Various ramblings by the small hobbit

My very good friend, stonepicnicking_okapi has gifted me for Christmas two podfics of my Ferret fics read by peasina.  They are wonderful - she captures all the different voices very well, and the humour comes through beautifully.  She has also created mood boards, so we get to see Ferret in his clerical outfit.

The Ferret's Nativity

The Carollers

Do go and have a listen!

And so we come to the last of the Twelve Days of Christmas (plus One).  And where better to finish the ACD Sherlock Holmes.

For debriswoman  The Message

Twelve Days of Christmas wouldn't be the same without Mouselet

and here, for scfrankles  is Christmas Decorations

I'm always delighted when I can add to one of my series with one of these ficlets, and Holmes and Watson's Sussex Retirement is one of my favourites.

For howsmyenglish : Christmas Eve Service

This week I shall be answering the questions from the meme (there is still time to ask further questions), but you may be able to work out which character responds to which number, which would be cheating.


We begin with nagi_schwarz  question: Sister Julienne (Call the Midwife) and Thorin Oakenshield (The Hobbit) decide to stay in and watch a film. What do they pick and what snacks do they have?

Thorin tentatively suggests The Sound of Music, thinking this might be appropriate, but Sister Julienne tells him not to be ridiculous, they need an action film.  They settle on Red, with Sister Julienne cheering on Helen Mirren.  They have ice cream, which Thorin gets in his beard whenever he gets too engrossed in the film and the ice cream melts.  Both thoroughly enjoy themselves and agree to have a monthly film night.


Meanwhile, as per stonepicnicking_okapi  question: Sister Evangelina (Call the Midwife) and Lucas North (Spooks) have gone fishing.  What do they catch and does either (and if so which?) fall out of the boat.

The boat owner is rather surprised to find a nun wanting to go sea fishing, but as she's happy to pay he agrees to take the two of them out.  They catch a number of mackerel, which pleases Sister Evangelina because she plans to have some for her tea.  Meanwhile, Lucas has spotted something strange in the water and starts to lean out to get a better look.  Sister Evangelina notices him and tells him very sharply to sit down, and she will retrieve it.  When her back is turned Lucas begins to inch his way towards the side of the boat.  Sister Evangelina turns back and gives him her patent glare, perfected over many years, and Lucas obediently resumes his original position and stays there whilst Sister Evangelina retrieves the plastic box Lucas was after.

mafief  provided a follow up question: How does Harry Potter, who is watching from the shore, act?

Harry could have used a discrete bit of magic to help Lucas, but he's too amused, so settles for recording the action on a muggle smartphone.


Elsewhere, vix_spes  asked: There's a heatwave.  How do Stanley Hopkins and Tigger Holmes cope?

DI Stanley Hopkins of the Met River Police takes a friend's boat up the river, finding the best of the breeze as he does so.  Tigger Holmes goes too, although every so often he bounces off the boat and into the river.  Stanley expertly throws the life belt out and pulls Tigger back.  Tigger dries off in the sunshine, and starts to bounce again.  Stanley doesn't mind, he enjoys practicing his accuracy at throwing.  And at least Tigger doesn't argue about wearing his life jacket, which Sherlock would do.


And while all this is going on Debriswoman has asked: Dr Watson has been given the job of chaperoning Sherlock Holmes on an evening out with the Ferret.  Oddly, events do not go as planned.

Watson had understood this was to be a reconnaissance trip.  He had not really seen the need for his presence, but the Ocelot had insisted he go.  Watson and Holmes were walking past the town house Holmes was intending to call at the day after, when the Ferret, who was sitting in Holmes' jacket pocket, pointed out a side window was ajar.  Instantly Holmes changed direction and crept up to the window.  The Ferret slipped inside, and Holmes opened the window slightly more and followed him.  Watson was left to keep guard on the road.  When he saw a policeman approaching on his rounds he began to whistle loudly, with the result the policeman thought Watson was drunk and wanted to arrest him.  Fortunately, Holmes had been alerted and climbed back out of the window.  Slipping behind the policeman he was able to join Watson saying, "Sorry to be so late, I was unavoidably detained."  The policeman realised Watson hadn't been drunk, but merely bored, and wished them both a 'Good evening'.  As he departed he wondered why there was a strong smell of peppermint coming from Holmes' jacket pocket.

