Happy New Year

AsikanaNetwork | For Girl Geeks

AsikanaNetwork - Empowering young women who entered this male dominated and sometimes hostile world of technology.

wondering why hornets are visiting our roof..

and despite their bad press - when we encouraged the ones inside the window to leave or just were in the room with them, they were very gentle although sounded terrifying

thinking about it - guess they were relieved they had found a way to escape and carry on their plan whatever it might be and as they flew away into the garden could almost imagine it was happily

reallised if we hurt one, we'd probably have the whole pack after us

thinking about the 'why us' or 'why me' besides there are not enough hollow trees in our area.. as thought hornets are rare in the south east, looked for a significance and found a website about animal symbolism and encountering a wasp nor least a whole nest of hornets could be seen as a sign to express yourselves more clearly, align with your goals, stop procrastinating and reach your potential - amongst other things, consider how you communicate. They are also master architects and maybe a symbol to encourage you to build on your dream... or that our attic when they've finished with us.. will look like a hangar at heathrow airport.

The room they were moving through was my son's. Although not buddhist sometimes wonder about different beliefs and found another site called Journey of the Soul. its about kharma

Hornets

Probably not good to read this if you have a thing about things that creep...

Funny how things are connected.. some weeks ago after heavy rain, noticed water coming through a flat roof into upstairs room and on a rainy dark night we needed to put a tarpoline over our roof.

Some weeks went by and noticed few huge noisy wasps in other room upstairs but thought they were coming in from outside. Looked them up and thought they were wood wasps and didnt worry. Then more and more of the wasps were filling the room even though we were getting them out the window and more kept arriving. Almost a swarm especially early evening when the lights went on. Read up a bit more about wood wasps and started to worry they might be eating up the loft.

Noticed new ones in the room even though the windows were shut. Hair on back of my neck prickling just thinking about it

Spent some time looking for holes where they could get in - in the ceiling and the floor - then noticed one of them popping out of a hole in the ceiling, that wasnt there earlier. Instinct to run out of the room screaming

Lots of chats later and photographs sent to Defra experts and seems they are hornets but Europian ones - Told they are Gentle Giants who dont want to attack unless they feel threatened and probably have been living in our loft since the spring but when the roof sprang a leak and we tarpolined it and blocked their exit - we upset the status quo and so they munched their way through into upstairs room to get to an exit. Visions of 300 hornets munching away our ceiling. Seems the hornets that were filling the room could be the male ones looking for a way to get out and look for nectar who would go back to the nest by a route they knew - so would be congregating back on the tarpoline - feeling miffed.


Thinking about it remember hearing a little scratching noise from the ceiling - back in the spring but thought it might be a mouse and too scared to go in the loft to find it.

Advice to block up the hole and used a cd and tape, then read the one thing you should never do - with wasps or hornets is block up the entrance to their nest as they panic and gnaw through just about anything to find another way out. That sounds about right.

Been told not to go in the loft until January - when the nest has died and we can remove it and see what has happened up there. Not sure if i want to.

Brugge

Autumn

Visitors

29ft Crocodiles

Thats about five times bigger than most people
Thinking about one of these swimming besides or underneath your waterside home

Watched a programme about these big Crocs in the Philippines and felt really scared for the people there but awe at these animals who've survived from the time of dinosaurs. It cant be released and it cant be kept in captivity

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/confirmed-this-giant-crocodile-is-the-largest-one-in-captivity/

Recovery

Thought the links on this page might be useful for people in Recovery

What supports recovery?

Research has found that important factors on the road to Recovery include:

good relationships
financial security
satisfying work
personal growth
the right living environment
developing one’s own cultural or spiritual perspectives
developing resilience to possible adversity or stress in the future.

