mercurygray

[mercurygray]

That blurb of medieval Cord and Egan??? To die for 😍

Chef's kiss, ten out of ten 👌🏼

Also, is Fred your local wildlife wrangler and protector? As in I-started-out-as-a-people-wrangler-but-i-might-as-well-do-animals-too??? Your local Disney Princess?

Maybe she starts taking care of a whole array of local fauna to the ever growing confusion of everybody on base?? Like, poor Tatty was prepared to deal with pilots, not local wildlife, she is not equipped for this

If so, may I present you the idea of hedgehogs??

- your Fred Friend

Fred Friend, I love where your head's at, but this feels possibly a little too Mary Sue Disney princess for prime time.

Fitje Pitts, whose book I read recently, talks a lot about the dogs, cats, birds, and at least one ferret (for hunting rats) that were owned by the men who worked on the air bases she was stationed at. I think we might start Fred off with a small kitten with a ridiculous name. Right now the top contenders are Soup, Getty (for Spaghetti) and Spam.

(And maybe later the kitten finds a hedgehog, which I'm told would have been a common garden animal in Norfolk.)

(We'll also deal with any long term post-stalag angst about cats at another time...)

#asked and answered #Kind Anonymous Friend

[mercurygray]

Robert ‘Rosie’ Rosenthal✈️

Masters of Air Part Eight

#very normal about him #rosie rosenthal #masters of the air

[mercurygray]

#damn the blue on those eyes is a Killy special #masters of the air #masters of the air spoilers #curt biddick

[mercurygray]

It’s been three years since the wedding, and he’s run out of excuses not to visit. They’re expecting him today. Marge said as much in her last letter, the lovely slant of her cursive telling him she’d have supper waiting for him. The faintest whiff of her perfume clung to the paper, something soft and floral.

Five o’clock on the dot. Italian, she promised. Your favorite.

the chimneys hardly ever fall down a john/gale/marge fic by @redbelles

#hey you #yeah you #you want to read this #it's EXCELLENT #i'm gonna rec it #masters of the air fanfic #john x gale x marge #a threesome thing

[mercurygray]

Bringing you a snack and some super cuddly pets while I ask about this Tudor AU!

I honestly don't know if it's a Tudor AU or a Borgias AU but it's something for the 1500s or thereabouts and since I cannot with any seriousness make John Egan an Italian I'm afraid it's Merry Old England or nothing. Anyway, the history here is vibes at best and it's all because of this gifset and enemies to lovers works very well in arranged marriage plots, which work very well for the 1500s.

A great captain must have prizes for his courage, and she was to be one of his - along with her estates, a castle with a commanding view of the valley and the farmlands below. In truth, it was more the land that interested his lord, and that he should have the running of it - it was a position of strategic importance, and his Earl would have been a fool to let it go to just anyone. But to a captain in the Hundred Companies, a battle-hardened veteran and victor of his wars? Nothing was too good - no prize too great.

"And the lady, sir?" It had seemed like a fair question, when the proposition had been laid before him.

The Earl waved his concern aside. "Of marriageable age and goodly stock. Her father was long in my service and sadly had no boys.  And since a father should reward his sons - it comes to you, garrison and girl both. She'll be a willing filly, once you bring her to the bridle." He laughed at his own joke, and John found himself laughing uneasily with him, wondering if the joke was truly funny.

And here she was - brought to the bridal. Cordelia. He'd scarcely spoken to her, except to raise her veil, and say his vows, and slip the ring onto her hand and kiss her cheek. Brown hair and bright eyes were all he knew.

#shopping for a fanfic #i have written a thing #cordelia callaway #all the alternate universes

[mercurygray]

Current UnFinished (Writing) Objects: -first OT3 thing -second OT3 thing (for different three) -remaining inbox prompts (5)

This week’s Spare Ideas Junk Drawer:

medieval/tudors arranged marriage Cord/Bucky AU (500 words so far)

Fred + small animal acquisition. (i'm accepting nominations for small animals.)

It's been a light week for ideas here chez Gray. Work's a bit busy and I appear to have mis-placed all my spare braincells.

#wip wendesday

[mercurygray]

I was in a rhythm, you know? Three days, three missions, three wheels down. Boom, boom, boom. It's like Gene Krupa. You don't stop Gene Krupa in the middle of a drum solo, do you?

#gosh the colors on this!! #simi you've done it again #very normal about him #rosie rosenthal #masters of the air

[mercurygray]

Mistakes were made:

Just learned there was a William De Warrene at the Battle of Hastings. His family later went on to become the Earls of Surrey, and he originally hailed from Varenne, in Normandy.

Could have made a joke about the Bayeux tapestry and missed it.

