Eternal Refuge

I hope that all my friends in USA have a lovely 4th July.  In 2017 I was in Oregon City watching the fireworks ... then later on the trip visited Boston to see "the" balconey.

Enjoy yourselves, whatever you do (or don't do!)




Oooops, I forgot.

I did a few extra hours work over the last couple of days which meant that I was not around as much.  So, at least this time I had an excuse!

Actually both shifts went well, but today I am back to my normal afternoon, early evening hours.  So am here for a short time.

I am still trying to sort out the last set of photos and will get them posted as soon as I can (I promise).  However, as the title said, I do have 10 icons to share.

This set of icons is slightly late (but are still going to be OK!) and are all of a challenge with a theme of "compex". To make life a bit easier I made them all of James Marsters in the made-for-TV fim Cool Money (2005).

1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10

As ever, all are snaggable, but credit would be appreciated. The credits are available over at my icon journal - d4s_icons


Right, so as I was busy at work I had no news to share, so I will finish with this catch-up -






2. Do you still use your local library?
No, but there again I have a pile of novels on my “to-read” pile, a Kindle, and shelves of travel & history books to look at.

3. Have you ever worn a hairpiece, wig or clip-on hair extensions? Do you know anyone who does?
No, my hair is thick and grows quickly … but I like it short.
A friend wears hairpieces when she is going out for the evening, as her hair is very, very thin.

4. Have you ever played Pickleball?
No






Right, let's see what you have all been up to

And, another real oops - I realise I have forgotten to check on the A to Z photos ... so looks like a task for tomorrow.

This set of icons was made for Round 14 of characters20in20  

I chose the film "Moonshot" and, of course, James Marsters .... where he portrayed Buzz Aldrin






10 THEMES

Special Blend	Textured Surface	Grid	Stand Out Coloring	Grief
Extreme close-Up	Song Lyrics	Faceless	Background Full of Text	Paint Splatters

5 CATEGORY (Text as Decoration)

1	2	3	4	5

5 ARTIST'S CHOICE

1	2	3	4	5

The song lyrics come form Spirit In the Sky



This set of icons is made for Monthly Battle #16 of itsabattlefield .  We had a theme of Winter.

I decided I would share "one" of the reasons why I watch Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis. I like the story lines on both, for an assortment of reasons ... but the other (main) reason is that both shows have a gorgeous actor to watch!!
(For those who don't know Stargate Atlantis is the upper set of 6)





As ever, all icons can be snagged, although credit would be appreciated.  The credits for the screencaps, and backgrounds, etc are all available over at my icon journal - d4s_icons

.

I know ... I am not here!  Actually the clinic I was due to work in got cancelled late yesterday as the equipment had died.  They are hoping to get it repaired in time for tomorrow ... but we shall see.

My car had to have the front brakes worked on ... and a new front tyre (but there again they had been saying it was wearing down over the last 2 years.  It still wasn't illegal, but now needed changing.)

So, thought I would share these icons from assorted comps with ItsaBattlefield over at DW ....

This set was for the re-launch monthly battle #1. with a theme of Black and Red ... and are all BtVS season 6

1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10

11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20

As ever, all are snaggable, but credit would be appreciated. The credits are available over at my icon journal - d4s_icons



These are from a few of the shorter battles earlier in the year -


       


         


       













So as I have the extra time I will try and get some photos up for you soon x

Today is National James Day ... what a great day to celebrate. There "may" be an actor with that name who I could celebrate ... or I could just say that it was Dad's 2nd name.

So many of the days seem very random ... I mean, look at some of the questions on the year meme, but thinking about James is, I think, a brilliant idea!

I do hope that you all had a great Easter.

I managed to get the garden sorted, and enjoyed Lily's first birthday, as I have already posted,

Easter Day was spent at Nick & Brenda's, and all the family in England who were in England were there and all went to Church together before a great Sunday lunch ... and while we were eating Dan & Meg phoned. They have just travelled to the Philippians, from Australia, so it was good to all be "together" despite the mileage.

Yesterday I met up with Tim & Claire and Brenda in the city of Wells, which is lovely and we had great weather, which is a shock for a Bank Holiday, and we also laughed a lot ... photos to follow.

