Picotee

November the 5th

2009-11-05T10:26:00.004Z

Yesterday was my birthday and this morning the world is dusted in white. I'm reasonably sure these two things are not related.

As a special treat for my birthday we had lunch in the Malvina. The food there really is quite something and the presentation is out of this world. Hard to believe we are in a town of only 2500 people (or so). The squid is divine, seriously.

For an encore we did a dump run, which in this town involves fire. You drag your trailer to the dump area, tip the stuff out then pour on petrol and WUMPH. Very satisfying.

Today is also polling day in the Falklands, where the Islanders elect there local council representives. The run up as been the topic of non stop (and rather heated) discussion since we arrived.

Ouch

2009-10-30T09:23:00.003Z

Last night I stabbed myself with a sheet of lasagne. There was blood everywhere (but not, thankfully, not in the lasagne (but in retrospect ok there were no vegetarians coming for dinner anyway, so it would not have been THAT much of a tragedy)).

The reason the lasagne was apparently razor sharp was nothing to do with Waitrose finest but actually because I'd managed to singe my fingertips on the mower at the weekend, and the ensuing disappearance of the blisters left my digits just a tad on the vulnerable side (one good episode of Lassie and they would have been blubbing).

Curiously, my burned fingers were not the only casualties of that day, our new car window also had its window bashed in.

It went something like this:

It's true what they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

This is our shiny new trailer – 8 x 5 with 4 ft cage with ramps at the back for access...

We were clearing up the garden for the dogs (in a snow squall - obviously)

A cyclist decided to hack along the road without looking where he was going (cos it was snowing).
I was in the trailer with a rusted oil drum ‘bit’.
Brian was dragging trees to the trailer.
I saw the cyclist.
I screamed at the cyclist.
The cyclist was listening to his iPod.
I screamed at the cyclist EVEN LOUDER.
The cyclist looked up.
No-one heard what the cyclist said.
The cyclist had a multi choice quiz:
a)swerve right and miss the trailer
b)go straight on and hit the trailer
c)swerve left and go up the ramp into the trailer
The cyclist chose ‘C’.
This was the wrong choice.
The cyclist went up the ramp into the trailer.
The cyclist missed me.
The cyclist missed the rusty oil drum with the jaggedy edges.
The cyclist hit the tree branches.
The bicycle stopped.
The cyclist did not have an air-bag.
The cyclist did not have a seatbelt.
The cyclist did not stop.
The cyclist did a backflip over the handlebars.
The cyclist did a backflip over the 4ft cage.
The cyclist hit the backdoor of the Land Cruiser.
The cyclist’s foot smashed the rear window.
The cyclist stopped.
The cyclist dribbled to the ground.

The car will take a month to repair.

Curiously, after we picked the cyclist up and assessed that there was, astonishingly, no real damage (apart from ripped trews), all he said was "Hello, you must be Kerri".

Only in the Falklands.

Farewell Tigh Gadhar

2009-07-23T14:10:00.001+01:00

After seven fabulous years, we are off to pastures new. We have had many laughs and tears here, and there are so many memories we will treasure.

The morning of the move, we really felt it was over when the dogs went off to spend the day with friends. It's true, a house without dogs is not a home.

Farewell Tigh Gadhar, a very special place.

Eventful friday 26th June

2009-06-27T16:05:00.002+01:00

We exchanged on the house.
We resigned.
We like it!

Now we are fully committed. Oops!

Well it was bound to happen wasn't it?

2009-06-24T21:07:00.000+01:00

Since Brian's company moved to new premises they have little white swipe cards.

I have one too.

So neither of us could get into our offices this morning.

'nuff said.

(made us laugh though...)

Somewhere this makes sense

2009-06-23T15:54:00.002+01:00

1) Set the alarm for 2:30 AM Sunday 21st June.
2) Get up
3) Drive to airfield:

4) Get in plane:

5) Take off at 4:15 to fly to stonehenge:

6) Wait for dawn (ok - no real sun show - it was a bit cloudy):

7) Then fly back to the airfield for a huge brekky

daft, but fun.

PS.
8) go home and cook second brekky for houseguests......

PPS.
9) remember to reset alarm for normal waking time.

Impulse

2008-03-20T19:38:00.003Z

will be the death of me.

But on a lighter note, spring has most definitely sprung, despite the arctic blasts we are promised for the easter weekend.

This poor magnolia ALWAYS flowers before the last frosts and get's clobbered, so lets enjoy it now while we can :-)

And Nazila sent me ducks (and chocolates.) But the dressed up ducks are quite something...

So what did you get up to this weekend Kerrio?

2008-02-11T19:49:00.000Z

That there hubby type is away again, in florida, WORKING:

So taking advantage of the not-underfoot-ness of the hubby type, I decided to get some house chores done.

Starting early, I started to dissassemble the cupboard my Dad so kindly built...

Then, just before wielding the hammer on the broken tile, I climbed up to the loft to check for spare tiles and fetch one down. Phew, we have some,

so on with the hammer:

Having removed "tile A" I found that "tile B" next to it was loose and needed replacing too. Bugger... back to the loft.

Zip down to the tile center for some rapid set cement, then quickly slot in place the new tiles.

OK - three hour drying time.

Time to regrout some dodgy bits of kitchen and bathroom floor,
then sort out:
a) the leaky filter under the sink
b) the flickering light in the hall landing
and
c) the leak in the downstairs loo:

Walk 5 dogs then regrout the two new tiles and quickly bolt the cupboard back together before anyone notices and replace the contents of the cupboard scattered around the kitchen in the cupboard:

TADA!! No-one even needs to know I was there.

Time to feed & pill dogs, pour a glass of wine and put my feet up.

Don't tell Brian ok?

Revenge is a dish best served

2007-12-28T10:13:00.000Z

Anyway you can.

There I was, lying in bed in that holiday twixt xmas & new year limbo, neither asleep nor awake when I dreamed I heard thunder.

Only semi concious I thought the weather was not THAT bad..

And then the wolfhound landed on me.

There is nothing more gratifying

2007-12-21T07:36:00.000Z

Than the sound of Wolfhound paws galloping upstairs....

Followed by a squeal and an "OOF" as the Wolfhound leaps onto the the still slumbering husband in bed.

Some might call me vindictive.

Absentee blogger

2007-12-20T18:27:00.000Z

oops, not been doing too well of late eh?

Summary:
1) hubby went away to Florida for two weeks leaving me alone with 5 sulky dogs

2) hubby came back with NEW TOYS:

4) Christmas season approached, youngest brother & girlfriend (Sam & Vicky) turned up. Decorations erected:

Including the new outside lights (thanks Sam!)

The indoor lights....

new macro shot ( I LOVE this lens!):

5) Ensuing silliness with fisheye was participated in by all:

6) Bread and butter pudding was demolished:

7) caught a cold. Tonight I will be dropping youngest brother off at the airport to fly home to summer. I am not jealous. I am not jealous. I am not jealous. I am not jealous. I am not jealous. I am not jealous. I am not jealous. I am not jealous. I am not jealous.

I believe me now.

The Problem with Brian being away

2007-12-07T22:22:00.000Z

Is that I run out of dog food forks long before I fill the dishwasher.

Bummer.

Oh well, home alone for the weekend with 5 snoring dogs, nothing for it but to light the fire, and put my feet up, it's Fiday night after all.

Car crisis

2007-11-29T07:35:00.000Z

We had a minor car crisis last night. Went to open the car to take the dogs down to the river and the alarm went off, and we could not switch it off.

After pulling fuses and mucking about with keys in the ever increasing rain, with tempers fraying (it's hard to remain cool when there is a siren going off in your ear), I eventually opted to call the AA and retreated into the house to hunt for my membership card and the phone.)

While I was dialling Brian rushed in and said "Don't call the AA!"

Oh good, I thought, he's fixed it.

No.

"We're with the RAC".

DOH!

The Morning Routine

2007-11-27T23:06:00.000Z

The alarm goes off. I get up.

