A good start to the day, despite Gill waking late and rushing to get the children ready. We worked as a team... I washed up necessary bits and made a sandwich for packed lunch, and Gill got the homework ready to finish.
And it all worked like a dream... amazing. What a turn around!
The rest of the day went very well too... didn't spend too long on the computer in the morning and after lunch, cycled to school to give in a letter, then to the post office to post a book which accidentally came back with me from Sheffield, than down to town to get a cheque out for a forthcoming conference... in Sheffield... and then to Alligator to see if I could find some wheat grains so Gill can re-make a wheat sack, as her old one had virtually caught fire.... But Alligator didn't have more than a single tiny packet... but Steve took the opportunity to ask if I'd be prepared to do their composting!
Graham used to work there and at St Nicks, so he took the compostable materials to the St Nicks sawdust-heavy piles, but as he's stopped working at St Nicks, the stuff now goes in the bin. And this is completely against their values. So, sucker here, unable to turn down a sack of compostables and equally unable to say no to helping people out with working towards sustainability, said yes and picked up my first sack from them. About 20kg of mainly tomatoes and red peppers.
I called in on Country Fresh on the way back and picked up easily another 80kg of lovely stuff. And then I called in on Freshways and only had space to put their sack on my handlebars. Ridiculously overloaded... but it all would have gone to landfill if I hadn't have picked it up. I really need to get rid of a load of finished compost. Maybe I should have a compost super roadside sale? One more thing to do. Maybe.
Also today I got two really good pieces of 'John the Composter' work confirmed... One at St Nicks to do a presentation of 'Extreme Composting' to a visiting group (I am SO looking forward to this!) and one postponed talk to a group connected with Bradford University, where they have a Rocket, one of my favourite composting machines. (see the pdf here and other info about the University of Bradford 'ecoversity' here).
I also had a message from someone I met recently who I invited to see York if they were ever to visit... and they have decided that it's tomorrow! So that's tomorrow sorted then!
I did get quite a bit of time in the garden too... mainly at the front, and I had a visit from Shirley the Freecycler who offered some seeds and asked for some climbing beans... I emailed and we agreed to swap. Brilliant.. she's got pea beans and yams, and I've got squash, pattie pan Summer squash, sunflowers, kohl rabi, spinach and kinghorn yellow wax beans... wow!
Pasta and broccoli for tea, cooked on the stove once it was too dark to continue outside.
Gardener's World was good. Tried to do the washing up before bed this time.
Showing posts with label parenting skills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parenting skills. Show all posts
Friday, 12 March 2010
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Saturday 6th March 10
A funny day, didn't get up til 10 and had a moochy day, various things outside including cutting back some of last year's now dead growth, filling more compost bin with this and greengrocer's stuff, riddling another 9 carrier bags full of good mature compost, cutting up some hedge which our neighbour has taken out so the wall/fence can be constructed... I cut off the tops and whippy bits and they'll be shredded, and the sticks I chopped up into lengths and put them in wooden fruit trays where they'll dry and be ready for kindling next winter.
I did the usual rounds of washing up and home-based things, attempting to be a good Daddy type things... and in fact this did work during the evening as I invited them to watch The End Of The Line with me, and my eldest took it all in and we had some interesting conversations afterwards about algae and oxygen and dietary choices and more. Neither of them have ever eaten seafood, and I haven't since my early 20s when I went to Crete and had octopus. So I watched the programme with some degree of contempt of all the people who eat fish and seafood and don't need to, who don't care that half of it is 'stolen' and falls outside quotas, and that the people who set the quotas ignore the scientists who are telling them to set smaller quotas to conserve stocks. I get quite angry, as the seas and oceans are a shared resource and I want them left in good a condition... but most people don't care, they are selfish. Selfish for shellfish.
But, hey, I do my best, and very rarely preach, hardly ever say 'should'. I just do what I think is right. And who's to say who's wrong or who's right on any particular issue?
I did the usual rounds of washing up and home-based things, attempting to be a good Daddy type things... and in fact this did work during the evening as I invited them to watch The End Of The Line with me, and my eldest took it all in and we had some interesting conversations afterwards about algae and oxygen and dietary choices and more. Neither of them have ever eaten seafood, and I haven't since my early 20s when I went to Crete and had octopus. So I watched the programme with some degree of contempt of all the people who eat fish and seafood and don't need to, who don't care that half of it is 'stolen' and falls outside quotas, and that the people who set the quotas ignore the scientists who are telling them to set smaller quotas to conserve stocks. I get quite angry, as the seas and oceans are a shared resource and I want them left in good a condition... but most people don't care, they are selfish. Selfish for shellfish.
But, hey, I do my best, and very rarely preach, hardly ever say 'should'. I just do what I think is right. And who's to say who's wrong or who's right on any particular issue?
Friday, 19 February 2010
Friday 19th February 10
A reasonable day, certainly the first part was. Our young visitor went to see one of his other York friends and our two played reasonably happily on the computer all day.
I spent the morning inside but just before lunchtime did a short stint in the garden, coming in at 1pm for lunch. I was just sorting out some potato sacks which were not worth keeping for re-use, and was taking out the nylon thread which I'd rather not put on the stove (nylon is a type of plastic) and there was a knock on the door.
I'd had a message yesterday from the wife of an old friend saying they were passing through York today, and might pop in. I replied saying great, what time, and if they could ring me first and warn me that they were on their way, I would be ready for them.
But they arrived unexpectedly and yes my hands were covered in slimy potato sack. But it was good to see them; I've known Glenn since I was 18 at Nene College, and Joanne is his wife and has recently booked me to do a Fiddlesticks appearance at her school where she is head of science. So, despite composty hands, it was lovely to see them. I cleaned myself up and made hot drinks and for over an hour and a half we chatted, covering a lot of ground.
They left after half two and I had my lunch. At 3pm our guest came back and there was a lot of excitement before it was time for him to be taken back to the station to get his 5.30 train back to Leamington Spa.
I did some stacking... logs I cut yesterday got stacked on pallets down the garden where they will dry for a year or two before being transferred to the stacking area outside the front door for a final drying, under cover, before converting into heat.
