It's warm out there today...
Tuesday, 23 June 2020 03:08 pm
It was a Wonderful Wednesday...
Thursday, 11 June 2020 09:04 pmBut 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![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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*
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*
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*
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*
100 Days of Happiness 2020 - Day 67
Friday, 3 April 2020 12:48 amHmmn, well I've just been told off by my sister for suggesting that other people's feelings might also need to be considered (a nurse who fucked up but luckily it turned out okay in mum's care home), and I'm still trying to work out what to say to an old friend who is rather more to the right wing than I'm comfortable with, and posted a Nigel Farage vid on her fb page without apparently knowing who he was (or why he's a frightening and awful human being), and although I've been sent more work (good) it's a really difficult document that's going to last four days if I can get my finger out, and... just...
Right.
1. Talking to friends on Threema today - that was happy. *waves to you* *g*
2. Having to cover for food saving again today, so saving it up for my daily exercise outing, receiving more food than we've had for ages, walking home with it at 8pm which was clap-the-NHS-and-Key-Workers time, and trying to clap with both hands heavy with bin-bags of saved food, but everyone I passed being smiling and friendly and laughing with me as I tried. Getting home with it in-half-despair thinking what am I going to do with it all to find half a dozen of the neighbours still in the street and happy to save some of the food, which I laid out on my boxes, which I'd left in my car, and then stepped back two metres or so, so that people could come and get things one at a time, which they mostly did (just a few people still not getting it!), and still enough left over to take to a friend who I'd offered some to before I realised there'd be that much! So... that all worked out. No food was thrown away, people took it which means they'll be out slightly less often to go shopping and thus risking covid-19, and... yeah. Ultimately - happy. But it's been that kind of complicated day!
3. Oh, happy that my shoulder blades and neck (and tooth that I didn't mention earlier cos I don't want to talk about teeth, and I took a paracetamol) have all settled down, at least for a bit, and will hopefully be fine tomorrow. *g*
4. Thinking oh-fuck-it about work, and watching a documentary about the Mary Rose, because god I miss history... and I can't even metal detect right now! Well maybe in the garden, because landlord said it was my garden too. So - maybe I could detect in the garden this weekend when it's nice, and plant my seeds, and... detect in the garden. *g* Anyway - cool show, even though it made me miss isotopes and think about what could have been... Hmmn. Come to think of it, I don't think anyone who's likely to read this now will have any idea what I mean, but if you were with me way back in 2005 or 2006 or 2007 you might...
5. Oh buggrit.
6. And I will be reading Forever True again shortly, which, just... melt...
Right.
1. Talking to friends on Threema today - that was happy. *waves to you* *g*
2. Having to cover for food saving again today, so saving it up for my daily exercise outing, receiving more food than we've had for ages, walking home with it at 8pm which was clap-the-NHS-and-Key-Workers time, and trying to clap with both hands heavy with bin-bags of saved food, but everyone I passed being smiling and friendly and laughing with me as I tried. Getting home with it in-half-despair thinking what am I going to do with it all to find half a dozen of the neighbours still in the street and happy to save some of the food, which I laid out on my boxes, which I'd left in my car, and then stepped back two metres or so, so that people could come and get things one at a time, which they mostly did (just a few people still not getting it!), and still enough left over to take to a friend who I'd offered some to before I realised there'd be that much! So... that all worked out. No food was thrown away, people took it which means they'll be out slightly less often to go shopping and thus risking covid-19, and... yeah. Ultimately - happy. But it's been that kind of complicated day!
3. Oh, happy that my shoulder blades and neck (and tooth that I didn't mention earlier cos I don't want to talk about teeth, and I took a paracetamol) have all settled down, at least for a bit, and will hopefully be fine tomorrow. *g*
4. Thinking oh-fuck-it about work, and watching a documentary about the Mary Rose, because god I miss history... and I can't even metal detect right now! Well maybe in the garden, because landlord said it was my garden too. So - maybe I could detect in the garden this weekend when it's nice, and plant my seeds, and... detect in the garden. *g* Anyway - cool show, even though it made me miss isotopes and think about what could have been... Hmmn. Come to think of it, I don't think anyone who's likely to read this now will have any idea what I mean, but if you were with me way back in 2005 or 2006 or 2007 you might...
5. Oh buggrit.
6. And I will be reading Forever True again shortly, which, just... melt...
100 Days of Happiness 2020 - Day 31 - Normal Wednesday
Thursday, 27 February 2020 11:16 amNormal to the point that I didn't even manage to make my Happy post - my head was burring around all the other things that I was trying to do. But:
- I found a detecting group that do digs relatively locally, and there's one on a week on Saturday that I might go to. Lots of people already signed up, and there are a few women in the mix, so at least there'll be someone to ask about the loo situation!
- I may have bought a detecting hoodie for the women's detecting group I joined (Fb)
- Happy memories of a lovely long weekend in London! *g*
Lads, for retro-active happy. *g*
- I found a detecting group that do digs relatively locally, and there's one on a week on Saturday that I might go to. Lots of people already signed up, and there are a few women in the mix, so at least there'll be someone to ask about the loo situation!
- I may have bought a detecting hoodie for the women's detecting group I joined (Fb)
- Happy memories of a lovely long weekend in London! *g*
Lads, for retro-active happy. *g*
100 Days of Happiness 2020 - Day 23 - Tuesday
Wednesday, 19 February 2020 01:17 amHmmn...
1 - nearly getting work done in time to go to the local history soc meeting (stoopid footnotes)
2 - going to the local history soc meeting (which was all about poisons, and by my friend S's husband)
3 - finishing work and celebrating by watching The Durrells. Cos sunshine and cosiness and laughing
4 - working on a Pros project that I've left abandoned for a bit... In celebration of which, let's have a pic of the lads!
1 - nearly getting work done in time to go to the local history soc meeting (stoopid footnotes)
2 - going to the local history soc meeting (which was all about poisons, and by my friend S's husband)
3 - finishing work and celebrating by watching The Durrells. Cos sunshine and cosiness and laughing
4 - working on a Pros project that I've left abandoned for a bit... In celebration of which, let's have a pic of the lads!
100 Days of Happiness 2020 - Day 18 - Thursday
Friday, 14 February 2020 12:57 pmBehind again, because it was late when I finished work again last night (and I suspect the same will happen tonight if I don't get on with it!) But - happy things yesterday:
- booking a train and a room for two nights in London to meet an lj-friend at last!
- hopefully also being able to meet up with a Pros-y friend at the same time. *g*
- reading and books! I re-read Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, which I loved with much passion the first time, and again this time. Heartbreaking but hopeful. A book I'd ordered from Wordery.com (who pay their UK taxes) arrived. Yeay! And when I nipped into town to stock up on dishwashing liquid I couldn't resist also nipping into the independent bookshop there, and I might have bought another book... which I felt a bit guilty about, but also happy! *g*
And the lads. I read DVS's Buying the Merc for bedtime reading, and that made me happy too! So let's have lads (cos I didn't take any other photos yesterday).
- booking a train and a room for two nights in London to meet an lj-friend at last!
- hopefully also being able to meet up with a Pros-y friend at the same time. *g*
- reading and books! I re-read Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, which I loved with much passion the first time, and again this time. Heartbreaking but hopeful. A book I'd ordered from Wordery.com (who pay their UK taxes) arrived. Yeay! And when I nipped into town to stock up on dishwashing liquid I couldn't resist also nipping into the independent bookshop there, and I might have bought another book... which I felt a bit guilty about, but also happy! *g*
And the lads. I read DVS's Buying the Merc for bedtime reading, and that made me happy too! So let's have lads (cos I didn't take any other photos yesterday).
100 Days of Happiness 2020 - Day 11 - Pros and People
Friday, 7 February 2020 09:46 amI ended up so late last night that I couldn't quite manage my post - and I wasn't working and we'd gone home from bookclub at a reasonable hour, so I don't know what happened there!
So - yesterday's happies...
