By Slanted Light

Another not-good-at-working day, with the result that it was a late night again... But that was also because I couldn't resist going out into the blue skies for a couple of hours (it was only meant to be one, of course...) with my detector before the sunset...

It was a lovely evening on the farm, with birds singing and mushrooms peeping at me from the grass. My favourite Gruffalo tree looks like they're enjoying it too. *g*

I found a few bits, possibly historically interesting, and then as the sun was setting and I was heading for home, there was one last beautifully clear high pitched tone - the kind of tone that sings gold! or silver! (apparently...) And I still don't know if it does, because this turned out to be a gun! It's a little three-inch gun in fact, with "Special Agent" on both sides, but for just a minute I wondered if it might be real - it's heavy enough for it!

Ended the day on bad news though - someone stole a bag of food from our foodsaving volunteers tonight, just said "I'll take that" and walked out with it as the volunteer was collecting it! Sods! They can have regular bags of free food if they like! There's cctv of whoever it was, so hopefully the police will be able to track them down... But sorting this out isn't what I wanted to be doing this weekend! Grrr...

Ending this on a brighter note though - I'm trying to decide whether to sign up for Yuletide again this year. I quite enjoyed it last year, and the story was well-received (more A03 kudos than any of my Pros stories, in fact!) I've a fairly limited range of offerings and wants, but then I did get a lovely little Mathey/Lynes story for myself last year, so... well actually yes, perhaps I will sign up again!

Finished an ongoing proofreading job, which is more fun than the usual (kids education books) but did seem to be dragging a bit as I waited for the docs. Nice to have cleared that from my books (as Nico Rathe might say... *g*). And I had rather alot of regular proofreading today too, and actually finished earlier than my normal 1.00am sessions, so yeay - not that I took myself to bed much earlier, cos I needed to prepare software etc. for a work meeting for the next night, and then you want to wind down... *headdesk* But I did make time earlier to go for a walk up to a neighbouring hamlet... (actually that first pic is looking back to my village!)


It's looking very autumn now - and a bit winter-ish (by tradition rather than reality): look at the holly berries on that bush! I don't think I've ever seen such a thickly-berried holly bush! Of course they do say that lots of holly berries means a hard winter - hmmn! I guess we'll see!

Lots of other berries around too, which I love seeing.

I also adored these rainbow sheep! Of course since doing that spinning course last year, I know what the rainbow marks mean... *g*

Bumping into an old neighbour and stopping for a chat (how convivial!) meant that it was sunset before I was heading back - but what a sunset!

How're you doing? All staying safe, I hope! *g*

Started off well today, finishing off shortening the curtains I bought for the kitchen window... But I have since realised that I should have gone for a blind here rather than curtains, because even though they're a good length for the window they're probably going to get wet from the sink/dishes sometimes... rats. I had curtains at Old Place, but of course they were set into the window recess, so not near the sink. I didn't think of that when I was asked which I prefer here... Maybe I need to reorganise the window with one of those spring-loaded poles inside the recess to hold the curtains, and then sort of half-curtains on the curtain rod that's there now, just for the look of it... But that's just all going to have to wait until I've at least finished unpacking!

This is what the day looked like, pretty much all day, so I stayed snug at home...

...until, that is, the foodsaving volunteer told me at the last minute she was home sick and couldn't make it, and it was really too late to ask anyone else, so off I went. On the bright side it stopped raining just before I left! And when I got back I went and stood out by the gate and tried to take a night photo. Not very successful (with my phone) but it was so peaceful, except for owls hooting... *sighs happily*

My plan for being able to just get on with work doesn't seem to be kicking in yet though - it was another 1.30am work night last night, hence being behind with this post... ack! (And then lj didn't want to load for me this morning, which was a bit worrying - thank goodness it finally did! I must update my back-ups...)

I didn't forget to post yesterday, it just turned out to be another day running (although sometimes strolling) around like a mad thing, and more so in the couple of hours up to midnight, bizarrely!

Our village is having a Yard Sale Trail weekend, so I went off to have a wander around first. I only got halfway, and will have to do the others today! The ivy is getting ever more red, and a closer look with slightly less wind shows me tinturtle was right - this is just an oak tree! I don't think I've ever seen one so gloriously golden as this one, though!

