Happy New Year

Wishing you happiness, health and everything you wish yourself in 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STqDowSbSTQ&feature=related

Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year

as the last few days of the year fly away and wondering what to do so the new one will be better and trying not to reflect on the good, the bad and hide under the bed scary of 2010.. sleepless nights more so... one of these listening to Clay Shirky on Hardtalk about the internet on the telly in the wee small hours, the presenter challenging this mans thoughts by his intro that perhaps the internet magnifies our flaws. commenting on its benefits Clay Shirky talked about a 16 year old discovering two Supernovas because Nasa had relaxed its rules on accepting public observation supporting his feeling that the internet encouaged creativity

Toboganning... :)

More of the white stuff.. and its so cold, the snow is crunchy and crackles when you walk on it, unusual for the South. This morning woke to a snow blizzard, with the snow whirling and spinning outside, almost like the snow queen was passing.

Still a little traumatised from driving around Gatwick yesterday from Brighton to pick up a parcel. No grit on the roads, they are skating rinks - long long snails, need a book, warm blanket and some food. maybe someone enterprising can head down to the area with some warm drinks

strange red light in the night sky and unbelievable at least foot of snow has fallen in the last few hours, so everything familar outside has disappeared under the snow.. cant wait for the morning, hope its still there

Several inches of snow and we are dressed like roly polys outside looking for animal tracks but the afternoon snow seems untouched, maybe they are all inside their burrows and we need to look early morning, if the snow is still there

Snow

thankyou to my mum and dad who went out today with me
on a cold frosty day to look for a winter coat, so i wouldnt be cold
and to my son for the frosty polar bear and tommy cooper dvd
and the card with hundreds of kisses and also big thankyou
to whoever bought one of my photos of Scotland, the first one thats sold

The man who planted trees

http://www.viddler.com/explore/Ms_Valerie/videos/240/

Freya and Snorre

Handmade in Sweden and just arrived in Honey Beeswax store
http://www.honeybeeswax.com/store/

never seen the barometer so low as today, almost off the scale, outside very stormy weather even kenny stayed in, no vole hunting today and as leaves blew around and up in the air saw a very large olive colored bird, pale green underneath and big feet, blow past in the wind too and sheltered for a while at the top of the wooden stairs, outside the garage opposite, kenny's favorite place to snooze and watch the world - just for a moment hoped maybe it was the hawk from the summer but probably a green woodpecker. still feel sad about this

Mango Chutney

Because everything seems to be turning gold outside. leaves, pumpkins, bonfire, fireworks - mango chutney using cardamon pods and ginger
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/mango-chutney.html

Felicitaciones - resultado maravilloso

Wonderful news, 33 Chilean miners and their rescuers arrived safely last night after 70 days underground. Such brave men and families. Strong message whatever you are facing, however impossible, never give up hope

Tom's birthday and last minute decision we travelled over to Calais and down the coast to beautiful beaches at Wissant and Le Touquet. Lunch near Cap Blanc Nez.. think this means white nose, icecream in Wissant and tea in le Touquet.. a funny place with wide white sandy beaches, many shops, world class casinos and a racecourse. Warm and sunny day and too soon on the ferry home again

early evening driving home noticed full moon resting on small cloud on one side and beautiful yellow sunset on other side and large stormy clouds inbetween...

Kenny update

Some weeks later and Kennys face is a lot better and hes out and about again inbetween rain showers - and im hoping his fur and a few whiskers will grow back but hes not too worried

another trip to the vet early in the morning to see how kenny is doing and more peeing on the way back.. perhaps shouldnt be surprised that later same day when we came home... kenny burst out the door like some determined but overweight marine, dodged around all of us trying to catch him and threw himself head first through the hedge with his little buster collar

then silence, all afternoon... nothing, no matter how much we called, looked or wafted freshly cooked fish around until early evening, many hours later, he appeared again and ran strait in for his tea

Kenny travelling in little white van

because kenny looked little poorly, took him to our vet holding him on my lap because he was too big with his cuff to go in his cat box - he shook and trembled and looked all around him in awe as everything wizzed past and then put his head under my arm but then felt something warm and wet and reallised he had peeed all over me - perhaps his way of protesting about going to the vet

seems kenny's been in a fight and been bitten on his face and its blown up, so he has one of those funny collars to stop him scratching and he looks a bit scary, little like a komodo dragon and my other cat, took one look at him and ran away.

this has made kenny very sad and he is now hiding under the bed

Reflection on previous thoughts.. maybe when you are lost, this is a posative thing, it brings about change and encourages you to do something to improve things - to spend time thinking, if there is time in your life to do this. but probably better not to be lost in the first place

my son was chipping balls down a golf driving range this afternoon, inspired he told me by Tiger Woods and seems to have a very relaxed swing

and they have.. they seem very fond of cheese and heard the Simpsons in the middle of the night.. could the underpant gnomes be large hungry mice who like the Simpsons ...

late and my black cat is snoozing away
funny comment from my son still makes me smile, think ill be looking in the fridge in the morning, to see if the underpant gnomes have visited us again

Sea wind

feeling sort of blue today and maybe a little overwhelmed.. went for a walk up on the downs and almost blew away, but not completly and nightime the wind was so strong, very sleepy today as half awake all night listening to the trees blowing around outside...

