Faraway Places

End of the Summer

2010-09-17T11:44:00.003+01:00

The end of the Summer. One of my favourite times of the year. Time to hunt in your wardrobe for those hoodies that you adore and that save you from the sometimes bitter early morning chill and time to find your fingerless gloves for morning explores with the doggy. Every year, autumn comes and I find myself making preparations for the winter.

Today whilst walking Monty in the south fields, I spied a branch of Sloe Berries glowing a radiant dark blue amongst the green leaves and after hunting in my pockets found a cloth bag in which to stash some of the autumn fruits. After a half an hour of getting spiked by the thorns in the hedgerow, I had a full bag of the berries to show for my efforts and that is always a good feeling.

I plan to make Sloe Gin with the berries which is always a long process. I adore the fact however that after the Sloe Gin is made you can drink it and remember picking the berries (and caring for the cuts on your hands from the spiky bush, afterwards) and the drink tastes even better for having been made at home. Most of the Liqueur will probably be given away as Christmas presents but I probably have enough berries now for two bottles. Another couple of berry picking sessions and I shall have enough to get started!

Now all I have to do is find some small empty wine bottles with screw cap lids... I think its time for a trip to Sainsburys to sample some of their miniature wine bottles!

Long Time, No Winter

2010-05-14T09:17:00.006+01:00

Greetings folks! I must apologise for the shamefull absence of blogging coming from my computer of late. there was no real reason for this other than lack of inspiration and a rather un-usefull habit of forgetting to take my camera anywhere. it has therefore been languishing and getting used to a life of long snoozes and occasional brief outings Since my last post was a good few months ago, I thought I would post a few photographs of the winter and spring, which came all too soon but which has brought happiness to many after a winter of "road grit rationing", and near record low temperatures. (yet again, I seem to be left longing for a return of winter which was glorious and once again did not last long enough.)

Fishing on a calm, very cold December morning

The morning after the first snow storm of the year. this snow stuck around for roughly a month

Lauren finds the first Snowdrops of the year (Feb 17th)

Snow still on the mountains. Fitz park, Keswick

Hill and Forest walks with Sue in Cumbria

My aim is to start blogging again a little more regularly. wish me luck in my endeavour!! the world is full of things just waiting to be discovered and with a little nudging from my sister Stephanie, I'm sure there will be more posts on their way some time.

My Sister and I go to LONDON!!! = D

2009-10-15T16:04:00.006+01:00

Tower Bridge All 311 steps at the monument! (we were TIRED at the top!)

Me at the top of the monument

Pippa at the top of the monument. (st pauls cathedral over her shoulder)

The view down to the ground.

St Pauls Cathederal

The River Thames

Tower Bridge! = D

Pippa and I on Westminster Bridge

The houses of parliament and Big Ben

The blue man!!

(the Embankment is FULL of some AMAZING street performers!)

The London Eye and the Houses of parliament, taken from the golden jubilee bridge

Me in Trafalgar Square!

We went to see the queen! LMAO!(she wasnt in though hehe!)

Buckingham palace is amazing. very beautiful and I love watching the guards

St James's Park

St. James's Park with a view of Buckingham Palace

Dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum

Philippa and a Diplodocus

The Seashell.

2009-09-14T01:41:00.003+01:00

This sculpture is one of my favourites.

Stuck on a beach on the suffolk coast, this piece of art can either be swamped by people coming from all around to see it, or it can be devoid of human life. These are the special days. Just you, the metal, the sea roaring a few feet away, the gulls calling down the beach and the elements that are blown into your face. Wind, rain hail; none of these detract from the beauty of the scene.

Many people are dissappointed that the seashell was put on this beach but on a quiet day, you can go and sit on a sheltered part of this sculpture and you will not care because the ocean is there and that is all that matters.

A long time gone.

2009-09-05T20:42:00.005+01:00

As I sit down to write my blog post today, I feel a sense of coming home. I have not written in ages! My camera has not been idle by any means however. I have had many opportunities to excercise my artistic side which has made me very happy of late.

These pictures were taken in Aldeburgh, a little fishing town on the Suffolk coast which, despite the tourists and modern times, still feels like it is in a different era. There are fishing boats on the beach, surrounded by winch cables, old nets and plastic crates to load the catch into. On the waterfront are the old fish huts where the catch of the day is sold. I find that the fish you buy from here is always better than fish stalls on markets because you are getting it right from the source. over your shoulder you can smell the salt of the sea, the crash of the waves, and the vessels that brought the catch home are stood just over your shoulder. The fish is never more than a couple of hours old so it is that much more tasty when you get it home and cook it for your tea. It is perfect. The sign on one particular fishing hut in Aldeburgh is quite the most photogenic signs I have ever seen. It must have seen some weather in its time, that is for certain. Scratched and beaten up, It makes you think of those grey, windy, stormy days when even the gulls stay tucked up and anyone foolhardy enough to venture outside does so huddled against the chill and wishing they were back in their warm and cozy house .

There are always pictures to be taken beside the sea and that is maybe why I love it so much. it can be picturesque whatever its mood and I never care which sort of mood that might be.

Have fun everyone!

Morning Comes

2009-07-10T23:39:00.005+01:00

I have been meaning to post this picture for a few days now and finally I have been motivated by my friend Kimberly to get my act together. This image was taken a few days ago when I got to bed at 2:30 in the morning. Dawn was already breaking in the East and there were the most fantastic clouds haunting the sky. These fascinating, vaporous ghosts hung in exactly the same place for two hours and I couldnt help but watch them from my window as I failed completely to sleep. They caught the light of the rising sun beautifully and I am sure that at one point I even saw a small rainbow grace their delicate waves.

Eventually they dissappeared and all within about five minutes. I looked away from the window momentarily to read some more of my book and when I next looked up, I was surprised at their absence and almost missed them. Somehow they had something close to personality. This picture does not do justice to what I remember of that morning. There was a magic in the air punctuated first by a lone herring gull waking up and flying overhead towards the town where it would forage for food, its quiet morning squawks waking the rest of bird-kind to start their morning chorus, and then Mr Fox running down the road to get home before the humans woke up to drive around in their noisy metal vehicles all day.

I did not stay up much longer after they left and I think I eventually got to sleep at 5am. Needless to say, I was tired when I woke up 3 hours later to start my day.

Mature Summer

2009-07-09T16:14:00.006+01:00

As summer nears its mid point, I find that it has developed a sense of maturity. It is no longer in a furious hurry to appear hot and fiery as of a few weeks since. Outside today is a near constant slow rain, a cover of clouds and a cool breeze. I love these days as I am able to wear a hoodie to keep off chills but I am still able to walk in the garden bare foot.

My feet (after a few months without being cosseted in boots) are now hardened and can walk on almost anything so pebbles and twigs or rough pavement dont bother me anymore. If society would let me, I would probably walk bare foot everywhere but unfortunately, funny looks and broken glass prevent this. My Boots therefore, sit forgotten under my bed feeling jealous of the small shoes I wear out and about.

The Photographs here were taken today in my back garden. My dog Monty kept me company as I snapped away and enjoyed just watching me (quite obviously wondering why on earth I was "watching" the flowers and bushes so closely).

He loves it when I spend time with him outdoors and days like this with weather so perfect are wonderful for my camera. It seems my camera loves damp, green, moist weather. It brings out colours that are easily captured and enhanced (given the right settings of course).

Everyones idea of a perfect summer is different but I wish you all good weather and happy days wherever you are.

Home by sundown

2009-07-03T15:31:00.004+01:00

Hey guys, I am trying to get back into my photography which has taken a back seat for a couple of weeks. I am now striving to remember my camera whenever I go out like I used to because I keep running into wonderful scenes that inspire my imagination and never have anymeans to capture them! Wish me luck with this endeavour In the mean time, here my pictures after a fabulous sunny day yesterday. this week has been hot and last night the weather broke. It cooled down and we were treated to not only a lovely sunset, but a moon rise AND a terriffic thunderstorm much later.

I guess Summer isnt all THAT bad : )

The longest day

2009-06-15T18:09:00.005+01:00

The Longest day of the year is coming up very soon. I keep being amazed at how long the daylight hangs around now. The picture that I took last night at about 10:30 pm illustrates what beautiful things the evenings now are.

A bonus of the light evenings is that one can go outside when the day is cooler. The heat of the day is gone, but some of it remains stored in the paving stones of our patio. you stand on the warm stones, even though it is almost midnight you stand on the warm stones and look up at the numerous stars and the constellations that you were taught the names of when you were a kid. Summer might have its bonuses after all. For all my moaning, it is a beautiful time of the year and one should not discourage mother nature from having a fun time.

At this time of the year, The sun only just dips behind our horizon at night I think as there is always a corner of the sky that is paler than the rest and you can always see the silhouettes of the trees.

~ my desktop says we shall have "t-storms"... I hear distant booms, the breeze is appearing, the sky is dimming..... im keeping my fingers crossed. ~

Storms on the horizon

2009-06-11T20:29:00.003+01:00

~our rope swing which hangs about 25 feet from the tree~

~Foxgloves~

Our Back garden is beautiful tonight. The sun, bright between storm clouds is shining through the leaves of our Ash tree creating a brilliant green glow, Perfect conditions for a spot of photography. We have the most amazing Foxgloves in our garden! Ever since I was a child Mom would grow millions of them and one of the first things I remember from when I was little was her telling me that I was NOT to touch them because they were poisonous. That (as you can imagine) scared me quite a bit so I never ever touched them (and I still dont!). There are just some things you never forget.

Today has been very warm. Not my favourite of weather types as you propably know but the one good thing? It has spawned SO MANY stormclouds! Everywhere you look tonight in every corner of the sky are clouds blossoming high in an attempt to "hit the roof" as it were. I am keeping my fingers crossed for some storms tonight as so far this year I have been unlucky.

I leave you with a stormcloud and a happy wish for a good FRIDAY tomorrow!!!

Field gates

2009-06-10T00:29:00.002+01:00

Sometimes I find that the simplest things can be photogenic.

Today I was having trouble with my camera. Nothing looked good in its viewfinder. Eventually I gave up and went home but on my way back, I stopped at a field gate to watch a bunny grazing on some grass. I leaned upon the fence and sudenly realised that I was very close to a perfect picture!

Ivy is probably my favourite plant. (creepers in general really). The new shoots that curl their way through anything are so delicate but can force their way through most things. Our garden fence has rotted away completely now but since it is covered and interwoven with this tenacious weed, the fence has stayed upright for years after it should have fallen over!

As I eyed this young tendril of Ivy, I realised that to get to it, I would have to wade through a bank of stinging nettles. I considered this problem and then decided "what the hell." I therefore made my way into the deadly stinging nettles and obtained a photograph! the one thing that had been eluding me all afternoon!

Photograph obtained, I went home feeling much more satisfied with my afternoon!

(p.s. I didn't get stung once!)

First storm photos of the year!

2009-06-08T01:00:00.002+01:00

I am thrilled today because we FINALLY got a storm!!!! not a proper one, Not much lightning and only distant rumbles of thunder but we got some spectacular clouds. I therefore grabbed Mr. Camera and RAN into the sheets of rain to get some pictures.

I ADORE thunderstorms and I was complaining just today that we hadnt had a good thunderstorm yet this year. Admittedly we still havent.... there was a definite LACK of significant electrical activity, but I got the excitement of watching the stormclouds roll over and curl in their own unpredictable patterns.

As I stood outside and got slowly drenched in the rain the thought occurred that the daylight was diminishing. I love when this happens. A faint tinge of brown/green came over the clouds and the birds who had been singing quite heartily in the trees suddenly grew very still. this darkness lasted untill the clouds had passed over and the rain had eased. The birds then continued in their evening songs and I decided that the chance of lightning and thunder has vanished. I therefore went back indoors to finish my supper... only to see a flash and hear from outide a boom of thunder.

Missed opportunities!!! Life is like that though I guess.

British Summer

2009-06-06T21:17:00.003+01:00

Everyone seems to be cold today! Jumpers are being worn instead of T-shirts and when taking Monty for an evening walk with Steph today I was bombarded with the

"How are you not COLD!"

question from her. I was fine however. No cold can reach me!!! (theorhetically).

One of the wonderful things about Britain is its summers. Garunteed rain and chilly weather for a good period of time, Britain can be sometimes the best place to keep cool.

One worry is that with a roof now installed above the Wimbledon centre tennis court in time for this years competition, the rain might decide there is no point in falling!

For years, the wimbledon weekend has been hilarious because of so much rain, thus making tennis impossible. I hope it still rains. It will not be Wimbledon without rain.

I hope that wherever you are, whether you have sunshine, rain, heat or cold, you have a brilliant weekend.

Pounding the streets

2009-06-03T20:58:00.002+01:00

I have a great sense of accomplishment today. I have spent a day walking round with my sister Steph, collecting for her trip in August to climb mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. All the money goes to a charity called Childreach International which works in many countries (including Tanzania and Ghana) working to improve the lives of children. Building schools, working on sanitation projects and helping them finish school and get jobs afterwards.

I was thrilled at how many kind people were willing to spare a little change to our cause. Every little penny counts and after roughly 3 hours, we had managed to raise £40.45 (and since Mom said she would match the overall amount at the end of the day today, we now have roughly £80 for our days work! -a big thank you to Mom for the extra pennies-)

This will be the trip of a lifetime for steph and she is now half way towards reaching her target of £2,200.00.

On the off chance that someone will want to help sponser Steph, I am putting a link to her "justgiving" fundraiser page.

http://www.justgiving.com/stephaniewood7

Tomorrow we do the whole process of collecting again, but this time in a slightly different location. I now know which clothes are suitable for walking around in for ages (e.g. not the ones I wore today) and what not to do (e.g. forget to take off your scary make up so you dont frighten poor elderly ladies).

I am hoping we can do just as well with our collections tomorrow. It is very rewarding seeing people giving so generously, so even though today was a tiring day, It was a good one.

please wish us luck for tomorrow!

