Frost

"Overnight, a giant spilt icing sugar on the ground,

He spilt it on the hedgerows, and the trees without a sound,"

(Valerie Bloom)

The frost was very heavy on Friday night, so much so that on Saturday afternoon it was still thick on the ground and in the trees. I judged up to 10mm deep on the twigs. It is not often the place looks so magical, so I took some photo's around the neighbouring villages.

Flatland, and Us.

As I was reading about Flatland, it occured to me that compared to God, we are living in Flatland. We have only a limited perspective, and try so hard to understand the entire universe from our own point of view.

But in the end, we have to trust, until we get that same perspective that God has. And then, like in the movie below, we will probably also exclaim "wow, I never knew".



(You might also enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSdoHL9AG38)

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

I don't know if any of you have read "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions" (more here) by Edwin A. Abbott. I first heard of it when reading "The Shadow Guests" by Joan Aiken, in which it gets a mention. It is an interesting exploration of a world that exists only in 2 dimensions, the x and y axis only.

Anyway, I decided to try to simulate what it would look like to live in Flatland using my 3D animation software. The simulation gives you a Flatlandian view, and the view we get, as beings in the realm of 3 dimensions.




I think I prefer to have the insight of 3D.

P.s. I have just learned that a film has been made, based on the book: http://www.flatlandthefilm.com/index.php

The Voice of the People (Dad waffles about politics briefly)

The UK has often been compared with the US's lap dog, and it has also been said that the US election has nearly as much impact on the rest of the world as it does on the US. As a result I am interested in the current presidential race and the upcoming US election on November 4th. Plus I enjoy the debate.

Personally I am rooting for McCain and Palin. Nice to have a woman on the team, nice to have a woman in politics speaking for the right and the "right" (so refreshing after Hilary Clinton). If Palin was a Brit and a Party Leader, I would know who I would be voting for in our next election.

I enjoyed the recent debate between the Vice Presidential hopefuls Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. If you enjoy "Any Questions" you will enjoy this. Interesting to see that the important issues in the US are almost identical to our own in the UK.

Zos Chikins Are Crazee!

Some of you may know that we keep chickens. Well allow me to introduce them to you (before they end up in the pot). I can't introduce them all, they don't all have names, but here are a few of the prominent characters:

Captain Hastings

Captain Hastings is our rooster. Named after the character from Poirot, on account of his demeanour and general ineptitude when he first arrived, Hastings has come on in leaps and bounds and now really rules the roost. Funny how they figure it all out without any training.

Fortunata

Fortunata is one of our few remaining original hens. Apart from Hastings it is Fortunata that is in charge. She often has to be chastised for her treatment of the younger hens, but seems a lot better these days. Her superiority is well deserved however as she is by far the most inquisitive and intelligent of the entire lot (even Hastings - but no suprises there). If a hen is going to escape this is the one to keep your eye on. She is first to the food especially the special treats, like black berries, when she will easily manage to get three times as many as any of the others just by being quick. Her self interest in this regard means she will probably live a long time. As a mother she is excellent and uses her higher chicken intellect to the advantage of her brood - until the become adolescent, when the competition is back on.

The Weird Sisters

The Weird Sisters are a pair of black hens, named after the pop group in Harry Potter, these hens are psychotic egg sitters if ever there were any. Happy, or miserable, they will sit for weeks on unfertile eggs and literally have a fit if you oust them and take the eggs from under them.

This Weird Sister eyes the camera warily, she is wondering whether this is the same fellow that takes her eggs.

Random Hen

This is one of the newest arrivals. Bred here in the coop, this girl has not been given a name, though I am toying with the idea of calling her "office girl". We had 3 hens with this colouring a while ago all with crazy hair-do's that we called the Office Girls. We gave them away to a friend and it would be nice to have another set of office girls back again.

Lunch Break

Here you see a few hens milling around under the ever watchful eye of Captain Hastings, our rooster.

So there we have it. I can't say that chicken keeping is always easy. Especially when mucking out, though the droppings make great compost activator if your compost bin isn't doing it's job very well. But in summer when they are laying eggs like mad there is something satisfying about collecting your own fresh eggs.

Harvest Season

While Lije was bouncing away merrily, I took a look round the part finished garden and found that the year has moved on. The signs of the season were all around me.

We have apples growing on next door's tree, but leaning into our garden - yum.


We have wheat, ripening in our compost heap, no doubt leftovers from mucking out the chickens have grown.


We have blackberries in our jungle behind the chicken coop - yum yum.


Well, I picked some apples, (left the wheat) and collected some blackberries to make a crumble. I prepared the fruit and put it in the oven for stewing, in prep for the next stage of the crumble. I then forgot about the fruit in the oven and burnt it to a cinder.

Maybe I will try again tomorrow - at least the ingredients were free.

Bounce!

Well we finally did it. M has been hanging on to a pot of money to buy a trampoline for the boys and we finally got round to buying one (8ft, with enclosure, and folds away by winding a handle).

Anyway, more importantly, it's great fun, and just watching Lije's face and hearing his giggles is well worth the money.