Feed the cat,
Go downstairs, let the dogs out, clean up any surprises,
Make coffee,
Empty the dishwasher (or fill it),
Unload the washing machine and reload,
Fold up washing,
Feed the dogs,
Pill the dogs,
Put any recyling in the bins,
Check email, bloglines & Flickr,
Refill the dog water bowls,
Shower & dress,
Poop scoop.

Brian gets up and gets dressed.

He says his is the greater accomplishment.

I think he has a point.

I have new kitchen thing

2007-11-16T19:12:00.000Z

It' a self basting roasting dish, the old fashioned enamelled variety, the kind that is perfect for roasting a leg of mutton in a peat fired aga.

Now the only problem with this is I don't have an aga, and mutton legs are hard to find round here. Apart from that it's a great plan.

The interesting thing about this particular gizmo is that, according to my dad, the self basting dimples were actually invented by my great-grandfather. Or was it great great grandfather?

Cool huh?

Brian thinks he's been transported back 50 years, he's got no soul.

I've been robbed!

2007-11-13T20:58:00.000Z

ok. that may be a slight exaggeration. Actually I seem to have left my mobile phone somewhere. But that's ok, I had a lovely chat with the lady who now has it and "bought it off the market".

Anyway..... I phoned O2 to say I had lost it, not really expecting anything to be done and you could have knocked me down with a feather duster.

they are going to:
a) block the card
b) block the phone
c) transfer the phone number to a new sim and send it to me FREE
d) send me a money off token for a new phone.

How cool is that! Well done O2, seriously good service.

Now the only problem with that is I need to shop for a new phone, so it ought to be on my shopping list, only I can't actually READ my shopping list, mainly cos its in my handwriting.

Hand me back the rose tinted glasses please :-)

Marrows, Compost & Wee.

2007-11-12T06:45:00.000Z

Last weekend I took my first look round the garden to check what had happened while I was away. Despite a couple of frosts and some missing leaves, everything looks ok, though the autumn "weed&feed" on the grass has REALLY done its job and I needed to mow (it's the one garden chore I hate, mowing).

Anyway, while sorting out the recycle bins I noticed that Brian had chucked a pefectly good marrow on there so retrieved it, rinsed it and left it on the side in the kitchen (Brian is clueless about gardening & veg).

I mentioned to himself that marrows can keep for quite a while and a look of horror came over his face.

"Put... it... back.... on the compost. NOW."

I puzzled over this for a second.. "Why?".

It turns out that he had been listening when we were discussing the merits of wee on helping compost break down.

ah.

Unsure of the imperviousness of marrow skin, I put the marrow back on the compost heap.

Back in Blighty

2007-11-07T06:34:00.000Z

Well, I've been back for a week now and still feel a bit of a space cadet. It's taken me ages to catch up on the blogs cos there are just too many to read.

Who was the MOST prolific?

Well...

Dog's Eye View came in WAY over everyone else... something like 33 posts, and in joint second were Wally the Corgador and Flowerpot Days

Jees you guys HAVE been busy... you need to stop and smell the flowers:

Or the pengies...

Ok - maye NOT the pengies.. they do NOT smell of chocolate.

I've uploaded more Falklands pics to my flickr account if anyone wants to see some wildlife and scenery.

I'm home

2007-11-01T07:04:00.000Z

and knackered.

Last day down south

2007-10-30T12:50:00.000Z

Yesterday was my last full day in the Falklands (oh waily waily). As usual first thing it was bright and sunny so we took Jackson for his morning constitutional to Surf Bay.

A morning walk needs a Basset, a ball, and a lot of kicking and chasing:

Refusal to kick the ball results in Basset protest:

After or walk we had a leisurely breakfast then went out to do some shopping, including a visit to the museum:

Curiously, the Darwin was the very first boat I ever travelled on, back in .... oh a very long time ago when we first went to England. It's not around any more.

Later I finally managed to get a picture of the elusive night heron. (well they are not actuall ELUSIVE, they practically live on my dad's doorstep, but I've just been lazy).

Then we took Jackson and Luca for another romp through the sand dunes, where Luca insisted on digging lots of holes while Jackson supervised:

They day was rounded off by a delicious (and fun) meal at the Malvina with Adam, Jenny, Dad, Jenny' brother Paicey and his wife Corrine. The upland goose pate was yummy... and the sea bass is to die for...

Finally - one magic moment. Instead of going straight home, we drove round the back of Sapper's hill. The sky was clear, there is NO light pollution, and there was no moon.

Oh the stars (sorry no camera!)

WOW.

Sunday brunch and snow

2007-10-30T02:43:00.000Z

On Sunday we had Adam, Jenny and Larissa around for brunch. After a bright sunny start it snowed. Which just goes to show, if you don't like the weather round here, wait an hour. It WILL change.

After brunch the skies started to clear, so I collected Adam, Jenny and Luca and we all went to walk off our sunday feast

We walked round past the Lady Liz and the Plim

to the Samson (there are LOTS of wrecks in Stanley Harbour)

Close to the Samson Jenny found a suspect package, so Adam phoned the bomb disposal squad and we sat around an waited

Until the Basset got bored...

And the EOD turned up

And identified the suspect package as a battery. Oops. (but any excuse for a gratuitous Land Rover shot eh?).

Come the afternoon the weather had changed again to haily showers interspersed with sun, so Dad and I took a drive up to Estancia, but sadly the showers overtook the sun and there was not much to photograph.

A few reminders of an event 25 years ago:

And then there are the latest landmarks:

Cool huh?

In the evening it was sunny yet again (see what I mean about waiting?) so I took a hike up Wireless ridge to the memorial looking over Stanley:

The sunset was not too bad either.

Road trip.

2007-10-29T12:14:00.000Z

On Saturday we took a trip down to New Haven to look at the hole in the ground that's going to be the new Ferry terminal between East and West Falkland. It's a big hole in the ground.

The weather was pretty much pants, which is a shame cos the scenery was terrific, but it meant I did not take many photos.

On the way out we saw a pond full of the shy black necked swans. Who promptly buggered off to the far side of the pond:

We stopped at Darwin lodge on the way back for lunch (which was, as ever, splendid).

But the traffic was aweful.

When we got back the skies finally cleared and the car looked like this:

And we did not even leave the road.

Sealion Islands

2007-10-27T23:18:00.000+01:00

After Fox Bay, Dad and I flew out to Sealion Islands, which is to the south east of the main island group. It's a wildlife sanctuary and there is a lodge there. The island has the most amazing array of birds and sealife in a small area, it's famous for its sealions (hence the name... but you probably spotted that) but we were too early for the main sealion season.

The lodge (with turkey vultures and Johnny Rooks on the roof)

We did see one sealion wander up to a beach, take a look then decide is WAS the wrong beach (on account of it being full of elephant seals).

The main thing that WAS going on was that the elephant seals were having pups, fighting and mating on the beaches... and boy are they HUGE.

The big males guard their harems from all comers on land:

and at sea

The winner gets the girls:

And the girls have the pups (some of these guy were very newborn):

When not engaged on the trials of reproduction they sit around and sunbathe, coughing and sneezing and sighing:

And sometimes get their noses picked by tussac birds:

Other highlights on the island include our best bird friends, penguins. At the moment there are Gentoos

And Jackass Penguins (magallenic) all nesting

And further up the beach the giant petrels (locally known as "stinkers") are also nesting... these guys are huge, almost as big as the albatrosses (which don't nest on Sealions).

This place is just gorgeous, and the weather was very kind, on my last day there I was wandering around in a t-shirt.

One for Kate

2007-10-27T12:35:00.000+01:00

Driving up to my brother Adam's house for supper last night we passed the parked vehicles of the smartly dressed people having a soiree at Government House:

Where have you been Kerri?

2007-10-26T12:43:00.000+01:00

Well I've been EVERYWHERE. Ok just a few places, but my plan to do a daily blog update and upload en mass has failed, something to do with the 4600 photographs I've taken (thank DOG for digi), so I will summarise.

I flew the scenic route to Fox Bay, via MPA (Mount Pleasant Airport to you folks), Saunders Island and Carcass Island. The day was clear and bright and the scenery from the plane was utterly fabulous.

I'll pop a whole load of photos in my Flickr account so as not to overload this poor old blog.

