In which - it "was" a nice Memorial Day, until....

*Warning for minor doll nudity*

Long story short, we were helping move some of the plants out of Maddy's bedroom window. The house is so far under the trees here that once the leaves come out, there's almost no sun in the back of the house until September. So all the plants have to either crowd into the window or be moved somewhere else.

We almost had them all moved when....

"I CAME IN LIKE A WRECKING BALLlllllll....."












"Yo....little help, peeps?"

"Tori! You bloody idiot! What on earth is wrong with you?!" Aura exclaimed. "And more to the point, what are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to say well away from me?"

"You're not the boss of me, you little stuck up..." I'm not going to repeat what this Tori chick called Aura, but it wasn't very nice. "I'll do what I want, when I want, and you won't...."

Right in the lucky bamboo. Guess it wasn't too lucky for her.

"Tori, you're a disgrace to Fay folk everywhere!" Aura scolded. "I don't know what you think your business is here, but you'd best just leave. I can tell you, Maddy isn't going to stand for having you around."

"Listen you, she's just a stupid mortal. I have connections. I could have the Unseelie down on her so fast..."

"Okay, enough. Out with you." I don't think Maddy was all that impressed with Tori's threats. "Don't make me get my athame." 

"You don't have connections. Even the Unseelie think you're too stupid to bother with," Daisy called after them. We heard cursing and yelling all the way until....

"You see this? Iron nail." I heard Maddy say. Then the outside door slammed. (Faerie types can't cross a threshold protected by iron, according to Daisy. She said it doesn't have any effect on devas or pixies, though.)

"Who was that?" I said.

"Her name is Tori. She's the daughter of one of the Fairy King's advisers, and she thinks she owns the bloody world." Aura actually facepalmed, something rarely seen in the wild. "She doesn't know anyone. She's just bluffing. Daisy was right about the Unseelie. They think she's a bloody joke. Which she is, but - oh man. If she's around.....Scaramouche needs to get back here now. She really does...."









 ~*~
Maddy's note: Tori is an AI Toriena. They're these very inexpensive BJDs I've seen around. They're cute, but they're more akin to play dolls than the ABJDs. I don't know if they're actually resin or just hard plastic. Her stringing and jointing aren't the best (especially compared to Fairyland's!) I think I'm going to need to wire her with pipe cleaners to make her somewhat stable holding a pose. But maybe I'm just spoiled between DollsTown and Fairyland. Even Fawn's most wobbly joints are far more stable than Tori's.

And we're closing in on the twelve-week mark, so yes, Scaramouche should be arriving soon now! I'm also expecting a belated birthday present - a PukiFee Dony - towards the end of August. I ordered a basic in natural skin - the fullset is adorable, but I know I'll end up redressing and restyling her. I don't have her character entirely worked out, but her name (tentatively) will be Tempest and she'll be a deva like Aura and Scaramouche. What kind, I don't know yet.

In which it's Maddy's birthday and I go to college - sort of

So anyway - today was Maddy's birthday and it was  - well, kind of busy.

First thing this morning, it was off to Dutchess Community College for a civil service exam (her, not me!) She's still waiting on the results of the ones she took back in March (school secretary/program assistant) and this one was for a receptionist/typist position. She thinks it went pretty well, but isn't going to have results back for awhile.

And it looks like Taconic Hall is on the OTHER other left....

Along with DCC, we also have Marist College and Vassar College. DCC is considered to be on-par with any of the colleges in the SUNY (State University of New York) system.

The last time we were up here, it was raining and there was still a ton of snow on the ground. Not exactly conducive for taking great pictures.

Today, as you can see, was much nicer.














After the exam, it was almost all the way to Beacon for a bead show. If you're on the East Coast, check it out. It's not the biggest show around, but they make up for it in quality.

And not just beads....

Maddy and I have been looking for a globe for me for pretty much, ever. We found a really nice one today at the show.

Pretty neat, huh?

And for Daisy, these. Pretty cool, huh? I think they're supposed to be display stands, but they make awesome chairs and a table for a pixie.










Maddy just got in a few minutes ago, so I think she's going to want to check Facebook and all that. We'll show you some more beads tomorrow, hopefully....

In which - random photos!

Aura's new dress. Fishface back there is less than impressed. 

Fresh dandelion season!

There are many, many more out in the yard where these came from.

Not so fast, Spike.....

"Jungle life, I'm leading 'neath the open, all alone, like Tarzan Boy...."

Maddy: "We're going to get thrown out of this garden center,,,,"

 My kind of tree

Awesome! We can finally haz leavez.....

Aura: "And it was believed that if you ever heard the bluebells ring, it was time to start preparing for a funeral."

