By Slanted Light

I am eternally behind, it seems, and tradition says that since I've started the new year like that, it's going to carry on. We'll see... *g* It's been ages since I posted - it seems like the less officially busy I get, the harder I find it to post too, weirdly enough. My last post was 26th November, just before examining was over and I settled back into proofreading, then I had two weeks off, with only a day and a bit left - and how many posts have I made? Well, a few if you count discoveredinalj and Yuletide, but none here...

So how are you? Hope you had a good December and Christmas and New Year, even if they were quieter than usual. I finally had time to sort this place out a bit more - I've alphabetised music, dvds and books; I can find things again! And put photo-type things into chronological order. Cos I'm like that. *g* It feels better, though there's still all sorts to do, including the UK Paper Circuit Library. I'm hesitating a bit because despite deciding, and people agreeing, that it's best to just throw out the stories that are online, since they're old and hard to read and often slightly smelly, I hate throwing away paper fic! I will though, I'll gird all the bits that need girding, and do it.

( In the meantime - 2020...  )

Fandomwise, I have to say that emotional rollercoasters aren't brilliant for writing - but then that might just be a continuation of me over the last few years. That said, I seem to have written ten fics - all but one Pros. And Pros FandomCards was fun and brightened up Christmas no end, and I still have to catch up on commenting on the Discovered in a Box of Baubles posts, and replying too, but I will...

The other one was my Yuletide fic, which also turned out to be on the crazy side - I requested and offered my usual small fandoms (Astreiant, Charm of Magpies, and Mathey/Lynes) (and I received an Astreiant fic! Wheee!), but I was thinking about re-reading an old favourite series at the time, and so I threw them into the mix - and that was only the assignment I was given, wasn't it! So I ended up writing Altogether Your World, which is for The Dark is Rising fandom, and set many years later when the characters have all grown up. Among other things I remember telling someone years ago that I couldn't even think of that as a slash fandom, because they were kids books, and I really couldn't... but then you glance at the odd story to see how much it makes you go eww, and when it's well-written enough... So I was able to offer it, in the end. And the story seems to have gone down pretty well, so phew - I wish I'd had time to make it a bit longer though, I think it needed more... Still - done!

Have some pics from the end of the year...




I'm thinking maybe I should try posting a pic each day again to try and cheer up January a bit... I've one more day before I'm back to work, and then I feel like I'm going to need something! Decorations down on Tuesday, too, so yeah, I need to think about a different kind of decoration, right?! *g*

Kind of a glum Saturday (except for the new Pros dvds - yeay!), but today...

Gorgeous wild woolliness down by the seaside... Well, I realised that I just had to get out, it feels like forever since I ventured off to anywhere a bit different and wild and woolly at all, and my legs want to streeeeeetch, and the rest of me just wants to go-o-o-o-o-o-o-o... But the powers that be still have my passport and all, so I can't even pretend that I might go away for Christmas this year (which was my tentative plan earlier this year), let alone hop a weekend flight anywhere exotic, so the beach an hour away is as far as I went. Bliss it was, though, wind and sea and sand and space...

I keep saying I'll post these pics and all, and I got them all ready days ago, so before it slips out of my posting-fingers for good and all... here's What I Did On My Holiday Last Weekend. *g*



( But first I went to... )

I swear I only just got up this morning... but I also remember rushing off to go and do a conservation stint at Stourhead, where I spent the morning covered in dust, but perfectly happy helping to give the Pantheon a deep clean... And I promised pics if I could, so...

Not a particularly promising day for it - and it was warm and steamy under all that grey cloud too, not nice an autumn-cool yet... But Stourhead is rather pretty even under dark skies, so never mind! The Pantheon from across the lake - you can just see the autumn-tree already turning beside it...

( And we are inside the Pantheon... )

But the really good news? After a rush trip into Bath yesterday, I am now fully equipped to bug you even more again with random pictures... *g*New camera! This pic was taken from my back door step... *g* It's not quite as solid-feeling as my lovely D40x, but hopefully I'll get used to it... and I'm going to try and work out my controls properly this time, and use them more meaningfully, so I shall record here that this pic was taken with:
- my 70-300 lens (pic info tells me it was taken at 300mm focal length, which is true cos the lens was extended all the way *g* No tripod though, so a bit blurry...)
- camera set to shutter priority (where it chooses the aperture - 5.6 this time, and I choose the shutter speed). When I left it on automatic, I was getting a completely burned-out white moon, but playing with the shutter speed gave control over the light (as it's supposed to do... *g*), and the best result seemed to be from 1/400 sec. So it's taking longer to let the light in, which means it can record more subtle nuances of it.
- I love that in the pic info from the camera there's a blank space for "Subject Distance". Actually, it was about 238,855 miles to the subject... New Camera didn't do a bad job, did she...? *g*

And I'm awaaaaaaay! I finished my work last night, slept in this morning, had a leisurely getting-myself-sorted-out kind of morning, including phoning my mum who's currently a very-happy-grandma-for-the-second-time. It only took me three hours to drive down too - that's practically a day trip, that is... but I have three nights around Cornwall - hurrah! And it's not raining yet... *g*

I got to Penzance before check-in time, so drive down to see what was what... and ended up going through, and found myself in Mousehole, which was looking perfectly pretty, so I parked up and went for a wander... *g* I love the wildflowers everywhere, like these nasturtiums-by-the-sea! Cornwall is so pretty in the spring...