Remember a German ballad about the willow king or erlkonig my mum told us when we were small. It begins with a farmer riding home with his son on horseback across the marshes one dark windy night... and the boy sees and hears things the father does not. He hears the willow king calling to him again and again with promises. The farmer tries to reassure him it is just a wisp of fog, rustling leaves or the shimmering willows but he urges his horse and they ride ever faster through the windy dark night and he looks down at his son and sees him pale and sick so they ride ever faster but when he gets to his farm as the morning light is breaking and he looks down distraut at his son, reallises it was too late

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Erlk%C3%B6nig

think the baby hawks may now be having flying lessons thou still being fed... loud desperate squawking sometimes from the top of one tree then another when their parents swoop in from the downs like precision red devil pilots

Ghosts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLoyH4xzOX0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBWwBlOWyLY

monday morning and no sign yesterday of the baby hawk on the ground althou could hear the rest up in the nest but early this morning, about 6am, loud noise outside and saw maybe similar little bird on the grass and it flew up into a tree and think this is the thought im going to try and keep

the little raptor is somewhere out there in the dark tonight..

all by himself. During the day and yesterday put him back up the tree several times but then saw him looking more and more dejected, hopping around on the ground. onetime back up the tree, one of the parents landed on a branch nearby and he began flapping his wings but when i looked again he was hanging upside down, clinging on with his big feet, like a little bat

hope he keeps safe tonight

Kestral or Sparrowhawk baby

for some weeks been hearing strange squawks from the very top of a fir tree.. then today, this little chap was sitting on the grass looking little cross

worried the local cats might eat him, so tried to see where he was going but he ran out onto the road and finally scooped him up and got a ladder and tried to put him back on a branch to be rescued but um think he may have jumped again..

anyone seeing this small man with big yellow feet and looking sort of grumpy.. please send him home :)

Courage

www.yaarahschools.org/tag/courage

Scarecrow Competition....Skellig

...

Best thing about last few days...

a big sky with clouds like angels and golden sun illuminating whispy tendrils stretched across the sky then setting like red fire behind a silhouette of trees on a hill, and my son with his golden hair, for long time so shy, smiling with his cousins.. watching f1.. a bit like whacky races (so guess there must be a dick dastardly and muttley in the mean machine) and the eurovision song contest, kind of surreal like birds on the tree singing their hearts out in the morning

Raindrop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcIMvliWM2I&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pSyYhRYeIM&feature=related

im very sorry for confusion with the honey cake recipies..

watching Jame Does Athens on the telly and loved his recipie for Greek Honey cake with pistachios.. but couldnt find it on his website... looked for similar recipies online.. but the ones i found used measurements in cups and wernt very successful for me

The recipie below is the Jamie Oliver one.. taking down the ingredients and method from the programme, that can still be seen for another three weeks on the web.

Althou havn't made it yet - but the main thing it gives the ingredients in grammes and also a tin size for the cake - so you have a fighting chance it will work.

Greek Pistacio and Honey Tin cake

from Jamie Does Athens
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/jamie-does/4od#3070154

1 lemon and an orange (zest and juice)
150g plain flour
200g semolina
1 level teaspooon of baking powder
200mls of mild olive oil
75g ground almonds
225g greek yoghurt
225g castor sugar
5 eggs (not seperated)

Mix all togethor with zest of orange and lemon and pour into a tray covered with olive oil and then flour shaken over to make non stick, about 22x29cms.

Pour in mix

Bake in oven at 180 degrees C for about 30-35 minutes and cool for 1 hour.

Toast 150g of pistachios and crush roughly with end of rolling pin, add 100 mls of honey and heat togethor with nuts until honey boils but not caramalised - toffyish.

