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iguana
Two bits of astronomy this month, as I watched the partial solar eclipse and, later, got up early to observe a sunrise solstice.Partial Solar Eclipse
I had my eclipse glasses and camera with long lens all set up and ready, hoping for a glimpse of the eclipse on a morning that was increasingly being forecast as cloudy.
Fortunately around the time of max eclipse, the cloud was thin enough to see the sun through for a few minutes!
At one point it even cleared enough that I got to see the eclipse through a gap in the clouds with the eclipse glasses, so I was very happy with that.
I had my eclipse glasses and camera with long lens all set up and ready, hoping for a glimpse of the eclipse on a morning that was increasingly being forecast as cloudy.
Fortunately around the time of max eclipse, the cloud was thin enough to see the sun through for a few minutes!
At one point it even cleared enough that I got to see the eclipse through a gap in the clouds with the eclipse glasses, so I was very happy with that.
Solstice Sunrise
Eleven days later, I set my alarm for 04:00 and walked up to my nearest hill for sunrise. The sunrise would be behind trees, but it was overcast anyway and besides, the exact time of the solstice was a few minutes before that anyway.
I had to run up the final part of the hill to get to the top in time for the solstice, and got there with under a minute to spare.
Despite being overcast, the sunrise lit up the clouds beautifully, and was well worth the early morning.
Eleven days later, I set my alarm for 04:00 and walked up to my nearest hill for sunrise. The sunrise would be behind trees, but it was overcast anyway and besides, the exact time of the solstice was a few minutes before that anyway.
I had to run up the final part of the hill to get to the top in time for the solstice, and got there with under a minute to spare.
Despite being overcast, the sunrise lit up the clouds beautifully, and was well worth the early morning.
Dragon fruit update
The dragon fruit started growing aerial roots! This is apparently fairly normal, but I've given the cactus a good amount of water now because the soil was dry and i wondered if it was after more.
It has been growing fast as always and had nearly reached the top of the growing pole by the end of the month.
i was expecting the single branch to have finished by now, ready for another segment to grown from the top, but that hasn't happened yet! It just keeps getting longer!
The dragon fruit started growing aerial roots! This is apparently fairly normal, but I've given the cactus a good amount of water now because the soil was dry and i wondered if it was after more.
It has been growing fast as always and had nearly reached the top of the growing pole by the end of the month.
i was expecting the single branch to have finished by now, ready for another segment to grown from the top, but that hasn't happened yet! It just keeps getting longer!
Art (and AMPDG)
I've just got a couple of art this month, both made primarily on the same day, though the first one had an undercoat put down one week, and the AMPDG addition a week later.
My AMPDG this month was to paint an octopus! The dutch pour was intended to go with it; I was aiming for something that looked watery, and ended up thinking it looked like a coral reef from above, so adapted the octopus accordingly. I love how it came out!
I still need to varnish both pieces (I still need to order varnish, even…) but I'm planning to hang this one in the bathroom.
I've just got a couple of art this month, both made primarily on the same day, though the first one had an undercoat put down one week, and the AMPDG addition a week later.
My AMPDG this month was to paint an octopus! The dutch pour was intended to go with it; I was aiming for something that looked watery, and ended up thinking it looked like a coral reef from above, so adapted the octopus accordingly. I love how it came out!
I still need to varnish both pieces (I still need to order varnish, even…) but I'm planning to hang this one in the bathroom.
Sunset Rainbow
I saw a rare sunset rainbow! I don't think I've seen one before!
Here's the view looking the opposite direction
I saw a rare sunset rainbow! I don't think I've seen one before!
Here's the view looking the opposite direction
Garden
My garden veg has not been a success story this year, but I don't seem to be alone in this at least!
I managed to harvest three cauliflowers, one of which had the tiniest head, and used the leaves from those and the three weedy spinach plants in a tofu korma, which was tasty! I ended up adding more frozen spinach, though.
The sunflowers continued to grow, at least; more on those next month.
Fruit-wise, the golden raspberry bushes are producing well (I suspect they actually liked the cold wet spring) and the strawberry plants are doing okay too.
Finally, I harvested the beans. There was less of an aphid/ant problem than last year and I didn't have to throw away much. I got just under 500g of pods, which turned into 134g of shelled beans. That was enough to make one serving of broad bean pilaf, which was delicious as always!
My garden veg has not been a success story this year, but I don't seem to be alone in this at least!
I managed to harvest three cauliflowers, one of which had the tiniest head, and used the leaves from those and the three weedy spinach plants in a tofu korma, which was tasty! I ended up adding more frozen spinach, though.
The sunflowers continued to grow, at least; more on those next month.
Fruit-wise, the golden raspberry bushes are producing well (I suspect they actually liked the cold wet spring) and the strawberry plants are doing okay too.