I had spotted that my prize-winning pumpkin which has sat on a kitchen work surface since harvesting (with a brief trip to Pumpkin Day at St Nicks, where its large size won me a 'Worm Cafe') had just started to go mouldy near the stem. So I gave it a wash and chopped it up, taking the seeds out to dry them (and to eventually remove the succulent kernel for eating), and made a soup on the woodstove with about a third of it. Fortunately only a very small amount of pumpkin was rotten, and I now have lots of onion/pumpkin and red pepper soup, and 2/3 of a big pumpkin left to do something with.
Our youngest didn't go to town, and luckily his friend from up the road rang and came round, and they spent time together playing computer games. I went out, leaving the soup cooking and kids playing, and visited Ros up the road who has some sticks and branches to dispose of. I offered to take my shredder up to her house in the next couple of weeks to render the pile into a useful material... shredded stuff for her, fuel for me.
Gill and our eldest came back and we served tea. My soup wasn't very well received. Gill thinks she can improve it for tomorrow. I liked it. I had a mushroom toastie with it.
The evening after this was best forgotten. I washed up and kept myself out of the way as much as possible. When I was needed, I tried to achieve the right mix of setting a good example as a role model whilst being a 'normal' parent/father and ensuring that boundaries are observed and that other family members are protected from violence, the right mix of hands-on involvement and rising above the provocation and threats. Life is tough at the moment.
I spent the morning inside but just before lunchtime did a short stint in the garden, coming in at 1pm for lunch. I was just sorting out some potato sacks which were not worth keeping for re-use, and was taking out the nylon thread which I'd rather not put on the stove (nylon is a type of plastic) and there was a knock on the door.
I'd had a message yesterday from the wife of an old friend saying they were passing through York today, and might pop in. I replied saying great, what time, and if they could ring me first and warn me that they were on their way, I would be ready for them.
But they arrived unexpectedly and yes my hands were covered in slimy potato sack. But it was good to see them; I've known Glenn since I was 18 at Nene College, and Joanne is his wife and has recently booked me to do a Fiddlesticks appearance at her school where she is head of science. So, despite composty hands, it was lovely to see them. I cleaned myself up and made hot drinks and for over an hour and a half we chatted, covering a lot of ground.
They left after half two and I had my lunch. At 3pm our guest came back and there was a lot of excitement before it was time for him to be taken back to the station to get his 5.30 train back to Leamington Spa.
I did some stacking... logs I cut yesterday got stacked on pallets down the garden where they will dry for a year or two before being transferred to the stacking area outside the front door for a final drying, under cover, before converting into heat.
I had spotted that my prize-winning pumpkin which has sat on a kitchen work surface since harvesting (with a brief trip to Pumpkin Day at St Nicks, where its large size won me a 'Worm Cafe') had just started to go mouldy near the stem. So I gave it a wash and chopped it up, taking the seeds out to dry them (and to eventually remove the succulent kernel for eating), and made a soup on the woodstove with about a third of it. Fortunately only a very small amount of pumpkin was rotten, and I now have lots of onion/pumpkin and red pepper soup, and 2/3 of a big pumpkin left to do something with.
Our youngest didn't go to town, and luckily his friend from up the road rang and came round, and they spent time together playing computer games. I went out, leaving the soup cooking and kids playing, and visited Ros up the road who has some sticks and branches to dispose of. I offered to take my shredder up to her house in the next couple of weeks to render the pile into a useful material... shredded stuff for her, fuel for me.
Gill and our eldest came back and we served tea. My soup wasn't very well received. Gill thinks she can improve it for tomorrow. I liked it. I had a mushroom toastie with it.
The evening after this was best forgotten. I washed up and kept myself out of the way as much as possible. When I was needed, I tried to achieve the right mix of setting a good example as a role model whilst being a 'normal' parent/father and ensuring that boundaries are observed and that other family members are protected from violence, the right mix of hands-on involvement and rising above the provocation and threats. Life is tough at the moment.
Monday, 26 January 2009
Moday 26th January 09
Another tough morning. I am not enjoying parenting one bit at the moment.
Took our youngest to school and came back to get ready for the Compost Doctors training; Catherine the York Rotters was also booked in so she picked me up and drove me to Elvington Airfield where the training was taking place.
Cath and Doug ran the training and I was slightly disappointed that the DEFRA offer is for 'third sector' organisations which promote composting, not individuals who might be wanting to be consultants. So if I am to be a 'Compost Doctor', I'll have to do it through York Rotters. Now York Rotters is a 'Master Composter' scheme... it trains up volunteers to promote home composting, not businesses' organics composting or 'commercial' composting. The Compost Doctors scheme is aimed squarely at businesses... schools, prisons, greengrocers with a garden behind the shop, a cafe within a park... basically any catering establishment with grounds in which to compost their catering waste and, importantly, grounds which can use the resultant soil-improver. However, I enjoyed the training and participated in my usual enthusiastic way, and the issue of working through York Rotters needn't be a barrier to my doing this consultancy work. It might be good for York Rotters, providing some good publicity and and some income.
The food was good, and I enjoyed meeting the other potential Compost Doctors, including Chris from Leeds BTCV who goes into schools and teaches about 'education for sustainable development', something I'm keen on. Hope to meet him again. The training finished just after 4.30 and Catherine and I came back into York. She too thinks that if I do the Compost Doctor stuff, she will not need to do much admin, so I won't be using up her core York Rotters time. So a decision is needed soon as I have just 8 weeks to do the work!
Things were calm at home... as calm as waiting for a volcano to explode. But we all had a civil teatime, not much talking and no arguments or the like. Gill manages to just keep going and kind of 'surf' over the difficulties, but I am feeling depressed.
However, I cheered up when I got a phone call from Kirbymoorside in Transition, who are launching their Transition initiative in April, and after seeing my spread in The Ecologist, have been asked to speak at the launch. How nice! I also got a Fiddlesticks booking for an event in Hull.
Took our youngest to school and came back to get ready for the Compost Doctors training; Catherine the York Rotters was also booked in so she picked me up and drove me to Elvington Airfield where the training was taking place.
