Anne's Other Blog

Removing the stone from an avocado

2010-03-07T09:19:00.000Z

When a friend cut her thumb quite badly while trying to remove a stone from an avocado recently (who hasn't been there and done that!) another friend said to use a fork instead of a knife to get the stone out. I've been trying this and so far (4 avocados) I have to say not only is it safer but it's also easier to get the stone out. The hardest part is to remember to put the knife down after cutting the fruit in half and to pick up a fork to remove the stone.

2010-02-01T14:03:00.000Z

Driving over to Bath yesterday afternoon we beheld a wonderful sight - seagulls and rooks following a tractor that was ploughing a field and more birds on the freshly turned soil. This is quite a rare sight now (I can't remember when I last saw it) as many fields have been ploughed so much and had so much artificial fertiliser added that they are dead and there are no worms or invertebrates for the birds to eat.

Foxes

2010-01-09T14:47:00.001Z

We've seen the Whitecliff foxes out enjoying the afternoon sun a couple of times this week. On Thursday we saw three together, a record for us, although I could only get two in the frame.

This afternoon we saw two. This one in the usual spot...

...and this very cute looking fox a little lower down the bank. Mark took this photo with his camera which has a better zoom than mine.

Last night's partial eclipse

2010-01-01T08:33:00.000Z

Well, the cloud thinned enough last night so that we could make out the moon and partial eclipse. And very partial it was too! There was just a sliver sliced off the bottom right. Disappointing, but hey, it makes a change to actually have had weather conditions that allowed us to see anything at all.

This morning I've had my first cuppa in my Bird and Bee Moon Mug 2010. It has all the moon times, lunar phases, solstices and equinoxes for 2010 in silver on a dark blue background. So even if I can't see the sky at least I will know what the moon is upto each day.

Blue Moon and Lunar Eclipse

2009-12-30T08:29:00.002Z

Just to remind you that there is a blue moon tomorrow evening (second full moon in a calendar month) and a partial lunar eclipse at 19:23. Lets hope we have clear skies!

Sunrise at Stonehenge Shortest Day 2009

2009-12-24T17:13:00.000Z

Stonehenge at Sunset Winter Solstice 2009

2009-12-24T17:12:00.000Z

Images from our Winter Solstice Walk Amesbury - Stonehenge - Woodhenge

2009-12-24T17:11:00.000Z

Winter Solstice 2009

2009-12-24T17:07:00.007Z

Way back in the summer we booked a couple of nights in the Travelodge just north of Amesbury so that we could visit Stonehenge for the Winter Solstice. We drove up on Sunday afternoon and just got there in time to see the sun setting over the henge. That was the last we saw of the sun until we got home! I also bumped into an old friend that I hadn't seen in a while which was a lovely suprise.

Here are a few pictures - if you have x-ray vision you may be able to spot the sliver of a new moon above the henge!

The following morning, after a hearty breakfast in a Little Chef, we set out for a walk through Amesbury, across the fields to Stonehenge, along the Caucus, down to Woodhenge and back to Amesbury. It was supposed to be 8 miles but we actually walked a mile or so further as I misinterpreted the instructions in one place. It was a very cold, grey day and by the time we reached Woodhenge it was quite dark and snowing. We had thought that we would walk back to Stonehenge for the sunset but time was against us plus we didn't fancy trying to find our way back across the fields over frozen, icy fields in the dark. So we drove over and stood by the Heel Stone while, unseen, the sun set. It was still snowing and quite magical. Later that evening we walked through the snow into Amesbury for our solstice feast at a Chinese restaurant in the town. Very fetching we looked too in our thermal trousers and walking boots.

The following morning there was free access to the stones for the sunrise on the shortest day. There was freezing fog and it was very cold. You couldn't even see the stones from the car park! We had plenty of layers on and walking boots so we didn't notice the cold except for my toes. No sign of the sun so we had to rely on watches to know when the moment arrived. I had planned that we would go up to Avebury later in the day but as the weather was so atrocious we decided to come straight home after another good breakfast in the Little Chef.

I am putting the photos that we took on the walk, at sunset and sunrise as 3 slide shows in 3 separate posts as Blogger gets upset when text and an embedded slideshow get put in the same post so please remember to have a look at them. Mark's camera seemed to cope better with the freezing fog than mine. The first shots I took look like I was in a blizzard - quite atmospheric but the weather wasn't that bad - quite.

Farewell to Borders

2009-12-14T08:30:00.001Z

Yesterday morning we walked from Coy Pond through Bournemouth Gardens into the town for what will probably be our last visit to Borders. The bookstore is in Administration and there is a massive sale of all the stock. Mark bought some CDs and I bought three books, a couple by Osho (Maturity and Body Mind Balancing) and The Philosopher and the Wolf by Mark Rowlands which looks pretty unputdownable. We bumped into several friends in the store.

It will be sad to see the end of Borders. I feel sorry for the staff of the store and Starbucks which will also have to close. For me there will be no real reason to go to Bournemouth to shop any more. There is a Waterstones in the town but it's selection of books in topics that interest me is definitely inferior or non-existent.

Holiday snaps

2009-11-28T15:25:00.001Z

Mark's new website

2009-11-06T19:40:00.001Z

For the last week or so I have been slaving over a hot computer creating a website for Mark. It went live today. The domain name is www.yogawithmark.co.uk Although I took my own website as a starting point it took a lot longer to develop than I thought that it would and I hit a few problems along the way. I have to say though that as a result I've learnt quite a bit! I use Publisher to create and maintain my website (yes, yes, I know it's ****, but it's what I've got and know and I'm not ready to bite the bullet and change) The most important thing that I've learnt to do is how to link to images rather than have them embedded in the document. This makes the website more efficient and quicker to load. I spent ages searching MS documentation trying to find out how to do this to no avail. Eventually I found this basic article which put me on the right track. From there I searched the web to find out more about the 'img' element. As they say "If a jobs worth doing, it's worth doing well" so I decided to define alternative text (alt attribute) and width and height as well for each image. Specifying the height and width makes the loading of the website more efficient. The alternative text is displayed if the browser cannot display the image for some reason.

