Herman And The Forgetful CreativeToe

I forgot to feed Herman yesterday.  I just fed him now (and he is looking a bit lumpy – hopefully that will settle down).  I stirred him before I started adding stuff & noticed he was looking a bit stodgy at the top.  I think the warm weather might be bothering him.

I had planned to get to day 10 & divide him, then maybe keep 2 portions back so I could cook one & propogate some more.  Although perhaps that isn’t such a good idea – he may not survive that long!

Also, I am trying to work out when I can give the new Hermans to which groups of friends I see.  My current Herman will be ready on Wednesday.  I had planned to take him along to my local knitting group & hope that somebody wants him.  I also want to pass some on to other friends & family.  It looks like I’ll have to keep some on the go (and maybe even put off cooking him yet).  Hmm… 1st batch wednesday 30th (2 Hermans to keep, 2 to give away), then the 9th (7 to give away, 1 to keep), 19th (3 to give, 1 to cook)?  I imagine that by then I will have exhausted most avenues of Herman-gifting.  And (assuming he lasts that long) my tolerance for having a bowl of stinky goo in the kitchen.

Let Them Eat Cake. In A Week Or So

Yesterday one of my neighbours gave me a Herman-The-German sourdough cake mix starter.  Today I stirred it.  Twice.  I also found the website and some other web-based info about it.  I’m not going to go into how it all works – that is covered elsewhere on the web.

I notice, though, that there seems to be a polarisation of love/hate the whole friendship cake thing.  I remain ambivalent thus far – I am not anthropomorphisifying my cake-mix.  Nor am I ready to throw it out yet.

I’m going to have to change the recipe though – Monkey does not like raisins when he notices they are there.  Some toasted tea-cakes are ok, but he won’t eat them in scones (we made cheese ones instead last week).  He also won’t eat them in the fab fried rice that DH cooks.  He is happy to eat peas though so I get more raisins, he gets more protein.  Bonus points all round.

Anyway – the cake is all fruit-laden and that just isn’t going to go down well.  He’d be happy with a plain cake (why does ‘pliyn ciyk’ spring to mind?) but he also likes chocolate, probably because grown-ups eat it.  So long as I can find a not-sticky chocolate recipe, that is probably what I’ll go for.  Assuming Herman survives until next wednesday!

Magpies And Dandelions

I like magpies and dandelions.  I know many people are not so fond of them, so I’ll just clarify.  They aren’t small and cute like many pessarines, they don’t have a charming song.  But nonetheless, they are an exceedingly handsome bird.  We have some living near us and they regularly visit our garden.  It used to be for some of the contents of the compost heap (I assume) but since I put the contents of a bokashi bin on a raised bed, they seem to be more frequent visitors.  I wouldn’t have thought that pickled veg, bread & pasta was really bird food but they seem to be finding something good to eat there.  Although I just thought – perhaps they are eating slugs and snails that could well be in there too.  Oh dear – that doesn’t bode well for the peas which I’ve already started planting.

Dandelions fit in to the same sort of category.  They are not small, cute birds, and they don’t sing.  What is more, they are fiendish to get rid of when they are in the wrong place.  Probably easier if I weeded more often.  Yeah, right.  But they look so lovely when just a couple are under a bench, or one appears in a wall.  I don’t think they look so good when they are all over the place.  A little goes a long way, you might say.

Somebody That I Used To Know

(Today’s title is mostly nicked off Gotye)

Losing touch sometimes bothers me.  People I haven’t seen for over 10 years and am unlikely to see again.  Co-workers that I lost touch with when I changed jobs.  People I’ve grown apart from – some from Uni  and some more recent.

I’m debating the wisdom of putting a couple of their names in here, in case they should happen to run a web search on themselves – maybe they’d come across this post and know that I was thinking of them.  Although that would probably be a bit creepy.  ”Oh, somebody that I lost touch with thinks of me regularly.  Why didn’t they just stay in touch?”  Or even “Great.  I have a stalker.”  So I’ll refrain from naming names etc.

I’m kind of hoping this post will be somewhat cathartic so maybe I’ll stop looking for the guy I used to hang out with after work every time I go somewhere he might possibly be.  (And no, I promise I’m not stalking him, I just keep an eye out).  And maybe I’ll stop hoping my long-time crush from University will all of a sudden realise how cool I am and that he really ought to e-mail me and see how I’m doing.

I’m actually pretty good at losing touch with people, so I tried to keep in contact with my ante-natal group as long as I could.  I gave up on trying to organise group re-unions because despite going through this major life-changine experience together, we’d since grown apart.  Some have gone back to work, some have had a second child since then, and some just stopped being in touch.

I guess the desire to keep in touch has to go both ways.  It has taken me a while to understand that, and I think I have to re-learn it every time it happens.  It doesn’t stop me missing them, but maybe it makes the people I still know more precious.

A Pretty Good Day In The ‘Stuff’ Stakes

Monkey & I had a pretty good day today.  I have been thinking a lot recently about how little arty-crafty stuff we do – he isn’t that interested in it.  I reckon a lot of that is down to me – I’ve been really uninspired with regards to my own art practice.  All he usually wants to do is play with his train set, or watch trains on YouTube (or Thomas the Tank Engine, and he’s just discovered Fireman Sam & Bob The Builder).

