A couple of months ago, it rained heavily, filling up (among many other things) an old plastic fishtank that was on the back step beside the bin, waiting to be taken to the dump on our next recycling run.

Then the sun came out and a couple of days later the buddleia was looking a bit dry, so I went to dump the rainwater out of the old tank onto the buddleia, but as a lifelong naturalist I couldn't help peering into the water first just to see whether anything was moving in it.

And something was... tiny bobbing white dots... so the tank was replaced on the back step and the buddleia was watered with something else.

The dots, as I'd hoped, turned out to be none other than good ol' Triops, hatched from eggs in the sand in the old tank, which had been out in the garden for two years getting dried out and then frozen, which was probably exactly what was required.

We peaked at seven... there has been egg-laying and much nibbling of fish food, carrot peelings and one another, so we are now down to three and one of those is looking a bit dodgy (swimming in circles upside down is never a good sign)... but I am delighted to have raised another generation and I hope that if the sand is dried out and frozen again then there may be more in a future summer.

Amazing little creatures, I'm very glad to have made their acquaintance!

Significant Birthday tomorrow. Not quite sure how that happened; I still haven't really got the hang of how to be a grownup never mind a middle-aged person. DS says I'm not that old yet and he'll save buying me a tartan shopping trolley until I'm 60. Thanks, son!

This decade has been a good one on the whole. I'm no longer flat broke, I live in my dream house, I get to play with beads and call it work, my lovely toddler has grown into an equally lovely teenager, my marriage is better and stronger than it's ever been... and ten years ago I had never seen 'Arthur of the Britons' and didn't even know what a slash writer was, and now I are one... albeit a somewhat sporadic one. Little did I know when I clicked that 'join group' button on Facebook that it really would change my life! Huge thanks to trepkos for encouraging me into fandom and not laughing at my fictional efforts.

It's not been roses all the way. Several important people in my life (and a much loved dog) are no longer with us, and there have been medical issues aplenty. But I'm still here and life is good. Whatever it chooses to throw at me from here on in!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I've got presents to open and an epic home made chocolate birthday cake with Baileys icing. Doesn't get much better than that!

i wonder whether LJ will still be here when I'm looking back on my sixth decade?

Don't get me wrong. This year has brought me many Things That Are Good, and I appreciate each and every one of them. It did, however, also bring me plenty of Stuff That Was Pants, which I am looking forward to leaving behind.

So here is a bit of a retrospective ramble for me to look back at in a year's time when 2013 is totally last year...

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Nearly a year since I last posted in my journal. Doesn't time fly... whether or not you are having fun?

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Yes folks, it's almost November and that means
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Well, the move to the new hut was about as painless as such things ever can be, and although some minor rearrangements are still needed, most of the crucial stuff is in the places where it needs to be.
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How come holidays are always busier than being at work?
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The good news is
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Well, we've had an exciting month with more triops in the tank than we've ever had before.
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