Your Number's Up

 I keep looking at the shelf of mostly alphabetically ordered (by artist) CD singles I've accumulated over the years (above*) and thinking that I should play some of them, or at least save them onto a memory stick/card/whatever, but I just can't be bothered.  Besides, I can barely make out the artist/song on the spine of most of the brittle plastic cases and it's quite difficult to wheedle them out as they're packed in quite tightly**, so I might end up pulling out a single that I have no interest in any more (because I'm sure my tastes have changed over the years).

 I thought about randomly selecting a few to listen to, but knew the selection wouldn't be random as if I didn't like one I'd just pick another instead, so that's where you and your number picking came in. 

 

* Before you start counting and/or clicking to embiggen, the photo above doesn't show all my CD singles.  Goldfrapp's and Erasure's are with their respective albums on the shelves above, and there are two or three others languishing on other shelves that I can't squeeze back in this one (but they have been counted).

** Remember this.  It will be important once you've listened to/read the final pick. 

 

Anyway, here the results of your efforts: 

 

#73 Ms Scarlet : Pepe Deluxé - "Before You Leave"

"Before You Leave" - by Finnish band Pepe Deluxé - was released in 2001 and got to number 20 in the UK charts (but #10 in its native Finland).  I still really like this track but haven't listened to it, never mind heard it, in years.  I don't have any more singles or albums by Pepe Deluxé (who last released an album in 2024), so they're a one-hit wonder for me.

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.

 

Hexenhäusli Device Garden Update : July

 I thought I'd do a quick catch up from the gardens of Hexenhäusli Device as I have loads of garden photos sitting around waiting for me to sort them out and see which are worthy of the Garden Photos Event in November.  I don't think these will make the cut, but they do show what's going on here this month.

 

Early July was all about Ligularia and Lilies (last seen here).  Aside from one terminal triffid flower, the foxgloves in the Lake Border are just about over, as are the two towering Echium pininanas beyond.

 

 

Here's the view from the paysho doors.

A Barrage of Spume

"Taken unawares from behind, absolutely covered from head to toe with a deluge, nay, barrage of thick, salty spume!"

 

 I started this post on Sunday after returning from the beach narrow strip of stones at the foot of the cliff with Bitey but, what with one thing and another, never finished it.  I can't remember where I was going with it, so I'll just publish it now pretty much as is.

 

 This is what greeted us as we approached the promenade having finished our walk.  When we got down the cliff earlier in the morning, I thought the tide was as high as it was going to get.  I was wrong.

 

 Yes, of course we got wet attempting to get across the slippery clay to the prom. 

 

♪♫♬♩

 

 Here's some of the music I listened to while drying off:

Jessie Ware - Sauna (Extended Version)

Snow Patrol & Kylie - These Alarms

Robin - Always

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.

"We're running out of clouds, staring at blue again"

 These photos might be from Saturday, but despite the imminent Bank Holiday weekend here in Blighty, the weather is set for more of the same (with the possible exception of this Saturday).  And with the added extra of warmth, if not actual heat!  Strange Things Happen:

 

 Thank you Alison Goldfrapp, for "We're running out of clouds, staring at blue again".  It's as if she knew. 

 And speaking of strange things happening: 

News From Norfolk: 

 

This is not just any animal rescue, this is an M&S animal rescue

 

Hillside Animal Sanctuary was called out to Marks & Spencer on Rampant Horse Street in Norwich after staff found a muntjac stuck within the glass barrier of a ground-floor escalator. 

 

[The whole story] 

"You can blame it on a tangerine dream"

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?!

[For more Empire of the Sun, please click here]

 

Have a great weekend, dear reader!  We intend to.

 

---

Note: Post wording and layout liberally yoinked from Jon's most recent Friday post.

"We're gonna sing it, anyway"

 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!) 

"I wanna do things but don't know where to start"

 

 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. 

 Or, at least, a new book to flick through (The Art of Star Trek Lower Decks) and a Tiny Treehouse to make.

 

 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.)

 Have a good week, dear reader.