Cath and Doug ran the training and I was slightly disappointed that the DEFRA offer is for 'third sector' organisations which promote composting, not individuals who might be wanting to be consultants. So if I am to be a 'Compost Doctor', I'll have to do it through York Rotters. Now York Rotters is a 'Master Composter' scheme... it trains up volunteers to promote home composting, not businesses' organics composting or 'commercial' composting. The Compost Doctors scheme is aimed squarely at businesses... schools, prisons, greengrocers with a garden behind the shop, a cafe within a park... basically any catering establishment with grounds in which to compost their catering waste and, importantly, grounds which can use the resultant soil-improver. However, I enjoyed the training and participated in my usual enthusiastic way, and the issue of working through York Rotters needn't be a barrier to my doing this consultancy work. It might be good for York Rotters, providing some good publicity and and some income.
The food was good, and I enjoyed meeting the other potential Compost Doctors, including Chris from Leeds BTCV who goes into schools and teaches about 'education for sustainable development', something I'm keen on. Hope to meet him again. The training finished just after 4.30 and Catherine and I came back into York. She too thinks that if I do the Compost Doctor stuff, she will not need to do much admin, so I won't be using up her core York Rotters time. So a decision is needed soon as I have just 8 weeks to do the work!
Things were calm at home... as calm as waiting for a volcano to explode. But we all had a civil teatime, not much talking and no arguments or the like. Gill manages to just keep going and kind of 'surf' over the difficulties, but I am feeling depressed.
However, I cheered up when I got a phone call from Kirbymoorside in Transition, who are launching their Transition initiative in April, and after seeing my spread in The Ecologist, have been asked to speak at the launch. How nice! I also got a Fiddlesticks booking for an event in Hull.
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Saturday 24th January 09
A reasonable day. Gill still feeling very poorly so I did all the shopping we needed... went to Thomas The Baker and the Co-op before lunch, and Country Fresh after, to get veggies and fruit, and then Scummerfield with my eldest (shock horror!) to get goats' milk. This was really nice.
I did a bit of chainsawing, splitting and stacking AND compost heap adding.
But the antibiotics seemed to kick in and Gill felt well enough to make a pizza which was delicious. I did a big tidy up of my piles of paper, finding multitudinous envelopes and sorting them into re-usable, compostable and 'have to tear out the window-able'. I then spent some time tearing out plastic windows and crumpling the rest of the envelope into a ball for composting... Envelopes are not suitable for putting with the paper recycling as the gum clogs up the recycling process and the windows are best put in the rubbish. I could just crumple up the envelopes with the plastic window.... and then remove the window out of the finished compost. But although I've put some complete envelopes with windows into various compost bins, I'm happy to spend a bit of time removing windows first.
During one of today's outbursts, our coat stand in the hall got broken which caused tears of guilt and regret. I didn't react or say anything, I just ignored the situation, as if I'd said or done anything, it would have caused things to get even worse. Therefore within a few minutes, everything had calmed down..... a good thing! I think I'm slowly learning to be a slightly better parent. Maybe. But in my day, pushing the coat stand over so it snapped would have earned some kind of punishment. Thus I feel as if I am partly neglecting my 'duties' as a parent, to instruct between right and wrong, to encourage good behaviour and discourage bad... parenting does give rise to so many dilemmas.
I did a bit of chainsawing, splitting and stacking AND compost heap adding.
But the antibiotics seemed to kick in and Gill felt well enough to make a pizza which was delicious. I did a big tidy up of my piles of paper, finding multitudinous envelopes and sorting them into re-usable, compostable and 'have to tear out the window-able'. I then spent some time tearing out plastic windows and crumpling the rest of the envelope into a ball for composting... Envelopes are not suitable for putting with the paper recycling as the gum clogs up the recycling process and the windows are best put in the rubbish. I could just crumple up the envelopes with the plastic window.... and then remove the window out of the finished compost. But although I've put some complete envelopes with windows into various compost bins, I'm happy to spend a bit of time removing windows first.
During one of today's outbursts, our coat stand in the hall got broken which caused tears of guilt and regret. I didn't react or say anything, I just ignored the situation, as if I'd said or done anything, it would have caused things to get even worse. Therefore within a few minutes, everything had calmed down..... a good thing! I think I'm slowly learning to be a slightly better parent. Maybe. But in my day, pushing the coat stand over so it snapped would have earned some kind of punishment. Thus I feel as if I am partly neglecting my 'duties' as a parent, to instruct between right and wrong, to encourage good behaviour and discourage bad... parenting does give rise to so many dilemmas.
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Saturday 10th January 09
Woken by yelling which wasn't nice.
But the rest of the morning went well and all was happy. My sister had arranged to be online at 2 so the boys could try out an online role-playing game and meet her avatar on it... so that was the exciting thing of the day for them.
I went to do a shop for assorted stuff.. veg/fruit, to a supermarket for various other bits like margarine and ribena, tea and cereals. On the way back I picked up some logs from the cycle track.
When I got back at about 3.30, there was a war going on, for real, not just in the game. One son had 'caused' the other to 'lose his life' and there was fighting and shouting, blaming and I don't know what but Gill asked me to come in urgently and keep them apart. Boys! Computers! Aaarrrgh!
I sat outside both their rooms to prevent them coming out whilst they calmed down for about an hour. After this we had a really nice family tea... just such a nice time.
So a real rollercoaster of a day.
A good evening... watched a brilliant film, by accident, called Snow Cake which was transfixing and really absorbing. However, was deleting emails at the same time and chatting to Ali on Facebook, and she was watching it as well, which was lovely, as we were able to comment on things that were happening. Gill woke up towards the end and I filled her in with the story... I'd been following it so well I was able to do this. Often, I cannot follow plots that well, but this one grabbed me!
But the rest of the morning went well and all was happy. My sister had arranged to be online at 2 so the boys could try out an online role-playing game and meet her avatar on it... so that was the exciting thing of the day for them.
I went to do a shop for assorted stuff.. veg/fruit, to a supermarket for various other bits like margarine and ribena, tea and cereals. On the way back I picked up some logs from the cycle track.
When I got back at about 3.30, there was a war going on, for real, not just in the game. One son had 'caused' the other to 'lose his life' and there was fighting and shouting, blaming and I don't know what but Gill asked me to come in urgently and keep them apart. Boys! Computers! Aaarrrgh!
I sat outside both their rooms to prevent them coming out whilst they calmed down for about an hour. After this we had a really nice family tea... just such a nice time.
So a real rollercoaster of a day.
