Blue Witch

Speechless

3 hours to determine the placement of an apostrophe?!

Choosing Baby Names

Tales about how expecting parents select potential names for their unborn child(ren) are not exactly uncommon. People seem to have a lot of trouble choosing that 'perfect' moniker. Unless, of course, they choose to name them after their favourite pop star / F1 driver / BB
contestant.

We're the same, at least when it comes to girl's names. In fact, I'm sure I blogged about it 3-4 years ago when we were last going through this but I can't be bothered to find the post now. With boy's names, we don't have any difficulty at all. We chose our son's name (he's known as 'Cirrus' in this part of blogland but that's obviously not what it says on his birth certificate) long before L got pregnant and we decided upon a second boy's name (first and middle) while she was pregnant. But we never could choose a girl's name that we were both totally happy with. By the time Cirrus was born, we did have a name ready in case it was a girl but I suspect I was more happy with it than L, since it's not longer on the table.

So, fast forward three years and L is pregnant again and we still have trouble. L will suggest a name and I'll screw my face up in displeasure. Or vice versa. L gets to six months and we still don't have a name to use if 'it' turns out to be 'she'.

Before I tell you how we finally solved this problem, let me first tell you about the sort of names we like. For a start, we prefer traditional names, so no Britneys or Jensens or Jades. We also like long, 3-4 syllable names that have a single syllable shortening.

Cirrus' name fits this perfectly. We also have to cope with compatibility problems with our surname. Suffice it to say that rules out names like Joshua and Amy (not that we'd have chosen either of those specifically), which cuts down the available pot of names even further.

So, how have we now ended up with the name sorted, ready for the big day in <=12 weeks? In the end it was simple; L just asked Cirrus (who's barely three) what we should call the baby if it is a girl. He thought about it for a second or so and uttered a single syllable. L and I looked at each other. It was perfect. There's an obvious lengthening that fulfils all of our other criteria and that, it turns out, we both really like. It was then relatively simple to choose a middle name from among the rejected names and within five minutes it was all settled and we were wondering how it could have been so difficult.

There we are then. If we have a daughter in July, then we will one day be able to tell her that her brother had a hand in naming her.

For anybody who's now totally confused, that was a Guest Post from Dave, once of Clear Blue Skies, who some of you will remember (blimey, last post nearly 3 years ago!). It's always nice to have the opportunity to catch up with once-bloggers. And even nicer when one of them sends you a Guest Post when you're too exhausted to write your own posts :)

I asked and Dave said that we can guess what the name is, and he will confirm if anyone gets it correct.

Thought for the day

The highest form of human intelligence is the ability to observe without evaluating.

- Krishnamurti

Now we are 14

Mr BW was going to work today. I did have things to do today.

But, we decided at 8 o'clock to forget everything and just go somewhere.

Just occasionally it's good to do things like that.

The secret to our longevity? Communication. And consideration. Far too many people give up on far too many relationships, and go on to have the same problems over and over, because they never work out what goes wrong for them. Erm, see just below.

Thought for the day

We live in a world where you're allowed to say anything, but nothing's listened to.

- Will Self

Now I'm a believer

Doctor Who is real I tell you.

The proof: last night I was shouting grammar corrections at the telly as I normally do (generally relating to less/fewer, was/were, did/done), and he 'heard' and immediately corrected the person I was yelling at! (was/were - did you spot it?)

That's impressive.

*looks anew at satnav*

And Mr BW heard the first cuckoo last night as he was putting the children to bed and setting the anti-Mr Bushy-Tail alarm (one of these, found at a third of this price in a cheap shop, mounted on a suitably aligned post and sited inside a big ice-cream container from the days when they made sensible reusuable containers and we ate ice-cream). We first heard it on the exact same Saturday in April last year. How do they do that?

The 100th Make Blue Witch Laugh Award

And finally we've made 100. I think we should actually be on 516 or so, because this did used to be a weekly feature, but you lot just aren't funny enough any more. Or maybe it's me. Who knows.

Here's a bithday card for us.

Oh, no, wait, that's wrong, it was actually for Nan Mr BW who is 95 today.

Although according to her it isn't her birthday, and she now seems to be living in an era about 35 years ago, but that's probably no bad thing, and just proves that she's got more sense than the rest of us.

For some reason they don't seem to make 95th birthday cards - I only found one, in a church in Suffolk, while we were out last Sunday with Mi1dred - and strangely it had one of Mi1dred's cousins on it, but I decided that 2 cards were better than one, and it gave Nan Mr BW the choice of being 9, 5, 59, or 56, if 95 didn't appeal.

Talking of numbers, as I predicted earlier in the week, the winner of the Centennial Award is commentator Nigel.

