Spring things

[sholio]

I have been absolutely flattened the last couple of days due to putting the garden in. I got a late start because of the late snow melt (technically we *still* have snow in the creek ravine, which I am choosing to ignore) but this is actually pretty early for me to get it all done - Memorial Day is the traditional date of last frost around here - so I'm feeling accomplished, if tired. If a frost kills all my plants in the next two days, consider me larned.








I did post a couple of Biggles fics in the last week, both associated with Buries a Hatchet and both gen (for canon values of gen, anyway).

One hurt/comforty AU with horses: Rear Guard Action.

And one missing scene at the American military base near the end: Astray.

I also got an AMAZING Biggles thing in the mail from yhlee. I was waiting to post about this because I wanted to play it and report back, but I've simply been too tired. However, it is a CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE BOOK. For all my poking around through vintage Biggles swag, I had no idea this thing existed and I can't wait to try it out. <3333




Look!! It's not just a book, it also comes with several playing pieces and a wooden die.

This is blatant Algy erasure, however:





Playing pieces! There's even a fuel gauge with a little dial that moves. I CAN'T WAIT.

Comments

[sovay]

I have been absolutely flattened the last couple of days due to putting the garden in.

It looks great! What are the outside plants?

(Hooray for the fuel gauge.)

[sholio]

Mainly greens and herbs - lettuce, kale, pak choi, and peas are shown; there's also herbs and chard and radishes and some other stuff in the beds off camera. I've decided to focus on pick-as-you-go crops this year and not so much on things that grow for months to be harvested at the end of the season, which worked out dismally last year between voles and health issues. (Edit: and thank you!)

[sovay]

Mainly greens and herbs - lettuce, kale, pak choi, and peas are shown; there's also herbs and chard and radishes and some other stuff in the beds off camera.

Nice! It looked edible, but not so as I could differentiate beyond that. May the voles not be a factor this year. (The health issues go without saying.)

[sholio]

It's a perfectly sensible question! Tiny green things are awfully hard to distinguish in a photo.

Fingers very much crossed that everyone will have a better back-half-of-2023 healthwise this year.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

That looks and sounds great!

I fail as a gardener every time and have stopped trying. I admire people who do it and wish I were one.

[philomytha]

Your garden is looking great! It's been very dry here and suddenly I have to water everything and I had forgotten how much work that is.

And the choose your own adventure game! That's a version of Dark Intruder, isn't it? With Algy erasure :-(. You're reminding me that I once saw a Choose Your Own Adventure version of Biggles in the Blue on ebay, I think I am going to have to get hold of that if I can.

[sholio]

It is indeed Dark Intruder! If you ever find the Biggles in the Blue book, please report back because that sounds amazing (and I also want to know if EvS is it, because I have a one-track mind).

Our summers are very dry - we're technically a desert in terms of rainfall, just a cold one - and so watering is a constant nonstop effort, blah. I was very pleased to jump on a short string of rainy days to transplant all my plants!

[philomytha]

I like Dark Intruder, it's set near where I live and also has excellent Bertie whump...

And your post sent me hotfoot to ebay where I found the relevant book - The Hidden Blueprints - for the princely sum of £3, complete with all the game parts, so that's now winging its way towards me (because I too want to know if EvS is in it, surely he must be?). I even have a child who will probably not only agree but be positively enthusiastic about playing it with me, so I will report back...

[sholio]

I have not read Dark Intruder yet, but clearly I must! Probably not before playing the game, which will hopefully be soon ...

Also, the Biggles in the Blue game experience promises to be a delight and I eagerly await reports. :D

[goss]

Best of luck for all your little seedlings! <333

[sholio]

Thank you! <3333 (The seedlings also send love. <3)

[darthneko]

Super jelly of your garden! That looks fantastic. Crossing finger the frost doesn't overstay its welcome.

[lunabee34]

Oh how lovely!

[leesa_perrie]

The garden looks good, here's hoping for no frost!

I can see hours of downtime being lost to that book/game!!! Have fun! :D

[mrkinch]

Your icon is a boreal chickadee! I love their little brown crowns. Someone said they are very aggressive and dyed-in-the-wood carnivores; if enough of them got together they could take down a moose.:) They are also super cute.

Very impressed with your garden, and your gardening. What's your 2 pm temperature these days?

[sholio]

That's a boreal chickadee?? I didn't recognize it at all with the false color - I could tell there was some color tweakery going on, but I also assumed that it was probably a type of bird I didn't know. We do have boreal chickadees around here a little bit, usually they're mixed in with our black-capped chickadee flocks.

[mrkinch]

True, there's a lot of stylization of pattern and color, but the brown head is diagnostic for me. Don't think anyone else in that family has that. Mind you, I could be wrong. Maybe a European species? I've only seen boreals in videos from Northern Minnesota.:)

[sholio]

I ran the icon through google reverse image search and it says (and the pictures look right to me) that it's a black-throated bushtit, a southeast Asian species.

[mrkinch]

Ha! So there. Thank you! I'll check them out for that cool breast patterning.

[sholio]

They do look similar though! I was very curious after we started talking about it. :D

[sheron]

Nice job on the garden!! Also, I love the hanging baskets with flowers ♥

And do report back on the Biggles game :D

[ellenmillion]

That is ammmmaaaaaaazing! Also, GARDEN! I haven't had a chance to do anything yet because I haven't been able to lug buckets, but some of my plants are coming back!

[sartorias]

Wow I am impressed with that garden!

[scioscribe]

The garden looks lovely!

And the Biggles book looks amazing--I've never seen a Choose Your Own Adventure-style book with so many parts, I've only just read the ones that tell you to make a choice and turn to page [whatever]. This is so colorful and beautifully elaborate!

I am, however, boggling at Algy being left out! Theory: the writer was such a rabid EvS fan that they went full into "anyone who dislikes my fave is WRONG AND TERRIBLE," and therefore wrote Algy out in a fit of vindictiveness.

[sholio]

CLEARLY, it is the only explanation that makes sense. :D

... honestly it's even weirder (and a little sadder) having Algy not there now that I'm playing the game. I miss him! I'll simply imagine that he's back at headquarters, rolling his eyes every time Biggles & co. turn up with their airplane almost out of fuel, not having caught the bad guys (see my playthrough notes in the current post, this is what's been happening to me constantly, lol).

[trobadora]

Your garden looks awesome! And so does the choose-your-own-adventure book. :D

[madripoor_rose]

I love your greenhouse. And OMG Choose Your Own Adventure, I haven't thought about that in years! Very cool.

[black_bentley]

I had no idea the choose your own adventure games existed, and I must HAVE THEM IMMEDIATELY!

The garden looks lovely, I am unfortunately the world's most incompetent gardener so I just claim that mine is a wildlife haven... /o\

[sholio]

I mean, the wildlife needs somewhere to go too ...

I'm having tremendous fun with the game, although they really needed to give his plane a little more fuel capacity in the game mechanics, because I keep running out before I can get anywhere. But it's honestly a delight; there are a lot of pen-and-ink illustrations that are really nice, too!