Turn down and add the juice from the orange and lemon and simmer for a minute

Stab the sponge with a small knife so that the syrup will sink into it

Spread the warm nut mixture over the cooled sponge - leave for 10 minutes and continue to stab, gently.. with knife to encourage syrup to be absorbed

Serve a portion with dollop of greek yoghurt and sliced strawberries that have been covered with half an orange and castor sugar

Jamie Does...

www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/jamie-oliver/jamie-does

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THfOfnrB9HI ..zorba

versions of Greek Honey and Lemon cake below.. got in a little bit of a muddle with these... maybe something to do with using 'cups' as measurement

http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Greek-Honey-Lemon-Cake-with-A-Twist-72209

http://jugalbandi.info/2009/05/not-greek-honey-lemon-cake-with-a-plagiarised-recipe/

heaven..

scent of a bluebell wood on sunny may morning

Secret lives of waldo kitty

Behind the face you walk out your front door with, dont we all have a private one where the fuzzy headed person with mismatched socks who fell out of bed and a hundred dreams lingers

Barbers Adagio For Strings (Ferry Corsten Remix)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nPAkX1oot0&feature=related

Met Office - Volcanic Ash Predictions

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/latest/volcano

How to have a free holiday

http://uk.travel.yahoo.com/p-promo-3311893

mama bear wrestles tree... ping

http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/mama-bear-wrestles-tree-to-rescue-cub/2gg7xie5

In resignation today, believe Mr Brown is a great Prime Minster. Hope he finds happiness and contentment in whatever happens next in his and his families life.

Elephant Parade

http://elephantparadelondon.org

Sea mist...

up on top of the downs, small lambs only just visible in drifting vapour

Strange Magic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28_unHqjVp0&feature=related

One of my favourite sounds...

waves crashing on a beach.. download by Brain Sync. im not sure about this, but the sound of the waves takes you away for short while to somewhere where sound of nature is powerful but peaceful

http://www.brainsync.com/shop/free-guided-meditation-online

Thank you

http://users.elite.net/runner/jennifers/thankyou.htm

Well done McLaren...

Hope the wind changes direction soon and Eyjafjallajokull will blow in the other direction

Brighton Festival - May

the children's festival is great noisy fun, as well as all the dance, theatre and music events, plenty of free outdoor events around Brighton as well as open houses but please bring back fireworks on the beach
http://www.brightonfestival.org/Outdoors

Kenny

Happy..

have planted carrots and parsnips in the ground today and now trying to protect them from slugs and all sorts of hungry animals, birds and insects.. seems slugs have at least 25,000 teeth and live in the ground coming to the surface at night time... like fungus the bogeyman

Dragon by the motorway

thankyou for your comments :)
seems thou the comments were redirecting to a porn site, so feeling sort of disallusioned and given up on comments

Fruit Eating Lizard - pickled new species

Very sad to euthanise this lizard to find out if it is a new species; guess my first reaction.. are they nuts - is there no other way, maybe using a sedative dart ?

Guess they have good reason to be hiding up trees scared what we will do to them

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100406/tsc-uk-science-lizard-011ccfa.html

Samba Pa Ti.... Happy Easter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACdwCIld3kE&feature=related

Good luck McLaren team... watch out for the koala bears :)

Easter Simnel Cake

Ingredients

8oz plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 oz sultanas
2oz chopped almonds
2oz chopped walnuts
11/2 oz candy peal
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
3oz ginger pieces (in syrup)
6 oz glaced cherries
7oz margarine
6oz castor sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 tablespoons brandy or milk

glace icing for decoration
angelica - to make leaves
marzipan
rose food coloring
rose water

Method

- Line an 8" cake tin
- Sift flour and salt and add sultanas
- Chop nuts and grate lemon rind into this
- Soak ginger in hot water and cut into small pieces
- 1/4 the cherries and pour boiling water over them to remove
syrup, add a little flour and add cherries at the end
- Add mixed peal, ginger and cherries to the flour
- Meanwhile in another bowl, beat togethor margarine, sugar
and vanillla essence
- Beat into this the eggs, one at a time with some of the flour
- Next add flour and fruit mixture to this and add brandy or milk
- Pour into cake tin and bake in oven for 1 hour at 340 degrees F
and 1 hour at 320 degrees F (Please adjust for fan ovens)
- Allow to cool and stand for 1-2 days before decorating

Decorating the cake

- Cover cake in marzipan after brushing cake with apricot jam
- Place a second circle of marzipan over this - so that it
just covers the top of the cake (more apricot jam to attach)
- Using scissors or a knife, cut teeth in the edge of the second circle
of marzipan for decoration
- Gently mark a small cross in the centre of the second circle of
marzipan only and then more diaganols so that you can peal back
marzipan in the centre to give up to 12 small 'leafs' in the centre of
the top marzipan layer
- Put rose water flavored icing in the centre
- Make rose buds from rose colored marzipan and place them
between each of the marzipan 'leaves' and one extra large one in
the centre of the cake, on the icing - use icing to attach.
- Soak angelica in hot water ad put two pieces of angelica on either
side of the smaller roses and around the central rose.
NB. Cut ends to be pointy.
- Brush the marzipan roses with rosewater.
- Brown for a few minutes under a hot grill .. if you dare :)

NB. You can make marzipan rose buds by first coloring the
marzipan with a few drops of food coloring in a plastic bag and
squeezing the marzipan until colored - a little like play dough :)
Then using a small liquer glass as a template cut out several
circles of marzipan and place togethor to make a rose bud.
Using a knife, cut in half to make two.

