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.
Showing posts with label visitors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label visitors. Show all posts
Friday, 19 February 2010
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Sunday 18th October 09
Up early as was expecting a visit from old friends Tim and Anita, whom we haven't seen for about 10 years. They were due to arrive at about 9.30 and spend about an hour with us, before going to meet their friend who had a big 50th birthday party yesterday, someone Tim went to University with.
At about 9am they rang and said they were running a bit late, could be here at 10. I went out the front and started building a new logpile to the left of the front door (looking out) and soon they arrived, in a taxi. How absolutely lovely to see them again. They had a fruit tea and a walk down the garden and all too soon it was 11 o clock and their taxi back to Bootham arrived. Hopefully next time we won't leave it 10 years! I am very fond of them both.
So then I got to work as it was a lovely day, and did 2 hours hedge removal and shredding. I finished the hedge roots processing... pulling them apart and taking off soil so they are bare-rooted, and don't have any ground elder with them. Put all these aside for the chap to collect later.
Lunch and Gardeners Question time, then cycled to Country Fresh to get some veg and came back with a trailer load of gunk to put in layers with the shredded twigs, the perfect mix.
As I arrived back the Freecycler from near Easingwold had arrived to collect the last of the privet roots, about 160 of them. He was delighted, and shared some Oscar Wilde anecdotes with me, which was interesting.
I spent the rest of the afternoon sorting out the material I'd cut off the extracted roots. Our neighbour got busy setting out where the foundations are going to go and I found him three builders 'dumpy bags' which are a cubic metre each to put the soil in. I used the rotasieve to separate roots from soil, and shredded the roots along with more of the twigs. I also collected together quite a lot of stones, which will help with the wall building apparently.
I stayed out in the rain and came in when it got dark, very achy and tired, but happy that so much has been achieved. Gill had made a good mushroom quiche, had this with potatoes and cabbage salad and some other bits and bobs.
Our youngest was very excited as he's going on a field trip tomorrow, I just kept my head down and let him bounce around and be his lovely excited self. He had a bath with water from the stove which I carried up. Played lots of facebook Scrabble and watched synthesizer stuff from my youth on BBC4.
At about 9am they rang and said they were running a bit late, could be here at 10. I went out the front and started building a new logpile to the left of the front door (looking out) and soon they arrived, in a taxi. How absolutely lovely to see them again. They had a fruit tea and a walk down the garden and all too soon it was 11 o clock and their taxi back to Bootham arrived. Hopefully next time we won't leave it 10 years! I am very fond of them both.
So then I got to work as it was a lovely day, and did 2 hours hedge removal and shredding. I finished the hedge roots processing... pulling them apart and taking off soil so they are bare-rooted, and don't have any ground elder with them. Put all these aside for the chap to collect later.
Lunch and Gardeners Question time, then cycled to Country Fresh to get some veg and came back with a trailer load of gunk to put in layers with the shredded twigs, the perfect mix.
As I arrived back the Freecycler from near Easingwold had arrived to collect the last of the privet roots, about 160 of them. He was delighted, and shared some Oscar Wilde anecdotes with me, which was interesting.
I spent the rest of the afternoon sorting out the material I'd cut off the extracted roots. Our neighbour got busy setting out where the foundations are going to go and I found him three builders 'dumpy bags' which are a cubic metre each to put the soil in. I used the rotasieve to separate roots from soil, and shredded the roots along with more of the twigs. I also collected together quite a lot of stones, which will help with the wall building apparently.
I stayed out in the rain and came in when it got dark, very achy and tired, but happy that so much has been achieved. Gill had made a good mushroom quiche, had this with potatoes and cabbage salad and some other bits and bobs.
Our youngest was very excited as he's going on a field trip tomorrow, I just kept my head down and let him bounce around and be his lovely excited self. He had a bath with water from the stove which I carried up. Played lots of facebook Scrabble and watched synthesizer stuff from my youth on BBC4.
Friday, 2 October 2009
Friday 2nd October 09
Quite a busy day as we have to get the house tidied and cleaned as we are having visitors this afternoon and overnight.
So, Gill and I did some sorting out and vacuuming... I took down most of the tomato plants and dead yams in the conservatory so I could put the trays of apples and pears there, from where they were in the front room, which is where the futon is. Which is what Jennifer and Mark will be sleeping on.
So, did a variety of jobs to try to make the place a bit more respectable.
They arrived at about 4pm and left their two boys with us as they had come over for a meeting, and came back about an hour later to settle down for a cosy evening.
The children had pasta, veg and tomato/leek sauce, and we had rice and nan bread and felafels, wine and chat, followed by a game of Scrabble which Gill won.
We watched Derren Brown on telly after which they went to bed. I peeled a load of plums for drying. I ate one and now I know why they were thrown away. I hope drying improves them!
So, Gill and I did some sorting out and vacuuming... I took down most of the tomato plants and dead yams in the conservatory so I could put the trays of apples and pears there, from where they were in the front room, which is where the futon is. Which is what Jennifer and Mark will be sleeping on.