I worked this morning ... but now want to get on with some photo sorting, so will close here ...



10 – International Safety Pin Day: Invented in 1849, where would we be without them? Or do you think there is less of a place for them in modern life than there was in the past?
There's always a place for a safety pin ... even if it's only to hold on my paper poppy come November 11th!

11 – Eight Track Tape Day: Eight Track Tape Day recognizes an era that was here and gone in a short 20 years. Are you old enough to remember eight tracks? Some technologies, like the Betamax, never caught on even though they were the superior product. Can that be said of eight tracks?
Yes, I remember 8-track, and Betamax.

12 – World Hamster Day: Did you know there are 24 different species of hamsters? Have you ever had a hamster as a pet?
No, but a pet-sat a couple when I was a mid teen ... and they survived the week!!



Right, let's get on x

Well I managed to finish this set of icons for Round 10 over at gen10in30 with the theme of Celebs ... so let's guess which actor I chose!!!!

Negative Space	From the Back	B&W	Profile	Flowers
AC 1	AC 2	AC 3	AC 4	AC 5

As ever, all are snaggable, but credit would be appreciated. The credits are available over at my icon journal - d4s_icons

The films are Moonshot, BtVS, A New Life and High Plains Invaders.  The AC set are all photographs that I took.

This set of icons is made for Round 15: World of Music pt1 for somein30 .  With these challenges we get a choice of easy (or harder) I chose to do easy. So here are 20 music based icons.

I did 4 sets of 5 -
The first group are of James Marsters
The second group are of Ghost of the Robot
... and, #18 is of Dad!

1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10

11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20

As ever, all are snaggable, but credit would be appreciated.   All of the photographs were taken by myself, so no copyright infringement.  The credits are available over at my icon journal - d4s_icons

Well you can tell how busy I am if you read my last post ... if not, just notice that I wasn't arround to wish James a Happy Birthday yesterday!  Proof I was busy, if nothing else is!!

Anyway -

14. Do you prefer bright colors, dark colors, or pastel colors?
Bright

15. How long have you lived with the person/people you currently live with?
I live alone

16. What was the dumbest thing you ever did as a teenager?
Failed to focus on my A levels (although in the end things did work out OK - Thank you God)

17. Would you prefer hardwood flooring or carpet in your home?
Carpet ... Except bathroom & kitchen

18. What’s the most you’ll pay for a pair of shoes?
I like leather shoes, but as I know my size I eBay a lot!  So the sandals I have on cost mye £8 new, but are for sale at £65 in the shops (I bought them mid Autumn last year)

19. Which flower is your favorite?
Perfumed roses
But I also like Dahlias ... such amazing colours & shapes

20. Which season do you think is the prettiest?
Spring - being colourblind I apparently miss a lot of Autumn

21. What is the last thing you cooked?
Lunch - Fried eggs, onions, mushrppms with boiled potatoes & peas

22. If you could live in a fictional world, which would it be?
Stargate - I love travel, but not great at flying (although I do it), so the Stargate would be ideal!


Right, that's me up to date ... see you Monday

I was a good girl and after lunch I did walk the long way round to the shops (I needed milk). So despite the rain I have still done my mile-long walk that I like to do a minimum of after work. In fact earlier I was also able to answer this week's prompt for photo_scavenger as this week we are thinking UMBRELLA.  And, yes, we certainly need our brollies today - this one I have had for ages, butt still love it (and used it this morning to walk to & from work).  And now, as you can see, I don't feel it's unlucky to have one open in a house ...

Thought I would show you the image.  I have always thought it looked as if the puppy is smoking, rather than just lying in straw


So after a weird clinic (as I said to the physiologist that all the patients were "odd".  They weren't totally weird, but just meant the clinic overall was weird)

Now I am thawing out again and plan to do some art work before heading back to the lounge for a lazy afternoon.  But, as ever (I even corrected the English on this one ... sorry USA!)


13. Can you do maths in your head well?
Pretty basic stuff, yes (not as good as my brother Nick), but can add up my shopping as I go, etc. And roughly change metric to imperial.


