Impressions Around New Years Day

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* Walking the dog on New Year's Eve up to the towering redwood on the hill. Looking up at it's sparse branches through the swirling mist.

* Making Thank You cards whilst watching Father Ted & drinking the New Year in with a glass of WhiskyMac (a present).

* All day a heavy frost covering everything with a white rime. Makes the world look like a Christmas card. Still air, grey skies a muted, muffled day.

* The big dog infected by the sparkling air running round & round throwing pieces of frozen horse poo in the air!

* Problems with the gas supply (run out) - sitting under duvets with 2 pairs of trouser, two jumpers and a body warmer. Feet cold.

* Catching all 25 hens and dusting them with mite powder.

* Watching the hens taking a dust bath in their temporary home. Hearing their purr calls.

* Watching a flock of twittering long-tailed tits at the bird table. The robin chasing off all comers.

* Problems with gas (see above) so no proper cooking facilities. Having tinned soup, onion bajis & Christmas pudding for tea.

* Waking up on the 2nd January to SNOW

* Walking the horse out through the snow & noticing a hoof print in a hoof print! Great rejoicing - as "tracking-up" combined with high spirits yesterday equals a comfortable & sound horse. Hurrah maybe last years list of injuries is ALL OVER.

* Taking the dogs for a walk in the crisp sunshine to check out the hens' new home.

* Reading a seriously up-lifting story about a rescued horse - he made it & is living a happy, healthy & very useful life. Thank goodness for people who care & dont just "walk/drive by".

* Great rejoicing - our GAS delivery is coming tomorrow. It's going to be -5C tonight - getting up could be an event to be delayed for as long as possible!!

Happy New Year

ANSWERS TO QUIZZ NOW ADDED TO THE POST

Things to look forward to in January

The Longest Night has passed,

Santa has been & gone,

All seasonal sparkles are put away

So what's left to bring cheer,

In the gloomy months ahead?

Flowers of course!!!

So if you have not planted any - go out & buy a pot of Spring bulbs or Orchids or any lovely flowering plant to take your thoughts to easier days ahead.

(Pictures from Kew Gardens - one of my "favourite places")

A seasonal something!

A Christmas Quiz
Clue: Chilean Christmas Tree? (3 words)

* The three wise men (MAGI)
* A brand of lift/elevator & the 1st name of a famous rhythm & blues singer (OTIS)
* The 1st name of an actress that had a child named “Sunday Rose” in July 2008 (NICOLE KIDMAN)
* A fruit brandy made from the double distillation of morellos (KIRSCH)
* Austin Healey’s kiwi dance partner (first name) (ERIN BOAG)
* A fermented dairy product (YOGHURT)
………
>>>>> (New word)

* The bull fighting dance (PASA DOBLE)
* An item made famous by a “Singing in the Rain” routine & by Rhianna singing “you can stand under my ………” (UMBRELLA)
* An American Heavy Rock Band noted for their beards & sunglasses & “Gimme All Your Lovin”
(ZZ TOP)
* Biblical character (a fisherman) & springy cartoon character (ZEBEDEE)
* The title of Sir Cliff’s first chart-topper (LIVING DOLL)
* The birthplace of D H Lawrence (EASTWOOD)
……..
>>>>> (new word)

* An excitable Strictly Come Dancing judge (surname) (BRUNO TONIOLI)
* A type of deer with a shiny nose & balletic name (REINBEER)
* An old-fashioned & now rude term to use for the Inuit peoples of Canada & Greenland (ESKIMO)
* The first name of the man who sang “Eye-to-Eye (Contact)” & “H.A.P.P.Y. Radio” - he has a seasonal surname! (EDWIN STARR)



Another clue if you are struggling!
The national tree of Chile - an evergreen pine!

MONKEY PUZZLE TREE

seasons greetings

Birds and Books

Birds are featuring large in my world at the moment.

The hens are causing us a lot of concern. After extensive reading, experimenting, observing & asking a local egg producer we have come to the conclusion that the hens are BORED. Their supply of grass has run out and at the moment we are not in a position to move the run. So I guess we are going to have to be creative- boxes of soil with stuff buried in it, hanging up bunches of greenery, logs to sit on etc etc - so much for hens being low maintenance!

So far I haven't come upon a chapter in a hen book entitled "Boredom". I guess it is still a relatively new concept in the population at large that poultry warrant attention to their mental health. Yet again it is the caring "amateur" & welfare charities that are bringing about the positive changes to animal welfare - not the "professional" egg & meat producers. Long live the great British (& other nationality) amateur!

