the maz shack

Peacock

2010-04-28T13:11:00.001-07:00

Here's a piccie of one of the peacock butterflies we recorded at Battle Great Woods on Saturday. I took a whole load of shots because the butterfly was being very helpfull and sticking around the same patch of flowers - a few of them came out well but I like this one best because you can zoom in and see lots of detail - I never noticed the lovely pattern at the top of the wings just either side of the body before.

April butterflies

2010-04-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

Did our first butterfly monitoring of the year at Battle Woods on sunday. Saw Small Tortoiseshells, Peacocks and Commas. Matt got three Commas together in one net swoop, but they were a bit too warm and lively for a decent photo, so here's one from the mothership.

Dr Aileen Smith

2010-01-07T12:42:00.000-08:00

I just read my Aberystwyth University e-mail newsletter and saw with great sadness that my 2nd year tutor Dr Aileen Smith has just died. She was a wonderful, warm tutor and lead the plant biology trip to the Picos in Spain that is one of my best memories of my time as a student. She also wrote the reference that secured my place on my PGCE teacher training course after I finished my degree. Her university obituary is at : http://www.aber.ac.uk/aberonline/en/archive/2009/12/au21409/

My thoughts are with her friends and family. She will be greatly missed.

Oliver James

2009-11-25T13:05:00.000-08:00

Ollie has arrived. Born at 11.17pm on monday 16th November weighing 8lb 14oz. Spent the first few days in SCBU but we got let home on friday. Very contented baby - life consists of sleeping, eating and peeing on Matt during every nappy change. Tiger showing little interest - babies are no fun until they're tall enough to reach the biscuit tin for him :)

Halloween Tiger

2009-11-05T12:48:00.001-08:00

Tiger ready to leap into action and greet the Trick-or-treaters. 10 minutes after this photo was taken he was fast asleep, still wearing the hat.

Wedding photo from February

2009-11-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

Finally got around to putting a wedding photo on here - it's only been eight months :)

Changes

2009-08-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

This has been a year of big changes. Got married in february then found out we were expecting the patter of little feet in March (wedding baby). Little Ollie James will be arriving in mid November if all goes well :) Matt's told everyone we're going to call him 'Tiger 2' after the dog. I'm not sure we're mature enough to be parents.

Wedding

2009-02-09T12:23:00.000-08:00

The day is nearing. Less than two weeks until we tie the knot. I got a lovely white silk halter neck wedding dress from Monsoon and Matt has even agreed to wear a waistcoat and cravatt with his new weddings and funerals suit. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the registry office will let Tiger be best man ;) Wish us fair weather :)

Halloween Pooch

2008-11-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

Here's Tiger in his Halloween costume this year. Every time the doorbell rang he went flying to answer it and get lots of attention from all the trick or treaters. We had kids asking us what his costume would be this year since the summer so hopefully he didn't disappoint.

New(ish) job

2008-10-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

After saying a fond farewell to being a librarian and geography/ environmental science teacher at Hastings College in August, I am now well established as the Earth Sciences teacher at Bexhill College.

I've jumped from having 10 AS students to 88 AS and 24 A2, in addition to adding geology to my repertoire and managing the department (which consists of myself and a cover teacher) until the new head of department starts in January.

It's been brilliant so far - far too busy but good for all that. I miss the folks I used to work with, but everyone has been lovely to me here. I'm even going to staff yoga every week. Going to Drusilla's with the AS Env Sci on monday, the NHM with all the geologists after half term, and to the Isle of Arran with the geologists at the end of february. Maybe even an Iceland trip coming up with the geographers at easter. After a travel dry spell things are looking up - especially with the honeymoon cruise round the med next summer. It's a hard job, but someone's got to do it :)

In other news, Tiger turns five this month, so we'll have to have a birthday party for him soon :)

I finally managed to log in

2008-06-06T02:21:00.000-07:00

Wow - I haven't been blogging in a while due to a lack of time added to my inability to log in when the host changed something. Looks like it's all good now. My current teaching contract is ending soon, and I'm loath to abandon all the resources I put onto my Moodle area, so I'm trying to decide now whether to set up a website for them, a new blog, or adapt this old blog for them.

In other news, Matt and I have finally got on with it and set a date for the wedding. It only took five years since we got engaged. We've booked the Hastings Museum for the ceremony in July 2009. Coolio.

Back from our hols

2007-07-17T08:41:00.001-07:00

We're back from our week in sunny Cornwall, where we went camping for the first time with Tiger. It was a lovely week and didn't rain too much. Wednesday was gloriously sunny for our visit to the Eden project - well worth a return visit since the last time I was there it was fairly newly opened.

