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
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09/01/2003 - 09/30/2003
10/01/2003 - 10/31/2003
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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
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07/01/2007 - 07/31/2007
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01/02/2008 - 29/02/2008
03/01/2008 - 31/03/2008
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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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01/01/2017 - 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
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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
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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

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Dentist for a checkup (all fine), then Tesco and Sainsbug shopping expeditions. Not the most interesting of days...

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Monday, April 29, 2013

Note to self: leave Feather at least 24 hours after feeding before trying to handle her in any way.

She bit me - twice very fast.

Right hand index finger, knuckle closest to the hand.

Ow.

All I did was stroke her while changing her water. Took fifteen minutes to stop bleeding, even with honey and a plaster. An' it dun' 'alf sting. Going to have a bruise there tomorrow.

Eh well. I think the only pets I've ever had that haven't bitten me were my fish. Oh, and Rosa, but that's because she's never had the chance...

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3 Comments:

Blogger GoodTwin said...

ooo-er... Did she think you were more prey? I thought boas were supposed to squeeze, not bite... :)

11:32 pm  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

Possibly, I suppose.
They bite first to hold their prey in place then wrap it in coils to kill it. She bit but didn't even attempt to coil (I think she realised her mistake right away - maybe because she hit bone rather than the soft squishiness of her usual food...)

11:36 pm  
Blogger GoodTwin said...

I've had quite a few nips off the rabbits when they lunge for their food and manage to get my hand first. They seem to know their mistake immediately as the 'bite' isn't even as bad as a paper-cut, and I know just how good their teeth are.

7:34 am  



Sunday, April 28, 2013

Too-much-shopping Sunday.

Did I mention Feather has shed again? Third time since we got her and it hasn't even been a year yet! I must be doing something right. Though I am beginning to wonder if she is, in fact, only a Madagascan ground boa with a max length of three foot. Be just my luck to find she's been misidentified and is actually going to grow to 30 foot long with an appetite like a horse - or for a horse...

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Saturday, April 27, 2013

Pics 'cause tired.
comma butterfly

And our fox visited before it even started to get dark today. I was locking up the back and I think the noise alarmed him, as he jumped up from where he was snaffling the sultanas I'd put down for the blackbirds and collared doves and slunk off towards the hole under the fence. Too fast for me to get a photo, alas. Gorgeous ruddy red fur and long bushy tail - a fine looking beast.





The garden looks particularly good in the sun.

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Friday, April 26, 2013

So, what happened today?

Um, well, I forgot to take photos of garden and greenhouse that I was going to post (so many things coming up! I have beans and marrows now too!) Will try to do that tomorrow instead.

Watched the end of Beast Wars. [sigh] Wish there was another season or two...

... and that's about it. But it was relaxing.

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

[rolls eyes] Ever had one of those days when all things seem to conspire against you? When automatic doors refuse to recognise you as a living being and stubbornly stay shut (until another human approaches them)? When those stupid motion operated toilet flushes deluge water as soon as you enter the cubicle? (I swear, if this is a new adjunct to my peculiar electrical less-than-super powers I shall NOT be happy.)

However, everything else went well. I bused into town, picked up 4 metres of blue voile from Fabricland (I need to make more inner curtains for hall, landing and Kai's room - the old ones are a disgrace and keep tearing more holes), a Transformers DVD with the last episodes of G1 on it (YAY!), and the usual stuff from Wild Oats and Better Foods. And ran a couple of errands for Ken as well. Took most of the day but it was pretty successful.

We'd planned to finish watching the Beast Wars but Kai had a rather large coursework project he needed to finish, so will try again tomorrow. Going to miss it when it's finished - it's bloody good!

Taking the evening off. [meanders off in search of Rattrap/Dinobot porn...]

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Well, I got all the outstanding client stuff done, and some spring cleaning. In the greenhouse I have kale, the first Red Alert tomato, all the mange tout and a pumpkin seedling breaking through. And that's about it for today...

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2 Comments:

Blogger GoodTwin said...

Well, that sounds quite enough, tbh... :)

11:35 pm  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

Eh, I got up at 7.30 - early start meant I could get more done again. Still have a list of things to get done tomorrow...

11:41 pm  



Tuesday, April 23, 2013

[sigh] Why don't kettles like me? I was descaling the one we bought in January yesterday, and on swirling the lemon juice around inside I heard something rattling. Second later a tiny screw dropped out - obviously an integral part as afterwards the on/off switch wouldn't stay on...

