I think it's working!

This is working isn't it! The sincere goodwill, care, support and sense of community from the mind blogglers, particularly during Christmas, I have found quite overwhelming. Great idea to do a Christmas blog Purkul and to you T, who thought of the whole thing in the first place - Inspired! Can you imagine...?

Yultide Blog

Merry Christmas.

I love Christmas. I always have. I know for many it's not a good time of year and I hope that for those the day has been OK. For me, it's the quietest most peaceful day of the year, in every sense of the word. I like the feeling that for one day, almost everything stops. It's like a pause for breath. For me the day is about the people I Iove, scattered here and there. It's also about remembering and looking forward.

Sorry to go all sentimental on you.

Booked

I find reading books really draining. I started to read out loud which makes it easier, for me at least, but is quite irritating for anyone listening (I know, coz they tell me, I do only do this at home). Some people look astounded when you tell them that you've only read a handful of books and I do feel embarrassed by it. I would like to have read more, I feel I ought to have read more. But I also think that as with most things in life, there are certain things which come more easily to you than others, and for me, reading books isn't one of them. So this blog is for anyone who struggles with reading books.

I can read other stuff and I do - I read lots of blogs - I even read bits of the newspaper occasionally and I read manuals (if I absolutely have to), but anything more than a few pages is like climbing a steep hill.

Blogs

Bagdad Burning is serialised on Radio 4 at 7.45 each week night this week. It's the blog of a 24 year old Iraqi woman, writing at the outset of the conflict in Iraq. Absolutely compelling.

Retail Therapy

I can't 'do' shopping, especially for clothes. I would like to be able to, for obvious reasons (warmth for a start) but I'm utterly rubbish at it. And I know clothes don't really matter and it's not about what you wear it's who you are and stuff like that, I do know honest, but occassionally, it kinda bothers me a bit.

But tonight, a friend helped me and we shopped together. She was patient and kind and gave sound advice and I'm very grateful to her. So thank you, it meant a great deal.

Blogstipation

Oh my - I've caught blogstipation from Chris164. I was bloggling along, quite happily and then suddenly I couldn't think what to write. I know why, well, at least I think I know why. I'm fed up with myself for losing my allotment. I've not been attending to it as I should and eventually they got fed up with me and kicked me off. I've been there for 7 years and loved it, but really just didn't have the time to go and make the most of it.

So I'm bit fed up.

Positive thought.

At least it's made me more realistic about time and grateful that I've got a garden. Look at what I've got rather than what I've lost.

Wikipedia

I've been looking around for presents for my nephews and as one is a devoted Rotherham United fan I wanted to get him something to remind him of his club when he moves away (which he will be soon). I grew up in Rotherham and whilst it is often the butt (is it double t?) of many a cruel jokes it's always been a place that felt most like home. Maybe that's true where ever you grow up, but it's certainly true for me.

I did a bit of goggling to try and find RUFC homepage and came across Wikiepdia's entry for Rotherham United. Apparently not only are the Chuckle Brothers Rotherham United fans (which I confess I already knew) but so are the band Orson!?! Can't imagine why.

Which brings me on to something else - I was listening to the radio the other night and Tim Finn (ex-crowded House) said that his favourite place to play in Britain was Aberystwyth. I thought it was a great choice and sort of share the idea that it probably could be the best place in Britain to play.

recipe

Everyone has been blogging about favourite recipes and this is one of mine - it's a really easy, very mild curry and I reckon it's pretty low in fat, because it's yoghurt based. It's a veggie version, but you can probably include chicken if you prefer.

You need:

spinich (half a bag)
potatoes (a couple)
Onion
Pepper
Yoghurt (250g)
creamed coconut (50g)
1 teaspoon of all the following:
Chili powder
Ginger
Garlic pulp
1.5 teaspoons of Garam Masala
quater of teaspoon of tumeric
Grind a few black peppercorns and a few mustard seeds

What you do:

Whisk together the Yoghurt, coconut, garam masala, chili, ginger, tumeric, peppercorn and mustard seeds.
Fry the onion and pepper, add the potatoes and spinich (you can pre-cook the veg a bit if you're in a hurry) and then the yoghurt mixture. Cook until the veg is soft.

Goes great with Naan and rice.

Madge

I'm sitting listening to Madonna whose doing what she does on the telly behind me. When I do turn round it looks to be a pretty amazing show - the dancers are SO good. ACW is playing his mandolin along to 'i've heard it all before', it kinda works - maybe we should suggest it to Madge! ;-)

Just came back from watching 'this is seb clarke' and 'the bees' at the Sugarmill - they were good - fantastic energy. And last night we did a gig at Marston Montgomery, in an old addison hut style village hall. Everyone danced and it was great to watch. And today, I've been scouring Chordie.com (highly recommended) for my fave tunes to play on the guitar. I'm not at all good at playing anything, but I get so much enjoyment from playng music with other people - there is a connection - you forget yourself and nothing seems to matter for those moments - it's like a spell. Sometimes it doesn't happen - but when it does...

William Morris

We were talking about what's important in life. It was sparked by Nat's blog saying that the best things in life really were free and I think they are too. William Morris said that we need something for our head and something for our heart, something to keep our mind ticking over and something we can create, stand back and admire. The sense of achievement I get from making something, even with my bodger attitude towards creating things is enormous in comparison to the momentary satisfaction from buying something.

It's been a strange couple of weeks - few ups and a few downs. I'm aiming for the 2nd week in December in the hope that life will be less of a rush by then.

