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Oct. 17th, 2016 01:45 pm
I think I have lost the battle for my lovely new chair
randomness
Mar. 14th, 2016 07:36 pmTook a Mother's Day walk around Cosmeston Lakes near Penarth last week - crisp and clear, it felt properly spring for the first time this year. Plus, pretty!
Poppy and Alfie being cute
Yesterday I had an injured magpie in the garden - I was out pottering around in the sun, the bird was cowering in a corner behind my biggest pot, and I ended up spending most of the afternoon chasing the cats away from it! Mr Huntsman Alfie got bored and wandered off pretty quickly, but Poppy, who has never caught live prey in her life, remained fascinated and kept going back to edge in close and stare at the bird, like she thought if she stared hard enough it might walk into her mouth. I honestly thought I was going to find a sad little corpse out there this morning, but it seems to have recovered and flown off overnight. Either that or something else had it - but there's no evidence of a violent struggle, so I'm going with the happy ending theory!
Layla-May's future is decided: she is going to be a Time Lord! Here she is modelling her best First Doctor expression
Also: more cuteness
Poppy and Alfie being cute
Yesterday I had an injured magpie in the garden - I was out pottering around in the sun, the bird was cowering in a corner behind my biggest pot, and I ended up spending most of the afternoon chasing the cats away from it! Mr Huntsman Alfie got bored and wandered off pretty quickly, but Poppy, who has never caught live prey in her life, remained fascinated and kept going back to edge in close and stare at the bird, like she thought if she stared hard enough it might walk into her mouth. I honestly thought I was going to find a sad little corpse out there this morning, but it seems to have recovered and flown off overnight. Either that or something else had it - but there's no evidence of a violent struggle, so I'm going with the happy ending theory!
Layla-May's future is decided: she is going to be a Time Lord! Here she is modelling her best First Doctor expression
Also: more cuteness
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's super-baby!
Layla-May has discovered Ruby. For the first four months of her life, she had no awareness of the dog whatsoever, but then one day she looked up and realised that her home was shared with this perambulatory bundle of fluff, and she was entranced. Since then, if Ruby so much as wanders across her field of vision she erupts into laughter and squeals of sheer delight. And lunges, trying desperately to get as close as she possibly can.
Ruby, on the other hand, maintains the same stance she's held all along, which is that she sees no point whatsoever to this very tiny human being that serves no practical purpose, and therefore ignores it as completely as she possibly can - even when it is trying to eat her ears! She'll change her tune as soon as Layla starts dropping food...
In other news, my cats continue cute!
random stuffs
Apr. 20th, 2015 11:25 amIsn't it lovely to feel that spring is properly here now? I spent most of Saturday with my Mum at the RHS Flower Show here in Cardiff, where we met this chap:
And I bought a bunch of lovely new plants:
Here we have a fritillaria (bought to console me for my little snake's head fritillary, which got munched by slugs before it could flower this year), a phlox, a thrift, a viola, muscari, a couple of anemones and a clematis majojo, which I bought because: majojo.
Also, the castle was looking rather lovely in the spring sunshine:
My cats are certainly enjoying getting out in the sun!
Since the weather has been so lovely lately, I've been getting out and about a bit more. I went the other week for a hike up to the Caerau Hillfort up at the top end of Ely. It's an ancient Iron Age site - the earthworks are now covered by trees, but there's been a lot of archaeology going on up there in recent years to discover the extent of the settlement. This is what it looks like from the air (not my photo, obviously):
There isn't a lot to see on foot - just a very flat hill top with some cows grazing, but at the north-eastern end of the site stands the ruins of a medieval church, St Mary's
Alongside a small ringwork that is believed to be the site of a castle, probably contemporary with the church
On a clear day you can see right across the city from the edge of the ringwork - not pictured 'cause it was really misty the day I was there, but its easy to see what a strong, defensible position it was, back in the day.
