Millet

30 June 2012

I have only ever used this grain in making bread, this week I tried for the first time cooking it as part of a meal and it was delicious there were no leftovers! I found this recipe in my one of my cookery books as I wanted to cook something different with carrots. It is a Korean dish, this quantity served two adults and two young children. My husband eats a lot so it would probably serve 3-4 adults.

Millet with sesame seeds, carrot and chard

3 tbs groundnut or corn oil
250g millet grains 2tsps sesame seeds
2spring onions (white and green parts) cut into very fine rounds
85g carrots, peeled and cut into very small dice
3-4 swiss chard leaves (mine is not ready in the garden yet, so I used spinach instead) cut into fine strips
1tbs soy sauce
2tsps toasted sesame oil
1 tsp sugar

Have 475ml of boiling water ready.

Put a tbs of the oil in a small frying pan over a med high heat. When hot put in the millet, stir and fry for 3 minutes, pour in the water, cover, remove from heat and set aside for one hour.

Put the remaining oil in a saucepan over a med high heat. When hot put in sesame seeds, stir until they pop then add the spring onions and carrots, stir and fry for a further minute.  Now add chard (or spinach if using) and stir until wilted.  Add the soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar and stir well.

Add the millet with its soaking liquid and 2tbs of water, bring to the boil. Cover and turn the heat very low and cook for 40 minutes, check for liquid content I had to add a further tbs to prevent the millet catching.

Remove from the heat and leave covered for 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with this sauce:

1tbs of sesame seeds 
4tbs soy sauce
2tbs toasted sesame oil
1tsp sugar
1 spring onion, white part, chopped into very fine rounds
1/4 tsp of cayenne ( or less depending on how spicy you like your food)

Put the sesame seeds in a small frying pan and dry fry to toast the seeds.  They will pop all the over the place so use a lid.  Once toasted put in a grinder or use a mortar and pestle and lightly grind.

Put the seeds in a jug with all the other ingredients and mix well.

Worry

29 June 2012

I had one of those days yesterday when I felt completely out of sorts. My tolerance levels were really really low and I felt really tired and irritable, and that I had a mountain of things to do and was not achieving any of them. At one point it started raining and I had to get some stuff inside that was drying, my eldest was lying on the hall floor asking for honey on bread, my youngest was busy flooding the kitchen floor sorry washing up, I needed the loo, the phone started ringing and there was a knock on the door. I felt like a rabbit stuck in the car headlights.

After I had sorted everything out by flinging the now wet things inside, ignoring the phone, answering the door, sorting the snack and wiping the floor, I headed to the loo. I always find this a good place to ponder (even though I am never alone) and decided I just needed to do less today, it was not going to be a day that I could do loads of chores/stuff around the house.

So I headed for the sofa and started knitting, I talked to the children, I read them books, I played with farm animals and vehicles and enjoyed the rest of the day. Later in the day when I had a bit of time to think, I thought about what on earth could have made me feel so out of sorts, it hit me like train at ninety miles an hour. My dad had been into hospital for an operation at really short notice, I was worried he would be alright. I rang him straight away to check, whilst I was waiting for him or mum to answer I was filled with a huge surge of emotion, it welled up inside me until he answered. My first words to him were, thank god you're alright. He went very quiet, and then said, were you worried, I've just realised I was I replied and we carried on talking.

It took me all day to realise what was making me feel out of sorts, cross, tetchy, short fused is it any wonder that sometimes our children feel the same and simply cannot explain why?

Woodpecker

28 June 2012

We have a green roof on top of our garage/workshop at the back of our house. A green roof is not one that is painted green but a growing roof, it is mostly covered in plants. It is my husbands part of the garden. He strengthen the roof within the garage/workshop with extra joists. Then he build a raised frame on the top and filled the area, with the help of friends, with organic matter. He has planted many sedums, grasses and alpine type plants, from the early spring to the middle of autumn there is always a plant in flower. Sometimes it looks like a sea of colour. He started planting three years ago, from a distance the roof looks covered, but closer inspection reveals that there are some gaps.

The best place to view the roof is from one of our bedroom windows. We have put a couple of small chairs there so that the children can see out easily. My youngest often watches from this vantage point.

The roof is now supporting a good population of birds. The raised edge means that it is a fairly safe place for birds to feed. My husband has placed four large logs amongst the plants, they have started to decompose now and we suspected were full of insects. This has been confirmed by a visitor to the roof this week, which has us all enthralled, a Greater Spotted Woodpecker.