(this is a recepie my mum found in a Home and Garden
magazine when they first got married).

Smoke on the water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvfvX9Py5is&feature=related

thinking about a warm evening looking down on the sea somewhere in the south of france, althou little difficult to sleep because of the frogs and army of ants crossing the room. Wish i was there now, maybe driving along the coast road.. blue sea below and scent of cyprus trees in the warm air

Sea squirts... our distant cousins

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artaug98/tuni1.html

Was thinking... maybe there should be an official 'no worry' day... not one single worry is allowed to cross your mind during this day.... images of your mum saying all te things they do, to calm you down.. would appear and blast away the worrys

After months of cold nights and log fires..

the dusk night air filled with chirping birds fades away to an almost lilac blue night sky. Dreaming of travel and far away places.

The racetrack in Bahrain seemed almost surreal..can imagine in the huge heat and with sand and small palm trees stretching into the distance and all the wild road markings and few pit stops, after a while my concentration would drift...

its great to see Schumacher racing again and finishing sixth

but wonder how big the f1 cars have become.. think the cars when they were smaller seemed more racey, think they have morphed into small pointy petrol tankers with a helmet

F1 Bahrain BBC1 11.10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfoLMa8bET4

Duck and Dog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ficwZQYmRLE&feature=related

Bioflavanoids in pollen tablets promote fracture healing
http://www.honeybeeswax.com/store/bee-products

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x43oe_bangles_walk-like-an-egyptian_music

'Face' on a snowdrops petals

www.bsbi.org.uk/Snowdrop_identification.pdf

i havn't seen the film and it must be me.. but an orange haired Johnny Depp smiling as the Mad Hatter, is kind of scary

for little and big people

somewhere in this website is an exploding parrott
www.aglassandahalffullproductions.com

Honeybee

Mr Blue Sky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Ncxw1xfck

Have managed to do a flying swan dive hopping in from the rain when my crutches slipped on a shiny floor.. so feeling even more sore if thats possible, everywhere

frustration with the plaster caste running high but also huge respect and little more understanding what people have to face who live with disabilities, how dependant you become and how your world shrinks

im discovering some ways to get round a few of the restrictions and spending more time on my knees as easier option to carrying things..

It is very late and i should be asleep, but...

i cant sleep and think a cup of tea and piece of chocolate cake might help, but it doesnt..

the photos below are from a trip to lappland with my son a few years ago about this time. There wasnt much daylight, so the colors are a little blue

we went here hoping to see lots of snow, the northern lights and moose.. we didnt really see the northern lights thou got up many times in the night to see if they were there, mostly lots of stars and some green thou the colors in the sky at dawn and dusk were very beautiful

the snow was incredible, we rolled down banks of snow and walked across frozen lakes, deep in snow

and the moose, they were elusive, so we drove to a moose sanctury where we fed them bananas :) and like all things when you re not looking suddenly they are there, like the first flakes of snow in winter.. we drove out to a beautiful place where several mountain ranges meet and along the way several moose crossed the road infront of us and then stood in the trees perfectly still, so we were not supposed to know they were there

we stayed in a small wooden cabin next to the frozen lake , surrounded by snow and with a log fire going, it was very peaceful

Moose

Building the IceBar

foot thoughts

my toes are turning blue but it seems need to take it more easy and the plaster caste man said my fracture was the best one to have as it would heal well.. i think i have an avulsion fracture of my little toe metatarsal.. hope this means i have the 'dancer' one
www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/metatarsal-fractures.html
he also advised this website.. so i have no excuse not to wash :)
www.limboproducts.co.uk

Kenny

Few flakes of snow whirling

out of a grey sky... feeling a little blue. missed few of the stairs at home and broke a long bone in my foot, so hopping around on crutches.. guess this may have knocked a few things on the head but guess need to see this as an opportunity for something else

Ice Hotel

Just before Christmas a few years ago, we arrived late at night at the ice hotel in Lappland. It was cold, about minus 25 and driving down the icy slope through the entrance was pretty scary. The stillness of the frozen night and excitement being there was huge.