Where The Hells is the Holiday Rota?!?

The blogging holiday rota - last seen here.

 

 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.

Superbloom

 I think we have a contender for the

2026

I N F O M A N I A C

Garden Photos Event 

theme song:

 Of course, there are still six months to go before anything is finalised, but I think Jessie Ware's "Superbloom" is going to be a hard one to top, so to speak.

 

 But what about you?  Do you have any suggestions for the Garden Photos Event theme song? 

"Did Someone Say ----?"* : The Sequel!**

The aftermath of an orgy in the pond Lake.  Disgraceful!

 

 

* Answers in the comments, please.

** To this post from a year ago.

 

 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)": 

(I loved my birthday viewing of this film - and the soundtrack - so much that I went to see it again on Tuesday afternoon!  The similar, but not quite as euphoric "Amaze Amaze Amaze (Fist My Bump)" almost made the cut here.)

 

MARCH

The 15th to be precise...

 

The Echiums (pininana, I believe - AKA Giant Viper's Bugloss) made it through the winter.  Phew!

Symphony For A Queen

 Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Haute & Freddy's debut album Big Disgrace has turned up (purchased with some birthday money), so to celebrate, here are some tunes I've been listening to recently, bookended by two from Haute & Freddy:

"Showgirl At Heart" - Haute & Freddy

"Beautiful (Richard X Rework)" - Goldfrapp

"Find Xanadu (Röyksopp Remix)" - Alison Goldfrapp

Also on the way are Alison Goldfrapp's albums, Love Invention and Flux

 

"I Don't Care" - Shakespears Sister

A bit of Shakespears Sister never goes amiss.

 

"What Could Possibly Go Wrong" - Melanie C

(as championed by Jon)

"In The Middle" - White Lies

White Lies latest album Night Light is on its way, too.

I like this track but the video is creepy/ghastly.

 

"I Would Die 4 U" - Prince

I don't listen to Prince enough, so this track featuring in the final trailer for Project Hail Mary (albeit extensively rejigged - see previous post), was a welcome reminder.

 

"Symphony For A Queen" - Haute & Freddy

Hibernation-Mode Entertainment

 In my less than triumphant return to blogging last Saturday (after three weeks off), I mentioned that I'd been in hibernation mode, i.e. eating lots of chocolate while slumped in front of the telly.  However, I also slouched before YouTube and lolled about in bed reading. 

 And here are some of the things I watched, read and listened to:

 

Played

"Immortal Love" - MIKA

 Over and over and over again. Thank you, Jon!

"The Moon's A Window To Heaven" (Album Version) - Hiroshima

Because I rewatched Star Trek V: The Final Frontier after several years - It wasn't as bad as I thought (or as some on the internet would have you believe).  It's not a patch on III and IV, but easily bests VI.

 

"I Had This Thing" - Röyksopp

 I have been listening to a lot of Röyksopp in Car II on my way to work.

"Cold Sweat, Hot Boys!" - Bright Light Bright Light & Ana Matronic

 I found this one just now!

No Snowdrops Were Harmed in the Making of This Post

 Just in case anyone was wondering, hibernation-mode (i.e. eating lots of chocolate while slumped in front of the telly) had set in this month (along with some ill-timed visits and events), and somethings had to give - one of which was blogging.  However, I do have a few photos from various to-ings and fro-ings in the last three weeks, so I've managed to slap together this post to show a little of what we've been up to.

 

Saturday the 3rd: We had a little snow.

 

 Thursday the 8th: On the way back from delivering a friend's birthday card, I noticed this pine tree with a twisted trunk.

 

 Sunday the 11th: I found this little number, "Dance The Pain Away" by Haute & Freddy, and was going to post it but must have been short on time or got distracted.

Jon has since featured it at his place.

The Birthday with an Inconvenient Year at the Beginning

 Yes, it's the end of the year again.

 Not the end of this year again - I'm not sure who'd want to go through that again!

 No, I meant the end of another year in general.

 Well, perhaps just say what you mean next time.  It would save an awful lot of confusion.