Having finished the website I previewed it in Firefox, our default browser, and was very happy with the result. Feeling pleased with myself I loaded the site into Mark's webspace and checked it out with IE. Eeeek! My heart sank. No pictures. Or rather each picture was replaced by a thin line. There followed hours of frustrated tinkering trying to find out what was upsetting IE. Eventually I managed to right click on a line and read its properties. It turned out that IE was interpreting the width correctly but was setting the height to 1px! More trawling of the web followed. This time I was searching, unsuccessfully, for a solution. There are many requests on message boards for help with various problems to do with IE not displaying pictures correctly/at all and a lot of 'ill will' directed towards MS, IE and Publisher. Most replies to requests for help were to advise not to use Publisher. No help to me with my site already developed and looking great, though I say so myself, in Firefox! I was resigned to having to embed the images after all and took myself off for a bath before going to bed to sleep on it.

Eureka! As so often is the case inspiration came to me as I sank beneath the water. The banner to Amazon displays correctly in IE so maybe looking at the HTML fragment for that would give me a clue as to the way around the problem. I discovered that Amazon specifies the height and width in a style element. I tried it and it worked! If you should be having the same problem (and in case I forget) here is an example of the HTML fragment that you need to put in your Publisher document.

The imagename is case sensitive so make sure that you type it exactly as it is in the directory listing. Replace 140 and 105 with the dimensions you want.

Another couple of tips to ensure that you keep IE happy are

put the element and attribute tags in lower case (img rather than IMG) and
ensure that there is a space followed by / before the closing >

as I have done above.

Having learnt how to link to images I now need to alter my own website. That's going to be a slow and laborious task which I don't relish. I think I will have to break it down into more manageable chunks!

Warning - developing a website can be addictive! I've not achieved much else this week.

Images from our trip to Arne

2009-10-24T21:54:00.002+01:00

The World's Healthiest Foods Website

2009-10-23T14:05:00.000+01:00

A quick word about a really useful website that I came across recently. It's called The World's Healthiest Foods and it is a database of healthy ingredients with nutritional information, cooking articles, recipes, and cooking methods. I came across it whilst looking for some advice on how to increase Omega 3 in our diet to help my husband's eczema. If you are interested in a healthy, nutritious diet I recommend that you have a look at this site. 10 million visitors a year can't be wrong! The site is written with enthusiasm and it encourages you rather than preaches at you. I found the Recipe Assistant particularly useful. This assistant helps you search the database for recipes based on your personal needs. You can select foods to include, foods to exclude and nutrients that you require. A nutritional profile is given for each recipe. I have tried several of the recipes so far. They have all been quick and easy to prepare and, most importantly, delicious! You will have to translate the recipies from American. They use cups for measurement and some ingredients are known by a different name than we use here.

Youtube video of Red Squirrel burying a nut - fantastic

2009-10-18T08:15:00.005+01:00

Now I've found out how - here are Mark's videos of Red Squirrel on Brownsea!

2009-10-18T08:10:00.001+01:00

Mark's Video Clips of Poppies at Fontmell Down (best with sound turned off!)

2009-10-18T08:00:00.002+01:00

Poppies growing in a field on Clubmen's Down near Compton Abbas Airfield, Dorset

2009-10-16T08:55:00.000+01:00

Poole Harbour & Brownsea Island

2009-10-15T16:02:00.003+01:00

Yesterday was another glorious autumn day. Mark, Mum and I went over to Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour. We took a ferry boat from Poole Quay, close by the statue of Baden-Powell, across to the island. When we set off it was still overcast and quite chilly on the water but as the day wore on the sun came out and it quickly warmed up.

We saw our first red squirrel shortly after leaving the quayside. It ran across our path as we made our way towards the church. The reds are easy to spot on warm days at this time of year as they are busy feeding on the beech mast and sweet chestnuts. One squirrel spent a long time scampering around in an large relatively open area and we spent quite some time watching it, absolutely spellbound. This squirrel was getting its darker winter coat but has a red band around its tail! I managed to get a couple photos and Mark, who has x40 magnification on his digital camera, managed to get a couple of video clips.

If you don't know Brownsea Island or anything about Red Squirrels then you can take a Red Squirrel guided walk (morning and afternoons until 25th October) which will take you to the best places for seeing the squirrels. For those less able visitors there is a free tractor-trailer trail which runs twice a day (again morning and afternoon).

I hope that you enjoyed the slideshow of our pictures in the previous post. For some reason Blogger has a fit when I try and put text in the same post as the slideshow so I've had to split the post into two! Blogger also doesn't allow video clips any more so I can't show Marks video of the red quirrel eating at present.

P.S.
I have put Mark's video clips of the squirrel eating on youtube. Here are the links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1EmHx5yz1M and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_DYDu7dws8

Check out this clip that's been put on youtube of a Brownsea squirrel burying a nut - soooo cute! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8FNeUZXlwM

Brownsea Island & Poole Harbour Slideshow

2009-10-15T15:55:00.001+01:00

Moyles Court and Summerlug Hill Walk

2009-10-13T20:38:00.000+01:00

Pond at Summerlug Hill

After a cold start this morning it turned into a glorious autumn day. Mark and I drove out to the New Forest for a walk. We started at Moyles Court and followed the Avon Valley Path to Mockbeggar. From there we climbed up Summerlug Hill, walked across the heath and then down to Rodents Bottom, returning to Moyles Court via Bigsburn Hill and Rockford.

This is a superb little walk. Fields, streams, fords, woods, heathland, paddocks, a pond, fantastic views, ancient oaks, ponies, donkeys... all in 3 miles! There are a couple of places that are muddy but we managed to cross them on logs etc pretty much unsullied. In wetter times wellies would be in order.

The leaves on the trees are changing colour and the bracken has turned the colour of my childhood canine companion, Chum. In another couple of weeks the colour will be magnificant. There are a lot of holly berries around. I have noticed that quite often in the forest there are oaks and holly growing together - seemingly from the same spot in the ground! I haven't managed to get a satisfactory picture yet because the oak is usually much taller than the holly but I did manage to get one picture today with both holly and oak leaves in it.

On Summerlug Hill there is a pond and we sat there watching the reflections of the clouds in the water as we ate our sarnies. As we made our way back to the car we met a couple of friendly donkeys who came over for a pet.

