Elenopa's Realm

Spring Horticultural Show

2018-04-07T21:39:56Z

Gosh! It's been such a long time since I posted here.

Anyway, today was the spring show, so yesterday I did lots of cooking. I entered 12 classes and got prizes in 10. As usual, the photography judge didn't like my photos.

But my knitting and no-cost jacket fared better.

In the domestic section, I have taken over from Mother and got a clean sweep with the preserves.

No firsts for the other bakes. The honey cake was a first for us and is actually really nice. It's made an enormous cake though. Also my first attempt at a Cornish pasty.

I got enough points to get the shield.

Dad has also branched out into cooking and entered marmalade and a pasty.

Exhausted now.

Doctor Who - Fianle

2017-07-01T17:10:34Z

I'm sorry I haven't kep up with my thoughts on the series. Generally, I thought it has been good.

Thoughts for tonight:

The regeneration energy we keep seeing; someone has posited that perhaps the Doctor has been regenerating for a while now and has been surpressing it. Maybe even since that time he did the fake shooting, that might have been real.

I'm not convived that Bill has been fully converted. The master had her for years and could have manipulated her mind really easily. Also, he likes playing mind games on The Doctor, so this could be a fake conversion to freak him out. Missy did much the same thing with Clara and a Dalek remember.

It still feels too early to be saying goodbye to PC. I know we've had the same number of series as DT, but it still feels like he's only just got here.

Doctor Who - The Pyramid at the End of the World

2017-06-02T20:51:10Z

Well, it flowed nicely on from the previous episode, making this feel more like a two-parter.

Brief thoughts;

The Doctor's galsses have limitations. He really has to think on his feet.

I don't know if this was deliberate casting, but, small person doing normal things with a normal job and nothing was mentioned about her stature. This is as it should be, but it is so unusual that unfortunately it is noticeable.

What idiot sets up an airlock that allows both doors to be open at the same time?

The fact that the Doomsday Clock is real, is quite frightening, particually as it was mentioned in the news not long ago.

Someone else has pointed out that the Doctor could set up a link between his glasses and Bill's phone, and so tell the Doctor when the numbers are correct on the door lock.

So the Doctor gets his sight back. It was nice to have the blindness for two episodes. I always felt a bit cheated whenh Ten's madness only lasted five minutes (the Timelord Victorious would have made in interesting character I think).

The Monks are really vague about this permission and it having to be pure. What exactly do they want?

Thought for the next episode. The Monks have to make a link with Bill. I'm wondering if they are putting her into a simulation and all that we see next week is not really happening in the real world.

That also makes me wonder if Nardol is a danger as he was collapsed on the floor of the TARDIS when we last saw him.

Next week..... Missy!

TARS IAGM - Feldon Lodge

2017-06-02T20:26:10Z

Last weekend was my annual outside convention (The Arthur Ransome Society IAGM). We had the hottest weekend I think ever for this, yet the book we took as our theme was "Winter Holiday". This was also the shortest travelling time I have had as the location is only 25 minutes drive away.

I was camping as usual, and this time I did all my own cooking. I think it was a condition of booking Feldon Lodge (The Boys Brigade HQ) that only people staying in the house could order meals from them.

We had some interesting talks. On Friday evening, we heard about the life of Roger Altounyan from his daughter Barbara. He had joined the RAF during the war, but then went to work in the family hospital in Allepo. As a doctor, he did great work for asthmatics, developing a medicine and the spinhaler. Monday morning was a talk on Nansen, the arctic explorer, who deliberately froze his ship "the Fram" into the Arctic ice. Later in his life, he did a lot of work for the League of Nations. Sunday night saw our president, Sophie Neville, giving an impropmtu talk about film production. This was because the scheduled start of the video watch was delayed bacause of the campfire.

Before the 2016 mish mash of a film, and before the excellent 1974 film; the BBC had produced a black and white six part adaptaion of "Swallows and Amazons". Someone had managed to get a low grade copy from the BBC archive and so we viewed it over three nights. The acting was a bit old fashioned and it strayed from the book slightly too much at times, but over all it was a worthy adaptation (much better than the latest film).

