None of the pictures are showing tonight but I read all the text. Okay, was not expecting Sandy to make a pass at Valentine! Who's next, Samantha? (Oh, dear...he might...)

Anyway, feel better.

You are so quick! But I'm glad of it. I decided to try using LJ's own photohosting because this was a big one, looks like I need to go in and set all the photos individually to public though, so doing that now.

The pictures, Peni, the pictures! Words are the easy part but getting these pictures sorted to tell the story, that took some doing. Hope you'll go back and take a look :-)

Of course I was back first thing in the morning. I knew I was missing important stuff. Ooh, new baby pictures! And those closet recolors look very good!

Goodness, there's a lot going on - Nelson showing up at Daytona's business, oh dear! It might be innocent enough but I don't believe it. I don't know what purpose spying might serve, but he pretty much looks like a threat to me where ever he shows up.

And Sandy, Sandy, when will you learn - anything? In her way she's as obtuse as Hamilton or Rhett, bracketing Hamilton/Penny with her/Rhett as equal and opposite screw-ups! His never touching her till after the divorce (and not knocking her up) makes all the difference, Sandy. Putting your hair up and dressing well won't change that. Even Proxy (trying to step up and be Mommy's enforcer with Goldie! What an adorable little grumpybear!) understands loyalty issues better than that.

And as for the Valentine situation - that is so messed up! No wonder he didn't want to hear her explanations - they'd have been pure nervous post hoc rationalization. I presume ACR did that, and Lana. ACR tends to have a field day with Valentine; he'll bag everybody in the neighborhood if the player's not careful. (And never, ever play Widespot with an incest mod if you're not prepared for the consequences...) What he must've been like in his heyday doesn't bear thinking of, and when you consider that Angel must've been able to go toe-to-toe with him on that front in order to wind up under the arch with him at all, let alone leave him pining for her, it's no wonder Rhett and Candy turned out as they did. Their lifestyles are tame in comparison.

Sandy's good at being Mommy, though, I'll give her that. Maybe a little too good for her own welfare further down the line, letting Proxy get so possessive - but in the circumstances it's natural for them to cling together more than they might in more stable circumstances. But she's right on top of the discipline, which this little bear is going to need all her life.

Unless you've got a useful mod I've never heard of, I don't think Val's going to be able to have a gift shop on the same lot as the bandatron anyway. The two business modes don't work and play well together.

Great job with the park scene. I'm generally unsuccessful getting teleported-in toddlers from different households to interact. Of course I'm also generally trying to run a big party at the same time.

Oh, so much to digest here - I'll have to come back again later.

Oh great, you saw it! Whew. And you don't know how relieved I am that it was a pretty quick fix to get people who aren't me to be able to see it, too, otherwise I'd have had to redo the whole thing and I don't know when/if I'd have been up to that. (But all I did was the invisible-ing for the closet--alpha outfit meshes were my semi-acquired skill for the Beech round and making stuff invisible is what I learned for the Harts'--that's cc deco clothes tossed in and overlapping the empty hangers.)

Well, he may have just wandered on lot but I certainly wouldn't trust Nelson. And Peter and Rhett were both out of the office while he was loitering.

Part of Sandy's trouble is that she can rationalise almost anything and convince herself that it's so. Is she really pining for her husband? Well, despite Penny's own worries, she is not sleeping with Sandy's husband. Sandy doesn't have a husband. It's a fact she has not fully accepted despite being the one shacking up with someone else. The idea that a new look and a new attitude will make all the difference is one that she might actually ridicule, or at least see through, if someone else did it. But she's determined not to be discouraged. The messes may well get messier.

Val was doing his fair share of flirting back. On the one hand it seems harmless, he surely didn't mean any harm and wasn't prepared to take it farther, but on the other hand, even though he has no need to boast about it, he is pretty well assured of his powers so how harmless was it? I mean, Lana had basically just stormed her way into his house demanding sex (which she got). So I don't know about letting him off the hook just because it's effortless. And, of course, there is still Part 3.

