tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722238343127525862024-03-14T10:19:02.088-07:00The Mysterious Adventures of a Non-BeanMunchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-18572358525914601532014-06-13T03:54:00.000-07:002014-06-13T03:54:13.179-07:00Potions Homework: Memory Potion Promotion - Madame Mim's GENUINE MEMORY POTION!I'm actually quite proud of this :)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6L8YJlTW20b6Cqzt5AlTH3Cjg64MGqHsGOBGfzDwtT2d-fhwnTxI63BtW_C3_GjdevIxp7bCH2npXSqDdJfwwo-FJEsfiqhLlSz7NNRqf4Ix2G01V4-ZSewP4a7FobQBi-fXAxCjolGA/s1600/Memory+Potion+Promotion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6L8YJlTW20b6Cqzt5AlTH3Cjg64MGqHsGOBGfzDwtT2d-fhwnTxI63BtW_C3_GjdevIxp7bCH2npXSqDdJfwwo-FJEsfiqhLlSz7NNRqf4Ix2G01V4-ZSewP4a7FobQBi-fXAxCjolGA/s1600/Memory+Potion+Promotion.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-60095991475538128852014-06-10T06:20:00.001-07:002014-06-10T06:20:48.770-07:00Charms Journal Week 6 - Levitation Charm RevisitedFor homework purposes:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijb9OENNdnBX4AfeNnYmyyRuUvIk0c7OBSGyTfDjmEEkpkw8yKmH3frhb7Hy9yG3rnv6tpwpdV-vo_Kl4O3KgJwYiM-avVfZPOzWrf4LO9Ov51U4qMjTbTglRSg7Tn4nwFUssOkSv5ywc/s1600/IMAG2431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijb9OENNdnBX4AfeNnYmyyRuUvIk0c7OBSGyTfDjmEEkpkw8yKmH3frhb7Hy9yG3rnv6tpwpdV-vo_Kl4O3KgJwYiM-avVfZPOzWrf4LO9Ov51U4qMjTbTglRSg7Tn4nwFUssOkSv5ywc/s1600/IMAG2431.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></div>
Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-69014812447051054772014-05-09T06:52:00.001-07:002014-05-09T06:54:06.317-07:00My WandFor homework purposes.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgieu2gsQHXZWOIxMiaZoNOWRHuF5uup00nnkyZOFuR5ABo8_FwhZ4QqdmcDQDQcpocDv0HBdWyd8KTDipwxs0K1iUrh2aj2TdnoCVZtqvEhKN9PYbqMLm8a9ktZaYzKCY_xnskZykaGAw/s1600/IMAG2363.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgieu2gsQHXZWOIxMiaZoNOWRHuF5uup00nnkyZOFuR5ABo8_FwhZ4QqdmcDQDQcpocDv0HBdWyd8KTDipwxs0K1iUrh2aj2TdnoCVZtqvEhKN9PYbqMLm8a9ktZaYzKCY_xnskZykaGAw/s1600/IMAG2363.jpg" height="640" width="426" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-30746578603474285312012-02-15T02:31:00.005-08:002012-02-15T03:10:17.630-08:00Big Birthday Bash<img style="text-align: justify;float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOBCT0MOAO-iCzMq_-bMckq6-BPZtU3JepyK5L0oSDQELPjNRGD145Nv7a_-8QEEaGaXB5rNVKDq3mkiJvb0JbSbTtx595Qmy6EfDcRvT73WgTkrqT6lQpkr5MOgUW34zHH-j2EONK21U/s200/007.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709315048545049026" /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; ">So me and my friend Styna </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">got together for a joint birthday party a couple of weeks ago, which was fantastic. Loads of people that we hadn't seen in ages (and a</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; "> few that we see all the time) got together for a weekend of food, </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; ">games, drinking and a copious amount of giggling.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We kicked off with a phenomenal (if I do say so myself) lactose free fish pie (well, except for the cheese, but you only live once, eh?), which was ready just in time for Styna and Bones to arrive, served with a heal<span style="font-size: 100%; ">thy amount of gossiping and sufficient wine to make pretty much anything funny. Honestly, though, we don't need that much help to make things funny. Then we swapped </span></div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLNluNVMcNrfuReVMKg9JVEQ5ntyWFp4bxbgTuCh2YDPusr_DwaFpUlQiyzTXq4eMG2rwXRg2qklC9ZcUyiMukE644M4YevWZxf3vBCuTxQnl10W2WxWwYQzTZBzYhUOA67IlkzNN8PEI/s200/023.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709315088377653362" style="text-align: justify;float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; ">our crafts (for the full Imbolc craft swap story, see my other </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">blog </span><a href="http://goodfornothingcrafters.blogspot.com/" style="font-size: 100%; ">Lazy Days</a><span style="font-size: 100%; ">), resulting in a lovely crocheted spring scarf from Styna and a fabulous teapot necklace from Bones (which matches my teapot earrings that she made). If you don't already know, Bones makes amazing bespoke jewellery, which lives at her Etsy shop, </span><a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/AutumnalSkies?ref=pr_shop_more" style="font-size: 100%; ">Autumnal Skies</a><span style="font-size: 100%; "> - </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">what are you waiting for? Go check it out!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; ">And then the giggling started, because we got out the wii games. Styna brought down Guitar Hero and Sports Resort, which were </span></div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhJll42b-OIpEAOMCzim85PlXmc3j4BbzzHe3OlkK3doD1b79HDb5trJHfCB_OUdO-MmC2yNg3mtgmpOaO0XaTNFtD4RYCKLizVXY9N876xRSK6nbTKpE7h70EAqqqpDgYHH2zzjm0n98/s200/013.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709315056965025794" style="text-align: justify;float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /><span style="font-size: 100%; text-align: justify; ">excellent fun. We properly sucked at Guitar Hero, which was hilarious, and it brought out the fiend in Bones, who started telling the wii what for in no </span><span style="text-align: justify; font-size: 100%; ">uncertain terms. It was a bit </span><span style="text-align: justify; font-size: 100%; ">like hearing your primary school teacher swear - needless to say, Styna and I were rolling about for most of the night :) We also discovered that Bones shouldn't be allowed to ball yarn....</span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; ">We spent much of Saturday playing Sports Resort with the boys, watching movies and crafting, before heading out to Leeds for a mild drinking session and an all-you-can-eat buffet. I nearly exploded :D</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><span><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3dg2yrjlZDw8sOy8KRfpfUDvy2wSLmGoLzGO3PP2O7vW6fMM7CaUEFz9u1psv8MLEiccLybnX1R3uVYR0J4GRSC2YzwdBmsqxJMqu9TKrZvM_QdhmAf9hix1kcSElO4gdechoZDmmeNQ/s200/017.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709315071613517938" style="text-align: justify;float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; ">We headed out to Ilkley on Sunday, where we painted pottery and rummaged in the wool shop at <a href="http://www.createcafe.co.uk/">'Create!'</a> before having a scrumptious afternoon tea at Bettys. We're quite fond of Bettys. :D</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><span><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHBOwVtRP9dMMY_TRb3QBJk4OwUNdjUiYd1HBs0c6vJ3pEuIL3ipS_LsF0Ph8RCTOqOPJ64_je4poqr88tztyIjyUlptoj9Wn1NX0I-_WlPLlAyHmndTFqRFGbfShtfK4pF-LRlo6hYc/s200/024.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709315099553141266" style="text-align: justify;float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; ">All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, and I can't wait for more adventures in the future!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; ">(Images: My Mr, stealing Styna's hat and getting glomped; why Bones shouldn't be allowed to ball lace; Such concentration!; Pottery painting at Create!; Giggly death.)</span></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-86698398052182761912012-02-01T04:16:00.001-08:002012-02-01T04:16:25.504-08:00A New Adventure<div style="text-align: justify; "><span>Ok, so many of you are probably aware that I spend a good deal of my time writing fanfiction. In fact, over the last three years I have written close to four hundred thousand words of fanfiction, in three novel length stories.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span>I know it's nerdy, but I love it. I'm using it as a means of practicing writing, trying out different styles and getting feedback. It's been fabulous, and I've made some great friends :) I've also accrued a small army of proof readers, which is useful.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span>Last November I took part in <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/dashboard">NaNoWriMo</a>, which - for those of you that don't know - is a month of 'literary abandon'. Basically, you and countless others around the world give writing a novel a try, all at the same time, and all with the same goal: get to 50,000 words by the end of the month. It's something that I've wanted to do for a long time, and was a brilliant experience, with everyone supporting one another across the world, picking each other up when they got down and egging everyone on. If you love writing, or think that you have a novel in you I'd definitely encourage you to give it a go :)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span>I've always known that I wanted to write (I rather foolishly chose archaeology, which is my other great love, as a back-up plan), and I used NaNoWriMo 2011 as my starting point. I planned my novel out in October, having finished up what was supposed to be a short fanfiction (apparently I don't 'do' short) earlier in the month. By the end of November I was at 60,000 words and having a whale of a time!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span>The novel is by no means finished - there's about another three quarters to go at least - but it confirmed what my fanfictioning had led me to suspect: I can actually write! And it doesn't entirely suck! *boogies* So here I am, still applying for work, but with much less conviction than before (and depressingly, with exactly the same level of success as before), and writing away to my heart's content. At some point this year (how exciting is that?) I will be taking the terrifying step of sending my novel to publishers and seeing how far I get.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span>You know, some of the time I'm really scared that what I'm doing is screwing up my life, but most of the time I feel like I'm exactly where I need to be, doing exactly what I need to be doing - and I'm having more fun than I've ever had while working. So I've just sort of decided to go with it.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span>Anyway, in honour of this decision, I thought I might share a couple of excerpts of my work-in-progress, 'House of Vines'. Needless to say, all this text are belong to me, and if you steal it, I'll set untold demons on you. Or possibly just my mother. Your decision.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span><br /></span></div><div><h2 style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><b><span>Excerpt:</span></b></h2><div style="text-align: justify; "><i><span>Prologue</span></i></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "></p><div style="text-align: justify; "><span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">He could understand why, now that he held it in his shaking hands. He had never fully comprehended the lure, the power of the thing… now, with its wrappings coiling across his knees and the enticing planes of the Chalice in his grip… as he ran his fingers along its edges he fancied that he could hear it calling to him.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></span></div><span><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">He shuddered, involuntarily.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">Almost without meaning to he caressed the artefact, running his bitten fingertips over the strange, seductive designs adorning its surface. It wanted him.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">He could feel it.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">But he wouldn’t make that mistake, not where countless others had before. He had seen what had happened to them, through the myopic lens of history, glimpsed the smoking ruins of their lives…</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">He would not let it happen to him, to his family… or anyone else’s, he told himself, sternly.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">Ignoring its delicious temptation, he wrapped it once again in its plain, linen, bindings, and folded it, almost lovingly, amongst the straw.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">The infernal thing had caused so much pain, bred so much hatred… it could not be allowed to continue.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">He remembered the night – such a long, bleak night – that he had tried to destroy it, and he had wept as the flames licked at the Chalice, the core of his – and so many others’ – desires. But no matter how the flames had leapt and crackled, no matter how the tinder smoked and smouldered, no matter how much fuel he had stoked around the thing, it would not burn.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">To him, that had been a terrible, dreadful confirmation. If he hadn’t already enough proof… something so wicked that could not be touched by flame… it had to be the work of the Devil himself.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">With the knowledge that he was safeguarding the fools of the future, he sealed the box and concealed it deep in the shadows. For a long moment, he gazed at the box.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">Think, it said.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">Think of what we could do, you and I… together…</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">He pressed his lips together in distaste, and touched the hollow in the wall. He waited until the grinding cacophony of stone on stone ceased, and inspected his work.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">Satisfied that his hiding place betrayed no crack, no sign of itself, he turned and walked purposefully away.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">He would not look back, he had sworn that to himself, and that promise, at least, he would keep.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">No matter how it whispered to him.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">Face pale under the waxing moon, and feeling curiously lighter now that his burden had been laid down, he closed the great oak doors with a resounding thunk.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">Some things were better left buried.</span></div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span>*****</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span><i>Excerpt from chapter four:</i></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "></p><div style="text-align: justify; "><span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">Quietly, Christopher stole across the room and pulled out Cunningham’s Herbarium, letting it rest in his hand for a moment before allowing it to fall open at random. He glanced at the page. The brilliant blue of the Aconite flower stared back up at him. Closing the book, he checked the spine: it was in excellent condition, no cracks or creases that might make it open to the same page.