A good evening... watched a brilliant film, by accident, called Snow Cake which was transfixing and really absorbing. However, was deleting emails at the same time and chatting to Ali on Facebook, and she was watching it as well, which was lovely, as we were able to comment on things that were happening. Gill woke up towards the end and I filled her in with the story... I'd been following it so well I was able to do this. Often, I cannot follow plots that well, but this one grabbed me!
Saturday, 3 January 2009
Friday 2nd January 09
An excellent day! It was a relaxed morning with no shouting or aggro, and then Gill went into town on the bus to try and find trousers for our eldest and so he could get a birthday present for his friend who's party he's going to tomorrow.
I took this opportunity to play with our youngest, he wanted to play on 'Mario Karts' on the Wii... and oh God it was difficult! I was rubbish... came last several times, but hey I'm a beginner and I'm old so both count against me. Half an hour left me exhausted! So much concentration... and then the phone rang and it was Rose up the road asking if our eldest was needing a lift to the party tomorrow... and I asked if her son was in and wanted a playmate? He was and did, so we walked up there and I came back to do a composting job which has been needing doing for a while: the bin made of Anderson Shelter corrugated iron was very well rotted down... I dug it all out and put the stuff in a builders bag, from where I'll bag it up or riddle it and bag it...
Then Gill came back, our eldest with no trousers but a nice appropriate prezzie for his friend.
I then bombed into town on the bike to pay our annual electricity bill to Good Energy through the bank (electronic transfer) and put in a cheque for £30 for 6 sacks of compost Alison had off me yonks ago, the stuff Barry Potter took up on his return journey from delivering the cider press back to me...
Back in time to put some rather overdue compostables which have been hanging about into the newly vacated container, and collect a pile of electrical flex I rescued a while ago which I've been putting off sorting. However, once I'd sat down and got going with the craft knife (pulling the flex into the blade, the blade held still next to my trousered leg), my eldest started to help by pulling apart the grey outer insulation and removing the inner thinner wires, and then when I'd shaved off a long sliver of plastic from the copper wire, he extracted the wire from the throw-away plastic sheath.
We did about two hours worth... a most excellent Father/Son activity, and we did about a quarter of what I've collected recently. Enjoyed the Royal Institution Lecture again, and took wood-heated bathwater up for the older boyo to have a bath before his party tomorrow.
A most enjoyable day. I want, no, NEED more days like this, where I feel like a good parent doing the right things re my offspring. All too often these days I feel like I'm just not coping, but today was a blinder! Mainly due to excellent behaviour from both boys.
I took this opportunity to play with our youngest, he wanted to play on 'Mario Karts' on the Wii... and oh God it was difficult! I was rubbish... came last several times, but hey I'm a beginner and I'm old so both count against me. Half an hour left me exhausted! So much concentration... and then the phone rang and it was Rose up the road asking if our eldest was needing a lift to the party tomorrow... and I asked if her son was in and wanted a playmate? He was and did, so we walked up there and I came back to do a composting job which has been needing doing for a while: the bin made of Anderson Shelter corrugated iron was very well rotted down... I dug it all out and put the stuff in a builders bag, from where I'll bag it up or riddle it and bag it...
Then Gill came back, our eldest with no trousers but a nice appropriate prezzie for his friend.
I then bombed into town on the bike to pay our annual electricity bill to Good Energy through the bank (electronic transfer) and put in a cheque for £30 for 6 sacks of compost Alison had off me yonks ago, the stuff Barry Potter took up on his return journey from delivering the cider press back to me...
Back in time to put some rather overdue compostables which have been hanging about into the newly vacated container, and collect a pile of electrical flex I rescued a while ago which I've been putting off sorting. However, once I'd sat down and got going with the craft knife (pulling the flex into the blade, the blade held still next to my trousered leg), my eldest started to help by pulling apart the grey outer insulation and removing the inner thinner wires, and then when I'd shaved off a long sliver of plastic from the copper wire, he extracted the wire from the throw-away plastic sheath.
We did about two hours worth... a most excellent Father/Son activity, and we did about a quarter of what I've collected recently. Enjoyed the Royal Institution Lecture again, and took wood-heated bathwater up for the older boyo to have a bath before his party tomorrow.
A most enjoyable day. I want, no, NEED more days like this, where I feel like a good parent doing the right things re my offspring. All too often these days I feel like I'm just not coping, but today was a blinder! Mainly due to excellent behaviour from both boys.
Monday, 27 October 2008
Monday 27th October 08
Woke up soon after 6 thinking about Dexter's artwork and how I'd like it to look, but also with a headache and running nose, so came down and lit the stove off last night's embers and had a hot chocolate and paracetamol.
I didn't go back to bed as intended but mooched around and was generally around as the family got up, and all was happy and pleasent until suddenly it wasn't, with the word 'bored' being bandied around. No-one wanted to go on a cycle ride with me and eventually, after lunch, Gill took them to the Tang Hall Library to find a couple of books each. They get through so many!
I did a little bit of garden work, sawing little logs (with bowsaw), splitting a couple of rounds with my axe and then cutting up a big pile of sticks with secateurs into three potato sacks. These will dry easily and be kindling for future stoves.
Not too bad an evening, although there were several huge outbursts which we took in our stride.
After the children went to bed, I did my paid blog on a good website called Worldometers and draught-excluding snakes, see http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/green-living/ for today's entry.
Still sniffly this evening, so took it easy, stayed warm.
I didn't go back to bed as intended but mooched around and was generally around as the family got up, and all was happy and pleasent until suddenly it wasn't, with the word 'bored' being bandied around. No-one wanted to go on a cycle ride with me and eventually, after lunch, Gill took them to the Tang Hall Library to find a couple of books each. They get through so many!
I did a little bit of garden work, sawing little logs (with bowsaw), splitting a couple of rounds with my axe and then cutting up a big pile of sticks with secateurs into three potato sacks. These will dry easily and be kindling for future stoves.
Not too bad an evening, although there were several huge outbursts which we took in our stride.
After the children went to bed, I did my paid blog on a good website called Worldometers and draught-excluding snakes, see http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/green-living/ for today's entry.
Still sniffly this evening, so took it easy, stayed warm.
