bats and pumpkins

As it turned out, there was no sanctioned dressing up at school today. Sherlock just wanted to be a bat. We told him no. Or, Greg told him no. I was going to say yes because what could it hurt, but it was pointed out that if one boy showed up dressed as a bat and no one else got to have costumes, it might be a tiny bit disruptive. Sometimes I forget things like this. 

He was a pretend (sulky) bat all the way to school nevertheless, but Mrs N said he didn't give her any trouble once he got there. After school, he was an improvised bat, with dark trousers and a large, flappy black hoodie of L's. 

And then...pumpkin carving. Enormous knives, flailing limbs, potential loss of life or eyeballs. Sherlock and L carved, and I started sorting the seeds from the pumpkin guts, which is genuinely one of the most disgusting things I've ever done and I should've worn gloves. It's the way your skin gets afterwards when it starts to dry on you, like it's sucked all the moisture from your fingers and coated them in an impenetrable shield of water repellent so you can't wash it off. 

But in the end, triumph: 

fallen

Sherlock and I found some good trees today. Here's one:

And Mycroft sent me this site where you can help piece back together an engraved Pictish stone: 

http://pictishpuzzle.co.uk/

I might need more time or patience than I actually have to make any progress, but I like the idea.

Today included laundry, shopping, hot chocolate with Sherlock who helped me fold a multitude of socks afterward, and a pumpkin delivery. Reg brought over the one he'd promised Sherlock in person, and Mrs H gave him tea. We were not invited. ;)

While looking for fallen trees, we also saw a set of three pumpkins stacked up like a snowman, with a stick arm holding a pumpkin head with the guts trailing out of it to the ground. Should've got a picture. 

it is very very early

Lestrade left around three to go and knock down someone's door. I didn't really get back to sleep. Too busy worrying about how it might go wrong, as if that ever helped anyone.

Sherlock woke up a little while ago and came to look for me in our room. He found me in the kitchen making tea and accused me of plotting to go with L and have fun without him. If only...

We've just watched this:



And I'm trying to convince him that Mycroft almost definitely does not want to join us on a pre-dawn stroll. He's made the point that the dogs definitely would, but I think Mycroft getting a full night's sleep trumps the dogs' constant need to smell things and then pee on them.

We'll go and get some sort of breakfast...something for everyone if anything's open this early and then come home and make tea before we disturb the hounds.

Greg, I hope your op went well, or is going well, and that you get everything you're looking for out of it. And let me know if you want anything while we're out. I love you. 

14 seconds

L came up with this fact for me today: in Britain, an ambulance is called to someone suffering the effects of alcohol every 14 seconds. Between my training and now the FME work, I think I've seen at least half of them. I realise that's not remotely possible, but trust me, it feels like it. 

Our allotment has tiny pumpkins. You could wear one as a very small hat, or perhaps carry one around in each hand if you wanted to look festive? I suppose you might, if you had very small hands, try to carve one, which is exactly what Sherlock wants to do, even though Reg has promised him one of his, which are a more reasonable size. (Obviously, he wants to carve that one, too. I think his end goal is to fill the flat with orange, staring faces so that one night, when one of us comes home late, there will be some sort of Pumpkin Incident.) 

Mycroft is on an overnight trip with his astronomy group and so will be a day late coming home for half term - but then we've got him all week, which we're all looking forward to. We might try some more museum roulette. Mycroft said his friend had improved the app and added a few more museums. Should be a good time. I have no idea how this year is going so fast though. Currently trying not to think about it. 

work

I was called out to a domestic violence incident last night. It was painful. All you can do is patch up wounds and hope justice will be done at some point, and know that even if it is, it won't undo the damage.

And the next one involved a pipe stem jammed somewhere you wouldn't want a pipe stem to go. I'm certainly getting a broader set of experiences in this job than I expected.

I got home very late/early. Lestrade had made tea for us and then fallen asleep balancing his on his chest. I had to wake him very carefully. It's just so nice... Well, beyond nice really. Amazing to have someone to come home to after a night like that. 

long gone

I can't believe how fast the week went, and I seem to mean that literally, the way I keep checking to make sure it's really Saturday. Apart from the bike place, we didn't do anything that exciting - mostly long wandering walks, cooking, talking, hottubbing (I'm sorry, Mycroft, I know how you feel about verbing nouns...), and keeping clear of the wild fowl watching us ominously from the pond.