Initially it landed on the top of one of the logs and had a good look around. I guess it was checking the area for predators, it continued to do this during feeding. It then proceeded to move down the side of the log and feed at length. It moved from one log to the next and stayed on the roof feeding for a good five minutes before flying off. A few minutes later I return to the room to put something away and noticed that there were now two woodpeckers on the roof. Only this time it was the same adult (later consultation of a bird book revealed it to be a male) and a juvenile. The adult was feeding the juvenile, after a few minutes the adult male flew off leaving the juvenile, who continued to feed alone for about a minute before flying off too.

In the last few years I have noticed a number of new bird visitors to our garden. It was a patch of grass when we moved in, we have planted many shrubs and trees, put up several bird boxes and a small wildlife pond. The Greater Spotted Woodpecker is not a rare bird, but it can be difficult to spot, to be able to watch one for so long was a special moment for us all.

Knitting

27 June 2012

After a fairly long period of no knitting, I have been doing more of this recently. I had to have a break as my hands were too sore and often swollen due to Urticaria. They have calmed down a lot of late and I am so pleased to be able to knit again. I find it a calming activity to do for the small amount of time that I have in the evening between my children and me going to bed.

I have just finished making this 'cardigan' and am pleased with how it has turned out.


When I bought the wool it was during the hot spell of weather we had in May and I thought it would not get worn much until the autumn. But it has, since finishing it it I have worn it loads and it is really warm and cosy despite not closing at the front.  I had to adapt the pattern as it as devised by someone much taller than me.  I basically had to reduce the number of rows in the main body, it fits perfectly so I got the maths right, thank goodness.  You can find the pattern here it is free on Ravelry a great knitting site.

One of the wool shops in my nearest town is closing down soon and has been having a sale. I have bought wool for a few projects and started one last week. It was a cardigan from the Yorkshire Fable Rowan catalogue called Jane.  The wool I have just did not look right so I have frogged it and am hoping to make this instead.

In the meantime I have started knitting the hooded cardigan from the book easy kids knits by Claire Montgomerie. My mum bought me this book for Christmas a couple of years ago and it has some lovely patterns in it. I have already made the ribbed cardigan, hat with ear flaps and rainbow mittens. My youngest is very excited that I am making a cardigan for her, I hope she likes the finished cardigan!


We have been mainly..........

25 June 2012

celebrating with friends this week.

We started the week with our usual trip into the local town for shopping and a visit to the library. We spent the rest of the day at home preparing for our camping trip, cooking food and getting stuff out of cupboards.

The next morning we woke to pouring rain, really really heavy rain, which stopped after an hour the sky cleared and the sun shone. We spent the morning at home finishing off cooking and packing up the car before setting off for our midsummer camp with friends. We had a wonderful few days which you can read about here.

We packed up from camp in the pouring rain on Thursday, it also felt really cool after the wonderful heat of the previous two days. It was still raining when we arrived home. I managed to get the car unpacked and most things put away before heading out to do a D of E (Duke of Edingburgh Award) assessment for a local Ranger Guide group. Before an expedition can go out they need to have their readiness for carrying out the expedition checked through talking to them about their kit, their route, their map skills, their awareness of risks, the country code and what to do if things go wrong. I qualified to do this last year and really enjoy meeting young people and supporting them to achieve this award. I was glad of my sleep that night!

On Friday we had friends over to play. They joined us for lunch, although they bought their own food this time, and the new, to us, Lego was much admired and played with.

Over the weekend we had a trip into the local town and managed to find a new pair of summer walking boots for me. Mine fell apart, literally, last year when on holiday, the soles collapsed on both boots. I have been using a my winter pair up until now, they are much more rigid and my feet do get hot in them at this time of year, even with the colder weather we have been experiencing. I am looking forward to trying them out.

On Sunday the children got the wooden railway track out and spend over an hour building a railway track complete with road and village together. It was lovely to listen to them playing together, taking and negotiating the differeent parts of their creation. The resulting layout was played with by one or both of them for the rest of the afternoon. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful week. I hope yours has been enjoyable too.

Pilaf

24 June 2012

A pilaf is a rice dish.  Strictly one that is cooked in a seasoned broth with vegetables or meat.  I cook a pilaf using red rice from the Camargue region of France, it is recent hybrid developed during the 1980s.  It takes a long time to cook and has a slightly nutty flavour.

