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
08/01/2007 - 08/31/2007
09/01/2007 - 09/30/2007
10/01/2007 - 10/31/2007
11/01/2007 - 11/30/2007
12/01/2007 - 12/31/2007
01/01/2008 - 31/01/2008
01/02/2008 - 29/02/2008
03/01/2008 - 31/03/2008
01/04/2008 - 04/30/2008
01/05/2008 - 31/05/2008
01/06/2008 - 30/06/2008
01/07/2008 - 31/07/2008
01/08/2008 - 31/08/2008
01/09/2008 - 30/09/2008
01/10/2008 - 31/10/2008
01/11/2008 - 31/11/2008
01/12/2008 - 31/12/2008
01/12/2008 - 31/12/2008
01/01/2009 - 31/01/2009
01/02/2009 - 28/02/2009
01/03/2009 - 31/03/2009
01/04/2009 - 30/04/2009
01/05/2009 - 31/05/2009
01/06/2009 - 30/06/2009
01/07/2009 - 31/07/2009
01/08/2009 - 31/08/2009
01/09/2009 - 30/09/2009
01/10/2009 - 31/10/2009
01/11/2009 - 30/11/2009
01/12/2009 - 31/12/2009
01/01/2010 - 31/01/2010
01/02/2010 - 28/02/2010
01/03/2010 - 31/03/2010
01/04/2010 - 30/04/2010
01/05/2010 - 31/05/2010
01/06/2010 - 30/06/2010
01/07/2010 - 31/07/2010
01/08/2010 - 31/08/2010
01/09/2010 - 30/09/2010
01/10/2010 - 31/10/2010
01/11/2010 - 31/11/2010
01/12/2010 - 31/12/2010
01/01/2011 - 31/01/2011
01/02/2011 - 28/02/2011
01/03/2011 - 31/03/2011
01/04/2011 - 30/04/2011
01/05/2011 - 31/05/2011
01/06/2011 - 30/06/2011
01/07/2011 - 31/07/2011
01/08/2011 - 31/08/2011
01/09/2011 - 30/09/2011
01/10/2011 - 31/10/2011
01/11/2011 - 30/11/2011
01/12/2011 - 31/12/2011
01/01/2012 - 31/01/2012
01/02/2012 - 28/02/2012
01/03/2012 - 31/03/2012
01/04/2012 - 30/04/2012
01/05/2012 - 31/05/2012
01/06/2012 - 30/06/2012
01/07/2012 - 31/07/2012
01/08/2012 - 31/08/2012
01/09/2012 - 30/09/2012
01/10/2012 - 31/10/2012
01/11/2012 - 30/11/2012
01/12/2012 - 31/12/2012
01/01/2013 - 31/01/2013
01/02/2013 - 28/02/2013
01/03/2013 - 31/03/2013
01/04/2013 - 30/04/2013
01/05/2013 - 31/05/2013
01/06/2013 - 31/06/2013
01/07/2013 - 31/07/2013
01/08/2013 - 31/08/2013
01/09/2013 - 30/09/2013
01/10/2013 - 31/10/2013
01/11/2013 - 30/11/2013
01/12/2013 - 31/12/2013
01/01/2014 - 31/01/2014
01/02/2014 - 28/02/2014
01/03/2014 - 31/03/2014
01/04/2014 - 30/04/2014
01/05/2014 - 31/05/2014
01/06/2014 - 31/06/2014
01/07/2014 - 31/07/2014
01/08/2014 - 31/08/2014
01/09/2014 - 31/09/2014
01/10/2014 - 31/10/2014
01/11/2014 - 30/11/2014
01/12/2014 - 31/12/2014
01/01/2015 - 31/01/2015
01/02/2015 - 28/02/2015
01/03/2015 - 31/03/2015
01/04/2015 - 30/04/2015
01/05/2015 - 31/05/2015
01/06/2015 - 30/06/2015
01/07/2015 - 31/07/2015
01/08/2015 - 31/08/2015
01/09/2015 - 30/09/2015
01/10/2015 - 31/10/2015
01/11/2015 - 31/11/2015
01/12/2015 - 31/12/2015
01/01/2016 - 31/01/2016
01/022016 - 28/02/2016
01/03/2016 - 31/03/2016
01/04/2016 - 31/04/2016
01/05/2016 - 31/05/2016
01/06/2016 - 30/06/2016
01/07/2016 - 31/07/2016
01/08/2016 - 31/08/2016
01/09/2016 - 31/09/2016
01/10/2016 - 31/10/2016
01/11/2016 - 31/11/2016
01/12/2016 - 31/12/2016
01/01/2017 - 31/01/2017
01/02/2017 - 28/02/2017
01/03/2017 - 31/03/2017
01/04/2017 - 30/04/2017
01/05/2017 - 31/05/2017
01/06/2017 - 30/06/2017
01/07/2017 - 31/07/2017
01/08/2017 - 31/08/2017
01/09/2017 - 30/09/2017
01/10/2017 - 31/10/2017
01/11/2017 - 30/11/2017
01/12/2017 - 31/12/2017
01/01/2018 - 31/01/2018
01/02/2018 - 28/02/2018
01/03/2018 - 31/03/2018
01/04/2018 - 30/04/2018
01/05/2018 - 31/05/2018
01/06/2018 - 30/06/2018
01/07/2018 - 31/07/2018
01/08/2018 - 31/08/2018
01/09/2018 - 30/09/2018
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