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></span></div><span><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">He held it away from him and let it fall open again: Aconite. Frowning, he repeated the action several times, before closing the book again.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">The atmosphere in the shop was suddenly tense, as if several thousand books were holding their breath, waiting to see what he would do.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">“Alright,” he said, softly, knowing that whatever he said would eventually reach even the highest pages. “You know what I am. I accept that… But I would appreciate it if you didn’t fly open to Wolfsbane every time I brush past you.” He smiled slightly as the paper equivalent of a snigger flowed around the room. “And in turn, I promise to keep you as well as I am able, and not sell you to people who intend to turn you into up-cycled, Bohemian furniture. Deal?”</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">There was an acute silence for a moment, then he felt the book in his hand wriggle a little; he let it open. This time it displayed a sprig of Geraniums, a flower associated with friendship.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said, and returned to the desk, intending to read through the Herbal while he had the chance.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">As he placed it on the desk the scent came back to him, strong and insistent.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">He exhaled in annoyance.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">Cunningham’s Herbarium flew open, pages turning themselves until they came to rest on a page covered in tendrils of ivy.</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">“Oh, shut up,” he grumbled.</span></div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span>*****</span></p><p style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span><i>Excerpt from chapter seven:</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; ">But he didn’t find out what she needed, because she gasped and pulled him around to the other side of the counter. The door had turned pitch black, and it was beginning to spread out across the walls. It was moving slowly, ponderously – like hot pitch, sticking to everything in its path. Christopher was strongly reminded of the air filters in the clean room at the Records Office, sucking all the life out of the room when the doors were shut; the darkness on the wall smelled like that: cold, empty, of nothingness. If oblivion had a smell, that would be it.</span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "><span style="line-height: 1.4em; ">More frightened than he had been in a long time, Christopher took a step back, nearly trampling on Ivy, who was still unconsciously holding onto his arm in a mixture of surprise and horror.</span><span style="line-height: 1.4em; "></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "><span style="line-height: 1.4em; ">In the back of his mind, Christopher heard the books start and rustle in panic; cases started rattling as the volumes tried to get as far away from the encroaching darkness as they could. They started to fall to the floor with dull thuds, trying to pile themselves up against the far wall. He felt Ivy turn around.</span><span style="line-height: 1.4em; "></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "><span style="line-height: 1.4em; ">“My Gods,” breathed Ivy, pressed against his back. “They’re screaming…”</span><span style="line-height: 1.4em; "></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; "><span style="line-height: 1.4em; ">She meant the books, he knew, because although he could still hear the Barracloughs roaring themselves hoarse in the office, the noise coming from the thousands of terrified books was almost a physical force now, and still building...</span></span></div><p></p></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-10985442599854762182012-01-25T04:05:00.001-08:002012-01-25T04:08:09.826-08:00Have Some Flowers<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNNOLl-wQlY9WHzGSymuFhNBeFqFo-Lqb1ZB07ZFp_IBb8VsgZQ8mZv3ese5TEqRBS7lTG0ig-rrZbad3adc3jP7vydC3osPpgjMqcsgxNg1-KVp7bhdyXUEQijC3cmnleiJ_rlAIRf3Q/s1600/047.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNNOLl-wQlY9WHzGSymuFhNBeFqFo-Lqb1ZB07ZFp_IBb8VsgZQ8mZv3ese5TEqRBS7lTG0ig-rrZbad3adc3jP7vydC3osPpgjMqcsgxNg1-KVp7bhdyXUEQijC3cmnleiJ_rlAIRf3Q/s400/047.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701540142164781570" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfnZtj0YWze8PyWZowmGMWWFSbBU_BI-cPqnsZYIzzIdftRPMceSOUCeYeoSeAdb65L_VVT5hDiz9AQylKNfAz1NVkuo3Pb245GdLWzdEniDk6M8O1AM4ek0x1j9kw_F11wwfKBqiuKM/s1600/048.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfnZtj0YWze8PyWZowmGMWWFSbBU_BI-cPqnsZYIzzIdftRPMceSOUCeYeoSeAdb65L_VVT5hDiz9AQylKNfAz1NVkuo3Pb245GdLWzdEniDk6M8O1AM4ek0x1j9kw_F11wwfKBqiuKM/s400/048.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701540127060613026" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLAW9ql6QtE7zGb-JG1OOAn_jvehyphenhyphenDkomxlZjWwliUacA4u-n2CpYBBcCsjkHJgx5ZCpk-gAQPJ62eUrUogMMs3L8AtnAIyEV3Ehku-TvdTKgtZEcZX07Qy_NlmE0BorSjloDIOgbC1vM/s1600/054.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLAW9ql6QtE7zGb-JG1OOAn_jvehyphenhyphenDkomxlZjWwliUacA4u-n2CpYBBcCsjkHJgx5ZCpk-gAQPJ62eUrUogMMs3L8AtnAIyEV3Ehku-TvdTKgtZEcZX07Qy_NlmE0BorSjloDIOgbC1vM/s400/054.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701540116151131842" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1qxpr2onAxFKhBmpp0AGlpCboy1z4k9mcx0MOXNZ4liRSBLWMXzbKuCVCzKVztej4yLYXKNuEEbkL8uHz8heG7EtECBs7pgbBewwU7j_lZd31fTR3G2b67MzfU7LcmYMcPPQC4uRP1Tk/s1600/044.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1qxpr2onAxFKhBmpp0AGlpCboy1z4k9mcx0MOXNZ4liRSBLWMXzbKuCVCzKVztej4yLYXKNuEEbkL8uHz8heG7EtECBs7pgbBewwU7j_lZd31fTR3G2b67MzfU7LcmYMcPPQC4uRP1Tk/s400/044.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701540113850556482" /></a><br />Just because :)<div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-7729559257216826972012-01-25T02:04:00.000-08:002012-01-25T04:02:52.538-08:00Adventures in London<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS8JCRnIy1qmsDqgCj4DLmS9xngpjN2y0m9B12WNZQjbB7wlrENKEx_I_2zEgitcYW17_kElueDJUZWs46l9oP2V8k3dhAmHMKjN1Cq-fOEcTFfUP2Bsr0CYGL2M9gqMAQVjzGK-GX5us/s1600/026.JPG" style="text-align: left; "><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS8JCRnIy1qmsDqgCj4DLmS9xngpjN2y0m9B12WNZQjbB7wlrENKEx_I_2zEgitcYW17_kElueDJUZWs46l9oP2V8k3dhAmHMKjN1Cq-fOEcTFfUP2Bsr0CYGL2M9gqMAQVjzGK-GX5us/s320/026.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701535770490263266" /></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify; ">As a sort of new years treat we headed down to London for a few days - Erador and his friend Steve had an Education Technology showcase thing to attend, and as a self-respecting archaeology graduate I felt that I really ought to visit the British Museum.</span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We zipped down on the train on Wednesday, and by tea time I was in a bookshop in Covent Garden, waiting for the boys to finish mooching around the first day of conference. On reflection, a bookshop was probably not the best place to have left me, but I certainly enjoyed myself (THEY HAD A WHOLE POETRY SECTION!) and brought back several books that I've been after for a while, including Bede's <i>Ecclesiastical History of the English People</i>, <i>The Canterbury Tales</i> (in the words Chaucer wrote them, too, not a translation), <i>The Tower</i> (a history of the Tower of London) by Nigel Jones and <i>The Moving Toyshop</i> by Edmund Crispin. Ooh - and a book of Norse Myths to go with my Icelandic Sagas :)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We even got to go to Carluccio's (he's one of mine and Erador's very favourite chefs), which was excellent.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify; ">The next day Steve went back off to the conference for a good look around and I dragged Erador off to the Natural History Museum (actually, it didn't take that much dragging), where we both had a really good time looking around. I got to say hello to the blue whale (my old friend) and see the replica of </span><i style="text-align: justify; ">Australopithecus sediba,</i><span style="text-align: justify; "> which I'd read about in Na</span><span style="text-align: justify; ">tional Geographic before Christmas. I was particularly impressed by the minerals collection (being something of a closet geologist) and the giant sequoia, which I know must have been there when I went to the museum as a child, but I can't remember at all. I was probably more interested in the dinosaurs then, anyway. That shows how much I've grown up, actually - when I was little I loved the dinosaur bit, with its interactive displays and giant roaring </span><i style="text-align: justify; ">T-Rex</i><span style="text-align: justify; ">, but now I'm much more interested in the architecture of the building :)</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify; "><br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify; "><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify; ">It really is stunning, and I was quite annoyed at myself for forgetting my camera that day (though it was quite nice to have the freedom to look a</span><span style="text-align: justify; ">t things without constantly wondering what would make a good picture, and being annoyed that really, my camera just won't do it). I read a fascinating book about the Natural History Museum a few years ago (</span><i style="text-align: justify; ">Dry Stone No. 1</i><span style="text-align: justify; "> by Richard Fortey), and it was really interesting to walk around the building with those stories in my head. I particularly loved the different species of trees painted onto the ceiling of the entrance hall, and the way that in some of the rooms each window sill was made of a different type of marble; it was fascinating to see all the details that went into the planning of the museum as a building. I really liked the fish bricks in the Minerals Gallery, too.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify; "><br /></span></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><div style="text-align: justify; "><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify; ">We were intending to head to the Victoria and Albert Museum that afternoon, too, but after a cursory glance at some very beautiful sculpture we discovered that we were all museum-ed out and headed to Harrods instead, to see what all the fuss i</span><span style="text-align: justify; ">s about. I have decided. on reflection, that Harrods is one of the weirdest and most unpleasant places I've ever been to, with the exception of the food hall, which was magnificent (the chocolate section reminded me strongly of Honeydukes). We got lost for an hour on a floor of the building that could have held my entire street that was filled with nothing other than overpriced handbags - and we escaped (hah) into the perfume section, in which neither of us could breathe.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify; "><br /></span></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><div><div style="text-align: justify; "><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify; ">Eventually, we found two bits that we were actually interested in (though not to necessarily buy anything from): I lost Erador near the cameras and spy equipment (there was even a one man submarine!) and he lost me to the roving Harry Potter shop, which looked just like Diagon Alley and was full of Lego. It was a little bit like finding nerd-vana. I may have bought a Marauders Map... as soon as I got it home, me and Bones spent a good half hour poring over it and deciding that we needed to improve it (I suspect a long-running craft project in the making) since not all the floors, classrooms or secret passages were on it, cool as it </span><span style="text-align: justify; ">was.</span></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><div><div><div style="text-align: justify; "><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify; ">We caught up with an old friend from my masters course that night, Jenny (the only one of us with a proper job, and a really cool one at the NHM, at that), in a really good pub that none of us had heard of before. We were tempted to classify it as one of those magical shops that moves whenever you look for it. Anyway, the fish and chips were great, I have it on good authority that the mulled cider was excellent, and much giggling was had :D</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify; "><br /></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><div><div><div><div style="text-align: justify; "><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify; ">Friday was definitely BM day. I really can't believe that I've never been before, given my interests and (attempted) profession, and the fact that my Dad lived in London for years. It was spectacular - I loved every minute of it, and I can't </span><i style="text-align: justify; ">wait</i><span style="text-align: justify; "> to go back again! Admittedly, there were bits that I was much more interested in than others, like the Portland Vase and the Lewis Chess Men. I loved the Medieval rooms, and the Japanese one</span><span style="text-align: justify; ">s on the top floor (the Samurai armour was amazing), and the Elgin Marbles, and the Mayan carvings, and the turquoise snake, and the statue from Rapa Nui, and the Assyrian wall sculptures, and there were these enormous gates that I can't remember anything about other than that they were awesome, and... well, you get the picture :)</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify; "><br /></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><div><div><div><div><div style="text-align: justify; "><div><div style="text-align: center; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS8JCRnIy1qmsDqgCj4DLmS9xngpjN2y0m9B12WNZQjbB7wlrENKEx_I_2zEgitcYW17_kElueDJUZWs46l9oP2V8k3dhAmHMKjN1Cq-fOEcTFfUP2Bsr0CYGL2M9gqMAQVjzGK-GX5us/s1600/026.JPG" style="text-align: left; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYnsg-r1QvI-7gJFdmwO7N6sJlgfLxjB4weLAV8eFJsIgolc_w7t3s4yaWHAL5jUKfg5iR2xdOzEx7pOeqJfwfal5cM54jwWEKdALTjd0TuiYAyr1B2gN2zp7kS2PzS2rHCf348xo7_qA/s320/041.