 I'm sure no one was confused.  And aren't you just picking in an attempt to pad the word count out a bit?

 What do you mean?  Of course not!

 So the fact that you must have noticed neither of our SubConsciousnesses have left us a splendid end-of-year round up that we can embellish with our gracious presences doesn't have anything to do with this pointless bickering?

 Hmmph.  No.  Where are the little sods, anyway?

 Well, mine is at the gin.  I have no idea where yours has got to.  

 Double hmmph!  Right.  We'd better get on with what little we've got, then.

  

 First up: Happy Birthday Savvy!

 Yes, many happy returns!  Sorry you've had to go through this whole year to get to your birthday award.  At least there were holidays and garden photos and Freakin' Green Elf Shorts along the way.

 

 

[ crickets ]

 

 

 And finally: "Rain Down Love" by the Freemasons. 

 (This is the only thing the dratted SubCs had left us!)

Happy New Year to you all!

 Oh, and:

... of course.

 

"All the pretty girls and all the pretty boys are...

... Freaks"

 

 - Haute & Freddy

 

 

"Tectonic Plates" - Dubstar

 

 

"Thrill Of The Night" - Sébastien Tellier (feat. Slayyyter & Nile Rodgers)

 (Bits of this one remind me of Alcazar's "Tears of a Clone".  Kind of.)

 

 

"Mystical Magical" - Benson Boone

 (You can thank Mitzi for this one)

 

 

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

 Yes, I'm still listening to this - and watching the video (Ahhh, Lee... 😍) 

 

 

"Love U More" - Sunscreem

 

 

 This has been a Tunes on Tuesday production.

  

 Oh, just in case anyone is expecting an end-of-year-round-up at the end of the year (Savvy's birthday allowing, of course), don't get your hopes up as I have been even more slack than last year (you'll hardly be surprised to hear).

 I think I heard some sighs of relief?

 Hmmm...

 

 

 P.S. Remember that the Freakin' Green Elf Shorts Caption Competition is now on at Rimpy's, so get yourselves over there and leave a caption to be in with a chance of winning the FGES.  You know you want to! 

What song did you last...

... have stuck in your head?

 

The Beautiful South : "A Little Time"

 

 I hadn't intended to do another of these 'What song...' posts* so soon, but as I was waking up this morning, "A Little Time" was running through my head so I trapped it for use later in the day - i.e now.

 

 I think it came from a dream I only have vague recollections of now?  In my dream I was getting ready to leave a big, many roomed house.  There were a few other people there but they were staying, or at least not coming with me.  I have a feeling that there was another big house close by - a neighbouring property - which I may or may not have seen once I got outside.  But it was at that point that I woke myself up properly because the song was already in my head.

 I don't know if it was playing in my dream, or whether someone said something which reminded me of the lyrics, but however it was conjured up, it's here now.

 

 At the risk of having it stuck in there again (or maybe it's still there?), what song was your last earworm? 

 

 

* A little like the '4 Photos' posts, I thought I could do 'What song...'s once in a while to break up the barren expanses of NotBlogging that occasionally sometimes often occur here these days.

 We'll see how that turns out, hmm?

 

 

* * *

 

 In other far more exciting news, The Freakin' Green Elf Shorts Caption Competition is now on at Rimpy's!   Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!11!!!1!!

What song did you last...

... dance to?

Deee-Lite : "Groove Is In The Heart"

 I'd finished my swim, had a shower, and was partially dressed in the changing cubicle this morning when the first song accompanying the ladies-of-a-certain-age doing aquarobics came on: "Groove Is In The Heart" 

 

 I was a bit glum because I'd had to finish my swim earlier than anticipated to make way for the aquarobics class (which had been brought forward from Friday because the pool is being closed for two weeks for maintenance), and My Lifeguard wasn't there which means I won't see him for at least two weeks (because of that dratted but probably essential maintenance).  However, Deee-Lite soon cheered me up and before I knew it, I was Lady Miss Kier in the cubicle!

 

 What song did you last dance to? 

GPE 2025 : Terrifying Triffidery

 

 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: