A fairly quiet day, no particular highlights other than visiting Richard at Country Fresh at about midday, and picking up a load of stuff from him, and then going on to Alligator, as Gill had asked me to get some jelly, and they do a good vegetarian jelly. I had space for 3 bags of their biodegradable resources, and will collect more on Monday I expect.
I enjoyed some sorting out down the garden... there's still a bit of a backlog, so today's stuff stayed in the wheelbarrow but I loaded up more into the Compostumbler, and filled a couple of sacks of mature compost which a rodent had excavated from the base of one of the last heaps to be sitting on the ground. Most are now up on top of pallets, to reduce the ability of rodents to nest in the heap. They can still get in from the top, but a quick poke with the CompostMate means any tunnels collapse and they seek refuge elsewhere. So this heap will be bagged up and then the pallets raised up off the ground so it's slightly less rodent-friendly.
I had an early tea, at about 6pm, just a bowl of soup plus an avocado sandwich, and at 6.30 walked down to Heslington with our eldest, so he could have his computer graphics lesson with Simon. I chatted with Melody and shelled pumpkin seeds and read Resource Magazine. Melody told me she too had heard of a horror story about Andy S. taking advantage of a kind and generous person, and I asked her to pass on the message to this (so far) anonymous person that if she wanted to contact me, I was putting together a dossier to try to get him stopped. If any of the readers of this blog recognise the character I refer to, and has a story of him borrowing money and not paying it back, or using someone's credit card without permission, please do contact me.
On the way back home I learned about my son's adventures on Blender, and we talked about animations and some of the things we've enjoyed.
A quiet evening... blanched a load of grapes and put them to dry, watched a nice programme about Tom Petty, a musician I don't know a lot about. Liked his music though...
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Friday, 7 January 2011
Thursday 6th January 11
A fairly quiet day... I cycled round to the bread shop to get Yesterbake, and then to the Co-op to get goats milk for the people in the house who like dairy, cereal for me, margarine and paracetamol for the painful people, which today includes me, with a headache.
Stress today helped by a phone call from the school, asking where was our son? I was absolutely gobsmacked... I'd given in a letter, by hand, yesterday, explaining why he was away before Christmas and why he hadn't gone in yesterday. The communication within that school is abysmal! So my head was full of schooling problems... I really don't want to have to deal with this.... the school should be good enough to send our children to without them feeling so much fear they can't go in.
I usually feel better if I'm doing something outside the house, so I dismembered 4 waste pallets with my chainsaw and pure muscle, pulling the bits of wood apart to make stackable planks and nice long-burning cubes of wood with easy-to-pull-out nails in, once the cube is mostly charcoal.
In the afternoon, Gill had an appointment and I was just settling down for a late lunch when there was a knock at the door and there was my old friend Maggie, whom I haven't seen for ages, with two small dogs on lengths of string! She said she'd walked up to B+Q for something and had walked past our house and recognised the logpiles. She put the dogs in the back garden, tied to a bench, and came in for a coffee and chat. We got to talking about a chap we both know, called Andy S. whom we both called a friend at one time. However, he stole a bike from Maggie, and he's borrowed a large sum of money from one of my friends and not paid it back. Maggie told me about someone else who Andy had possibly hoodwinked, so I sent this person a message on facebook to find out more. What I want to do is to alert the police about this abuser so no-one else suffers in the future. I'm wondering how to get the message out without being accused of slander/defamation or getting a brick through the window.
I did a favour for Maggie who had taken out a stainless steel sink from somewhere and had it sitting in her back garden, and she asked me to put it on Freecycle. By the evening I'd had 4 replies and sent them Maggie's phone number. So I hope one of them gets it!
Anyway, Maggie stayed quite a long time and so I was unable to work with the boys as I'd planned to, after lunch, to get emails and letters sent off to family members to thank them for Christmas gifts. However, our eldest didn't need much persuasion to email some thank yous, but letter writing is a completely different thing. More stress.