Ken couldn't find the receipt, but I took it back anyway (everyone knows me at our local Sainsbug, been shopping there for twenty-odd years). They offered an exchange or refund: I'd have liked an exchange but the only one they had left had a dodgy lid, so I got a refund (full one too - £12.50, even though I'm sure it was only £7.99 in the sale...) and went on a bit further to The Range, where I found a Swan one for £11.99. Not quite as nice as the Sainsbug one but it's an old established make...

Got it home and found the base wasn't in the box.

My legs were killing me again by this time (I do now have a physio appointment soon so hopefully I can sort out what to do about the blasted sciatica) so Ken went back with it.

Only to have the assistant point out that the base was actually inside the kettle...

Why, we don't know. Presumably to save space. Anyway, it works, although it's a coil rather than the plate element we've got used to. It'll do for now.

Why me?

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Monday, April 22, 2013

Still here. Sunday was the usual Sunday, today I've had trouble getting started... Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

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Saturday, April 20, 2013

Catching up 

OK, so, maybe time for a little catch-up...

In the greenhouse: new seedlings - two Swiss chard, three pak choi, two courgettes, seven peas. And today I moved my bell and chilli pepper plants back out (the ones I overwintered on the hall windowsill to get a head start on the season). They survived and have flowerbuds forming...

In the garden: Kai and I went up to the Allotment shop today to renew my membership and picked up three Desiree and three organic Sarpo Mira seed potatoes for chitting at home (that's all my planters will take). Then we spent some time in the garden in the sun and prepared the planters as I don't think the seed spuds will take very long, and Kai weeded some of the strawberry bed for me. It's all looking really good out there!

We had a Garden Warbler in the garden a few days ago! We also have two pairs of blackbirds fighting over who gets to claim the garden, and a couple of male blackcaps were squabbling on the bird table last week.

On TV: Kai and I are still watching Revolution, although it's beginning to wear a little - unrelieved violence and doom and gloom. We may stop. We caught the pilot of Defiance last night, and rather enjoyed it. The aliens aren't really sufficiently alien for my liking, but it was nicely done. We'll carry on watching for a while. The second season of Touch has started and is trundling along well, and apparently there's a new season of Warehouse 13 starting in a couple of weeks - that should be fun.

And as for Beast Wars, I'm loving it, Kai is really enjoying it, and Ken is still watching it, so that's all good. We're half way through season 2 now (watched Transmutate and the ep where Dinobot sacrifices himself to save the protohumans [sniffle] tonight).

Possible early night tonight...

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Friday, April 19, 2013

The Poppy Tales 

Seventh part of New World 2 - Proposals - now posted over at The Poppy Tales (link above).

Enjoy!

This is funny. Some of it's obviously photoshopped, but even so it's pretty good.

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Thursday, April 18, 2013

It was supposed to rain today.

It didn't. It was glorious sunshine all day (though the wind was bitter). I bused up to Broadwalk for bird seed from Wilkinson's, and found a Cyberverse Barricade! Very pleased about that, have been kicking myself for not picking him up when I first saw him, even though he's white and blue instead of black and white, and really too small and intricate for me to paint. Eh, we'll manage.

I also found a cheapcheap copy of 50 Shades of Grey (£1.39) in a charity shop. No, I don't really want to read it after all I've heard about it, but having decided we really need to check out the opposition... I'll critique it (if I can bear to) on the serious blog when I've read it.

In other news... Ken is now in the second week of the new meds, and so far so good. It's still horrible - constant headache and mild queasiness, and his sleep patterns are really disturbed, and unlike me he needs his sleep - but a lot better than we were anticipating. So far. Mind you, I have researched the necessary nutrition really thoroughly this time, and am making the meals needed for optimal efficiency for both the meds and general health. Heh. Becoming quite a nutritionist, on the quiet. Learned how to cook vegan when Broom became allergic to animal products, and now high iron/C vit diet which is simultaneously low in fat, because the main med has to be taken with a high fat snack (and we're talking four chocolate digestive biscuits or a large Mars bar high fat here) exactly every eight hours to work at all. (Rather frighteningly, if he misses one dose it negates everything and we have to start from scratch. Say the drug company, and who are we to argue?)

It's going to be a long year...

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

APAG meeting tonight. Minutes tomorrow. Too tired now. It was cold again today as well...

Poppy two pages in. Hopefully finish it tomorrow.

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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Glorious day today - finally spring. Even managed to dry a wash outside!

Not a lot else though. Haddock is doing strange mental things at the moment...

