tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18327229520601792072024-03-14T05:27:13.626+00:00angelvixenMistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-89727708740274322432016-02-27T12:43:00.000+00:002016-02-27T12:43:02.030+00:00The Nine Maidens of Belstone...currently not dancing.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3;">As we sat huddled beneath the hastily constructedr flapping makeshift shelter and tried to consume the last of the extrememly well packed consumables, our interest soon turned to the view which demanded our immediate and fullest attention. Somehow the bracing vista steered us in the direction of appropriate musical accompaniment. My friend rattled off a list of woefully inadequate suggestions, suggestions which forced me to pull one of those expressions usually reserved for the reaction to such things as scratching one’s nails down a blackboard. I however offered but one…this one. We sat sharing the experience and not uttering one word as the shifting notes danced beautifully across the darkening landscape before us. When it had finished, tears in her eyes…my friend turned to me and proclaimed “I didn’t understand one word of it…it was perfect!”</span></div>
Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-59203785838685732722015-01-14T14:12:00.001+00:002015-01-14T16:25:46.819+00:00A Brief Recollection of a Never Ending Yesterday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;">'I only go out to get me a</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;">fresh appetite for being alone'</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #999999;">Lord Byron</span><br />
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As we traverse the weather beaten days of January into the perilous abyss of twenty fifteen,</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">my mind is cast back to the sometimes balmy, sometimes bonkers days of twenty fourteen.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #674ea7;"> Most of the events simply blended into each other like a veritable eclectic stew of</span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7;">mini happenings, non the less they still appear delightfully fresh albeit jumbled in my</span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7;">seasonally affected mind of disorder.</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;"><br />
Run silent, run deep.</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">A particularly foolish thing to do is to assume that if one rolls the legs of their</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">trousers up as high as they possibly can go it shall provide ample distance</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">from the icy waters of the river Teign....well!</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">As I cautiously stepped in holding my tripod aloft, the sandy bed fluffed up</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">around my rapidly cooling toes and wafted away in the silently moving</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">current. Thrilled with my progress I moved cautiously further out taking care</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">not to step on the rocks which were strewn across the bottom. Then it</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">happened. The 'safety gap' of two inches of skin that was there to keep my legs</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">dry suddenly....and I mean SUDDENLY disappeared. To be precise, about</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">twenty five inches above my 'safety gap', the surface of the crystal clear</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">water settled at approximately waist height leaving one of those comedy</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">expressions on my face which is difficult to replicate without the direct aid</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">of a freezing cold Dartmoor watercourse.</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;"><br />
Let's go fly a kite.</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">Not just any kite, oh no...this one happens to be an airborne piece of weaponry</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">sturdily constructed from nylon and mesh with the prime purpose of stunt</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">performances and the ability to unceremoniously wrench the unwary operative</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">from terra firma at every opportune moment the wind happens to gust in an</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">aggressive manner. With hindsight Houndtor was probably not the best place</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">to play with such a hazardous item of destruction, a matter which became</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">more obvious as further groups of people turned up throughout the morning.</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">The wind had picked up by now and the 'blade of death' as we had christened it</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">was scything its way through the stratosphere with great haste and was becoming</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">particularly hard to control. A small group of 'rambling types' were cheerily</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">making their way in our direction up the grassy avenue from the carpark </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">when I suddenly lost all control of the kite which by now should clearly</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">have an ASBO slapped on it for its intrusion into rural calm. As it</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">spiralled groundwards out of control towards the once cheery group, it caused them </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">to scatter with great haste in a similar fashion to that of a herd of Wilderbeest once a </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">very hungry Cheetah is introduced into the equation. The 'they WERE there'</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">scenario was promptly followed by the 'and now they're not' as I could </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">just make out the brightly dressed individuals lying in the bracken </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">amongst the tangled carnage of tartan thermos flasks and shattered Kendal </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">mint cake. Apologies were made.</span></div>
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Ladies who lunch.</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">My friend's incessant whining as to how I am a defective human being due</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">to the fact that I don't possess the latest model of iPhone six, seven or what ever </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">it is as I truly, madly, deeply do not give a flying fishfinger about such complete</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">and utterly pointless things. As we sat there, she cradled the object of her desire </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">lovingly in her arms and was staring at it as if it were a newborn infant.</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">"Look it has finger print recognition" "I don't care"</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">"It has a better camera" "Can you stick a 70-200mm f4 IS L lens on it?" "No,</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">it has loads of apps" "I don't care" "It's thinner with a larger screen" "I'm </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">losing the will to live"....well this went on for quite some time. "This app.." she </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">started as she tapped the screen "This app tells me where the nearest Starbucks </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">is with regards to my location." The fact that we were sat in Starbucks at </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">that very moment made her claim somewhat redundant , a fact that I felt I just</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">had to point out to her before she started on how it is good for world peace</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">and its kindness towards children and the elderly. "Ok, look...Siri, where is the </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">nearest Starbucks to here?" She smiled through the uncomfortable silence. </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">"Siri...Siri, wait...hang on" Tap tap tappity tap. "Oh...Siri seems to have stopped </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">working and I don't appear to have a wifi signal" "Can I go now?"</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;"><br />
And the winner is...</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">As I lay face down in the purple heather staring through the viewfinder at the </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">approaching evening sky, quite literally the largest gentleman appeared as if by</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">magic and stepped on my hair causing me to yell out. This in turn caused him</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">to jump upwards in a very camp style accompanied by "Oh I'm so sorry,</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">I didn't see you down there" It was a good photo. Trying to get the smell of tuna </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">out of the back of a Landrover after a particularly enthusiastic lunchtime treat</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">in the shadows of Bellevere forest. Losing a bacon sandwich in the early </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">morning mists of Belstone ridge. Almost...ALMOST falling head first </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">into the murky depths of Haytor quarry's pond when Moomin shouted across to </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">me that the 'owls aren't in the tree anymore" Playing chicken with road mounted </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">cows on Dartmoor's most haunted road....lots of cows, in fact I'm sure they had been</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">networking that very activity on their own cow based social media site. The delightful</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">family who saw me setting up my camera on a waterfall accompanied by my </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">courtesy call of "I am going to be exactly two minutes then it's all yours. No,</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">they couldn't wait for one hundred and twenty seconds and unloaded their ample</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">tat and various assorted children right in the middle of my shot completely </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">ignoring me with that 'pretend she's not there and hopefully she will go away' thing</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">that certain ignorant people do...which I did. I was left to remove the </span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">entire family blood line from existence through the medium of photoshop</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7;">.....and their little dog too.</span></div>
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Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-69341129644944344592014-04-06T13:10:00.001+01:002014-04-06T13:11:41.263+01:00Game of teeny, tiny, fiddly hand painted Thrones<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><i>Wake now my merry lads! Wake and hear me calling!</i><br /><i>Warm now be heart and limb! The cold stone is fallen;</i><br /><i>Dark door is standing wide; dead hand is broken.</i><br /><i>Night under Night is flown, and the Gate is....</i></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><i>CRICKEY.....WOMEN!</i></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">I knew that it was going to be an interesting journey into Middle Earth once these words</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">were uttered across the plastic rendered battlefield that stood proudly in the centre </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">of the shop. Moomin's latest obsession with painting microscopic goblins, orcs</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">and fierce warriors had eventually drawn me in, certainly more out of curiosity</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">rather than involvement to join an epic quest into folklorish lands of far away and</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">times long gone....if they ever existed that is.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">My sceptical and 'never in a month of Sunday's' approach didn't last. I had intended to </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">venture to the nearest coffee emporium whilst Moomin got down to the fiddly </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">painting activities but somehow I suddenly found myself sat at a well appointed</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">table with an inch high figure (a space marine by all accounts) gripped between my fingers</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">as I carefully daubed paint on him. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">"Wow, you're really good at this, that's awesome" was suddenly aimed in my direction</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">causing me to look up and from side to side. "Oh you're down there" I replied on noticing</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">a very small warrior of about ten or eleven who seemed to be admiring my efforts.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">I was then treated to the entire historic back catalogue about space marines</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">and although I would normally find myself not caring at this point....I strangely</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">found myself listening with interest.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">"So what do you do?" came another voice, this time from someone with a </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">huge beard and very dusty glasses...let's call him a dwarf as he reminded me</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">of the one from Lord of the Rings. "Er, I'm a painter" I replied. "A-W-E-S-O-M-E" he </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">answered "so this must be easy for you then". I smiled politely and nodded. "Who's</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">a painter?" came yet another voice. Several people pointed in my</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">direction at this request. 'Awesome babe" was his reply.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Indeed being a painter is awesome although some of my recent clients have made my job</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">very, well let's say not awesome.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">What seemed like an hour but in actual fact was the best part of an entire day, </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">we eventually left the citadel of battle games and went home.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">So...picture the scene, my kitchen now has an obscene amount of these figures</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">which adorn most shelf space and flat surfaces implying that I may have joined the </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">ranks of the twenty first century knights of make believe. The strangest thing</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">is that this is a therapeutic way to unwind. After a long day of </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">creating artwork and such endeavours, there is nothing better than going down to </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">the kitchen to create and paint something else to apparently get away from</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">painting....now I'm confused.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">His sword was long, his lance was keen.<br />His shining helm afar was seen;<br />the countless stars of heaven's field<br />were mirrored in his awesome shield.</span></span></div>