Friday, 5 September 2008
Friday 5th September 08
A very wet day which I spent mostly inside the house... Gill took care of getting the kids ready for school, although asked me to come downstairs to sit next to one of them to encourage him to get ready. This seemed to work but I do wish they would respect their mum enough to just do as she tells them, first time, without getting me to be her back-up or 'heavy threat'.
But I had a good day, spent quite a lot of time researching various issues and preparing stuff, answering the phone, washing up, dealing with dried fruit and more.
Made a nutloaf for the children to have for tea, picked beans in the garden and admired a pumpkin which is growing well. However, was HORRIFIED to see that all the remaining walnuts on our expensive tree have been removed... Gill saw a squirrel this morning. I think I'll have to invest in a squirrel trap, the little non-natives are so destructive... I don't enjoy killing animals but I do kill rats and I think squirrels are just as bad, although haven't resorted to destroying them yet.
A quiet evening... my eye which got a shredded thingy into it yesterday seems to have developed conjunctivitis so I took it easy and just chilled out (well, got over-warm in front of the stove!) and had a skype chat followed by a game of Scrabble with Gill. I managed to get two 7 letter words, Wallies and Venously and I won.
But I had a good day, spent quite a lot of time researching various issues and preparing stuff, answering the phone, washing up, dealing with dried fruit and more.
Made a nutloaf for the children to have for tea, picked beans in the garden and admired a pumpkin which is growing well. However, was HORRIFIED to see that all the remaining walnuts on our expensive tree have been removed... Gill saw a squirrel this morning. I think I'll have to invest in a squirrel trap, the little non-natives are so destructive... I don't enjoy killing animals but I do kill rats and I think squirrels are just as bad, although haven't resorted to destroying them yet.
A quiet evening... my eye which got a shredded thingy into it yesterday seems to have developed conjunctivitis so I took it easy and just chilled out (well, got over-warm in front of the stove!) and had a skype chat followed by a game of Scrabble with Gill. I managed to get two 7 letter words, Wallies and Venously and I won.
Monday, 30 June 2008
Sunday 29th June 08
Slept in til 10ish, which was lovely.
However, got up immediately and got ready to have a day out with the family. We'd seen a piece in the Press about there being an 'Insect Week' event at Wyevale Garden Centre in Poppleton, so as it's on the Number 10 bus route which goes past our house, we decided to get the bus out there to see the display.
We got the after midday bus all the way to Poppleton and wandered round the garden centre.. which when it was Challis's, Gill worked at, and I also worked at the nearby Challis Plant Factory, where lots of little plants came in, and ceramic bowls, and mainly went out with three plants in a bowl... a tall one at the back, a stubby one at one side and a trailing one towards the front. I spent nearly two years there. Anyway, Challis was sold and it became Wyevale. It is a lot more than a garden centre, it sells all sorts of stuff including fish and pond stuff, all sorts of outdoor things.
We asked about the Insect Week display but nobody knew anything about it, however it didn't matter too much as we had an interesting time.
Then walked into Poppleton, and as it was beginning to rain, went to the Lord Collingwood pub for a bite of lunch and a drink. They had run out of the vegetarian option for lunch so we just had a portion of chips each and I had a perry (seemingly now called 'pear cider'), Gill had a black coffee and the boys had a fruit juice. We ate in the garden, under an umbrella on a picnic bench in the rain, and had a sandwich too, which we'd brought with us. It was a good little trip out, and we all enjoyed it.
I popped down to Country Fresh immediately we got back, before the shop closed, and bought some veg and picked up a box and a sack of compostables. Richard reminded me about the Falling Spikes gig tonight in the Edinburgh Arms.
When I got back, Gill asked me to go to the Co-op to buy some bread and dairy stuff, and when I got back there was a phone call from K, which was inconvenient. The children were playing havoc during this and when I came off the phone, I went into the room they were in and asked them to please be a bit more respectful towards their mother, whom they were disobeying and ignoring. One of my boys was very angry with me and when I went towards him to tell him to calm down and behave, BLOG CENSORED Parenting is not fun at the moment and our children don't often think about how they affect us. The initial fuss was apparently about homework which we want them to do and they do not want to do.
I went outside to let things calm down, and spent an hour weeding the front garden whilst thinking about how I could respond better to my son, and how to be a better parent generally. When I came back in, all was reasonably calm and I was able to tell my boys that I wasn't happy with my response to CENSORED, and I didn't respect myself for my reaction, nor their behaviour towards their mother or me. I apologised to Gill too, as I should really let her sort out the boys by herself if they are playing up... I shouldn't wade in and try to protect her. But it breaks my heart to hear/see her being treated so shabbily and I find it just about impossible to not come in and try to help her. Very difficult. What I'm supposed to do is to come in and ask her if she wants any help.
I had something to eat and did some computery stuff and at 9.30 went to the Edinburgh Arms to arrive just in time to catch The Falling Spikes do a brilliant set, an hour of loud multilayered guitars, 60s-style synth, drums and vocal... reminiscent of my favourite band, Spacemen 3. My friends Rich, Ivana, Dave and Andrew were there, and I chatted with a friendly woman called Tonya. Had one pint of cider.
Home just after 11, spent some time with Gill and at midnight, had a chat on Skype with K which helped us with our differences and difficulties.
However, got up immediately and got ready to have a day out with the family. We'd seen a piece in the Press about there being an 'Insect Week' event at Wyevale Garden Centre in Poppleton, so as it's on the Number 10 bus route which goes past our house, we decided to get the bus out there to see the display.
We got the after midday bus all the way to Poppleton and wandered round the garden centre.. which when it was Challis's, Gill worked at, and I also worked at the nearby Challis Plant Factory, where lots of little plants came in, and ceramic bowls, and mainly went out with three plants in a bowl... a tall one at the back, a stubby one at one side and a trailing one towards the front. I spent nearly two years there. Anyway, Challis was sold and it became Wyevale. It is a lot more than a garden centre, it sells all sorts of stuff including fish and pond stuff, all sorts of outdoor things.
We asked about the Insect Week display but nobody knew anything about it, however it didn't matter too much as we had an interesting time.