In Fox Bay I stayed with my brother Ben and his wife Clare in their utterly fabulous house, no single pic can do it justice, so here is a photo of the vaulted ceiling in the living room:

And how many places in the world can you see this from the living room:

And the sunset looks like this:

A short walk from the house I caught these Johnny Rooks (Striated Caracara) posing:

And the fence of the paddock where Clare keeps her sheep (they were producing lambs while we were there):

Oh and while we were sat on the deck sunning ourselves, the British Antarctic Survey plane buzzed us (so did the Tornado, but I had my fingers in my ears to stop myself from being deafened, it's hard to take a photo with your fingers in your ears, trust me).

Our house in the sunset:

The weather while I was in Fox Bay was fabulous, sunny, still and very very bright (something to do with some missing ozone??). The sealions were roaring out on the big island, the jackass penguins were braying on the little tussac island, and the oyster catchers were piping. Heaven.

I'll do another post about the Sealion Islands visit later.

I'm in the south atlantic....

2007-10-17T02:59:00.000+01:00

Day 1 was a bit of a post-18-hour-flight-blur in which I was too tired to take any decent pics (except a few of Jackson) so let's skip to day 2.

What a fabulous morning.

Thanks to
a) the neighbour's cockerel who does not know when the dawn is
and
b) the time zone change
we were up at the crack of dawn (which was around 6AM)

Sticking my head outside my Dad's front door to watch the Basset doing his early morning garden visit I saw this in one direction:

and this in the other:

And took more fresh air in one breath than I usually get in the UK in a month..

Wow.

Being as we were both up we opted for
a) a cup of coffee
and
b) a dawn walk at Surf Bay with the only Basset in the Falklands.

Is this not beautiful?

A two banded plover...

Jackson the Basset in his element...

We spent the rest of the morning running about doing chores then met up with Adam and Jenny for lunch at the Malvina:

(sorry Brian... it's an empty plate of calamari...)

Adam then took the afternoon off so we could go for a walk round Gypsy cove:
Turkey Vulture on the wing....

Seals in the Tussock:

(we also saw a couple of Jackass Penguins in the burrows, but I did not get any pics... yet)

Then we took Luca to the beach for a run:

Topped off with a roast leg of mutton at Adam and Jenny's for supper - a perfect day.

Up early tomorrow to catch the 10 seater island hopper to Fox Bay (the long way round!)... I won't be able to post until I'm back in Stanley... but will try to do daily entries for upload later.

D-day minus one.

2007-10-13T13:09:00.000+01:00

Ok, I have bags for packing. I think I have everything I need, only one parcel has not made it in time but c'est la vie.

Leaving here about 6PM tomorrow so PLENTY of time to get my aristochratic shit together. Slightly dreading the loooooong flight (a mere 18 hours with an hour stop-over in Ascension for refuelling - ugh).

Suppose I'd better find my passport then.
Anyone know where I left it?

"Eff oh nine"

2007-10-12T06:41:00.000+01:00

Yesterday morning we woke to thick thick thick fog. So thick you would not see the pylon across the field and driving was *interesting* (but worry ye not - I got to and from work safely).

Anyway, this reminded me a little incident many years ago after I had just learned to drive. I was the designated driver to a family "do" in Kent, and had Brian, my oldest brother and his wife in the car, it was probably my first motorway trip as a driver. On the journey home the atmosphere was getting misty and visibility dropped.

Along the motorway were a load of matrix signs:

I puzzled for several miles, then asked my slightly inebriated passengers:

"What's eff oh nine"????

After five minutes of hysterical laughter one of them managed to wipe the tears from their eye and say:

"It's FOG you twonk."

Ever since them, whenever its foggy, I think its "eff oh niney".

"Je suis une plonker-ess."

October in the garden

2007-10-10T06:50:00.000+01:00

Not much of a summer, some might say a washout, and I had HOPED for an Indian Summer, but in vain.

Oh well, at least everything is green and lush.

But the veggie patches are still giving us edibles:

The "east patch", not much really happening in here, autumn onion sets are in and the leeks and turnips are producing, the squashes and courgettes have I think, produced their last.

The "west patch", on this side we have lolo rosso, chinese leave, chinese chard, chop suey greens (which look suspiciously like chrysanthemums to me!) and loads of cabbages just out of shot. I'm not convinced the brussels will do anything in time for christmas, but maybe they will surprise me (surprised by sprouts? Hmmmm.)

And flower wise the nasturtiums are waiting for the first frost to finish them off:

The verbena is still going strong:

And the pears are this year, "simply to die for" (well, maybe not literally)

Countdown

2007-10-09T12:53:00.001+01:00

This time next week I will be waking up in Stanley.

Only 3.5 working days left, 5 days til we fly.

Not been on a commercial plane for about 6 years.

Oo-er.

Oops

2007-10-07T21:53:00.000+01:00

I seem to have a new camera.

Canon EOS 40D. (Ali is going to be SOOOOooooOOOoo jealous)

Now how did that happen?

Just to make Em jealous.

2007-10-03T07:36:00.000+01:00

Particularily yummy, 20 minutes from plant to plate.

So what DO you do with cabbage?

2007-09-30T21:29:00.000+01:00

Wok it... with a dash of soy....

"Wok" is one of those modern verbs, like "oven" or "microwave". Or was that a gerund?

Oh mattress it!

Surrendering to the inevitable....

2007-09-29T18:23:00.000+01:00

1. Halo 3 and the XBOX-360 have arrived. It may be a month before I get to talk to the hubby type again.

2. We're getting old and stiff, the new matress has arrived and I'm in 7th heaven.

3. Canon is not likely to be back before I go away so I'm just going to bite the bullet and by a backup Canon EOS 400D. (yikes).

I've also planted out the autumn onion sets and garlic today, and gathered more fruit and veg from the garden.

I WAS going to bake a caraway seed cake but I found that I have
a) no caraway seeds
b) no butter.

Oh well.

It's not looking good

2007-09-25T21:37:00.000+01:00

After 5 weeks, the camera shops says they cannot fix my camera, and they are sending it off to Canon. Which will take a minimum of 10 days.

I'm assuming they're talking working days, which leaves a sum total of 3 days between the minumum time I may (or may not) get my camera back, or am told its unfixable, and I fly to the Falklands. Eek.

Help.

Correlation?

2007-09-25T06:40:00.000+01:00

Could there be any relationship, any correlation at all between the stolen and entirely consumed bumper bag of Salt & Pepper Kettle Crisps and the fact that KuBrin drank every dog water bowl in the house dry yesterday?

And then started on the bucket in the garden.

Or am I jumping to conclusions?

Things that made me laugh

2007-09-22T10:09:00.000+01:00

In the last 24 hours there have been three things I've laughed at that stuck in my mind (I laughed a great deal more that three times, I hasten to add....)

1) Driving to work yesterday on the motorway there was a flat-bed van with a stuffed toy gorilla wedged just behind the cab at the top, the wind was making him wave frantically. I laughed so hard I nearly crashed the car.

2) This morning we were discussing the merits of lighting a fire as the evenings were getting chilly. I commented that I'd not had the chimney swept this year yet and "I'll arrange to do it during the two weeks you are at home on holiday cos there will be someone at home"
"Who?" he said.
(He was joking... I think).

3) Reading a country kitchen magazine I found this ditty...
"I eat peas with honey
I've done it all my life
It makes the peas taste funny
But it keeps them on the knife"

And very cool it was too.

2007-09-20T21:31:00.000+01:00

Not ONLY was yesterday Meg's 16th birthday , not ONLY did my Dad (General Jackson's dad too) try to fly to India and found he had a major visa muck up, but ALSO, nm, (Ernesto the Basset's mum), stopped by to visit on her way to Greece from Seattle to smooch dogs.

She brought the most divine chocolates:

and some Alaskan smoked salmon that made Brian swoon when he got home.

It was great to see her, we sat and nattered and talked and ate etc.

I let KuBrin take her for a little walk:

I think she liked the dogs, though I'm not certain she was prepared for either the size of the wolfie, or his farts.

Happy Birthday Meg.

