Electric Syllables

May showers may bring June flowers?

Created by Allison C. using OpenAI’s image generator in ChatGPT.

Created by Allison C. using OpenAI’s DALL·E on WordPress.com.

I started these months thinking about May Day—about spring festivals, ribbons, flowers, and the shifting seasons. I even opened up my AI tools and started generating images: garlands of birch leaves, Scandinavian midsummer poles, Slovakian folk embroidery, paper crowns, and wildflowers spilling out of baskets.

I used two different AI image generators from OpenAI—one in ChatGPT and the other via DALL·E on WordPress.com. I didn’t love my first attempt, so I asked ChatGPT to improve the prompt. It delivered a paragraph-long version, which I used in both generators. Both interpreted the same prompt differently—one more literal, the other more stylized. ChatGPT’s integrated image generator (top) did a more accurate job and was more of what I was envisioning, but DALL·E on WordPress.com (bottom) has a bit more whimsy.

I always try to write alt-text that actually describes what’s on screen—not just the concept behind it. It’s an ongoing learning curve. Theoretically, I could have used identical alt-text for both images, but that would describe the idea behind them rather than the images themselves. Alt-text remains a work in progress. I’m always trying to improve at writing clear, concise descriptions that reflect what’s actually shown.

May was mostly gray, soggy, and behind schedule—which, thematically, checks out. I blinked and it was late June, and my to-do list still looked suspiciously familiar.

These past two months have been a strange mix of hyper-productivity and feeling like I’m wading through molasses. Every little task seemed to lead to three more. (A special shoutout to Google Looker Studio for teaching me the fine line between “data visualization” and “psychological warfare.”)

Honestly, that feels like the theme for May and June. A season of half-started things, tangents, and quiet background work. Not everything blooms on schedule. Some projects are seeds that stay underground longer than you expect.

But even without a throughline, things were still happening.

Life lately, in no particular order

• Web analytics drama. I went in thinking I was building a simple analytics overview in Looker Studio. Every fix revealed a new problem. Filters misbehaved, bar charts refused to label correctly, and pie charts mocked me with their stubbornness. But I learned a lot.
• Mystery lights. My ceiling fan staged a small rebellion, flickering like I was living in an experimental art film. Turns out, mixing an old dimmer switch with new LED bulbs is a recipe for chaos. I now know more than I ever planned to about dimmer compatibility, but I haven’t had time to determine which solution to try.
• Books lately. I spent more time than usual in fictional 19th-century London, continuing my binge of the Veronica Speedwell mysteries, which continue to be the perfect combination of wit, adventure, and butterflies. For balance, I also circled back to the espionage world of Alan Furst and the hardboiled chaos of James Ellroy. (I met both writers years ago at a book industry convention.) Not every book was a hit. I tried Victorian Psycho—so grim and horrific that I noped out after one chapter. I like dark sparkle. I like gothic. This was delete-from-memory dark.
• British TV report. I’ve been working my way through New Tricks on BritBox (I alternate channel subscriptions depending upon my watchlist). It’s been surprisingly good—a lighter detective show that leans more on humor and character than crime. But as we creep into the later seasons, the cracks are showing. Definitely losing steam.
• Travel plotting. There’s been a lot of daydreaming about road trips. I keep circling the idea of a Northeast loop—maybe Salem for folklore and bookshops, Maine for puffin watching (if the timing is right), and Concord for a pilgrimage to Louisa May Alcott’s house. I still don’t know if it’s going to be a “this year” trip or a “next year” trip. But research is half the fun, right?
• A little Ohio adventure. Took a quick trip across the state line for a round of stores and restaurants we don’t have locally: brunch at First Watch, a browse through Meijer, a Trader Joe’s haul, and a Costco stop where it seemed like everyone was buying the same massive, blindingly bright pots of zinnias. Resistance was futile. I left with a few, too.
• Zinnia test: surprisingly successful. I’ve been testing whether zinnias are deer-proof (or at least deer-discouraging), especially for cemetery flowers. We took a vase out and the deer completely ignored it. A win. I even planted zinnia seeds—and some giant marigolds—in the hope of having homegrown flowers to mix in with store-bought cemetery bouquets. Not a sentimental choice. Strictly deer-related.
• Tomato drama. The tomato plants are doing their best to thrive—or at least, they look like they are. Mushrooms popped up in the soil (which means either excellent soil health or something mildly cursed), and I’ve been keeping an eye out for any signs of trouble. So far, cautious optimism.
• Houseplant drama. The monstera and raindrop peperomia have (mostly) acclimated after their transplant, with new coir pole supports—set up in nontraditional spiral rings, because why not. But the polka dot begonia is failing to thrive. I suspect it was too much stress between repotting and trimming… though, to be fair, it wasn’t exactly thriving before either. Gangly then, struggling now.
• Small joys and minor grievances.
  • Tried Gorgie sparkling peach tea—A+ for flavor, D- for packaging contrast.
  • Discovered that yellow sticky traps for gnats are weirdly satisfying to check.
  • Wrote approximately 97 micro how-to guides.
  • Briefly became an expert in how to tell if a pineapple is ripe. Turned out not to need it; ours was past ripe and rotten.
  • Watched a suspicious number of crows fly overhead and decided it was probably a good omen.

What’s next?

July feels like a chance to regroup. There’s some gardening still ahead, some website puzzles to solve, and some decisions to make about future projects. Maybe a trip. Maybe just more scheming. Either way, I’m leaning into the season of ‘figure it out as you go.’