We have a simple bird table & feeders, attached to our run of bean poles. This year the local bird population has "found us". It is such a "simple pleasure" to watch the comings & goings of the little visitors. Supplying peanuts (whole & in a feeder), a "wild bird mixture" & bits of bread has so far attracted blue, great, coal, willow/marsh & long-tailed tits, a blackbirds, a robin & a nuthatch.

We are also the nominated geese-feeders on the park & this regular feeding pattern attracts more than just geese - there are ducks, moorhens, peacocks, crows, magpies & jackdaws & I bet there are other quieter birds watching & waiting for all the fuss to die down. I'd love to see the local ravens come down to eat!

Not far away is a rookery. Once the youngsters left the nest this summer the rookery became empty. In the last month or so huge numbers of rooks have been congregating at the rookery then flying off to roost somewhere nearby. As coincidence would have it, a few nights ago I picked up a book & started reading a chapter at random only to discover that the book is all about rooks & jackdaws. It's a beautifully written book so if you are still searching for a Christmas present for a bird-lover then this is worth a consideration - "Crow Country" by Mark Crocker (ISBN 978 0 224 07601). I borrowed my copy from the local mobile library - so here's plug for them - "USE THEM OR LOOSE THEM".

Also from the library, I have borrowed, read & can recommend the latest in the Maise Dobbs series "An Incomplete Revenge" by Jacqueline Winspear. So get down to your local library & see what you can find & don't forget that the staff are usually only too happy to help! On that note, it's time for me to log onto the library catalogue & order some books ready to dive- into over the Christmas break.

Great Ideas in Action

Making my world a more harmonious place.

Carpinus betulus - hornbeam

I found this fantastic picture at the following site - http://apps.kew.org/trees/?page_id=1. It's from the "people's arboretum" - what a fantastic idea. It's a great web site to - well worth a tour around.

It reminded me of how much I have always loved Kew Gardens. When I first visited this magnificent place it cost 1p to get in! Years later I lived in London & visited it frequently - still very cheap- it was in the days before the sparkly new visitors centre. What a gem.

Wish I could get to the Eden Project..one day




What a pretty seasonal picture!








Eden has submitted plans for a wind turbine and has some very accessible information on this subject.http://www.edenproject.com/whats-at-eden/index.php

Come that great day when we have our own piece of land a wind turbine will proudly feature as one of our energy sources. We could have done with one this week as for two days in a row we were left with no electricity or a severely restricted supply. The reason why - the supply to this site is being exceeded & we are at the end of the chain so when there is too much use we don't get any - a dramatic demonstration of growing energy use & the need to be self-sufficient!

Onto another great development - BBCI - it may well have saved my marriage- OK that's a bit bold! Poor Mr PoppyM missed his much anticipated viewing of the Survivors (see above!) so I set-to exploring BBCi & found it there. So for the 1st time in his life Mr PoppyM watched a programme on a computer screen with headphone - he was really impressed. And of course as a spin-off from this I know that I can watch Strictly Come Dancing Results on Monday avoiding any clashed & squabbles about Sunday viewing - marvellous!

A week of wise words

Photo - from the "War Horse" production of the book by the same name by the brilliant Michael Morpurgo. A book I have been unable to bring myself to read as I have a horse & one of my biggest fears for her, has been that she would be requisitioned for war service. Yes I know it's totally irrational but that doesn't make it any the less real - perhaps it happened to me in an "earlier life".

"Living in Devon, listening to Mozart, and working with children have provided most of the stimulae Michael needs to discover and write his stories. He spends about half his life mucking out sheds with the children, feeding sheep or milking cows; the other half he spends dreaming up and writing stories. "For me, the greater part of writing is daydreaming, dreaming the dream of my story until it hatches out - the writing down of it I always find hard. But I love finishing it, then holding the book in my hand and sharing my dream with my readers."http://www.michaelmorpurgo.org/

Still on the theme of the bravery of people & animals in war, I have now read all but the latest Maise Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear. Lessons at school put me off history so regrettably I have great gaps in my knowledge - gaps I have discovered that I can fill through reading a certain type of fiction! This series of books has opened my eyes to some of the realities of the 1st world war whilst seemly engaging my brain in some complex investigative plots. Perhaps because of these books, I watched the Remembrance Day service with even greater sadness than usual. At the service was a 112 year old veteran who had fought in both wars - the angels must have been with him as I wonder what the odds were for his survival.