Lots of Pros in my flist! Pics and fics - perfect! (and a vid earlier this week!) *g* Here's an example of what I mean...
So - yesterday's happies...
Lots of Pros in my flist! Pics and fics - perfect! (and a vid earlier this week!) *g* Here's an example of what I mean...
100 Days of Happiness 2020 - Day 10 - Pros!
Thursday, 6 February 2020 02:18 amMy cold has of course turned into a naggy cough, and this week's assignment is an interesting subject, but deathly English, which means it takes huge amounts of concentration and time to do properly - not currently my strongest points!
But... *g*
There were more holsters today, and people thinking about our lads in comments, and not counting my own one, there have been three Pros posts in my flist today! Two of them are for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
discoveredinalj Discovered on a Winter Holiday challenge, and I'm going to gaze on and read them over breakfast tomorrow (my eyes are melting right now...) - hurrah!
But... *g*
There were more holsters today, and people thinking about our lads in comments, and not counting my own one, there have been three Pros posts in my flist today! Two of them are for the
discoveredinalj Discovered on a Winter Holiday challenge, and I'm going to gaze on and read them over breakfast tomorrow (my eyes are melting right now...) - hurrah! Amused - and its really all about Pros
Wednesday, 5 February 2020 12:43 pmThe last time something like this happened, we ended up with something like this...
The Perils of Priapism
by Josey
And really, any excuse to think about the lads in their shoulder holsters, right? *vbg*
If I'm missing your favourite holster pic, maybe you could post it to your own lj today..? *wanders off whistling innocently yet hopefully*
by Josey
And really, any excuse to think about the lads in their shoulder holsters, right? *vbg*
If I'm missing your favourite holster pic, maybe you could post it to your own lj today..? *wanders off whistling innocently yet hopefully*
100 Days of Happiness 2020 - Day 2 - Digging it Sassy Style
Monday, 27 January 2020 11:28 pmActually I have three very specific things that made me happy today - yeay!
The first is that I called the Foodsharing people, cos I'd not heard from them yet after the reapplication, and time was getting on, and they confirmed that everything was all good and that we would be ready to start collecting food again around the end of February. Which is a shame we have to wait that long, but on the other hand it gives me time to get all sorts of things organised, hopefully. So yeay!
The second is that I made the West African sweet potato stew from last week's Riverford box, without too much hope considering the amount of chard in it, and it was seriously delicious. Nom nom nom. And left-overs for two more meals, too! *g*
The third is that I've just signed up for... a metal detecting rally! Wee, this is going to be me at the start of April:
Oh, did I mention that I have a new toy? *g* It was my reward for being so stupidly fretful about my tax this year, when it turned out I'd hugely overestimated what I'd have to pay. I'm one of them now. I'm a detectorist. *g* (Granted my first finds in landlord's big garden were pretty rubbish. Well, literally rubbish - an old nail, a piece of thick wire, some aluminium sheeting of some kind, and the piece de resistance - a pipe fitting. But my detector worked! It found the stuff! And I worked out that I needed to change from the field to the park setting, cos the garden was pretty trashy, and that the background noise I'm still getting is probably hot rocks (mineralised rocks), and... and... and then it rained on Sunday and then it was a work day, so I couldn't play any more, but... New game! *vbg*
Have some extra lads to celebrate.
The first is that I called the Foodsharing people, cos I'd not heard from them yet after the reapplication, and time was getting on, and they confirmed that everything was all good and that we would be ready to start collecting food again around the end of February. Which is a shame we have to wait that long, but on the other hand it gives me time to get all sorts of things organised, hopefully. So yeay!
