"Grandad is a Poo Face"

Well, yes, quite frankly, he is.

 This, like last week's publication, is just another mish-mash post because I don't have anything specific to relay.  My niece, Lionel (not her real name) scrawled the always amusing epithet above on our garage wall some months ago, yet it is only now that I have got around to taking a photo of it to share here.  I'd actually only gone outside in the rain to take a photo of 'Eva Boerg' swinging away under a bird box, when I realised I could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

. . .

 

 Now, a little music from our favourite Pop Princess, Kylie.  Apparently, this track - "Running" - didn't make the cut for her upcoming album, Tension, but it is still utterly fabulous!

. . .

 

 I finished The Bullet That Missed (see last post) and definitely have a crush on Bogdan.  The last page of chapter 84 cinched the deal - I just wanted to give him a big hug.  And then he'd reciprocate with those big, muscular, tattooed arms.  Ahhhhh...

 

 Anyway, enough about Bogdan (even though I don't think there can ever be too much Bogdan).  I have started a re-read of Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman (last re-reads here in 2013 and here in 2008).

 I've wanted to read this collection of short stories again for quite a few years, but had been thwarted by not having the book.  You see, I'd lent it to my sister, Indescribable (Lionel's mum), a long, long time ago, but every time I'd asked for it back she claimed to have already returned it because it definitely wasn't in her house anywhere.  Definitely.

 Except until it was (she found it behind some other books in her unruly bookcase a couple of months ago and sheepishly gave it back to me). 

. . .

 

 Star Trek!  I am EXTREMELY excited for the forthcoming episode of Strange New Worlds because it's a crossover with my favourite Trek show, the animated Lower Decks, and features a live action Boimler (in the clip below) and Mariner (both played by their respective voice actors, Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome).

 Unfortunately, I won't be watching it when it airs on Thursday because I don't have Paramount+, so I'll have to make do with clips and screencaps until it comes out on BluRay (or I can get a free trial of P+ or something).  Bah!

. . .

 

 Finally, last month I found this scrawled piece of advice in a field of oil seed rape while walking Bitey:

 

 I'm not going to pay it any heed as I like thinking, and don't like doing!

"Admiral! There be whales here!"

 Just popping in to drop off some things I've found:

 

 The lovely Lee Pace in Foundation season 2: "The Fight" (although, he's doing things that are slightly less lovely than those done by Ned the Pieman in Pushing Daisies which is where he first came to my attention) found at Tor.com here.

(I don't watch Foundation - don't have Apple TV - and haven't read the books, but Lee Pace!!!)

 

 

The Bullet That Missed, by Richard Osman.

 

 Well, I didn't find this - my sister, Indescribable, lent it to me (just as she did the first two).  I'm enjoying it just as much as the others, and I'm rather looking forward to the fourth in the series - The Last Devil To Die - later this year.

 

 Also, I think I have a crush on Bogdan...

 

 (Don't mind my Ctenanthe amabilis - it was rather put out that I haven't featured it on the blog yet, so I let it loll around in the background for this shot)

 

 

 . . . 

 

 Let's have some music, shall we?

 

 Röyksopp - 'The Next Day' ft. Jamie Irrepressible (Mind Against Remix)

 

 

 . . .

 

Oh!  Remember to take some photos of fields & grass for Melanie's Nature Led July photo challenge.

 

Skylark field (off Madam's Lane) from this morning's Bitey walk

 

 

 . . . 

 I'll leave you with this exhilarating clip from Fantasia 2000: Humpback whales flying to Pines of Rome, by Ottorino Respighi.

(Now I want to watch Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home!)

[From which this post's title was taken)]

"Next-to-the-Garage-Door" got knocked off!

 I hope that vibrant mallow up there got your attention?  Good.

 

 Despite having been absent for a couple of weeks, I have very little to say for myselves and next to no time with which to say it, so here are a few photos from the garden and the beach.  Please accept the garden photos as a reminder to get snapping in your own gardens in readiness for...

the House of

 

I N F O M A N I A C

 

Garden Photos Event 2023

... later in the year.  November, to be a little more precise.

