrillas who used the rugged terrain for concealment and ambush. European settlers eventually imposed the ominous “Devil” associations that flavored local folklore.
In 1946, long after the park had become a recreational destination, eight-year-old Katherine Van Alst disappeared while hiking with her family. She was found six days later—about 30 miles from where she vanished and 600 feet higher in elevation—claiming she had survived by foraging and resting on sun-warmed grass.
The park later became tied to UFO lore. In 1977, Terry Lovelace and a friend, Toby, reported an encounter with a UAP in a remote clearing on nearby U.S. Forest Service land. Terry and Toby were EMT medics at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Lovelace described contact with sentient beings aboard a craft and the presence of vehicle tracks in the clearing fueled speculation about who maintained the area. Historical maps place the site near an old coal pit and bank, a detail sometimes mentioned in discussions of unusual radiation and UFO activity.
More recent decades brought further tragedy. Hiker disappearances on the park’s rugged trails, including the case of Rodney Letterman, occasionally resulted in remains being found years later. In July 2025, Clinton and Cristen Brink were murdered on a remote trail, though their children survived the attack.
Today, despite the unsettling history woven through the region, Devil’s Den State Park remains a strikingly beautiful landscape of sandstone bluffs, caves, forests, and creeks. Visitors continue to find peace among its trails and overlooks, even as its past lends the place an atmosphere of mystery and unease.
About 1 km down the Old Bungalow Road, off the Princess Highway 5km east of Lakes Entrance, Victoria stands a replica oil well, that represents the site of the first oil discovery in Australia. The well (Lake Bunga No. 1) was spudded in on the 25th July, 1924 by the Lakes Entrance Development Co.
Oil was found at a depth of 325m in association with gas and ground water. The find sparked an intensive exploration period in the Gippsland Basin, which eventually led to the production of over 8,000 barrels of heavy crude oil.
By the 1950s there was a growing need for fuel which warranted further exploration along the East Gippsland Coastline and into Bass Strait. In 1965 oil was discovered in huge quantities in the strait. The small well of Lake Bunga No 1 was the beginning of the development of the economics of Australia.
This week, the poetry of Polychrome Heroics is on sale for half price from Monday, April 20 through Sunday, April 26. This series is superhero fantasy. It features themes of heroism, coming of age, diversity, identity kink, family of choice, friendship, and cultural engineering. Sale prices range from $5 to $319, so hopefully there will be something for everyone.
Prices on open epics are locked at the time of opening; however, if anyone wants to donate to open epics and buy poetry, spending $100 will get you the quarter-price rate on the new poems, regardless of the rate on the open epic(s) you support. There are no open epics at present, so you may open one if you wish.
We are repeating the special discount for purchases of $100 or more, in which you get poetry at 25% of its original price instead of 50%. (Note that this increases the amount of poetry you get, rather than reducing the amount of money spent; the point is to get this stuff off of my desk. Yes, I can afford it.) That size of donation also makes you a k-fan which comes with some other perks, like a year-end collection of a poetic series. If several folks want to bundle their orders to make the $100 threshold and have one person send it all, that's okay; you'll get the discount and I'll list all your names as donors, but you'll have to decide amongst you who gets the k-fan credit. If you host a pool, please close it the day before the sale closes, so you have time to collect funds and turn them in on time.
Some of the poems are in sequence of related action, so in places there are prerequisites before a poem can be published. They can be sponsored at any time, just might have to wait for publication until something else gets posted first. Those are marked accordingly. I have also made lists of poems which unlock sequels, and poems which have prerequisites.
Linkback perk: The following poems have verses left to reveal. Boost the signal for this half-price sale and tell me which poem you want to extend.
"A Sense of Weather Changes"
"The Loving Embrace of Night"
"Generations of Cooks Past"
"Homefree and Clear "
"One Bite at a Time"
"Mishpocha"
"Changing Your Nature"
"Besa"
About characters and storylines: The storylines feature multiple characters, so if you want poems about ONE specific character, look closely. The thumbnail descriptions here give some indication who features in each poem. The storyline pages are adding precise, complete information about which characters appear in each poem. If you need more than what's already visible, you can ask me.
About timing: If you want maximum choice, shop early. We usually send a batch of things to my father near the end of a sale, and those poems will be posted as I have time.
About pools: Yes, you can combine your funds with other prompters to get the quarter-price rate. Yes, you can combine your funds with other prompters to buy a bigger poem. Yes, you can offer to match donations by other people. However, the wordsmith is not also a math whiz! After several attempts to find a way that I can work with pools and matches, I have concluded that this is over my head. (I did figure out how to avoid generating fractional pennies, though: all initial prices are now whole dollars, which means they cut evenly into halves and quarters.) So if you want to host a pool or a match, make a post for that in your blog or other venue, then comment here with what you're doing and include a link to wherever the discussion will be. You figure out the poems, you collect the funds, and when stuff is fully funded, you send me the money and the list of what it's for. Then I'll post the goodies. Please close the pool in time to collect donations by the end of the sale, so I can start posting pool poems no later than the day after the sale.