The second is that I made the West African sweet potato stew from last week's Riverford box, without too much hope considering the amount of chard in it, and it was seriously delicious. Nom nom nom. And left-overs for two more meals, too! *g*
The third is that I've just signed up for... a metal detecting rally! Wee, this is going to be me at the start of April:
Oh, did I mention that I have a new toy? *g* It was my reward for being so stupidly fretful about my tax this year, when it turned out I'd hugely overestimated what I'd have to pay. I'm one of them now. I'm a detectorist. *g* (Granted my first finds in landlord's big garden were pretty rubbish. Well, literally rubbish - an old nail, a piece of thick wire, some aluminium sheeting of some kind, and the piece de resistance - a pipe fitting. But my detector worked! It found the stuff! And I worked out that I needed to change from the field to the park setting, cos the garden was pretty trashy, and that the background noise I'm still getting is probably hot rocks (mineralised rocks), and... and... and then it rained on Sunday and then it was a work day, so I couldn't play any more, but... New game! *vbg*
Have some extra lads to celebrate.
The lads - just because
Thursday, 28 November 2019 10:19 amIt was so nice to see Pros in my flist yesterday, even if it was also sad. So before I do anything else this morning, I thought I'd add some lads to our lives... 
31st October - a month of autumn to Halloween
Friday, 1 November 2019 01:22 amAnd here it is - Halloween...
Poetry for October
The Haunted Oak
By Paul Laurence Dunbar
Pray why are you so bare, so bare,
Oh, bough of the old oak-tree;
And why, when I go through the shade you throw,
Runs a shudder over me?
My leaves were green as the best, I trow,
And sap ran free in my veins,
But I saw in the moonlight dim and weird
A guiltless victim's pains.
I bent me down to hear his sigh;
I shook with his gurgling moan,
And I trembled sore when they rode away,
And left him here alone.
They'd charged him with the old, old crime,
And set him fast in jail:
Oh, why does the dog howl all night long,
And why does the night wind wail?
He prayed his prayer and he swore his oath,
And he raised his hand to the sky;
But the beat of hoofs smote on his ear,
And the steady tread drew nigh.
Who is it rides by night, by night,
Over the moonlit road?
And what is the spur that keeps the pace,
What is the galling goad?
And now they beat at the prison door,
"Ho, keeper, do not stay!
We are friends of him whom you hold within,
And we fain would take him away
"From those who ride fast on our heels
With mind to do him wrong;
They have no care for his innocence,
And the rope they bear is long."
They have fooled the jailer with lying words,
They have fooled the man with lies;
The bolts unbar, the locks are drawn,
And the great door open flies.
Now they have taken him from the jail,
And hard and fast they ride,
And the leader laughs low down in his throat,
As they halt my trunk beside.
Oh, the judge, he wore a mask of black,
And the doctor one of white,
And the minister, with his oldest son,
Was curiously bedight.
Oh, foolish man, why weep you now?
'Tis but a little space,
And the time will come when these shall dread
The mem'ry of your face.
I feel the rope against my bark,
And the weight of him in my grain,
I feel in the throe of his final woe
The touch of my own last pain.
And never more shall leaves come forth
On the bough that bears the ban;
I am burned with dread, I am dried and dead,
From the curse of a guiltless man.
And ever the judge rides by, rides by,
And goes to hunt the deer,
And ever another rides his soul
In the guise of a mortal fear.
And ever the man he rides me hard,
And never a night stays he;
For I feel his curse as a haunted bough,
On the trunk of a haunted tree.
Pictures for October
Tonight was supposed to be writing group, except that the other half of the group asked if we could go to the pub instead, and what's a girl to say...? I was fairly amazed, however, to find that my current reading had followed me...
Some pics taken on the way home (home less than barely 400 yards away)
Prosfic for October
Paper Flowers still before bed... I'm sleepy when I get there, that's the trouble!
...and the Lads!
Okay, kind of halloween-lads...? *g*
And here's to a happy November for everyone!
Poetry for October
The Haunted Oak
By Paul Laurence Dunbar
Pray why are you so bare, so bare,
Oh, bough of the old oak-tree;
And why, when I go through the shade you throw,
Runs a shudder over me?
My leaves were green as the best, I trow,
And sap ran free in my veins,
But I saw in the moonlight dim and weird
A guiltless victim's pains.
I bent me down to hear his sigh;
I shook with his gurgling moan,
And I trembled sore when they rode away,
And left him here alone.
