Cold

A prickly Mahonia up my side return

 Somehow, a cold virus or somesuch has managed to get through the Host's bodily defences and take hold.  I don't know how it happened because his immune system has been trained over the last few years with dirty, germy urchin nephew & nieces jumping all over him and smearing their filth & pestilence everywhere!  I am not amused.

 

 Anyway, after the paracetemol and ibuprofen kicked in earlier this morning, I took Bitey out for a walk and we ended up wandering along the prom - from where I took the photo above.

 

 The rest of the photos are from the grounds of Hexenhäusli Device, and show what few flora - and fauna - can be found at this time of year.

A male muntjac on the embankment behind the South Lawn

A female muntjac.  Sorry about the poor quality - this was taken through dirty glass

Snowdrops (and sprouting daffodils behind them)

Hellebore somethingorother

 Oh, almost forgot: The point of the flowers in this post are as a little prompt to get you thinking about this year's Infomaniac Garden Photos Event.  Is there anything Event-worthy in your garden - be it a frozen wasteland (Very Mistress?) a boggy mudscape (Ms Scarlet?) or tropical jungle (Dinah?) - at this time of year that it's worth taking a few photos of now before it's too late?

 Don't worry if not as I will be nagging haranguing reminding you about the GPE regularly througout the year!

"I'm never gonna let you see that part again"*

 Just popping in to drop off these few bits & bobs - Hopefully you'll find something you like amongst them.

 And think yourself lucky as this was almost a Star Trek fan art post!

ReReading

⸰ Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers ~ This must be the third of fourth re-read of this lovely story from the Wayfarer's series.

 

 

Watched

⸰ What We Do In The Shadows (S4) ~ The BBC has finally picked up season four, so of course I watched what my favourite vampire housemates had been getting up to as quickly as I could.  Now I can't wait for season 5!

 

Rewatched 

⸰ Ghosts (Series 1-2 so far) ~ Because of course I'm re-watching it.  Again.

⸰ The Sound of Music ~ The Winterval holiday season just isn't complete without either Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music.
⸰ 9 to 5 ~ I didn't remember the corpse stealing, but then it has been an absolute age since I last watched this fabulous film starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton.

⸰ Ghostbusters 1 & 2 ~ More Winterval telly favourites.

⸰ Here's the Howard Huntsberry version from the clip above before we segue into the original.

 

 

Heard

⸰ The original Jackie Wilson version of "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" (which is also heard in Ghostbusters II) that was playing at the pool while I had my morning swim on Tuesday.

⸰ The marvellous, wonderful, and really rather sexy Bright Light Bright Light's brand new release "You Want My..."

It sounds a little earlyish Pet Shop Boys to me, which is no bad thing. 

 

* Post title from this song

 

⸰ Inspired by either Mr Tonking or Mistress Maddie (although I'm pretty sure it was at Mr Tonking's that The Blue Nile was mentioned.  Maybe?), I thought we'd finish with Annie Lennox's sublime cover of "Downtown Lights":

Yes, You Did Win Yet!

 Well, with nearly three of you esteemed Blogorati taking part, I declare the "Did I Win Yet?" Grand Quiz of 2024 an unmitigated success!

"Success"?  Is that the word we're going with?

Yes.  It is.  And just leave it at that so we can get on with this, hmm?

Fine.

 Before we get to the winner, here's a reminder of the questions, with the answers (almost all of which were from 2023's end-of-year round-up The Year of Looking Glam Even Without Nail Varnish) provided by The Host:

 

1. In which month did LẌ visit The Very Mistress from beyond the grave?  And for a bonus point, which two posts was he first at?

The answer is February.  And if you'd clicked the link to The Very Mistress's Infomaniac blog, you will have seen that the two posts were "Keep Your Pants On" (22 March 2010) & "Filthy Friday - Holiday Photos" (18 March 2010) and would have gained a bonus point.