Day 10 - In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. (Or a few!) Tell us what makes it work for you, and why it appeals to you so much. Talk about what you like to see in fanworks featuring that theme most. Feel free to include recs and examples!
In a word competency.  I like my characters to be competent – yes, they make mistakes or things happen to them, but I want them to be good at their job.  And I create OCs so there can be competent people around, because I dislike the trope where the main character(s) shines through because/in spite of the general incompetency, or because the higher ups deliberately act to block the characters.

Day 11 - Share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life.
It has to be Life on Mars, because that was what got me into fandom and fic writing.  I’ve moved on from there, but the fun of writing and interacting with others remains.

Day 12 - In your own space, create a fanwork. Make a podfic, an icon, a sketch, a meta, or a rec list. Arts and crafts. Cross stitch. Draft an essay about a particular medium. Put together a picspam or a fanmix. Write a review of book you love, a ship manifesto, a you-should-be-listening-to-this-band essay. Create something
Here’s Crochet!Holmes
( crochet Holmes )
Day 13 - In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private.
For the last four years, I have made my goals in April, so I shall be continuing with this practice.

A number of my flist are doing the Snowflake Challenge, so I thought this year I'd do so too.  After all, I'm all for encouraging fandom.  It's an interesting challenge, and I'd like to stay the course.  I've not been posting everyday, but have been recording my responses, and intend to continue posting them every few days.


Responses to days 1 to 6:

Day 1 - Talk about why you're participating in Snowflake and, if you’ve participated in the past, how the challenge has affected you. What drew you to it? What did you take away from it? What do you hope to accomplish this year?
I’ve considered this challenge for a couple of years, but never got around to it, so this year I thought I’d give it a go and see how it went.  I know people who are taking part/have taken part and it seems worth a try – at least there’s only 15 days of commitment, so that should be possible.  I’ve no idea what I’ll accomplish this year, but it can’t hurt to try something different in my Year of Trying New Things.  However, like a lot of these things, I won’t always post every day, but may write daily and then do a mass post.

Day 2 - Share a favourite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, crazy times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone.
I first got into fandom when my father died and I was staying with my mother helping with all the formalities afterwards.  Fandom proved an escape for a while every evening.  I’ve done a number of things I would never have done without fandom, but visiting the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland with a group of Sherlock Holmes fangirls at the beginning of May one year must be a highlight.  A recent comment I received which particularly touched me was from NovaNara on The Orphans’ Christmas Party – “Adorable! Also exactly what I needed today, because some scum of the earth managed to steal the Christmas presents going to the paediatric ward of an hospital here in Italy (not next to where I live thank God). Obviously people are rushing to remedy that, but seriously, who would do that?”

Day 3 - In your own space, post recs for at least three fanworks that you did not create.
Two from this year’s Yuletide, and one birthday fic written for me:
Of Gilded Wallpaper and Meddling Dragons (Temeraire) by nerakrose
To The Ends of the Earth (North & South) by vix_spes 
Lucas and the Happy Eggs by Okapi

Day 4 - In your own space, create a fannish wishlist. No limits on size or type of fanwork; just tell us what you’d like to see.
I’d love some icons: Call the Midwife; Grantchester; Forever; Lucas/Adam from Spooks; Guy/Much from BBC Robin Hood.
I've been given three icons for the first series of Call the Midwife, so yay, by sixbeforelunch .  And now tarlanx has made me two Forever icons!
I've also added a couple of new friends on Goodreads, picked up a prompt for a future fic, and offered to English SPAG beta for someone from France.

Day 5 -  Recommend a fannish or creative resource.
For ACD Sherlock Holmes – lots of useful information:

Day 6 - Leave feedback for a fanwork. Or multiple fanworks. It can be as simple as I liked this to a detailed list of all the things you loved about the fanwork. The key is to leave some sort of feedback.
Done, for Okapi's brilliant Holmes birthday fic Happy Birthday, Mr Holmes

As Okapi pointed out, there couldn't be a collection of ficlets without Inspector Stanley Hopkins. So here it is:

Snowflake Memories

This follows from the discussion tripleransom and I had regarding their prompt.

Maintaining Traditions

NovaNara provided me with a misheard song title, which it seemed would be a shame to waste.

The Ice Skating Tableau