2007-09-19T22:30:00.000+01:00

Megan, our deerhound, is 16 today. She's lying on the sofa in the "snug" next to me as I type. Sixteen? A deerhound? Blimey.

Strange to think that when we adopted her nearly 5 years ago we did not think she'd last a year.

Boy - did she see us coming!

Happy birthday Meg, we think you are FAB.

Screaming

2007-09-10T22:05:00.001+01:00

So just imagine us, saturday AM, in our dressing gowns, watching the dogs eat breakfast, chatting about what we would do with the day.

I looked up at Brian and let out a blood curdling scream as the MOST enormous spider crawled up his right shoulder (it's a visceral reaction, I can't help myself. 5 years of living in an oldish house have taught me to deal with most of them, but those big buggers get me every time).

He looked at me with a frozen look of astonishment for about 2 seconds, then did that "shake your body all over to get rid of the creepy crawly" dance, shouting "what? WHAT??" then shed his dressing gown pronto.

A few moments later he spotted the offending beastie on the ground and nearly fainted.

We spent the next three hours giggling like hysterical kids.

Apparently before he met me he did not mind spiders.

Taking a blog break

2007-09-08T14:24:00.000+01:00

Back later.

Red Arrows

2007-09-06T14:35:00.000+01:00

Well that was exciting. There I was minding my own business and eating my sushi...

And then I get a personal 10 minute Red Arrow display over the house.

We get a lot of low flying aircraft round here, so initially I ignored the sounds of military jets, then thought... hang on - that's a bit low so went out to the garden. For the next 5 minutes I stood there with my mouth open. On one flyby they were so low I could see the pilots.

DOH - rushed in to grab the pocket camera, cursing the fact that the canon is still on the repair shop and failed to get any decent photos.

But just to prove I'm not fibbing:

All four over the garden...

A single one breaking away with a vapour trail....

And just to prove it's our house... there's the roof.

KuBrin went "WOOF"

Brian will be soo jealous.

Fall

2007-09-06T08:37:00.000+01:00

I looked out the landing window this morning and it was misty. Given the blurriness of my vision in the morning I took a photo to verify what I saw.

Yup, it's misty.

So it must be autumn already, or as our friends across the puddle call it, Fall. Lovely word "Fall". Provided there are no uncomfortable landings obviously.

Hang on, fall? What happened to the summer? Did we miss it? Did we blink? Did we aestivate?

Bugger that - what happened to january?

I must be a TOG.

Lurcher lost in Southampton

2007-09-05T13:03:00.000+01:00

Anyone in Southampton or know anyone there?

Spread the word please :-)

Megan Deerhound

2007-09-02T19:52:00.000+01:00

This is Megan, the 16 year old (in two weeks) matriarch of our canine clan.

I love Megan, I love the way she wanders up looking for a fuss, thrusts her head into your lap, begs for neck and ear rubs, then groans appreciatively when you oblige. Then turns her head the other way so you can administer to the other ear.

It's very sweet.

I just wish she would not do it while I am on the loo.

Vets & Bassets

2007-09-01T16:10:00.000+01:00

This morning I had to take Maddie cat to the vets for her annual boosters. This is an exciting process involving subterfuge and incarceration. (Or was that incateration?). Then there is the sheer bloody mindedness required to force one very cross cat into a cat box with a small opening and replace the door without loosing the cat.

Tricky.

Anyway - I managed it, and as I pulled up there was a landy with the last three letters of the registration spelling "DOG". Cool I thought. Bet they get out with a posey dog... you know... something sleek and flashy.

How wrong could I be, they got out of the car with a lovely Basset girl, whom I dutifully smooched. I got chatting to the couple in the waiting room, and it turns out they have FOUR RESCUE BASSETS. Doubly cool.

Here she is, the lovely Madge:

12 years ago today....

2007-08-28T10:34:00.000+01:00

Best thing I ever did.

Day 2 - the aftermath...

2007-08-25T22:31:00.000+01:00

It was hot, and too long... but, this is IT. We have actually layed the last slab. They are all gone, done, layed, finished.

Ow.

Brian laying the last slab in the "utility" area (this is where the compost, recycle and wheelie bins live.)

Et... voila... that's it.

Sadly, the last two days of hot weather have brought the insects out in force, and Brian the intrepid slab layer has been utterly savaged.

Just a slice of cucumber to cool and inflamed eye:

But the whole thing for inesct ravaged legs....

odd... but apparently helped.

Day 2... the long weekend.

2007-08-25T22:10:00.000+01:00

Early morning (ish) we stuck our heads out the bedroom window to see this:

While this garden is, indeed, quite lovely and at its best at this time of year... the sunshine meant one thing.... more concrete mixing and slab laying.....

However, there were a couple of distractions along the way:

The very nice postie brought me the item I've been waiting for. Sad, but true. An implement to help me turn the excess produce into something storable and edible....

Anyway - heavy work was interrupted by my mum with a few computer problems, so we managed to put the work off for a few hours. Beware of relatives bearing broken computers and the makings of bacon butties:

So while we breakfasted on bacon butties and fixed computers, my mum's dog, Marlowe, found a shady spot (safe from the sky falling on his head).

As demanded by Ali

2007-08-25T22:00:00.000+01:00

End of Day 1... the long weekend

So - having shifted 1/2 tonnes of scalpings, hired a compactor plate, filled the nasty holes in the drive and then topped off with a tonne of gravel... it looked like THIS: (I'd like to add in true form Brian wielded the "wacker" plate - (let's face it, it's a mechanical toy with a motor), while I singlehandly shifted the scalpings and gravel).

Infill to new path:

Storm damaged holes in the drive repaired

(only problem with this is that the gravel is a COMPLETELY different colour to the old stuff. Which means we need to order another 3 tonnes to spread over the rest of the drive.... oh poo).

Suitably embarressed by his lack of manly muscles, Brian proceeded to single-handedly (almost) mix the concrete and lay the slabs outside the GH and the first row in the utility area:

The new "utility" area... first row:

The new step outside my playroom:

OoooOOO we are *so* nearly there.

Best laid plans of mice and men

2007-08-23T07:33:00.000+01:00

We have a loooong weekend coming up, not only is it a bank holiday (which means no work monday) but Brian and I have also taken off friday (that's tomorrow (yipee!)) and tuesday.

That's a FIVE day weekend. Glorious.

However, I think we may have a few projects to complete that mean the sofa surfing will have to be left to the dogs:

Bugger.

Oh well, does anyone know when the sweetcorn will ripen?

Just to reassure Graham

2007-08-22T20:56:00.000+01:00

Today I sent Graham, of Graham, Prince and Tilly too fame a chuckit, for which he kindly made a generous donation to EGLR .

Now just to reassure Graham that when I said I had a cupboard full of these I was not kidding, and this was not some weird cyber-stalking middle aged woman with 5 dogs looking for a younger man with a kind heart who could keep her and her dogs in the manner to which they would like to be accustomed.... I'm posting this

See?

*chortle*

Anyone else want a chuckit?

Oh yum

2007-08-20T21:52:00.000+01:00

Frazzled by today's (and yesterday's) enthralling water and camera crises... I was looking for inspiration for something to do with marrow for supper (my neighbour gave me one yesterday). Nazila sent me this, and I have to say... it's SCRUMMY

The marrow and rosemary "side" Oh fab... I could jut eat this on its own.

I didn't have a red pepper, so a pale green one fresh from the GH had to do...

Ready for the oven

et.. voila!

And I have to say - this is scrummy.

Mains, springs, leaks and holes

2007-08-20T21:41:00.000+01:00

Blimey what a day

First thing it looked a bit like this:

It's an ill wind that blows no good, and Maddie the cat thought the running water drinking fountain we had installed for her was really quite nice.

Phoned the insurance people, the bad news is they won't pay for it. Now we COULD wait for the water board to decide to fix it for free (or not cos it's a shared main), in their own time, (2-3 weeks) during which time damage would be done to the house because of the water pooling against the render, and the insurance WOULD pay for that. But because we want to ensure we don't get any damage done and want to get it fixed quickly, we have to pay for it ourselves.

