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
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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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10/01/2007 - 10/31/2007
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12/01/2007 - 12/31/2007
01/01/2008 - 31/01/2008
01/02/2008 - 29/02/2008
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01/01/2016 - 31/01/2016
01/022016 - 28/02/2016
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01/01/2019 - 31/01/2019
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01/01/2020 - 31/01/2020
01/02/2020 - 29/02/2020
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01/05/2020 - 31/05/2020
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01/11/2020 - 30/11/2020
01/12/2020 - 31/12/2020
01/01/2021 - 31/01/2021
01/02/2021 - 28/02/2021
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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
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01/04/2022 - 30/04/2022
01/05/2022 - 30/05/2022
01/06/2022 - 31/06/2022
01/07/2022 - 31/07/2022
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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

Friday, September 03, 2021

Photos as always, one of them a little squicky (see text) but nothing too bad. 

OK, who stole August?

[sigh] Well, it's been another of those months. Let's see if I can condense it all into something that won't take hours to read.

Let's get the 'orrible stuff out the way first, neh?

Medical matters (icky photo a bit further down. Nothing too icky, just... gall stones. Lots of 'em.)

First up, my new glasses are wonderful!

And second up...

So the MRI showed "persistent stones in [my] bile duct" and the unit booked me in for an endoscopy to remove them (in prep for the op to remove the gall bladder). Appt came through for the 2nd Sept, which was fine. In the meantime I had three 'episodes' - disabling pain in my midsection which passed in a few hours, helped, oddly, by throwing up violently: dunno, perhaps it twisted things internally and persuaded the stones to shift? Anyway, it helped - which I just put up with as I knew what they were and there's not a lot the BRI can do to help with them. However, this Wed noon-ish it started again, worst yet. Couldn't move, throwing up didn't help, and then my temperature started climbing. Cue another phone call to 111, who sent an ambulance, which took five hours to arrive, which whipped me off to the BRI. And in which I waited for four hours as they had no beds or staff. Predictably, when I finally got into a cubicle the pain was mostly gone - except for a HORRENDOUS headache - and my temperature was back to normal - so they discharged me straight to the heptobiliary unit (wrist tag and peripheral venous catheter still attached) for my endoscopy.

Which was... a weird bit of a non-event, despite the eight people in the room (they did x-rays during, I gather). The local anaesthetic to the throat was as horrible as ever, and the intravenous sedative (mixed with all sorts of other stuff including antibios) had the effect of making me think I was still awake while a group of people were felling trees inside me... (welcome to my brain. It contains galaxies. Some of which are really not safe to visit.)

Took about half an hour, then I was wheeled into a recovery room. Felt fine after about 10 mins, but they insisted on a four hour wait before discharge. Kai came to meet me and make sure I got home OK, but honestly, apparently I recover from sedatives even faster than anaesthetics.

So - the result. When they said 'gall stones', I envisaged two or three, but no. Don't know about other people but I had (and still have, I think, they couldn't get them all) dozens. Have a photo of my insides.

They even gave me some of them in a container - the biggest is a tad over half an inch/nearly a centimetre across!

Fragging evolution! I want a new body.

Anyway. Hoping they'll get me in for the op soon so I can get shot of the whole bloody thing.

Interestingly, though, today (after 10 hours sleep - didn't get any the 35 hours prior) I feel better than I have in months. Maybe the stones were what was making me so draggingly fatigued all the time.

And on to prettier things!

The picture frame now on the bedroom wall left of the orchid window...

And the teeny weeny orchid I bought at Tesco today...

Not sure yet what to call it for short. Already have TO. Any suggestions, anyone?

The dendrobium finished flowering so I repotted it - and found it had been planted in bog-standard indoor potting compost instead of the proper bark and sphagnum moss. No wonder it was unhappy! So pruned and repotted it's much happier, and may have already produced a tiny new flower shoot...

Will keep blog updated!

The cambria also has a new flower spike...

I checked back and RO started flowering Sept 2020 - and is still flowering now, albeit on a different flower spike. Over a year of flowers! I do love my orchids.

My craggy old succulent is flowering - sorta...

The seaholly has been splendid and absolutely full of bees for over a month...

Going to keep an eye out for others next time I visit a garden centre (which reminds me, must message Kim!)

We had another dragonfly in the garden the other day. They do seem to like Roeg's Pool.

Then it went and hung in the medlar...