Anyway – we went to our local knitting group earlier then watched a couple of trains as we were hanging around waiting for the bus.  He fell asleep on the way home but then woke up as I was putting him into bed (that was my afternoon’s knitting/iPlayering plans scuppered).  I figured we could maybe try out something vaguely creative.

Eggheads – I’d saved some egg shells for planting cress in.  I put some soil in one & he put some seeds on top – we’ll stagger the planting so he can see more easily the changes that happen, rather than having to remember.

Painting – I did a little work on a painting, and suggested that he might want to do some too.  We went down to the bathroom (easier to clean) & painted some more until he got fed up.  It was satisfying to clock him concentrating on it, albeit not for very long per colour.

Sticking – When we’d finished clearing up we went back upstairs & I did some more faffing on the painting while Monkey used some discarded printing to glue in his book.

Dinner – Monkey helped me get the bread machine started earlier in the afternoon and once DH got home we ate together.  We even all had the same food, which doesn’t happen that often.  We got Monkey ready for bed & had a couple stories, then he went to sleep.  Hopefully the ‘regime’ of less tv will help with all of our sleeping.  Watch this space, I guess

York Outing

Monkey & I went to Yorvik Viking Centre earlier this week.  I went a few years ago, and I am sure the Smell is just the same as it was then!  There are some changes though – I don’t recall the futuristic-looking conveyance, but the commentary was very informative, both the ‘English’ and ‘Kids’ versions.

We were shown around ‘Viking Cupr-Gate’ (Street of Cup-makers, nothing to do with copper as I’d always assumed!).  Monkey was a little unsure about the ‘pooping man’ but I don’t think it put him off all that much.  Once the ride was over, we bypassed most of the rest of the exhbition, the artefacts & information boards were a little beyond Monkey.  I think they’ll be more use for him in a few years.

We left the museum to get some food, and as I’d (wisely) invested in the YAT pass I suggested maybe another trip round ‘the Ride’ and Monkey was quite happy to go along with that.  It was pretty much the same the second time around, and as Monkey didn’t seem to be quite flagging yet, we booked in for a ‘Dig‘ visit.

That was a completely different experience – much more hands-on and definitely aimed at children.  We were in a group of about 6 children, mostly aged 5-10 I think, with Monkey being the only toddler.  The guide for the group was a very enthusiastic & knowledgable chap (probably a real archaeologist).  Nice hair as well.  We dug around in some fake dirt looking for objects from 4 different periods & he discussed the objects with the children as well as encouraging them to find various things.  Then we went on to look at some actual items from the digs – animal bones, pottery, shells, etc. and there were sorting trays and various comparisons to be made.  After a brief talk, that was ‘Dig’ concluded.

As Monkey seemed to be flagging, I didn’t suggest another whizz round Yorvik, we went back to the station & waited on the train, eating our second lunch.  I think we’ll be back to Yorvik within a few months but probably not Dig for a while.  Especially as we’ve still Micklegate Bar & Barley Hall to investigate!

What A Faff! (rather long post)

Yesterday I decided to do something about the backlog of cleaning to be done in the kitchen.  The thing which was bothering me the most was the perishables which I’d not been able to shift.  We have a wormery which takes veg peelings etc, and a bokashi system for cooked food, fish, onion, citrus, etc.  As the ‘working’ bokashi was full, I hadn’t anywhere to put the old crumpets etc (Monkey has started leaving the ‘crusts’ on crumpets.  Fink.)

I set off to empty the ‘resting’ bin, but I knew the ‘working’ compost heap was full.  I took the bin out anyway, in case I could make some space around the edge or something.  Unfortunately my route to the heap was somewhat impeded by the sticks that DH had brought for me, ready to set up for pea-planting.  I squeezed past the not-insignificant pile & after a brief poke around & some shifting of soil (most of the pots are done already), abandoned that idea. 

Ok, so where am I going to put this pickled food then?  No point setting up the sticks in the raised bed yet, it needs clearing.  And that wouldn’t make any more room on the heap itself.  While I’m thinking, I’ll clear the raised bed.  Monkey & I set to clearing the bed of bolted winter leafy greens & oodles of weeds.  Monkey was focussing on slug-spotting.  I know they are a pest, but they do useful work on the compost heap.  The work went much faster after I thought to get a washing-up glove to wear – easier on the hands & I can just pick up slugs rather than timidly poking them with a bit of twig. 

Got the whole bed cleared – the weeds & wildlife went into plastic tubs & buckets to saturate before composting (also no room on heap as is).  Even managed to save the spring onions, although a couple of them might have been slightly run over by Monkey’s dumper truck.  I’d vaguely wondered about digging the bokashi in, but we came across so much wildlife during the clearance that I figured I could plonk it all on top & let the worms deal with it.  Far fewer worms injured during my excavations & far less effort for me.

Once the bokashi was spread out it looked a bit of a mess.  Now what?  More mulch?  Not enough bought compost – we’ve less than half a bag.  I know – old bark chippings.  I was planning to clear those anyway so I could shift them onto the bed.  It turned out to be a pretty good idea – looks better than pickled toast anyway.

So the bed is weeded, fertilised, mulched & read for pea-sticks.  I have an empty bokashi bin, ready for clearing the kitchen waste.  I really think it must be time for a drink and a biscuit!

And yes, the perishables were dealt with later that day, hurrah!