Quick Bite

Just wanted there to be a record that I can make pancakes.  I ate these last night and they were delicious - quite a contrast from last time (Sunday of Photo of the Year - week 10)

May - 23??????  Am sure it was 17 yesterday.  Well, I did go a little post crazy yesterday so that could be true.  I'm just amazed how it has shot up this month :-)  

On another note.  I told someone else about my blog today.  Well, they actually asked me if I posted recipes and food photos on a blog, so I kinda had to say yes.  I was so surprised why they would say that.  I did confess though that I was the only one who read my blog!

update 17/6/10 And just as soon as you get cocky, it can all go wrong again!
seemingly perfection 6th June...

but 10th June...

Cut finger hacking open the corned beef after little key twisted off.

Gunky mixture in pan.

Still ate it though ;-)

Photos of the year - week 16

Monday 24th May

Tea outside at the Trout - what a cheescake (my joint favourite pudding with pavlova - can you tell I'm just in it for the cream!)

 

Tuesday 25th May

Wisteria on Rewley Road.

Wednesday 26th May

 Year 2 visit to the Living Rainforest.  Was a really good day.

Thursday 27th May

Ducklings in our back garden!  Such excitement when I came home from school.  Don't know how they got in there, maybe Mrs Duck had nested there, we watched for a while then kinda tried to chase them out the back gate.  Sadly they didn't go for the open gate but tried to get down the side post - and four of them succeeded!  
 

Friday 28th May

Friday of Summer Eights from the boathouse island.

Saturday 29th May

 Saturday of Summer Eights - not so glorious weather, had to take shelter from the rain.

Sunday 30th May

 Lovely meet up with a school friend and a trip to Golders Green Park - amazing - this was the water garden part.

Team-mate Tangle Turkey

This car really needs it.  It is barely quick enough to get out of its own way on the straight. About the Mercedes and their F duct on the grid walk.

Lap 1 - good start, well not, but yes.  McLarens 2nd and 4th on ditry side both dropped a place off the line but both got back up there by the end of the lap.

Something I discovered yesterday during quali:  the F-duct on the McLaren that the drivers block with their leg to disrupt the aerodynamics in a straight line to give them more speed and the other teams are copying, is so called because it was located at the F in Vodafone on the nose (monocoque?) of the car.  How technical!!!  And just heard engineer over the radio talking to Rosberg reminding him to use his F duct.  I do fine that funny!

Also something interesting about this race that I'm reluctant to write as I am trying to forget it...  I'm watching this delayed in the evening on iplayer as have had a nice day out with a friend.  But I received two texts about the race and one of them told me something that happened.  And it's quite funny knowing (although trying to forget) that with some of the things Red Bull have been saying about being a team...

Lap 14 - Hami's really on the back of Weber.  The top four are almost in formation. (see right: Weber, Hamilton, Vetel, Button all on the line)

Lap 14 - Vetel the first of the four to pit from 3rd - Button on the pace to try and pass him.

Lap 15 - Weber and Ham pit together and Web comes out ahead but Vetel gets out between them.  Ham loses a place.  Where will Button be?  So Ham will have to take them on the track now...

Lap 18 - Button rejoins in 4th. (coming out of the pits on the right as the top 3 go down pit straight)

Lap 21 - Jonathon has just noticed a black cloud and they have just shown a computer screen saying 'rain expected'.  And apparently Mike Gascoigne has just said on his twitter feed that rain is expected in 20 minutes.  (How hilarious that he's using twitter during a race - is he still a technical director somewhere??)  And Martin has said that's the first time he has heard rain mentioned this weekend.  It's gonna get exciting.

Lap 22 - apparently now due in 8 minutes.  Hehehe!

Lap 32 - What's surprising me today is how well the McLarens are holding on to the Red Bulls.   Surprising but pleasing :-)  (above right, all together on the pit straight) no rain yet.  Another 8 mins they are saying... (left on computer screens)

Lap 34 - spots of rain on the camera??

Lap 39 - Hamilton needs those two Red Bulls to start squabbling now.  They're not really going to start doing that are they? replies Jonathon...

Lap 40 - It's HAPPENED!!!!!  THEY COLLIDED!!!!

Lap 43 - McLaren 1-2 now with Weber in 3rd having pitted for a new nose and stayed ahead of Schuey.  Vetel out.

Lap 48-9 (right) I totally don't believe it at all.  In exactly the place the two red bulls took each other out, Button goes to overtake Ham...  did they not just see what happened between team mates??????  Button got him, but Ham then took him back.

Lap 54 - slight scare that the McLaren fuel situation is critical in that consumption has been too high and they are having to save fuel now.  4 laps to go.  I was just thinking that the radio message to Button was code for don't overtake Hamilton, but maybe there is a fuel issue. 

Lap 58/58  Hamilton wins with Button second.  Weber comes home in 3rd to increase his lead in the drivers championship.

Summer Eights

This week it has been Summer Eights - the big college rowing event of the year and it still gets me so excited!  Bumps racing is in concept very simple - you need to bump into the boat in front - but there is so much technical and controversial stuff in it that I don't think it can fail to get you intrigued!

I went down on Wednesday after school and saw the last divisions.  Don't think I had ever seen the later divisions on the first days as if I had gone down I would have seen the Hugh's boats which wouldn't have been in the latest divisions.  It was lovely sunny weather, just as Eights should be.  We walked down to the start and gradually back again on the tow-path side - buying ice creams at the ice cream van by longbridges.


(There was this notice up a coot's nest on the riverbank)

Thursday didn't make it to the river by had dinner with a friend who was rowing in Eights and so got a great fill of the boaty gossip!

Friday rushed down after school to see her race at 5.15pm.  Well I was just about on the boathouse island when I heard over the tannoy that they had already bumped right up at the start of the race.  The course is something like a mile long and you can't see the while stretch at one time so it's tricky deciding where you want to watch from!  Congratulated her and hung out by her boat house with pimms and we ventured to another boat house for a bbq burger - delicious!




Then came Saturday of VIIIs and the weather changed :-(

We have started a tradition where we meet with some family friends to have a picnic by falcon boatclub.  Different people have made it to the racing in different years and the picnic has gradually grown in extravagance.  I was going to cycle along the river and then walk the rest (no bikes allowed on Saturday of Eights along the race course).  But looking out my window, it was raining pretty hard so car it was, with umbrella and all!  I was the first to arrive and just made it out to see the first division of the day row past, Mens Div VII.  Saw some good collisions and titled at one cox who put up a flowery umbrella after his crew bumped out!   Dash back into the car to escape the rain before the next race, and also to eat a slice of the blueberry buckle I had made that morning - totally made the whole car smell delicious - impossible to resist!

More people started rocking up:  Mum and sister, colleague from school, family friends (minus one daughter in Borneo) and a couple who were friends of our friends and we had met sometimes before.  They were the heroes of the day as they brought a pop up gazebo which saved us from the rain and a table for us to put all the food on. I was slightly embarrassed by the opulence of the picnic, but in truth probably kind of proud!  and it was enjoyed by all.

Hysterics at the quails eggs - and don't forget the celery salt.

 

Happy Birthday to you!  

We wandered along over the bridge to the start for one division and made it on to the Isis Tavern to try and use their toilets.  It ended up a comedy of errors for me, as I felt compelled to buy a drink so ordered an orange juice and then found out I didn't have my purse.  So my name was put down in a book and I was going to have to come back in an hour.  Fortunately my sister (having been to the toilet) paid for it.  We all took a sip from the communal beverage!

It brightened up for a bit and we sat out on the raft next to the river.  I had a lovely time getting to explain all the boaty lingo and even persuaded them to read the glossary of bumps racing that I find hilarious.  The explanation even went as far as a re-enactment using four umbrellas (we named them appropriate colleges based on blade colours) for overbumping in Eights, and even then in Torpids!  I love my geeky boaty life, can slip back into it so easily.

 

Lots of cuteness on the river.  We became closely acquainted with four ducklings and also saw these swans and cygnets.  The momma and dadda hissed a plenty at us.  I found it so unbelievable cute when two got on their back.

Tweak of the week 1 - Is she right?

I started getting under way after my tweak of the week inspiration course.  I started with number 1 on my list that we had been told quite early on in the day and was the first one to grab me.  So at the Living Rainforest the following day I gave it a go.  I asked my group what they thought they might see in the rainforest and followed each person's suggestion with 'are they right?'  surprisingly it kinda worked as it got them all interested and discussing although it wasn't the ideal situation as they were speculative answers in the first place.  I tried it later in the day with a more sensible question (can't remember what it was now) but was again impressed with how well it worked. 

On Thursday we were playing round the world in maths and I realised I was telling the children when they got a question right.  I had been proud at getting the other children to ask the questions rather than me, but realised I was missing an 'is she right?' opportunity.  It was funny how hard I found it not to answer and I ended up making a joke of it with the children where I had to cover my mouth.  Didn't quite get it slick yet, the question setters were still looking to me generally for confirmation before giving the thumbs up, but was good to be thinking of in the first place and will get better with practice I think.

Also in thursdays maths lesson, I put 12 questions on the board and asked the children to do the 3 hardest - a way of reducing information, number 18.  Moderate success though some children said there weren't any hard ones! 

It's half-term now, but I am going to leave this as my tweak of the week for the first full week back.

Grandma's Garden

Visiting Grandma in Cheshire at the weekend I took the opportunity for a tour of her garden to learn and practise flower names.  Her garden was full and looking lovely and there was a lot to learn, but here are a few I remember and snapped.

Irises in the front garden.  Some of Grandpa's favourites.

 Bachelor's Buttons in the front garden

Azalea I think - they will be one of my hardest to learn as they so often look different.

Could it be a regular wallflower?

Maybe everlasting wallflower? Good agrees.

 I think another azalea - it had a word meaning big in the name grandma said.

 Can this be another azalea???

Now I do recognise this one, but have forgotten the name - will have to look in my diary.  The flowers face down on it.   Just looked and I think it was the aquilegia.  Google seems to agree with me.

 Rhododendron in the back garden - looking at its peak I think.

As you can tell I'm really not that certain about plant names so if you know any please let me know so I can learn.