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Reading. I continue to make slow progress with both What An Owl Knows (Jennifer Ackerman) and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke).

Writing. Grumpy e-mails to Labour, mostly? Grumpy e-mails to Labour. Oh, and separately to the DWP courtesy of My UC Journal.

Playing. I have tripped and fallen back into 2048. I do not know why I have tripped and fallen thus. There are other things I would rather be doing. Brain whyyy.

I Love Hue current status: just started The Alchemy/Knowledge/12.

Cooking. Two new-to-us recipes from East: caramelised fennel and carrot salad with mung beans and herbs, of which I am a fan but about which A is a bit meh; and Amritsari pomegranate chickpeas, with the decaf English Breakfast I bought the other week, which I also quite liked but A was mildly dubious of.

Today has featured a different Welsh cake recipe, from one of the charity-shop books I acquired for the purposes of the special interest in EYB indexing. This one includes honey and ground mixed spice; I am decidedly disconcerted by how much they taste like Wrong Texture Mince Pies when cool.

Eating. ... yeah it's been A Migrainey Week, and has consequently contained two rounds of Wagamama. TRAGICALLY I decided on the first of these to branch out and try Not My Usual. Not My Usual turned out to contain The Dread Mayonnaise (I had been lulled into a false sense of security by the number of things called "slaw" I had recently encountered that did not contain mayo). It was mostly salvageable...

Exploring. ADVENTURES in VAN HIRE for the purposes of moving SHED. This involved heading out to Hatfield, because the one fifteen minutes up the road was already Thoroughly Booked. We got to observe MORE FLOWERS and lo they were good.

... I think that's it? I think that's it. (A also went on another adventure to acquire roof box and appropriate rack, but I stayed at home for that one.)

Making & mending. I have not, technically, actually resumed A's pair of gloves, BUT I have now got the information from A I need in order to do so! So that's a progress.

... there has also been. Event prep. So much event prep. The meal ticket booklets for crew are all done; the potions are all sliced and folded ready for laminating (except for the one that needed someone to actually finish writing what it did); ... progress?

Growing. SO MANY SQUASH. Not all of the ones I sowed, but... a lot... have come up.

Somewhat irritated that somebody found my Bravest Dwarf Pea, which had actually managed to find and attach itself to the pea sticks, and severed the stem a little below said attachment. :|

Main infrastructural progress this week was getting all the railway sleepers and shed bits up to the plot (with significant and indispensable help from A). I've not done anything with them yet but they are there, I have plans, necessary hardware is en route, etc.

What else what else? First of the beans are in the ground. I was feeling decidedly surly about my redcurrant but this turns out to have been premature and unfair -- since last weekend it's unfurled a little more and is looking much more promising in terms of potential harvest. The raspberries also seem to be very much enjoying the mulch + semi-regular watering, which is pleasing.

Observing. I totally forgot to mention in last week's section on this topic that on the ride back from Anglesey Abbey we observed Many Cowslips, including at least one that was red!

Tulips continue fantastic. Irises are getting into the swing of things at this point. The bindweed is definitely waking up...

Okay. SO.

Via THE GATE APPRECIATION SOCIETY on Facebook, earlier today I became aware of the Ginkgo Gates at the Adelaide Botanical Gardens. I took one look at the short sections and went I WANT TO KNIT IT.

Ergo lireavue went and poked Ravelry with sticks, and... this shawl fell out.

There Was Shrieking.

And then the shrieking Intensified because all of a sudden the outline of a possible character for the game that Admin: the LRP supports Arrived All At Once. Namely, one of the nations of the Empire is Navarr (summary of influences: "wood elves"). From the look and feel page for Navarr:

The Navarr look draws heavily on the forests for its inspiration. The colours are primarily greens and browns with occasional splashes of dark autumnal red or yellow. Materials are practical, primarily those that come from hunting - leather and fur. [...] Rather than rich materials or unusual colours the Navarr personalise their appearance by adorning their costume with embroidery, beads, feathers, fetishes, and other accessories. It is also common to weave such items into the hair. [...] Layers of well-worn, practical wool and leather in natural shades often serve as the foundation of Navarr costume.

Also relevant context: the existence of magical items that grant you Additional Tricks. Like, for example, mage robes, where I am raising particular eyebrows at the part where the information for Volhov's Robe notes that even the Navarr "see great value in a skilled individual being able to help an established coven".

Additional and further relevant context: there are four events a year. In-game, these events take place during the Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, and Autumn Equinox.

It Is Also The Case That: a particularly distinctive piece of kit can get very strongly associated with The Specific Character Who Wears It in the general cultural wossname.