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Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-28552560546784990792013-09-26T09:26:00.000+01:002013-09-26T09:34:44.962+01:00Illumination of the Sleeping Hound<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #828282;">I had a dream, which was not all a dream.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #828282;">The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #828282;">Did wander darkling in the eternal space,</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #828282;">Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #828282;">Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #828282;">Disturbed slumber of the conversing sheep...</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Well alright, Byron didn't actually mention anything whatsoever to do with </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">'conversing sheep" </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">but my previous excursion to a pre dawn Houndtor certainly provided me</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"> with that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">very scenario.Picture the scene, the air was still and black, a damp and clammy </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #674ea7; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">aura shrouded the sleeping granite asI made my way slowly towards the summit </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #674ea7; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">within the small dim arc of light which emanated from<br />my slight and woefully inappropriate torch. The unnatural stillness was apparent</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #674ea7; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"> on reaching the top of the rise which was now being slightly illuminated from the bright </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">orange</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"> strip of light which had appeared along the border of the eastern horizon.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #674ea7; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">I placed my tripod expectantly on the cold grass which bubbled up freezing dew around the </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #674ea7; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">feet wetting the rubber tips. Similarly my own feet were now soaking up the moisture as </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #674ea7; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">I shifted uncomfortably from one leg to the other and fumbled with the camera to place it into<br />the quick release plate. Once happy with the relevant settings to grab an image of the new </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #674ea7; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">day I placed one eye to the viewfinder to set the composition.<br />"Achoo" came the sound somewhere off in the blackness behind me. I stood immediately </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #674ea7; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">bolt upright and stared off into the darkness. Was I not alone?<br />I switched on my now struggling torch and waved it in the direction of the sound. Before<br />me the eyes of dozens of sheep were lit up from my beam, dazed and surprised as they<br />awoke from their evening 's slumber. "Oh.....sheep!" I whispered to myself and hurriedly </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">returned</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"> to my task at hand. Replacing my eye to the viewfinder there was in interesting </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">development, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">"achoooo............bless you!" </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #674ea7; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">This time I span round so quickly it almost sent my camera crashing into cold<br />sodden earth. My torch again cast its beam amongst my wooly neighbours, but this time<br />I couldn't believe what I was witnessing.<br />The hundred or so sheep were standing...standing upright on TWO LEGS. As I strained </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #674ea7; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">my eyes to seeI noticed that most of them were holding cups and saucers, obviously very </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">fine </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">bone china cups and saucers. A large black and grey sheep was walking </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">amongst them </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">with </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">quite literally the largest teapot that I have ever seen, a teapot with a </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">picture of blue and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">orange flowers on the side. "One lump or two.?..two?...there we go, the </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">crumpets </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">shall be </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">here shortly, I bid you good morning....one lump or two?"</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #674ea7; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">I stood open mouthed not believing the sight which was unfolding before me when all<br />of a sudden....complete blackness descended, my torch had given up the fight.<br />What seemed like an eternity passed when the blackness was replaced with a warm </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">glowing light, the black and grey sheep was now holding a large red plastic torch and<br />was walking in my direction. "Pound shop?" he enquired...."eh?" came my feeble reply.<br />"Pound shop" he nodded towards my torch "batteries, usually a false economy<br />I might add, I normally buy good quality full strength ones as it saved an<br />unnecessary trip into town every five minutes......tea?"</span><br /><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><span style="color: #666666;">I had a dream, which was not all a dream.<br />The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars<br />Did wander darkling in the eternal space,<br />Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth</span><br /><span style="color: #666666;">Actually..........it was a dream.</span></span></div>
Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-38719874285143866412013-05-22T12:31:00.002+01:002013-06-12T08:20:39.972+01:00Conspiracy of the Artisans<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0qoLGEBFBy8/UZya3cjjtJI/AAAAAAAAAoI/Vj6Q4MCzPjg/s1600/sharpitor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0qoLGEBFBy8/UZya3cjjtJI/AAAAAAAAAoI/Vj6Q4MCzPjg/s400/sharpitor.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">"I say...that's a nice camera" the man said. "Yes, yes...er, thank you" I hastily replied</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">to the inappropriately dressed gentleman as I tried to photograph the rapidly darkening</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">panorama which was visually fading before me. "Do you sell many?" he went on </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">"do you use art galleries to......." he tailed off. Turning, my narrow eyed hard stare reduced him</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"> to inappropriately dressed stone as the very word caused me to drop my lens cap into</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">a muddy pool with a delicate 'splop'.</span></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">'GALLERIES'</span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">'Thank you Miss Vanstone for the disc of your work. You are very obviously talented and</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">have produced some amazing paintings , illustrations and photographs, however.........'</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">yes....HOWEVER. It is funny how galleries love to use the word however at approximately </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">half a paragraph or three lines in to their thoughtlessly written replies to my request to</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">exhibit within their hallowed walls. I have now concluded that there is some form of</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">conspiracy afoot when regarding such institutions of exposition.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">'We consider that your work isn't exactly what we are looking for at the moment' came the </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">last reply. "Right then" I said to my friend and ally "let's go and have a look at what exactly</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"> they do consider to be 'what they are looking for' with their current show." </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">As we walked into the very grand hall, the curator type person seemed to immediately</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">have issues with our...ahem, let's say appearance (the frosty up and down glance is</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">a dead giveaway.) She smiled a half smile and then buried her head back into a copy of </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Hello magazine probably hoping that the two lurking extras from a Tim Burton film will </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">very quickly go away.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">I was immediately drawn to a very large canvas of a badly painted landscape in oils. The </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">accompanying literature showed a photo of the artist with a smug expression equally </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">badly painted across his face which rested on one hand whilst holding a </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">paintbrush in the other (just in case we failed to realise that he was an artist I imagine)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">He was from some posh art school, apparently classically trained and a member</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">of a 'guild'....they are always members of 'guilds'. I just pulled a face and shrugged</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">at the inevitability of exhibiting such an inane and indifferent piece of artwork and </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">was just about to walk away...........then I saw the price. "Seven thousand pounds!" I yelled,</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">a yell that echoed around the large space, a yell which also prompted grumpy</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">curator lady to gaze back up from her magazine with a very surly "ssshhhhh."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">"Don't you ssshhh me" I surprisingly found myself replying "art galleries are</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">meant for public viewing and therefor public criticism....I choose to criticise this by</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">shouting!"...........silence.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Eventually the grumpy curator responded "you can't tell me that you dislike</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Mr. ********s work, he's a genius". I went in for the kill "I am inclined to agree with you,</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">he is quite obviously a genius, I mean, it takes a genius to slap a price tag of seven</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">thousand pounds on a puerile, badly painted, self indulgent pile of rubbish such as that"</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">I went on "and furthermore, the gallery shows equal signs of genius as they stand </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">to make a tidy sum from commission once somebody with little taste and a large</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">bank balance purchases the horrid oil daubing". Again, silence.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">"I think you two should leave"......."we're going anyway". </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">As I packed my tripod into the bag, the inappropriately dressed man was still talking,</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">"that's an amazing view, do you live locally?" I looked up from my activities "yes it</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">is and yes I do." By now he was showing visual signs of stage one </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">hypothermia "amazing, amazing....blimey it's cold isn't it?"</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">I smiled and replied "yes indeed it is amazing and bearing in</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">mind that this is Dartmoor, it's dusk, it's not quite Easter and you are splendidly attired in</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">shorts and flipflops, well yes I imagine that it is indeed very cold...well certainly</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">for your goodself.......goodbye!" and with that I walked back to my car.</span></div>
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Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-41932912213597871942012-12-11T14:23:00.000+00:002012-12-11T14:26:42.896+00:00Cold Calling and the Prophecies of Doom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-btlfW2jen2U/UKeak3GNIKI/AAAAAAAAAms/7uY5kYfyGSg/s1600/blackingstone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-btlfW2jen2U/UKeak3GNIKI/AAAAAAAAAms/7uY5kYfyGSg/s320/blackingstone.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Many harvests ago within the dark ages of forgotten time, King Arthur stood mighty and</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">defiant against the dark one...the very Devil himself. It was decided that in order to determine</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">just exactly who was the mightiest and most worthy of respect, a quoit throwing</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">challenge would be the order of the day. The Devil threw his huge metal ring which</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">skittered across the landscape eventually crashing through the ground, spewing forth</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">a colossal mound of rock from the depths of hell. Returning the challenge, Arthur hurled </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">his quoit with equal vigour similarly resulting in a gigantic monolithic stone warrior to punch</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">through the cold ground towards the sky. It was agreed to be an impressive draw and </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">both figures went on their way.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Now, many full moons later, the two weathered granite outcrops still stand as testament </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">to that memorable day, the two granite outcrops of Blackingstone and Heltor rocks.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Well it is the month of Yule and the Solstice rapidly approaches. This year is notable</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">as not a typical solstice, in fact an extinct south American civilization stated that on the</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">twenty first of this month of December 2012 we may have to collectively endure the </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">possibility of becoming a bit extinct ourselves. It certainly makes for lively debate with</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">cold callers trying to help us claim our PPI or sell us double glazing. In fact I really want</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">a cold caller to try selling me PVCU windows for my question shall be "are they fire, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">brimstone </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">and plummeting asteroid proof......and does that come with a written guarantee?"</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">I am thinking about the celebratory antics for that evening although bearing in mind</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">anything a little too extreme will still have to be explained away to mortified </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">neighbours and family members if the sun indeed decides to rise on the twenty second.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">"I am deeply sorry for decapitating your garden gnomes with a croquet mallet</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">whilst under the influence of several bottles of vintage wine.....I thought the world was</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">going to end!" Albeit a grande excuse, in fact quite possibly <i>THE</i> best excuse ever,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">it loses a lot in translation during the cold light of day.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">I am now thinking about these distant echoes from our past...Arthur and the Devil....the </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">quoit throwing...those awfully astute Mayans with their calendar based prophecies of doom</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">and gloom.....GNOMES, and somewhere in the distance I can hear the phone</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">ringing. For once, I really do hope that it is someone trying to sell me something,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">I may have some questions for them.</span></div>
Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-21032759452520393232012-09-27T09:52:00.001+01:002012-12-11T13:28:53.562+00:00Limited Attention of a Limited Palette <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2y1N87ovp3I/UMc00MzuURI/AAAAAAAAAm8/547Bl9qTs5s/s1600/honeybag+tor+040.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2y1N87ovp3I/UMc00MzuURI/AAAAAAAAAm8/547Bl9qTs5s/s320/honeybag+tor+040.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">So, we'll go no more a-roving</span></div>
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<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">So late into the night,</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Though the heart be still as loving,</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">And the moon be still as bright.</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"> </span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">For the sword outwears its sheath,</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">And the soul wears out the breast,</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">And the heart must pause to breathe,</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">And love itself have a rest.</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"> </span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Though the night was made for loving,</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">And the day returns too soon,</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Yet we'll go no more a-roving</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">By the light of the moon.</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Byron</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">Dull, dull, dull. The surrounding prison walls seem to be laughing at me due to the </span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">incarceration of my creative soul. This several weeks of a limited palette with the 'wet on</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">wet' technique of a highly structured and microscopically detailed attention to detail that</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">was laid down by the brotherhood of the Pre Raphaelites is really starting to </span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">drive me slightly bonkers. But...and there is a but, these paintings are probably<i> the </i>most</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">exciting series of works that I have undertaken as I am not aware of any other </span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">painters who are venturing down this path of subject, location or structure.</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">Due to this lifestyle of a rigid order, my numerous visits to the pool have now ceased which</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">has introduced the oversized spanner into the finely tuned workings of my fitness</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">regime again. As the gothically inspired mistress of the eastern fringes, it isn't</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">greatly known that my entire lifestyle revolves around being super fit....SHOCK HORROR...</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">it's not all absinthe, laudanum and eternal angst of a doom ridden poet, hell bent on</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">self destruction. </span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">With that said, I have swapped the pool for a daily early morning or early evening run.</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">Being a fortunate soul who resides in one of the most stunning areas of the country, I </span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">have some beautiful places to go too. </span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">Ipod-check, water-check, Moomin-check. The best thing about running with Moomin is that </span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">unleashed and insane canines tend to make a bee line for her as opposed to me, she seems</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">to exude dog pheromones or something</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">Another project of mine that seems to be travelling at a snails pace is a graphic novel...</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">no wait, let's call it a storybook of retro futurism and adventuristic journeys through</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">Edwardian England, 'The Diary of an Edwardian Country Automaton Hunting Lady'</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">Pretty much what it says really, a steampunk inspired storybook based on my</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">lovely but slightly unhinged friend Hospheria BC. Lavish, but lavish usually</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">means 'takes a long time to produce.'</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">Oh come on Halloween, I need a party to have a good excuse for the absinthe, laudanum,</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">cheese and pineapple on a stick and mini pasties.</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">Actually, sitting here it really isn't that dull at all. Kings of Leon have just come on the radio,</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">I have poured another cardio-threatening caffeine infusion into my</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">huge stripey mug and secured my hair inside a large knitted beret ready for service,</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">I love my job.</span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></dt>
<dt style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #a64d79;"><br /></span></dt>
Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-50640147859363115482012-07-11T11:18:00.000+01:002012-07-11T11:18:06.559+01:00Spelling Mistakes Through The Medium of Light Art<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bNi1SoUCLcM/T_1FnBN6dpI/AAAAAAAAAmA/GFu4tTwvqyI/s1600/IMG_0083.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bNi1SoUCLcM/T_1FnBN6dpI/AAAAAAAAAmA/GFu4tTwvqyI/s320/IMG_0083.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">A magnificent display of golden hues gently spreading across the ancient woodlands and open</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">fields that laid before me, filling me with awe and delight as the warming sunlight woke the</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">sleeping land upon this morn of the summer solstice....."the weather is going to be horrid" </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Moomin barked over her large stripey mug of tea , snapping me from my romantic dreams and</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">back into reality.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Indeed she may be right, the forecasters on the television made pained faces and frowned a lot</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">when they predicted the impending wet stuff that would surely dampen the early morning</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">revelry......but not mine, my enthusiasm was as big as a bus, a big bus full of positivity and</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">determination to take at least one decent photo of the sunrise.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Wednesday 20th June......4am</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">As I glimpsed over the top of the sanctuary of my duvet, I couldn't help but notice the curtains</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">doing their horizontal thing in the cold morning breeze. Without prompting I shortly found </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">myself in the kitchen boiling a kettle and jamming camera things into bags for my mini</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">adventure. Ten minutes later I was driving through the inky blackness of the Devonian morning</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">as I searched for a good vantage point to park.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">The pull in was perfect, the car shielded me from the wind as I set the tripod up behind it</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">facing eastwards. After clonking the 7D in place I turned my attentions to caffeine. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">My second rude awakening of the day, the flask of hot water had once contained a fruit drink,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">I was already taking my chances with coffee of an instant form, which I dislike, so you can </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">imagine my reaction when I tasted the fusion of 'awful' with even more 'awful' from an </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">awful plastic mug. It was at precisely this moment that an early morning tractor decide to</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">pass me in mid fury. The poor driver must have wondered as to why a darkly dressed</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">gothic type girl was hopping around by the side of the road shaking her hands in the in the air</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">in disgust at this unearthly hour. "Oh it's just Amelia" would be the more than likely reaction.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Wednesday 20th June.....magic sunrise </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Pray let me describe this amazing spectacle for you dear reader as it surely needs sharing. This is </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">exactly how the marvellous event went. Dark......dark.....dark.....dark.......light!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">What?.....where was the sunrise?.....where were the colours?....what was <i>THAT</i>?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">My pout of extreme disappointment must have been highly visible for the now audibly</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">waking birds who seemed to be laughing, that would be laughing in my direction by the way.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">After trying to write rude words to sum up my dismay with a torch on an extended shutter I</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">decided to return to the ever appealing comfort of my probably still warm duvet.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">It was pointed out at a later date that the word that I aimed to spell out in the darkened </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">cobalt morning air actually has two L's....oh b******* (again)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-45895942786704136102012-04-24T17:27:00.003+01:002012-04-24T18:07:14.908+01:00The Secret Diary of an Edwardian Country Lady Vampyre Hunter (part IV)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1dNFzr57adI/T5bZq9TEGUI/AAAAAAAAAlw/TgpHB1CwoIU/s1600/IMG_7677.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1dNFzr57adI/T5bZq9TEGUI/AAAAAAAAAlw/TgpHB1CwoIU/s320/IMG_7677.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">The cataclysmic events which brought me here were now but a distant memory</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">as I perched above the blackened void which presented itself before me. I had to </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">summon the courage to proceed and after what seemed like an eternity I finally</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">made the move. I took one step onto the cold and damp flagstone stairs that </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">disappeared below the ancient building into the impending bowels of hell. One</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">after the other my footsteps echoed around the inky blackness as I descended,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">slowly....purposefully.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">On reaching the base of my only means of escape I stopped and breathed the stale,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">dank air of the crypt. Somewhere ahead in the darkness I could just make out the</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">faint 'skritch, skritch, skritch' that gently reverberated around the vaulted ceiling and</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">stone floor........there was someone there!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">My vice like grip tightened around the roughly shaved wooden stake which rested in</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">the pocket of my greatcoat. With my other hand I fumbled with infantile coordination </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">for the crucifix that I knew was hanging around my neck on a piece of frayed twine.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">My presence was noticed as the noise stopped abruptly and was followed by</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: #674ea7;">a deafening silence. I could now just make out a figure crouching by the largest</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">of the stone memorials at the end of the chamber and without hesitation it </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">started to slowly move. The figure grew as it stood, it grew to well over six feet</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">in height as it straightened out until eventually it was clearly visible in the dim light.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">I grasped at the crucifix and held it high as I shouted "Nosferatu...I see you!"</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Again silence. The dark eyes of the figure were now looking directly at me and I</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">shouted again "Nosferatu....I...I see you!" The deafening silence was only matched </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">by the pounding heart in my chest. I could now hear the crunching of gravel</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">beneath the figure's feet as it slowly made its way towards me.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">"Nosfer...Nosferatuthingy....oh he's up at Castle Drogo doing their septic tank,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">I'm Dave and you have air in your radiators love.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">An interesting series of events occurs at SX731774 The location is Bonehill Rocks, a</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">large scattering of granite boulders laid out over a hillside sat majestically high above </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Widecombe in the Moor. It is here on most evenings, around the time that the golden</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">orb of life drops off the end of our fertile globe sending an explosion of billions of</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">shards of purple, red and orange light high into the darkening azure sky above.....<i>they</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">congregate! When I say <i>they</i>, of course I mean the army of photographers who gather</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">around the rocks and point their tripod mounted lenses westward to capture THE shot </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">of the century. There must be a collective name for photographers, I don't know it</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">so I shall introduce the collective noun, a 'smugness' of photographers. The last </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">time that I pointed my camera in the direction of the rapidly failing sun, I was met with</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">a fairly frosty look filled with distain from the man with the biggest lens I have ever</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">seen. I could hear him discussing ISO settings and exposure compensation.....oo...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">compensation, big lens...yes I see now. Needless to say I started clicking away and</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">captured some superb images. Big lens man was having issues as he clearly wasn't</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">clicking anything. The lens came off and I could hear his disapproval to the fact that </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">a huge amount of dust had become attached to his sensor.