So, did a variety of jobs to try to make the place a bit more respectable.
They arrived at about 4pm and left their two boys with us as they had come over for a meeting, and came back about an hour later to settle down for a cosy evening.
The children had pasta, veg and tomato/leek sauce, and we had rice and nan bread and felafels, wine and chat, followed by a game of Scrabble which Gill won.
We watched Derren Brown on telly after which they went to bed. I peeled a load of plums for drying. I ate one and now I know why they were thrown away. I hope drying improves them!
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Thursday 27th August 09
A good morning because all the children were playing happily together. However we were planning a trip into town so we set a time to stop playing and get ready to go out.
So, into town and we ended up having pizza in Museum Gardens, which was fun and very unusual for us as we hardly ever eat out.
All back home and at about 6pm our lovely relatives went home. We will miss them as we all get on so well.
Over the past few weeks we've become aware of a wasps nest quite near our back door, in the ground in amongst the plants in the border. Initially we decided to ignore it, as we are not anti-wasp particularly, and know they perform a useful ecosystem role of eating caterpillars and fruit flies etc. However, the numbers had increased to levels which started to ring alarm bells when hearing about a chap recently who disturbed a nest and was stung so many times he died. Also, quite recently, both Gill and our youngest got stung (one at a friend's house, one whilst on the train) and it was unpleasant so I decided to destroy the nest.
I wondered about just covering it up with a large pile of compost, during the night when they were less active. I cut the plants back a bit to reveal the hole and soil, and then at midnight a few nights ago, I poured a large bag of compost onto the hole and surrounding area, and watered it in.
The following morning, they had re-excavated the hole and were just as busy as before. I considered pouring a large volume of boiling water into the hole, again whilst they were mostly asleep. But Gill suggested they might go berserk and to check on the net how to do it properly.
There were lots of suggestions about using chemicals, and petrol etc, but the one which took my fancy was the glass bowl method. This looked like a better way than just covering up the nest entrance with soil, as the darkness means they just dig their way out. The glass bowl trick means they think the hole is open to the air but of course, cannot actually get out to collect food for the grubs in the nest. The bowl is left in place for several weeks and they gradually all die.
So we found a big mixing bowl and the composty area I'd so carefully put on gave a really good base to push the basin into, again, whilst it was dark. I put a bit more compost round the edge and watered it in for a good tight fit. All of today there was a lot of activity inside the dome, and only a little bit outside it, from insects which hadn't been in the nest when I capped it. However, another suggestion off the 'net was to put an industrial vacuum cleaner next to the nest entrance and suck them into the vacuum cleaner... So I used our old Dyson and spent several short sessions sucking in stragglers, just a minute or two about 5 times. This definitely reduced the numbers of confused wasps outside the dome.
I feel this method, chemical free and not dangerous (I haven't received one sting) is a good one. I'll report on it's longer term success as the weeks roll on. If the nest had been elsewhere in the garden, I'd have left it, but right outside the back door was a poor choice of position for the little darlings.
So, into town and we ended up having pizza in Museum Gardens, which was fun and very unusual for us as we hardly ever eat out.
All back home and at about 6pm our lovely relatives went home. We will miss them as we all get on so well.
Over the past few weeks we've become aware of a wasps nest quite near our back door, in the ground in amongst the plants in the border. Initially we decided to ignore it, as we are not anti-wasp particularly, and know they perform a useful ecosystem role of eating caterpillars and fruit flies etc. However, the numbers had increased to levels which started to ring alarm bells when hearing about a chap recently who disturbed a nest and was stung so many times he died. Also, quite recently, both Gill and our youngest got stung (one at a friend's house, one whilst on the train) and it was unpleasant so I decided to destroy the nest.
I wondered about just covering it up with a large pile of compost, during the night when they were less active. I cut the plants back a bit to reveal the hole and soil, and then at midnight a few nights ago, I poured a large bag of compost onto the hole and surrounding area, and watered it in.
The following morning, they had re-excavated the hole and were just as busy as before. I considered pouring a large volume of boiling water into the hole, again whilst they were mostly asleep. But Gill suggested they might go berserk and to check on the net how to do it properly.
There were lots of suggestions about using chemicals, and petrol etc, but the one which took my fancy was the glass bowl method. This looked like a better way than just covering up the nest entrance with soil, as the darkness means they just dig their way out. The glass bowl trick means they think the hole is open to the air but of course, cannot actually get out to collect food for the grubs in the nest. The bowl is left in place for several weeks and they gradually all die.
So we found a big mixing bowl and the composty area I'd so carefully put on gave a really good base to push the basin into, again, whilst it was dark. I put a bit more compost round the edge and watered it in for a good tight fit. All of today there was a lot of activity inside the dome, and only a little bit outside it, from insects which hadn't been in the nest when I capped it. However, another suggestion off the 'net was to put an industrial vacuum cleaner next to the nest entrance and suck them into the vacuum cleaner... So I used our old Dyson and spent several short sessions sucking in stragglers, just a minute or two about 5 times. This definitely reduced the numbers of confused wasps outside the dome.