Saturday was a trip to Bletchly Park, somewhere I hadn't been, but must go again. The home of wartime code-breaking, the first few people working there were explained away as the lord's shooting party. Swiftly the grounds of the manorhouse were taken over by huts, teeeming with mathmaticians and problem solvers trying to crack a seeminlg impossible code. It made my mind boggle that they could even do this without modern computing as Enigma wouldn't code the same letter the same way twice, and there were millions of combinations. They had to look for patterns, possible repeated words and try guesswork to figure out the message. Then there was Lorenze, a code machine I hadn't heard of. Later in the war, they developed the Bombe machine. This would run a 'guess' at the code to see if there were any results and so speeded up the process a bit. The secrecey of the work was so tight that even different huts didn't know what the others were doing. I got to see Turings office.

Saturday night was singing of shanties around the fire.

Sunday began with the official AGM, then in the afternoon I went for a walk around the local area. It is pretty wooded, so we weren't in the sun too much. Late afternoon, we went skating. I only fell down twice.

The Sunday campfire, was storytelling. A couple of people got up to perform. One read a folk tale that AR wrote down, another told the story of Goldilocks using only whistles and guestures. It was very funny. To finish we heard the stories from the story caches. These had been places around the AGM area with the start of a story. People then added on to it, and I contributed to all four. The results weren't too bad.

Monday morning was the Dick Callum cup. After winning it for the last two years, I decided to rule myself out and write a round of questions. I also acted as scorer, announcing the order of the teams. It was a very close competition as the lead team changed almost every round.

We finished by following clues to the North Pole (a box with souveniers in), and the flag handover to the Northern Region for next year in Coniston.

Doctor Who - Oxygen and Extremis

2017-05-21T19:51:48Z

Due to circumstances, I'm doing two episodes here.

Impressions on Oxygen

Nice and scary

Different twist that it was the suits killing people, and that they were not space zombies as the trailers made you think.

Also nice that it wasn't an alien force invading, but rather company greed that caused it.

Why would you give something that holds your life in your hands, AI capabilities?

Doctor using his respiratory bypass, showing that he is definatelty not human. Always good to be reminded of that.

Really different to make him blind. Always good to be reminded that he is not immortal or infalliable.

How long will the blindness last? The rest of the season?

Impressions on Extremis

One where you only really know what is happening to whom at the end.

MISSY!!!!

Now we know who is in the vault and why they are there. Not what they did to get executed though.

River Song's diary. Didn't the Doctor leave that at The Library? Is this the one Ten picked up, or has River not gone to The Library yet and just sent Nardole on a mission with it?

Another thought, are the flash-backs before the Christmas episode?

Everything after the opening credits is in the simulated world (apart from the flash-backs), until we get to Twelve leaning against the vault.

How long has the simulated world been going on? Does it run faster than the real world?

Doors went to the Vatican, CERN, the Pentagon, The White House, what other centers of power could the other doors lead to? The Kremlin?

Even a blind Doctor is a force to be reckoned with; as it should be.

Although, are the simulated people slightly different from their real counterparts?

Extremis needs another viewing. Looking forward to next week.

Ballet blast from the past

2017-05-06T23:13:15Z

Here I am unpacking my ballet shoes after 30 odd years and I go on Youtube to look at exam dances.

I've only managed to find some that I used to dance!

Here is the Grade 1 dance. Dad got a bird cage made out of wire soldered together, and Mum decorated it with material flowers.

Grade 2 was danced with character skirts and aprons. We had to practice with aprons as we waved them about during the dance.

Grade 3 was the tarantella with tambourine!

I haven't found the grade 4 russian dance yet. It was another one with a character skirt and the first time I wore character shoes.

Doctor Who - Knock Knock

2017-05-06T21:40:34Z

Not quite as creepy as "Hide", but pretty good.

So thoughts...

Good and creepy on the atmospherics and things coming out of the walls.

I wish they had kept in the reference to Harry's other grandfather. Would have loved it if the Doctor had made the connection with Harry Sullivan.

Everyone lives in the end of this one. Did they think it would get too depressing for the season if everyone died all the time?

Is there a deliberate parallel between the girl being kept hidden in the tower for 70 years and whatever is in the vault that the Doctor has kept locked up for 70 years?

Whatever is in the vault plays the piano and eats Mexican.

It's safe for the Doctor to enter the vault.

Nardol doesn't view what is in the vault the same way as the Doctor does.

Is the vault keeping us safe from it, or the other way round?

Doctor Who - Thin Ice

2017-04-30T11:12:02Z

This season is going so well. Yay!!

Observations from a single veiwing,

The wadrobe is in the same place, as The Doctor gives almost the same instructions to Bill as he gave to Rose "First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left."

The Doctor likes Bill as he doesn't give her any grief over stuff. They have a good banter with the toungue sticking out and everything.

