We ended up going for the river walk anyway!

The Great Western Railway coach works and coke house ruins just outside Temple Meads railway station.

Looking back upriver, blue railway and pedestrian bridge, and behind it the houses at Totterdown.

Strange 'bird' installation along the walk. There are four of these in total, along this part of the walk, anyway (this is still part of the Whitchurch Way, which runs from the city centre to Whitchurch), but one of them has lost its head.

That's the Paintworks on the other side of the river, and the Bath Road at Arno's Vale at the top.

They're very strange. They seem to be a mix of heron, starling and blackbird, and are made of whitewashed straw and mud, as best we can tell. I can't find any info online about them, but they may be related to the Art thing that happens here every few years. The last one was about three years ago, I think.

Discovered last night that the ep summaries for Beauty and the Beast season 2 and 3 are incomplete. Will probably tackle those when I've finished Sky (two eps to go), but by myself rather than as a family thing of an evening. I can watch it of a morning, after dealing with mail and before Kai wakes up. It's not like I need an excuse to rewatch it, I love the series, and it would ensure I sit down with feet up for 45 mins or so, which seems to help my back.

Labels: Art, Beauty and the Beast, rivers, walks

Catch up again...

We did go for another walk on Saturday - all the way to Whitchurch, a bit less than a mile further on from the end point of our last walk. Glorious sunny day again, but ow my legs on the way back...

Sunday was busy as usual. After the morning shop, Ken and I went out to Hurrans to take advantage of the last days of their post Yule sale. Picked up two berberis thunbergii at half price to plant with the three we already have, out the front as a security barrier (yes, OK, it'll be a couple of years before they grow to the promised 4' and are fully effective, but still...) I also found this adorable little pot at half price:

I told Kai he could have it if he could make a persuasive case for it, but he decided it was a little too small for his use so I get to keep it! I haven't decided what to put in it yet, but it looks so sweet in the kitchen.

Monday was another good day - cloudy and windy but no rain - so we went for another walk. Much more strenuous, that one, up the opposite side of the valley from the Whitchurch Way. It leads to Stockwood open space eventually, but after climbing up the hill I didn't have the energy to go any further. Maybe next time. The views from the top are great though!

We've now watched both Dragonwyck and The Raven (so funny! "You're defending yourself, you coward!") and enjoyed them. We've started watching Sky, which, while an interesting idea, is proving to be nowhere near as good as I remember. We expected poor sfx and less than stellar acting, but the acting is worse than anticipated (the decent actors in it seem embarrassed to be there), and the story is choppy and disjointed. Luckily it's only seven eps long (heh, I typed 'wrong' there initially!), but how I'm going to write the IMDb summaries I'm not quite sure.

We were planning another walk today but given it's hailing buckets out there and generally grey and miserable that may be a no-no. Since I haven't had time to do much to revise Perfume Power yet, that may be a good thing...

Labels: books, foxes, garden centres, walks

Quickie before I go fall over...

I've been been enjoying role-playing on tumblr for the past... ye gods, nearly two years! I've made some fun friends, and as a treat to myself I commissioned a picture from Clicha. Clicha is a Transformers fan, and a fine artist. Clicha instituted a phenomenon called Robots-in-suits-January, which I really like...

[g] Ohhh yes...

Clicha is currently looking for commissions to fund getting to AA 2015. Just so's you know!

Labels: Art, Starscream

Cold. It's below freezing out there today. Gloriously sunny though. It's supposed to be the same tomorrow: if it's not too slippery underfoot we'll try for another walk.

Kai did fancy a walk on Monday - along the Whitchurch Way to Whitchurch. It's an old railway track that's been made into a cycle path (the same one that goes past right outside the house) and from here is 2.2 miles each way...

(Ow my legs...) Kai can now do this walk and more without any difficulty - which is wonderful, given that pre-transplant he couldn't climb the stairs without getting breathless and weak.

And regardless of how I feel tomorrow, I'm going to have to walk anyway. Finally managed to get to see the dr about my hip last night, and she's referred me to the muscular-skeleto (I think that's the term) team at the BRI. Apparently the unfused bone might be what's causing the pain and the team will write to me to make an initial appt, but I'm to carry on losing weight (and keep exercising) in the meantime. Oh joy...