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Happy New Year 

although with Kai saying he's feeling dreadful again I don't know how much of a celebration we're going to have. Still, we'll see 2016 in with the usual glass of Buck's Fizz and see how we feel tomorrow.

Labels:





0 Comments:



Saturday, December 26, 2015

Kai's had his penicillin and it'll be half an hour before he can eat, so catching up quickly before I cook.

That was a really, really nice day... Quiet, as planned, but the gifts all went down well, and the dinner was fine!

Apparently, prawn cocktail is now a retro starter! We don't care, we lubs it.


Stealth bomber Megatron with rail gun! Gorgeous design.

Windblade. Love the heels!

My bee. It's beautiful, and comfortingly heavy and chunky. Feels great to wear.

I now also have the Complete Allspark Almanac, courtesy of GoodTwin! That's my next two weeks reading sorted... Looking forward to watching Undermind (thanks, Sue!)

Today's buffet. Was delicious!

and I found these little darlings in the Wells ironmongers - adorable serviettes.

Dinner is the usual cold meats with creamed spuds and salad, and a salted caramel cheesecake to follow. Never had that before, but we really like salted caramel ice cream, so hopefully this will prove as nice!

Then it's The Phantom Menace with bacon and maple syrups crisps and popcorn...

Labels: , , ,





0 Comments:



Thursday, December 24, 2015

The solstice was our 26th anniversary. Ken met me after work at the Lowdekka and we had steak and chips - not the most exciting of meals but I've been really fancying steak just recently and I'm not that good at cooking it properly (well, mine is OK, I just throw it under the grill for 90 seconds each side, but Kai prefers his fried near well-done and Ken medium, and I just can't get it right...)

And Ken found the most gorgeous card...


Kai's BMT clinic went well yesterday: his blood counts are fine, his haemoglobin 'robust' (so he's starting venesection at the end of Feb next year), and his vitamin D levels acceptable, which is all great. Afterwards we dropped into St Nick's market, then to the hidden church on Castle Green, then bussed up to Broadwalk to get chicken tikka pieces for the Boxing Day buffet. We stopped half way home to watch the ISS fly over - all wonderfully satisfying.

Today we planned to go see The Force Awakens, but we both had miserable, broken nights and he felt really quite ill, so we're going to try for next week instead. I shopped, then Ken and I watched It's A Wonderful Life while Kai went back to bed. He's still asleep - best thing for him right now - and I'll make dinner for about 8.30 (Scottish venison meatballs: I'll make a light wine sauce and serve them with tagliatelle.) Just hope it's nothing serious: his temperature was OK, and Prof Marks was happy with him yesterday. It would be really nice to have a worry-reduced Yule.

Oh yes - meant to say that we've watched all of the first season of Robots in Disguise now (courtesy of Lutra) and while Kai really enjoyed it and wants to see more, I found it a little disappointing. Except for Grimlock. It had the best and funniest Grimlock ever. Fingers crossed season 2 comes out in a boxed set too.

All my IMDb eps now done and posted. Taking a wee break before starting the next batch in the new year.

I really like breaded garlic mushrooms with garlic mayo, and usually treat myself to some at Yule. However, this year everywhere I tried has been sold out. No garlic 'shrumps anywhere! Very annoying. Mind you, it seems to be a global mushroom problem...

Lutra: Oh I am srsly going to pout now. [pout] Got a kilo of mushrooms today but it looks like they didn't make it home from the supermarket [pout]
Flare: You mean they escaped??
I know! They really are the most troublesome vegetables.
Oh dear... can you get the cat to go round them up?
Not if they're not on the property. Besides, he'd be more likely to bat them even further away...

So not just me then.

But as it happened, Sains had some when I got there today, so I now have two bags in the freezer!

Labels: , , , , , ,





0 Comments:

Post a Comment



Sunday, December 20, 2015

Aaaaand another catch-up...