"As I grew up my curiosity about the "war to end all wars" deepened, so that I always seemed to be reading something about the war. However, my interest was not in the politics of the time so much as rooted in the experiences of ordinary men and women, boys and girls, not only on the battlefield, but on the home front. And though I never set out to write a "war" novel, it came as no surprise that this part of history formed the backdrop of Maisie Dobbs and other books in the series". http://www.jacquelinewinspear.com/

Now onto the jolly fun stuff!

"My work is the result of a need to follow my creative spirit, to develop it and use it, fearlessly at times, to bring a sense of energy, depth and joy to my life and to those around me. In doing so I am constantly finding the same need in others. That is why I do what I do, and love what I do. I invite you to join me in this great adventure called life...squeeze the juice out of it!" http://www.violettesfolkart.com/aboutme.html

http://www.sarkjournal.com/2008/09/index.html

I've included the above two sites to celebrate being asked by a small local magazine for a poem to include in their January edition. I had one published there last year - it's brilliant to be asked for another. OK it's not a Faber & Faber publication - but people I don't know are going to read my poems - it's back to that need to be heard!

Change & Movement

What a week that was:


A week of sudden hard frosts and an earthquake - I bet this why the hens are currently laying only the occasional egg.
(Latest Headlines Earthquake is centred on Bromyard 3:54pm Tuesday 28th October 2008 TREMORS were felt from Malvern to Hereford when a minor earthquake struck the outskirts of Bromyard on Sunday evening. West Mercia Police received up to 20 calls from concerned members of the public as the quake, measuring 3.6 on the Richter Scale, rattled crockery and shook windows. )

Making mashed potatoes for the hen's evening feed. What a curious sight, a row of perching hens with mashed potatoes on their beaks! (Our current hen bible is "The Right Way to Keep Chickens" by Virginia Shirt, ISBN 978-0-7160-3018-8)

Walking out of the front door to see rows of frost-blackened, collapsed plants - the real start of winter. Time to get the remaining bulbs in for a bold display in the darkest days of the year.


Carving a pumpkin - I used a cat template this year & had a bit of slip with the knife. Very resourcefully (well I thought so) I fixed the tail back on with sewing pins -an invisible fix - marvellous! I'll take that as a "good omen" for the next phase of the year - easy fixes for all life's problems- it should be a great Christmas.


My usually very sensible mare has been behaving like a creature possessed. On a day that was freezing (literally), sleeting & blowing a gale - would she come in off the hill side into a nice comfortable stable, would she stand still & have a rug put on - of course not! Bet the earthquake has had something to do with this.

Visiting a "promising" piece of land for sale to find it's access blocked by 2 vans (one broken down). There were two young mares grazing on the land - they weren't so much grazing as trying to play with us - not a good experience on a hill side. All that was missing was a snarling dog (well there was one but locked up) & a man pointing a gun at us. We wont be making a bid.

I received a very touching letter from a friend describing a surprising reunion with a long lost brother. Letter's like that confirm my belief that something good always comes after something bad. I wish that reunited family every happiness for the future. It's easier to weather life's buffets when you have support.

I surprised myself at how cross I became at a sign we passed on the road - "Stop the XXXX Wind farm". I haven't lived near a wind farm but I have been up close to a generating windmill & been through a huge wind farm in the States. What made me cross was the comparison between the human & environmental cost of producing wind energy with "traditional" sources eg coal & nuclear: I have worked at a nuclear power plant & spent over 11 years living & working in mining communities. How can you compare the cost of human illness & death that coal/oil/gas extraction in this country & in other countries where life (human & otherwise) is cheaper with the minimal impact of a wind farm. As for nuclear power -don't get me started on that one. As a "first world" society we have so far to go it's disheartening. Here's a link to a summary of the wind farm arguments. http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4610000/newsid_4614700/4614743.stm

On a happy note - my home made tomato chutney tastes great & that's after only a few weeks "maturing".http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/greentomatochutney_8201.shtml


At long last a "spring in the step" has returned to my large dog & her fur is as soft & glossy as it was before she was spayed. She is currently eating a dog food formulated by Debbie Connelly, a Dog Behaviourist so if your dog is not as perky as they should be or perhaps is too excitable or eats too fast why not give Debbie's food a go: the price includes delivery. ( http://www.intelligentfeeding.com/ )

So who is going to be the next leader of America? What will it really mean for us in the UK?