Zone Doubt, a.k.a. 'Surreal Я Us'...

Joules, trusted by... dozens... to make a drama out of your crisis...

Other sites:

:: JAT :: WaveWrights :: Publications ::

I live to write. It's not wise to get in my way.

... I'd write my autobiography, but no-one would believe it....


If you come across any words you don't recognise in this blog, take a look at the Taylorspeke Glossary in the left-hand infopane, you'll usually find a definition there.


The Poppy Tales

(Transformers fanfiction!)

Transformers mini-comics here.




Adventures in Orchids

Apparently I am now collecting them...

There's room for one - or maybe two, at a pinch - more on that bedroom windowsill (the only one in the house that's ideal for them). Let's see what I find. Well, that didn't last long...


EO - Everlasting orchid. Phalaenopsis. I've had this orchid since 2007 and it just keeps flowering...







AO - Alien face orchid. Phalaenopsis . Bought 2018 - lovely little flowers, all different patterns!





RO - Rescued orchid photo to come when it flowers. Phalaenopsis. Rescued from a bin up the road in 2019. Classic!






TO - Tiny orchid. Phalaenopsis. Bought at Tesco 21.8.20. It just begged to come home with me. How could I say no?





CO - Crimson orchid. Cambria. Another Tesco find. This one may be going to live in Ken's room once we've redecorated and put up the new shelving; it prefers a cooler, less sunny windowsill. If so, I'll need to find another cambrian to keep it company.






GO - Golden orchid. Phalaenopsis. Saw this one when I bought CO and left it behind - then immediately regretted it as soon as I got home. Never seen one like it before. Ken, bless him, went back over to Tesco in the rain and bought it for me...





DO - Dendrobium Orchid. Smells of wisteria, so beautiful...











RO2 - Rescued orchid no 2. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I rescued from the wall along the road middle of 2021.








PO. Pink orchid. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I bought at Cabury Garden Centre on special, late 2021. It's much happier here!










TWO. Teeny weeny orchid, Phalaenopsis. Rescued from Tesco end 2021 (I think).




















My IMDb ep summaries

(completed)
Arthur of the Britons
Sky
Star Maidens
The Starlost
Space Rangers
The Sentinel (part: seasons 2 and 3)
Swamp Thing (part: season 3)
Gravedale High
Transformers: Armada
Transformers: Energon
Transformers: Cybertron (part)
Misfits of Science (four eps)
Zoo Gang
Zodiac
Jupiter Moon
Transformers: Beast Wars (part: seasons 2 and 3)
Transformers: Beast Machines (part)
Vampire Princess Miyu
Starhyke
Nathan Barley
No Heroics
Undermind (3 eps)
Will Shakespeare (Tim Curry version)
Nightwalker
12 Kingdoms
Trigun (ep 8)
Rayearth
Hyperdrive (season 2 ep 3)
The Café

For later:

Missing Earthian ep
Missing Haibane Renme eps


Silver birch at Eastwood 

Farm

"Autumnal - nothing to do with leaves. It is to do with a certain brownness at the edges of the day... Brown is creeping up on us, take my word for it... Russets and tangerine shades of old gold flushing the very outside edge of the senses... deep shining ochres, burnt umber and parchments of baked earth - reflecting on itself and through itself, filtering the light. At such times, perhaps, coincidentally, the leaves might fall, somewhere..."

(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Act 2: Tom Stoppard)

Autumn...

I love this time of year. I love the colours, the sharp slant of sunlight on the trees, mosaics of acid-yellow and harts- blood, velvet and darkness and a haze of mist-grey over the hills. I love its immanence, its mellowness, the tang of frost just around the corner of the year...

Watching the little birds in the goat-willow in my garden, I realised something more.

I love this land with a fierce, possessive love, deep-rooted in two thousand years of history. From the frosted beaches and cloud-brushing peaks of the north to the wind-haunted meanderings of the rivers of the east, from the sensuous rolling patchworked hills of the south to the demanding dark moors of the west, this land seeps into bone and blood and synapse, mother of motley nobility, culture, individual freedoms. It can be known. It can be understood. It can be felt deep inside.

I love its effortless eccentricities, its vigour and vibrancy, its flawed perfections, its silent strength and tenacious resilience, its hard-won tolerances and intense and variable beauty, the profound energy in its sacred mythical landscape.

Home and more-than-home, the forces that shape and protect and bind, in me, as I am in the land. Love returning love in the stillness for those who'll only take the time to listen...

(Joules, Autumn 2004)


All photographs taken by Joules unless otherwise specified. All photographs © Joules A Taylor or other specified individual.


In Memoriam

17.03.09 - Argent

25.07.08 - Raptor

18.12.07 - Quyn

02.12.06 - Ryme


Currently enjoying:
Muse
Transformers - IDW, Prime, Animated, Rescue Bots.

Currently reading:
Various Transformers books and graphic novels.