And I bought a bunch of lovely new plants:
Here we have a fritillaria (bought to console me for my little snake's head fritillary, which got munched by slugs before it could flower this year), a phlox, a thrift, a viola, muscari, a couple of anemones and a clematis majojo, which I bought because: majojo.
Also, the castle was looking rather lovely in the spring sunshine:
My cats are certainly enjoying getting out in the sun!
Since the weather has been so lovely lately, I've been getting out and about a bit more. I went the other week for a hike up to the Caerau Hillfort up at the top end of Ely. It's an ancient Iron Age site - the earthworks are now covered by trees, but there's been a lot of archaeology going on up there in recent years to discover the extent of the settlement. This is what it looks like from the air (not my photo, obviously):
There isn't a lot to see on foot - just a very flat hill top with some cows grazing, but at the north-eastern end of the site stands the ruins of a medieval church, St Mary's
Alongside a small ringwork that is believed to be the site of a castle, probably contemporary with the church
On a clear day you can see right across the city from the edge of the ringwork - not pictured 'cause it was really misty the day I was there, but its easy to see what a strong, defensible position it was, back in the day.
I have been catching the bus to and from work for a week now and have already ascertained that the #61 bus is ALWAYS overcrowded. Ah, the joys of commuting!
But the trials and tribulations of bus travel aside, today is a happy day because, after months of rabid speculation, the BBC have finally, officially confirmed that lost episodes of Doctor Who have been found! One complete serial and one almost complete serial, both from season 5 - one of the hardest hit by the burnination policy of the 1970s.
More details here and here - it's an absolutely fascinating story, the outcome of a physical search that's been going on for a number of years, with a big find rumoured for about two years now. The rumour went viral within the Doctor Who fandom back in the summer and the speculation since then has been fevered, to say the least. But now we have The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear back in the fold and available for digital download immediately, with DVDs to be released in November and February - the number of missing episodes now down from 106 to 97. Awesomesauce!
No doubt there's a lot we still don't know about this find and what's been going on behind the scenes, but for now let's just be happy that we get to see two more adventures with the Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria! Enemy of the World is one of my favourite novelisations and Web of Fear features the very first appearance of the Brigadier - before he was promoted to Brigadier and put in charge of UNIT. Baby Brigadier, Yeti and evil doppelgangers - what's not to love about that?!
In Other News, my Poppy cat managed to escape from the new flat the other night. It was my fault completely. I'd opened a window, just a crack, but I knew she was a flight risk (she's been stir crazy ever since we moved) and I knew she knows how windows work. So she got out, knocking a windowbox off the sill in the process (she's a very clumsy cat) and disappeared off into the gathering gloom of evening. I panicked and spent half an hour calling her and jingling a little bell that she usually responds to, fretting that she'd be lost in an unfamiliar neighbourhood. Then finally I heard crashing in the apple tree in next door's garden, and at last Poppy came flinging herself out of the tree, closely followed by a big unneutered ginger tom - which ran when it saw me. But Poppy was in such a state that she ran straight past the wide open back door and tried to get back in through the window, which I'd closed - she hurled herself at the window and bounced off into my plant pots again, squishing a rather fragile fuchsia in the process, which I'm not happy about. I had to call her and physically shepherd her through the door, she was freaking out so much.
So should I be impressed by her ability to memorise her route back the way she got out, or despair at her brainlessness in running straight past the open door to try to get back in through a closed window?
Finally, just to spam your f-lists even more, here are some pretty pics of Poppy and Alfie helping me pack for the move.
But the trials and tribulations of bus travel aside, today is a happy day because, after months of rabid speculation, the BBC have finally, officially confirmed that lost episodes of Doctor Who have been found! One complete serial and one almost complete serial, both from season 5 - one of the hardest hit by the burnination policy of the 1970s.