Anyway, Gill came back, I did some more work outside til it got dark, and for tea I had a pile of old rice with a pool of pumpkin and parsnip soup in the centre, with some unidentified pickle on the side.
The highlights of the evening were watching a good programme on BBC4 about the brain, and finding an interesting forum called SelfSufficientish, which I joined, and read quite a few posts. The site is run all or partly by my friend John Headstrong, whom I met whilst getting involved with the (We Love The) Earth Centre thing in spring 2010, and I loved this YouTube video about the Robin Hood Tax which he's put on his blog.
Finally, I was pleased to find out today who the mystery visitor was, with the Internet Service Provider based in Buckingham. It is the spouse of an old friend whom I've known for a very long time, dealing with insomnia and getting ideas about domestic food and energy security, Transition communities and peak oil. I'm delighted to have been 'useful' and to have helped an old friend. So, 'hello' and your message made me smile!
Stress today helped by a phone call from the school, asking where was our son? I was absolutely gobsmacked... I'd given in a letter, by hand, yesterday, explaining why he was away before Christmas and why he hadn't gone in yesterday. The communication within that school is abysmal! So my head was full of schooling problems... I really don't want to have to deal with this.... the school should be good enough to send our children to without them feeling so much fear they can't go in.
I usually feel better if I'm doing something outside the house, so I dismembered 4 waste pallets with my chainsaw and pure muscle, pulling the bits of wood apart to make stackable planks and nice long-burning cubes of wood with easy-to-pull-out nails in, once the cube is mostly charcoal.
In the afternoon, Gill had an appointment and I was just settling down for a late lunch when there was a knock at the door and there was my old friend Maggie, whom I haven't seen for ages, with two small dogs on lengths of string! She said she'd walked up to B+Q for something and had walked past our house and recognised the logpiles. She put the dogs in the back garden, tied to a bench, and came in for a coffee and chat. We got to talking about a chap we both know, called Andy S. whom we both called a friend at one time. However, he stole a bike from Maggie, and he's borrowed a large sum of money from one of my friends and not paid it back. Maggie told me about someone else who Andy had possibly hoodwinked, so I sent this person a message on facebook to find out more. What I want to do is to alert the police about this abuser so no-one else suffers in the future. I'm wondering how to get the message out without being accused of slander/defamation or getting a brick through the window.
I did a favour for Maggie who had taken out a stainless steel sink from somewhere and had it sitting in her back garden, and she asked me to put it on Freecycle. By the evening I'd had 4 replies and sent them Maggie's phone number. So I hope one of them gets it!
Anyway, Maggie stayed quite a long time and so I was unable to work with the boys as I'd planned to, after lunch, to get emails and letters sent off to family members to thank them for Christmas gifts. However, our eldest didn't need much persuasion to email some thank yous, but letter writing is a completely different thing. More stress.
Anyway, Gill came back, I did some more work outside til it got dark, and for tea I had a pile of old rice with a pool of pumpkin and parsnip soup in the centre, with some unidentified pickle on the side.
The highlights of the evening were watching a good programme on BBC4 about the brain, and finding an interesting forum called SelfSufficientish, which I joined, and read quite a few posts. The site is run all or partly by my friend John Headstrong, whom I met whilst getting involved with the (We Love The) Earth Centre thing in spring 2010, and I loved this YouTube video about the Robin Hood Tax which he's put on his blog.
Finally, I was pleased to find out today who the mystery visitor was, with the Internet Service Provider based in Buckingham. It is the spouse of an old friend whom I've known for a very long time, dealing with insomnia and getting ideas about domestic food and energy security, Transition communities and peak oil. I'm delighted to have been 'useful' and to have helped an old friend. So, 'hello' and your message made me smile!
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Wednesday 5th January 11
I got up early as it was the first day of term and I had to be around to help. However, our youngest decided to not try going back to Archbishop Holgate's, and will therefore start a two week trial at the Steiner School next Monday.