Further factors highlighted by people as supporting them on their recovery journey include:

being believed in
being listened to and understood
getting explanations for problems or experiences
having the opportunity to temporarily resign responsibility during periods of crisis

August Evening Memory

from the hill looking down back to the sea, across sussex
grasses swaying gently in evening breeze

purple, white clover, lilac scabius, thistles
cowslips, vetch like lilac broom
red dead nettle, nettle
buttercups
red campion
white cow parsley
grasses

layers of green - blunted by dryness of late summer
distant whites playing cricket
cows, sheep grazing

dry mud
dogs barking
bees - flies zipping past
partridge whrrrr..chucking in the distance
other birds beginning to settle down
warm dry august early evening

background drone of cars, aeroplanes

smell of... dryness
dry flint chalky path winding inbetween nettles
over tree roots

some four legged small animal running through
the undergrowth

one buddlea escaped from a garden

maria joy

Dream

Strange feeling when you know you are dreaming but almost awake.. and the dream doesnt make sense and you keep looking for it to make sense and then you wake up and reallise it was a dream. remember in my dream swimming out to sea not really sure why i was there and reallised had no back up boat, it was getting dark and not sure where the person was i was swimming with and dilemma to find the person or go back to the shore without them, then reallised possibility they had already turned back and i should too. remember worrying about sharks but dont think there are any round here

funny thing reallise this is a memory of something that really happened that had forgotton about ...with friends, swimming of the shore late November, hadnt thought about the tides, we all got back ok but i was the last ..the tides were so strong and as it was getting dark all directions looked the same. someone came back in to help me. afterwards we walked back along the beach and noticed that the boxes with life rings were broken and life rings missing

The Olympics is drawing towards the end, must be tough for athletes competing at the very end

today is one of the few days this summer - no wind, no rain and no cloud in the sky.. but bad weather for so long means few plums or apples on the fruit trees but the hibiscus is flowering and bees buzzing round lavender and the garden at night smells of honeysuckle. less birds too this summer.

found kenny sitting in the grass almost completely still when i went up to him, then saw big eyes of live baby rabbit underneath him. not sure what kenny was up too.. whether he thought he'd turned into a chicken and sitting on his nest .. but the baby rabbit broke for freedom with kenny running after it and me running after kenny

Funny sort of day.... a butterfly landed on my nose, thats never happened before, it sort of tickled. Two Gold medals, a Silver and a Bronze for the UK team, Boris left hanging on a zip wire, i say nothing but he was flying the flag and the exhaust on my car blew and sounded like i was driving a hot rod and Kenny made another trip to the vet in a little white van and seems to be getting better

Run by Snow Patrol.. one of those songs cant help singing along to
althou when listen to Shut your eyes.. remember standing
in the middle of a huge frozen lake in Lappland and stamping out our names in the snow so large maybe they could even be seen
from space, Thankyou Tom for the cd

Very sad to hear 'Lonesome George' is no longer here ..hope he'll be lonesome no more

Really bad bird jokes

This guy in a station wagon is riding down the road with the back full of penguins. A cop sees him and pulls him over and says,"I want you to take those penguins to the zoo right now!" The guy says, "O.K." Next day the cop sees this same guy going down the road with the penguins in the back. This time the penguins are wearing sunglasses. He pulls the guy over again and says,"I thought I told you to take those penguins to the zoo." The guy answers, "Yeah, that's right, we went and had a helluva time. We're going to the beach today!"

http://www.wildbirds.com/dnn/AboutUs/BirdJokes/tabid/692/Default.aspx

ice packs, shin pads and body armour for the wimbledon linesmen

have a suspicion, the problem with plan b .. there are so many things it would be interesting to do...it becomes overwhelming. there you stand for a moment too long at this door of infinite possabilities, thinking and wondering

....and there it goes

Went to London to see the Queen.. with trillions of other people as she glided by on the river but walked and walked to find a space to see her but so many people gave up and visited Battersea Dog's home and saw sweet little terrier that would love to take home..

Like to think this was true.. but dont think its easy

"There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.
It's easy.

Nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time.
It's easy."