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701535799392220066" style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></a><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was odd seeing the Rosetta Stone, having heard so much about it... a bit like seeing something out of a fairy story. Actually, the whole of the trip was a bit like that - it's as if all of these places didn't seem at all real until you were on the same page of the map of them. I kept finding myself going: 'oh, that's Whitehall, I didn't really think it was a real building', or 'Covent Garden? Gosh, that's in stories...'. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3nmVmEi_BZRHQzkpIKcvtOYBUrIpsZ0XJBmoJ6gW5pSjcFw26s4ztZC5Rd-RZHQwqIeHHR_mr3Xy1IW9sgtYCpDyDX_bWSXhh6vgWKX3o-GVJDK0VDxL4-nsUpFRk8leBtVQhKw94kuk/s320/039.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701535790104168562" style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I loved seeing the statue of Ramses II, which inspired Percy Byshe Shelley to write my Grandad's favourite poem - he'd always be wandering around the house quoting a bit of it:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>My name is Ozymandius, King of Kings,</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Look on my works ye mighty and despair!</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I even found things that I was interested in in the Roman and Greek galleries (though admittedly I was more interested in the pre-Greek and pre-Roman bits), and I <i>hate</i> classics (I think there's just so much surviving material that my mind gets swamped with it): Erador and I loved the giant wooden water wheel that would have been used to pump water out of a Roman mine, and the really rude 'lucky' windchimes, which I won't go into details of here...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;">The only part I didn't really like was the mummies. I hate mummies. It's not that I think they're going to pop up and chase me or anything (though admittedly the fact they were in hermetically sealed glass cases helped a bit), it's more that I think they're a bit too close to being corpses to be on display - and we make a complete circus out of them. They're dead people, and we should respect that, not get all flashy about them. We're a lot better about skeletal remains, and I know it's awesome that their organs, skin, hair, nails and even eyeballs have survived several thousand years, but - when you get right down to it - they're still dead <i>people</i>. It's weird, for an archaeologist, I know. Anyway, Erador made me go in, and some of the sarcophagi were pretty cool, but I don't really feel the need to revisit that particular section.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div><div style="text-align: justify;">The only thing I didn't get to see that I wanted to was the Bronze Ife Head that featured in the Radio 2 series <i>A History of the World in 100 Objects</i>, by Neil MacGregor (which if you haven't downloaded from the Radio 2 website I would encourage you to go and find). It's such an interesting and beautiful piece, but unfortunately it was on loan, so that will have to wait until next time. I really liked that things were travelling around the world, helping people to find out their own stories all over the place.</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdddEWPaUamob7irTtt0hGyue4qUXiUf7f4u2kPYt3zfzC-FLtIzE9gvIz9ELhJC_N5bfeF7wmGvtaADZoZ3te4X74OTdxxx3LaZhXH2I38nFoa9g7PzIFoM5KlTWveA4KwoOX-6dolE4/s320/055.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701535813032652050" style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px; " /></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div><div><div style="text-align: justify;">That evening we met up with two more old friends, Tiggs and Alex, and had a bit of a wander about London in the dark. We saw the Golden Hinde (a 1/3 replica of a Tudor ship), the remains of Henry of Blois' palace, the Southbank, St Pauls, Millennium Bridge, Tower Bridge and the Tower. We had a fabulous time catching up, and found lots of things that we're looking forward to doing next time we come down.</div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We spent Saturday morning roaming around Covent Garden Market while we waited for our train, and saw lots of very odd people performing street theatre, magic and mime (*shudders*). It does make for a vibrant place... but <i>mimes</i>? <i>Really</i>? Anyway, I found a great shop that sold interesting maps, and I got a nice one for the office wall that has the literal translation of every place name - including one in Mexico that simply reads '<i>Here are people!'</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div><div><div><div style="text-align: justify;">We stayed in a hostel converted from an old prison and courthouse (the one where Charles Dickens got some of his inspiration to write <i>Oliver Twist)</i> - the building was awesome, and the hostel facilities were more than adequate. Well, except for the showers, which could have done with a temperature control, really. The beds were comfortable, even if the boys were referring to our room as 'the nuclear bunker', and the breakfast was ace.</div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div><div><div><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS8JCRnIy1qmsDqgCj4DLmS9xngpjN2y0m9B12WNZQjbB7wlrENKEx_I_2zEgitcYW17_kElueDJUZWs46l9oP2V8k3dhAmHMKjN1Cq-fOEcTFfUP2Bsr0CYGL2M9gqMAQVjzGK-GX5us/s1600/026.JPG" style="text-align: left; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEFv21zQHjLXbvnMMgjFvbi7V9GrcB16wUs_D92LJqCga5XHiBYvAGnrHwp7lZz6NQlGHIy-EMwChAKtCjpQD1blRuB8YoBng1pn5HnSIXVcZVjNBdlMtVjwP9wu4JxF7aT463Q-g8PHg/s320/063.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701535781995491282" style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></a><div style="text-align: left; "></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">All in all, it was a brilliant trip - and we can't wait to get back!</div></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">(Pictures: The London Eye and a view over the Thames; Horus and Erador; Ramses II; St Pauls and the Millennium Bridge; the 'Nuclear Bunker')</div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-22059286219889239382012-01-18T04:11:00.001-08:002012-01-18T04:43:01.854-08:00HAPPY NEW YEAR! (2012)<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yes, I know I'm a few weeks late, but shush, this is the first chance I've had, so there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Well, it's been one hell of a year, with one thing and another, and not all of us have made it, but there have been bright spots too.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One such bright spot was Graduation, and it was absolutely wonderful to see everyone again. The Masters was one of the hardest things I've ever done, and </div><div style="text-align: justify;">on paper it doesn't seem to have been much of a help in terms of employability, but the people I had the opportunity to meet have more than made up for it - and I suppose it taught me what I was capable of in extraordinary circumstances... and some ordinary ones. Anyway, we all had a great time meeting up, bemoaning the lack of work, drinking a fair bit and letting our hair down. Most refreshing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another bright spot that involved the letting down of hair was Chi and Mat's wedding - the first of my school-mate's weddings. It was a bit scary being all grown up, but it was fantastic to see everyone again after so long - and the church where they had the service was beautiful.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span ><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This year also heralded the creation of <a href="http://goodfornothingcrafters.blogspot.com/">Lazy Days</a> , the craft blog that me, Bones and Krystyna occasionally update. It's been a lot of fun finding and sharing things to talk about on there, including giant pom-poms, sock monsters and do-it-yourself corsets - and hopefully this will only get stronger as time goes on!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another highlight was the visit to Alnick Castle (HOGWARTS!) with Krystyna, and going to Beamish the next day - all good fun, and probably the subject of a belated post in the next few weeks. As will the trip to Litte Moreton Hall with JacAbsolute and Erador :)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I also took the difficult decision to actually start writing this year, and have been religiously practicing on fanfiction, and planning my original stuff. I wrote</div><div style="text-align: justify; "></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> an entirely new fanfic this year - it was supposed to be really short, and turned out to be 37 chapters and 200,000 words long. Suffice it to say that I don't appear to 'do' short. The fic, Much Ado About Hogwarts, is a very silly teenage romantic comedy, and is the complete antithesis of what I normally write - which is what made it so much fun :D It lives <a href="http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6984631/1/Much_Ado_About_Hogwarts">here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm having great fun with my own stuff, and live in a weird combination of excitement and dread of the day that I have to actually show it to people :) I started it off during NaNoWriMo, which was great - it was so good to know that all of us were pushing ourselves together.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There's also Erador, who continues to be the man of</div><div style="text-align: justify; "></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> my dreams, and puts up with me for reasons best known to himself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The next year, well... it looks busy, from here, and like it will last forever (which of course they never do)... But there are Big Things afoot, and the world is waking up again. Hope yours is a good one :)</div><div style="text-align: justify; "></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span ><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">To absent friends.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6l8T7geR6mQ1AVTmFbrPggWm0NTO6PkdWB2_A0r9OCb-AFSs1uVaq9ZPFxA5figeN5UxnWTDImi2oAUpSqNkKWhfEcjSpEj_rFOGiUuGo4npaaz02pSq1BiWrl9TkxZI34pbEjYUnzp0/s320/012.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5698951328739760482" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></div><div>(Photo: Cuthbert, kicking it back in Biddulph)</div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-88244343281553144902011-08-09T03:43:00.000-07:002011-08-09T05:48:01.203-07:00Rioting Around the UK<div align="center"></div>
<br /><div align="center">This has to stop. </div>
<br /><div align="center">
<br /></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 192px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638806980318054642" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih2qZvt4LgK517ytYst5aeoC_YigNijetgf8rps6uO4JFcU4VLjWPXG7T1o_kNiSXLKm1ls2ohDtr3tpYYgRae0CHv9Q6anEryjhB3VdR87QaKdhk8MgsVuvwHr-RpTpXgS-4ufhcEuuU/s320/Rioting-in-Toxteth-Liverp-007.jpg" />
<br />
<br /><div align="justify">There is no point to it - what can be achieved by burning things down and hurting people? The only reason things have kicked off is because it gives people a sense of righteous power - and for what? For nothing! These riots aren't in protest about anything - yes, I am aware of what happened to Mr Duggan, but I think it's fairly obvious that this violence has absolutely nothing to do with that and a hell of a lot to do with bored, stupid people wanting to feel good about hitting people.</div>
<br />Anyway.
<br />
<br />
<br /><div align="justify">I kept watching the news reports and reading the live feeds and the phrase from Robert Browning's poem 'Home Thoughts, From Abroad' kept coming to mind. I'm afraid I was moved to my own protest: poetic vandalism.</div>
<br />
<br /><p align="center"><strong>Home Thoughts, From the Bewildered</strong>
<br /></p>
<br /><p align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 192px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638806978441445650" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZJIDCVixcYlVpxhxLBv3oc8vBtHkR-g58Q2FCBhlfh6KsUOb0HLoJY7jerOYYHBpaCWCLThPjKWT-PEmakxrQC2Erqq7v6sgS6L10P26s1xgYKyDPOdN71kPX4EI1JBrbeHnBjITFpLc/s320/Police-use-armoured-vehic-007.jpg" /></p>
<br />
<br /><p align="center">Oh, to be in England
<br />Now that Summer's here,
<br />And whoever wakes in England
<br />Sees, some morning, unaware,
<br />That the lowest thugs and basest fools
<br />Round the once quiet towns take up their tools,
<br />And set to raise a riot – and how!
<br />In England - now!
<br /></p>
<br /><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 192px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638806983840175602" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT9PPC0ahyphenhyphen13M1nugGkzNkc-zOeMJZ6AuHa6McgrcaB9n2Q98esPtyR3dfVnkjOXGizFdAKQX91wbTZcKKirqzP-0XonxMvDCMC_wVfVxk7yO7fDxe3JGweA8bqvrV5zznjUlTnowRdzg/s320/Riot-police-in-Croydon--007.jpg" /></p>
<br />
<br /><p align="center">And after London, when others follow,
<br />And chaos reigns, we’re forced to swallow
<br />Bile as our streets and cities burn!
<br />Around our homes and shops the flame
<br />Blossoms and cracks – as our people we spurn
<br />And our children set the pace in their new game,
<br />Lest you should think they never could recapture
<br />The first fine careless rapture!
<br /></p>
<br /><p align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 192px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638806989665136706" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiszmmTjxsNyhHHpQf3W5u_ERVfTp4WW2bG6F8ppQZ1UheMjdEMYR7R8OlWPiUshNjJNVREiBTmZSJx5Z_eR1x4-WchoKxnQ4Skd5NUpfeBopoZb7SGRMiKeCVsJ0hvthnLPCD578lMt8M/s320/Riot-police-patrol-the-st-007.jpg" /></p>
<br />
<br /><p align="center">And though the streets look rough with hoary dew,
<br />All will be lost when noontide wakes anew
<br />And people think hate gives them a power, -
<br />Far brighter than this gaudy fire-flower!
<br />
<br />Oh, to be in England - Robert Browning (1812-1889)
<br />(Greatly abused by Lauren Hughes, 9th August 2011, in response to the mindless violence across Britain)
<br /></p>
<br />
<br />
<br /><p>I can only apologise.</p>
<br /><p align="justify">On a brighter note, thousands of people have begun helping to clear up the mess this miniscule minority of mindless morons have created - largely coordinated through twitter and other networking sites. It's good to know that the spirit that kept us walking over the debris in the Blitz, and sending aid to where it's needed across the world, and lending a helping hand when times are tough has not deserted all of us.