They'd charged him with the old, old crime,
And set him fast in jail:
Oh, why does the dog howl all night long,
And why does the night wind wail?
He prayed his prayer and he swore his oath,
And he raised his hand to the sky;
But the beat of hoofs smote on his ear,
And the steady tread drew nigh.
Who is it rides by night, by night,
Over the moonlit road?
And what is the spur that keeps the pace,
What is the galling goad?
And now they beat at the prison door,
"Ho, keeper, do not stay!
We are friends of him whom you hold within,
And we fain would take him away
"From those who ride fast on our heels
With mind to do him wrong;
They have no care for his innocence,
And the rope they bear is long."
They have fooled the jailer with lying words,
They have fooled the man with lies;
The bolts unbar, the locks are drawn,
And the great door open flies.
Now they have taken him from the jail,
And hard and fast they ride,
And the leader laughs low down in his throat,
As they halt my trunk beside.
Oh, the judge, he wore a mask of black,
And the doctor one of white,
And the minister, with his oldest son,
Was curiously bedight.
Oh, foolish man, why weep you now?
'Tis but a little space,
And the time will come when these shall dread
The mem'ry of your face.
I feel the rope against my bark,
And the weight of him in my grain,
I feel in the throe of his final woe
The touch of my own last pain.
And never more shall leaves come forth
On the bough that bears the ban;
I am burned with dread, I am dried and dead,
From the curse of a guiltless man.
And ever the judge rides by, rides by,
And goes to hunt the deer,
And ever another rides his soul
In the guise of a mortal fear.
And ever the man he rides me hard,
And never a night stays he;
For I feel his curse as a haunted bough,
On the trunk of a haunted tree.
Pictures for October
Tonight was supposed to be writing group, except that the other half of the group asked if we could go to the pub instead, and what's a girl to say...? I was fairly amazed, however, to find that my current reading had followed me...
Some pics taken on the way home (home less than barely 400 yards away)
Prosfic for October
Paper Flowers still before bed... I'm sleepy when I get there, that's the trouble!
...and the Lads!
Okay, kind of halloween-lads...? *g*
And here's to a happy November for everyone!
30th October - a month of autumn to Halloween
Thursday, 31 October 2019 01:46 amPoetry for October
I think All Hallow's Eve eve means I can use this poem today...
The Shadow on the Stone
by Thomas Hardy
I went by the Druid stone
That broods in the garden white and lone,
And I stopped and looked at the shifting shadows
That at some moments fall thereon
From the tree hard by with a rhythmic swing,
And they shaped in my imagining
To the shade that a well-known head and shoulders
Threw there when she was gardening.
I thought her behind my back,
Yea, her I long had learned to lack,
And I said: ‘I am sure you are standing behind me,
Though how do you get into this old track?’
And there was no sound but the fall of a leaf
As a sad response; and to keep down grief
I would not turn my head to discover
That there was nothing in my belief.
Yet I wanted to look and see
That nobody stood at the back of me;
But I thought once more: ‘Nay, I’ll not unvision
A shape which, somehow, there may be.’
So I went on softly from the glade,
And left her behind me throwing her shade,
As she were indeed an apparition—
My head unturned lest my dream should fade.
Pictures for October
A wet autumn night...
Prosfic for October
Erm... no Prosfic today so far, but I did write a wee snippet... well, half a one, which I'll finish tomorrow, cos be-e-e-e-ed...
...and the Lads!
Well it has to be umbrella pics, really...
I think All Hallow's Eve eve means I can use this poem today...
The Shadow on the Stone
by Thomas Hardy
I went by the Druid stone
That broods in the garden white and lone,
And I stopped and looked at the shifting shadows
That at some moments fall thereon
From the tree hard by with a rhythmic swing,
And they shaped in my imagining
To the shade that a well-known head and shoulders
Threw there when she was gardening.
I thought her behind my back,
Yea, her I long had learned to lack,
And I said: ‘I am sure you are standing behind me,
Though how do you get into this old track?’
