davidd's A Doll A Day Challenge 2020

[davidd]

"Army Bob Ross!" That is so funny!  

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9 September – Lorna plays at being all scary and stuff

[neon_jellyfish]

Aww, so ado - scary, I mean scary. And stuff.

[werepuppy]

Aw, Lorna.

She's getting in the mood for guising! It's a Scottish form of trick or treating. The big difference is the person guising is meant to earn their treat, often with a song or jokes. More info, in case you'd like to look up

[Alliecat]

I can imagine the outrage here if kids were ex-pected to DO something to earn their treats.
Lorna looks a little sad. Is she sad that she has to try to be scary... or sad that everyone is scared of her....? Hmmm.

[davidd]

Aw, Lorna.

She's getting in the mood for guising! It's a Scottish form of trick or treating. The big difference is the person guising is meant to earn their treat, often with a song or jokes. More info, in case you'd like to look up

That sounds like so much fun! We need to adopt that custom here in the States.

Lorna looks a little sad.  Is she sad that she has to try to be scary... or sad that everyone is scared of her....?  Hmmm.

Lorna isn't sad. She's trying hard to look scary... and trying even harder not to laugh while doing so!

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10 September – Maudlynne watches Stage 12 of The Tour de France bicycle race

The stupid virus has not stopped Le Tour! Vive le Tour!

[Elfy]

I hadn’t realised Maudlynne was a cycling fan.

[neon_jellyfish]

To be honest, I'm not a sports fan, but just the fact that not everything is cancelled because of the stupid virus makes me so happy!

[werepuppy]

Ahhh, I hope she is enjoying it. It's one of those things I can never really get into.

[Loona]

Lorna has a mischievous ex-pression there, I can see she's trying hard

And I'm happy to hear Le Tour is going on. Seeing that the world isn't completely closing down is partly what keeps me going. That is an unex-pected interest for Maudlynne though - does she have someone she's rooting for, or is she rather interested in general?

[Lejays17]

Lorna is trying her best to be traditionally scary, but it's not working very well.

I've been up until all hours watching the sycling every night (it finishes at about 1,30am most nights). While I do enjoy watching the cycling, I mostly watch it for the scenery. especially when they're cycling in the mountains.

[davidd]

I hadn’t realised Maudlynne was a cycling fan.

Maudlynne and the Monster High crew have been following Le Tour for quite a number of years now, and are trying to get Triv and Janie and the crew interested.

To be honest, I'm not a sports fan, but just the fact that not everything is cancelled because of the stupid virus makes me so happy!

I am not a sports fan either. But several years ago... more than several now, actually... I was flipping channels one summer afternoon and ran across the Tour de France race. My initial thought was "how could anyone sit and watch guys ride bikes for four hours?" But a few minutes later I was still sitting there. And an hour later I was still watching. And here we are, a decade later, and I've rarely missed seeing a stage of The Tour.

As LeJays notes later, it's partly about the scenery and the history. You live in Europe, so for you it might not be such a big deal. But after a while, the strategy of the racing starts to become interesting. The enthusiastic personalities of the TV commentators helps keep things lively as well.

Ahhh, I hope she is enjoying it. It's one of those things I can never really get into.

Two or three hours of watching guys ride bikes up steep hills in what seems like slow motion... yeah, I can't really elain how I ended up becoming a fan. I don't watch any other races, but every summer, the 21 states of The Tour is a thing for me.

Lorna has a mischievous ex-pression there, I can see she's trying hard.

And I'm happy to hear Le Tour is going on. Seeing that the world isn't completely closing down is partly what keeps me going. That is an unex-pected interest for Maudlynne though - does she have someone she's rooting for, or is she rather interested in general?

Lorna is quite a fun character, and I really like her ex-pression. You're right, she always looks slightly mischievous.

Yes, I am personally rooting for NORMALITY by watching The Tour. It's a little different this year, with masks for everyone except the racers, and with limited press coverage, and with fewer spectators lining the race route, and all of them wearing masks. But considering that much of France is still nearly closed down as a result of the virus, it is a tiny but reassuring step toward normal to see The Tour de France taking place.