 

2. We all know that Dinah looks glam even without nail varnish, but what couldn't she do without in order to look like movie star, Joanna Cassidy?

This one may have flummoxed those of you who have not seen 1982's Blade Runner.  Joanna Cassidy's character, replicant Zhora, is an erotic dancer and performs with a snake.  And so, in April's photo of Dinah wearing nail varnish, it's the carpet snake that she needed.

 

3. How many freckles are there on-  No, just kidding!  How many men did Mistress Maddie-  Ha!  Kidding again. 

 Really this time: How many ducks - rubber or otherwise - feature in The Year of Looking Glam...?

"Did I Win Yet?" Grand Quiz 2024

 Happy New Year to you all!  We hope you had a splendid night whatever you did - whether you went out celebrating, stayed in and slept through it, or had your head down revising for this "Did I Win Yet?" Award/Quiz/Competition/Event/Festival thingy!

 I was at my sister's - Indescribable's - with a couple of friends drinking gin & cherry vodka and playing some convoluted card game.  However, I didn't drink so much that I wasn't able to drag myself out of bed and pop down to the prom this morning to make sure the New Year arrived on time.  It did, as you can see in the photo below.  I've got some more photos (of course) which I will share in a few days time as this post is all about the "Did I Win Yet?" Grand Quiz in honour of our dear, departed friend, LẌ.

 

 

 The "Did I Win Yet?" Award/Quiz/Competition/Event/Festival thingy can take any form, but I have chosen to do a quiz again because it's quick & easy (easy to put together, that is - although you might find the actual quiz is easy, too), and I left it too late (as per) to come up with something else.  (Ms Scarlet's The 'Did I Win Yet?' Competition/Award back in January 2021 had a quiz bit and a creative bit, for example). 

 

 As with my original 2020 quiz, almost* ALL ANSWERS CAN BE FOUND IN THE YEAR OF LOOKING GLAM EVEN WITHOUT NAIL VARNISH POST WITHOUT HAVING TO CLICK ON ANY OF ITS LINKS OR WADE THROUGH THE ENTIRETY OF MY POSTS FROM 2023, but you may need to embiggen one or two images.

 

* One answer can be found in a November post, and one bonus point answer requires clicking a link in The Year of Looking Glam... to find.  The other bonus point has no "right" answer - the point will go to the most amusing/creative/smutty response.

  There is no prize as such, but the winner will have the honour of hosting the next "Did I Win Yet?" thingy whenever they see fit.  Oh, and Ms Scarlet did create this elegantly calligraphed quote by LẌ which the winner will have the exclusive right to display on their blog sideboard.

 Right, I can tell you're all eager to flex your mental muscles and get on with the quiz, so here it is:

 

1. In which month did LX visit The Very Mistress from beyond the grave?  And for a bonus point, which two posts was he first at?

 

2. We all know that Dinah looks glam even without nail varnish, but what couldn't she do without in order to look like movie star, Joanna Cassidy?

 

3. How many freckles are there on-  No, just kidding!  How many men did Mistress Maddie-  Ha!  Kidding again. 

 Really this time: How many ducks - rubber or otherwise - feature in The Year of Looking Glam...?

 

4. Who has a sideboard even more beautiful than mine?  (Bah!)

5. In which comic strip does Suzie Derkins feature?

 

6. On what page can the instructions be found?

 

7. What did Jon go all the way to Sitges for?  And for a bonus point, what do you think [the answer] was describing/measuring?

8. What is Full Moon Fan Dance Rutherford's cybernetic implant set to?

 

9. Which super powers did Ms Scarlet gain at the expense of no longer having birthdays?

 Please email your answers to me by Saturday 6th January, either to this blog's gmail address which can be found in my profile on the Sideboard, or to the Host's personal hotmail account.  You can also leave your answers in the comments if you like, but then everyone will be able to see what they are...

 Good luck, and Happy New Year!