Our own garden had faired faily well without us there to water it and fend off the slugs. I've been harvesting Swiss Chard, Carrotts and Courgettes this week, although my turnips had been munched - the leaves by caterpillars and the roots by maggots. I haven't been up to the allotment yet, but after the torrential downpours we've had here I suspect it may all be a bit flattened. With a nice big Tescos round the corner I'm not too worried about our lack of self-sufficiency though :)

Down on the farm

2007-06-18T04:54:00.001-07:00

Here's our allotment at various stages of development.

Week 1 - waist high grass and weeds. Week 4 - Saturday - hoeing the weeds off the first bed we made (planted with spuds). The second bed also has spuds but is cultivated in a different way.

The third bed has just been planted with young French Bean plants. By the end of Sunday we had created another bed (which will be runner beans), a turf pile which will become a hot pile for ridge cucumbers and cleared the brambles off the old compost heap at the back (which has rewarded us with 10 barrow loads of beautiful crumbly loam - with plenty still to use).

infinite cat project

2007-05-22T06:41:00.001-07:00

You can tell it's been a quiet day at work. Feast your eyes on this:

http://www.infinitecat.com/

Click on the picture of the cat with the rose, then keep clicking forward.

TeacherTube

2007-05-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

First there was utube. Now there's TeacherTube. It has the benefit for me that the college hasn't noticed it and blocked it the way they have the equally bandwidth-hungry utube. It also has some cool stuff on it and some weird stuff too (including a talking, wig wearning finger telling you not to waste stationary in art lessons).

Mallydams

2007-05-22T05:54:00.000-07:00

We went up to Mallydams on Saturday to visit Mr Biggleworth. He was looking great - fat and happy on mealworms. Mallydams was cool - there were all sorts of amazing animals that you don't normally see close up, including a seal. Thanks to Claire for our behind the scenes tour.

http://www.escis.org.uk/Entry/View/RSPCA:_Mallydams_Wood/8215

Mr Bigglesworth

2007-05-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning the doorbell rang. When we opened it there was no-one there, but there was this little fellow. Matt named him 'Mr Bigglesworth' after Dr Evil's cat in Austin Powers. I think he was a robin, or rather he still is a robin. It's been good looking after him - he's even been coming to work with me. When a colleague mentioned that a lady in reception volunteered for an animal sanctuary though I jumped at the chance to see him taken by a place that can rehabilitate him properly. He's thrived while he's been with us, but he's only a couple of days away from flying, and he couldn't come to work with me then :) The sanctuary came to collect him this afternoon and it was a little sad to see him go, but I'm really happy he'll have a better chance now. And we get to visit him on Saturday :)

gourds and stuff

2007-05-03T06:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice website http://www.archaic-crafts.com. It's run by Dan at work and his missus for a village they met while on honeymoon a few years back. If anyone's looking for some genuinely fairly traded stuff or unusual gift ideas, this is a good place to start. A recent news report into abuses of the Fairtrade Logo and money by tea gardens in India may have left people feeling a little jaded about the whole idea, but there's loads of independent, small scale operators around for whom the welfare of their producers is their driving force. Enjoy. And try saying gourd without it coming out in a west country accent.

Springy

2007-04-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

So Spring has gone all springy, my crops are bouncing out of the soil and looking set for a good harvest (sounds grand, is really a few pots and a cold frame made out of an old glass shower screen). Hopefully, this year's pots will be the final trial run before we can get our grubby mitts on an allotment. Half term was busy. We (Mary and me - the boys were on holiday - slackers)made a new 6th Form Library from scratch in about a day. Looks pretty. Also spending a lot of time on the beach in the unseasonably hot weather. Tiger running on the sand - that's one fast pooch we've got.

the patter of tiny paws

2007-01-29T10:22:00.000-08:00

Tiger is now among us :) We picked him up on Saturday morning and have been having a lovely time ever since. He's a big old softy and seems to be settling in really well. He's got an odd habit of taking our slippers into his bed and sleeping on them, but since they're not getting chewed or overly drooled on this isn't a problem :)

Tiger Hopwood

2007-01-22T08:34:00.000-08:00

This is Tiger. All being well with the home check this friday we'll be picking him up from the Brighton Retired Greyhound Trust on Saturday. He's a gorgeous three-year old dog with real tiger stripes and dark ears with little snowflakes all over them. I hope he'll be really happy with us :)

Dog days

2007-01-10T02:28:00.000-08:00

After months of research and hard thinking, we're finally off to the Brighton Greyhound Trust next week to start looking for a pooch. Fingers crossed they like us and the home check goes OK.