Currently working on:
Haadri

Currently chuffed with:
My garden

Currently miffed at:
Nestlé, Nonpres Tinyhands Fart, Toadface Farage

Currently maintaining:
BCHS
BCW


Blog Pics
I've gathered some of my pages of photos together: the page of links is here. I'll be adding more as time goes by!




Evil Squid
A Little Glossary of Taylorspeke
(in no particular order)

plit popints - n. Typo for 'plot points' typed on a keyboard with more than half the characters worn off...

[PING] (alt [ping]) - n. A brainwave. The text equivalent of a lightbulb going on blindingly over someone's head. Usually mine. And usually at the most inconvenient of times. [sigh]

TPTB - The Powers That Be.

wulmet - n. A person of little or no talent who somehow inveigles himself into a position where he is in power over other, far more talented people and uses his position to downplay them in order to try to make himself feel superior.

biteable - referring to an anatomical part vb, tasty.

Flatterfed - vb. 27.02.08: my typo for flattered, but since it's so cutely apt I thought it would fit nicely here. Lutra defined it as "the lovely warm feeling of satisfaction resulting from enthusiastic reviews..." (which I've been getting for my MB fics).

Composted - vb, 'compos mentis', mentally capable of working. Contrast with uncomposted or non- composted, not 'compos mentis', not capable of working, hungover...

Cumbles - n, cucumbers.

Kewp - how Ken says 'thank you'. We rather like Lutra's 'nanx', too...

Musekick - noun, music, without which I cannot work.

'feinne - noun, caffeine, essential for correct mental functioning, especially first thing in the morning. I prefer mine in the form of SodaStream Diet Coke. And on that subject...

Skoosh - verb, noun. To skoosh - to add CO2 to a sodastream bottle filled with water to make it fizzy, prior to adding Diet Coke syrup (or just drinking as sparkling water). A skoosh - a bottle of water that has been skooshed. Skooshy - something that has been skooshed, water, or that whipped cream that comes in tins you have to shake then upend and press the nozzle...

Shoogle - verb. To shake gently, for example, of roast potatoes in a roasting tin to ensure they're covered with oil. I have vague memories of this being a real Scottish colloquialism...

Stegasaurus - n, spider of the genus tegenaria. Why? No idea. I just find it easier, that's all...
Edit 08.09.07: Lutra thinks that Brian is a good name for a mini-stegasaurus. From now on, any 'Brian's in the posts may be assumed to be a tegenaria. Except where otherwise specified.

Viterals - noun, vitamins + minerals. Also a pun on victuals.

Splish - verb. A combination of slosh and splash.

Parrots - noun, paracetemol (from the old joke "Why are there no aspirin tablets in the jungle? Because the parrots eat 'em all...")

Maggles - noun, magpies. As opposed to non-magical people.

Flamewings - noun. Swifts. So called because the first time we became aware of them was an early summer evening when they were flying high, the light from the setting sun seemingly turning their wings to flames. Lovely little birds. We always know summer's arrived when we hear their high-pitched squeeing.

Murfs - noun, moths.

Peasant cut - noun, roughly cut up into big chunks, e.g. vegetables chopped in a hurry for a hearty stew or soup. By extension, anything prepared in a hurry - haircut, material, even a first draft of a story...

Giraffe - noun, a carafe (of wine, coffee or water, for example).

Shrumps - noun, mushrooms.

Splings - noun, Kai's spelling homework: by extension, any spelling.

Tyops - noun, typos. var toyps, typso, psyto, psoyt, etc. Usual result of a dose of the fingerials (see next entry).

Fingerials - (pr. fin GEEE ree yalls) noun, fingers that will not type what you want them to.

Haddock - noun, time, of which I never have enough. (Origin of this term here.)

Sleep - noun? vb? a.k.a. sheeeeeeeeep.... I used to know what this word meant...


The Updates Blog

The place to stay notified of WaveWrights' Fiction updates: Zone, Darkside, DarkRealm, Matrix, Vault, Safehouse 13...




my computer gremlin Butch. click the pic to see the larger image

Butch, my computer gremlin. Click the pic for larger version, and read his adventures here...

Butch by the talented 

Sylverthorne

A gift for me! Butch by the very talented Sylverthorne. Click pic for larger image.

Joules' 

Haddock

This is MY haddock. It was caught exclusively for me by Talon. No, you can't have any. I need all the haddock I can get!!



A'lestrel by Valkyrie.

A'lestrel - a gift for me from Valkyrie...



Albino Alsatian Benten (c) MEBird 

2004

Another gorgeous Valkyrie gift for me - Benten the Albino Alsatian! Click thumbnail for larger image.

Radittsu, an oekaki for my birthday 04 

by 

Onna

Oekai by Bakayaro Onna - Radittsu at his sexiest...



