Mutterings - March 28

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Good man :: Saint
2. Static :: Electricity (or Variable!)
3. Anxiety :: High
4. Watched :: Variable (again - a debugger keeping watch on the value of a program variable)
5. Heart :: Aorta
6. First day :: Rest (of your life)
7. Certain :: Love
8. Forever :: Ring (Tolkien or Wedding?)
9. Impressed :: Ironed
10. Nervous :: Twitch

Mutterings - March 14

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Wash :: Hands!
2. Finish :: Smooth
3. Veneer :: Respectability
4. Symptom :: Cure
5. March :: Scaffold (Berlioz!)
6. Correction :: Facility (such a nice euphemism)
7. Link :: Pointer (softwarey!)
8. Chapped :: Hands
9. Control :: Freak
10. Licked :: (into) Shape

Mutterings - 8 Mar

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Decent :: Wholesome
2. Hypnotize :: Watch
3. Whirr :: Clock(!)
4. Baby :: Bird - the cats are getting ready!
5. Solid :: Space (not sure what's going on here!)
6. Take :: Heart
7. Discreet :: Email
8. Symbol :: Wagner's Ring
9. Orange :: Peel
10. Informational :: Sign

Rendering

I had space on the train up from London this week - and needed the relaxation to create this terragen render:

Not much apart from the lighting but it went well with my mood!

Mutterings - Feb 27

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Welcome :: Mat
2. Importance :: Of No - I think I was thinking of this play which I've never seen.
3. Painless :: Procedure (but usually not!)
4. Scramble :: Bike
5. Election :: Rigged
6. Message :: Telephone
7. Providing :: Comfort
8. Evidence :: Preserved
9. Talking :: Book
10. February :: Snow

Mutterings - Feb 18

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Flu :: Jab
2. Betrayal :: (of) Trust
3. Frustration :: Crying
4. 7:30 :: Alarm (but I'm usually up before this!)
5. Backward :: Looking
6. Vision :: Clouded
7. Freezing :: Fog
8. List :: (to) Starboard
9. Need :: Emotional
10. Cougar :: Claws

Teaser Tuesday - 13 Feb

Well a bit late but lets try to bring this back!
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

Mrs Ellis had spotted them: Tom and Gabiella. She'd been a witness, one of the last people to have seen my sister.

From our BATS (book group) book of the month - `The Missing Girl' Jenny Quintana - we're currently working our way through the Author alphabet and this month is (surprise!) Q. I think this is heading to be traumatic if it isn't there already!

I see Teaser Tuesday is now hosted here if you wish to go and thank Ambrosia or get other ideas.

Mutterings - Feb 13

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Burn out :: Emotional
2. Swallow :: Summer
3. Tiger :: [came to ] tea
4. Cough :: Audience
5. Notes :: Postit!
6. Balloon :: popup
7. Signal :: catch (an IT computer language connection!)
8. Cast :: Line (fish rather than chorus)
9. Push :: Over
10. Shiver :: Fear

Mutterings - Jan 28

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Constant :: Gardener
2. Tragic :: Muse
3. Cougar :: JLR (Jaguar Landrover)
4. Inspect :: Clouseau
5. Stale :: Bread
6. Verbal :: Abuse
7. Annoying :: Tic
8. Pace :: Even
9. Friendship :: Lasting
10. Jade :: Green

A few weeks missing and I will attempt to beat more life into this blog with different posts!

Mutterings - Jan 4

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Pathetic :: Symphony (but better as pathétique!)
2. Snapshot :: System
3. Start :: Menu (oh dear this is getting very geeky!)
4. Combine :: Harvester
5. Assertive :: Manner
6. Think :: Storm (maybe via brain)
7. Storm :: (don't think I saw this line, see above) Mental. But I was tempted by some half remembered lines from Cocteau's La Machine Infernale - I see Cocteau associated himself into the last one too!
8. Humor :: Sense (of)
9. Regain :: Ground
10. Resolve :: Firm

