view from nappy mountain

Lunchtime walk in Joensuu

2012-01-31T19:40:00.004Z

It was -25, so I didn't stay out for very long, but the sunshine was too good to miss.
I saw the strangest thing - the river 'steaming' in the cold.

And the boat is certainly going nowhere at the moment...

Small girl, large snow mountain...

2012-01-29T19:20:00.004Z

We had a fantastic day playing out in the snow on Saturday. Orb took his potkukelkka out, I went on skis, and the small brown ninja ran around like a mad thing. We tried some of the cross country trails in Noljakka which were breathtakingly beautiful - the trees are laced with snow, and you could see the flakes of ice dancing in the air.

I'd forgotten how much fun going down hills (albeit very small ones) on skis is. And I discovered just how much work going up the hills on cross country skis is too...

In the evening, we went to watch Jokipojat play at the ice hall, as it was a free match. We were squidged into the standing area, and had to carry M so she could see, but it was fantastic - a really exciting, end-to-end game. After being 3-2 down for much of the match, Jokipojat managed to equalise in the last minute, and then won on penalties. M had never been in such a big crowd before - and I think the enormous roar when they equalised was rather a surprise.

Today's been very cold (it's about -25 now, and is forecast to be -30 when we set off for school tomorrow morning). We walked about 10 minutes from the car park to the cinema this morning, and ended up with tingling noses and quite cold fingers and toes. Puss in Boots was on in 3D, and in the original English version, and was great fun. M and I had never seen a 3D film before and were quite impressed. It was pretty much designed to appeal to a cat-obsessed six-year-old, I think. I'd love to know, though, how on earth they dub Antonio Banderas' Spanish accent into Finnish...?

Sadly nowhere open in town had good buns on offer on a Sunday (normally Houkutus, the library cafe or Taitokortelli would be our first points of call, but they were all shut), so we came home and baked some of our own. The butter buns from the Nordic Bakery Cookbook turned out to be fab, and I may have scoffed at least two. Don't tell the small ninja...

Before and after

2012-01-15T19:40:00.005Z

My little girl is growing up. Gone is the tiny IKEA chair and table, scene of much painting, colouring, play-dough, baking and eating (she used to eat here breakfast at it in our old kitchen). In its place is a brand new 8 euro desk from the recycled furniture shop...

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T17:55:00.000Z

New Year's Day, Lykynlampi.

New Year's Day

2012-01-01T17:54:00.007Z

Today was amazingly cold and clear, the perfect fresh start for the new year. We've been very busy:

1. Hunting for yeti at Lykynlampi.

2. Sledging and stomping about in the cold at Lykynlampi, including venturing out onto the frozen lake.

3. Eating doughnuts at the Lykynlampi cafe. Very important.

4. Scoffing toad in the hole, with sausages smuggled back from England.

5. Using M's new telescope to see the craters on the moon, Jupiter, and several old rockets circling the Earth.

6. Telling our fortunes for the year ahead, using some tin horseshoes, a ladle and a bucket of water.

Orb had what looked like a crazy cross between Homer Simpson and a Cavalier, mine was either a nest full of birds or a witch, and M had a dragon. But whatever the new year holds, I think it will be an exciting one...

Winter solstice

2011-12-21T18:53:00.009Z

Today we had a 'midnight feast' in our pyjamas to celebrate the longest night. The tonttu (elf) hat is for tomorrow's school play, but is being worn in.

Our feast included Karelian pies with egg topping, sausages on sticks (we had one lonely sausage left in the fridge which needed putting out of its misery), salad, fruit, haggis rolls (I'm sure they don't have haggis in, but they taste like haggis-flavoured sausage rolls), gherkins, and a selection of leftover doughnuts and biscuits. Well, you have to raid the fridge on these occasions...

Just for the record, we had 4 hours and 54 minutes of 'daylight' today. The sun rose at 9:32, and set at 14:26.

Independence day

2011-12-06T19:19:00.005Z

Today was Independence Day in Finland - it's 94 years old today. It's a public holiday, so we celebrated by making almond buns, creating a wreath (it's amazing what you can do with some garden twine, newspaper and lots of ribbons), and going for a splodge around in the snow at Lykynlampi.

We had two or three centimetres of snow this morning, so all the trees looked beautiful in the still air. There were no birds to be heard, but we did see a squirrel run across the road on the way there, so there is still some wildlife lurking.

Spot the difference

2011-11-28T19:13:00.006Z

Yes, that'll be the 16cm of snow which landed in my back garden last night then.

This morning was our first experience of 'snow work' - shovelling the snow off the driveway so the car could get down it. Most of the roads had been snowploughed, apart from the little roads in our estate in Marjala (but even these had been done by the time we got home at around 2pm). It was my first time driving around in proper snow, and wasn't too bad (there was the odd bit of sliding about, but I'm now a HUGE fan of studded tyres. And estate cars big enough to stick your snowboots, shovel, blanket etc etc in). I'm also a big fan of my lovely neighbour Tiina who helped me shovel the driveway this morning at 7.30am...

Apparently Finnish school is brilliant because you can go and play king of the castle on the enormous snow heaps thrown up by the snowplough, and the school actually has a box of sledges you can get out at playtime. There may also have been meatballs today, which just added to the excitement.

A weekend in Finland

2011-11-22T20:39:00.009Z

Friday: Rustle makes some new friends:

Saturday: We stack wood in the garage. Two square metres is quite a lot of tessellation...

Sunday: We go ice skating at Joensuu ice hall. I attempt to wobble round without falling over, in only the second time I've been ice skating since about the age of 10. M uses the cunning ruse of 'pushing a chair round'. It's surprisingly good fun. Even if my ankles have been complaining ever since.

Sunday also happens to be -8 degrees, sunny and stunningly beautiful:

We have a lovely afternoon with some friends. And the whole day is rounded off by a firework display for the opening of the Christmas season in Joensuu. It was too cold to take my camera out, so here's a picture of a small Michelin child instead:

Sunshine!

2011-11-09T21:02:00.004Z

View across the square on my walk to work this morning:

A lunchtime stroll by the river

Bonfire night, Finnish style

2011-11-05T20:49:00.006Z

It's been quite a test of my history knowledge, explaining Bonfire Night (and why we don't have it in Finland) to the six-year-old. You can't exactly rely on the old historian's excuse of "that's not my period". Between me and Orb, we managed to get the story about right, with the correct monarch (James I) and century (17th, just).

Today, we managed to have our own bonfire in the middle of Lykynlampi, the lake area where we often go for a walk. It was quite a cold, grey day as you can see (probably a couple of degrees above zero), and it started to snow a little as we walked round.

Orb built us a small fire (there's a shack full of firewood for you to use), and we had a Moomin-style picnic. Not sure we've ever picnic-ed with snow starting to fall before...

Instead of fireworks, we went to the ice hall this evening, to watch an ice hockey game. Joensuu Jokipojat were playing Sapko, a team from Savonlinna. Sadly, Joensuu lost 5-3, but it was great fun to watch. Neither team showed much mercy in terms of shoving the opposition into the sides of the rink! The small girl thought this was hilarious...

Last of all, we paid a visit to Joensuu cemetery, as it's All Saints Day here in Finland. It's celebrated by placing candles on the graves of family members - and the graveyard was a sea of lights. Every grave had a candle or lantern, with the lines of lights stretching as far as you could see into the darkness. The war memorial was especially moving, as it was surrounded by a low wall of flickering lights.

We've lit a candle, and put it outside our house in memory of Grandpa.

Dusk

2011-10-24T17:52:00.004Z

Sunday views

2011-10-23T19:03:00.005Z

View across the river at Utra

Forest girl

Zebra trees

Crafty days

2011-10-22T19:23:00.004Z

Yes, I know I spend most of my time posting pictures of lakes...This is the view from Joensuu's marina, tucked away at the other end of town, past the horse racing track. It's still only five minutes away from work by car, so we went for a walk there after work on Thursday. M is reading Swallows and Amazons with Orb at the moment, so there were lots of technical details to be pointed out, like rowlocks, cleats and the like. Most of the boats had been taken out of the water, and thoroughly wrapped in tarpaulins against the winter. But a few were still merrily floating in the harbour, and there were a couple of hardy souls kite surfing on the lake, despite the chilly weather.