However, as we had not had a reply from the Head, I wrote a letter to him asking him if he'd had it, and if so, he had anything to say about the issues. I hand delivered this. Later, we got a phone call saying they hadn't received the first letter. Gill rang the LEA, and they had been sent a Fax of it, so there are obviously major communication breakdowns at that school. We'll be invited to an interview there next week, apparently. I am very angry with the way our children have been treated, and I'm not going to back down and accept that it was all a big mistake. I believe that the school are denying that they have a problem with bullying as if they admitted to it, they'd be obliged to do something about it. And that's tough, in a culture which likes bullying behaviour and condones the belittling of people.
So both boys were at home and working, reading, and had a quiet and sedentary day.
I went on the HMRC website and submitted my tax returns. It took a couple of hours, but ended up with a calculation with them owing me 25 pence. My earnings have gone right down, so this is the first year I've not had to pay tax for well over a decade.
Got a booking for a Charity Cabaret for mainly retired and elderly folks in February, in Fulford. Should be interesting... I'll adapt my Woodlands MS Respite Care Centre show for them!
I made soup for tea... pumpkin and parsnip, as suggested by my dear mother who left a comment on yesterday's post. I was considering soup but was also considering a nutloaf. Nutloaf tomorrow... will contain some soup!
At about 6.30, I set off walking into town with our eldest son, to attend the Cafe Scientifique at City Screen. The talk was by Tim Clarke, from the Department of Electronics at the University of York, and was called 'Control: A Fundamental For Life and Living'. He's a control engineer, and gave lots of interesting examples of different sorts of controls... from genetic controls with genes being switched on and off, biological controls in homeostasis, keeping our body temperature constant, and biochemical controls, such as insulin and it's role in the management of blood sugar. It was quite an unusual talk, very wide ranging, from inverted pendulums to flocks of birds through to robots. For instance, check out this video of the Big Dog Robot. Really amazing. At one stage, Tim wanted a volunteer from the audience to demonstrate something, and as there were no other volunteers, I put my hand up. What he wanted me to do was to balance a stick on my hand... he couldn't have chosen a better person to use, as I was able to not only do it but describe what I was doing.
So, a good talk, I'm not sure I learned a lot of new stuff, but it was good to learn the meme of 'control' and put all these various things into it. Enjoyed the walk home and the discussions with my son.
My Feedjit widget tells me that over the past couple of days I've had a visitor on here from Buckingham (maybe, it's not always accurate!) who's been poring over this blog, viewing all sorts of links and spending more time than most do here! Makes me curious! So hello Person from Buckingham, on Internet Explorer 8.0 and using Windows Vista! Glad you're exploring! Do say hello!
However, as we had not had a reply from the Head, I wrote a letter to him asking him if he'd had it, and if so, he had anything to say about the issues. I hand delivered this. Later, we got a phone call saying they hadn't received the first letter. Gill rang the LEA, and they had been sent a Fax of it, so there are obviously major communication breakdowns at that school. We'll be invited to an interview there next week, apparently. I am very angry with the way our children have been treated, and I'm not going to back down and accept that it was all a big mistake. I believe that the school are denying that they have a problem with bullying as if they admitted to it, they'd be obliged to do something about it. And that's tough, in a culture which likes bullying behaviour and condones the belittling of people.
So both boys were at home and working, reading, and had a quiet and sedentary day.
I went on the HMRC website and submitted my tax returns. It took a couple of hours, but ended up with a calculation with them owing me 25 pence. My earnings have gone right down, so this is the first year I've not had to pay tax for well over a decade.
Got a booking for a Charity Cabaret for mainly retired and elderly folks in February, in Fulford. Should be interesting... I'll adapt my Woodlands MS Respite Care Centre show for them!
I made soup for tea... pumpkin and parsnip, as suggested by my dear mother who left a comment on yesterday's post. I was considering soup but was also considering a nutloaf. Nutloaf tomorrow... will contain some soup!