(I'm hoping my wall-hanging green gate will be repleat with passionflowers, fuchsias, and spiderplants come the end of the season)

At the end of the garden lurk lilac, Ligularia przewalskii, laurel, and hostas.

Oh, and a Cordyline.

Water, Water Everywhere!

June is Water Month over at Melanie's Nature Led blog, and she wants to see

"your bodies

– of water that is!  Ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, waterfalls, fountains being appreciated by wildlife, your favorite puddle or bog."

(Click the link for full 'terms & conditions')

 So, with that in mind, I set out with Camera yesterday to see what I could snap.  Unfortunately, yesterday lunchtime down on the beach was a bit dismal (but warm), and quite people even though the tide was in!  Suffice to say, the few water-related photos I took were rather lacklustre:

I availed myself of a swim while I was down there.

That's my stuff draped on the revetment on the right.  And, look - on the far left: People!

Because someone wondered where the cormorants were.

Salt Rooks

 

  So, there I was, minding my own business when I was accosted by a bunch of salt rooks!  I mean, the very nerve.  If they think their display of sharp-edged, cubic cuppery was going to intimidate me, well, they had another thing coming.

 Oh, for fu....  They're just salt crystals!  You'd inadvertantly debigulated us again!

 That's beside the point.  Those crystalline carbuncles are no better than bloody Tholians!  I've a good mind to get Nancy Crater down here.  She'll show those pes-

 Stop.  Just stop.  Your grasp of Star Trek is almost as flimsy as The Very Mistress's.

 Hmmmph!

 Right.  I'll continue captioning these photos from yesterday evening and this morning, then.

Once the seawater had evaporated from the pitted and crumbling promenade,

all that's left are salt crystals.

No wind and no waves mean smooth seas.

"Summer Hath Aroused" thoughts of the Infomaniac Garden Photos Event

 Oof!  Nearly fell back into the all consuming "All".  Fortunately, the most recent questing tentacle from All turned out to be little more than a tendril, and is now* eating a cheese & coleslaw sandwich (made by me!) while safely ensconced in the recliner downstairs nursing a gashed shin. 

 So, as Summer has finally** reached the north-eastiest bit of East Anglia (which means it's too hot to be outside doing anything) I find myself with some unexpected free time - enough to whip up a reminder for:

the House of

I N F O M A N I A C

Garden Photos Event 2023

 

* About 11:30ish at the time of writing.

** Summer landed in most of Blighty last week.  Apparently, temperatures in the mid-to-high 20s abounded, but not here.  The cold North Wind (from the North Sea, funnily enough) kept the clouds in place and the temperatures at least 10 degrees cooler than practically everywhere else.

Until today.  It might get as warm as 20°C!

 Ooh, before I forget, in book news, I have finished The Thursday Murder Club, and have started the second book in the series by Richard Osman: The Man Who Died Twice.  While reading a few more pages last night, I found myself thinking that Elizabeth and Joyce are very much like Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg respectively, from Sir Pterry Pratchett's Discworld.  This is obviously a good thing.

 Now, back to the GPE reminder and some photographs of subjects you have (mostly) seen before a thousand times:

 

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascenais) flower bud

 As you should all be aware by now, the annual Infomaniac Garden Photos Event is held here, rather than at The Very Mistress's hallowed cesspit knitting blog, The Infomaniac.  (For the forgetful, easily confused, and any newcomers, further information can be found by clicking on the Garden Photos Event page at the top of this blog).

 

 This year, just as in years past, the Event will be held in November, so please set to with your cameras and photograph the luxurient growth of your garden, courtyard, terrace, conservatory, windowbox, house plant (delete as applicable) so you have something to send in nearer the time.

 If you don't have a garden or pot plant but would like to take part, just take a photo/s of a favourite plant (or twelve) from a local park or wild area that you frequent (and I do mean frequent - somewhere you visit reasonably regularly to enjoy the greenery) and send them in, but please make sure you let me know where the photos were taken.