Before placing your order, please check this sale page to see what is still unsold! I will try to update the page as things sell, and it's likely to be the case that some poems will be marked SOLD before appearing in posts. People often buy things in batches, which means that selling gets ahead of posting. Also sometimes people ask for the same thing at the same time, so that not all overlaps are preventable. If you have alternate instructions in case you request something that has just sold, please include that in your message; otherwise I'll email you back and ask what you want to do.
Poems that unlock sequels: "Where You Find Light," "When You Learn to Read," "Your Emotional Abilities"
Poems that have prerequisites: "When You Learn to Read," "No Faster or Firmer Friendships," "A Beautiful Paradox"
"The Frequent Passage from Hand to Hand"
Story Date: April 2002
Summary: Kraken appreciates BookCrossing.
56 lines, was $20, sale price $10
"Filled with Things You Don't Know"
Story Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Summary: Marjane works on library decor and gets a new assistant.
98 lines, was $49, sale price $24.50
"Lágrimas da Floresta Tropical"
Story Date: Monday, November 17, 2014
Summary: Pinion and Camberhawk team up with Kayapó forest guardians to stop a logging incursion.
170 lines, was $85, sale price $42.50
RUTLEDGE (5 poems, was $867, sale price $433.50)
"Nothing Like Looking"
Story Date: Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Summary: Aria visits Rutledge as part of Many Paths Up the Mountain.
466 lines, was $233, sale price $116.50
"Your Emotional Abilities"
Story Date: Saturday, May 30, 2015
Summary: Amethyst gives Johan some ideas about accommodations that might help cope with his current challenges.
366 lines, was $183, sale price $91.50
"Shag Carpet Cuddles"
Story Date: June 2015
Summary: The Vermont Shag Carpet Cats love snuggling with people.
19 lines, was $10, sale price $5
"A Beautiful Paradox"
Story Date: Friday, June 5, 2015
Summary: Johan loses his temper
259 lines, was $130, sale price $65
Available for posting after "Your Emotional Abilities" has been sponsored and published.
"Learning New Skills"
Story Date: Sunday, June 12, 2016
Summary: Wrenley Immen teaches her new neighbor about gardening.
311 lines, was $311, sale price $155.50
Double price for research.
SHIV (5 poems, was $264, sale price $132)
"The Graffiti of the Rich"
Story Date: Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Summary: When someone paints over a graffit wall, Shiv leaves a pointed message.
28 lines, was $15, sale price $7.50
"Let the Glass Make Itself"
Story Date: Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Summary: Dale Chihuly rebuilds after the Big One.
45 lines, was $20, sale price $10
"An Expression That Crosses Boundaries"
Story Date: Saturday, July 9, 2016
Summary: Shiv and Pain's Gray make treats to celebrate Rutledge setting up a teleport hub, and they visit Kardal at the Syrian Foods truck.
236 lines, was $118, sale price $59
"Always Guided by Passion"
[Morning of Saturday, September 17, 2016]
Summary: Shiv discusses graffiti with Bo-Art and Creamjeans.
51 lines, was $20, sale price $10
"Never Turn Your Back"
Story Date: Thursday, October 6, 2016
Summary: An incident at college leaves Shiv striving to rescue a classmate.
182 lines, was $91, sale price $45.50
OTHER POLYCHROME POEMS (8 poems, was $1978, sale price $989)
"The Four Marks of True Repentance"
Story Date: Monday, August 13, 2013
Summary: Three former child soldiers move to America.
953 lines, was $477, sale price $238.50
"When Everyone Around You Has Theirs Bowed"
Story Date: Sunday, April 6, 2014
Summary: Therapy for men's genital injury tends to focus on loss, but Marvis Willing knows the proud history of eunuchs.
304 lines, was $152, sale price $76
"Let's Go on This Journey Together"
Story Date: Monday, September 29, 2014
Summary: After breaking his arm, Linus gets a lot of support from his friends.
638 lines, was $638, sale price $319
Double price for research.
"Hear a Thousand Stars Singing"
Story Date: Night of Sunday, October 25, 2015
Summary: Fascinated by the idea of becoming a robonaut, Quain takes up stargazing.
28 lines, was $15, sale price $7.50
"Far Stronger Links"
Story Date: Friday, September 4, 2015
Summary: A coworker's loss inspires support at work.
515 lines, was $258, sale price $129
"Aim a Little Above It"
Nagi deals with a young man who tries to rob her.
