Another quiet day. Our youngest was off school as it was a training day, so both boys had a computer game-based day. Gill had planned to take them both out to see a film but eventually they decided not to go, and a friend came round and they all played computer games.
Gill did go to town and got some clothes and perspex to continue triple glazing the house.
I did a little bit outside but generally had a lazy day inside, due to the bitter cold and deep snow. I kept it warm inside by keeping both stoves going all day.
Mid afternoon I received a phone call from Jane who was about to set out on foot to deliver her broken laptop to the computer shop on Hull Road, very near us, and she asked if she could pop in. So she came for a wood-fired cuppa and chat, and met Gill... they got on well.
I spent a lot of the day reading, including the questions for Julian Assange about the WikiLeaks intrigue, and later, his answers. I submitted my application to World Book Night, a plan to give away a million books next March. I also did some cooking to add to tea... just slices of winter squash, boiled on the stove and then roasted at the same time as Gill's potato and leek quiche cooked.
So, a fairly nothingy day. Hope tomorrow is more active.
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Well a tough start to the morning, going into school and having another meeting.
This, and another unconnected incident, meant that a 10.30 meeting I was due to have was cancelled. But it wasn't a vital one, just a social, but I was looking forward to it.
So, I did some more prep for tonight's meeting, contacted St John's again but missed the person who would be interested in the Waste Food Feast idea, and spoke with Briony Pete, who assured me that she'd be able to find the place OK.
I cycled round to buy some bread and get a prescription, and only fell off once. Then I went to the other Co-op (we are blessed with two both within 5 minutes walk or cycle) to get goats milk, but there was none.
So, apart from these excursions, a quiet day.
In the evening I got a message to say the Hull Road Planning Panel was cancelled due to the weather, but I was quite glad of this as I was attending the Waste Food Feast planning meeting at 8pm, actually I needed to get there by 7.30, to meet Briony.
I had assumed that G/020 was in G block in James College, which I'd found on the map, but that was a residential block so I went to the info place and the chap in there directed me to the depths of the Mathematics Department. I couldn't find the room but then was accosted by Briony, who had found it!
I dumped my stuff in the room and retraced my steps to put up A4 posters directing people to the room from the car park, as I was expecting someone from City of York Council to turn up, and possibly other non-University people. When I got back to the room, half the People and Planet group had appeared. But no-one from outside the University came... but that didn't matter actually.
Despite not being able to use her laptop presentation, Briony explained about her job, working for Wastewatch, and the Feed the 1000 event in Hull. She explained about the size of the problem: 8.3 million tonnes of good edible food wasted in the UK every year, costing £12 billion in wasted production costs, transportation, storage, and disposal. This works out at an average of £480 per household per year, and if there are children in the house, the average cost of wasted food is £680 a year. When it is explained that this is about £50 a month in wasted food, many families do want to reduce that cost, and save the money. The environmental cost, in terms of unnecessary carbon emissions, wasted resources, other pollution, is enormous.
So, there were some good questions from the students, and the discussion which followed helped us crystallise what is needed to happen next, a preferred option and a 'plan b'. And a long list of people who want to be involved in the organisation of the event. Briony said she'd sort out a facebook page to help co-ordinate and facilitate communication. So we all left feeling very positive.
I cycled along to Melody to collect the unsold dried fruit from the LETS fair, and left 2 jars in swap for the little bottle of truffle oil that her son had prepared. He did really well selling his chili oil, truffle oil and herb-infused oil.
I collected 2 logs in the snowstorm and came home, and watched the More 4 programme on how the British National Party got trashed at the last election. Very interesting, a good watch.
This, and another unconnected incident, meant that a 10.30 meeting I was due to have was cancelled. But it wasn't a vital one, just a social, but I was looking forward to it.
So, I did some more prep for tonight's meeting, contacted St John's again but missed the person who would be interested in the Waste Food Feast idea, and spoke with Briony Pete, who assured me that she'd be able to find the place OK.
I cycled round to buy some bread and get a prescription, and only fell off once. Then I went to the other Co-op (we are blessed with two both within 5 minutes walk or cycle) to get goats milk, but there was none.
So, apart from these excursions, a quiet day.
In the evening I got a message to say the Hull Road Planning Panel was cancelled due to the weather, but I was quite glad of this as I was attending the Waste Food Feast planning meeting at 8pm, actually I needed to get there by 7.30, to meet Briony.
