it was around this time last year that i planted my garden and i must say that it is looking good. i have orange poppies going crazy, pink and white flowers who's name i do not know and all sorts of other in the way to flower. i have never in my life kept plants alive for so long!
here is my first rose bloom this year! this rose bush was light pink last year, what happened?
look what i found at the shops!
i'm not sure why they have re-branded pocky into mikado but they are delightful nonetheless.
they also come with a fun advert.
i've put a batch of new photos on flickr. if you're interesting in what i've been doing while not blogging, i suggest going over there and taking a look.
i will tell you about the amazing sites i have seen that i was unable to photograph though. alex and i were on our way to glastonbury for the beltane festivities one evening last week and the sun was starting to fall in the sky, there were rain clouds passing through and low and behold as we approached the red, glowing, sunset reflecting tor, a large and perfect rainbow appeared and swept it's way over the hill and chapel. what a welcome to the most magical place on earth.
imagine this photo with a huge and perfectly vivid rainbow reaching from one side to the other.
happy beltane.for valentine's day, alex bought us plane tickets to norway during the easter holidays. hurrah! we spent 2 days in oslo and 1.5 days in a the coastal town sandefjord and half a day in stromstad, sweden.
View oslo in a larger map
it was like being on the west coast of canada. the scenery, the cleanliness, the friendliness of people, the taste-free drinking water straight from the tap, it was all very canadian feeling.
then there was the price. holy hell, norway (and scandinavia in general i gather) is shockingly expensive. i thought i was prepared for the expense, i had been warned but i didn't truly comprehend what people were telling me. alex and i spent £500 in 4 days and we were not being extravagant in any way. i have 4 pin badges and 2 post cards to show for my share and alex has 8 postcards and 1 flag badge to show for his share.
we shared a £10 basket of nachos (without cheese or other fixings besides a small ramiken of salsa) in a train station for lunch. we were forced to resort to eating a £7 fillet o'fish meal at mcdonalds. our guide book recommended a cheap pizza place that served us up a good sized pizza for £12 each. unfortunately the menu was in norwegian and i ended with an olive, shrimp, bacon and tuna pizza. it was surprisingly good. we longingly walked past a norwegian restaurant that served wonderful sounding food for £40 a head...main course only. we spent £1.50 for a chocolate bar.
*sigh* we went all the way to norway and didn't eat anything norwegian, it was pizza every day.
then there was the transport. £18 for the coach to oslo. £7 for a day pass around the city. £22 for the train to sandefjord. £4 for a train to the airport.
jeepers!
the museums were quite reasonably priced considering, £5 each for entry. the museums were also very unique and interesting and were the highlight of the trip for me.
the fram museum houses the huge arctic/anti-arctic exploration ship *fram*. the norwegians are very proud of their polar exploration exploits.
the kon-tiki museum houses 2 of the reed rafts that norwegian explorers used to prove that early civilizations could have sailed to each other and traded across large expanses of water. i cannot imagine spending months floating along on a reed boat across the pacific.
the viking ship museum was my favourite. i was hoping to learn more about the vikings while in norway but this seemed to be the only museum accessible to us.
we took the ferry from central oslo across the harbour to the suburbs to get the these museums. that was a nice trip.
sandefjord had lovely scenery to walk around and a whaling museum. that was pretty gross and i didn't so much enjoy learning how to catch, kill, and take apart a whale.
there was nothing to do in stromstad. literally nothing. everything was closed so we had to eat pizza at the only open restaurant. the 2.5hour ferry ride there and back was beautiful though.
when i'm a millionaire i will go back to scandinavia and live like a king and i will not eat pizza every day. i'm so used to travelling on the strong english pound, this trip was a shock to the system and bank balance.
scandinavia would be a wonderful place to live, but travelers beware.
check out flickr for all the photo glory.
eeeep! i went out for lunch and when i returned to the school car park this happened....
believe it or not, today was a day of luck.
i was so lucky my key didn't break off in my car door.
i was even more lucky that my key didn't break off in my engine.
i was terribly lucky to find a key cutter willing to cut me a new key using 2 bits. his exact words were *put on your best cockney accent* "alright then love, i'll give it a bash".
the best piece of luck is having a great school caretaker who went out to get me the key cut because the shop closed at half 3 and i wouldn't get there in time after school.