If you click through you can read that story - the oldest house in Mousehole, 1300s, involved in defending Mousehole against the Spanish in the 1500s!

( I sat by the harbour... )

Blimey - and here it is, it's April... it wasn't long ago I was wondering why the year wasn't shifting itself a bit quicker, and now it's a quarter over! Happy April (I have no fool for you, though I did go and search for the Grauniad's yearly jape - just a wee bit obvious, this one - though it would actually be a brilliant one if it turned out that the vile Clarkson really had decided to be a thoughtful person after all, and the medieval cemetery under Cambridge university was the joke... but sadly I suspect not...)

Today... wind and sunshine again, and I have nothing to do but work! I have also realised that as much as I've been thinking about it, this week really is a short week, because I've taken Easter off this year (it was too strange not having it off last year), even though I've got absolutely nothing planned to do. So - only two more days of work, then four whole days off in a row! Gosh! Not at my richest right now, mind, but maybe I can get out somewhere... Bath at least! Maybe I visit each of the cites around - Bath, Bristol, Exeter... and a day off. *g* They're each just on an hour away, and - well, Bath's closer yet. Or maybe I should properly dedicate the time to writing, because that's what I end up not doing, no matter what... Hmmn... I'm at home so much that pottering sounds both lovely (cos being home without working!) and yet too ordinary to waste days off on (cos being home as per usual...)

Oh, I know what I should do today in between proofreading - catch up on some posts I've been meaning to make, and then a couple that sounded fun to do when I read about them... *g* Of course I say that, but time will leak away from me. Still, let's try! Speaking of time leaking, I arranged yesterday to do a taster conservation-volunteer day at the local NT... not nearly as local as my Cambs. local NT was, but a pretty drive away, at least. I do know it's a bit mad, though, since I barely get things done without spending half a day each week elsewhere... but it's good to get out, too...

And ack! I delayed posting and starting Job 1 work (to keep up with unpaid Job 2 *headdesk*) and now it's over an hour later. Heeeeeelp! Time leak! Time leak!

( Today... )

The rain stopped around lunchtime, so I went for a walk in the blustery wind after all, and look what I found - a scattering of blossom, then a little crop of crocuses...
...and then little sproutings of primroses and wild violets too!But even more spring-like? The reason I went out in the first place - Landlady texted me to say one of their sheep had dropped two wee lambs, if I wanted to come and see... *g*
Though I'm not sure this year's first day of British Summer Time was the very kindest weather for them to end up in! They're not even two hours old in this pic - awwww... *g*

Well I was sort of in an office, and worked hard actually - all that thinking about Rasch graphs, and Wright Maps and... quite brain-exploding stuff it was... and now of course there's the coursework about it - eeep! We finished early though, and I didn't get a headache today, and then I ended up deciding not to trog around London when I had no particular plans and did have luggage, so I walked over the river (well, on the bridge, not actually... *g*) and caught the train and was home in time for archery, but then I was quite tired and didn't go after all. I would have had to rush, and miss dinner, and... so no.

But London was lovely and London. Here's the view out my hotel window, and a London-y contre-jour (thanks gvenanne!) photo...

( And then... )

Yeay, I made it, and I even got some work done on the train! Mind you, that was a palaver and a half! I trundled down to the local station (fifteen minutes down the road) only to find that all the carparking was parked in. Noooo! And it's just in the country rather than in the nearest town (that it's named after), so there aren't any streets to park on. Disaster!

( The palaver bit )But the station was pretty, and the journey was okay (as long as I haven't caught a cold from the two people nearest me, who were both spluttering and suffering...), the tube was good, and when I got to the hotel I was turned away. *g* Well, sort of. Upgraded she called it, to the hotel across the street. Where my room does actually have enough room to perform a ballet, a big couch (that's really too far from the tv to see it, but the thought's almost there), and when I opened the second wardrobe it turned out to be a mini-kitchen, so hee! I neverget upgraded, either, so bonus yeay! It also turns out to have free internet, so I'm taking a few minutes to catch breath, and then I'm off out for a wander before it gets too dark, and something to eat, and maybe to find Foyle's, cos it's open late, and... well, it's a bookshop. *g*

And then back to finish work (which is nearly there, and can be done when it's dark and I'm not out any more), and... well, and to thank everyone who recognised a japonica for me. *g* Maybe hotel rooms will be good for writing, too.... *g*