I had assumed that G/020 was in G block in James College, which I'd found on the map, but that was a residential block so I went to the info place and the chap in there directed me to the depths of the Mathematics Department. I couldn't find the room but then was accosted by Briony, who had found it!
I dumped my stuff in the room and retraced my steps to put up A4 posters directing people to the room from the car park, as I was expecting someone from City of York Council to turn up, and possibly other non-University people. When I got back to the room, half the People and Planet group had appeared. But no-one from outside the University came... but that didn't matter actually.
Despite not being able to use her laptop presentation, Briony explained about her job, working for Wastewatch, and the Feed the 1000 event in Hull. She explained about the size of the problem: 8.3 million tonnes of good edible food wasted in the UK every year, costing £12 billion in wasted production costs, transportation, storage, and disposal. This works out at an average of £480 per household per year, and if there are children in the house, the average cost of wasted food is £680 a year. When it is explained that this is about £50 a month in wasted food, many families do want to reduce that cost, and save the money. The environmental cost, in terms of unnecessary carbon emissions, wasted resources, other pollution, is enormous.
So, there were some good questions from the students, and the discussion which followed helped us crystallise what is needed to happen next, a preferred option and a 'plan b'. And a long list of people who want to be involved in the organisation of the event. Briony said she'd sort out a facebook page to help co-ordinate and facilitate communication. So we all left feeling very positive.
I cycled along to Melody to collect the unsold dried fruit from the LETS fair, and left 2 jars in swap for the little bottle of truffle oil that her son had prepared. He did really well selling his chili oil, truffle oil and herb-infused oil.
I collected 2 logs in the snowstorm and came home, and watched the More 4 programme on how the British National Party got trashed at the last election. Very interesting, a good watch.
Well a very snowy day, it had snowed heavily overnight, but this didn't stop me doing what I needed to do.
My first appointment was at my dentist's in town, so I set off in good time and had no problems with cycling until i got to Deangate, which had deep slushy icy snow, broken up by assorted vehicles and was difficult to cycle through. I fell off once here, which was funny as I was expecting to come a cropper somewhere along the route, and it happened just before I got to my destination.
So, had my teeth cleaned and I bought more TePe interdental brushes and cycled home, without incident.
Then we had a meeting at home with one of the teams who's helping us, to discuss home education.
Then we had lunch.
I managed to chat to someone high-up at York College who may be able to help with the Waste Food Feast, and he gave me some good advice about what might be possible and what wouldn't. I hope he gets to the meeting tomorrow. I also made initial contact with someone from York St John University Student Union, as I want these students involved too. Looks like the Waste Food Feast is slowly coming together.
Sometime during the afternoon a neighbour came round asking for a wheelbarrow of logs as they have a chimera thing in their back garden, so I reluctantly let them have a few, but I really don't feel able to let many logs go, as we need them to keep the house warm... there is no such thing as a spare log here. The same can't be said for compost or dried fruit, I'm happy to get rid of some of those! But I like to keep relationships sweet, so it was more of a social thing than anything.
In the evening I had a headache and I went to bed for a couple of hours but got up at 10 when the boys went to bed, as they woke me up. Gill and I watched a programme on BBC iPlayer about bullying; very interesting.
My first appointment was at my dentist's in town, so I set off in good time and had no problems with cycling until i got to Deangate, which had deep slushy icy snow, broken up by assorted vehicles and was difficult to cycle through. I fell off once here, which was funny as I was expecting to come a cropper somewhere along the route, and it happened just before I got to my destination.
So, had my teeth cleaned and I bought more TePe interdental brushes and cycled home, without incident.
Then we had a meeting at home with one of the teams who's helping us, to discuss home education.
Then we had lunch.
I managed to chat to someone high-up at York College who may be able to help with the Waste Food Feast, and he gave me some good advice about what might be possible and what wouldn't. I hope he gets to the meeting tomorrow. I also made initial contact with someone from York St John University Student Union, as I want these students involved too. Looks like the Waste Food Feast is slowly coming together.
Sometime during the afternoon a neighbour came round asking for a wheelbarrow of logs as they have a chimera thing in their back garden, so I reluctantly let them have a few, but I really don't feel able to let many logs go, as we need them to keep the house warm... there is no such thing as a spare log here. The same can't be said for compost or dried fruit, I'm happy to get rid of some of those! But I like to keep relationships sweet, so it was more of a social thing than anything.
In the evening I had a headache and I went to bed for a couple of hours but got up at 10 when the boys went to bed, as they woke me up. Gill and I watched a programme on BBC iPlayer about bullying; very interesting.