Me: "How the heck do flowers ring?"

Daisy: "They don't. Faeries just like to mess with humans' heads sometimes....."

Daisy watching Aura explaining to a bunch of ants that they can't move into Maddy's kitchen....

Spring! At last.....

In which something's fishy.....

Meet Cyan....

And Zephyr.

We now have two new bettas - aka Siamese Fighting Fish or "rumble fish," at least according to the book. This photo isn't really doing Zephyr justice in the color department.

Ah, here we go. A little better.

Turns out Maddy has probably put in as much time around fish as John Ashton, albeit in a different way.

"My version of catching them typically involves inadvertently tearing up the entire tank with a net while going "Here fishfishfishfishfishfishfishfishfish......" she explained. "Back when I was about seven or so, my father decided he wanted an aquarium. So he did what he always did - bought one, bought a bunch of fish, got obsessed, decided he was going to make a ton of money breeding freshwater angelfish, got bored with it after a couple of years and that was that. Except this time we still had three tanks worth of tropical fish to deal with, plus bettas. So my mom and I took over and I was the one who stayed interested in them. So there's usually at least a fish or two finning around here somewhere."

By the way, she said that she'd always heard it pronounced "BET-tah" until fairly recently, but she doesn't think it really matters how you say it. She said she's kept them in various setups, including one of those infamous vases, but prefers the little tanks because they're much easier to keep clean.

"Mind you, the vase in question was two gallons. It was huge. I cleaned it weekly and fed the fish just like you would any other and he did well. Lived his entire five and a half years in it. I had worse luck with the plants. The first two died. I finally rooted a spider plant baby in water and that one thrived. I had the vase on the speaker of the CD player I had at the time - not the best place, but a warm place where the plant could get some light without overheating the fish. I don't think I'd do that again, though. It was more or less a novelty-type setup. Although Razz liked it."

"So what was the big deal about those vases being bad?"

"Someone - I think Martha freaking Stewart - started the idea that they were self-sustaining. That you never had to do anything except occasionally add water. The fish would eat the roots of the plant, the plant would keep the water clean and it was A Good Thing. Except it doesn't work that way. Bettas are carnivores. They don't eat plants. You have to feed them actual fish food. And the plant helps a lot, but you still have to change the water and clean it weekly, at least. I can only think of one person who ever managed what was basically an unfiltered, self-cleaning setup, but it was four fish in a VERY heavily planted 100 gallon tank."

By the way, Marineland doesn't make those little three-gallon Eclipse tanks like she has anymore. They have a redesigned desktop tank that looks nice, but we've never seen one set up and running.

More fish stories to follow, I'm sure. I think Maddy just wants to find some pictures first.....

In which - Happy Easter, or Passover, or Earth Day, or spring, or autumn, or Sunday....

Tim: Hey, look. Fossilized Easter eggs!

Moriko: They're Jordan Almonds.

Edward (trying to bite into one); They ARE fossilized, though. Ow.

"Caroline, are you ready for the photo shoot?"

Sigh. The things I do for this blog....

So would a fish photobomb be a fishobomb?












From all of us to all of you - whatever you're celebrating today, have a great one!

In which - ha ha, very funny.....

NOT....

I don't know if April really is the cruelest month, but it does have a really sick sense of humor.

This is what we woke up to this morning. Apparently the rain really did turn to snow overnight.

At least it's all melting off, though. Maddy told me that there was a very similar storm back in 1997, only a couple of weeks earlier - March 31st into the morning of April 1st - that dumped close to 18" of very wet, VERY heavy snow after it had been unusually warm for several weeks. All the trees were budding out. It was a disaster. The snow was so wet and heavy that it ripped the trees to pieces and took the power out for five days. Several of the trees in the yard were so badly damaged they had to come down, including the one that Daisy's house used to be under. That's where that old stump came from.

This was just annoying to wake up to.

There's just something strange about seeing it all still stuck in the trees after it's melted off the grass, though.

And it's kind of weird - the air is chilly, but the sun is very warm.

Oh well. At least we're supposed to resume our regularly scheduled spring starting tomorrow....

In which - random spring photos!

The last of the snow. Good riddance.....

Aura as a travel deva. We headed to the library to check out the books for sale and the bead store to check out beads today. Aura found a photo book of her native Scotland for two dollars.

Looks like new home construction is on the rebound - at least in the English Sparrow sector.

Daisy in a new outfit from Thailand.

Aura again.

Yours truly....

Fawn and some crocuses.

Coming soon - a LOT of bright yellow awesomeness.

Fawn again....

Yeah - THIS is more like it. Totally more like it.