Today's been cold and rainy, so we went inside the Joensuu Areena to a massive craft fair. Handicrafts are big in Finland - everyone seems to be either crocheting a rug, knitting a pair of socks or creating something out of wickerwork. The Areena was filled with stalls selling wool, others selling hats, and many more with candles and silverwork (pendants made from cutlery are very popular). There was a fabulous set of exhibition cases with Barbie dolls from the 1960s onwards (and a lone Sindy), some beautiful dolls houses, and a random antiques corner selling the usual overpriced nonsense. Oh, and a fashion show, which was very...Scandinavian, with lots of felted hats. We had a lovely time - M made a spider with wire and beads with the nice ladies from Joensuu's arts and crafts centre, Taitokortteli, and Orb and I ate our own bodyweight in buns. I may also have had to be restrained from buying most of the wool and craft projects on offer from Taitokortelli - they have the most amazing stuff.

Lake views

2011-10-15T18:30:00.004Z

Fish!

2011-10-09T17:16:00.003Z

We've spent this weekend either eating fish or gardening, not something you get to say very often.

The fish came in at Joensuu's Kalamarkkinat, which was held down by the harbour. There were lots of stalls selling the usual kind of thing (woolly jumpers and socks, dried flowers), but this time there was lots of food too - we tasted olives and pickled gherkins (good), corned fish (like eating cat food), a strange sort of porridgey/oatmeal mix (good, but bizarre), all sorts of rye bread (excellent), and some smoked salmon (amazing, so we bought some). The 'Best of British' stall was hilarious - lots of flavoured cheddar, Wills and Kate celebration mugs, and an awful lot of overpriced lemon curd and jams. It was interesting seeing what is considered 'exotic' enough to export...

There were also some 'interesting' karaoke singers, who won points for effort if nothing else. We never did work out if you had to sing songs about fish (the advert for the event had said there would be 'fish karaoke'), or what the man playing the accordion was singing about.

We had lunch at the market too - no fish and chips or kipper in a bun like at home, but small whitebait-style fried fish (muikku), and some hot smoked fish with fried potatoes, vegetables and a garlicky sauce. M demanded grilled sausage, but then proceeded to demolish the muikku... We couldn't move afterwards, but it was so worth it.

The gardening must have worked off some of the calories, I think. Our landlord has bought a whole load of plants and trees for the (rather bare) garden, which we have agreed to put in. So we have dug lots of holes (surprisingly easy on the sandy soil), and planted 10 shrubs and two lilacs. There's still three fruit trees to go - this may be a bit harder as the holes for them need to be a metre deep. We may need more fish before we can tackle that one...

Next time Debenhams need catalogue models...

2011-10-02T14:55:00.003Z

We've got this pointing lark down to a fine art...

Just another standard Sunday in Finland...

2011-09-25T18:09:00.003Z

They have strange squirrels near Kontiolahti:

And even stranger Dr Who-style lichen:

We also saw a lesser-spotted Orb:

Trees, and more trees

2011-09-24T18:12:00.005Z

The Finns really love their forests and trees. Here's M's science workbook - in Grade 1 they are already learning about the different trees and their names. Love the giant purple mushroom too...

It's not very surprising though, when there's scenery like this. Here's a view of our bit of the lake, about 5 minutes' walk from our house:

Preparations for the winter...

2011-09-22T19:03:00.005Z

It's rainy and blowing a gale outside, but that doesn't matter, as we're safe in the knowledge that a cubic metre of wood is neatly stacked in the garage, waiting for the stove to be lit.

Today's the first time it's felt chilly in the house since we've been here. It's getting dark quite early now (7pm Finnish time), and starting to feel like proper autumn, so we'll have to have the stove on soon.

M and I have some snazzy new Finnish wellies to deal with all this rain - but hopefully it'll be nice over the weekend, so we can go hunting for pine cones in the forest. If we were true Moomins we would of course be eating pine needles and covering the chandelier so we can hibernate for the winter...

Forests!

2011-09-15T18:13:00.002Z

My daughter is obviously changing into a Moomin (probably the Snork Maiden)...

Forest tales

2011-09-11T18:47:00.000Z

The nights are drawing in

2011-09-09T18:00:00.002Z

When we arrived at the end of July, it was light until about 11pm at night (and even that was early, compared to silly o'clock during my visit in late June). Now, it's going dark at about 8.30 - everyone on our little estate has got their lanterns out. I guess there's no point lighting them on summer evenings...

Moomin cake!

2011-09-04T17:09:00.005Z

Well what else do you make a Moomin-obsessed girl for her sixth birthday? It was appropriately Finnish, as was the trip to Kitee Zoo, where we saw bears, arctic fox, elk, lynx and the cutest woolly pigs (I kid you not) I have ever seen.

Lakeside ramble

2011-09-02T18:25:00.002Z

Grandpa

2011-08-28T18:11:00.003Z

Joen Yö

2011-08-27T18:17:00.001Z

We went to Joen Yö 2011 on Friday - it's the equivalent of Museums at Night in the UK, with the museum, art gallery, theatre etc staying open late and putting events on. There were all kinds of stalls down by the river, and lots of bands playing some interesting music on the stage in the marketplace. Here's one lot, who didn't err towards the heavy metal as much as some did:

We sat and watched them while eating some rather good bratwurst, courtesy of a German stall (the marketplace was full of stalls selling food, sweeties, heavy metal t-shirts...).

We had a lot of fun wandering around and discovering what was on - we loved the folk dancing on the marketplace stage, but the absolute highlight was a steel pan band playing Europe's The Final Countdown. Aces.

More blueberry rambles

2011-08-21T15:48:00.005Z

As is traditional on Sundays, M and I headed off to the forest. We went back to Lykynlampi for a stomp around the lake (and quite a lot of blueberry eating). We followed most of the yellow trail:

We saw several huge dragonflies, lots of people with baskets full of huge mushrooms or buckets of blueberries, and many, many trees (rowan, pine and birch).

We also found a mysterious set of steps, which we had to climb (all 167 of them):

But the view from the top was worth it!

Our new house, part I

2011-08-18T18:13:00.007Z

We rather like our (rented) Finnish house. It's amazingly warm and cosy, which is rather a novelty after the draughty Victorian/Edwardian terraces we've always lived in in the UK. I don't think I've ever lived in a house this new either - it's only two years' old.

Here's our living room, complete with 1960s sofa salvaged from the Red Cross shop for 40 euros:

We also have a stove, for when the weather turns cold:

We have a compact, but bijou kitchen, complete with the largest fridge/freezer combo you have ever seen (you've only got the fridge part of it here in the picture)

And then there's three bedrooms, a bathroom/sauna, a utlity room and a loo room. Plenty of space for all of us and the cat...

Blueberries, part II

2011-08-17T09:11:00.005Z

These pictures were taken on Sunday, when we headed off into the woods again, this time to Lykynlampi. It's about 5k north of where we live, and has all kinds of walking/hiking trails, and some rather good blueberry spots. We might return soon for some lingonberries (and we also have plans to gather some pine cones for firelighting use in our stove, once we get a run of dry weather).

Lykynlampi is an absolutely gorgeous spot. The sunlight was dripping through the trees onto the forest floor, which was studded with blueberries. We also found the lake, with its firepit and outdoor sauna (the first is quite tempting - we might come back for a picnic - but we might give the second a miss. I think we need to try out the sauna in our own house first!).

So far we've stuffed our faces with blueberries as they are. I've also made some blueberry muffins, and filled the (massive) freezer with berries. It's all down to our magic collecting device:

New car!

2011-08-11T05:38:00.003Z

It's a Mazda mumble mumble mumble, blue/green and the size of a small house. All three of us could comfortably live in the boot - I predict lots of picnics in the rain! Here we are setting off for work this morning - it's about a 10-minute car ride into Joensuu centre, which is where my office is at the moment. I cycled earlier on in the week, and it took about 25 minutes (it's very flat, much like the Fens which I grew up in).

Blueberry picking

2011-08-07T15:00:00.000Z

A Finnish Sunday

2011-07-31T16:04:00.006Z

While Orb went to Helsinki to fetch Rustle the cat (don't get me started on the vagaries of airlines and carrying pets or not as cargo), M and I have had a lovely day in the sunshine. We set off this morning on our bikes to explore the lakeside, stopping at every playground along the way.

We saw lots of Finns washing their rugs by the riverside, and found some top class play equipment, including a rather nifty pirate ship. No squirrels in amongst the trees today though (yesterday we saw a very tame red squirrel in EFI's back garden, collecting moss for his nest).

This afternoon we explored the car boot sale in Joensuu's marketplace, seeing how many Moomin items we could find (many!). M scored a Moomin headscarf for 20 cents, which made her day, as all little Finnish girls seem to wear headscarves rather than hats.

Greetings from Finland!