A very quick post..the first snow in Eindhoven!
Un post molto veloce..la prima neve a Eindhoven!
Ilaria Chiaratti 2010
Well a dreadful-pre school time. Even I cannot believe the difficulty getting people motivated to go.
Gill eventually left with our youngest but they met others returning from school as many of the teachers hadn't got in, so although the school isn't officially closed, they were saying to people to go home if they wanted.
So Gill and our now happy boy went to play in the garden for a bit.
I did our monthly Carbon Account stats... gas and electricity meters, and when my graph came up with the new data, I was pleased to see that my carbon footprint, just using the simple home energy and travel stuff that they use, is 0.43 tonnes over the past year. This doesn't take into account my public transport use, food or other things I buy, not that I buy very much..., but it is still low. It is less than a 10th of the UK average of 5 tonnes using this calculator.
So, snow is the big news today... it didn't stop me cycling down to Country Fresh to get vegetables... and a warning, the cold weather will mean that some veg will go up in price and become scarcer. For instance, the local cauliflowers and carrots are now impossible to harvest, and as Country Fresh normally buys in local veg, they will have to buy ones in from elsewhere, making them more expensive. Richard has had another composter taking some unsold veg/fruit,which is fine by me as my trailer has developed a puncture and is out of action. But neither the snow or lack of trailer stopped me getting compostables from Freshways, and I popped into the Co-op for cereals and soya milk too.
I even spent a short while splitting logs.
Gill made a stew for tea, which we had with granary rolls. Simple and delicious. We had Christmas pudding and ice cream afterwards. I then went out on my bike again to visit a freecycler a mile or more away to pick up and unwanted diabolo and a travel Scrabble. I don't find cycling in snow and ice at all difficult. Just a bit cold.
Later, when all was quiet, I did various admin jobs such as some York in Transition stuff, York Green Festival stuff and even some prep for paying my tax!
Gill eventually left with our youngest but they met others returning from school as many of the teachers hadn't got in, so although the school isn't officially closed, they were saying to people to go home if they wanted.
So Gill and our now happy boy went to play in the garden for a bit.
I did our monthly Carbon Account stats... gas and electricity meters, and when my graph came up with the new data, I was pleased to see that my carbon footprint, just using the simple home energy and travel stuff that they use, is 0.43 tonnes over the past year. This doesn't take into account my public transport use, food or other things I buy, not that I buy very much..., but it is still low. It is less than a 10th of the UK average of 5 tonnes using this calculator.
So, snow is the big news today... it didn't stop me cycling down to Country Fresh to get vegetables... and a warning, the cold weather will mean that some veg will go up in price and become scarcer. For instance, the local cauliflowers and carrots are now impossible to harvest, and as Country Fresh normally buys in local veg, they will have to buy ones in from elsewhere, making them more expensive. Richard has had another composter taking some unsold veg/fruit,which is fine by me as my trailer has developed a puncture and is out of action. But neither the snow or lack of trailer stopped me getting compostables from Freshways, and I popped into the Co-op for cereals and soya milk too.
I even spent a short while splitting logs.
Gill made a stew for tea, which we had with granary rolls. Simple and delicious. We had Christmas pudding and ice cream afterwards. I then went out on my bike again to visit a freecycler a mile or more away to pick up and unwanted diabolo and a travel Scrabble. I don't find cycling in snow and ice at all difficult. Just a bit cold.
Later, when all was quiet, I did various admin jobs such as some York in Transition stuff, York Green Festival stuff and even some prep for paying my tax!
A quite lazy day... tried to get a bus to Whitby at 12.18 but it didn't come, so we went back to the house and had our sandwich picnic there, and went to wait for the 1.18. This didn't come either. We found out that the road to Hawsker is covered in snowdrifts, apparently, and the bus was dropping people off at the main road and people were walking down...
So we walked into Robin Hood's Bay and mooched around, making snowballs, playing in the kids park, watching people sledging etc etc.
Then walked back and bought some tea (pasties) and food for our journey home tomorrow, and had more lazy time in the house. I lit the stove and watched some of the iPlayer programme about Scrabble (Alan Yentob presenting Imagine, 'A Night On The Tiles') and played some on facebook, slowly as the connection speed was slow and the programme kept crashing.
So we walked into Robin Hood's Bay and mooched around, making snowballs, playing in the kids park, watching people sledging etc etc.