i find that from about october to december, i'm in total craft mode. i can churn out the christmas gifts without thought but i rarely keep what i make.
that's going to change. let the personal crafty time begin!
my new tea towelsi have to say that i'm more pagan than christian in my spirituality. but around christmas i can't help but come over all religious. alex and i attended the carol service at st. pauls this afternoon. cathedral choirs give me chills.
behold my poor quality camera phone photos.
yum yum yum, turn on the christmas carols and make yourself a holiday treat.
mulled wine
2 glasses red wine
1 glass apple juice
pinch of cinnamon or 1 stick
pinch of ground cloves or a few whole ones
small grating of nutmeg
1 clementine cut into rounds
bring everything to a simmer, take off the heat and allow to steep while you prepare the chestnuts.
chestnuts not roasted on an open fire
take as many chestnuts as you think you can eat and cut an X into the skin of each. place in a baking tray and roast in a preheated 200c/390f degree oven for 15 minutes.
reheat the muled wine if it's cooled down too much and eat everything immediately.
it's not christmas until little children act out the nativity story. i love my class.
here's an easy cookie/sweet recipe for children to make this holiday season. chocolate reindeer!
melt some chocolate and spoon it onto grease proof paper in a round shape.
then add a cherry nose, chocolate ears and eyes and licorice antlers.
tis the season for baking.
i ran out of eggs this weekend and looked for an egg-less sugar cookie recipe. if you make sugar cookies without eggs this is what happens....
you'll have to clean your oven and probably hoover around your oven like me. it was a total and complete disaster.
don't believe a sugar cookie recipe that says you don't need an egg. let this be a lesson to you all.
on the bright side i just made some fantastic black forest cookies...watch this space.
i have a little tree. i love it! it cost 5 pounds and it's the best fiver i have ever spent. it came with decorations and lights and cinnamon sticks to give it an authentic smell.
i wandered around my neighbourhood last night and i can count how many christmas trees i saw in windows on one hand. i miss the overdone light show that is a north american christmas.
last weekend was the rochester dickensian christmas fair. i go every year and it has yet to get tiresome. i LOVE it! i'm like a child, giggling and hurrying here and there. what's not to love? people dressed up like dickensian characters. mulled wine. roasting chestnuts on every corner. little old ladies playing jingle bells on real bells. fake snow. carousel rides. parades. christmas carols. i could go on and on.
Credit to ali for these wonderful pictures!
alex is in peru for 3 months...in case you didn't know and he sent me some pictures. he helped turtles hatch out of their eggs and will help to release them into the rivers in a few weeks (amongst other jungle adventures).
i'm so proud of him.you didn't cross your fingers and hope for the best did you? the strawberry plants i saved have all died but one so i went in search of living plants that will give me fruit. i ventured out to my school's local garden centre and found the plant perfection i was seeking! i even found a bat box, ladybird house, bee house and a variety of bird feeders...i'll pick up some of those next month.
not only did i get 2 huge and healthy strawberry plants - with flowers and fruit already, far yellow tub - i procured purple sage and moroccan mint to accompany my basil, coriander and garden mint already in my herb tub - far orange tub. i purchased a plum tomato and cherry tomato plant - close yellow tub - along with 2 courgette plants - close orange tub. i also picked up some pea and broad bean seeds - small black tubs - guaranteed to sprout in 7-10 days.
so my garden is now complete. except maybe some mulch or bark for around the flowers to help smother the weeds. i love every aspect of the garden up-keep but i can't say i enjoy weeding.
i cannot wait to eat some of my own fruit and vegetables! i'm so impressed with myself.
but i sure do enjoy a safari park. who knew lions and zebras and giraffes lived in england? alex and i ventured to longleat safari park on the way back from glastonbury a few weeks ago and i just realised that i didn't tell you all about it.
you basically drive around this HUGE estate for a couple hours and see all the animals. you can walk around a small bit but for the majority you have to drive which is slightly unfortunate. you can have your windows down for everything but the monkeys and big cats. the monkeys climb all over your car *and in your car if the windows are open* and the lions could eat you if your windows are open.
it's really alot of good fun. i'm not sure about the ethical issues behind keeping animals in a colder climate than they are used to but they really have vast areas to wander in and that makes me feel better about it. it's something i suggest you see if you're in england. check out flickr for some more animal photos.
