Junctus Journals

I am pleased to report that since that one time in February I have not had any more incidents with flowers or plants, so perhaps it might be time to start trusting them again. This probably comes at a good time as spring has started and they will be quite more of them around.

With the warmer weather coming it also means there has been a decrease in special order potions. This has been giving a lot of extra time to experiment in the back, which ends up being some of my favorite times of the day. Who would have expected that me, the social butterfly, would be enjoying spending time by herself back in her workshop hovering over potions in silence? Hmm writing it out now even I'm concerned about myself. Who wants to grab drinks?

So, I'm sitting on my sofa staring at this huge cabbage I bought on a whim at the market and I'm not going to lie, I'm looking at my stomach and I can't believe I have something that size inside of me. I mean, at the end of the day I usually am pretty exhausted, almost as if I've been lugging around a small sack of veggies, but this thing is ridiculous.

( Sam Bletchley )

A client who lives in Muswell Hill sent me this picture today:



It might be amusing to go eat there, if anyone would like to join me? Obviously, it's a muggle restaurant in a muggle area, so robes wouldn't be appropriate garb.

Be an artist. Sounds so romantic. It can be hard to break into and hard to make money from. That bit I was fine with and expected. No no, it's the fact it's basically running your own small business that's hard to deal with. And unless you're sharing space in some way or have an apprentice you basically do everything yourself most of the time. And mostly I don't mind. I like the painting, obviously, and I'm fine with the paint making and canvas prep, and even the buying supplies. I've been doing all that since I was an apprentice. And I shared a building for enough years that the business stuff is okay (although not my favourite). But research for new art projects just gets so overwhelming sometimes. I am surrounded by so many books and magazines and pieces of parchment and notes.

Why is the main magical part of Switzerland in the German speaking part? I don't speak German.
I speak English, okay French and I can kind of understand Jamaican Patois.
Where else speaks French? I've been to France and I was hoping to stay in Europe for now.

Anyone with experience of magical Europe I'd appreciate chatting about the ways areas are accessed, any local museums, gallery sections, hotels etc. which aren't in the main magical area. I'm a bit swamped at the moment. Also if it's somewhere I can get by without speaking the local language that would be amazing. Unless it's French, then I'll cope.

Sorry. I'm kind of just whining. I should go home.

Historic Rule Change for Witches' Institute

( Witches' Institute Annual Meeting Report )

Fliss is playing nurse to me today, reminding me when to take my pepper-up and singing me lullabies so I can sleep.

Her favourite, as far as I can make out, is something about a hole and 'fuck it'. Do I need to speak to her nursery?

Someone today asked me to rate the seven artistic mediums (art, cinema, literature, music, television, theatre and video games) in order of their importance to me personally. Obviously, art ranks the highest, but I found the rest surprisingly difficult.

1. Art
   
2. Cinema
   
3. Music
   
4. Theatre
   
5. Literature
   
6. Video games
   
7. Television

I'm not entirely pleased with it, but I think that probably is what my list boils down to and I don't care to spend more time obsessing over it. What about you?

Witch Weekly have been running a fascinating series on eccentric interior design, and my daughter cut a few of her favourites together into a collage.

© TESSISAMESS

If you had unlimited funds, space and skill, what kind of house would you make? I'd love to design a system of enchantments that could respond to mood and play appropriate music in any room. Julius, on the other hand, would have a massive library and quite possibly no other rooms at all.

Not many calls came in last night, and we got to talking about our Station Manager's teenage kids.

If you went back in time to talk to your 14-year-old self, what would you tell them about your life? And what do you think they'd make of it?

I'd tell myself about my job, and how even though I'm not a healer I'm still helping people, and actually I'm probably better at being in the MES than I would've been working in a hospital. I'd mention Liv and Rill, too, and how being an adult with responsibilities is pretty great when you have someone and something to come home to, or that come home to you.

I'm spending the weekend in Sweden to enjoy an exhibition on physics and the artistic imagination, and I think I should have scheduled a longer trip.



I'm quite sure I could spend the whole two days walking around Energy Forest by Sou Fujimoto and I wouldn't take in every detail of how intricate it is. I've set myself a time limit, so that I can still comfortably visit the rest of the exhibition - as well as having enough time to eat and sleep.

