Shrieking Pit Saturday

This was taken from the front of Hexenhäusli Device yesterday evening.
The sky looked like it was on fire!

 I'll just have a quick walk to get some fresh air and stretch my legs, I thought.

 Two and a half hours later - and with Camera's memory card full - I returned home...

 So, you should know what's coming next, then?
 Yes!  Reams of photos!

Here we have the views from the top of Tower Lane in Sidestrand (last seen here).
Above is the view west to Overstrand,
and below the view east along the coast to Trimingham.

There were also some cormorants on The-End-of-the-Line, as per...

Thursday Swim: Wet Winkles & Gloomy Groynes

 Before we get to the good stuff, first I must announce that one of my Ipomoea tricolor "Heavenly Blue"s has finally flowered!*
 I have been envious of Jon's and Madam Arcati's displays for the last couple of months, but now, at last, I have my own Morning Glory!

* Of course, had I sown the seeds back in March/April instead of at the end of May, these blooms would have come out that much earlier.

~o~

 Anyway, here's what you came here for: warm, wet groynes with a sprinkle of winkles!

Infomaniac Garden Photos Event - Reminder #2

The House of

I N F O M A N I A C

10th Anniversary Garden Photos Event

is being held here rather than at The Very Mistress's this year.  Remember?  Remember?!?

 We're posting this reminder mainly for Savvy.
 Yeah, you all know what she's like with competitions, challenges, and events.

Absolutely hopeless.  I don't know how many Tin Foil Hat Competitions she's missed?

Well, to be be fair, the one she did remember she actually won!

 Oh, yeah!
 Anyway, for the rest of you, we still haven't decided exactly when the Garden Photos Event will begin, other than at the end of October/beginning of November.  There are a number of reasons why the date is still undetermined: One of which is that it's our 15th Blog Anniversary on the 15th Octob-
 No it's not!
 What?
 I said: No.  It's not!
 Well, when is it, then?
 Ummm... [hastily looks it up]  The 9th.
 Oh.  That's too early.  The Very Mistress's garden may still not have thawed out by then.  We need to give her frozen greenery time to put forth at least a couple of shoots before winter sets in again, so we can't have it coinciding with our anniversary.
 Well, shit.  Now we'll have to come up with an actual anniversay post!
 What about Hallowe'en?  If we have the grand opening then, we won't have to come up with a separate Hallowe'en post?
 Oh, that's a good idea!

For a change...

 Hey!

~o~

This book might come in handy:

Gardeners Guide to Unfuckable Plants

[seen at Tor.com and MacMillan Publishers]

~o~

Art Trek Not Trek: Hellrunner loves Spineback

 Good news, Everyone! 

 August's Star Trek Art Challenge has been cancelled!

 However, don't start celebrating just yet, as in its place is a load of other (mostly) old sci-fi properties that you probably couldn't give two figs about either.  Such fun!

 Here's the brief:

Welcome to the August 2020 Art Challenge — the 189th edition, for everyone who's taking count. That's 17 years of art challenges, with a majority of them focussing on Trek. Well, this month shall look a little different, because the theme is called Not Trek.

If you're anything like me then Star Trek isn't the only sci-fi universe you feel comfortable in. Well, this month is all about that. Basically the only requirement for your entry is that it somehow features a sci-fi entity other than Star Trek. Maybe you are passionate about Star Wars, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, Red Dwarf, Doctor Who or The Orville. Or are you more into obscure stuff like Cowboy Bebop, Odyssey 5, Charlie Jade or Sliders? Anything goes, as long as its within the genre.

 Farscape instantly popped into my mind when I first saw the theme, then later on while in the bath (where I do all my thinking) I came up with this list (WARNING: Almost all the following links are to YouTube clips/trailers):

Ulysses 31, G-Force: Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman), Flight of the Navigator, Asgardians of the Galaxy (because I can't decide between Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy), Transformers (UK G1 comic and toys), Zoids (UK comic and toys), John Carter of Mars (Disney film, because I still haven't got around to reading the books), Jupiter Ascending (Bees! Gravity boots!! That wedding dress and hairpiece!!!), Primeval (Dinosaurs!), Day of the Triffids (the nightmare inducing 1980s BBC TV series), and The Tripods (I couldn't find a non-blurry clip with the original music, so here is the actual theme).

Not The Device Mansion Gardens: The Sequel

 Yesterday saw a return to the Old Vicarage Gardens in East Ruston. But this time, instead of going on my own to spend as much time as I liked there in peace and quiet, I reluctantly agreed to go with my sister, Inexcuseable, and three year old nephew, Count Podgkinson.
 Needless to say, much of the visit passed by in a blur - which wasn't as bad as it seemed as most of the gardens had obviously had their day and were looking a bit tired.  However, I did manage to get some snaps of a handful of unusual or distinctive flowers.

These are seed heads from some sort of ghastly lily, I think?

A feathery, clockwise-curving fern

Thursday Swim (including Leaf-Cutter Carnage!)

 Right. I think you've all had enough cake for now.  How about some beach photos as it's been a couple of weeks since the last lot?

[ s i l e n c e ]

 Well, that's all I've got to show at the moment, so it'll have to do!