At about 6.30, I set off walking into town with our eldest son, to attend the Cafe Scientifique at City Screen. The talk was by Tim Clarke, from the Department of Electronics at the University of York, and was called 'Control: A Fundamental For Life and Living'. He's a control engineer, and gave lots of interesting examples of different sorts of controls... from genetic controls with genes being switched on and off, biological controls in homeostasis, keeping our body temperature constant, and biochemical controls, such as insulin and it's role in the management of blood sugar. It was quite an unusual talk, very wide ranging, from inverted pendulums to flocks of birds through to robots. For instance, check out this video of the Big Dog Robot. Really amazing. At one stage, Tim wanted a volunteer from the audience to demonstrate something, and as there were no other volunteers, I put my hand up. What he wanted me to do was to balance a stick on my hand... he couldn't have chosen a better person to use, as I was able to not only do it but describe what I was doing.
So, a good talk, I'm not sure I learned a lot of new stuff, but it was good to learn the meme of 'control' and put all these various things into it. Enjoyed the walk home and the discussions with my son.
My Feedjit widget tells me that over the past couple of days I've had a visitor on here from Buckingham (maybe, it's not always accurate!) who's been poring over this blog, viewing all sorts of links and spending more time than most do here! Makes me curious! So hello Person from Buckingham, on Internet Explorer 8.0 and using Windows Vista! Glad you're exploring! Do say hello!
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Tuesday 4th January 11
A very busy day. Got up fairly early and added to yesterday's blog, as in the morning I heard news of Pete Postlethwaite's death, and that had been with me all day. So today, I had quite a lot of reading to do, for this afternoon's Environment Forum meeting. Barry Otley had asked us to read about Ecosystem Services, which is a way of valuing all sorts of things which don't have a monetary value... such as urban trees, wildflower meadows, or saltwater marsh. So the value of urban trees, for instance, lies in their ability to absorb some atmospheric pollution, absorb noise, help cool the 'Urban Heat Island Effect', provide fruits/nuts, shade in summer, and if planted along pathways, can help make pleasant cycle and walkways. Not only this, but having greenery around, such as trees, helps improve mental health and wellbeing. All of these have been measured and well described. So I read for about two hours, mainly documents Barry emailed to Environment Forum members. But there's plenty of info on the web, such as wikipedia for starters.
However I had three phone calls for Professor Fiddlesticks bookings, one next week, one at the end of the month, and one in the summer.
During the afternoon, Gill went to town to get clothes for the boys, and at 3.30 I headed off to the Guildhall for the Environment Forum meeting, which was very interesting. It finished at 6pm but I chatted to Dan about Five Thousand, a new initiative which hopes to help jobless people gain skills etc through gardening. Also chatted with June Tranmer and Edward Harland.
I got home just before 7 and had 3 slices of home grown pumpkin with rice for tea... the pumpkin had started to go off, so I'd rescued it by slicing it and removing the seeds and small area of mould, and roasting the lot in the bottom of the oven whilst something else was cooking. So I've got another 10 slices of pumpkin to eat! I'll have to do a family meal and try to hide pumpkin in it!
However I had three phone calls for Professor Fiddlesticks bookings, one next week, one at the end of the month, and one in the summer.
During the afternoon, Gill went to town to get clothes for the boys, and at 3.30 I headed off to the Guildhall for the Environment Forum meeting, which was very interesting. It finished at 6pm but I chatted to Dan about Five Thousand, a new initiative which hopes to help jobless people gain skills etc through gardening. Also chatted with June Tranmer and Edward Harland.
I got home just before 7 and had 3 slices of home grown pumpkin with rice for tea... the pumpkin had started to go off, so I'd rescued it by slicing it and removing the seeds and small area of mould, and roasting the lot in the bottom of the oven whilst something else was cooking. So I've got another 10 slices of pumpkin to eat! I'll have to do a family meal and try to hide pumpkin in it!
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Monday 3rd January 11
What a comfy bed! Although Jess's flat was cold, I'd been given two duvets and was therefore nice and warm, and it was a firm mattress so I slept well.