Remember big piles of frozen snow everywhere.. we parked in an empty space and tried to connect the car with a cable to an electric parking meter to keep the car warm overnight. But this night i was soo tired and it was dark and remember following a cable that was attached to this meter to find out what was the other end of a big pile of snow, so then i thought id just give it a small tug and bang...the lights from the big Christmas tree outside the ice hotel all went off..

Fish and Chips

last night my small black cat mr fluffy, smelt of fish and chips...
when he saw me eating some, he made the biggest noise ive ever heard him make until i gave up and let him finish them

:) :)

Seems like a good place to be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR9wVToRUiE

Tommy Cooper and...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yNzkMqBToc&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3GqaQkhuYw&feature=related

No reason only...

it would be great for all children to have mums and dads who love them and guess it is harder for men to find a role in their children's lives when they are busy as providers, especially if the children may not be theirs. we all struggle but it helps to have a light out there

This is taken from an article written by Rachel Corcoran interviewing 'Seal'. 'How i feel about parenthood'

"People talk about the responsibility of having children in a negative sense - the sacrifices they make and so on. But i see that responsibility as a good thing. It's one of the few things in life that you have to be truly accountable for.....

You have been given the honour of helping to form this little miracle and they take their lead from you. So whether they're physically your child or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is the fact that you're nurturing them and helping them to grow...

The great thing about kids is that they give you permission to do stupid things. They simplify everything too. If you're lucky enough, they allow you to look at the world as they see it - and that's a much more peaceful place than the world we adults live in".

Seedy Sundays

Seedy Saturday Community Seed Swap - 6th February in Lewes

When: 10.30am – 3.30pm
Where: Southover Grange and Gardens, Lewes

Enjoy the atmosphere and make the most of the opportunity to grab some unusual vegetable and flower seeds, take part in one of the many workshops such as willow weaving or making a bug box, or attend one of the talks while children enjoy story telling or wildlife activities. Marguerite Patten, original celebrity chef will be giving a talk supported by former Land Army Girls on healthy eating and judging the Transition Town Lewes chutney competition, so bring your homemade chutney and let the displays and talks inspire you to go home and get growing.

Contact Katharine Finnigan of Common Cause, tel: 01273 470900/ 07887828249 or Ann Spike of Lewes District Council, tel: 01273 484112.

* * * * *

Seedy Sunday - 7th February 2010

When: 10am – 4.30pm
Where: Hove Centre (Town Hall), Norton Road , Hove BN3 4AHHow much: £1.50

For further information on speakers or stalls, or for seed packets call Fran on 01273 381686

E.On will develop Sussex offshore wind farm togethor with Searoc

The Sussex wind farm will be sited in Zone 6, the “ Hastings ” zone, located off the West Sussex coastline, out to sea off Brighton. The area is 270.2 km2, equivalent to 54,000 football pitches.

It is over 13km from the coast at its closest point and nearly 26km at its furthest. The shallowest parts of the zone at around 19m are of a similar depth to the London Array project awaiting construction in the Thames estuary. The deeper areas of up to 62m are more likely to be avoided, so not all of the zone will used to locate wind turbines.

http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/newscontent/92-r3-developers.htm

Police having fun in the snow

maybe they would like my igloo :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgOUm1ci0z8

Haiti Red Cross Earthquake Appeal

https://www.redcross.org.uk/emergencysite/campaign.aspx?id=88917

Heavy Heart
http://becausewesayso.co.uk/2009/09/heavy-heart/

Farewell from the snow cats

Snow.. 10-01-10

Seems from weather forcast one more day of the white stuff then our small ice age will give up and go away,. sort of interesting how this arctic blast came at the end of the climate change conference. Over here in uk, without a 4x4, grit on small roads, snow tyres and few snow ploughs reallise need to be careful what i wish for and not easy to build a snowman under minus degrees :) ...but serious icycles round our house, wonder at beautiful snowy fields and trees and just a feeling that nothing is so important for a few days is an interesting beginning to the next decade

Jimmy's Global Harvest - Brazil and Australia

Jimmy starts his journey in the giant of South America - Brazil. He discovers how to turn poisoned land into a powerhouse of world food production, joins sugar cane cutters to see how Brazil has replaced half of all its petrol use with biofuel, and finds a way to save Caiman alligators from poachers. In the Amazon, Jimmy meets an unlikely cattle rancher who claims he can save the rainforest.

In Australia, Jimmy learns whether farmers can overcome the global issue of soil salinity.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pyr6s

Snow, snow and more snow :)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/2132?area=BN6

Snowy :)