As for Maudlynne, she was looking forward to seeing Zoomy Froomy and Geraint Thomas back in the race, but Team Ineos chose not to include them, so rather than rooting for anyone, she is rooting against Team Ineos. Plus, she feels that, while Bernal, last year's winner, is a good rider, his win last year was not entirely legitimate due to some arbitrary decisions to cut some stages short late in the race.

Lorna is trying her best to be traditionally scary, but it's not working very well.

I've been up until all hours watching the sycling every night (it finishes at about 1,30am most nights).  While I do enjoy watching the cycling, I mostly watch it for the scenery.  especially when they're cycling in the mountains.

Lorna will try again. She is determined to master the "scary" thing.

Do you watch the live stream, full-length broadcast of The Tour, or the abridged version? I have the good fortune to either watch (or record) the live broadcast, or a shorter two or three hour "highlights" version that usually picks up the last half of the race. Because this month has been insanely busy, I'm mostly watching the abridged version this year.

The scenery and the history are a big appeal. I love seeing all the old cathedrals and churches, and the quaint little stone villages. I really miss Paul Sherwen's presence, with his snippets about the history of the structures and the regions. But Bob Roll has done a fine job filling a huge loss, and his chemistry with Phil Liggett is excellent. I like the American guys, too – Paul, Christian, and Chris Horner. Do you see the American guys from NBC in Australia, or only Phil and Bob?

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11 September – If it ain't one thing it's another

Maudlynne is not happy... or more unhappy than usual. Well, more annoyed than unhappy. After snapping a number of pics for today's ADAD, the computer refuses to read the SD card. And then the camera refused to recognize the SD card. Is the problem with the card, or with the computer, or with the card slot on the computer? Additionally, Maudlynne would like to have her hair brushed or combed. And then while she was fussing about with the SD card the frames of her eyeglasses broke.

[werepuppy]

Aw, poor Maudlynne! I can only hope that everything gets smoothed out soon.

[neon_jellyfish]

Misery loves company, doesn't it? Hang in there, Maudlynne, I'm sure you can frown through all of it. Davidd will no doubt fix the card issue and your glasses (not so sure about the hair, though...).

[Elfy]

Maudlynne is having a day, it would seem.

[Lejays17]

I tried to do the quote thing, but couldn’t work out on my iPad how to do it - I can on my laptop though.

Anyway, I watch the full-length live stream, but we also have 2 or 3 highlight packages during the day that we can watch.
I also have the option of watching the TV version on one of the local channels (SBS), which has people in the studio (they’re usually in France doing basically the same thing but no travel this year), who talk about what’s going on & have special guests & other stuff. And also have the pictures & commmentary from the actual race.
Or I can stream it thru the SBS app, and that will give me the race & commentary without all the studio waffle. It’s tge same commentary on both.

In terms of the commentators - we had Phil & Paul for a number of years, until 2016 I think, as we got the international feed & they were the voices. Paul passed away a couple of years back (cancer sucks!), so that’ll be why you haven’t heard him recently.
But now we have our own Aussie commentators- mostly ex-professional cyclists.
This year is:
Matthew Keenan - he’s been our voice of cycling for a few years now. Not a professional cyclist.
Robbie McEwan - he was a sprinter, and won a number of stages of Le Tour
Bridie O’Donnell - she’s new this year, cycled professionally in Europe for a few years, and is a medical Doctor, so I’ve been learning lots of the medical side of things.

Mike Tomalaris - he’s the host & talking head in the studio, been doing that job forever!
Dave McKenzie - special comments. Ex-professional
Mark Renshaw - recently retired cyclist. Special comments.


I’m with Maudlynn is barracking against Ineos (but not quite for the same reason). But barracking for Richie Porte (Aussie who’s 9th at the moment, about 2mins down), and also Mitchelton-Scott team as that’s the Aussie team (even tho no Aussies are in it this time).