Your wish is my command! (I'm sorry about the birdsong. I know you didn't request it, so I hope it doesn't detract from the sounds of the waves lapping gently at the shore.)
7:37 am, Overstrand beach. Yes, that's Bitey having a paddle.
My recent bearded iris purchase, "Black Tie Affair", put forth its first bloom on Wednesday.
Every day this past week I've been going up to the allotment with Bitey. Not to do any allotmenteering, but to check when the first foxglove flowered. Tuesday was First Flowering Day, but not from the foxglove I thought it was going to be. Before I get to that, here's a video from Wednesday's wander up there:
This barn owl treated me to a flyby at about five-to-eight. Bitey didn't seem interested, but I was thrilled to see it - and have time to whip my phone out and take this video!
Up at Allotment Device the bees are loving the comfrey. [click to embiggen]
In the extensive gardens here at Hexenhäusli Device, the lawn has been mowed, a multitude of potting on and repotting has been done (although there is still more to do), I've picked yet more duckweed out of the pond lake, and the echiums, clematis, geums, marigolds, and azaleas are in bloom. I've even managed to have a sit down in The Gardener's Retreat wth a G&T!
To add to the uplifting mood, I'm counting down to the end of a particularly gruelling blogging week - and tomorrow Jon (& Madam A) should be back from his much-needed holiday leaving my work as his ill thought through, last minute stand-in, done!
Let's have something suitably gin-addled and sparkly to get the celebrations going, shall we - and who could be more appropriate than Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore of Empire of the Sun?!
It's another snippets post, dear reader (but this one's almost all about me!):
At the end of April, I finally got around to making this Forest Cottage, a Tiny Treehouse kit that Inexcuseable got me for my birthday. It was one of the more fiddly kits and took me several hours - on and off - to complete. Well, I say complete, I have one piece left over - I just hope it isn't structural!
This is my favourite tree in Norwich - or at least the bits of Norwich I walk through on my way to work. However, I don't know what type of tree it is, so perhaps one of you, dear readers, can enlighten me?
My giant vipers buglosses (Echiums) started to flower on the last day of April - you should be able to make out a couple of the pale purple/blue flower buds in the close-up. There are loads of flowers on them now - I'll be posting more photos soon.
Saturday morning's walk with Bitey found us walking along the promenade and over the base of the cliff (because the tide was right in) to the east beach. Or the narrow strip between the revetments and cliffs. I tried to get Bitey to strike some poses on the steps over the revetment, and eventually (after looking at me like I was losing my mind), he managed one.
Bluebells blooming in The Gardener's Retreat behind the garage.
Oh, Bitey. What have you got?
Don't worry, this is not Raspberry. It is Raspberry's 'friend' though. He died quickly.
Sharing the day with another panoply of names including Karl Marx, Sylvia Pankhurst, Lance Henriksen, Tammy Wynette, Marc Alaimo, Michael Palin, John Rhys-Davies, Richard E. Grant, Simon Rimmer, Dieter Brummer, Santiago Cabrera, Craig David, Henry Cavill, Adele and - erm - Maggie MacNeal...
... it's Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' "birthday" today. "Oh, gods..." I hear you sigh...
Strange New Worlds is the eleventh Star Trek spin-off series and a prequel to the original 1960s series. It stars Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike (the USS Enterprise's second captain and the first to be filmed in the original pilot "The Cage"), Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley (Number One), and Ethan Peck as Spock.
Amongst the many themed episodes is "Subspace Rhapsody", a musical from season two, and here is the finale "We Are One":
(If you think this is weird, season four - out this summer - has a Muppet episode!)
THE Devil is flattered you imagine he can still afford designer clothing in this economy, but says you are sadly mistaken.
The decline of Hell as a major financial power means the original Prince of Darkness no longer sports an expensive wardrobe, mostly turning to Primark or H&M for his essentials.
He sighed: “You have to remember, the last film came out in 2006, pre-credit crunch. I was no sooner getting my infernal paycheck than I was blowing it all on Chanel and Louis Vuitton. The film’s title was entirely accurate.
“But two decades of economic turmoil later on? After austerity, Brexit, Trump, bloody Covid? My days of swinging by Alexander McQueen are long gone. It’s all I can do to keep myself shod.
“We’re all tightening our belts, even in the abyss. I’ve had to take a pay cut to keep the demonic horde happy. I can’t be swanning into meetings in box-fresh Balenciaga. It’s Matalan, Shoe Zone and Sports Direct, which has multiple branches down here.
“But the upcoming death toll we’re forecasting for humanity’s Q4 will really boost our turnover and I’m hoping to attract the big names to set up down here. Then maybe I’ll be able to get these cloven hoofs in Louboutins again.
“For now? I’m in Primark underpants. Honestly, I’ve had thicker and more durable loo roll.”