ACR and Lana is exactly right. And me, too, to make certain he rejected her. While Sandy was at it I interjected a regular old maxis action. Sim Val would have accepted an ACR kiss and probably woohoo, but no. Even if his conscience fails him it won't be for lack of a struggle. (And I've got a preposterous lot of cc, scattered around different hoods to make it manageable, but incest mod? No. Never. This town is too close as it is but I can't...even...no.) Yeah, I think I've said this before but I don't know if I'd love Val quite as much as I do if I were playing him in his prime.

Proxy is all Sandy really has but there is such a thing as being too close. But the fact that she's got her mother's face but none of her personality might help later with the individuation. Not that Proxy isn't already making her own mark! She's a bit of a mischief magnet. And I foresee her getting sick of being told 'no' all the time. She already tried to share some of that with Goldie, why should she be the only one who needs to learn to 'be good'?

Yeah, the competition with the bandatron is the primary reason the shop wasn't open for business. There are no high price items anyway, it was mostly for the look and feel of the venue he was opening. But as the business levels increase, sims do wander over more to peek at what's for sale and occasionally make a purchase and that's good enough for my purposes.

Thanks. I only wanted to get Proxy and Sandy out of the house and Penny popped up of her own accord so I quickly teleported in Una beside her and just let it play out. Of course, I had already outfitted the lot with a few toddler toys before sending them but I liked the way it turned out. Meanwhile on the other side of the lot, hilarity ensued. The only way these chapters would stop being so long is if these sims would stop getting up to stuff and I don't see that happening!

Looks to me like Nelson creeps Goldie out, too, and she doesn't even know anything about him.

It's interesting that Rhett's so set on keeping Dixie a secret. He's not half as circumspect about Zephyr. Is it her age, or has he picked up a vibe about Land women? Or just that her father carries a sidearm? Of course it's better for Sandy not to catch him, that's just a lot of hassle, but it's not as if Goldie and Pop don't know the score.

It's probably hard for you to believe, but in a vanilla game it's easier to keep Val faithful to Mary than it is to keep Mary faithful to anybody. Since I never cleared him for romantic interactions with anyone but Angel while she was alive, or than Mary afterward, as far as the game mechanics are concerned, he starts as a serial monogamist; whereas Mary starts with two loves at once and is likely to flirt autonomously with one even if she commits to the other. Let Val once sweet talk one other person, though, or leave him to ACR without tailoring, and the man is an unstoppable flirting machine.

I don't think it's so much effortless as reflexive. He has to consciously flick the off-switch in order not to flirt - because for most of his life, it has been harmless, or at least without serious consequences. All that's changed, and he knows that, but the old grooves in the brain are dug deep and it's hard not to fall right into them. That's why he's been trying to go cold turkey with Mary, removing himself from temptation; but he can hardly do that with Sandy unless his doubts about Proxy's parentage pan out. I think he places most of the blame on himself, not Sandy. Yeah, she tried to escalate, but that's just what women do around him. Might as well blame the sun for shining. Look at Lana, and he was trying to be discouraging there!

This gives him an ulterior motive to want to be able to disclaim Proxy, but I think she'll win him over with all that crankiness. She acts more like a Hart than like her annoyingly grateful mother, and though feistiness could have come to her from Daytona via Hamilton, that won't be as compelling as the daily sight of her acting like a self-assertive Hart in a Hart environment.

Ginger's so sharp, she's gonna cut herself, sitting in benign judgement on all the relationships she sees, or thinks she sees, around her. Of course she's more or less right about River, and I trust he gives her credit for meaning well, or will when he needs somebody he's out with to talk to. But the girl needs to analyze others less and herself more. I can see a sobering experience swaggering cluelessly toward her...

Are you going to be sharing the new baby pics, too? Pretty please? I don't suppose it'd take me long to learn to recolor paintings, but setting up my own photo shoots is another thing.

Nobody wants shorter chapters. (Certainly I don't.) The wait between installments keeps the hunger sharp.