I'm not convinced he thought he was being funny when he was attempting to explain circles and triangles to most of the rest of us, and I'm fairly convinced that probably no-one else will have found it the least bit funny, but, well, you all know I'm not normal by now, don't you? :)

Well done Nigel. I'll double the sweet sticky stuff points from 2 to 4 as it's the 100th, so you only have 6 to go. The Stripey Buzzy Familiars are working on your prize as we speak because it's been a lovely sunny 23 degree day here; probably the warmest day of the year so far, although that's not hard. Compared to this week last year everything in the garden, and in the garden we went to this afternoon (where we also went a year ago for Nan Mr BW's 94th) is way behind - probably 2 - 3 weeks we reckon.

Friday questions

How far do you travel to work and by what method?

How long does your journey take and how long would it take if you had to use public transport, if you don't already (that includes walking to the nearest place where there might be any, or walking all the way if there isn't any).

Do you trust T£$co?

Regular readers will know that I don't.

This kind of story just reinforces my belief that they are the most evil brand in this country.

"The Government wants councils to spy on supermarkets shoppers to find out where eastern Europeans are settling in Britain.

The proposal, which is sure to alarm civil liberties campaigners, comes amid concern about the strain being put on public services like schools and GP surgeries from immigration, because the Government does not know where migrants are going to live when they arrive in the UK.

Supermarkets are thought to have access to valuable data on shoppers.

Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary told MPs today: "The Local Government Association has recently suggested that we look at footfall in supermarkets.

"They reckon Tesco has pretty good accurate information about the people who use their stores.

"I welcome that kind of imaginative thinking if it can help us to get a better and more accurate view at the local level of what the impact [of migration] is."

The LGA said that it was holding talks with major supermarkets over the coming months. Tesco was key to the plans because the company has a shop in every post code area in Britain, apart from Harrogate."

Ain't no smoke without fire I say. Ever wondered how (why) T£$co were getting all their planning permissions through on appeal so easily? Future repayments in data assured?

And I wonder what else will be done with all the loyalty card data in the future?

On a related subject, as I was telling Pewari a couple of days ago, there's a problem brewing with rice. In the US, Walmart are already restricting sales. If you eat rice and have the storage space, you may want to buy some extra as it’s already gone up 50% in the last few months and is predicted to go up another 75% before the end of the year (so they said on R4 last week anyway). Supply and demand.

And this, simply put, is why it's happening. Say no to biofuels (unless they are made from recycled oils) as well as to T£$co. Oh - and - you know all those trees that people are buying to salve their consciences (aka offset their carbon emissions)? Well, they're partly responsible for the displacement of traditional crop production in many developing countries too.

It's England Day

Supporting Englishness.

"The Welsh, the Irish and the Scottish all make a feast of their saints' days. In the case of the Irish it has become compulsory for everyone else to join in - which few of us, given the excuse to swallow some pints of the black stuff, mind that much.

St George's Day remains to many in England the equivalent of a bad smell at a tea party. Most try not to notice it. Some notice it but make an elaborate pretence of not doing so.

Some make a point of noticing it in order to ensure it is marked, and that those in the second category are profoundly offended."

Read and understand the scale of the inequality (eg us English would pay 5p per pound less in income tax if we weren't sending £11 billion to Scotland each year due to the Barnett Formula which was only ever intended to be a temporary measure back in the 70s - why are people bleating about the abolition of the 10% tax bracket when there is a much bigger issue that is being continually ignored by the Scots-(over)run UK Parliament!!!).

Tuesday Question

The diagram shows a circle with circumference of 1cm being rolled around an equilateral triangle with sides of length 1cm. (CBA to reproduce the diagram so imagine a triangle with a flat base, with a small circle on the outer right hand limb, about a third of the way down)

How many complete turns does the circle make as it rolls around the triangle (without slipping) to its original starting position?

They say a picture paints a thousand words...

... which is good as I'm too fluffy-headed and exhausted to post anything wordy today.

Thought for the day

To cure ourselves of affluenza we need to focus less on affluence and more on quality of life, which unfortunately affluence can't bring entirely on its own, without good ethical, social, spiritual and community values and wholeness and environmental sustainability. There seems little point in having a beautiful house or a brand new 4WD when the skies of your city are constantly polluted, water is running out, and garbage is piling up everywhere in the streets and elsewhere.

- Greg

To paraphrase Hamilton and Denniss, the authors of the book - "Affluenza is the buying of stuff you don't need, with money you don't have, to impress people that you don't like."

Mi1dred does her bit for preserving our road transport heritage

Today is Nationa1 Drive 1t Day. So Mi1dred is off to flash at some of her old friends.

If you're out and about today, keep an eye out for older vehicles (there are a huge number of events going on around the country), and let us know what you spy.

And keep your fingers crossed for me... if Mi1dred is naughty again today, it could be a jolly long wait for breakdown services...

The 99th Make Blue Witch Laugh Award

It's back! For the first time since 12th January, something made me laugh out loud again.

For anyone too new to know, the last 98 Awards are linked from the sidebar. A warning though... many of them are temporally contextual, and/or, I suspect, otherwise understandable only to me, and my different sense of humour, despite my efforts to explain them.

