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, Earthspark.

Currently reading:
Cixin Liu - newest favourite author.
Ben Miller. wow. Just, wow...


Currently working on:
Haadri
Dystopic novel starring Devon from Dystopia

Currently chuffed with:
My garden

Currently miffed at:
Effing BND (you know who I mean)
Nestlé, TFG Tinyhands Fart, Toadface Farage

Currently maintaining:
Wavewrights, on and off...
BCHS
BCW


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




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

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

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

TPTB - The Powers That Be.

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

biteable - referring to an anatomical part vb, tasty.

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

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

Cumbles - n, cucumbers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Splish - verb. A combination of slosh and splash.

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

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

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

Murfs - noun, moths.

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

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

Shrumps - noun, mushrooms.

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

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

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

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

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


The Updates Blog

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




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

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

Butch by the talented 

Sylverthorne

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

Joules' 

Haddock

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



A'lestrel by Valkyrie.

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



Albino Alsatian Benten (c) MEBird 

2004

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

Radittsu, an oekaki for my birthday 04 

by 

Onna

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



The Zone Plant from
The Zone 

blog 

plant

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

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

I'll leave that to others to decide.

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


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

How could I resist?

Just too adorable...

and to complete the rainbow...

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

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

BBTS -
Fabulous anime figures

Anime Lyrics
A huge selection... evil popups

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

Owned:
   DVD
   Dj: June Special
   CD: Ambivalence

Cyber City Oedo 808

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

From Eroica with Love

Owned:
   Manga Vols 1, 9, 11

Mirage of Blaze

Owned:
   DVD Vol 1 (eps 1-4)

R.G. Veda

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

Twelve Kingdoms

Owned:
   Anime Vol 1-12: complete

Under the Glass Moon

Owned:
   Manga Vol 1, 2
Vol 3 needed

Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust

Owned:
   DVD

   Vampire Hunter D Book 1



New Vampire Miyu

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


Yami no Matsuei

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


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


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

(Thanks, Lutra, for the quote!)

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

Saturday, October 31, 2015

[bemused...] Woke up this morning to find Bumblebee parked outside my house...

My life is surreal.

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0 Comments:



Friday, October 30, 2015

Kai's MMR was last Friday, and it left him feeling a bit rough from Sunday onwards, although it's easing off today. We did manage to see The Martian in the evening (only showings were 19.10 and 22.10 so we walked there and back in the dark, which is a rare treat). Really enjoyed it, very well made and to Kai's delight all the science was accurate. For me, it isn't as good as Interstellar - I love the breadth of vision of the latter - but it's still a terrific film. And the Martian landscapes are glorious (and a great inspiration for Poppy...)

Went swimming on Monday - only managed 12 lengths before the shoulder started complaining so left it at that. Walked up in the sunrise (too bright for a photo!) and came back in full sun, wonderfully uplifting. Physio on Tues was a bit meh as I've only been managing at most two repetitions of the exercises per day, instead of the recommended three, and usually only one, but young Adam said that was fine, not to do more than I can without it hurting. He didn't give me any new ones, as I want to try to get into the routine of two a day to start with, and reassess next appt, but my hip is moving further without pain now, so they are working and he's pleased with progress. So YAY!

What else has happened? Um... busyness? As usual. A lot of shopping. And Wendy came to visit for the day yesterday, which was great fun! [GLOMPS!]

I've reached episode 117 (of 150) in Jupiter Moon so should finish the ep summaries before Yule. Aiming to do the last two of Beast Wars this afternoon, then I can make a start on Beast Machines.

The garden looks fantastic at this time of year!

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2 Comments:

Blogger Sue said...

The colours in the garden look gorgeous!

8:05 pm  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

Thanks! I find myself just gazing out enjoying it, it's so vivid and beautiful.

8:54 pm  



Thursday, October 22, 2015

[sigh] Over a week this time. I really must make time to update more often - I keep forgetting what's happened!

Let's see...

Can't say I'm enjoying the physio: I'm sure it is working, but it's leaving my leg and hip aching. At my appt on Mon the dr said the swollen elbow and pain is bursitis, as I'd thought ('tennis elbow' as it's commonly called). I'm booked in to see a consultant again, when they have an appt, but to be honest I think I think it'll be OK. It's not a load-bearing limb, I've stopped carrying anything with my left arm, and adjusted the level of my keyboard, and it's a little better already. Although the swelling is quite bad (dr said it was a severe case), the literature does say with care and a little physio it will usually go away by itself. It's going to make gardening difficult though. With Ken at work all week and so tired when he gets home I don't like asking him for help at weekends when all he wants to do is get out of Bristol for some peace and fresh air... At least it's now nearly winter and everything is tailing off in the garden.