Barefoot in old haunts

2009-05-30T22:17:00.003+01:00

I am posting these completely un-edited pictures from yesterday because frankly, they speak for themselves! there was no adjusting of the brightness or contrast needed as the light was perfect for once.

I was in Holywells park and I had a marvellous time being in a place that I spent alot of my childhood. The sun was shining and making everything look so fresh and vibrant! I spent a little while near a wildlife stream (the top two pictures) and then kicked off my shoes and crossed the wide expance of parkland towards a very inviting tree on a small hill. I lay for about an hour underneath this tree listening to my earphones (in which was playing an odd music choice for such a relaxing day. Metal. -check out "Sikth", a really good band). While there, I just had to take a picture of my view into the branches of the tree. Every now and again, a Coal Tit would come and hop along the branches above me and even the noise of guitars, drums shouting from my earphones could disrupt a reeling of relaxation.

I did not put my shoes back on for the rest of the day! I walked barefoot back up a stony track back to the car and spent the rest of the day barefoot. I like having that freedom. Days like that do not come around very often.

On the news side of things, today saw my family and I taking a trip up to Aldeburgh to take the grandparents off for their holiday and tonight sees Dad and I running to the Train Station to pick up my sister Steph who is coming home for the summer!!! *celebrates* It will be great to be a family of five again. She has been travelling first class today, with as much tea and biscuits as she can eat! I think she may be travelling first class again somehow.

Right now, I am off to do some art and then go to get lil sis.

Have a good weekend everyone!!!

As the birds wake up.

2009-05-28T22:05:00.002+01:00

As I went to bed last night, I found that again I had left it late enough that I could actually go to bed as the birds woke up. This was, naturally, quite by accident. I had got Distracted by that most eeevil of things, MSN messenger.

The Dawn Chorus never ceases to amaze me. One bird starts. Usually a Blackbird in my area. It seems he gets up earlier every morning to start his song and every morning it gets a little bit more beautiful.

Today I actually remembered to take my Camera with me on my walk!! Now that the Rapeseed flowers have gone from the field, the colours are less vibrant. Here and there Poppies Peek through the surface of green and Camomile flowers line the edge of the field. Whenever there is a change in season, the world is filled with colours so I think I find myself waiting for the next Season wether I like what it will bring or not. This week our weatheris going to get very sunny and the temperatures are going to get up into the 70s. Not the most pleasant of weather but I do love the daylight that stays past "bed time" and returns before I even get to bed.

Before I leave tonight, I shall post one last picture. It is made by my sister Pipa whilst she was messing about on my new image editing software. It is amazing and she is such a good artist but she is not so bothered in broadcasting it. I thought therefore, that I would let you all see Baby Sis's picture. One of my Favourites.

Camping and Hilariousness

2009-05-27T20:27:00.000+01:00

~Glow Poi at 1 in the Morning~

~the pose of the weekend. (This pic got me mistaken for a guy!!! and I have discovered that electrical tape is better than plasters! - see thumb-)~

~Dusk on the first night~ ~The flags of St. George (England) and St. Perran (Cornwall)~ I haven't had so much fun in ages as I had in Walsingham over the weekend. It was time yet again for the NACF's annual pilgramage to the shrine of our lady of walsingham (NACF= the National Association of Catholic Families) so we all packed our trailers with tents and headed towards norfolk from as far away as Pennsylvania in the USA!! The days were Sunny, Hot and with hardly a breath of wind. This was such a change from the usual weather which is Cold, Windy and Rainy! None of us could believe our luck and so ALL of the kids (me included) were running around in bare feet all weekend! I saw old friends I hadn't seen in about three years and marvelled at how much they have grown up and changed since then! It was great to hang out and just have fun with some hilarious people. One of our favourite haunts at walsingham is the ford just down the stream from our field where we stay. Any spare moment that occurs during the day is greeted with the question "shall we go to the ford?" indeed, it now is taken for granted that we will hang out at the ford anyway, so people tend to gravitate in that general direction. This picture was taken a couple of years ago but nothing ever changes at the ford. Ever beautiful and special every time. (and peaceful Untill the NACF arrives) My bruises are now flourishing from all my knocks and beatings from the weekend (a couple from the poi) as I found out the best way to silence someone making playful jokes about my height is to (playfully) punch them! (at which point I get punched back) :D My family has been attending the Walsingham pilgramage ever since I was tiny (and the NACF itself was formed when I was 6 months old! ) so every time we arrive it is like seeing an old friend after a long time apart. A big part of the pilgramage is the Holy Mile. We all walk a mile into the village (along some quite stony paths) saying the Rosary. Lots of people like to do this mile barefoot and this year I managed it!!! my feet were so painfull at the end however, I had to wear some shoes to actually get home. I am already looking forward to next year!

A tired mind

2009-05-21T20:18:00.000+01:00

I havent got much to say tonight! *silence......*

so I wont!

I would just like to welcome my sister Steph who is new to blogger!

Enough said from a tired mind who has done too much today. Goodnight!!!

2009-05-20T22:00:00.000+01:00

~some pictures I took from the supermarket parking lot. The clouds were nothing like I had ever seen before as they looked like they had rain falling from them but it never reached the ground!~

It seems that I always forget my camera when it is most needed. When I left the house to walk Monty today, I discovered the most beautiful field!!! The sun was shining, the birds were singing and there was a carpet of purple flowers on the ground! Those are the moments when you really wish you had remembered to pick up your camera before leaving the house. Fortunately there is a chance that the sun will be shining tomorrow morning also. I shall therefore be keeping my fingers crossed for good photography weather.

~Dad moment of the week~

...talking about who is in charge of what in the house. Dad listed everyone's jobs that they do the best, and then hugged me and said: "And Fizz is in charge of the Crab Quotas!"

also this week we have ...

~Mom moment of the week!~

...Mom was watching Bear Grylls trying to survive in Oregon.

"I'm sure that Bear Grylls makes everything seem more difficult than it really is! He has such a huge ego that even doing household chores could be turned into a survival challenge! Can you imagine that? Bear Grylls does the washing up! God help us!"

Back into the swing of things.

2009-05-18T13:00:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone! It has been a while since I have posted anything on my blog. without going into things too much, I had a hard week. I think that should be sufficient! So now that I am back in the swing of things, I thought that I would get back into the very rewarding process of blogging.

Yesterday was the first Home match for the Ipswich Cardinals my home American Football team. I always enjoy going to watch them play. There are some great folks supporting them including one American man who would give most comedians a run for their money. He had the whole stand laughing their heads off with his shouted comments to the referee (and boy can he shout!)

We were playing the Peterborough Saxons (playing in blue) and we had a great time shouting down their (three) supporters that were in the stands near us. If the three of them yelled "saxons!" the whole congregation of us Ipswichians would yell "CARDINALS!!!"

Amongst the changes for this year, We now have Cheerleeders!!! The poor girls stood for hours in the cold, the wind and the rain in short skirts and t-shirts! Thanks to the efforts of these brave girls, our cheers were much louder!

One thing I need to remember though next time is that I should NOT eat lunch before I go to one of these games. The Refreshments stand is just TOO tempting! I ended up having a jumbo hot dog and a Dr Pepper. Honestly. what more could you want! Football, a hot dog and Dr Pepper! bliss.

After The Football, Grandma and Grandad came round for tea and then after we had taken them home I took a walk to capture a sunset. It had all but dissappeared by the time I got to the best location, but I can't be lucky every time can I.

A most British passtime!

2009-05-10T23:22:00.000+01:00

The list of British passtimes yet to be covered is now growing short I fear!!! In tonights lesson we cover "The British Barn Dance".

We (as a parish) held our second barn dance at our church hall last night!

Slightly nervous because of our last attempt (to which only three families came), and resisting the urge to dress very hippyish, I proceeded to an evening of brilliant folk music by the best folk band around our neck of the woods "Melton Folk" and incredibly hilarious dancing!

~the beginning of the dance and Pip was put in charge of the tickets. Well what else do you do with them folks!~

~the welcoming party!~

The best dance of every barn dance is always "strip the willow" which can be very dangerous to one's limbs if you are not quick! basically you and your partner spin by linking arms and then link arms and spin with diferent people therefore creating a slingshot effect which threatens to catapult people in every direction ! ... but I am not doing this dance justice. I should have had someone taking a video!

Anyway. A fun time was had by all. even the people who didn't dance but very generously paid to get in.

hope you all have a brilliant week guys!!!

~Dad moment of the week~

"But these are FLYING crabs!"

said in response to a nature programs comment, something along the lines of "some crabs are extraordinary"

Can I have my head back now please??

2009-05-09T14:26:00.000+01:00

Hi all, I do apologise for the very quiet week on the blog front, I was hit with various kinds of headaches this week, cuminating in a Migraine yesterday. after that, Bliss!!! my head is free! I am now re-aquainting it with something called daylight and wakefulness! All the headaches however have cleared my head and here is some good news! My "artist's block" has gone! (for a while anyway).

I havent been able to draw things for weeks but last night I picked up a piece of paper and just doodled away! It is so good to have designs in your head that want to be put down onto paper! One day I really will have to start a little scrapbook as I have bits of paper with sketches on lying all about my art drawer.

I got a GREAT package in the mail this week!!!

Angel Girl has sent me a couple of things from Catch Con!

She sent me Nick Mavars Signature on a Northwestern picture! (I seem to remember her telling me that Nick signed on Edgars head as a joke since Edgar wasn't there! correct me if I am wrong Angel) :D

Angel also sent me a Crab Wizard Calendar for 2010 and Crab pen! (unfortunately the Crab pen does not wants it's photograph taken. It is a shy little thing and so getting a good picture of it is difficult). Thank you Angel for such wonderfull gifts!!! Hopefully next year I might be there to get Signatures and pictures! (fingers crossed).

Now Some news, I have officially started work on a new Deadliest Catch video! this one shall be entitled SIG HANSEN (!!!) so wish me luck with this! I think I have found a good song and have started cutting up DC episodes. Major problem however, I havent got two of my very favourite episodes!!!!! I shall have to see if anyone can upload one to me or bully my "Ares" software into finding anything Deadliest Catch related. It seems that whenever I need it, it throws a complete wobbly and refuses to work.

(p.s. Dad purchased a new toy today, a remote controlled helicopter! I hope he lets me have a go on it, I wanna play "USCG rescues!" )

Fizz has a MAP!

2009-05-05T20:29:00.000+01:00

Baby Sis gave me a map today!!! It is a map of Haugesund and Karmøy in Norway and it is almost as tall as I am! (I am sure you will see a picture of it tomorrow as it is too cool not to have a picture in here). She had to write a case study for Geography today in 6th form all about Karmøy and after she had finished decided to give all the Notes, workbooks and maps to me so I am very happy. I am sure I never got to do anything near as exciting as studying places like Norway when I was doing Geography at school. We were told by our tutor to study social development in Middlesborough (not the most lively place by all accounts). I would have enjoyed learning about a foreign country for once.

A funny thing happened this morning, Baby sis and I both woke up at around 6:30am. Neither of us really payed this much attention until we were talking this afternoon and realised that we had both done it in the same manner! we woke up, sat bolt upright and thought "Im late getting up!". We then realised that we were NOT late so proceeded to go back to sleep again. Neither of us can really explain exactly WHY however. It is just one more thing to puzzle over in life!

My picture tonight is of the sunset we saw from the car yesterday evening (edited slightly of course for mere drama). For some reason there is always beautiful skies on the way back from Kent. I always make sure I have enough charge in my camera for the journey home.

~Dad moment of the week~

(opening the canary's birdcage) "come on out tweety and go for a swim!"

Bank Holidays and sore Leggy Peggys!

2009-05-04T23:07:00.000+01:00

Since this week was a bank holiday, My family were out and about ALOT! I therefore got many good pictures of the sights around Suffolk.

On Sunday we went to Otley Hall which is a fantastic old house which is still lived in and which the family that owns it opens up for special occasions. We got to tour the house and watch some real dancing with the most wonderful instrument! A Hurdygurdy!!!

It was amazing walking through the house. It was supposed to have been commandeerd as Hitler's base if he invaded. he had picked it out for himself as a good stopping over place on the way to London! Thank God THAT never happened. The house actually looks lived in which is fantastic! there are family photographs of the people that live there and "Keep out" signs on the son/dauhgter's bedroom door!

After a good walk round the gardens filled with peacocks and people doing archery, It was time for a cup of coffee back at the homestead.

Bank Holiday Monday was no different! We travelled to london/kent to see my grandmother for the say (that is a looooooooooong way to go ) but got some good walking done and got home very late. It is no wonder we are so tired!!! It shall be nice to get back to normality! I hope you enjoyed your little dose of the english countryside!! Have a great week!!!

May Day!

2009-05-01T19:56:00.000+01:00

I am sorry about the lateness of these pictures, It has taken a while to get them uploaded. I hope you enjoy them however.

My family and I were up at 4 in the morning on May the 1st to welcome May and the coming of summer. It is always so magical to take part in this and as I promised in January I think, here are some pictures of our adventure!

~The Green Man~~Awaiting the sun~

~The musicians providing the traditional tunes~

~The Police showed up! I believe they must have thought we were an illegal rave or some such (not surprising with the whacking of sticks and handkerchief waving!)~

~as we watched, Fishing boats started to appear and make their way out to sea for their day's fishing~ ~It was as if the whole world was waiting for the sun to rise~ ~the sun starting to sppear was a magical event. I was (I think) the first to spot it and pointed it out to a few people~ ~The Sun is finally here!!!~ ~The men stood in a group and sang in May. I wish I had know the words! it was a beautiful song.~ ~and now, back to the dancing!~ ~I went down to the beach to get some photographs~ ~"the money shot"~ ~now that the Sun had risen, we all trouped off home. It was a wonderful day!~ ~The East Suffolk Morris Men~

http://www.eastsuffolkmorris.org.uk/

Watch out for the Crabs!!!

2009-04-30T17:26:00.000+01:00

Today was a quiet day. Mom and I went to Felixtowe which was looking beautiful in the spring sunshine. I took a picture of a road Sign for Ang, (being a Norman Girl, I thought she might like the street name). Also, I managed to find a sign in a shop which is probably the BEST thing I have found this year!!!

