margaret_r | Entries tagged with photos

Well, Carpe Diem came to a bit of a halt for me after Wednesday’s Child but I did carry on with the little fic started for Monday’s Child and there are some echoes of the rest of the rhyme in there if you look closely enough. It also fitted with the what_if Challenge #22 Steampunk, so it was nice to include it there as well. The completed fic, is uploaded to AO3: The Race

In other matters, lockdown persists in other states, which means our borders are closed and therefore no family visits since Easter. But on a good note, daughter and grandsons will be coming back here to live permanently (hopefully) at the end of the year. I’m quite excited about that and keeping fingers crossed that everything goes through smoothly for their relocation. Right now with all our restrictions and lockdowns travel between the states is limited and rather fraught with regulations, so 'going smoothly' is not a given!

Other than that life is pretty much normal. The weather is typically spring – nice warm days interspersed with cold, wet and windy ones. I started doing Pilates some months ago and really feel some benefit from it, the old bones and muscles seem to be working a bit better anyway:)

Easter, when the grandsons were here, we went to Gorge Wildlife Park and of course there a photos.

( here )

Crossposts: https://margaret-r.livejournal.com/54897.html

In response to the first day of

kat_lair 's Week of Squee and Creativity:

Monday's child is fair of face

Produce something that focuses on appearance (of a person, a thing, a place etc).

I thought to create something Steampunky:

Steam, thick and heavy in the morning air, drifted down in curling tendrils around them as they walked from the front door and James looked skywards, caught by the shadows drifting in stately parade across them. A floating flotilla sailed high overhead, blocking out the sun as they passed. Clippers and brigantines, schooners and converted warships all crowded together so that it seemed every inch of the sky was filled with bright white sails and dark hulls, all fighting for space. Even a Chinese junk or two zipped in, out and around its larger companions like fleas about a dog. It was the Great Annual Steamship Race gliding over Oxford, all seeking the valuable prize offered for the fastest and the best.

James hesitated on the top step and looked at the array above him, his eyes stinging from the miasma the ships created. He thought about digging his aviator goggles out of the inner pocket of his jacket and began to reach for them, But Robbie was already on the street and grinning back at him, making ‘come on’ gestures, and the sight of him made James realise he didn’t want goggles after all.

And for Squee here's a photo of a baby spider monkey taken at Gorge Wildlife Park earlier this year during a brief period of open borders and no lockdowns.

Crossposts: https://margaret-r.livejournal.com/54160.html

About halfway through lockdown and it looks like we will be coming out of it on the prescribed date, i.e. next Tuesday, which is good news. There will still be restrictions though.

And it’s cold! Storms have been coming through all day and there was a lightning strike right over our house that frightened the bejesus out of me, and the dogs, judging by their stunned looks. The cat didn’t stir.

Anyway, I promised a picspam

( and here it is )

The gang came to us for Easter so I'll post some more photos of where we went and what we did later.

Crossposts: https://margaret-r.livejournal.com/53990.html

Things that have been happening:

Ir'a cold and miserable outside so I'm staying indoors where it's warm.

I get my second COVID jab tomorrow. It was supposed to be next Tuesday but the surgery rang and asked if we could come in tomorrow instead. Yay, get it over and done with and hope there are no side effects. The first jab was fine, no problems, just a slightly sore arm so fingers crossed it's the same for the second.

Writing isn't happening - zilch ... nada ... nothing. A complete lack of will or inspiration. Ah well.

There was a total luna eclipse on 26th May. It was also a rainy/cloudy day but I did manage a couple of photos until the clouds covered it completely.
( Read more... )

Crossposts: https://margaret-r.livejournal.com/53377.html

My last update was February and quite a bit has happened since then.

There’s been a trip to Victoria to visit daughter, son and grandchildren – the first time since 2019 we’ve been able to see our son and granddaughter. She’s grown a lot of course and so have the grandsons, the oldest of whom is up to my shoulder in height now. It won’t be long before he’s taller than me! He’s turned nine last December so I suspect he is going to be a big lad when he grows up.

Daughter and grandsons came our way for Easter and that was really nice, we had some gorgeous weather for it and got out and about quite a bit.