Found a very nice plumber chap this morning who said he could get to us this afternoon, unfortunately their morning's work did not go to plan and they could not get out. Having already taken one day off work I started to panic and phoned the builder who did our extension work (and lives locally). He and his dad came to the rescue.

Looking for the other end of the pipe:

And here's where we are tonight, no leaks, but one hell of a muddy mess!

They will come back saturday to finish and clean up.

For now I am pretending the front garden does not exist.

So how did you break the Canon D20 Kerri?

2007-08-19T09:28:00.000+01:00

Ah well, it is a tale of woe, sleepless nights, floods and rampaging pirates (that last may have been a minor exaggeration).

We had people round for tea yesterday. Tea, scones and cakes. It was nice. Anyway, one of the visitors had been unwell and was feeling the cold. So Brian kindly turned on the central heating.

After our visitors departed, we sat down with a glass of wine to watch a film. There was one scene in the film I wanted to make a point about, so we paused the film to rewind. At this point we noticed a strange noise coming from the boiler.

We checked the radiators and noticed they were not warm, checked the boiler pressure, came up with a theory that there was air in the system, bled the valves and went back to watching the film.

When the film finished we could still hear the funny noise. So we cooked up another theory about the air in the boiler system overheating the water circuit. So we ran the hot water until it went cold, hoping this would sort the problem.

It was about 12:30 at this point, Brian went off to bed while I waited for the hot water to run cold. It made no difference, so I found a torch and went round to the front of the house to look at the boiler.

I found the problem. The mains water feed into the house had sprung a major leak and was flooding out the bed in front of the house.

Shite.

Got Brian up to have a look. We decided there was nothing we could do until morning and it looked like the water was draining away sufficiently not to cause a problem.

However, the noise of the water escaping was rattling though all the pipes in the house (due to proximity of main feed coming into the house with the central heating pipes).

So I could not sleep.

So I went to the spare bedroom and settled down there where it was quieter.

However, the spare bed is firmer than ours and aggravated my dodgy hip, so I hauled myself out of bed to go downstairs and fetch a hot water bottle to soothe it.

It was at this point, in the dark, that I tripped over the camera tripod.

My trusty Canon is in need of major TLC.

If I were not an athiest I would be send up a prayer of thanks for an understanding hubby who knows just how clumsy his wife is and bought the extended accidental damage cover for the camera. As it is I'll just cook him breakfast.

The week ahead of sorting out insurance and plumbers fills me with dread.

My sense of humour has failed.

Friday salad

2007-08-17T07:56:00.000+01:00

When I can get my "aristocratic shit together" in the morning I make salad for work

Lettuce "Counter" picked the day before, toms 10 mins out of the greenhouse and cucumbers overflowing as usual.

Yeterday I picked our first lot of "real" plums, Brian was convinced there was not a single decent one on the tree... he's not a gardener.

Meanwhile last night I prepped the onions too small to use for cooking for the pickling jar. And this time I prepared my own vinegar mixture, because last years store bought variety was... a little... strong.. *wheeeze*.

At this time of year you can never have enough jars.

Scrumping

2007-08-16T19:17:00.000+01:00

We have 5 dogs (I may have mentioned this before). Anyway, the thing about having five dogs is that you always have a pocketful of poop scoops when out walking. And these come in very handy when confronted in the woods with a tree full of apples for the scrumping (that would otherwise fall to the ground and rot (and don't worry - there's plenty to go round for the small critters)).

Very handy things, poop bags.

These are the perfect apples, slightly under-ripe and loaded with pectin for making rosemary jelly. Mmmmm.

We've got greengages

2007-08-15T21:27:00.000+01:00

A hugely enormous bumper crop the likes of which we have never heretofore seen before. Must be the weather.

I would rush out and take a picture of said greengages growing on the greengage tree (well what kind of tree WOULD you expect them to grow on?) but it's dark. And pissing down with rain. So I won't. So there.

Anyway - armed with more greengages than I knew what to do with and the power of the internet, I found out how to make jam. Well, sort of...

So we now have OODLES of greengage jam.
It's yummy.

All I need to do now is find gazillions of unsuspecting friends and relatives and not only accost them with cucumbers, but also press jars of jam on them.

And then find more jars.

Greengage anyone?

New toy...

2007-08-12T11:33:00.000+01:00

Saturday was a really really good day.

My lovely neighbour Sue brought me sweet peas from her garden to trade for a cucumber (this is particularly nice as at the moment I am forcing cucumbers on everyone I meet, including workmates and the freecycler chap).

Our kitchen is now full of the scent of sweet peas...

Brian poached me perfect eggs on muffins for breakfast, washed down with black coffee (please note lurchery mugs....)

And the postie brought me a widget I had ordered:

No - not the camera, I've had that a while, and not the tripod either, that's an old one of Brian's which is seeing good use again for the first time in years.

It's that dangly bit of wire, that lets me do THIS:

I am chuffed to bits.

Shhhhh - come with me

2007-08-09T23:13:00.000+01:00

Come to the front garden and look at what I found this morning in the veggie patch

Isn't it cute?

My first ever round courgette. I am ridiculously excited about this. Which probably tells you that I lead a rather boring life, but never mind, it keeps me happy...

I love freecycle

2007-08-08T20:31:00.000+01:00

Now you see 'em....

Now you don't

And I did not even have to lift a finger (except to make a cup of tea for the very nice chap who came to collect them).

How cool is that?

PS. Can someone please shoot the pigeon who is perched on the chimney pot cooing loudly down the chimney?

Morning all

2007-08-08T07:18:00.000+01:00

7:17 AM. Dogs fed, plants watered, pee watered (yes - we water the pee), cat let out. I'm not sure WHY the cat goes out every morning because as soon as you open the door she goes to the other door and asks to be let in. Dogs I understand, cat's are a mystery.

There's something else I'm supposed to do in the mornings.. what was it...? Oh yes, shower, dress. We have a "dress code" at work, it's "wear clothes".

But it's wednesday today, as one of my old uni lecturers used to say "I hate wednesdays, they cut into both weekends".

I am so a morning person.

Weeding

2007-08-07T22:14:00.000+01:00

anything I weed today will not grow back tomorrow. With the possible exception of the bindweed. But I have to show willing and join the fight. I weeded for an hour tonight, the front garden has been a little neglected with the other work going on.

The Bond of Bees, Keri Hulme, author of the "Bone People"

I'm Blending my mind
With the ease of wine
From candle flowers
On a warm afternoon
And a bloom of bees
From the kamahi
Resounds resounds
In the quiet room

Spikes to the honey
Bees to the comb
The yeast to the sweat mead
And now the mead home.

The roses are now in full second flush and look fabulous, I love them...

Good Morning World

2007-08-07T07:36:00.000+01:00

The sky is a cystal clear blue, the dogs have breakfasted in the sun

And there are dew dusted roses blooming.

Isn't life great?

This evening.

2007-08-06T23:47:00.000+01:00

This evening I have
a) come home (it was a good start)
b) mopped the water from the floor where KuBrin stood in the water bowl in his excitement to greet me
c) walked the dogs
d) fed the dogs
e) pilled the dogs
f) planted bedding plants in the herb bed to replace those eaten by slugs
g) put slug pellets down
h) picked cucumbers
i) picked tomatoes
j) picked and washed a lettuce for tomorrow's salad.
k) hung out washing
l) put away three loads of washing
m) unloaded the dishwasher
n) loaded the dishwasher
o) put the bins out
p) watered the garden
q) sown some seeds
r) done the paperwork and paid the bills
s) ordered dog food
t) ironed 8 shirts
u) poop scooped
v) juiced apples

Come home Brian, all is forgiven

Nothing for it but to finish the last slice of CAKE.

And on the subject of cucumbers, please send help.

So what did we do with our weekend?

2007-08-05T22:21:00.000+01:00

The sun was shining, the weather was hot for the first time here since April.

On Saturday we finished the "great path laying expedition of 2007". Well - almost. We've finished the concrete mixing and sandstone slab laying for the major path runs, there is still pointing and a small area to do behind the garage but no one would notice if we did not!).