Why did the Doctor give his hat away to the girl? Did he have a tracker in it so he could find them again quickly?

Did the Doctor know about people disappearing before he got on the ice? He had been to the fair before (hello River! Shame she didn't get a cameo), so might have seen the lights already.

Bill doesn't blanch before jumping through the ice into the thames. Go girl!!!

Lots of dialogue reminded me of The Shakespeare Code, with Bill pointing out her colour and saying about the dangers of stepping on butterflies.

Was the creature alien or just ancient and related to Nessy?

What is this oath that Nardol keeps mentioning, and who was it to?

Whatever is in the vault is alive. We are now being led to think "Master", but that may be a red herring. I'm reminded of the Midnight creature with the three knocks.

Doctor Who - Smile

2017-04-23T14:04:06Z

I quite liked this one as well.

If you think about it, the story isn't a new one. Tech following its programming to extremes and the result being harmful to humans has been done at least twice in Doctor Who (The Empty Child; Girl in the Fireplace). Then again there are often repeats of themes in DW; The Idiot's Lantern and Fear Hear could easily have come from the same 30 second pitch.

If we hadn't had the bit at the colony in the pre-title sequence, then this episode could have continued straight on from the previous one and been for most of the time a two-hander between The Doctor and Bill. That is not an easy thing to pull off, and I can't think if it has been done before (Babylon 5 had an episode that was just two people in a room for 45 minutes). Would the episode have worked better if we didn't know what the robots had done, and so came across the mystery at the same time as Bill and The Doctor? The downside of that is that we wouldn't know how dangerous the robots could be as the only other on-screen death is near the end of the episode.

So, lots of banter between Bill and The Doctor. She learns more about him, and we get a bit more about the promise and the vault (not much though). Nardol is the party pooper though.

Unlike the last two companions' first trip away, Bill isn't instrumental in saving the day and The Doctor.

So, the Doctor resets the robots, but what is there to stop them just doing the same thing as before? Well, The Doctor has made it that they aren't a slave race programmed to ensure everyone is happy. He talked about rent, so they are now employees of the humans as such. Hopefully the humans and robots can work together.

Next week is the Thames Frost Fair. Is this the same one The Doctor took River too? Shame we can't have a cameo appearance from River.

Doctor Who - Pilot

2017-04-15T22:31:46Z

Well, that wasn't bad.

Bill certainly isn't as dumb as her initial trailer made out, and thankfully, they cut most of that down for the scene in the episode.

Thoughts;

How long has the Doctor actually been at the university? (echoes of Shada anyone?)

Has he been grounded that entire time?

Who did he make a promise to? (Timelords, UNIT, River Song?)

What is in that vault? (Bet we won't find out until the finale)

So glad Bill wasn't the "girl with a star in her eye"

Nardol's head is on a robot? (was that mentioned at Christmas?)

Please let Bill be just ordinary, but smart.

Cats again

2017-01-27T21:42:14Z

I can't really call Bill and Ben kittens anymore.

They had the chop last week, and it seems to have had no ill effect. They were not dopey or sick as the vet had predicted; all they cared about was not being fed since the day before.

This week, they have helped me with my pattern drafting by biting holes in the paper; and playing cat's cradle with a ball of wool all over the kitchen.

Christmas

2017-01-03T13:17:03Z

Christmas eve, the computer went wrong. I have now got it working again, but we are going to get a new one. This did mean I was reduced to my tablet between Christmas and new year.

The usual stuff happened; services, turkey sandwiches, Doctor Who (pretty good), eating far too much. My main present was a dash cam for the car. I have yet to set it up, but I will now have evidence of any idiots on the road.

Otherwise, the kittens have loved Christmas.

They killed a decoration by reaching through the stair bannister;

As predicted, all baubles were removed from the lower half of the tree and the higher ones were in danger from Bill who likes climbing.

Wearing themselves out, they still like to take naps together. Often on the sofa, although they just fit in their new box in the dining room.

When they are awake, they do like helping me on the computer.

Kittens again

2016-10-22T22:40:16Z

So today, the kittens were sleeping in their box, so I took the chance for a comparison photo.

So, on the first day

And four weeks later.

We may need a bigger box soon.

Held hostage by kittens

2016-10-08T21:25:57Z

The kittens have found the best places to sleep. That includes my camp poncho, that I use on my bed.