If you fancy taking this walk the route is in Jarrold Short Walks - the New Forest National Park.

Haiku

2009-10-11T21:09:00.000+01:00

Long-tailed tits chirping

Nearly bare apple branches -

Below cat watches.

Bee on chrysanth

2009-10-05T10:10:00.000+01:00

I captured this bee gorging itself on the chrysanthemum in the garden. It was there for such a long time I had to check whether it was still alive!

Moorhen in tree

2009-10-05T10:08:00.000+01:00

I spotted this moorhen sitting in the tree in Poole Park.

Check the content of your loo rolls.

2009-09-30T10:24:00.001+01:00

"Future generations are going to look at the way we make toilet paper as one of the greatest excesses of our age." Allen Hershkowitz

In the Fall 2009 issue of Yoga + Joyful Living there is an article about Allen Hershjowitz, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The nonprofit NRDC works with organisations and businesses in the US to reduce their environmental toll. The article is well worth reading article online. In case you don't have the time or inclination to read the whole article here are the pertinent points about toilet paper and how we can help deforestation by being discerning when we buy our loo rolls.

Old-growth forests, tropical and sub-tropical forests, boreal forests, and many others are being decimated by the manufacturers of toilet manufacturers. "Deforestation causes more global warming pollution than all the combined emissions of cars, trucks, buses, airplanes, and ships in the entire world" Allen Hershkowitz

Do your bit to prevent deforestatino by buying toilet rolls that do not contain virgin fibre Instead aim for products with a recycled content. If you cannot buy paper with a recycled content then make sure that any virgin fibres used are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Here's are startling statistic:

"If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper (500 sheets) with a 100% recycled roll, we could save 423,900 trees." Just imagine that extrapolated worldwide. So please do your bit and check the content of your loo rolls before you buy.

The Godfather of Greening |

2009-09-30T10:10:00.001+01:00

The Godfather of Greening |

Shared via AddThis

Bee on Scabious

2009-09-30T09:57:00.000+01:00

Bee on Scabious

Preening Swans

2009-09-30T09:53:00.000+01:00

Poole Harbour swan family preening at the bottom of the slip way next to the old lifeboat station.

Road Closure Latest

2009-09-18T15:45:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday we had another letter from Southern Gas Network apologising for the confusion and clarifying the position regarding the road closure!

Between 21st September and 14th December Fernside Road will be closed to traffic travelling from The New Inn towards The Shah of Persia. Vehicles travelling in the opposite direction (Shah to New Inn) will be uanffected.

I'll check on Monday and if it's any different I will let you know!

Bournemouth Westcliff

2009-09-18T15:40:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we went for a walk along the Westcliff. Although there was a cold wind it was a glorious day. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. The sea reflected the blue of the sky and the sunlight danced on the water. I was hopeful of seeing the northern bottlenose whale which is visiting Poole Bay but alas I am still waiting for my first sighting of a whale. We had gone up onto the cliffs because that is the best place to be able to spot Gilbert as the whale has been named. If you want to go and try a bit of whale spotting then go up onto the cliffs between Bournemouth pier and Branksome Chine. If you spot him from the cliffs and he is not too far out you can then run down to the beach for a closer look! Fortunately everyone has been sensible about not trying to go out with boats to see Gilbert which would cause the animal distress. Everyone is delighted that he's here and hope that he remains healthy and can find his way back to his pod in the Atlantic soon.

BBC news report on Gilbert

2009-09-16T08:15:00.000+01:00

Viburnum fragrance

Sunshine filtered by green boughs -

A fallen conker!

Fernside Road closure - Latest

2009-09-12T09:40:00.000+01:00

Eastbound, going South,

Travelling to the North-west.

Which way's closed? Who knows!

First of all they said Fernside Road would be closed eastbound from 21st September. Then last week the notices were changed to say closed southbound - which made no sense. And yesterday we had a letter saying the road would be closed for travel in a northwesterly direction. If you're coming this way the week after next just keep your eyes open and your wits about you!

The bee and the spider

2009-09-10T14:08:00.000+01:00

Behind the curtain -

condensation on the glass,

brilliant blue sky

This morning I stopped to watch bees visiting the scabious and lavender flowers in the garden. There was a beautiful spider's web suspended between a lavender plant and the acer. It's builder was waiting patiently at it's centre. As I looked at the web a bee flew into it. My heart jumped into my mouth. Instantly the thought arose to rescue it followed immediately by the command 'Don't!'. I watched as the spider sprang forward and ran to it's victim. Immediately it sensed danger and returned to the centre of it's web as swiftly as it had charged out.

Not much effort was required on the part of the bee to free itself. It's movements and weight combined were too much for the fine threads which broke. The bee tumbled down, laddering the web on it's decent until it fell free and flew away.

Exquisite death trap!

Ensnared bee, nimble spider

who'll be the victim?

A Berry Good Year

2009-08-28T12:57:00.000+01:00

While we've been out walking recently I've noticed that the trees are already showing signs of Autumn and are beginning to withdraw the nutrients from their leaves. It's strange that we think of August as still the summer because really it is the end of the summer and the start of autumn. In a little less than a month the days will be shorter than the nights.

The summer is fantastic of course but I think that the autumn is a glorious time of year. From what I've seen this year is a great one for berries. Sloe, hawthorn, elder, rowan, blackberries, guelder rose and holly all seem to be laden with berries this year. Here are some berry nice photos for you!

Advance notification of Road closure

2009-08-28T08:19:00.000+01:00

Fernside Road will be closed eastbound between Wimborne and Ringwood Roads from 21st September to 14th December for gas main repairs. If you are coming to us from the west you will need to find an alternative route to avoid the section between the New Inn and the Shah of Persia. If you are not sure (or forget!) continue along Wimborne Road as if going into the town centre then turn left at the Tatnum into Garland Road. Turn immediately left again into Jolliffe Road. Then either park at the far end of Jolliffe Road or turn right into Brailswood Road and park there.When you leave you will be able to turn left into Fernside Road to travel towards Fleetsbridge.

A Spa with no water!