I was going to make a salad with the rice this week, but I decided it was too cold so I decided to make this instead:

Red Rice Pilaf

1 large onion thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1/4 - 1/2 tsp chilli powder (depending on how spicy you like your food)
340g Red Rice
55g Raisins
340g Broccoli
225g Feta
Freshly ground pepper to taste.

Heat 2 tbs oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until clear.

Add garlic and chilli powder and fry for a further two minutes.

Add rice and stir in to cover with oil and onion mixture.

Add one pint of water and stir in with the raisins, season with pepper.

Cook covered on a low heat until rice is tender, this will be approx one hour, checking for water every now and again.

Chop the broccoli into small florets and peel and chop the stalk, steam until tender.

Chop the feta into small chunks.

When the rice is cook stir in the cooked brocolli and feta and serve.

This is also tasty eaten cold, if there is any left, the next day.

Conflict

23 June 2012

I wonder how many times you have heard parents or adults say to children be nice, play nicely or be good. I also wonder how many of these folks have thought about what they are actually saying to the child. What do we actually mean when we say be nice, play nicely or be good. How can a child and further more a very young child know what being nice, playing nicely or being good actually means in practice.

Words like this are often said to a child when they are in conflict with another child(ren). To my mind it is far more useful and relevant to a child's development and growth to talk to them about what is going on and use words that will help the child to learn for themselves how to resolve conflict. We can find out what has happened, we need to gain both sides of the story, even if we were a witness this is important as we can never know how another person experiences a situation. We can then use expressions such as what could you do next, what can you do to resolve this and let the children sort it out for themselves rather than taking over and doing it for them.

I have found that the less I interfere in conflict between my children, the quicker they are now resolving this for themselves. If they come and ask for help or they clearly are not resolving things for themselves I do offer advice, but I don't take over and resolve the situation for them.

In my working life I found conflict with colleagues the hardest aspect of work to deal with probably, I now realise, because I did not build a skill set to deal with this as a child. The world we live in is, sadly, full of conflict it is important then that we give our children the opportunity to build and develop these skills when they are young.

To go back to what I mentioned at the beginning about the meaning of the phrases so often used, be nice, play nicely and be good. I would interpret them to mean if you do this, I (as the adult saying it) will think that you are good and love you for it, don't obey me and I will think worse of you and withhold my love or punish you. Not only is a child bewildered about what is being said to them, but doubly so by your reaction when they do not obey your commands.

Camping

22 June 2012

We have just returned from a few days camping, we had a wonderful, but tiring time. We joined some of our home ed friends to celebrate midsummer. We had our celebrations a day early as most of us had commitments on Thursday and had to go home.

We met at this wonderful campsite and the weather was fantastic. The sun was shining when we arrived on Tuesday and continued to shine until we went to bed the next day. Thursday was a different story cold and wet, it was interesting trying to load the car between the showers. Waterproof jacket and trousers with wellies ensured I stayed dry on the inside.

On Wednesday morning a musician joined us for some music making in the woods.  In the afternoon we had afternoon tea altogether, scones with cream and strawberries, Victoria sponge and flapjacks. We blessed the food before we ate it. We wore woven headdresses and we made streamers which we all danced in a circle with. At sunset we made a fire, we cooked on it and threw lavender in to it.  It was a calming and beautiful evening.  As sunset is so late, we were very late to bed.

During the whole period the children, and there were many of them, played and played and played together.  I hardly saw my eldest, he was off exploring and having adventures, returning occasionally for food or drink to the tent.  It was wonderful to watch the games they were playing together (when they were close enough to the tent to see them!), each time a different child leading but all of them making up the rules.

It was lovely to come together with friends to celebrate this special time of year.  We came home tired and happy, it is still raining and set to do so for a few more days, but we have memories of our time in the sun.

We have been mainly...........

18 June 2012

playing with Lego.

We started the week with our usual trip into town for the shopping and a visit to the library. In the evening my eldest came home from Beaver Scouts proudly holding onto four badges that he has achieved over the last few months, he was a very happy boy. He is now working on achieving a few more.

The next day we had our usual playdate. They day was warm with occasional bursts of sunshine. The children played outside all afternoon with their friends. I had cooked a pasta salad with courgette, wild garlic pesto and cheese, in the morning so that we could leave a bit later and have more time for play.

We had a day at home the next day. In the morning I prepared lunch to take to a friends's house where I was picking up my husband. We came home with him plus several boxes of Lego. We spent the rest of the afternoon going through the Lego, cleaning some of it (it has been in storage a while) and making sense of what was there. For the rest of week it has been taking over the dining room table.

