Oh, I want to go to Spain again. I've just been watching Rick Stein's Spain, and whilst the programme itself made me cringe a bit, it reminded me of the heat and the smell and the sights of Spain, particularly Granada.

Remember the part of the Alhambra where Washington Irving stayed, abyssinia? A dark, cool building, a relief to the eyes - and somewhere in the middle there was a courtyard, shielded by walls and tall trees, green like underwater, flooded with sunlight, and in every corner an orange tree with impossibly bright fruit.

( A glimpse of paradise. )

Click for bigger.

These (yew tree) berries were so perfectly sculpted, they looked like they'd been manufactured.

Meme rules and prompts.

(Click for bigger.)

Same window as before, different direction. Cold and frosty but very clear mornings, this week - perfect for sunrises.

( And sunsets, too. )

Meme rules and prompts.

Not a spider! A nut I found on the way into town.

Meme rules and prompts.

(Click for bigger)

Meme rules and prompts.

I'm all about the picspam, lately. The writing part of my brain is otherwise engaged (see icon - damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, why did I think this was a good idea?). So, these are some of the photos from my day at the Edgcote Mediaeval Tournament, back in September.



( Apologies to anyone who had the Uncut Picspam of Doom, before. I've got no idea why it was playing up. )

More photos and a slideshow thingy available at my album of the day.

For some reason I'm having html fail atm, so I'm not going to crosspost again until I can check it's okay. I have this dreadful image of it seeming okay on DW and not on LJ, and me being blithely unaware.

ETA: This might as well be part of the 30 day photo meme, too.

Meme rules and prompts.

Meme rules and prompts.

And a quick poll:

I'll admit to having doctored this a little, to boost the colour of the sushi and knock back the background. But not all that much. Also, I took this photo in August - but I have been meaning to post it since then. *looks around for the photo cops* *g*



Meme rules and prompts.

I've decided to do surreallis's 30 day photo meme. Because why not?

( The meme rules and prompts )

I probably won't do the prompts in order, but I was thinking about the first one, 'home', and happened to pass the circus that had come to town, and thought the little caravans surrounding the big top gave a different take on the idea. So. Not a very interesting shot - I'm no good at making large photos look good - I much prefer macros.

Too much preface. Here, have a picture:

Random picspam. Wikipedia has the most adorable picture of RDA on their entry for him, taken on the set of MacGyver, circa 1985:

( Cut because your screen might EXPLODE from the CUTE (and also because not all of you are interested in RDA). )

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Speaking of picspam, I must soon bring you photos of the jousting (OMG) that I went to see, last Sunday. Real-life jousting, in full armour, on horseback! You should've seen those lances splintering.

Hey, look, it's Talk Like A Pirate Day this Sunday...

I have been working on some actual words, following the poll of indecisiveness (feel free to keep voting on that, btw), but it's taking longer than expected, so instead here are some pictures of cute critters I saw at the Cotswold Wildlife Park.


This one makes me laugh. A groundhog, I believe (I wish I'd labelled these properly at the time...)

( More animal miscellany... )

( Brief picspam. )

ETA: Added another picture because I've been staring at it in awe.

It seems lately I am merely picspamming you all. Sorry 'bout that. *distracts you with pritty and one not-so-pritty*

( Spammity SPAAAAM... )

I was having fun looking at surreallis 's cupboards, so I thought I'd share mine.


( Just as interesting as looking at other people's bookshelves, I think. )

I don't remember what made me think of this. Just, well, when you work at the SGC, there's always one possibility...

( Picture very heavy behind here. )

Snagged from... well, latest from cnidarian:

1. Stop talking about politics for a moment or two.
2. Post a reasonably-sized picture in your LJ, NOT under a cut tag, of something pleasant, such as an adorable kitten, or a fluffy white cloud, or a bottle of booze. Something that has NOTHING TO DO WITH POLITICS.
3. Include these instructions, and share the love.

I went to Stow-on-the-Wold recently, which was the most deliberately, enthusiastically, Englishly quaint town I've ever seen. OMG, the sweetshop.



( More pics of stuff behind here. )

Okay, I must be off, right NOW.

Avast, me hearties, I be afeared that the pirate fic I wanted to write has not materialised. I have words, but they be short of a compass or a map, damn their eyes.

*is too tired to talk like a pirate any more*

I love Yahoo's headlines. They're such nonsense. "Robbie Williams could be abducted by aliens and "come back as an ambassador for their race", an expert claims."

Some picspam.

( Much birdlife. )

Week in the Life: Day 7
1. You must take between 6 and 8 new photographs per day.
2. Your WITL must be consecutive. No skipping days.
3. You must post your photographs at the end of that day, some time after the last picture is taken.
4. Each photograph must have the time taken and a title, with no other explanation.



Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Only one more to go, after this...



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Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Week in the Life: Day 5
1. You must take between 6 and 8 new photographs per day.
2. Your WITL must be consecutive. No skipping days.
3. You must post your photographs at the end of that day, some time after the last picture is taken.
4. Each photograph must have the time taken and a title, with no other explanation.



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Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4