... 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.
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).
"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...
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...
:: 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...
These
Too-Kawaii Kitties were adopted from Ghost's Anime
Page (which appears to have disappeared, alas...)
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...?
And the fun continues. Leg and ankle are almost back to normal - but there's something wrong with my foot. The middle three toes are swollen (and there's a gap between the first and second) and it feels as though there's a pebble inside my foot whenever I lower it to the floor. Bloody painful to walk. I described it to Ken, who said it sounds very much like the metatarsalgia he suffers from.
Oh joy. I assume it was caused by the swelling caused by the cellulitis. Now going to have to get that checked and sorted... Not sure how I can use the supports that are usually prescribed in my sandals. I have to get up to the surgery for yet another blood test on Mon (had one last Thursday but they didn't get everything they needed. I did wonder at the time when the nurse only took one vial but assumed she knew what she was doing...) Will write a letter to Dr to try to speed up referral to the clinic and hand it in when I get there.
Other than that... greenhouse is doing well, raised beds less so. I wasn't here for the essential week when the mangetout/sugar snap peas were developing so the Py powder wasn't sprayed on them, and they've been mostly eaten by bugs. Nothing I can do as it's a bit late now to plant a second lot. Will just have to get it right next year.
Not sure if I mentioned, but we've had a fox den at the top of the garden, and two cubs were born earlier. Cute, but I don't want it happening again next year as they keep digging holes in my veg beds (have started putting down the home made fox repellent which seems to work OK) so after they've left we'll need to fill in the holes and plant something large over them. Going to be interesting. (Kai filmed the cubs playing in the garden but hasn't uploaded it to Youtube yet. Will add when he's done.)
Watching... Bought the UK version of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. It's completely different to the US one, and much closer to the books. Fun, but I think I'm glad they stopped at one season... (Um, I did mention that we'd watched the US version, didn't I?)
We've been re-watching the excellent Stranger Things in preparation for Season 3 - which I found and bought from ebay, and which we watched over the weekend. Hmm. Good, but I'm wondering if they've reached the peak and should now leave it be. Will probably find out when we see Season 4 (which won't be for a year or so...)
Also caught Freaks of Nature - which was surprisingly good, and definitely chuckleworthy - and The Voices, which wasn't exactly what I'd call a comedy, but which is not bad. Interesting take on the subject. And Ryan Reynolds is very convincing.
The rest? Ken's still working from home, Kai is working on his own projects, and I'm back on the St John's Wort. It had started working when I had to stop taking it (didn't want to risk it with the anti-bios). Looking forward to it taking effect again.
#
Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor
pontificated this at 10:23 am
Over a month now and leg is still swollen, though nowhere near as bad as it was. I had to request another week's worth of anti-bios as I wasn't happy with the progress, but they seem to have worked. I guess now it's just a matter of taking things easy until it gets back to normal.
Taxied up to the surgery for a blood test last Thursday, just to check everything was OK - will find results when I speak to Dr this week. I am slightly worried about the small lump that's appeared under the skin on my calf, though. Might need to get that looked into.
I have lost two stone in weight, though, so that's a positive.
HOWEVER! We've spent quite a lot of time watching films while I've had to keep my leg raised. I knew Meet the Spartans was going to be bad, but I hadn't expected it to be quite that bad. I can confidently say it's the worst film I've ever seen, and has absolutely nothing going for it. I can only assume Kevin Sorbo must have been desperate for cash to agree to appear in it.
The Fall, however, is the complete opposite, one of the best - and certainly most likely the most beautiful - films I've ever seen. All three of us were gripped by it, and watched without speaking from start to finish. Awesome. Superb. At base, a fairly simple story, but oh, the way it's been handled... Heartily recommended!
Guess I'm a Lee Pace fan now.
Ken and I have been slowly working our way through Jason King, which remains enjoyably daft, and Kai wanted to rewatch Stranger Things (we're half way through season 2, but I haven't managed to find season 3 anywhere to buy yet, which is very annoying), which is just as good the second time around.
That probably about it. I missed the wisteria and most of the irises flowering while I was in hospital (very annoyed about that), but the greenhouse is coming along splendidly, with the first cucumbers already forming and flowers on most of the heritage tomatoes. Looking forward to tasting them!
.
2 Comments:
hee, you can just see those cubs wondering what mischief they can get into!
Glad to hear things are steadily improving.
Cute video and nice to see part of your garden.
Fingers crossed things continue to improve.