#shopping for a fanfic #joan warren

[mercurygray]

A few more filming pictures I've found.

First image from here (Facebook link).

All other images from here (Facebook). Also available here (Instagram).

A few thoughts under the cut.

That first picture must be just after Tristan gets back. He's still carrying his bag.

It took me a second to be sure that was Helen in the green. For a brief moment I thought it was Maggie

That third picture. Somebody get Callum some sunglasses so he doesn't have to squint.

Why does Callum look just exactly like my cousin in that fourth picture?

Imogen looking adorable.

Is Samuel West using Siegfried's glasses to look at his phone? Lol.

Also his binoculars. 'Can't stop. Must birdwatch.'

Someone in the comments on the second post thought it was a funeral. Everyone's dressed WAY too colorfully for a funeral.

I think it's most likely the baby's christening. Which led to me jumping around excitedly chanting "Tristan for godfather."

#TRISTAN'S GOT A TACHE!! #love this for us #he's going to be insufferable #acgas 2020

[mercurygray]

I started Frank Murphy's Luck of the Draw this week after a copy came in at the library, and I have to say I am enjoying it every bit as much as Harry Crosby's memoir.

They're very different writers with different styles - Crosby's book is very much a memoir, his own recollections of what happened, whereas Murphy's book is both memoir and history - he did extensive research to fill in some gaps in his own memory and knowledge to fill out and form a more complete picture of what was going on in the wider war. (I never get the sense that he's making anything up, though. He's pretty clear with his 'I don't remember this, but someone else said...') And while he's not a very big character in the show, I appreciate that nearly every time Frank is on screen, he's writing. (Usually a letter to his mom. They wrote nearly every day.)

His book also has extensive lists of everyone's planes and the missions they went on (information that is also available on the 100BG website) which is just as entertaining as it is informative. I just might have to buy this one.

#masters of the air #frank murphy #luck of the draw #i'm gonna rec it

[mercurygray]

If people love my fics it feels like they love and approve of a very real and deep part of me

#you know? true #the care and feeding of your friendly writer

[mercurygray]

I think I just need to make peace with the fact that zero writing is getting done this week.

#have come home with zero creative spoons left #it's a busy week at work and it was a busy weekend and i'm just - tired #and am basically doing the equivalent of hitting my head against the keyboard #which isn't helping anyone

[mercurygray]

hi love you guys do me a favor. big big big BIG breath in right now all the way all the way breathe in feel your belly expanding hold hold hold.. hold.. now everything out like ur a deflating balloon. whoosh. whooooooooosh. imagine water streaming from the top of your head down your shoulders off the ends of your fingertips and toes. u are a reed in a river a beam of pure light a steady anvil solid and heavy. ok that was all thank u

#sometimes self care is #a big big beeeeg deep breath

[mercurygray]

#the boys in the boat

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#VoxPop During World War II, women made many contributions to the war effort. Perhaps the greatest sacrifice was made by the mothers who sent their sons off to war. Parks Johnson frequently used Vox Pop broadcasts to re-unite American families separated by the war.

On March 22, 1943, Vox Pop broadcast from the New Yorker Hotel in New York City and invited three mothers from Brooklyn to speak to their sons via shortwave telephone. Here, the three mothers are posing with Parks Johnson and Warren Hull behind a CBS microphone.

In the case of Anna O’Reilly (center), it was the last time she ever spoke to her son Francis “Buzzie” O’Reilly, whose B-17 was shot down over Germany two months later. 

#women in world war two #women in wartime #original girl gang

[mercurygray]

Small vent:

I keep running into posts in tags I follow where people say 'I want more [x]!!!'

Which is fine. We're all allowed to want more of whatever it is that's twirling our beanie this week.

But when x is a thing that you and several friends already do, and this person hasn't liked it, or reblogged it, or commented on it, despite the fact that it uses the same tag, or spoken to you or those people about the previous bits of it that already exist, I have to say, you're not helping your case here for having me jump back on the wagon to make more.

I know I don't create on command, but it sure helps when I know my work will be recognized, acknowledged, and appreciated afterwards, and people come to talk to me about it. This is a community. That's what communities do.

I don't see the expression your face makes when I post more, and I don't hear the squeal of joy when you get to the good part, and the simple fact is I don't know what you meant when you clicked the like button. And I can extrapolate a little when you do it on 10 or twelve posts in a row - but I don't actually know until you tell me.

(And I'm so lucky in this! There are so many people who follow my blog who *do* already do this! Thank you for being awesome! )

#the care and feeding of your friendly writer

[mercurygray]

#listen huglin had a rough go and went on to have a long career in thr air forces #as a story character he's great #reminding me i need to write a scene with him and Marion and Red #masters of the air #harold huglin