#arboreta

[burritoscully]

I have now been in the x files fandom for about a year and as a thank you to all that mutuals and friends that I have made over this time, I have decided to start a project and paint a scene from everyone’s favourite episode to show them my gratitude. The episodes will be picked in a random order.

Pine Bluff Variant is for @baronessblixen who has welcomed me into the fandom with open arms. You are an amazing person and I’m so thankful for you. You are a blessed loaf and a fellow trashie who puts up with my constant bad German. Thank you so much for being you ❤️

Special shout-out to @arboreta who also likes this episode. You’ll be getting your own painting later in the summer

The Pine Bluff Variant — The X-Files paintings [1/25]

[enigmaticxbee]

Hello! How are you? and how is your lovely little dog getting on? Hope all is well! x

Hi! So nice to hear from you, how are you? I miss chatting!

I’m keeping busy with work, and I’m back to teaching dance which is wonderful. Gillybean is doing great, she’s the perfect little lap warmer this time of year, she loves to cuddle 🥰

[scullysexual]

10, 34, 45, 73 for the weird asks!

10. game you were best at in p.e.? 

I was never good at specific games more just certain parts of a game- whether that be catching the ball during Rounders and shooting the ball through in hoop in Netball and Basketball.

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head? 

Already answered here but I have none.

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero? 

Fantasy :)

73. favorite weird flavor combo? 

I know I have one but I can’t think of what it is at the moment :/

Thanks :)

send me weird asks

[frogsmulder]

Weird asks 27, 85, 92!

27. favourite activity to do in cold weather?

Honestly hibernate as much as possible. Unless it's snowing and then my favourite thing is to look directly up into the grey sky and see all the snowflakes tumble towards me.

85. fairy tales or mythology?

Although I am not as well versed with mythology, I think I'll have to choose it because it tends to give more scope for complexity and generally has more than one interpretation/retelling of each story which I like. I recently finished listening to Stephen Fry's Mythos, which I really enjoyed.

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights?

Lamps? I don't have fairy lights (although I wish I did) and there's something ugly about main lights idk why. I should probably say sunlight... No actually I'll say sunlight because coming out of winter, the smallest hint of sun and blue sky suddenly makes me feel reinvigorated. I like that fresh feel. It's also the best light to take photos of art work in (but I'm always too impatient to wait until daytime 🙃)

Thank you for the ask @arboreta!

[fashionbooksboozefeminism]

Talking of book recommendations: I feel like I’m constantly reading stuff, but one thing I never seem to have the opportunity to read is good contemporary fiction (shamefully!) What would you recommend as a shortlist of your favourite / the best novels/nonfiction from the last few years? (I tend to prefer female writers and can’t be doing much with “man-lit” - eg. giant American novels about the Masculinity Struggles of a White Postwar Boomer Man - have to teach enough of these at work... 😉☺️)

I understand, 18 years since I left Oxford and I’m still almost exclusively gobbling up contemporary female fiction as a corrective, it must be so much harder for you! (I loved a lot of what I read for my degree but it’s been nice to get into the 21st century!).

In no particular order, some of my favourite reads of the past couple of years are:

Fiction

Fleishman Is In Trouble, Taffy Brodesser-Akner

The Most Fun We Ever Had, Clare Lombardo

Idaho, Emily Ruskovich

An American Marriage, Tayari Jones

Expectation, Anna Hope (part set in Oxford!)

Home Fire, Kamila Shamsie

Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams

The Essex Serpent, Sarah Perry

You Think It, I’ll Say It, Curtis Sittenfeld (I might burst with excitement before Rodham comes out, I love her)

Also, two bonus books by men that I loved were Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls (like me, you were a teenager in 90s Britain so you will find this almost painfully nostalgic) and Middle England by Jonathan Coe, a very late sequel to the Trotter novels and an excellent state-of-the-Brexit-nation overview.

Non-fiction (mostly essay collections/memoir):

Notes to Self, Emilie Pine

Look Alive Out There, Sloane Crosley

Three Women, Lisa Taddeo

The Empathy Exams, Leslie Jamieson

Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino

Square Haunting, Francesca Wade

This Is The Story of a Happy Marriage, Ann Patchett

Educated, Tara Westover

Motherwell, Deborah Orr

Names for the Sea, Sarah Moss

Sorry, it’s not that short but I hope you find something to enjoy in there!