On the less good front, dr also insisted on taking my BP, which is high again, and has put me back on the meds. Oh joy. Fingers crossed I can get it down a bit before I see her again in 5 weeks. Half the problem is white coat syndrome and the horrible new BP machine, which hurts like hell and makes my arm go completely numb.

Not sure if I said, but my old book Perfume Power is now out, slightly revised, in e-book and PoD format as The Power of Perfume. I was always very happy with this little work, and am pleased they went with the cover I chose. Anyway, it's now much more easily available to anyone that would like it!

Made the Bristol Astronomy Society lecture on the History of Astroparticle Physics (the first one is free to non-members to give them a taste). I was rather surprised to find I actually knew everything that was covered (apart from the timeline, history not being my forté!) and everyone was very friendly. However, as of next month they're moving the venue from Bristol Grammar School (very easy to get to as it's on the no 1 bus route) to the Photographic Society's home at Montpelier which is far more difficult for me to get to (two buses and a walk over James Barton roundabout then under the buildings at the bottom of Gloucester Rd. That's anxiety-making in daylight - in the dark I really don't want to do it). I'll check out the possibility of a train from Temple Meads - there's a local station at Montpelier - but I'd be far more restricted for times. All very annoying. Ken said he'd be happy to come with me for one meeting, just to see how difficult it is, so we may go to the lecture on Globular Clusters next month...

So far things are going quite well for Kai. So far. He's tired all the time, and feeling meeply (the bugs are having the time of their nasty little lives), but he's finding all the walking easier and the aches are slowly going, so his stamina is increasing and looks like the vit D tablets are helping. His first two lots of grades are first class degree level, which is fantastic, but we're not sure if that's because he's ahead of his peers (he's had two years to read the coursebooks and teach himself C) or if it's natural brilliance. He still thinks he may have a touch of chemo brain. No doubt time will tell...

Lugging his 8 kilo + Lenovo laptop around with him was getting to be a real chore, so last week we went over to Staples and he treated himself to a Micro$oft Surface (just over 1 kilo in weight, I believe). They didn't have the Pro version he really wanted, which has double the memory for only another £80 more, but we were assured that if he took it back within two weeks he could change it for the more powerful machine. In the meantime he's absolutely fallen in love with it, but really does need the extra memory, so I rang to make sure they would have one for us, arranged to meet him after his lecture yesterday, treat him to lunch, and go over and exchange them.

Of course, we went to The Crazy Fox...

We had wraps with chicken, roasted peppers, aioli, tomatoes and something else I forget and wasn't familiar with but which tasted wonderful! Kai loved his latte with the heart in it (I was boring and just had diet Coke). It was all extremely civilised, the food great (I was sooo tempted by the little lemon loaf cakes but the wrap was filling and I couldn't manage anything else) and upstairs was very quiet and pleasant. We are definitely going back!

That's the window where our table was.

The café is at the end of the old Arcade in Broadmead.

The walk over to Staples took us through Cabot Circus, the now not-so-new mall. I really like the design: for all that it's not that big, you can still get lost in it!

Surface successfully swapped (and they didn't charge us anything extra as the Pro had been taken out of its box and the assistant had started setting it up when the customer who bought it suddenly realised it wasn't the Ipad they wanted and changed their mind. Heh. 'Surreal Я Us' indeed...) He spent yesterday evening getting it all set up as he wanted it while we played Back to the Future 2.

This morning he had a maths test - self-assessed, I gather so they can all see how they're doing and their strengths and weaknesses so they know what to focus on. Tomorrow am he has his first MMR inoculation: nurse Lindsay assured us that he will then be protected, which will be a significant worry off our minds. He can have the second one in six weeks, so they'll all be done before Yule!

Hoping to finally go and see The Martian at the weekend - it's nearly at the end of its run and we want to see the 3D version. Kai is wholly immersed in the exploration of space at the moment.

Alas, I don't have time to go for a swim this week - plus dr said it wouldn't be helping the bursitis - but still determined to keep going. Will adjust the strokes I use to put less stress on my arms when I go next week.

Right! I think that's all the major news. I'll try to update more regularly but at the moment everything is still manically busy. It should ease off at the beginning of November - but I've said that before!

