Life In General.

I’ve spent some time making chutney and jam this week. As you’ll know we’ve had a bumper crop of apples, and also have a few large pumpkins, so I’ve been focusing on what I can do with one or both of those. So I’ve made pumpkin and apple chutney and pumpkin and ginger jam. We’ve also had some roast pumpkin to go with various meals – still plenty of pumpkin left!

I’ve also been looking at an old (c.1974) map of my area, and comparing it to a more recent – but still 12 years old (c.2005) – map of my local area. It reminds me that next time I’m near a bookstore to try and see if there’s something more up-to-date. There’s been a lot of change, mostly development, in the area in between the two editions. I’ve been trying to explore more of my local area on foot, partly to find different routes that I can walk the dogs, but also because I’m aware that so much is changing it all the time, some areas have changed a lot since I was last there.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

---

Work – A couple of meetings and a few things going on this week. I seem to be back in the development zone of work for the time being, with all of the outstanding proposals etc. now known quantities. I suspect that’s how it will be for the next week or so too.

---

Allotment. – I’ve been mostly digging this week. Getting beds ready for my garlic and onions, and I think that I’m just about ready to start planting. Still more digging on the rest of the plot, but I have prepared enough space for my aliums, and also my overwintering broad beans, which I’ll put in a little later on next month.

Otherwise the turning of the seasons and the colder nights have caused a few things to start dying back, my cucumbers plants are turning brown due to those colder nights.

---

Currently Reading – I finished reading “Moods of Future Joys” by Alastair Humpreys [GoodReads], the first part of his epic cycling adventure around the world. It was interesting to read how his journey changed from his original plan following the September 2001 attacks and how his plans of going through Iraq and Afghanistan changed, instead going through Syria and through Africa. I’m not sure now with the current geopolitical climate that even his revised route would be viable now. I haven’t started the second book yet.

Instead I started a reread of J R R Tolkein’s “The Two Towers” [GoodReads]. I read The Fellowship of the Ring last year, meaning to reread the entire trilogy, but with other events taking over I never got a chance. I might go onto the Return of the King after I finish The Two Towers or I might save that for another time.

---

The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

---

Books for Sixth Graders – My good friends Will and Maria are sixth grade teachers at a school in Tijuana, Mexico. Their school library has become pretty denuded of  books and they’re trying to build the library back up. The schools budget is stretched and isn’t able to support buying all the books needed, so they’ve launched a wishlist of the books they’d like. I’ve bought a couple of my own personal favourites from the list and they’re on the way (nice to see that some of the books I read when I was at school, are still on the curriculum lists). If you’d like to help them too, please click on the link, the books are delivered directly to them via Amazon. If not no problem.

---

IT – I haven’t been to see IT yet, although I do intend to if I can find a free afternoon at some point. There are of course lots of articles out there with backstories to the film and comparisons to the earlier TV mini-series. There are a couple that I’m going to link to, but there are many more out there along the same lines if you’re interested.

The first is the authors experience reading IT over the summer ahead of the film coming out in the autumn.

The second is a tour of some of the places in and around Bangor, Maine that inspired or featured in some of King’s books and films.

---

Still On A Stephen King Theme –

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I picked up a couple of DVDs which were on offer at the local supermarket when I was there doing my grocery shopping this week. Both are adaptations of Stephen King’s books of Salem’s Lot and The Stand. I’ve never seen The Stand, but I remember Salem’s Lot giving me a good scare when I was a kid. I was curious to see how they stood up. I haven’t watched Salem’s Lot again yet, but I was told it is still a good watch. I did however watch The Stand, or at least started to. It’s pretty dire, and I’m not sure whether or not I’ll be finishing it.

---

 

Life In General. – A busy week this week, several appointments with my Mum, including a follow up with the physiotherapists at the hospital, all is going well with her knee.

The parts for the garage door arrived, and I managed to get it repaired – I may need to add a little more tension into the spring – and it was quite straight forward. I’ve also got a new handle for my broken hammer, but haven’t had a chance to fit that.

The mornings have been cold and misty, and I’ve even starting wearing a woolly hat in the mornings when walking the dog, autumn definitely seems to be approaching.

---

Work – A bit of follow-up from the showcase event last week but otherwise it’s been a quiet week.