We were supposed to be meeting friends out for a walk somewhere the next day, but the children did not want to go anywhere. They wanted to play Lego. So we invited our friends to join us and they all spent the afternoon covering the dining room table with home made lego models.

On Friday we joined a home ed group at a local wetlands centre. We had a fun few hours pond dipping, making dragonflies and a short walk. We found several interesting creatures in the 'pond' fish, beetles, snails, leeches, damselfly larvae and toads in abundance. When we went for a walk we took small cards with double sided sticky tape attached and stuck grasses, reeds and flowers that we found on the walk. I remember doing this with groups of children years ago, it was great to do it again they look really pretty, they are very simple to make and an easy activity for very young children. The weather forecast had been for heavy rain, it stayed away until we got in the car to go home and the heavens opened, I think it would have been a very different day if it had rained hard all day.

Over the weekend we were busy. On Saturday morning I popped into town alone to a wool shop which is sadly closing down. I spent over an hour looking at wool and deciding what I wanted to buy at my leisure, a very unusual feeling.   I came home with a big bag of wool.  In the afternoon we all went to a birthday party for a friend of my eldest. We had a great afternoon. On Sunday we were hoping to try out our new sail for our canoe but there was no wind!  Instead we weeded the garden. It was a nightmare, no wind in our village means you get eaten alive by midges, they were out in force. We had to don midge nets to get anything done. We managed to reduce the weed population and plant out some more seedlings. The garden is now looking full and very green. In between times the lego continued to take over the dining room table! I hope you have enjoyed this week too.

Tantrums

17 June 2012

I loathe this word for all the connotations attached to it such as terrible twos, tantrum threes, feisty, or even badly behaved. These are labels that are often give to children. If you were to walk down most town or city centres on a weekend evening you are likely to find several adults full of alcohol either having or picking a fight. Whilst the fuel for this is often alcohol, the underlying reasons are the same as a young child's. We don't however call this a tantrum.

A tantrum is a sign that a child is helpless, feeling controlled and aggravated, lost his sense of autonomy or is unable to change that which cannot be changed. It can also be a healing process, a way of releasing emotions. It goes without saying that the way you as a parent deal with it, it really important.

If a child has any of these feelings when you are out and about and others see you, it is so common to get looks of pity, or tut tutting, or other unhelpful comments. It is easy as a parent to think that we should be trying to stop this, without thinking about the needs of your child. The only need that is being met by stopping or changing the behaviour is your own, with complete disregard for that of your child. You are the one who thinks that your image as a parent in the eyes of others is being harmed.

We need to tune into our children, let them grow, flourish and learn at their own pace, keep them safe by giving them boundaries. We need to think about what may have caused our child to feel helpless etc and be there for them. There may also be an underlying reason, they want to feel secure and valued. We can help them move beyond the helplessness without distraction, to learn to face disappointment and hurt with strength.

Dolly

15 June 2012

I made a Waldorf doll for my youngest for her birthday last month, at the time I said I would explain how I made her and post a picture so, finally here is that post.

I bought the materials from Myriad Natural Toys and Crafts, whilst making the doll I found another website, Little Oke Dolls that sells materials to make a doll, I have not compared prices etc. so don't know how they compare. I have enough material left over to make another doll if I wanted to.

I used the instructions from the book The Children's Year by Cooper, Fynes-Clinton and Rowling as a basis. I used this to work out what and how much of the various materials to buy and to draw out a pattern.

I started with the head, personally I needed more pictures than the book I was using had, if you are ok without pictures you will do fine with the book by itself. I found these pictures really useful whist making the head and the body. I had these open the whole time I was making. I also made use of these pictures to finish off the outer material of the head. I sewed most of the dolly by hand, with a small amount on a sewing machine.   I used this blog to sew the eyes and mouth.  You need to make sure you have a long needle to do this and it is easier to go through the face part of the head to the back and then tie off the thread than to do through from the back.

To do the hair, again I needed more pictures. I spoke to a couple of friends who I knew had made dolls, but they had no advice other than to say they were not happy with the way they had sewn the hair! So I looked for more pictures and eventually found a blog with great pictures and a tutorial which I used.   The hair has turned out wild and mad but I think it gives the doll a bit of character. My youngest loves it, which is the most important thing.

I made the clothes from old clothing of my youngest's. I had no patterns, I made one on paper then cut out some scraps of lining type material to get the shape right. These were entirely sewn by hand. I made use of original seams where I could on the t-shirt, for the cuffs and the bottom hem. I used very small poppers on the shoulders of both the items, the buttons on the pinafore are for show!

