Waiting ....

Ruby's been poorly this week. Two visits to the vet - high temperature - 2 antiobiotic injections - 1 anti-emetic injection. But now she's better! :)

Let me introduce you to ...

Ruby!



We've had her since August. She's 3/4 blue Persian - but we like the 1/4 bits that don't conform to standard. She's now 4 months old and is a minx. We adore her.

Peeping out from the duvet

It's hibernation time again! It doesn't creep up on you as much as leaps up! One minute I'm alert and functioning as well as can be expected from somebody of great age - and then WHOOMPH the blasted SAD hits.

Anyway, a little bit of catch-up.

I got a distinction for A215, which was hilarious really, given my lack of dedication. But, of course, I was more than happy with that. Now I've started A363 and am as lost as can be. I'm in the middle of getting together a story for TMA01. Once that's marked, I might feel a little better as at least I'll know a bit more about what my tutor looks for. It might be fun, actually - I look forward to the scriptwriting!

Such a prolific blogger!

I have dumped EA300 in favour of A363 - Advanced Creative Writing. There was nothing wrong with the Childrens' Literature course - it was just that I was feeling sentimental and didn't want to leave my A215 pals! I still haven't filled in all the forms yet though.

The A215 ECA went in at the beginning of June. I didn't submit the puberty story in the end; it was too, I dunno, dull. Instead I submitted a more recent auto-biographical thingie - probably I should've stuck to the puberty one... The results will be out the week after next. Eek.

We went to Hawaii for two weeks, in June - and now it feels as though we never went at all! But it was lovely - saw the lava hitting the ocean - went down in a sub - enjoyed some beautiful beaches - saw different birds and plants and ate different fish - and we visited South Fork in Dallas! The write-up is on here. A selection of pictures on here.

We said goodbye to summer when we landed back home. A dreadful July. And I am spinning. BPPV, I think.

Children's Literature

Interesting though the creative writing is, I'm not very happy with spending so much time inside my own head, so I really don't fancy the advanced creative writing course. Instead, I've registered to do the new 60-point course, Children's Literature from October. There's a long list of set books to buy, with the recommendation to read as many of them as possible before the course starts!

Alcott, L. M., Little Women - read many years ago, but will have to read again.
Browne, A., Voices in the Park
Burgess, M., Junk - I bought this one and read it - amazing for a children's book!!
Gavin, J., Coram Boy
McGough, R., 100 Best Poems for Children
Naidoo, B., The Other Side of Truth - I bought and read this one - excellent.
Pearce, P., Tom’s Midnight Garden
Potter, B., The Tale of Peter Rabbit !!
Pullman, P., Northern Lights - own and have read this one.
Ransome, A., Swallows and Amazons
Reeve, P., Mortal Engines - reading at the moment.
Rowling, J. K., Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone - hub owns all of these. Is this the first one? If so, I did read that one.
Stevenson, R. L., Treasure Island - I've never read this one!
Taylor, M., Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry

Looking forward to the course, but I haven't studied literature since I was at school, and this is a level 3 course, so it doesn't bode well!

Still writing creatively

I got the Mills & Boone back some weeks ago. I got 88% for it, which is quite extraordinary! It was suggested I get it published. No chance. I've had TMA03 back too, the poetry. 78% - again, quite extraordinary! I wrote 3 poems, 2 of which weren't liked - but the third was given that 'get it published' suggestion again. I might try! At the moment, I'm working on TMA04 (a bio of a part of my Dad's childhood), TMA05 (a wierd story!) and the ECA (autobiography of me at puberty!) It would be fair to say that I'm muddled. But I want to get it all done and out of the way.

New camera!

I love my little Nikon, but it's getting a bit old now and people keep looking at me like I'm poor, so I decided to splash out on a new one. A Canon Ixus. It's very pretty (pink), but I'm pretty certain the Nikon takes better photos - I'm not dumping it yet!


Dartmoor ponies


Daffodils outside 42 Commando barracks.

It's been beautiful weather over the last week or so, and this was the Hoe on Sunday.


Unfortunately, the whole city was there.


Art!

What a Feeling!!

Brilliant!

21C Slavery

I wrote a (sort of!) poem. Poetry is still a complete mystery to me - but, I'm with Annie. (I gave up on the JanNoWriMo - I'd prefer to spend my time reading others' writing, than struggling to write my own drivel!)

‘Stop looking at me!’
cries the boy in the cage
who, despite being eight
has a face full of rage
and eyes rimmed with
the sadness of one
eight times his age.

He threw a rock, once
or maybe it was two.
Everyone cheered
as over the wall it flew.
It hit a man on the head;
felled down on golden ground;
‘Who did that? Was it you?’

His cage is filled with blood;
his mother’s arms; his father’s eyes;
his sister’s heart; his brother’s brains.
In the corner, his grandmother lies,
and all had thrown not one stone,
though they must be ever dead
as hatred rushes in ‘cross the skies.

‘Give me a cave to live in
and a pond from which I can fish.
Freedom from this slavery
Is all that I wish.
One hundred million missiles
or one hundred thousand stones
cannot break these bars,
don’t you see?
You have your Zion,
but you took it from me.’

Another New Year ..

.. there've been so many of them! This one has dawned grey and cold, but at least the 'festive' season is over with and I'm grateful for that.