Then walked back and bought some tea (pasties) and food for our journey home tomorrow, and had more lazy time in the house. I lit the stove and watched some of the iPlayer programme about Scrabble (Alan Yentob presenting Imagine, 'A Night On The Tiles') and played some on facebook, slowly as the connection speed was slow and the programme kept crashing.
Quite a relaxing day... and pretty too, as it was still snowing and I spent most of the day inside, dealing with assorted phone calls and paperwork. Gill went into town and got the final cheque for Harris Builders to pay for the solar panels, defunct chimney removal and new barge boards. I got a phone call from the Yorkshire Post to canvass my opinion as to whether I thought that the recession had been good for the environment, or something like that. The article will be published between Christmas and the New Year, and they've asked a handful of people, not just me.
So, a relatively quiet day, until just after 2.30 when our eldest came back, early as it's the last day of term, so he agreed to walk down to Lord Deramore's with me to pick up his little brother. I took the sledge as it was still very snowy and icy, and we had some fun. In the playground a couple of people greeted me as I haven't been down to school recently, and so I explained that I was very upset that the school wasn't taking it's obligations seriously with regards to being a 'beacon of sustainability in the community', and he agreed. He has connections with the school and someone he knows has heard some of the things that have been said about me, and he thinks this is scandalous and very wrong. Although it's not nice to know that people in the school have been bad-mouthing me for my eco-approach to life, it is reassuring to know there's some people out there who agree that this school's attitude is disgraceful. I just hope that soon they will decide that sustainability is worth imparting to the children, although it is just about too late in some ways. What they should be teaching is adaptation to a more chaotic and difficult world, with fuel shortages, high food prices, social unrest and an influx of displaced people angry that our high carbon lifestyles have left them with nowhere to live. I am feeling pessimistic at the moment as the Copenhagen talks look like a complete fudge and flop. In fact I'm angry that the World's leaders have done such a bad job, and they won't be looked kindly upon in the future. Not many of then will be regarded as 'responsible ancestors'.
Anyway, all three of us came home, some of it with one of the boys on the sledge, so that both got a go... and when we came to the bit of pavement heading down to our house, I requested to have a go... and it was ace, being pulled along by them!
Some of the evening wasn't as fun and easy, not sure how it deteriorated, but it did and I was left feeling quite low.
I did do some last-minute grocery shopping for Gill at 9pm and had a good long wind-down playing facebook Scrabble til the early hours.
So, a relatively quiet day, until just after 2.30 when our eldest came back, early as it's the last day of term, so he agreed to walk down to Lord Deramore's with me to pick up his little brother. I took the sledge as it was still very snowy and icy, and we had some fun. In the playground a couple of people greeted me as I haven't been down to school recently, and so I explained that I was very upset that the school wasn't taking it's obligations seriously with regards to being a 'beacon of sustainability in the community', and he agreed. He has connections with the school and someone he knows has heard some of the things that have been said about me, and he thinks this is scandalous and very wrong. Although it's not nice to know that people in the school have been bad-mouthing me for my eco-approach to life, it is reassuring to know there's some people out there who agree that this school's attitude is disgraceful. I just hope that soon they will decide that sustainability is worth imparting to the children, although it is just about too late in some ways. What they should be teaching is adaptation to a more chaotic and difficult world, with fuel shortages, high food prices, social unrest and an influx of displaced people angry that our high carbon lifestyles have left them with nowhere to live. I am feeling pessimistic at the moment as the Copenhagen talks look like a complete fudge and flop. In fact I'm angry that the World's leaders have done such a bad job, and they won't be looked kindly upon in the future. Not many of then will be regarded as 'responsible ancestors'.
Anyway, all three of us came home, some of it with one of the boys on the sledge, so that both got a go... and when we came to the bit of pavement heading down to our house, I requested to have a go... and it was ace, being pulled along by them!
Some of the evening wasn't as fun and easy, not sure how it deteriorated, but it did and I was left feeling quite low.
I did do some last-minute grocery shopping for Gill at 9pm and had a good long wind-down playing facebook Scrabble til the early hours.
I woke this am to an unexpected snow. This time of year, this is demoralizing and potentially damaging to trees that have already leafed out.
This Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) seems to be handling the sudden change in the weather with more grace than I.
Our neighbor's tree leafed out over night. Very bad timing. It is now bowing over under the weight of the wet snow.
This Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) seems to be handling the sudden change in the weather with more grace than I.
Our neighbor's tree leafed out over night. Very bad timing. It is now bowing over under the weight of the wet snow.