This is a kakapo (or night parrot):



They live in New Zealand, where they forage on the ground for food, because they're flightless. Somebody needs to tell them that, because they've been known to climb trees and jump from the branches — only to plummet to the floor.

I've been sent the outtakes from a photoshoot and interview I did a couple of months ago and they're AMAZING!



My only bother is that I'm pretty sure it might be big-headed of me to want a picture of myself up on my wall...

I'm glad to be back in somewhere that celebrates something on 1st March.

Happy St David's Day everyone! There are lots of daffodils and leeks around at the office and there was a (questionable) chorus of the Welsh anthem from the Welsh keepers.

In Romania I got used to Mărțișor on 1st March. Has anyone heard of that before?



It's a celebration of the start of spring. People (traditionally women) wear red and white things their family or friends give them. I don't know what to call them. Some people wear them as badges, some tie them around their wrists. They come in all sorts of designs. We used to all give them to each other at the Reserve, but they usually weren't the big ones because of them getting in the way.

As much as I like making my own cakes, it was a lovely surprise to have this turn up last week, courtesy of my son and daughter!



Not only is it reminiscent of one of my costumes, it's also got edible sequins! What was the best cake you ever made or received?

Note to self: Don't ever pick roses from random bushes near the Community Centre. There's a very high chance something weird may happen to you.

I just wanted a really pretty pink rose for my place and instead, I was stuck in a floating bubble for who knows how long. Thankfully a very nice older man figured out how to get me out of it. From now I will exclusively purchase my flowers from shops.

Got around to helping my ma clean out the attic. Really it was more I just sort through my old boxes and sneezing to death from the dust.

I found so many amazing things! Merlin, some cringey too: I discovered many of my old game plays from school... They were bad. And I found my contract from when I first signed with Puddlemere! All the trophies too from junior leagues and the like. So many photos as well. It was hard to get rid of most of it. I took a couple items home, too but sealed up the rest to forget about and look at another day.

Nothing good can come from unexpected letters from the Ministry.

Which utter fucker decided to nominate me for Magical Mayor of London? And managed to get enough signatures that I'm actually in the running? I'm not even 30, I don't have the life experience for this.

I don't have time for this.

I don't want this.

I know I kind of wanted a new hobby, but lots of dressing up in fancy robes and ceremonial duties wasn't what I was talking about.


(From what I know the position is similar to the Muggle position of almost the same name.)

Fliss made a Valentine's Day card, and when I asked who she wanted to send it to, she said 'everyone', so I figure this is the best place for it:



Happy Valentine's Day!

Being single, I'm obviously not celebrating Valentine's Day this year, so I thought I'd make a list of other ways to celebrate the 14th of February.

1. Watch Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, which was released on the 14th February 1931.
   
2. Listen to Respect by Aretha Franklin, which was released on the 14th February 1967.
   
3. Watch Shaun of the Dead (or any other film) starring Simon Pegg, who was born on 14th February 1970.
   
4. Listen to Whitney Houston's self-titled debut album, which was released on the 14th February 1985.
   
5. Read Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, against which a fatwa was issued on 14th February 1989.
   
6. Watch The Silence of the Lambs, which was released on the 14th February 1991.
   
7. Watch Hard Candy (or any other film) starring Ellen Page, who came out on 14th February 2014.

You might notice a slight bias towards horror movies, and a very definite lack of any idea what magical things might have happened on tomorrow's date. I'll apologise for the latter, but horror movies are excellent.

Okay, people who are more competent at living alone than me. (That's probably most people.)

I've got an ex- old friend coming to stay with me for a couple of weeks or so and mostly when I've travelled I've stayed in accommodation at a dragon reserve (provided housing is what I was used to for years), or at a room over a pub type situation, only one or two hotels or friends' sofas etc. I've not had to organise someone staying with me like this before.

What sorts of things am I likely to be forgetting about hosting someone?

I've started trying to hunt down food he likes, clean sheets and towels are ready to go, I've got some suggestions for places to visit if he feels like it, and he'll be coming to work with me so that's covered. Have I forgotten something obvious?

[Warded to Weasleys]

It's Mikhail who's visiting, if any of you remember me talking about him.