Got up around 10 and had a bowl of Weetabix and a sprinkling of porridge oats with a few bits of dried apple ring broken on top. Watched YouTube videos, including some blasts from my past, Osibisa and Steve Hillage. I logged in to facebook and saw a friend had posted about the death of Pete Postlethwaite, which made me cry as he was my favourite actor, especially after his wonderful performance in Age of Stupid. What a shame, he was only 64, and by all accounts a lovely bloke. This coloured my whole day.
Jess was mending Nomi's handbag which had poorly constructed handles, so Jess was replacing them with several lengths of tough rope and then sewing leather round to make a nice looking handle. But this meant we didn't leave the flat til well after 11, and I wanted to get the 12.19 train to York so I could be back in time for the opening of the BikeRescue HubStation. Jess and Nomi were heading over to Leeds to buy material, so they waited for the bus, and I cycled down to the Interchange, which only took about 10 minutes, and I was there in time for the 12.05 train to Leeds. But I said I'd wait until the later train, but they didn't get to that train so I had that hour quiet enough to read my NewScientist.
However, I met a cyclist with a folded Brompton who was going to the HubStation launch... a volunteer from Sustrans, and friends with my friend Gael.
Once in York I picked up my trailer and then had a toasted sandwich at ?Krunchies and then went to the new HubStation, the latest project from BikeRescue, headed up by Bernie Cullen, whom I have a lot of admiration for. The place was already crowded with York's cycling fraternity, Councillors, dignitaries. The building used to be an electricity sub-station, and in 2006 Bernie requested that the Council let it be used as a Cycling Centre. It has taken £300,000 and 4 years to get it to what it is now... with space for secure bike storage, repairs, sales of reconditioned bikes, spares and accessories, a cafe, shower, and today, a lovely cake and loads and loads of happy people. One really nice touch is a window which will be permanently used for bike-based art. It currently has a load of decorated plates in it, and is very pretty. It has been put together by Lu Mason, who I think may be the daughter of Tom Mason, one of my cycling friends who died a few years ago.
I stayed til about 3pm and then came away, I would have liked to take part in the ride through the city but I wanted to get home. Popped in to Country Fresh on the way home though, and picked up a couple of boxes of compostables.
Back to a happy home, where all was well and our eldest had gone out to a film with friends... coming back having really enjoyed it. Nice simple tea, and at about 7, I went out to the LETS meeting at the Seahorse... but no-one else turned up apart from two non-member ordinary guys who seemed happy to chat with me until their takeaway next door was ready. I left at 8.30, cleared up some frosted Nasturtiums from the Edible York raised bed, picked up a pallet and came home.
Gill was on the phone when I got in, chatting with my old friend Cathryn whom I've known since I was 18. She is considering replacing her oil-fired central heating with a Dunsley Yorkshire woodburning stove, and wanted my advice or opinion. Whilst on the phone, Gill suddenly got excited, saying 'Earthquake' but I didn't feel or hear anything. However, after the phone call had finished, I switched on my laptop and went on facebook... and several other people had felt the tremor. It was ineed a quake, Gill's third, and smallest. Her first was in Nort Wales decades ago and it threw her to the ground. We had one in York a few years ago, which was my first (and only!). This time, Gill heard the rumble, the crockery on the Delft Rack clink slightly, and felt the tremor. I was so focused on the phone conversation, I'd not experienced anything.
I rang my Dad at 10pm, to wish him a happy birthday as he's reached 70. I wanted him to know I've not forgotten him, despite not being in contact for a while.
Got up around 10 and had a bowl of Weetabix and a sprinkling of porridge oats with a few bits of dried apple ring broken on top. Watched YouTube videos, including some blasts from my past, Osibisa and Steve Hillage. I logged in to facebook and saw a friend had posted about the death of Pete Postlethwaite, which made me cry as he was my favourite actor, especially after his wonderful performance in Age of Stupid. What a shame, he was only 64, and by all accounts a lovely bloke. This coloured my whole day.