The last path looked like this:

We celebrated with a glass of wine, a BBQ supper on the deck and falling into the hot tub in a state of exhaustion.

For an encore today I cleared out a whole load of "stuff" in the area behind the garage, constructed an impromptu compost bin (our old ones are too small) from the sandstone crates, shifted a whole load of old slabs and one bin full of compost (at one point I had composty muck on the end of my nose as well as on my shins - but it's ok - I have showered - honest).

In a moment of inspiration I then posted the remaining slabs on freecycle - and have had LOADS of interest - so with any luck someone will come and take the rest away this week. I love the internet.

Then I chopped up the rest of the crates, it's the first time our back lawn as been free of crates for a year. So I had to mow. And restake the trees. And dig out the concrete in front of the greenhouse.

Can I please go back to work now for a rest?

I may never walk again

2007-08-04T18:25:00.000+01:00

but the upside is we have finished laying the sandstone slabs around the house.

Still need pointing & then there is the bins/recycling area behind the garage to do, but basically we've finsihed the main paths. Only taken 4 months.

I'll unload pics from the camera later. BBQ & wine first.

Ow.

This is not good news.

2007-08-04T09:34:00.000+01:00

Foot and mouth outbreak

The last time this happened all the footpaths were closed, dog walking was very difficult. (Which is not to belittle the suffering and slaughter of thousands of farm animals and the ruin of many farmers' livelyhoods).

Oh poo.

Happiness is

2007-08-02T22:35:00.000+01:00

an extra 2Gb RAM for your laptop.

AND a new cookery book.

AND an unread novel.

An Escape Plan.

2007-08-01T21:45:00.000+01:00

Sometime in the summer of 2006, after a few months of the daily grind of commuting to my new job (sum total of 10 miles, up to an hour each way), wondering where I was going, what we would be doing in a few years time, you know, the usual mid life crisis stuff, I hatched up a PLAN.

I'm not really sure how this came about but for many years I had lusted after a house on the West Falklands called "Shag Cove". Perhaps not the the most appropriate of names (though for some unfathomable reason it appealed to him indoors), nevertheless, no neighbours, no mains power, space for the dogs to run, really in the middle of nowhere and overlooking a beautiful inlet in the Coast Ridge. Colder than a well digger's arse as the saying goes.

Mulling over the possibilities and improbabilities of living in such a remote place with no income I had a moment of folly.

"Brian, how about we cash in our endowments and buy a house in the Falklands?"

"Ok"

Pregnant pause...

"What do you mean 'ok'?"

"I've been waiting for you to suggest this for years".

And they say men don't understand women.

So the plan progressed, the compromise was buying a "settlement house" (ie one with a few neighbours) rather than an "outside house" (ie one with NO neighbours, for miles, many miles, and no roads, or power, or water supply.)

Out of the blue a house came up for sale in the settlement where my family used to live, indeed, some of them still live there. Internet powered diddle dee telegraph operating at full tilt, the news arrived, was debated, weighed, considered, rejected, reconsidered, and leapt upon. £100 of telephone calls later we sent an email offer. 12 hours later it was accepted.

Gulp.

Red tape sundered, we find ourselves in possession of a four bed house on the edge of Doctor's Creek in Fox Bay Village, in need of much care and attention. 8000 miles away. OK - great plan. I like it.

It's here: "Old Doctor's House"

Front of the house, looking south from Doctor's creek:

Back of the house, Looking North towards Doctor's Creek.

Looking out from the "conservatory".

Absentee hubby-types.

2007-07-31T08:04:00.001+01:00

I think Brian may have been away too long.

By chance yesterday evening he was home rather than out in a hotel somewhere. On my way to bed I announced "I'm off to bed sweetie, are you coming?", at this, Tealeaf leapt off the sofa and ran to stand at the hall door.

Woops. That was a give-away.

Look!

2007-07-30T19:30:00.000+01:00

They got bigger and yielded to the touch!

:-)

and there's a couple of red ones as a bonus!

Christmas Fox Bay 1997

2007-07-26T22:44:00.000+01:00

The mountain watches over the bay, a black shrouded sentinel flanked by the West Head and silhouetted by the evening sun.

The wind encompasses all, rattles the garden webbing, shakes the windows, creaks the timbers, tosses the sea in the bay and stills the dolphin gull on the wing. The wind pushes the weather past us, sliding up from the south west towards the coast ridge, a thin black line on the horizon capped by the eastern finial head.

Even the roar of the wind leaves stillness, filled by the clunking jenny, the barking dogs and the rhythmic "wocca" of a distant chinook heading for the refuelers.

The afternoon sun bleaches the flotsam of bones washed up on the sandy beach, while red beaked oyster catches whistle past, piercing the salt laden air.

The clouds sail past, pausing to rain on the waters between the heads. There is no land between us and the ice, no baffles for the southerlies. After dusk an eerie green arctic glow proclaims the continent to the south. The world moves slowly, ignoring hasty clouds.

The wind hurries while the land stays still. This is Fox Bay.

That's not how I saw it going in my head.

2007-07-25T20:44:00.001+01:00

Took the dogs out this evening (fortunately minus Megan who was not keen) and rather than the woods walk I decided I wanted to go look at the river to see how bad it was.

Not a good plan.

Waded across a little stream which has a railway sleeper bridge (they float you know... this is good to know, should the deluge reach the top of our hill we can always build a raft from our deck). The water came to the top of my wellies, not over the top, just up to the top. EEK.

The dogs were MOST unkeen, though the wolfhound got into the swing of it and frisked around in the big "puddles" aka the Thames.

Ok - it IS wet down there. Very wet. Oh really?

Weir

2007-07-25T00:05:00.000+01:00

What weir?

(I know I'm a bit obsessed with this rainy/floody stuff at the moment, but then so is everyone else over here. Blimey that river is FULL).

Perusing the hard drive

2007-07-22T22:24:00.000+01:00

While perusing our (rather large ) hard drive full of pics I cam across a couple of things that amused me.

The first was a folder created on my birthday in 2005 with the title "Test My God This Had Better Work Or Kerri Will Kill Me". This was the year Brian (or rather those very clever dogs with their stolen credit cards) bought me the Canon EOS 20D. I never even noticed that he had opened the box!

The other was some negative scans of pics from 1985 of Fox Bay, I love these views.

Looking northwest to Sullivan and Philomel, I just love this skyline, so much so that I have a painting of these over our fireplace.

Fox Bay mountain, this used to be our view when washing up.

Ironically they don't get much snow out there, but because of the scenery when it did snow I rushed out with my camera and took loads of photos. Oh well, perpetuates the myth that it's really cold there.

And yet more rain.

2007-07-21T20:59:00.000+01:00

We are very lucky people, we live in a really beautiful stretch of the English countryside, and more important (given the last two days weather) we live on top of a hill.

The River Thames has burst its banks at Pangbourne and the village is impassable.

But it WAS sunny this morning so lulled into a false sense of security I dragged Brian and the dogs out for a W-A-L-K in the afternoon at Lardon Chase, which has fabulous views.

There was a *bit* of sun, but then the clouds gathered.

And then, well, we had to hide under a tree.

We got wet, very wet. But then we were treated to this:

The rainbow was over Streatley, where ironically the regatta today was cancelled because its too wet. Hang on - aren't regattas held ON the river?

Next time I suggest a walk "between squalls", someone remind me to keep my trap shut please?

Stormy weather

2007-07-20T21:47:00.000+01:00

We have had a day of weather, SERIOUS weather. The weather dudes say we had something like 53mm of rain in 3 hours.

The knock on travel chaos across the country is quite alarming, roads and rail system are out everywhere, houses are flooded out, schools closed, villages and roads underwater.

Our work even let us out early to get home because the roads were so bad , I was lucky enough to find a route home that did not take too long, others out there are still stranded.

At home it had obviously been raining too:

Two of the apple trees had blown down, one ripped its stake out of the ground, the other snapped its (heavy duty) tie.

The drive was still draining when I got in... (who knows what it looked like earlier)

At least the bit that had not washed away.... much of our gravel is now running away down the lane.

For the travellers.