Then walked into Poppleton, and as it was beginning to rain, went to the Lord Collingwood pub for a bite of lunch and a drink. They had run out of the vegetarian option for lunch so we just had a portion of chips each and I had a perry (seemingly now called 'pear cider'), Gill had a black coffee and the boys had a fruit juice. We ate in the garden, under an umbrella on a picnic bench in the rain, and had a sandwich too, which we'd brought with us. It was a good little trip out, and we all enjoyed it.
I popped down to Country Fresh immediately we got back, before the shop closed, and bought some veg and picked up a box and a sack of compostables. Richard reminded me about the Falling Spikes gig tonight in the Edinburgh Arms.
When I got back, Gill asked me to go to the Co-op to buy some bread and dairy stuff, and when I got back there was a phone call from K, which was inconvenient. The children were playing havoc during this and when I came off the phone, I went into the room they were in and asked them to please be a bit more respectful towards their mother, whom they were disobeying and ignoring. One of my boys was very angry with me and when I went towards him to tell him to calm down and behave, BLOG CENSORED Parenting is not fun at the moment and our children don't often think about how they affect us. The initial fuss was apparently about homework which we want them to do and they do not want to do.
I went outside to let things calm down, and spent an hour weeding the front garden whilst thinking about how I could respond better to my son, and how to be a better parent generally. When I came back in, all was reasonably calm and I was able to tell my boys that I wasn't happy with my response to CENSORED, and I didn't respect myself for my reaction, nor their behaviour towards their mother or me. I apologised to Gill too, as I should really let her sort out the boys by herself if they are playing up... I shouldn't wade in and try to protect her. But it breaks my heart to hear/see her being treated so shabbily and I find it just about impossible to not come in and try to help her. Very difficult. What I'm supposed to do is to come in and ask her if she wants any help.
I had something to eat and did some computery stuff and at 9.30 went to the Edinburgh Arms to arrive just in time to catch The Falling Spikes do a brilliant set, an hour of loud multilayered guitars, 60s-style synth, drums and vocal... reminiscent of my favourite band, Spacemen 3. My friends Rich, Ivana, Dave and Andrew were there, and I chatted with a friendly woman called Tonya. Had one pint of cider.
Home just after 11, spent some time with Gill and at midnight, had a chat on Skype with K which helped us with our differences and difficulties.
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Wednesday 25th June 08
Gill got me up at 8 so I could take the boys into school and soon after I got back she went to Leeds as she had an appointment there. I finally got the time and space to do my Community Care blog, this time on 'Transition Initiatives', after which I went into town and did a little round-trip including, at 1pm, an appointment with Jacqui Warren, York's new Sustainability Officer. Spent 45 minutes with her and came home via Sainsburys and Country Fresh, getting home in good time to go to school.
CENSORED
CENSORED before coming home with my two and one other boy... who all went down the garden to play whilst I prepared tea... pasta and broccoli with a slice of quiche from yesterday. Gill had got in and gone to bed, feeling grotty, so I looked after the kids for most of the evening.
I had seen the comment left on yesterday's blog post by Annabel about parenting skills, and I raised the issue with my son who had initially refused to consider going to Ripon on Sunday. I told him I'd asked for help over the internet and had got some advice, and that if he wanted me to read it to him, I would, but that he would be going to Ripon with me on Sunday. He was happy not to hear the message read out, and agreed to come to Ripon, so thank you Annabel for encouraging me to try again!
CENSORED
CENSORED before coming home with my two and one other boy... who all went down the garden to play whilst I prepared tea... pasta and broccoli with a slice of quiche from yesterday. Gill had got in and gone to bed, feeling grotty, so I looked after the kids for most of the evening.
I had seen the comment left on yesterday's blog post by Annabel about parenting skills, and I raised the issue with my son who had initially refused to consider going to Ripon on Sunday. I told him I'd asked for help over the internet and had got some advice, and that if he wanted me to read it to him, I would, but that he would be going to Ripon with me on Sunday. He was happy not to hear the message read out, and agreed to come to Ripon, so thank you Annabel for encouraging me to try again!
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Thursday 19th June 08
A busy day... Gill feeling grotty so I took the children to school and came back to do washing up and prepare some food for teatime.
Something on my mind, though. An anonymous comment to this blog arrived yesterday.. the commentator asked me not to reply (publish) so I didn't, but today I have decided to copy and paste the comment into today's post because I think it does deserve a response:
"John, it's none of my business, but reading your blog upsets me. It's all you, you and more you. You're doing gigs, going out to meetings, chatting on skype, composting, etc... You're never doing things with your kids. You're obviously a great bloke and you're doing great things, but your children won't want to be around you when they're teenagers. Why not spend time with them now and ease back on all the other stuff? Don't reply to this - just put in your blog that you played scrabble with your son and not Scrabulous on Facebook."
Well the blog is about my life, not those of my wife or children, and I make sure that I attempt to repsect their privacy as much as I can by not naming the children or going on about them too much. Although I do mention some of the difficult times we are having as parents, I do not go into detail nor do I discuss all of what's going on. I do do things with my children, however, a few days ago I did ask my eldest son if he'd like a game of Scrabble and his answer was 'Why would I?' He doesn't like word games, he doesn't like anything that we suggest at the moment... he's nearly a teenager in many ways, with hormonal changes, self-image issues and a heck of a temper. But he knows that he's loved, as we tell him this often, and demonstrate it regularly, such as not flying off the handle when in a fit of anger he threw this laptop, causing it to have a fault which persists, making it less easy to use. He also tells us that he loves us. I find it very difficult to 'cut back on the other stuff' and why would I want to? I do do things with my children, when they are willing to do so. I try not to force them to do stuff with me which they say they don't want to do... that would surely be counterproductive? I play Scrabble and spend time with my wife, but when she falls asleep in the evening I go on the computer and do allsorts. I don't play Scrabbulous when the kids are around. They are in bed by 9pm-ish and I rarely sleep before 2am. Gill often sleeps in the evening and always gets up early. I would like to be a better parent, hence both going on a parenting course earlier this year. But school says we are good parents and that reassures me that we aren't 'bad' parents. I welcome comments, they make me think and do help me develop as a person. I will try to spend more time with the children, so thank you for reminding me that parenting is hard work and the time to do it is now... they don't remain children for long.
The other thing is that if reading something upsets you... don't read it. No-one makes you read something... it is your choice! I deliberately do not watch scary stuff like horror films or Dr Who because I don't like it, it upsets me. So I either don't switch on, or, in the case of Dr Who, which my family enjoy, I do something different.
