Blackbirds & Crows

My tattoo, to be exact. For the benefit of the new people here, my SO, Cat, is a tattoo artist - he's been tattooing since about...sheesh...'91? I think? So, yeah - a while. Currently, he works with his brother and a couple other artists at a shop just outside of the Army post.

Earlier this week, we finally went back and did some touch-up on my bluejay on my arm. It's been just at 18 years - right before I got pregnant with the Monstrous - so it needed a little going over. The colors he had then were crappy powder inks, just did not last. I'd also always intended to have a bee in the tattoo and didn't get it done the first time around, so my bee is now added! Yay!

So - ( Tattoo under here.... )

Otherwise...no real news here. We are rather staid and set in our ways! It's finally spring, with things blooming and trees leafing and the wrens once more building a nest in the wren-house (fifth year in a row! I love it.) They're so wee and perfect and so *loud* when they're pissed off.

In fandom news - I finally saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier and HOLY HELL, it was awesome, so awesome. I really need to see it again. Natasha! Bucky! Sam! Steeeeeeeeve!!
*hands*
:)

Oh, and, also for the new people *waves*, I'm on Tumblr, a well. I have no clue if people follow me or unfollow me, so don't feel obliged to - just thought i'd toss it out there.
CheyneLightning.

Enjoy your weekend, flisties!


OH AND - how could I forget this...today is the tenth anniversary of me creating my Livejournal! WOW. Ten years...feel free to quiz me about it, though my Swiss Cheese memory may not provide adequate answers..... :)

And we move into September, summer mellowing to autumn like wine in a cask. The brief spell of summer heat we had seems to have broken and now it's just...mild. :)

I'm trying to post more, again. Not every day, because gods knows i don't have that much to say, but *more*.

I was going to wait until the reveals, but i'll just post again then.... My story (the one written for me) is up at SPN_Summergen! It's a crossover with The Walking Dead. Dead Silence - please go read and comment! It's an excellent fic. :)

I was asked to join The Chosen Two archive, which is a Buffy/Faith specific archive. Whoo! I only have one Buffy/Faith fic, Into the Blue Again, but there are nearly 100 stories at the site, so if you'd like to contribute or read, head on over!

Lastly, though not least-ly, a few weeks ago I got to meet txrabbit and her lovely family. They had decided to take a drive up and tour around Missouri for a few days, so stopped in at my house for a bit. It's always fun to meet LJ people in real life, and we had a nice, long chat, and some lunch, and some more chatting, hehe. Her kids graciously put up with sitting around in a boring old-person house and were delightful, besides, so it was a fun visit all 'round.

And...i think that is that, for now. Talk to you later, flist! :)

...my little town is flooding. And so is my basement. Luckily, we are up on a hill, but half the town is *not*.

( Scary stuff.... )

In other news - our friend Terry won the competition!! He's going to be flown out to Las Vegas sometime soon to claim his custom handicap-equipped van. THANK YOU, everyone who voted or boosted the signal. He is so happy and grateful.

Also - I signed up for the SPNAUBigBang!! *flails* Sadly, the number of writers to artists is pretty lopsided, so please - if you're an artist - go sign up! You have until Oct. 31st to sign up. I've already got over 9000 words written, need to get to 15,000 and i'm feeling good! :)

Lastly - someone sent me a package addressed to 'Tabaqui the Bloody' - who? Who sent me that? Comment or PM, please. :)

Stay dry, flist!

Please, guys - one more time!

Terry was ahead by nearly sixty votes and now he's fallen to fourth place by *four*. Voting goes until tomorrow afternoon and it would be, really, an amazing thing for Terry if he could win.

PLEASE go and vote for him, tonight and tomorrow (if its not past midnight for you already). We are so close!

In Terry's own words: "I can't underestimate the importance of winning some reliable transportation. Being in a wheelchair means you can't drive just any car. I need a specially adapted vehicle to be able to get out of the house and get my life back. I have been in bed 2 1/2 years healing a bad wound. It's healed. Now it is time for a change. __ Terry Carr "

I know it's kind of a pain, what with the logging in/registering and whatnot, but please guys - anything you can do.

Terry Carr

Whooo!
Now, that was fun. :)
The zoo, the art museum, wandering around St. Louis trying to force the GPS to acknowledge the street we were looking for.... Wheee!

( All the details.... )

( Fandom is everywhere!! )

Forgot to say - they had a print out on the glove-box inside (we peeked) from the_dean_show. One of the 'Memoirs of a Muscle Car' images, I do believe. So they *must* be on LJ somewhere! :)

So that was our trip! It was a blast, we talked a lot, got a little culture, ate delicious food and just...enjoyed. Next time will be *sooner* than four years!

Well, I've missed a few days, but that is how it goes! Heh. No real reason, just not braining much. That, and the rainy/cloudy weather makes me kind of sleepy.