The Zone Plant from
The Zone 

blog 

plant

OrganicHTML (which alas no longer seems to exist...)
[::..My Regular Reads..::]
:: Astronomical Pic of the Day [>]
:: What is Space... [>]
:: Dark Roasted Blend [>]
:: BLDG [>]
:: Watchismo Times [>]
[::..Fun Places..::]
::HubbleSite
Stunning...
::PALEOMAP Project
Absolutely fascinating.
:: Skymap
Check out the night sky where you are!
[::..Useful Sites..::]
:: GreenNet
First stop for environmental matters
:: The Forest of Avon
Our local community forest and places to visit
:: The Guardian
Online Guardian Newspaper.
:: Symbols
Exactly what it says
:: World Timeserver
For checking the current time around this world
:: Universal Currency Converter
Actually it's just a terran-global currency converter, not universal, but it's still useful...

So what is it with the haddock? Am I some kind of fish freak?

I'll leave that to others to decide.

The tale (or tail if you prefer) harks back to October 2000, when my GoodTwin and I, ably assisted by Sue, ran the first UK Professionals convention...
It's common knowledge that I never have enough time, and I was determined not to bewail the fact that weekend: hence I promised not to use the 'T' word...
Of course, that didn't really work (if nothing else I had to let the trainees know what times things were supposed to be happening!) so we decided a substitute word would be employed instead. There were several suggestions. Banana came very close to being chosen. However, I eventually decided that 'haddock' fitted the bill nicely. Ever since, haddock=time. Hence the title of my forthcoming autobiography,
My Half-Life in the Haddock Space Continuum....


Normally I wouldn't, but these were just irresistible...

How could I resist?

Just too adorable...

and to complete the rainbow...

These Too-Kawaii Kitties
were adopted from
Ghost's Anime Page (which appears to have disappeared, alas...)

[::..Anime/Manga..::]
Useful sites:

BBTS -
Fabulous anime figures

Anime Lyrics
A huge selection... evil popups

Anime still needed to complete series' I'm collecting... Many thanks to everyone who has helped me acquire the collection!
Ai no Kusabi

Owned:
   DVD
   Dj: June Special
   CD: Ambivalence

Cyber City Oedo 808

Owned:
   DVD
   All 3 eps on Video, dubbed
   Dj: Cyberage 1-3
   Illustrated Book 2 (Benten's) in Japanese

From Eroica with Love

Owned:
   Manga Vols 1, 9, 11

Mirage of Blaze

Owned:
   DVD Vol 1 (eps 1-4)

R.G. Veda

Owned:
   English Manga: Vol 1
   Japanese Manga: Vol 1-7 complete
   Tarot Pack
   R.G.Veda video

Twelve Kingdoms

Owned:
   Anime Vol 1-12: complete

Under the Glass Moon

Owned:
   Manga Vol 1, 2
Vol 3 needed

Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust

Owned:
   DVD

   Vampire Hunter D Book 1



New Vampire Miyu

Owned:
   (Studio Ironcat) Manga Vols 1 -5 (complete)


Yami no Matsuei

Owned:
   Viz Manga: English translation, Vols 1 - 11 (complete: I believe vol 12 is only available online)
   Japanese 3-DVD set
   Central Park Media: Descendants of Darkness Vol. 1, English/Japanese subbed.
   Sketchbook


[::..Joules SP fied..::]


... this is Terra? How the hell'd I end up here...?

(Thanks, Lutra, for the quote!)