Not an easy start to the day but everyone got out of the house on time. I cycled our youngest to school, with him sitting on the luggage rack, as there was snow forecast for the afternoon and Gill didn't want him having to cycle back in that. However, my drive-cog wheel (sprocket?) is somehow slipping under the chain when I push hard on it... which was more than a bit of a nuisance. I had to walk up the hill away from our house but once on the level, so long as I didn't accelerate hard, I could cycle relatively easily and got to school on time. Time for a service, methinks!
I then cycled gingerly into town and dumped the machine at the station and got my ticket to Sheffield, where I was due to help Ali with a day of interviews for new personal assistants. I had a really good chat with a lovely South African woman from Harrogate, called Julie, who was heading to a conference in Birmingham. We discussed any number of interesting subjects... religion and evolution, polyamoury and cheating, Zimbabwe and politics.... a train trip which helped me feel a whole lot better!
Ali met me at the station and we went up to Blue Moon Cafe to look at all the applications and discuss the questions to be asked in the interviews. One of Ali's other carers Sarah arrived to help, and we had coffee and cake to help us with our deliberations. At midday we toddled up to the Friends Meeting House where Ali had hired a room for the day, as a neutral space in which to interview the six applicants. One phone call message arrived saying one had withdrawn, but we interviewed five really lovely people, including two Poles and two Africans, one a refugee pleased with recent residency papers. All of them had the ability to do the work and fit in with Ali's family and their care needs. Because all of the applicants were good, choosing who got the jobs was difficult, but Ali was glad to have the two of us to bounce ideas off. Over lunch, another of Ali's friends arrived and stayed for an hour, and he joined in one of the interviews too!
We finished the interviews and spent nearly another hour discussing the notes we'd made and who might fit best in Ali's household.
We left at 5.30 an I got a lift to quite close to the station... and grabbed a baguette for tea before getting on the 5.47 to York via Wakefield and Leeds. This 'CrossCountry' was rammed full... standing room only, and it was a cold hour in the lobby area between the main part of the carriages. However, I got a seat from Leeds to York, and had a nice chat with Zena, travelling fro Oxford to Durham to see her boyfriend.
Once in York I had no time to go home before the Transition meeting started, so I struggled in the snow with my poorly bike along to the Stables, where just five of us came for our regular fortnight meeting. I was really tired and cold, but had a good meeting, getting a lot done. The Carbon Detox Show tickets are selling well, and our Transition Initiative project is moving forward.
I was glad when it finished though, at 9.40, and got home for 10pm. Gill had had a tough day and was happy to see me to tell me all about it. I had over 70 emails to deal with and was up til nearly 2am doing that and this blog, having a bowl of pasta and soup supper and watching BBC News 24.
I then cycled gingerly into town and dumped the machine at the station and got my ticket to Sheffield, where I was due to help Ali with a day of interviews for new personal assistants. I had a really good chat with a lovely South African woman from Harrogate, called Julie, who was heading to a conference in Birmingham. We discussed any number of interesting subjects... religion and evolution, polyamoury and cheating, Zimbabwe and politics.... a train trip which helped me feel a whole lot better!
Ali met me at the station and we went up to Blue Moon Cafe to look at all the applications and discuss the questions to be asked in the interviews. One of Ali's other carers Sarah arrived to help, and we had coffee and cake to help us with our deliberations. At midday we toddled up to the Friends Meeting House where Ali had hired a room for the day, as a neutral space in which to interview the six applicants. One phone call message arrived saying one had withdrawn, but we interviewed five really lovely people, including two Poles and two Africans, one a refugee pleased with recent residency papers. All of them had the ability to do the work and fit in with Ali's family and their care needs. Because all of the applicants were good, choosing who got the jobs was difficult, but Ali was glad to have the two of us to bounce ideas off. Over lunch, another of Ali's friends arrived and stayed for an hour, and he joined in one of the interviews too!
We finished the interviews and spent nearly another hour discussing the notes we'd made and who might fit best in Ali's household.
We left at 5.30 an I got a lift to quite close to the station... and grabbed a baguette for tea before getting on the 5.47 to York via Wakefield and Leeds. This 'CrossCountry' was rammed full... standing room only, and it was a cold hour in the lobby area between the main part of the carriages. However, I got a seat from Leeds to York, and had a nice chat with Zena, travelling fro Oxford to Durham to see her boyfriend.
