Life sucks at the moment. Try to remain positive and hum eric idle. when ever it gets too much, it's the only way.
A picture of spring, and new growth.
A picture of a cat....
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Life Sucks
Life sucks at the moment. Try to remain positive and hum eric idle. when ever it gets too much, it's the only way.
A picture of spring, and new growth.
A picture of a cat....
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Happy Easter and all that to those that al celebrate. We had a great day planting plants, and conducting a chocolate egg hunt, which was fun - with not too much cheating! Think we'll still be finding eggs in trees for a while to come though. It's great at the moment, although I feel I must be getting old, as have started to really enjoy the garden, and also excited about the bird life that we are attracting. Our recent addition is a robin, although think that we also had a greenfinch!!
Currently got a wonderful shoulder of lamb roasting, and mint sauce.
I went to see an old aunt of mine on Thursday, something I had been meaning to do for quite some time. It was great to go and see her, I was quite worried about how I would find her but she was really quite sprightly, and only suffering slightly with her hips, but all in all full of fun, and up to her usual tricks which involves her trying to palm her old tat on us. This time it was an old raincoat that didn't fit her, why she thought it would fit me, I don't know, also some old books, oh and a string of fake pearls that had a broken clasp, interestingly thought, the pearls had been a gift from my mum, to her, so she thought that I should have them. As the americans say...."go figure".
Right, mint sauce and roast potatoes are on their way.....
Currently got a wonderful shoulder of lamb roasting, and mint sauce.
I went to see an old aunt of mine on Thursday, something I had been meaning to do for quite some time. It was great to go and see her, I was quite worried about how I would find her but she was really quite sprightly, and only suffering slightly with her hips, but all in all full of fun, and up to her usual tricks which involves her trying to palm her old tat on us. This time it was an old raincoat that didn't fit her, why she thought it would fit me, I don't know, also some old books, oh and a string of fake pearls that had a broken clasp, interestingly thought, the pearls had been a gift from my mum, to her, so she thought that I should have them. As the americans say...."go figure".
Right, mint sauce and roast potatoes are on their way.....
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Hot Cross Buns
I made hot cross buns today for the first time today, and just as Delia promised they were yummy. Fruity and spicy, doughy and soft, and extra sticky due to the sugar syrup poured on top. That wasn't in the recipe. Delia recommended brushing it on....but as ever heavy handed.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
I had to sack someone today.
Sacking someone really makes you think about how we treat others and how we would like to be treated. This incident was not actually an employee of mine, but a company that supplies a service to our company. I have spent a long time deliberating how I would do this, and formally I had written a letter to him stating that we no longer wanted to use their services, but it really hit me in the middle of the night, while I was ruminating on it that, I would really not like to just receive a letter dismissing me after 12yrs service, so I plucked up lots of courage and rang him. Understandably he was really upset, he didn't hit the angry phase on the phone, but I can imagine that it will come at a later date. I tried to keep it as neutral as possible and explain the situation but it was hard. Oh well I suppose it's all part of the learning experience on the road to becoming a more assertive person. I think assertiveness comes with age, because after a while, you just have the experience and knowledge of how to deal with multiple scenarios and also it's a time issue, after a while you have to get the job done so you can't spend time waffling around being nice to people and protecting their feelings, but it's a hard balance.
What else happened in my world today? I caught the cat deciding that she really needed to sit under an apple tree while the birds were trying to have breakfast. Little rat! You'd think that we never feed her the way she carry's on.
Some friends from California came over today, and it was really great to see them, although I didn't get much of a chance to chat to my good friend C. C is always so supportive of me and all that I do, but really good fun as well.
The sun is just starting to fade here, and there is a lovely dappled twilight.
Sacking someone really makes you think about how we treat others and how we would like to be treated. This incident was not actually an employee of mine, but a company that supplies a service to our company. I have spent a long time deliberating how I would do this, and formally I had written a letter to him stating that we no longer wanted to use their services, but it really hit me in the middle of the night, while I was ruminating on it that, I would really not like to just receive a letter dismissing me after 12yrs service, so I plucked up lots of courage and rang him. Understandably he was really upset, he didn't hit the angry phase on the phone, but I can imagine that it will come at a later date. I tried to keep it as neutral as possible and explain the situation but it was hard. Oh well I suppose it's all part of the learning experience on the road to becoming a more assertive person. I think assertiveness comes with age, because after a while, you just have the experience and knowledge of how to deal with multiple scenarios and also it's a time issue, after a while you have to get the job done so you can't spend time waffling around being nice to people and protecting their feelings, but it's a hard balance.
What else happened in my world today? I caught the cat deciding that she really needed to sit under an apple tree while the birds were trying to have breakfast. Little rat! You'd think that we never feed her the way she carry's on.
Some friends from California came over today, and it was really great to see them, although I didn't get much of a chance to chat to my good friend C. C is always so supportive of me and all that I do, but really good fun as well.
The sun is just starting to fade here, and there is a lovely dappled twilight.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Turtleship
I’ve still been thinking about the challenge of writing and whether I am brave enough to do it. It just seems difficult getting my thoughts down on paper, or screen. I think it’s all to do with - if you start to write down fictional ideas, journal points, characterisations, then you’ve got an object of criticism for others. If you keep it all in your head then it’s secure, and at the moment I haven’t got a thick enough skin to brave out what others may say.
Last night we had rather a worrying thing happen. We had some kids throw something like mud at our front door. I’ve been reflecting on our reaction to it.