2011-07-29T16:56:00.005Z

We have arrived!!
Here we are looking suitably shattered after the third flight of the day. We flew from Newcastle to Heathrow (grotty as ever) to Helsinki (clean and full of Moomin shops) to sunny Joensuu. All our luggage made it (bar the car seat, which is somewhere in transit), as did Rustle the cat, who is currently ensconced in a cattery in Helsinki. We may have also eaten our bodyweight in sandwiches...

We are now living in the staff flat at EFI for a few days, while we sort out the house. We went to take a look today - this involved picking up the hire car, trying to work out the speed limits, and trying to decide who has right of way in Finland. We didn't hit anything, so we think we got it right...

The house is in the suburb of Marjala - here's the centre, with a bridge over the canal. And two rather tired people in the foreground.

There's a little swimming beach, lots of boats, and a nice park. I think we'll enjoy living here.

Our other excitement today was heading to the Finnish supermarket, and discovering that they sell Whiskas. Rustle's going to be very happy. I've also opened a Finnish bank account to pay for all the Whiskas.

Finally, we sat in the market square in Joensuu in the sunshine, eating ice creams. It still feels like we're on holiday - it hasn't really sunk in that we're here for a year yet!

Oh, and I was forced to try on a crayfish hat for general family amusement. I'm not convinced...

Away you go!

2011-07-20T21:10:00.002Z

This is what enough possessions for three people for a year in Finland look like in box form:

We have very different priorities: Orb's got his music gear, I've picked cookery books/kitchen stuff and a craft box full of knitting needles, and you can see M's dolls house perched on the front pallet. We're also taking three bicycles (in very large boxes), and a *lot* of jumpers.

All this is being shipped off tomorrow by the transport firm - and will hopefully arrive after we do in Joensuu.

Now all that we have to do is pack up the rest of the house....

I think we're going to like Finland just fine...

2011-07-06T20:19:00.002Z

Any place that has Moomin biscuits can't be bad!

The packing madness continues unabated, and things are being divided into three piles: ship to Finland, store in UK or recycle/ebay/give away. It's like an enormously complicated jigsaw puzzle. Only without the picture that you can look at for help.

The other challenge is letting organisations know we are leaving the country for a year. Most places are just set up for people moving house rather than moving country, so it's proving interesting. You practically have to show a death certificate to the TV licence people, to prove you no longer want a tv licence....

Washed and brushed

2011-07-03T22:22:00.004Z

After a yesterday's excitement (our flights are booked!), the troops spent this morning washing and polishing our car, so we can sell it (anyone interested in an Audi A2 with a tow bar, do drop me a line!). The plan is to buy another car in Finland when we get there...

The troops also hoovered out the Danish/Northumberland beach which had been sitting in the boot for a while, despite our best efforts. The car is now cleaner and shinier than it's ever been...so this afternoon we took it out for a spin to Belsay, to meet some friends for a picnic. It was gloriously sunny: here's the view in the quarry garden.

I can thoroughly recommend visiting on a Sunday afternoon - it was really peaceful. Everyone seemed to disappear off home at about 4pm, leaving us with the place to ourselves. And best of all, the ice cream shop at the castle does mini milks!

Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work I go!

2011-07-02T20:22:00.004Z

And not just any old work. On 28 July Orb, M and I are off to sunny Finland for a year, as I'm leaving freelance life and taking up a post at the European Forest Institute in Joensuu.

That's here:

View Larger Map

(yes, it's a long way north of Gateshead...and yes, we'll be packing our sledge)

We leave on 28 July - which leaves 27 days to pack up and rent our house, ship out our belongings, and arrive (via three flights) in sunny Finland. Eek.

Finland in the sunshine

2011-06-29T13:52:00.002Z

Travels in Finland

2011-06-28T20:48:00.008Z

0540: Newcastle airport is surprisingly busy at this time in the morning. The rest of the city looked quite sleepy as the taxi zoomed through, but the airport was jumping. There are lots of people heading out on holiday (folks, the hats and acres of skin are a bit of a giveaway), and even more business people standing around looking shifty in suits.

0755: BA’s scoring points for a very comfy aircraft for the trip down to Heathrow. Sadly it’s a bit cloudy, so you can’t see much en route – although by the time we’re coming into London you can grab a quick glimpse of the Thames.

0930: I’d forgotten how much I hate Heathrow. Terminal 3 is awful – far too many people, far too few places to sit, dirty and hideously expensive. Welcome to Britain, everyone. It does get better.

1045: I’m sat on a Finnair plane, en route to Helsinki. Or I would be had we not missed our slot for takeoff – we sit on the tarmac for a good 40 minutes. I manage to fall asleep and miss the safety briefing, so I’m hoping we don’t crash.

1130: Top marks to Finnair for their sandwiches. They’re edible – although that may be because I’m starving.

1522: We land in Helsinki. A top class landing (unlike the bumpy BA one at Heathrow, which woke the passengers up a bit). Helsinki is warm. Very warm. I’d even go so far as to suggest a national stereotype, and say it’s like a sauna.

1645: Not enjoying the packed bus from the airport to downtown Helsinki. It’s far too hot, there’s too much luggage stacked everywhere, and I’m desperate for a cup of coffee.

1800: Helsinki central station. The train bound for Moscow looks suitably knackered and Russian, and there’s a huge stall in the middle of the platform selling fresh peas, cherries and strawberries. You don’t get that kind of thing at King’s Cross.

1920 I’m in the middle of the Finnish countryside, doing 160km/h. More trees than you could ever believe possible are flashing past, making Kielder Forest look like a bit of a copse. I’ve just seen a ski jump (they look quite surprisingly concretey in summer when you’re used to seeing them on the telly covered in snow), lots of lakes, and more trees.

Finnish trains are pretty impressive – double decker, air conditioned and amazingly clean if you’re used to East Coast and Virgin. I’m sat in a ‘work cabin’ – a two-seater compartment with seats, electric sockets and tables.

2030: Ok, I might be a bit blasé about the tree thing now. Ooh look: lakes!

2200: Not dark

2245: Arrived in Joensuu! Hurrah!

2345: Still not dark…

Chopwell Woods

2011-06-12T17:38:00.004Z

We did the blue (Outside Line) mountain bike trail at Chopwell Woods today, which was hard work - too many hills for little legs, which meant we had to help push. It wasn't helped by the usual pathetic Forestry Commission signage - Chopwell's generally pretty good, in comparison to some other FC places we've been to, but there were some areas closed off due to logging, and no clue given as to which way to go.

But the ride through the pine trees was lovely (especially the downhill bits). Bizarrely, you could smell strawberries...

Cherries!

2011-06-06T20:06:00.002Z

To be jammed tomorrow...

Bandas!

2011-06-05T19:08:00.002Z

What do you do when you've got up at 5.45am, flown a couple of thousand miles and spent all day swimming in the pool in the sunshine? You go out for moules frites for tea, of course.

So we did. With added souzaphones...

This was the Nuit des Bandas, in Pineuilh (nope, still no idea how you say it) not far from Sainte Foy la Grande. It's quite a festival...beer tents, moules/poulet and frites, and more souzaphones than you've ever seen in one place before, as five bands roamed around competing for an audience. This lot above were Les Pourquoi Pas - who were (a) very loud but (b) rather good fun!

Finchdale Priory

2011-06-05T18:46:00.003Z

Miraculously, it was warm on Friday too, so on the way to the airport we stopped at Finchdale Priory. It's hidden by a river in what feels like the middle of nowhere in County Durham (actually, it's only a couple of miles outside Durham). Bizarrely, the site is next to what looks like a deserted MoD camp (lots of bunkers and tangled barbed wire). Must look it up and see what exactly it was.

But back to Finchdale. It's an English Heritage site, but it's free to go in and stomp about over the ruins - as long as you don't mind paying the £3 parking charge (a bit steep). There's virtually no explanation of what's what - but it's certainly an atmospheric spot.

The first day of summer

2011-06-02T21:30:00.006Z

It was incredibly hot and sunny up at Druridge Bay today - it looked like the middle of the Caribbean. Even the sand was warm on your toes, which I don't think I've ever experienced on a Northumberland beach before.

So we played the obligatory beach games, dug some *massive* holes and paddled in the freezing cold sea. That bit wasn't so Caribbean.

If only the north east would look like this every summer's day...

Corbridge Roman Fort

2011-06-01T21:36:00.004Z

We had a lovely trip out to the Corbridge Roman fort this afternoon, which made me quite nostalgic for my trowelling days (I worked on a couple of Roman and Iron Age excavations as a summer job while I was at university). I really liked Corbridge - it feels rough around the edges like the archaeologists have just left. You can wander about all over the site, clamber over the walls, and explore the nooks and crannies. Here's Orb and M peering under the granary floor...