Labels: medical matters, walks

I follow a tumblr blog called The Beauty of Wildlife, which often has amazing photos of foxes. This one really appealed to me (pic is clickable to the original). That expression is exactly what my face frequently looks like when I consider the human species...

I forgot to say - I found out why Kai will have to take penicillin for the rest of his life. Apparently the TBI (Total Body Irradiation) destroys the spleen's ability to handle meningococcal and pneumococcal infections, both of which can be life-threatening. So - penicillin. A small price to pay, we think...

It's a beautiful day today, freezing (almost literally, the outside temperature is around 2°) but cloudless and brilliantly sunny. Hoping Kai feels like a walk when he gets up, although he did walk the Whitchurch Way with Ken yesterday, so might not fancy it.

In the meantime, it looks like Perfume Power has a chance of being republished, possibly as an e-book, so I'm revising it. The science has come on a little way since I first wrote it (and at the very least I have the chance to get rid of the embarrassing number of exclamation marks!) More as it happens.

Labels: books, foxes, medical matters

Every now and then I enter - 'starscream figure' - into ebay to see if there's anything new/that I don't have.

And thus I found these...

Yes, they are in fact a set of Transformers: Prime figures - Kinder Egg ones.

I had no idea such a thing existed. Quite adorable, surprisingly sophisticated, and absolutely teeny!

*whispering* I also gave in and have one of these coming for my birthday, found on ebay for a lot less than that...

And Kai's guitar rack arrived.He's upstairs putting it together. His last Skype was - "oh. I finished building it and then found the instructions." Which is actually typical for this family...

His follow up Skype - 'it's probably just as well, the instructions are talking about 'soft stuffed legs' and 'activities ring connecting screws'".

Surreal.

Labels: Kai, Transformers: Prime

Gordon Bennett where did the week go...?

It's been busy, I remember that. Kai and I have been for a couple of walks, I've only got one small bit of sewing left to do and I've finished everything I planned, I'm nearly half way through the Sentinel season 4 summaries, and the freezer is fully stocked again. Monday's BHOC appt went well: Kai is improving steadily, although he's still very fatigued and has enormous difficulty waking up. (Once he is awake, however, he's alert almost right away, which is a definite improvement!)

Today's project is to reorganise his room again. We think we've now worked out the optimum arrangement, and when he's awake are going to try it. It'll give him a lot more room to move in, but it involves moving the bed half into one of the alcoves (where his guitars are at the moment: we ordered a 7-guitar rack last night, which will fit in the chimney-breast space) and it's going to be a bit of a tight fit. However, we've measure it up and I think it can be done. Then he can order a new desk!

Ascension starts tonight. Looks interesting - we'll give it a try.

Heh, if I remember anything more I'll edit the post later...

Later edit:

Joules: Kai is VERY happy with his room. Though I had to chisel out a chunk of... what's it called, that wood around the bottom of walls? and take off the side of the chimney-breast bookcase to make the bed fit.
Lutra: Skirting board?
That's the one! Can't word today... I am supermum again. I don't let anything get in my way!
[beg] But of course!
Only - I used Ken's antique chisel, though I didn't know that 'til he got home...
Oops.
[g] oops
I told him he has to hide stuff he doesn't want me to use.
LOL! or label it? : )
To my credit, I did try to ring him before I started. He didn't hear his mobile ring...
Bonus points there then.

Yerrss... [g]

Labels: busyness

Catch up again...

Spoiler alert: I've just watched Only Lovers Left Alive (recommended by Lutra and got as a Yule present from GoodTwin) and it's amazing. I'll talk about it further down under a spoiler warning.

Soooo... what have we been up to? Well, Kai's had another little episode of tinnitus and blurry vision, although that has improved over the last couple of days. Yesterday the weather was glorious, so we went for a walk down to Arno's Vale. Yes, it's a cemetery, but it's also a fabulous nature reserve, with paths everywhere of varying steepness and difficulty. We went up through the woods to the open plateau at the top - the views are fantastic, out to the Cotswolds, but you can't see them when the trees are in leaf so this is the right time of year to go. It took us an hour, and our legs were aching when we got back, but it was good and healthy and all helps to build up Kai's strength and stamina again.

