An Evening Out

 I toddled off to Cromer for an evening out with a few friends last night.  It's not really post-worthy as nothing much happened, but I did get a few nice sunset snaps from the pier where we had our first couple of drinks.

 

Foxgloves Behaving Badly

 As well as the ongoing Parent Problems, I've also been dealing with foxgloves behaving badly - as the following photos demonstrate:

 

This is "Weird Foxglove 1" from the 13th of last month.

I'm not sure what it's trying to accomplish.

 

And here it is a few days later on the 19th.

Sweet July

 Well, a new normal has established itself here in Hexenhäusli Device so I thought I'd pop in during a moment of respite and share some new and old music, some snippets from the garden, and a photo from this morning's Bitey walk:

 

I wonder why Take That decided to release "Sweet July" now...?

 

As there's no video for Sweet July yet, here's one of my very favourite TT releases

(first seen at Jon's back in April)

 

 

The YouTube algorithm prominently displayed Richard X's Burning Flame remix of Bananarama's "Venus" for me the other day.

 

I prefer Bananarama's original, though

(which wasn't the original - that being a 1969 release by Shocking Blue)

 

 

 Right.  On to the garden photos.

Up Yours, Beaky!

I can't believe I got to my allotment cherries before Beaky and his diabolical family did!

 

 

 I went up the allotment today to strim the grass (and weeds) and harvest the first loganberries, and noticed that the cherries are almost ripe - and still on the tree!  There're only a few that are barely ripe, but I picked all those I could reach and ate them.  Up yours, Beaky!

 

* * *

 

 In other news, I am still around but haven't had much time for visiting your blogs or updating my own - never mind anything else - due to Parent Problems.  Their increasing age and deteriorating health (not to mention The Father's luck at generating a rare skin condition - drama queen) have kept me otherwise engaged and very close to the end of my tether.  Fortunately, things seem to have settled somewhat in the last day or two, hence my cherry scoffing and this post.  Hopefully things will return to relative normality soon.

Children these days are high in cholesterol, anyway.

 

 Minus cooking a quivering slab of meat, this has been my weekend. Well, my Sunday afternoon, at least.  Bah!

 

(It took me a little while to find this ad as I thought Geoffrey Palmer said "I love children.  But I couldn't eat a whole one."  Still, his face at the end says it all.) 

Four Photos: Bee Edition

 "Four Photos" is an idea I've just had to help me get back to our little corner of the BlogWorld. 

 Rather than spend hours trying to work out what to say (if I don't have anything to say), or how to say it (if I do), I just need to select four photos that I've taken and slap them up here on my blog with as little or as much accompanying text as I feel is necessary or can be bothered with.  

 There doesn't need to be a theme, or anything that links the chosen photos, and they don't even have to be recent ones, but they do have to be photos I've taken.  (I'm considering family photos as well - just in case I happen to look at old photo albums and see something of interest.)

 

 This first set, you will see, does have a theme.  Well, the first three do, anyway.  Bees!

 Just over three weeks ago I was up at the allotment and noticed a rather loud buzzing.  Once I'd worked out where the noise was coming from, I saw the air over number 37 (next door but two to mine) was rather hazy.  Putting down my tools, I wandered over to investigate.

 

It's not readily noticeable in this photo, but the air was thick with honeybees - I didn't get any closer.

 

I don't know if they were coming or going.

 

You can't really make out the bees in front of the blackthorn blossom, but look at the sky between the branches and twigs.

: : :

 

Oblivious to the danger lurking under the swing, Bitey rolls around on the lawn.

(From 20th April)

: : :

 

 Should anyone else who is suffering from the 'blog uselessness' bug think that this 'Four Photos' treatment may help them, please feel free to use it.

Out and about with Bitey

 I was just thinking how lovely and easy it is to upload photos to Blogger and pop them into a post in a specific order,* and that it could stand to be far more difficult and annoying.**  Fortunately the Google Blogger gnomes heard my thoughts and intervened.  Hooray!***

 Anyway, now that my patience and copy-&-pasting fingers have had a work out, here are some photos from a few perambulations up Toll's Hill to Skylark Field where Bitey likes to run around and stick his nose in everything.  And also catch rabbits and chase small deer.

