Tuesday Evening

So my body is still reluctant to give up its UK time zone. Which is awesome because you know… work. It switched over practically immediately. Coming back it’s all… Don’t wanna. Of course a lot of that is that I’m just tired and want to sleep.

The Novel Approach will be revealing the cover and blurb from Fish Stick Fridays today. And wooooot! The post is live. Be sure to head on over to TNA for the reveal. Link goes to a very lovely blog.

On the other hand, my brain refuses to give into the tangle of Kai’s world but I’m going to have a reckoning tomorrow. Actually tonight as I lay down the final plot. Which is laughable because plots have a way of never really staying in one place.

Take for example… Claudia.

Claudia was killed on Cole’s porch. Shot dead. In cold blood. Dying at the feet of her employer. That was Claudia’s fate. I know it. I wrote it in the chapter summary. I can even picture it right now. Location: Stoop of office, gunfight, Claudia is killed. Dies in Cole’s arms.

It just didn’t sit right. I fought for her death. Really I did. She was dying, damn it. I’d killed her.

My brain said…no, don’t think so. I refuse to take part in this shit and am refusing to provide words for this nonsense.

Okay, so it wasn’t that formal but it didn’t feel right and I had to sit back and examine why. Then the parallel of Claudia and Barbara hit and I had to go retrofit a bunch of shit to my grumbling disgust.

So, now… I only plot out halfway because then I reassess and see where I need to go.

Kai’s kind of like that. I know where I’m going to go. I just need to find the path.

Cooked steaks tonight for dinner. Something quick since I’ve been working on swag stuff and other things all day. Crashed for an hour to convince my body I was back into some sort of up-down cycle but it has laughed at me.

Later though, I shall make my brain my bitch.

Took today off which I so needed. I’m actually writing this right before I go to bed. Because I’ve switched back to SoCal time. And now I’m dead tired.

Watching BlindSpot right now. I think I’ve got that right. So far it’s been okay. I’m waiting for some chemistry to kick in. But it’s decent.

The dog needs a good scrubbing. And he wants his cookie so he can go to bed. Go figure. Dog has routine. And I need to get back into mine.

Best thing about the UK besides the Five? Endless mushrooms for breakfast. One cannot go wrong with mushrooms. So many mushrooms.

A major part of the trip was Halle, the Cairn of all Cairns. She’s a bit of a diva and likes scritches. She accompanied many of the excursions out into the wild and is a very good traveler. My own cairn, Gus Gus, isn’t a great car rider. Small trips are good. Anything longer than 20 mins is a bitch and a half.

I did see a lot of swans. Swans all over the place. And a few peacocks. But swans.

There was also a Where’s Waldo Rabbit. My brain’s a bit loose. Cotswold. Rabbits. That’s it. Much rabbits.

So now it’s time to settle back into life as I know it. Time to pick up the writing and all that stuff. Oh… and to discuss Fish Stick Fridays… but that’s for another day.

Just realized I’m a bit hungry. How odd. I’ve had some chips. And Water. So…. perhaps some food.

On the other hand, here are photos from the UK trip. Over 1400 so… yeah. I’m also crap on tags. I did however get them assigned to the day and the area we were in. Woot to me.

I’ll be having an announcement of sorts on The Novel Approach this week. *grins* I’ll share that link once it goes up.

Photos are here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskkRVoU4

I am back home. In San Diego.

I truly had a fantastic time and it was lovely seeing the Five.

The flight was really long. And uncomfortable. I’m not sure why this flight was bad and one going over wasn’t but it was. So very odd.

I landed in a heat wave, woke up to a migraine and a storm coming in. Just took migraine meds and am waiting for the ache to go away. The cat won’t leave me alone. Although right now she’s sulking because I am on the laptop.

England was beautiful, rainy and full of laughter. One of the final sights I saw on the way home was Windsor Castle and the Queen was in residence so the flag was waving as we went by. Simply gorgeous place.

Today is going to be spend getting back onto my time zone and willing away this headache. Body ache really. The seat was pretty bad. Next time I go over, I think I’ll do United.