Happy Christmas/New Year

2007-01-03T05:33:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. Christmas was mostly great at our end, but New Year was a wash out thanks to the dreaded lurgy. Saw the Phantom of the Opera last week which was great - I loved all the sets and effects. Unfortunately, last week also saw the demise of one of the Gerbils - Jerry - an unexpected loss since he was usualy the liveliest and most active of the three. Fortunately the other two seem fine. Hopefully that will be the last of the bad luck for this year and we're on the up again. Wish us luck :)

Far from wasted

2006-12-18T06:54:00.000-08:00

We were supposed to be on a boat on the way to Bilbao right now, but Matt unfortunatley didn't get the time off. The time has been far from wasted though, since it gave us the unexpected opportunity to catch up with James and Lig after not seeing them for far too long and far far too long respectively.

Having some time off this week has also meant that I've had a chance to finish of my European Computer Driving Licence ahead of time. I did two exams today, one of which I was a bit nervous of as it was on Access, a programme I've never used in the real world. Needn't have worried though - I got 97%, hurray! 92% for the other one too, so pretty chuffed all in all. Off now to spend some quality time with the gerbils and the laundry :)

Stitch'n'bitch

2006-12-15T06:21:00.000-08:00

Knitting is cool, it's official. Stitch'n'bitch clubs have beeen springing up all over the country over the last couple of years, and now we have one at HCAT. It's a fun way to spend a Friday afternoon and is a really nice mix of newcomers to knitting and old hands. Best of all, it's a good excuse for a thorough gossip. There's even a website http://www.stitchnbitch.co.uk/. It's said that knitting is the new yoga. I wonder if anyone's ended up in casualty after trying to combine the two?

In other news, I'm off work next week with no major plans after Monday (Matt couldn't get the time off to go on our mini-adventure to Bilbao) so if anyone fancies a couple of days by the seaside or has a penchant for watching paint dry (since the decorating is my job for the week if not otherwise rescued) shout.

1066 again Battle Abbey

2006-10-25T03:37:00.000-07:00

The 1066 re-enactment weekend at Battle Abbey coincided with our housewarming, so we were all up alrmingly early on Sunday morning to go see. It was really well done, lots of folks living in ye olde campsites for the weekend and dressed up, plus a hundred armed knights on horseback. We missed the main event as we had to get off to Hastings, but had a great time nonetheless. Nice piccies too, above are Matt, meJulie, Simon and Dave.

family planning goes hardcore.

2006-10-03T04:03:00.000-07:00

Ouch.

moved

2006-09-24T23:56:00.000-07:00

The house move went really well last weekend thanks to a sterling effort from all involved :) This weekend we've been decorating the front bedroom ready for when our new bed arrives. The decorating on sunday was done standing on one foot, since I tripped on the hoover and broke a toe, whoops. It's now a lovely shade of purple - perhaps we could get it colour matched at the paint mixer in B&Q? Front room's starting to look fab. We've even done a really trendy feature wall (the one we put wallpaper on because the wall behind was too rubbish to paint, but not rubbish enough to get re-plastered).

bamboo

2006-09-05T05:19:00.000-07:00

We've had hemp. We've had organic cotton. Now a new weapon in the war against regular cotton - Bamboo.

Regular cotton is a very needy crop and uses huge quantities of pesticides etc which remain in the material and can transfer into your body through your skin, as well as poisoning the people growing it and their local environment.

Bamboo doesn't require pesticides to grow well. The makers of bamboo clothing claim that the fabric made from it is as strong as cotton, but as solf as cashmere or silk. Due to compounds the plant uses to protect itself, the fabric is also anti bacterial and antifungal, so no more stinky socks. It's also cheap to produce, so no crazy price tags on the finished items.

Have a look at bamboo clothes at http://www.shirtsofbamboo.com/index.php

farming up

2006-09-05T05:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a curious solution to food miles - grow your food next door to Tesco. It's called vertical farming and the buildings are apparently cheap to construct. Food miles are set to be the next big thing coming in on the heels of the massive surge of people buying organic and this could either be a tool to bring food production closer to home, or a symptom of our continuing need for everything we consume to be produced in a factory. Supermarkets will like it, but will farmers?

singing in the library

2006-09-03T03:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihr3pJj-sJw check this out!!!