And post has just arrived with my hospital appt - first week of Nov with the same consultant I saw before, so that's OK.

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Blogger Sue said...

I've a Kindle app on my phone and I like some back-up books on there in case I'm ever caught short so I've just bought Perfume Power. I read the introduction last night and felt myself being drawn in, as always.
Hope you get to see The Martian!

8:46 pm  



Tuesday, October 13, 2015

OK... What have we been up to?

It's been busy as ever - even more fiddly as we (I) adapt to Kai's timetable. He's in til 5 three days a week (strictly speaking 4 days but the last Fri session is optional and he knows it all so far so is skipping it), and only has two early (9 or 10) starts. On Wed he's in for just one hour for a tutorial, 10 - 11. And it's all going OK - enjoying the actual computing part, less so the maths, but he's keeping up OK so far. I had a call from the BHOC so say he is vitamin D deficient, which is most likely what's causing the aches and pains and fatigue, so I picked up one a day tablets from Tesco last Wed, and I think they may be beginning to work...

I couldn't make time for a swim last week, so went yesterday morning (at 7) and managed 16 lengths without difficulty. These early mornings are lovely - I usually get to see the sunrise...

Taken with my phone camera so not great. And yes, that's the hill I have to walk up to get to the pool. You can just see a car disappearing down the incline.

We've been nibbling away at the garden - Ken's had a couple of flexi day Fridays - clearing up some of the excess ivy and deciding which of the fruit branches to prune. Ken also mowed, and we're less than happy to find that the lawnmower is broken, same problem as the last one we had - both of them Flymos. Going to see if there's a fix, if other people have had the same problem. Luckily we shouldn't need to mow now until next spring.

This last weekend was mostly getting client stuff done (and missed the Vulcan flypast as I was so focused on an urgent bit of work - very miffed about that. But at least Kai saw it, and I heard that glorious roar - and I've been asked to take over the BCHS website. That wooden fence will be the first thing to go!

I've almost finished running down the freezer too - we're getting a new one, hopefully one of these, in a couple of week's time when the manic rushing around to appts is over. (I have a drs appt next week to try to sort out what the hell is wrong with my left arm: hurts from neck to fingertips and my elbow is swollen. I fall to bits...)

And I've started getting organised for Yule. Wrapped the first presents today! It'll be relatively quiet, as usual, but I want to make it really nice. Kai is looking forward to it - so am I, this time year before last we didn't even know if he'd be with us, and last year we were desperately hoping the transplant would be a success. Not exactly conducive to a pleasant Yule, either circumstance.

So that's all the most significant news. Still haven't found time to write, but that should come beginning of November at the latest. Fingers crossed anyway!

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Tuesday, October 06, 2015

Spider photo further down. 

Lutra lobbed me loadsa loot!!

Insanely, the only place I've found that has brought out the RiD boxed set is Australia. Shout!Factory are selling individual DVDs with maybe four eps on them, which works out really expensive. And I'm not entirely sure they're in the right order: their Rescue Bots DVDs aren't.

The little square thing is apparently a facewasher. I shall soak it and see what happens in a day or so!


Sounds like sorcery to me!

[GLOMPS!!] Thank you!

You can tell the season is changing.

Rosa doing her bum in the air thing again...


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Sunday, October 04, 2015

Well, Kai's first week went OK. Not perfect, but he managed, and although he was exhausted on Fri night, he slept well and went out with Ken on Sat. Really enjoyed himself, recharged the batteries, and is now tackling his maths homework (with a bunch of friends on skype: I think they're all helping each other as the subject matter is something most of them aren't familiar with). Overall I think it's going to be just fine!

I had my first physiotherapist appt on Wed: ouchouchouch. But he thinks the most recent problem (with the front and inside of my left thigh) is probably muscular, which is much easier to sort out than tendons. I have exercises to do every day, and am to use a heat pack and take baths with epsom salts! I haven't had a bath in nearly 20 years, so that's going to be... interesting... I go back in two weeks for a check up and some more exercises. Oh, and I'm not to sit at my desk for more than half an hour without taking a break. Oh joy...

Kai had his last DTP/P inoculation Fri morning (went in for a 9 am class, met me at Broadwalk at 10.30ish, we had early lunch at Subway then went back over to the surgery: afterwards we explored Redcatch Park as it was too early for Kai to head back for his pm classes. All very civilised!) One more meningitis and his MMR and he's done.

Back to writing tomorrow...

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