<br />
<br />If you're near London (and I hope you're safe) the clean up operation is being co-ordinated from <a href="http://46.183.9.169/Riot_Clean_Up.html">here</a>.</p>
<br /><p>JacAbsolute would like to add:</p>
<br /><p>'The great and admired beauty of the English flowers is their tiny, fragile but resilient drifts. Otherwise, for those getting high on excitement, may an eternal and ineffectual priapism afflict them (Marston, The Malcontent).'
<br /></p>
<br />
<br /><p>(Images 'looted' from the Guardian news website.)</p>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-66821340347136285462011-08-07T06:03:00.000-07:002011-08-07T06:52:40.407-07:00Excavations in the Bureau<div align="justify"><br /><br /><div><br /><div>So we've been sorting through some of my wonderful Grandad's (otherwise known as the Venerable Bede) stuff, which is much easier said than done, given the sheer volume of stuff he had. I can kind of understand it, given that I too have a lot of projects in various stages of preparation, progress or finished and kept for when they're useful, but some of the thigns we found were beyond bizzare. I mean, what could you possibly want with an incredibly small box of chocolates that are over ten years out of date?<br /><br /><div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify">Anyway, we started with the bureau (largely because it's a contained space) - Grandad made it himself, and I think it's beautiful; I can't remember what wood it's made of, but it's a light honey colour and he made the keys for it himself. It's probably got a cubic capacity of roughly one and a half meters, but it took us about three days to sort through it all, and the contents covered several rooms. I'm beginning to wonder whether Grandad had some workshop training on Galifrey...</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify">There were old photograph albums I'd never seen, with some wonderful pictures of JacAbsolute (Mum), Mithrandir (Uncle Keith), the VB and The Lovely Madge (Grandma), along with shots of more distant family members. Some of them were lovely - and some of them were just plain hilarious: photos of JacAbsolute and her best mate dressing up when they were kids :D</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify">There were lots of interesting clock parts, and strange looking implements from the early twentieth and late nineteenth centuries... there was the insignia from Great-Grandad Harry's WWI uniform (he was a sapper and fought all over the place, but most notably the Messine Ridge) that the VB was converting into a brooch for TLM... even some ivory - a statuette of a man in a boat (I suspect the VB was intending to fix it) and a letter opener.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify">And envelopes. LOTS of envelopes.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify">I took pictures of some of the most interesting bits (except the ivory, which I forgot about), and a couple of other things the VB made :)</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify">This puzzled us for a while, but we eventually figured out that it was the inside workings of a pepper pot (the VB made several of these, this one is still in potentia).</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638109186513866994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-LbqcglV_4zYQvHADpvym4uHujkPbCzU5lRvLZ9tKOMCHatRYTXphuCwZwdHWDCR_Iaaz3RHAUQwqmEDQW9d5Ulp-EGca_LMGOhy2l0ueFxaXl2T006mfa2nLEJaO4H87z3HoeuEZujs/s320/117.JPG" /> <br /><div align="justify">Not wholly sure why this made us laugh, except for the zombie Windle Poons in one of Pratchett's Discworld series... the VB got very interested in fixing and making clocks and watches... wonder what the life of this clock oil is :)</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638109179917279778" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC3Lb9ONOrKsqH1_yHEbZ8MPZ-2vLQ6piU8eZYSZZqLQo816fJ6tT5oX57KXhpV2xussJ79kcrIrLov55dYXfAc7jkNHN9hYraxPoi6yeiO6PTyKKfvDUR-pL921hvGRLExLvlxIgPdfQ/s320/119.JPG" /><br /><br /><div align="justify">My Great Aunt Sara is one of the most accomplished and inventive crafters that I've ever met - these are four of the many and awesome cards we've had over the years. My favourite - which lives in the christmas box and is therefore absent, is a partridge with a fanned paper tail. Making things sort of runs in the family :)</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638109177537355794" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic7A535QxtIyeaug5_sMQ8UpJ2J_FnhmDyfOBTEciqk0Ges5ugWDzdo_F5-qUyVToAjsWD9PJaTNBX5QKATKg3aCmGWwCXZKaUmyQZV7zmADfJTn_a2ux4BAB-elKhJJp4gLiUr2r6P_Y/s320/120.JPG" /> <br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify">A carved, wooden clock made by the VB - 'Tempus Fugit' or 'Time Flies'!</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638109168987797586" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwicaxzW7ebxEAw2Ut_5ETBwzXnkXlnhypp_b1AKbu3AyZ25bYZ7r8r3T06QcQlUT3DUgKdqboayljZheKeFEUjh_nDJe2hofszkHp_FZi9s79ZYlPogCAFLVMvEhG-v23Z8nETWS6JhQ/s320/127.JPG" /><br /><br /><div align="justify">This is a silver rose bowl designed and smithed by the VB - it's based on the structure of a carbon atom - hence the shape of the feet. It's one of things he was most proud of, and it was good to see it full of roses once more. The mat underneath was crocheted by TLM :)</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638109169763701218" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_YZpDqaO-qMoXaYJUTeNMRMVE_ybkehpW_lq5AwucKy4Mbmx2oUQutnz0L_owYiqpU5Zt4XAYDO50g1cERSpSn4rSSqT6P6bcmGcxOzJiKtf4pTYffOxchBIYfMAOKUoMRKpNpilMP0k/s320/129.JPG" /></div><br /><div align="justify"></div></div></div></div><br /></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-1690503677514153912011-07-16T04:33:00.000-07:002011-07-16T06:13:53.866-07:00Allotment Photos<div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div align="justify">And more pictures, because I can :)</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629926080364262546" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR0PR-XkHEuRmK5ZNq5jdokVy8AidTQXuCo3tPfGrAjMS6f2Sfp1Y7tmIk9rZGDPz3otiXmyAItmfRHur6A52IMoP-OhHY_Jbpcr2JwMyrepFlg5QnHxVGxV7rg4mttMt_xjoVdOumrDM/s320/061.JPG" /></div><br /><div>Bee in chives</div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629926079701909250" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOMUK1gBYZGjdAPmauvdbOQsfeQtvXNKHltealSeLbHl1RYa4Z31LBT-bAfCSpiK2ydDg1hdaNqF7T6n_tVxjP48FyTh-aDYICWdCgEJKhHs3sToimlITRY-0NhjN6yv6TiX74ad4duB8/s320/042.JPG" /></div><br /><div>Parsnips</div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629926072755763650" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiruKgIS758E10VWNTM_SFa6le9Nq1k2ra5ts5vaiFpUh6GqlAXiN3BpfiaFGJly52_hRM3SU9hoxPSpnSZuEwOvGzc8fG70OV2VMx_QIJN_VeWOI3bW6sYCgIDAvzpJCeKQaI-I35xlXU/s320/017.JPG" /></div><br /><div>Captive strawberries</div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629926058955976290" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdgsVYpJLRJI4l116IwnoyGezyYbGBstyulLzhwxZk6z93KVj-uJNeEvTLVNpL7G9s7U9H9ctPL75s5uUfyanakMiFOxJp7f7Y9yfU__N_lxm1ABzIf3-l5C6CsRTh5lhLZcxem-kWxJc/s320/033.JPG" /></div><br /><div>More flax</div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629926055194387042" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkwE31hiEhkMKTixW5GNJwNHTgrHUWIWoB-haB2TNWpKAgTM4QHgwvYikWxLfLnZPpGUiLR4ek2PAm5ju7yS1wKxJHyjPW9yAiQm37CipW16mQm3iDomfZfYjFEfh_e0wF4qZD8NDVxWg/s320/064.JPG" />More bee in chives</div><br /><div><br /><br /><div align="justify">There are more, as ever, on my <a href="http://parlanchina.deviantart.com/">dA profile</a>.</div></div></div></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-6742014615292597632011-07-16T04:04:00.000-07:002011-07-16T04:31:35.283-07:00Early Summer at the Allotment<strong>(Late June-ish)</strong> <br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div><strong><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629910011771793138" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmvkAqwm4ryYNJXgu0bpSTBGWE2ae3sCam6KpleYOqOiE2wqWI19OEEUcktwm8TNu6kuj9Ya9omNpQRvC2Zhp8_87ww1AnlQqMacs3RidTe6vkYXPcRTqkdtku5skYzYaXXuczuFAZMc8/s400/048.JPG" /></strong></div><br /><div>Once again transport problems have prevented our being at the allotment much, but things are growing on pretty well. we've got raspberries and redcurrants and cherries and blackcurrants and strawberries and apples and rhubarb (NOM). </div><br /><div></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629909995653450482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAS2zWrK7COWScEpIteP494e93-YTZ_2qaFm17Jlg2FCEFRQs8Lnu9IyOUZm87mybhr15F7-aoVz_wE6LBrsmUSYhZoA7rS9PX2AgVLgwZmSvxGF1XXp6AWy5DxTUfc_wy5KNVafiMFPE/s400/013.JPG" /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>There's also potatoes and tomatoes and pumpkins and sweetcorn and onions and cabbages parsnips and radishes and lettuce and spinach and carrots and broccolli and peas and beans and courgettes and all kinds of wonderful things to eat in a few months time! </div><br /><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629910001805116114" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqh8-29ZnUA5-gSKeqqdv0aTqNnjT3aufKfy7NuhG_qSfTLS4icmQSVCJ9O_vpqXBHuvi-BRkAdFu-5bKcmizp_1Oldxxu6UjQRKlpQO2fFHnuB64oEMcHMujPJUc12wJ8BjDLhZmgQeU/s400/023.JPG" /><br /><br /><div>The lovely Amanda's lovely Mum has given us some cucumbers to replace the ones I destroyed, and there's chervil and basil to go in at some point.</div><br /><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629910005783125858" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigZOVtWaPkw2UIBCebJHK3bLIkYiNbTXJ6_CFisVrmp7PHqV89SWft0AekcUhurmmhZRJRCWkzw2BtTIzpn78KEC53XJZ-E9O8-8in6Six1nxmowR5yLdP8BpU0sbYDaoDTTKP0W_86B8/s400/041.JPG" /><br /><br /><div>It was a lovely day, and nice to get some physical labour done in the light and the air instead of sitting and writing indoors :)</div><br /><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629910013238056258" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZHF5aw7D4cxqmoPo2Q6_N08QdcfqFh9WWEN9SRi5tQ5epK_lkYn-XUfQoQNKlbx8QbmAry1BR0vHSFRXEMgthkcUbHwMupurNSAFeMc9_-OrrXtzylXyQfdk-zec1HHaBQQzfrLn7Dfw/s400/050.JPG" /><br /><br /><div>Photographs: the boys, hard at work in the evening; redcurrants; peas; flax; salad.</div></div></div></div></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-64322397615558637382011-07-15T15:59:00.001-07:002011-07-15T16:21:14.134-07:00Pretty, Pretty Pictures!<div align="justify"><br /><div><br /><div align="justify">You may remember me posting a while back about <a href="http://iamnotabean.blogspot.com/2011/03/presenting-professor-amelia-brown.html">some artwork</a> that my good friend <a href="http://limlight.deviantart.com/">Limlight</a> was working on for me in exchange for some knitted projects. Well, the work's all done at both ends now and I'm happy to say we're both pretty chuffed :D</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify">The hats Limlight asked me to make were great fun, and I blogged about them over on my <a href="http://goodfornothingcrafters.blogspot.com/">craft blog</a>; they were both on a sci-fi theme and were really satisfying to make. She chose them both because they were cool hats and they were from two of her favourite shows: <a href="http://goodfornothingcrafters.blogspot.com/2011/07/ma-cobbs-firefly-hat.html">Ma Cobb's Firefly hat</a> and <a href="http://goodfornothingcrafters.blogspot.com/2011/07/starbucks-mandala-hat.html">Starbuck's Mandala hat</a>, and here they are!