---

Allotment. – I think we’ve had some pretty cold nights this week, and it looks like some of the plants on the allotment are coming to the end of their season. We’ve also had a lot of rain, so it’s making the plot difficult to get on without compacting the soil. It’ll be a while before I need to sow over-wintering crops, so no great urgency, but I will need to do some digging before that can happen. I’ll be planting onion sets, garlic and broad beans in the next few weeks.

---

Currently Reading – After starting “A Year with Thomas Merton – Daily Meditations from his Journals” [GoodReads] over a year ago, I finished it this week. I’ve been reading each days entry on the same day over the past year, so I start reading last September. I’ve been reading on my kindle and have lots of highlighted passages and notes, which I’m going to look back through.

I’ve also started reading “Moods of Future Joys” by Alastair Humpreys [GoodReads], the first part of his epic cycling adventure around the world.

---

The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

---

Dave Goulson – Creatures of the (French) Riverbank

---

 

Life In General. – I’ve had a touch of man-flu the second-half of the week, so haven’t been feeling like doing much at all, although life hasn’t given me an opportunity to slow down that much. When I get sick I always seem to have quite vivid dreams, and that has certainly been true this time – some really odd dreams – a part mixture of reality and complete oddness.

We’ve also managed to break a few things this week – they say these things come in threes, and I hope these are my three – the toilet flush handle (now replaced), the garage door cables (spares ordered), and my allotment club hammer:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

---

Work – I had a late-afternoon / evening event on Monday. Showcasing my work and trying to drum-up some more business. It was a good event and I’ve been following up on a few things since. It feels like it was worthwhile, and hopefully it will draw in some new work.

Also heard that the proposal I submitted a couple of weeks ago won’t be going forward, which is a shame. It means I’ll have a little more time on my hands between now and Christmas if nothing else comes up.

---

Allotment. – I’ve done a little bit of research on my apple tree here’s a sample of what I found out:

named after its parents the Cox and the Bramley and combining the best of both of them. The Cobra is a terrific early cooker – ready in early September and then, left on the tree, makes the most delicious dessert apple to pick from mid October onwards

What I haven’t been able to find out is how well the fruit are supposed to keep, although I do know that both the “parents” generally keep well, so that’s a good sign.

---

Currently Reading – I started and finished reading “Swimming with Seals” by Victoria Whitworth [LINK] this week.

---

The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

---

Dave Goulson – Meeting the wildlife in my French Meadow Part I

and Part II

---

A River Raft Adventure – This reminded me a little of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, mostly because of the raft, but a nice adventure none the less.

It led me to watch a few other videos from the same YouTube channel including the one below, inspired by Roger Deakin

I’m quite enjoying other videos on this channel too, so worth checking out I think.

---

 

Life In General. – A Bank Holiday week, and the end of another month! I’ve been doing quite a bit more baking this week with an aim to trying to use up some our apple crop. Both Dorset Apple Cake and Apple & Walnut muffins have been made and consumed, and barely has the Apple crop been reduced.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In other news there has been a lot of family stuff going on, that I’m not going to be talking about here. In fact I may well take a break from writing on the blog completely for a while. Haven’t decided yet, but if I do decide to take a break, I’ll post something here.

---

Work – A few bits and pieces this week in preparation for what will be a slightly busier week next week, but nothing significant happening.

---

Allotment. – The seasons are shifting slowly in the background, and I already seem to be preparing for the autumn and winter. I’m preparing the ground for over-wintering crops such as broad beans and onions, whilst still harvesting summer crops like courgette and cucumber.

---

Currently Reading – I started reading Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang [GoodReads], although I got there after watching Arrival [LINK], which is based upon the title story of the book. The film was a bit of a surprise for me and I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would. It takes on a wider scope than the story but it is pretty faithful to the original work. The book is good too, a collection of short stories, all very well imagined and written.

I’ve also made a resolution with myself to not buy any new books this month. I’ve a huge backlog of things to read, and don’t need to add to it. So other than freebies, or possibly secondhand bargains if I go into the secondhand bookshop I’m trying not to add to my “to be read” pile. I’ll be adding them to a wishlist instead, so that I don’t forget them completely.

---

The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures

---

Terry Pratchett’s unfinished novels destroyed by steamroller – Something quite poetic about this [LINK]

---

The Story of How Big Businesses Are Proffiting From Vulnerable Adults – [LINK] Sadly this story doesn’t surprise me, and looking further it appears not to be all that uncommon.

---

Hay Festival – Neil Gaiman, Stephen Fry, Chris Riddell & Amanda Palmer

---