What I also liked was the way the tiny on-site museum had made itself child-friendly with the minimum of expenditure. We hunted for Grricola the lion's favourite items (which were nicely interpreted and explained), and did a couple of jigsaws. It's not rocket science, but the addition of 10 small cuddly lions suddenly made the rather dry display cases far more exciting.

Sadly, there were no bath houses (I have a soft spot for these, having spent what felt like months cleaning out the hypercaust in one), so we might have to try Chesters, the next major site along Hadrian's Wall, before our English Heritage cards run out.

On yer bike!

2011-05-30T20:55:00.003Z

I am so proud of my little girl. She managed to ride 7.5 miles of trails around Dalby Forest yesterday, and came home covered in mud and with a grin from ear to ear. At age 5, that's not bad going.

As a family, we've really got into the whole cycling business over the last year. At first, it was just a way to make sure we all got a bit of fresh air and some exercise. But it's been brilliant on so many other levels:

it's something we can all do together
it's given M a huge confidence boost (and a skill that will be useful for the rest of her life)
we've got out into the countryside almost every weekend, seen the seasons change, and experienced a whole lot of wildlife that you just don't get in suburban Gateshead

The other thing we like is that cycling is (mostly) free once you've got a bit of basic kit (ie a bike). We've paid for the odd trip into forests (Dalby being a case in point), but for the most part all we've had to shell out for is petrol.

Here's our top tips for getting kids out riding:

1. Buy a decent bike for them to learn on. We bought M an Islabike, and can't recommend them highly enough. Sadly, there weren't any around second hand (they're like gold dust), so we cobbled together enough Christmas and birthday money to buy one. Once M's grown out of it, we'll either trade it in for a new one with Islabikes themselves, or sell it on ebay, thereby funding the next size up... Why are they so great? They're designed with kids in mind - the bikes are incredibly lightweight (which is brilliant if (a) your child is on the small side like M and (b) you yourself end up having to carry/tow the thing), they have child-sized (and easy to operate) brakes, and they are tough as old boots.

2. Have patience. It took a while for M to learn to ride her bike - she's not the most fearless of kids - but we persevered. What really caught her imagination, and made her determined to do it was what she could potentially do if she learned to ride. We talked about cycling holidays, and said we'd take our bikes to Denmark this summer if she could ride along with us.

The other thing we found was that pottering up and down the street wasn't the most exciting way to learn. What did it for M was heading out into the woods - especially some of the long, straight, relatively smooth paths at Dalby Forest and the riverside route at Newburn - and the cycle routes along the Quayside in Newcastle. There, she could build up some momentum and learn to balance, with us walking/running alongside to give her some confidence if necessary (we did a lot of running...). It took a good couple of months before we got our bikes out too - and even now, we have to be prepared to hop off and push if we're going up a particularly steep bit!

3. Make the rides fun. We've explored Hamsterley Forest, Dalby Forest, Chopwell Woods and the Derwent Valley, as well as done some more urban cycle rides along the rivers in Sunderland and Newcastle/Gateshead. There's been lots to see along the way - we've taken photos, chased butterflies, smelled wild garlic, ridden through puddles and up streams, talked about railways/coal mining/weather, looked at maps, played on adventure playgrounds...the list is endless. One of the most useful things we've recently acquired has been a trip computer (£4.99 from Aldi), which has given M a real sense of achievement about how far we've ridden/how fast we've gone, and which also accurately answers the 'are we nearly there yet?' question...

4. Take lots of snacks/drinks. It's amazing how small children who complain that they are on their last legs can be revived by chocolate or cake. We make 'explorer mix': dried fruit like raisins, apricots or dates chucked into a pot with a few nuts and smarties or bits of chocolate left over from Easter. Flapjack is also popular, and doesn't melt.

5. Let them have some 'bike kit'. You don't have to go out and buy fancy stuff for riding bikes (apart from a decent helmet that's the right size and won't fall off), but M is very proud of her designated 'bike clothes'. That's a pair of leggings (so if she falls off her knees don't get too scraped), a long-sleeved moisture-wicking top (very pink), and a lightweight windproof raincoat - all of which we already owned. What we have gone out and bought her is a pair of kids cycling gloves (£3.99), because (a) she's one of those who grips the handles quite hard downhill, and complained about her hands being sore and (b) after a couple of falls we wanted to protect her hands - grit everywhere is no fun, and can ruin your nice cycle ride.

I should point out that any encouragement/bribes are just what work for us and a five-year-old girl obsessed with kittens, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third and chocolate chip brioche. Yours may be wildly different.

Vegetables!

2011-05-19T11:04:00.005Z

The box scheme continues....it's amazing what you can fit into quite a small space. Here's the sweetcorn/beetroot/radish box (with a rogue french bean). I'm not completely convinced there's enough room for the sweetcorn...they might end up being rather tiny.

Up next, potatoes. Plus several of the many onions dotted around the place (this is what happens when you buy an enormous bag at the allotment shop) and some mint.

And finally, the bean/salad fest. To be honest, I've forgotten what I actually planted in here. I think there's carrots, rocket, lettuce, beetroot and peas, as well as the french/borlotti beans at the back. That'll teach me to write things down.

Rievaulx

2011-05-15T21:25:00.006Z

Even in the rain, Rievaulx Abbey is still a lovely place to visit. There's atmospheric ruins to scramble about over (our favourite game was 'spot the fireplace'), a small exhibition about the lives of the monks (M was fascinated by the information about all the animals they kept) and a pretty good tea shop. It's all very low key, which together with the drizzle, made for a very English day out.

Derwent valley explorations

2011-05-08T18:35:00.005Z

Stage 2: Rowlands Gill to Hamsterley Mill and back (about 4.5 miles), still on the path of the old railway. We crossed two amazing viaducts, met some very nice, inquisitive horses, saw lots of butterflies, and generally had a lovely time. No garlic in this section (the bit between Swalwell and Rowlands Gill is plastered with the wild stuff), which M was very pleased about.

Book review: Annabel's Kitchen

2011-05-04T12:25:00.004Z

I was sent an Annabel Karmel cookbook to review a couple of weeks ago by the lovely people at Random House. It's the newest in her extensive series (you might remember I went to the launch of the Top 100 Pasta Dishes last year, which turned out to be a really useful compendium of family recipes).

Annabel's Kitchen: My first cookbook ties in with a TV series of the same name, currently running on ITV. We aren't big TV watchers, so I must confess we've not seen the programme - and to be honest, I'm not sure the book works very well without it. Out of context, it's all a bit over-the-top 1980s zany, with some very stagy photographs, whereas it might make a bit more sense if you'd seen what went on in the studio.

The idea's great - "discover the importance of food and its ingredients" - and as a cookbook for kids, the recipes are nice enough, but the emphasis on turning your food into animals, faces or whatever does pall after a while. I might be turning into a grumpy middle-aged lady, but food's far too important to mess about with. The pig melon (p72) has to be seen to be believed (although anything that gets fruit/vegetables into small children should be applauded, I suppose, and if you were making it as a one-off for a party, it might be worth it).

But for me, it doesn't hit the spot. The book's not simple enough for the age group targeted by the programme to read/engage with/use - there's a lot of recipes, a lot of small text if you've got a just-starting-to-read small person, and not quite enough step-by-step pictures. If you're a bit older, you'll probably be turned off by all the penguin shenanigans (and anyway, should really be using the bible of children's cookbooks, the River Cottage Family Cookbook).

Sorry Annabel. Better luck next time, in this household at least.

In which the tomato plants continue to take over the world...

2011-04-29T19:00:00.005Z

Annoyingly, M's tomato plants are still far larger than mine. Humph.

In other news, the new planter is ready, so the beans are off shortly to a new home. Bet you never knew there could be such excitement in the world of gardening...

Galena galore

2011-04-28T21:20:00.004Z

We've had a fantastic day out today searching for rocks in the middle of the North Pennines, miles from anywhere. The Killhope Lead Mining Museum is a bit of a drive from Newcastle - about an hour and a half - but you pass miles upon miles of moorland (complete with very cute lambs and sheep) as the A689 road wriggles higher and higher up the valley towards Alston.

Once you've arrived, there's plenty to do. We liked the little exhibition about 'spar boxes' and minerals, and loved the reconstruction of the 'mine shop' where the miners lived during the week. There's a huge water wheel which drives working machinery - and best of all, there's the washer yard where kids can have a go at looking for galena (silvery lead ore) and minerals. There was much enthusiastic washing and hammering of stones going on!

We didn't tour the mine today (I hate the dark and get claustraphobic underground, M's probably a bit small yet), but probably will at a later date - once you've bought a ticket for entry, it's valid for a whole year.