2009-08-26T15:29:00.000+01:00

Every 3 or 4 months we treat ourselves to a visit to the Thermae Bath Spa. As we had been in Gloucester over the weekend we decided to stop off at the spa on the way home. When we arrived there was a notice saying that the lavender steam pod was closed for maintenance. As there are three other pods we weren't too concerned about the closure of one. I was disappointed that the waterfall shower didn't appear to be working either. As it is next to the lavender steam pod we thought that it must be out because of the work being done on the latter. We then realised that the whole complex was without water. Well, apart from that already in the pools that is. There was no water to the showers or foot baths or toilets or basins and no steam in the steam pods for a large chunk of our two hour session. We were very disappointed. Fortunately the water came back shortly before the end of our session so we got to go under the waterfall shower after all.

Weekend in the Cotswolds

2009-08-24T21:37:00.000+01:00

Mark and I have just spent a couple of nights in the Cotswolds. We travelled up on Saturday morning hoping for some dry weather so that we could do some walks from More Cotswold: Walks (Pathfinder Guide). We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Gloucester. Mark booked the room several months ago for the great rate of £29 a night. The rack rate is £105 for Saturday and £229 for Sunday (does anyone actually pay these rates?)! When we checked in we bought breakfast vouchers. Usually you can buy these for less than the menu price if you buy them when you check in but do remember to check first. The price for a breakfast voucher this weekend was £8.50. I find a Full English Breakfast sets me up for the day and I don't need much at lunchtime. Having checked in we drove over to Painswick for a late afternoon walk (walk 19 in the Pathfinder Guide).

I enjoyed this walk which went up to the Iron Age Hill Fort at Painswick Beacon. The guide gives an estimate of 3 hours for the walk. It took us three hours with a stop for tea at the Falcon Inn in Painswick. The Falcon Inn has one of the oldest bowling greens in Britain (it was around in 1554) in its grounds and we made a mental note that the Inn had a good menu and used local produce.

The walk itself took us along some lanes and tracks with fantastic old hedgerows which had scabious, wild thyme and wild clematis growing in them. We also spotted a Magpie moth resting on a leaf. Halfway up the beacon there was a seat in memory of 'Stumpy'. Two hanging baskets were suspended, one at each end of the seat, which I thought was a lovely idea. There was also a container of water tied to the leg of the seat so we stopped to give the baskets a drink. The walk took us through a golf course. There was a house on the edge of the course with two topiary golf balls on either side of it's entrance which made us smile. We spotted two golf balls in the grass so I took a photo. I would have like to have lined the balls up but even though no one was playing that part of the course I thought I'd better not! By the time we got back to Painswick at the end of the walk it was around 6.30pm so we decided to go back to the Falcon Inn for our meal. It was excellent. We both had the Thai style fishcakes, which were served with a side salad, followed by the chocolate experience. I certainly can recommend the food there.

On Sunday morning, after a hearty breakfast, we drove to Crickley Hill Country Park a few miles north of Gloucester. We followed the route given for Walk 20 Crickley Hill and Leckhampton Hill. This was a 7 mile long walk with fine views but I would have preferred less walking on tarmac. I was out of sorts a bit anyway because my walking boots were causing pain in my right metatarsals. I have short, wide feet and find buying shoes and boots a problem. Currently I have a pair of Meindl boots. I've had them a few years and they've not been too uncomfortable but I guess two long walks on consecutive days with hot feet were too much. Highlights of this walk were the views, 250 year old beech trees, wild cherry and masses of green holly berries. Along the walk there were several places with loaded blackberry bushes... and no one picking them! I would have been tempted to pick if I'd had a container even though we were away from home. We took a detour on Leckhampton Hill to see the Devil's Chimney which was created by quarrymen in the 19th century. Note that there is a hairy crossing of the A417 and A436 roads at the end of the walk.

After our walk we went into Cheltenham for coffee and a cake and to buy provisions for an evening picnic supper. Then we drove to the Cotswold Water Park where we, more or less, followed the route of Walk 4 Thames and Severn Canal and Cerney Wick. By now the sun had put in an appearance and it turned out to be a lovely afternoon. We reached the cafe at the visitor centre just before it closed and enjoyed a cuppa by one of the lakes. The walk followed a disused railway and the towpath of the disused Thames and Severn canal and was much more interesting than our mornings walk. Looking at the map we had expected a fairly open walk even though the guidebook mentioned woodland. In fact it turned out to be a very pleasant woody walk. The lakes themselves were created by gravel extraction and there are now several gated housing developments beside some of the lakes together with water sports facilities. The only downside was the noise from the nearby A416 which has one of those very noisy surfaces. I was particularly taken with the arches in the disused railway bridges which had beautiful oval openings in the supporting walls and by a new bridge with bull rush railings.

Cake

2009-08-14T21:14:00.000+01:00

The anticipated courgette glut has yet to materialise. I seem to be keeping up with all that the plants produce. As a result I had to save up a couple of days harvest to get the 1lb required to make the Chocolate Courgette Cake in the Five-a-day Fruit and Vegetable Cookbook . The cake is a tray bake and the recipe was easy to follow. It makes a very moist cake which went down very well with my afternoon decaf. I'm not sure how to describe the flavour. You can taste the chocolate and the allspice and you can also taste the courgette but it's flavour is not so obvious. I had to eat some courgette by itself tonight just to be sure I wasn't imagining it! The whole thing has a wholesome sort of taste and I will definitely make it again. Alarmingly the recipe states it serves four to six. Maybe six navvies or growing teenagers! I cut mine into 16 portions and find 1 is quite enough. By the way the recipe is virtually identical to that for Chocolate Zucchini Cake given in What Will I Do with All Those Courgettes?. The latter uses sour cream or yogurt in place of the milk.

If you would like to know a little more about the Five-a-day Fruit and Vegetable Cookbook then read on. The book, which runs to a little over 500 pages, begins by explaining the size of a portion and how many times you can count it a day. For example spuds don't count towards your five-a-day and no matter how much fruit juice you drink a day it only counts as 1 portion. The same goes for dried fruits. The fruits and veggies are then presented in groups (stone fruits, berries and currants, squashes etc). Each fruit (or veg.) in the group is described and information is given about its nutritional value and how to buy, store, prepare and cook it. This is followed by recipes incorporating the various fruits (or veggies!) from the group. It is sumptuously illustrated with photographs throughout.