They are also tag-teaming when I am at the computer; taking turns to sit on me. Bill likes watching the computer screen and will sit right in front of it with his nose touching the screen. Makes it hard to do anything.

Kitten comparison

2016-10-02T14:53:00Z

These pictures are one week apart. Have they grown?

More on Kittens

2016-09-29T15:29:23Z

I will stop posting kitten pictures soon (I promise), but yesterday, they discovered how comfortable Grandad's chair is for sleeping in.

Kittens again.

2016-09-27T18:01:29Z

Bill and Ben taking a nap after dashing around.

Our Feline Overlords

2016-09-25T12:04:10Z

Here are pictures of the new kittens. They have had food, done some exploring, and played with ping pong balls. One is now having a sleep.

Tomorrow to the vets for their first check up.

Kittens imminent!

2016-09-24T19:35:26Z

Tonight is the last in a catless house as tomorrow two kittens arrive to take up residence.

Pictures will be forthcoming of our new overlords.

DWFO #10: "Donna's Suite"

2016-09-04T13:42:27Z

I can be seen at 6.15, just under the "The" of the title.

Voyage Award - Skills done

2016-08-21T21:57:42Z

I'm back from my conducting week.

Scary at times; you spend hours practising in front of the mirror and then when you stand in front of the singers, it all goes out of your head.

The concert went quite well. I have a video.

So that's my 20 hours of skills done. Whilst I was away, my lace thread turned up, so I can start on that next week for the 'myself' section.

As I was away yesterday, the parents sorted my entries for the summer horticultral show. I did quite well with firsts for my crochet and knitted toy, and third for my knitted cardigan. In cooking, I got first for my victoria sandwich and third for scones, rolls and lemon curd. Apparently there wre a number of new entrants, which is very good.

Voyage Award - Skills

2016-08-18T13:23:45Z

For my summer holiday this year I have come to Keele University for the summer school of Sing for Pleasure. Three years ago I came and did the foundation conductor's course, so this time I am taking the next level up; intermediate one.

Each day starts with a vocal warm up after breakfast, then there could be an hour's choral for everyone on the summer school before we break off into our seperate streams. For conductors, that means technique sessions and workshop sessions, when we work on assigned pieces. I thought I had prepared my pieces, but when you stand up and start waving your arms, you know you haven't done nearly enough.

My first piece, a round, went well. That is because I have had lots of practice at leading rounds since the last course, and it's not dis-similar to leading campfire songs. When I got into part songs, it went a bit more haywire, although my beat pattern was clear.

I'm trying to develop my right arm gestures (I'm left handed), so I can do more with dynamics etc. The notes have been learnt on my last piece (I hope), so now I need to get it a bit faster. I am beating in mimins, so the singers seem to be dragging it a bit.

I'm conducting at a concert tomorrow afternoon. It will be live streamed, and I will post the link if you want to listen in.

The photo is of my prep notes for this morning's workshop. I got through most of what I wanted.

Voyage Award - last stage of walk

2016-08-11T22:42:21Z

Today I completed the ring around my local town. This was a shorter stage and so didn't take as long.

I did see; a solar farm I didn't know we had, the local milk factory, quite a few cows who were interested in me, before ending up back where I started.

In all it took more than my 20 hours, but I still want to write up the notes I made and maybe produce a walk leaflet as there isn't one.

I go off for the week on Saturday for my conductor's course to cover my skills section; then I shall be dusting off my lace bobbins.

Voyage Award - third stage

2016-08-10T11:53:01Z

I know I said the previous leg was the longest, but I think this one actually was. It took the longest time to walk, but that might also be because of the number of times I needed to get the map out to check the route.

Anyway, yesterday I saw; the local stud stables, lots of corn (creepy if you've watched too much American TV, the closest view of the local wind turbine, some weeping angels (Don't Blink!), and a spectacular view of the town I am walking around.

So today is a rest day, but tomorrow is the final leg to back where I started.

Voyage Award - second stage

2016-08-06T12:38:04Z

Yesterday I did the next bit of the local Ring walk. I did a bit over the eight miles, but that is because there is no logical pick up point for quite a long stretch. The last bit was across a private estate, so no cars allowed.

Lovely day again, and I had plasters on my blisters, so they were OK. Walked through quite a bit of farmland, so encountered fields with sheep and cows, plus some horses with sunglasses.

Also went along roads, across cornfields, past castle follies, and through woodland.

I also spotted a caterpiller tracked tractor!

So that is the bottom half of the ring done. I shall do the top half next week.