We did have a good wander round in the woodland, though, tracing the paths of the water down to the water wheel. There were no red squirrels to be seen, sadly, but there's always next time...

More cycling

2011-04-26T20:01:00.003Z

Today we pootled along a section of the Derwent Walk Country Park, which is about 20 minutes' drive from where we live. Two miles out of Swalwell along the Derwent Walk, there's a huge viaduct (the Nine Arches), with gorgeous views down the valley to Gibside and its Column of Liberty. You can see the Column in the picture here, nicely camouflaged by lots of twigs:

Here's the troops looking slightly restive at the halfway point, and needing their tea:

Our next challenge is to go all the way along the path to Rowlands Gill. A promise of a reward has been issued: ice cream at the National Trust tea room...

Cycle trip!

2011-04-23T19:53:00.004Z

It's amazing what you can fit on the back of an Audi A2. Not content with towing the folding caravan, we've now got a bike rack that goes on the towbar (we've had bikes on the roof, but sadly that's too tall for the ferry over to Denmark this summer).

We rode in Sunderland today, along the river from the National Glass Centre, which is part of the C2C. It's not a bad path - apart from the odd scattering of broken glass - which takes you past some weird and wonderful remnants of industrial architecture. We liked the giant hamster wheel:

There's some interesting stuff to look at (and a very interesting smell), but it's not as nice as the route along Newcastle's quayside. Apart from anything else, I'd feel safe trundling along the Quayside on my own, and probably wouldn't along the more deserted stretches of the Wear.

Belsay

2011-04-22T19:43:00.005Z

It was sunny and warm today so we trundled off to Belsay again - this time for an egg hunt rather than a fairy trail, and a picnic (the second this week!). The egg hunt was fun - there were lots of letters hidden in the gardens, which then had to be made into two words (Easter-related, not surprisingly).

We had a picnic at the castle, and then climbed the winding steps to the roof. I don't remember going out there before - it's probably been too cold and windy the other times we've been! There's a great view across the valley, and some rather good turrets.

The Quarry Garden was as beautiful as ever - last time it was snowdrops, this time it was lime green ferns and pink, white and red rhododendrons:

All in all, a top day out. More like this please.

Bluebells

2011-04-20T20:26:00.005Z

We headed to the bluebell woods in Durham today, for some general larking about and a picnic.

It was beautiful - huge carpets of bluebells, and sheets of sunshine dripping through the trees.

And some small children competing to see who had the tallest stick...

It's amazing what will keep small children amused in the Easter holidays...

2011-04-18T19:15:00.003Z

Gardening

2011-04-18T18:49:00.006Z

We have gone slightly vegetable mad in the garden at the moment. I've planted what feels like nine million red onions, lots of salad/beetroot/radishes, potatoes, some sweetcorn (which may be a tad optimistic, in Gateshead) and several punnets-worth of strawberries. This year I've decided not to do the allotment, hence our new range of pots:

Excitingly, there's a new planter under construction, which is going to be perfect for the various beans (french, borlotti, runner) which are currently invading the living room.

It's rather sad to have to give up on the idea of the allotment. But I just don't have the time - hopefully it will be much easier to spend 10 minutes each evening pottering about in the garden, rather than feeling permanently guilty that I've only been to the allotment for an hour all week. I've already planted more things than I did in all of last year - not having to weed makes such a difference. Now all I need is for the slugs to steer well clear of all this food!

Child and cat in perfect harmony

2011-04-11T18:46:00.003Z

Story time

2011-04-06T10:18:00.002Z

How to keep your five-year-old amused in the back of the car on a long-distance journey - make them write you a story:

"Sparkle town is...a cat town!
This cat is a Manx cat. He is looking at a flower. The sun is out and it is shining."

Am liking the detail...

It's very cold in Sweden

2011-03-29T10:25:00.006Z

I had a work-related trip to Stockholm yesterday (it's not often I get to say that). It's an amazing place - but absolutely freezing still. There are a few signs of spring (crocus flowers were just peeking out in a few places), but here's the view from one of the bridges across to Gamla Stan - look at all the ice!

You could see all the frozen lakes/waterways from the plane on the way in, too - with a few channels through for the ferries.

Anyway, I had a good wander about central Stockholm for an hour in the sunshine, but then got too cold and had to retire to a cafe for coffee and cinammon buns. I've decided they might be the best bit about Sweden. I might have to make an emergency trip to IKEA for some more...

Ta-da!

2011-03-17T20:35:00.002Z

Here's our pinhole camera image in all its glory - the streaks are the sun as it's moved across the sky over the last three months. You can see our back lane (and lamppost) quite clearly (our camera was fixed to the corner of our balcony). There used to be a few specks of mould, but they've been taken out in Photoshop.

Very impressed - it was just a beer can containing black and white photographic paper, with a teeny-tiny pinhole. Even more impressive, it was developed using a scanner (see www.pinholephotography.org for more info).

Maker Faire 2011

2011-03-13T21:49:00.004Z

We've been at the madness which is Maker Faire UK today. Robots, knitted neurons, firebreathing dragons, and more craft/tech nonsense than you can shake a stick at. It was fabulous - inspiring, creative and completely potty.

Here's Orb and M making a rocket:

And here's Captain Jack with the finished product: Thunderbird 27

More pictures to follow, including some amazing long exposures of us dancing with glow-in-the-dark bracelets/swords etc and the image that was developed from our pinhole camera!

Alnwick Garden

2011-03-09T20:47:00.005Z

We visited the Alnwick Garden last Saturday, as it's free until the end of March. Sadly, the fountains weren't switched on, but the garden was as beautiful as ever...and mostly deserted.

The cherry orchard. The bulbs are just starting to poke their leaves above the ground - in a month or so, it'll be gorgeous.

The walled garden was very peaceful, and surprisingly warm in the sunshine. I loved these tiny irises, which were nestled in close to the box hedges:

Cereal days

2011-03-09T10:34:00.005Z

You may remember our views on breakfast - the three of us are big consumers of homemade marmalade, peanut butter and Marmite, and get through more toast in one sitting than a large toast-eating creature.

So it was quite interesting to be asked to roadtest some cereal recently - the new Superfruity brand from Shredded Wheat. I have to admit that I'm a fan of the plain, mini Shredded Wheats with lots of milk and a handful of raisins. But I've never really successfully got them into the small person - she's usually too busy eating granola and yoghurt or yet more toast. We were sent both boxes - the blackberry, blackcurrant and blueberry, and raspberry, strawberry and cranberry varieties.

And I have to report, that they're a success, for the small person at least. She's hooked on the raspberry/strawberry/cranberry variety (blackberry/blackcurrant/blueberry got the thumbs down), and has demanded them for the last week. As for me - I'm undecided. A bowlful is a bit much (they're quite sweet), but mixed in with the original variety, they're not bad. And it makes a change from toast...

Spring planting

2011-03-01T22:37:00.002Z

It's probably a bit early, but we couldn't wait any longer...

The rain in North Yorkshire...falls mainly on Whitby

2011-03-01T22:22:00.004Z

It was a rather cold, wet and gloomy day in Whitby on Saturday. As we arrived, the rain was lashing down along the seafront, making all the bucket and spade shops look a bit bedraggled. I do like the 'kiss me quick' end of Whitby - the bit with the amusement arcades, ice cream shops and winkle stalls - but it did all look a bit damp.

Luckily, Whitby's absolutely stacked with fish and chip restaurants, so we found a nice one and ensconced ourselves with fish, chips, mushy peas and the obligatory cup of tea. There's something very comforting about sitting in a cafe with steamed up windows on a rainy day, I always think.

But Whitby's always fun, even in the rain. We saw umpteen gothic shops, walked past the very entertaining Dracula Experience, and found the best sweet shop in the world at the bottom of the Abbey steps (we can heartily recommend the chocolate fudge).

The sun finally appeared for 10 minutes later on in the afternoon - here's the playground up by the art gallery/museum, where we made the most of the non-deluge.

Budget for the day: £1.60 on fudge. We were taken out for lunch for the fish and chips - yeay!

If you go down to the woods today...

2011-02-24T20:31:00.006Z

...you're likely to find snowdrops!

Today's trip was to Belsay Hall, in search of snowdrops, fairies and sunshine. We found all three! And a certain small person had her first ice cream of the year, which must be something of a record for February. It was lovely and warm in the Quarry Garden (even the rhododendrons were flowering), and we saw more snowdrops than you could shake a stick at.

We also did a fairy trail, which led to (a) an in-depth discussion on the merits of the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and (b) a 'reward' of a chocolate bunny and a sticker. Not sure which was more educational...

Today's budget: £1 for an ice cream (we're English Heritage members, so saved the £16 it would have cost us to get in!)