Hope you all are well and settling in for a pretty Fall.

Apparently we are watching Gogglebox. It’s pretty hilarious. It’s a tv show about people reacting to television shows. It’s circular. There is a woman whose chair matches her wallpaper.

Today is my last night here. Leaving tomorrow in mid afternoon. Dead tired.

I put away the SD card with photos. But I will be going through them and posting the best of the best when I get home.

They’ve left me with the television on and didn’t tell me what button to use to turn it off. God help us all.

Watched the Dr Who premiere. Kind of confused. And all the lights are on. Well in the house. Not necessarily in my head at the moment.

Today’s lunch was at an American Diner. Irony abound. On the other hand, I introduced Lea to a root beer float. So achievement unlocked.

And everyone else has gone to bed. I’m stuck with a TV I can’t turn off. Advertisements here are interesting. There is also a sloth on a couch. A blue couch. Not sure why. I also need subtitles a bit for the Moffat family… until they said shite.

So I am off tomorrow. Hope to you see on the other side of the world!

Today was a good day. What I have not done is download any new pictures because it is late and there are llamas on my SD card. Really. Llamas. I’ve come all the way to the UK to see a llama poop. It was very exciting.

Today was also a day filled with sheep, peacocks, deer and the occasional OMG what the fuck is that woman wearing? Yes, we were judging but really, we were very confused about what she was wearing.

Since I am dead tired and it’s nearly midnight… I’m leaving you here with these photos and promises of more. The blond dog is Halle. The liver brown one is Jaegermeister, the pub dog for Riverside 😀

Today we puttered around Swindon and a few other places. The Cairn Mascot of the Five… the female one… joined us. It’s been a very long day for little blond doggies. Halle would like to tell you all she’s extremely tired and would appreciate small tidbits of bacon to be delivered to her place on the sofa.

Yesterday was London. The pouring rain was gone today. So if we’d gone to London today, it would have been sunny but honestly, I wouldn’t have traded yesterday for anything. It was the ultimate London experience.

• Waited for a bus that didn’t come.
• Witnessed a protest which affected cab service. More on that later.
• Dug through the Tube map to get to where we needed to go. This was done quite successfully.
• Queued like made
• Called a cab that didn’t come because of above protest.
• Managed the Tube again, despite the waterfalls of sluice coming down.

Have had a lot of coffee and tea. Some lovely biscuits and well, a begging Cairn.

Today we hit up lunch at the Riverside Pub. Fantastic Yorkshire Pudding filled with bangers, mash and young peas. So so nice. And then an apple and blackberry crumble with ice cream. Tamm said Bollocks after getting BBQ sauce on her shirt and the older women next to us fled like the banshee were on them. Okay that could have been because they were done with lunch but mostly… we said it was the swearing.

Outside were two workers and I got them to show me their ink. I shall share the pix. They were adorable. One had Maori markings and had just finished them. They were at the first peel stage. He was so sweet.

Further along the day… in a day of churches, we came across the gravesite of Tiddles the Church Cat who was a very beloved member of the community.

Sadly, Tiddles Too failed at being a Church Cat, mostly because he refused to stop bringing in half dead rats into the church during services and liked letting them go among the pews as well as being unable to be left inside of the church at night because he tore shit up. Tiddles Too’s Church Cat career ended one day when someone fed him canned cat food at their cottage and he said fuck this Church Cat shit, I’m moving in with them. I didn’t ask if there was a Tiddles Three.

In Cotswold, there’s a butcher shop with a Pickled Tongue sign and apparently hares. I took a picture of the Harry Potter Hare in the bookshop. There were other more disturbing hares outside. I’ll share those later. They’re the type of hares where one needs a bit of strong drink before viewing them.

London was soaked through to the bone. TO THE BONE! Chanced across a protest. And then it became impossible to get a cab. Okay so that’s all just stitched up together there. But those were the events.

Couldn’t get to Baker Street mostly because the tour company we hired had the buses running late. So we went on the Red Line and then the skies opened up. There were waterfalls running the Tube’s stairs. It was insane. I got soaked. We all got soaked.