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Amelia's top tip no. IV When removing a DSLR lens from the body, make sure that</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">the camera is turned off as there is an electromagnetic charge that builds up inside</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">and will attract dust directly into the recess and ultimately directly onto the sensor.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Big lens man I am assuming didn't and as a result, it did. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">I have recently been watching a large amount of vampyre films for no apparent </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">reason other than they happen to just be on. I must point one thing out though, not</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">the Twilight saga. My perfect reworking of the film would involve Buffy...well </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">you know what direction that would travel in. One late night Hammer Horror</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">also fell wildly short of its ability to entertain as I believe it must have been made very</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">late on a Friday afternoon when all of film crew were itching to go home. I sat </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">through the entire film without one chuckle of being entertained, I want</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Christopher Lee back. And as I am on the subject, Mr. Burton's latest </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">celluloid extravaganza featuring one Mr. Depp that also had some location</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">shoots right on my doorstep, looks like it most definitely <i>will </i>entertain.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Amelia's top tip no. V When suspecting that a neighbour is actually Nosferatu,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">a walker of the night, under no circumstances must you attempt to drive a wooden</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">stake through their hearts as it usually gets frowned upon by the local</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">authorities. Which brings me neatly into</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Amelia's top tip no. VI I am not a vampyre so please stop throwing garlic at me,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">I like garlic very much but not when it is launched in my general direction from </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">across the road when I am looking in the baker's window.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">Since my last post which involved Moomin's wanton destruction of a starched linen</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">tablecloth through the medium of jam, we have since returned to the scene of the crime </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">where the ladies of the cake emporium were none the wiser. We entered recently and</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">purchased what can best be described as a wholly obscene and voluminous </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">pile of cake based objects that was accompanied by surely one of the largest teapots</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">in the south west that I have ever seen. We were also encouraged to take extra cake</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">home with us as they had clearly overdone the baking. This particular cream tea venue</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">has the strangest bathroom facilities that I had ever come across. It involved entering </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">through a huge studded door which led through a small panelled room. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;">As I perched above the blackened void which presented itself before me......</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #674ea7;"><br /></span></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-25259892331009581572012-02-28T14:39:00.011+00:002012-02-28T17:03:42.478+00:00Amelia's Curious Series of Unfortunate Events.<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LJSyC19WNwY/T0zno3OErlI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/Vni92SWGVk4/s1600/alyx.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 298px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LJSyC19WNwY/T0zno3OErlI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/Vni92SWGVk4/s400/alyx.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714196716430077522" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">"So can you do it?" I had to think long and hard about the answer "I really need you for</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">this, you're the only person that I know who is a bit, well......odd....pleeeease!"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">"Oh, alright" I replied.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Well then, that will be me modelling again in the not too distant future, for </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">my good friend's illuminating and fantastical display of nail sculpting and creativity.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">My reluctance is fairly evident due to my previous visitation to the salon of all things</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">'pink and evil', where slightly over preened peroxide maidens pointed and </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">whispered as to the presence of the raven haired maiden who ended up shifting</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">uncomfortably in her seat for the duration of the experimental treatment that she </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">were to encounter there.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Not that I am adverse to the wonders of turning my badly chipped and damaged nails</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">into extremely gorgeous and perfect creations of feminine beauty, it's just that</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">my creative side tends to whisk me delicately through the air and deposit me </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">unceremoniously with a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">thump back at the drawing board once my hands become</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">involved with Dremel drills and such objects of destruction.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">The other day, my hands were doing precisely that. At long last I have decided to</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">exhibit some of the photos from the Camera Obscura series, the chosen method of</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">display shall be the inclusion of Victorian style curio cases. These shall hold objects</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">which have a certain relevance towards the chosen subjects. One such case has </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">a ghostly floating dolls head.....actually, a dolls face that has been removed with</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">quite some exertion via the means of a very sharp serrated kitchen knife. During the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">horrendous act where the toy doll and her face were quietly parting company, I had</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">to stop my sawing in mid saw. I viewed the scene as something quite awful</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">and horrendous, then I remembered the peroxide preen queens from the salon</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">after which I carried on sawing this time with some renewed enthusiastic vigour.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Remaining with the 'at long last' expression, the Vanstone 'construction' studio is</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">now occupied and enjoying the sounds of banging, crashing, music and also </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">providing yet another environment for me to mangle my nails in. I must admit that</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">the use of two separate studios, at times seems a trifle excessive but the battle</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">over land occupation between my artwork and shoes had come to a speedy and </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">fairly conclusive finale with the purchase of some very high, black strappy </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">heels that performed the same act as that of the proverbial straw with the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">unfortunate camel's back. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">For reasons unknown, various people have made it their mission to purchase</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">all sorts of oddities and weird toys for the inclusion in the up and coming show,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">now it appears that I am becoming overrun with this random assortment.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I shall use this opportunity to bid you all an enormous thank you but......</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">please stop, I really couldn't justify the acquiring of Vanstone studio number three.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">(On a completely random note, I had a delightful comparison made to me the other </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">day, apparently I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">reminded somebody of a younger Morticia Addams, this put a huge </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">grin </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">on my face </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">which unfortunately ruined the likeness as I can't recall if she </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">actually smiled or not.)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">The very springlike feel on Dartmoor has me now waking from my winter slumber </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">and wanting to learn new things. Of course when I say learn, I really don't mean</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">learn as in 'I have learnt that Macbooks dislike gin and tonic' or 'I have learnt that it</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">is probably not a good idea to cut cardboard with a scalpel on the carpet' oh I could</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">go on, but no, I mean learn as in the ability to carve wood or advanced metalwork...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">that sort of thing. The current series of work has left me with the burning desire to</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">discover how to use old fashioned crafts with real materials as opposed to</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">plastic.......I really dislike plastic. No doubt one of the reasons why the casual</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">telephonic sales caller who tries to sell me plastic doors or windows will suffer the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">full wrath of Amelia as they try to talk me into discarding my two hundred year old</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">hand made oak framed windows for some identically proportioned windows made </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">recycled yoghurt pots of something similar.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I shall now be returning to the studio to separate more heads from the shoulders </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">of innocent, badly painted, straw haired dolls, all in the name of creativity. Thinking</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">about it, I could do exactly the same thing when my presence is required in the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">'pink palace of beauty salon' later this month......well I can pretend.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I can just picture the pale and anaemic one who is the only person smiling to </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">herself as she mentally lops the heads off of the orange faced individuals.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-7899852816609770462011-12-21T12:38:00.005+00:002011-12-22T08:08:05.958+00:00The Rebirth of the Oak King<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5qfEm9Ka-88/TvHTgfNmFOI/AAAAAAAAAiU/C6KE5X0cNSQ/s1600/window.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 359px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5qfEm9Ka-88/TvHTgfNmFOI/AAAAAAAAAiU/C6KE5X0cNSQ/s400/window.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5688560359433442530" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;">Mother Earth I offer to you this song<p>For I am earth</p><p>and to the Earth, I belong</p><p>Mother Earth</p><p>help me grow as you need me to</p><p>Mother Earth</p><p>show me what I am here to do<br /><br /><br />'Cause I am growing, I am changing</p><p>on this darkest day</p><p>I am growing, I am changing</p><p>in my darkest place</p><p>I am growing, I am changing</p><p>on this darkest day</p><p>I am growing, I am changing</p><p>in my darkest place<br /><br /><br /><i>Blessed Be!</i></p><div><i><br /></i></div></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">On this shortest day of the year my thoughts turn to the more spiritual things, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">however, the casual observer may not agree as I sit here eating Pringles and listening </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">'smells like teen spirit' at a fairly hefty volume. Dartmoor doesn't appear to be</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">doing its winter sleep as usual, and in turn it is confusing my hibernation</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">schedule and for those who know me, if my routine gets broken I can become</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">quite unsettled. The illicit and highly improbable love child of Abby Sciuto and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Sheldon Cooper has been launched comparatively in my direction.....if it </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">weren't true I would say <i>NOT FUNNY</i>.......in fact I will say <i>NOT FUNNY</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">anyway just to provoke stimulating confrontation.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">"He painted in the dark until he went completely mad....either that</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">or he died of lead poisoning"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Painting is now back on the agenda as I have recently rediscovered my mojo in a</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">visionary and most spectacular fashion. A long distant friend has breezed</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">through my art career which was just enough to start the Amelia Monster</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">springing back to life again. His huge success has been an inspiration which is</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">good....what is not good is the fact that I have been painting all week and I</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">have been neglecting Christmas present buying duties, so what better day to</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">finish my reluctant journey into consumerism than tomorrow's winter solstice</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">although I just know Costas coffee will be luring me into her depths via the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">overpowering spell of the bean.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">"Orange is this season's black"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Ok...not really. The big dramatic change to my appearance was the subtle colour </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">change to my hair from raven black to pre raphaelite fire maiden, or jaffa cake orange </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">as it was also called, so once again.....<i>NOT FUNNY! </i>The main drawback</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">was that every mirror I passed, there in front of me was the Lady of Shallot </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">staring back at me. I suspect that the December backdrop wasn't exactly the correct time </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">of year that Millais had envisaged the colouring to be set, and with that firmly fixed</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">in my mind, a hour of messing around with dye and scissors and hey presto, Bettie</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Page is back in the Devonian longhouse.