We've had the hedgehogs canoodling again, and Whitepaw vists regularly - as, unfortunately, does the squirrel from the park, stealing Ken's hazelnuts... I do love my garden.

Kai and I went to the moon (in Bristol Cathedral...)

Nice, but not as much fun as Mars.

Media...

Been watching too much Boosh... Kai's crimp:

Take out the burgers, and put them in the kitchen
In the house, in the kitchen,
In the house, by the seeds
Separate them out so they don't stick together,
Separate them out so we can all eat them together,
Neigh!


(I took burgers out the freezer for the next day's lunch, and after saying something he laughed, but it sounded like a horse neighing!)

Great to watch it again. It never ages!

Soylent Green... not at all sure I've ever watched it before, as I didn't remember most of it, and ye gods what a film! Depressingly prescient.

Cargo - what a fascinating little film! Also really good.

I woke up last Sunday with "A person is smart. People are dumb." in my head - so we watched the three MiB films back to back. Have to say the third film is by far the best - although you do need to watch at least the first for it to make sense. Pity about the second film, but there you go...

Books

Finished the Cixin Liu trilogy. It's... I mean... wow... how do I even? Absolutely staggering. HUGE story. Gloriously poignant, delicate ending. Love it. But it's a hell of a commitment. Death's End alone is over 700 pages. Will need to re-read it - in about ten years time when I've forgotten some of it!

Afterwards I thought I'd dive into Asimov's Foundation trilogy, been donkey's years since I read it...

Well, I did try to bear in mind it was written before I was born, really I did, but even so it's... irritating. His attitude towards women was problematic at the time, and even worse now, while the complete lack of advancement of the human species over millennia grates horribly. And why the hell does everyone still smoke?!

Halfway through Foundation and Empire: I'll finish the trilogy and move onto 2001 et al. More later.

While I was at Tesco I stopped to chat to a lad who was outside promoting donations to the Battersea Dog Home. I didn't know that they sponsor other animal rescue charities around the world, but was delighted to hear it. Anyway, I went ahead and set up a monthly donation to sponsor a cat cabin, in memory of Tyjer.

I think that's about it, mostly. Of course I'll have missed some stuff, I always do, but that's all the most memorable things. Will update... well, whenever I can!

Oh! Just remembered... I have a new phone. Samsung Galaxy Note 9, courtesy of a friend of Ken's who couldn't use it and gave it to him (and since he only uses his phone for calling or texting he gave it to me - I use mine for an awful lot more than that these days!) It's fabulous, although getting my old SIM into it was a whole lot of not-fun. Kai now has my old J3 with his SIM in it and is fairly happy (mostly that he didn't have to pay for a new one, I suspect...) Such a treat!

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4 Comments:

Blogger Sue said...

Oh my goodness, you do go through it. So sorry you had to suffer like that but glad you in a holding pattern of feeling better for now.
The pictures look lovely and well done on all the orchids. The moon in the cathedral is amazing!
I liked the idea of the Foundaton series better than the execution but it had some good ideas. I've always preferred Asimov's non-fiction to his fiction, apart from his Robot stories. Have you read anything by Adrian Tchaikovsky? I've only read Children of Time so far but it was extraordinarily well done!

4:54 pm  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

Yers... I generally expect the worst, then I'm not disappointed (and if the less than the worst happens it's an occasion for joy.)

Agree re: Foundation. Never heard of AT but googled after your comment (what a scary-looking dude!) Not sure about his work: the Wiki article made it sound like the sort of stories I'm not fond of. Still, will maybe give it a go when I've finished the pile I'm currently working through. Streetcat named Bob added to it at weekend as it was on the Tesco donation shelf, so I bought it. Love the story, be fun to see what the book says!

3:12 pm  
Blogger GoodTwin said...

[waves...] August, September... we're charging towards December; Sainsbugs already have Xmas stock in. I need Haddock! :)

I hope things have improved and continue to do so. Get as much rest as possible!

Love the orchids - you obviously have a knack with them.

4:35 pm  
Blogger Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor said...

[headdesk] Tesco too - and it's not even Samhain yet!!

All going reasonably well, but somehow I have a stupidly busy couple of weeks. Some domestic stuff (new radiator in bathroom, meaning I have some holes to fill and painting to do - perhaps that'll persuade me to finish the work in the hall too...) and some more fun - meeting Wendy at Weston for the day on Thursday! Finally get my long-promised trip to the seaside and meeting up with an old friend for the first time in about 2 years! Really looking forward to it.

9:04 pm  

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