At midday I had a visitor from Yellow Tom dot Com who do online advertising... I've had an ad with them for a couple of years and decided to renew, even though my advertising costs use up nearly half of my net profits from Professor Fiddlesticks.. next year I might drop one of the directories as some of them bring in relatively little work.
A late lunch and then got stuff ready for Green Thumbs, including three clear plastic bottles for doing 'compost bottles' to see the process at work. I melted some holes in them for air to get in and juices to get out... and hope they'll work. I have never done them before!
The Green Thumbs Gang session worked well, I demonstrated a compost bottle and then the kids split into two groups and did one each, layering woody/twiggy bits with cardboard and chopped-up apple cores and other fruit waste from the 'Fruit for Schools' scheme which gives youngsters free fruit. I have a plastic bin at school and service this every day, filling one of 3 compost bins... recently the school has started putting used paper towels in as well, and the kitchen staff put carrot peelings etc in my plastic bin as well. This generates 6 to 8 kg a day. The three 'dalek' bins are not really enough, and getting enough dry/brown/carbon rich material is also difficult. So one reason I'm helping with the Green Thumbs is that I hope we'll get a compost tumbler which will allow the fruit-rich mix to drain and mix with air more easily... perhaps next year now!
The second half of the session was planting up more seedlings in the big planters I filled yesterday, and weeding and watering planters already burgeoning with spinach, lettuce and potatoes. One of the other groups withing GTG, the 'sales' people, came to pick some of the lettuce and spinach for our first sale tomorrow afternoon.
Got home at about 5, Gill asked me to go to the veg shop for assorted stuff. We all ate together as a family (something we do do sometimes, but don't feel the need to tell the world every time it happens!) and then at 7.15, went to Derwent College at the University to attend a talk on the future of transport policy in York. A very good presentation from John Barrett from the Stockholm Environment Institute, on Carbon Footprinting and the way in which different transport policies will affect this. Then Simon Bowen from Friends of the Earth talked about solutions to the problem. It finished with a Q+A/discussion and ended at 9... I decided to come home to spend time with Gill rather than go for a drink.
Had a good Skype chat with K at midnight for an hour, once Gill was asleep. I got to bed relatively early, at 1.30am.
Something on my mind, though. An anonymous comment to this blog arrived yesterday.. the commentator asked me not to reply (publish) so I didn't, but today I have decided to copy and paste the comment into today's post because I think it does deserve a response:
"John, it's none of my business, but reading your blog upsets me. It's all you, you and more you. You're doing gigs, going out to meetings, chatting on skype, composting, etc... You're never doing things with your kids. You're obviously a great bloke and you're doing great things, but your children won't want to be around you when they're teenagers. Why not spend time with them now and ease back on all the other stuff? Don't reply to this - just put in your blog that you played scrabble with your son and not Scrabulous on Facebook."
Well the blog is about my life, not those of my wife or children, and I make sure that I attempt to repsect their privacy as much as I can by not naming the children or going on about them too much. Although I do mention some of the difficult times we are having as parents, I do not go into detail nor do I discuss all of what's going on. I do do things with my children, however, a few days ago I did ask my eldest son if he'd like a game of Scrabble and his answer was 'Why would I?' He doesn't like word games, he doesn't like anything that we suggest at the moment... he's nearly a teenager in many ways, with hormonal changes, self-image issues and a heck of a temper. But he knows that he's loved, as we tell him this often, and demonstrate it regularly, such as not flying off the handle when in a fit of anger he threw this laptop, causing it to have a fault which persists, making it less easy to use. He also tells us that he loves us. I find it very difficult to 'cut back on the other stuff' and why would I want to? I do do things with my children, when they are willing to do so. I try not to force them to do stuff with me which they say they don't want to do... that would surely be counterproductive? I play Scrabble and spend time with my wife, but when she falls asleep in the evening I go on the computer and do allsorts. I don't play Scrabbulous when the kids are around. They are in bed by 9pm-ish and I rarely sleep before 2am. Gill often sleeps in the evening and always gets up early. I would like to be a better parent, hence both going on a parenting course earlier this year. But school says we are good parents and that reassures me that we aren't 'bad' parents. I welcome comments, they make me think and do help me develop as a person. I will try to spend more time with the children, so thank you for reminding me that parenting is hard work and the time to do it is now... they don't remain children for long.
The other thing is that if reading something upsets you... don't read it. No-one makes you read something... it is your choice! I deliberately do not watch scary stuff like horror films or Dr Who because I don't like it, it upsets me. So I either don't switch on, or, in the case of Dr Who, which my family enjoy, I do something different.
At midday I had a visitor from Yellow Tom dot Com who do online advertising... I've had an ad with them for a couple of years and decided to renew, even though my advertising costs use up nearly half of my net profits from Professor Fiddlesticks.. next year I might drop one of the directories as some of them bring in relatively little work.
A late lunch and then got stuff ready for Green Thumbs, including three clear plastic bottles for doing 'compost bottles' to see the process at work. I melted some holes in them for air to get in and juices to get out... and hope they'll work. I have never done them before!
The Green Thumbs Gang session worked well, I demonstrated a compost bottle and then the kids split into two groups and did one each, layering woody/twiggy bits with cardboard and chopped-up apple cores and other fruit waste from the 'Fruit for Schools' scheme which gives youngsters free fruit. I have a plastic bin at school and service this every day, filling one of 3 compost bins... recently the school has started putting used paper towels in as well, and the kitchen staff put carrot peelings etc in my plastic bin as well. This generates 6 to 8 kg a day. The three 'dalek' bins are not really enough, and getting enough dry/brown/carbon rich material is also difficult. So one reason I'm helping with the Green Thumbs is that I hope we'll get a compost tumbler which will allow the fruit-rich mix to drain and mix with air more easily... perhaps next year now!
The second half of the session was planting up more seedlings in the big planters I filled yesterday, and weeding and watering planters already burgeoning with spinach, lettuce and potatoes. One of the other groups withing GTG, the 'sales' people, came to pick some of the lettuce and spinach for our first sale tomorrow afternoon.