Books and chairs

2011-02-23T22:25:00.004Z

We made use of our local assets today - visiting Gateshead Central library and the Shipley Art Gallery, which are just round the corner from our house.

The library's always fun - especially now it's been completely refitted. The new children's section is huge, light and bright, and they seem to have also had an influx of new books. We had a whale of a time searching for books by Cressida Cowell (we watched How to Train Your Dragon recently, and M was very taken with the idea that there were a series of books behind it), and read far too many Julia Donaldsons.

The best bit, though, is the new self-service machines. They're so simple that a five-year-old can work them quite happily - and M was entranced by the fact they give you a printed list of what you've borrowed.

This afternoon we headed to the Shipley, to see their Sit Down exhibition, on tour from the V&A Museum of Childhood. It's all about chairs and seating for kids, with chairs of all ages and shapes - everything from an 18th century high chair to a beanbag. There's an interesting selection of items, but very few that you can actually sit on, which was rather disappointing. The 'interactive' bit was quite poor, in fact - a Goldilocks and the Three Bears-style table with chairs to try out suffered from not all the chairs being there. I get the feeling that the exhibition was probably considerably larger originally - it really didn't live up to expectations, and was certainly nowhere near as good as some of their previous efforts (the Supremes costumes and the Penguin covers spring to mind).

M did draw her idea of a great chair, though - I especially like the cat servant who caters to your every need:

Today's budget: £0 (Our library books weren't overdue!)

Cycling: bribery will get you a long way

2011-02-22T21:44:00.005Z

Today involved a lovely lunch with friends, followed by a long cycle ride from Ryton along the Tyne to Wylam. It's about three miles along the river bank, I guess, on a fairly flat, wide path. This picture's slightly blurry as I was cycling along at the time, but you get the idea...

We saw lots of ducks floating downstream, huge clumps of snowdrops on the sandy banks, and a fair few golfers on the fairway. The main attraction, though, was the Boathouse in Wylam itself - we'd promised the kids crisps (and us beer) if we made it all the way there.

Rather pleasingly, the older ones and M wanted to ride home again - so we tackled the path in the gloom, before a long push up Station Bank in the dark.

Today's budget: £6.10 on beers, orange juices and crisps.

Castles, cheese and cake

2011-02-21T21:45:00.004Z

We decided to have a trip up to Alnwick today, to go to Barter Books, which is one of the largest secondhand bookshops in the country. Its schtick (aside from the fact that it's located in the old railway station) is that you can take a bagful of books and they'll give you a value for them...which can then be spent on yet more books.

We're currently in credit, and were looking for all sorts of stuff today. There's a great children's section, more cookery books than you can shake a stick at, and everything from fiction to railways, maps or music books.

M came home with several new Paddington books, a Dick King-Smith, a book about pasta (that's my girl - start with the cookery books early!) and a Peter and Jane (3b - I remember them well). Orb's collecting Ian Fleming's Bond novels, and managed to find Goldfinger. My masterpiece was the delightful Make a Meal of Cheese, published in 1973 by the Cheese Information Service. It contains such gems as cheese roundabouts, cheddar curry and crunchy cheese bobs, illustrated with some lovely 1970s brown and orange photos. I have been politely requested not to make any of the recipes it contains...

Our other two missions in Alnwick were to find (a) tea and cake and (b) castles. The first was surprisingly difficult - there don't seem to be that many good teashops in Alnwick. We eventually found Grannies on Narrowgate, which did a pretty good selection.

Castles were easier. M's project for school this week is to do something to do with castles, whether it's making one, drawing one or whatever. We've been taking photos all week of anything castle-related, so Alnwick scored highly for having a real, live castle in all its damp, rain-soaked glory.

Budget for the day: £8 on coffee, hot chocolate and lots and lots of cake.

Gateshead Quays

2011-02-20T21:46:00.007Z

It was another cold, dank February day today, but we had to get out of the house. We've been trying to cycle every weekend over the winter, in an attempt to give M some practice before we head to Denmark this summer - so far we've hit the Newburn-Wylam trail, Chopwell Woods, Hamsterley Forest, the river at Stockton on Tees, and Newcastle Quayside. Today it was Gateshead Quayside's turn. We've lived here in Newcastle or Gateshead for the last...ooh, far too long...and have never gone upstream along the river from the Tyne Bridge.

Today only M was on her bike - some days it's warmer for us to walk really really fast alongside her, rather than cycle very slowly.

We discovered that:

- the bridges don't half rattle alarmingly when a train or metro goes overhead
- there's a fair amount of seaweed along the path
- the new houses at Dunston staithes look rather nice (but that they're beaten hands down on architectural merit by the staithes themselves)

After an hour or so, we were cold and in need of cake. So we headed to IKEA, where you can get cinnamon buns and a cup of tea for 50p.

Today's budget: £1 for tea and buns. Bargain.

Despicably good

2011-02-19T21:44:00.004Z

It's half-term. Hurrah!

Actually, it's probably one of the few times over the last few years that I've liked the fact it's half-term - before M went to school there was always much moaning about families cluttering up the place and the usual activities being cancelled.

All that's changed now, though. After two months back at school, it's nice to spend some time with her properly (and we're very lucky that we both work freelance, so can take a bit of time off).

So this week's going to be a bit of a mini-holiday. But a very Gateshead-based one. All our holiday cash is being saved up for Denmark in August (yes, we liked it so much we're going back again), so we have a minimal budget for the next nine days.

Today's treat, given that it was pouring down with rain/snow/sleet outside, was to head to the Saturday morning matinee. We like the Saturday morning kids films at the Empire. They're on at not a bad time (10.30am), it's £1 a ticket, and you can round off the experience with buns from the Chinese bakery round the corner. And we loved today's offering - Despicable Me. It's the story of how an evil supervillain called Gru finds his life changed by three orphan girls. He plans to use them in his plot to steal the moon - but is completely bowled over by them, and ends up becoming their dad.

There's lots of laughs (M loved the fart gun), and some delightfully witty dialogue for adults - especially when Gru's reading the three kittens book that the girls love. And there's quite a good plot too, with minimal nauseating American schmalz (quite remarkable, given there's three ballet-loving small girls at the heart of proceedings). Definitely one to watch (especially if you have a small girl yourself).

The buns were good too. I don't know how Bread Point do it. They produce rack after rack of gloriously pillowy, doughy bread buns for 60-90p a time, filled with things like spiced pork, char sui, curried beef and Thai chicken. Perfect stodge.

Today's budget: three tickets to the cinema £5.10 (it may be £1 per ticket, but there's a booking charge for lazy people like us who want to guarantee a seat, but not get out of bed too early)
lots of buns at the Chinese bakery: £4.90

Total: £10

Bah

2011-02-15T13:18:00.002Z

And thrice bah. I'm ill with tonsilitis, stuck in the house and grumpy as hell. What I really want to be doing is pottering about in the sunshine in the garden, secateurs and trowel in hand. There's also the small matter of an allotment, which I may have not visited since about October (ahem).

Instead, I'm whiling away the hours feeling guilty about not working and listening to Radio 4. Now I love Radio 4 dearly, but I haven't half listened to some tat over the last few days. Melodramatic dramas. Pseudo-intellectual discussions (yes, most of those involved you, Mr Bragg). Incomprehensible (and unfunny) comedies.

Oddly enough, the best of the lot was You and Yours. Don't laugh. I know it's normally terrible. But yesterday they had an inspired segment on the PR stories they'd been sent which were tenuously linked to Valentines Day. It made me howl with laughter (quietly, of course).

Book review: Frank and Teddy make friends

2011-01-31T11:25:00.002Z

My heart sank when this book arrived from the nice people at Random House. Yet another saccharine tale of how two cuddly toys learn the basics of friendship, I thought.

How wrong could I be? Yes, the title (Frank and Teddy make friends), although descriptive, isn't inspiring. But this is a wonderfully illustrated book, with non-nauseating text.

Professor Frank Mouse is a marvellous inventor - creating bicycles out of pencils and string, a fabulous set of wings, and in a moment of Dr Frankenstein-ness, Teddy. Teddy attempts to help him in his work...but makes a complete mess, and gets sent outside in disgrace. But when Professor Mouse sees Teddy helping others, and them in turn helping him, he realises the value of friendship and working together.

The language is simple and effective (M, who's five, and starting to read for herself was able to read some of it), and the story is set off beautifully by Louise Yates' lovely illustrations. We particularly liked Professor Mouse's experiments, diagrams and doodles set out as if on graph paper, complete with some simple sums.

