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.

Labels: shopping, The Poppy Tales, Transformers

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]

Labels: shopping, The Poppy Tales, weather

"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.

Labels: days out, Defenders, The Poppy Tales, weather, Weston-super-Mare

[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...

Labels: Defenders, The Poppy Tales, Transformers

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

Labels: The Poppy Tales, Transformers

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...

Food porn for Lutra... ->

Labels: food porn for Lutra, Transformers

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.

[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...)

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...

Labels: food porn for Lutra, The Poppy Tales, Transformers, Transformers Animated, Yule

... 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...

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....

Labels: food porn for Lutra, The Poppy Tales, Transformers Animated, Yule

[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.

Labels: The Poppy Tales, Transformers Animated, Yule

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...

Labels: films, shopping, The Poppy Tales

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

Labels: The Poppy Tales, Transformers

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

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

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

Next Poppy should be up this evening!

Labels: anniversaries, The Poppy Tales, Yule

[sigh] Tyjer likes the lion...

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

Labels: The Poppy Tales, Tyjer

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).

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!)

Labels: dentist, domesticity

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...

Labels: garden, shopping, Transformers Animated, Tyjer

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

Labels: fanfic, The Poppy Tales, Transformers

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.

Labels: shopping, The Poppy Tales

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

[g] Enjoy. I did.

Labels: fanfic, The Poppy Tales, Transformers

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...

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...

Labels: Kai, shopping, The Poppy Tales, Yule

WAIIIIIII!!!

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

Labels: Transformers: Prime

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.

Labels: fanfic, food, food porn for Lutra, Yule

[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.

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...

Labels: garden, shopping, Transformers Animated

[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.

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...

Labels: CCO 808, fanfic, household matters

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

Labels: The Poppy Tales

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...

Labels: fanfic, Transformers, Yule

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...

Labels: adventures, days out, Transformers

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

Labels: shopping, Yule

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.)

Labels: films, Transformers

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.

Labels: dentist, The Poppy Tales

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...

Labels: birds, fanfic, Skype, Transformers

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...

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

<- Bristol had gorillas, apparently Weston has donkeys!

And apparently the queen also stays there! ->

And I own a shop!!

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!

Labels: days out, walks, Weston-super-Mare

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

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...

Labels: films, Transformers, Yule

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...

Labels: fanfic, Transformers