I have been awarded an MSc with Distinction.
Thats about as good as it gets.
Wednesday 26 November 2008
Sunday 23 November 2008
Snow falling down around me
Todays snow was a bit more impresive. Here is a picture of a cold but serene buddha and the back garden. Most of the snow is still here and it will make my cycle ride to work much more interesting tomorrow morning - I ave to go shopping on the way home as well so if it freezes it will be very good fun. I have told myself that if I fall off more than three times before I get to end of the road then I'll come back and take the car!
Saturday 22 November 2008
Here we snow here we snow here we snow......
Woke up this morning to the noise of snow, if you think about it you'll know the noise i mean, its more the absence of noise and the muffled phut of snow on the window. I was so excited by the gradual dissapearence of the garden the only option was to leap out of bed and take photos. I then decided that snow-cycling would be fun so I dragged 'him' out into the city on our bikes. The roads were ok, and there were only a couple of slippery bits. In fact the cars were generally having more problems than us. My main issue centred around the jeans i was wearing (wet and cold = no fun) and the snow showers made my bike seat wet as i was in the shops.
Still it was a very productive outing and I got to go to the butchers (sausages were a million times better) and the grocers, got two decent sized well balanced meals for two people for under £10. Also made me realise how much we'll save when we start getting veg out of the ground again.
Which leads me to my idea of snow gardening, i had quite a bit to do today outside and before going out decided that when i go back from the city I'd get on with it regardless of the white stuff.
Hmmm. That idea lasted about as long as the warm cup of hot chocolate in front of the fire!
Still it was a very productive outing and I got to go to the butchers (sausages were a million times better) and the grocers, got two decent sized well balanced meals for two people for under £10. Also made me realise how much we'll save when we start getting veg out of the ground again.
Which leads me to my idea of snow gardening, i had quite a bit to do today outside and before going out decided that when i go back from the city I'd get on with it regardless of the white stuff.
Hmmm. That idea lasted about as long as the warm cup of hot chocolate in front of the fire!
Tuesday 18 November 2008
We are not alone.....
Just because I am so impressed with myself I am posting a picture of my evenings hard work. In honour of WOrld GIS day 2008 tomorrow I have made my team at work a small fairy cake iced to look like the earth, they are rather cute but icing constraints on a cake an inch and a half accross did require some imagination. And patiance, the finished result loks a bit surreal!
Sunday 16 November 2008
Butt installed
The sun shone yesterday, so having bought the ingredients for dinner (anglian potatas, carrots and cauliflower with Irish beef) and made the casserole I felt I had earned some garden time. It took me a couple of hours to get the gutter up, downpipe fixed and a level platform for the water butt to stand on. I then found that I had to drill a 25mm hole in the water butt which I didn't have a bit for so hacksawed out instead. Looks good though :)
Then of course I had to test it and it works! I don't know how long it will take to fill up the butt, but I left enough space next to it so that we can expand if we need to. I've also decided on a design for the greenhouse/cold frame and I'm asking for timber for christmas to make that and the new internal fence for the veg patch; not to mention the anti butterfly frame for the brocoli. I WILL have purple broccoli and cauliflower next year!
Then of course I had to test it and it works! I don't know how long it will take to fill up the butt, but I left enough space next to it so that we can expand if we need to. I've also decided on a design for the greenhouse/cold frame and I'm asking for timber for christmas to make that and the new internal fence for the veg patch; not to mention the anti butterfly frame for the brocoli. I WILL have purple broccoli and cauliflower next year!
Sunday 9 November 2008
Happiness Happening
I have spent the last two weeks getting on and off trains and spending more time in hotels than at home. This has been totally due to work and led to me missing the CPRE Green Awards event held at the Norwich Assembly Theatre last week, and my partners nephews 5th birthday party. Both worthy events which i was sad to miss and sending me deep into the doldrums.
Yesterday my very clever mum took me up to Sheringham to brush away the cobwebs whereupon I had the best fish and chips ever, looked around a proper ironmongers and bought my first Christmas present. Which reminded me how close to Christmas we are getting! We went out today to look for a box for me to put on my bike when I cycle to work so that I can get shopping on the way home without cripping my back, and we got lots of daffodils, narcissus and snowdrops from the garden centre. When we got back I spent a happy few hours pottering around the garden tidying up and planting some of the bulbs for a spring dispay. I would have planted all of them but I lost the light.
Which takes me to the happiness factor, having spent the last few hours surfing the internet to look for useful/beautiful things for people for christmas (influenced by william morris) I discovered a post which was entitled "5 things that make me happy" and after the last few weeks i think i managed to do many of my favourite things this weekend (in no orer of favourites!).