"life is a beach - watch out for the crabs".

I saw it and knew there was no way I was going to get away without buying it. After my crab oriented purchase, we drove a little way through town to a beach where there were no touristy places, no noisy arcade promenade, and where Monty could be let off the lead in safe knowlege that he wouldn't cause trouble.

Mom and I just watched the ships sail in and out of the Port of Feloxtowe. The sun was shining and the air was warm (Mom still managed to get cold however, so she borrowed my hoodie).

It is amazing what sunshine and a soft breeze can do. I am not a 'beach' person by nature, inasmuch as I hate sunbathing and I dislike sand inbetween my toes and having nothing to do except get sand under your fingernails, (Fishing is fine. you wear wellies, a hat, and generally get cold and have a great time casting, baiting and -hopefully- hauling in fish). Today however, I actually threw caution to the winds kicked off my boots (which never usually leave my feet), rolled up my jeans and explored the beach with monty hot on my heels. A nice change.

Tonight I am by planning on cosying down with some dinner and some Deadliest Catch. Nothing changes there, but I think my saying of "shut up, I'm happy" would be an acceptable thing to say at this juncture.

Have a very happy Thursday everyone!

Nightingale

2009-04-29T00:59:00.000+01:00

just a quick post here to say that there is a Nightingale singing outside my bedroom window! and it is 01:00 am! How good life is!

Getting distracted! - Facebook is EEEEVIL!

2009-04-25T16:10:00.000+01:00

One of the worst things about being a Deadliest Catch fan in England is that nothing ever happens here!!!! Sometimes I wish I lived in the USA so that I could take part in events and meet and greets like Catch Con which was this weekend. I have seen a few pictures that one Captain Sig Hansen has posted on 'Flikr' and they look like everything was set up for a brilliant party. Maybe next year I will be able to go.

My Weekend was fun! Since Stephy was home, we did so much together as a family and it was a good break from the usual weekend routine. We were able to take a car journey out to Westleton near the coast which was very nostalgic. We spent alot of time there when we were kids as our Grandparents owned a carvan very nearby. Since we last went, The village of westleton seems to have shrunk a tiny bit! The duck pond is definately smaller than I remember it. This however is the sad thing about growing up. Ponds which seem as vast as a lake or an ocean can shrink and seem less impressive in only a matter of years! Today was the sad day of departure for Little Sis. we spent a couple of hours in Ipswich after church and she boarded the midday train back to Scotland. It is always so sad to see her leave but thankfully it is not too long until St. Andrews University sends all the students back home again. We have about a month Untill Steph once again graces our doorstep.

~Little Sis all ready to go back home. 16 hours travelling for a 30 hour stay in Ipswich. The girl must be bonkers!~

Steph Returns!!!

2009-04-24T22:05:00.000+01:00

~Little Sis Steph is back for the weekend!!!~

~Here is Steph flying Baby Sis's huge kite (which damn near killed her!)~

~Little Sis would kill me if she saw I had put this picture of her up but I might be safe. I dont think she bothers to read my blog.~ All week I have been dying to tell you all a huge piece of news!!!

Steph has come home for the weekend for a surprise visit!

I was the only one in on the secret and so was sworn to secrecy. even my blog is not safe to broadcast secrets as I have a feeling that Baby Sis reads my posts from time to time if she is bored (and has told me to stop calling her Baby Sis. wether I will or not is a different matter altogether). All week long I have been preparing things on the hush hush. I sorted out a family get together for tomorrow, I have tidied (with mom's help, even though she thought we were tidying for tidy's sake) I dusted, and all the time had to remain boring and normal instead of doing the exact opposit and getting myself excited about seeing my sis who spends most of the year in Scotland Watching peoples reactions to seeing Steph today was very fun! She made her own way home from the train station and so when she rang the doorbell, Mom answered the door and gaspes saying "what on earth are you doing here!" Baby Sis disolved into tears (of joy, I must add), and when Dad came home, steph was in the kitchen so Dad was lead in. Thinking that we had something specil for tea, he did a double take when he saw Steph and exclaimed "wow! are you edible then??"

After tea, we all went kite flying! we almost lost steph as the kite was big enough to actually haul her of the ground for a second. Various remarks such as "we need someone holding onto her waist" were made, but fortunately Steph managed to stay on the ground for the remainder of the evening.

Have fun everyone! happy Friday!!!

Lonely evenings for a while.

2009-04-23T22:25:00.000+01:00

~only a small segment of the huge breakage in my laptops screen. I dont think I could manage to do that again if I tried!~

What does an insomniac do when she doesn't have a laptop?

...

good question.

Last night my laptop broke. Ok, if you must twist my arm... I broke my laptop. I was picking it up and my mind was occupid on a different train of thought. The flex which was charging my laptop got caught around the arm of my chair, the computer flew out of my hands and landed on the screen which promptly smashed.

I seem to have a bad way with computers. I always get the ones that either break, go frustratingly slow or have major personality issues!

Fortunately, I took out an insurance policy on my laptop when I bought it a month and a half ago. With this little handy piece of luck, I have been able to send my laptop to some people who will either repair or replace it.

All this means however that I am without a laptop for however long it takes for the "fixing people" to come up with a fixing strategy. Since I am a complete insomniac, my laptop is a bit of a lifeline. I can trawl the deadliest catch websites and forums and I can talk to my friends from around the world (who always do a marvelous job of keeping me entertained when theorhetically, I should be sleeping) so what I shall do instead, I have no idea!

I am thinking I might get through a whole lot of Deadliest Catch DVDs!

So everyone, Keep your minds on the task at hand and dont drop your laptops! if you do, you end up with a whole lot of mess to clean up!

~~~

Dad moment of the week..

"everyone knows tomatoes are 100% water, held together by a red colored gravity field!"

EXCITEMENT!

2009-04-21T18:41:00.000+01:00

~I thought that before I started this blog today, I would post a picture of Obscuria who inspired the Northwestern eggs! I wanted to post one of the pictures yesterday but I wanted to ask her permission first :D I wish I had been able to figure out how to get my eggs blue and white!!! :D ~

So! what does the word excitement mean to me? It means, Butterflies my stomach, Restlessness, a permanent excited smile and my parents giving me that "knowing" look. In 18 minutes, My 3 hours of Deadliest Catch shall begin with a Deadliest catch round up, and then Episode 1 of SEASON FIVE!!!! I have been very nice to the parents by doing the washing up for them so that they let me watch DC on the downstairs TV. (Dad saw through this little ploy but he doesn't seem to mind). I have also got in all my Deadliest Catch essentials! Reeses cups / Nutilicious bars, Cheesy Doritos and 'Irn Bru' (a lovely orange colour fizzy drink). I am going for the orange look tonight evidently!!! I have to dash now... my clock is now a T-minus 10 minutes!!!

~My very orangey theme! what use are snacks if they are not in the "neon" food group!~ ~Mom and Dad actually sitting together watching DC for once! (I had nicked Dad's chair as It is the only chair I can sit in to watch DC)~ ~Me and my neon drink!!! Lovely!!! its scottish! and one of my favourites ever!~

~LATER~ What An evening!!!!! I did not think I could get more excited than I was earlier at the beginning of this post. as "Deadliest Catch Up" ended however, I was on my feet and pacing the room waiting for Episode one to start! I had drunk so much Irn Bru by this time and eaten so much candy that I was hyper on top of excited! Mom looked at dad and said "im wondering who Fizz's dealer is!"

I calmed down eventually. I gasped at all the tense moments in DC, giggled at the funny moments and very nearly cried when Captain Phil Harris got left at the dock.

I have decided to stop watching the episode previews since the previews for episode 1 left little to be discovered. I knew what was coming. Having decided this therefore, I have no idea what is coming next week so please no one spoil it for me :D

For now, I leave you with a reminiscence of Edgar Hansen's shifty eyes as Sig demended "no more stress!" you can't help but love Edgar!

Fizzy's Northwestern Tribute!

2009-04-20T17:03:00.000+01:00

Tadaaaaaa!!!!

My Northwestern Hard boiled eggs are finished!!! (now there is a sentence I never thought I would say!)

After the very cool Obscuria made some of these for easter and posted about them on her blog at the Northwestern forums, I felt I just had to have a go! Easter is over (technically speaking) so I cannot claim them to be easter eggs but season 5 of Deadliest Catch is premiering tomorrow for us in Britain, so I thought the eggs could be made in honour of that!

To make them, I 'hatched' the very cunning plan of printing out some Northwestern crests, drawing round them with pencil, and then transferring the pencil lines onto the egg so that I wouldn't have to draw the crest. Every time in the past that I have tried to draw the NW crest It has come out looking just a tad demented. I thought therefore that this would be a time saver. It wasn't. Unfortunately, my cunning plan did not work (dont ask me why), so I therefore drew them freehand and actually for once managed to get the crest looking ok!!!

~~~ There is now

1 Day, 3 Hours, 45 Minutes

to go before I get to see the first episode and Im not sure it is possible to be more excited than I am now!

Mom and Dad got to see the new trailer for DC last night and to my surprise, they actually fell silent to watch it!!! Are maybe Mom and Dad as excited as me?? probably not, but they are intregued and that is a bit better from being indifferent I guess!

I am on Tenterhooks waiting for tomorow! It's going to be a brilliant evening with Discovery giving us 2 HOURS of DC before the 1st episode of season 5 begins. I shall be getting in Doritos, Reeses cups and Pepsi for my DC night and THEN I shall finally be allowed to see the episode 1 discussion threads on the NW forums! (what a pity that everyone in the USA will be discussing episode two by then!)

Enjoy the rest of your Monday everyone!

2009-04-19T23:42:00.000+01:00

~this is just about as big as the fishing boats get in this neck of the woods~

Today was so pretty! Therefore, Mom Dad, Baby Sis and I went for a walk in Levington which is near to the coast. we saw so much fun stuff (my favourite of which is a yacht called Celtic Fizz and a Huge heavy duty truck with wheels almost as tall as me!) Monty hadn't had his walk yet when we went out, so as you can imagine, he was a very happy dog and I managed to get quite a cool picture of him running full pelt past me. he must have been going at such a rate because I felt the ground shake beneath me! (I have also just noticed that in the picture no part of him is actually touching the ground! I have a flying dog!!!)

There was so much to photograph today! for the past few days I have been in a very unimaginative mood. Therefore, I havent been able to take very many photographs. I guess spring and summer are not going to be my friends for photography. Everything seems to look the same on sunny days! I shall persevere and hopefully find my inspiration again.

Dad Has been trying to speak Norwegian today... This is probably very hard to explain to someone who has never experienced Dad's foreign language attempts. Basically, Dad's attempts at Norwegian sound very much like a rendition of "Bill and Ben the flowerpot men" (which was a childrens television program in the 50s I think. Bill and Ben had a vocbulary of one phrase. "flobb-a-dobb"). Dad's one word that he knows in Norsk is "Ja!" so after that, he reverts to "flobb-a-dobb-a-dobb" which is quite offputting when one is reading to yourself from a Norwegian coursebook.

I shall leave you with two of the fun photographs of the day! I really couldn't believe the boat Celtic Fizz! that was sort of odd!

Have a great day everyone! and I reccomend you go and check out Brooke's blog! she's such a good photographer and I love reading her blog "Canadian Voices" http://13rook3.blogspot.com/

je suis... "storm killer"

2009-04-16T15:53:00.000+01:00

Big News!!! we had our first thunderstorm of the year last night! Quite an early one aswell, seeing as its only the first part of April! I must admit however, the picture above is not from last night. It was taken during a huge storm a couple of years ago from my window.

I did not feel like the storm last night would last very long if I tried to photograph it. I have been told before that I am a "storm killer" (a person who can make a storm fizzle out as soon as they notice it.) I did not therefore want to tempt the storm into maliciously dissappearing on Baby Sis and I who were both hanging out of an upstairs window trying to get a better view of the lightning. (for once I wish Lightning would travel a little slower!)

I have loved thunderstorms ever since I was about 8 and I saw the film Twister (which remains my favourite film to this day). Ever day for months after I saw Twister, I found myself wanting to find out more and more and more about the weather. It didnt even matter if I was learning about storms. If it was weather, it was all good. the weather is still one of my great loves but now I have moved on to phtographing it.

....or attempting to anyway....

The storm last night was brilliant. the sky was lighting up for at least an hour and I am sure it is because I did not take my camera upstairs with me to try and photograh the lightening. I will get lightning pictures before the year is out though!

1 Week to go!!!

2009-04-15T17:34:00.000+01:00

Well the wait is over for alot of the global collection of Deadliest Catch fans. As season 5 premiered last night in the USA, I looked at my countdown timer, telling me how long I had to go until the first episode is shown in Britain. Only a week to go!!! ONLY! it might as well be a year! time dragged for the past 3 months, making it seem like season 5 would never arrive. Now, If possible, Old Man Time has taken it upon himself to go even slower! I take comfort from my Countdown timer which tells me that I have

6 days, 2 hours, 46 minutes and 30 seconds

to go until I settle myself down with my Coffee, Doritos, and Chocolate and hopefully find a way of locking my living room door so mum doesn't come swanning in talking on the phone and so that I can watch in PEACE!!! I love my family dearly but they dont have the same level of excitement for it that I do. For them, an episode of DC is just mildly interesting. A show that can easily be recorded and watched a couple of weeks later at their leasure.

After next tuesday, they might consider getting out the Deadliest Catch Swear Box again.

This swear box was the bane of my life for a week last August. If anyone mentioned ANYTHING to do with a certain mass of water (the Bering Sea), or yummy things with hard shells (crabs) or Vikings Pirates (the Hansen brothers) or a direction on the compass (the Northwestern), they were likely to get yelled at and would be made to put £1 in the box. I ended up after three days, owing the box about £30 I think! Fortunately, I wasn't made to pay as my family saw the looks of pain in my eyes as I thought of topics of Deadliest Catch conversation and quickly had to button my bouth so as to not discuss this vitally important subject. If the Swear Box makes a return, you shall have to excuse me from going slightly loopy.

So, I am now on Excitement overload for the next... 8 weeks (by eight weeks, King Crab season will have finished and we will be waiting for the second part of season 5! -scary thought)

For now though, I leave to have my tea of Chicken sandwich and easter eggs! mmm! nutritious!!!

An Easter weekend of weddings and chocolate.

2009-04-12T22:50:00.000+01:00

~Mr and Mrs Wildon~

As I sit here in my usual spot writing my blog and eating some skittles, I am rather at a loss as to how I should relate my adventures this weekend.

I guess I should start out by saying a big "CONGRATULATIONS!!!" to my cousin Lucy and her now husband Tony who became Mr and Mrs Wildon on Saturday. The service as so special and held in a church with the most fantastic stained glass window above the altar. It is always a strange thing to see a member of your family marrying into another. I guess the feeling is different if you are in the family being married into. At this point Dad interjects with this point: "Its all a matter of perspective really. In a way, Tony's family have married into ours!" (a scary thought for them I think)

After the marriage and family photos outside the church, we traipsed over the other side of town for the wedding recption which had a marvellous theme! a mix of Xbox games (of which Tony is enraptured) and Cadbury chocolate (with which Lucy is a definate fan! -which woman isnt?-). All the tables were named after Levels on the Xbox game 'Halo'. Our table was named 'Sacred Promise' and there were other names such as 'Truth and Reconciliation' 'Far Sight Lost' and 'Forward Unto Dawn'. There was also a Mario Cart wedding cake with Princess Peaches and Mario on top instead of the traditional husband and wife figurines. On all of the tables there were place names in the form of china cups! and also favours in boxes with Cadbury easter eggs in! After an uproarous dinner sitting at a table with Tony's Aunt and Uncle Dawn and Andy, we signed two guestbooks. I wrote in Norwegian in the second Guestbook as Andy dared me to! (never dare me to do anything as I will do it!) I did of course translate so they could read what I wrote but it did show Andy that I did infact know my stuff : )

The speeches came after dinner which were such a treat! I always love the speeches at the end of dinner. Every single one was incredibly heartwarming and full of laughter and love and even Lucy wrote a speech! Never one to go with tradition, Lucy thought that it was time the bride was heared from and this got a big thumbs up from everyone!

The wonderful thing about the venue for the reception is that it had a pagoda outside! After dinner, the disco started up and since Baby Sis and I are not the biggest fans of "disco music" (which seems to incorporate the worst music selections from the past 40 years), we both went and spent some time dancing in the pagoda. Baby Sis taught me to waltz and how to do the jive (both of which I think I remember!). Needless to say, since I have two left feet and the grace of a cinderblock, I kept standing on her feet so she gave up and suggested we go back to the disco (I really must have hurt her feet if that was her only option out!). It turns out that it was a good idea to go in at that point as the chocolate fountain was then getting set up! a tall scrumptious tower of chocolate set upon a lit up table with all sorts of dip-able treats, this was one of the main attractions of the night (and much better than the chocolate fountain at Aimée's birthday party in January which almost killed us by firing chocolate at high speeds round the kitchen. My faith in chocolate fountains is restored!)

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny, happy, wonderful day and one that shall never be forgotten, especially not as it was followed by Easter Day!

we spent Easter Day at Grandma and Grandad's house and after Lucy and Tony's wedding yesterday and a definate lack of sleep last night (I think I got about 3 hours of sleep) I found myself falling asleep at every opportunity! (A fact that my family found quite hilarious). I am therefore very ready for some rest tonight and might even get to bed early! (...maybe)

I leave you with a picture of my Easter chocolate. My family even got given Marshmallow Peeps by an American friend at church and im now a BIG fan of Peeps! Dad and I are now watching tghe "sudden death" final of the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta GA. Dad giving out golfing advice to pros is very amusing : )

Happy Easter!

A treasure chest of wonders!

2009-04-08T21:29:00.000+01:00

Tonight was the perfect night for taking photographs!!! Almost too good infact. I couldn't work out which to photograph first. To the West, a perfect sunset and to the East, a full moon rising from the treetops against a bruised purple sky.

I realised as I was busy snapping away, that I had been neglecting my photography over the past few weeks. I love heading out with my camera and searching for the perfect shot is very enjoyable; Somehow with the arrival of spring however, I have felt less inspired. It should work the other way around I know. Spring should theorhetically inspire with its blossom, new buds on the trees and warm days, yet I still yearn for the gone days of Winter.

The tree in the picture below is one of my Favourite trees in Ipswich. It died a few years ago now and yet it still stands, spiky and mean looking.

Nights like these do not come around very often I am sure. The combination of a full moon, and a sunset in the sky at the same time was a veritable photographic treasure chest! I fear there might not be another opportunity like this for a while so I made sure I made the most of it while I could.

2009-04-07T22:18:00.000+01:00

This week is obviously the weeek for Parcels! My Parcel from Cecilie in Norway got here today! Since she is very kindly helping me to learn Norwegian, she sent me a dictionary!! when I bought my Norwegian learning books, I could only find a very very small pocket dictionary which, although good, is too small to be of any real use. The dictionary that Cecilie sent me however weighs a ton and is 991 pages long. (why they didn't make it a full 1,000 I dont know! maybe that is just the perfectionist in me) I am very excited therefore and spent the whole morning studying Norwegian today! I love days like that.

The rest of my day was spent Going to Mass and confession (this being Holy Week, now is the time for me to get sorted and start afresh and hopefully not sin too much before Easter) and this evening I saw Aimée again! We spent quite alot of our time looking at 'Twilight' trailers and discussing a certain male lead. I was trying so hard not to catch the "twilight bug" as it were. ah well, these things happen for a reason I guess!

My plans for tonight are Pride and Prejudice (which Brooke sent me a link to on the internet as I have never seen it before) and eating M&Ms! yummy! Enjoy your evenings everyone!!!

A Northwestern Pillow! and loooots of candies!

2009-04-06T23:16:00.000+01:00

~All my lovely treats from Angela!~

~Any question as to what my favourite candy in the universe is??~ ~The FANTASTIC and unexpected present of a Northwestern pillow!~

~My favourite pillow!~

What a day!!! Before I had even woken up and finished my morning cup of coffee, there was a ring on the doorbell! Still half asleep, I didn't really relish the thought of getting up and dealing with a stranger on the doorstep. I therefore let Mom go and answer the door and two minutes later she came and dumped a cardboard box on my bed. There were two countries that this box could have come from, Norway or the U.S.A. and reading the label I discovered it was indeed from Angela in the U.S.A. I also found a label saying what the package contained. "Candy and Pillow".

I couldnt wait to open the package but I thought that I would wait. Aimee was coming round so I thought she might like to help me open the parcel. Aimée is on holiday now from work for two weeks so I shall hopefully be seeing much more of her soon. Today she came with the film 'Twilight'. Before watching the DVD however, we decided to open the parcel and discover what was inside. The first thing to come out of the box was my NW pillow! I dont know how Ang made it but it is amazing and it shall probably follow me around the house for a while! out of the box next came the candies and probably the most intregueing thing in the parcel is a packet of charleston chews! they sound very fun! Also there are some Ho Hos and Hostess bars (I think Hostess bars are twinkie bars? I love twinkies but havent had one in about 16 years). Angela sent some other things aswell such as Ranch Dressing! Finally I get to find out what that is as everyone seems to love it across the pond.

After discovering the fantastic contents of the parcel, Aimée and I settled down to watch 'Twilight' which I must admit, is brilliant. I havent really caught the Twilight "bug" yet but after seeing the film, I am quite interested in reading the books! (also a very handsome male lead doesn't hurt)

Now, I am watching Trawlermen. a lesser BBC Deadliest Catch rip off. Stil with some great pictures of stormy seas and fishing boats though. Only watch it if you are VERY deadliest Catch deprived is my tip!

For tonight however, Have fun, be happy, and happy Tuesday for tomorrow!

Dont be crabby! :D

2009-04-05T20:43:00.000+01:00

I have bought the greatest shirt in the known universe!!!! Most of you who know me, know that I am a dedicated deadliest catch fan and so, when I saw the crab top yesterday, I simply couldn't resist. The slogan "dont be crabby" has now become my motto of the year! Baby Sis very kindly took this picture because I wanted to show you all my new top. Hope you like it!

Today was Palm Sunday! It was the beginning of Holy Week, so easter really begins now! Mom, Baby Sis and I went to church for an extra special Mass. Palm Sunday Mass consists of holding palm leaves, Reading aloud from the Gospel of Mark, and being sprinkled with Holy Water. I didnt so much get "sprinkled" but doused" with Holy Water! This is what I get from standing where Father Leeder walked past twice!

After Church, we came home and after lunch, we got to meet our new neighbors! Niall Stacey and their two year old (and Very cute) daughter Zoe came round to introduce themselves. They moved in last tuesday and since the weather was beautiful, we spent an enjoyable afternoon in the garden drinking tea and eating biscuits! (how british that sounds!)

After a great evening snuggled on the couch with Grandma and Grandad who came round for tea, I am now settled down with a cup of coffee and Monty and I are going to watch LA Ink.

Have fun guys and dont be crabby!!!

2009-04-03T23:49:00.000+01:00

I shall not let myself stay up late tonight. I promised myself I would get some sleep.

Before I do sleep however, I am going to watch a movie called "into the wild" which sounds quite good! It is about an idealistic college graduate from Atlanta GA, who travels to Alaska to live off the land. 5 minutes into this film and already I am loving it! Alaska is so beautiful and the Cinematography is perfect!

~ and another thing, The main character just got given a pair of Deck Boots (as Deadliest Catch fans would call them) I love when things remind me of DC. its always a fun moment.~

Tomorrow, Baby Sis is taking me into town to help her look for a wedding outfit . Our cousin Lucy is getting married to her fiancée Tony on the 11th of April. This will only be the second Wedding that I have been to since I went to my Auntie and Uncle's wedding when I was three but I love Weddings. This shall make two of my cousins out of..... 18 to got married. Hopefully I still have quite a few weddings to go to...

It is getting late now so before I sign off for the night, I just have to say that I cannot reccomend this film enough! Everyone should see it. This might be a contender for the spot of "my favourite film"!

a little p.s....

Monty has now fallen asleep on the floor beside me and is snoring. I love that dog ^_^

South Field Flying

2009-04-03T00:07:00.000+01:00

~Chocolate Cream frappuccino, yum!~

Today was amazing fun!!!

after a quiet morning of trying to study Norwegian but failing miserably as I kept getting distracted, I decided that maybe I would study better in a café. So I packed up my books and trailed into town after Mom (which could have been a bad idea as I was tired to begin with!) The best place in Ipswich to study I have realised is the brand new Starbucks café! it is SO relaxing! they have sofas but even the tables and chairs are comfortable! Therefore, I always sit in the same spot at a table by the window with a Chocolate Cream Frappuccino and work away! I think the Starbucks guys are getting quite used to me now and are very friendly the manager said today that he liked that I came in there to study! I dont know why my home is awful to study in! I can never dtay on track and my mind wanders.

After a 1 hour spell of study in Ipswich, I then agreed to help Baby sis fly her new Kite that I got for christmas. we have been waiting for ages to try out this Kite and finally the weather was good and I actually got to have a go on it! since the Kite is 3 meters long it can quite literally lift you from the ground as if you weigh nothing and I have quite a few video clips of Sis being dragged by the Kite. Maybe ime for a kite flying video on youtube! hmmm will think about that one!

After getting home, I discovered that Dad was planning on taking me to speedway!

This was my first speedway meeting of the year so I was very excited! three hours of sitting in 40'F watching motorbikes, We lost by TWO points unfortunaleys some marvelous racing aswell!!!

right, Im signing off for the night so I can get a 5 hour sleep!!! I feel like I want to sleep tonight which id good!

Now I shall sign off! Happy Friday everyone!!! ~~~ news: Brooke has a new blog ao go find her! she hasn't added anything yet but it looks very pretty so far! its called Canadian Voices and should be pretty good I think! definately one to keep an eye on I think.

Warning: do not "sleep blog"

2009-04-01T21:47:00.000+01:00

I am ashamed of my blog post from last night. Aparrently I was waaaaay too tired.

I really didnt realise how sleepy I was getting until I was falling asleep at my computer and writing hilariously bad sentences!!! At one point I think I was having a waking dream (call it a hallucination if you want). I was convinced there was a piece of cloth on my keyboard and was trying to bat it away. I then 'woke up' however and realised the thing I was trying to bat away WAS the keyboard!!! Dont ask me how on earth I was so tired but I promise never to write anything so grammatically bad ever again. I COULD delete last nights post but If I leave it, it shall remind me to get my blog done before 02:30am in the future!

This week I have finally got round to using my Graphics tablet for what it is meant for!!! I am now getting better at actually doing digital drawings with it, so this week I have been using the 'paint' program to do little sketches and was so pleased with the one I did this afternoon that I uploaded it onto deviantART!

http://fizz-wood.deviantart.com/art/Lonely-Night-117795704

(click the picture an it enlarges)

This was drawn whilst thinking of many of the nights I have spent lying awake just wanting to sleep. I have always had troble sleeping even when I was little. One good thing about my insomnia however is that it has given many opportunities for artistic ideas. Fortunately I now have entertainment for when I cant sleep! a laptop, the Northwestern forums, Jackass on MTV and friends to chat to in different time zones! yay!

now the nights shall never be lonely again!

Fizz is BACK!!!!

2009-04-01T01:25:00.000+01:00

The event that I have waited for over a month for has happened!!! I have FINALLY got back on the F/V Northwestern forums!!!!!!!!!!! I cant begin to tell you how happy I am and how much I missed the forums! All day long I have been grinning my head off and it was a real trial this morning keeping off the internet before the day had even started. When I signed in for the first time last night, there were 1058 (or something) posts! You guys on the Forums have definately been busy is all I can say! I hope it never happens again! Without my home I have been going crazy! I want to say another big THANK you to all those who passed along information on the guys and solution tips for me to try. With friends like those on the forums, I am feeling very rich indeed!

