Hester

Oh you Yanquis! That's hilarious! I'm eating BBQ pita chips while watching Stargate: Atlantis DVDs and washing it all down with Pimm's & lemonade. Okay, I know it's a little bit early in the day to start drinking IRL, but it's been a stressful day. I'm stuck here between the power-washers (they're baa-aack!) and the pool diggers, and someone across the street has just fired up a chainsaw to add to the power-tool symphony that surrounds me. I think drinking with Col. Sheppard is a pretty tame solution in the current circumstances!

consumptive

Out of season, I know, but here's my house decorated for Hallowe'en a couple years ago: And our pumpkins: If you look closely, you'll see that the second one is wearing a pirate hat (made out of bristol board).

Earth-moving equipment digging out a new inground pool in the next-door neighbours' backyard. Started at 7:00 am. This project's expected to take two weeks (or more). Oh, yay!

Dawn chorus

looking sexy astride a

Upset tummy woke me at 4 a.m. Maybe it was the raw onion in the potato salad, or the overly salty BBQ chicken. Or the fact that I didn't actually eat supper until 10 pm. Or the red wine that the neighbours plied me with beforehand on an empty stomach. Or maybe it's still the remnants of that 'flu bug.

Potato salad with too much onion Stargate: Atlantis DVDs The neighbours' 3 little boys who sang "A Pirate's Life" to me C.M. -- who appears to have chickened out

dearth

^I'd say Pimm's, but technically that's an aperitif, so I'll have to say -- currently -- Blue Curacao. < I like sweet stuff. V Passing the Q onwards: favourite liqueur?

Heavenly, "Space Manatee" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwY-BwGMkIY

^ The Shadows < Thanks for your discretion about our beach activities, boys! V Passing the Q further on ... favourite surf band?

Hook got beat by Peter Pan! I'd say Jack Sparrow could take him too.

Patti Smith, "Space Monkey"

Crumpets with maple syrup Old Hallowe'en photos in the clutter of my desk Real estate agent cold calling at my door. I told her I had the flu, and she scurried away pretty quickly and didn't try to shake my hand. (Actually, I'm feeling much better, but it did get rid of her.) Melissa

^ That's one of my favourites too, Jill! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxYV1jGuj5U

^ "Alternative" -- which is really a catch-all. My tastes run the gamut from folk to punk. < Jill, you were a surf band drummer? Hey, why not re-form your band and come play a gig at the Beach Party thread! Or, just make the current line-up of BSPC play surf riffs! V Is there a type of music that you really don't like?

Banana (my concession to the BRAT diet) Rain Donna (Isn't Google marvelous?) Ron

chewing the fat (Hey, I just thought -- is that rhyming slang for "chat"?)

I'm hoping my bout with stomach flu will help me shed a few pounds. But I doubt it! Once I'm rehydrated, I'll probably be back to normal. In the meantime, I'm missing my daily walks.

Nothing yet. Tummy still rumbling from the flu. E-mailed pictures from friends' digital cameras. Chapman: lovely pic of Garbo! Do you know where the picture's from? It looks like it might have been a historical costume drama of some sort. Mr. Kirby: Wie geht es Ihnen?

Turtles candy

Robyn Hitchcock, "Adventure Rocketship"

Sick. I picked up some sort of stomach flu from being so social all weekend. Well, I think it's a flu ... unless it's a delayed-action hangover. Hmmm... maybe chocolate martinis and fried food wasn't such a good dietary choice.

Salmon salad on a tostada Donna doing the Mexican hat-dance with her co-worker Myself, apparently Tara and her graphic novels