JBarBlog

More stick insects have hatched.  They are so cute the way they flick their tail up like mini scorpians.

My friend returned from holiday having got married secretly when she was there!

Donna Summer died today.

? ? Ooh, I feel sad, I feel sad

I feel sad, I feel sad, I feeeeeel saaaad ? ?

Website of the day: Little Free Library – this would be great in Cuthill Park!

Yesterday was Flash Fiction Day so it was fitting that I spent the morning with Annemarie reading her latest piece of writing.

In her garden there is a tiny wee nest I wanted to show Nigel.  As we peeked in the hedge, hoping to see some wee blue eggs, I pair of eyes peeked out at us – the dunnock mum was at home!

I would have liked to take a picture but she was just too quick for me.

Amongst the usual commercial guff in today’s post was a pretty shiny envelope, addressed to me.  It was a letter from the publishers of Anorak.  Now, we receive lots of renewal ‘notices’, but none as pleasant as this.  Many businesses take it for granted you will simply renew and their correspondence often reads like an overdue gas bill, but here was a real human person, thanking us for our custom, not presuming we would continue to purchase – but letting us know how we could, wishing us a wonderful day – and enclosing a wee gift of a colouring-in book.

The book was perfectly timed for Screen-Free Wednesday as we need lots of distractions.  Fortunately, the weather was nice enough to be outdoors after school so I showed the girls how to use a bow saw.  Under supervision they sawed off a couple of branches.  On reflection I think a fretsaw would have been a better choice as the bow saw quivers quite a lot.

Georgie in particular loves trying new things.   She came home from school with a handstitched piece of work and declaring sewing with a needle was “much more difficult than using the sewing machine”.  I’m glad she knows how to do both.

Website of the day: There I Fixed It – a low-brow fail blog of epic DIY disasters.

I had the Clash song in my head as I worked alongside Annemarie, the Countryside Officer and some path wardens.

(I didn’t actually have to break any rocks but I did have a go at breaking up the earth with a mattock.)

We were at The Drift, beside the frame of Wallyford greyhound stadium to fill in some holes in a mud path which were becoming swamp-like.

We shovelled Type 1 rocks from Markle quarry into a power barrow.  We took turns to operate the power barrow and became quite adept at tipping our load while reversing.

It was hard, physical work but I would give it a go again.

And I found the Gone to the Dogs geocache.

A winning day.

The weather on Saturday and Sunday couldn’t have been more different.

Saturday was bright and sunny – perfect geocaching weather.

A new multi-cache, ‘Pride of Panners’ has been set up.  The starting point is very close to us at the Athena statue.  We (and Stickman)  stopped off at Northfield Doo’cot, Hamilton House, the Train Station, the Poetry Path at the Community Centre, the Burns Shelter, the Town Hall and finally the old Graveyard, solving questons as we went.

We worked out the GZ co-ords but as they are a fair bit away from our end point we decided to stop for lunch.

And, what a lunch!  The Filling Station does lovely baguettes and an ever-changing menu of scones.  Saturday’s scone of the day was walnut and pear – delicious.  We lunched in the storytelling garden at the rear of the library.

Today the weather was atrocious.  Incessant rain and really strong winds.  So…we

Stayed indoors

Did some bedroom tidying

Signed up for 50 Things To Do Before You‘re 11¾.

Generally lolled about.

Read the Guardian book of short stories. My favourite was Margaret Drabble’s Trespass, which appealed to my inner Urban Explorer.

Watched Dog Altogether.

zzz

…puffin party!

I won a pass to a ‘VIP Puffin Party’ hosted by Forth One‘s Boogie and Dingo at the Seabird Centre so this evening the girls and I headed off to North Berwick.

We received a warm welcome from the volunteers of the Seabird Centre.  There was a lovely selection of sandwiches from the cafe menu (e.g. Brie & Cranberry and Feta and Basil) and lovely oaty biscuits.  The girls were particularly fond of the sausage rolls!

We were in Dingo’s team so went on a Puffin Treasure trail finding answers with the help of a UV torch.  We made kites and met Tammy the Puffin (who stole Georgie’s trainers while she was in the soft play area).

We went to the Wildlife Theatre and met Professor Egghead who was funny and entertaining and got us playing some daft games and imitating seabirds.

We had to leave the party early to catch the train back home but we had a great time.

We were given goody bags which contained:

• Scottish Seabird Centre Souvenire Guide
• Bookmarks
• Packet of wildlife seeds to celebrate Scottish Biodiversity Week
• Puffin magnet
• Seabird Centre window sticker
• Forth One desk tidy/notepad, pen holder.
• Free passes for our next visit!
• Information about the Seabird Centre and North Berwick

The Seabird Centre is organising a dancing puffin flash mob on Saturday 19 May to celebrate their 12 birthday

The volunteers of the Seabird Centre are organising some events this summer: Whisky Tasting, Music & Auction – 22 June; A day ‘on’ the Bass – 23 June; Midsummer Music -24 June (booking 01620 890202).

On the way home, the sun was setting on a lovely day. The photo below was taken by our neighbour.

“Have you been reading Green Parent magazine or been at Raising Children With Confidence… or something?” asked an unimpressed Emily.  (I only suggested planting tomato seeds).

Nigel working-from-home-but-in-a-different-time-zone makes Screen Free Wednesday more of a challenge.

Georgie’s current ‘Bif and Chip’ book is Scarecrows and she decided to make her own.  She made a plan and then constructed it out of garden canes, tied with wool and a balloon head.