... I abruptly very badly want to make myself a set of three shawls identical except in colour: spring green, summer green, autumn blazing yellow. Obviously the conceit is that it is not three shawls, It Is One Single Magic Shawl. It Changes With The Seasons. Do I know anything about this potential character other than "Navarri, magician, magic shawl"? NOPE. Have I ever actually LRPed? NOPE. Am I nonetheless actually kind of tempted? ...

From Sunday: I did not quite believe what I was seeing initially? Or perhaps better I did not quite understand what I was seeing. Brain was entirely made of "daffodil??? backwards?????"

As a consequence of attempting to hunt down the variety (which I had failed to make a note of while actually in its presence) I realised I could ask the RHS to show me a list of all the daffodil cultivars they know about. Apparently this is actually a subgenre with several members! But the thing that has thus far made me squawk WHAT most loudly is, without contest, Narcissus viridiflorus.

Reading. Some progress on both Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (I continue to enjoy myself! just... slowly) and What An Owl Knows (Jennifer Ackerman) (just made it through the intro, no opinions yet).

Writing. Have not actually technically written anything this week as such, but I have been Contemplating dissociation vs mindfulness in the specific context of (neuroplastic) chronic pain, and the things "pain" gets experienced as if we're tuning it out, and generally organising some thoughts on at least what (areas of) literature I want to dig into.

Playing. GOT UNSTUCK ON I LOVE HUE (The Alchemy/Transformation/22 was wretched to even finish and it took me three attempts to get Under The Global average).

A game of Scrabble, where I made lots of horrid boxes and had a lot of very frustrating not-quite seven+-letter words.

simont pointed me at Bracket City, which I think on the whole I like the concept of, as a stim, but it's fundamentally Too Culturally USAian for me, in that there are a whole bunch of references it makes that are just... so not my default vocabulary that I wind up staring at them blankly more than is actually fun, alas.

Cooking. ... oh heck. Several things. Now officially over halfway through East? See new-to-me recipes post for the year, I think.

Eating. FIRST ASPARAGUS OF THE YEAR courtesy of my mother. Fennel and pepper stew ditto. Cream tea at Anglesey Abbey.

Exploring. CYCLED TO ANGLESEY ABBEY AND BACK AGAIN and was comfortable basically the entire way? Included poking briefly around Cambridge North, which I had not previously had cause to meet. Also bimbled around the block or thereabouts and saw Bats.

Making & mending. ... I have sawed so many railway sleepers in half.

Growing. Things go well! Squash are started! My favourite white patty-pans have come up first! I've come home from Cambs with bonus chillis??? Probably coffee?

Peas beans etc all continue happy. Kohlrabi doing excellently. Jostaberry exuberantly in flower; gooseberry ditto; redcurrant... thinking about it; blueberry has one set of flowers!

Observing. FIRST SLOW WORM OF THE YEAR (and I felt very bad for disturbing it). Red-legged partridge! Cambridgeshire bats and a robin! Lots of excellent spring flowers! SO MANY RIDICULOUS DAFFODILS at Anglesey, specialest mention of all to the ones with white trumpets and yellow petals.

... and that's your lot because Goodness for some reason I am tired. Maybe I will write more about the daffodils In Future. GOODNIGHT.

1. Saw a red-legged partridge??? Had never consciously seen one before??? Went That's A Weird Hard Shoulder Bird?????
2. A worked out how to fit my bike into the car. (This means I did not get to swing by University Cycles on my way to my parents' and spuriously buy a second whole entire bike, but hey.)
3. A also brought me tribute from Borough Market, of pastel de nata and Interesting Olives.
4. BATS. Went on a walk! Saw bats! Hurrah finding bats in places I didn't know there were bats!
5. I am enjoying all the ridiculous tulips SO MUCH. Probably tomorrow while it is light I should attempt to get some photos of my current favourites.
6. First of the most recent batch of books arrived! I am really enjoying my current But What If I Got... All The Unindexed National Trust Cookbooks? (I did not get all of them. One of them did not minmax conveniently. If I have not lost interest in the indexing project by the time I've finished the ones I actually want to keep, I might continue down this particular rabbit hole. I'm mildly annoyed that I am become more discerning since the first large order, but on the other hand I am also enjoying gloating over my enormous pile of cookbooks...)
7. ASPARAGUS.
8. New site for Admin: the LRP has been really truly and properly announced! It's the old Cottenham racecourse! I'm enjoying daydreaming about this totally unobtainable house! (For future reference: a 4-bed on the High Street. Pre-installed wisteria and possibly raised beds??? Kitchen.)
9. FIRST SLOW WORM OF THE SEASON. So I suppose I'm not going to bring that particular bed all the way into service just yet after all...