[::..archive..::]
07/01/2002 - 07/31/2002
08/01/2002 - 08/31/2002
09/01/2002 - 09/30/2002
10/01/2002 - 10/31/2002
11/01/2002 - 11/30/2002
12/01/2002 - 12/31/2002
01/01/2003 - 01/31/2003
02/01/2003 - 02/28/2003
03/01/2003 - 03/31/2003
04/01/2003 - 04/30/2003
05/01/2003 - 05/31/2003
06/01/2003 - 06/30/2003
07/01/2003 - 07/31/2003
08/01/2003 - 08/31/2003
09/01/2003 - 09/30/2003
10/01/2003 - 10/31/2003
11/01/2003 - 11/30/2003
12/01/2003 - 12/31/2003
01/01/2004 - 01/31/2004
02/01/2004 - 02/29/2004
03/01/2004 - 03/31/2004
04/01/2004 - 04/30/2004
05/01/2004 - 05/31/2004
06/01/2004 - 06/30/2004
07/01/2004 - 07/31/2004
08/01/2004 - 08/31/2004
09/01/2004 - 09/30/2004
10/01/2004 - 10/31/2004
11/01/2004 - 11/30/2004
12/01/2004 - 12/31/2004
01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005
02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005
03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005
04/01/2005 - 04/30/2005
05/01/2005 - 05/31/2005
06/01/2005 - 06/30/2005
07/01/2005 - 07/31/2005
08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005
09/01/2005 - 09/30/2005
10/01/2005 - 10/31/2005
11/01/2005 - 11/30/2005
12/01/2005 - 12/31/2005
01/01/2006 - 01/31/2006
02/01/2006 - 02/28/2006
03/01/2006 - 03/31/2006
04/01/2006 - 04/30/2006
05/01/2006 - 05/31/2006
06/01/2006 - 06/30/2006
07/01/2006 - 07/31/2006
08/01/2006 - 08/31/2006
09/01/2006 - 09/30/2006
10/01/2006 - 10/31/2006
11/01/2006 - 11/30/2006
12/01/2006 - 12/31/2006
01/01/2007 - 01/31/2007
02/01/2007 - 02/28/2007
03/01/2007 - 03/31/2007
04/01/2007 - 04/30/2007
05/01/2007 - 05/31/2007
06/01/2007 - 06/30/2007
07/01/2007 - 07/31/2007
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12/01/2007 - 12/31/2007
01/01/2008 - 31/01/2008
01/02/2008 - 29/02/2008
03/01/2008 - 31/03/2008
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01/01/2015 - 31/01/2015
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01/12/2015 - 31/12/2015
01/01/2016 - 31/01/2016
01/022016 - 28/02/2016
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01/12/2016 - 31/12/2016
01/01/2017 - 31/01/2017
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01/12/2017 - 31/12/2017
01/01/2018 - 31/01/2018
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01/10/2018 - 31/10/2018
01/11/2018 - 30/11/2018
01/12/2018 - 31/12/2018
01/01/2019 - 31/01/2019
01/02/2019 - 28/02/2019
01/03/2019 - 31/03/2019
01/04/2019 - 30/04/2019
01/05/2019 - 31/05/2019
01/06/2019 - 30/06/2019
01/07/2019 - 31/07/2019
01/08/2019 - 31/08/2019
01/09/2019 - 30/09/2019
01/10/2019 - 31/10/2019
01/11/2019 - 30/11/2019
01/12/2019 - 31/12/2019
01/01/2020 - 31/01/2020
01/02/2020 - 29/02/2020
01/03/2020 - 31/03/2020
01/04/2020 - 31/04/2020
01/05/2020 - 31/05/2020
01/06/2020 - 31/06/2020
01/07/2020 - 31/07/2020
01/08/2020 - 31/08/2020
01/09/2020 - 30/09/2020
01/10/2020 - 31/10/2020
01/11/2020 - 30/11/2020
01/12/2020 - 31/12/2020
01/01/2021 - 31/01/2021
01/02/2021 - 28/02/2021
01/03/2021 - 31/03/2021
01/04/2021 - 30/04/2021
01/05/2021 - 31/05/2021
01/06/2021 - 30/06/2021
01/07/2021 - 31/07/2021
01/08/2021 - 31/08/2021
01/09/2021 - 30/09/2021
01/10/2021 - 31/10/2021
01/11/2021 - 30/11/2021
01/12/2021 - 31/12/2021
01/01/2022 - 31/01/2022
01/02/2022 - 28/02/2022
01/03/2022 - 31/03/2022
01/04/2022 - 30/04/2022
01/05/2022 - 30/05/2022
01/06/2022 - 31/06/2022
01/07/2022 - 31/07/2022
01/08/2022 - 31/08/2022
01/09/2022 - 30/09/2022
01/10/2022 - 31/10/2022
01/11/2021 - 31/11/2021
01/12/2022 - 31/12/2022
01/01/2023 - 31/01/2023
01/02/2023 - 28/02/2023
01/03/2023 - 31/03/2023
01/04/2023 - 30/04/2023
01/08/2023 - 31/08/2023
01/11/2023 - 31/11/2023

Saturday, December 31, 2011

So. Today... Two major lots of shopping, a general house-clean for the New Year, and the last part of Mechanism - Cogs (thanks Lutra for the title!) - now posted in The Poppy Tales (link above).

Taking it easy tonight with my latest Lovefilm - Cowboys and Aliens - though we'll nip out for the fireworks, if there are any and if it's not raining, otherwise we'll catch the London ones on TV.

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Friday, December 30, 2011

Rain, shopping, and Poppy3.9 - hoping to have it finished tonight and online tomorrow. This part should be the finale of Mechanism, but since the story is nowhere near finished I suppose I'll have to start a fourth part, oh woe... [g]

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

"Weather should be cloudy with sunny spells until 3 pm, when rain will sweep in from Wales." they said. So we went to Weston-super-Mare for a last 2011 breath of sea air.

Yeah, right - 11.30 am...

But at least my earmuffs work (when the wind isn't ripping them off my head).

We didn't get very far, in between the squally showers, but we did find a café with a covered outdoor terrace where we had a rather nice espresso and the sun came out for just a minute...



Oh, and all the Defenders apparently went to Weston for a holiday. Except for the green one around the corner and the snazzy blue one in Eagle Rd.