Finally, I harvested the beans. There was less of an aphid/ant problem than last year and I didn't have to throw away much. I got just under 500g of pods, which turned into 134g of shelled beans. That was enough to make one serving of broad bean pilaf, which was delicious as always!
Sonic & Knuckles Badge
I've started listening to Sonic the Comic the Podcast, a look back at the Sega comic that ran from 1993, and while I'm now going through the back-catalogue, I started at episode 50, which was covering the end of the Sonic 3 & Knuckles storyline. They were talking about a S3&K logo denim jacket the comic was giving away and musing that they could make their own one with an embroidered badge.
At the same time I have had a black satchel I haven't been sure what to do with. It's been tucked away in the spare room since I got it, but I needed it to cart my laptop to a repair shop to have its screen replaced, and happened to lamenting that it wasn't more interesting.
One search of eBay later, and:
Well, I make it sound easy. This is actually the first bit of hand sewing I've done, and I ended up trawling through youtube videos and then calling Emily in a panic when the thread broke part-way around before actually getting it sewn on, but I'm very pleased with the final result!
Being able to do this has opened up the possibility of sewing the badges I got in Hawaii's national parks onto something, but I'm not sure what yet! (This bag is a possibility, though I like the idea of it having solely the Sonc 'n' Kunks logo.)
I've started listening to Sonic the Comic the Podcast, a look back at the Sega comic that ran from 1993, and while I'm now going through the back-catalogue, I started at episode 50, which was covering the end of the Sonic 3 & Knuckles storyline. They were talking about a S3&K logo denim jacket the comic was giving away and musing that they could make their own one with an embroidered badge.
At the same time I have had a black satchel I haven't been sure what to do with. It's been tucked away in the spare room since I got it, but I needed it to cart my laptop to a repair shop to have its screen replaced, and happened to lamenting that it wasn't more interesting.
One search of eBay later, and:
Well, I make it sound easy. This is actually the first bit of hand sewing I've done, and I ended up trawling through youtube videos and then calling Emily in a panic when the thread broke part-way around before actually getting it sewn on, but I'm very pleased with the final result!
Being able to do this has opened up the possibility of sewing the badges I got in Hawaii's national parks onto something, but I'm not sure what yet! (This bag is a possibility, though I like the idea of it having solely the Sonc 'n' Kunks logo.)
Short story
Since moving my 04-in-04 short stories private in the hope of having them around as possibilities for submitting to a publisher, and the first short story publisher I'm aware of that has opened for submissions since is Fireside Magazine. None of my shorts this year were a fit for the themes they were after this time, so I decided to write another one during evenings using the techniques I've learned from 04-in-04.
For the first time I can remember (in 04-in-04) I scrapped the first 500 words I wrote altogether, though they did help me worldbuild. Thanks to some feedback from Baz and Emily, I got the second version into a shape where I was happy to submit it on time. I'm not sure it quite has the poetic quality that the current editor of Fireside goes for, but they have a guest editor for this batch of submissions, so I have my fingers crossed they like it.
It's a fantasy/sci-fi (who'd have just one genre?) currently titled The Way of the Mountain Witch and is around 2900 words (on the long side for Fireside, too, but anything less would have been merely a vignette I feel). I'll hear back from Fireside around August, apparently! Regardless of their response, it was a good experience.
Since moving my 04-in-04 short stories private in the hope of having them around as possibilities for submitting to a publisher, and the first short story publisher I'm aware of that has opened for submissions since is Fireside Magazine. None of my shorts this year were a fit for the themes they were after this time, so I decided to write another one during evenings using the techniques I've learned from 04-in-04.
For the first time I can remember (in 04-in-04) I scrapped the first 500 words I wrote altogether, though they did help me worldbuild. Thanks to some feedback from Baz and Emily, I got the second version into a shape where I was happy to submit it on time. I'm not sure it quite has the poetic quality that the current editor of Fireside goes for, but they have a guest editor for this batch of submissions, so I have my fingers crossed they like it.
It's a fantasy/sci-fi (who'd have just one genre?) currently titled The Way of the Mountain Witch and is around 2900 words (on the long side for Fireside, too, but anything less would have been merely a vignette I feel). I'll hear back from Fireside around August, apparently! Regardless of their response, it was a good experience.
Sean and Aled at TanegraClifton
Last but not least, I got to see Sean and Aled for the first time Samathy's birthday in 2019, which was lovely. They were visiting friends in Clifton so I cycled over to the South Side Of The River to join them for a socially-distanced walk along the river there. It was great to see them both!
Last but not least, I got to see Sean and Aled for the first time Samathy's birthday in 2019, which was lovely. They were visiting friends in Clifton so I cycled over to the South Side Of The River to join them for a socially-distanced walk along the river there. It was great to see them both!
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Date: 2021-07-10 11:54 (UTC)I really like the painting also!
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Date: 2021-07-10 12:03 (UTC)