I will make more clothing for dolly as my youngest gets older and is a able to take the clothes on and off easily.

Here she is:


Barley Salad

12 June 2012

Even though the weather is not really warming up to much this summer, I am determined to eat salad!  I have plenty of salad leaves in the garden and veg in the veg box each week that lend themselves to added to salalds.

This salad is made with pearl barley which makes a change from rice or pasta, and is a good in between when the weather is a bitter cooler . It is really filling and is a meal in itself. This quantity serves 4-6.  This recipe is from an American cookbook so the cups are American measuring cups.

200g / 1 cup pearl barley
600ml / 3 cups water
1 large head broccoli
2 spring onions chopped
1 carrot diced

Dressing:
1 garlic clove
1 tbs fresh oregano leaves
35g / 1/4 cup black olives
35g / 1/4 cup green olives
3 tbs red wine vinegar
6 tbs good quality olive oil
Pepper to taste

Put the barley in a pan with the water, you can add a 1/2 tsp of salt if you wish. Bring to the boil and cover. Simmer until all the water is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Leave to cool.

Cut the broccoli into small pieces, peel the stem and dice. Cook either in boiling water for 4 minutes, drain and plunge in cold water, or steam above the cooking barley for about 6 minutes. It should be just tender.

Make the dressing. Put the garlic and oregano in a blender or food processor and whizz until finely chopped. Add the olives and whizz. You may need to scrape the sides down as you whizz. Add vinegar and whizz to mix. With the motor running slowly pour in the oil and whizz until mixture is smooth. Season to taste with pepper.

Transfer the barley to a large bowl.

Add the broccoli, spring onion and carrots and mix well.

Pour in the dressing and mix.

We have been mainly...........

11 June 2012

visiting friends this week.

Instead of our usual trip into town and play dates we travelled to Wales to visit friends who have moved into a new house.

We set off on Monday, my husband had to drop something off on the way, as we were pulling away from doing that I realised that I had left some food in the fridge which we had to go back for, oooops!

On Tuesday we went for a lovely walk near Dolgellau, the forecast was for heavy rain but it held off and we had wonderful views too. We took the Kelly kettle with us and had a brew, hot chocolate and soup depending on folks' preferences which was much welcome, it was cold.

Wednesday dawned sunny. My husband went off for a canoe down the river behind the house whilst I went to visit an amazing wool shop, Colinette Yarns , nearby. The wool was beautiful, the shop a colour sensation. I was restrained and did not buy anything I will find a pattern first and then buy some yarn when I visit again. We popped into the local town for the afternoon and the children rode back on a steam train.

We returned home the next day in the pouring rain and had a chilled afternoon playing at home, whilst my husband packed for a weekend sea kayaking.

On Friday we dropped Daddy off early and went home and played games for the rest of the day. My youngest had fun with an old shoe box, it was a hat, a boat for dolly, a car for Lego mini figures, a shopping basket, a carriage on a train and a seat for bear.  They both had the play silks out which were capes, made the children into birds and kings. We had races with toy cars and built elaborate buildings with the wooden bricks. We had a wonderful day of creative play.

I also got creative making smoothies. I noticed when we returned home the day before that we had a lot of rhubarb in the garden. I picked some and cooked it to make something with. I did a bit of research and decided to make a smoothie with some of it. I picked bits out of various recipes that I found and came up with this recipe:

Rhubarb Smoothie

1 american cup stewed rhubarb
1 banana sliced
2tbsp coconut milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Milk

I put the first four ingredients in the food processor, I do not have a juicer or a blender this turned out just fine in a food processor, and whizzed until smooth. I then added milk and whizzed to get a thin enough mix. I used oat milk to make this, I am sure it would it would taste good using an alternative milk.  This quantity made a small glass for three of us or would make a large drink for one.  It was very moreish.

Over the weekend we were and about.  On Saturday we went to a birthday celebration for one of my eldest's friends. He had a great time playing with him and couple of his friends. We had lunch and cake before returning home. On Sunday we had an early start, and a full day out which you can read about here.  I hope you have had a fun filled week too, and when it is ever going to get warm?

Horses

10 June 2012

I have been to Appleby Horse Fair today with my children and friends. I have never been before, but I have seen photos that my friends have taken in previous years, which you can view here (they are much better than mine). I had no idea what to expect, it was amazing. There were huge numbers of people and horses, it felt a very safe, alive and vibrant place to be. It would have been very easy for me to have lost my children today, but only because there was so much to look at I had to keep remembering to check they were still with me, more often than I would normally.