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Monday, April 15, 2013

Up early (not quite as early as the last few days) and put in a couple of hours in the greenhouse. Seedlings now potted on to their final pots (and they'll stay in the greenhouse from now on), peas moved into larger pots - they aren't quite ready to go into the bed yet - and I've started:
Red Alert and Black Russian tomatoes, mange tout Golden Sweet (which grows up to 6 foot high - remind me to read the back of the packet before buying next time!), Tendergreen Dwarf beans, Swiss chard, kale, marrows and the first pumpkin.


Also planned out the veg bed and got the first onions in the ground. As long as we don't have the appalling rain we had last year everything stands a good chance of succeeding, so keeping fingers crossed.

That's the mini polytunnel GoodTwin picked up for me in the background - working very well, I have carrots coming up already. The orange 'bag' is the potato planter: needs to be emptied so I can start afresh this year. Will pick up some seed potatoes from the Talbot Allotments on Sunday - need to pay my sub anyway.

I had the windows open while I was working and the most gorgeous scent came drifting in. On checking I found it was a combination of my flowering daphne and magnolia stellata. Fabulous fragrance!


Of course my back and legs are now aching, but it's good exercise...

More Beast Wars tonight!

Poppy advancing slowly.

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Sunday, April 14, 2013

Ridiculously busy Sunday. Usual shop, then I seemed to spend most of the day in the kitchen, cooking and prep stuff for the freezer. Legs aching...

So sitting with three eps of Beast Wars was fun!

Possible early night tonight. Lots to do to tomorrow, including finishing next!Poppy.

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Saturday, April 13, 2013

YAY! Lie in!!

And hairdresser for both Kai and I. Mine's a little shorter than normal now, in the hopes it'll last a little longer before I need it done again. Jeff has done his usual fantastic job, and I really must try to get that photo for our agent.

Then dinner and Doctor Who (bit tedious this week), then three eps of Beast Wars. I'm liking Dinobot more and more...

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Friday, April 12, 2013

Visit from Wendy!

Great day chatting and catching up. Too short as always, but I think we made good use of the time.

Many thanks!

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Thursday, April 11, 2013

So how much longer can I continue getting up at 6.30, I ask myself. zzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz I answer...

New Tf comic over at JAT. Silliness.


And Armada Jetfire and Starscream. Such a lovely couple.

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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Aaaaaaand another stupidly early start...

Great day! Almondsbury Garden Centre (and we got lost again, but in doing so discovered two new garden centres to explore next time), picked up compost, rats and crickets, so Rosa and Feather can eat, and I have supplies for my seeds. And we talked non-stop - all good stuff.

Knackered again though. Probably be another early night.

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Tuesday, April 09, 2013

[sigh] Up at 6.30 this morning...

Shopping, client stuff, tidying up (it's nearly spring-cleaning time) and then the first three eps of Beast Wars! I loved it, Ken seems to have liked it, Kai's not sure yet but will give it a another chance.

Off out with Kim tomorrow morning (Almondsbury Garden Centre, most likely. I need crickets and it would be useful to stock up on rats for Feather, she's eating every fortnight. And I forgot to say she shed again. We must be doing something right!)

Early night again. Knackered.

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1 Comments:

Blogger GoodTwin said...

hee - happy snake :)

7:57 am  



Monday, April 08, 2013

[sigh] So I had an early night - well, 1.30 am is early for me - and woke up at 6.38 am. Tried to doze for a bit - unsuccessfully - and was thoroughly woken up by the phone at 7.44: Kai ringing from the bus stop to ask if he'd missed the bus or if school was out today...

Ken checked and it is indeed an inset day, so Kai has a surprise free day's holiday! Since he is bang up to date with all his home and course work he's taking the day off: playing Minecraft upstairs I think.

But there are benefits to early rising: the sun looked like a golden pearl today.

sunrise

Ken's photos.

sunrise

And I put a wash through, started the chicken stock, made two day's worth of tomato, red pepper and cannelloni bean soup for lunches, popped the seedlings into the greenhouse and checked the pots (there are two pea plants coming up, which is great news), and did a little client stuff. All before 11 am.

I'm going to be tired tonight.

Beast Wars season 1 arrived, so we shall start watching that tonight!

Edit: So Thatcher's died. Am I supposed to feel sorry? She was an evil old hag who wrecked the country. Horrible woman. I certainly won't miss her.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Lutra said...

"Ding dong, the witch is dead..." etc. I get annoyed when (usually conservatives) laud her...

1:11 pm  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

Heh, even the BBC report was understatedly negative, focusing on the bad. Gods I loathe her...