Swans and Foxes

2009-08-14T07:08:00.000+01:00

Around midday yesterday I took a break from my labours and went for a walk through the park, around Baiter and back through the park. The reed beds that were created a couple of years ago are beginning to look really good and hopefully will provide accommodation for lots of wildlife.

As I mentioned previously on Monday I had my first sighting of the harbour swan family. Yesterday I saw the Poole Park signet! Whereas the harbour swans are excellent parents the breeding pair in the park are not. They have failed to rear any young previously. The cob (male) is extremely aggressive and the pen (female) seems to loose interest. Last year they lost 3 signets very early on. The pen looked after the remaining youngster for a while and then deserted it. A regular visitor to the park noticed and contacted the ranger who managed to rescue it and take it to a sanctuary where, in spite of it being very small, it thrived and I hope that it still does to this day. So it was very pleasing to see that the mother still has one healthy looking signet this late in the summer. Fingers crossed that it survives to adulthood.

Further on around the lake I stopped and watched a pair of swans performing their courtship dance which involves slow, synchronised movements of the head and neck. It was very beautiful to watch. After a while I thought 'You chump, why aren't you filming this!', I got my camera out and of course by the time I had got myself sorted out the dance was over. So unfortunately you don't get to see it.

I walked the route anticlockwise which meant that I could see the foxes lair from some way off. As I approached I saw one fox climb up the bank, nose rub its mate and then disappear through the fence. As I got within shooting range the second fox, taking its time got to its feet and followed.

Here are a few photos for you.

First sighting

2009-08-10T11:35:00.000+01:00

There is a pair of swans in Poole Harbour that are really good parents. They regularly successfully rear 4 or 5 youngsters each year. In the summer I often see them and their signets at the quay swimming around the boats and pontoons. But this year I hadn't seen them and I was beginning to think that something must have happened to one or other of the pair. So I was delighted to see them this morning with three healthy looking signets.

Foxy sighting

2009-08-06T10:44:00.000+01:00

It stopped raining for a while yesterday and so Mark and I took the opportunity to get out for a walk. When it warms up and the sun shows its face after a rainy start there is a good chance of seeing Whitecliff Fox. It's as though he comes out to warm up and dry off a bit! And sure enough there he was yesterday.

Anticipating a bonanza of courgettes

2009-08-03T18:40:00.000+01:00

Over the last couple of weeks the courgettes have been coming in a manageable one or two at a time. In anticipation of a bumper harvest I have been looking out some new recipes to add to my somewhat limited courgette repertoire.

I dug out my copy of the Five-a-day Fruit and Vegetable Cookbook.It's got three nice sounding recipes. Baked courgettes (with goat's cheese), Courgettes Italian-style (browned with onion and garlic then cooked in stock) and Chocolate Courgette Cake. As a chocoholic the later is going to be an early experiment!

Having heard good things about Elaine Borish's What Will I Do with All Those Courgettes?and read some good reviews about it I have acquired a copy. It's got more than 150 recipes featuring courgettes.. soups, salads, starters, snacks, side dishes, (that's a lot of words starting with s) mains and cakes and breads including another two cakes with chocolate! Phew! All those recipes to choose from. It's as overwhelming as... a glut of courgettes!

Pond Clearing latest

2009-07-28T22:12:00.000+01:00

Saturday saw us back up at Motcombe on pond clearing duties. Since our previous visit on Wednesday the wind and rain had broken up the duckweed in the inaccessible part of the pond and sent it out into the open part. Because it was much thinner than previous and the wind was not so strong it didn't come towards the bank as quickly as before so it was a one woman job. By the end of the day I had removed about as much as it is going to be possible to remove. It's not going to be possible to eradicate the weed altogether but by regularly scooping out a few net fulls it should be kept under control.

Mark meanwhile spent the day working to clear scrub and brambles around another pond so that we can get in to clear weed from it. This pond has marginal and floating plants which are being swamped by Fairy Moss rather than duckweed.

The weather forecast for this week was not promising but as Monday seemed to be one of the better days, at least early in the day, we decided to go back and get on with the second pond.

Mark spent some time finishing clearing scrub while I scooped a bit more duckweed off the first pond and then we set to on the Fairy Moss. This is a very different kettle of fish to remove. The duckweed is smaller, lighter and obligingly drops to the bottom of the net. The Fairy Moss on the other hand is larger and more bulky and hangs over the edge of the net. It does drift a bit but not so readily as the duckweed and this fact together with the presence of other vegetation growing in and on the pond is going to make it difficult to get under control.

I have to say though that the Fairy Moss looked beautiful. With the water glistening in between the thick succulent leaves it resembled the yoke of the top that I am knitting in moss stitch using a leaf green yarn with a silver thread running through it (Louise Harding Jasmine in Leaf Green). I think that whenever I wear the top it will remind me of this pond.

We called it a day earlier than usual because of the forecast for rain (we had stuck it out through a couple of heavy showers) and got packed up and on our way just before it started to rain. There was a torrential downpour and the roads very quickly became quite treacherous.

Bad Things & Good Knitters II

2009-07-24T08:33:00.000+01:00

When I wrote about When Bad Things Happen to Good Knitters: An Emergency Survival Guide yesterday little did I know that I would have to turn to it for help so soon!

My WIP has a keyhole neck line and the instruction I came across last night stumped me. The pattern said to "knit 30, cast on 9". I looked at the knitting, thought about it for a while and came up blank but instead of panicking I turned to Edmonds and Moore and very soon found the answer. Turn the knitting, put RH needle between first two stitches, knit and put stitch back on LH needle. Simples!

I hadn't intended to talk about my new project so soon but since I'm on the subject.. I'm knitting the Thai Top featured in Issue Four of the Knitter. It has a keyhole neckline and moss stitch shoulders and cap sleeves. The original was in Sublime Soya Cotton DK but I'm using Louisa Harding Jasmine in Leaf Green which knits to the same tension. After using Sirdar Denim Sport Aran for my last project this yarn is divine to work with. It's composition is 48% cotton, 39% bamboo, 10% silk & 3% polyester. The garment is knitted on round needles - a first for me. I had to resort to Bad Things... to find out how to join the circle and then I had to frog a couple of times at the beginning. The first time because I put the knitting down after the first row and then picked up the needles the wrong way and the second time because when I changed to larger needles I turned the knitting into a mobius strip. Since I got a few rows on the needles it's been a breeze - well until last night anyway and with a little help from my friends that wasn't a big issue after all.

