The INFOMANIAC Garden Photos Event 2024 Primer

The 2024

 

I N F O M A N I A C

 

Garden Photos Event

 I thought it was about time to get up off my quince and do something about this year's GPE.  I mean, Savvy's already on it, for Christ's sakes!

 I am sure that you all know what the Infomaniac Garden Photos Event is and why it's held here rather than at The Very Mistress's hallowed blog, Infomaniac, these days.  But for anyone new here, or for any Blogorati/Bloggerati* having a senior moment or just waking up after a cooking sherry bender that began two days ago while making a trifle**, my GPE Page explains all.

 

 Anyway, forget the trifle for now (If you can.  Mmmmmmm... trifle!), this is all about the GPE.  There's no theme this year, not least because I've left it far too late in the year to foist one upon you, but also because I can't decide between the handful I've thought of.  So, all you need to be thinking about - and doing - is preparing your expansive grounds, modest gardens, compact courtyards, payshos, balconies (juliet or otherwise), windowboxes and/or indoor pot plants and taking photos of them in their entirety, and/or specific/favourite/interesting views, planting schemes, specimen plants/leaves/flowers, or any other aspect of your greenfingering that takes your fancy.

 As with previous GPEs held here, there will also be a pre-event Terrifying Triffidery exhibit at Hallowe'en, so be sure to take photos of any particular scary, unusual, or downright rude (because we know what you're like) plant, too.  Or, failing that, photos of a perfectly ordinary plant taken while drunk, close-up, or filtered/photoshopped to Hell!

 And remember, the Infomaniac Garden Photos Competition is NOT a competition, so there will be no judgey comparisons or winners/losers.  The Event is open to all no matter your gardening skill level or plot/pot size, and you can submit just one photo or many.  I usually ask for photos to be emailed to me by the end of October as the Event will be held throughout November, but I'll confirm dates & email address etc. later in the year.

 

 Finally, for any friends-of-friends, lurkers, irregulars, or newcomers reading this, it would be lovely to see some garden photos from you, too.  Lady Goldberg-DeWoofs, I know you've moved to a beach front house recently - Have you found some suitable specimens?  Sixpence, how does your garden/terrarium grow?

 Right.  Now that's out of the way, here are some GPE preparation photos from Hexenhäusli Device's grounds to get you in the mood:

Steps - Deeper Shade of Blue (Steps 25 Revisited Mix)

 Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to squeeze into a filthy, dirty ventilation shaft for no particular reason...

The Assistant Gardener

 Apologies for being somewhat absent lately.  Amongst other things, the assistant gardener of Hexenhäusli Device has demanded a lot of my attention...

 

 

 Normal service - should such a thing even exist anymore - will resume shortly.

 

Stella Botanica

 Have you ever wondered how all those starships and spacecraft in the Star Trek Universe are made?  Well, wonder no longer as I have discovered evidence that is sure to surprise you.  The starships are not painstakingly fabricated on a planet or in orbit, but rather their parts are sustainably harvested from the giant machine lifeforms that grow in the Lightspeed Lagoon Nebula as the following illustration shows:

This botanical illustration must have found its way back in time somehow for me to have discovered it 250 years before it was created.

I know.  Shocking, to say the least!

- - -

A Turn Around the Grounds

 I had intended to do some gardening today, but the West Wind is bitter (and, as I type this, it has just rained), so instead of getting cold and mucky outside, I have sorted out some photos from yesterday's turn around the grounds. 

 Above, the daffodils I planted on the embankment behind Hexenhäusli Device when we first moved in are in full force.  And below, my shade garden behind the garage has been brightened by blooms:

 There have been some changes since this time last year: I moved the pheasant berry/Himalayan honeysuckle (Lycesteria formosa) from its pot next to the table into the ground next to the square compost heap (you can see its tall, dark red stems at the back right of the photo above).  In its place I put the chocolate vine (Akebia quinata) which is going great guns and competing with the Pyracantha (behind the pheasant berry).  It's also flowering, as you can see on the right.

It's My Party And I'll Bore You All With Star Trek Fan Art If I Want To!

"Moopsy!"

 Mwah hah hah hah haaaaaa!!!  It's my birthday and I can do whatever I like!  Including publishing this self-indulgent Star Trek fan art post!  Which I did warn you about in the last post.  Well, I mentioned it, anyway...

 Yes, when I'm not blogging-

 So, most of the time, then. 

 You can talk!  This is supposed to be YOUR blog.  I'm only here to provide the necessary fingers & thumbs for all the typing and HTML jiggery-pokery.

 Hmmph!

 Anyway, when I'm not blogging in Witchface's stead, I can be found messing about with Star Trek related stuff, such as these monthly themed fan art challenges from the only other social media-type site I visit: Trek BBS.

 The following are my efforts since August last year, so strap in!

August: Movies

"Get your drinks in and prepare your popcorn because we're headed to the cinema!