Back home with tired feet for lunch, and I was determined to get out metal detecting even just for a couple of hours, so I decided to do that before the forecast rain potentially came (it didn't *g*). The field I chose had been recently rotivated, but I think it must also have been covered with "green manure" because it was full of bits of plastic and glass and broken screws and things (green manure - hah!) I'll have to ask the farmers what they put on there... I gave up and headed up to another field I'd never done before (which I can see from my window *g*) and found something proper - not sure what it is, but it was a thing! Possibly a cutlery handle - the other side is hollow with a bit jutting out at the top, which would possibly have attached to the other side of it. Or I might be making that up! It looks really familiar for some reason though...

I had visitors to my garden too! It's a rubbish picture because I was behind glass and the sun was shining at just the wrong angle, but - partridges! They eventually jumped up onto the wall and over into landlord's garden. Partridges! *g* And my final photo, taken at the end of a long day that was really the start of the next one - I nipped outside to see if it was clear enough for stars, and found the fields were shrouded in mist that looked like this when I took a photo of it! I could actually see stars too - Cassaeopia, and what SkyMap swore was Neptune shining bright, though I'm not at all convinced - too bright and too red (and I've just checked, and Neptune is definitely a binoculars-only object, which is what I thought. Stoopid SkyMap!), so I'm guessing Mars, or maybe Jupiter or Saturn. Anyway - how fab to be able to step outside my door again and see the stars! I have missed that! *g*

( Time-consuming chaos... )

The sun came out today...


The cows were in a different barn... ...and I watched two pigeons in a strange relationship... The female kept trying to put her wing over the male, and he'd intermittently shake her off. She'd try and nuzzle in to talk to him, but he wasn't having any. Eventually she flew off in a huff, and then he flew off too. It was all so very human!

Went for a walk around the paddocks - that hill is where the bullbeggar lives. I'm quite convinced of that from this picture!

Then I came across what looks more like a pooka than an ordinary bunny! Still some blackberries around, too.

Two of my favourite trees - this lone tree (which isn't at all alone, but looks very dramatic *g*), and the Gruffalo tree! *g*

And finally - sunset.

Opened the curtains to these views this morning - blue sky! A rainbow!

...and then it rained.

Nipped out for a walk when it seemed to have cleared up a bit more...

...although I had a feeling about what might happen in a little while... *g*

Quick walk through the village to check for signs of autumn...

...which is clearly here, because it started raining just before I got home again (into my nice warm, dry new place... *g*)


...and it rained and rained and rained... And I was very glad that it wasn't my night for foodsaving, I have to say... *g*

I should have been in London now, ready for the whirlwind of Job 2, perhaps having had a quick meet-up and natter with a London mate... Instead there is this, at least.

Monday Escape after work




Tuesday Escape

But then my interwebz refused to play just as I was about to post this last night, so now it's Frustrating Thursday. Which I know doesn't alliterate, but I can't think of a th word that fits right now, especially as I still have to finish work tonight. *sigh* So - have yesterday, which was far nicer!

It's a Wonderful Wednesday today, because I've taken the day off! I'm at the bit of the year where I've been proofreading for soooo long that my brain and eyes are starting to fry. I've had less work since this covid-19 thing started, but I'm also finding it harder to concentrate - and I wasn't finding it easy before that! So I'm building in some sanity days off, because I just have to. *g* And today I did happy-making things.

Checked Servant of Two Masters to see if I could hear ali15son's whisper of "Oh sorry" from Bodie to Doyle - and I could! It's there! He says it! I so love that we're still finding new things in the eps 43 years later! *vbg* Have the lads in celebration!


I was metal detecting on my permission on Sunday (*sighs happily*) and I actually felt in control of my metal detector for the first time - yeay! I was able to set the settings and recognise when it was finding iron compared to other metals (not as easy as you'd think!) I dug some of the iron anyway, and was dead chuffed when I turned out to be right - Victorian iron nails, my obligatory horseshoe (probably Victorian again, I think) - and then three signals that didn't seem quite like iron! Okay, I'm getting off my Wednesday topic, aren't I?! *headdesk* Anyway - I found a lead splodge, an odd fragment of loopy metal with decoration on it - and my first coin! *g* Okay, it was only a 1905 Edward VII halfpenny - but I found a coin! *vbg*