1. See the sea while eating fish and chips (Sheringham)
2. Play in my garden & ride my bike (two things but noth outside and shed connected!)
3. Read my eco magazine and find useful leads to solve problems (ike what to do with the 2 tonnes of earth we dug out of the garden)
4. See/Speak to almost all my family
5. Spend time with my lovely boyfriend
Then theres the things i didn't get to do but really enjoy, like cook up a storm, watch the stars, see a movie, drink with friends, read a book, sew, plan travels, have a campfire (bonfire), make a cake, go for a long cycle ride.....
Try it - make a list of 5 things which make you happy & do some of them, after all if 37.5 hours a week are spent at work, 42.5 if counting lunch breaks and there are 168 hours in a week - 75% of our week isn't spent at work.
Yesterday my very clever mum took me up to Sheringham to brush away the cobwebs whereupon I had the best fish and chips ever, looked around a proper ironmongers and bought my first Christmas present. Which reminded me how close to Christmas we are getting! We went out today to look for a box for me to put on my bike when I cycle to work so that I can get shopping on the way home without cripping my back, and we got lots of daffodils, narcissus and snowdrops from the garden centre. When we got back I spent a happy few hours pottering around the garden tidying up and planting some of the bulbs for a spring dispay. I would have planted all of them but I lost the light.
Which takes me to the happiness factor, having spent the last few hours surfing the internet to look for useful/beautiful things for people for christmas (influenced by william morris) I discovered a post which was entitled "5 things that make me happy" and after the last few weeks i think i managed to do many of my favourite things this weekend (in no orer of favourites!).
1. See the sea while eating fish and chips (Sheringham)
2. Play in my garden & ride my bike (two things but noth outside and shed connected!)
3. Read my eco magazine and find useful leads to solve problems (ike what to do with the 2 tonnes of earth we dug out of the garden)
4. See/Speak to almost all my family
5. Spend time with my lovely boyfriend
Then theres the things i didn't get to do but really enjoy, like cook up a storm, watch the stars, see a movie, drink with friends, read a book, sew, plan travels, have a campfire (bonfire), make a cake, go for a long cycle ride.....
Try it - make a list of 5 things which make you happy & do some of them, after all if 37.5 hours a week are spent at work, 42.5 if counting lunch breaks and there are 168 hours in a week - 75% of our week isn't spent at work.
Saturday 1 November 2008
Soup
Inspired by my sisters amazing butternut squash soup I decided that (as an aspiring domestic goddess) it would be nothing for me to whip up a soup and fresh bread for our saturday lunch. Its 2 o'clock an no sign of the bread yet but the soup is almost ready.
Its not quite as good as my sisters soup was, I think simmering the squash in the stock and then using it is better that my option of roasting the squash and then adding it to the stock afterwards. It does also have white wine added and i so often find that this can make this too sweet. The bread was an unmitigated disaster - It had a lovely crust but teh doughwas still dough in the middle. I had my suspicions while it was supposedly proving that the room wasn't warm enough to acivate the dough and it seems that was the case.
Next time i think i'll make a smaller amount and get a better temperature in the kitchen first. 'He' seems to be talking about a breadmaker but i think we need to make it by hand first. Next door makes all their own bread, and it smells fabulous. Although that is four hours of my life i'll never get back i'll know to go with instinct next time - both for the soup and teh bread!
Compost is coming along nicely - I've taken to getting some more paper in there as the mixture seems to be a bit mushy so far. I'm going to wrap it up over the winter to ensure that the bugs keep bugging (so to speak). Output from the waste free week ws just three meat trays and a coupld of plastic wrappers; we could have done better but only if we hadn't eaten pasta, rice, meat or fish. Or used milk, and quite honestly, life without tea isn't an option!
Its not quite as good as my sisters soup was, I think simmering the squash in the stock and then using it is better that my option of roasting the squash and then adding it to the stock afterwards. It does also have white wine added and i so often find that this can make this too sweet. The bread was an unmitigated disaster - It had a lovely crust but teh doughwas still dough in the middle. I had my suspicions while it was supposedly proving that the room wasn't warm enough to acivate the dough and it seems that was the case.
Next time i think i'll make a smaller amount and get a better temperature in the kitchen first. 'He' seems to be talking about a breadmaker but i think we need to make it by hand first. Next door makes all their own bread, and it smells fabulous. Although that is four hours of my life i'll never get back i'll know to go with instinct next time - both for the soup and teh bread!
Compost is coming along nicely - I've taken to getting some more paper in there as the mixture seems to be a bit mushy so far. I'm going to wrap it up over the winter to ensure that the bugs keep bugging (so to speak). Output from the waste free week ws just three meat trays and a coupld of plastic wrappers; we could have done better but only if we hadn't eaten pasta, rice, meat or fish. Or used milk, and quite honestly, life without tea isn't an option!
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