I feel this method, chemical free and not dangerous (I haven't received one sting) is a good one. I'll report on it's longer term success as the weeks roll on. If the nest had been elsewhere in the garden, I'd have left it, but right outside the back door was a poor choice of position for the little darlings.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Wednesday 18th March 09
I got up quite early and put the seed potatoes I bought a while ago into egg boxes for chitting. I'll put these trays of egg boxes in the loft under window so the shoots go green and stay relatively short, before planting them mainly in the allotment when the risk of frost has reduced. If the shoots are coming through, and a frost is forecast, I'll have to go up there and earth them up to protect them.
I took our youngest to school and came back in good time to meet the first of my two visitors this morning. Marabel arrived first, then Lizzie, both people from York in Transition. Marabel is undertaking an MSc on the embodied carbon footprint of buildings compared with the energy used within them during their 'lifetime'. Lizzie is a student too, but I cannot remember what her subject is. They asked to come and see how I managed to live with a carbon footprint of about a twelfth of the UK average.
So we sat and chatted and had a 'past it's sell-by date' instant chai-tea ('just add hot water') plus dried fruit, and discussed needs versus wants, black/white and grey-areas, and a variety of other interesting conversations connected to ethical lifestyles.
We had a fairly leisurely wander down the garden and then off to St Nicks. Lizzie wasn't on a bike, so I gave her a lift sitting on the rack behind me. Initially she was a bit unsure of this but once we got going she told me she was enjoying the ride.
I did my usual tour around the Environment Centre, and then around the nature reserve, where they left to go to the North of the City, and I cycled out of the area via Freshways where I collected a bag of compostables. I was back in time for a 1pm lunch.
I did a bit of 'office' type stuff after lunch, despite nice weather outside... took a couple of phone calls and did some essential emailing. But I also did a bit of logpile building, including some of the slowly growing 'arty' pile.
I went down to school to collect our youngster but he wanted to stop and participate in the streetsports activities, cycling around the playground with ramps provided by the City of York Council's play team. He therefore stayed with a friend, and I agreed with the friend's Mum that I'd collect them both at 4.30 and bring them home, were she could collect him when she was ready. Which is exactly what happened.
I visited Country Fresh at 5ish, and Scummerfield too, on the way back. Whilst I was having tea, Anita and Bruno came round to pick up their SUMA stuff, after it had been sitting in our hall for weeks!
The boys went to bed early, after several very late nights.
I took our youngest to school and came back in good time to meet the first of my two visitors this morning. Marabel arrived first, then Lizzie, both people from York in Transition. Marabel is undertaking an MSc on the embodied carbon footprint of buildings compared with the energy used within them during their 'lifetime'. Lizzie is a student too, but I cannot remember what her subject is. They asked to come and see how I managed to live with a carbon footprint of about a twelfth of the UK average.
So we sat and chatted and had a 'past it's sell-by date' instant chai-tea ('just add hot water') plus dried fruit, and discussed needs versus wants, black/white and grey-areas, and a variety of other interesting conversations connected to ethical lifestyles.
We had a fairly leisurely wander down the garden and then off to St Nicks. Lizzie wasn't on a bike, so I gave her a lift sitting on the rack behind me. Initially she was a bit unsure of this but once we got going she told me she was enjoying the ride.
I did my usual tour around the Environment Centre, and then around the nature reserve, where they left to go to the North of the City, and I cycled out of the area via Freshways where I collected a bag of compostables. I was back in time for a 1pm lunch.
I did a bit of 'office' type stuff after lunch, despite nice weather outside... took a couple of phone calls and did some essential emailing. But I also did a bit of logpile building, including some of the slowly growing 'arty' pile.
I went down to school to collect our youngster but he wanted to stop and participate in the streetsports activities, cycling around the playground with ramps provided by the City of York Council's play team. He therefore stayed with a friend, and I agreed with the friend's Mum that I'd collect them both at 4.30 and bring them home, were she could collect him when she was ready. Which is exactly what happened.
I visited Country Fresh at 5ish, and Scummerfield too, on the way back. Whilst I was having tea, Anita and Bruno came round to pick up their SUMA stuff, after it had been sitting in our hall for weeks!
The boys went to bed early, after several very late nights.
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Weds 31st December 08
Hey, yet another late morning.
Did do a quick visit to Richard at Country Fresh to buy some veg and be given two sacks of other stuff. Nice one Rich! My fruit-drying racks are piled high!
Our youngest had a visitor and all three of them played quite nicely with computer games, until his parents came, had a tiny sherry and chat and took him away again. Nice to share our cozy house..
Before tea I had a go on 'Mario-Car' racing on the Wii with my eldest. I came 8th, first, last and I've forgotten my final position. It was ok but not that good. My son enjoyed it.