Very tired now, and Poppy3.9 is nagging to be written. Will try after dinner.

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

[frown] It's a curious coincidence, but ever since I put Stronghold in the Poppy Tales I haven't seen one, single Defender. Even the one that lives down the road has gone. So, not so much stalking me as demanding a bigger role, then...

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Anvil - the next part of Mechanism - now posted in The Poppy Tales (link above).

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Ironhide






Ironhide. He only came with one cannon (the one on the left) although he should have two, so I gave him the one that came with OP (on the right - that's your right, not his) to complete the look...









buffet



Food porn for Lutra... ->





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Sunday, December 25, 2011

So, up late with a hangover after celebrating getting the Poppy Tales Xmas Special posted in time: had paté on sesame baguette for breakfast while opening presents. [vbg] Transformers: two text novels and six graphic novels (including Tales of the Fallen, which has a Sideswipe backstory/sidestory and a Jetfire backstory and delicious artwork...) I have a couple of days of reading to look forward to. fridge magnet

[GLOMPS] Sue (who also found a magnificent Tf:G1 OP head fridge magnet! ->)
and GoodTwin!

Had British pork and Melton red ale sossijs for lunch (very tasty) then watched Pirates of the Carib 4 (picked it up cheaply as a family present) then had dinner before the Dr Who special.

A little food porn for Lutra - prawn cocktail starter and venison with roast spuds, pork apple and cranberry stuffing, and steamed veg. (The Eton mess - raspberries, strawberries and home grown blueberries - was delicious but looked a mess so didn't photograph it...)

prawn cocktail

Then we watched another of my charity shop finds - a brand new copy of Priest (live action film based on a Korean manga - always a recipe for fun!) We enjoyed it - shades of Necroscope and Trigun - and think it deserves better than the dreadful reviews it got.

And now I'm chilling and plotting the next Poppy part...

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... tired...

However, the Poppy Xmas Special is now posted - Hammer, part 7 of Mechanism - over in the Poppy Tales (link above). I'm actually quite pleased with this bit...

The Darkness Rising DVD is just superb: the clarity and detail breathtaking, the colours and designs razor sharp and new-world clear. I can't wait for the first season boxed set (except of course I have to as it won't be out til March) Just stunning. I'm still finding detail I hadn't yet noticed...

And for Lutra, food porn as promised...

Lunch

Left, smoked salmon fillet with salad and new potatoes, right, chicken in honey-mustard glaze with Thai sweet chilli stir-fried veg and Basmati rice. We had Iceland Cointreau cake for dessert and Sainsbug's Elderflower Cyder (which is out of this world) to drink with the meal.

Omnomnomnom!

And now I need to go fall over....

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

[g] My copy of Transformers: Prime - Darkness Rising arrived this morning. (At 8.30 am, in fact, with a very loud knock on the door, after I'd got to bed at around 3.30. I was half-way out of the bedroom before I remembered that Ken was up and would answer it, and by then it was too late to go back to sleep... Still, I was able to get the chicken fillets in the honey-mustard marinade nice and early, so they should be tasty tonight.) The DVD has combined the pilot five eps into a feature-length film, and there are a couple of bonus features, so I shall curl up with it this afternoon. Lovely start to the holiday!

In the meantime, poppy37 continues apace, although I don't have a title for it yet. Aiming to have it online by midnight tonight.

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Gah. Busy. Up early to get to Sainsbug's before everything sold out (got the last two packs of raspberries, but they didn't have large organic wholemeal loaves so will have to make do with a small one), then back, then over to the Showcase with Kai to see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Mm. Interesting. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. It uses that motif - Holmes plans out the fights in advance then they happen in fits and starts - again. The first time in Game I was all [sigh] not again... The second time it was [SIGH] Not a-bloody-gain! And the last time it was [grump] oh for.... oh, hang on a mo, I see what they did there... In places the film is quite clever. Though I'm not at all sure of the gratuitous slashy fanservice. And I could definitely have done without a naked Steven Fry. [shudder] need eyebleach... On the whole it's not at all bad. We'll pick it up when it comes down in price.

Then after dinner we watched my latest Lovefilm offering - Captain America: the First Avenger. Never my favourite superhero, but if I remember rightly it was a pretty faithful adaptation of the original story, nicely paced and of course with the GCI quality we've come to expect these days.

Now plotting the Poppy Xmas Special...

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Mechanism part 6 - Chisel - now posted in The Poppy Tales (link above).

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Merry Solstice!
Joyous Yule!
And happy 22nd Anniversary to us!

There was a solstice kiss in the sky this morning...

Solstice kiss


The sky was very pretty, even though they were only contrails.

Contrails

Next Poppy should be up this evening!

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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Tyjer

[sigh] Tyjer likes the lion...

So, shopping and the start of the next part of Mechanism...