And the whole reason I started talking about that was because someone said the odd little loopy thing might be a buckle fragment, and my book on buckles (shush, it's cool!) arrived today, and it does indeed turn out to be a bit of probably-eighteenth century buckle! Wheee! How it got into the middle of that field, far from any apparent houses, I don't know, because it must have been a relatively delicate buckle. Look - my bit of buckle, in the middle of a comparative picture for dating. *g*(Not quite the same shape, but they had rectangular ones around the same time. *g*)

I also bought a mixer - the kind that you make cakes and things with. *g* I always want to call them Mixmasters, cos that's what my mum had. Still miss that one, it was perfect! *g* Anyway, someone local was selling it, and I suddenly realised that I could perhaps make space in that corner, and she was kind enough to let me try it out before I actually bought it, and it worked beautifully. It's a shame I took the cake out far too early and the fact that it was a peach cake with peaches in meant that I couldn't skewer test it, and that it fell apart, partly-uncooked, and had to be put back in on a roasting tray to sort itself out. *headdesk* So no pretty picture as I was planning - but it did still taste good. Although it needed a pinch of salt! Mum's cakes always had a pinch of salt, and this was why! *g*

And then I made pesto for dinner, and I love homemade pesto, and I was lazy and re-watched some Detectorists. *vbg* And - rather oddly, considering I'm reading the Aubrey/Maturin books set in the early 1800s (hey - that's when my buckle might be from! *vbg*), I thought about my WWII Pros fic, which is still sitting in my WIP folder...

What else? Turns out you get sunburned in completely different places when you're metal detecting, so even though I used suncream, I missed half the places the sun caught me. Ouch! Oh - the cows are out of the field that's only just over the fence! Which is actually a bit frustrating, cos I spotted that when it was too late to detect on Wednesday, was trying to work this morning and couldn't, when the weather was still nice enough to detect - and now it's forecast rain all weekend! Although I have taken two days off next week... *g*

Erm... and I wrote a Prosfic! Just a wee little one, but it was fun and makes me want to write again... Oh, but there's too many things to do!

How're you doing this week? *g*

Well, it's that day - Day 100 of 100 Days of Happiness! And naturally it had to be a challenging one... I woke late, with a headache, and perhaps rather foolishly a decision not to take painkillers because it was nearly a week later and I'd better see how I'm really feeling. I also, for some reason, had a slightly dodgy tummy. All in all, I couldn't concentrate on work either, with the consequence that as usual I'm here in the small hours trying to get finished. Which will mean I'll wake late tomorrow. Plus it was colder again - though at least it didn't rain. Grumble, grumble, grump!

So - I finally decided I'd better go down the garden for a look around in the vague hope that I might find something happy to post about! And it worked. *g*

The sky! The sky was doing gorgeous things with clouds! And when I got to the bottom of the field and peered over the hedge at the hill, there was the moon looking all big and pale and gorgeous.




Also, as I stood near the Slaughterhouse, eying the gorgeous sky, I realised that I could hear baby birds from up under the roof, where I'd seen ravens going in and out. So I watched, and I watched, and I watched...

...and sure enough the parents put in an appearance! It took me a fair few shots to get something recognisably bird-like rather than a scrappy black mass of something in the air, but that was fun too - and that is happy-making. *g*

And we have to finish with some flowers, because they are always happy-making. Some blossom still lingering on the fruit trees (hmmn, is that the quince?) And the yellow roses, standing high above the trellis against the gorgeous sky.


So - I started this 100 days way back on January 26th, when the world was a very different place... The UK was still (just) in the EU, I didn't yet own a metal detector, and people were allowed to leave their houses whenever they felt like it, and for no apparent reason at all... Perhaps a strange happy at the end of this 100 days is that I have a bit more faith in more people than I did at the start. There are some idiots out there, and there are some frightening idiots, but the vast majority of people in the world (that we're able to see, anyway) seem to be showing that maybe the Doctor was right after all - maybe humans are basically good and able to look out for each other. Some of them do it by going out and doing wonderful things, some do it just by staying home when they're told to, to avoid hurting other people, but it seems like more people are doing those things than trying to push their own selfish agendas. Most people are caring more about other people than they are about money, and I find that quite happy-making.

Now let's see if I can keep posting, even if I don't put "100 Days" in the subject header... *g*