There were horses being washed in the river.


 Horses pulling carts



 Horses waiting to be bought and sold



It was a window into a world I know nothing about. Sadly gypsies are marginalised wherever they live in the world. The media is very hostile and negative in its writing about this minority group. I wonder how many journalists have actually spoken to a broad spectrum, or even any of this community. Those people who don't want gypsies living near them, I wonder how many have actually spoken to them, or tried to find out what they are really like as people.

It is all too easy to victimise those that are in the minority, to bully them and to push them out to the margins of society. The media portrayal of minorities whoever they are can be appalling, and feed prejudices that exist often for completely invalid reasons.

Any large gathering of people, as Appleby Horse Fair is, is not without its problems, especially when you add in alcohol. As a gathering which has no official structure the figures for those that attend are estimates. It is all too easy to judge, and suggest why any criminal behaviour occurs, whose to say that it is not opportunists taking advantage of a group of people who are constantly marginalised.

I have come away from the fair knowing a little bit more about the lives of these very interesting people.  I had a wonderful time in their presence.

Compliance

09 June 2012

A parent commented to me the other day ....this is just a phase, eventually they are good and compliant and do as you ask. At the time I was so taken aback by this statement that I was lost for words, I wish I had a least said we each find our own path, but that is not mine.

Why do parents want their child to be compliant, do they fear a loss of control or of being taken advantage of. Do they think that their child will have no boundaries and therefore have no awareness of others.

A compliant child may seem to a parent as a good child, perhaps even a happy one, but they are not likely to respect you and may even be fearful of you. They are hoping to gain your approval and avoid you being angry with them, do as I tell you and I will think that you are being good.  Using gentle coercion to achieve compliance can leave a child feeling hurt and confused, they don't understand why they feel so bad when you are being so nice. If we impose our limits on our children without justification or explanation they will try to oppose them and resent you, if they feel helpless and powerless this can manifest itself as anger and aggression towards you.

When a child feels safe and secure they are able to be themselves. They will do things competently, not to please you but in order to succeed, achieve and learn. If you respect your child and follow their lead they will respect you. Their actions will be through love not fear, they will be wholly theirs. They will learn co-operation if you co-operate with them.

They will not be in control, you will be working together towards the same goals.  You will be happier and so will your children.  It is hard work, especially if you were raised as a compliant child yourself.  You will have to think hard before speaking.  How would you feel if you were spoken to as you speak to your child?

Rain

08 June 2012

Today it has rained, on and off, all day. I have felt no desire to be outside today, we have watched the rain from the window enjoying the warmth of the house. We have had a few days away this week and have been enjoying some time at home.

When you hear about the rain on a weather forecast it is so often accompanied with negative words such as unfortunately. This has always struck me as odd, what is unfortunate about rain. We need the rain to sustain life. There are swathes of the south of England currently in 'drought' conditions. How can rain be that bad?

I guess flooding is rain that is bad, if it involves buildings. It strikes me that building on a flood plain is not a wise thing to do. When it rains hard and for long periods the water needs somewhere to go. It joins the streams and rivers, if these become full the rain water will spill over into surrounding area where ever that is. If we try to control a river by whatever means surely this will create problems there or elsewhere. The water needs to go somewhere. If there are buildings on a flood plain, that is where they will go. I am mystified as to why, in this country we continue to build on areas close to or on flood plains.

My garden always looks beautiful in wet weather, everything blossoms and grows, it has fullness. In dry periods it looks withered and small. It also saves hours of endless watering to ensure that my veggies grow and produce.

If rain is forecast I might re-think plans if it is an activity that would be difficult in the rain. But most of time I don waterproofs and carry on. Some of my best days out have been wet and wild.  Do you enjoy the rain?

Ready?

07 June 2012

I have long forgotten the time when I could leave the house on a spontaneous trip out in minutes. Sometimes it feels like the preparation to go out takes longer then the time spent out, but it is always worth it. Lately I have noticed that getting out the house seems to be much, much easier. It goes without saying that the more often you do something the better you become at it, practice makes perfect. There have been times when I have felt like a particularly incompetent sheepdog rounding up sheep. I can be at the front door with everything ready including the children, when suddenly one or both will disappear, or we get everything into the car and one of them will decide that we can go no further without the particular object that they now need. I would end up feeling harassed and always arrive everywhere really late, on the rare occasions each month that we had to be somewhere by a particular time.