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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Ortho for Kai today. She is very pleased indeed with the work, and only wants to see him once more (Eostra break next year) to make sure things carry on OK, then she'll discharge him. He'll still need to wear the retainer at night for 2 or 3 days a week, but otherwise he should now be fine.

After much searching I haven't been able to find a wolf for me, and having priced them up in BHS (£100! Well, £50 in their sale...) I decided to make one instead (although it's a lion rather than a wolf).

lion for me

Fabric from Fabric Land - £14.75. Not bad. Took me two hours to sew by hand, both of which (and my shoulders) are now aching like hell. Should be OK by the 24th, I hope. And I will now be nice and warm when the weather gets cold (and it does look rather snazzy though I say it myself!)

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Tyjer sleeps Tyjer sleeps2 Tyjer sleeps3
On our bed, under his runner. Best let sleeping Tyjers lie...

More shopping, a little gardening (K&K between them have dug my new mange tout/bean bed and I've cleared the unsuccessful brassicas and cut down the dead asparagus) and tonight we watched Tropic Thunder - not our usual type of thing but it was amusing and had us LOLing in places.

Now considering the next part of Mechanism. Or watching some more Tf:A...

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Aaaaand Prism now posted in Mechanism. Link to The Poppy Tales is above.

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That's it - I'm being haunted by Defenders...

There's the dark grey one down the road, the black one parked in the road on the way back from Sainsbug's, a white one parked off the road on the way to the Bloomfield, yesterday a red one went past as we were waiting to cross the road at Broadwalk, and today a blue one turned into Sandy Park Rd on the way to Sainsbug's and a different blue one went up the Bath Rd while I was walking back. Are they the car of the moment or something?

More shopping was bought today. On a more interesting note, the next part of Mechanism - Prism - is almost finished and will be online tonight.

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And the next part of Mechanism - Wrench - now posted in The Poppy Tales, link above...

[g] Enjoy. I did.

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Friday, December 16, 2011

2011 Yule tree



I should probably have put the bottles on the table before taking this...




Kai took the day off today. There were no lessons, just 'community games' and general getting-into-Yule-spirit type things, which he's never really enjoyed, so he stayed home. This is fine by us: he tends to do a lot of course-related stuff outside of sixth-form anyway (where .xhtml is my second language, .java is his. The things he can make it do...)

He came up to Broadwalk to help me carry the Iceland shopping home: got everything we went for, including both cakes. All I now need are the perishables, which I can pick up next week.

Lutra suggested I make a mood monster for my desk. I pointed out I really didn't have room for one...

desk Dec 2011


Next part of Mechanism - Wrench - is a page in: hoping to have posted by Sunday at the latest, or I won't have time for the Yuletide Special...

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Thursday, December 15, 2011

WAIIIIIII!!!

Pre-ordered. That's my 2012 birthday present sorted!!

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Well, that's the bulk of the shopping done. Here's our proposed menu (and a little food porn for Lutra...)

24th: Lunch - smoked salmon fillets with new potatoes and petit pois
Dinner - mustard and honey glazed chicken fillets with sweet Thai curry stir-fried veg and Basmati rice

25th: Brunch - paté and crispbakes, nibbles (Sainsbug's deli are doing some extremely nice pork and cranberry snack-size sossij rolls at the moment) and crisps (Kettle and McCoys seasonal specials)
Dinner - venison steaks, roast potatoes, mixed steamed veg (home-grown mange tout, beans and sweetcorn)

Boxing Day: Brunch - the usual running buffet
Dinner - mixed cold roast meats, creamed spuds, salad

Old Year's Night Lunch - undecided. I'd like to use up the last of the home-made beefburgers, but I also want to roast a beef joint for dinner, and I usually try for different meats in a day. We'll see

New Year's Day: Lunch - the usual running buffet.
Dinner - roast duck, roast or creamed spuds, steamed veg.

Desserts I'll be picking up tomorrow at the Broadwalk Iceland. They're selling Cointreau and Bailey's Irish Cream luxury cakes; hoping to get both! And probably some special ice-cream as well. Omnomnomnom...

Also had the inspiration for the next Poppy Dreams while walking to the Bloomfield (pub) for an informal get together with the Discover Brislington Brook people this evening. Hoping to get that written and posted tonight but I am a little tired at the moment.

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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

hail

[sigh] This is what I woke up to. No, it's not snow - it's hail.

Very bad winds last night. The pic on the left is before, the one on the right was taken this morning. Pretty much a disaster: our sparrow flock have been roosting in that ivy for the last few years.

ivy wallwall, ivyless

I'd like a whole series of sparrow terraces on the side of the house (if Kai could cope with the noise!)

So, Post Office, then Sainsbury's (where I bought too much and now my shoulder is killing me), then up to Broadwalk for mealworms and red wine makings (and a couple of DVDs, including a cartoon pack with the first four eps of the Galaxy Rangers, which I used to like when I was younger: it's still fun now). And my Transformers: Animated film (Transform and Roll Out!) arrived. We watched it tonight - it's GREAT fun! Quite different from any other continuity, with a magnificently threatening Megatron (only beaten by his Tf: P incarnation) and a thoroughly nasty - and effective! - Starscream. A pink Starscream... Absolutely brilliant and now I want the rest...