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?

Breaking the Circle

 Enough moping around and using "all" (see previous post for barely any explanation whatsoever) as an excuse for not blogging.  I am determined to, if not make a grand return, then at least dip our toes back in and go from there.  I must admit, we have almost returned several times, but something always cropped up that was an easy target to use as an excuse for not returning.  And if we leave it much longer, everything that we've missed will become too overwhelming, and we'll never come back.

 

 Anyway, yesterday evening while having tea (the late afternoon meal, not the hot drink) I took to my bookmarks and selected a blog I hadn't looked at in ages: Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs, "a blog about the science, art, and pop culture of Mesozoic life" that I find to be witty and educational, plus it contains dinosaurs!  After reading a couple of the recent posts, I slowly scrolled down to see if something would catch my eye, and something did.  I recognised a photo of a family of Triceratops ambling past Dippy's Pizza & Fries and clicked the 'continue reading' thingy.  

Nieces about to be gobbled up like Children McNuggets

 My suspicion was confirmed: The photo was taken at ROARR! the dinosaur park right here in Norfolk that I ended up at for my nephew's birthday back in August 2019, so I read - and very much enjoyed - the article.  So much so, in fact, that I was moved to leave a comment.  And it was then that I remembered I had featured some photos of the park right here on this very blog that I could link to!  So, I found the requisite post - and very quickly became subsumed in our back catalogue of adventures Over the Cusp...

Art Trek: Cybernetic implant set to SEXY MODE

 It's not a toilet seat!  It's a folded up robe, albeit with a collar that looks a lot like a toilet seat depending on one's frame of mind...

 

 Anyway, enough from the depths beyond the U-bend of Mago's subconscious, what I want to do is publish an explanatory post complete with screenshots and lines from the various episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks that inspired the following artistic lascivious dalliances with my current infatuation and muse, Ensign Sam Rutherford.

 But, as I said over at The Very Mistress's place in answer to her question about how the year is going for her faithful bitches, today* has been "filled with far too many irritants and annoyances already, and I can't seem to get anything done."  So, there's precious little explanation, just some pervy Rutherford 'art' which probably won't mean anything to anyone who hasn't watched Lower Decks eleventy-billion times...

 

* The "today" in question was actually last Sunday, 5th Feb.

This past week didn't get much better - I'm only publishing this so that you know I'm still alive.

A Frisson Amongst the Flora

 Thursday was quite a day.  For me, anyway.  After a delightful swim with* an aesthetically pleasing young man - and the last fifteen minutes with a lane to myself which meant I could lark about underwater - amongst other things, I paid a quick visit (along with The Mother) to Felbrigg Hall walled garden.  Whilst there I experienced something I'd almost forgotten existed.  More on that in a bit - first, let's look at some photos of the garden.

: : :

Oh!  Before I forget, here's Sophie Ellis-Bextor's latest, "Hypnotized"

(x @Wuh Oh, whoever that is?)

 Anyway, carry on!

: : :

Norfolk has long been one of the sunniest and driest counties in England, and with the increasing temperatures of late, the gardens at Felbrigg have been planted with what would once have been unsuitable specimens.

Reasons Why...

 I've been half-heartedly trying to work out what's keeping us from updating this blog more regularly.  I mean, in the last four months, We've managed a paltry 12 posts - three per month, and they've been a struggle - whereas by this time last year We'd put up 29!  I know it should be quality over quantity, but I can't even claim that what We have published is anything to write home about - with the possible exception of the new and improved Freakin' Green Elf Shorts Travel Map, of course.

 Are We not blogging because the weather has been so nice?  Not really.  We've barely been down to the beach so far this year, and only partaken in a few perambulations inland.  Although, I have been spending rather a lot of time up the allotment... 

Apple blossom at the Device Allotment

(two eaters and a cooker)

For Dinah, my young Bramley with a close-up of its delightfully fragrant blossom

.  .  .

 Have We been dreaming too much?  Hardly.  I don't know about only living twice - We're scarcely living once - but it is an excuse to listen to Natacha Atlas singing the David Arnold produced "You Only Live Twice":

.  .  .