Most of the Yule shopping is now done, although it did take three trips yesterday.

Kai has finally recovered from that particularly nasty bug (it even hit Ken, and he is usually resistant to them!) and is feeling much better - although the knowledge that he now has a month off is probably helping! He's done incredibly well this year, and with his blood counts still stable we're being cautiously optimistic that the worst is now in the past. He has a BMT clinic on Wed, so we'll see how he's doing then.

I've finished the Jupiter Moon IMDb ep summaries (all 150 of 'em, yay!). Just have five more Beast Machines and three more Vampire Princess Miyu eps left to do (aiming to finish those before the 25th). In the new year I shall start writing the ep summaries for Starhyke, Night Walker, the BBC version of the Narnia Chronicles, which I picked up from St Pete's Hospice as a boxed set, and The 12 Kingdoms (we have the first ten eps: I've bought the rest of the series on ebay. 45 eps in total, so a bit of a commitment again).

We're currently re-watching the original Star Wars films, as Kai fancies seeing the new one in 3D at the cinema. We're hoping to go at lunchtime on xmas eve, in the hopes that most fans will have already seen it, and everyone else will be in town frantically doing last minute shopping. The place won't be empty, but at least it may not be packed!

... I'm sure there were several more things I wanted to say, but the brain is lagging atm. I'll add a later edit if needed!

Labels: , , , ,





0 Comments:



Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Just quickly...

Kai and I watched the lift off before he headed off to uni this am. Was brilliant!

Kai bought one of these (not from this seller) with some of his Yule present money when he got back this evening. He's going to see if it will hang from the ceiling: if so, we'll paint the alcove at the foot of his bed as a spacescape and see about organising lighting...

It fits in with his advent calender theme - badges, pins and patches of keynote space programmes. I'm going to have some sewing to do over Yule.

And I've just joined the Bumblebee Conservation Trust with the last of my Yule cash!

Tripped is on at 10. Kai and I watched the first ep last week and were most intrigued. Looking forward to seeing where it goes!

Labels: , , , , ,





0 Comments:



Monday, December 14, 2015

The trip out with Kim was great! Almondsbury have started their expansion, and their café is now terrific, bigger, much more luxurious, with a greatly expanded menu but the prices still extremely reasonable. It was really most enjoyable.

However, they no longer sell greenhouse glass separately: it works out too expensive. Luckily we have SOS Glass and Glazing up Sandy Park Rd, so I had the panes cut there (£4.70 a pane, not too expensive). Ken and I put the new glass in yesterday, so my greenhouse is now fine for the winter.

The rest of the week has been shopping, cleaning and housekeeping my C-drive. Photos and emails now archived, and my pop email account sorted (imap was driving me nuts)

On Sat Ken and I went to Street and Wells, looking for a new wok and a new bodywarmer for me (mine is now about 15 years old and distinctly tatty!) Found a lovely retro gilet in leather instead, with pockets. Lots and lots of pockets. It's the pockets that are most important for me, and this has loads. It's waterproof and windproof, of course, but only has minimal quilting, so won't be all that warm - solved that by finding an assortment of warm tops and jumpers in a variety of charity shops! (And I'm still on the lookout for a bodywarmer, but it's not so important now.)

Also found a good wok in our favourite ironmonger in Wells, so altogether it was a very successful day.

Yesterday after dinner we wrote, enveloped and addressed the Yule cards, and I got them all in the post this morning. Ye gods I'm organised!

It's Kai's last week of term, and he is heartily relieved. It's been hard for him, but he's done incredibly well, and we're very proud of him. I've told him next weekend he can sleep as much as he wants and I'll just wake him for dinners!

Linkedin have found another selection of choice jobs for me...


(... nuclear decommissioning!??)

Labels: , , , , ,





0 Comments:



Tuesday, December 08, 2015

Right, what have we been up to?

Actually, quite a lot of clearing up. I generally like to have the house properly clean for the new year, so have started early...

But on a more interesting note, GoodTwin and Sue came over to visit on Saturday, and enormous fun was had! And it's now confirmed that when it comes to quizzes, I'm rubbish at Sport and General Knowledge, but surprisingly good at Geography. And it wasn't even lunar or Martian geography!

[GLOMPS] to you both, I had a wonderful day.

Sunday was the usual manicness. Yesterday I had my appt for my arm, and the physio confirmed that yes, it's bursitis (colloquially, 'tennis elbow') and gave me a steroid injection (ow, but only for a few seconds) and told me to stretch and exercise. Exercise and stretch the arm every hour when I take the break from the computer that the other physio told me I must do to make sure I keep my hip more or less problem free. And I'm to go swimming as often as I can, and use back and front crawl as much as I can. So it's doctor's orders!