But I got a picture of one of the Tower’s Ravens.

And had Fish and Chips for lunch.

So dead tired. So this will be quick. See you in the morning. Well my morning.

So we’ve come back from Oxford. I am dead tired. We had Indian food for dinner. I’d tell you more but there’s a bunch of silliness and giggles. I have a cup of tea and we’re watching Banshee.

So far I’ve been embroiled in the war of Nero and Costa coffee. Tamm however swears by Café Nero’s hot chocolate. Penn swears by Costa coffee. I didn’t care which so long as I got coffee.

Oxford was really nice and I really did a good twist to my knee. Life is so good right now. We’re heading to London tomorrow. There will be some walking so I’m hoping it feels better by tomorrow morning.

Today is a special shout out to Harry Potter fans in the area because there’s a huge Potter connection with Christ Church, apparently. And it’s so adorably cute. No really. It’s all over. As well as Alice in Wonderland but that makes sense because of Carroll. I’ll be uploading pix at the end of this so you can see. But I’ll be picking out certain photos and I just don’t have the brain to go through 1000 shots. I shall have brain at some point.

Starting JD Robb’s latest In Death tonight. Maybe. Watch me pass out.

Mary Calmes and Jordan L. Hawk have books coming out. Get them. I’ve read them. They’re gorgeous.

Fit To Be Tied by Mary Calmes

Deputy US Marshals Miro Jones and Ian Doyle are now partners on and off the job: Miro’s calm professionalism provides an ideal balance to Ian’s passion and quick temper. In a job where one misstep can be the difference between life and death, trust means everything. But every relationship has growing pains, and sometimes Miro stews about where he stands with his fiery lover. Could the heartstrings that so recently tied them together be in danger of unraveling?

Those new bonds are constantly challenged by family intrusions, well-intentioned friends, their personal insecurities, and their dangerous careers—including a trial by fire when an old case of Miro’s comes back to haunt them. It might just be enough to make Ian rethink his decision to let himself be tied down, and Miro can only hope the links they’ve forged will be strong enough to hold.

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Fit-Be-Tied-Marshals-Book-ebook/dp/B014V4EDHQ/

Dangerous Spirits by Jordan L Hawk

After the events of Reyhome Castle, Henry Strauss expected the Psychical Society to embrace his application of science to the study of hauntings. Instead, the society humiliates and blacklists him. His confidence shaken, he can’t bring himself to admit the truth to his lover, the handsome medium Vincent Night.

Vincent’s new life in Baltimore with Henry is disrupted when a friend from the past asks for help with a haunting. In the remote town of Devil’s Walk, old ties and new lies threaten to tear the lovers apart, if a fiery spirit bent on vengeance doesn’t put an end to them first.

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Spirits-Jordan-L-Hawk-ebook/dp/B01255T684/

The sans part has since been rectified.

Yesterday we were in Bath. Lovely place. There was an art gallery that was on the bit of the odd side but then we like odd. The Herne sculpture was awesome, especially since the deer rack’s shadow cast down as wings on the wall.

Went to the Ale House on the corner of the square. Absolutely adorable bar man there and we got lunch. I got a meat pie, the rest of the Five got chili. Really. Chili. I am judging so hard. *grins* To be fair, we also got a plate of nachos to share. I have to make actual guacamole for them. But it was nice. No mushy peas for me. Minty or otherwise.

The Abbey itself was gorgeous. Took a lot of inside pix there. I’ll post those out in a bit. I’m doing this blog post on the fly before we had over to Oxford.

We walked about a bit, looked at the Roman Bath building but the queue was huge. They were processing tour groups through so it was chaotic.

Tried to take tea in a tea room. Got shunted around to their other tea room then ended up in the front room and they put us at a table above the others. Soooo much food. Ended up taking the cake home.

Hope everyone’s doing well. I’ve got to start plotting Kai out and then just going for it. I’ve got some inklings of what I want.

Right now, I have coffee and Halle the Cairn is keeping me company.