Bad Things and Good Knitters

2009-07-23T13:27:00.000+01:00

Earlier this year I bought a copy of When Bad Things Happen to Good Knitters: An Emergency Survival Guide. Written by two New Yorkers with over 100 years of knitting experience between them this little book is a real gem. It's packed with good advice and tips and not just for when things go wrong e.g. the way you insert your needle when decreasing determines the way the decrease will slant so no more struggling to remember whether to knit in the front or the back of a stitch to make it slant to the right or left. It's really helpful for decoding pattern instructions particularly where the pattern assumes you know what to do and you don't!

The chapter on finishing off is brilliant. I followed their instructions when joining up Mark's jumper. I was really pleased how the shoulder, side and sleeve seams turned out. From the public side it looks like a knitted stitch rather than the groove I normally get. I didn't get such a good finish with the sleeve insertion but that wasn't the fault of the authors. The stepped cast off at the top of the sleeve didn't fit well with the straight edge of the arm hole so I struggled to make if fit and therefore couldn't follow their instructions easily.

I keep this brilliant little book in my project bag and I thoroughly recommend it.

I dream in duck weed

2009-07-22T17:25:00.000+01:00

On Monday I resumed battle with the duck weed. After an exhausting 5 hours scooping it out I was shattered but clear water was beginning to appear. I took up my weed net again today. I approached the pond with bated breath - would there still be clear water? YES!

The wind decided to give a hand blowing the weed towards the bank. Mark stopped bramble clearing to help with the pond clearing so that we could make the most of the favourable conditions. With both of us scooping out weed we made good progress. By the time we downed tools there was about 80% clear water. Very satisfying!

As ever it seems that the last 20% is going to take a lot of effort to clear as the weed is in a part of the pond that it is difficult to reach. We need a good strong wind to blow in the non prevailing direction!

Finally... it's finished

2009-07-22T16:16:00.000+01:00

The jumper I was knitting for Mark that is. It's certainly been a labour of love! I can understand now why Claire in Plan-Knit wool (my LYS) only knits for adults using chunky wool and big needles! I'm glad I only had to knit the smallest size although I did have to add an additional 3 inches onto each sleeve for old orang utan arms.

The pattern is Sirdar 8420 and the yarn I used is Sirdar Denim Sport Aran (60% acrylic, 25% cotton, 15% wool). I bought a pack of 10 balls, enough to knit two jumpers, in a special offer. Now I know why it was on offer! I didn't find the yarn pleasing to use at all. It doesn't feel nice in the hands and the strands separate. I have another 5 balls in my stash for the second jumper - groan. I will get around to knitting it but not for a little while. My next project is already growing on the needles but more about that another day. In the meantime here is a picture of a delighted (?) Mark modelling the finished article.

Weather forecasting

2009-07-21T15:46:00.000+01:00

I filmed Richard explaining how to forecast the weather using seaweed. Unfortunately what with the thundering of the waterfall, the roar of the sea and the howling of the wind he was completely drowned out! So here is what I remember.

If the seaweed is wet it's raining
If the seaweed is dry it's not raining
If you can't find the seaweed it's windy
If you can't see the seaweed it's misty
If the seaweed is white then it's snowing

Weekend in Devon

2009-07-20T19:09:00.000+01:00

Last weekend we went over to north Devon to visit our friend Richard. On our way over to the West Country on Friday night our headlights caught a hare in the road. It was a narrow country road with high banks so there was nowhere for the hare to run but down the road. It was an amazing experience to follow behind it as it tried to out run us. It must have been running at about 25 mph! Mark tried to encourage it to one side of the road so that we could pass the poor thing but it carried on straight down the middle. After a while there was a road off to the left and the hare turned down it and went haring off into the night!

Mark taught the 6 Jo Awase at an Aiki Jo workshop arranged by Richard in Bideford on Saturday afternoon. Prior to the workshop Richard took us to see Bucks Mills which is a few miles east of Clovelly. It's a very scenic spot and the boys decided that it would be a good venue to shoot some film of them doing aiki jo. So a plan was hatched to return the following morning around low tide with yours truly acting as camera woman.

While the workshop was on I spent an hour or so wandering around Bideford visiting the pannier market and some interesting little shops. I found Mark's birthday present in one. I had a very pleasant time in the shop and because of my interest the proprietor fetched something special from the back of the shop but I can't tell you what it was without spoiling the birthday surprise!

In the same shop I bought a book for Mum and her familiars called Feng Shui for You and Your Cat. I browsed through it in "Velvet and Vanilla" over a pot of tea and it looks really interesting so I will have to borrow it back sometime for a proper read. In the cafe I bought some rocky road cake to keep us going until supper. It was a bit gluttonous as we had had a pub lunch and were going out for a Chinese meal in the evening but Mark and I both felt it was one of the best rocky roads we have ever tasted.

Sunday morning dawned... wet! We went down to Bucks Mills hoping for a break in the rain long enough to do some filming. The boys had decided that it would be good to film the awase that Mark had taught and give copies to the students who attended the workshop to help them remember what they had seen. We managed to film the Jo awase and also the 31 partner practice in between heavy downpours.

Since then we have discovered that my camera records in AVI format and can be edited in Movie Maker while both Mark and Richard's cameras record in MOV format which can't. So I am going to have to get some different software to enable us to create a DVD of the recent filming and also that which we recorded when we visited Diane in Italy.

Tim Freke & David Hamilton

2009-07-16T20:26:00.000+01:00

When we got home from battling the pond weed I sat down with a mug of tea and listened to Tim Freke's radio show for Hay House Radio from last week. His guest was David Hamilton whose expertise is in how the mind can heal the body. David had been a chemist working in the pharmaceutical industry testing heart drugs when his interest in the effect of the mind on the body was stimulated by the very strong placebo effect seen with heart drugs.