The verdict: go and buy or borrow from the library. You'll enjoy it. On the strength of this one, we're going on a mission to the library this week to track down one of Louise's previous books, Dog Loves Books, which also looks excellent.

A trip into town

2011-01-27T10:29:00.006Z

I walked into Newcastle from home earlier on in the week, which is not something I often have time for (it takes about 40 minutes). I'd forgotten just how magnificent the High Level Bridge over the Tyne is...

Ready, steady, go!

2011-01-26T11:11:00.005Z

Those of you who follow me on twitter might remember that I got rather excited a couple of weeks ago when a cool bag of food arrived from Little Dish for M to try out.

I'm really not one for ready meals, it has to be said. I prefer making my family's food from scratch, day in, day out - that way I know *exactly* what's going in to them. We make our own bread, cakes, biscuits, yoghurt - yeah, I know, muesli-knitting stereotype here we come...

But there are occasions when you just don't have access to your own kitchen - when you're camping, for instance - so I thought it would be interesting to try a ready meal on M, especially as she's never really eaten them. So we tested the Little Dish Beef and Spinach cannelloni (£2.29).

Firstly, the pros: she ate the lot (we had to fight her for a couple of mouthfuls to taste) and said that it tasted pretty good (we also liked the fact that it didn't shy away from using spices like cinnamon). There's no added salt or sugar - and the ingredients are pretty much what you'd use at home. It was quick-ish to heat up (if you use the microwave, much longer in the oven), and more than enough for a 5-6 year-old, with a little bit of salad on the side.

The cons: the plastic film on the packet is very awkward to tear off - I can imagine it being supremely annoying if you don't have scissors or a very sharp knife handy. But I think the main con for us is that we all eat together - so I'd be unlikely to buy a single, child-sized portion of anything (especially at £2.29). Maybe Little Dish should branch out into family-sized meals?

The verdict: as an emergency food to stash in the freezer, or to take away on a camping trip, pretty good. But I don't think I've been converted to ready meals on a regular basis...

Lady Marmalade

2011-01-19T11:34:00.005Z

I may have got a bit carried away with the marmalade making yesterday. 3kg of Seville oranges is rather a lot to chop up - here's what they looked like after simmering for a couple of hours.

The pan is a rather fabulous Le Creuset jam pot which is on loan from my mum. It weighs an absolute ton (especially when it's got 3kg of oranges in it) but is marvellous. The cat certainly thinks so - she's desperate to sit in it most of the time, so it has to be defended with a cardboard lid on top.

Anyway, several hours later, I am now the proud owner of 12 (count 'em) pots of marmalade. At the current rate of scoffage, that should last us for the rest of the year, just about.

Fridge art

2011-01-12T21:21:00.006Z

This is M's latest creation that we've just added to IKEA's fridge art page on Flickr, called Your Fridge Door.

I'd not really thought about it before, but a virtual fridge door is a great idea. Ours is completely cluttered up with pictures, which have to be culled on a regular basis. I should really start photographing more of them - it would be a great way to document some of the more transient artworks that could then be gently transported to the recycling!

Anyway, the benefit of uploading to the IKEA page is that you get entered into a competition to win lots of art materials. Given the amount we get through, here's hoping we win...

Sushi!

2011-01-11T10:24:00.005Z

M has a lovely book called Sushi for Kids by Kaoru Ono, which is designed to introduce kids to sushi by following the story of Atsushi and his cat. It's full of beautiful illustrations, and has some really easy recipes at the end.

So at the weekend, we had a go at making nigirizushi and norimaki, which were great fun. We

cooked some sushi rice, making sure it was on the al dente side
made a vinegar dressing to sprinkle over the top (with rice vinegar, sugar and salt)
sliced up some smoked salmon and cucumber

Here's the results. First of all, the nigirizushi. These were dead easy to make - although the rice does have a tendency to stick to your hands.

Then we had a go at the norimaki - sushi wrapped in a seaweed roll. We found the seaweed wrappers in Sainsbury's (I suspect they will be cheaper in some of the supermarkets in Chinatown in Newcastle).

M enjoyed layering up the rice and fillings. We don't have a rolling mat, but found that greaseproof paper works just as well. Here's the finished product:

M took the leftovers to school yesterday for her packed lunch, which flummoxed the dinner ladies somewhat...

Maker Faire here we come

2011-01-10T10:17:00.001Z

We had a fabulous time at the Maker Faire event at the Centre for Life last year - constructing drawing robots, baking lollipop pies, and generally playing around with all sorts of technology.

This year, we're taking part in the pinhole sunrise camera project. We have to put the camera (handily disguised as a beer can) outside for three months to capture the path of the sun across the sky as spring arrives, and then develop it at the event in March. Can you spot it below?

We'll post the results when we develop them!

Christmas Day in Saltwell Park

2010-12-30T23:57:00.004Z

Christmas Eve

2010-12-30T23:47:00.003Z

It's become a tradition on Christmas Eve to set up some landing lights (tea lights in glass jars) down the front path, so Father Christmas can see where he's going. We also scatter some glittery reindeer food...

...and inside there's also a glass of whisky and a mince pie, to reward Father Christmas for coming down our non-existent chimney. He really is rather good at getting past the gas flue and the chipboard.

Christmas!

2010-12-16T21:25:00.006Z

As is traditional, we've made our gingerbread house (when I say made, I don't mean I made the whole thing - I cheated and bought the sides/roof/chimney in IKEA). We used royal icing to stick it together, and then attached a whole load of sweeties to the roof. The girl liked that bit very much.

It does seem to be listing slightly, and a week on, the smarties on the roof have turned suspiciously white. I suspect the cat, who has a record of previous offences.

In other news, M's also written a letter to Santa. Apparently she wants some shoes for her (Barbie-sized) riders. Bless.

On breakfast

2010-12-09T10:44:00.004Z

Breakfast in our house tends to be a speedy affair, sandwiched in between waking up, slinging on some clothes and heading out on the school run. At the weekend we're a bit more leisurely, but most of the time it's a hit-and-run.

I've tried making breakfast exciting, with offers of eggs on toast, baked beans or porridge, but what the troops really seem to want is cereal, muesli and yoghurt or toast and something. (Actually, what they really want is croissants, chocolate muesli or pain au chocolat, but that's strictly a weekend treat).

The toast-and-something tastes are clear:

Orb: peanut butter, marmalade, honey
Me: homemade jam (currently working my way through a jar of blackberry and apple), Marmite, marmalade
M: Marmite, marmalade, strawberry jam or Nutella

Usually, it's never the twain shall meet. I don't go near peanut butter, Orb wouldn't dream of letting Marmite touch his knife. None of us have ever tried peanut butter and jelly. I suggested it, but the chorus of boos was overwhelming.

This week, however, we've had a bit of a taste test. The nice people at Whole Earth sent us a couple of jars of peanut butter - crunchy and smooth. So we thought we'd give them a go. Orb's been spreading it on his toast with wild abandon as you'd expect, and M has nicked several bits of his slices, which I think means the crunchy stuff has been a hit. I had a go...but for breakfast, it just wasn't me. Too sticky. However, in a sandwich with either cheese or banana for lunch - now you're talking.

As we say in our house, "two thumbs up good".

The Collings go to Denmark

2010-12-03T13:53:00.003Z

You might remember back in August we disappeared off to Denmark for a holiday - as guinea pigs for VisitDenmark. Here's a video we made about our trip!

If you want to follow what happened in more detail, here's the links to the blogposts we wrote at the time:

12 August 2010: The packing begins
15 August 2010: Ferry-tastic
15 August 2010: Denmark! (Grenaa Strand campsite)
16 August 2010: Denmark day 2 (Grenaa)
17 August 2010: Denmark day 3 (Kattegatcentret)
18 August 2010: Denmark day 4 (Dansk Landbrugsmuseum)
19 August 2010: Denmark day 5 (Jambo Feriepark)
20 August 2010: Denmark day 6 (Saltum Strand, Aalborg)
21 August 2010: Denmark day 7 (Aalborg Zoo)
22 August 2010: Denmark day 8 (Faarup Sommerland)
26 August 2010: Denmark - the verdict

Too much snow

2010-12-02T14:08:00.003Z

I may have had enough of the snow now. I've got Christmas cards to write, presents to wrap, and a small girl to shoehorn into a costume for next week's nativity play at school. Enough with the snowflakes!

Other things I haven't had chance to do yet (mostly food-related):

an exciting peanut butter taste text (the nice people over at Whole Earth have sent us some to review...but the sledging has kind of got in the way a bit)
make our Christmas cake (I'm going back to the 2008 version)
build the annual IKEA gingerbread house (learning from previous years, we won't be putting smarties on the roof, as the cat likes to lick them!)
make mince pies (we did the mincemeat on stir up Sunday)
make some crafty crackers (although this year, we'll be using tissue paper - it took superhuman levels of strength to pull last year's lot)

Eek. That's quite a lot to get done over the next couple of weeks...

