Speaking of clouds...

... we finally got some rain on Friday night/Saturday morning!

 And to prove it, here are some photos of the classic British Summertime's cloudy sky from yesterday (it didn't last though, as the last three photos illustrate):

A Cloudy Horizon

 After returning from work on Tuesday, a vexing evening was had dealing with administrative matters instigated by The Father on my behalf without my knowledge!  A smidgen of joy was squeezed out of the whole situation when I launched into my "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" act, causing The Father to huff and puff a lot, as well as swear under his breath.  Result!
 Anyway, once the minor dramatics were over, I flounced* off down to the beach to relax and take some photos of the sunset.  Except I was thwarted due to the clouds congregating on the horizon... 

Cromer Pier in the distance

A hazy Vos Gorgeous

Thursday Swim: Nest of Horrors

 Wait. No. That butterfly (a Meadow Brown) is not the horror. Where is it?

::mutters to self::

 Oh, I can't find it now.  It's mixed up with the other photos somewhere.  Why are nests of horrors never where you left them?  It's almost as if they get up on hundreds of creepy little legs and wander off somewhere to burst open and cover you with tiny, itchy horrors the moment you do happen upon them?
 Oh, well.  It's bound to turn up soon.  Until then, let's have a look at some wildlife photos taken just after this morning's swim.  Not pictured: That seal.  He was stalking me again.  Le sigh...

The foot of the cliffs looking West towards Overstrand's main beach...

Sunday Swim: Sea Monster Off the Port Bow!

 Once in a blue moon, the North Sea off the North Norfolk coast becomes so warm and crystal clear, that it attracts a certain cryptid lifeform to its inviting waters.
 Unfortunately, I didn't realise that today was one of those "blue moon days", and popped down to the beach here in Overstrand for a late-afternoon dip.
 Things were going swimmingly until a sudden chill alerted me that something wasn't quite right...

Half past five and all's well

Groynes extend into the startlingly clear sea

Saturday Swim: A Sea Witch in Short-Shorts

What shadowy creature lurks in the depths shallows...?

 This "Summer" malarkey is getting a bit ridiculous.  We haven't had rain for weeks, the sun's out, the sea is (relatively) warm, and my shorts have made their way into my regular clothing (I hesitate to say "fashion") rotation! 
 After nipping behind Château DeVice this morning to see what the sea was like (calm & clear), I donned my short-shorts and plummeted down the cliff for a Saturday swim! 

This is what greeted me when I got down to the beach.  Ghastly, isn't it?

Lesser Secrets of a Constellation Tarot

 Last Tuesday, Hound experienced an almost painless viewing of my latest night sky post 30 Seconds of Jupiter, and asked "Now if you can just fill in your maps of the heavens with tarot correspondences life will be perfect!"
 I replied: "I've just had a look through the Northern sky constellations and I've found a few that may just work for tarot symbols: Crater, the Cup - a perfect match; the sword of Perseus - another match; the clubs of Hercules and Orion could be Wands; and the torso of Boötes, or the heads of Leo or Cetus, could be Pentacles. I'll see if I can put something together..."

 Well, I've put something together.  Only one example from each of the minor arcana, but it's something.

You didn't expect us to do the whole lot, did you?

Ha!  If they did, they clearly don't know us at all.

Anyway, first up: the Two of Pentacles

As you can see, the head of Cetus, the sea monster (or whale) makes for a rather nice pentacle.  Clockwise from Alpha (α) Ceti, AKA Menkar, are the stars Lambda (λ) Ceti, Mu (μ) Ceti, Xi² (ξ²) Ceti, and (conveniently ignoring Nu (ν) Ceti) Gamma (γ) Ceti.

The photo that Cetus came from (below) was taken on 22nd January, and featured in post No Moon At All.

::

Freakin' Green Elf Shorts Travel Map update

 As you may have heard by now, there's a new toucher feeler caresser holder of the Freakin' Green Elf Shorts (well, their clone, anyway): Rimpy Rimpington!
 And to work out on which continent you may be safe from the 'Shorts diabolical influence, may I present the updated Freakin' Green Elf Shorts Travel Map: 

 Head on over to Rimpy's to find out how he came to be possessed by in the possession of the coveted 'Shorts, and to enter the Freakin' Green Elf Shorts Caption Competition to be in with a chance to win them for yourself!

 Good luck!

Sunday Swim (in short-shorts, not Freakin' Green Elf Shorts!)

 Despite wearing my square-cuts (you're not the only one, Maddie!) under my shorts on Saturday, I didn't venture into the sea for a swim as the East wind was a little too cool and strong, so it was a bit choppy, and the beach was a bit too stony.
 Sunday, however, was a different matter.  I didn't wear my trunks (but I did take them), the breeze was warm and from the South, and the stones had been covered with sand (mostly).  Ideal for swimming!