I was particularly interested to learn that research at Harvard in the nineties revealed that it makes no difference to the brain whether you actually do a thing or imagine yourself to do it!

In last night's show Tim's guest was Peter Gandy. I have enjoyed reading a number of the books that they have co-authored so I am really looking forward to catching up with that show when it appears on the archive.

War on Duck Weed

2009-07-16T20:17:00.000+01:00

Mark and I have been working to recover a couple of ponds in North Dorset. Today I have been removing duck weed from the largest pond using a large net on a long pole. No sooner than I had scooped some out than the gap was immediately refilled. It was as if the remaiing weed breathed a sigh of relief, said 'good, more room for me' and spread out to fill the vacant space!

After several hours of hard graft it was somewhat demoralising that there was still no clear water. But is was satisfying to see the mounds of weed on the banks and to realise that I wasn't going mad I actually had removed a lot of weed. By the time we called it a day I think that I could see some chinks of clear water appearing. I hope that it doesn't completely grow back before battle resumes next week.

Along with the weed I also scooped up some beautiful duck feathers which were floating on top of the weed. There were a number of them which made me suspect that the owner didn't give them up willingly.

Discovering Poole: an artists' haven 1850 - 1950

2009-07-12T19:37:00.000+01:00

We had a lorra, lorra rain overnight and everything was very soggy this morning. The weather picked up as the day went on and afterlunch I walked 'my usual' circuit - down to park gates, through the park to Whitecliff, round Baiter to the quay and back home via the High Street. Today I made a stop at Poole Museum at the quay end of the High Street to view the exhibition "Discovering Poole: an artists' haven 1850 - 1950".

I had been intending to go since it opened but hadn't gotten around to it until now. The exhibition is in two rooms over two floors. It starts in the exhibition room on the second floor and continues in the room below (so you needn't go back to the main staircase you can pop down the stairs in the corner of the room). It includes pictures owned by the town and others which are on loan.

As a local I found it interesting to see how Poole looked not so long ago and to see how it has changed. Most notably the development along the coast and the decline of the working harbour. Some of the buildings that have now gone I can remember from my childhood days but there are still places that are instantly recognisable today.

The museum is housed in an 18th century harbour warehouse and the building itself features in a number of the pictures on display.

There is work by Steer, John Everett, Augustus John, Henry Lamb, Gibble, Leslie Ward, Arthur Bell and others. It's a nice touch that one of Henry Lamb's paintings is placed on a wall the other side of which is the view depicted! Another of his well know paintings "The Doler" is a reminder of the 1920's when many of Poole's townsfolk were unemployed and on the dole. May the current recession not turn out so badly for our town.

The exhibition is well worth an hour or so of your time. It's on until 28th February 2010. Visit the Council's website for opening hours etc.

By the time I came out of the museum it was a glorious sunny afternoon but it being after 4pm it was too late to visit Scaplens Court Garden across the road.

I don't know whether it was because I had been viewing pictures of a bygone age, or because it was a glorious summer's afternoon but I hankered after afternoon tea with scones and cream. It being Sunday the shops were closed but I did find some scones in our local Tesco Express. They didn't have clotted cream (but they do have goose fat?!) so had to make do with thick double cream. With Raspberry conserve and tea drunk from a china mug it hit the spot even so!

Whitecliff Foxy

2009-07-08T15:10:00.000+01:00

I was enjoying a nice afternoon nap when those damn parapazzi showed up again.

This time one of them had a camera with an even more powerful zoom than usual.

I wish that the new bush the landlords have planted would hurry up and grow to give me some protection from prying eyes.

I guess I'll just have to take myself off...

and hide behind this mound.

Back to the Rings

2009-07-06T11:39:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we took Charles and Rose to Badbury Rings. They weren't up for the 7 mile trek that we did earlier in the week so we did a much shorter walk taking in our favourite bits.

We parked near Blandford Lodge and after crossing the Blandford Road walked passed Lodge Farm to the butterfly fields. If you walk this way look back and to the left just after the gate to catch a glimpse of the farmhouse, a 14th century hunting lodge, over the hedge. Having reminded myself of how to shoot video on my camera I managed to get several seconds of half decent video of the butterflies this time. Click below to view it.

After spending some time watching the butterflies we walked upto Badbury Rings and walked around the innermost ring. Note that if you come this way the monument itself is a dog free area. The weather forecast had got it wrong and it was a lovely afternoon. There was a refreshing breeze and the sheep were happier to do their work of keeping the weeds down. We had good views all around and took some delight in watching a boy with his father flying a kite. The kite had a long blue tail and their chocolate labrador was having great fun trying to catch it.

From the Rings we retraced our steps to the Blandford Road.

Bournemouth Upper Gardens July 2009

2009-07-04T20:14:00.000+01:00

This morning it was one of those days when
the weather couldn't make up it's mind what it was going to do. By lunchtime it had decided to cheer up so in the afternoon we took Mark's parents to Coy Pond and walked through Bournemouth Pleasure Gardens to the sea.

The Upper Gardens (that part of the gardens closest to Coy Pond) are a special place - a haven of tranquility and always with some seasonal delight. Today we saw Purple Loosestrife, yellow trefoil, dragonflies and bullrushes.

By the time we reached the town centre it was a glorious summer afternoon and the Lower Gardens and beach were packed. There was a large screen set up in the Lower Gardens and some folks were watching the Wimbledon Ladies Final while enjoying the sunshine.

Canada Goslings

2009-07-04T09:34:00.000+01:00

Canada Geese are pests in Poole Park. In spite of their large numbers I had never seen any goslings... until now. I snapped this family by the edge of Poole Harbour at Baiter.

POOLE CALLS IN THE GOOSEBUSTERS

New Weapon in the Fight Against Goose Droppings

Call for cull of Poole Park's Canada geese

Ruby & Sam's Outing

2009-07-03T15:44:00.000+01:00

Our friends Ruby and Sam reside with my Mum in Wallisdown. Today it was time for their annual inoculations so we gave them a ride to the vets.

They get very stressed out by the whole experience. Today we put them in their boxes 15 minutes of so before we left and that seemed to help a bit. When put in his box Sam goes very quiet and hunkers down (at the vet's the box has to be tipped on end to get him out!). Ruby who normally doesn't speak, apart from purring very loudly, complains bitterly the whole time.