 Nowadays I give myself plenty of time to get out the house, I rarely arrange to meet anyone before 10am if I can. I write lists for myself, or I have one in my head if we don't need to take much out. I wait until I am practically ready before telling the children that we are going out soon, they always know if we are or not that day. I load the car up whilst they are getting their shoes etc  this is my thinking time to make sure I have everything packed that we need. My children like to have something to do in the car no matter how short the journey, I now remember to ask them if they need to go and get anything for the car before we leave the house. Phew, now we are ready to leave. What is your journey like to getting out the house, I hope it is more organised and calmer than mine often is!

Fish cakes

05 June 2012

My eldest had tea at a friend's house about a year ago and had home made fish cakes. For some time afterwards he asked if I could make some. As a vegetarian I did not have a suitable recipe in any of my books, so I turned to the net for inspiration. This recipe is one I made up taking all the ingredients that I thought sounded like they would go together. I have never eaten these myself but they get eaten very quickly when I make them, and there is never any left for another day. This recipe is based on a 213g can of fish but it is easy to change the quantities if you can buy fresh fish, I use salmon, but I am sure you could use other fish.

Salmon Fish cakes

Can of salmon 213g
Cooked potatoes 125g
Mayonnaise 3/4 tbs
Dill 1 tsp
Chopped capers 1 tbs
Small egg boiled and chopped
Lemon juice 1tsp
Cayenne (optional) pinch

Coating:
Beaten egg
Breadcrumbs

Mash the potatoes with the mayonnaise.
Mix all the remaining ingredients, not including the coating!

If you have time chill to firm them, but it is not absolutely necessary they will be more difficult to handle but not impossible.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees centrigrade, you might want to do this earlier if you are not chilling the cakes.

Dip each fish cake in egg and then coat with breadcrumbs.

Place on a baking tray and cook for about 20 minutes.

Jubilee

If you live in the UK, as I do, it is impossible to go anywhere with out a reminder of the diamond jubilee of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, I cannot believe that is ten years since the last jubilee. I also remember the silver jubilee in 1977 as well (have now revealed some details of my age).

There are celebrations going on all over the country over this weekend. In my village there was a party in the park yesterday afternoon with a BBQ at the village pool in the evening. I have been ambivalent about joining in with them at all. Ten years ago we avoided all the celebrations and went for a sea kayak around the Isle of Mull with a friend for the long weekend.  I have been trying to work out why I am so ambivalent.

If I said it was because I don't like large gatherings, that would not be true, as we go to a music festival every year which, whilst not large is a big gathering.  My memories of the silver jubilee are of it being very hot, and watching a black and white film of the Coronation on a big screen in the school hall I was young at the time and found this rather dull.  My mother has told me that my school had a party, I have no memory of this at all.  I have lived in my village for a number of years and whilst I have got to know people here they are acquaintances rather than friends.  I have come to the conclusion that this is the reason.  If I am to celebrate, I would rather do so in the company of friends where I can feel comfortable and relaxed and enjoy myself.  So we have joined friends for the next few days and will celebrate life as we see fit.  I hope you enjoy your celebrations whatever form they take.

We have been mainly........

03 June 2012

spontaneous this week, with a whole week of superb weather last week,  I was sceptical that the heat could carry on much longer, by the end if the week the jumpers and socks were out again.

We started the week with our usual visit to the local town for shopping and the library. We found another lovely book this week which has been a great hit A Bus Called Heaven written and illustrated by Bob Graham.  It is about a community that is transformed by an abandoned bus found on street.  They come to together, lead by a little girl called Stella, to transform the bus into a community space.   The illustrations are beautiful, and there is plenty going on the the picture, they tell the story in themselves.  We have had another book by this author How to Heal a Broken Wing which is about a little boy who finds and cares for a pigeon with a broken wing.

We were unsure what the weather was going to do for the next day, it was forecast to be cold and wet, in the end it was hot and dry! We joined our friends for our regular play date. This time we took food to cook tea, I figured that if the weather turned wet we could bring it home and eat it there. Last week we had had such a great afternoon that we did not want to leave so we all agreed if the weather was good to bring food to cook on a BBQ. We headed to the river and stayed there to cook tea whilst the children played. We arrived home tired and happy.