As ever, coming later... I seem to have some more "What's in the Box?"'s (see below) to settle in first. Lovely new children :)

Much later: My plan worked. Get enough new children and those who survived BushyTailMassacre will leave poor Whitey with the hen-pecked-eye alone. She's currently adopted the 3 newest 16 week old hybrids I collected today, and the three pure breds I sourced on Thursday (who are 6 months, 9 months and 22 weeks respectively) already seem like they've been here for ages and are well-integrated. Here they are (when we get new hens, we keep them in a run within the main electric-netted area, for a few days, so they can all get used to each other, but the new ones can't be bullied by the established ones, and we can check there are no problems with the new ones - these had to be let out a bit sooner than usual because (a) one escaped, and (b) we got other smaller ones):

I don't normally buy new hens who are more than pre-POL, but, needs must, and the place they came from, in deepest Suffolk, is breeding at its best (huge pens, beautifully clean, on grass, and nice to find someone who believes in liberal weekly use of organic-safe red mite powder and louse powder sprinkled around the house, and garlic cloves and the odd splash of cider vinegar in the drinking water, as I do, rather than the more normal pharmaceuticals for everything that most breeders espouse). As Thorne asked, I'll do a post on the breeds we currently have next week.

So, back to hilarity. Three Legged Cat told of thefts from her classroom cupboard. Of the plastic bags containing her pupils' kit.

Now, plastic bags are still just-about free in this country, and the willingness of consumers to help the environment is only too obvious as almost everyone is now using at least some of their own bags when shopping, and market stalls everywhere are full of really good quality light fold-up bags for 50p or £1. Why those who can do something more about the much huger menace that is plastic packaging (yes, I'm looking mainly at you supermarket buyers) can't also get their arses into gear is beyond me. Consumers are an easier target I guess.

Reading TLC's post, my professional sensibilities were well tuned in. I've never come across a pupil nicking plastic bags. Plenty of other things, yes, but not free bags. A real attention seeker, I thought. I'd painted a nice little picture in my mind of all the other likely characteristics, and already worked out a plan for supporting this. And then, TLC took the wind right out of my sails...

What kind of person would steal carrier bags? We have constructed a psychological profile of the culprit: we think they are barking mad. I'm not sure that will help us to apprehend this master criminal though.

So, 2 BW Sticky Stuff Points and this week's a very rare these days trophy to TLC :)

And do let me know if/when you apprehend the suspect won't you TLC? I'd lend you our video camera which works in zero lux if you were nearer, so you could set it up in a hidden corner, because I'm fascinated by this. My best hypothesis is that it's the girl who claims to be the target. But, joking aside, do watch out for other signs - eg se1f-harming - won't you?

Friday Question

I lived in one house until I was 4, another until I was 18 (apart from not-quite a term at a boarding school when I was 16), one room in a hall of residence (on London's Oxford Street) for one year, 2 flats the next year (WC1 and E3), the same hall of residence in W1 for another year (oh gosh, I've just discovered it's closing this year), 3 places during my 10 months studying in Cambridge (room in strange old woman's house, 2 weeks (being allowed one bath a week, a Baby Belling that malfunctioned, and having to be in by 9 every night or the front door was bolted didn't go down well); a room in a new loft conversion in a very religious young couple's house (very scary), 3 months; 8 months in an unmodernised terraced house with round plugs, outside loo and bath in the kitchen), a tied farm cottage in Somerset for 2 years, the first house I owned - a mews cottage, still in Somerset - for another 4, another house about 10 miles from here for 4 years, and now The Coven for nearly 13.

That's 13 different places in total. More than I expected when I started thinking about this. But, if you take out the student years, only 6.

How many places have you lived in?

What's in the box?

Not one person noticed that I'd started doing repeats. So, I might do it more often :)

Give or take a few irrelevant words, today's 'post' was exactly the same as that 6 weeks ago. Because the incompetent glorified odd-job gardeners employed by the local electricty company to cut back the trees and hedges fouling the overhead power lines managed not to finish the job in the 7 hours they had the current off 6 weeks ago, so they had the power off again for another 7 hours today.

"My boss says you're scary!" said the young lad who knocked on my door before they started trimming our oak. "You boss has every reason to be scared of me!" I replied. "As you too will discover if you make a mess of my tree!" I wasn't happy that it took them 6 weeks to get back to finish off the job, not least because our old oak shouldn't be cut back at this time of year, with the sap rising and it almost in leaf.

Anyway, as I couldn't do much without any leccy, as soon as they'd finished chopping, I went out. And came back with a box.

Just like the old days

I'm being deprived of my Witchy Power today.

In approximately 18 minutes time, until 4 o'clock.

A day without phones, computer, doorbell, ah what peace I shall have :)

We do now have a generator for just such eventualities, but, it's nicer to have a day without all the annoyances of modern life. At least until 4 o'clock.

Thought for the day

The world is so disgracefully managed, one scarcely knows to whom to complain.

