Hard Things

Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently?

"Stripping Away the Inessential" is now complete!

 alatefeline sent the other half of sponsorship, so "Stripping Away the Inessential" is now complete.  See what happens when a superhera runs out of spoons.

Wednesday Yardening

It is a beautiful sunny day today after yesterday's rain rain rain.  \o/  So I started by planting:

* Firecracker plant and lantana in the barrel garden.  This completes the planting of the barrel garden for this season.

* Two hanging pots for the hooks above the barrel garden, one with a fuchsia and one with pink purslane.

* A long planter with yellow purslane, pink-and-yellow cosmos, and pink-and-yellow purslane. 

I still have most of two flats to plant, including a lot of herbs.  We stopped at Prairie Gardens recently.  :D

EDIT:

Round two: weeded the goddess garden.

Round three: installed the goddess statue.  Planted four hens-and-chicks of different varieties, two red ones and two green ones.

Round four: planted curry plant in cistern garden; golden lemon thyme, mother-of-thyme, and calendula in the strip garden.

I still have several varieties of basil to plant along with a few other herbs, but I actually got most of the stuff planted in one day.  Go me.  :D

Half-Price Sale in Polychrome Heroics

All the currently sold stuff has been marked on the sale page.  Posted poems are linked from their titles.

Danso and Family is sold out.  \o/

In other awesome news, I was able to post some new poems about gay and trans characters on International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.  :D  See "Stripping Away the Inessential," "The Frequency of Love," and "A Teacher Who Believes in You."

Note that two poems have been sponsored but NOT published yet because they have prerequisites, which means that sponsoring other stuff can unlock extra goodies.  So if anyone is looking to get some extra bang for their buck, these would be good opportunities for that.
* The biggest of the Pain's Gray poems, "No Feeling of Being Alive," has been sponsored and will appear after "How You Combine Them" ($50.50) and "What Makes a Team Work" ($53) have been sponsored and posted.  If you think Gray has been fun so far, just wait until you see the cool stuff that he can do after he gets out of the casts.
* One of Shiv's poems, "Never Quite So Alone Again," has been sponsored and will appear after "Whose Lives Are Quite Different" ($75).  These continue the story-reading thread, if you liked seeing that earlier.

I have one more poem to post today, not listed in the sale proper since it's part of a regular donor's recent fascination with Officer Pink.  And then I should be caught up.

Europa News

 Scientists are using models to explore how Europa might support life.  I reeeaaallly want to go there.  :D

Poem: "Filled with Joyous Surprises"

This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It fills the "shopping together" square in my 4-19-16 card for the genprompt_bingo fest. It has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. This poem belongs to the Officer Pink thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Warning: This poem is mostly fluff, but Turq is still carrying a lot of damage and is trying to stretch his limits. So there are periodic angsty moments, but no major meltdowns. Think carefully if mental issues are touchy territory for you.

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