 I found a secluded spot near the End-of-the-Line, and shimmied into my trunks.  The cormorant in the photo above flew off at the sight of my pasty white body.  Rude!
 Then I waded into the sea which was delightfully warm, and proceeded to engage in a bit of languid breaststroke (keeping my head above water, a bit like this but without the nest of ducks) before flipping onto my back and sculling around looking at the increasingly cloudy sky:

There's a bird (probably a seagull) in this shot

Un-Alone

 I keep remembering being down on the prom of an evening, taking photos of an almost obscured sunset with an interloper.  I had a look through the blog in case I was remembering photos I'd already posted, but the nearest I could find was Triffic Sunset from late June.  Then I searched through my folders full of photos and eventually found the set in question - and they certainly weren't of a terrific sunset.  They were languishing in a folder full of rhododendrons and cowpats from the end of May.  Because they were taken on the 27th May - the same day as the Sheringham Park rhododendron jaunt - they ended up in the folder from that day which I'd already sorted and labelled.  And because I neglected to relabel the folder, my rubbish memory consigned the experience to a fleeting subconscious might-have-been.

 Anyway.  Now they're found, here they are:  
   

Not the Aurorae Borealis, just clouds

An extremely hazy close up of the sun before it dipped below the horizon

Sunbathing and Skinny Dipping

"Skinny dipping?!? C'mon, we've got to have a gander!"

 Before any of you reach for the smelling salts/sick bucket, I'm not the one skinny dipping.  No one wants to see that.
 No.  Someone far better looking than me was caught in the cross-hairs of Camera's telephoto lens.  But before we get to that, there are a few photos from this morning's wander down to the beach to get through first:
 

Halfway down the cliff - Nice day for it

There's a bit of a Nor'Easterly which is good for the offshore wind farms

Almost down to the beach and this is the view East towards Sidestrand and Trimingham

30 Seconds of Jupiter

Extreme close-up of 30 seconds of Jupiter from the
unadulterated photo of Ophiuchus in the West (below)

 Saturday night - well, extremely early Sunday morning, really - was spent larking about with a tripod up Madam's Lane!

 Yes, it was another clear night ideal for taking photos of the stars.  Somehow I managed to stay awake past 10:30pm and, just before midnight, made my way up Madam's Lane to the same field where I took the last lot of evening/night sky photos.

 Because there was no Moon, the photos are free of glare enabling the stars to shine reasonably brightly.  There are, however, some glowing artefacts on the horizon which did mask some of the lower, dimmer stars.
 And, if you haven't already discovered, these night sky photos are best viewed in a darkened room.

 Above is the view north out over the North Sea at twenty past midnight.  With the sun barely below the horizon, despite the hour, the few wisps of cloud out there glow faintly from the last of the sun's rays (this photo, along the others, has been brightened a bit). On the far left is Cromer Lighthouse, the band of lights at centre left are Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm, then there's a ship of some sort before the lights of Dudgeon Offshore Windfarm, and another ship on the right.
 The sky includes the constellations Ursa Major (taking up the entire left half of the sky pointing towards the bottom right corner), Auriga (half over the horizon on the right), Lynx (between Ursa Major and Auriga, pretty much obscured by the light of the clouds), and Camelopardalis (very faint, above Auriga on the right).

Making A Splash

The view from behind Château DeVice

 I wasn't going to, but I couldn't help myselves...  I've unleashed another copious load of spume!

 The sheltered gardens of Château DeVice were far too hot to potter about in yesterday morning, so I took a walk Ministry of Funny Walks hobble (bloody sciatica) down to the promenade to cool off in the East wind.  It was surprisingly rough down there...

The seemingly ever present Vos Gorgeous keeping an eye on proceedings (the Vos Trader was out there somewhere, too)

The Triffids were enjoying the breeze, too

Once down on the prom, cooling down wasn't a problem

It's A Faaaake! Not The Art Of Star Trek - Making Money

Spock to Kirk: "What does it mean - 'Exact Change'?"

 We haven't had one of these for a while, have we?! 
 Yes.  I've pulled my finger out and actually completed another of the Trek BBS Art Forum Art Challenges. 
 So, as set by the winner of May's art challenge:

Welcome to the June 2018 Fan Art Forum Challenge! This month's theme is all about money, money, money. Be it Federation Credits, Cardassian Lek, Karemman Dirak, Ferengi Latinum or Triskelionite Quatloos — it doesn't really matter, I just want to know what it looks like. Let's assume for a second currency in Star Trek's future wasn't all digital and you could actually hold it in your hands. What would it look like?

So the challenge is to create, design, illustrate or render money from Star Trek. This can be a coin, a bill or some other unseen form of currency. I'm looking forward to what you can come up with!

 I was finding it difficult thinking of something to do until I remembered Spock saying "What does it mean - Exact change?" when booted off the bus in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. So, I started to design a few coins/credit chips to become a handful of 23rd century change. Here are a couple of the designs I came up with on 10th June:

 A little basic, being just cut-out bits of silver and gold cardboard.  I wasn't even sure of what alien currency this was supposed to represent, never mind the denomination.