Beatles

Noticed two very bright stars lined up last night in the dark of the night looking towards the west, think they were Jupiter and Venus

http://earthsky.org/tonight/moon-and-winter-circle-high-in-west-on-march-29

Lil star

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

the good news looking through books, found another with same name and a date that was at least 10 years after the last date of the diary had been reading.. which means the person survived and got home, although guess is gone by now

been reading a diary written during world war II. the writing is little bit hard to read, story of the small things and feelings that made up their days, written as the owner of the diary travelled round Africa, to the other side of the mediterranean in a troup ship, endless days at sea, then arriving at the destination waiting and counting the days until letters arrived from home but some months after arriving suddenly the diary stops and have matched it with events at the time and searched on the web for some evidence that the person returned home, but so far no trace.. mystery

The beginning "I left home in reasonable frame of mind, considering that my time of absence was an unknown quantity. Exactly what would transpire between my leaving the then peaceful serenity of home and my return there, will be written in my own handwriting in this book..." A Scottish soldier, 24 when they sailed

somedays reallise moments in our lives are beyond our control and down to someone up there or the fickle finger of fate.. like going through the tunnel, you just have to hope or hum nervously for 30 minutes, that you will pop out the other end

If Baby the Elephant has had enough of the circus and wants to hop on a ferry and hitch a ride down the M4 and down to Sussex.. we would be very happy to have you :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75zK02pW2Q0

Solar powered barn

http://johnthompson.theartistsweb.co.uk/untitled-gallery-38436

Michel Delacroix ... Night scenes in Paris

http://secondhanging.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/michel-delacroix-at-axelle-fine-arts/

Days left until next Olympics

http://www.theolympicgamescountdown.com/

love f1 and imagine im following the racing line when im driving this time of year but felt very sad watching the film about Ayrton Senna. wish somehow not seeing the ending, he would still be alive today but when someone touches so many, think they live on and what they believe in

“If we want to change something, we must start with the children, through their education" Ayrton Senna

http://senna.globo.com/institutoayrtonsenna/home/index.asp

'Seagulls' new home

Sauna on lake

Sure the Northern Lights were dancing around up there somewhere... but down here is a slightly cold, sleepy person heading back to bed as the sun rises

Dormice and the Motorway

Imagine Watership Down but with dormice

In summer dormice mostly live in tree tops and are reluctant to cross open spaces, probably because of fear of being eaten. But in autumn, usually early October, dormice hibernate in nests built just beneath the surface of the ground, often under moss or leaf litter. They remain in these nests until spring in late April or early May

So, local motorway widening scheme, incredably is working around this, first they partly cut the trees next to the motorway only after the dormice went into hibernation and now waiting until the dormice wake up and shock horror discover only tree stumps above their heads and will scamper off to other parts, when the stumps will be taken away too, by when hopefully the dormice population will have found new homes to live in

you can estimate dormice population by counting gnawed hazelnuts left on the ground

Springsioux

www.springsioux.com
mariee sioux wizard flurry home
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFQVzitdcyM&feature=related (pipes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPJk-202r0M

long long drive from home and about half way there thought about turning round and going back but eventually arrived in Margate and made our way down to the sea on a sunny February afternoon and the smell of the sea and seagulls wheeling around the very modern Turner Contempary, pleased to be there. the light over the very flat sea stretching away to Holland was uplifting

not sure what to expect and as a small person, opened the very large doors carefully into the rooms with the Turner paintings and sketches, little bit scared they would bang shut and everyone turn round

the first room for me had at least three of the most incredible Turner paintings and could have stayed here happily

the exhibition is free and runs until May 7th and parking isnt too bad

on the way home we visited Broadstairs, a favorite place of Dickens and imagined him beside the sea. in the distance out to sea a very large windfarm in the mist and drove home with the sun a beautiful ball of fire setting in the east

my favorite Turner paintings so far...

norham castle sunrise
sunset on rouen
lucerne by moonlight
stormy sea with dolphins
snow storm - steam boat off a harbour's mouth