Another weekend over, just like that! [ s n a p s f i n g e r s i n e f f e c t u a l l y ]
Except... It's Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK, so work can wait another day! However, it's a bit of a grim start weatherwise - cool, misty, and overcast (we might get some sunshine this evening) - so there won't be much going on in the garden. Fortunately there are plenty of indoor jobs to do.
Anyway, I think it's supposed to be a Tacky Music Monday at Jon's, but I just can't think of anything suitable. So instead I've taken a leaf out of Mago's book - or blog - and gone with something more akin to what might be found in his regular Sunday Music (on Monday) posts instead. (Well, there's some sort of stringed instrument being strummed so it's close enough.)
Who let Jon go on holiday without sorting out the blogging rota first?? Mago and Maddie too, for that matter. In fact, where is the rota? Did it get updated? Who's down for today?
[ s i l e n c e ]
Is it me? It's me, isn't it. Drat.
Hang on a mo...
[ s o u n d s o f p a n i c k e d b l o g c o p y i n g ]
Ahem. We had hazy sunshine all day, but that didn't stop us getting out there to complete a few more tasks in the extensive gardens allotment here at Dolores Delargo Towers in the vicinity of Hexenhäusli Device - mainly weeding and strimming the grass paths. Oh, and making sure Bitey didn't bite the strimmer or dig too deep a hole...
EDIT 06:46 04/05/2026: Meanwhile... The bastard gnomes at Google/Blogger are still playing silly buggers. I published this post at around half past five yesterday. It remains in Limbo, as far as the Blogger Reading List is concerned as it's not showing up on any of your Sideboards.
WTF leads these creatures to think that this sort of delay is acceptable is beyond me! Yet another blogging annoyance... Sigh.
Never mind, eh? Here's something soothing from perennial House faves, Robbie Williams and the Pet Shop Boys singing about another House fave, Our Glorious Leader, to ease our troubled souls...
Ah, that's better...
STOP PRESS:
I don't know when - or even if - you will actually see this, dear reader, what with the Google Blogger feed delays. However, please note that there will be daily posts here until Jon returns (all being well, of course). I hate the Google gnomes.
Hello! Here I am! I don't have much to say, so I will just bombard you with gardening-related photos (mostly) which may also serve as a prompt to start photographing your own gardens and/or green patches for the 16th annual Lady Garden Presentation
I N F O M A N I A C
Garden Photos Event
later in the year.
But first some music to accompany your scrolling, from the Project Hail Mary soundtrack, Daniel Pemberton's "Amaze Amaze Amaze (Life on Erid)":
After some very light haranguing, may we present The Grand Map & Plan of Allotment Device!
Above, at last, is the layout of Allotment Device. It is too long to fit on one page...
I spent a good half an hour yesterday striding up and down, back and forth measuring my allotment in steps (because it was easier than fannying around with a tape measure), sketching and jotting as I went. Which is why it is rather rough (instead of grand) and somewhat illegible (I added the black biro labelling today - I hope you can read it).
Anyway, one enters the allotment from the south (lower left corner)...
... and is accosted by the staging area/dumping ground and Leaning Shed.
(It's easy to miss the three thornless blackberries and the greengage tree in the far right corner.)
Well, yes, I did go for a walk as the photos above attest, but the evening before, I actually went out. With actual people (four friends). To a bar (for cocktails)! Yes, I know.
Anyway, we went to Shoreline in Cromer because I didn't fancy spending all night standing in a noisy, packed pub getting hot and bothered (and not in a good way) and not hearing what anyone was saying. I had three cocktails - a Cromer colada (basically a piña colada with apricot rum or schnapps or something), a Garden sour (a Spring special made with rhubarb gin, lemon juice and syrup), and an Ameretto sour - and didn't have to open my purse once because my lovely, generous friends bought them!
Shoreline doesn't seem to have a website but they are on IG and FB (I'm not linking to them as I don't approve of the whole Meta thing, but if you're curious you can find them under shorelinecromer).
I neglected to take photos of the place or the cocktails, so I nabbed these from the web. It was not raining or wet when we went.
Right. That's Saturday night out of the way. Here are the rest of the photos from Sunday morning's birthday walk with Bitey.
Aside from being somewhat cold and windy, it's been a good start to the year* here weatherwise. I hope all of you have enjoyed a good start to 2026 in some shape or form.
[Photo above from the promenade this morning, and those below are from the South Wing of Hexenhäusli Device a couple of hours or so ago.]
* Starting the year just prior to the depths of winter seems pretty daft to me. I must look into adopting a calendar which begins in March (but not the early Julian calendar with it's byzantine intercalation).
Ah, here you all are - Welcome to the 6th annual Terrifying Triffidery extravaganza!
Gathered here for your bewilderment and horror are some of the finest specimens of triffidery from across the globe. And possibly from other globes, too.
