Christmas Traditions
I can think of a few Christmas traditions and sayings. For example, we always used to be told that if we weren’t well behaved Father Christmas would only leave a lump of coal in our Christmas stocking. If we were good there was always a satsuma, and some nuts in the toe, underneath the presents.
Do you have any similar Christmas traditions? Leave me a comment below.
Garden Birdlist 2016
Regular readers will know that I keep an annual garden bird list. The rule is simple to be on the list I must have seen the bird in, or from the garden for it to qualify.
The total so far this year is 28 species. Not a big number I know, but not bad for an urban back garden. The overall number of species, across all the years I’ve been doing this is 36.
I might get a couple more before New Year, but it feels unlikely. There are plenty of species a stones throw away, but they don’t make the rule.
Anyway here’s this years list:
- Black-Headed Gull
- Blackbird
- Blackcap
- Blue tit
- Buzzard
- Carrion Crow
- Chaffinch
- Chiff -Chaff
- Coal tit
- Collared Dove
- Dunnock
- Goldfinch
- Great tit
- Grey Heron
- Herring gull
- House sparrow
- Jackdaw
- Jay
- Long-tailed tit
- Magpie
- Red kite
- Robin
- Song thrush
- Sparrowhawk
- Starling
- Swift
- Wood pigeon
- Wren
Morning Dog Walk
I’d planned to write about routine, but there isn’t much of that at the moment, life is a little bit inconsistent. The one thing that is though is my morning dog walk. Hopefully in the New Year things will improve.
Solar Allotment Shed
I had a kit for a solar powered shed light. The receipt was still in the box, and it was over 4 years old, so I wasn’t sure that it would work, but I thought it would be worth a try.
It was a fairly simple build, just required a couple of screws and no wiring; so I installed it on my allotment shed. The back of the shed faces south, and is also where my bird house is, so I installed the panel on top of the bird house, as it has a good angle to catch the sun, and I placed the light inside.
I wasn’t surprised when I connected it up, that it didn’t work. I figured that the two rechargeable AA batteries that come with the kit would probably be completely discharged, and I wasn’t convinced that they would take a charge, but I left it switched off, and in theory charging for the next week. Then I tried it…
I’m really chuffed. I was prepared to get some replacement batteries if I’d needed to, but it doesn’t look like I will.
I’m rarely down on the plot after dark, but it is good that I can have a little artificial light in the shed on the more gloomy days.
Quick Links 19th December 2016
Each week I’ll try and post quick links to things that I’ve seen, read, inspired me or just sparked my interest in the previous week, with a little background and my thoughts and other things that I’ve been up to in the previous week. Mostly gardening, cooking and environmental stuff but not always.
Life
I’m enjoying doing the Post A Day thing – I hope I can keep it up until the end of the year – haven’t yet decided whether to carry it on past the trial period.
Otherwise I’ve been spending a lot of time doing things on my Dad’s behalf. I’m surprised just how uncooperative some companies can be. Maybe I’m wrong to expect that this is the one time that a company might make sure they do something right, but so many just don’t seem to give a s***, you’re just another number – not a grieving relative.
I’m not going to name and shame here, but I will say that there are a number of companies and a bank who I will never give my custom to in the future because of how they have behaved.
Currently Reading
Entering the Silence: Becoming a Monk and a Writer: 2 (The Journals of Thomas Merton) by Thomas Merton [GoodReads].
The Wastelands (Dark Tower III) by Stephen King [GoodReads], ongoing read for an online disucssion group.
The Week In Wildlife – In Pictures
I’ve followed author, adventurer, naturalist, and teacher Craig Childs for a number of years now. I’d recommend all of his books, especially the excellent Animal Dialogues (pictured). This post of his on the Last Word On Nothing Blog, reminded me of his house off-grid that he’s just about to sell. It looks like an amazing place, and in another world maybe I’d be living in something similar, but at least at the moment I’m more in the hear and now. If you’re interested in the New York Times piece, you can also read that here.
Newsletters
I’ve asked readers before about whether they’d read a newsletter if I produced one, although essentially Quick Links is becoming a weekly newsletter in the form of a blogpost anyway or seems to be evolving that way in my view. I’ve made no plans to change the current arrangement, although a week of blogging every day has taught me a few things and given me some ideas, but for now I thought I’d share some of the newsletters that I read and might interest you. Most require you to sign up, (the links are to the sign up pages) but all contain an unsubscribe link if you don’t like them as much as me or change you mind, I’ve also included a quick note about the normal day and frequency with which they’re published.
So in no particular order…
Christian Payne (@documentally) Backchannel (weekly, Fridays)
Warren Ellis Orbital Operations (weekly, Sundays)
Joe Hill Escape Hatch (monthly)
Giuseppe Sollazzo In Other News (weekly, Tuesdays)
Kieron Gillen Word Mail (weekly, Tuesdays)
Ganzeer Restricted Frequency (weekly, Saturdays)
Ed Yong The Ed’s Up (Friday / Saturday)
Do you subscribe to any good newsletters that you think I might be interested in? If so drop me a comment below.
Star Wars
There’s a new Star Wars film out today.
The original films were a staple of my childhood, before video and DVD the only way to see them was in the cinema. My Dad took me to see all of them when they first came out. When the three prequel films came out, I took him to see them. When The Force Awakens came out he was too ill to make a trip to the cinema, so I bought him a copy on DVD. I don’t think he ever got a chance to watched it before he passed away though.
I’ve heard great things about the new film Rogue One, from people who’s opinion I trust, so I think I’m going to go catch this one in the cinema in honour of my Dad. Probably some time in the New Year, after the kids are back in school and I can go to a hopefully quieter day time showing.
Christmas Red Cabbage
I love red cabbage at any time of the year, but it’s even better when you enhance it’s flavour. I found this recipe on YouTube, and I think I’ll be giving it ago for this Christmas.
Electronic Scrapbook 