Once in York I had no time to go home before the Transition meeting started, so I struggled in the snow with my poorly bike along to the Stables, where just five of us came for our regular fortnight meeting. I was really tired and cold, but had a good meeting, getting a lot done. The Carbon Detox Show tickets are selling well, and our Transition Initiative project is moving forward.
I was glad when it finished though, at 9.40, and got home for 10pm. Gill had had a tough day and was happy to see me to tell me all about it. I had over 70 emails to deal with and was up til nearly 2am doing that and this blog, having a bowl of pasta and soup supper and watching BBC News 24.
Another morning with initial aggro followed by loveliness! Gill and I had a lie-in after breakfast whilst the boyos peacefully watched some TV programme, and then they went on the computer.
I came down for 10.30 and filled the log baskets and got changed into my very-cold-weather performance clothes, watched a bit of Countryfile and set off so I could be in town for midday, my first appointment with the Residents' Festival.
This first midday gig was quite quiet, but after a while I did get a bit of an audience and the show went swimmingly. The second show, at 2pm, was excellent although it was getting colder and there were flurries of snow, and the last one, at 4, was just a workshop with a handful of people, some of whom had come to the previous shows and wanted to have another chance to try stuff out. My handler, Stuart, was very happy with what I'd done and told me the cheque would be with me by the end of the week.
As I left at 5pm, the blizzard started and it was really quite difficult to cycle because I could hardly see where I was going! However, I did make a planned stop at Country Fresh and picked up a couple of sacks of compostables.
When I got in, Alison was at home, sorting out her share of the SUMA order... quite a substantial share... nuts, seeds, washing liquid, pasta sauce and pesto. Yummy mix!
Gill had created a yummy mix of parsnip, broccoli, roast potatoes and assorted garnishes. Not bad at all!
A very quiet evening, I'm shattered as I've done 3 one-hour shows and six trips in and out of town with all my gear on the trailer...
I came down for 10.30 and filled the log baskets and got changed into my very-cold-weather performance clothes, watched a bit of Countryfile and set off so I could be in town for midday, my first appointment with the Residents' Festival.
This first midday gig was quite quiet, but after a while I did get a bit of an audience and the show went swimmingly. The second show, at 2pm, was excellent although it was getting colder and there were flurries of snow, and the last one, at 4, was just a workshop with a handful of people, some of whom had come to the previous shows and wanted to have another chance to try stuff out. My handler, Stuart, was very happy with what I'd done and told me the cheque would be with me by the end of the week.
As I left at 5pm, the blizzard started and it was really quite difficult to cycle because I could hardly see where I was going! However, I did make a planned stop at Country Fresh and picked up a couple of sacks of compostables.
When I got in, Alison was at home, sorting out her share of the SUMA order... quite a substantial share... nuts, seeds, washing liquid, pasta sauce and pesto. Yummy mix!
Gill had created a yummy mix of parsnip, broccoli, roast potatoes and assorted garnishes. Not bad at all!
A very quiet evening, I'm shattered as I've done 3 one-hour shows and six trips in and out of town with all my gear on the trailer...
It snowed again on Thursday so the drive into work was very pretty. The vistas from NCAR were also quite dramatic. I took a couple of shots before and after work.
Snowy flatirons viewed from Hwy 128 first thing in the morning
The flatirons in the morning driving up Table Mesa Road.
Sculpted snow on the tree plaza. I missed the Polar Bear by a few moments
There was ice on the tree plaza too
Second flatiron viewed from the weather trail late in the day
Meadow in the south. I love the views you get from the mesa and these meadows change moods with the seasons.
Another meadow towards the southeast
Sunset from Highway 93. It was very dark, I had no tripod and the wind was blowing like crazy so these pictures are not in focus but they give you an idea of the unusual cloud formations and the dramatic color.
Sunset from Hwy 128
Gilly walked down to school with our youngest, in the snow. Then she went into town on the bus to try to get something dry-cleaned, but town was empty and the dry cleaners was closed. So a wasted trip... and she waited at the bus stop for ages to come home, but there'd been some kind of accident West of York and there were no buses coming through, so she walked home and arrived cold and with really wet feet.
I however had a lazy morning, with just a bit of washing up to do and filling the logbaskets. Read some NewScientist and played Facebook Scrabble until Gill came in at nearly midday.
After lunch I cycled into town to pay some bills and get some cheques out... one for another 3 year's NewScientist subscription, my Equity dues and my Chartered Institute of Environmental Health dues.