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Monday, December 12, 2011

bemused







[bemused] This is the back of the packaging for a small magnifying glass Kai bought a while back. Bet you never knew you were supposed to wear protection when using a magnifying glass, didya?









Odd sort of tidying up day today. Reorganised the top kitchen cupboards (Ken mentioned that when he took out the jar with his teabags in it everything else pulled out too - everything else being the packets of herbs that won't fit in my spice rack). It doesn't now.



I also had a go at tackling my filing. GoodTwin and Sue may remember my filing system - everything non-vital gets shoved randomly into my in and out trays until nothing more will fit and then I go through it. (At least now I only have two trays - used to have four!) The system has one merit: by the time I get round to sorting it all out, whatever it's about is well past and I can usually just recycle the paperwork (given I had stuff there dating back to 2002... yers, well. I need a PA...)





However, I did find this.

Merman Jade

I'd completely forgotten I'd drawn it. It's an unfinished illustration for that CCO808 AU fic I wrote years ago, SirenSong (the one with Benten and Jade as the Ichthians (merfolk) Meriel and Jaid). This is Jaid of course... actually, it's not too bad. Perhaps I should rework and finish it some time.

Tomorrow I venture to the Post Office. I may be some time...

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Sunday, December 11, 2011

Next part of Mechanism - Spanner - now posted over at The Poppy Tales (link above)...

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Saturday, December 10, 2011

Yule cards! All written and addressed and ready to be taken to the Post Office for me to queue for half an hour to get the stamps to get them in the post. [sigh]

Next part of Mechanism nearly ready to upload...

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Friday, December 09, 2011

Midsomer Norton High St










The forecast was for a lovely sunny day today, so since Kai was home - it was admissions selection day at the Academy - we went to Midsomer Norton. Yes, just for the hell of it. Been through it on the bus but never stopped off, and it looked pretty...




The High St. ->

That's the River Somer running through it.










And it was, but there's not a whole lot there, so we only stayed for an hour then came back via a quick check of the charity shops in Keynsham. (Picked up the 2-disc version of 30 Days of Night and the Wallace and Gromit trilogy - and checked out the new Poundland that's opened. They had the Transformers Annual 2012 there. For £1. RRP is £7.99. [g] The artwork is beautiful...)

And just to let me know I am still being haunted by Tfs:


Shower gel and body spray.
I have no doubt it refers to a different Lennox but the Major is the only one I know...

Well, OK, he's not exactly a 'bot, but it's still valid.

On the subject of Tfs -

Michael Bay will be back for more metal mayhem with a fourth outing in the Transformers series.

.......................

.........................

.....

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

...sob... Not Bay, please not Bay...

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Thursday, December 08, 2011

[sigh] It's that time of year when I seem to spend most of my time shopping again...

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Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Tuesday is the new Monday.

Watched Source Code (on Filmflex) this evening - cracking film! Intelligent, complex s-f, really good (though I had guessed a major plot element within twenty minutes...)

Sure there was more but it's wafted away on the cold winter wind...

Oh, I remember! I was browsing Youtube (I do occasionally, for a break) and took a peek at Transformers Animated, which I'd seen mentioned but hadn't watched. There's a fair bit posted on Yt, so I watched the first twenty minutes or so - and it's a delight! Really funny (and let's face it, any series that has a pink Starscream has to be worth a look). The series box sets are out-of-the-question expensive, but there's a film (which I found on play.com for £8.98, free p&p) which constitutes the first three episodes and which I've ordered. Looking forward to that for Yule! (I think K&K will like it too, it's both familiar enough and daft enough to be a lot of fun.)

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Monday, December 05, 2011

So, dental hospital...

Appointment was for 9.30 - but the confirmatory letter said to allow three hours, as there are always delays. I ended up seeing the first consultant at 10.05, which isn't too bad at all. However, after twenty minutes with her, I then had to wait for an hour and a quarter for my x-ray. And I forgot to take a book with me. [sigh]

Still, it was then only ten minutes until I saw the second consultant.

Long story short: I have another appointment in January to remove the old root canal filling, have the space where I had that infection sorted out, and the root canal replaced, then they'll see about a brace to pull it back into line. And as, it seems, I'm a 'good' and 'interesting' case I can have it all on the NHS as it will be good and interesting for trainees to attend. (Well of course, it couldn't be something simple, could it. This is me we're talking about.)

That's assuming the tooth is 'recoverable'. If not, they'll remove it, but they'll take a mould for a denture first. I think that's also covered by the NHS but I shall be sent a copy of the letter to the dentist so can check then.