And, finally -
I must wish spikereader a Happy Birthday - hoping she is having a good day, and it will be the start of a great year.
And, remembering being with her at James Marsters events in London

Challenge #10

In your own space, write a love letter to Fandom in general, to a particular fandom, to a trope, a relationship, a character, creator, episode, or it could be your fandom friends. Share your love and squee as loud as you want to. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


I had wondered who I would write to, but there again there was the one obvious answer. And, seeing as whta I wrote about in the previous Snowflake Challenge I decided I would go to the "obvious" answer. So, for those who know me, you will know who/what I mean ....








Dear James,

Thank you for more than I can say.  I first spotted you in one of the latter episodes of Buffy and you literally lept off the screen.  You were portraying 2 aspects of your Spike character, and both were different, yet believable - an amazing actor.  So I decided to watch to the end of the series.  And was really upse (I doubt it's a spoiler), but Spike died at the end of the series.  They re-showed the series and I watched it and was still upset to see you die.

So for the first time I decided to "put pen to paper" to give a better ending.  Yes, James, years of being told I couldn't write never really came to mind.  I tried to see if others felt like I did and discovered fandom and the internet.  So, do I thank you for all the time I have now wasted!  However in doing that I discovered fanfic web sites, and in doing that realised that "beta's" were available ... and in hunting for someone to help me come to terms with "your death" I found LiveJournal.  And found other people who loved your acting work ... and loved your singing.  Wow, a double win ... Ghost of the Robot was my next discovery.

As I started scribbling more in LJ I realised that I wanted to have other icons to decorate my page ... yes, I found the comms, but also decided to have a go at downloading an image and cutting it to the size I wanted to .... So, yet again, James I need to thank you for getting me to attempt artwork.  Over the last 10+ years I have continued to stretch myself, and have fun ... so thank you for giving me another hobby.

As I said, GotR was what I heard about, and then friends talked of your personal singing and concerts ... as well as your trips to England occasionally to perform to your fans.  So at the age of 46 I decided to go to my first ever music concert/gig ... so thank you for an amazing evening in London.  That evening could have gone on for ever!  Many of my friends were going to more than one event that you were doing on that visit, and I decided to stay in London, and then travel to Milton Keynes to get your autograph ... and when I was there I had my photo taken with you.  That split second was so special.  years of bullying has left me totally withdrawn, and unhappy about my looks etc.  Yet you made me feel special ... for that moment (and when you signed my autograph) you made me feel so important ... thank you.

I have seen you in other films, listened to you on Audio Books, f a few times and am always taken in by you ... not in the wrong sense, but you just make me part of that event.  Thank you so much.

So, James, you have given me new hobbies, and friends, both of which I would never have had without your portrayal of Spike.

I hope & pray that you realise how much love there is out in fandom for you ... how much pleasure & fun you have brought to so many.

Wishing you a special 2021
Love, Deborah 

In your own space, talk about your fannish history

Some yeras ago I had my friend's daughter staying with me. She watched Buffy as a series, which I didn't. However that evening as she was watching it I walked into the room to offer her a coffee and was totally "grabbed" by the character on the screen. I ended up watching the whole episode, and was captured by the story so watched the next few episodes of the series.

Well, that was Spike, and episode "Lies my parents told me" from season 7. I was stunned by his acting and the story that I both picked up, and that Kayleigh filled in the back-story of.

Sadly within a couple of weeks the series (and the show finished) ... and I was shocked by the ending.

Having been told at school that I was no good at English I had always believed this. But I was still reeling with the finish of BtVS, and had found fan-fic. So I decided to have a go at how I would bring Spike & Buffy together ... and I wrote my first ever fic ... It's All A Question Of Timing

In my hunt for stories as well as discovering fan-fic, I discovered LiveJournal.

In finding LJ I needed icons.  To start with I got a couple from communities, and then just trimming a few screencaps.  As I am colourblind I had also been told at school that art wouldn't be for me.  But with an increasing friend base I found some who suggested I give it a go with a free photo editing suite.

So now I still make icons ... I can't do animated ones (I wish I could), I can't really do banners (again I wish I could), but love doing them.  Thanks LJ (& DW) for the icon competitions ... not that I am great, but I enjoy it.

I do want to get back to writing ... but some of that is lack of a regular beta ... and procratination.


But, overall my thanks will always go back to say THANK YOU JAMES ... without your portrayal of Spike I would never be tying this today