[baronessblixen]

2, 10, 48, 52 for the book asks!

Thank you so much!

2. What kinds of books do you enjoy reading?

Anything with romance in it. I read a lot of chick lit because it’s what I want to write myself. 

10. Which author have you read the most?

That’s difficult... I think I read almost every book by Dorothy Koomson - except one, but it’s on my list so I’ll be reading it soon-ish 😁

48. What fictional character from a book do you think you relate to the most? Why that character?

I’m not sure I really relate to a single character. Most of the books I read are purely for entertainment reasons. I do however relate to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night as a whole - if that makes sense at all. 

52. Have you ever read a book because you discovered that a celebrity you like was? 

You know what, I don’t think I have! Which I honestly find shocking. 

[burritoscully]

11, 55, 62, 77 for the weird asks!

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?

I’m pretty boring, I’ll have cereal on most mornings hahahaha. I guess one thing that is weird is that I mix chocolate powder into the milk because I don’t really like the taste of milk on its own

55. favourite fairy tale?

I am a lover of fairy tales so choosing one should be quite hard, but I definitely have a soft sport for Peter Pan. It’s not for a plot reason at all (that would be too hard to choose), it’s because I was a production of the play back when I was still acting and it’s a very fond memory of mine

62. seven characters you relate to?

Oof this took me a lot of thought hahahah 1. Percy Jackson, not the demigod part, but the dyslexic part. I know I bring this up a lot and that it’s probably annoying and I’m really really sorry for it. Percy Jackson is the only representation of dyslexia I’ve personally come across in the media and his struggles in the beginning of the first book are extremely relatable. 2. Fox Mulder, when I’m voicing struggles and my irl entourage doesn’t believe me. 3. Dana Scully, I love science (especially before maths broke up with me) 4. Chloe Beale (Pitch Perfect): I’m afraid of what the future will bring. 5. Delphine Cormier (Orphan Black) (in the early episodes): I’m uncomfortable with my sexuality irl 6. Neville Longbottom: I feel underestimated by people irl 7. Harry Potter: I feel overestimated too, I put too much pressure on myself

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?

Uuum I’m very ashamed to admit that I’m a lot better at killing plants than I am at keeping them alive (I know, I feel awful about it) but basil is really useful to have in the kitchen I guess? Anything that does well in sunlight too

Thank you so much for the ask @arboreta ❤️

[fashionbooksboozefeminism]

For the random asks! 6, 7, 16, 21, 40!

6. Do you enjoy driving generally?

Ha, yes and no! As an activity in itself on the open road with the music blaring I love it! In city centre traffic, on a route I don’t know or parallel parking anywhere, I hate it! I’m not a massive fan of the motorway either. So probably more no than yes - I didn’t learn until my twenties so I never had that youthful confidence that I think you need to get you through the inexperience.

7. Do you like your name? If not, what would you change it to?

I like it now but hated it as a child when I desperately wanted to be called Rachel, which is the name my dad wanted to give me before being over-ruled by my mum!

16. Do you like the weather where you live?

Ha, well, you know it well! On the whole I do like living somewhere that has four seasons but I’d definitely like a bit less rain (in my hometown 7 miles away we have a saying ‘it rains 9 months of the year and then we get the wet season’ and it’s only slightly better in the city!) and it would be nice to have a couple of months a year where you could plan for outdoor activities knowing it would likely be sunny and dry!

21. Name a fashion trend that you absolutely hate.

Oh, I have so many fashion opinions! But I absolutely can’t stand this trend for luxe sportswear that’s half really baggy and half really revealing- that Kardashian-esque look. I tend to dress up rather than down and I’m not a fan of athleisure as daywear in general but tracksuits are beyond the pale for me!

40. If you could stay a certain age, what age would you pick?

32, no question. It’s still young (if you’re reading this and you think it’s not, I promise it is!) but I also felt like a grown-up, I started to feel more confident in myself, my salary took a big jump and it was the last time we and our friends were all fairly responsibility-free and had the means to take advantage of that, I absolutely loved it. Whenever I meet a person who’s 32 I make a point to tell them how much I loved it and that I hope they enjoy it as much as I did.

Thanks for the asks , lovely!