I got a very special present from Baby Sis yesterday!

She got home from school yesterday and rang on the doorbell (yet again she forgot her keys). As I opened the front door, she sang "tadaaaa!!!" and produces a spray of cherry blossom!it must have fallen off a tree and It was one of the nicest presents she has ever gotten me! As the stem was too short for a vase, I decorated my guitar with it! it didn't last for long but it was very pretty for what little time it did survive.

I got myself an outfit for my cousin's wedding on the 11th of April. I am so pleased with my outfit! I hope it goes well with everyone else :)

yesterday, We found one of our pillowcases in a tree!!! The tree was miles away and our pillowcase got blown off the line by high winds! Dad looked out of a window last night and proclaimed that he had found it in a tree!!! I do not thing we will be getting it back too soon.

so that is my eventfull couple of days!!! Im literally falling asleep at my computer now so I shall take my leave and say "Hadet bra!" which means "goodbye" in norsk!

Oh yes and Joie Jacobsen who I email a bit, proclaimed me Norwegian!! aparrently I deserve this after studying the langusge for 6 months! (has It really been 6 months!!!!!!) she suggested putting -'sen' at the end of my last name and then suggested Woodsen? nah. that should be "Trevirkesen"! that means Wood in english.

So goodnight everyone! happy wednedsay!!!

~~~

Dad moment of the week,

-making toasted crumpets for supper-

Dad: would you like cheese on your crumpet?

Fizz: uuummmmm no. *grins*

Dad: Ahhh!!! then would you like Crab on your Crumpet??

I was laughing for 5 minutes over that one!!!

Fishing!

2009-03-29T15:37:00.000+01:00

~Monty guarding the camp~

~My Fishing Rod~

~MSC Olga~

~Dad and my little codling. (Dad was holding it so close to the camera because he was trying to make the cod look bigger than it actually was) ~I caught a starfish!~ ~My biggest pouting~ ~Monty after another rainstorm. He wouldn't come in out of the rain as he couldn't guard from inside the brolly~ ~Fishing Trawler~ ~Dad baiting up~

~Monty still guarding (but by now he's drying out a bit)~ ~Dad enjoying the sunshine~ ~Me, hopefully reeling in (I shouldn't have got my hopes up)~ ~The storm that almost blew me over~

~pouting and crab~ ~Me having an awesome time~

~Crab that had no claws! a safe crab!~

Fishing was FANTASTIC!!!

Dad and I set off at 9 yesterday and plotted a course for felixtowe. After a short walk, we found our spot, a beautiful section of sandy beach, unpacked and set up camp for the day. I have found out that I actually cast better into the sea than on a casting field!!! dont ask me why, because it is certainly worse conditions than on a field! Yesterday however, Dad and I reckon I was casting around 150ft! that is 20ft better than usual! (Dad was doing his trademark long distance casts and joking that he was fishing the belgian quota!)

The weather yesterday was so very confused! One minute sunny and warm, the next minute, Heavy Rain, freezing cold (about 39'F) and incredibly strong winds! I think there must have been gusts of up to 40mph and almost blew me over and blew sand across the ground in drifts at one point!

Not surprisingly, Dad was the only one catching sizeable fish. I caught a few, but all sub legal and my biggest pouting was only half an inch undersize! My most bizarre catch of the day was a starfish! the stupid thing ate the bait off my hook and got hooked itself! That was one thing I didn't expect to catch. I also caught a crab with no claws! the hook got tangled up its legs and it got dragged up the beach. This crab is now officially owned by Kim! I didnt think it would be very tasty though Kim so I chucked it back.

After a while of catching nothing but Pouting and Whiting, (all good fish but not what we wanted)Dad and I decided to try a new tactic. We therefore butchered one of the greatest songs "all you need is love" and turned it into "all you need is Cod!" to see if it would lure any Cod in. Sure enough, IT WORKED!!! Two casts later, Dad reeled in a 3lb Cod and I think the Cod song will be sung more from now on!

Fishing near Felixtowe means there are always great views of ships coming and going. I am always amazed at how those huge ships like the MSC Olga can get in and out of the Orwell river. The water hardly looks deep enough to take them without risk of them going aground! There is a wonderful mix of Fishing trawlers, Container ships, and sailing boats so you never get bored when you fish at Felixtowe.

So! After a hard, cold day on the beach, what do you need most of all in the world? why, a McDonalds Milkshake of course!!! why go for a warm cup of coffee when you can have a shake that freezes your sinuses! When we arrived back home there was the cleaning of rigs and reels and then thankfully, the promise of a hot shower after something good and warming for tea. I am going to make some more pickled pouting tonight as I enjoyed the last batch so much and there is a definate surplus of pouting in the fridge.

Thats it from me for today, I hope you all enjoyed your weekend whatever you did!

Play until your fingers bleed...

2009-03-26T18:50:00.000Z

Maybe TODAY'S post should have been the one called Stormy Day! At about 4'o'clock this afternoon the sky went eerily dark and when I looked outside there were these fantastic clouds! Really moody and threatening. I scampered about trying to find Mr Camera, who had as usual, made himself scarce and eventually found him in a paper bag underneath the sofa for some bizarre reason!!! We currently have Mad March winds! In April we usually have showers, and in May we have high winds again. Only in June does the weather get relatively more docile. I kinda like the storms though. I hope they stay!

I picked up my guitar again today! Now that I have recovered from my lessons with Rouiry and the subsequent dislike I felt for my guitar. It is now my friend again and today I played so much and so vigorously, I actually made my fingers bleed!! I didn't even know you could do that! I just thought it was an expression! I havent had that much fun playing my guitar in years, and it has definately encouraged me to play more. I was learning new strumming techniques and even attempted to write a little tune! (I shan't put any words to it if it ever gets off the ground, as I am hopelessly dismal at songwriting. I have tried in the past, but I am not a poet. I still think my best ever poem was composed in year 4 of primary scool when I was 9 so that might give you an idea of the level of my poetic ability.) What tunes I do make up nowadays, remain wordless and I like them better like that. They let your imagination take you places as you listen to them.

All in all, Today has been a good day (apart from a few bruises, bleeding fingers and a bumped head -which hurt alot-).

I wonder what tomorrow will bring!

~~~

Dad moment of the week:

"I ordered our fishing bait today Fizz, we'll be able to fish the sea dry with all that lot! we might need to register ourselves as an international fishing force and get ourselves some IFQs!"

Stormy Day

2009-03-25T20:34:00.000Z

~the last of my pictures from the weekend~

The weather today was some of the best weather we have had in weeks!!! 20mph winds, 46'F, driving rain, hail, thunder and lightening! what a day!!! Driving through the village today, Mom and I saw that at the small duck pond, the willow tree has actually fallen down! Right into the middle of the pond, so I guess the ducks now have a new perch! I very much doubt that anyone will ever get round to taking it out of the pond so it may very well become a permanent fixture! I love days when the unexpected happens. I knew that today was going to be windy, but to actually blow down a tree which I didn't even think was in danger of coming down, is quite an acheivement!

I hope we get more days like today this year. They are incredibly fun!

Dad and I are going Fishing on Saturday! We dont know where we are going yet, It could be Felixtowe, Aldeburgh or East Lane but I guess it all depends on where the good fishing is! I hope I get to catch a nice Cod or two. Maybe a pouting also so that I can do some more pickled pouting! That was delicious and much better than the Sursild (pickled herring)!

I get to use my Multiplier reel on saturday! Dad is now teaching me to use multipliers and I can cast about 130ft with that reel so I'm quite excited to be able to actually use it usefully! as much as I enjoy casting practise, you dont usually catch anything in a field! (apart from the odd rabbit or two.).

It has been years since I was last out fishing. I have always loved it and as I was born during the Cod season and dad was on the beach alot, I have gone fishing ever since I was a baby . My first trip fishing was when I was only six weeks old aparrently! This is probably the reason I love the sea so much. Good memories and fun times with Dad on the beach (plus some great catches aswell!).

~A quick doodle I did in the car on the trip down to kent at the weekend.

Im so glad I dont get travelsick! Mom and Baby Sis have to pop pills and concentrate very hard to not feel ill. Without this problem, I get to doodle away, study, take pictures etc. Its kinda fun! "Den Mørke Kråken" means "The Dark Crow". ~

A day in the Kentish-side

2009-03-24T20:06:00.000Z

~Eynesford. The place of so many happy moments in mine and my sisters childhoods~

~Darn. It seems you are not allowed to fish anywhere in Kent! ~

~Baby Sis and I went to Lullingstone Roman Villa. here we are in our Roman cloaks!~

~taken on the journey home~ Here are more of the pictures I took when we were in Kent. It was a beautiful spring day and the world and his dog was out enjoying the sunshine. It seems that since Sunday when these photos were taken, Spring has really sprung! now there are blossoms on so many trees and the whole world is coming to life again. Right now, I am about to go and watch the last ever two episodes of Battlestar Gallactica. Dad and I have watched this ever since it started and it will be sad to see it go. Fortunately it has never aired when Deadliest Catch is on but without Battlestar, what am I going to do on half of my Tuesday evenings!!! I have 2 minutes to go. so I shall sign off now and get my banana milk and snacks! a momentous occasion deserves snacks!!! have fun everyone whatever you do this evening!

And now, The Shipping Forecast.

2009-03-23T19:56:00.000Z

On our travels this weekend, we heared the shipping forecast not once, but twice! Broadcast for ships underway in the waters near Great Britain, it lists the weather conditions in all the different sea areas among which are fabulous place names such as: Viking, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight and even the Faeroes and Southeast Iceland.