I've had to run out of town, germs and all, and of course Ye Olde Laptop decided it was her turn to turn traitor but I suppose that means I'll be tackling another new skill when I go back: Soldering! I'll put up the Sandy pics but it's going to be at least another week before I can head home. There are only the 2 previously unseen shots with her and little Virgie.

Ginger's been on about vibes and Nelson's probably radiating his fair share. Goldie and Poochie high-tailed it on outta there. And she is the one who was getting an earfull about curfew and being alert to any strange men around. Reading people, with a fair-to-insightful accuracy rating, is one of the things Ginger and Goldie have in common even if they don't know it yet, though what they're looking/listening for and why are so different (Ginger wasn't remotely creeped out by Nelson when she met him.) Goldie fell into the track of not paying overmuch attention to River because she didn't meet him as a potential player in the teen scene, to her he was always just Scot and Dixie's little brother, and she's not especially sensitive to that because he is not sensitive about it.

With respect to Rhett and Dixie, it's not so much her age as a fact that's got Rhett a bit jumpy but rather the fact that he knew her when she wasn't of age. To him, it was like one day she was that kid, Dixie, off-limits, and the next day she was Dix-ay (though it did actually take her a few nights at the bar to make him make the transition). The fact that she's just a side bang, because she's there, means he doesn't want to deal with any kind of scrutiny (or Homeric backlash) on her behalf. Don't show up uninvited and don't tell nobody, what's so hard to understand about that? Of course, Dixie's about as good at following rules as he is.

You know, I never really considered playing a Val whose legend was undeserved. I don't mean so far as his faithfulness is concerned but the kind of guy who scored those notches only by means of the job and its perks, the tally still rose but partly because not a lot of women were lining up for seconds, let alone thirds. Lana never would've come over but even if she did, to be sure, or Sandy ran into miscellaneous others (because Day's certainly got no time to waste) who left grumbling or confused rather than grinning ear to ear then at least Rhett might've been able to keep a closer handle on what's "his". Pilfering one of Pop's would just be the thing to do, if he could manage it, some kind of screwed up sense primogeniture, 'specially if Pop was already done wit' her. But losing one of his to Pop would initiate a major freakout.

At any given time, there's generally you and 2 or 3 others reading, perhaps a lurker or two, but they've always been pretty long so I don't expect that to be the thing that puts people off, but who knows. I've seen simmers apologise for stories only half as long. But I do still want to find that elusive balance between time, effort, and payoff. Cutting the words would save space but it wouldn't save any time and cutting the pics would actually take more time. Dilemma for another day, another update.

But there are new Hart baby pics, too! (I am so greedy...)

I am encouraged that Rhett's unease about Dixie is age-based. It allows the hope that he'll retain age scruples about Ginger. Though if he joins the other adults in thinking the twins are hers, that might offset the age thing and put her in the wrong category.

I would be surprised, given the tendency of players to fall in love with him, too, if anybody out there plays Val as having an undeserved rep! If Mary cheats on Val with Junior it's generally just a flirt and the player rushes to cover for her. If she cheats on Junior with Val, Junior finds himself surrounded by babies with droopy noses.

It is a fact of storytelling, in any format, that it's work to put together and you can't ever be certain of reward equal to effort. Please yourself as well as you can and hope for the best. I hope more than the two or three people you see are reading. Most people, after all, don't comment on most things most of the time. I post a link to every update from my tumblr, for what that's worth. I am a partial judge, of course, but you do this very well and this is one of only two simstories I think worth recommending to non-simmers.

If you want Una and Proxy pics, too, sure, I'll throw those up as well. (There are some with Richie Rich also but he, with his full non-maxis-baby face must make his debut first.)

One of the frustrating things about Rhett (if one is a sim whose life is bound up with his, for a player like myself it's mostly all good even when he's up to no good) is that there's always hope for him but never any way to be sure he'll make good on it. He and Val have parallel challenges this round, hitting them where they are both least to be trusted. Will they both be able to keep their hands off? Heading back to the Beeches first for that garden party they've been talking about so it'll be a little while before you find out. That last pic, however, is meant to signal that this thing with Sandy isn't quite done yet. Val can formulate a scruple and even guilt trip himself but he doesn't often let that get in the way of his pleasure. Just at present Sandy's sights have moved on but if she can't get Ham back there might be trouble.