Which Star Trek movie era will inspire you: TOS, TNG, JJ?  Or perhaps you'd like to imagine a movie for a series that never made it to the silver screen.  And how about those new streaming movies on the horizon, can you predict what we might see in the Section 31 movie or what could follow after it?"

 

 

 I'd intended to create another movie poster - Star Trek IV-B - like I did for February's challenge.  Unfortunately, useable free time for such things was in short supply back then, so that plan was scuppered and all I managed were some sketches and a bit of MSPaint art of the Whale Probe from ST IV: The Voyage Home.

Reasons Why... II

 I'm not sure how to start this post, so I'm just going to dive right in with this lightly edited response to a very kind email from Mr Mago:

 

 "There a few reasons for my blogging absence, but, sadly, bumping into Mr Adonis on the beach* is not one of them.  Time (as in "lack of") and work are the main culprits I think, and the Winter darkness hasn't been conducive to making any particular effort either.  Combined, these reasons have culminated in the loss of my blogging "mojo".   I've sat down with Blogger open now and again, but can't muster up the enthusiasm to write anything - even posting images seems like a big effort.   I've visited other blogs now and again - including yours, of course - in the hopes of getting the wind back in my sails, but I can't even think of anything to say in the comments.  Plus, I've missed so much that catching up with everything seems like a chore - and it shouldn't be!  (That's work's influence.  Work has been relentless for the past year or so, and sitting in front of my PC doing something other than reading feels like work, so I end up aimlessly following links until I get fed up then go and watch something fun on telly to get over it all - such as Bluey, those Australian animated dogs from my previous post.)

 "However, I have nearly two weeks off work from the middle of next week with no plans except for gardening & sorting out the allotment, so I'm hoping the extra time and the brighter days will help in getting that blogging mojo back!  I do miss it and you and the rest of our little community - and I even have some Star Trek art I can post until something else catches my attention that's worth blogging about."

 

 So, I sat down to finish this post which entailed opening up YouTube to get the code for a new song I like (see below), but that meant I had to listen to it all as well (and "Wicked Game" by Girls Aloud).  Then I remembered that Ms Scarlet had emailed me with some questions of a highly personal nature that I'm not going to share here, so I opened up my emails to reply before I published this post, but clocked a notification from Wonky Words about the NEW POST Ms Scarlet had threatened to publish in her email so I had to read that (I didn't send the rook, by the way.  I can manage a jackdaw and occasionally a crow, but rooks are out of my comfort zone).  And then the washing machine beeped its shrill annoying beeps to let me know it had finished turning my bed linen inside out (how does it do that?!?) and that I had to empty it RIGHT THAT MOMENT!  So, down the stairs I went to decant the pillowcases and duvet cover and the like from the washing machine to the tumble dryer - turning everything the right way around as I did so.  But as I type this, I'm thinking I should have left it all inside out because the tumble dryer also turns everything inside out - if it doesn't twist it all up into a hot, tight, damp little ball first (why does it do that?!?).

 Oh, and my coffee is going cold and is almost finished so I'm wondering if I should go and make another one or finish this post first?  While I'm dithering, here's that new music I mentioned:

Bright Light Bright Light & Ultra Naté - Every Emotion

* There is a Mr Adonis at the pool, though: The handsome, surly, golden-brown fox of a lifeguard who sits in his lifeguard observation chair looking bored and/or slightly angry and, therefore, very sexy.**  There hasn't been any bumping, though.

** Description taken from a previous post in which I made excuses for not posting, funnily enough.  Oh, and his name's Ryan.

P.S. While I was searching for that description of Ryan-the-Foxy-Lifeguard, the tumble dryer insistently beeped at me, so I had to go down and untangle the hot, damp, tight little ball of bed linen and set it going again!

P.P.S. I didn't reply to Ms Scarlet's email!  Must do that next.

"I Slipped On Mah Beans"

 I think I've been in the Winter Doldrums - although, if I have, I seem to be coming out of it now thanks to two things: Janet & Rita, and new growth in the garden & up the allotment.

 First, old ladies Janet and Rita - AKA Bluey and Bingo Heeler from Bluey, a cartoon my youngest niece, vom Smallhäusen, introduced me to while I was babysitting a week or two ago.  They are hilarious!  The costumes, the voices, the shoplifting, the driving, the absolute glee with which Bluey and Bingo portray Rita and Janet - and the reactions of their parents Chilli and Bandit - all combine to form a delightful two or three minutes of fun that had me almost crying with laughter.

 There's a snippet of first appearance of Rita & Janet in the first minute of the video at the end of this post, but the video below is of the whole Heeler family having some fun:

(It didn't take many episodes for me to want a smoochy kiss with Bandit Heeler, either!)

. : .

 Anyway, enough of adorable Australian cartoon dogs, let's have a look inside my allotment compost heap, shall we?

For The Very Mistress, Ms Scarlet, Mitzi...

...and anyone else who's a fan of Noel Fielding:

The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin - as discovered at Reactor

 

And, as brought to my attention by The Very Mistress, here's a bonus video of Noel as Kate Bush dancing to Wuthering Heights:

That's all for now.

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...?