The Shipping forecast is loved by many, even those who never even go out to sea! The way it is read is somehow very relaxing. It is always a big deal when it comes on the radio and in my family, you can see people visibly prick up their ears and listen up as soon as they hear it. Both times we heard it this weekend we were travelling either to or from Granny's house and it somehow nicely bookended the trip. I am now getting used to all the weather jargon and I like to tell myself I am in training for when I own my own boat! after beating my fear of boats last year, I now always love the thought of being on the water!

~~~

This shant be my only post about my weekend, There were too many photographs and too many things to tell, so I thought two parts would do it. Tonight is an "artsy" evening (or so it would seem) and so, after a couple of artsy photographs, I shall introduce you to a band that I have just found out about, The John Butler Trio. I am amazed at the guitarist. when I started playing the guitar, it was my aim to get as good as this. I now realise that I shall never be this good and I should just enjoy listening to the people who have this talent and who want to share it.

The new car needs a name!

2009-03-20T22:18:00.000Z

This is our new car!!!!! *cue fanfare*

I am unsure what I think of it as of yet, Dad hasn't taken me out in it but I sat in the drivers seat and it has silver dials!!!!! The speedometer and Rev meter etc have silver backings and look very cool. Its not the prettiest of cars but as long as it fits Fishing rods, thats fine by me.

The new car doesn't have a name. Therefore, If anyone wants to suggest one, feel free! I shall do my best to get it adopted by Dad.

It turns out I'm going away tomorrow!!! Mom, Baby Sis and I are going to visit Granny again in London (well. the borough of London anyway) and so once again, My camera will be able to search for scenic shots away from home (as I am sure it gets bored with the scenery near me). You might have noticed that There have been fewer photographs lately. this is because of the grey weather we have been having (which is awful to take pictures in) and the fact that I am running out of places to photograph!!! I must sort this out I think! I need to learn to drive so I can take myself places that aren't 10 minutes from my house.

I am looking forward to challenging Baby Sis to a game of Table Tennis whilst at Granny's house. Granny has a table tennis table in her attic!!! Sis and I are TERRIBLE at table tennis and the balls generally end up pinging off the ceiling, floor and walls instead of going anywhere near the table. We always have fun though and usually end up laughing ourselves into ill health and losing all the table tennis balls behind various items of furniture.

Im glad that Dad can't see our attempts at Table tennis. He actually plays for a team so he would probably be very ashamed if he saw us play. :D

so goodbye for the weekend! Have a great time all of you!

My Coastguard.

2009-03-19T23:28:00.000Z

I have to take the time tonight to say thank you to the people who have been saving me in more ways than one over the past few weeks.

Since the 25th of February I have been unable to access the one place that has finally given me a voice. After years of being a shy quiet person who blended into the background and hardly said a word for fear of having my points of view ridiculed, I was welcomed onto the friendliest community I have ever heared of. The Northwesterners, as I have found out over the past few days, are amazing. They are always eager to help a fellow in need and I am so grateful for all the time they have spent looking up solutions to whatever is causing my problem.

A Northwesterner without her home is a sad sight indeed and I hope very much to be back soon. You guys have all the rescue helicopters and you keep me sane with causes, solutions, answers, and things to try. Thank you also, to my closest friends who pick me up when I have got my hopes too high just to have them smashed against the preverbial rocks.

I will NOT give up! The internet gremlins will NOT win!

I shall be back.

Goodbye WBW!

2009-03-18T19:55:00.000Z

Tomorrow is the day that Dad sells his car. A very sad day, as it is one of the best cars he has ever had! Certainly one of the most colorful! The picture doesn't show it very well but it is a spectacular, metallic yellowish-greenish color and you definately feel like one of a kind when driving around in it. Sure, its done a few miles, the muffler had to be duck taped years ago to stop from falling off, it makes wierd clunky sounds when you turn corners, there are bits of the paintwork missing and only one of the speakers works for the CD player, but its an old faithful companion and I doubt that Dad's new one will ever have an eigth as much personality as WBW has! The new car is arriving tomorrow and I havent even seen it yet so tomorrow might be a fun day!

All this means of course, Larry the Lizard will have to move house. Larry has been with us as long as the car! he has never known another home so hopefully the new car will have a suitable hidey hole for him.

Today has been eerily quiet! Monty and I were by ourselves so we decided to go visit the Grandparents who are in fine form. Now, after cooking Dad a dinner of Chicken, Rice and Honey Mustard sauce, he has gone out again and Monty and I have found good times snuggled up and watching some Deadliest Catch! I have raided my store of Pixy Stix from Angela and after a day of some really good Norwegian studies, my head is thinking in Norsk and its great!!! Makes me very happy. Happy Wednesday to you all!

(p.s. Mum and Baby Sis had a great day in Edinburgh and are now visiting Little Sis in St Andrews! I think Baby Sis likes Edinburgh. Does this mean I will have two Sisters living in Scotland???)

-- oh and Angel Girl said I should put this little story in--

I was at the Grandparents house today looking out of the window with Grandad when suddenly a duck flew overhead! Grandad said "duck!" so what did I do?? I hit the floor of course!!! Grandad laughed. he must of thought I was being very bizzarre though!

Sleeping to Scotland

2009-03-17T17:59:00.000Z

~every endurance climber needs caffene!~

~reguardless of what she has just climbed~

Really hot weather here lately!!! Yesterday it was up to 60'F! Mom and I therefore took Monty for a walk in the park with one of the kids and had a play on the kids equipment. I'm getting quite good at this climbing lark now! I have never been a great climber of things but I have discovered that if you have no fear of falling off things, you generally dont! Mum took posession of my camera for a while and took pictures of me being a complete idiot.

Things have been slow here today, I woke up late on account of my alarm misbehaving and the snooze function not working. This combined with the fact that I got to bed last night at 03:30, means that I woke up at 10:30 this morning! not good!

Mom and Baby Sis are going to edinburgh tonight on the sleeper train (neither of them have done this before so its quite daunting for them). They are going up so that Baby Sis can look at Edinburgh University who have offered her a conditional place. All this means that Dad and I are all alone for a couple of days! I get to cook and stuff which is always fun!

Dad moment of the week:

2009-03-16T00:49:00.000Z

"Nobody messes with my daughter!"

*said in mock dangerous tones whilst breaking twigs of a bush that I had inadvertantly walked into whilst out for a walk with him and Monty yesterday. not my fault, there was a branch that stuck out across the path and I had my head turned, nattering away to him.*

Dog-napping and Milk Duds

2009-03-14T21:55:00.000Z

My family have never been any good at surprise parties. Baby Sis's boyfriend has been planning a little surprise for her all week for her 18th birthday treat. The plan was to get all their friends to the pub near us, come round, make an excuse for them to go out and then take her into the pub so everyone could yell "SURPRISE!!!!!"

everything went well up untill Mark suggested going for a walk. Instantly Baby Sis ran to get Monty saying "shall we go for a walk!!" As monty is not allowed in the pub anymore, Mark and I racked our brains to figure out how we could keep Baby Sis from taking him. We couldn't think of any way to keep Monty at home so eventually I went with them so that I could take Monty home after Sis's surprise. before Mark and I could realise what was going on, Sis was out of the door and running off into the far blue yonder with Monty, leaving Mark and I standing on the street thinking "how on earth are we going to get her into the pub!" . After alot of cajoling and making up excuses to go into the pub (Sis was very keen to actually go for a walk) we finally got her to the pub and Sis was met by a camera flash and a "heeeeeeeeeey!!!" by all her friends. I popped my head in for a couple of seconds but since Monty had been promised a walk, I had to take him round South fields in the dark (a fun experience when one cannot see how many Rabbit burrows one is falling down.)

After all the excitement of Sis dog-napping Monty, and the surprise party, I came home and opened the pack of Milk Duds that Ang sent me. They are Fabulous! Yet again I am left downstairs with Monty for the evening and I have worked out that since 00:00 on the 12th, untill 00:00 15th, (72 hours) I have had.... about 12 hours sleep. That is an average of 4 hours sleep a night. Funilly I dont feel tired! Though when I mentioned this to Cecilie in Norway she exclaimed "are you attempting to be a crab fisherman or something????" all I can say is... Red Bull is gooood!

Mr. Squidgie has a nut!

2009-03-13T20:54:00.000Z

There is a new coffee house in Ipswich! A Starbucks! I always like starbucks as they have the most delicious coffee. much better than Café Nero and the coffee comes in larger sizes too!

Since I was travelling into town today, I thought I would take my Norwegian Course books and excercise book with me. I ordered a HUGE mug of extra strong black Americano coffee and sat down and started work. I must have nursed that coffee for 3 quarters of an hour basically because of the sheer volume of coffe in the mug (which was too big for me to even get my fingers all the way round) and because I was out of money by this time. £2.50 got me 3 quarters of an hour of coffee heaven and THAT my friends, is why I shall be going back there.

After an ALMOST successful attempt at getting onto the NW forums, I went into Christchurch Park which was teeming with life. People, Dogs, Birds, Squirrels, Flowers! what more could you want! I had a great time walking around the wide expansive parkland and even managed to get to talk to little sis Steph on the phone who was on her way to Dundee!

So Friday the thirteenth wasn't so bad (even though I did have to keep saluting lone magpies. they were coming out of the woodwork today!) and apart from the odd frustration, the odd injury (I blame the date for the various stubbed toes, bent fingers and bruises) I had fun. especially playing with the remote controlled morphibian that I got Baby Sis for her birthday.

~~~

News:

You Tube have conceeded and have put sound back on my BERING SEA video! now people can watch it with sound again! :D

In honour of her birthday, I give you..."Baby sis about to get hit with a mallet!"

2009-03-12T00:17:00.000Z

I have here a picture of my two sisters!

being their usual violent selves

taken on holiday in cornwall

where the bones of our ancestors dwell. A sunny day in a tent,

Monty curled on the grass

sun beaming happily

from a sky where no clouds pass.

I love this photo. Baby Sis looks quite unaware that she is about to be clonked over the head with a mallet! Dad has a wonderful knack for taking memorable pictures.

~~~

It seems that I need more hours in the day. I dont think I stopped doing things until about 6:30 this evening! My day was filled with Norwegian studies, hanging washing in the garden, buying wrapping paper, wrapping birthday presents, test driving a new car with dad, ironing (again) washing up (3 times), and finally getting some tea! Thank God for coffee and chocolate, otherwise I might not have survived the day!

Finally I get some quiet time on the computer all to myself. I am currently attempting to dispute You Tube's mute-ing of my BERING SEA video. I have put a disclaimer in very big letters on it and have been very nice, so fingers crossed and wish me luck!

All the hecticness of this week however, has left me unable to do any of my Matt Bradley fan video which is quite sad. I am over-running by a long way. My origional deadline that I set myself was the 5th of March (his birthday) but I shall not hurry it unduely however and at least this way, every day I do over-run, is another chance for better Deadliest Catch clips. Every so often a new episode will finish downloading on "crabtop" (which is still in use) and I shall be able to use it to add Matt clips. I cannot find a clip of him with the NA symbol on the back of his raingear however. This was one of the clips that Angela S requested when I told her about the Video so If anyone can give me any pointers towards one of those clips, I would be most thankful! I know I have seen it somewhere!

It is odd for me not to know where to find a certain clip in a DC episode! I am still getting used to this notion! I should be thankful however. At least I cannot be officially labeled a proper "FAN! " for the time being, I remain merely a "fan" (minus screaming capital letters!)

~~~

Baby Sis and I have had a marvelous eveningtonight. We made a cake for her to take into 6th form college to share with her friends, decorated it, mucked about watching youtube videos, and then sat on her bed and counted down the seconds to go untill she was an adult.

...10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0!...

I control the Controls! muahahahaha!

2009-03-10T17:53:00.000Z

I think that these may very well be the first Sunset walk pictures I have put on my blog (as opposed to sunrise walk pictures) When it became apparrent that the sun was setting in a rather fantastic way, the usuall scramble took place to find boots, camera, mp3 player, red bull, dog and dogs lead. The camera proved the hardest to find. Such is the un-organised-ness of Fizz.

Today was spent doing EVERYTHING!!! Tuesday is fastbecoming the busiest day of the week (which is odd because for years it has been the slowest! My first stop today was Ipswich to buy Baby Sis some presents for her 18th Birthday on Thursday. I shall not put what I bought her as I know she sometimes reads this... *Fizz looks over her shoulder for a lurking Baby Sis* Needless to say however, They are quite special and hopefully she will like them. I still think that Baby Sis is the easiest person in the world to buy presents for. This will probably change when she is off at university and I dont spend so much time with her so I'm kind of enjoying this last Birthday of knowing exactly what she wants.

Also today, Monty and I cleaned out the Guinea Pigs. Well. I cleaned out the Guinea Pigs. Monty got in the way, ate left over guinea pig food and generally loved and looked after them.

Tonight is ironing night, which I love because I get to watch Deadliest Catch whilst I do it. It is one of the perks of doing ironing in this house. Whoever is at the ironong board gets control of the TV remotes *evil grin*. I'm hoping the family wont put up a fuss...

UFOs? its gotta be a joke.

2009-03-08T23:28:00.000Z

Since Mum and I were just hanging around today with no plans, we decided to go for a walk in Rendlesham Forest with a picnic. I love Rendlesham forest and even though I have probably walked every inch of it over the years, it is still one of my favourite places. there are so many paths you can take and so many ways to get lost, that one can never get bored. Mum and I walked the UFO path today! In the 1980 there was a series of UFO "sightings" over many nights at the American airbase at Rendlesham that have been puzzled over for over 20 years now. Flying objects suspended in yellow mist, Lights moving through the trees, and farm animals in a states of panic throught the days of the sightings all seem pretty spooky but I am really not convinced. I have never entertained the idea of aliens with any real belief however. They are a fun novelty idea, good for a sci-fi story but not plausible really. Im kinda thinking the whole series of sightings was a hoax. Its a fun hoax though and seems to have fooled quite a few people! So whoever concocted the whole thing must be congratulated! Dad was out fishing again today, I was wondering how it would go because a few days ago, he found his scorecard from his last fishing match in which he blanked! (NOT a good sign.) Luck was on his side today however! 1 Cod and 2 pouting! Being an inquisitive sort of person, I decided to learn how to gut and fillet a fish. Mum, who has been doing it for years now, was very kind and taught me and it is harder than it looks somehow! I think I did okay however and there was no bones in it, so I take that as a bonus. You can't beat fresh fish after a busy day (I certainly needed a sensible meal after the very naughty sandwich I invented for my lunch. Nutella and peanut butter, delicious.) Mum has also pushed the boat out and prepared pickled pouting! I am not sure what I think of this idea but if you can do pickled herring, I dare say pickled pouting is acceptable also. I may have to psych myself up for that little delicacy though. I will tell you what it is like when I have got up the courage. Im sure that by taking this picture I got fish all over my camera but the clouds were so amazing tonight! we had squalls with hail and high winds this evening and the clouds had some amazing shapes. Shortly after this picture was taken appeared some magnificent downbursts (which I then accidently deleted the picture of) and something that was very almost mammatus clouds! Very cool weather and very exciting for me! If you look carefully, you can just see the last of the sun's rays touching the tops of the trees! Well, that is it from Ipswich today, I am now off to watch the news on a French TV station! have fun everyone!

The Tardis Bank comes in useful!

2009-03-07T23:10:00.000Z

First of all today, a big welcome to *_&惡莋劇~ from China! I find it absolutely amazing that I can greet someone from all the way over there.

So! what happened today? well...Today was the day for a computer purchase! I had a little bit of money in my Tardis money bank so I went out with Dad to the electrical store knowing exactly what I wanted and how much I was willing to spend. Fortunately, The store had a computer with a great widescreen, lots of memory, and very good looking also!

Its a Toshiba and so if reports are to be believed, I'm thinking its going to very good. If it does decide to go wrong however, I have 3 years cover!!!

I bought to go with my new laptop, a graphics tablet which will make photoshop pictures much easier when I can find a copy of Photoshop to buy, and a new 2GB memory stick becuase I keep running out of room on my other one (darn DC episodes!).

It is so good to finally have a Computer that doesn't crash at the mildest provocation and that actually has SOUND!!! noises come out of its speakers! and I can now watch a certain favourite DVD from the comfort of a sofa rather than perched at the family computer upstairs. The new computer has made no difference at all to my Internet problems but I still keep my fingers crossed that I shall soon be "forum-ing" soon!

Here then is a picture of my little "computer station" with my two computers up and running, The new one in the background it just waiting for some NW pics that I have just put on my memory stick from "crabtop" as Angela so wonderfully named it.

right, signing off now, but here is a last couple of things:

Thanks for all the updates from The Northwestern Forums guys! I enjoyed the Hansen family Norwegian interviews so much! They shall also be very useful for my norwegian practise!!

aaaand,

My new computer needs a suitable name, so if anyone wants to put forth a name feel free and I shall choose one when I have enough suggestions! :D

Beware the Spikes!

2009-03-06T15:46:00.000Z

Today is a good day. There is sunshine, winter blue skies, and I'm finally getting back to my normal self after a bit of an 'off' week.

Last night was probably the longest night in months for me! I got more sleep than was good for me (10 hours!!! usually I only sleep for around 5 and a half!). Needless to say then, when I woke up it was kind of late and all the frost that I had watched forming last night had melted (we finally got frost again just in time for me to go all 'sleeping beauty' on it. how good is that!). Monty enjoyed a late walk however and we went to the shops to pick up some stuff for my tea this evening. On our way back from the shops, Monty and I took a detour through the South fields and it appears that the Gorse bushes are gearing up for summer. On a warm summer day driving along past Rushmere Heath with the windows rolled down, the car is filled with the most amazing smell of coconut! The yellow flowers smell wonderfully tropical and if you rub one between your fingers, the scent stays with you for hours! Beware of the Prickles however. As you can see from the picture, Gorse is the most horrendously spiky bush, and incredibly painful should you fall into it (which I have done before).

My afternoon has been spent talking to Cecilie in Norway and trying to memorise much of the Norwegian she has taught me (not doing so well at that task). She is so good to try however and never seems to get annoyed when I butcher the Norsk language. I take comfort from the fact that I can understand words here and there when I watch videos on VGTV and on the Edgar hansen interview that so many of my friends sent me links to last night (thanks guys!!!)

---

NW Forums update,

I am still unable to access the forums but I am hoping that since the internet provider guys are busy beavering away, I may hopefully be able to get back on soon *crosses fingers, knocks on wood, spins left on the spot three times*

Oh, and I might be getting a new laptop tomorrow!!! :D

...When suddenly, my phone rang!