- Ronald Firbank

Thought for the day

The pervasiveness of our consumerism holds a seductive kind of mob mentality. Collectively we are committing a vast and unsustainable act of taking, but we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences. I fear that in this process we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and to our individual spirits.

- Chris Jordan

Bags

Remember all those squares from last week?

Well, here they are again, this time sewn together.

It looks much more complicated than it actually is. It's basically 4 rectangular panels, each 8 squares by 2 squares, set at right angles to each other, and then adjacent edges put together in pairs and side seams sewn up. A lining is then made in the same way, and the two top edges are sewn together. A couple of handles are added to finish it off. The pattern works for any size squares - 5 inch ones make a huge beach bag.

There's not enough blue in it for my liking - just a couple of squares at the bottom - as I'd already used the purple-blue piece of fabric for another project and the turquoise remaining didn't look right with the rest - hence using the large blue-swirl buttons (which I also made, from po1ymer clay, so saving £3 on buying a set in a shop. Isn't the price of large buttons these days ridicuous?).

I'm lucky that I live in an area where there are plenty of Nice Lady types who enjoy going on day courses, and that there are an ever-increasing number of craft and fabric shops putting them on, at very reasonable prices (£10-£15 for a day, with 6-8 in a class, depending where you go). Now that the government have made council-run adult education courses ridiculously expensive and requiring 8 pages of form filling (aims and objectives of completing the course), no-one is going on them. Consequently the establishments previously running them are closing, so freeing up a pool of good teachers to be snapped up by shops or commuity groups keen to utilise their expertise. It's working fine for now, but I'm not sure where it leaves the next generation when they retire and want to learn new hobby skills. "Education education education!" said Bliar back in 1997. Ha bloody ha.

Whilst on the subject of politics, much as I dislike Mugabe, and everything he stands for and has done, he certainly summed up my view of Golden Brown perfectly in his, "a little tiny dot on this world" proclamation on Saturday. I'd go further and say 'blot' rather than 'dot' though.

There is always plenty of amusement from the other participants on the courses I attend. Sometimes not intended, but they amuse me. The ladies are always quite open about their obsessions with collecting ridiculous quantities of fabric that they cannot possibly ever use themselves. I already have 2 fabric stashes left to me in people's wills...

One lady last week returned to the workroom from the shop with a huge bag of new fabric pieces. The friend she'd come with remarked that she'd have to sneak it into the house because her husband wouldn't be pleased and probably wouldn't speak to her for two days, as happened the last time she went home with more material than she went out with.

When I'd finished wondering why someone would put up with a husband with such an attitude, and suggesting that she should encourage hers to get a Mi1dred to keep him out of her hair, she replied, "My dear, it's really not a problem, we know this is a stable situation." I looked confused. "Stable?" "Yes, stable. It stands for STash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy."

We laughed.

In other news, I'm considering getting a baby monitor to put in with the Feathered Familiars in case Mr Bushy Tail decides to return to create more carnage. After interrupting his visit at 4am last week, so saving 7 of my feathered children, I'm currently waking up at all hours of the night, at every tiny sound (I'm a very light sleeper at the best of times). I have put word out amongst the sprogged groups of my acquaintance that I am seeking such a device and will wait and see whether either that, or the local newsagents and supermarkets 'for sale' boards, throws one up. I can't think of any other way, and anything is worth a try.

Friday Question

This one was inspired by La P who was writing last week about the difficulty of finding underwear that is comfortable.

Despite working in M&S on the lingerie department as a Saturday and holiday job when I was a student, so being quite capable of understanding 'fit', I've always hated buying bras, because I like simple, white and fitting, and not so thin that you (others) can see your nipples through them, rather than stuffed and frilly and push-you-into-odd-shapes-so-men/ lesbians /otherwomenwithnothingbettertodothanconstantlycomparethemselvestoothers-can-stare.

Consequently, I tend to only buy new ones by the set of 6 or 8 when the old set is falling apart. The trauma of trying on every possible one in the shop then only has to happen every year or so. Having found the best fit, once upon a time, I could buy however many I wanted in it, there and then, off-the-shelf. These days I'm lucky if I can get 2 (and that's not because I'm an odd size, it's just stocking policies these days), so I end up having to order the others, and hope they eventually turn up. Not good when it's either 10 or 24 miles each way to Large Enough Town to sell bras.

Once upon a time I used to wash them everyday, and they'd cope with it and last ages. In recent years I've found that if I do that they last about 6 weeks before the cups go all lumpy and mis-shaped and the elastic goes or the hooks come unsewn. But, I'm very fussy about washing whites with only whites, and only at 40 degrees maximum, so I've never had discolouration problems. Bras with 'hand wash only' labels make me laugh. I've never believed that life's too short to stuff a mushroom (I love stuffed mushrooms), but it's certainly too short to hand-wash underwear.

I think that La P was theorising that it was age-related. I commented:

Do you think that's an age thing though? I feel that it's more of a quality thing. Years ago, bras used to fit and support rather than create artifical cleavage by being unnatural shapes and full of gel or weirdly distributed padding.