</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629721638680485458" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidGaAoU3gQ5Se_R9MrqVxM_kgbSPrF-OnIgtsKfK5Arq8fHN-X1eKEThtlwjfI-p0WJc7Sz1TRhCfeqwHX0vvMhLaHkiOk6Bpo7UAm4dZRRBpCtIjG10XkqVbmeeLH8-oA4Po2TF-1jsA/s400/151.JPG" /><br /><br /><div align="justify">Jayne Cobb's 'cunning' hat that his Ma made him :) (sans pompom, which went on later)</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629721634902717746" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPNmMGDrEDTWMYPkCT9rE0e8QvAN2-KUNh462lQ76S27WvPkHR5t_6P0kQ56U0u_nvcnSLpralTU0bFHcCHV3bkbrgCPOh5jsQ_3W8JD99CfjN5BvLgvVpu8jSCWtnmnJBU93t_KRnZcg/s400/152.JPG" /><br /><br /><div align="justify">Hat based on the mural on Starbuck's wall (Battlestar Galactica, as if you needed to ask!)</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify">The pictures I asked Limlight to create for me are based on characters from my Harry Potter fanfiction <a href="http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5981043/1/Dreams_and_False_Alarms">Dreams and False Alarms</a> (which I've heard is quite a good read, hint-hint!) - well, my versions of some of Rowling's characters, anyway, and one of my very own. Here they are, in all their glory:</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 389px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629721629959640850" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVUuKM8myEEWYzpqRnlF5sxGNWUIkjXiwvUuBV3RabjKhyuZmBbTyV0xqcq0mS0gySfY9rdWR-jdk3vbzvbsCBPmMGAf75LYAVqFly2_IPB7UJ23rm7NuyMuBYjyKsBaVUSg5VJMNtmaw/s400/Professors+Brown%252C+Lupin+and+Snape.jpg" /><br /><br /><div align="justify">Severus, Amelia and Remus; Amelia Brown, the new Muggle Studies Professor at Hogwarts has something of an effect on these interesting young men...</div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 347px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629721623384722610" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheJ16JdNjqqKdcOlXXEyV3UWxCykX-hP91ROhxCAZOm6EJxJm2vqkbNiBynfen8euO_PMR9TMuEZn81k0kG3Y_30IS2QuZ4ASCWxF1mLJ6t5_2nWAwqlGvNZsy_4EzlIJlSXtlpwFPlw8/s400/Hermione+and+Amelia.jpg" /><br /><br /><div align="justify">Amelia and her cousin Hermione Granger, being cousinly and winding each other up - it's Hermione's third year and she's beginning to develop that famous fiery temper!<br /></div><br /><div align="justify">I think these pictures are absolutely brilliant, and I can't think Limlight enough for bringing my character and her friends to life! By the way - unless your name is munchkin, Limlight or Rowling, mitts off :p</div></div><br /></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-54856842281549954072011-07-15T15:46:00.000-07:002011-07-15T15:56:42.191-07:00Much Ado About Hogwarts<div align="justify">Most of May and June are a bit of a blur now - mostly involving preparing to move house and large quantities of rain, along with the passing of my wonderful Grandad.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify">One thing I do remember though (largely because fanfiction.net provides you with a 'published' date) is starting a new Harry Potter fanfiction. I've been working on A Given Value of Safe - the sequel to <a href="http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5981043/1/Dreams_and_False_Alarms">Dreams and False Alarms</a> - for a while (along with my proper novel, Daffodils in the Twilight), and needed a bit of a break. A few of the lines from Much Ado About Nothing kept rattling around in my brain and I decided to have a play (hah) with fitting it into a Marauder-era story - you know, try new styles, have different characters to mess with, see what new techniques I could fiddle with - and I'm having a great time! It's not how I intended it to go - the characters seem to have more say over what happens than I do in some chapters - and I really didn't intend it to be this long, but for some reason it works! I'm learning lots about how I write and what does and doesn't work in a narrative, I'm playing with poetry and prose <em>and </em>I get to get up close and personal with one of my favourite plays :D</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify">Oh, and the reviews don;t hurt my self-esteem, either ;)</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify">If you want to read it (please, please, please!) it lives on fanficiton.net and is called <a href="http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6984631/1/Much_Ado_About_Hogwarts">Much Ado About Hogwarts</a>. Along with that pretty 'review' button. You know you want to!</div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-34075650923451035452011-07-15T15:33:00.000-07:002011-07-15T15:44:46.044-07:00Guisborough<strong>(Easter 2011)</strong> <br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div>When we visited Guisborough priory with my Mr's family I managed to take some pretty cool pictures, if I say so myself (which I do, so there) and I've decided to share a small selection (more can be found on my <a href="http://parlanchina.deviantart.com/">dA profile</a>).</div><br /><div></div></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629711874500604786" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTFnH_dCEE0oqXbTmMz7LCos71uiaFCCrQp8s2sin_6NGnf-0HXfdNiqOLPg7KHjevPtjjA717R9gVuibpW2Fy0Cau2Ch7rUHP77wI9s7iPtftOgmSGJarL0cld-YcO0e5oSkSYzYoFcQ/s400/014.JPG" /></div><br /><div>Cornflower, up close and personal: one of my favourite summer flowers; there was always a group of these growing around the bottom of my grandparents' pear tree back in Biddulph.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629711866899902994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7wQ08bmi0QIPezI7V0z_d7SIA3R_Qcg56sYVXevQjudhJFe8vF42VnBuShe6TlYLLpBruI5ztjUL4Q10DcGIsqgj95cCN675cgRvtfxSgBGHR54miu6DHT4loYy9AgghJjkmtRRiEcyE/s400/040.JPG" /></div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Footprints in well tilled earth: kind of reminds me of those fossilised footprints they found...</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629711861593880546" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo-ykZoKJMbtt7xaaBk7-F4O7lkf3g7LA36Mq6IcdzJo9EFhHeTyvjY80FQ2jLeKLh8GW2QHguxCWTaUBtIgUBzZyHnXP5uc1V2ZSEEHEOI_fStl35fxu8D9cy6U9gygwXvgbyhWQIdBM/s400/071.JPG" /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>The Horsfall Destructor: what to get that evil genius who has <em>everything</em>.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629711857064858450" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYXAcgtjeTkc-njlZoDZMQBYP976U6aW1VbvrwmjZHYdTnvv5zcI-qUpSzFuB0SQoC4tdIZV-7ouf_RqKjVjGG59gKLIzGIsQxL0w2DOnX2hJT3FTP1JtLSvJsrXFcQhGj8cZKVJ2p5N8/s400/145.JPG" /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Me and my Mr. Read a book about someone's shadow coming alove once - i wouldn;t have minded if they had at that point :) (yes, yes, I know I'm soppy).</div><br /><div><br /></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629711854545848434" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglXZOcGUS9iN4NOqi5kS4VK_54JgwsPJfAvyW1jQSl8-pvArfbslgLr-q2v5TmYgicLTPD89h880zlIONw1xXilR_BFn0NwqGkXEF7KivrsdvXsr7F07zopDUIaTkUBnO26N8xo1FTTgw/s400/168.JPG" /></div></div><br /><br /><p>Sunlight through some tree or another. Feel like I should know which one... don't, though.</p>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-24005185903188883792011-07-15T14:48:00.000-07:002011-07-15T15:30:02.833-07:00Easter 2011: Guisborough Priory<div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><strong>(Easter 2011)</strong></div><br /><div>Continuing the monastic flavour, we went off to Guisborough to have a look around the ruins of the Augustinian priory there. Much less survives here than at Mount Grace, but what does is still pretty spectacular. There appears to be a <a href="http://www.gisboroughprioryproject.co.uk/">small army of volunteers</a> keeping the gardens in check, including a large cottage-garden area with a beautifully restored and oddly huge dovecote in the middle. Much of what is left has been robbed out - presumably as building materials for the village that appears to have grown up in the forecourt of the priory. The great eastern window is still in tact, however, along with part of the cloister; the quality of the building work is indicative of the kind of wealth and status enjoyed by the priory during its life. The window looks very strange, standing as one great wall despite the disappearance of its supporting structures.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629707509823812754" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9vEUoEA9xklhQL2hrUgIfcoa_45L4V7BtDznK_ZbuyZ-D-94sX15Z9MunE5ihFnhiW088BnPvdlKDweeQgHevLEi0IU6ujHyEWp7Rm9S3iZfyENJIcd6wVsXyCV43mvQV7Q2vNvbB2Tk/s320/152.JPG" /></div><br /><div align="justify">A lime grove has been planted in an area beside the priory known as the monks' walk; the limes, the tallest (and, as any palynologist will tell you, a very old) variety of deciduous tree in Britain, stand guard over a memorial garden where the remains exhumed from beneath the priory church during excavations there. The clearing in which they are buried is surrounded by carved pieces of stone from the priory, beautifully maintained flowerbeds and a woodland garden. The ground is covered (at this time of the year) with bluebells and wild alliums, and the dappled sunlight spills through the lime trees that appear to have formed their own cathedral of wood about the burial ground. I honestly cannot think of a more peaceful or beautiful place to be buried in all this world.<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629707507083038162" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiawgPCIc2_xIa1vKqSgIHIBeT1EEloCGCz7tv7_M2ckesoE6I-k1RMRVy8QIg0cR2vlgRvC-cCUHlnVslMqlxkY0sbsCSn56ZkzqYLeojx0-Cghx9yp2JTY01XVI5MVPsz1UaksXo_QjQ/s320/105.JPG" />The woodland garden has been very skillfully planned to provided teaching and meeting areas with seats made from sawn up logs, natural habitats for insects and fungus and a general area in which volunteers can relax. It seemed that every time I turned around in the garden I found some new secret place amongst the leaves and flowers. It was a little like being in my own head - in that it was more or less how I imagined parts of the world I'm writing about. There was even an ancient and wonderfully rusty garden incinerator tucked away against one of the walls.<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629707502627194482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUOMQRn7T57XU37dn8Uy64NWjm5jlfvYnGNjZ6eeq7Fr114zmCfFgQKUypmyVZ4gB6zG-FBBeVy70b6hwg-6V2XBWx6xl8Kkc5vcH5mOC7T4QN-WxXUnwKE99nOlsJJDpaiWBpY2Xbf9E/s320/082.JPG" />When the priory shut for the night we had a brief foray into the churchyard next door, which has some of the most interesting gravestones I've seen in a while (sorry, I know I have bizarre hobbies), including an amazing carving of a skull-bat (probably soemthing to do with the idea of 'king-death'). One stone simply had initials on... their mourners probably couldn't afford more, but it's that grave that I remember most out of all the beautifully carved specimens surrounding it. How perverse of me.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629707492931401026" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOd09rHOfz81-SmrZRAYT-kw_RHSKKAqJz2-_ksP-LXAZIkT8MtLUJPnwiSnn8Dhisb-A76oDDn74vV0EJDULOPQGTK-2jZchheTrnjfZC1jqmId4mOvGH7tjBTxQW1ohCIwwfImu3l7k/s320/135.JPG" />We also had a nosey through a hedge at a church school that was set up in the Elizabethan period, which also had some intriguing architecture (in this case, largely obscured by the hedge) and was quite beautiful. In a nearby field we were astonished to find an entire colony of llamas (no, really), who seemed monumentally uninterested in a party of strange bipeds who were stood waving at them... There was a wonderful moment when I turned around to find Poom attempting to attract their attention using semaphore, but unfortunately all our attempts at communication were spurned.