Snow! (part 3)

2010-12-01T21:44:00.004Z

So far this week, we've gone sledging:

...built a snow cat:

...and spent quite a while excavating the car and attempting the school run. M went to school by sledge on Monday, which was jolly hard work. I don't think I was a husky in a previous life.

Snow! (part 2)

2010-11-28T20:28:00.005Z

Dusty Springfield lion (left by the house's previous owner, I hasten to add):

The icicles are still growing...

Snow!

2010-11-27T22:04:00.003Z

Knitted decorations!

2010-11-26T20:58:00.005Z

Not content with making Captain Jack a knitted stocking (and finding some chocolate mice to go in it), I've also knitted a star. This might not sound much, but it's very exciting - it means I have finally learned how to increase and decrease stitches properly!

Anyway, I'm very glad it's finished, as the small girl is desperate to put her Christmas tree up on December 1. We've already made little paper birds to hang from the branches - and if the weather stays cold and snowy this weekend, I suspect there might be some craft/glitter work going on (as well as some sledging).

A-ha!

2010-11-19T10:31:00.005Z

No, nothing to do with Alan Partridge. Think 80s synth-pop instead...

After many, many years of waiting (so that'll be *mumble* years since I was 10), I finally got to see A-ha in concert on Tuesday, at the Newcastle Arena, before they retire for good. Here's the Arena beforehand (can't you just smell the anticipation of hordes of middle-aged folk?)

I don't think there was anyone under the age of 30 in the audience, but there were a surprising number of blokes (several of whom knew all the words, and were dancing and waving their arms about). Lots of leather jackets, but not many leather wrist bands (a la Morten circa 1987).

And here's the band onstage, complete with a rather snazzy video wall, which they made good use of:

I think it was probably one of the best gigs I've been to - for a start, I knew all the words to every song, and there was the added bonus of the soundtrack to my teenage years being played in front of me. I'd not heard some of the songs for years (I have the albums on cassette, which isn't wildly practical these days) - and had forgotten how magic things like Manhattan Skyline were.

Knit one, purloin several

2010-11-15T13:50:00.007Z

I'm definitely at the simple end of the knitting spectrum. Over the last couple of years I've managed to make two bags, a ballet wrap (which took *ages* due to the increasing/decreasing stitches nonsense), a hat and a baby blanket. I can cast on, cast off, knit and purl - and that's about it. Anything more complicated than knitting two stitches together has me scratching my head and reaching for the manual.

So I was really pleased to be sent one of the latest books by Quadrille: Simple Knitting, by Erika Knight. Finally, I thought, I might have something to help me decipher those evil knitting patterns, and give me some nice ideas for projects that are not blanket-shaped. (My last project was a cot blanket for my baby niece, who arrived three weeks early...cue some late night knitting sessions).

The book is beautifully photographed, and has some excellent (large and clear) line drawings which illustrate the techniques required. My favourite bit is definitely the stitch library, which shows you in detail what the different stitches look like when worked up into a test square. As I never really know what moss stitch or whatever should look like when I'm making it, that's going to be very useful. I also love the glossary of knitting pattern terms and abbreviations - there's no way I'll ever remember what k2tog tbl means when I come across it. I thoroughly recommend the first half of the book - it's ideal for people like me who know a little bit, but really could do with some help.

Where the book falls down for me, though, is in the projects section. There's just not much there I'd like to make - frankly, life's too short to knit a dishcloth, even if it is in moss stitch. My other gripe is that quite a lot of the projects tend towards the expensive, even if you do ignore the yarn suggestions - one of the cushion covers, for example, uses 6 balls of wool. Even if you do find them in the charity shop at £3 a time or on ebay, it's still not particularly cheap. I dread to think how much 28 balls of Rowan Classic Baby Alpaca for the stripe throw would cost.

However, I do like the rag bag (made with strips of fabric) - it's at least (a) cheap and (b) not in ecru or beige, the dominant colours of the book. And it's one of the simpler patterns - there's 10 that are relatively easy or for beginners - the rest rapidly get more complicated, involving socks, cabling and fair isle (but not all at once!). I might get that far by 2020...

The verdict? Well, I like it, but with reservations. I suspect there are better books out there to inspire people who have never knitted before - but for those like me who have a vague idea what they're doing but need a bit of help along the way (and who love ecru cushion covers), this would be quite a good place to start.

Scary

2010-11-09T09:43:00.003Z

I've been trying to do lots of new, exciting (and/or terrifying) things over the last couple of months. I figured now that M was at school, I'd have a bit more space to give some new things a go. So far that's included:

playing netball again for the first time since I was 15 (sadly, it now takes rather longer to recover from a training session than it did then)
buying a mountain bike, and zooming along some very level forest paths
going to see a couple of radio shows recorded for the Radio 3 Free Thinking festival
going to a speedmatching event run by the lovely people at the Media Trust, and meeting some amazing local charities

Coming up over the next month:

I'm going to the Newcastle Arena to see A-ha play their farewell tour (they'd better be good - I've been dying to see them live since I was 10)
on Friday, I'll be giving a seminar to a group of academics about editing and proofreading journal articles
I'm heading to a workshop to learn how to make knitted Christmas decorations

Phew. I'll be either thoroughly exhilarated, or completely terrified by Christmas...

Games, games and more games

2010-11-04T13:58:00.004Z

The nice people at Random House sent me another book to review this week. It's not a kid's story book this time - but a compendium of games, aimed at all the family.

365 Everyday Games and Pastimes is written by two brothers, Martin and Simon Toseland. It really does contain 365 games - everything from seasonal specials for Christmas or Halloween to games for long journeys or children's party favourites. The games had to be practical, easy to learn and need a minimum of equipment to be included - so the most complicated thing you require seems to be a cricket bat.

The instructions for each game are pretty clear, though for some of the more complicated ones it would have been useful to have more diagrams. There's some line-drawn illustrations scattered throughout the book, but more would certainly help, and might lift the design, which is on the dull side. In fact, that would be one of my major criticisms of the book - that the retro theme on the cover isn't really followed through in the design and layout of the inside - which is surprising, given the recent success of retro books like The Dangerous Book for Boys.

There's a reasonable index, and the book is well-written - but not exactly compelling reading. A little bit of humour would probably have gone a long way, and maybe enticed people to read on further than they would otherwise have done when searching for a particular game or category. It's very definitely a book for adults too, which is a shame - I think a lot of 10-year-olds would be put off by the dryness of the text.

But, having said all that, it does have an excellent collection of games. We'll certainly use some of the card ones (we can never remember the rules to anything), and give some of the car ones a go.

Spookeh!

2010-10-31T23:26:00.003Z

Actually, not quite as spooky as this (taken at the Science Museum in London). The lightbox tables in the cafe are really weird.

Mildred Hubble, eat your heart out

2010-10-22T09:08:00.003Z

It was spooky dressing up day at school today if you were in the reception class. The playground was hilarious - small witches, pumpkins, skeletons and vampires everywhere you turned. But what I found a bit sad was the fact that all the costumes were obviously bought, and really elaborate. I don't remember this as a kid at all - when we had to do Halloween costumes for school or Brownies they were all homemade - you were a ghost in a sheet, or a witch with a black cape and a paper hat. I know people don't have as much time these days, but it's a bit sad that the ingenuity has been lost.

And anyway, we didn't have the requisite £10 spare to spend in Sainsbury's or in Tesco. So M went as Mildred Hubble (from the fantastic Worst Witch book), in decidedly homemade attire. To follow our example, you'll need:

some school shoes
stripy tights (these are M's school tights)
a grownup long-sleeved black top (this one used to be Orb's, before it shrank in the wash. We later customised it with some gold star stickers)
a red sash (this one is a piece of ribbon I was bought for the Jubilee in 1977 - it's red with white and blue stripes! It's amazing what you can hoard for 33 years...)
a witch's hat (I caved on this one, and bought it for £1.99 in Sainsbury's - I figured a paper one probably wouldn't survive a day at school)

Total cost: £1.99. Total time to make: about 10 minutes, by the time we'd found all the bits and pieces in various wardrobes and boxes. Bargain.

Cat in a lunchbox

2010-10-20T13:27:00.002Z

This is what greeted me at 5am yesterday morning, as I blearily lurched around the kitchen before catching the early train to London. Little blighter...what you can't see is that she's actually sat on M's lunch, as well!

Cycling

2010-10-17T21:06:00.003Z