In amongst all that I have finally managed to fullfill my fandomforoz auction obligation and finish the marathon that has been the Lewis Steampunk fic, duly presenting it to my bidders moth2fic and kat_lair . I admit to feeling a little lost now that it’s finally done and dusted. But no doubt inspiration for new writing efforts will strike sooner or later. If you fancy a look it’s up on AO3 here Death in Jericho

I will be posting some photos from the visiting in due course, once I’ve got around to sorting them all out. In the meantime here’s some pretty pictures from the park.

( Photos )

Crossposts: https://margaret-r.livejournal.com/53088.html

Well, I turned into a bit of a snowflake with the

snowflake_challenge and melted, maybe next year I'll try again with a bit more success! Some of the Challenges just weren't for me though, but then others were quite interesting.

( Anywho, I threatened promised a picspam awhile ago and have finally got some photos sorted for your delectation, or not:) )

Crossposts: https://margaret-r.livejournal.com/52852.html

It’s awhile since I did an update, not that much has been happening. We had plans for trips to see grandchildren, but of course they didn’t happen due to the closure of all state borders at one time or another. Daughter and grandsons were going to come to us in September, but again … closed borders because of a second wave in Victoria – just as things were looking quite good too.

Anywho, it’s now been 15 months since we saw the boys and 14 months since we saw our granddaughter. But! Borders have now opened and there is a planned family Christmas here with at least one daughter and grandsons. I’m not getting too overly excited – been there, done that before (damn COVID) but I’m sorting out the house in preparation, which is quite a lot of work as it has got very messy over the last twelve months or so, and getting the back in order. So, at least things will look a bit more shipshape whatever happens.

On another note, progress has been made on my Lewis fic, especially in the last month thanks to ushobwri and the November writing challenge MiFuNoSo. It pushed things along and I’m near the end now, hopefully finishing off by early new year, which I'm sure will please my auction bidders. They have been very patient.

Other than that, photo taking has been my usual standby occupation and here’s a few from the last couple of months, this first batch taken on walks in the park over spring.

( Read more... )

That's it for now. Hope everyone has been coping with our horror of a year, and fingers crossed for a better 2021

Crossposts: https://margaret-r.livejournal.com/51331.html

It’s June, how did that happen!? It came as a surprise, May seemed like it would be around forever, then suddenly it vanished and here we are, half the year gone already. And I feel like I’ve been standing still for most of it*sigh*

( Update and some photos )

That's about it for now.

Look after yourselves out there, the world seems a very dangerous place right now.

It feels like such a long time since I last posted, before the world changed and everything went crazy.

The family incapacity/ill health continues but hubby seems to be gradually recovering from his radiotherapy treatment and improving bit by bit, so I’ll count that as a win and hope it continues.

There were plans for Easter this year, daughter and grandsons were to visit for a week, but of course it didn’t happen as all our state borders closed and no one is going anywhere! So disappointed, but everyone is in the same boat so I shouldn’t complain. We now have big plans for Christmas …

So, I did put my hand up for the fandomforoz charity auction and actually got some bids. The upshot is that I now have until December to finish a half-completed Lewis fic forkat_lair, who conspired withmoth2fic for the winning bid. With the ups and downs of my life recently I’ve needed a push to try and get back into some writing, so thanks guys for supplying the push! And thank you to ci5mates who also put in a bid.

We’re heading into winter at this end of the world, I’ve been staying in as much as possible of course, especially with hubby being ill, but I’ve been venturing out a bit more lately, taking the dog for a walk, even going as far as the park - have to have some exercise right? And staying in was starting to make me stir crazy. Took my camera with me the other day.

( Photos )

Stay safe everyone and look after yourselves.

We had another trip to Victoria a few months ago and spent time in the gorgeous wine growing area

( Lots of photos )

On the writing front, there has been a small fic for the

lewis_challenge , another episode in the Victorian Lewis and Hathaway vampire world and their attempts to catch up with the elusive Dracula. I’ve quite enjoyed creating this world and might carry on with it for another fic next year.

So that's me up till now.