I replaced a whole load of music cassettes with CDs I found on amazon and ebay, and we've been working our way through them - the first five Queen albums over dinner (After Day at the Races they started believing their own hype and got tedious, so I gave up collecting them). Night at the Opera, of course, has the wonderful track '39, possibly the first ever s-f song...

Kai brought the laptop down on Tuesday evening and worked on some art while we played a series of concept albums - Scenes from a Memory (not my favourite Dream Theater album, I must confess, but Kai says it takes a least three listens to really appreciate it), some of Patti Smith's Horses, Welcome to my Nightmare (ye gods, 1975. That's the year I met Wendy and Ken, and it still sounds as good as it did on first hearing. Timeless stuff...) and the first couple of tracks from Diamond Dogs. Of course, the Alice Cooper album has a voice over to Black Widow by Vincent Price, which reminded me we have no Price films...

Half an hour later and we have an extremely cheap amazon order of Dragonwyck (serious classical stuff), The Raven (gloriously funny and distinctly campy), The Tingler (which absolutely terrified me the first time I saw it), and a double set of The Abominable Dr Phibes and Dr Phibes Rises Again (very silly). We'll still need to get the classics Masque of the Red Death, and Fall of the House of Usher, but four will do to start with...

We've nearly finished watching Sentinel season 3 (my IMDb summaries are still being posted): next up is Sky (will write the summaries for that too, since they're currently empty). We still have Twin Peaks and the Battlestar Galactica phenomenon to tackle - plus Charlie Jade from several years ago (watched the first couple of eps and they sent me to sleep, but I should try again as the premise is interesting), and Falling Skies (first ep was so-so, we haven't gone back to it yet). So no lack of entertainment!

Spoiler warning

Only Lovers Left Alive... It's a vampire film, but completely different to any other I've seen. It has a feeling of agelessness, and the characters are perfectly believable and perfectly cast. Many centuries - if not millennia - old, they've transcended concerns for physical things (except, possibly, clothes, though even there what they wear is often decades or centuries old): they live in what can only be described as squalor. Life is difficult: most humans' blood is tainted these days, causing sickness, and procuring safe nourishment can be difficult. And the music is fantastic (the soundtrack is available and has gone straight on my wishlist!) It's a slow-paced, artistic gem of a film. Not for everyone, but I'm very glad I have it!

Edit: Lutra tells me Eve is about 3000 years old and was a druid.

Labels: films, Kai, musekicks

Quick catchup - it's been busy, but things seem to be slowing down a little...

So... Kai is looking and feeling better all the time - slowly, it's not a sudden thing, but it's noticeable. He's more alert, and has started programming again. His hair has grown back lighter, but still brown, and I think it may be wavy, but we can't tell until it's a bit longer. It's certainly thick, and very soft.

Not having to schedule in the twice daily itraconasole has eased the pressure a little: he now has main meds around 9 am and 9 pm, with aciclovir, omeprazole and cyclizine around 1 pm. And he's preparing most of them himself (I'm still doing the morning ones).

Things can still go wrong, but it's very promisisng...

Films...

Frozen. Pretty, but formulaic and predictable. I don't see what all the fuss was about. (And I really dislike modern colloquialisms in what is supposed to be an old setting.)

Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games. 20 years on version of the dance phenomenon, with new costumes, new music, new characters - including tap dancing robots!! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tonight it was Non-stop, which is rather good. Mind you, anything with Liam Neeson is usually good. (Well, except GI Joe, but we won't talk about that...)

In other news... I now have a litre bottle of Turkish Delight vodka creating itself quietly in the pantry, and a small bottle of lemon vodka (lemon oil and lemon TD) to see what it's like. Also picked up some orange oil to try making an orange version in the near future.

Less good news is I put on half a stone over the last month - though the good news is it was only half a stone, which should be relatively easy to lose. Fingers crossed!

Labels: cooking, films, Kai

Buffet...

Tempted to take a nap - weather is grey and dull, and I ate too much!

Labels: Happy New Year