Gill made a good stir-fry with veg, cashew nuts and fresh noodles. Afterwards I had some of the Christmas Pudding Gill made yonks ago using home-made dried fruit soaked in brandy... it was delicious! But Gill didn't like it, and the boys don't like the brandy flavour. So it's probably all mine! OMG!
Kinda lazy evening interspersed with fruit drying... did a load of Asian pears which are pretty crap fresh but nice when dried.
Saw in the New Year whilst watching out of our loft window: an excellent view looking North over East York... the Minster on the left and lights from Next Generation shining into the sky on the right. Just a reasonable number of fireworks. Boys got cold at the open window and by 12.15 were in bed.
Happy New Year everyone!
Friday, 19 December 2008
Friday 19th December 08
Quite a relaxed day in many ways... although due to a family visit we did have some tidying up to do. I took our youngest into school and came back to help sort stuff out... I found a large sack of bananas which I was able to salvage and lay out on the cake-racks on the stove, and also helped with vacuuming, ready for Gill's sister Jane and hubby Mike to visit, due at 2.30.
About lunchtime I was rung up by the local free magazine 'Local Link' who are going to do a feature on composting, and they wanted a how and why conversation to form an article, so spent an hour chatting through allsorts of stuff, being careful to differentiate between the York Rotters advice and things which I did, which I'm supposed to try to keep separate from Rotters stuff. For instance, with my Rotters hat on, I'm supposed to not go on about composting roadkill... so I am going to be sent the article before publication so I can check I'm not going to get into trouble, and that the facts are correct!
Jane and Mike had come to visit several folks in York, drop off presents and pick up presents for their family gathering, as they have offspring and grandchildren visiting them over the holidays. They arrived slightly early and we had a good chat before our eldest came home and then I cycled down to school to pick up our youngest. They stayed a bit later than planned, to see the children who were on best behaviour, fortunately!
I left for town as soon as they went, to deliver paperwork for the council, the Planning Panel stuff, and to post parcels to Taunton and Shrewsbury and a small pile of letters/cards to lots of other places. I also picked up two sacks of orange halves and coffee grounds from Millers Yard, and a sack and a box from Country Fresh. Home by 5pm.
I had the leftover macaroni cheese and cauliflower from yesterday plus dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) which are one of my favourite things, quite a treat as they aren't cheap, even buying in bulk from Suma. A good evening with the children, we watched a bit of telly and I got a cuddle... not something I often get from my eldest!
A warm and cosy evening turning logs rapidly back into the carbon dioxide the trees sucked up not so long ago, releasing their stored sunshine into our living room and into the water to enable us to wash our pans and plates, and driving moisture off waste bananas to preserve them for future muesli... I love our Clearview Stoves!!!
About lunchtime I was rung up by the local free magazine 'Local Link' who are going to do a feature on composting, and they wanted a how and why conversation to form an article, so spent an hour chatting through allsorts of stuff, being careful to differentiate between the York Rotters advice and things which I did, which I'm supposed to try to keep separate from Rotters stuff. For instance, with my Rotters hat on, I'm supposed to not go on about composting roadkill... so I am going to be sent the article before publication so I can check I'm not going to get into trouble, and that the facts are correct!
Jane and Mike had come to visit several folks in York, drop off presents and pick up presents for their family gathering, as they have offspring and grandchildren visiting them over the holidays. They arrived slightly early and we had a good chat before our eldest came home and then I cycled down to school to pick up our youngest. They stayed a bit later than planned, to see the children who were on best behaviour, fortunately!
I left for town as soon as they went, to deliver paperwork for the council, the Planning Panel stuff, and to post parcels to Taunton and Shrewsbury and a small pile of letters/cards to lots of other places. I also picked up two sacks of orange halves and coffee grounds from Millers Yard, and a sack and a box from Country Fresh. Home by 5pm.
I had the leftover macaroni cheese and cauliflower from yesterday plus dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) which are one of my favourite things, quite a treat as they aren't cheap, even buying in bulk from Suma. A good evening with the children, we watched a bit of telly and I got a cuddle... not something I often get from my eldest!
A warm and cosy evening turning logs rapidly back into the carbon dioxide the trees sucked up not so long ago, releasing their stored sunshine into our living room and into the water to enable us to wash our pans and plates, and driving moisture off waste bananas to preserve them for future muesli... I love our Clearview Stoves!!!
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Monday 18th August 08
Spent most of the morning skirting around our visitors who were getting packed, and doing loads of washing up. Later in the morning the adults went to the bank to sort out a problem there, they have had some money taken out of their account by someone else, possibly by someone doing a phone transaction and entering a wrong digit... possibly!
This took much longer to sort out than they'd planned and they eventually got off at after 2pm, heading for Birmingham to pick up some stuff they left with friends when they were living here, and then on to Dover where they are camping overnight before a long drive back to Germany.