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629707488877527762" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglo7huJiuCSItuSEttsLTn_mJ8nNJOhFDvvIztOJKUF895TpaHbL-hMfKtFFj7dktl4hFOForPmNaMcVNIcKboqzNtKu5C0JZHBQgj-6HEcCW2-MtgVYvZX0J-34Lj-4lX5mHkZfOKZJs/s320/161.JPG" /> <br /><div align="justify">A good day, though, all in all - leading to a large volume of photographs appearing on (you guessed it) my <a href="http://parlanchina.deviantart.com/">dA profile</a>.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify">Photographs: The extraordinary east window through which you can just see the distant dovecote; the lime grove memorial garden; meet me amongst the wild alliums; the Almighty Skull-Bat and the lonely initials; no, really: llamas!</div></div></div></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-23986167756926298562011-07-15T11:53:00.000-07:002011-07-15T14:46:25.150-07:00Easter 2011: Mount Grace Priory<div align="justify"><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2lJMkC46DF1dVZOjibiKTqiffYxKNcdPVBmh1hyxB84lumH_sXkv9Vq3lzmCPaTyTSY7rx26YkK3oH2m2PtfZPz12j2p4PpsraDEp6Fg2D5NKDibb0-5tshE0hBXtOPMcooccJzp8RlA/s1600/P1010062.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629694711882061042" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2lJMkC46DF1dVZOjibiKTqiffYxKNcdPVBmh1hyxB84lumH_sXkv9Vq3lzmCPaTyTSY7rx26YkK3oH2m2PtfZPz12j2p4PpsraDEp6Fg2D5NKDibb0-5tshE0hBXtOPMcooccJzp8RlA/s320/P1010062.JPG" /></a>(Easter 2011)</strong></div><br /><div align="justify">With the beautiful sunshine it seemed foolish to be inside on such a nice day and once everyone had let their lunch settle we drove out to <a href="http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/mount-grace-priory/">Mount Grace Priory</a>, a spectacularly in-tact Carthusian house in North Yorkshire - listening to the Young 'Uns on the way. It's a beautifully kept site, with stately manor gardens, a lot of chickens, the restored 17th century manor house (in the guest hall of the abbey) and the abbey ruins themselves. </div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify">The abbey began life as a <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcmSqvnnvE3kGsAXk2eGiy7xYXphW2EXGvF61EVFgRy0rs9QMiJvTinI3MYx-A9bG0B50Eef2Ja-_ESDdGN8gr4m3Mp5ANB4i4LVUIRtk2Oan1oGnk_o8k-qmZrqc3U2FqEUHNIKYXT7E/s1600/P1010141.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629694717642938994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcmSqvnnvE3kGsAXk2eGiy7xYXphW2EXGvF61EVFgRy0rs9QMiJvTinI3MYx-A9bG0B50Eef2Ja-_ESDdGN8gr4m3Mp5ANB4i4LVUIRtk2Oan1oGnk_o8k-qmZrqc3U2FqEUHNIKYXT7E/s320/P1010141.JPG" /></a>Carthusian charterhouse in 1398 and is therefore of an unusual design for a monastery. Most monastic orders lived communally, but the Carthusians chose to live in individual cells; really, they were more like hermits who came together only for protection - they tended to keep their worship separate too, only meeting together in the church for matins, mass and vespers. The church, therefore was quite small and plain, reflecting the small amount of time the monks spent in there, while the cells were in fact small houses - actually, not that small. Each monk was entitled to a living / eating area, a small and very well lit scriptorium, a small but cosy bedroom and an upstairs workroom. The cells all had a garden which the monk maintained, along with an enclosed private cloister. During the nineteenth century one of the cells was reconstructed to a very high standard based on available information. It's really cool! </div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLQRPbvkm7I8-VZkYpsgqXebsOqx6xgjSLgVRTCfjvAbmvVFTPP7yNFbozAAWdtniZVQwY_BVGOYQuvJdlj5oZKfhjsTWQWi3npqoWtGHerdJTwtM_C4DVJBSgcTZtig_9EoIO3qBWWeU/s1600/P1010119.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629694721233087058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLQRPbvkm7I8-VZkYpsgqXebsOqx6xgjSLgVRTCfjvAbmvVFTPP7yNFbozAAWdtniZVQwY_BVGOYQuvJdlj5oZKfhjsTWQWi3npqoWtGHerdJTwtM_C4DVJBSgcTZtig_9EoIO3qBWWeU/s320/P1010119.JPG" /></a>Unusually for the time there was also running water, including an outside lavatory over a channel of running water. Apparently the Carthusians were experts at plumbing, particularly the provision of clean drains and running water, and their Houses have gained something of a name for it. Mount Grace was fed by three wells built on the freshwater springs from the hillside above the Priory. This water would then be collected in and distributed from a water tower at the centre of the Cloister using a system of lead pipes and drainage channels.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify">The abbey was built, expanded and rebuilt in several stages during its life, leaving a wonderful series of building traces across the site; the chronology built up from archaeological investigations on the site is well worth a look. Some time after the suppression of the house during the reign of the opportunistic Henry VIII the site was taken over by Thomas Lascelles in 1654, and he rebuilt the abbey guest house into a fine example of a seventeenth century Manor house, much of which has now been restored. A fine section of red painted plaster has been identified and left exposed to provide visitors with a glimpse of what at least part of the manor house would have looked like.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgCXdF0rFrOvUl5YZD-eMTjnOcGeFavVFWxQUuhfxo0oDIYe3ma8NIBPrvu-b5-MmQCnKzZlEX6vtA2N0XuKQLQE8CFYtlKvpY7ViYcjzKOjrI77UbFBafjBMPUillbrmmEiKM7ijPctQ/s1600/P1010172.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629694725553691378" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgCXdF0rFrOvUl5YZD-eMTjnOcGeFavVFWxQUuhfxo0oDIYe3ma8NIBPrvu-b5-MmQCnKzZlEX6vtA2N0XuKQLQE8CFYtlKvpY7ViYcjzKOjrI77UbFBafjBMPUillbrmmEiKM7ijPctQ/s320/P1010172.JPG" /></a>We had a great time clambouring about the ruins in the unexpected April sunshine - Mount Grace Priory is well worth the visit. Again, got loads of great pictures (well, I think so anyway), which can be found on my <a href="http://parlanchina.deviantart.com/">dA profile</a>.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify">Photographs: the woodland surrounding the priory; the bedroom in the reconstructed monk's cell; one of the wells or spring houses; Peter trying out the facilities; the Usual Suspects.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGiGEfXaY7pTivdyjDd2uV3tzMXp22DHKOBNoo5UXAh6OVIVzKCRYl8YkUwdy6zbwPBulPvrbV7LHrGp5Tvr8jFYx9KbNOVBcqhF9iLDKB9aZlapqB81ZeEJYc4Q2_uw-tOm2zgmyjsQ4/s1600/P1010199.JPG"></a></div><br /><br /><div align="justify">All facts have been mercilessly stripped from the information boards on site and the far superior guide book written by English Heritage.</div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGiGEfXaY7pTivdyjDd2uV3tzMXp22DHKOBNoo5UXAh6OVIVzKCRYl8YkUwdy6zbwPBulPvrbV7LHrGp5Tvr8jFYx9KbNOVBcqhF9iLDKB9aZlapqB81ZeEJYc4Q2_uw-tOm2zgmyjsQ4/s1600/P1010199.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629694727655910978" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGiGEfXaY7pTivdyjDd2uV3tzMXp22DHKOBNoo5UXAh6OVIVzKCRYl8YkUwdy6zbwPBulPvrbV7LHrGp5Tvr8jFYx9KbNOVBcqhF9iLDKB9aZlapqB81ZeEJYc4Q2_uw-tOm2zgmyjsQ4/s320/P1010199.JPG" /></a></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-7185145710357728542011-07-15T11:19:00.000-07:002011-07-15T11:53:16.819-07:00Easter 2011: Saltburn in the Mists<div align="justify"><strong>(Easter 2011)</strong></div><br /><div align="justify">Me and the Mr went up to visit his family for easter and we had a brilliant time - going out to somewhere interesting every day! When we headed up it was in that random week of blistering sunshine, so of course the first afternoon on the coast was spent with so much sea-mist we couldn't even see the beach - it was brilliant! Strangely eerie, absolutely freezing and very beautiful. Stubborn folk as we are, those of us not attending mass all had ice creams, despite the cold; we had a good walk up and down the pier and along the beach, meeting up with my Mr and his Mum at a pub when some of the mist had cleared.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify">Had the chance to take some brilliant photos, many of which can be seen on my <a href="http://parlanchina.deviantart.com/">dA profile</a>.</div><br /><div align="justify"><br /><div></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629652381827663314" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXEu-1klFT8h5sjXQMDcfLKSqDVtpc2loecAVXa4vnkpDHmP3oO_Rkt6ENDvA37iKJwwxw9fYimq2kyz1aNztGmhoxQMEJrUTUyyVjEr8sTUfyMRDhCmeABBILVDoZrRqcm9uom-NBj9Y/s320/P1010009.JPG" /></div><br /><div>'Where'd the sea go?'</div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629652384425687778" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvI0q1wkV4_tLuiiODRtaK0cqyrKRYD83b7LR9K1hA-UNALhoJ6h0beEaKzdR5AN9nKLfpypj9-HLBfCkYQgHBVVVGbXytiDJWY0oUIsj6s6Q2GIYJB5NV5lUsyEfi7KazlqrA6jZBLiE/s320/P1010017.JPG" /></div><br /><div>Disappearing pier.</div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629652391989768370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAdswtDr8JrdvyDwYR6tWTKU5zjZhL6pPTomhyphenhypheni9hQuCRY-Yre4t3lz_EnfAj35fv615CfeDmPaTJ3LhQs_hbiz-bTmEvrtxZ9oYnVR6l1N7LUr6OjUIHG-7a-ATJhxcLEJk5IaDdZEI/s320/P1010023.JPG" /></div><br /><div>Wanderers in the mist.</div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629652390009199906" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKNA4tgvjzPbWNYCqxx7oKFU8CWygC3ClVxMNh8mDxes46320OlhgDxHLXC6EpYHJEl9rn7ciQKGc13ug7E4HE4ljc4wum-1_xtB8YvQOcupMhh-cYbgWRLicRDHPx1o1LoyupHzPKNfA/s320/P1010029.JPG" /></div><br /><div>The funicular lift (apparently) to nowhere :)</div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629652392422465362" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiThpadVcip-o_zQEAEGhonRymJZ1gj5wYKK0tPf287tjaxW3R_K0IRHlG74SAiiojSoS0-SdIm1NQTS4d0wzo0EXZu2f9FZBu3Yna9FNAcF1FFO9rXPbCnA4fs4Xndi2ikiiSOmE2t4SQ/s320/P1010058.JPG" />Cliff-top folly.</div><br /></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-23053119369768254122011-07-15T05:02:00.000-07:002011-07-15T10:15:45.230-07:00Clearing Ben and Poom's Garden<div align="justify">So, it's been a while since I posted (I know, I know, <em>again</em>), for a variety of reasons, including finding out that we had to move house, moving house, and the illness and passing away of my dear and wondeful Grandad. I've gone into it in more detail on <a href="http://goodfornothingcrafters.blogspot.com/2011/07/ma-cobbs-firefly-hat.html">my other blog</a>, but suffice it to say I'll be doing some catching up on the blog front.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong>(Sometime in mid-April)</strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn3CSao7GCMLSFLRr_06aCxLpyXQUiVwhsDGzn1TqowZ78EbUlLiW3B3yjMnCiHDr95mhcZf0C5QTGO3F_vBaL06rF2eIy7lmtibSuSMH-yI9guDSV95sWNBeH833X19P16OihSIoYMfU/s1600/P1010003.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629622425475349954" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn3CSao7GCMLSFLRr_06aCxLpyXQUiVwhsDGzn1TqowZ78EbUlLiW3B3yjMnCiHDr95mhcZf0C5QTGO3F_vBaL06rF2eIy7lmtibSuSMH-yI9guDSV95sWNBeH833X19P16OihSIoYMfU/s200/P1010003.