The first thing that happened was a knock at the door, and the typical behaviour of going to answer it and then no-one was there. Your heckles start to rise, and initially you shrug and brush it off. Then, something like mud was thrown at the window (hurrah for double glazing), and at this stage your fear instinct starts to rise as you start to appreciate that you may have been singled out. You immediately become afraid and not sure what to do. Which is really interesting as I’ve now realised that for most of us fear is not an emotion that we experience very frequently.
I demonstrated typical behaviour and went upstairs to see if I could see the perpetrators. There was some kids around, and they could apparently see us looking out and scarpered once they thought we were going to come out of the house. Then nothing for about an hour, until a very bizarre thing occurred. A bamboo cane was slid through our letterbox. Which don’t you think is a very odd thing to do……it’s bizarre. At the time it occurs, believe me it’s not. You see it with fear, and it feels sinister. You become aware that something worse could be being planned for your home. The fact that this could happen to you and your home is what’s scaring you. I mean, why would a bamboo cane through your door scare you. It’s just plain odd. But it’s your thoughts that are making it sinister, did They just see it as a lark, an act of dare performed by an alpha male? They probably saw it as a something to laugh about, far from sinister. It was a bamboo cane after all.
However, the fact was, I went to bed scared. My imagination had been kick started “will they set our house on fire, will they graffiti the house, break the windows”, that’s what makes you scared, not a bamboo cane. Imagination. The other thing that surfaces is a practicality I’ve not faced before and that is - how do you confront them? What do you do? Do you live in fear and close all your curtains, lock the door, in a turtle-esque manner, and hope they will go away, or do you open the door each time something happens and try and deal with a group of people whose motives you don’t understand, and whose bravado and comradeship of youth you will not understand. You realise you are living a life experience without adequate skills, and that you character is being tested.
Anyway, they came and went and maybe it’s to early to learn any lessons. I slept soundly and nothing went bump in the night and now feeling fairly blasé about it all now that the sun is bright, and no harm has been done. But hey remember – last night I didn’t really want to go to bed on my own, and made my husband come to bed early. Would I be feeling the same if they’d come back during the night. We’ll see what happens in future nights. And I still haven’t come to any conclusion as what you should do though to confront or turtle or also how to handle your fear.
Last night we had rather a worrying thing happen. We had some kids throw something like mud at our front door. I’ve been reflecting on our reaction to it.
The first thing that happened was a knock at the door, and the typical behaviour of going to answer it and then no-one was there. Your heckles start to rise, and initially you shrug and brush it off. Then, something like mud was thrown at the window (hurrah for double glazing), and at this stage your fear instinct starts to rise as you start to appreciate that you may have been singled out. You immediately become afraid and not sure what to do. Which is really interesting as I’ve now realised that for most of us fear is not an emotion that we experience very frequently.
I demonstrated typical behaviour and went upstairs to see if I could see the perpetrators. There was some kids around, and they could apparently see us looking out and scarpered once they thought we were going to come out of the house. Then nothing for about an hour, until a very bizarre thing occurred. A bamboo cane was slid through our letterbox. Which don’t you think is a very odd thing to do……it’s bizarre. At the time it occurs, believe me it’s not. You see it with fear, and it feels sinister. You become aware that something worse could be being planned for your home. The fact that this could happen to you and your home is what’s scaring you. I mean, why would a bamboo cane through your door scare you. It’s just plain odd. But it’s your thoughts that are making it sinister, did They just see it as a lark, an act of dare performed by an alpha male? They probably saw it as a something to laugh about, far from sinister. It was a bamboo cane after all.
However, the fact was, I went to bed scared. My imagination had been kick started “will they set our house on fire, will they graffiti the house, break the windows”, that’s what makes you scared, not a bamboo cane. Imagination. The other thing that surfaces is a practicality I’ve not faced before and that is - how do you confront them? What do you do? Do you live in fear and close all your curtains, lock the door, in a turtle-esque manner, and hope they will go away, or do you open the door each time something happens and try and deal with a group of people whose motives you don’t understand, and whose bravado and comradeship of youth you will not understand. You realise you are living a life experience without adequate skills, and that you character is being tested.
Anyway, they came and went and maybe it’s to early to learn any lessons. I slept soundly and nothing went bump in the night and now feeling fairly blasé about it all now that the sun is bright, and no harm has been done. But hey remember – last night I didn’t really want to go to bed on my own, and made my husband come to bed early. Would I be feeling the same if they’d come back during the night. We’ll see what happens in future nights. And I still haven’t come to any conclusion as what you should do though to confront or turtle or also how to handle your fear.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Ponds & Mist
I liked the mist and atmosphere in this picture, see www.flickr.com/photos/stulia for more
Monday, June 12, 2006
Listing
For personal enjoyment I have set myself a challenge. I want to do some research into all those people who've I've heard about, but actually know nothing about. The first part of the project is going to be research and write approx 1000 on the 10 list of people below, with additional resource for the back up list in case people pop into my further for a more expanded project.
1) Jean-Paul Satre
2) Madame Pompadour
3) Charles I
4) Andy Warhol
5) Margaret Thatcher
6) Capability Brown
7) Rembrant
8) Queen Elizabeth I
9) Lord Byron
10) Paul Klee
Wish me luck.
1) Jean-Paul Satre
2) Madame Pompadour
3) Charles I
4) Andy Warhol
5) Margaret Thatcher
6) Capability Brown
7) Rembrant
8) Queen Elizabeth I
9) Lord Byron
10) Paul Klee
Wish me luck.
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