More details here and here - it's an absolutely fascinating story, the outcome of a physical search that's been going on for a number of years, with a big find rumoured for about two years now. The rumour went viral within the Doctor Who fandom back in the summer and the speculation since then has been fevered, to say the least. But now we have The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear back in the fold and available for digital download immediately, with DVDs to be released in November and February - the number of missing episodes now down from 106 to 97. Awesomesauce!
No doubt there's a lot we still don't know about this find and what's been going on behind the scenes, but for now let's just be happy that we get to see two more adventures with the Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria! Enemy of the World is one of my favourite novelisations and Web of Fear features the very first appearance of the Brigadier - before he was promoted to Brigadier and put in charge of UNIT. Baby Brigadier, Yeti and evil doppelgangers - what's not to love about that?!
In Other News, my Poppy cat managed to escape from the new flat the other night. It was my fault completely. I'd opened a window, just a crack, but I knew she was a flight risk (she's been stir crazy ever since we moved) and I knew she knows how windows work. So she got out, knocking a windowbox off the sill in the process (she's a very clumsy cat) and disappeared off into the gathering gloom of evening. I panicked and spent half an hour calling her and jingling a little bell that she usually responds to, fretting that she'd be lost in an unfamiliar neighbourhood. Then finally I heard crashing in the apple tree in next door's garden, and at last Poppy came flinging herself out of the tree, closely followed by a big unneutered ginger tom - which ran when it saw me. But Poppy was in such a state that she ran straight past the wide open back door and tried to get back in through the window, which I'd closed - she hurled herself at the window and bounced off into my plant pots again, squishing a rather fragile fuchsia in the process, which I'm not happy about. I had to call her and physically shepherd her through the door, she was freaking out so much.
So should I be impressed by her ability to memorise her route back the way she got out, or despair at her brainlessness in running straight past the open door to try to get back in through a closed window?
Finally, just to spam your f-lists even more, here are some pretty pics of Poppy and Alfie helping me pack for the move.
off on my hols
Apr. 26th, 2013 05:31 pmI'm away on my holidays tomorrow - going for a week's family get-together on the Norfolk Broads for my dad's 65th birthday. Here's hoping we get to see the sun once or twice!
So today I've been packing. Trying to, at any rate, except that every time I try to put something in the case, this happens
Somehow, I think they may be trying to drop some kind of hint...
Then when we get back from holiday, it's going to be a mad scrum to clean the house, as the estate agents wants to hold an open day on the bank holiday Monday, so it needs to be spick and span!
Also today was my Auntie Ivy's funeral, bless her. It was held at Splott Baptist Church, where Ivy was baptised into fellowship in 1939, became a deacon in 1971 and an elder in 1995, on the street where she lived her entire life, both before and after her marriage. A good service - they're always so much more meaningful when delivered by someone who actually knew and loved the deceased. Afterward it was the usual race to get to the crematorium for stage II, and then after that we gathered at the labour club for the traditional game of 'pin the name on the cousin', always so popular at these gatherings. My granddad was the oldest of 11 children, 10 of whom survived into adulthood. There are a lot of cousins and second cousins and removed cousins and in-laws, and so forth.
Of all those siblings, my great-aunts and great-uncles, Auntie Mai is the only one left now, about to turn 81 and still going strong. "There we go, last but not least," she said to me after the service, in that mongrel half-Welsh half-Irish accent of hers, "So when I go, which won't be for a while yet, but when I go, I don't want anyone wearing black - you all wear the brightest colours you can find." Bless her.
Rest in peace, Auntie Ivy.
So today I've been packing. Trying to, at any rate, except that every time I try to put something in the case, this happens
Somehow, I think they may be trying to drop some kind of hint...
Then when we get back from holiday, it's going to be a mad scrum to clean the house, as the estate agents wants to hold an open day on the bank holiday Monday, so it needs to be spick and span!
