Snow, gear, and Fortuna
I missed last week’s blog because… well, I didn’t feel like writing it, I guess. And not much had really happened worth updating about.
But let’s not be so lazy this week.
First up, when I woke this morning there was a dusting of snow on the ground. Of course, being Saturday, I went back to bed, and by the time I got back up, it was almost all gone, except for on the mulch piles on the back patio:
There’s supposed to be snow tomorrow evening (like, a couple inches, not just a trace), so I’ll have to go fetch the salt and a shovel from the back shed later to make sure they’re easily accessible.
I guess if we get a dump tomorrow night then my Monday walk is cancelled, which kinda sucks. I’ve been working my way through an old Sun Run training program (the Walk Faster part of it) and have just finished Week 8, so I’ve now built up to an hour and a quarter-ish. And I do most of my walks in the hilly neighborhoods not far from my house (the stuff with intervals is done on trails and other flat loops).
It’s kinda nice to get a little higher up and see the valley views, but I guess if we get a dump of snow I’ll just have to suck it up and ride the exercise bike at home instead til it all melts.
But that’s kinda boring.
What else… I picked up a USB mic and a web cam last week because I plan to start some sort of comedy livestream show in the new year and figured I should get going on testing things out.
I should also get going on narrowing down the focus of the show and the segments.
Of course, more importantly, I also need to get going on production for the “prequel” character interviews for that web series show with dolls that’s my main project. I have just one interview script left to finish, which I’ll probably work on later today or Monday, but I can show you a teaser for one of the other ones:
Anyway, point is, I’d best start reporting on things like set backgrounds being painted and small props being made out of polymer clay.
What else… Another of my Greek goddess statuettes arrrived, this time it was Tyche (aka Fortuna):
As did another U2 tour program, this one being the outside broadcast program for the Zoo TV tour:
The seller included a ticket stub and a management guess pass.
I’ll post this one up at some point in the new year on one of the Monday Memorabilia/Collections posts.
It wasn’t the only U2 stuff to arrive from eBay this week, lol… I’d also grabbed this backstage pass from the same era:
Let’s see here… 4 things I love in one: Halloween, music memorabilia, U2, and it was at Dodgers Stadium so connected to the Dodgers.
Funny thing: a year ago, I only cared about the first two things.
I blame Nick White, lol… it was just over a year ago that I came up with the concept of that web series and then him, and I mentioned in one of the first blogs of this year how that led to changing my mind about U2 and Bono even though I sure didn’t want to at first.
LOL…
But I’m getting ahead of myself, or at least ahead of what anyone other than me has access to.
So, let’s wrap it up. By some minor miracle, we actually have honest-to-God flowers in the garden again, courtesy of the winter jasmine, which didn’t bloom until January 10th last winter but which is going strong now:
The winter daphne has swelling buds, so maybe I’ll have some pics of that later this month. No sign of buds on the witch hazel, though my spreadsheet indicates that last season it didn’t bloom until February. And all bets are off with the camellias – I have 2 that should start blooming at Christmas, but only one of those seems to have flower buds on it this year. The other didn’t bloom at all last winter, instead it doubled its size. Another camellia was just planted last winter and I don’t expect it to bloom at all this year, and a fourth one was planted last spring but I think it died over the summer. And the fifth one is and old and established one, but of a sort that doesn’t bloom til April anyway.
Shockingly, one of the hollyhocks also had fresh flowers, albeit ones that looked like they got frost damage overnight:
It is right up against the house, though, and it grows underneath where the hood fan from the kitchen is vented, so it probably gets a lot more warm air directed at it than any other hollyhocks, all of whom have died back for the year weeks ago and won’t be seen blooming again until at least June.
This is a more typical garden scene in my yard now, though:
