Yearly Archives

2014

Rayburn 345w advice

The practicalities of wood-fired heating & owning a Rayburn

December 15, 2014

My posts about the Rayburn 345W are still some of my most popular as there is so little information about them. Now we’ve had ours for four years, I thought I’d put together a list of practicalities that should be considered if you’re thinking about heating your house with wood….

nanowrimo advice

What is 50,000 divided by 30?

December 4, 2014

The answer is 1667. If you’ve just completed National November Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo, then you’ll know what I’m talking about. For those of you who don’t, the idea is that you write a 50,000 word novel in just the 30 days which make up the month of November. Many people around the world get involved and local events are organised where people get together and just write. Well anyway, I decided to have a go this year and this is what happened….

Zombie costumes

October 28, 2014

I am lucky enough to live near the very diverse and mystical town of Glastonbury. This weekend we had been warned that there was going to be an invasion of Zombies in the High Street. I got caught there last year and managed to take a couple of photos before they attacked. If anyone wants to join them, however, I found a couple of fun costumes so you’d fit right in…

Guy Fawkes Night attire

October 22, 2014

I’m not sure my American readers will know who Guy Fawkes was, so just in case, here’s a little history lesson: Some guy called Guy Fawkes wanted a Catholic king, so on November 5th 1605 he attempted to blow up the House of Lords. He was caught, tortured and died for his trouble, and for some unknown reason, we celebrate this failed attempt at rebellion. We Brits love a tryer I suppose. So every year we have bonfires and fireworks displays and pretend it’s warm enough for a barbecue in the dark – usually run by the local Scout group…

Behind the Scenes at Hollow Crown filming

October 22, 2014

On Monday I luckily heard through Facebook that Benedict Cumberbatch, along with other amazing actors such as Michael Gambon and Judi Dench were filming the next series of The Hollow Crown nearby! By chance, my daughter had an orthodontist appointment after school there, so of course we stopped by to have a good old nose.

funny poem

There’s a hole in our kayak

October 17, 2014

This is a genuine post on our local Freecycle forum: “We have a very old kayak to get rid of. I don’t know anything about it except that it has a hole in it but still floats and that it is too small for my 6’3″ son to get into. It appears to be made of plastic. There is no paddle.” It inspired us at Writers’ Group to write a poem! Here’s mine…

Snow White Costumes

October 14, 2014

On the last day of winter term at Junior school everyone else loved our Christmas treat : We watched a film in the hall and were given an ice cream wafer sandwich. The problem is I don’t like ice cream (I know, I know) and I was brought up to accept what you’re given graciously. One year I told the dinner lady that I don’t like ice cream and she told me not be so ungrateful and gave it to me anyway (why were dinner ladies so horrible?). I’d try to eat the ice cream, I really would, but every year I’d sit there in misery with sticky melted ice cream all over my hands. So I don’t have particularly fond memories of those films – one of which was Snow White….

Frozen Costumes

October 9, 2014

Halloween is fast approaching and over here, the night before, a few of us might be wondering which black clothes we have that would pass off as a witch costume. If they are lucky, we may buy a cheap costume for the kids from the supermarket….

Farm Festival review, Bruton, Somerset

October 2, 2014

Oh my goodness – apologies for not posting in absolutely ages! One of the first things I was busy with was Farm Festival which took place 1st – 2nd August. This review is from a trader’s point of view. We arrived about lunch time the day before the festival opened, and set to work putting together our stall. I don’t know how it took so long to do this, but it managed to take several hours! Although we were ready by nightfall, we quickly realised that the festival wasn’t anywhere near ready….

The Glastonbury bag dress

Recycled clothing When you walk through the entrance of Glastonbury festival, this is usually the scenario: You’re pulling some kind of trolley or cart stacked up with camping paraphernalia; it’s wobbling precariously, but so far the bungee cord is holding. The rucksack on your back is killing your shoulders and the bag full of cans of cider and snacks is cutting into your hand. Your hoodie, which you only just remembered is tucked under your arm. Your free hand clutches your ticket and by the time you’ve reached the turnstile you realise you’ve over-packed again. You get through the gates and you’re given your programme, then your fine guide; a policeman offers you a collapsable water bottle; someone else gives you a recycling bin bag and then someone from Yeo Valley hands you a tote bag…..

Meeting Maisie Williams

Making a book dress & meeting Maisie Williams

I’ve been busy making a fairytale dress from a stack of unwanted books for the Bookbarn out-of-print fashion show. It’s going to be judged on Friday by Maisie Williams (Arya Stark in Game of Thrones) We met her at the dress rehearsal and she was lovely. This is all about how I made this paper dress…..

Courtney Love tour at Bristol

I am playing all my Hole and Courtney Love albums again, and I’m even inspired to get out the electric guitar and have another go at trying to learn how to play it! As we queued at the O2 Academy in Bristol last night, we realised it was twenty years ago when we first saw Hole play at Reading festival in 1994. Well, that made me feel flipping old! The crowd was a real mix, and there were plenty of people older than Chris and me; along with teenagers who have discovered her music later. Our kids were brought up listening to Hole, so they came along too – well it was actually them who new she was touring here before we did and asked to buy tickets…