Stori3d Past
@stori3dpast.bsky.social
Harold Johnson. Maine (from away!). Bookseller. Pilgrim. Word Guy. Skeptic. History & Archaeology. Tolkien. Trek. Italy. Old English. Used to make YouTubes, now I make typos. 19th C antiquarian — Sideburns included! 🏺📖🧙🏻♂️
I've never read 'Black Cottage' before & wow it hits. I've now lived long enough to see that the bedrock we think we live on is often subtly-shifting sand.
November 12, 2025 at 11:04 PM
I've never read 'Black Cottage' before & wow it hits. I've now lived long enough to see that the bedrock we think we live on is often subtly-shifting sand.
Yeah I adore that one. He really reaches me in a way a lot of poetry doesn't.
November 12, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Yeah I adore that one. He really reaches me in a way a lot of poetry doesn't.
The $20 gold coin was majestically called the Double Eagle. If you have one of great-grandpa's old Double Eagles lying around, its gold content alone makes it worth about $4000 today.
November 12, 2025 at 8:59 PM
The $20 gold coin was majestically called the Double Eagle. If you have one of great-grandpa's old Double Eagles lying around, its gold content alone makes it worth about $4000 today.
It's always so weird when one of those things that has just always been there just... stops being there. It's like BlockBuster or payphones.
November 12, 2025 at 8:51 PM
It's always so weird when one of those things that has just always been there just... stops being there. It's like BlockBuster or payphones.
Whenever I've been to Philly, it's always felt like that was a real possibility for my day. I hope it's fixed soon!
November 12, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Whenever I've been to Philly, it's always felt like that was a real possibility for my day. I hope it's fixed soon!
When the first New England settlers were carving out farms, they had to deal with rocky glacial soil. They turned those rocks into field boundaries: killing two birds with one stone. Almost all the stone walls you find in a NE wood were the blood, sweat, & hopes of a farming family 200 years ago!
November 12, 2025 at 8:25 PM
When the first New England settlers were carving out farms, they had to deal with rocky glacial soil. They turned those rocks into field boundaries: killing two birds with one stone. Almost all the stone walls you find in a NE wood were the blood, sweat, & hopes of a farming family 200 years ago!
Old stone walls in a forest is such a New England thing. NE is not great for farming. Too much rain, the soil is too acidic. In early years people had to farm coz they had to eat. But when the Midwest opened up & shipped cheap grain back east, farm after farm went to seed, & eventually to forest.
Living on Earth: New England's Stone Walls
New England’s first farmers of European descent found themselves plowing soil strewn with rocks left behind by glaciers. So, stone by stone, they stacked the rocks into waist-high walls. Some say thes...
www.loe.org
November 12, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Old stone walls in a forest is such a New England thing. NE is not great for farming. Too much rain, the soil is too acidic. In early years people had to farm coz they had to eat. But when the Midwest opened up & shipped cheap grain back east, farm after farm went to seed, & eventually to forest.
Props though for using "polyphiloprogenitive," "superfetation," and a phrase in Greek though. 👌🏻 Gatekeeping Accomplishment unlocked.
November 12, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Props though for using "polyphiloprogenitive," "superfetation," and a phrase in Greek though. 👌🏻 Gatekeeping Accomplishment unlocked.
She cooks just like our daughter!
November 12, 2025 at 1:07 AM
She cooks just like our daughter!
First ice is always amateur night.
November 12, 2025 at 12:16 AM
First ice is always amateur night.
Any idea yet what is happening?
November 12, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Any idea yet what is happening?
My thoughts exactly!
November 11, 2025 at 4:03 PM
My thoughts exactly!
Yeah when people show you who they are, sometimes you just have to say "nope." I worked with a publishing house years back, and I brought some pretty serious plagiarism to their attention. They told me to look the other way and I said "thank you, no" and parted ways.
November 11, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Yeah when people show you who they are, sometimes you just have to say "nope." I worked with a publishing house years back, and I brought some pretty serious plagiarism to their attention. They told me to look the other way and I said "thank you, no" and parted ways.
If it's the same one as yesterday, sounds like it couldn't have happened to a worthier client.
November 11, 2025 at 3:45 PM
If it's the same one as yesterday, sounds like it couldn't have happened to a worthier client.
I'll try to come back to it & read it in that light. Somehow I struggle with poetry - its art doesn't reach me a lot of times. I'm one of those Tolkien readers who skips (or skims) the LOTR poems, coz every time I try to make myself read them carefully I'm less moved than I am by his prose.
November 11, 2025 at 3:05 PM
I'll try to come back to it & read it in that light. Somehow I struggle with poetry - its art doesn't reach me a lot of times. I'm one of those Tolkien readers who skips (or skims) the LOTR poems, coz every time I try to make myself read them carefully I'm less moved than I am by his prose.