This is all great, and if I follow instructions and don't try to carry too much it should sort itself out.

Today Kim and I are heading off to the local tip to finally dump the extinct printer and scanner in the office equipment recycling bin, and then on to Almondsbury garden centre (fingers crossed for greenhouse glass). Kai is taking today off - he's still exhausted, poor Childe, his tutor isn't in today, and he's better off working the labs at home when he's tired, as he then isn't distracted by other people asking him for help. But term ends on the 18th, the day of his second and last MMR injection, and he then has a month off (well, he has three exams in Jan but they're quite widely spaced) so will be able to rest as much as he can and recuperate ready for the spring term. He's doing fantastically well, given that it takes two years to fully recover from a stem cell transplant and he's only had one.

On a final note, the last two eps of this season's Dr Who... sublime. Gobsmacking. I've not been too impressed with the rest of the season, but these two eps left me speechless. I'm hoping the DVDs come out with three eps at a time on them, but if we have to buy the complete series, so be it. It'll be worth it to have the finale.

Labels: , , , ,





2 Comments:

Blogger Sue said...

We had a lovely day too, thank you!
I'm so glad you enjoyed those two episodes of Doctor Who. I have some quibbles and some mixed feelings but Capaldi was amazing and it is worth watching for him alone. I'm just hoping for a much better companion next time.

7:58 pm  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

Capaldi has replaced Tennant as my favourite Doctor. And I never saw that coming!
There are always quibbles. It wouldn't be DW if there weren't! But... I'm still blown away...

12:59 am  



Thursday, December 03, 2015

Later edit: I can't see a way to embed Youtube videos any more, but this has a sublime selection of Vulcan howls.

... I have goosebumps...

Yesterday proved to be very successful, despite getting off to a bit of an awkward start. But I found my Vulcan in Hawkin's Bazaar -

- and bought it for Yule from in-laws. I fell in love with this plane when I was about 5 and first saw - and heard! ye gods, you never, ever forget that howl - one at an airshow. Waaay back in college I bought and made one of these (painted it black covered with silver stars and hung it from my bedroom ceiling), took it to uni with me, but sometime in the last few decades it got lost or vanished or something. I always meant to replace it... And yes, it's XH558, the Spirit of Great Britain.

Watched The Last Flight of the Vulcan Bomber on 4 earlier in the week. Fingers crossed someone puts it out on DVD. Made me cry...

Also found a couple of bandanas for Kai. His hair's so long now the curls get in his eyes, and he thought this might be a good way to solve the problem. They really suit him, give him a thoroughly rockstar look!

And Dr Lowry is happy with progress. She's OKed him to take proprietary cold meds, had his chest x-rayed to check the slight squeak is just mucus from the bug and nothing worse (very unlikely in her opinion), and confirmed that with his weakened immune system these things take longer to clear than with other people. That will improve as his health does.

So, all good then! And today I've initiated the transfer of the WaveWrights domain to 123-reg - it seems like it's the only way we're going to be able to get email working properly - and so far it's going well.

Oh, and I spent a little more Yule cash on this -


- gorgeous dichroic glass pendant from Fused Elegance on Etsy. Absolutely beautiful jewellery! Most people know I don't wear a lot, and don't often find anything I really like, but I fell in love with this!

Annoyingly, three panes of glass in my greenhouse have smashed - from the inside out. Only thing I can think of is the hoe fell from where it was (I thought securely balanced) and hit the glass. Very annoying, but at least it's winter, there's nothing vital in there, and I should be able to replace the panes fairly easily, either ready-cut at Almondsbury Garden Centre's greenhouse dept or at the glass place just off Sandy Park Rd.

Oh, and T&M replaced the failed peach tree with an absolutely beautiful specimen. Ken and I planted it this evening - looks good! Excellent customer service - must email and thank them.

Labels: , , , , , , , ,





0 Comments:



Tuesday, December 01, 2015

... wow... I have an afternoon with nothing planned!

What on earth shall I do with it?

Remember my orchid, the one that produced a second flower spike?

It's still flowering, and it looks like it's produced a third flowerspike!


And we put the decorations up on Sunday, as planned...

Kai is fascinated by deer at the moment, especially stags, so that's been the focus this year!


I've started picking up dvds to watch over the season - Ant-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (now that it's really cheap), Scrooged (traditional Yule fare which I thought we had but can't find anywhere...) and Arthur Christmas (because it looks fun!). We're really hoping The Martian will be out by then too...

Off to potter a bit. The rest of the week will be busy as usual.

Labels: , , ,





0 Comments:





This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours? Blogarama - The Blog 

Directory