The tinsel is a dead giveaway...

 Oof!  I'm back!  Well, briefly, at any rate.

 I've had some things to deal with which is why I've been, well, not here...  And despair at the state of the world is only part of it.  Signs of an impending infestation of unicorns, and that little shit Beaky skulking around the garden have been of more concern...

.  .  .

 But first, to accompany your scrolling, here's another almost certainly miserable* song from my favourite glum, beardy miseryguts, White Lies: "Time To Give"

* I try not to listen to the lyrics, remember?

.  .  .

 Anyway, back to the topic at hand: Beaky.

This was the view from my kitchen window this morning.  Looks okay, doesn't it?

Until you notice the blurs of black on the bench and birdtable...

A Saucy Deviation

 In an effort to continue the blogging impetus that I started last week, may I present a slight deviation from that of Ms Scarlet's original ketchup-based post. This post has a high Star Trek content, so you may be pleased to find that it is mercifully brief...

Sketches:  For a while now I've had an idea to illustrate a scene from the backstory I worked up for the Star Trek map that I created back in 2019.  As I don't have an art project on the go right now, I started sketching...

Here we have a Daughter of the Fifth House with her Yehtee assistant

(and a cartoonish interloper) disembarking the Royal Yacht

And here are some quick passes at the yacht

inspired by batjorge's Quantum Projection.

Snippets: "Every morning he'd arrive at work, ascend the steps to his cubicle and strip down to his trunks."

 

Screenshots:

 Two years on from the last playing card reveal in a Star Trek production, comes glimpses of another deck - in this case, from a game of Leonian poker in Star Trek: Discovery (which I'm not watching, by the way - I didn't much care for the last season, and this one's on yet another streaming service that I'm just not going to sign up for.  Well, until Star Trek: Strange New Worlds with the yummy Anson Mount/Captain Christopher Pike starts later this year, that is).  

 It was the Arcadian Queen that got my attention - as seen on Star Trek fan, Jörg Hillebrand's twitter account, here.  Arcadians are very seldom seen aliens who first appeared in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (the one with the whales) - which is where the third screenshot comes from.  I can feel the need to make some of these cards, just as I did with the Romulan pikhmit/pixmit cards here.

[Screenshots from Cygnus-X1 and Trekcore]

 

Sounds:

"Tilted" by Christine and the Queens. 

 I discovered this thanks to The Great British Sewing Bee.  A small part - "I'm doing my face with magic marker" - was playing during the modelling of one of Raph's creations in series 7.

 A blast-from-the-past that I'm listening to as I type this is "I Wish I Cared" by a-ha.

𝄇𝄆

 And that's it.  I aim to be back by this time next week in some form or other.  Have a good week!

Sunday Ketchup - IDV's Copy/Paste Edition

 I've realised that I'm in danger of never blogging ever again unless I do something NOW!  So, taking a leaf out of Ms Scarlet's book - almost literally, and with her permission (kind of) - here's my quick-and-dirty, copy-and-paste Sunday Ketchup. 

From Ms Scarlet's 5th December Sunday Ketchup post: 

"Sunday Ketchup. It will be a random account of my week and will include quotes from my journal [my very secret journal that I show no-one ever!]; photographs; collages; calligraphy; and, of course, the obligatory piece of Sunday music. How thrilled you must be to read of my good intentions. Again. Let us proceed…"

 My week - nay, my weeks - since my last post have been spent continuing the dither that engulfed me at the start of the year.  It's got to the point where I've become a passive observer rather than an active participant, which means I've barely done anything of note at all.

 I haven't produced any calligraphy of course, but I did spend 10-15 minutes making a £999,960 Bank of Bungle bank note for my sister Indescribable's birthday earlier in the week.  She wanted a million pounds so I topped up the £40 John Lewis voucher I got for her with this:

Spot the mistake (which I corrected after I took this photo)...
 

 In my very secret journal I wrote: A rescue - from [a spiral in(g) time] - a survivor, Galuth Nym, an old woman who should be young.

 From my emails I wrote: Thanks very much for sorting Car out. Again. I’m sure it won’t be the last time – unless I get a new car sooner rather than later...