1:14 pm  



Sunday, April 07, 2013

Still tired. Then again, there was a Sainsbury shop, and a Tesco shop, and general cleaning up, and Ken enlarging the main veg bed, and roast chicken for dinner, and lunches for tomorrow. All very busy.

[g] But Beast Wars seasons 2 and 3 have arrived. Can't watch them until season 1 get here though, and that's coming from the States, so don't know how long that will take...

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Saturday, April 06, 2013

Quickie because knackered...

Glorious weather today, rain forecast for tomorrow and rest of the week pretty much, and as it's the end of Kai's Eostre break we bused off to Clevedon...








[g] And look, Stronghold's had an upgrade!

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Friday, April 05, 2013

So, 8.22 a.m. and I'm woken from a four hour sleep by a knocking on the door. Grab dressing gown and stumble downstairs, to find it's the water board to install our water meter...

I'm sure the neighbours were delighted by the pneumatic drill and the sledgehammer, but at least they only took half an hour. (Normally the tools wouldn't be needed but they had to physically move the piping as it was too close to our neighbour's for them to fit the meter.) Now we'll see how we go.

Since I was up I got some client stuff done, and a little tidying. When Kai got up he helped in the garden (putting the copper slug tape around the potting table legs and collecting up pots that had been blown under the fake currant bush). The weather is lovely again - hot in the sun.

And now I'm going for a nap, otherwise I'll be useless tonight...

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Thursday, April 04, 2013

It started off sunny, so out the seedlings went to the greenhouse.

Then it snowed.

Then the sun came out, then it snowed again. Eventually it clouded over so I brought them in. [sigh] But I have the first of the salad leaves sprouting, and I do believe there are a couple of pea plants on the way.

Shopped at Tesco.

Got shot of a load of client stuff.

After dinner we watched the Cowboy Bebop film. I'd seen it before a long time ago but couldn't remember much of it. It's wonderful, and the animation is superb, even better than the series. Great fun!

And the first page of next!Poppy is written. Hopefully have it done and posted at the weekend.

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Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Right. First, the lurgy is a lot better. Not quite gone yet, but definitely on its way out.

I emailed the US seller of the Beast Wars season 2 & 3 set as he hadn't listed the price: turns out it'll cost more than the actual DVDs, so I've gone for the next cheapest (free postage, UK seller) instead. It'll probably get here before season 1!

We all spent a couple of hours in the garden in the sun this afternoon. Ken weeded the veg bed, Kai and I weeded the bean/pea/mange tout bed, then Kai carried on cutting down ivy while I pruned the brambles around the woodland pool. All looks great now but my legs and back are killing me.

And after dinner we watched the last five eps of Cowboy Bebop. Wow...

Poppy is nagging...

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Tuesday, April 02, 2013

[bluergh] I would like this to go away please. Kai's now got it too...

Didn't do much today - tired anyway after four hours sleep and a head full of cotton wool. Ken went to a writers' circle meeting tonight so Kai and I curled up under wolf and lion respectively and watched Tron Legacy. It still doesn't make complete sense but the music sounds better than ever.

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Monday, April 01, 2013

Later edit (11.11 pm): And lo, a cheaper Beast Wars complete season 1, and seasons 2 & 3 in one boxed set, appears on ebay. Season 1 ordered on a 'buy now': season 2 & 3 added to watch list - auction ends in 6 days. Fingers crossed.

Yes, I know, I was supposed to be having an early night, but I had to watch the last four eps of Beast Wars season 2 (which ended on a most magnificent cliffhanger. I'll watch the start of season 3 tomorrow - really too tired and ill tonight...)

[sigh] In 39 eps I've gone from watching the first half of the first ep and running away screaming, to resignedly watching it because I've watched everything else in the Transformers fandom (except G2) and thought I may as well to complete my 'education', to thinking, well, it's OK, wouldn't mind getting it if I can find it cheap somewhere to I HAVE GOT TO HAVE THIS!!!!.

I never expected to like it, but the earlier eps are very very funny, and although it gets much much darker in season 2 there are still humorous moments (done with a very light touch): there are innumerable homages to other Tf continuities and (non-Tf) films (and if you're a regular reader you'll know I love those!): there are some quite extraordinarily strong characters (Dinobot, Rattrap, Tigertron, and the absolutely tragic, heart-breaking Transmutate): and a truly huge overarching plot.

I am impressed.

Now have to check the budget to see if we can squeeze it in. The whole thing is available on ebay at various prices, one of them almost within reach.

We'll see.

And now I should drag my sick self off to berth. Whether I can actually sleep (and/or let Ken get any sleep) is a bit of a moot point...

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