2007-07-18T22:26:00.001+01:00

For a year I commuted to the US to work, three weeks there, a long weekend at home. It nearly finished me off. At that time I had a portable CD player (MP3 players were still too new then). I used to sit in the airport and listen to this track from the Indigo Girls:

Jet fuel and traffic lines
Pulling up to the delta signs
Distant shape of my hometown
Black stain where the wheels touch down

I pick up the morning news
I pass the man who's never shined my shoes
Through security and to the train
That will take me to the airplane

Count the miles on the highway
The sum of all my days
There's a postcard there's a call
And there's a picture for your bedroom wall

But do you ever wonder through and through
Who's that person standing next to you
And after all the nights apart
Is there a home for a travelling heart

But if I weren't leaving you
I don't know what I would do
But the more I go the less I know
Will the fire still burn on my return
Keep the path lit on the only road I know
Honey all I know to do is go

A cup of coffee and my bags are packed
The same vow not to look back
Familiar emptiness inside
As the distances grow wide

And though I vow to memorize
The last look in your loving eyes
It's here dusk and there dawn
Oh it's like a curtain getting slowly drawn

But if I weren't leaving you
I don't know what I would do
But the more I go the less I know
Will the fire still burn on my return
Keep the path lit on the only road I know
Honey all I know to do is go

But if I weren't leaving you
I don't know what I would do
But the more I go it seems the less I know
Will the fire still burn on my return
Keep the path lit on the only road I know

I am so glad I stay home now.

Wonder if this song would work for Brian when he does this:

(if Brian is taing this picture - who is flying the plane?)

Or more importantly - this

Cucumbers

2007-07-18T22:23:00.000+01:00

The cucumber situation is already getting out of hand.

I think we are going to need considerably more Hendricks

Wrapping the image numbers

2007-07-18T20:50:00.000+01:00

I've done it. Yesterday I was dumping pics from my CF card and noticed the order was odd. On further checking I noted that I had clocked the numbers, gone from img_9999 to img_0001

That means in the last year and a half I have taken over 10000 pictures (we have other cameras...)

That's a lot of pics. Now let's see, in the old days a roll of 36 * 35mm 500 ISO colour film would cost, say £2.50 (we are talking ball park here). Development of said film would cost would also be around £3.00 (though you'd often get a cheapy roll of film thrown in free). So let's say that's £5.50 per roll total (forgetting the postage or petrol and wear and tear on shoes to get the film to the developers).

a tensy bit of math

10000/36 = 277 (rolls of film)

so 277* £5.50 = £1527.00

Blimey I've saved a lot of money.

Must be time to buy a new lens :-)

Poet's day

2007-07-13T18:33:00.000+01:00

It is friday evening and the working week is done. And I seem have survived.

A glass of wine in hand, the water feature burbling, the dogs mooching about and the best bit is Brian will be home shortly. Will the weather hold to eat outside? Should I dig up some new potatoes? Should I pull carrots and make salad?

Too many decisions, pass the bottle please.

I love nasturtiums

2007-07-12T08:15:00.000+01:00

I love the way they carelessly self seed, giving not one jot for our frosty winters, I love the way they romp enthusiastically wherever they find themselves, I love their cheerful colours, I love the smell of the stems and flowers when you pick them.

I spent a while on wednesday evening trying to photograph the dogs but the evening shade in the back garden gave poor results, so I surrendered to the inevitable and wandered around the front garden, taking pictures and picking flowers. Camera hooked over one arm I kept stuffing my nose into the small posy of nasturtiums, breathing in their scent. (I know they are actually edible but they are too peppery in salads for me, I'll stick to the sights and smells thanks).

I recently had to curb their enthusiasm in the veggie patch, but taking a look at the compost bin, I'd say the gorgeous little buggers are going to win:

Mocking Dog

2007-07-12T08:10:00.000+01:00

So there I was last week, coughing my lungs out, at death's door, languishing on the sofa with a lemsip and a hot water bottle.

I looked across to the opposite sofa and what did I see? This:

Methinks someone is taking the piss. Cheeky bugger.

paths

2007-07-07T19:20:00.000+01:00

Ok make that 14 feet of dug up concrete... and we've relaid about 10 feet of sandstone path.

(you can just see the remnant of the old concrete path at the end there.)

That's about 125 Kg cement, and 500 Kgs sand, plus 16 sandstone slabs of varying size, and weight.

That's a LOT of lifting. We really know how to enjoy ourselves at the weekend. Remind me why we are doing this again? And no - there will not be any more flower beds... we have a LOT of flower beds...

Front garden 2003 - first year after we moved in. And had the entire drain run dug up. And dug the vegie patches.

Front garden this afternoon.

Ok I lie - just one teensy one next the garage...I might put herbs in there as it's close to the kitchen. Maybe underplanted with tete-a-tetes and windflowers. *sigh*

Sun.

2007-07-07T10:23:00.000+01:00

Oh dear, for the first time in ages we have a sunny day. This is nice, sort of. But what it does mean is that we need to carry on with the path laying. If I'm lucky and have any energy left I may just get to do some gardening.

I've just dug up 8 feet of concrete. There's only another 50 to go. Still, it's a good way to clear a post cold bunged up head. Bit drastic but what the hell.

Where's that rain when you need it?

Still coughing

2007-07-05T22:47:00.000+01:00

Which has to be a good sign because I must still be breathing.

I had a very enthusiastic a damp wolfhound sitting on my lap after our walk today (in the rain of course). I don't mind being sat on by a 70 Kg dog, as long as he keeps those paws and claws to himself (I have some scars from a previous enthusiastic encounter and have learned to duck), but a DAMP soggy wolfhound is a bit much. He was very frisky, not sure why, but at least Brian is home tomorrow and can take his share of KuBrin greetings.

I picked peas tonight, this year I've grown a tall variety and it's doing very well. There's nothing like picking damp peas in the rain, the rattling of the young pods, the snap of the stems.

One of my earliest memories of my grandfather is being sat on the floor (me not him) shelling peas from his vegetable garden (where us kiddies were forbidden to go - gave it a "magic garden" appeal). Peas in the pod always make me think of him.

Friday tomorrow. Phew.

Breakfast for the be-lurgified

2007-07-04T10:59:00.000+01:00

Breakfast for the be-lurgified:

In the juicer:
1 small melon
2 apples
2 satsumas
1 tomato

used to wash down extra vitamins. I will get rid of this lurgy. I've now had three days off work and I'm still running a fever, we are not amused. Driving Sam to Brize probably did not help either, but had to be done. He must have left the Ascension Islands by now and be on the last leg down to MPA.

This morning's cucumber pick:

The other good thing from this morning was the arrival of my monthly to "Kitchen Garden" magazine. My dad bought me a year's subscription for christmas. Funny though, I remember in my late teens staying with my aunt and uncle who were watching "Gardener's World" on tv and thinking that gardening was THE most boring topic in the universe.

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Pass the border fork please.

Happiness is

2007-07-03T09:53:00.000+01:00

An enthusiastic morning greeting from a geriatric deerhound. Megan tried her best to punch my lights out while I was rubbing her chest. She's on good form this morning. While I was loading the dishwasher I had to retrieve a purloined dog-food fork from her mouth.

Meanwhile I suspect the cookie thief was KuBrin, as he would not eat his breakfast then promptly threw up his pills. There's a magpie in the garden making the best of what's left.

The pilling thing is a bit complicated with a hypothyroid wolfie and an epileptic arthritic deerhound, plus Cleo has to be bribed to take her glucosamine:

I've promised Sam a cooked breakfast but it's now nearly 10AM and there are no signs of stirring from his pit. I'm hungry.

Lurgy

2007-07-02T21:23:00.000+01:00

I am be-lurgified, the work virus has got me coughing up my lungs. But hey - this too shall pass. It's a shame though because my youngest brother Sam is on a flyby visit and I had taken tuesday as holiday so we could goof off together before whipping him off to Brize for the flight home the Falklands. He's just finished his second year at UNI and is away for a placement in Stanley. Lucky soul. Anyway I'm not the best company, maybe I will feel better tomorrow, Sam is always good fun to be around.