I went into town as soon as they were gone, and put in a cheque I found whilst sorting through piles of paperwork looking for a letter from a booking in July, where they'd asked for an invoice, I'd written one out and they'd refused to pay me as the invoice was handwritten. I wrote a robust reply explaining my situation and ethics (ie no printer, never using 'new' paper, only re-using already used paper printed on one side only) and told them that if I didn't have a payment by 1st September that I'd start proceedings in the small claims court. I cycled this to the company and talked it through with the boss of the woman who booked me, who has gone on holiday. He said he'd talk to head office and see if they could sort something out quickly.
This took much longer to sort out than they'd planned and they eventually got off at after 2pm, heading for Birmingham to pick up some stuff they left with friends when they were living here, and then on to Dover where they are camping overnight before a long drive back to Germany.
I went into town as soon as they were gone, and put in a cheque I found whilst sorting through piles of paperwork looking for a letter from a booking in July, where they'd asked for an invoice, I'd written one out and they'd refused to pay me as the invoice was handwritten. I wrote a robust reply explaining my situation and ethics (ie no printer, never using 'new' paper, only re-using already used paper printed on one side only) and told them that if I didn't have a payment by 1st September that I'd start proceedings in the small claims court. I cycled this to the company and talked it through with the boss of the woman who booked me, who has gone on holiday. He said he'd talk to head office and see if they could sort something out quickly.
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Saturday 16th August 08
Early start to get packed and the cottage clean and onto the 11.06 bus back home.
Got off in Heworth and walked the mile home, quite laden with stuff, but better than going all the way into town to the station and then getting a bus or taxi back out to Hull Road.
When home, I lit the stove to get hot water and soon after Gill and the boys came in, our German friends arrived... they're camping in our garden tonight.
I was about to go down to Country Fresh when a gentleman stopped and asked if I'd like to pick up a fallen apple tree from one of his friend's garden. I went with him in his car to visit the garden owner and see the tree, and agreed to process the tree and dispose of the remnants. Will do that later this week.
Then picked up from Country Fresh, was good to see Richard again after such a break.
Popped into Debbie on the way back to give her some fresh veg and catch up with her news.
We cooked for the German children and the grown-ups went out to have a meal out. We'll go out tomorrow night whilst they hold the fort.
I logged onto my emails quite late and had 200+ to go through and deal with, delete and reply to. Bed well-after 2am.
Got off in Heworth and walked the mile home, quite laden with stuff, but better than going all the way into town to the station and then getting a bus or taxi back out to Hull Road.
When home, I lit the stove to get hot water and soon after Gill and the boys came in, our German friends arrived... they're camping in our garden tonight.
I was about to go down to Country Fresh when a gentleman stopped and asked if I'd like to pick up a fallen apple tree from one of his friend's garden. I went with him in his car to visit the garden owner and see the tree, and agreed to process the tree and dispose of the remnants. Will do that later this week.
Then picked up from Country Fresh, was good to see Richard again after such a break.
Popped into Debbie on the way back to give her some fresh veg and catch up with her news.
We cooked for the German children and the grown-ups went out to have a meal out. We'll go out tomorrow night whilst they hold the fort.
I logged onto my emails quite late and had 200+ to go through and deal with, delete and reply to. Bed well-after 2am.
Sunday, 27 July 2008
Sunday 27th July 08
A peaceful morning as our eldest was up early and Gill said yes to him playing on the computer, which meant that our youngest got a lie-in til 9 instead of being interfered with and awoken. So Gill and I had a relaxed hour or so before the youngest woke up and demanded breakfast.
I spent an hour after my breakfast cutting a hedge which was getting unruly, and putting it through the shredder. Then watched Countryfile which was an anniversary edition and very enjoyable, especially Jon Culshaw's impersonation of John Craven.
A busy afternoon and evening. Spent quite a lot of time in the garden dealing with unruly hedge and shredding most of the clippings... and collected a large trailer-full of stuff from Country not-so-fresh and mixed it in with the woody clippings and completely filled a tumbler....
At 2 I had a visit from Jennie whom I met on a train a few weeks ago when she was carrying an armful of mint, and invited her to come and visit. She came with her husband Juan and had a tour and a good chat, what lovely people! Then at 5, whilst I was making tea, my friend Grange came, and we had a really good evening, all enjoyed the nutloaf, spinach, flower/herb salad and potato salad that I made.
A good relaxed chat on Skype carefully avoiding contentious subject areas!
I spent an hour after my breakfast cutting a hedge which was getting unruly, and putting it through the shredder. Then watched Countryfile which was an anniversary edition and very enjoyable, especially Jon Culshaw's impersonation of John Craven.
A busy afternoon and evening. Spent quite a lot of time in the garden dealing with unruly hedge and shredding most of the clippings... and collected a large trailer-full of stuff from Country not-so-fresh and mixed it in with the woody clippings and completely filled a tumbler....