What were once good quality bras from good quality manufacturers are now made to such a cheap price that they don't last and don't feel comfortable.

I also think they have changed cup sizes - and not just because I have changed size!

La P responded:

Those Wal-Mart type prices are because stuff is being made out of lower quality materials these days. I wish people would see that they are not getting quality at a lower price but cheap stuff at a price that is comparable to what they are receiving.

So, today's question is, are we the only ones having problems with bras?
(see how I've opened the question up to men too? ;))

(Apologies if the comments are being a pain - I've been having huge spam problems - 6298 in 10 days, most, but not all, of which were being caught by the spam widget - Mr Dressmaker has now kindly made some darts in my dress, but things still seem to be recovering, so I'd ctrl/a, ctrl/c before you post so you can ctrl/v if your comment gets eaten. But note that if you get a 'page not found' screen after you've hit post, it *has* probably got through! By a strange coincidence, I followed a link from a comment in a blog comment box the other day, so I now know where you sign up to moronically spam people's comment boxes to make money. Supposedly. I won't post the link because I'd then get spammed even more no doubt... but if you want it, just ask...)

Wanted, but ony dead

This post comes with a warning.

Coven Enemy Number 1: Baby Heron

Appearance: Similar to this or this.

Abode: Similar to this.

Crime: Standing 1 foot away from the kitchen window by the pond attempting to pull off the rigid pastic mesh protecting the Fishy Familiars from its hungry beak.

Date: 4 weeks ago (original pond-emptying crime of its ancestors about 8 years ago and 7 years ago).

Action taken: Witchy Hard Stare. Covering 50% of pond with old curtains. Neither it nor its parents have been seen since. Probably now living in Leytonstone with their relatives.

Coven Enemy Number 2: Sp@rrowhawk

Appearance: Similar to this.

Abode: Could be here?

This appeared in a tree a few hundred yards away days before this year's attacks started.

Crime: Eating 20 adult D'Oves and 5 or 6 Baby D'Oves. 17 adults taken in flight. 3 adults and all the babies pulled from the D'Ovecote.

It eats them alive, exactly like it says here.

I think it was the egg hanging out of the front of this half-eaten one that upset me most (I disturbed the eating process under the D'Ovecote at lunchtime last Thursday when I went to hang the washing out). This D'Ove had already laid one egg, on which its mate was sitting, and this would have been the second (D'Oves only have a clutch of two, parents share responsibility for sitting and feeding).
That evening, while Mr BW was working out a way to contain some of the remaining D'Oves in their Cote to protect them, the cheeky bastard flew right past him, and, as soon as Mr BW had gone off to get something, started devouring the half-bird it had been disturbed from eating at lunchtime, which we'd intended to bury as soon as we'd made the others safe.

I happened to have my camera in my hand when it returned, and this top left picture was taken through the glass in the back door, using the zoom, so it is very indistinct. Amidst the pile of white feathers, between the two pillars (which are a seat in the willow arbour), you might just about be able to make out Coven Enemy 2 Enemy (very blurry image on left, pulled from larger picture). We ran at it and scared it away, but it still flew off with the rest of the D'Ove it had returned to eat.

Date: Started about 4 weeks ago. At first the only signs were declining numbers of Oves at roosting time (dusk). Then piles of white feathers were seen in the field behind us. Last Tuesday there were 2 piles of feathers near the D'Ovecote. Last Thursday, the 3rd (pictured above).

Action taken:7 D'Oves (a pair plus a single) on eggs contained within D'Ovecote using small Cot-ages made when the D'Oves initially came to live with us 5 years ago. Managed to catch 3 other adults and house them temporarily in disused quail house, in an attempt to keep them safe and allow them to breed so we can restock. 4 D'Oves still flying around, keeping a low profile, and not sleeping in the D'Ovecote. It's had the first Mummy D'Ove, Blanche (my favourite) and she was very canny, having escaped death for 5 seasons. Various Spells are now underway.

Coven Enemy Number 3: Mr (& possibly Mrs) Bushy Tail

Appearance: Similar to this.

Abode: Field behind The Coven.

Crime: Getting through electric fence which has successfully deterred all its ancestors for 11 years (possibly due to low battery charge resulting from snow last Sunday). Ripping 3.75 Feathered Familiars (1.75 of these new ones acquired on 4th November last year, plus our eldest, Evil Maran who was already oulived her Maran sisters by 2.5 and 1.5 years respectively), and Amber my second-favourite, from their henhouse perches and ripping them apart.

Attempting to drag them back through various points in the electric fence.

Running off when challenged by BW who happened, by Amazing Witchy Power, to have needed an extra drink of water in the night and so went into the kitchen, right by The Coven Lawn, where the Feathered Familiars are having their Spring Sojourn to Weed and Feed, so heard what was going on (once heard, that blood-curdling sound of birds being pulled apart alive never forgotten, believe me), and scared it/them off (I can't be sure, but I think there were 2).

Date: 4am this morning.

