The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

It has been the weirdest week.
From the abominable and appalling to the most strange and sublime

The ancient serpent has shed her old skin and slinks now between the worlds of the living and the dead

From impromptu tarot card readings at the day job, flocks of birds splashing in fountains, worm farm freebies and unplanned detours to shops that just happen to have an assortment of TREES in stock for commemorating very special people. Some one special from the other side is whispering to serpents and this time the Izzie is all ears and listening very very carefully

Amidst all these signs and wonders, it is a pity that the one thing lacking is sufficient time lurking at the Lair to squiggle about it all on Scrivener at lightning speed as opposed to hunting and pecking on poky little tweet stone keyboards

The odd squiggle in the silver spiral notebook is a poor substitute but is still sufficient to possess the most potent Pensieve powers of its pink predecessor from January 2002

It has been a whirlwind of craziness. But there is light at the end of the darkest tunnel. Far far sooner than I ever expected to see it

Time to abandon the Dursleyish dreariness and to return to the enchanted times

Izzie's been such a busy serpent. Rituals to be observed and commitments to be kept. So so many things to squiggle about and so many distractions

For quite a while Mondays had been gardening days - planting, weeding and other such stuff. But since the recent departure of the froggies they have been devoted to decluttering, sorting and tossing. Made more progress in the last few weeks than the last year or so.
It does help having crisp and crunchy sunny days and long dark nights and even more so having no one to share the Lair with
The neglected broom cupboard at the top of the stairs has become the cornerstone for all sorts of plotting and planning.
It has become the home to a ridiculous number of books many of which had been long forgotten. The big fat hardcover Potters have found their way to the back shelves as they are unlikely to be peeked at in the forseeable future and in there they are protected from the evil dust bunnies
There they are keeping company with a bunch of art and craft books along with an assortment of oddities. Being big fat shelves about 3 books deep, the sensible thing to do was to put boxes of stuff at the back and books at the front.
The tastiest morsels have been kept the most accessible and visible including a certain tiny Machievellian tome and the wickedly wonderful "48 Rules of Power" and assorted alchemical adventures.

Any day now the Dursleys will slink over and demand the return of their single bed now that the froggies have gone. They have been snooping and sniffing around today while the Izzie was slinking in the city
A week or two should be all it needs to have the last bastion of clutter looking half respectable

Yesterday had to decide just where to watch the winter solstice sunset especially as it seemed likely to be hidden behind the clouds just like last week's lunar eclipse
In the early hours of the morning before work the idea of curling up in the serpent sack looked most tempting indeed but rituals must be observed especially since the total stuff up of the summer solstice and the day after.
There were 3 possibilities only one of which involved watching the sunset over the ocean - assuming it would even be visible. Since the other two places would be visited due to commitments later in the week it made sense to take a chance on the ocean option even if returning to the Lair to scrub the scales after work and being there well before the 5.20pm sunset time made the whole ritual a bit rushed

Had already got snaked up in all sorts of greenery and the special Sabbat hat (courtesy of The Cat) when noticing the arrival of a long awaited Diggers box full of assorted weeds. Otherwise it would have been just as likely to spend the rest of the day lurking in the Lair opening the box and putting some of the critters in a bunch of already dug holes.
Had only been thinking on Monday about when the critters might arrive. Had ordered them in mid May.
Along with a lime, avocado, pomegranate and two pink peppercorn tree saplings were assorted blueberries and dragon fruit
The annoying thing is that today which would have been just perfect for pottering and planting - had assumed nothing important was happening at the public speaking group. No such luck. Was rostered on to chair the meeting so no possibility of jilting them. Well we could but it would be a mean low down thing to do.
Thursday's agenda includes the book binding class in the morning and the discussion group in the evening with the wonderful topic of conspiracy theories. Friday evening is the end of month scrapathon so it will be Friday morning that gets dedicated to a snooze in and grand planting session. The lime, avocado and pomegranate are the highest priority

Today's sunset just before the meeting was especially magical along with sitting outside a certain graveyard reading a second story from Mr King's "Full Dark, No Stars"
This book has got the Cat's name written all over it. Probably not quite gory and gruesome enough but still damned good so far. All the better for being a library book and therefore totally free

And then there's tons of juicy goblin gossip from the day job including tasty morsels from the new social networking policy and the precious little vampire princess there who has been asking a certain serpent about witchy things. Little cheapskate wants the serpent to lend her our preciouses with the pathetic excuse that her laptop is out of order and she presently only has a phone or something for internet access. Told her that the juiciest most magical morsel ever was a present from a very special friend and that no way was it going to ever leave the Lair but big chunks of it are available at Google books. She can go and print herself some pages or go to the library computers like normal beings do.
She claims to have done the tarot and rune thing. But since she takes so many sickies, still not managed to do the Spanish Inquisition.
Might consider listing four or five favorites for her and she can go and get them in a library or copy and paste from google or something. But no damned way is she ever going to get her paws on any originals
We thinks the odd title or two from The Great Beast himself should be enough to send her scurrying back to her batcave.
There's just so so many juicy characters from the day job just waiting to be snatched and squeezed for some seedy sordid story. We needs to keep much better notes.

Time to go snoozies. Got to be up bright and early for that book binding class at the old lunatic asylum