Got home at about 5, Gill asked me to go to the veg shop for assorted stuff. We all ate together as a family (something we do do sometimes, but don't feel the need to tell the world every time it happens!) and then at 7.15, went to Derwent College at the University to attend a talk on the future of transport policy in York. A very good presentation from John Barrett from the Stockholm Environment Institute, on Carbon Footprinting and the way in which different transport policies will affect this. Then Simon Bowen from Friends of the Earth talked about solutions to the problem. It finished with a Q+A/discussion and ended at 9... I decided to come home to spend time with Gill rather than go for a drink.
Had a good Skype chat with K at midnight for an hour, once Gill was asleep. I got to bed relatively early, at 1.30am.
Friday, 25 April 2008
Thursday 24th April 08
A really good day, starting off with our son saying that he wanted to talk about his behaviour yesterday. We agreed to have a family meeting after lunch. So a good morning, even though it was raining, we enjoyed the fact that the school was closed because of the NUT strike and had some fun times.
So after lunch we all four of us sat down but one child got either bored or upset by the content of the conversation, and the other had an anger outburst as he didn't like what he was hearing back from the grown-ups. He did calm down again though, and I introduced him to the 'talking stick' concept, where in a group situation, whoever holds the stick can talk, and others do not interupt. He loved this as we practised 'active listening' and he didn't interupt us either when the time came for us to air our feelings. We ended up by briefly looking through the parenting class manual so he could see some of the work we'd been having to do. We didn't do any more than that, although we want to try setting some family rules again (we did try but it didn't get very far!) Right at the end, the other child came back in and we had a 'proper' family meeting and all was well.
So, happy family members today. The boys had several visitors during the afternoon as school was closed.
I went for a Green Festival meeting in the evening but as Baz and Rob couldn't make it, I didn't go into Space 109 but waited outside and fielded all-comers and we went to the Spread Eagle for a chat/meeting/drink. Good to do this and it was a productive meeting.
So after lunch we all four of us sat down but one child got either bored or upset by the content of the conversation, and the other had an anger outburst as he didn't like what he was hearing back from the grown-ups. He did calm down again though, and I introduced him to the 'talking stick' concept, where in a group situation, whoever holds the stick can talk, and others do not interupt. He loved this as we practised 'active listening' and he didn't interupt us either when the time came for us to air our feelings. We ended up by briefly looking through the parenting class manual so he could see some of the work we'd been having to do. We didn't do any more than that, although we want to try setting some family rules again (we did try but it didn't get very far!) Right at the end, the other child came back in and we had a 'proper' family meeting and all was well.
So, happy family members today. The boys had several visitors during the afternoon as school was closed.
I went for a Green Festival meeting in the evening but as Baz and Rob couldn't make it, I didn't go into Space 109 but waited outside and fielded all-comers and we went to the Spread Eagle for a chat/meeting/drink. Good to do this and it was a productive meeting.
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Weds 23rd April 08
Not a brilliant start to the day... not sure why but there was a huge outburst and disobedient behaviour, and my son hit me on the nose. I had to hold him down because he threatened to break things and harm me further. I cycled to school with them.
Went to the parenting class, definitely need it, I feel pretty helpless in the situation of having a child who loses it. It's so difficult, I love him so much but cannot cope with his some of his challenging behaviour as it pushes my buttons. The parenting class had a section on smacking. I was regularly beaten as a child (spanked) and I have vowed never to spank them, although they have had smacks on their hands sometimes, and when there is an outburst and threats of violence or damage, it can get pretty physical. But if every evening were like this evening, things would be absolutely fine. It must be difficult for parents with easy children to understand what it's like, and even more difficult for non-parents to comprehend how difficult it can be from time to time. Our child is not the worst, though, going by some of the stories we've heard at the parenting class, so in that respect, we're lucky!
I picked them up from school, all was peaceful and he apologised and we had a really lovely evening! I spent some time watching one of them on their train simulator thing on the computer and he built a special layout for me with some crazy stuff!
More of the squash and mushroom soup for tea for me, boyos had something nicer!
Went to the parenting class, definitely need it, I feel pretty helpless in the situation of having a child who loses it. It's so difficult, I love him so much but cannot cope with his some of his challenging behaviour as it pushes my buttons. The parenting class had a section on smacking. I was regularly beaten as a child (spanked) and I have vowed never to spank them, although they have had smacks on their hands sometimes, and when there is an outburst and threats of violence or damage, it can get pretty physical. But if every evening were like this evening, things would be absolutely fine. It must be difficult for parents with easy children to understand what it's like, and even more difficult for non-parents to comprehend how difficult it can be from time to time. Our child is not the worst, though, going by some of the stories we've heard at the parenting class, so in that respect, we're lucky!
I picked them up from school, all was peaceful and he apologised and we had a really lovely evening! I spent some time watching one of them on their train simulator thing on the computer and he built a special layout for me with some crazy stuff!
More of the squash and mushroom soup for tea for me, boyos had something nicer!
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
Wednesday 9th January 08
I got a lie-in til 9am and then did a little bit of work in the front garden sorting out some of the materials lopped off the top of our pine tree... very similar work to the hedge actually.
Then at 10.30 Gill and I set off for the nearby Family Centre for a workshop called 'Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities', basically a parenting course to help us be better parents. It wasn't very well attended but it was good, and hopefully some of the things will help us.
Lunch was good too, provided as part of the course, and we were finished by 2.30 and I went swiftly to the veg shop to pick up compostables, then home just in time to go and pick up the kiddies...
Home with them and did yet more hedge down the garden... the pile of sticks ready for chopping up is now higher than me! But I'll process that last, so it will double in size before I do anything with it...
Came in when dark and had the doggy-bag of sandwiches from lunch for tea, very convenient!
Then at 10.30 Gill and I set off for the nearby Family Centre for a workshop called 'Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities', basically a parenting course to help us be better parents. It wasn't very well attended but it was good, and hopefully some of the things will help us.
Lunch was good too, provided as part of the course, and we were finished by 2.30 and I went swiftly to the veg shop to pick up compostables, then home just in time to go and pick up the kiddies...
Home with them and did yet more hedge down the garden... the pile of sticks ready for chopping up is now higher than me! But I'll process that last, so it will double in size before I do anything with it...
Came in when dark and had the doggy-bag of sandwiches from lunch for tea, very convenient!
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