Also today was my Auntie Ivy's funeral, bless her. It was held at Splott Baptist Church, where Ivy was baptised into fellowship in 1939, became a deacon in 1971 and an elder in 1995, on the street where she lived her entire life, both before and after her marriage. A good service - they're always so much more meaningful when delivered by someone who actually knew and loved the deceased. Afterward it was the usual race to get to the crematorium for stage II, and then after that we gathered at the labour club for the traditional game of 'pin the name on the cousin', always so popular at these gatherings. My granddad was the oldest of 11 children, 10 of whom survived into adulthood. There are a lot of cousins and second cousins and removed cousins and in-laws, and so forth.
Of all those siblings, my great-aunts and great-uncles, Auntie Mai is the only one left now, about to turn 81 and still going strong. "There we go, last but not least," she said to me after the service, in that mongrel half-Welsh half-Irish accent of hers, "So when I go, which won't be for a while yet, but when I go, I don't want anyone wearing black - you all wear the brightest colours you can find." Bless her.
Rest in peace, Auntie Ivy.
bank holiday monday...
Apr. 1st, 2013 06:02 pm
Poppy and Alfie know what bank holidays are for: cwtching!
Doesn't everyone keep a cat in their shopping bag?
Alfie: Pet me! Pet me! Love me!
Me: *pets*
Alfie: Hey look, you have two hands. Pet me with the other hand! I want them both! I must have all of the hands!
Me: *double-handed petting*
Alfie: Ohhhhhhh, yes. This is nice.
Me: *takes one hand away to resume typing*
Alfie: Wait, what? Where did the hand go? Give me the hand! I need all the hands!
Me: *resumes double-handed petting*
Alfie: Ohhhhhhh. yes. Petting good. This is nice, isn't it, human slave? We shall stay like this always, m'kay.
Alfie: Pet me! Pet me! Love me!
Me: *pets*
Alfie: Hey look, you have two hands. Pet me with the other hand! I want them both! I must have all of the hands!
Me: *double-handed petting*
Alfie: Ohhhhhhh, yes. This is nice.
Me: *takes one hand away to resume typing*
Alfie: Wait, what? Where did the hand go? Give me the hand! I need all the hands!
Me: *resumes double-handed petting*
Alfie: Ohhhhhhh. yes. Petting good. This is nice, isn't it, human slave? We shall stay like this always, m'kay.
Today feels like a day for a kittyspam to entertain me over lunch, so here are some pics of Alfie sleeping on top of Poppy and Poppy not really caring very much
( More behind the cut )
( More behind the cut )
Today feels like a day for a kittyspam to entertain me over lunch, so here are some pics of Alfie sleeping on top of Poppy and Poppy not really caring very much
( More behind the cut )
( More behind the cut )
kittyspam!
Jun. 8th, 2012 08:27 pmCame home from work this evening to find a dead bird on the front door mat, all over the mail (thanks for that, Alfie) and my cotinus bush half collapsed all over the back yard - more of a tree than a shrub, really, it's about 15 feet tall and grows up the back wall on two main stems. One of those stems had just bent right in half, irreparable. Luckily I'd seen it bending before work this morning and ran out in the rain to rescue a few pots from beneath it - and also the washing line, which is just as well, since by this evening it had collapsed so far the washing line would have snapped if it had still been caught! So, I've spent my evening so far disposing of baby bird remains, cleaning bird blood off my mail and performing tree surgery! My garden is now a sea of sad, chopped up branches. Now keeping my fingers crossed that the other stem, which is swaying worryingly, doesn't also come down overnight. This wind can die down any time now, please!
So to brighten my mood, let's have a cuddly kitty-spam! Poppy and Alfie love nothing better than cwtching up together, especially in stormy weather like this. :)
So to brighten my mood, let's have a cuddly kitty-spam! Poppy and Alfie love nothing better than cwtching up together, especially in stormy weather like this. :)
kittyspam!