There are other pictures. I'll spare you. Largely because I cannot bear to look at them to edit them right now.

Action taken: D'ye ken John Peel? Repeal of BW Support for Anti-Hunting Lobby. Lock the 6 remaining healthy Feathered Familiars into their ark, and the white hen with one eye due to being pecked by the hens (all of whom are now dead - karma for hens anyone?), outside. Lock injured hen in smaller henhouse.

Collect eiderdown's worth of feathers from The Coven Lawn. Bury the dead. Await further deaths and repeat last step as necessary.
(Update 2pm: sadly the 4th hen just died in hospital.)

Coven Enemy Number 4: Woodpeckers

Appearance: Similar to this.

Abode: Trees.

Crime: Tapping incessantly on nearby trees. Planning to tap even more incessantly on Homes of Stripey Familiars (already down to 4.5 from 6 due to wasp attack last autumn folowed by wet winter)

Date: Current.

Action taken: Encouraging PVC the Dark Tabby Familiar to sit in the orchard on guard. Currently unsuccessful due to preferred pose as snail.

Summary: All of our Feathered Children remain under attack, and even our Stripey Familiars are threatened by other Fowl Creatures. I hate having birds enclosed, but I hate seeing the carnage of the past week more. And the worst thing about this is that there is absolutely nothing one can do about it.

We've lost D'Oves every year, but it's never taken as many, or taken them from their house before.

And I guess we've been very lucky that Mr Bushy Tail has kept away for 11 years. Finding an eiderdown spread around one's garden is something one always knows might happen, but the thought cannot prepare you for the awful eventuality. I am heartbroken.

Colour wheel

I was talking to ambermoggie over here about her gorgeous handpainted felt, and remembered that I never got round to showing you the rainbow of fabrics I made back last 'summer' (see entries for 8th and 10th):

These were made by mixing the 3 primary dye colours, and using pr0cion dyes on ca1ico squares, all in h0ney jars.

Anyway, I'm glad I remembered it, as I shall now be able to use some of this rainbow in today's class project. Just don't ask how long it took to cut all those bloody squares, or how painful my hands are this morning, despite using the chamomile essential oil trick three times in the night.

Brian the, erm, Cat

Torched

Keep politics out of sport I say.

Interesting how no-one was demonstrating when China was bidding for the 2008 Games. I know things have got overtly much worse recently, but it's always the same underneath.

And human rights issues... Guantanamo Bay, or how we're treating asylum seekers in holding centres right now, anyone? I haven't heard anyone protesting about those issues...

It's time these professional thug disruptees who always turn up at this sort of thing started doing something constructive, in an appropriate and timely manner, about issues that matter.

Thought for the day

Happiness is an inside job.

- William Arthur Ward

Out and about

We have bird problems at The Coven. Biiiiig Bird Problems.

Pointy Velcro Claws the Dark Tabby Familiar is not helping; she is pretending to be a snail. I have the pictorial evidence, I just don't have the camera to hand to download it. So Debster will just have to wait. I trust that two year old cat impersonating snail will suffice, when it eventually materialises, as a 'kitten picture'. If not, well, tough ;)

In celebration of it being almost 2 years since The Coven Studio Bui1ding Project began, and because people, erm, a person, almost debrained himself on one of the boxed-in steel beams just recently, I decided, sometime around 4pm, having already done a whole day sorting out Things Needing Sorting in The Coven Grounds, and needing to rest, that I would completely change everything around up there to make more open space, and ensure that all areas through which one could walk were person-height. I would hate to be responsible for any more headaches after all.

I've never been happy with how things are arranged, and the fact that I have a large desk piled four feet high with UFOs that I've started in classes or other places and not felt like finishing, suggested thats it feels more like a second lounge/Mr BWs best TV room than my Studio. So, it all got moved. Despite having an excellent weekly Cleaner BW, I was amazed how grubby all the hidden places were after just 18 months. *shudders* BW doesn't like doing domestic.

So, tomorrow, Mi1dred rides again. We hope. Mr BW assures me that she won't break down this time, but I am not counting my chickens because, well, like I said, we have Biiiiig Bird Problems here right now (of which more anon, with pictures, which definitely have an 18 certificate).

We will be doing a round trip of somewhere around 70 to 80 miles, with lots of Mi1dred's cousins, to visit a stately home, visible from the M25. While there we will be driving through the front door, and out the other side. Just because... well, just Because. It's the sort of thing that Mi1dred owners do :)

Today's questions then, are:

1. How many miles will Mi1dred manage before she breaks down?
2. Where is the stately home and what is it called?

Friday Question: Healthy Matters

(This is one of those ones with a whole load of background and waffle which you can skip if you want - the question is at the end)

After 20 months, I'm now resigned (albeit far from happy) to be living in a biochemically unstable body, for which medical science currently does not have a full explanation or a cure. At least for someone who is hypersensitive to almost anything manufactured by The Pharmaceutical Evilness, as well as many other more natural things too, and isn't prepared to swallow handfuls of tablets to counteract the effects of other handfuls of tablets.