At 2 I had a visit from Jennie whom I met on a train a few weeks ago when she was carrying an armful of mint, and invited her to come and visit. She came with her husband Juan and had a tour and a good chat, what lovely people! Then at 5, whilst I was making tea, my friend Grange came, and we had a really good evening, all enjoyed the nutloaf, spinach, flower/herb salad and potato salad that I made.
A good relaxed chat on Skype carefully avoiding contentious subject areas!
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Monday 28th April 08
A reasonable start to the morning and I took the boys into school, as Gill had an appointment and left the house at the same time as us. When I got in I wrote my Community Care blog, with a chat about plastic bags... different types of plastic, biodegradable and degradable, alternatives to plaggy bags, also a bit on some potentially problematic additives...
Got that done just in time and shot down to the station to meet Pippa off the 11.28 train. Was lovely to see her as haven't seen her for ages.... We walked to the Spurriergate centre for lunch and had a bowl of fennel soup which was suprisingly delicious. Had a long talk and then wandered to the B+B which I had booked for her and she dumped her suitcase and we went to see St. Nicks, and on to home where we had a cuppa and a good chat with Gill. I collected the boys from school and they cycled home looking forward to seeing Pips who is a bit like a grandma to them... they were very pleased to see her and remembered the postcards she sends mostly. Last time she popped in it was during school time, and we only see her here every couple of years.
She had got a few presents, which they really liked... some Scrabble score-calculator things, a set of 'pick-up-sticks' and some other bits. We had a walk down the garden, tea, the boys went to bed, we had several games of Boggle (word game) and at 10.30 I walked her down to the BnB.
Got that done just in time and shot down to the station to meet Pippa off the 11.28 train. Was lovely to see her as haven't seen her for ages.... We walked to the Spurriergate centre for lunch and had a bowl of fennel soup which was suprisingly delicious. Had a long talk and then wandered to the B+B which I had booked for her and she dumped her suitcase and we went to see St. Nicks, and on to home where we had a cuppa and a good chat with Gill. I collected the boys from school and they cycled home looking forward to seeing Pips who is a bit like a grandma to them... they were very pleased to see her and remembered the postcards she sends mostly. Last time she popped in it was during school time, and we only see her here every couple of years.
She had got a few presents, which they really liked... some Scrabble score-calculator things, a set of 'pick-up-sticks' and some other bits. We had a walk down the garden, tea, the boys went to bed, we had several games of Boggle (word game) and at 10.30 I walked her down to the BnB.
Sunday, 23 September 2007
Sunday 23rd September 07
Joy of joys, a lie-in, what a treat! And a very lazy morning followed, watched some Freeview 'Scrapheap Challenge' as eating breakfast... a weird time to put this programme on, but as I watched it, I expect others did too! Towards lunchtime the boys got up, and I had lunch and then went into the garden to do some compost heap management, which rendered me very pongy, so I came in and had a shower, as I was due to be at a party at 3pm.
I got ready, loaded my bike up and got changed into my entertainment gear as the party is quite local, at the Healthy Living Centre, Millers Yard, Gillygate. I popped in to Martins Country Fresh on the way down to town, to ask that any compostables are left outside tonight next to the bins, where I'll pick them up later. Arrived at Millers Yard at 2.55, and was immediately surrounded by hoards of little very enthusiastic children, all keen on seeing 'The Funny Man'.
I said 'Hello' to the Dad who'd booked me and was ushered into the room where the party performance was to take place. The party was not really to celebrate a birthday, but to forge friendships between the newly arrived family, fresh from Australia, and the local children. So the youngster's birthday had been several months previously, but he was having a party today to help make friends here.
As they were very young, I had agreed to do a short performance of circus skills, which went well, they laughed a lot, as I obviously am a funny man, as I was wearing a silly hat, have daft shoes and do weird things with juggling balls and sticks. So had a 15 minute mini-show and then moved on to modelling balloons, blowing a load up as various little ones came out to try to blow up a balloon, which is more or less impossible for most people, including the Dad, and this gave me time to inflate 20 or so, with my lungs, as I am able to do it...now!
So then made a small number of demonstration models, a dog, rabbit, bird, a 'watchdog' with one of the grownup's watches inside the dog, and finally, an elephant, to remind the audience the basics of balloon modelling. Then I invited youngsters to work together with a grownup to do a balloon animal, or if they preferred, sit in an area where I then made them an animal of their choice. I was delighted to see several good models being made by child/adult combos, and the children enjoyed the different models I made. Finally I organised the competitions for the models I made to be given to the youngsters, as I don't want to take them back home. I finished at exactly 4pm, as requested.
Zoomed home and arrived as our guests arrived in their hire car. Wendy and Brian are from New Zealand, and Wendy is the mother of my second cousins, Amanda and Chris. Wendy's first husband, Tony, my Dad's cousin, died as he was a heavy drinker, and Wendy has remarried a lovely gentle man, and they seem like a really good couple. They are writing a blog about their travels through, which is W and B in UK (http://wandbinuk.blogspot.com/) So they were treated to a brief Fiddlesticks demo before I got changed and put my stuff away, and they gave us some gifts from Kiwiland... the boys were given a New Zealand hat each, and a tiki, I think, and Gill received a kiwi tea-towel and a pau-shell necklace. I was happy with a New Zealand woolly hat.