Jess was mending Nomi's handbag which had poorly constructed handles, so Jess was replacing them with several lengths of tough rope and then sewing leather round to make a nice looking handle. But this meant we didn't leave the flat til well after 11, and I wanted to get the 12.19 train to York so I could be back in time for the opening of the BikeRescue HubStation. Jess and Nomi were heading over to Leeds to buy material, so they waited for the bus, and I cycled down to the Interchange, which only took about 10 minutes, and I was there in time for the 12.05 train to Leeds. But I said I'd wait until the later train, but they didn't get to that train so I had that hour quiet enough to read my NewScientist.
However, I met a cyclist with a folded Brompton who was going to the HubStation launch... a volunteer from Sustrans, and friends with my friend Gael.
Once in York I picked up my trailer and then had a toasted sandwich at ?Krunchies and then went to the new HubStation, the latest project from BikeRescue, headed up by Bernie Cullen, whom I have a lot of admiration for. The place was already crowded with York's cycling fraternity, Councillors, dignitaries. The building used to be an electricity sub-station, and in 2006 Bernie requested that the Council let it be used as a Cycling Centre. It has taken £300,000 and 4 years to get it to what it is now... with space for secure bike storage, repairs, sales of reconditioned bikes, spares and accessories, a cafe, shower, and today, a lovely cake and loads and loads of happy people. One really nice touch is a window which will be permanently used for bike-based art. It currently has a load of decorated plates in it, and is very pretty. It has been put together by Lu Mason, who I think may be the daughter of Tom Mason, one of my cycling friends who died a few years ago.
I stayed til about 3pm and then came away, I would have liked to take part in the ride through the city but I wanted to get home. Popped in to Country Fresh on the way home though, and picked up a couple of boxes of compostables.
Back to a happy home, where all was well and our eldest had gone out to a film with friends... coming back having really enjoyed it. Nice simple tea, and at about 7, I went out to the LETS meeting at the Seahorse... but no-one else turned up apart from two non-member ordinary guys who seemed happy to chat with me until their takeaway next door was ready. I left at 8.30, cleared up some frosted Nasturtiums from the Edible York raised bed, picked up a pallet and came home.
Gill was on the phone when I got in, chatting with my old friend Cathryn whom I've known since I was 18. She is considering replacing her oil-fired central heating with a Dunsley Yorkshire woodburning stove, and wanted my advice or opinion. Whilst on the phone, Gill suddenly got excited, saying 'Earthquake' but I didn't feel or hear anything. However, after the phone call had finished, I switched on my laptop and went on facebook... and several other people had felt the tremor. It was ineed a quake, Gill's third, and smallest. Her first was in Nort Wales decades ago and it threw her to the ground. We had one in York a few years ago, which was my first (and only!). This time, Gill heard the rumble, the crockery on the Delft Rack clink slightly, and felt the tremor. I was so focused on the phone conversation, I'd not experienced anything.
I rang my Dad at 10pm, to wish him a happy birthday as he's reached 70. I wanted him to know I've not forgotten him, despite not being in contact for a while.
Sunday, 2 January 2011
Sunday 2nd January 11
Not too hurried a start, got the washing up done and made sandwiches so I could have lunch on the train.
Gill wanted me to try to find some soya yoghurt with active acidobifidus or something culture, so I visited Morissons AND Waitrose on my way to town, so if I found what she wanted, I'd cycle back home with the yoghurt. But no, there wasn't a product available so I went on to the station, locked up my trailer and got a ticket to Bradford. I'd decided the best way to get to Manningham from Bradford Interchange was to use my bike, but as trailers aren't allowed on trains, I left that locked up in York.
Waiting on the platform, I texted Gill with the no yoghurt news. On the train I chatted with a PhD student called Phil (I think!) who is researching mathematical models of medical conditions in the aging population. Fascinating stuff. I love train journeys! I changed trains at Leeds and then chatted to an Oriental couple from Manchester who were about to explore Bradford, which was only 20 minutes or so from Leeds.
I'd memorised the route from the station to Jess's house, using Googlemaps and Streetview, and I found it very easily. Nomy was in, Jess had gone to town but was soon back with some provisions for tea. It was lovely to see them together; I'm the person responsible for introducing them to each other, and now they're a couple, which makes me very happy.