We usually join friends on a Wednesday but I could not get hold of them to find out what they wanted to do, the night before. In the end they contacted me that morning and their plans sounded exhausting to me, and required a picnic, I had nothing in the house to put one together. So we decided not to join them on their busy day out and had some time at home to recharge. We had fun playing games with cars, bricks, Lego and water, not all at the same time.   I also started a new knitting project, my first in ages.  I am knitting this in a purple yarn.  When I bought the wool it was a really hot day, so it seemed a bit daft, knowing what the weather can do I am sure it will get worn before the winter arrives.

We had a early start the next day as we headed south to get on a train. We had a longish journey on a couple of trains including one underground to reach our destination. We were visiting a museum about u boats, my eldest is currently interested in the Second World War. Sadly, it was rather wet, and as some sections of the museum were outside it rather marred our visit, but it was still very interesting. I had completely overestimated the time we needed to visit the museum and a conversation with a friend the night before, saw us jumping back on a train and looking for another museum. I had looked up the nearest station before setting off in the morning but had no idea how to get to the museum from the station, and we had no map. Luckily for us it was well signed posted. Continuing the World War Two theme this was an old secret bunker used as a control centre by the RAF and the Navy.  It was really interesting and for me was the best part of the day. There were audio commentaries in most of the rooms which is ideal for children as they can look for things as they are talked about. My eldest can read but finds some museums hard work if they have a lot in written words in them. We had plenty of time to make our way back to the station for our train home. A long but enjoyable day.

On Friday we joined our friends to the south for another birthday celebration, the sun shone in the afternoon and we enjoyed tea and cake in the garden. The children had fun playing together, the boys with lego, the girls, well lets say they are still finding their feet with the whole playing together thing.

Over the weekend the house had a much needed tidy up. The recycling was taking over the kitchen and the compost bin was full to the brim. We also headed into town to top up on food, we are going away for a few days next week, but needed a little bit of food for the back end of the week. We also welcomed daddy home after another two weeks away, it is great to have him back. The weather has turned cold again, I hope my plants don't stop growing again otherwise I am not going to be eating any of my own veggies this year. I hope you have had a good week too.

Mess

02 June 2012

We have had a busy week this week, not busier than we usually are, but coupled with little sleep my house, this week, has been messier than usual.

Since becoming a mother my house is not as tidy as it used to be. In the bringing this really bothered me, I would get frustrated that I could not manage to keep it clean and tidy. After a while I realise that I was wasting my energy getting frustrated and that it did not matter if the house was not clean and tidy all the time.

The house I grew up in was far from tidy. My parents still live in the same house and with no children at home any more, the house is still not tidy. Now that I have my own house and am a mother too, I realise that it is my father who is the messy one, with three children my mother could not possibly tidy up after us and him. I am sure that my need to keep my house tidy stems from the fact that I grew up in a messy and cluttered house.

I am aware that I now look at mess through different eyes, instead of looking at it with frustration, as in my early days as a parent, I now see it as something that can be done when I have the time. This morning after a really good night's sleep, I tackled some of the mess. The house is now looking a lot tidier than this morning, but the carpets could do with a hoover and other floors a wash, that can wait for another day. Small steps, there are other important things to be getting on with as well.

Words

01 June 2012

Words are a powerful communication tool, one of many.  They are what sets us humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.  They can be used to praise, to scold, to undermine, to wield power, they can be misconstrued, misunderstood or misused.  We use words for most of our life and usually never stop learning them.  The words we use can define our relationships with others.  If we often use negative words our relationships may be tense or strained for most of the time.

During my working life I worked with many people paid and volunteers, latterly as a manager.  I attended many courses to enhance my skill set.  One course I went on was based on communication skills, neuro linguistic programming or nlp.  This is an approach to communication that was created many years ago.  Like so many approaches that are utilised for training purposes it has its fair share of critics.  It was many years ago now, my memory of most of the course is a little hazy, but there is one particular aspect of the course which I remember vividly and still, attempt to, use today.  We had to remember a conversation that we had recently had that involved conflict of some sort where the outcome was negative.  We were then asked to relive the conversation in our head.  Next time round we had to go through the conversation again but put ourselves into the shoes of the other person.  We then went through it again but this time we were a third party observer.  The point of this exercise was to get you thinking about what we say and the impact that our words can have on others and to think about how you would feel if someone said what you are going to say to you.

As a mother I continue to, try and, apply this.  In the heat of the moment it is easy to forget!  Perhaps next time you have a day when you feel like you are at odds with your children or the world, reflect on what you have said and whether you could have used different words to ease your path through the world.