Jun. 8th, 2012 08:27 pmCame home from work this evening to find a dead bird on the front door mat, all over the mail (thanks for that, Alfie) and my cotinus bush half collapsed all over the back yard - more of a tree than a shrub, really, it's about 15 feet tall and grows up the back wall on two main stems. One of those stems had just bent right in half, irreparable. Luckily I'd seen it bending before work this morning and ran out in the rain to rescue a few pots from beneath it - and also the washing line, which is just as well, since by this evening it had collapsed so far the washing line would have snapped if it had still been caught! So, I've spent my evening so far disposing of baby bird remains, cleaning bird blood off my mail and performing tree surgery! My garden is now a sea of sad, chopped up branches. Now keeping my fingers crossed that the other stem, which is swaying worryingly, doesn't also come down overnight. This wind can die down any time now, please!
So to brighten my mood, let's have a cuddly kitty-spam! Poppy and Alfie love nothing better than cwtching up together, especially in stormy weather like this. :)
So to brighten my mood, let's have a cuddly kitty-spam! Poppy and Alfie love nothing better than cwtching up together, especially in stormy weather like this. :)
It's been an age since I posted, so here - have a random kittyspam!
( More Poppy and Alfie pics behind the cut )
( More Poppy and Alfie pics behind the cut )
It's been an age since I posted, so here - have a random kittyspam!
( More Poppy and Alfie pics behind the cut )
( More Poppy and Alfie pics behind the cut )
update and picspam
Jan. 19th, 2012 12:25 pmIt looks as if Deb might be discharged from hospital today - she only got 2 hours sleep last night, so the doctors have agreed that she will probably be better off recuperating at home, where it is quieter! She's having an MRI scan first, and as long as that doesn't turn up anything ghastly, she should be discharged later to be treated as a neuro outpatient. She finally saw the neurologist for the first time yesterday - two days later than promised and several days later than needed - and had a battery of tests, which ruled out a bunch of stuff but failed to turn up anything conclusive. She has to keep taking the anti-nausea meds and medication to reduce cerebral pressure, but she can do that at home - and today is her husband's birthday, so they are both very pleased by this development.
Let us celebrate with a picspam of Deb's menagerie, since I was there all weekend and took a bunch of photos - I took the pics with my phone, though, so the quality may not be as good as with a proper camera.
( Pics behind the cut )
And finally, just for something completely different - spotted on a hospital notice board!
Let us celebrate with a picspam of Deb's menagerie, since I was there all weekend and took a bunch of photos - I took the pics with my phone, though, so the quality may not be as good as with a proper camera.
( Pics behind the cut )
And finally, just for something completely different - spotted on a hospital notice board!
update and picspam
Jan. 19th, 2012 12:25 pmIt looks as if Deb might be discharged from hospital today - she only got 2 hours sleep last night, so the doctors have agreed that she will probably be better off recuperating at home, where it is quieter! She's having an MRI scan first, and as long as that doesn't turn up anything ghastly, she should be discharged later to be treated as a neuro outpatient. She finally saw the neurologist for the first time yesterday - two days later than promised and several days later than needed - and had a battery of tests, which ruled out a bunch of stuff but failed to turn up anything conclusive. She has to keep taking the anti-nausea meds and medication to reduce cerebral pressure, but she can do that at home - and today is her husband's birthday, so they are both very pleased by this development.
Let us celebrate with a picspam of Deb's menagerie, since I was there all weekend and took a bunch of photos - I took the pics with my phone, though, so the quality may not be as good as with a proper camera.
( Pics behind the cut )
And finally, just for something completely different - spotted on a hospital notice board!
Let us celebrate with a picspam of Deb's menagerie, since I was there all weekend and took a bunch of photos - I took the pics with my phone, though, so the quality may not be as good as with a proper camera.
( Pics behind the cut )
And finally, just for something completely different - spotted on a hospital notice board!
(no subject)
Oct. 8th, 2011 03:39 pmAlfred the Great thinks this washing up bowl makes the best bed ever. Who am I to argue?
(no subject)
Oct. 8th, 2011 03:39 pmAlfred the Great thinks this washing up bowl makes the best bed ever. Who am I to argue?