Mutterings - Dec 29

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Parents :: Terribles - a Cocteau play
2. Controversy :: Political
3. Twitter :: rajm - me!
4. Minute :: Waltz
5. Back and forth :: Havering
6. Producing :: Litter (puppies rather than rubbish!)
7. Twigs :: Understands
8. Giants :: Walk
9. Clinic :: Dental
10. Amazing :: Grace

Mutterings - Dec 13

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Pushed :: (onto the ) Stack - software algorithms!
2. Desire :: Heat
3. Fold :: Over (origami)
4. Ruffle :: IRC
5. Human :: Spirit (resists torpedo!)
6. Torpedo :: Chances
7. Lantern :: Magic
8. Terror :: Existential
9. Distaste :: Prim
10. Accomplish :: Sign

Mutterings - Dec 12

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Host :: Communion
2. Nail :: Hand (take that how you will!)
3. Clause :: Subordinate
4. Pen :: Le (French politics..)
5. Therapy :: Retail
6. Highlight :: Pen(!)
7. Panting :: Desire
8. Education :: Primary (or Bad - Almodóvar
9. Contribution :: Financial
10. Lie :: Politics (and thinking of certain blonde headed - current - leaders)

Mutterings - Dec 6

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Cloud :: Cirrus (carefully avoiding internet links!)
2. Officer :: Salute
3. Physical :: Exercise
4. Advantageous :: Position
5. Mobile :: Phone (having 'fun' here at the moment)
6. Threat :: Existential
7. Potential :: Energy
8. Confined :: Prison
9. Overlap :: Origami
10. Domain :: Web

Mutterings - Nov 23

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Notification :: Popup
2. Screen :: Time
3. Purify :: Scald
4. Obsolete :: Version
5. Contaminate :: Drop (into)
6. Nightmare :: Shouting (in my case)
7. Show :: Tell
8. People :: Friends
9. Unique :: Solution
10. Install :: Package (software showing!)

Mutterings - Nov 9

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Cancel :: Delete
2. Optimistic :: Outlook
3. Surrogate :: Mother
4. Tickle :: Fancy
5. Amber :: Insect (in)
6. Stuffy :: Old fashioned
7. Chaos :: Theory
8. Desktop :: Tidy (not mine!)
9. Dynamite :: Stick
10. Holidays :: Summer

Mutterings - Oct 25

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Conceive :: [a] child
2. Exterminate :: Sink plunger (or a Dalek..!)
3. Forest :: Peace
4. Artistic :: Bent
5. Compulsive :: Twitch
6. Original :: Theme (Variations on... not sure which set I was thinking of! Elgar? Beethoven?)
7. Excessive :: Bureaucracy
8. Fancy! :: Free!
9. English :: Language
10. Conceit :: Artifice

Porto Meanderings

The full day we spent in Porto we followed the suggested InnTravel walks around the city. This picture is some of the tiles high up in São Bento, plenty more tiles there but I did like the ones up near the roof.

Evening meal was again at Jimao Tapas e Vinhos - enjoyed on both occasions!

Mutterings - Oct 13

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Say something :: Anything!
2. Eventually :: Event-u-ally (said slowly) was it a John Cleese-ism?
3. Contract :: Bridge
4. Worth :: Harry (a UK comedian of the 50s)
5. Nasty :: or Nice?
6. Corrupt :: Politician
7. Virus :: Noro-
8. System :: Backup
9. Supportive :: Friend
10. Dictator :: Mussolini

Transfer to Porto

After enjoying another evening and breakfast at Calheiros we took an Inntravel arranged taxi to Porto for a few extra days stay at the Hotel Pestana . We'd arranged a trip to the Graham port lodge for a tasting that afternoon and so wandered over the river and a walk alongside admiring painted walls:


See the album for the rabbit! I'd rather gone off the sweetness of port but the tasting and introduction to the lodge was much enjoyed! That evening we ate at Jimao Tapas e Vinhos close to the hotel - busy I'd recommend booking (which we did).
Oh and at lunchtime we ate at da Terra - a vegetarian restaurant with a serve yourself infinite buffet!