260 lines, was $130, sale price $65
"Formidable Tasks of Adaptation"
Story Date: Sunday, March 20, 2016
Summary: Denim has had enough of her parents' shit.
359 lines, was $180, sale price $90
"Upholding It, Wherever Found"
Story Date: Thursday, November 3, 2016
Summary: Gail Somerville works for Interpol, but feels increasingly uncomfortable with it.
256 lines, was $128, sale price $64
busy busy
The Colorado Boy Mine sits high on a steep hillside, visible from the Million Dollar Highway far below, but almost no one hikes up to see it close-up.
It features one of only three intact wooden vertical shaft houses left standing from the 1880s silver and gold rush era out of dozens that once stood. This rare survivor is a powerful symbol of the frontier mining life that once filled these remote San Juan peaks.
A short, easy 1.8-mile round-trip walk from Ironton takes you through quiet alpine scenery to this untouched piece of history. The site was stabilized in 2001 and still stands strong after over 140 years.
A visit lets you feel the grit and isolation of the prospectors who once chased their dreams here.
The focal point of the beautiful Branitz Park near Cottbus consists of two pyramids: the Land Pyramid, modeled after the stepped shape of the Pyramids of Saqqara, and the Lake Pyramid or "Tumulus"—the burial pyramid. In front of the latter lies a tiny island featuring the gravestone of Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau and his wife, Lucie.
Hermann von Pückler-Muskau commands respect as one of the most multifaceted and dazzling personalities of his era. He was also quite an "odd bird." Born on October 30, 1785, as the eldest son of a mother who was only 15 years old, he grew up with his grandfather. After his grandfather's death, the education of the nine-year-old was entrusted to the Moravian Church (Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinde). The pietism of this "Moravian hypocrisy-institute" (as Pückler called it) triggered early religious skepticism, rebellion, liberalism and a commitment to pantheism—the equation of God with nature.
After dropping out of law school, he began a military career in 1802. From 1806 onwards, he undertook extensive travels to Provence and Italy. During the Wars of Liberation starting in 1813, he enjoyed a rapid military rise, briefly serving as the military governor of Bruges. After leaving military service, he traveled to England, where he found his calling as a landscape gardener. He began creating an "ideal park" in the Neisse floodplains in Muskau, which is today a cross-border UNESCO World Heritage site shared by Germany and Poland.
Biographical details of his life paint the picture of a restless adventurer and multi-talent. He went on a hot-air balloon flight, married the divorced Lucie von Hardenberg (who was nine years his senior), and later divorced her at her own suggestion—though not before transferring assets to her to protect them from seizure.In Lucie, he found his lifelong intellectual counterpart; both shared a 'parkomania'—a fanatical passion for landscape gardening.
The underlying purpose of the divorce was to acquire a dowry through a new marriage in England, as an extravagant lifestyle and the landscaping of Muskau Park had left him and Lucie in financial distress. However, the English nobility locked away their daughters—Pückler's charm and charisma were well known—and so the lucrative marriage never materialized. Recognizing the literary potential of Pückler's humorous letters to her, Lucie published them to great success. In an age before the "yellow press" existed to hawk high-society gossip, Pückler provided an insider’s look at the lives of the rich and noble, reporting with wit and irony. Furthermore, he criticized the displacement of the Irish rural population by the English nobility. Politically, he held liberal and left-leaning positions, advocating for the abolition of slavery, freedom of the press, and the separation of church and state.
After missing his departure to North America due to a duel, he traveled to Egypt and up the Nile to Sudan in 1837. In a slave market in Khartoum, he bought the freedom of four slaves and made the underage Ethiopian girl Machbuba (Arabic for "beloved") his foster child, but also his mistress. Travels to Turkey and Greece followed. In 1845, having overextended himself financially, he sold his estates in Muskau and began designing Branitz Park near Cottbus. Lucie von Hardenberg continued to take the lead in implementing his plans. Even in old age, he pushed his military career, rising to Lieutenant General in 1863. In 1866, at the age of 80, he famously overslept the Battle of Königgrätz; he was nevertheless honored after the victory. However, his participation in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 was denied, even though he had volunteered at the age of 86.
Princess Lucie remained devoted to him until the end of her life, overseeing the garden designs during his escapades. Inspired by his travels to the Orient, he designed his own grave in the form of the Tumulus. His instructions regarding his mortal remains testify to his skepticism toward religion and his free-spirited nature: since cremation was not permitted by the church, he decreed that his heart be dissolved in sulfuric acid and his body be bedded in quicklime.
The only thing he did not come up with himself was the "Fürst-Pückler-Eis" (Neapolitan ice cream)—the combination of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate popular in Germany. It was a clever marketing idea by the confectioner Schulz from Cottbus (or Berlin), who likely served it to the Prince only once so that some of the nobleman's fame might rub off on him.
busy busy busy![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