If you're not prepared (or not able) to swallow tablets wholesale, then doctors feel challenged. I was talking to a senior consultant at a major London teaching hospital (the mother of one of my long-term cases) about this the other day, and we concluded that doctors need to feel that they have solved a problem when a patient comes to see them, and, to do that, they have just a few minutes. They also have very limited resources, other than drugs, to throw at any problem. Over time pharmaceutical companies have become very powerful in driving the direction of medical practice. It is therefore easy to see how visit to doctor with problem = doctor prescribing drugs on basis of very imperfect data = patient goes away feeling happy (at least until the side effects of the drug kick in and loop restarts) = doctor feeling happy as he has been professionally (and so personally) validated as an effective problem-solver.

Being a long-term non-meat eater, and almost self-sufficient for foodstuffs during the summer months (the birds were singing before 6am this morning and it wasn't dark until nearly 8pm last night, doesn't summer feel better than winter?)(that's not the Friday Question, that's just an aside ;)), and having taken the scientific/physiological/neurological/psychobiological route to my first degree, I had a head start in understanding nutrition. I've always been a healthy eater, and not having a penchant for sweet things has been a huge bonus.

Because I feel constantly unwell (compared to how I used to feel), I've become increasingly aware of the effects of everything on my physical state and well-being from day-to-day. I've noticed that doing certain things, interacting with people of particular personality types, being in some places, and eating certain things affects me much more than it did a few years ago. Undoubtedly that is partly an age thing, as a quick trip round the blog locality proves. There's hardly a person who isn't currently having a wake up call to lower their cholesterol / sugar / alcohol / weight etc etc consumption for their future health prospects.

As ever, I needed to understand why these things are happening to me. I needed to become super-informed so that I am in control of my own destiny and don't just blindly go along with what some time-pressured drug-rep driven doctor, who knows very little about my condition, thinks I should do.

So, recently I've done a lot more reading around the whole area of nutrition and how the body uses different inputs.

I have found out lots of interesting things that almost no-one will know, or care, about. I have confirmed my view that supermarkets and most restrictive diets are dangerous. As is slavishly following the advice of any one 'expert' or approach.

Nutrition isn't a one-size-fits-all subject. Advice varies over time, possibly according to who funded the latest study (ie whose fiscal interests are being served). As I've always believed, moderation and variety are the keys.

I am utterly convinced that if most people understood more about how their bodies worked, at a micro-level, and the effects of particular substances, then they would be able to make a more informed choice about what they ate and drunk.

I can understand why many people don't want to do so because it would spoil their 'fun'. Food intake and the social customs surrounding that are a very important part of any culture and society after all. And our food production industry has a lot of vested interests and little interest in what is healthy. What sells best = high fat and high sugar products, so that's what they push at us. One only has to look at the statistics for heart conditions, diabetes, and obesity to find out how bad our modern diets are for us compared to, say, Eastern diets.

A year ago, realising that there was no logical explanation for the way my body's fundamental readings were fluctuating on an almost daily basis (try explaining a 1.8 mmol/l difference in cholesterol in less than 4 weeks when I'd done and eaten absolutely nothing different), an inexperienced Associate GP sent me off to see a dietitian. I turned up to what was meant to be the first of several appointments with a full written diary record of everything I'd eaten and drunk in the time since the appointment had been made, together with twice-daily blood glucose and blood sugar readings (I have a post that's been sitting in drafts for weeks now on the benefits of self-monitoring/biofeedack, that I must get round to finishing and polishing so I can post it soon). She concluded that I was the most inappropriate referral that she'd had in her 30-odd years in the profession, told me to carry on as I was, that she hadn't got anything at all to offer me, and sent me back to the unfortunate Associate GP, who was forced to conclude that I was malfunctioning at a cellular level for an unknown and apparently inexplicable reason.

In the light of my new-ly researched knowledge, I haven't altered my dietitian-approved diet much, but I have become much more aware of the comparative quantities of individual foods and drinks I consume. I've been eating much less cheese (even though my GP had told me 5 years ago to eat more as I needed the calcium due to my osteoporosis), drinking much less pure fruit juice (125ml a day is the maximum many authorities now recommend, due to the (fruit) sugar content), and drinking a maximum of 4 units of alcohol on only one or two days per week (given our previous like of good wine, gosh what a Value saving that has been :)). I've been fascinated by how little I've missed any of those things, and how much better I feel for it.

As a(nother) quick sidetrack, probably the most amazing thing I've read (in several places, but no original source was ever quoted), is that losing just one pound of body weight results in a 0.3mmol/l reduction in cholesterol, for someone with high cholesterol (yes, as a scientist with the highest regard for reliability and validity, I know, I know, but it's thought-provoking isn't it?)..