And there was no sound but the fall of a leaf
As a sad response; and to keep down grief
I would not turn my head to discover
That there was nothing in my belief.
Yet I wanted to look and see
That nobody stood at the back of me;
But I thought once more: ‘Nay, I’ll not unvision
A shape which, somehow, there may be.’
So I went on softly from the glade,
And left her behind me throwing her shade,
As she were indeed an apparition—
My head unturned lest my dream should fade.
Pictures for October
A wet autumn night...
Prosfic for October
Erm... no Prosfic today so far, but I did write a wee snippet... well, half a one, which I'll finish tomorrow, cos be-e-e-e-ed...
...and the Lads!
Well it has to be umbrella pics, really...
29th October - a month of autumn to Halloween
Wednesday, 30 October 2019 01:13 amGosh, the 29th... nearly there!
Poetry for October
Come, Little Leaves
by George Cooper
"Come, little leaves," said the wind one day,
"Come o'er the meadows with me and play;
Put on your dresses of red and gold,
For summer is gone and the days grow cold."
Soon as the leaves heard the wind's loud call,
Down they came fluttering, one and all;
Over the brown fields they danced and flew,
Singing the glad little songs they knew.
"Cricket, good-by, we've been friends so long,
Little brook, sing us your farewell song;
Say you are sorry to see us go;
Ah, you will miss us, right well we know.
"Dear little lambs in your fleecy fold,
Mother will keep you from harm and cold;
Fondly we watched you in vale and glade,
Say, will you dream of our loving shade?"
Dancing and whirling, the little leaves went,
Winter had called them, and they were content;
Soon, fast asleep in their earthy beds,
The snow laid a coverlid over their heads.
Pictures for October
Today's pics come with a story. Off I went for a walk today, taking autumn-like photos along the way... As I walked down the drang (second pic) I heard children's voices, coming closer, and closer... sure enough, two young girls appeared at the end of the drang, walking towards me. They came closer, and closer... and then stopped. "Excuse me," the bigger one said. "Have you seen a killer clown down here?"
Prosfic for October
I'm going to read Paper Flowers for bed again... *g* I did glance at today's Big Bang (*waves*) but it threw me because the lads weren't named the lads! I know why it's done, in historical AUs, but... they're not my lads then...
...and the Lads!
Poetry for October
Come, Little Leaves
by George Cooper
"Come, little leaves," said the wind one day,
"Come o'er the meadows with me and play;
Put on your dresses of red and gold,
For summer is gone and the days grow cold."
Soon as the leaves heard the wind's loud call,
Down they came fluttering, one and all;
Over the brown fields they danced and flew,
Singing the glad little songs they knew.
"Cricket, good-by, we've been friends so long,
Little brook, sing us your farewell song;
Say you are sorry to see us go;
Ah, you will miss us, right well we know.
"Dear little lambs in your fleecy fold,
Mother will keep you from harm and cold;
Fondly we watched you in vale and glade,
Say, will you dream of our loving shade?"
Dancing and whirling, the little leaves went,
Winter had called them, and they were content;
Soon, fast asleep in their earthy beds,
The snow laid a coverlid over their heads.
Pictures for October
Today's pics come with a story. Off I went for a walk today, taking autumn-like photos along the way... As I walked down the drang (second pic) I heard children's voices, coming closer, and closer... sure enough, two young girls appeared at the end of the drang, walking towards me. They came closer, and closer... and then stopped. "Excuse me," the bigger one said. "Have you seen a killer clown down here?"
Prosfic for October
I'm going to read Paper Flowers for bed again... *g* I did glance at today's Big Bang (*waves*) but it threw me because the lads weren't named the lads! I know why it's done, in historical AUs, but... they're not my lads then...
...and the Lads!
28th October - a month of autumn to Halloween
Tuesday, 29 October 2019 12:25 amPoetry for October
Sonnet 73
William Shakespeare
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum’d by that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv’st which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
Pictures for October
Prosfic for October
All Done by Numbers - author unknown, and Beginnings by Lainie Stone. The former not my characterisations at all, the latter fine. Both from the UK Paper Circuit Folder 1, about which more soon...