 

 I will publish further haranguing nagging reminders throughout the Summer and Autumn, as well as instructions and deadlines etc. (which are usually along the lines of: email me your photos and captions by the end of October - email address, if you don't already have it, is in my blog profile on right).

 

 As you may recall from April's GPE primer, this year's sub-theme is:

Honeybee swarm inspecting my compost heap

Flora and Fauna

 So, if you can take a photo or two of non-human, non-domesticated animal visitors - birds, butterflies, bees, bugs, and/or bears - to your unkempt undergrowth or manicured green patch, please do.  They can be sent in along with your main chlorophyll-based lifeform photos.

Time for Cloverfield...

 ... Just not the one with the gigantic, people-squashing, city-destroying, monster.

I am extremely pleased with how this sun-behind-a-dandelion-clock photo came out.  Extremely.

The clover field in question

Which, thankfully, was "ready for it's close-up, Mr Device"

Lost in the Sunshine

Thank you for sharing your latest tune, Sophie.

And how apt is its title for this sunny Bank Holiday weekend?!

 

 We thought we'd get in quick before the flurry of blog activity that is bound to occur on Sunday.  After Mago's startling Sunday Music on a Saturday he returned to the normal Sunday showing last week, so I expect more of the same tomorrow.  Ms Scarlet has all but promised to publish something tomorrow too (it was too misty to do so on Wednesday, apparently).  And what if Mr Peenee and Dinah make another appearance?? 

 And then, of course, there are the blogging stalwarts who show up every day come rain or shine (except when they're on holiday - remember to fill in the Holiday Rota!): Jon, Mistress Maddie, and Mr Tonking.

 Anyway, in the absence of anything more interesting, may I present the photos of Bertie Bitey on the beach (which I didn't get around to last week), my Little Red Bush, and something from this morning.

 

20th May

 

It Came From the Sea!

It's not all blue skies...

 Eeek!  It's been a week since my last post, so to stave off the non-blogging inertia, here are a load of photos that I've taken so far this month.  Oh, and some new Kylie to listen to as you wade through them:

 

7th May

My Gin Time corner (with a disappearing interferer)

The rest of the shady Gin Time corner

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...

The Blob! (and other Unusual Suspects at Pensthorpe)

 In an effort to get away from it all*, me and my sister Inexcuseable took a trip to Penisthorpe (as she likes to call it - and so now does her son, Count Podgekinson, 5!) yesterday.

 After an underwhelming welcome from a handful of ducks, geese, and a few black headed gulls, we headed out into the reserve.  Much to our surprise/digust/horror, one of the first things we came across was an iridescent alien egg sack (which we later discovered was only a slime mould, Enteridium lycoperdon - the false puffball).

Well, of course we poked it (those are Inexcuseable's fingers, not mine)

Newly hatched ducklings

The Infomaniac Garden Photos Event 2023 Primer

The House of

I N F O M A N I A C

Garden Photos Event 2023

 

 

 Hello, and welcome to this, the primer for this year's Infomaniac Garden Photos Event! 

 As all the regulars and old hats will already know, the GPE was brought into being by the Infomaniac herself, The Very Mistress, for all of us Blogorati to show off our green (and sometimes brown) fingered/thumbed skills, whether it's one or two photos showcasing a prized specimen, or a whole slew of snaps covering EVERYTHING that you've nurtured and prodded into growth throughout the year.  

My latest purchase: Chocolate vine (Akebia quinata)

 And this year is no different.  As with recent GPEs, this year's will be held in November, so you have months and months and months to capture images of your luxurient growth (if you haven't already started), whether it be in your garden, courtyard, balcony, windowbox, terrarium, or dining table vase.  If there's not much of note going on in your garden right now, and you are prone to forgetfulness - I'm not going to pick out Savvy this year as she defied expectations and got in reasonably early last year - I shall be issuing reminders throughout the yea-

Nagging and haranguing, more like.

Quiet you!