Meanwhile, on the gardening front, sadly I've had to curb the enthusiasm of the romping nasturtiums, in the veggie patch they were smothering the courgettes, in the GH they were choking the aubergines.

Still, given their enthusiasm, it's only a minor setback.

Hairy Black Caterpillar Invasion

2007-07-01T11:08:00.000+01:00

During the great concrete and paving slab laying expedition of 2007 (still unfinished) we did at one point find a veritable swarm of hairy black caterpillars, in the hedges, in the garage, everywhere. Brian, being a fierce and intrepid pilot who can land crippled airplanes, ran away while I removed the little critters from the garage where we are storing cement.

Yesterday we found out where some of them have gone, our shed is hosting these:

I wonder what they will hatch out into?

Oh, and it's still raining,

the grass is getting longer and it's still too wet to do anything more than pick veggies. I'm developing an unhealthy obsession with baby broad beans, if I eat any more I will turn into one:

Rainy saturday

2007-06-30T09:44:00.000+01:00

Saturday, 7AM, it raining. I'm really, really glad it's raining. Raining means we cannot spend the day mixing concrete. If we're not mixing concrete and it's too wet for serious gardening, there is no urgent need to get up.

Make coffee, go back to bed. Allow the dogs to sneak upstairs for some duvet-surfing. A couple of hours later I'm still sitting here in the optimistic hope that Brian might just make me poached eggs and more coffee and bring them up to me.

I've caught up on a few blogs, chatted to a couple of relatives and friends (about DNA and Greek beaches (not all in the same conversation)) and read my email.

There are now two damp lurchers on the duvet having a post breakfast snooze.

Wonder how my eggs are doing?

British Summer

2007-06-30T09:28:00.000+01:00

We've had some very hot summers in recent years, very non-classical British summers, nothing to whinge about. Oh, my mistake, of course there was the heat, the insects, the drought. A truly British pastime, we love to complain about the weather. I wonder why?

Anyway this June has been a tad on the damp side, much more your classical British summer, it's rained a fair old bit, so much so there have been flash floods and damaged dams. All serious stuff. On a personal level I like it (not the floods, just the rain), the dog walks are quieter and I don't need to water the garden by hand. Mind you on tuesday I woke up to find the rose petals scattered across the grass, so a little less wind would be nice thanks.

On sunday the itchy feet got the best of me so I took the three lurchers on a new walk on the north bank of the Thames.

This stretch of the Berkshire riverbank is fascinating, lots of rather nice houses:

Oooh - this one is for sale - can we afford it?

Or is this more our style?

disused boat houses:

These are fascinating

and old gun emplacements left over from the second world war. It's amazing to think that there were concerns that invaders would make it this far up the Thames, and the trees now grown up between the boxes and the river show just how long ago it was..

The dogs liked it too but I'm guessing the gun emplacements were of little interest to them.

It's very pretty round here, I'll miss it when we move.

Lastly - I want THIS "deck"

Runaway broad beans

2007-06-28T21:27:00.000+01:00

We have a case of runaway broad beans. They are currently hiding under the three seat sofa and, ironically, I think there are three of them. At least there were when they escaped yesterday, by now they may be bred up their numbers, begun a colony and started accepting immigrants. Perhaps I should move the sofa and clean.

I was sat innocently shelling said beans at the coffee table while reading some back-blog (which always seem vaguely voyeuristic to me, but there are a few gems out there which I simply cannot resist) when a few sprightly ones made a break for it. Maybe I should pay more attention to the beans than the blogs, on the other hand, at least it did not involve sharp knives.

The ones that did not get away were delicious. I mean the beans of course, not the blogs

Meanwhile the tomatoes in the greenhouse have not yet turned red. We've had a couple of yellow ones but no reds yet. I was discussing this with my neighbour which whom I swap tomato seedlings every spring. We always grow different varieties and trade. Typically we always have too many and try to give each other more than we take, but such is gardening. Anyway, Sue informed me that the stripey green variety

stays.... you guessed it...green.

Oh.

So how on earth do I tell when it's ripe?
Help please.

New potatoes and fresh mint.

2007-06-26T22:51:00.000+01:00

Never send a man out for a "sprig" of mint.

On another note I've done it again this morning, I fed the hypothyroid dog the pills for the arthritic epileptic dog.

Oh dear. He seems ok, mind you - would we actually be able to tell if anything was awry?

The Longest Day

2007-06-22T20:33:00.000+01:00

Not the movie, though we have that too. Yesterday was the (theoretically) longest day of the year. Now for some reason this seems to bring out a spate of rather depressing comments such as "oh it's all downhill from here" and "christmas is just round the corner" on the radio and at work.

Me? I don't dwell on those ideas, June 21st usually arrives with me thinking "Well at least Brian did not get arrested".

Brian, my husband, flies microlights. There is a tradition at the club he flies from that every summer solstice they get up VERY early (or more likely never go to bed), fuel up their microlights and fly to Stonehenge for the sunrise. Bit silly really, since the sunrise in the air is not at the same time as on the ground, but hey, it's a "boy thing" and it keeps him happy.

A crowded Stonehenge at sunrise.

The sunrise

Anyway, a few years back he and his club mates were merrily circling Stonehenge (at strictly legal heights of course) when they were descended on by a police helicopter. It got a little too close for comfort so they all headed on back to base. Brian needed to refuel on the way home so he landed at an empty airstrip, and put the spare jerry-can of fuel in the tank. At which point a police car came haring up the runway, screeched to a halt and a policeman leaped out. (TBH there was probably very little leaping out of the car at 4AM, but let's not let the truth get in the way of a good story).

"Are you the owner of this vehicle sir"?

Brian, quaking, admitted that he was.

The conversation that followed involved the policeman telling Brian that there was a no-fly zone around Stonehenge that morning, and that Brian and his club mates had been in violation of it. Brian pointed out that there had been no NOTAMs notice to this effect and that they did this every year, then mentally made a note to check the NOTAMs back at the club just in case. The policeman took all of Brian's details (at this point Brian got very worried).

Then the policeman got out his mobile phone and said:

"Could you take my picture with your plane?".

Britain's finest, we love them.

The longest day? At least Brian got home unarrested.

Picotee

2007-06-21T08:14:00.000+01:00

Why picotee?

Well, I have an affection for words. Short words, long words, pretty words, real words, made up words. I like words. I read a lot.

Looking on my favourite dictionary site http://www.onelook.com/ for a synonym in a gardening context, I stumbled a gardening word list in the "P" region. On the page was was the word "PICOTEE -- Term applied to a narrow band of color on a pale ground at the edge of a petal."

It rang a little bell. On the wall of our snug (which is a small room lined with books off the main living room, (the deerhound sleeps there)) there is a copy of a hand coloured print of my father's mother, Mary, on horseback. She was a keen point-to-point rider in her youth.

The horse's name was Picotee. Apparently he was her favourite horse. I wish she was alive now so I could ask her about him.

It is a pretty word, and great name for a horse. Or a blog.

A slice of heaven

2007-06-20T22:46:00.000+01:00

Two baby onions still muddy from the ground.
A handful of small pea and broad bean pods crisp from the parent plants.
The first ripe tomato from the greenhouse.
A pair of tiny carrots so small it is almost sinful to eat them.
One stripling of a courgette barely bloomed.

Sauteed in butter with a dash of mint picked still damp from the shady back of the garden, wrapped in flat bread.

Heaven is a promise of goodness yet to come. There is something about picking the very first produce that you have sewn, planted out, watered, staked, weeded and cherished this year. If you've never tried it I recommend it. Start with a single tomato plant.

But I must learn to make flat bread.

June Thunderstorms

2007-06-19T22:31:00.000+01:00

We had thunderstorms today. They rolled up from the south coast and hung over Reading. The fringes dumped some much welcome rain on the garden and the light and sound show over the town to the east sent the dogs skulking inside.

After the clouds blew away to the north east and left clear air behind, we walked down in the valley near the River Thames, not a soul to be seen. The local rabbit population was making the best of the emptiness and were none too impressed by our presence. The dogs returned home nicely tired.

Meanwhile in the garden, the thyme is blooming.