"There’s a professor who’s crossed a chicken with a spider, he’s now got chickens with 8 legs! I said, ‘What does it taste like?” He said, ‘I don’t know, I haven’t caught any yet"

"My father fought in World War I and single-handedly destroyed the Germans' lines of communication. He ate their pigeon"

for aunt Daphne
also in memory of Frank Carson

early this morning, the pheasent is back, my mum calls them Charlie Boys, i don't know why.. i think they walk like they have a rucksack on their back after they have had a few beers, first upright, then a few fast steps with their head down

think these are Herdwicks
Beatrix Potter's favourite sheep
from the fells of the Lake District

http://www.whereswoolly.co.uk/index.asp

Hope and Clouds Houses

Really good news that 'Action on Addiction' will receive encouragement and support from the Duchess of Cambridge.

Addiction is a devasting problem that takes away beautiful lives and often means the person looses touch with family and friends. perhaps the family dont know what to do or our busy lives seem more important. Hand in hand believe are mental health issues which either are the cause or the result or both. maybe one solution is visability, destigmatising this cry for help but also encouragement to make the family unit and also extended family unit stronger across generations and distance

it's a difficult thing to fight alone

http://www.actiononaddiction.org.uk/HRH.aspx

think he must've been cold or hungry
as he seemed to want to walk inside,
until the cats saw him

seems bees were wasps that decided to follow a vegetarian, hippy way of life.. collecting flower pollen and sipping nectar :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFDIRllMim4&feature=fvwrel

little late, but woke up to first snow this winter on sunday

Went to see 'the Grey' and if would have been possible to climb under my seat, i would have done. we were expecting an action film, in the Artic...and it definitly is both. Liam Neelson is rugged thoughtful hero but there were many scenes i couldnt watch

Somedays later and read that there is a final scene after the credits we missed and i wish we had seen this.. but we had already left the cinema, a little stunned

Think it was moving that Liam Neelson's character called out to God for help at the end and nothing happened and so he muttered that he would do it himself. makes you wonder

walking in Petworth Park, felt like being part of a painting. a huge wintery space, lakes and rolling downs with clusters of sweet chestnut trees on top of them and somewhere deers. designed by Capability Brown and painted by JMW Turner, a frequent visitor, very lovely

"Inspire them (next generation) to dream the impossible and the possible will happen" Eugene Cernan, Commander Apollo 17 - Last man on the Moon - Dec 18th 1972

http://www.panoramas.dk/moon/apollo-17.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tothemoon/lastman.html

Leonardslee Wallabies - environmentally friendly mowing machines

Please open Leonardslee Garden to the public in the spring
http://www.thegreatexhibition2012.co.uk/greats/leonardslee-gardens

this is worrying but hopefully possible to turn around
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/10/doomsday-clock-ticks-closer-to-midnight

Sniffer Bees ...and lots of honey

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/sniffer-bees-new-flying-squad-in-war-against-terror-477173.html

Guerrilla Gardener

Noticed for no reason that i can explain, a really old oak tree, smothered in ivy, so next time walked by brought a saw and some loppers and cut through the ivy at the base. Felt sort of furtive walking with my saw and loppers, like a guerrilla gardener who i think are great ..and think will try and save more, as many trees that came down in recent storms were smothered in ivy.

Hawthorn Kuksas

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?71727-Hawthorn-Kuksas-in-progress-(pic-heavy).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwvhGwsE3hs

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52107

Rosehip Syrup

http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/kateys-best-rosehip-syrup-recipe-121

Turning Points

Always looking for answers

Turning points booklet.pdf on the home page
www.sfnsw.org.au

seems the 'hugging hormone' - oxytocin helps.
Maybe animals in residence at hospitals, hugs as greeting in meetings :) ... and doctors could greet patients with a hug as well as prescribe

http://www.shockmd.com/2011/02/21/oxytocin-in-schizophrenia-and-autism/

Happy New Year..

Wishing you everything you wish yourself and much Happiness