Got home on the dot of 3pm and got ready to go to Green Thumbs at school, where Julia had printed off the Assembly text I wrote, and we discussed various ideas with the children. Julia and I read through it out loud and most of the children seemed to like it. We also learned the song written by the 6 year old about Mission Nutrition, with the little girl's mum teaching us the choruses first and then the two verses. It's easy to sing, sounds lovely.
I came home via a logpile and brought another trailer's worth home.
We all had tea together, pasta and veg with yessterday's soup as a sauce for those of us who like sauce. Soon after this I got on my bike again and cycled down to the Merchant Adventurers Hall where the Blood Donation service was holding a session, I'd booked myself in for 7.10 and was processed and out by 8.15... quite quick, and as usual, painless.
Then went to visit Anita to collect the SUMA catalogue and her cheque. I met her friend Bruno whom I got on well with, discussing business waste recycling (he owns a shop) and 70s/80s music (he's a DJ) and Anita gave me a humourous book on parenting. I wonder if it might help us?
Home via another logpile (I know all the tree-surgeons' dumping grounds in York!) but the icy cycle paths made the cycling quite exciting (read dangerous!). Home to an 'on tenterhooks' situation, once again sparked off by someone having to do homework and ending up letting fists fly. Completely unneccessary, very difficult to know what to do about it and leaving us completely mystified why this happens. But both boys got a kiss goodnight from me, and then Gill and I settled down to our usual 'post kids bedtime' routine of washing up and relaxing.
I however had a lazy morning, with just a bit of washing up to do and filling the logbaskets. Read some NewScientist and played Facebook Scrabble until Gill came in at nearly midday.
After lunch I cycled into town to pay some bills and get some cheques out... one for another 3 year's NewScientist subscription, my Equity dues and my Chartered Institute of Environmental Health dues.
Got home on the dot of 3pm and got ready to go to Green Thumbs at school, where Julia had printed off the Assembly text I wrote, and we discussed various ideas with the children. Julia and I read through it out loud and most of the children seemed to like it. We also learned the song written by the 6 year old about Mission Nutrition, with the little girl's mum teaching us the choruses first and then the two verses. It's easy to sing, sounds lovely.
I came home via a logpile and brought another trailer's worth home.
We all had tea together, pasta and veg with yessterday's soup as a sauce for those of us who like sauce. Soon after this I got on my bike again and cycled down to the Merchant Adventurers Hall where the Blood Donation service was holding a session, I'd booked myself in for 7.10 and was processed and out by 8.15... quite quick, and as usual, painless.
Then went to visit Anita to collect the SUMA catalogue and her cheque. I met her friend Bruno whom I got on well with, discussing business waste recycling (he owns a shop) and 70s/80s music (he's a DJ) and Anita gave me a humourous book on parenting. I wonder if it might help us?
Home via another logpile (I know all the tree-surgeons' dumping grounds in York!) but the icy cycle paths made the cycling quite exciting (read dangerous!). Home to an 'on tenterhooks' situation, once again sparked off by someone having to do homework and ending up letting fists fly. Completely unneccessary, very difficult to know what to do about it and leaving us completely mystified why this happens. But both boys got a kiss goodnight from me, and then Gill and I settled down to our usual 'post kids bedtime' routine of washing up and relaxing.
Woke to find excited children because of snow on the ground, and Gill walked in with our youngest as cycling on ice is not fun.
She got in and went out to get her hair cut as she claims to feel like a haystack, despite my telling her I find her beautiful! She'll be just as pretty with a trim.
I was just getting ready to go to my lunchtime meeting in town when she came in, having slipped over on ice and feeling a bit bruised physically... but mentally much more embarrassed as she'd taken the tumble in full view of all the passengers on the Number 28 bus...
My meeting was a York Green Festival meets City of York Council, to review this year's event and look ahead to any future event. The meeting was with Dave Meigh, the licencee of Rowntree Park, Liz Topi, in charge of events/festivals, and Helen didntcatchhername from Environmental Protection. She'd been doing sound levels around the site on the day, and the meeting was mainly about that. After the event in 2007, the Council received a few noise complaints, so this year they had a duty to have someone on duty to measure the noise. There were just 3 complaints, but one complainant, in a living room in the first floor of a flat the other side of the river facing the main stage, was getting the full works. The complainant, watching a footy match on telly with windows closed and double glazing, could still easily hear every word from the songs... and the EHO decided it was a 'statutory nuisance' which they have a duty to prevent.