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqifjt_Lq7143bdXiTQBaHJqnit8BlPNym9yUGSOTwxs6ERSK5e7R78WSkmuHecITYKl7Gad5HmqNqSiKDhVL2nb-fiDqKk2AeIZYJB23Ev3V1lzZsVssSXo0ZjIvX1MK6-XTcJbfmBOk/s1600/P1010007.JPG"></a></div><br /><div align="justify">Spent a few days this week taming Ben and Poom's garden - they moved house in the winter and their garden is something of a jungle. After a while I could sort of see where the original garden plan was going - before a few years of neglected pruning there would have been a winding path leading to the back of the garden with woodland flowers like japanese anemones and primroses along the edge. Then, further back from the path were flowering shrubs and dark foliage. At the back of the garden were raspberries, both the usual varieties and a variety of golden fruiting raspberry, redcurrants, blackberries and blackcurrants. The front beds are full of flowers: spring bulbs, clematis, wallflowers and pansies. I even found a tree none of us knew was there inside a buddlea. Oh, and there was pampas grass. I hate pampas grass.</div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyMJ55SU4Obd2iMXg1W-qkyJ-GIR405vuSbwxUBusuhyphenhyphenaew70NU-Uu7Kw5j7BDu2r8aQIu9J3wjHI_aQaIfwwmCyFXh_FA24f50bhi1_Jgsf_gfYScxxK1qWiCaxDjoQvsp-Ny4YpRfEk/s1600/P1010005.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629622437511657970" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyMJ55SU4Obd2iMXg1W-qkyJ-GIR405vuSbwxUBusuhyphenhyphenaew70NU-Uu7Kw5j7BDu2r8aQIu9J3wjHI_aQaIfwwmCyFXh_FA24f50bhi1_Jgsf_gfYScxxK1qWiCaxDjoQvsp-Ny4YpRfEk/s200/P1010005.JPG" /></a>As you can imagine, after a few years with no one looking after the plants it all went a bit mental. Surprisingly the buddlea was the easiest to deal with - largely because Ben and Poom wanted to keep it, so it largely just involved cutting back. The expanding hazel thicket took more time, and a good deal of help from my Mr and Tom; I still haven't quite finished with the laurel, but I defeated the larger of the two pampas grass bushes and helped my Mr take out the second.<br /></div><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEXNNOhBeabtcFBWuxi66SEsJZiGKUmj5EIDrTxHWM7o9ddvhA1dltEKdTUps433i3aP4-JLXv_V93hUAzbSnlPOb2Ty1SXX2r7tL6oK254RETbeulv3ULHQbD4jFDm5l-N-b8axexFE/s1600/P1010002.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629622427662692530" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEXNNOhBeabtcFBWuxi66SEsJZiGKUmj5EIDrTxHWM7o9ddvhA1dltEKdTUps433i3aP4-JLXv_V93hUAzbSnlPOb2Ty1SXX2r7tL6oK254RETbeulv3ULHQbD4jFDm5l-N-b8axexFE/s200/P1010002.JPG" /></a>At school we used to call it slit-wrist, and with good reason - even being within three feet of the damned stuff means cuts on arms and legs and faces. It was a proper ****er to get out, I can tell you: several feet deep and about two foot thick with dried grass and snail shells - some of which were still alive. Urgh. I have to say, I've never seen the point in a plant that looks sort of ok-ish for approximately two months of the year and ragged and hideous for the rest of it, is so big that it kills off anything nearby and so vicious that you start bleeding of you even look at it. I mean, <em>why</em> do they plant it in schools, for Gods' sake?<br /></div><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqifjt_Lq7143bdXiTQBaHJqnit8BlPNym9yUGSOTwxs6ERSK5e7R78WSkmuHecITYKl7Gad5HmqNqSiKDhVL2nb-fiDqKk2AeIZYJB23Ev3V1lzZsVssSXo0ZjIvX1MK6-XTcJbfmBOk/s1600/P1010007.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629622441919292786" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqifjt_Lq7143bdXiTQBaHJqnit8BlPNym9yUGSOTwxs6ERSK5e7R78WSkmuHecITYKl7Gad5HmqNqSiKDhVL2nb-fiDqKk2AeIZYJB23Ev3V1lzZsVssSXo0ZjIvX1MK6-XTcJbfmBOk/s200/P1010007.JPG" /></a>Anyway, it took some time - as you can see from the photographs, which don't look like I've made any progress at all, other than greatly increasing the pile of sticks in the front - and I'm not yet finished, but it's going to be a lovely garden again soon.</div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-58751949770528058992011-04-13T02:54:00.000-07:002011-04-13T04:36:21.870-07:00Sunshine!<div><br /><div align="justify">What a gloriously sunny weekend we had! Since I was still fighting off my cold I decided not to go to the allotment and stay in and craft (with the window open, so it was still sunny), but my plans were foiled.</div><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh4gWqpLJI0a_QMr1zHRQF5j7I4bQRDKF0dhMLwGYNjtjl5ClyrY6223r0jMjJSsl7WGt5jrzosKulUTEQEItXElIvE4klftwKUS31GaWWm831ETPvCFR9Rygqj8CPx2HiRyCWaPJQOp4/s1600/024.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595027535120397586" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh4gWqpLJI0a_QMr1zHRQF5j7I4bQRDKF0dhMLwGYNjtjl5ClyrY6223r0jMjJSsl7WGt5jrzosKulUTEQEItXElIvE4klftwKUS31GaWWm831ETPvCFR9Rygqj8CPx2HiRyCWaPJQOp4/s200/024.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQsqd5yUgAOaWfsxqIeSa8hvEuQqtCaOy7ByUDisa6VQc9DblXj9h6lhWyAXoLbUFR4CgBLxkF5Nb377wR_5FSAVc6iQKFA3F-DRf-sk46dKfwd67RqGa1E_Apl6ziqMOGHVliO1BwFYA/s1600/102.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595027535822358818" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQsqd5yUgAOaWfsxqIeSa8hvEuQqtCaOy7ByUDisa6VQc9DblXj9h6lhWyAXoLbUFR4CgBLxkF5Nb377wR_5FSAVc6iQKFA3F-DRf-sk46dKfwd67RqGa1E_Apl6ziqMOGHVliO1BwFYA/s200/102.JPG" /></a>On saturday our new housemate, the lovely Amanda, took us out to Sowerby Bridge for mongolian stir fry at <a href="http://www.temujinrestaurant.co.uk/Galleries/SowerbyBridge.asp">Temujin</a> (nom nom nom) and a bit of a wander. We had a really nice walk around the town, naturally I spent half of it wittering on about interesting old buildings, but I think Amanda and Niall have learned to tune me out now :) The information board said that the town really started to kick off in the seventeenth century, and there were some amazing frankenbuildings that looked to be pretty old. We also found a gaggle of geese on the Calder, with their own little fleet of goslings, which were so very fluffy!</div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpXG9LtzNRM3HFfBbno6KitVuCg3pxuYQaP_e8uwG9i8CrPQKHWx8hN2rY2aJwYdabRzlscuOiZGnKXrpicwNy1sPiquD9sb0Y1lXTPygtVGVmjsQjFqJuid5d5e36SpdP0W7Oj2yEUV4/s1600/119.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595027538609844050" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpXG9LtzNRM3HFfBbno6KitVuCg3pxuYQaP_e8uwG9i8CrPQKHWx8hN2rY2aJwYdabRzlscuOiZGnKXrpicwNy1sPiquD9sb0Y1lXTPygtVGVmjsQjFqJuid5d5e36SpdP0W7Oj2yEUV4/s200/119.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div>On sunday I did manage to get a ton of craft done, which will be discussed in my <a href="http://goodfornothingcrafters.blogspot.com/">other blog</a>, while watching ancient episodes of Time Team -Niall helped me with the pompom for one of the hats - I can never get the hang of them. Having exhausted our sitting power for the day we trekked out to the <a href="http://www.earlymusicshop.com/">Early Music Shop</a> in Salts Mill, where we had a wonderful time looking at lutes and rebecs and harps and recorders made from what appear to be drinking horns. They even have lute playing lessons - may be a thing to do in the summer :) It was so nice out we wandered around the park in Saltaire and had a drink at the Boathouse.</div><br /><div></div></div><br /><div><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLXOVz1Y1z-qzDI5GKuR4tGIk3cxOP1Yidp0ISb5_idQ8FZIzcaJzPHso3_EvwN8H8hCy6Ccn9rcxDrhAe6DKwcsQVTh6vAQi-laSCWKmbYFjDfyS4mKbeiuJyEu5ESKnVMAgmWP6jYks/s1600/147.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595027543231564674" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLXOVz1Y1z-qzDI5GKuR4tGIk3cxOP1Yidp0ISb5_idQ8FZIzcaJzPHso3_EvwN8H8hCy6Ccn9rcxDrhAe6DKwcsQVTh6vAQi-laSCWKmbYFjDfyS4mKbeiuJyEu5ESKnVMAgmWP6jYks/s200/147.JPG" /></a> <br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4l4710U1b8Is769BpMNfVdbi2otGEfBtWlegTO6FzPirbco01n9ssv0AlWY8Sz5BM-eXlBBeAis9VrtausfJs3xBYp3FA1EVpBpfF4-5o4WCzg8o6vTkKLLnizCKQ10soJLfr3TgvPvM/s1600/168.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595027551151836610" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4l4710U1b8Is769BpMNfVdbi2otGEfBtWlegTO6FzPirbco01n9ssv0AlWY8Sz5BM-eXlBBeAis9VrtausfJs3xBYp3FA1EVpBpfF4-5o4WCzg8o6vTkKLLnizCKQ10soJLfr3TgvPvM/s200/168.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div align="justify"><br /><div align="justify"><br /><div align="justify">I did the whole trial thing on monday, hopefully that's done with now... and tuesday was Jen's birthday, so the usual suspects met up in Bradford in a semblance of a social life; it was great to see everyone again!</div></div></div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div align="justify">Photos: Geese on the Calder; a beautiful old building; magnolias in the sunshine in Saltaire; easily the most hilarious photograph of Niall EVER; the usual suspects: Bones, Me, Charlotte and Jen.</div></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-84277071179372941492011-04-06T05:31:00.000-07:002011-04-06T05:45:05.881-07:00Adventures in Staffordshire (and a bit of Shropshire)<div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDWduI4GC8XNxmtBpmyzO8dMKt_xZu2toTndaU1onTGK4BdB5tEJgQCpm_v-vmecyVCtXt5556a1z3eXM_0RE-oEYdiEM9NkIoAFY6AiJ60X56GSrRaHUXHDJDqqIrXh3m3BGTcTbmHzc/s1600/010.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592449088887556290" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDWduI4GC8XNxmtBpmyzO8dMKt_xZu2toTndaU1onTGK4BdB5tEJgQCpm_v-vmecyVCtXt5556a1z3eXM_0RE-oEYdiEM9NkIoAFY6AiJ60X56GSrRaHUXHDJDqqIrXh3m3BGTcTbmHzc/s320/010.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGIT2nkblAzJsvbIcbHDYVW8SpstNV-uswuo_lC25PTqRBfdCFxmMNMGWeyn7gV7tu4w629NG97Off8P6Ysvf3uh87781Y2gYCNbThORVuRJMbNGiZD6nMBNMptRnwxVlE9lbHZ2c61OY/s1600/001.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 231px; HEIGHT: 143px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592449081076662498" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGIT2nkblAzJsvbIcbHDYVW8SpstNV-uswuo_lC25PTqRBfdCFxmMNMGWeyn7gV7tu4w629NG97Off8P6Ysvf3uh87781Y2gYCNbThORVuRJMbNGiZD6nMBNMptRnwxVlE9lbHZ2c61OY/s320/001.JPG" /></a> </div><br /><div align="justify">The wedding was in Stafford (well, Church Eaton, but close enough) and we were delighted to watch Chi and Mat get married :) Chi looked stunning, as usual, Mat scrubbed up pretty well and the church was beautiful. It was great to see some of my old school friends, who I haven't seen in nearly four years (not for lack of trying, I might add), three of whom were bridesmaids. Niall and I stayed at <a href="http://www.vinehotelpub.co.uk/">the Vine </a>in Stafford, which I've always wanted to do (somewhat perversely, having lived there for most of my life). It's Stafford's oldest inn - early fifteenth century, I think - and is supposed to be haunted, naturally. Didn't see any ghosties, but I can confirm that the room was comfy, the service friendly and the food tasty. I had great fun clambouring around the Vine and St Editha's (where the wedding took place) looking at the archaeology - think I drove Toni a bit mad ;) </div><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBiIXM9VAJgIIBZ61veJKEx69ZAnKuyWrRTV77UFD6cqnDNGpOdLwNvoudJP-DyBicTia53vy8rzyTaAmEYYSGhWuN-HDK0pzxjMliP04EkcZfgjAIzCBS8ZZUu2WZFTB6zdb2UVF5c0/s1600/012.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 240px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592449093176888578" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBiIXM9VAJgIIBZ61veJKEx69ZAnKuyWrRTV77UFD6cqnDNGpOdLwNvoudJP-DyBicTia53vy8rzyTaAmEYYSGhWuN-HDK0pzxjMliP04EkcZfgjAIzCBS8ZZUu2WZFTB6zdb2UVF5c0/s320/012.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div align="justify"><a href="http://www.crsbi.ac.uk/search/county/site/ed-st-churc.html">St Editha's</a> in Church Eaton (not to be confused with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St_Editha,_Tamworth">St Editha's in Tamworth</a>, which is also stunning) is one of those glorious conglomerations of building that are secreted away in the English countryside: it has a twelfth century tower with a fifteenth century recessed spire, an unusual seventeenth century vestry and a beautiful nineteenth century organ. Upon enquiring, I was also shown a stunning eleventh century Norman font, tucked away to one side. I also loved the monk figure blessing anyone entering the church! There's just something about churches that I love; probably something to do with them being the centre of a community for so long... that community makes an imprint on the building and interior in so many fascinating ways. </div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5QVjXci-pHB2uksScPxN-UULw8dWpH1_u7A2EhAFUacr4F3faSHHrOO9eX773biABMv5w23hQDRkguMgP4xvLs0n-ezQ8t6A4n0xjsPzlDf_y5DYuFWjT9YVJNi1nYjNGTh1PEdBhSFQ/s1600/016.