| Sunday, April 29th, 2012 |
| 3:40 pm |
Reading not posting
I'm doing that thing again. I'm really enjoying all your posts - and finding myself clouted by laziness into not writing or responding much. We've just finished our performances of "The Sound of Music" which went really well. It was a very smooth production, practically sold out and with a small cameo part for me of the mad bowing lady. My hair is just starting to recover from all the back-combing. I've finally got around to googling "Austrian Crystal" having been wearing Grandma's necklace in the ball scene. I didn't realise it was hand-blown glass. I've just started re-reading "Great Expectations" after watching the adaptation on at Christmas. I was too familiar with this book as a teenager - we covered it at both O and A level. Now I'm curious to see what I make of it. I remember being furious at the hypocrisy of Uncle Pumblechook. What is inspiring you to go and read one book in particular over another? I have also been carrying out domestic science. Yes, putting aluminium foil strips in a bowl of hot water with soda crystals really does get the tarnish off silver. It also turns the foil black and crumbly. And fizzes in a most delightful way. Yay for chemistry! |
| Monday, April 9th, 2012 |
| 6:06 pm |
Eastercon was fun
Hi All! I really enjoyed the programming at this year's Eastercon. Due to a lack of stamina we didn't do anything like as much socialising as we would have ideally liked. We bought less than 30 books I believe - which is quite restrained for us - and I have also bought a fabulous purple linen top which I expect to wear a lot in the near future. How was your Bank Holiday weekend (or "weekend" for those of you without Bank Holidays)? Current Mood:  relaxed |
| Sunday, April 1st, 2012 |
| 2:31 pm |
A tiny triumph
Yesterday I had one of those scam phone calls CALLER: I'm calling from the Technical dept... so I launched into my prepared speech ME: Oh thank goodness you've rung!!! I've been expecting your call!!! I know I have a problem with my computer so the best thing to do is for you to give me your bank sort code and account number so I can deposit a large sum of money in your account!!!!
CALLER: I don't understand Madam, why would you react like this?
ME: Can you really not think of any reason? Think about it! Oh - and bear in mind that we have telephone preference, so you could be fined a lot of money for calling me. I'm now going to do you the very great favour of hanging up.
Piqued, repiqued and capotted I believe!
Current Mood: satisfied |
| Saturday, March 31st, 2012 |
| 3:08 pm |
Because we like being organised...
...I have just completed my bi-annual sort through of clothes. I have achieved just enough room in my work clothes wardrobe for my spring/ summer stuff and I now have a little expansion room in the party frocks/ winter clothes/ weekend clothes/ aspirational outfits wardrobe. My jumpers (sweaters) and pyjamas cupboard is no longer at bursting point and my sports and scarves cupboard is much reduced too. I have also produced 3 bin bags - one of potential costume items for AMTC, one for the charity shop and one for the Wiscon clothing swap. All the Wiscon items are beaded/ sequined/ flounced or otherwise fun (and not too tired). I might need to mark them as bearing UK sizes. Anyone know whether leather items are acceptable at the clothing swap? Current Mood:  accomplished |
| Sunday, March 4th, 2012 |
| 3:53 pm |
|
| Sunday, February 26th, 2012 |
| 6:06 pm |
Signs of Spring
It's been beautifully mild this weekend and we've had a lot of sun. I even managed to hang some washing up outside for a few hours although I don't think it got a lot drier in that time. The snowdrops are flourishing and I can see where the mini-tulips have poked their noses through the earth. The worms have returned to the top of the compost heap (not trying to escape) and I've planted my tomato seeds in the propogator boxes made out of take-away containers. So of course I've spent several hours indoors playing Civ V. Happy Sigh! |
| Sunday, February 19th, 2012 |
| 11:28 am |
Dough question - AKICOLJ
I have been successfully using our bread-maker to make loaves for a while now. It even made a nice loaf using spelt flour last week (on the wholemeal setting) so I've now tried rolls. I think I'm missing a step because the dough when it comes out of the breadmaker is very slack - at least that's the word I find myself reaching for. It's very runny and gloopy and elastic. The instructions say to knead it and then divide it into rolls, leave them to double in size and then cook them. However the "rolls" end up being gloopy puddles on the baking tray and double in size sideways not vertically. Should I leave it to rise before kneading it? (and then perhaps leave it to rise again?) Should I knead it more (after all, I'm assuming the bread-maker's done most of the work otherwise what's the point of it?) Should I add more flour? Or something else? What do you think? Current Mood:  curious |
| Sunday, February 12th, 2012 |
| 3:12 pm |
Being a grownup
I have been mulling over ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) desperance comment about doing "one grown-up thing every day". There are certain privileges to being a grown-up that I enjoy - but they are counterbalanced fairly neatly. Thus I can choose to go to bed at whatever time I like - but getting up at 6am enables me to get done what I need to before going to work - and so if I stay up late I have to accept responsibility for the consequences in the morning. And of course, I'm usually too tired to want to stay up past 10 anyway. We have finally got around to ordering our new fridge/freezer - after years of our current one freezing items in the fridge at random. Now I really should look at prices of 1-year-old cars, as mine is 10 years old and has developed some expensive habits when it comes to servicing and MOTs. Instead, I'm going to play Civ V for a bit. How about you? Is there something you've told yourself that you "should" be doing that you haven't yet? Current Mood:  cold |
| Sunday, February 5th, 2012 |
| 6:17 pm |
A couple of things make a post