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">"I managed to fix the clock...and I have all these bits left over"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">My very old clock has been acting up and chiming at bizarre times. When asking</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">someone in the know about what the problem may be, there came the reply</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">"have you tried turning it off and on again" followed by hysterical laughter.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><i>NOT FU</i>.........well you know what I said by now. The clock is now working again</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">but other things are acting up (and the full moon has long passed so it's</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">not that) My iPad has started doing weird things to apps..Moomin with her </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">identical tablet with identical apps isn't having trouble. I think that the further up the </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">valley from Bovey that one goes, technology seems to become overwhelmed by</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">granite crystal energy (as I mentioned in a previous post) The Apple store hate it </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">when I come in and blame crystal energy playing a huge part in corrupting </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">their IOS devices, I need lead lined covers for my technology around the home.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">"and now for something completely different"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Food has been playing a starring role in the lead up to Christmas. Picky teas and mad </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">hatter's tea parties, all washed down with copious amounts of cider have been</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">on the agenda. Dancing around the front room to the Monster Ball again as we</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">sang along to the full Gaga repertoire. Sleeping....well at last. Purchasing even</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">more shoes via the powers of Amazon. Watching lost ramblers pass the house, not</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">once but four times......<i>NOT FUNNY FOR THEM</i>...highly amusing for us. Making</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">more clothes by hand and turning my fingers into pin cushions as I watched</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Diagnosis Murder in a Dick Van Dykeathon. Most of all....looking forward to </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Christmas with friends and family.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">So tomorrow morning I shall be up at five thirty and lighting the candle to welcome</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">the sun back into our lives. After spending a deeply relaxed morning, this fair</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">maiden will leave her homestead to do battle with the fearsome dragons and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">trolls of the village as they shop for last minute Christmas presents.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Happy Yuletide good people x</span></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-66161490610951214762011-11-06T11:01:00.002+00:002011-11-06T11:53:37.465+00:00Closing the Circle<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8UxgEZfRPVM/TrZpkf0IdcI/AAAAAAAAAh4/8s39swTNgK4/s1600/lutleigh%2Bpath%2Bcopy.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8UxgEZfRPVM/TrZpkf0IdcI/AAAAAAAAAh4/8s39swTNgK4/s400/lutleigh%2Bpath%2Bcopy.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671836856456082882" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Mulled wine, I really want some mulled wine...having returned to the shire from </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">another epic journey, my mind has started its November cravings fairly early.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">The six day pout is now wearing off, having missed my two best friend's </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Wiccan blessing at the Cleave (all gothic faeries and steampunk I am to believe)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">but the coming winter solstice should rectify that with another wonderful</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">get together of mooky individuals.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Another strange and re-emerging obsession is my winter wardrobe. A previous post </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">concentrated on the average Dartmoor based girl's leg and the seemingly impossible</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">task to find boots that agree with the dimensions of the calf....well, my calf.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">It has taken several more trips to Exeter where we found the most incredible retro</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">shop that was packed to the ceiling with so many wonderful things that boot </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">purchase was immediately struck from the menu. "Oooo, a rack of PVC</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">goodies, gothic dresses, corsets, burlesque retro rockabilly.....aaarrggh my head's</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">going to implode" I shouted, actually my head didn't but purse did as the money </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">simply shot out of it and into the shop's cash register. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Yet another strange thing was the "what am I going to paint the next series of</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">paintings on" question that kept cropping up, right up to the point of me walking </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">into a shop that had a HUGE SAIL (they spelt it wrong) on art supplies.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">There, at the back of the shop was a 'buy one canvas, get another free' deal. Well</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">what can I say to that, so then proceeded to pull all of the largest ones out of the rack</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">to check them for flaws and wonky stretchers. Unfortunately (and there is always</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">an 'unfortunately' when Amelia Vanstone goes shopping) one of the canvasses</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">clipped a rather impressive display of cook books that were stacked (a tad excessively</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I should add) right next to me and set forth a series of events in the from </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">of a book based chain reaction. Ainsley Harriot head butted Jamie Oliver and in a</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">manner that the leaning tower of Pisa will eventually take, went crashing over</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">the rest of the art supplies. A stand of marker pens was the next victim</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">of the carnage as they ended up spinning across the shiny floor and under tables, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">customer's feet and more book cases. One of the assistants suddenly materialised </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">and tried to stop the onslaught but accidentally caught another huge</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">pile of books with his arm, this went crashing over a stand of cards knocking</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">them all over the floor. Eventually, the chaos stopped and I stood there still</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">holding the perpetrator of the destruction, namely the inanimate canvas. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">With a slightly embarrassed and cheesy grin, I feebly announced "I'll take these</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">two please" to the assistant who between huffing and puffing as he picked</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">various items up, was giving me an extremely hard stare.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">The two canvasses are now safely back in my studio as I reflect on the very </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">strange month which passed before me. Next week I am going to make a point</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">of avoiding over-stuffed bookshops, over stuffed retro shops, over stuffed Costa </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">coffee shops (that deserves an entry all of it's own) and make it a mission, no,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">a crusade, to restore order to my chakras in the form of lower legwear in</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">leather, where the zip actually goes up and down and I become a happy bunny</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">for the winter months without resorting to turning art supply vendors into </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">a place that resembles a Beirut war zone.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-71614331151594619012011-09-08T12:01:00.005+01:002011-09-08T14:29:28.733+01:00Return of the Giant Hogweed<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gWtP9rEiP-8/TmigtWVgFyI/AAAAAAAAAhg/MfwTq6GNhDE/s1600/P1010345.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gWtP9rEiP-8/TmigtWVgFyI/AAAAAAAAAhg/MfwTq6GNhDE/s400/P1010345.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649942433486608162" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">"Well inspector!" said detective Cholmondley Warner "I am suspecting a blunt force</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">trauma to the head was probably the main reason for the Colonel's demise." Walking </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">carefully around the body, he went on "yes, yes I see it now...the victim had</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">obviously snagged his tie in the keys of the typewriter and evidently bashed his brains</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">in whilst trying to type the word 'help' with his nose!"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I must say that the previous month could certainly be labelled as odd. Autumn is not</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">here yet but it really does feel like it. The cool, dark evenings are adorable but</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">unfortunately cool dark evenings bring the menace that is....house arachnids.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Alan, the largest I have seen in quite a while, seems to put in an appearance at</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">strangely random times which usually results in him being ejected at some </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">considerable distance down the lane, yet....he returns.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I suspect that they have homing instincts and are building up an immunity to </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">conkers which always worked as a repellant but seem to failing in that department </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">for reasons unknown, Hospheria blames global warming but typically that is her</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">main reason for everything that becomes defective or broken.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Global warming and deadly plants.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I have also rediscovered my passion for giant hogweed. The very obvious eradication</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">programme for this deadly and enormous threat to the human race had fallen short </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">of success along the 'haunted road' and now, several years later ......it's back.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I was photographing the monster plants the other evening much to the surprise</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">of a passing people carrier full of wide eyed, staring people along the aforementioned </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">haunted byway, I came lumbering out of the dark with my camera hanging from</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">my neck only to be greeted by the approaching headlights. The driver made a</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">huge semi circular deviation around me, I imagine to prevent me from stealing</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">their souls or something. I smiled at the pasty white faces that were still staring </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">from the back window as the car sped into the night. I raised my camera and FOOSH,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">stole there souls anyway in the form of a photograph.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Cholmondley Warner pushed his trilby to the back of his head with the barrel of his</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">revolver and frowned slightly. "Terrible business this, inspector" he said "to be a </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">successful writer in this day and age is not an easy thing, one either has it....or </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">they don't" he bent over the body and squinted "the Colonel obviously didn't</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">have the head for it"</span></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-249137294630551182011-08-03T16:22:00.007+01:002011-08-08T17:12:11.861+01:00Poised on the Void of a Never Ending Yesterday<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aQXbb9p8WKY/TjloFwzE8UI/AAAAAAAAAhA/RXAGddmlnYU/s1600/chucks2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aQXbb9p8WKY/TjloFwzE8UI/AAAAAAAAAhA/RXAGddmlnYU/s400/chucks2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636650856838656322" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);"><div style="text-align: center;">"Pumpkin.......it's August!" well, that's how the conversation went, short but very much
<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">to the point. The up and coming steampunk weddingfest of my two closest friends</div><div style="text-align: center;">required that I somehow manufactured this ten foot high, pumpkin headed scary</div><div style="text-align: center;">scarecrow that was clearly based on one of my illustrations for the Wiccan </div><div style="text-align: center;">blessing within the district of Hound tor. "Oh goody" I said, closely followed by</div><div style="text-align: center;">"oh bloody hellfire" when I realized the very big ask. All this at a time where my</div><div style="text-align: center;">new studio just doesn't seem to get any closer to completion....and......let's just</div><div style="text-align: center;">say that I really need it, especially for ten foot pumpkin headed monsters.</div><div style="text-align: center;">As well as my failing to materialize studio, I have been working on the up and</div><div style="text-align: center;">coming 'angelvixen' and 'mystik pixie' website, that like my new studio....was well</div><div style="text-align: center;">overdue. "I just don't seem to be getting anywhere" I ranted at mca..."huh!" he</div><div style="text-align: center;">answered, well he was obviously under a considerably larger amount of stress</div><div style="text-align: center;">than me due to the fact that his duo core imac is no longer duo coring as a result</div><div style="text-align: center;">of his hard drive suffering from a slightly fatal dose of death.</div><div style="text-align: center;">I met up with the happy couple at Heltor rock a week ago for a very elaborate </div><div style="text-align: center;">picnic. They climbed up the hard way while I sat on top looking like a very
