Lunchtime Date

Mrs RC just popped over for our weekly lunch date.

The morning was thoroughly miserable - I woke to the sound of pouring rain, which stopped just long enough for me to get to work dry before starting again on and off for the rest of the morning.

Then Mrs RC arrived and we headed to the garden, wondering what was in store for us.

First off, the seats were dry - must have been sheltered by the building that they are up against.

Then the clouds parted and we had an hour of wonderful sunshine as we chatted and munched on sandwiches and cakes.  I must admit to feeling that the sun was JUST FOR US.  There were plenty of clouds scudding around, but none of them came between us and the sun.  Wonderful!

Now I am back to work for the afternoon, which is just going to float past - just a bit of Excel and then some photocopying, nice and routine...

Orro Rides Again!

I painted Orro the dwarf last night, while watching Once Upon a Time.

 

 

The photo is more or less actual size.  I really enjoyed doing him - it is nice to be able to spend time doing just one figure instead of a whole army!

 

Anyway, time is rolling on, exam season is in full swing here at Uni, Number One Son will be home in just over 3 weeks, the day after Mrs RC and I celebrate our 28th anniversary!  Not sure what we will do - maybe have a meal out together or something - we will see.

 

 

Changing the subject entirely, I have started listening to music while cycling.  I tried it many years ago, but decided that it stopped me hearing the traffic around me and gave up.  But I have now solved the problem.  Instead of wearing plug earphones I have some larger ones that just sit over my hears.  When cycling, I have these resting on my ear lobes, held in place by the strap on my helmet.  This allows me to hear the music without blotting out the sound of maniac drivers coming up behind me!  Perfect!  I try not to sing along when there are pedestrians around, but on the plus side I think I have been riding a bit faster, trying to pedal to the beat of the music...

 

 This is a good one....

 

Getting my hand in again!

A long time ago, I had thought about designing toy soldiers, but gave up.

 

I used to spend a lot of time modifying figures, changing weapons, adding new hats, cloaks, etc.  It was fun.

 

With the impending games of D&D, I decided to sort out a figure for my character. He is a Dwarf how has forgotten that he is a Dwarf - he just thinks he is a short human with very vigorous beard growth.  He wears a floppy hat and uses a rapier - in the style of the 3 Musketeers.

 

I found an old figure, removed his horned helmet and gave him a new hat and rapier (a pin).

 

 

I really enjoyed doing it.  OK it isn't a masterpiece of conversion, but it should look great when it is painted.

The week rolls on...

Mrs RC is making it a regular thing to meet me for lunch on Thursdays.  I bring a sandwich with me so she brings me pudding:

 

 

Yes I am spoilt, yes she is wonderful and yes I do appreciate her.  We sat in one of the Uni gardens and chatted about "stuff".  It makes a great feature of the week, and I hope we can keep doing it, at least while the weather is passable.

 

 

Passable is about as good as the weather gets at the moment - banks of thick cloud, often dumping a ton of rain as they go, followed by warm sunshine, the effect of which tends to be wiped out by the cold wind.  BLAH!  Bring me a real summer!  Roll on August and me and Mrs RC roasting ourselves in Malta!

 

Years of mixing with my Head of Department has given me a niggling interest in woodland.  In the last few months, an area of woods that I cycle past has been felled, creating this clearing...

 

 

I have decided to log what happens to the clearing by taking photos at the beginning and middle of each month.  Not sure how long I will keep it up, but it would be fun to do a year so that I could them do a time lapse movie of how things change.

 

 

So, what else?  Oh, I have nearly finished painting a set of pack camels that I started a couple of months ago.  Just have to do the groundwork and they are finished!  Then I can get on to painting my next army - Persians, as seen in The 300 Spartans. 
 

 

Ah, what a great movie - love the way the Spartans are portrayed as the defenders of freedom - never mind that they were a non-democratic slave owning city themselves!  Anyway, I will be the nasty Persian leader who thinks he is unstoppable...

 

Just have a couple of hundred soldiers to paint...

Catching Up

Yeah, I have been pretty lazy, haven't I?  So, what have I been up to?

On Thursday evening, I had a couple of beers with an old friend who used to sing in one of the bands I was in.  We had a great catch up session and, yes, this was the first step in getting a fun band together.  He has hinted that he would like to have a to at playing guitar too, so maybe we only need to find a drummer now...

Friday was mega busy at work - not sure how that happened, as we are supposed to be getting into the quieter part of the year now, but ho hum.

Saturday I was off to play wargames at a friend's house.  He only lives 2 train stops away, but the trip was made more tricky by the fact that my train went straight through and only stopped at the 3rd stop.  As all of the trains going back seemed to be doing the same thing, I decided to walk back.  It was only a couple of miles, and I do like walking through places to see what is there.

This church was the most interesting building on the route, a nice contrast to the dejected looking immigrants who seemed to predominate on the first part of my walk.

My friend has a very big garden, and we play the games in his large shed/summer house.  His garden is not the neatest, but there are some wonderful flowers hiding in it.

The wargame was great fun and looked spectacular.  We fought a fictitious battle set during Charlemagne's invasion of Spain.

My army narrowly won, but it could have gone either way, a real nail-biter.

The only thing I regret was that while we were playing a family of foxes were playing in the garden outside - missed a great photo opportunity there  :-(


So it is now Sunday, and I am waiting to go out to do some food shopping, but no one seems to be rushing.  Ah, here comes Mrs RC now...

Time to go!  Have a great Sunday, see you next week!

17 again...

Well I guess it couldn't last.  This morning was cool and wet, but still beautiful in its way.  I love the way the successive hedgerows fade into the distance...

 

So, what is happening in the RCworld?

 

Not a vast amount, but there is some movement towards getting a band going with a guy who used to sing on one of my old bands.  We are going to meet up for a good catch up session soon and then start the search for a drummer and a guitarist who just want to have a bit of fun.  Of course, an alternative would be to create backing tracks to play/sing along to, but that is less fun and removes the fun of jamming with real musicians.

 

The other thing, another return to my younger days, is that I might be playing a few games of Dungeons and Dragons!  Haven't played in years, but there seems to be a small group of guys of similar age to me who want to give it a go. Should be a laugh!  I will let you know how things work out.

 

Meanwhile, the zombie story continues...

The Long Weekend So Far

This weekend is May Bank Holiday - May Day to the socialists among us.

Flowers and blossom is everywhere.

Isn't that sweet?  Even Hawthorn can look nice for a couple of days each year.  The thorns from these bushes are responsible for most of the punctures I get on my bike!

Dog walks in the sun...

A picnic on the beach.  Shame we have pebbles, we all had numb butts by the end...

Breakfast in bed...

\Simple things but they all add up to a wonderful time!