On my bike

Back cycling in to work. I'm trying to convince myself that I missed it and I think I have. Although, by the time I get home I feel pretty tired. I know it does me good, clears my head and gives me the opportunity to reflect on the day.

Saturday was spent at the Hope Centre in Hanley celebrating Mind's 30th Birthday. It was a great day. There were so many things going on, I would love to have had more time to be able to have a go at everything. I did get a chance to play some African drums though, courtesy of David from Stoke. He was very patient, and by the end it was all coming together producing some slick rhythms - my hands were complaining though.

Sleepless nights...

Really struggled to get to sleep last night. I'm not sure why, maybe it was the French cheese I bought from the continental market in Hanley on Friday (which was delicious). I felt restless, not in a bad frustrated way, but just wanted to get on with things.

So I wondered what other people do to relax or to get to sleep and thought perhaps we could start a tips bit on the home page.

Would you be prepared to share the things that work for you?

Each week we could change the list on the home page and archive the rest so you can still access it.

Top anything would be interesting.

Top feel good tune
Top feel good film
Memorable experience

Ideas most welcome. :-)

Food for thought....

The title summed up the day. The food for thought conference at the Kings Hall in Stoke on Trent was an excellent example of just what can be achieved if you're prepared to be bold. It was an ambitious programme filled with speakers who are leaders in their field. The big theme was how important diet is to your mental health and how much we can do to take better care of our mental well being.

Suggestions included half filling a jar with flax seeds, then topping the rest up with sunflower, sesame and pumpkin seeds. Keep it in the fridge and each morning grind a handful and add it to your cereal - ideally an oat based cereal. Easy - so I've been out and spent £1 on a big bag of mixed seeds and that's what I'm going to do!

Loads of other foody ideas too, which we're hoping to include some of on the web site.

Oh…and the buffet appropriately consisted of the most delicious collection of culinary delights I’ve ever encountered at a conference and of course, it was all healthy and great for your mental well being!

Well done to the magmh team, they deserve rich praise for having the courage to make it happen!

Everlasting love...

Jamie Cullan's version of Everlasting Love has been buzzing in my head all day. I'm hoping that by writing it down, it will some how leave. I do hope however it doesn't prove contagious for anyone reading this.

Mouse guards

I had to go and put the mouse guards on the hives yesterday. It's a little late really, you're supposed to do it before the first frost. They are literally guards against mice moving in to snuggle up with the bees for the winter. They don't bother the bees and rather surprisingly the bees don't bother them, but the mice nibble the stores and the wax so... Anyway there's a shed on the site and I'm fairly sure they'll find that and go and live in there.

The bees were pretty grumpy too and I got stung on the knee. We have to remove the entrance blocks first, which always annoys the bees. These are used late in the season to narrow the entrance of the hives so that the guard bees can defend the colony from robbing by neighbouring colonies and wasps. But in the winter they need ventilation so they are removed and the mouse guards are put in their place. Apparently a mouse can squeeze in to a hole that is just over 1 cm wide!!! There heads are wider than they are tall and they can sort of flatten themselves to squeeze into the gap. Anyway...better get on - my list beckons.

Nature was looking a bit defeated by the frost.

Egg, chips and beans

You cannot beat Egg, Chips and beans paricularly if the chips are 'home made'

That sort of summed up my day. My favourite meal with friends who I don't see often enough and miss a great deal.

The moon is nearly full and the temperature is just above freezing. I love clear days and cold nights.

Ebay....

I was out bid on a hob on Ebay - it was identical to our currently dead one. It would have been ideal. I was the only bidder right up until the last 10 minutes.Final sale price was £11.23. I was outbid whilst washing the dishes.

Moral of the tale - don't wash dishes. Back using the camping stove and running low on gas.

Gutted.

The list - well - I scrubbed the kitchen floor, which wasn't on the list but should have been, so I'm counting that as one I can cross off.

Things to do

Made a list of things to do today. It's a long list, including things I've been avoiding for years. The plan is to tick one off each day. Since the telly arrived back in our lives (it was broken for some weeks, along with the hob - which is still broken) I've done far too much sitting.

Carz and girlZ

Helped a friend with her car in the very pouring rain on Wednesday - the weather could have been worse, but not by much. I loved the adventure of it all. Trying to start it, trying to diagnose the fault, pushing it (forwards and backwards - neither did any good), summoning a willing passer-by to help, giving it an electric shock with some plugs (the worst thing we could have done according to the AA man - don't try it at home, or outside for that matter), eventually having to admit that really neither of us had very much of a clue and having exhausted all the words we had ever heard a mechanic say - we left it to the professionals.

Never the less - soaked to the skin and by now quite chilled we satisfied ourselves with the two mint humbugs I found in the glove compartment of my car and giggled all the way home.

Memories like that make me smile.

Seeing the stars

How brilliant that all the people of Reykjavik managed to see the stars last night. Everyone turned their lights off for 30 minutes whilst an astronomer gave a guide to the stars. I'd loved to have been there.

Otherwise - working on the project. It's been an exciting week. The difference is so marked. Went to a superb seminar on new media by the media trust. Paul Caplan talked very enthusiastically for over 2 hours about everything to do with blogging. Getting a much better grasp of how it's all going to work and we're planning to start a wiki for the steering group log on to. There are literally a million things to do at once and it's about where to begin. Paul mentioned a book 'the naked conversation' I think I ought to read it.