Well, here I go, late again! But this time I have a good excuse – my favourite eldest daughter was over today, and we watched the first four episodes of “The Chronicles of Shannara”, based on the Terry Brooks Shannara series of books. First impressions? Well, I liked it – and I’d like to watch more of it – but not if we have to rely on episodes recorded from the Foxtel SyFy channel! Honestly, I know it’s called “Pay TV”, but the commercial breaks were completely over the top! For every three minutes of show, there’d be at least five minutes worth of commercials, and if we hadn’t been able to fast-forward through the ads it would have been completely unwatchable! There simply wasn’t enough story time between the numerous, and very long ad breaks, in which to grasp the story-line properly! Well, I’d recorded the first two episodes, and Julian found and pulled down the 3rd and 4th episodes from online for us, and if we’re going to watch the rest of the series, it’s going to have to be pulled down – so far, it looks like a good show – but it doesn’t look good enough to be bothered sifting through all those ad breaks, even using the fast-forward function! It’s typical fantasy, Tolkien-wannabe-type fare, with elves, and demons, and humans, and a dying magical protector tree – but it looks reasonably well done, I’m sure I’ve seen some of the actors in other shows (so they were obviously good enough to warrant another role in this show) and the scenery is very pretty (it looks as though it was filmed in New Zealand, or possibly even Ireland – but I’m too lazy to be bothered looking it all up! Sorry! 🙂 ) So at first viewing, I’d say that it was well worth following, but only if you can get hold of an ad-free version of it! So be warned! Do NOT try to watch it on the SyFy channel, because you will go stark, staring mad, sifting through all the ads, even if you record it and wear out your fast-forward button on it!
We also watched out last episode (Season finale) of “The Librarians” ( 😦 we want more – currently it’s our favourite show, and I don’t know if there’s even going to be another Season of it!) and our last episode (well, the last one we have on file, anyway) of “Supergirl” – then we filled in the rest of the time with the next Season (6th, I think!) of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
This morning before my favourite eldest daughter arrived, I played a bit of WoW – I got Brunhilda up to level 22 – almost level 23, actually – and although I’m currently in the Northern Barrens, the “gateway” into Ashenvale, and through to the Ruins of Mathystra, where the Ghost Saber-tooth cats can be found, I’ve been far too busy questing to have even gone after Dishu, the spotted orange “Special”, that I usually try to Tame for a pet! Besides, I’ve already Tamed another, different “Special”, a white lion called “Echeyakee”! I was given a quest to go out and kill him, and to bring back his claw, or his pelt, or something, as proof – but I remembered that he was Tamable, and as I had a magickal horn to blow to make him appear, I called him, Tamed him, and then because once you tame an animal – even a special “named” animal, the Pet version is simply called “Cat”, or “Boar”, or whatever sort of animal it is, and I re-named him “Echeyakee”! Then I used the horn again, and killed this second “Echeyakee”, and took the “proof” needed back to the quest giver! Two birds, one stone! 😉 So maybe this evening I’ll be able to make my way up to Mathystra to see if I can get my Ghost Saber-tooth Pet as well! Oh, and I now have a mount! A big, black riding wolf! And it’s just sooo much more betterer, galloping along on wolf-back, rather than jog-trotting slowly along! 🙂
Food stuffz: today it’s been pretty much “same old, same old” – the usual breakfast, and the usual “at home” lunch – two Ryvita crispbreads, with low-far ricotta or cottage cheese, a spoonful of quinoa tabouli salad (I’m still looking for a decent recipe so that we can make it ourselves!) a slice of sandwich ham, a slice of low-fat sandwich cheese (half a slice on each crispbread – not a whole slice on each!) and a bit of sliced tomato on top – tonight we’re having the King Island Beef sausages again, with rice instead of chips this time, and I suppose the usual suspects – green beans and half a tomato! 🙂 Seems to be working, because…
Weigh-in this morning. Astonished me! I’d gone back down – five points! I went from that ghastly 63.8kg back down to 63.3kg! Innit amazing what a single day on decently light meals (well, sort-of, anyway) and getting in both treadmill walks can do! Nah – I think it’s more to do with fluid and fluid retention – it only takes one really hot day for me to turn into a camel, or a sponge, and my body simply refuses to give up its water – it kinda says “No! no! I might get thirsty later! It’s gunna be hot, you know!” Well, that’s my theory, anyway! 🙂 Oh well, let’s see what sort of a liar the scales are going to make of me tomorrow, eh? 😉
Well, we were going to take the Israeli mob to “The Tender Trap” for lunch tomorrow, but guess what? They don’t open again until Thursday! “Bother,” said Winter, as all her careful plans were dashed to pieces! We could do the BBQ tomorrow, but we wouldn’t be able to make the lamb marinade recipe that my favourite eldest daughter sent me because (a) we don’t have any sesame oil or fresh mint in the house, and (b) it’s supposed to rest in the fridge overnight. Not that we have to have the marinated lamb for the BBQ, of course, we can have all sorts of other meats or sausages – the lamb isn’t essential – I just thought it would be nice… Julian has suggested the Pancake Parlour as an alternative venue, at which point my eyebrows suddenly disappeared into my hair-line (I mean, isn’t the Pancake Parlour just a little contrary to my dietary boundaries?! He said I could have a salad… and I said that no-one goes to the Pancake Parlour to have a salad!) so Julian said that he’d “discuss it with Mike in the morning”. Personally, I wouldn’t mind going back to the East Empress Bistro, even though we were only there on Sunday, but when I mentioned it the other day to Mike and Inbar they gave me the distinct impression that they weren’t interested in Chinese.. so… I guess not. Anyway, no doubt we’ll all muddle through somehow or other, and still manage to have a nice meal – we could have the BBQ tomorrow (but without the lamb) and take them to “The Tender Trap” on Friday, for a “farewell luncheon” thingie… And once again, that’s about it from me this evening! Drop in again tomorrow night to find out how “The Great Saga of the Family Luncheon Or BBQ” panned out, and if we did end up going to the Pancake Parlour, did I disgrace myself by having a Short Stack, with Real Maple Syrup and Whipped Butter? 😉 (especially if the scales weren’t very kind to me in the morning!) Until then, however, do please try to bee good, and remember, if you don’t know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn… and don’t forget to look after yourselves, to drive carefully, and to keep cool – or warm – depending on Melbourne’s sometimes rather weird weather… but most of all, don’t forget to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂
I fear that I have to end this blog on a rather sad note – Terry’s mother – my favourite youngest daughter’s mother-in-law – passed away peacefully this afternoon after a long illness – our thoughts are with Terry and Kate…
My Word! 