Month: January 2020

shrike was cake: to begin with

On By brosencrantzIn things to appreciateLeave a comment

Many years ago in the mists of 2012, I proofread a dissertation for a friend up in Leeds.  My normal fee for such work was a cheeseburger and curly fries at the Selly Sausage, but her specialty being the baking and decorating of Amazing Cakes, she did this one for me. I mentioned this in my livejournal at the time but didn’t post any pictures, a near-unforgivable omission I can only hope to remedy now. So, presenting the Stalker Shrike, from Mortal Engines, in cake form. (He was delicious.)

Also, that friend and I are married now.

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threads of gloom

On By brosencrantzIn The Gloomy Frog, things to appreciateLeave a comment


I am completely terrible for guessing the gifts my extremely kind, patient and generous other half frequently gets me. However, through a long period of working in secret and hurriedly hiding things under blankets when I drew near, she completely blindsided me with this absolutely wonderful embroidered frog. I’m very lucky to have her (and the frog.) Also, I feel like my Personal Brand has been alarmingly well established.

She’s taking up embroidery as a proper hobby and is thinking of putting it all online on her new instagram – watch this space!

BONUS BEHIND THE SCENES PICTURE. Yes, he looks like Problem Sleuth.

a frog for all seasons

On By brosencrantzIn The Gloomy FrogLeave a comment

One of the real pleasures of being an Employed Adult and having a little bit of disposable income is getting to commission things from artists. I’ve been using Matsumoto Hoji’s frog print (henceforth The Gloomy Frog) as an icon on Facebook and various other places for years now (since 2014!) but decided I wanted a bit of seasonal variation, and the lovely Skyla from the Mortal Engines Discord server was only too happy to oblige.

Here are the Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter frogs she created for me.

And a bonus picture she did of myself WITH the frog!