So the event next year must not repeat the same offence, or the EHO can order the music to stop and they can 'pull the plug' to stop the nuisance. We discussed possible solutions, which I see as three alternatives. First is to have much quieter music on that stage... the acoustic stuff which isn't nearly as amplified. Second is to have a new sort of speaker system which the Council bods call a 'sprinkler system' with the speakers surrounding the audience, and pointing down at them, so preventing the noise escaping, and the third is to have the event in another venue, and we discussed several. YGF will have to have a meeting to discuss this and other aspects of YGF08 and plan 09.
I got back home at 2.45... I met my friend Isobel inside Nationwide and we chatted outside for about half an hour... Gill went to collect our snow-bound child (she cycled down and walked back with him) and I split a pile of birch logs I chopped up a few weeks ago. Both stoves lit as it was bitter, making the whole house livable in. Gill made pizza dough and we had a good tea all together. A peaceful evening... a smattering of phone calls and the usual activities, washing up, doing my emails, watching a bit of telly, nothing too out of the ordinary.
She got in and went out to get her hair cut as she claims to feel like a haystack, despite my telling her I find her beautiful! She'll be just as pretty with a trim.
I was just getting ready to go to my lunchtime meeting in town when she came in, having slipped over on ice and feeling a bit bruised physically... but mentally much more embarrassed as she'd taken the tumble in full view of all the passengers on the Number 28 bus...
My meeting was a York Green Festival meets City of York Council, to review this year's event and look ahead to any future event. The meeting was with Dave Meigh, the licencee of Rowntree Park, Liz Topi, in charge of events/festivals, and Helen didntcatchhername from Environmental Protection. She'd been doing sound levels around the site on the day, and the meeting was mainly about that. After the event in 2007, the Council received a few noise complaints, so this year they had a duty to have someone on duty to measure the noise. There were just 3 complaints, but one complainant, in a living room in the first floor of a flat the other side of the river facing the main stage, was getting the full works. The complainant, watching a footy match on telly with windows closed and double glazing, could still easily hear every word from the songs... and the EHO decided it was a 'statutory nuisance' which they have a duty to prevent.
So the event next year must not repeat the same offence, or the EHO can order the music to stop and they can 'pull the plug' to stop the nuisance. We discussed possible solutions, which I see as three alternatives. First is to have much quieter music on that stage... the acoustic stuff which isn't nearly as amplified. Second is to have a new sort of speaker system which the Council bods call a 'sprinkler system' with the speakers surrounding the audience, and pointing down at them, so preventing the noise escaping, and the third is to have the event in another venue, and we discussed several. YGF will have to have a meeting to discuss this and other aspects of YGF08 and plan 09.
I got back home at 2.45... I met my friend Isobel inside Nationwide and we chatted outside for about half an hour... Gill went to collect our snow-bound child (she cycled down and walked back with him) and I split a pile of birch logs I chopped up a few weeks ago. Both stoves lit as it was bitter, making the whole house livable in. Gill made pizza dough and we had a good tea all together. A peaceful evening... a smattering of phone calls and the usual activities, washing up, doing my emails, watching a bit of telly, nothing too out of the ordinary.
Boys up very early and extremely noisy! But it was happy noise, mostly. Some of the excitement was probably due to a covering of snow, and they all went out to play in it.
The visitors' Mum came at about 10am and after a cuppa and chat, she took them away.
My boys got a phone call from another of their friends who wanted to play out in the snow, he came round and then all 3 went to his house round the corner, until after 1pm when they came back for lunch.
I spent the morning preparing fruit, mainly 4 pineapples but also some pears and kiwis, for drying on the stove. My foot seems to be a lot better, it was weird how it was so painful for such a short time!
I went to the veg shop and got the second half of the wheelie bin full and took it to the lottie, and made a layer of chopped brambles, shored up the sides with cardboard boxes and made a good deep layer. Left the lottie at nearly 5pm, almost dark, but for the snow making it kind of twilight.
The visitors' Mum came at about 10am and after a cuppa and chat, she took them away.
My boys got a phone call from another of their friends who wanted to play out in the snow, he came round and then all 3 went to his house round the corner, until after 1pm when they came back for lunch.
I spent the morning preparing fruit, mainly 4 pineapples but also some pears and kiwis, for drying on the stove. My foot seems to be a lot better, it was weird how it was so painful for such a short time!
I went to the veg shop and got the second half of the wheelie bin full and took it to the lottie, and made a layer of chopped brambles, shored up the sides with cardboard boxes and made a good deep layer. Left the lottie at nearly 5pm, almost dark, but for the snow making it kind of twilight.
