Friday 27 February 2009

25 random things about me

I was tagged on Facebook to do this, so have copied it to here as well. A bit of a cheat, but a fun exercise. Do have a go on your blog and let me know, I love reading them!

1 - I can't think of any things about me, let alone 25. OK, I lived in Sarth East London for 17 years.
2 - I went to just one school all the way through, for 13 years - a Steiner school
3 - I often eat peas, friom the freezer, briefly boiled up, on their own. I also often eat sweetcorn straight from the tin.
4 - I grew up a Quaker, and still feel a strong affinity, if it weren't for the God bit
5 - I had osteomyelitis, twice, when I was 14, and was in hospital for Christmas. It was quite fun
6 - I was good at art at 5, and had pictures all over the walls at school. My art teacher wrote something along the lines of 'despite her lack of ability...' when i was 14ish. I love art now, and paint, love pastels. I have sold 7 of my pictures!
7 - I have never, ever, eaten meat - well, OK, once, by mistake.
8 - I have never, ever, been tempted to eat meat. It just doesn't seem to be anything to do with food.
9 - One of my favourite places is the Victoria Falls, from the Zambian side
10 - I was adopted, age 6 weeks. I met my birth mother when I was 32. she died 8 years later, she was lovely. The process brought me closer to my adoptive parents as well.
11 - When I lived in the New Forest, I loved going to Monkey World.
12 - When I was about 12, I wanted to be a geologist. When I was about 14, I discovered it involved maths.
13 - My favourite place is Cornwall, Trebarwith Strand is hard to beat.
14 - I have an MA in Mental Health. I am proud of this. My dissertation was on the impact companion animals have on the daily living skills and self esteem of people with mental health problems.
15 - Yesterday, I bought some squeezy bottles from Lakeland, like they use in Masterchef, in the hope it will transform me into an exceptional cook
16 - I make nearly all the greetings cards I send. I love making things.
17 - When I trained as an Occupational Therapist, we spent 6 weeks doing basket making, a skill I would later strenuously deny when ribbed by non OTs!
18 - I love blogging. www.nessienoracraftexplorer.blogspot.com
19 - I love animals and get desperately upset about animal welfare issues, factory farming, abuse generally. I could never be active in this field, as I would get too upset. My bit is running my vegetarian guest house and doing what I can in my own life and gently raising awareness.
20 - I have not shopped in Tesco for nearly 2 years. This was initially because I learned they stock live turtles in their shops in the Far East, which cannot be humanely killed. But it is now because of a range of additional issues, their refusal to stock only free range eggs and poultry, their treatment of suplliers, their apparent attempt at world domination, judging by the number of Tesco lorries we see when we are out.
21 - My favourite meal is a jacket potato, with rich tomato sauce (with capers, sun dried tomatoes and loads of garlic), cheese and vegetables. And something with chocolate for dessert.
22 - I use a monocular to view distant objects, I only use one eye at a time, so two lenses is wasteful of limited world resources. I had an operation to correct my squint when I was 37. On the way home from it, I heard that John Smith had died.
23 - I would love to make Michael House posher and more luxurious
24 - I love the music of Geoffrey Oryema, Schubert, requiems, oratorios, and the kora, and Radio 2!
25 - I grew up going on Aldermaston Marches - ban the bomb - and first went in my pushchair. I am a fan of Tony Benn.
26 - I hate getting up, and rarely get to bed before midnight. Only 25, oh, it's 26! I'm only just starting...

Wednesday 18 February 2009

visiting 5



I is werring thiss kertin


I is stukk
i is not larfing any more, let me owt

visiting 4

I iz hiding in thiss kertern

no human assistance was provided in the adoption of the above ludicrous stances. Human rescue packages were, however, later offered to Sky.

visiting 3







sunset at Camber Sands

visiting 2


The main purpose of our visit was to see Uncle Maurice, now 96 and still living alone and coping pretty well. I have waxed lyrical about him in previous posts. He wanted Simon to look at a tree, which he duly did, and suggested UM get a full tree survey. The tree in question dropped a branch onto a neighbour's garage, causing some damage, apparently, although the branches looked pretty thin. If he has a survey, he will be fully covered by insurance if there are any problems in the future. But Simon did not feel there was too much of a risk from the tree in question, but that one or two others might need a bit of a trim. We had a lovely lunch out, during which UM questioned most of what I said, basically suggesting it was rubbish. He prides himself on being an intellectual, and I think, me on not being! He likes to refer to writers he knows I will not have heard of, and he likes to dismiss my use of terms such as 'creativity'. He also thinks Facebook is absolute rubbish, I would not really expect him to think otherwise, but also suspect he, as his sister, my mum used to, is overly keen to dismiss anything of which he has no knowledge. But, if I reach 96, which I doubt, I hope to be as alert as Uncle Maurice and able to lead 51 year olds a merry dance of words. In the above picture, he was a mere 95!

visiting

Berri has stolen Sky's ball again
Philippa and Peter
Now Stan has stolen Sky's ball


Snow, what snow, just throw my ball



It is hard now to remember back to the snow we had not long ago, as there is no trace of it any more.

When we headed up towards the Wiltshire plains, there was plenty. We were not sure we would get there as the A30 was shut by snow (6th feb), and we waited at home until the road was partially cleared around Okehampton. It was a magical journey, the trees were weighted down and the hills reflected the purples of the sunset. I have no photos of it sadly. The roads were nearly empty of traffic, but the snow did not stop one or two drivers' appalling behaviour - eg a tanker coming up behind us, hooting and flashing, overtaking and doing the same to the lorry in front which had been driving very well. For most of the way there was just one lane cleared. I was glad to be in the Landrover.
We then had a lovely weekend with Philippa and Peter and then headed on to Henley-on-Thames, to see my niece and her husband and their son, Tom, nearly 2.
That evening we headed off to sussex, the weather was awful, heavy rain this time! We were glad to arrive at the little cottage we have rented twice before, at Icklesham.

oops, bit of a paws

thiss cubbord nedes painting. now. i is not duing it, yu is.


paws can be accounted for by


a - being away for a week


b - being busy on return with guest house


c - having serious Man Flu for that past few days




normal service will resume shortly.

Ted has been a very good nurse, or so he thought. Sleeping on my face, further restricitng my breathing, did nto really help though.

Wednesday 4 February 2009

what a waste of good snow


Snowing over the sea, what's the point of that?