Hester

I discovered this morning when the server was down that I'm addicted to the Pyracy Pub. I got rather agitated when I couldn't get my "fix".

Brian Wilson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7z8NRUFyN0

Mats, I'm green with envy!

Hi, Briar Rose: Thanks for your kind thoughts and apothecary advice. Happily, the blotches faded quite quickly on their own once the heat of the bath wore off. (And my skin's actually feeling quite smooth now!) Oh good, I'm not allergic to pineapple after all! Your friend's dog sounds like he is having a much worse time of things than me. I hope he recovers quickly.

Prickly and foolish. I decided to give myself a tropical spa treat in the bath this morning. So I slathered pineapple pulp on my face, hands and arms to soften my skin. After a bit of soaking in the tub, I noticed a tingling feeling, and saw that my forearms were getting all blotchy. So, I quickly rinsed off all the pineapple pulp. Luckily I noticed the adverse reaction before I had applied the "mask" to the rest of my body. Oh, sigh!

"Cave of the Sea Nymphs" by Sir Edward Poynter, 1903 ... I was hoping to work it into a storyline at the Beach Party thread...

Some Captain Hook fan vids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXIqYEyEyFM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLkJiYdGu3Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQtJvaE928k ... and my particular perverse little fave:

Hook http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1T6JUVPAO8

Blast and damn, when I tried to watch the episode I missed, instead of the video playing, the screen just said: "This content is not available for viewing outside of the United States." Bloody Canuckaphobes! Is that any way to treat your northern neighbours?! Do you really want to imperil your supply of maple syrup with such a diplomatic incident? We could turn off the pipeline like *that*, you know! And then your morning pancakes would get awfully dry. And why has no enterprising soul pirated the episode to You Tube yet? Bloody non-pirates! P.S. King's Pyrate: Just be sure you don't wear those white breeches after Labour Day! It would be gauche.

Corn on the cob, too. And assorted leftovers in tortilla wraps.

& Peppermint tea! . . . For lunch, I just had: Beef Chili Succotash and a glass of limeade, made from frozen concentrate. The limeade tasted fine, but the green colour was suspiciously vibrant, and, although "made with real limes", this stuff apparently is "not a significant source of vitamin C". Right then, next time, I'll make it from scratch and squeeze the limes myself! In the meantime, this stuff looks like it would turn an interesting turquoise colour when mixed with Blue Curacao...

from the Outer Hebrides

I'm guessing #2 is the lie. Jill seems like she's always been pretty fit. Likely didn't have an extra 20 lbs of puppy fat to shed as a youngster. However, she may have gained 20 lbs of muscle by taking up weight lifting.

Alas, Briar Rose, #3 is all too true! (Surfer Joe's not invited only because it's real life.) And I left out the 34-foot RV containing 3 cats and 2 collie dogs. Yikes! #2 is the lie. I've never shot a longbow. I'm near-sighted and my hand-eye co-ordination is crap.

Not sure, Jenny. I'll have to study it more closely.

Scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes and black pudding (yup, battling that sneaky anaemia again!). Orange juice and an iron pill too.

Pimm's Pirate Porn Surfer Joe Bubble baths Godiva chocolates Rimmel lipstick The Libertines Plunkett & Macleane Costume jewellery

Here are my two truths and a lie: 1. I am the founder of a local Robin Hood appreciation society, and I make my tea in a Robin Hood teapot. 2. I took second prize in the regional longbow archery championship last year. 3. Next week, I'm hosting a 5-day Beach Party for a group of nudists, Muslims, and vegetarians, next door to water-skiing Mormons. And Surfer Joe is not invited.

Just finished On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers, which I really enjoyed. Poor book took a beating, though. I had been reading it on the back deck at my summer place, and accidentally left it outside in a torrential thunderstorm. Took a while to dry out. It looks properly weathered now. And now, I've just started: ... which actually has an okay plot and writing so far (making allowances for the genre), but isn't very steamy.

The unmistakeable clatter of an aluminum ladder. The neighbours across the street are climbing up onto their roof for some reason. [Note to self: Remember to close the blinds when you take a bath today, as there could be more than just squirrels and birds peering through the upper windows.]

Well, I watched it the other night. It was interesting, especially to see how pirates were perceived in popular culture 8 decades ago. Someone previously mentioned that the soundtrack on the DVD was not well matched to the images, which I also found distracting. There seemed to be an awful lot of pirates on the ship (cast of thousands?). Divvying up the loot between that many, your share wouldn't be worth very much. Fairbanks' pirate outfit was pretty odd. Especially the shorts. And he seemed to have originated that "wife beater shirt" look that everyone was criticizing in the Hallmark Blackbeard. I guess the flappers swooned over his manly physique back then. I think he did do his own stunts, though, which were fairly impressive. (I believe he was a gymnast).

Well, I got Blackbeard on DVD and thought it was good fun, if slightly cheesy. Certainly loads better than Pirates of Treasure Island. (Which literally made me sick, because I was drinking so much rum to try to make it bearable.) Weaving a historical figure like Blackbeard into a fictional plot is somewhat problematic; however, it's not the first time it's been done. The novel On Stranger Tides also took great liberties with the Blackbeard legend. (Although I think Tim Powers had a more thorough understanding of the legend he was deliberately transforming than the Hallmark producers did with their weak & haphazard tale.) [i'd love to see a movie version of On Stranger Tides, btw!] The Maynard character was sorta handsome, but an awful stuffed shirt. It was difficult to feel much empathy for him and Charlotte. [Jack Shandy and Beth Hurwood made a much more interesting romantic pair, in contrast.] Mad Mike wrote: Careful, Mad Mike ... Iron Bess might want to dispute that.

to see The Waterboys:

Inquisition http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZQI0Xm29To

Porta-loos at Glastonbury festival