House-Sitting

     Good morrow, viewers.

     I spent a very pleasant night last night at my friends' house, which is basically my dream-home.
It's small, and cozy, and rather like a cottage.  Her taste is similar to mine in many ways, and I've always enjoyed visiting her home. 

     She and her husband went on holiday last week, and asked my mum and I to look after their pets, and all that sort of thing, and gave us full permission to spend as much time at the house as we like.

     Last night, I took up the offer, and spent the night.  Inasmuch as my sleep-schedule is still backward, it was quite pleasant to have a house to myself.  I dined on bread and butter, and helped myself to her tea cupboard, while I watched DVDs on my laptop, and walked about the house singing opera (another up-side to having a house to one's self).

     My friend and her husband share my love of literature, and they have a very nice collection of books.  Naturally, I availed myself of their shelves, and selected a book called James Herriot's Yorkshire.  James Herriot is a Scottish bloke who spent much of his youth in Yorkshire, and became very fond of it.  He wrote about it in a way that takes the reader on a guided tour, as it were, of Yorkshire, describing in detail its many beauties.  In the first chapter, he recalls exploring a farm, and stumbling upon two stone effigies of two knights in chain armour.  He was naturally taken aback by this discovery, and inquired of the farmer, who accounted for it by explaining that the farm was built on the site of Coverham Abbey, which was founded by the two knights, Ranulph FitzRobert and his son Ralph FitzRanulph.

     My friends have several cats, and as you readers of my blog know, I'm quite fond of the feline race.  Most of them are rather shy, and kept to themselves for the most part, but one of the cats, a tiny little calico, was remarkably friendly, and decided I was her new best chum, following me about the house, trying to shimmy up my leg, and climbing onto furniture, and leaping off into my arms, evidentally with complete faith that I would catch her, and disregarding entirely the fact that human flesh is soft and penetrable.  She spent most of the night sitting on my lap while I watched movies, attempting to eat my thumbs, and affectionately poking my face with her paw.

 

     Here she is.  Cute, no?  Her name is Claire, but I have dubbed her Squee.

    

Primeval

     Hello, viewers.

     Guess who's sleep schedule is backward again?  I never can keep it straight...  To amuse myself this week, I watched all five seasons of BBC's Primeval (2008-2011) which I found posted on youtube.

     For those that aren't familiar with it, Primeval is a British syfy series, in which a professor, a lab technician, a college student and a zookeeper discover rips in time called anomalies, which temporarily allow the passage to and from whatever time period the particular anomaly leads to.  This phenomenon results in creatures from the distant past and future passing through to the present time, resulting in alot of chaos. 

     Now, generally speaking, I don't like shows or movies about time travel.  I don't particularly know why, but they usually annoy me.  This series, however, didn't.  I actually found it rather gripping.  It helped that the show has an excellent cast of pretty British actors/actresses, including some of my favourites.  Furthermore, British humour makes much more sense to me than American, so there were several scenes that made me laugh. 

     I didn't like all aspects of the series, nor all of the characters, but for the most part, I quite enjoyed it.  Now that it's over, I'm trying to find something new to watch.  I'm thinking about trying BBC's Sherlock.

 

Good Times

     Hello, viewers.

     I spent a pleasant day today.  It wasn't at all eventful, but it was nice.

     I went to sleep at about 5:00 this morning, after spending the night drinking several cups of tea, and watching episodes of a British syfy series called Primeval online.

     I woke up at about 12:30 p.m., and hung about the house for a couple of hours before going to have a Bible study with my friends Marlow and Daisy.  Their names aren't really Marlow and Daisy, but we'll call them that for anonymity's sake.

     After studying for a couple of hours, we mutually decided that an ice cream would be very acceptable.  We went to the local pharmacy, where they have a wide variety of flavours, at very low prices.  Daisy got a double-scoop chocolate chip mint, Marlow got a scoop of cake flavoured ice cream, and a scoop of (toxic) cotton candy flavour (if you saw it, and tasted it, you'd know why I say toxic; it certainly can't be natural), and I got a scoop of butter pecan.  We brought a scoop of pistachio home to my brother (let's call him Ace).

     After that, we dropped Daisy back off at her house, and I kidnapped Marlow for the night.  We relaxed for a bit, talking about random things, and punching my furniture (don't ask), until my neighbor-friend Irene (also not her real name) came over, and we discussed old times in an animated fashion (by old I mean really old; we've known each other for nearly eighteen years).

    While we were chatting, Ace went out into the backyard, and made a fire in our wheelbarrow, and began making s'mores for himself and his neighbor-friend.  Of course, we joined him, and he made us each a s'more.  When Ace left, we remained outside by the fire, chatting over hot beverages, and reading off-beat re-tellings of classic fairy tales.

     Hours later we finally came back inside, smelling strongly of smoke.  Irene stayed for a bit, and then went home, leaving Marlow and I to settle in for the night. 

 I hope you've all had a lovely day as well.  I wonder if I'll sleep tonight... Probably not, I'm guessing.  In any case, good morrow, viewers.

    

More Scarlet Pimpernel Adventures

     Hello again.

     Lately, I've been on a Broadway kick, or, more specifically, a Broadway-based-on-literature kick.
Knowing, as you probably do, how fond I am of the scarlet pimpernel, you may imagine how chuffed I was to discover The Scarlet Pimpernel: The New Musical Adventure.  Mind you, it isn't "new" anymore; it was created in 1997. 

     I bought the soundtrack CD online recently, and have been listening to it incessantly.

 

 

     The story was altered a bit for the stage, but it pretty much captures the essence of Orczy's inimitable hero.

 

     Douglas Sills, who starred in this production, was not only very talented, but also hilarious.  Christine Andreas and Terrence Mann, who played Marguerite and Chauvelin, respectively, were also vastly talented in their roles.

 

     Yesterday while at a department store, a blouse caught my eye.  Its red pattern reminded me greatly of several illustrations I've seen of The Scarlet Pimpernel, and, of course I couldn't resist buying it.  It was on sale, after all.

 

     Pretty, what?  I have just the shoes to wear with it too.

 

     I suppose you're thinking to yourselves what a nerd I must be, buying shirts that, in an abstract sort of way resemble my favourite novels.  Well if you are, you're absolutely right, and I bear the appellation proudly. B^)

     Good morrow, viewers.  I'm off to finish my latte, and read-- well, you know.

Back Again

     Greetings, viewers!

     It's been quite along time, what? 

     Life has been...interesting lately, and it seems that this year will be an eventful one, so I'll have plenty to talk about.  And the good news, is, that the technical difficulty with my blog seems to have sorted itself out, and I can post pictures again.  Huzzah~