2009-03-04T17:34:00.000Z

Origionally today, I was just going to post this picture of the moon that I took this evening. As I sat down at my computer just now however with the aim in my mind of "uploading the moon", I was not expecting what was to happen next. I had pressed the "new post" button and the window had appeared when suddenly, My phone rang. It was Aimée. A very nice surprise in any case but extra fortuitous today however. I have always been unable to multitask. When people say "all women can multitask" they have obviously never met me! Therefore, when Aimée rang, I had to stop what I was doing and decided to look out of the window. Im afraid Aimée was greeted with a cry of "Oh my God look at the sunset!!!!!" and was then highly amused as I grabbed my camera and rushed into the garden. What I didnt know untill I got into the garden was that it was raining! Therefore aswell as the spectacular sunset out the back of the house, there was a rainbow out the front! I do apologise for the last picture. It looks a bit rough but it was the only one that showed the sunset colours and the blue sky behind! right off to have tea now! and then Im going to make a 5 minute mug cake! :D

Spring has booked it's ticket.

2009-03-03T15:19:00.000Z

It would appear that Mother Nature has decided to send us spring! The Snowdrops, Crocuses, Daffodils and an odd red bush that I dont know the name of, have all decided to wake up and with temperatures at 8'C today it is even warm enough for me to go out in just a t-shirt! A fun experience with 30mph winds. I am, in a way looking forward to the spring and summer. I am NOT looking forward to the temperatures by any means, the imminent arrival of warm days however, does mean that two of my Guinea Pigs can me moved from my bedroom into the garden.

I have 3 guinea pigs. Leonard, who is 3 is perfect. He doesn't need a lid on his crate because he never jumps out, if you put him on the floor he runs back to his house and jumps back in. He does not pester you for anything.

The other two are a different story however. They are called Domino and Pippin and just over a year old. They are noisy, they fight, they pester you for food whenever you walk in the door and run away at any given opportunity. In short, I've had enough. so even though I never thought I would say this, "roll on spring!"

Now. This post was not supposed to have ANY mention of forum issues! Fail!

2009-03-02T11:40:00.000Z

Tadaaaaaaa! Fizz now has a passport and is ready to roll!!!

I have placed it on the"coolest shelf in the universe", so called as it contains my most prized posessions!

DC and ATC box sets (season 3 of DC lives downstairs by the dvd player at the mo),

DC books,

Working on the Edge' by Spike Walker,

my potato gun,

lightsticks,

a pirate flag (which I wish was alot bigger)

and my fishing reel!

So, where shall I go first!? My one and only experience of travelling overseas was to Lanzarote (in the canary islands) with my grandparents when I was 11. Im thinking its going to be alot more fun travelling now that I am older. the only thing I wanted to do when I was 11 was hang about by the pool, and ride on the pedalos at the beach. Never mind going up the Volcano on camels and seeing museums and valuable stuff like that! No; at 11 years old the mind is set on more mundane things.

---

update:

Fizz has Caved and has signed onto the Captain Phil Harris forums. Its not the same, but it is a forum and even if its NOT the NW forums, it will do for a while.

We now have to get the 'Virgin Media' guys (who provide our internet) to come and fix our internet. (I hope tht will let me back into the forums.)

Den Mørke Natten

2009-03-01T15:49:00.000Z

I think I'm getting the hang of photoshop!!! It is about the only thing that I can now do on my computer. It is "kaput" as the Germans would say. I have been unable to get onto the F/V Northwestern website now for almost a complete day and no amound of pleading with "crabtop" (as Angela named it) will work. I hear that there is absolutely nothing going on on the Forums but still, I quite like the mundane chatter that goes on in idle threads.

Dad and I watched Ice road truckers today!

I hadn't watched ice road truckers in ages. since before I became addicted to Deadliest catch infact and it never struck me how similar those two programs are! I sat there thinking

"This HAS to be a Thom Beers or Origional Productions creation."

sure enough, at the end of the credits came the names Thom Beers AND Origional Productions.

I think that even though my family claim to not be bothered with Deadliest Catch and groan pointedly whenever I put forward the idea of watching some, they are acumulating lots of trivia! I was talking about IFQs the other day and the problems that can be encountered in the system and Baby Sis actually said

"like what happened to Captain Eric Nyhammer and the Rollo in season two!"

I could have hugged her I really could.

Right! time for a coffee break I think!

and Kim, Dad wont buy me a pool table. Dont blame me if I cant practise!!!

... and the title means "the dark night"

Banana Milk ... yum!

2009-02-28T12:20:00.000Z

The saying goes, "you wait ages for a bus and then three come along all at once." This is true of my week. I waited for days for a sunrise and now for the past three days, we have had one every morning! These are pictures of mine and Monty's walk yesterday.

I was amazed whilst walking through the South fields, to hear a skylark singing in the sky! We almost never hear skylarks anymore since fields began to be more agressively farmed. There are less places for these birds to have their nests (since they nest on the ground usually in amongst long grass/crops) so for a while, the sky has been very quiet.

Good News!

I have given Rouiry the news that I cant carry on with the guitar lessons! now I wont feel grumpy whenever I pick up my guiter! :D I shall now celebrate with a drink of Banana Milk! (this is the nicest drink ever! I found it last week at the co-op and I absolutely adore it. you can also get chocolate and strawberry but banana is definately the best. it tastes like foamy bananas! yum!)

Batteries not included

2009-02-26T19:21:00.000Z

These Pictures, are the result of waiting for days for a forecast suited for a sunrise! After watching weather reports for ags, we finally got a fine morning and I was up at 06:45 so that I could be out of the door at 06:50 which was scheduled sun-up. When my alarm woke me, I pulled on an old beaten up hoodie, and jammed a hat down over my unruly hair (It wasn't even 7 yet. who was going to see me!) and stomped off downstairs to obtain a Monty who was waiting patiently in the Kitchen for people to wake up. He couldn't believe his luck when I offered him a walk instead of my usual greeting! He was soon harnessed up and ready for action.

I planned things quite well this morning I think apart from one tiny little oversight. As soon as I turned on my camera, I realised that it was completely out of batteries!!! After 'wishing myself further' for a few seconds, I realised that I still had my mobile phone camera so all was not lost (though I still keep thinking how much better my photographs would have been with 12 million pixels instead of 3.)

So there! Sunrise fix for the week achieved! good times :D

What is the word for that "Bluey-Greeney" colour?

2009-02-25T20:22:00.000Z

Voila. My first Photoshop Picture that I am relatively pleased with. I spent a few hours being tutored by Reesa the other night in how to use this program (which I am fast getting used to I think!) I didnt do too much today, (apart from Ash Wednesday Mass, picking up a parcel box and posting a package at the post office, Walking to my grandparents house for lunch, ironing, watching DC, failing miserably to take ANY photographs, and now watching Storm Chasers!!!) Hopefully, I might get a chance to take some Sunrise pictures tomorrow morning! I miss taking sunrise pictures as it is my favourite time of the day. By my calculations, it has been three weeks since our last good sunrise and I am fed up with grey mornnings. Sunrise is at 06:50 am so I shall have to be up at 06:45 so I can be in the south fields in time. The forecast says there is a good chance of relatively clear skies so I hope for sanity's sake they are right. For days, I have been checking the forcast for clear skies so if I get up early and it's drizzling again, I shall not be the happiest Fizzy in the Universe. wish me luck!!!

what do you mean its pancake day!???

2009-02-24T22:55:00.000Z

Before I begin, Check out the super cool Hansenette taggie that Reesa did me! I love it!!! Now. today is Tuesday! I started out my day today at war with Baby Sis and have so ended it like that (only petty things you understand, currently it is over the computer but it is one thing I could do without.) Whilst still in a half asleep state this morning (before coffee) I was told by a very exciteable 5 year old that it was pancake day! "What do you mean it's pancake day!??" I cried, realising that after pancake day comes Lent and Easter. (I really do wish they would decide on a date for Easter and keep it like that. I have had enough of never knowing when it shall be). I have decided not to give up anything for Lent this year. Before people hold up their hands in horror however, I am trying to do more nice things. Easter should be about including things and not EXcluding them. (in my mind at least.) Today was fun. I went to meet a friend that I bumped into at a concert in November. We went to Girl Guides together for a few years and havent heard from one another since then. After bumping into her late last year, we have been talking via Facebook and decided to meet for lunch. we went to the "cock and pye" pub in Ipswich, had some food and played pool!!! I lost miserably at pool but towards the end of the game I was getting better. I even managed to get a ball in one of the pockets! there is hope for me yet :D After the all that excitement, I came home and was reminded that we were going to see a play at the theate tonight! Typically, I cannot remember who the play was by, or what it was called but I shall endeavour to find that out at some point when im not dying from lack of Coffee. It was very good however and I was greatly amused at someone infront of us who did a funny snot whenever she laughed! In other news, I have decided to tell Rauiry that I shall not be continuing to play the guitar for the prayer group. I have now gotten so annoyed at it and stressed that I now feel like hating my guitar. I actually love my guitar and love to pick it up to mindlessly strum away. Having got into the whole "i must practise or Rauiry will kill me" thing, I feel very angry at it. So now I have to pluck up the courage to tell Rauiry that I cannot do it. Anything that makes me hate my guitar is very bad... (even if it IS a prayer group!!!) So that was my Tuesday. I send you all happy Tuesday greetings!!! I do love Tuesdays :D

Matchstick eyes? Not for me!

2009-02-23T12:10:00.000Z

It would appear that after last night's Oscars watching attempt, I am still alive! Unfortunately, I didn't get to watch all of the Oscars. I really wish I could have but by the time 02:30 a.m. arrived, The awards were only just starting and since I only had 4 and a half hours until I needed to get up, I thought it was time I grabbed some sleep. I didn't really need bed though! I woke up after my 4 and a half hours, looking like a Zombie, but hardly tired at all! Now I'm kicking myself because I should have pulled an "all nighter" . Thats what I wanted to in the first place and I totally caved!