I think I've gone stark raving bonkers, as I've signed up to the JanNoWriMo 2009 and have pledged a 30,000 word novel by the end of the month - LOL!

Wow!

Bravo Tom and Camilla!

Monsters!

They might look cute



But they take hours to get back into their hutch - I'm going to get them a huge run (aka CAGE).

So what's been happening? I've had the bad elbow, so have had to limit time on the computer - now that's better, I have bad eyes! Blepharitis, my optician told me. Hot flannel compresses and 'washing' in baby shampoo. Great.

I got 77% for my first A215 TMA, which wasn't bad considering the awfulness of the story. I've just finished writing a wiffly Mills & Boone type thing for TMA02. Somebody I know would have apoplexy if they read it. But they won't. And neither will anybody else, apart from my tutor and a couple selected critiquers! Poetry next. Then life writing. I'm going to write something about my Dad's childhood (with his blessing).

Apart from A215, I squeezed in the short science course S187, Forensic Science. Interesting yet boring at the same time. I've kind of sketched out the ECA.

Soon be Christmas. Great.

Oh and we've decided to go to Hawaii next year, a week on Oahu and a week on Big Island! As long as we don't encounter any cane spiders, it'll be wonderful!

Dandelion Dave for President

The campaign starts here!

Poem for Today

Killing my son

I cooked him a chicken escalope
Asda, Cheese and Chive
It fell on the floor with a wallop
But I scraped it up still alive.
I wiped off the bottom
and put it on his plate
With a dollop of beans on the side
But I couldn't help wondering
What if he got ill and died?
I wiped it again and checked it for hairs
It was as clean as clean can be
If the hub had been home
I'd have given it to him
But he was at work
So it went in the bin.

Anger management

I've been trying to sort out some personal things and found that my emotions had turned to anger. Anger directed inwards and outwards. This is so unlike me and I blame A215 somewhat for this 'inner reflection' business, which I truly think could drive you totally insane! But, this afternoon, we went for a hike up a Dartmoor tor (no idea which one, they all look the same to me!) and I trampled up the hill, puffed myself out, made friends with the wildlife and nearly fell asleep on the way home. Worked a treat - all anger gone - serenity returned! How could you fail not to be happy with such wonderful countryside all around you and that fabulous blue sky!


not the one tor in the middle right, but the one right up the top - it was much further than it looked!

all that lovely granite

Lack of progress ...

... with A215. Despite having done TMA01, I don't seem to be able to get down to studying and I would've liked to have been a bit further ahead by now (with the Forensics course starting soon). A lot of my fellow students have gallantly been putting their (excellent) work on their blogs, but mine is too poor for general viewing! I haven't really got on very well with clusters and freewrites and this one is about my best effort!!

"Like a spider in her lair, crouched, menacing, hirsute and with clicking joints, the widow spun her yarn. With sweating palms, Lucinda watched from behind the door. She shuddered. The widow reminded her so much of her phobia that she wondered if, at any moment, she might start to eat flies. The black widow reached into her pocket and popped something in her mouth. A sherbet lemon."

Which begs the question(s) - who is Lucinda and why is she behind the door?

Dolly and Dandy's contraception solution

They've been separated. And they hate it. When one comes out to play, the other gnaws on his or her hutch to try to escape. Not sure how much longer the hutches will remain intact!


Note the homage to Captain Bunzee - got it off ebay!

Lovely weather

We've had a few nice days; not all that warm, but SUNNY! It's a bit late in arriving, but it's been welcomed, all the same. We walked along the Hoe yesterday afternoon and it was packed, with the ice-cream vans doing splendid business! I wouldn't fancy diving into the water though - brrrh.


I've made an effort at A215, TMA01 - but what I've written is complete garbage! Everything is a bit of a struggle at the moment, because my elbow tendonitis is playing up big time and I shouldn't even really be typing.

Sex is everything

We got two new bunnies last week. A boy and a girl from the same litter - mainly mini lop, but with a little bit of lionhead in them. Anyway, the seller said there was 'plenty of time' to get them neutered and she knew we only had one hutch. HOWEVER, the vet won't neuter, even the male, until they are 6 months old - so we will have to get another hutch and keep them apart until then. It's such a shame, as they are very fond of each other.

No names yet - Dolly and Dave are what we 'call' them, but ....

A Poem

The Waiting Room

It was Wednesday, the 10th of September,
Two thirty PM, as I remember.
"Is that a cat or a dog in the box?"
Asked a woman whose face shouted BOTOX.
But the answer was not one of her choice,
"It's a rabbit", we replied as one voice.

Joan Rivers went "oh" and started to go,
"It's just a bunny", she thought, and quite so.
But as hub fed him a yoghurt drop treat,
And I stroked his soft, warm, furry feet,
We wanted to shout, "Don't you see? He's not
any old bunny, he's Captain Bunzee!"

We took him in to see the vet in blue,
But there wasn't very much he could do,
Because the Captain was so very old,
And when we took him back out, he was cold.
He'd gone to the Big Bunny in the sky,
And we could do nothing else, but to cry.

It's so sad when this happens to a pet,
And our lovely bunny we won't forget,
But we're all in the waiting room, waiting,
None sure of what we're anticipating.
Joan Rivers, every man and his wife
Sit in this same waiting room, known as life.


Bunzee's now a part of the glade. R.I.P., Captain.