Well we had an inch or two of snow but it's mostly gone now - unlike my sister in Kent who is looking out at a frozen pond with about 6 inches of snow on it. Is it wrong of me to hope we can have at least a couple of days of enforced working from home this winter? This week I am conducting a food/ IBS experiment - low FODMAPS. It seems to work for my brother who has had worse IBS than I have for longer. I'll see if I can detect any difference by the end of the week. To that end, I have just made a loaf with spelt flour. I was a little nervous as the bread machine didn't have a specific setting. I just used the wholemeal one and it looks ok. I have an appointment with *my* doctor tomorrow morning to discuss my asthma - I'm going to focus on how long it takes to recover from an attack and how we can reduce that. Last night about 9pm the sky was an incredible hazy red colour. I was thinking about making some more pillow lace bookmarks - shout if you're interested. People I was thinking might like one if they haven't already got one are maryread bibliophile replyhazy but the offer is not restricted to them. Current Mood: calm |
| Sunday, January 8th, 2012 |
| 5:12 pm |
A couple of things make a post
1) It has been incredibly warm this weekend - the sun has been shining and the ground is not frozen. I have therefore planted 3 heather plants that I bought to mark the boundary of the wild patch in the garden (it encroached onto the lawn last year so I want to push it back a bit). 2) I have just spent a soothing semi-creative hour making gift tags out of our Christmas cards - having first set aside any that come with special messages or photos. So no, cabell will not be gracing anyone's gifts next Christmas. I particularly like looking at the patterns and trying to see where the smaller patterns lie that will stand-alone. We may possibly now have a life-time supply of tags. At least it means less to go in the recycling. 3) I am very impressed with bookzombie for getting the asphalt back onto the shed and for going ahead with a weekend exercise. I am counting the digging I did above as sufficient exercise for me for today! Current Mood: accomplished |
| Friday, December 30th, 2011 |
| 3:32 pm |
AKICOLJ - holidays and stuff
We are quite often told that office workers in the UK tend to work longer hours than most other countries. And there are some people at work who claim that while we may have more annual leave than colleagues in the States, we have fewer public holidays. Is this true? I have 25 days leave per year plus 9 public holidays (1 extra in 2012 due to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee). What is normal for office workers where you are? |
| Saturday, December 24th, 2011 |
| 5:01 pm |
Season's Greetings!
Merry Christmas and all other seaonable greetings to you all! Current Mood:  happy |
| Saturday, November 26th, 2011 |
| 3:22 pm |
More garden news
With the mild weather continuing, I looked at what is still flowering in the garden and came up with the following list. Some blackberry flowers Some canterbury bells a soggy ginger cream rose the alexandra roses (with plenty of scent and buds to come) the small red climbing rose (one small spray) a periwinkle a winter primula the winter jasmine. And in compost news - thanks for your explanations and recommendations. I held my ungloved hand within the bin and the compost is giving off quite a lot of heat. I added some rose and pyracantha clippings. Tomorrow is empty the weekly household compost day and I've added some cardboard to that. |
| Sunday, November 20th, 2011 |
| 2:35 pm |
A compost question or two
So far this year we have been adding our fruit & vegetable peelings and tea bags/ coffee filters to our green compost bin. Is it a good sign that every Sunday when I go to add this week's leftovers I find a lot of worms trying to escape out of the top of the bin? And am I doing the right thing by dropping them back in again? Current Mood: curious |
| Sunday, October 23rd, 2011 |
| 5:54 pm |
Abbey Girl Books sought
I am collecting the rest of the Abbey Girl Books by Elsie J Oxenham. I've picked up those that I can from the Internet and I was wondering if by the power of lj anyone knows of purchasable or borrowable copies of the following "The Girls of the Hamlet Club" (yes, rarer than hen's teeth I know) "The Abbey Girls Again" (Collin fat orange?) "Rosamund's Castle" (girls gone by publishers) "A Fiddler for the Abbey" "Two Queens at the Abbey" (small red abbey). |
| Saturday, October 15th, 2011 |
| 5:17 pm |
Being fairly quiet and making things
My Grandma's funeral was on Monday. It was just right. since then, I've been missing her a lot and remembering. At some point I'll write about this but not yet. One of the things I've been doing that forms a link for me is cooking. I've been making jam and chutney again. Because we defrosted the freezer last night, I now have 9 lemons to make something with. I also still have many pounds of apples from the tree. There's a recipe for "Windfall marmalade" in Good Housekeeping that uses 4 lemons, 2 grapefruit and some apples. I was thinking I could make that with a couple of satsumas and more lemons instead of the grapefruit. Any other lemon and apple recipes you can think of? Current Mood: pensive |
| Sunday, September 18th, 2011 |
| 5:59 pm |
|
| Saturday, September 17th, 2011 |
| 7:10 pm |
|
| Thursday, September 15th, 2011 |
| 8:35 pm |
placeholder post
1) Italy was wonderful. 2) I have a stinking cold. Hopefully tell you more about the first once I have my brain back from the second. How are things with you? |
| Sunday, July 17th, 2011 |
| 9:13 pm |
Naming rivers
Something I noticed recently. In Britain, all our rivers (please leap in with exceptions) are either referred to as the River X - it's the River Thames, the River Avon, the River Test etc - or just as the Thames, the Avon, the Test. I've been bounced out of a few British-set American-written works recently where British characters refer to the Thames River and I think "hang on, what's not right here". If I think about it, it's the Mississippi River, the Yangtze River. Who knew there was more than one way to do this? Current Mood: contemplative |