Plan B would be a dental implant - that would cost between £2,000 to £3,500. So, plan A and fingers tightly crossed then...

In the meantime, it's painkillers when I need them and hoping it doesn't flare up over Yule. Oh joy.

Got home at 2 pm. Planning to start poppy3.3 this evening.

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Sunday, December 04, 2011

Goldfinches





Goldfinches at the sunflower hearts feeder ->
(Photo © Ken)

I got very tired of the unbelievable amount of wastage I was getting - the little darlings were dropping about as much on the ground as they were getting in their beaks, not only expensively wasteful but also unhygienic as it clumped together and rotted, and produced some very unwholesome-looking fungus. So I moved the swingy hangy thing to underneath to catch the spillage. It's proved very popular: all the birds (including the collared doves - we have four now) happily eat what drops from the feeder.

I'm thinking I should maybe get another for the multi-seed feeder.

Poppy Dreams part 6 is now posted over at The Poppy Tales (link above)!



Skype, Friday:

Joules: [blink] I have 18 transformers. Most of them doublers. Or triplers in Sideswipe's case.
Lutra: ROFL! How did that happen? You were getting one or two, possibly three!
I haz mechtech ones, and itty bitty diddy ones, and DotM Sides.
Um, yers...

ROFLMAO!
Massive fail there, aifinks.
Thorough AND obsessed!
Erm, yersss...
I can't talk. I was only going to get the Schleich plastic horsies I liked. I have them all. All 80ish...
[smug] See, I'm not too bad at all!
ROFL! In that perspective, then, um, no, I guess not.
Then again, when the Prime ones come out..... wanta Ratchet ana Starscream ana Megs ana OP ana Bee.....
Doesn't hurt that the other things you've been obsessed about have very little in the way of collectible figures!
This is very true - except for the three Zaabons and the three Radittsus...
hang on...

[smirk]
52. 55 if you count Ninetails, the black cat from Trigun, and the other pokemon I can never remember the name of - oh, Flareon.
LOLOL!
That includes the Matrix Twins, the 4 Trigun figures, my LotR figures, Deathnote and DBZ, Scorpion King, Vaako, whatisface from Watchmen... ah, Ozymandias...
But that's over a multitude of fandoms, not just 1. Ooh, you have an Ozymandias?!
Yep! Found him dead cheap, brand new in a charity shop...
... actually, it's 56 figures - I missed a Zaabon
Oh - 57 - haven't included the Ironhide I have coming at Yule.

[g]
... I'm supposed to be writing PD6, aren't I...

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Saturday, December 03, 2011

Brean Down from WSM
Brean Down from the northern end of Weston's seafront

For once the forecast was right: gorgeous sunny day, so Kai and I bussed to Weston-super-Mare to see if the Café actually exists...
Where the Cafe would be...


Unfortunately not. This is the place it would be if it did, we think. ->


Donkey!


<- Bristol had gorillas, apparently Weston has donkeys!





queen




And apparently the queen also stays there! ->












Joules


And I own a shop!!







boating pool

There's a walk between the boating pool on the left and the sea on the right - we went across it. The boating pool is like an infinity pool from the shore-side...

Fantastic day!

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Friday, December 02, 2011

Later edit: Heh. I found the flash on my camera and took some photos...

New SideswipeNew Yule tree

New DotM version of Sideswipe (old RotF version here), and new black Yule tree.

[bemused] I wonder what it says about us that the only xmassy DVDs we own are Love Actually, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Die Hard 1 and 2...

Gave in to temptation and bought myself the DotM Sideswipe (at a third off plus the 90p Sainsbury voucher I got last shop as part-payment). Will take photos later, but he's very cute, much smaller and lighter - and a damn sight more stable! - than the other (which used to fall off my desk and into the bin at the lightest nudge or breath of wind. Not sure what he was trying to tell me...)

We decided to put up the Yule decorations this evening, and go the whole hog for a change. Except I couldn't find my silver tree anywhere. I didn't think I'd got rid of it when I blitzed the decorations last winter, but I suppose I must have. So Ken came over to Tesco with me to see if we could find a new one - and they had a black tree, which I've wanted for a few years now. Picked up a few other bits of Yule stuff then came back and started decorating: Kai did the lounge, then I put the black tree up, with teal coloured tinsel and jewelled shinies. It's quite something. I once described someone being so grateful they'd "give you a black hole gift wrapped in tinsel if you asked for one" (Prime Contact) and that's what the tree looks like! I tried to take a pic but my camera wouldn't cope with it: will see if Ken's can tomorrow.

Back to the next Poppy Dreams ficlet...

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Thursday, December 01, 2011

Next part of Mechanism - Drill - now posted at The Poppy Tales (link at top).

Skype:

Joules: just gave Tyjer a bit of roast beef from my sammij - happy cat is happy
Lutra: [bg] not surprised! Meanwhile, in Australia, limpet cat is being annoyingly limpety...

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