Moving date

2006-09-02T05:11:00.000-07:00

We finally have a date when we can move into our new house - hurrah. All being well the house will be all ours on the 14th September. We're stocking up on beer to wash down the bacon sarnies for the helpful folk who've volunteered to come help :) Not long now.

Callum's christening

2006-09-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to the christening of Matt's little brother Christopher's baby Callum. The photos came out a bit rubbish unfortunately because we didn't have enough battery left for flash. One piccie did come out nicely though - Matt's big sister Emma's baby Peter, with grandad Tim. The babies are only a couple of weeks apart in age, but are incredibly different in size, looks and temperament. Callum's tin, dark haired and chilled out with a knack for projectile vomiting, while Peter's a big fiery redhead who likes nothing better than to pull your hair and poke you in the eye with a toy. Aren't babies great :P

pickpocket

2006-08-24T06:23:00.000-07:00

You can't trust anyone in the New Forest! It seems a little harsh to get locked up for fishing without a permit though.

radioactive gerbil

2006-08-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

Matt finally caught the strangely glowing gerbil that had been keeping us awake at night with his brightness. We call him jerry. He lives with ben (right) and pinky (left), but only their eyes glow.

traffic jam

2006-08-24T06:07:00.000-07:00

This was one of the ways we killed time while sat in a traffic jam in the New Forest recently. Other pics include a phone box, a tree, and my favourite - a traffic queues ahead sign.

Lig's book thing

2006-08-02T01:25:00.000-07:00

From Liam's Blog:

1. Grab the nearest book.2. Open the book to page 123.3. Find the fifth sentence.4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.5.Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.6. Tag three people.

I'm re-cataloguing environmental science books atm, so here's the nearest:

This relationship can only exist because of the wide amount of discretion used in interpreting regulations; this allows 'technically' guilty offenders in breach of regulations to avoid liability. The methods that the enforcement authorities use are largely peculiar to the pollution control system. The enforcement agencies will normally carry out specific statutory enforcement activities only when there is a belief (on behalf of the individual officer of the agency concerned) that the continuing relationship between the enforcers and the polluters is being ignored.

From 'Environmental Law', by Simon Ball and Stuart Bell.

I don't know the what or how of tagging, so that's it.

new revolution

2006-08-02T01:11:00.000-07:00

Eco-company XCO2 have developed a nifty, silent run wind turbine for urban use. It's helical design means that it will work in any wind direction. The turbine been developed further into a wind-light that can carry pictures and messages. Looks a bit like a psychadelic lampshade in this pic, but Bristol town council likes the idea so much they'll be having some installed by the end of this year. Coming soon to a town near you? (Well, yes, if you live near Bristol).

The Film Wall

2006-07-27T01:10:00.000-07:00

A very talented mate has just launched his new company on www.thefilmwall.co.uk. It's a nifty concept - you're a budding film maker - where do you go to get your films 'out there'? - the film wall, that's where. Go check it out as he explains it all very succinctly on his site.

car booty

2006-07-24T04:56:00.000-07:00

With the move coming up (and lots of stuff we probably don't need anymore we decided to have a go at doing a car boot sale yesterday. So at just gone 6am we followed the 'booters this way' sign into the field at Glyne Gap and set up our wares.

With a big selection of teaching and natural history books we were pretty different to all the other bric-a-brac stalls, so we shifted a load of stuff. I was perhaps most proud that someone bought all of my home-grown coleus plants at full asking price. Perhaps the seeds of a mini nursery business have been sown. Far too much work in each plant to make it a career, but it felt good :)

new development

2006-07-21T07:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a glimpse of the new college being built. Hopefully we'll be in there in a couple of years. We've outgrown our current space, even in the library. It will be good to be in a custom built environment that's up to date with the environmental and access issues we face, rather than trying to crowbar fixes into an old building.

I just hope that they're not going to use the same building firm as Wembley.

My Weemee

2006-07-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

here's my weemee from my firends reuited thing. Yes i do like pot plants. No it's not cannabis.

me

2006-07-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

This is me at the Eden project a few years ago. A bit old but it will have to do for now, as it's either this or the scarey mugshot on my work ID badge.

away day

2006-07-18T03:25:00.000-07:00

Last week we had an away day to Brighton for a conference 'Librarians in the Digital Age' and a visit to the Jubilee. Here we are outside it (Mary, Dan and Sam anyway- I was taking the pics). The Library has some great architectural features, including wind towers that regulate the internal heat and ventilation. The innovative design of the building means that this massive library uses only as much energy to run as a domestic four bedroom house.