Before tea, we had a game of Scrabble on a homemade Scrabble board, made out of cardboard, and tile racks made of Lego. How creative Jess is!
Jess cooked a stir fry with noodles which was lovely, followed by ice cream and chocolate sauce.
After this we watched YouTube music videos, and then a great film called Kinky Boots on DVD, which was great, I really enjoyed it.
Gill wanted me to try to find some soya yoghurt with active acidobifidus or something culture, so I visited Morissons AND Waitrose on my way to town, so if I found what she wanted, I'd cycle back home with the yoghurt. But no, there wasn't a product available so I went on to the station, locked up my trailer and got a ticket to Bradford. I'd decided the best way to get to Manningham from Bradford Interchange was to use my bike, but as trailers aren't allowed on trains, I left that locked up in York.
Waiting on the platform, I texted Gill with the no yoghurt news. On the train I chatted with a PhD student called Phil (I think!) who is researching mathematical models of medical conditions in the aging population. Fascinating stuff. I love train journeys! I changed trains at Leeds and then chatted to an Oriental couple from Manchester who were about to explore Bradford, which was only 20 minutes or so from Leeds.
I'd memorised the route from the station to Jess's house, using Googlemaps and Streetview, and I found it very easily. Nomy was in, Jess had gone to town but was soon back with some provisions for tea. It was lovely to see them together; I'm the person responsible for introducing them to each other, and now they're a couple, which makes me very happy.
Before tea, we had a game of Scrabble on a homemade Scrabble board, made out of cardboard, and tile racks made of Lego. How creative Jess is!
Jess cooked a stir fry with noodles which was lovely, followed by ice cream and chocolate sauce.
After this we watched YouTube music videos, and then a great film called Kinky Boots on DVD, which was great, I really enjoyed it.
Saturday 1st January 11
Well a late start as we went to bed at 3am, but had a good day with a bit of logpile stacking, some compost bin filling, pruning brambles, to give me a layer of carbon rich/aeration material, and sorting out stuff for drying.
Later, I had a go at making 'raspapple', as Richard gave me about 9 punnets of raspberries yesterday, which were unsaleable as some of the fruit was going off. Gill sorted out enough to make a little pie, leaving me the rest... I removed the worst ones and brought the rest up to the boil on the woodstove, and sieved off the juice. I then put the pulp back on the stove with a bit of water, and after this had come to the boil, sieved it again, giving me a cup of raspberry juice. Then I got a load of already dried apple rings, which I have a lot of, and in small batches, put them in the juice to soak up a bit of raspberry flavour. I then put these for redrying on the rack on the stove.
I cut up the banana and cranberry leather which had fully dried... in fact, some bits had got to the crunchy stage, which isn't what I wanted, as it should be leathery. So I got a jar full of these strips, and some extra bits which didn't fit. I invited my boys to try these offcuts and got a big thumbs up.
So a quiet and pleasant day. No hiccups, no hassles, quite productive.
Later, I had a go at making 'raspapple', as Richard gave me about 9 punnets of raspberries yesterday, which were unsaleable as some of the fruit was going off. Gill sorted out enough to make a little pie, leaving me the rest... I removed the worst ones and brought the rest up to the boil on the woodstove, and sieved off the juice. I then put the pulp back on the stove with a bit of water, and after this had come to the boil, sieved it again, giving me a cup of raspberry juice. Then I got a load of already dried apple rings, which I have a lot of, and in small batches, put them in the juice to soak up a bit of raspberry flavour. I then put these for redrying on the rack on the stove.
I cut up the banana and cranberry leather which had fully dried... in fact, some bits had got to the crunchy stage, which isn't what I wanted, as it should be leathery. So I got a jar full of these strips, and some extra bits which didn't fit. I invited my boys to try these offcuts and got a big thumbs up.
So a quiet and pleasant day. No hiccups, no hassles, quite productive.
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