Lucy drew some more Layla and Bob the Space dog pictures.

I’m loving this company that makes a 3D sewn version of your child’s drawing – Child’s Own.  I would love to see Layla brought to life in fabric.

We had a go making light switch covers.  If you’ve got bog-standard UK fittings, you can use our template here.  (Sorry, we haven’t got around to dimmer switches).

I read The Comic Cafe aloud for a bit. I really love the plot: after redundancy, a family buy a run down cafe in a seaside town but before opening it, the parents have a falling out and, individually, decide to have a break from the family….at the same time.  The five kids are left alone for a few weeks (they are quite resourceful and use online shopping to order food).  They decide to open the cafe as a surprise for when the parents return but there are lots of adventures that take place before that happens.

And we did get round to planting some tomato seeds…and reading Green Parent magazine.  It’s got a great recipe for energy bars that meets with Emily’s approval:

Breakfast energy bars
Make up a batch for a quick nutritious hit when you’re on the go

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Serves: 12

Ingredients
100g butter
200g clear honey
200g rolled oats
150g mixed seeds
100g toasted flaked almonds
100g sultanas
50g ground almonds
2 tsp sesame seeds

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C, Gas Mark 4
2. Heat the butter and honey in a saucepan until the butter has melted.
3. Stir in the remaining ingredients except sesame seeds and press into a 22cm square baking tin
4. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds
5. Bake for 15 minutes until golden
6. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into 12 bars
7. Leave in the tin to cool completely before removing

Lucy entered a competition in Primary Times and won a family ticket to see  the Dutch theatre group Stella’s production of Rumpelstiltskin at the Brunton Theatre as part of the Imaginate Festival.

You will get a flavour of it from this clip (the show we saw was performed in English).  It was recommended for 8+ but was quite challenging and some of the humour went over the heads of the wee ones.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This morning we watched a lovely documentary called ‘Babies’.  If you get a chance to see it, I really recommend it.  See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020938/

And while I’m dishing out recommendations: Today we went to the City Art Centre where we really liked A Parliament of Lines – an exhibition of the work of fifteen contemporary artists, all of whom are Scottish or attended a Scottish art school, who whose drawing as an important element in the execution of their works.

The range of work on display is quite impressive and includes tiny drawings akin to film stills by Paul Chiappe and Marie Harnett; the dazzling scale of The One Armed Snake Bar by Charles ‘everywhere’ Avery; the delicate and futuristic buildings of Sam Griffin (one of which reminded me of St Gabriel’s church).

We all enjoyed David Shrigley‘s three short animations: The Door; Laundry & New Friends

My favourite was the Glasgow and Edinburgh index drawings by Layla Curtis. Made from ink on tracing paper, the ‘map’ was bereft of all spatial information yet the street names formed a readily-identifiable city.

It runs until 8 July 2012.

From there we went to the Mosque Kitchen for curry, rice and naan followed by kulfi from Maqbools.  We had a quick look round the revamped Shelter on Forrest Road and an even quicker look round the Museum in Chambers Street the  returned to the City Art Centre Cafe for cakes, coffee and babycinni.

It’s been a tiring week and, latterly, I haven’t been too great so ducked out of walks, volunteering, parties and trips, but there have been lots of good bits (and I’m beginning to feel better).

On Tuesday, May Day, I went guerrilla gardening and planted sunflower seeds at various places in the ‘Pans.  And we started getting milk delivered thanks to Yester Dairies.

On Wednesday, St Helen’s Day (the day you can safely cut your rowan tree without recourse from witches) I visited an actual witch (well, Annemarie) and used her infamous yellow potion on my thumb (I had a splinter from the coconut husk).  It worked.

On Thursday, I voted for hard-working Labour councillors Willie Innes and Margaret Libberton in the local elections.  I watched the Infant School Street Jamming session run by the inimitable Andy McKechnie of Jammin Fitness.  The weather was great so we played in the garden for ages and the girls made a fantastic den.

On Friday, Nigel and I went to a Parents’ Assembly at the Infant School where we watched photos from the P3s trip to Innerwick.

On Saturday, Emily passed her Level 2 NICAS at Alien Rock which means she is a “Top Rope Climber”.  Cooool!

World Workers, whatever may bind ye,
This day let your work be undone:
Cast the clouds of the winter behind ye,
And come forth and be glad in the sun.

Now again while the green earth rejoices
In the bud and the blossom of May
Lift your hearts up again, and your voices,
And keep merry the World’s Labour Day.

Let the winds lift your banners from far lands
With a message of strife and of hope:
Raise the Maypole aloft with its garlands
That gathers your cause in its scope.

It is writ on each ribbon that flies
That flutters from fair Freedom’s heart:
If still far be the crown and the prize
In its winning may each take a part.

Your cause is the hope of the world,
In your strife is the life of the race,
The workers’ flag Freedom unfurled
Is the veil of the bright future’s face.

Be ye many or few drawn together,
Let your message be clear on this day;
Be ye birds of the spring, of one feather
In this–that ye sing on May-Day.

Of the new life that still lieth hidden,
Though its shadow is cast before;
The new birth of hope that unbidden
Surely comes, as the sea to the shore.

Stand fast, then, Oh Workers, your ground,
Together pull, strong and united:
Link your hands like a chain the world round,
If you will that your hopes be requited.

When the World’s Workers, sisters and brothers,
Shall build, in the new coming years,
A lair house of life–not for others,
For the earth and its fulness is theirs.

Walter Crane

(via Marxists.org)