 First up, my curious seal familiar from last Friday's amble along the promenade:

~o~

Did Someone Say...

...

Art Trek: New Look Next Gen

 I bet with all the beach posts lately you thought I might not have found time to fart-arse around with Star Trek art? Well, surprise!

 Don't worry though - there's not a lot to try and take in, and the end result is a rushed, sub-par sketch that you needn't look too closely at.

 I said:  Don't look too closely at it!

 Anyway, here we go with the theme so you know what you're letting yourselves in for...

What I'd like for us to do in July is to forget the somewhat stagnant design lineage between 2293 and the TNG era, and come up with concept art of how dramatically different in-universe Trek could look - at either the beginning of the TNG era in 2364 (71 years since the end of the TOS movies), or in 2399 (20 years or so after the end of the TNG era). As Norsehound says for 2399:

The challenge is to create a New Look/feel/set staging completely different from the TNG universe. Leave behind LCARS, one-piece uniforms, and organic looking ships. Treat TNG like yesteryear's TOS (Or appropriately, TMP) and design for us an alternate 2380 {2399} that is just as dramatically different as the early trek movies are from TOS.

For example, one of my bugbears are the massive consoles (conn, ops, and all the others). Why are they so bulky?? I know that in the real world they have to contain all the styrofoam rocks, explosives, CRT monitors, and lighting equipment required for the show, but in-universe shouldn't they be wafer-thin, floating in mid-air, firm to the touch yet yielding to a fall or impact?

I want to see your take on a no-holds barred, totally futuristic 2364 or 2399. In the words of MisterD:

What do you think Federation ships/technology of that era should look like? I want to see it all. Ships (outside and inside), LCARS, uniforms, equipment (phasers, tricorders etc.).......all that stuff and more.

Or, to put it slightly more succinctly (as I said to a fellow board member):

...amongst all that waffle, what I'm trying to say is: redesign the TNG era. Get rid of all the old TOS/TOS Movies trappings and make it completely different.  I mean, they're still using warp drive, and phasers, and tricorders, and navigational deflectors, and those corridors and transporter pads have been around for ever! It's old news, dahling.

Yikes - I'm beginning to sound like Edna Mode  

 Or, if you don't want to change TNG's style, then change Picard/2399 style instead - it's just too similar to what came before.

 Despite setting this theme myself (because I "won" the In Times of Crisis challenge in June), I was devoid of ideas - except for a flying saucer-esque Enterprise-D which languished in my notebook until 19th July when I finally sketched it out...

Saturday Swim: Submerged SeaWitch

Hold on to your lunches!  (Don't even try and guess what this is)

You can blame Mistress Maddie for what is about to be inflicting upon you!

::

But to give you a little time to prepare yourselves, here are some photos from Thursday morning's swim:

The Host's stone spiral (last seen here) as discovered (left), and refurbished (right)

PEOPLE!!!

 Look!  Look!!!  They're everywhere!

 This was the main beach here at lunchtime today, on one of the hottest days of the year so far.  The tide had just started to go out and, I suspect, there would have been more ghastly people if the tide was on its way out earlier in the morning and it was a weekend.

 The reason I'm posting these pictures is that Ms Scarlet, amongst others, has marvelled at how deserted the beach is in my photos.  Well, that's mainly because in the summer, I only go down to the beach (for a walk or a swim) first thing in the morning, and when the tide is right in (if possible).  I also don't go to this bit, the main beach.  No, I disappear up the other end, to the east, which is inconvenient to get to for most families and lazy-arses, and pretty much inaccessible during high tide unless one has fully workable legs and doesn't mind a bit of muddy clay and getting wet.

 If - in the unfortunate scenario - I find myself atop the cliff here on a weekend when the tide is out, I will take some more photos.  But, I truly hope that I don't have the opportunity, as being in such close proximity to people* almost made me turn inside out in horror, social distancing or no!


* I suspect some of these were the one's that Mitzi threatened me with, here.

Oh, Puffballs!

 It's a Thursday, which means that I went down to the thin sliver of beach (tide was very, very in) this morning and threw myself in the sea.  However, other than cormorants (and a seal) nothing much of note was going on down there, so today's post is a bit of a mish-mash of stuff from the last few days instead.
 First up: a couple of puffballs that have sprung (puffed?) up just up the road.  The Mother thinks they look like skulls...

::

Saturday Swim: Sparkling Sea

The cormorant-infested End-of-the-Line
this morning at quarter past nine.
Pretty, isn't it?

 Another sunny weekend means another early(ish) morning swim in the sea.

 I know.  I know...  Wiz zees beach posts I'm reelly zpoiling boring you!
 Well, quite frankly, I've got cock all else to post about.  I haven't really done anything lately other than work, poke about in the garden (it's not terribly interesting at the moment otherwise there'd be loads of garden photos here), and watch Netflix (Spaced and Star Trek). 
 I haven't even got any Star Trek art work to show you - except for the Vulcan script/calligraphy I've been scrawling in the sand (yes, there's more of it in this post.  Sorry).

Oh, well... Here we go, starting with the view from the top, then down to what has become my usual swim spot, and several photos of sparkling seas (because I couldn't choose just one or two).