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592449095172050402" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5QVjXci-pHB2uksScPxN-UULw8dWpH1_u7A2EhAFUacr4F3faSHHrOO9eX773biABMv5w23hQDRkguMgP4xvLs0n-ezQ8t6A4n0xjsPzlDf_y5DYuFWjT9YVJNi1nYjNGTh1PEdBhSFQ/s320/016.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqm5odX2QQISPq3YeGYmxsio94r0DuFg3ohMSQDR_ooc_JSbk9o7icLlZYiqyPToQnF8tX0IRSw8dK_UOoPCHF7EwsfJ3T7AsZXfLVXBPlr83QK0EK3kGwg25uFvuypSdxbAHUgwl8SYM/s1600/020.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 166px; HEIGHT: 241px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592449101715466930" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqm5odX2QQISPq3YeGYmxsio94r0DuFg3ohMSQDR_ooc_JSbk9o7icLlZYiqyPToQnF8tX0IRSw8dK_UOoPCHF7EwsfJ3T7AsZXfLVXBPlr83QK0EK3kGwg25uFvuypSdxbAHUgwl8SYM/s320/020.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><div align="justify">Images: The Wedding Party, post confetti :); Interior of St Editha's; that 12th century tower with 15th century recessed spire; the welcoming comittee; a really blurry picture of the gorgeous 11th century font.</div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-19267825361410970672011-04-06T04:50:00.000-07:002011-04-06T05:23:00.240-07:00Jungle in My Windowsill<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgygclSEl6YyB0RB-pjf3innS84MK1ztOdFdM_qjvrcS3cxSrvzUISADIXSFjHV8vJ2GJ_xUCYH9X8RLnKm8g-FxCksvkH2hsCVPlGflypX7x3qkGNW5Xc8zX56D3ewfP8nJMt0G0J9E/s1600/026.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592444810762978386" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgygclSEl6YyB0RB-pjf3innS84MK1ztOdFdM_qjvrcS3cxSrvzUISADIXSFjHV8vJ2GJ_xUCYH9X8RLnKm8g-FxCksvkH2hsCVPlGflypX7x3qkGNW5Xc8zX56D3ewfP8nJMt0G0J9E/s320/026.JPG" /></a> <br /><div><br /><div><br /><div>Well it's been a mad few weeks and no mistake. First I got my new job (YAY) and then I got sick (boo), then we went to a wedding (w00t) then I got sicker (double boo), then Niall got sick (*sigh*), then we gained a new housemate (yay!), we stopped being sick (*phew*) and <a href="http://goodfornothingcrafters.blogspot.com/2011/04/knitted-sweetheart-neck-sweater-aka-big.html">I knitted a jumper</a>. Oh, and things have been busily growing in my windowsill - unfortunately, given being ill and working on the weekend my plan to be at the allotment hasn't entirely worked out, so I've no idea how that's looking (probably already drowning in weeds). My bulbs are up in the tubs in my front garden though, so that's ace.</div><br /><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592444800851965346" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKl97azwjjwGQ1dpbY-U0Vev7Y9Cqid1jBUZRJ06bRJZATIbkkzG2HSBJxgzWZWVjlfWTspcGuVuHtu0PyaT1JFHkAE7f9tvrrEedF_rwh4Hnnwz4PPVX8U-iybXPqNbMizhF5o80EMDw/s320/025.JPG" /> <br /><div>So since then I've been waiting for this trial to start again (and the dreaded phonecall summons) and watching my plants grow, since I had to book this week off work (sigh). And growing they certainly are! I'm going to have to pot some of them on already, which is going to be tricky, since I'm running out of windowsill. On the plus side, Bones has been round again and we've been up to our usual tricks, plotting fiction and what-have-you. I even dug out my old murder mystery (the one I've been working on since high school) and got Krystyna to read it. I'm a bit stuck you see... my uncle told me that Raymond Chandler, that paragon of mystery fiction, used to say that if he got stuck he'd have a mysterious man with a gun burst in... worth thinking about, certainly :) Anyways, if I get unstuck, there may be a novel being written - who knows! Watch this space!<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592444798720354338" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSYc1hV-_Eo-PgSZvjEWj4qCgNS3QKN5lmqqGP1cYL-0Zv6AAH2UY1JDJmy6mTRwbnZh1JTRhyqmflLPE-03szow9j6mCjitCgVgL6_-eT_70ht54bprkP1D59Ircb-uattsQzFxGBkrw/s320/024.JPG" /></div></div></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-19079828347538165042011-03-24T06:13:00.000-07:002011-03-24T06:24:00.421-07:00Presenting Professor Amelia Brown<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPlt-O9blHbvnZQnJ7KiHqifqPHjcmHTm5bzzE_FJBWpVx1BfLJYo-AlrqF3S5rWYdFCCE0_NiaxL862Tm723IsT4yjaaD43GSBcTWOFuzTjTKsIGhXFfB0jdwHi6GZjuiBMizLwiMrIA/s1600/Amelia+test.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 242px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587636141315963810" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPlt-O9blHbvnZQnJ7KiHqifqPHjcmHTm5bzzE_FJBWpVx1BfLJYo-AlrqF3S5rWYdFCCE0_NiaxL862Tm723IsT4yjaaD43GSBcTWOFuzTjTKsIGhXFfB0jdwHi6GZjuiBMizLwiMrIA/s320/Amelia+test.jpg" /></a><br />As some of you probably know I've spent much of the past two years honing my writing skills over at ff.net, the result of which being <a href="http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5981043/1/bDreams_b_and_bFalse_b_bAlarms_b">Dreams and False Alarms</a>, a Harry Potter fanfiction, and its sequel, which is about two-thirds done and as yet nameless. In DaFA, my main character is an OC (original character, for those non-fanfiction officionados out there) named Amelia Brown. She teaches Muggle Studies at Hogwarts, and her main purpose in life (as far as I was concerned) was to burst into the Shrieking Shack at the end of PoA and smack Lupin around the head for forgetting the Wolfsbane Potion. That was the idea, anyway, but any of you that have read the story will know that it didn't quite turn out like that... hence the sequel, really. Anyway, a few months ago I contacted a friend of mine, <a href="http://limlight.deviantart.com/">Limlight</a> on dA to draw her for me (in exchange for knitwear), and she's just sent me the first draft of Amelia (Limlight and her young man have a blog <a href="http://penandpencilarts.blogspot.com/">here</a>, by the way). As you can image, I'm really, really excited about this :)<br /><br /><br /><br />So here she is, in the flesh (well, the pencil): Professor Amelia Brown!<br /></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-6677132101332309812011-03-24T05:53:00.000-07:002011-03-24T06:02:41.352-07:00Tiny ShootsThe seeds I potted in the propogators are getting bigger and bigger (the nasturtiums have now pushed the lid off their propogator and are engaged in taking over the windowsill), and being as I was off sick with nothing better to do (and this could be achieved sitting down) I took some pictures of these brave new shoots :)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyEnQcEe5hALEqTefVPYHtssN-aLksaXgjJ5rmpD4FoKzi4ePeEgJRWATrRZkP73vY6TM3zl2thY-raotPiXKPo-dtiWPZmXWryb9UemghzjQn-hUuoKs4oP8uqe1WBiyk00Y4rMqJqU/s1600/052.JPG"></a> <div><div><div><br /><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVnTQpESS9x2GiCOMuvIYoScHJGkMVHm2LSeVYUAoPTDeOHKcl00G8b8YuKzIVuER8e_DAH1O8x7Vo4kw67YLl9Q5YoKve6Nlw7mRce6HjLl8H-OmtyoFkC7uG0qv-tBFclvEwJz_d0Aw/s1600/048.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587630047723411074" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVnTQpESS9x2GiCOMuvIYoScHJGkMVHm2LSeVYUAoPTDeOHKcl00G8b8YuKzIVuER8e_DAH1O8x7Vo4kw67YLl9Q5YoKve6Nlw7mRce6HjLl8H-OmtyoFkC7uG0qv-tBFclvEwJz_d0Aw/s200/048.JPG" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi93cepp2Qe5elYvJgk-wUsuBYBiV4v6EcVGEDI52YXZYiYO53lETX80zgwrvfg4lWgvhMp05qqWNtRR9xNKfq5urVHkLjTScExlScj64xANzor4qJqaf_iAzPXFfVe-r2QKA8Z_9foaCY/s1600/062.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587630060884164754" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi93cepp2Qe5elYvJgk-wUsuBYBiV4v6EcVGEDI52YXZYiYO53lETX80zgwrvfg4lWgvhMp05qqWNtRR9xNKfq5urVHkLjTScExlScj64xANzor4qJqaf_iAzPXFfVe-r2QKA8Z_9foaCY/s200/062.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzvqQS1L_cDo6iEy2zFD6RqLnVW8cVN7LGUKLlzu81o1kZVPoVf0_vOk09AvFldyI1Scx3pJge5JD0UQ-s15PEIc6rSNmlVKtteVu6MrY3ccpYSqw_t9G56eY9m6QznSLGHDxBMQmVvc/s1600/047.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587630042778229810" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzvqQS1L_cDo6iEy2zFD6RqLnVW8cVN7LGUKLlzu81o1kZVPoVf0_vOk09AvFldyI1Scx3pJge5JD0UQ-s15PEIc6rSNmlVKtteVu6MrY3ccpYSqw_t9G56eY9m6QznSLGHDxBMQmVvc/s200/047.JPG" /></a><br /><div> </div><div>Here we have French Marigolds (left), Cleome (centre), and Nasturtium (which is now about four inches taller)(right)... you can just see some Alyssum behind the Nasturtium, and more French Marigolds.</div></div></div></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-772223834312752586.post-62521756729263447842011-03-24T05:40:00.000-07:002011-03-24T05:52:31.866-07:00March-ing Ever On<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSn6TCL-cJvUpZF2a66e9Ylpwm-kxwLl9A6FqqZxl2cGQVjeVyV-8PhEswEydmpmT_RGw60MRwZ3e5oyN-_xKj0RcS6rPkQhfvJy2-Puvm3hGxBgB0sSAWsqLg1ldU69MpgkwH0Gn-IGg/s1600/035.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587627717624809922" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSn6TCL-cJvUpZF2a66e9Ylpwm-kxwLl9A6FqqZxl2cGQVjeVyV-8PhEswEydmpmT_RGw60MRwZ3e5oyN-_xKj0RcS6rPkQhfvJy2-Puvm3hGxBgB0sSAWsqLg1ldU69MpgkwH0Gn-IGg/s200/035.JPG" /></a>So I finally got round to ordering my plants and seeds for the year, and have now planted my first earlies, garlic, onions, shallots, carrots and some flowers. Had some help at t'llotment this week in the form of Bones (of <a href="http://goodfornothingcrafters.blogspot.com/">GoodForNothingCrafters</a> fame), meaning that Niall felt an excuse to sleep :) Bones put in some raspberry canes for me, and helped us riddle some soil for the potato patch, so the allotment is looking good for the minute, though there will be more to do shortly, I'm sure.</div><div align="justify"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl7Z3BZNro9Kzpk6_cafpe9chT9zNUkicRo6qnPTqFFuLnt9DQCbPU-hISmfjOdJPGprE4O5lePNGfhcg19Yqio78-zDx5bqJ2-GZZhFvnWi6qk6ygEHGJmUQ7lxPf7IfnF780fF-gTDQ/s1600/033.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587627711074132386" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl7Z3BZNro9Kzpk6_cafpe9chT9zNUkicRo6qnPTqFFuLnt9DQCbPU-hISmfjOdJPGprE4O5lePNGfhcg19Yqio78-zDx5bqJ2-GZZhFvnWi6qk6ygEHGJmUQ7lxPf7IfnF780fF-gTDQ/s200/033.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /></div><div align="justify">In other news, I got a job! It's only part time, but it's good fun and the people I work with are lovely :) I also dyed part of my hair purple again, which is awesome (well, I think it is, at any rate). (and apparently impossible to photograph - I swear these weren't nearly this blurry when I took <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyoqYoHjVkUbhK_idx6EhG-Sfb39wJ5eWj9vqHd-BjOhryNIANVmDeZbSMUmdwOD1twMbM_E9KQNBhxHwXG6ekUx3ROSvJxuFgrVJqI2z8OSnkiQg325DDYppwmVGQ1Ex_T00SsJGdSj8/s1600/077.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587627718199436002" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyoqYoHjVkUbhK_idx6EhG-Sfb39wJ5eWj9vqHd-BjOhryNIANVmDeZbSMUmdwOD1twMbM_E9KQNBhxHwXG6ekUx3ROSvJxuFgrVJqI2z8OSnkiQg325DDYppwmVGQ1Ex_T00SsJGdSj8/s200/077.JPG" /></a>them!)</div><div align="justify"><br /><br /><br /></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><br /><br /><br /></div><div align="justify"></div>Munchkin_the_Beanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00129685045464571761noreply@blogger.com0