Ah, Junior. It's hard to see where he'd present a serious threat to Val, even in scenarios where he's clearly the better option for Mary. But here she's still mad at Val so her eyes haven't wandered. That way.

Thank you. Sure it's Widespot and you like to keep tabs, but I appreciate that you're still tuning in to the show and that you take the time to comment. I definitely enjoy getting it all pulled together and posted up, I'd better since no one asked me to write the thing and, in the same vein, it would go faster if I didn't insist on playing and piecing it together in particular ways. I didn't mean that to sound like a complaint, there could be no one reading, and I still expect some chapters may go unnoticed (even though your radar's been pretty keen!) But, bearing that in mind, if I could somehow get the process streamlined I'd be one contented simmer.

First of all I have to apologize for not commenting earlier. I read and thoroughly enjoyed (as I always do) your previous update WEEKS ago, but life has been kind of crappy for a while, taking a lot of energy and one thing one looses with the energy is the ability to compose a somewhat reflective comment. I postponed it for so long that you posted the next update – and this one I haven’t hade the energy to read until today. Sorry for that. I really, really love your Widespot. And please don’t make your chapters shorter!! Your really personal narrative is just one of the things I like so much. The only negative thing about the chapters is that there is so much to comment on that at least I have difficulties to choose.

I suspect Sandy is in for a big disappointment if she thinks that she can get Hamilton back. She isn’t the most insightful person in this story, but the new looks really suits her – she’s a real stunner in that hair and outfit. Both Proxy and Una are adorable with their interesting faces – I’m really curious about how they will look more grown up. The genetics is my favourite part of the game! I always feel a thrill when a baby grows up to toddler and I get the first impression of what features they will have inherited from their parents.
As always I marvel at your pics and the detailed settings.

Life, yes. Life just basically yanked me out of my own routine, and city, for a couple weeks. I hope things are looking up for you.

I have no doubt the words will return once I start sifting the next batch of pics but right now Widespot seems kind of far away, although I've certainly gone longer between updates than this! I'm sure it won't take long at all to lure me back in, there's so much else to show and I still haven't gotten past posting about the first two households.

The pace of the story and the style of the updates really are just reflections of the way I play and have always played (even with TS1, there was a program I used that'd pull pics from other households and let you reorganise and edit text for the ingame album). I think it'd be very tricky to change. Of course, I could cut the colour commentary full-stop and stick to documenting what they did and with whom but then I'd surely lose interest myself or end up with the situation where the game I'm playing and the one I'm showing aren't remotely the same. So I appreciate your saying the narrative is what you like :-) Unless I can get gadwin to stop jumping to desktop confirming every blasted pic (which is tedious and why I don't use it but it would really cut down on the photo-editing time if it played nice) I think I'm just going to have to accept that it takes how long it takes.

Sandy is flailing about pretty wildly, one day she's hitting on her daughter's grandfather, the next she's deciding it's time to win her husband back. We'll see how that works out for her. Will looking more like the woman he married stir up some longings in Hamilton or has that ship sailed and sunk already? I will say that him (willingly) raising Rhett's child is out of the question. But while Sandy knows without a doubt who Proxy's father is, the fact that she turned out to have no obvious Hart markers, looking like a child she actually could have passed off as theirs (hers and Ham's) surely smarts a little. Is Sandy devious enough to use that to win him back if all else fails? That is the question. (He he, talked myself into wanting to write up the next chapter :-D)

Lovely - that you talked yourself into wanting to write up the next chapter. :D Looking forward to it.

And thankyou - things are starting to look better here. The crappyness is all about my work situation, but I am not the only one feeling that way at my workplace and hopefully some things can and will change. If not - I've kind of lived through the depression stage now and bounced back, and that means that I've got my energy back as well.