Terrifying Triffidery 2021: A Garden Photos Event Attraction

- "It is amazing, really, how many plants we think of as benign are actually merely biding their time before they kill us all and conquer the planet!" Jx -

I couldn't have said it better myself, Jon.

 Ah, welcome to the 2021 edition of Terrifying Triffidery! 

 Before we get going, you'll be a little taster for-

 No!  The line is "Here's a little taster of what's coming up" and point to Venus and her many mouths on the right there.

 But she's hungry!

 You're not to feed the visiting Blogorati to the Triffids!  What do you think we stocked up on all those commoners, chavs and other people for?

 Oh.  Well, yes, okay then.  I did wonder why the gift shop's pick-n-mix dispensers were full of oiks.  

 I knew I should have done this myself...

 Oh, you're such a worrywart.  I'm sure the Blogorati weren't even paying attention.  Look!  They've already tired of your nagging and wandered off to see if they can guess which of them sent in what.

 Hmmmph!  I hope you remembered to label the specimens?

 Of course I did!  I hope...

Art Trek: Creepy Cosplay

 Disaster has struck!

 Okay, so that may be a bit overdramatic... 

 I'd just finished sewing a couple of bits of gold ribbon around the cuffs of a cheapo red long-sleeved T-shirt, went to put it on so I could pin on the narrower gold ribbon for the shoulder yoke and...

... couldn't get my hands through the sleeve cuffs anymore!!!

 "What is that silly witch going on about?", I hear you ask.  Why, it's (nearing*) the end of a month so that means it's time for some Star Trek fan art.  My Star Trek fan art!  As my piece, "These are a few of my favourite things!" got the most votes in the previous challenge, I got to set the theme for this one - and here it is:

The theme for this challenge is Creepy Cosplay!

Wet Shags with Old Groynes

 Oh, there's so much to do and yet so little time!

 Where has the year gone?  And why do I have the feeling that something important is coming up?

Well, why don't you look at the calendar, you dolt?!

Rude!

 But what a splendid idea:

 Ah, just in time!  Allowing for time zones and other time travel-related nonsense, while still the 22nd here, it is the 23rd in Queensland so: Happy birthday, Dinahmow!

 And in a couple of days time, it will be Mistress Maddie's turn on the birthday merry-go-round!

oOo

Cetacean Ops!!!

 It's happened! It's finally happened!!  After over 30 years since its first mention in televised Star Trek (TNG's "Yesterday's Enterprise" in 1990), cetacean ops (operations) has made it on screen in Lower Decks' final episode of season two, "First First Contact"!

 Cetacean ops is an area aboard Federation starships (and spacestations as well as planet-based facilities, I shouldn't wonder) for crew who prefer a certain moistness, i.e. being submerged.  In the Star Trek universe, whales and dolphins are sapient (as I'm sure they are in our universe, but getting the majority of humans to recognise that is a topic for another place & time) and seem to enjoy the same privileges as other sapient beings, including joining Starfleet and serving on a starship.

 In Lower Decks (LDS), as with the Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual, and the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D Blueprints, the cetaceans (beluga whales in LDS, and dolphins & Takaya's whales (a type of Orca] in the TNG tech manual and blueprints) are navigation specialists. 

 Here are some screenshots I took of USS Cerritos' cetacean ops from "First First Contact" (owner/creator ViacomCBS) - minor spoilers ahead for the episode:

The Lower Deckers - Rutherford, Mariner, Tendi, and Boimler - enter Cetacean Ops.

The logo on the floor seems to be inspired by the Cetacean Institute logo (from ST IV: The Voyage Home) which was itself just the logo of the Monterey Bay Aquarium where the Cetacean Institute scenes were filmed.

Note the balls, foam swimming noodle, and buckets of fish on the left.  Those whacking great rocks on the edge seem to be a nod towards a more natural work space.

"grumbumblegrumpf ..."

... Mago muttered at yet another of IDV's nags about the

impending deadline of this year's Garden Photos Event.

 

Yes, it's time for another reminder to submit your snaps for the 2021 

I N F O M A N I A C

Garden Photos Event

So I'm expecting more muttering when he sees this post...

 

 Just like last year, the Infomaniac Garden Photos Event will be held here at this very blog in November.  So, for those of you who wish to take part - and for those of you who don't but are going to anyway so that you don't get nagged/berated/turned-into-a-frog-or-woodlouse etc. - please email me your garden photo/s by Thursday 28th October!

 You can submit just one photo (of a prized specimen/object of ridicule, or your whole garden), or a multitude of snaps showcasing all manner of green-fingered/thumbed efforts.  And please include a brief - or verbose - blurb with each photo/set-of-photos, ideally something that amongst other things (gardening tales, tips & observations, full on rants about shovelling horse shit, for example) states what the plant is, because I'm not Jon (The Official Plant Spotter of Blogdom) and I don't want to do any more research than I have to!

 If you submit three or more photos (and blurb/s) you'll almost certainly get a GPE post all to yourself.  One or two photos will probably mean that you'll end up sharing the limelight with another member of the Blogorati - Except for Hound who has already sent me his "photo" and, due to the subject matter, will be enjoying a post all of his own. 

 I'm sure you'll thank me when you gaze upon his gardening methods!

 Almost forgot: As well as your GPE photo/s, if you have something suitable, please also send me a photo/photos of terrifying Triffids, poisonous plants, or carnivorous Caryophyllales (look it up) for the Hallowe'en warm-up event: Terrifying Triffidery!  And if you don't have anything suitable, just take some extreme close-up/weirdly lit/oddly angled photos of otherwise ordinary plants for that creepy look.  If you get stuck, why not take a look at last year's Triffids for ideas. 

 And for any of The Very Mistress's old guard Bitches, or any lurkers or only occasional/sporadic visitors here who would like to take part - please do!  If you're not sure what this is all about, please click here for info and a little history. and here for links to last year's gardens.  Oh, and don't worry if you haven't ever commented here before, and don't concern yourselves with not knowing who we are/us not knowing who you are - the more the merrier!

Besides, we'll need a few extra bodies to placate the Triffids...

Shhhhhh!!!  We're supposed to be encouraging people to join in,

not scaring them off!

Bah!

 Don't listen to them.  No one will be thrown to the Triffids.  Although, if you stumble over an errant plant pot and fall in, well...

 

 Anyway, photos and blurbs can be sent to my blog's gmail account (just click on my profile link on my Sideboard to get it), or to my personal hotmail account (for those of you who have it) - by Thursday 28th October (Savvy!  This means you!!). 

 I'm really looking forward to seeing how your gardens grow!

Migration Time

Not quite as dramatic as the stripes seen here.

 As it's my day off work, I got up a bit later than usual and made my way down to the seafront around the time the sun was rising.  Of course, it was far too cloudy to actually see the sun, but I did see something else...

"There's a firey star hidden out there somewhere."

Splash!

Of Triffids and Tribbles

A sunless slipway

 Don't mind me - I'm just dumping off some photos from the start of the month.  I wasn't going to post them but I'd already made the effort to resize them, so I didn't want all that hard work to be in vain

 Oh, and here's something to listen to while you scroll down (don't worry, you'll have finished scrolling well before the song finishes).  I discovered "Call Tokyo" by White Lies on 30th September just after I'd posted my third quarter review.  And then played it at least 10 times.  In fact, I'm listening to it now (over and over and over) as I type this out...

The slipway later in the day (1st October)