As always, the Bloggerati who supplied them did not see fit to provide any labels so it is up to you to identify these menacing monstrosities and from whom they originated. The originators are listed on the poster above and, to make things a little more complicated, some of them supplied more than one triffid. Good luck!
A word of warning: Some of the specimens are mobile or have prehensile tendrils, so do keep your distance from the enclosures as you go by, and be sure to strap yourselves in.
The Hexenhäusli Device woodsman is on hand to ensure your safety and provide a demonstration of how to secure your extremities should you need it.
(I have personally gone through this with him several times - for certification purposes, of course - and still find myself somewhat breathless such was his enthusiasm and vigour!)
Oh, and please note: The Management cannot be held responsible for loss of limbs/head/life, and We hope you all manage to get through the tour relatively unscathed. Or at least manage to Stay Alive...
Yes, we watched Romy and Michele's High School Reunion the other day. I love their dance routine to N-Trance's version of "Stayin' Alive" which is why I've featured it here!
In fact, I've picked another Hallowe'en-adjacent song from Romy and Michele for later in this post.
Here's the full track for those who are interested:
I'm on holiday this week. I made some plans - something to do every day so as not to waste the time - and thought I'd have plenty of time for catching up with your blogs and updating my own. The universe had other plans, however...
Still, I managed to go to the Old Vicarage Gardens in East Ruston on Saturday, window shopping in Norwich on Monday morning, a long walk & paddle on the beach with Bitey on Tuesday, back down to the beach for a swim (which turned out to be a very deep paddle - more on that later) then gardening and allotmenteering yesterday, and here we are on Thursday already! I've been swimming (in a heated pool) and done some tidying up in the garden and then came indoors because the forecast is for rain.
It is not raining. Rather than put my shoes and socks back on to go back outside, I thought I'd use this opportunity to do some blogging. So, here are some of the photos from Tuesday's foray down to the beach:
Even though the Big, Tiresome Work Project has come to an end (see last month's Rutherford post for slightly more details), I'm still finding it difficult to return to blogging. This is partly because something else has taken its place: the Allotment Drama! I won't go into all the whys and wherefores now otherwise I'll never finish this post, but I will do at some point soon because at least it'll give me something to blog about. Some of the other reasons are the same as in this post from a year ago except that I don't have any washing on the go and Ms Scarlet hasn't published a new post, although her current one says it's new..... Scratch that. In the time it's taken me to compose this, there is a new post!
Anyway, here are a very select few of some things that have been going on here recently:
Saturday 22 February: Sonic Shower Show Rutherford. Although number four in the series, this is the eighth Rutherford fantasy action figure I've created:
I remembered to take Camera with me on this morning's Bitey walk into the village. I did this with one thing in mind: to take a photo of the "visitors' guide to Overstrand, past and present" map because it answers some questions that dear Mago asked last month. I have still to look through the history books downstairs for more info, but I've made a start at least.
Before we get to the map, here are some photos of the North Sea:
I'm sure it won't come as any surprise when I tell you that I've been somewhat slack with regards to blogging this year - both posting here, and reading all of yours. And the Host hasn't been much better, either.
Hey!
Well, isn't it true?
Yes. I suppose so. Except for June and November.
Anyway, June and November aside, we've pretty much given up on our annual "Year of..." extravaganza, and instead focused on one very important award that always features towards the end of said extravaganza. And that award is, the Most Inconvenient Birthday Award.
Only this year, it's the Most Convenient as it's saved us from exploding with frustration and exhaustion in an attempt to pack two or three days worth of work into just a couple of hours!
And so, we'd like to present this golden, hazelnutty, chocolatey award to, none other than Savvy!
You made it. Splendid. Welcome to the fifth annual Terrifying Triffidery show!
The hors d'oeuvres are here!
Hang on... I didn't think we were serving our Bloggerati guests with food?
We're not. We're serving them as food! The triffids are getting peckish and without Gavin and his monstrous arms we have no way to hold them back.
We are NOT feeding our guests to a load of house plants with ideas above their station! And where is Gavin? I haven't seen him since last year.
I think Maddie made off with him. Or was it Hound?
Christ!
Ah. Don't pay the SubCs any attention. And don't open that door! Just follow me to the orangery where one of the staff will be serving Champagne or cocktails or something before we begin the tour.
What's Witchface talking about?
We don't have any staff.
Unless you count the woodsman?
I hope he's changing out of that horrid flannel shirt...
Right. Let's have some music to accompany our tour. Oh, and remember to keep all your appendages on this side of the velvet rope - unless you don't need them, that is. And some of the triffids' tendrils and tentacles are quite long, so be on your guard.
A bit of exotica for this, the longest - and possibly sunniest & warmest (so far) - day this year: The Mother's bottlebrush plant (Callistemon somethingorother)
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