<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">windswept Bettie Page being attacked by wasps as I tried to take photos of</div><div style="text-align: center;">the surrounding land. We then ate our combined body weight in crackers and</div><div style="text-align: center;">garlic cheese before departing for Blackingstone rock and cake. I love the 'multi</div><div style="text-align: center;">locations for different courses' picnics. </div><div style="text-align: center;">One thing that I have discovered recently is something that for me, is such a bad</div><div style="text-align: center;">idea. The horror that is....daytime drinking. I was at friends recently when we got to </div><div style="text-align: center;">toasting something or other with sparkling wine, I guess it must have been a valid form</div><div style="text-align: center;">of celebration, unfortunately I forget exactly what. The toasting went on....more wine, </div><div style="text-align: center;">more clinking glasses, I think at one point we were toasting each others cats, even more</div><div style="text-align: center;"> of a puzzle as I do not possess a cat. Finally, it was over and I had launched myself along</div><div style="text-align: center;">the lane in a very vague (but correct) direction of the Vanstone family home, a walk</div><div style="text-align: center;">that may well have exceeded its regulation fifteen minutes by a good hour. The </div><div style="text-align: center;">following morning certainly started with a question..."what the....." which was soon </div><div style="text-align: center;">accompanied by the cry of "ohh my head" and then the statement....."never again!"</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:verdana;font-size:11px;">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Today is the greatest
<br />Day I ’ve ever kown
<br />Can’t live for tomorrow
<br />Tomorrow’s much too long
<br />I burn my eyes out
<br />Before I get out</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">
<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">-smashing pumpkins-</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Well...there we go....I came up with some pumpkins........how smashing!</div><div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div></span>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-79834346891401258662011-07-11T13:49:00.007+01:002011-07-16T10:40:39.634+01:00Stinging Nettles and Jam<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1yL4VF8QCAw/Thrx4OLT_pI/AAAAAAAAAgI/2aZqUyddQNM/s1600/gyard.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1yL4VF8QCAw/Thrx4OLT_pI/AAAAAAAAAgI/2aZqUyddQNM/s400/gyard.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628076632533368466" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">"Go on Amelia, it will be fun"........ok.....let us just concentrate on that word.....FUN.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">'Enjoyment, amusement or light hearted pleasure'</span> it says in the dictionary, all of which</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">appeared perilously absent during my sojourn into the North Devon countryside.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">My two best friends in the world had suggested that I joined them on this activity, the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">activity that is (cue dramatic music) dum de dum dum........geocaching!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">That is the name that is given to this particular pastime by those who enjoy it.....</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">or mooching about, seemingly lost in the great British countryside in the hunt for</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">small grubby boxes filled with an endless supply of tat, which would be the </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">description applied by those who don't.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">We had chosen <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">the </span>hottest day of the season which instantly put me in a grumpy</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">mood as I had to use factor fifty on my delicate complexion due to the fact that my</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);"> parasol had gone on a journey of it's very own. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">After several hours of extreme 'fun', I became aware that it's practically impossible</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">to appear <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">natural </span>to the casual passer by when you are loitering in a suspicious </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">manner by fences, trees and styles as it's not recommended that we drew any sort</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">of attention from the general public to the hidden treasure that we sought, well</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">that is the lawful requirement from the 'high gods of the cache'</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">This one occasion saw me standing on a small tree covered lane with my hand </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">in a bush as I reached for the tupperware bounty that was hidden from view.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">There was a house to the left of me that had a lot of children playing in the garden, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">and it wasn't long before they had suddenly noticed me. As I glanced over, there were</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">about five kids standing on the roadside driveway all pointing and whispering, and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">moments later it appeared that the whole family had come to gawp at the goth girl</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">standing outside their house, elbow deep in a great british hedgerow.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">The eldest of the group who I assumed was the dad as he was the tallest and </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">beardiest, smiled and nodded his respects as he roughly ushered his still staring</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">kids back in the direction of the house. I did the same.......MISTAKE, my hair got</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">tangled in the hawthorn which made me yell out "aaaarrggghhh....hawthorn!"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">and all of a sudden, the whole family were back on the road again, staring</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">and pointing. As before, they were rounded up like sheep and sent in the direction of</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">the house again. "Get me out" I cried, and it wasn't long before my friends had </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">extracted me from the bushes.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">JAM CARNAGE</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">After a long Sunday walk with Moomin, we were perilously late with our return</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">to the cream tea emporium which clearly stated that it closed its doors to the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">general public at five o clock....it was eight minutes to. After asking nicely, it was</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">agreed by the cream tea ladies that we indeed had time. This particular place is</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">in an old church hall and boasts bone china, vases of flowers and starched</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">linen tablecloths. Tea, bread, butter, cakes and jam were brought to us as we sat</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">there alone in this huge hall at the only dressed table. Remembering the </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">Houndtor tea incident with the purple mug, we agreed that best behavior would </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">be observed at all times. I managed to pour both teas, with no drips...happy, then</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">I managed to cut the cake with no crumbs....very happy, then Moomin put jam</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">on her bread and butter......happiness over! There was quite a loud 'donk' that came </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">from her direction, I quickly looked up from my tea and noticed the wide eyed </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">stare of horror coming from Moomin's face. I followed her gaze of terror back </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">down to the table to the enormous spoon full......or rather the 'started off as a spoon</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">full' mound of blackcurrant jam that had now set up home on the extremely clean and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">starched linen tablecloth. We both gazed at each other with open mouths and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">I did what any well bred girl would do.....I put the vase of flowers over it.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">So then......I think that we will leave the next visitation to this cream tea venue for a </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">few weeks so the guardians of the cake and tea will have time to forget us...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">although on second thoughts we do tend to get remembered....it's an appearance </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">thing you see......and next weekend, well I have to admit it.....I shall be probably</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">up to my shoulders in hedgerow again.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);"><br /></span></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-46010675989251664592011-06-07T12:27:00.013+01:002011-06-08T09:40:03.564+01:00Nocturnal Angst of The Dying Swan<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n7iH0cjjbtU/Te4Lgo0fEgI/AAAAAAAAAfY/WPSTSF8LEAk/s1600/blog6.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 388px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n7iH0cjjbtU/Te4Lgo0fEgI/AAAAAAAAAfY/WPSTSF8LEAk/s400/blog6.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615438440718864898" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><div align="left"><dt style="text-align: center;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">The night</span></span></span></span></span></span></dt><dt style="text-align: center;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Hath been to me a more familiar face</span></span></span></span></span></span></dt><dt style="text-align: center;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Than that of man; and in her starry shade</span></span></span></span></span></span></dt><dt style="text-align: center;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Of dim and solitary loveliness</span></span></span></span></span></span></dt><dt style="text-align: center;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">I learned the language of another world.</span></span></span></span></span></span></dt><dt style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">GGB</span></span></span></span></dt></div><div align="right"><dt></dt></div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">Thunk!.....doomf doomf doomf, it went at precisely 5 am this morning, right across</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">my roof, and then it was gone. 1855, rural Devon....on the night of the 8th and 9th of</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">February, there was a light snowfall across the shire and the following morning.....</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">there was panic, as for exactly one hundred miles and almost in a straight line, there</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">were hoof like prints found in the whiteness. They went along the ground, through</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">woodlands, across streams, over trees, over haystacks and most importantly.....</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">over the roofs of many houses. This true story had no explanation however, it was </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">reported by several eye witnesses that they had seen a 'devil' like figure, running and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">jumping at great speed just before the sun rose......so, guess what was on my mind at</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">exactly 5 am today! Logical Amelia was really put to the test with this one, and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">hoping to make myself feel less frightened by my early morning visitation I </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">eventually concluded.....roof badgers....they have finally evolved the ability to</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">climb up ladders or mossy wall growth.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">This month has certainly been filled with angst riddled tantrums and proverbial</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">spanners tossed casually into the well oiled workings of my creativity by lady fate.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">I am currently typing this hunched over my macbook instead of lounging with the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">wireless keyboard on my lap and staring at a large screen. The reason.....well the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">hard drive on my iMac is going through it's 'dying swan' phase as when it all gets</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">too much, he places the back of his cyber hand against his furrowed cyber brow and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">sighs "oh it's all getting too much, I really don't know if I can go on any longer"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">and then promptly feigns a camp Shakespearian faint into sleep mode. I am now</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">getting sick and tired of our clandestine and regular meetings in the gardens of</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">disc utility. I really don't fancy another trip to the genius bar to be told by an Apple</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">genius the bleeding obvious as that really doesn't require a genius. "You should</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">work here" I was told last time by someone I really didn't want to classify as a genius</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">as it seemed that they were lacking. "Nope" I replied " issues you see with the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">blue tee shirt with the white Apple logo, I may consider it if Mr. Jobs provided</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">me with a black tee emblazoned with a golden hybrid apple/skull logo that was</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">being held by a black widow spider set in front sacrificial virgins tied to flaming </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">pc towers.........can I have one please please please?"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">Another mild irritation is the seemingly endless supply of spindly spiders. It's</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">almost as if a large truck had pulled up outside and a lorry driver type with a </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">clipboard announced "two ton of assorted arachnids love, where do you want the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">spindly spiders?" Well at the moment I am leaving them be as the do tend to</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">eat the woodworms that were delivered another truck load on a previous occasion.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">I just don't like doing that wavy hand thing that people do when they walk into</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">webs as from outside it must look like I'm doing some really naff dance routine</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">to the casual passer by. I really need a good night's sleep.....thats at least </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);">until 5 am tomorrow when the devil makes his return journey.</span></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-66800064306598842482011-05-14T09:21:00.006+01:002011-05-14T10:06:13.069+01:00Return of the Eco Warrior<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zxcShQhtXwg/Tc47sMlh7KI/AAAAAAAAAcg/A6_aSCQ6isU/s1600/ninky.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 255px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zxcShQhtXwg/Tc47sMlh7KI/AAAAAAAAAcg/A6_aSCQ6isU/s400/ninky.