 Photograph of the week: 

Taken for an art project that never took off...
 

 A tune that I discovered yesterday and have listened to rather a lot: "Impossible" by Röyksopp & Alison Goldfrapp

 

In fact, I'm listening to it now...

 Right.  I'd best be off as there's loads to do before I can lounge about in the bath for a couple of hours this evening.  Plus, I need to do the catch up with all of you that I didn't do last time.

P.S. I love all your comments in the last post.  Carry on! 

EDIT 20:40 - P.P.S. For a birthday I usually forget... (not mine, although I did shoot this on my birthday 12 years ago)

Fart in a Colander

 Sorry I haven't been around much lately - I've been in a bit of a dither this past few weeks what with one thing and another.  "Like a fart in a colander" (that doesn't know which hole to get out of), as my Grandma used to put it.

 I can't quite put my finger on what's brought it on, but I suspect that a combination of things are to blame, including more Car related woes (it's in the garage again!).  I have taken up swimming (in a pool, not the sea) though, which seems to be taking the edge off, somewhat.

 Oh, the inclusion of the Parsnip People (from my allotment) up there will become apparent if you keep reading.

::

 New music: I've been surprised by White Lies latest release "Am I Really Going To Die".  That's three in a row from them that I've taken to.  I'm not usually a fan of their music as it aways seems too maudlin and ernest for my liking, but this one is quite bright and pop-y with some rather exhilarating bits (I haven't really listened to the words, so it's probably really miserable).

 Also, I'm getting sick of the lead singer's glum, beardy face singing at me/the camera.

::

Soon to be 399...

 Sorry I haven't been around much over the past couple of weeks or so.  Amongst other things, I had some bad news last month that's affected me more than I thought it would.  It was something that I've known was coming for a while now, but I just thought I'd have another couple of years or so before it became real.  Unfortunately, Car is seriously ill, and is not expected to make it beyond the end of 2022.

A frosty Car from back in January

 Car went in for its MOT in the middle of November, and I knew my purse wouldn't get through unscathed.  I'd had a bad feeling about Car for most of this year, and even considered getting a new car back in September, but my optimism - buoyed on by my superb procrastinatory skills and a hefty dose of denial - won out.  Which meant that come MOT time, I submitted Car for the roadworthiness test, stubbornly forseeing a rose-tinted, birds & butterflies (yes, even at that time of year - I saw a peacock butterfly at the beginning of this month, no less), happy ending - possibly involving the doe-eyed young mechanic who had seen to Car previously.

Art Trek: "These are a few of my favourite things!"

Ah, Rutherford, you're so adorable! Adorable!!

 Well, that's August done and dusted.  And you know what that means: Time for some of my Star Trek fan art!

 Yes, one of the things that kept me busy last month was working on a rather ambitious piece for August's milestone 200th Star Trek art challenge.  Having helped to come up with the idea, I knew I had to pull my socks up and not turn in some half-arsed attempt that I hadn't even finished properly (like many of my other efforts).

 Oh, and half-naked Rutherford on the right there is not just gratuitous eye-candy - he's relevant to the proceedings what with being a particular favourite (not unlike Connor Trinneer's "Trip" Tucker, who also features later on).

 Anyway, here's the challenge theme:

YOUR Star Trek

Your task is to create something out of Trek that means something to you. It can be your favorite ship, character or idea. Or just some Trek thing that you like/wanted to draw, model, photograph, cosplay or sing etc. Do you own a Star Trek costume? Well, then snap a photo of it and submit it to the contest! You're into Trek gaming? Then make a screenshot of something you created in the game! Almost anything goes this time.  Have fun, and good luck!

➢

 I started by making a list of Star Trek characters, starships, locations and objects that I liked but, as you may have guessed if you know me at all, I couldn't whittle them down to a single (or even a few) thing(s).  So, there was only one thing for it: I was going to have to include all of them!

This was just a quick sketch to gauge the layout, so there were plenty of characters and things missing/undecided at the time

Breaking: Death on the Embankment!

 This just in: Killing and carnage in the immediate vicinity of Hexenhäusli Device!