Thursday 30 April 2020

Infomaniac Garden Photos Event Announcement


This is a public service announcement!

The House of
I N F O M A N I A C

has announced a change of venue for its
 
10th Anniversary Garden Photos Event

And that venue is right here on this very blog!


 To say that I am honoured and delighted would be an understatement.  That The Very Mistress chose me to be the host for this prestigious event-
Some choice.  No one else volunteered!
Shhhhhhhhhhh!  That's neither here nor there.
Yes, let him have his moment.
What?  Why are you agreeing?
 When you lot have quite finished?!  Now.  Where was I?
 Oh, yes: this prestigious event.  Um...  Line?
You were going to say something about how grateful you were that
The Very Mistress couldn't be bothered to get off her quince an-
 I most certainly was not! Don't listen him, Very Mistress!  He's been afternoon drinking.  Again...
So have you!
 Yes, but it affects you more because you're smaller.  Besides, I'm only on our second glass...

 Oh, for christ's sakes...  Let's have some Q&As and photos while those two bicker amongst themselves:

Some sort of clematis on the paysho*
What does this mean?  What's going on?  Where am I?

Sunday 26 April 2020

Art Trek: Into The Arboretum...

 It's getting near to the end of the month, and with no other post even remotely near finished, I am going to subject you all to Star Trek art!  Although, hopefully this time, you might not skim through hurriedly as it's not overly Star Trekky.
 Oh, and my pikhmit/pixmit cards won last month's Trek BBS Art Challenge, which meant that I got to choose the theme for this month's challenge:


It is Spring!*  Warmer weather and longer days bring new growth, spring flowers, and the promise of brighter days ahead.  Inspired by a weekend spent out in the garden, the final episode of ST: Picard, and recent Trek art by Donny, ashefivekay, and Dryson, I've decided on a floral theme for this month's art challenge.

I'd love to see your interpretations of flowers & plants in Trek, whether it be a look inside a starship's arboretum, the plantlife of a Trek race's homeworld, a Kressari botanical cruiser, a bunch of flowers given by one crewman to another, or something else.  Whatever it is, make it bright and colourful!

* In the northern hemisphere, at least...

 Right.  On with the show:

Sunday 19 April 2020

Seedlings

Eucomis comosa "Sparkling Burgandy" seedlings
from seeds sown a couple of weeks ago.
Full size plants last seen here.
 There are no clouds in the sky.  Not one!  Nary a wisp nor contrail.  What is one to do on a sunny day like this?
 Well, I have spent some of it on the allotment clearing up and sorting out after well-meaning brothers-in-law weed-killed most of my foxgloves (!!!) and dug up the rest (@!#*!!) to plant shitting old potatoes.
 Anyway, before we get to the allotment photos - because of course there are allotment photos - the other day I remembered about all those seeds I collected from East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens back in September: they were still wrapped up in black paper on my book shelf!  Kicking myself for forgetting about them, I hurriedly sowed them.  Yesterday I noticed the first little sprouts pushing through the compost, so here are photos to prove it, along with some of previously sown seeds which are now seedlings/plants.

Crinum (or the like) sown around the end of 2019

Thursday 16 April 2020

Embankment

 Some time back - not that long ago, actually - I promised Hound a gander at my embankment (because he likes that sort of thing, apparently).
 Well, after a week or two of fannying around with the press releases being very busy and important actually, may I present my rather overgrown embankment (which Hound probably won't actually like because it is mostly green) - along with some photos of Hexenhäusli Device's grounds and surrounding environs.
 Oh, and some bluebells.


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  Oh, but first - for those not in the know - the embankment is part of the old Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway that ran from 1906 to 1953.  The track and most associated gubbins have long been removed, so all that's left around here are the embankments & cuttings, a couple of piles of bricks that used to be bridges (one still is), and Overstrand station (which is now someone's home).
 So, anyway, first up is a photo of Hexenhäusli Device's grounds from just over a year ago (a month after we moved in) showing the embankment behind the fence:


 And here are four photos from this month with the embankment in the background.  As you can see, preparations are underway for the 10th Annual Garden Photos Event which - shock horror! - is almost certainly not going to be hosted by The Very Mistress this year!  If you fancy yourself as Hostess with the Mostess, pop over to The Very Mistress's and declare your interest to host this illustrious event.

Sunday 5 April 2020

A Write Panic Reference: Things on Chairs

 This post is an accompaniment to the A Write Panic blog post, Things on Chairs (which was gathered together and written by me).  It's just a little reference list of the items that feature at the end of my part of the story.
 If you haven't already done so, I urge you to go and give A Write Panic a read.  It is a collaborative blog from the mind of Ms Scarlet (she also set it up and organised it, too!) which features ten talented and enthusiastic bloggers - oh, and me.
 There are no spoilers in this post, so the story won't be ruined if you read this first.  Particularly as these objects are what I imagined were the "things on chairs" at the end of my latest A Write Panic post, but as I didn't describe them with any definition (well, except for the fondant fancy and the Ferrero Rocher), someone else may depict them in a different way.

The spindle shaped vial containing that blue potion, is none other than the Elixir of Life as featured in the film Death Becomes Her.

[image missing]  Unfortunately, I can't show you the pink fondant fancy as it got et.
(I can tell you, however, that it wasn't a Mr Kipling cake, otherwise it would have been a French Fancy)

The towel - a spare on loan from the Beeblebrox Estate - a very useful object (and 100% Egyptian cotton, no less).

The "old clay pot with mould growing inside it" is Daughter of the Fifth House, Lwaxana Troi's, Sacred Chalice of Rixx.  I'm sure the Holy Rings of Betazed were on another chair further down the corridor...

The collection of sea glass is, of course, the glass island that featured at Ms Scarlet's.

The Bottle of Greed is another one of Ms Scarlet's creations, featured here.

The universe cannot be photographed convincingly, so may I direct you to Ms Scarlet's Portrait of a Universe, instead.  A far more comprehensible and erudite interpretation.

I couldn't get a good photo of the Ferrero Rocher because it was so awesomely perfect that Camera could only manage to capture the golden glare from it's exquisite foil wrapper.

And as for the books:

The Days Are Just Packed, a Calvin and Hobbes collection by Bill Watterson, featured here.

Fucked-up Fondues, by that spiteful cow Delilah Smythe, featured here.

neue mobel 6, by Gerd Hatje, featured at Mago's, here.

The Visitors, by Sally Beauman, featured at Ms Scarlet's, here.


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