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606484216601767074" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">300 million years ago, the heaving, volcanic depths of planet earth erupted it's </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">igneous granite batholith upwards and outwards which in turn formed the 250 sq</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">miles of Dartmoor rock that we know and love so much today. In it's most exposed </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">places, the granite intrusion endured millions of years of erosion and in turn,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">created the magical and mystical tor formations that have been steeped in folklore</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">and legend throughout the centuries. The main composition of granite is</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">large and small deposits feldspar which is mixed with equally large amounts but</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">smaller in size varieties of quartz and mica structures......so the result of </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">all of this....I DON'T SLEEP.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Dartmoor is basically one GIANT crystal which channels all of the earth energy</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">resulting in something called Geopathetic Stress. This has many side effects, the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">most appropriate being the lack of sleep variety that has been plaguing me for ages.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Hospheria Belladonna Callisto barked the words "crystal therapy" to me, so it was</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">off to the shops to buy some amethyst to place around the bed, and just for once, I</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">was an incredibly good girl as I didn't return with shoes. However I also didn't </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">return with the amethyst that I originally went for as the crystal shop was all</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">out. I am presuming there are many others with the earth energies running amok</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">with their sleeping patterns too.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Well I have been very busy creating together with the angelvixen collective recently,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">in fact all work and no play has turned Amelia into a very dull girl. The monthly</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">high was definitely the oil paint bargain of the year which resulted in me filling</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">the primary colour void for only twenty pounds. The monthly low was being </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">mistaken for somebody else that clearly wasn't me....wrong bloody artist for a </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">bloody start....bloody cheek.....talk about giving somebody a bloody complex. I think the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">goth look has a lot to do with that sometimes, hence..BLACK AND PURPLE DREADS</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">again at the moment...oo look at me, all gothic eco warrior. Moomin said I need</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">to get back into dresses and skirts again so that is the plan although this</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">actually has nothing to do with anything.....shut up Amelia.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Lady Gaga has been cropping up a lot too as 1 I really love her to bits and 2 she is in</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">the UK at the moment doing some shows. Rumor has it that a certain female</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">artist based...oo let's say, on Dartmoor, is painting her image for...um let's also say</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">for a certain Pre Raphaelite Sisterhood school of incredible women of outrageous</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">fortune....crumbs, I just went a bit Shakespearean then.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">My energy levels are soaring, creativity flowing.....enthusiasm escalating, well that</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">would be the Geopathics of the land although......it's still keeping me awake....</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I NEED CRYSTALS!</span></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-67883741702658273082011-04-26T16:11:00.003+01:002011-04-29T15:37:54.130+01:00Mistress Crimson Ophelia<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jGPnwqwGU-k/TbbhaoofR3I/AAAAAAAAAcE/9PSXmF94NXg/s1600/ophelia.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 381px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jGPnwqwGU-k/TbbhaoofR3I/AAAAAAAAAcE/9PSXmF94NXg/s400/ophelia.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599911034381879154" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Well at last, the first photo-rendition for the Pre Raphaelite inspired series of paintings</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"> is </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">ready for enlarging on the A2 printer. For the fans of John Everett Millais, the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">first and most obvious comparison is that I'm not wet, in fact I am nowhere near </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">the Denmark based stream that Ophelia drowned in after falling from the overhanging tree</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">just as in the Shakespearian play. Another very obvious and notable point is that</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">gone is the pose of the late victorian martyrs with the upturned face and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">open arms which has been replaced with something of a more contemporary stance.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">It was mentioned that my Ophelia would not have drowned in the famous stream</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">but more likely succumbed to her icy death in the bottom of a pint glass full</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">of Magner's.......oh your an art philistine mca.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-89806535447372938362011-04-22T14:53:00.019+01:002011-04-25T09:28:19.123+01:00The Intoxication of Burlesque Desire<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PkDQ38jEnsI/TbGIntOiX9I/AAAAAAAAAbo/qF7Lo9K_W0Y/s1600/ca%2Bwood.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 324px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PkDQ38jEnsI/TbGIntOiX9I/AAAAAAAAAbo/qF7Lo9K_W0Y/s400/ca%2Bwood.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598406027535081426" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">I had a dream, which was not all a dream.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> Did wander darkling in the eternal space,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Times;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Thank you Byron..nicely written sir....unfortunately, not wholly appropriate for the glorious </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">weather </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">that is making it's unusually early appearance this year. This means one thing for </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">me...</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">suncream and </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">a big parasol to reflect the damaging and spiteful rays from ravaging my alabaster complexion. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Recently I have taken to wearing extremely burlesque inspired </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">clothing, initially for a photoshoot </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">with Mca, but now it seems that impossibly proportioned </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">heels and backseamed </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">stockings </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">are </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">creeping into my daily repertoire with ease. The whole gothic-burlesque thing </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">may be my next </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">obsession, like Bettie Page and Blythe </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">dolls. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">Before I got too sidetracked with incredible clothing, the beginning of last month saw </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">an enormous </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">spanner inserted sideways into the delicate workings of the angelvixen </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">machine of creativity. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">Mca was trying to finish off some artwork for me, when completely unannounced, his large iMac </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">decided to die a bit. After a period of total panic, he </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">decided to pay a visit to the Apple refurb </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">store to replace the defective workstation......</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">Hmm grumpy bit, he was upgraded from the i5 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">intel to the 27 inch i7 intel without incurring</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;"> any extra cost. Happy and extremely envious all at </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">the same time...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">oh I want a quad core now!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The artwork that he was doing for me is going to be the working images for my up and </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">coming </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">pre-raphaelite, gothic inspired tales of folklore and legendary ultravixens which </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">seems to be well </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">overdue at the moment. Too many distractions for this girl....which brings</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;"> me back to the weather. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">We have been drinking lots of gin at the moment rather like</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;"> Victorian alcoholic down and outs, and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">contrary to popular belief......it really isn't going out</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;"> of fashion. Amongst the drinking, open air </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">dining and random chit chat about life in general, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">there has been a lot of hula hooping going on </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">as well. Me...well I really cant do it, my coordination seems to be awful, Moomin however is </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">getting really good though. She can do tricks and all sorts of clever things, only once did she do </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">some sort of flashy move up above</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;"> her head to a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">slight fluff on the return which resulted her hoop </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">flying through the air and </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">hitting me in the face and knocking me onto my back. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">So as I said, distractions...my </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">gaze becomes diverted quite easily from my work to the great outdoors </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">all too frequently </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">these days (shakes fist in a threatening manner at the orange ball of fire in the sky)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">but I guess it's better than shaking my fist at copious amounts of wet stuff.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Another by product of the summer is the wearing of flip flops....I have never ventured down</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> that road </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">due to my old fashioned attitude to covering everything up...."just go on line and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;"> have a look" Moomin </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">commanded, and so I did. Ultimately I saw exactly what I wanted and ordered them immediately. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">"Yay..what did you order?" Moomin enquired with excitement</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;"> in her voice.....quietly I answered </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">"oh....er...fourteen hole Doctor Martins in black </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-family:arial;">with purple laces"</span></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-78039823251783032832011-03-19T09:36:00.014+00:002011-03-19T15:54:38.027+00:00Organically Influenced Lunar Intervention<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wX0NtrV3o8g/TYTRtdbc6FI/AAAAAAAAAZs/zUyrotQb8dQ/s1600/s%2B10-28-25.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wX0NtrV3o8g/TYTRtdbc6FI/AAAAAAAAAZs/zUyrotQb8dQ/s400/s%2B10-28-25.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585820016770345042" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;">Tonight<br />We'll crucify the insincere tonight<br />We'll make things right, we'll feel it all tonight<br />We'll find a way to offer up the night tonight<br />The indescribable moments of your life tonight<br />The impossible is possible tonight<br />Believe in me as I believe in you, tonight<br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Ooo I just went all Smashing Pumpkins...well as I am on the subject, tonight... it just so</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">happens that there is going to be a 'supermoon'. The moon will be thirty thousand</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">miles closer to us and it last did that eighteen years ago. Hmm it sounds like I have</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">gone all Patrick Moore but in reality....no, I saw it on the news.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Of course it is compulsory to string together some form of celebratory soiree involving</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">friends, nibbles, music and........oh go on then, alcoholic beverages... if we<i> must!</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">The pixies and faeries are going to celebrating tonight!</span></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-18920622162255291202011-03-05T10:06:00.006+00:002011-03-05T11:21:06.035+00:00Elementary Photophobic Premonition<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AXbVD5XZxTw/TXINjIIWg4I/AAAAAAAAAZY/i2V-dlot1xY/s1600/ojpg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 333px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AXbVD5XZxTw/TXINjIIWg4I/AAAAAAAAAZY/i2V-dlot1xY/s400/ojpg.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580537785394561922" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"> Having never really recovered from <i>that</i> incident with Mca and the irretrievable Blythe doll, I</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">recently found myself shopping the other day with his good lady of all things holistic- Nic, for the usual girlie </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">nonsense and shoe based products in their home town of the northern shire.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I was indeed on a mission for a pair of super swish cat eye sunglasses but wasn't having an</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">awful lot of luck as nowhere had them.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">As we approached a charity shop my heart suddenly lurched and I ran towards the window</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">and to what I thought to be a much sought after 70's doll. My lurching heart sank as it</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">turned out to be a a really tacky Bratz variety sitting there looking like a bit of a loose maiden.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">But then....my eyes drifted to the left and "OMG.......LOOK....I DON'T BELIEVE IT" I yelled</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">as I spotted the large headed, googly eyed beauty sitting there by a 'Thomas the tank</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">engine' staring back at me from behind the glass. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I launched myself through the door nearly flattening a lady who was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">struggling with a </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">heavy bag of groceries and nearly knocked over a man with a walking stick too. I grabbed</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">the doll from the window and stood there in totally stunned disbelief as Nic came </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">up beside me. "Well, is it?" she asked as I stood there still staring at one of the most</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">elusive prizes that I could ever imagine finding. "Yes...Takara version, 2002....she's mine!"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">Now this is the really spooky bit!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">Nic suddenly pointed it out, I had missed the obvious thing......the oh so obvious thing. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">"Who does she look like, I mean look...long raven black hair, blunt cut fringe, black</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">fitted long sleeved top and a pair of gold pvc trousers" Nic whispered....."IT'S ME!"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">I replied, the similarity was uncanny, I have to say that if I had to choose one Blythe doll</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">from a shop FULL of Blythe dolls, then this would be the one...the EXACT one.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">Oo there are indeed very mystic and great powers at work here....</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">and incidentally, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">I never got the cat eye sunglasses.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"> </span> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-65941007994050158472011-02-22T14:13:00.004+00:002011-02-22T15:47:21.692+00:00Subterranean Terrors<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Nviv68hfNc/TWPagQHJ-ZI/AAAAAAAAAZA/ql2HsQeOG1I/s1600/s.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Nviv68hfNc/TWPagQHJ-ZI/AAAAAAAAAZA/ql2HsQeOG1I/s400/s.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576541011230456210" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Next door lady just so happened to inform me the other morning as to the plight of her </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">household plumbing and as it was a bit too early for me to take in the intricacies and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">traumatically over descriptive reason why she needed 'men in'......I promptly forgot.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Fine....the technicality of our complicated drain workings due to the age of our</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">properties meant that all blockages had to be dealt with almost inside my house due to</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">the incredibly bad positioning of the inspection hatch just on the inside of my rear door.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">The problem....well lets just say that my house becomes uninhabitable due to the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">comparative smell as to that of the pig farm just down the road at mucking out time.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Well now..the weather is officially starting to annoy me as it has started to play havoc</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">with my shoes and I am sick and tired of deviating around woodlands and muddy</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">areas in case my Demonias get grubby. All this at the time that I need to be outside </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">getting more photos and working images for the next series of paintings that I</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">am starting. Pre-raphaelite gothic goddesses in moody landscapes wearing </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">floaty dresses</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">with and armour and faeries and stuff...oh my, that's a mouthful. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Yikes I've gone of the path again. So, having forgotten about the drain issue that had</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">been related to me in the morning, it was eventually evening and Moomin and I were in</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">slumber mode with typical girlie slumber clothing, nibbles and an endless supply</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">of chick flicks on the go. All of a sudden there was a yellow flashing light coming up</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">the lane which parked right outside my house. As the light illuminated the front room</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Moomin and I looked at each other quizzically. "Alright love...where is the blockage?" said</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">a man's voice to next door lady. "OH.....I FORGOT......DRAIN MEN!" I whispered.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Through the door I could make out two figures in orange who started to pull open</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">drain covers. I very quickly explained to Moomin (in hushed tones) as to why we</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">can't let them in (pig farm) and we would have to be very quiet. "Pretend we aren't in"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">whispered Moomin "that's it.....but, er the lights are on"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">The men had now gone around the back and there were noises of tools and hoses</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">moving under the house with gushing water jets. "Er....hide!" I said and with that we </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">both dived on the floor and crawled under the coffee table as we pretended that we</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">were out or something. One of the men was now back at the front and was making</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">disapproving sounds as to the fact that the drain was still blocked. Then there was a</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">gushing sound and I was convinced that the hatch near the kitchen was going to be blown</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">upwards showering my house in next door lady's ........ooh I don't want to even think</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">about it. By now Moomin was having a huge fit of the giggles which started me off.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">"Two grown up girls hiding under the table from men with boiler suits and a hosepipe</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">and a big van with yellow flashing lights, heheheheheh" it was mentioned.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">All of a sudden there were two figures outside, this time though they were making</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">satisfied 'man sounds'...."ah there we go it's all gone now" one said. "Yes...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">time for the pub then" said the other and with that they were gone.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Moomin and I lay there for a bit longer and when I had plucked up enough courage</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I jumped up and peered out of the window. "Oh good....they've gone, lets get back </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">to chick flicks and dips"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I recently saw next door lady and there was no mention of the drain, however I did </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">give her some money off vouches for 'all bran' and some 'fruit and fibre' cereal...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">well she may take the hint!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><br /></span></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-70158780786527565342011-02-10T16:21:00.003+00:002011-02-10T17:01:01.946+00:00Blythe Faerie Trauma<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h69bmnaimJI/TVQZSX8YvnI/AAAAAAAAAYs/Lt7ynmlyBMk/s1600/vajpg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 349px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h69bmnaimJI/TVQZSX8YvnI/AAAAAAAAAYs/Lt7ynmlyBMk/s400/vajpg.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572106442419781234" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">Recently I have been lurking around woodlands in a moody victorian style with the hope</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">of coming across tree faeries again. Mca happened to pass comment about something to</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">do with madness and boxes of frogs or something but I chose to ignore it. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">However, he did notice that Luna my faerie doll bore a striking resemblance to another </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">doll that he was holding in his very hands not three months ago.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">"Exactly the same googly eyes and enormous head" he said as he examined Luna in </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">a very methodical manner. As Luna was of the Blythe tribe I enquired if he was at a toy</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">fair or antique market. "Er...charity shop" he said..."WHAT!" I said.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">He went on "yes a basket that announced, small toys 50p and large toys £1.50...I assumed</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">that the doll was in the large toy category"......."WHAT!" I repeated, now clearly with</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">visible signs of what best can be described as tears of disbelief welling up behind my</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">extremely black (but luckily waterproof) lashes.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">"Noooo, this can't be" I said as I grabbed hold of mca and dragged him into my studio.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I fired up my sleeping imac and googled Blythe dolls and then pointed at the screen.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">"You see the prices.....eh...look, look" I yowled as I carried on frantically tapping</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">at the the shiny images. "Oh.....OH!" mca replied "clearly the £1.50 may well have been</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">regarded as somewhat of a bargain" he went on. "Yes" I said in a hushed voice "I think</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I need a bit of a lie down"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">"Drama queen" he shouted after me as I floated off in the direction of my room.......</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I won't tell you what I shouted back!</span></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-8922252877297338992011-01-16T15:02:00.006+00:002011-01-16T16:14:01.909+00:00Awakening<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iPwxjuPUNUg/TTMIo7yCGII/AAAAAAAAAYc/PLqrPWuoHcU/s1600/2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 344px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iPwxjuPUNUg/TTMIo7yCGII/AAAAAAAAAYc/PLqrPWuoHcU/s400/2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562799464068028546" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">I am looking out of my window....the grey clouds are scooting across the horizon</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">towards Widecombe in the Moor and a group of outdoor types are struggling with</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">a large map that clearly wants to be a kite and not a ramblers picnic blanket as the </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;">high priestess of Ordnance Survey had surely intended.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">The second coffee of the day just hasn't done it's job as I was woken up at bonkers</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">o clock by the even more bonkers birds that seem to think that it's time to go and </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">buy Easter eggs. I'm contemplating the third as I can't stop rubbing my eyes and yawning</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">and this really is having a damaging effect on my carefully applied eyes and lips.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">Last night I dreamt that I was a darkly gothic, blood sucking, angel type faerie</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">again who was skulking around the granite outcrops of Honeybag tor looking</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">for lost and weary travelers to feast upon (yes...again, this seems to be a regular one)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">The outdoor types have now tamed their unruly map and banished it to top of a</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">truly enormous rucksack and are busily 'clickety clicking' their way up the lane</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">with their walking poles as they head out towards the moor.....hmmm, I wonder if</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">they are going near Honeybag tor? Vampyre Amelia would relish in that. A quick</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">look at the outdoor types and it was fairly obvious who would be the first to</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">perish. A very short lady was coming up the rear of the group and was clearly</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">having issues in the trouser department (I think she needs a belt.) She would drop</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">back from the group to adjust her polyester source of annoyance and WHAM.....</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">"where's Mabel?" would come the question. On realising that very short lady</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">was missing it would be agreed that they would have to split up to search for</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">her.....this was exactly what Vampyre Amelia would want as she carefully picked</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">them off one by one as they mooched around the monoliths. When it came to the </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">leader and last of the ramblers (who I shall call Neville) to succumb to the bite</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">of the undead, he would dig deep into his goretex and pull out a shiny cross</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">that he had hanging around his neck (19.99 from Argos) and wave it in Amelia's</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">direction, hoping to repel the nasty girl. "Ha...doesn't work on me foolish mortal,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">try again" she would snarl and Neville would frantically search his pockets for</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">a weapon. A compass, mobile phone, cuddly bear keyring....wait, what's this...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">Kendal mint cake!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">"Is that Kendal mint cake?" Vampyre Amelia would ask. ""yes" Neville would </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">answer as he waved it in the air as a threat to the mistress of darkness.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">"Hmmm............I'm off""</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">I never liked Kendal mint cake, I am sure that it's the same stuff that you hang in</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">the toilet for that pine fresh minty smell, in fact I bet that it's made in the same</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">factory..........um.....you know that I said that the coffee wasn't working....well I think </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">that it is now as I am doing what the happy, clicky outdoor types are doing...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); ">RAMBLING!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); "> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1832722952060179207.post-91480743301378785582010-12-09T10:51:00.001+00:002010-12-09T10:51:42.606+00:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iPwxjuPUNUg/TQC0uFgzLGI/AAAAAAAAAUY/Fimc66ye5pA/s1600/2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 216px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iPwxjuPUNUg/TQC0uFgzLGI/AAAAAAAAAUY/Fimc66ye5pA/s400/2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548633444767181922" /></a>Mistress crimson ameliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611185128019605106noreply@blogger.com0