I took them on a tour of the garden... they visited about 5 years ago, and it has grown since then, as have the boys, who were about 2 and 4 then. They stayed the night that time, but today, just for a meal. Gill had made a quiche with home-grown broccoli and onion, home-grown potato and green beans and baby tomatoes. They brought a bottle of New Zealand wine, delicious! When in the garden, Brian picked a plant from the edge of the lawn and asked me what it was, so I brought it inside and looked it up, as it is a weed in New Zealand and takes over the lawn. It turned out to be 'Self Heal' and has a pretty purple flower.
I got ready, loaded my bike up and got changed into my entertainment gear as the party is quite local, at the Healthy Living Centre, Millers Yard, Gillygate. I popped in to Martins Country Fresh on the way down to town, to ask that any compostables are left outside tonight next to the bins, where I'll pick them up later. Arrived at Millers Yard at 2.55, and was immediately surrounded by hoards of little very enthusiastic children, all keen on seeing 'The Funny Man'.
I said 'Hello' to the Dad who'd booked me and was ushered into the room where the party performance was to take place. The party was not really to celebrate a birthday, but to forge friendships between the newly arrived family, fresh from Australia, and the local children. So the youngster's birthday had been several months previously, but he was having a party today to help make friends here.
As they were very young, I had agreed to do a short performance of circus skills, which went well, they laughed a lot, as I obviously am a funny man, as I was wearing a silly hat, have daft shoes and do weird things with juggling balls and sticks. So had a 15 minute mini-show and then moved on to modelling balloons, blowing a load up as various little ones came out to try to blow up a balloon, which is more or less impossible for most people, including the Dad, and this gave me time to inflate 20 or so, with my lungs, as I am able to do it...now!
So then made a small number of demonstration models, a dog, rabbit, bird, a 'watchdog' with one of the grownup's watches inside the dog, and finally, an elephant, to remind the audience the basics of balloon modelling. Then I invited youngsters to work together with a grownup to do a balloon animal, or if they preferred, sit in an area where I then made them an animal of their choice. I was delighted to see several good models being made by child/adult combos, and the children enjoyed the different models I made. Finally I organised the competitions for the models I made to be given to the youngsters, as I don't want to take them back home. I finished at exactly 4pm, as requested.
Zoomed home and arrived as our guests arrived in their hire car. Wendy and Brian are from New Zealand, and Wendy is the mother of my second cousins, Amanda and Chris. Wendy's first husband, Tony, my Dad's cousin, died as he was a heavy drinker, and Wendy has remarried a lovely gentle man, and they seem like a really good couple. They are writing a blog about their travels through, which is W and B in UK (http://wandbinuk.blogspot.com/) So they were treated to a brief Fiddlesticks demo before I got changed and put my stuff away, and they gave us some gifts from Kiwiland... the boys were given a New Zealand hat each, and a tiki, I think, and Gill received a kiwi tea-towel and a pau-shell necklace. I was happy with a New Zealand woolly hat.
I took them on a tour of the garden... they visited about 5 years ago, and it has grown since then, as have the boys, who were about 2 and 4 then. They stayed the night that time, but today, just for a meal. Gill had made a quiche with home-grown broccoli and onion, home-grown potato and green beans and baby tomatoes. They brought a bottle of New Zealand wine, delicious! When in the garden, Brian picked a plant from the edge of the lawn and asked me what it was, so I brought it inside and looked it up, as it is a weed in New Zealand and takes over the lawn. It turned out to be 'Self Heal' and has a pretty purple flower.
Sunday, 18 March 2007
Saturday 17th March 07
Well another good day apart from this is the second time I've tried to type and publish my blog, as I had some major problems with it the first time!
At about 9.30 my boys and I cycled off towards St John's Universtiy (difficult to write it this way because for the entire time I've been in York, I've known it as a College) where the Science Week events are culminating. In a large hall there were a wide range of stalls from different organisations with many aspects of science on display, many of them 'hands-on'. The first thing we saw was from Askham Bryan, a selection of animals including two tortoises, leopard geckoes, a weird flattened hamster and a hermit crab. There were other stalls with animals, including one with jars of grain weevils which you could identify using a computer programme, and the Central Science Laboratory with various pests like aphids and cockroaches. CSL also had some non-food crops including oils from rape and flax (linseed) and biodiesel also soap from calendula. There was insulation made from flax and sheep fleece and plastic made from hemp, maize and sugar beet.