Ruby was pronounced obese while the vet enquired whether Sam was eating properly. They really are like Jack Sprat and his wife! I had to renege on the promise of a treat when they got home. Ruby was most upset!

Badbury Rings & Kingston Lacy

2009-07-01T19:32:00.000+01:00

After breakfast we drove to Badbuy Rings for a walk around the Kingston Lacy Estate. We followed the route given in the Pathfinder guide for Dorset. It was hot even at 9.30am and it got hotter and stickier as the morning wore on.

The Bridleway has been diverted around The Oaks but it's easy enough to get back on the route. After The Oaks the walk is along long, straight gravel or tarmac lanes with high hedges. But every now and then there are sweeping views of the Dorset countryside to relieve the monotony. The highlight for us in this section of the walk was seeing a deer in a field of linseed as we followed the Stour Valley Way. After crossing the Blandford Road the walking was on grass tracks along the side of fields. Here there were hundreds of butterlies in the hedgerows and along side the field margins. Most numerous were Marbled Whites. I also captured a Ringlet on camera. At times it appeared as though the hedges themselves were moving!

The walk ended by passing through Badbury Rings themselves. We didn't see any orchids as the National Trust are grazing sheep on the rings to control weeds (14 species of orchids have been recorded here). The sheep seemed more interested in keeping cool than working.

Tim Freke's new radio show

2009-07-01T08:44:00.000+01:00

Tim Freke has a new radio show. It is on www.hayhouseradio.com and goes out at 5pm BST. The first show is tonight and his guest is John Parkin, author of the book F**k It.

Whitecliff Fox

2009-06-28T20:51:00.000+01:00

After a dramatic thunderstorm on Wednesday night Thursday was a beautiful day. After lunch I went for a walk through the park and around Baiter. I hadn't seen foxy for quite some time so it was lovely to see him enjoying the afternoon sun. And he had a companion! It was a real joy to watch them both.

Cerne Giant

2009-06-28T20:34:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday morning we went to Cerne Abbas and walked up Giant Hill which was carpeted with Early Purple Orchids. The surrounding fields were blue with flowering linseed.

At the end of our walk we stopped off in the cemetery to pause a while at St Augustine's well.

Summer Solstice 2009

2009-06-28T09:42:00.000+01:00

The Solstice weekend saw us visiting the in-laws in the Peak District. On Saturday morning we went for a walk over the very beautiful, very ancient, sacred landscape of Stanton Moor in Derbyshire following the route given on the Peak District Info Site.

We spent some time exploring Rowtor Rocks.

From there we walked to the Aigle Stone. This stone has foot holds cut into it and rungs to help you climb. Mark climbed up but since he has developed a fear of heights he didn't go all the way to the top, just high enough to peak over. Despite doing yoga I couldn't even reach the first foot hold!

We passed Cork Stone (this too has rungs and footholds) on our way up onto the moor. The moor is beautiful. Nature having reclaimed the old quarries and created the most amazing rockeries.

After a while we came to a wooded area and the Nine Ladies. Midsummer revellers were gathering. The hard core had camped around the circle. It was good to visit at this time of year to see people enjoying and honouring the space in their own way but I shall have to return another day to be able to sit in quiet contemplation and honour it in mine.

There was one more rock on our route - the Heart Stone.

On Sunday morning we were up before the lark to go to Arbor Low (Stonehenge of the north) for the Solstice itself. There was thick cloud but fortunately no rain! It was suprisingly light a good hour before the actual sunrise. Tantalisingly there was a break just before the sun came up but it closed again just as quickly as it appeared to the actual sunrise was obscured. There were around 150 of us at Arbor Low and nearby Gib Hill - a bit quieter than Stonehenge with it's 35,000- and a different type of celebrant than at the Nine Ladies (more herbal tea than waccy baccy!). It was special to greet the morning of the longest day and I recommend that you try it at least once in your life.

Later we walked from Timbersbrook up to The Cloud returning via the Bridestones, a Neolithic chambered long barrow.

Anne's Other Blog

Removing the stone from an avocado

Foxes

Last night's partial eclipse

Blue Moon and Lunar Eclipse

Sunrise at Stonehenge Shortest Day 2009

Stonehenge at Sunset Winter Solstice 2009

Images from our Winter Solstice Walk Amesbury - Stonehenge - Woodhenge

Winter Solstice 2009

Farewell to Borders

Holiday snaps

Mark's new website

Images from our trip to Arne

The World's Healthiest Foods Website

Youtube video of Red Squirrel burying a nut - fantastic

Now I've found out how - here are Mark's videos of Red Squirrel on Brownsea!

Mark's Video Clips of Poppies at Fontmell Down (best with sound turned off!)

Poppies growing in a field on Clubmen's Down near Compton Abbas Airfield, Dorset

Poole Harbour & Brownsea Island

Brownsea Island & Poole Harbour Slideshow

Moyles Court and Summerlug Hill Walk

Haiku

Bee on chrysanth

Moorhen in tree

Check the content of your loo rolls.

The Godfather of Greening |

Bee on Scabious

Preening Swans

Road Closure Latest

Bournemouth Westcliff

Fernside Road closure - Latest

The bee and the spider

A Berry Good Year

Advance notification of Road closure

A Spa with no water!

Weekend in the Cotswolds

Cake

Swans and Foxes

First sighting

Foxy sighting

Anticipating a bonanza of courgettes

Pond Clearing latest

Bad Things & Good Knitters II

Bad Things and Good Knitters

I dream in duck weed

Finally... it's finished

Weather forecasting

Weekend in Devon

Tim Freke & David Hamilton

War on Duck Weed

Discovering Poole: an artists' haven 1850 - 1950

Whitecliff Foxy

Back to the Rings

Bournemouth Upper Gardens July 2009

Canada Goslings

Related articles:

POOLE CALLS IN THE GOOSEBUSTERS

New Weapon in the Fight Against Goose Droppings

Ruby & Sam's Outing

Badbury Rings & Kingston Lacy

Tim Freke's new radio show

Whitecliff Fox

Cerne Giant

Summer Solstice 2009