Here's what works for me (NB No meat 'advice' is included as I don't eat it):

1. Fresh vegetables and fruit are the staple foods. The vitamins are usually most abundant just below the skin, so don't peel unless essential.
2. Avoid salt (added to food, and in processed food and snacks).
3. Avoid white sugar (honey, molasses, agave syrup or maple syrup are better and sweeter, so you need to use less).
4. Avoid artificial sweeteners.
5. Avoid margarine and anything containing transfats (yes, those biscuits...).
6. Avoid all fizzy drinks, especially cola-types (do you know about (phosphates and what they do to you?)
7. Avoid pharmaceutical products - whether prescribed or OTT. Paracetemol, even in small quantities, over time = liver damage).
8. Avoid food prepared in a factory.
9. Avoid fast food (it's stuffed full of fat, salt and sugar and 'unknowns').
10. Avoid non-organic carrots (you don't want to know what they flood the fields with to grow them otherwise).
11. Avoid anything containing artificial flavourings, flavour enhancers, colourings or preservatives (more get banned every year, and some still in use in this country are now banned in other countries).
12. Avoid farmed fish (it's stuffed with chemicals, antibiotics, and growth enhancers).
13. Avoid non-organic eggs (ditto above).
14. Avoid non-organic milk (ditto above).
15. Avoid 'cheap' food; it's cheap for a reason (ie contains cheap ingredients).
16. Organic anything has to be better than non-organic as it is 'purer' (if you can afford/source it).
17. Avoid wheat in regular quantity (for me this means bread, cake, biscuits, and wheat-based cereal, and many people are intolerant to wheat but don't know it).
18. Tightly restrict chocolate (too much sugar, fat, and 'empty calories'): cocoa is better.
19. Don't make cheese the feature in any meal, and keep any intake to a 3/4" cube.
20. Keep butter and cream intake to an absolute minimum.
21. Restrict potato intake (they are a 'bad' form of carbohydrate and excessive intake can rapidly push your body into insulin intolerance, so leave you with continual raised levels of blood glucose, and a highly increased chance of developing diabetes).
22. Use all oils sparingly: olive oil by preference, and avocado oil (but not heated).
23. 'Fry' by brushing a pan with oil, or tossing prepared potatoes for chips or roast in a large bowl containing just 2 tbs of oil and some ground black pepper.
24. Restrict intake of pure fruit juice (diluting with water even 4:1 makes a longer drink and reduces the immediate 'sugar high').
25. Avoid binge drinking. Restrict alcohol intake to a sensible level a couple of times per week.
26. Drink as much water as is comfortable (but listen to your body - new 'research' this week says too much is nearly as bad as too little).
27. Eat lots of beans, grains and seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame) (indulge your primitive hunter-gatherer, after all it served them well).
28. Eat oats (porridge and oat-based cereals are excellent mini-hoovers for stray cholesterol in blood vessels).
29. Eat lots of garlic (the more you eat, the less it lingers, even when eaten raw).
30. Black pepper, herbs and spices are excellent flavourings and highly beneficial, particularly when fresh.
31. Eat avocados (no carbohydrate, 'good' cholesterol).
32. Eat brazil nuts and almonds (serotonin enhances and 'good cholesterol' boosters respectively).
33. Eat ginger and cranberries (fresh or dried, but avoid sweetened ones).
34. Dried fruit snacks are better than potato-based ones (in sensible quantities).
35. Eat soya (organic) - (Alpro yoghurts are very palatable even if you dislike the taste of soy milk as I do).
36. Eat brown or wild rice or pasta in preference to white.

And so to the Friday Question, for anyone who is still awake/here.

What works for you? Have you got any favourite food and drink wisdom to add to that list? Or other comments or questions?

Thought for the day

Like all criticism of art or literature, my judgements are camouflaged autobiography, arising from a lifetime’s encounters with words and people that are mostly far too complicated for me to unravel.

- John Carey

Kittens

As a reward for Debster for not asking here for kittens for a while, here is a maths problem concerning them that I found at Buffy's.

If you are one of my mathematically able readers, you have to do the calculation in your head. The rest of you can use a calculator, but mind you press the correct buttons or you'll try to use that as an excuse for getting it wrong ;)

There are 7 girls in a bus

Each girl has 7 backpacks

In each backpack, there are 7 big cats

For every big cat there are 7 little cats

Question: How many legs are there in the bus?

The number of legs is the password to unlock the Excel answer sheet here.

When you've opened it and finished shuddering at the misplaced apostrophes, or the way the example calculation has been done (no doubt the mathematically able amongst you will tell me that is the most mathematically pure way, but it's not how I did it, or would teach it), you can boast in the comments box (you won't be able to 'sign your name' as it claims as it's on a server not your computer). But PLEASE DO NOT PUT THE ANSWER IN THE COMMENTS BOX.

I'll admit that I got it incorrect the first time. But only because I'm much more of a lateral thinker than the person who wrote the question. Who can tell me why?

April Fool

How many have you spotted?

I'm fairly sure that this is one as the names quoted only Google back reliably to the original articles. If it does turn out to be true then I'm leaving the country, as the level of data insecurity is even worse than I feared.

And of course there is this.

Any more?