The boys had a go with some circuit boards, making a light go on and a hooter sound, whilst I chatted with a chap involved with a science festival, and I wondered whether he'd be interested in my Professor Fiddlesticks Fun Physics Show. He'll be in touch, I hope. We all had our ears looked into using an endoscope with a camera, and the image put on a monitor for all to see our eardrums and earwax. Lovely! The boys watched a minature railway which demonstrated various dangers (such as playing on the track and I rode a static bicycle and generated enough electricity to light four lightbulbs. Our friend Maria was demonstrating a battery using a piece of fruit. She's about to do a PGCE so she can teach at secondary school.
We cycled back after over two hours, using the cycle track again. However the track is only accessable via roads, so we all cycled on the road from and to the off-road track. I know this is a bit of a risk but I am very keen to teach the kids to use the road and there's only one way to do that, and that's to use the road. They're both gaining confidence quickly and I hope they won't ever be 'pavement cyclists'.
Home for 1pm and I spent bits of the afternoon splitting the logs I cut up recently, some by using the electric hydraulic logsplitter and others with the splitting axe or 'maul' as some call it.
At about 4, we had a visit from a lovely young couple Christiana and Riccardo, who are from Brazil. She takes and collects a child at the school our lads go to, and I often chat to her as she always smiles at me. The child belongs to someone she works for, I think. He is doing a Masters or PHd in a parasitic disease, he's half Italian and she's Oriental. They've been married a year and they are lovely. I invited them round as she had asked what all the logs were and why I delved into the school bins, so I thought a tour would be a good idea as it's difficult to explain, easier to show. I'm sad they're going back in May.
After tea and just after the boys were posted off to bed, our Scrabble-playing friend Will came, with his friend Fiona, who is a Scrabble whizz, apparently. Soon after we got going my new friend Taj came round, bearing the promised bottle of wine. We had a good game of SuperScrabble, with Taj looking on, this time, and contributing to the conversation. I won the game but only just. Fiona is a good player and hopefully we'll see her again. They left on the 11.09 bus as they were all heading to the same area of town.
I spent quite a time after this trying to get my laptop to behave but failed. So the blog I wrote didn't publish and just dissappeared. Got to bed after 1.30 am.
At about 9.30 my boys and I cycled off towards St John's Universtiy (difficult to write it this way because for the entire time I've been in York, I've known it as a College) where the Science Week events are culminating. In a large hall there were a wide range of stalls from different organisations with many aspects of science on display, many of them 'hands-on'. The first thing we saw was from Askham Bryan, a selection of animals including two tortoises, leopard geckoes, a weird flattened hamster and a hermit crab. There were other stalls with animals, including one with jars of grain weevils which you could identify using a computer programme, and the Central Science Laboratory with various pests like aphids and cockroaches. CSL also had some non-food crops including oils from rape and flax (linseed) and biodiesel also soap from calendula. There was insulation made from flax and sheep fleece and plastic made from hemp, maize and sugar beet.
The boys had a go with some circuit boards, making a light go on and a hooter sound, whilst I chatted with a chap involved with a science festival, and I wondered whether he'd be interested in my Professor Fiddlesticks Fun Physics Show. He'll be in touch, I hope. We all had our ears looked into using an endoscope with a camera, and the image put on a monitor for all to see our eardrums and earwax. Lovely! The boys watched a minature railway which demonstrated various dangers (such as playing on the track and I rode a static bicycle and generated enough electricity to light four lightbulbs. Our friend Maria was demonstrating a battery using a piece of fruit. She's about to do a PGCE so she can teach at secondary school.
We cycled back after over two hours, using the cycle track again. However the track is only accessable via roads, so we all cycled on the road from and to the off-road track. I know this is a bit of a risk but I am very keen to teach the kids to use the road and there's only one way to do that, and that's to use the road. They're both gaining confidence quickly and I hope they won't ever be 'pavement cyclists'.
Home for 1pm and I spent bits of the afternoon splitting the logs I cut up recently, some by using the electric hydraulic logsplitter and others with the splitting axe or 'maul' as some call it.
At about 4, we had a visit from a lovely young couple Christiana and Riccardo, who are from Brazil. She takes and collects a child at the school our lads go to, and I often chat to her as she always smiles at me. The child belongs to someone she works for, I think. He is doing a Masters or PHd in a parasitic disease, he's half Italian and she's Oriental. They've been married a year and they are lovely. I invited them round as she had asked what all the logs were and why I delved into the school bins, so I thought a tour would be a good idea as it's difficult to explain, easier to show. I'm sad they're going back in May.
After tea and just after the boys were posted off to bed, our Scrabble-playing friend Will came, with his friend Fiona, who is a Scrabble whizz, apparently. Soon after we got going my new friend Taj came round, bearing the promised bottle of wine. We had a good game of SuperScrabble, with Taj looking on, this time, and contributing to the conversation. I won the game but only just. Fiona is a good player and hopefully we'll see her again. They left on the 11.09 bus as they were all heading to the same area of town.
I spent quite a time after this trying to get my laptop to behave but failed. So the blog I wrote didn't publish and just dissappeared. Got to bed after 1.30 am.
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