...and the Lads!
Sonnet 73
William Shakespeare
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum’d by that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv’st which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
Pictures for October
Prosfic for October
All Done by Numbers - author unknown, and Beginnings by Lainie Stone. The former not my characterisations at all, the latter fine. Both from the UK Paper Circuit Folder 1, about which more soon...
...and the Lads!
27th October - a month of autumn to Halloween
Sunday, 27 October 2019 11:41 pmPoetry for October
It was such a gorgeous day today that I took myself off to a local National Trust place for an autumnal wander, and found that they had a poetry trail, with poems by month - and even one particularly for today! It's kind of topical - I'm pretty sure I have mice in my ceiling. Actually I'm not at all sure that they're mice... but still.
Pictures for October
Prosfic for October
Actually (*whisper it*) I haven't read any Pros today... I've been reading Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell...
...and the Lads!
It was such a gorgeous day today that I took myself off to a local National Trust place for an autumnal wander, and found that they had a poetry trail, with poems by month - and even one particularly for today! It's kind of topical - I'm pretty sure I have mice in my ceiling. Actually I'm not at all sure that they're mice... but still.
Pictures for October
Prosfic for October
Actually (*whisper it*) I haven't read any Pros today... I've been reading Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell...
...and the Lads!
26th October - a month of autumn to Halloween
Sunday, 27 October 2019 12:30 amPoetry for October
Pictures for October
I decided to try a shortcut home from the supermarket today...
Prosfic for October
Paper Flowers by Kitty Fisher still...
...and the Lads!
This one uploaded to lj by accident when I was browsing - but let's go with it, whatever it is! Well, I know it's from Jackie magazine, in 1978...
Pictures for October
I decided to try a shortcut home from the supermarket today...
Prosfic for October
Paper Flowers by Kitty Fisher still...
...and the Lads!
This one uploaded to lj by accident when I was browsing - but let's go with it, whatever it is! Well, I know it's from Jackie magazine, in 1978...
25th October - a month of autumn to Halloween
Saturday, 26 October 2019 06:25 pmPoetry for October
Autumn
by John Clare
I love the fitfull gusts that shakes
The casement all the day
And from the mossy elm tree takes
The faded leaf away
Twirling it by the window-pane
With thousand others down the lane
I love to see the shaking twig
Dance till the shut of eve
The sparrow on the cottage rig
Whose chirp would make believe
That spring was just now flirting by
In summers lap with flowers to lie
I love to see the cottage smoke
Curl upwards through the naked trees
The pigeons nestled round the coat
On dull November days like these
The cock upon the dung-hill crowing
The mill sails on the heath a-going
The feather from the ravens breast
Falls on the stubble lea
The acorns near the old crows nest
Fall pattering down the tree
The grunting pigs that wait for all
Scramble and hurry where they fall
Pictures for October
There have been autumn winds...
Prosfic for October
Paper Flowers still - and of course Decrescendo for the Reading Room atci5hq. Love Erushi's fic...
...and the Lads!
Autumn
by John Clare
I love the fitfull gusts that shakes
The casement all the day
And from the mossy elm tree takes
The faded leaf away
Twirling it by the window-pane
With thousand others down the lane
I love to see the shaking twig
Dance till the shut of eve
The sparrow on the cottage rig
Whose chirp would make believe
That spring was just now flirting by
In summers lap with flowers to lie
I love to see the cottage smoke
Curl upwards through the naked trees
The pigeons nestled round the coat
On dull November days like these
The cock upon the dung-hill crowing
The mill sails on the heath a-going
The feather from the ravens breast
Falls on the stubble lea
The acorns near the old crows nest
Fall pattering down the tree
The grunting pigs that wait for all
Scramble and hurry where they fall
Pictures for October
There have been autumn winds...
Prosfic for October
Paper Flowers still - and of course Decrescendo for the Reading Room at
ci5hq. Love Erushi's fic......and the Lads!