Anyway, since someone was curious, I thought I'd post a couple pictures of the house. It's of a particular kind of stone construction that's called Giraffe Stone. Not so much for the color, but for the way the stones fit together and resemble a giraffe's spots.

Our house was built in 1935. The rest of this post is image-heavy, so beware! :)

( The front, with the Monstrous acting silly.... )


We have had a *lot* of rain and grey days here - a huge contrast to last summer, when we were forced to turn the aircon on in *May* and it was over 100 degrees and no rain for weeks. I can handle a June where the warmest days are only 82!

Went up to my mom's house last week and helped her sort a few things. She's going to be moving to North Carolina to live with my sister this autumn. It's a good thing all 'round by damn, I am going to miss her so *very* much. So bringing home some pictures and china and things that were in our old house for years and years...it helps. Some.

I've started my spn_summergen! That feels good.

And that...is all. :)

That i totally forgot to post about. Sheesh.

The first is the anniversary of my LJ. On the 25th of April, 2004, I created my LJ! Nine years. NINE. Wow. I have met *so many* amazing people (and people that, as far as i'm concerned, are family) - read so much incredible fic, engaged in so many interesting and enlightening discussions, seen so many things....

Having this journal has been one of the best things ever.

The second is - as of about May 23rd or so, we have been living in our lovely stone house for five years. Whooo! I love it more every day. I am *not* loving the stupid freaking bats that are apparently roosting in the attic/eaves and pooping all over the front steps. Thank you, stupid bats, for making me sweep up your poop every day. That must change.

But we have a wren pair nesting in the wren house for the fifth year in a row, the rose of sharon bushes along the fence are even bigger now, there's a *mulberry* tree, where the hell did *that* come from?, and the wee maple i planted the first year we moved here is now taller than the Bebe.

I think it's about time for new curtains, though. They're looking a bit the worse for wear, thankyouverymuch, Jack, for climbing them repeatedly.

All in all - two very good anniversaries. :)

In other news - i've been watching past seasons of 'MasterChef: Australia'. Its very different than the US version, and in some ways *far* superior. I'm enjoying it.

*waves*
It's me again! :) And this journal is starting to oddly resemble a gardening one. Or something. Please don't let the pictures fool you - i *do not* garden. I am horrible at gardening. I kill things nobody else can kill, mostly through total loss of memory about the existence of said thing. I forget to water, to move, to prune....

Which is why i love bulbs and my yard that is mostly flowering weeds. :)

Speaking of - for the last couple of weeks, the honeysuckle has been in bloom. Oooh, it's so wonderful. You step outside - or you just get a breeze through the window - and you are enveloped in the scent. I love it so much.

( As you can see, it rather takes over.... )

I wish it would cover the back fence, too. But, see, the thing is...as much as i Do Not Garden, i dearly *love* plants. Vines, trees, flowering things...i love them. I would have a house full if a) i didn't kill them all (history will not be kind) and b) didn't have cats that thought eating and digging in potted plants a fine, fine pasttime.

( So, i got a nice hanging plant for mom's day. :) )

It's called 'Hawaiian Luau', and it has four different colors of flowers - probably four different plants in one pot. I love it, but it needs watering daily or it wilts into sad little strings. I am persevering at remembering. :)

And so, that's my post for the day. Tomorrow, I think i'm going to do the meme that trishabooms tagged me in ages ago.

(P.S. - it's low seventies and just lovely outside. Would that it would stay this way until August!)

Hello, hello.

This is me, blinking up out of hibernation like a very grumpy bear. I feel a bit...weird, having so few things to post lately. It's unsettling.

Anyway - other than yo-yo weather here (warm! cold! snow! torrential rain!) things are generally staid and predictable. Wheee!

I'm going to be putting up fic over at AO3. I tried with 'Changes', and there was some kind of enormous glitch going on - don't ask - but posting new chapters was not working. So i gave up on it.

Instead, i'm going to be posting shorter/non-chaptered Supernatural and Buffy stuff, until most everything is up. 'Treadmill' went up yesterday, and it's all one page, as opposed to the several on LJ. I'm going to do that with a number of the fics that were posted in 'chapters' on LJ - most of them were broken up only because of LJ's stupid character limitations.

So! If you subscribe to my AO3 page, you'll start getting notifications - be warned! :)

Fandom-wise.... I am happy with Show. Always happy with Show. Enjoying the hell out of it, actually. Looking forward to Falling Skies and Walking Dead and Mad Men coming back. And in general just...feeling good. Wheee!

Speaking of Falling Skies - LithiumDoll wrote me the most wonderful fic. Three Families Dai Lost (And One He Didn't). Go and read! It's just delightful.

Hope everyone is well - hello, flist, I'm still here! Heh. :)

Oh, hell yes. :)

This? This is me this morning. This is how i feel.



PRINCESS CAPTAIN AMERICA!

Yes, we friggin' can, again. :)

(found this on FB, 'The Other 98%')