Yesterday from picking up Sherlock to bedtime, I don't think he stopped talking once - clearly he had a much more exciting time than we did! No one burned down the city. L's back to work tomorrow, and I'm back to work tomorrow night and Tuesday daytime, so that'll be interesting.

Here's Sherlock's chocolate spider (which really looks like half an egg in a Halloween costume if you ask me...)

did you miss me??

Hey, it's Murray. I have two things to show you and John's password, so let's gets started. Public service announcement: using your sister's cat's name as a password only keeps out actual hackers, so if that's what you're using, I can only assume you want me to post on your blog.

Gay Flamingos Adopt Abandoned Chick Sherlock gave me this one when I said I was doing a post and it's a nice article that I have just one problem with and that problem is the following unexplained phrase: can feed their chick without any female help, by producing milk in their throat. They can do what now?? How do you type a sentence like that and then not explain it? Is it just me, can all you blokes out there (by blokes maybe I just mean flamingos?) produce milk in your throat? Because let me tell you, that is not a skill I have. Although I can see how it might come in handy in certain situations.

Number two is this: 9,000 Human Sand Silhouettes Serve as a Reminder of D-Day

It's...quite an undertaking. Yeah, don't know what else to say about that really. 

Because I know you are all dying to catch up on my fascinating life I will tell you that I've got an A&E job in a London hospital and won't tell you which one in case you come and stalk me, although if you're single and want to stalk me for romantic purposes, I'd probably be up for that, let me know. Just don't tell Watson, he's a little protective of you lot. 

What else... I'm taking Sherlock and Mrs Hudson out for dinner tomorrow night, don't know where yet. Recommendations? 

we're here because we're here

We have biked, we have settled in, bought food, made dinner - L did that last one, I chopped things and distracted him. It's a wonderful place. Just...quiet and all on our own and generally perfect. View of a little pond from the hot tub on the deck. Have some pictures.

Inside:

Outside:

And the bike place:

It was great, but we don't usually do that sort of riding, and I am sore in a new and exciting variety of places and glad I have the week to recover. I'd definitely do it again though. Well, I say that now. Tomorrow may be a different story once I've set up, but I imagine the hot tub will help a lot. 

in the electric dusk

Here, have a small frog. The pond at Sherlock's school is full of them, in varying sizes from about half the size of this one to two or three times his size. Or her size. I have no idea how to tell male frogs from female frogs.

so far

L is working again tonight. Sherlock is overflowing with the desire to join him. I told him to wait in his room and I'd make him an obstacle course, which I have done and will probably regret. And if I don't, Mrs Hudson will when he comes charging through here like a herd of oversized squirrels. I might go down and apologise preemptively before I tell him it's ready. 

I have work tomorrow night, which will hopefully give L enough time to recover and nap after work before I have to leave him with our small ball of energy. I have some diseased lung pictures in reserve for them to look at together. (Sentences I never thought I'd write, No. 847.) Still, hopefully, everyone will be in bed by the time I get a call - it does usually seem to work that way. 

Here, have a poem. I just read this for the first time the other day and really liked it.

A Small Number

Olena Kalytiak Davis

So far, have managed, Not
Much. So far, a few fractures, a few factions, a Few
Friends. So far, a husband, a husbandry, Nothing
Too complex, so far, followed the Simple
Instructions. Read them twice. So far, memorized three Moments,
Buried a couple deaths, those turning faces. So far, two or Three
Sonnets. So far, some berrigan and Some
Keats. So far, a scanty list. So far, a dark wood. So far, Anti-
Thesis and then, maybe, a little thesis. So far, a small Number
Of emily’s letters. So far, tim not dead. So far, Matt
Not dead. So far, jim. So far, Love
And love, not so far. Not so love. So far, no-Hope.
So far, all face. So far, scrapped and scraped, but Not
With grace. So far, not Very.