Putting negative thoughts aside however, Monty and I went for our walk and discovered we had quite a sense of adventure! We tramped over lots of fields and probably walked in lots of places that we shouldn't have (what nobody sees cant hurt!). I wouldn't have found these white bushes however if not for my adventurous mindset. Together, the Mutt and I pushed through brambles, fell over barbed wire and had great fun! We got home and after I had studied for a while on my Norwegian, I decided to make another 5 minute Mug cake (which has improved greatly from the first time I made the recipie). This time I added whole glacé cherries to the mix and I created "chocolate cherry cake"!!! (If any of you guys from the States ever make it to England, pop on over and You shall be given "deadliest chocolate cherry cake" for tea!

~~~ Hilarious Dad moment of he week, Dad: "Any minute now there's gonna be a lonely whale turn up in our front garden!" (Dad is conviced that all Sigur Rós tracks sound like very bad whale song recordings.) (I wonder what you think. Whale music? or not whale music?)

Duck, Duck, GOOSE!

2009-02-21T13:54:00.000Z

What is this unseasonable weather!! It is February! There was a curious bright orb in the sky yesterday and NONE of those fluffy things that always seem to drip water on us from up on high! We therefore decided to take advantage of the weather and make a trip to Christchurch Park in the centre of Ipswich.

I love this park for the ancient Oak trees that are dotted everywhere. They have been there for centuries and seem more solid somehow than most of the new buildings that have been built in Ipswich recently.

The newest inhabitant of Christchurch Park is an owl which has become somewhat of a celebrity around here. He/She just sits in this particular tree every day and just watches the word pass. No one has given it a name yet, but I am sure that before long there will be name to put to the face.

I also saw a Duck! ~Edgar Hansen fans will know the significance of that sentence. I now cannot pass a Canada Goose without saying "ooo, I wanna feed the duck!"~ I then went to see Christchurch Mansion and saw some fantastic wall paintings that I had forgotten were there. I havent properly explored the mansion since I was about seven years old. each time I go, I do a little bit and save the rest for next time. This way I can go as many times as I like and still discover something new each time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And so, In true Deadliest Catch fan style, I leave you with a picture of the boat I Commandeered from the childrens play area. I christened her the 'F/V Obsession' and Then told some kids about Crab Fishing. It was a good day.

(oh, and for anyone who is still wondering, It takes 1,332 Licks to get to the centre of a tootsie pop! )

Day of the shadow tree

2009-02-19T13:23:00.000Z

The temperatures in Ipswich are positively tropical today! 9'C / 47'F. This means that after going out with a hat and gloves along with my sweater, I ended up very warm. Monty and I stomped up the hill and stomped across muddy tracks to our hearts content, and I think I might have tired him out as he walked perfectly to heel all the way home and I havent seen him since we got back. I fear the poor boy may have taken to his bed.

Today is a very un-photogenic day though, despite the temperatures. There is mist and drizzle and as I walked out with my camera, I was feeling very un-inspired. I soon realised that I would be unable to take any good pictures with the light levels as they were. I did have a bright idea however, and decided to take some pictures that could then be modified when I got home. The picture at the top of the page is the result!

There are times in life when one really wishes one had an Edit/Undo button. I made a typical Fizz mistake today and was not concentrating hard enough as I was deleting my unwanted pictures (I usually take about 25 and end up keeping approximately 5). Just as I pressed the Delete button on one of my Pictures, I realised that I was deleting my favourite picture for the day! The very one that would have made an excellent image! With no Image retrieval system on my camera, the thought struck me that I couldn't even go back and take another picture. The weather had changed and It would not be the same.

Life is like that though I guess.

361 and counting...

2009-02-18T23:58:00.000Z

BIG NEWS!!!

I got my copy of Luckiest Catch!!!!!

and right now... I cant watch it. My computer keeps holding up its hands in horror and doing the "blue screen of death" thing. It works too hard and worries itself into a coma the poor little computer! (here I go again, personifying electrical goods. I am surprised I havent named it spud or something yet! .... Or did I just in fact name it Spud...)

My day in London/Kent was great. I do love day trips as I get to sleep in my own bed at the end of the day. (not that I am doing much sleeping in it in recent days, To bed at 01:30, up at 07:15, what a life.

The sad news of the day is, The swing tree has toppled over. The swing tree had an amazing rope swing in it that swung you off a hill about 15 foot in the air and then back again. (you could only do 1 swing at a time though because if you got stuck, you would get stuck 15' in the air. Today on our walk over Mill Hill, I discovered the sad truth that swings are not immortal. They do eventually shuffle off their mortal coil and go the way of the Dodo and so now we need a new swing!!!

I wonder, does anyone know the exquisite experience of attics belonging to grandparents? My Granny has an awesome attic. Stuffed with amazing items, like scale model sailing ships, a table tennis table, board games from the 70s, a bed, hidey holes and cupboards that extend into the roof space, aaaand a conveniently placed drum kit.

whilst playing table tennis with Baby Sis today, I happened to spectacularly fall over this drum kit! Baby Sis and I are NOT very good at table tennis (which is hilarious when two complete idiots like ourselves are given bats) and so consequently, I was diving for a ball which was about to fly over my right hand shoulder. I took one step too many however and I flew over the drumkit and onto the floor wth a resounding crash!!! cymbals and drums went flying and I was almost poked in the eye by a very sharp drumstick. It was one of those falls that you know is going to be a really slow fall. I could feel myself going, but was unable to slow my momentum and so ended up looking quite embarassed amidst an untidy drumkit and almost a whole bookcase (which fortunately decided not to fall on me). After this display of gymnastic prowess and Sis's very tasteful display of playing table tennis with an air rifle, we both collapsed in giggles and had to cart ourselves off downstairs. Table tennis over with there shall now be approximately 3 balls stuck under the bed, and quite a few that we havent a clue where they went!

all in all, it was a good day!

I am now re-taking the tootsie pop test due to demands of a recount! So-far, I am up to 361 licks. something must have gone horribly wrong yesterday for me to miss out 259!

have a happy thursday everyone! Its now 00:45 and this Is Fizz signing out! Bruises and all.

Running on Felixtowe Beach

2009-02-16T22:06:00.000Z

I really did run! for some reason today, I had extra energy to burn. The beach was beautiful today, with calm seas, relatively clear sky and the promise of a good sunset. The gulls were hovering near the burger van that was opening up for business when the workers came out of the docks at the end of their shifts. These gulls will always learn very quickly where to go for the "best" food.

Baby sis has been a darling today, running up and hugging me whenever she got the chance, which I love. If ever I try to hug her, she flinches! (I spent too much time maliciously tickling her when she was little I think. now she has a coplex.)

In life, one must always know when to quit whilst the going is good. Therefore, I sign off now, before my computer crashes (It is making very odd whirring noises) and save myself the horror of sorting it out when it seems beyond repair.

We are... Like a crab.

2009-02-16T09:40:00.000Z

Yet again, I had a very enjoyable weekend at a retreat. I always seem to forget what a rewarding experience a retreat is and how muh I really like them. I never want to go and be taught/talked to/discussed with on matters of my faith as I really struggle for answers and always make a fool of myself. Fortunately I am always proved wrong and I enjoy it. (even though I didnt enjoy the fact that I was unable to get on the internet for much Forum and Blogging use.) I only have one picture that I can put up from the weekend because I have to be very careful not to upset the Child Protection factor that Mom works so hard to enforce during these things. I dont think that Brother Merchon (I think that is how you spell his name) will mind as it is a very good picture and I doubt any of his order shall be paying my blog a visit any time soon.

The funniest part of the weekend was when a habit of scuttling sideways for biscuits appeared, whilst talking in the kitchen. Not wanting the others to think we were being greedy and eating all of the custard creams, we would sneak over nonchalantly (and sideways) and quietly half-inch a bikki. When someone did spot this, I said the one line that stuck with us for the rest of the weekend. "We are... Like a Crab" *presses tips of fingers together and glares evily over them* A very odd moment occured when we were playing on the swings at the park (like ya do) and two little girls who were near us, pointed at either Brother Mershon or Father Elias and said "who is he supposed to be then? Jesus?" They weren't asking us. I kinda wish they had been as we would have been kind enough to explain and educate them if they had. As they were being quite... unimaginative -shall we say- however, we let them think what they wanted and just creased into giggles! It was nice to see people from all over the country (some of whom I hadn't seen for about 3 or 4 years and have now for some unknown reason grown Taller than me!!! (this is not allowed. they should stay 9 forever) and it was so nice to be introduced to new people and be friendly to them Lastly:

Here Today, Goo Tomo.. Watch the ad...

I thought I would show you one of the "here today, goo tomorrow" adverts as I love them! these are the Best cream egg adverts in YEARS! I hope you enjoy it.

Mystical Box of Delights

2009-02-13T23:21:00.000Z

Today, after three days of (very patient) waiting for the postman to bring my package from Angela in America, I was rewarded by a ring on the doorbell and a very nice postman standing there saying "you must be Fizz!" (I think he must have thought my name was quite amusing.) I think that after talking to me, the poor guy got the wrong end of the stick and arrived at the fact that I was American. After watching too much DC, talking to one of my sisters American friends for a week and studying Norsk, I have developed a habit of saying funny 'r's. having let one of these 'r's slip out, and the postman seeing the package was from the USA, he piped up with "you know there is a website that you can order American food off. so if you get a little homesick in the future you dont have to get your family to send you stuff. you can just order it on the net!" Being quite taken aback by this random comment, I just pretended I knew what he was on about and we parted ways. after I had shut the door I suddenly twigged. By that time however, it was too late to correct his mistake so I guess to him: I am American now! this is me breaking into the parcel A very fun job! scissors wouldn't cut the tape so I took the sharpest knife in the world to it and it was open before you could say Jack Robinson!

Jif! -not on the recall list fortunately LOL!- (very funny, we have a product called Jif here, but it is bathroom cleaner!)

Ever the professional photographer, Mom managed to get a pic of me looking demented. but its a happy demented I think. it is a "look at my sack of candy" sort of demented.

soon the candy box began to draw quite a crowd! Baby Sis and the boyfriend came to have a peek

.. and we definately like the look of the multicolored fish crackers! (on the side of the packet is a yellow fish called Brooke! made me think of my YouTube buddy)

this was the moment I saw the Candy covered peanuts! Peanuts = YUM!

Thank you so much Angela for the FANTASTIC box of candy! I think it is enough to last a whole year!!! (ha! like I believe that!)

My favourites so far are the 'Bit-O'-Honey' sweets (I think I have the name right) and the sweets will definately come in useful for this weekend! A retreat has been organised which I shall attend so therefore there may be no sign of me for a couple of days! Hopefully I shall get a couple of minutes to check the forums but I think the blog shall be quiet untill monday.

have great weekends all of you!!!!!

Thanks Angela!

Ice, Snow and sore fingers

2009-02-13T10:02:00.000Z

The winter it seems, is having a last final fling before the days get warmer again. Yesterdays Ice was not the coldest, iciest or harshest of the winter, but it was without a doubt the prettiest. I walked down to the Fynn valley and the little stream that runs down the hill had frozen overnight. The ice had clung onto rocks, pebbles, leaves (or anything it could find) and had grown outwards from them. Little stars of ice were clinging to pebbles and twigs and it was enough to make me almost 'Google' how ice would form like that. Almost. The clouds decided to give us snow aswell! Julie 'Raingear' on last nights weather forcast was showing us snow on the map of East Anglia and so, I was about to call to the parents in order to tell them this little snippet of information, when Mum yelled from the front garden "SNOW! haha!!!". "Well that was prompt!" was the thought that ran through my head. We got about an inch of snow I think, and it was still snowing when I went to sleep. I had a guitar lesson last night! Ruairi came over with songs and his fearsome electric guitar and taught me lots of complicated chords (which I managed to pull off -just-) and then he tried to teach me the dreaded 'Music Theory'. I dont think that this particular part of music tuition should be called 'Theory'. It should be called 'Music Insanity' as it almost drove me to tears! I do not cry over little things like this but I could feel myself get more and more stressed as Ruairi was telling me why chords can be diminished, minored, and majored (I dont have a clue about if I'm gettting all this right) and as more and more information just whent right over my head. I have taught myself to play the guitar over the years and have NEVER been able to read music so I think Ruairi must be imagining me as something of a musical dimwitt (there's an image?) I shall try however to learn the chords he gave me and try to not notice the fingers that are in too much pain from steel guitar strings.

2009-02-11T16:25:00.000Z

~artsy shot for the day~

~I had a fan moment on the beach...~

~so did Mum, and added F/V~

~needless to say: I ignored the DANGER signs~

Since it was Mums birthday today, we decided to meet Dad in Felixtowe for a spot of lunch and a walk on the beach. The weather was cold and grey but I had a fantastic time avoiding puddles and salty mud. We found springs (of the watery sort) on the beach and watched a very fast tide almost rip buoys away from their anchors!

We did get a teeny bit of snow last night. just a dusting, but enough to bring a smile and a happy feeling as one stands net to a radiator looking out at icy conditions. All the lakes that had apeared from all of the rain yesterday had frozen overnight and were very picturesque on the drive out from Ipswich.

I still havent made mums birthday cake.I have bought Smarties Mini eggs to put on top of it but I shall have to see how they go with the cake that I think mum has made for herself. *feels very guilty*

So that is my flying visit to Blog land for today, Sis is hanging over my shoulder so I should let her work I think.

~~~~~~~

quote of the week!

"... back on the Cornelia Marie, Captain Phil Harris has started using Morse Code!"

-Dad making a joke about all the beeps over Phils bad language in series three when the crab processor 'Stellar Sea' had a fire and had to be repaired.-

Rain and an Earache

2009-02-10T23:16:00.000Z

~Monty was unfazed by this notice and stayed off the lead. Fortunately, the Collie/Sheepdog part of him ignored the ewes and he didn't try to round them up~

~all this sand was meant to be in the river! I didn't realise that it was much alike to quicksand so I did sink quite spectacuarly~

~the seagulls were everywhere today and were enjoying all the extra water that had appeared in all the fields!~ ~I remember thinking to myself as I took this picture: "are my boots waterproof?" They were. Kind of.~ A month's worth of rain fell last night! I thought something was odd this morning when I woke up and found a lake sitting right in front of our house where there should have been a field. Flood warnings were out in force today as rain and sleet continued right into this evening. I know people are complaining about the unpredictable weather and are finding something to gripe about but I am rather enjoying it! I love not knowing what the weather is going to do. I have however bought some provisions. A Helly Hansen thermal top is my latest acquisition and here is the funny bit. I bought it because it felt warm and looked a little bit like the top that Captain Sig is wearing in... ...this picture. what I didn't realise was: it is EXACTLY the top that Sig Hansen is wearing in this picture! Now that I am clued into this fact, I wear my Helly Hansen "Sig top" with pride It is incredibly warm so I can understand why he wears it. My family were huddled in jumpers this evening during tea and I was just wearing my HH top with the sleeves rolled up feeling toasty. *satisfied grin*

I also did a daring thing today! I went to "the purple shop" - a marvelous hippy shop that is famous throughout Ipswich. Everyone knows where the purple shop is and it is a meeting place for swathes of teenagers in black hoodies and stripy socks- and I got myself a random ear piercing!!! I now have three piercings in one ear and two in the other. (I hope this is not one of my blog entries that my little sis reads. I dont want to mention it to my family as I am kind of seeing how long it will take them to notice) My ear therefore is complaining a little; but as Josh Harris says: "pain is weakness leaving the body" so all is good! I love doing random spontaneous things!

Orford Castle and a new Sword!

2009-02-08T16:44:00.003Z

The sun was shining today!!! 2'C and very bright...

... so in true British fashion, we went for a walk! ...

...To Orford Castle!...

...Where I bought a toy 'Long Sword' so I can beat my sister at swordfights...

... and where Monty found a cannon to be picturesque next to...

...then we took a stroll down to Orford Quay which has many fishing boats...

...and I did a spot of "artistic" (please dont laugh) photography... ~~~

the main excitement was when Mum and I saw a Barn owl in Broad Daylight!!! very exciting.

so that was my day! I hope you all had a very enjoyable weekend and that the coming week will be a happy one.

Winter Moon

2009-02-07T17:26:00.001Z

For years I have struggled taking pictures of the Moon. Not tonight however! After my Dad bought me a "Gorilla Pod" for my Christmas present and after I bought a new Camera with super duper pixels I have finally been able to capture her in all her beauty. Ever since I was small I used to love seeing the Moon and have always greeted her warmly when she appears from behind the banks of clouds that are the status quo of British weather. I have watched her rise, orange from behind the waves off a lonely beach whilst fishing, I have seen her setting in the morning ready to light some other part of the globe and I have seen her in shadow during a Lunar Eclipse. Tonight she was kind and let me take her picture and now as I sit here writing this, she is gone again. British weather once again obscures her and she is left alone for a bit. Hopefully this wont be my last picture I manage to capture of the Moon. Such a feeling of accomplishment!

It's not snow. You promised me snow!

2009-02-06T14:04:00.000Z

Today was the big day of departure. My sister and her friend Julia travelled home to Scotland today. They have about 6-7 hours of travel time to survive before they eventually get back to St Andrews so they should be dead tired by the time they walk in the front door. I always hate saying goodbye to Sis. It is quite a novelty to have someone in my family actually suggest watching Deadliest Catch as a pleasurable pastime rather than groaning and saying "not again". University calls however, and I probably shall not see her again until the summer.

I am seriously entertaining the thought of downloading Skype (I think that is what it is called) so that I can call people over the internet and be able to see them as I talk.

The weather does not know what it is up to at the moment. The forecast says snow for the next three days but with the weather being as undecided as it is, I shall believe it when I see it. Today it is either supposed to be sunny or snowy. so far, we have had 10 minutes of snow and then slushy drizzle.

The snow we did get though was pretty darn beautiful. I am glad it wasn't this cold when I was teaching some poi moves to my cousin yesterday. Jonathan is a surprisingly quick learner! it is quite refreshing to not have to struggle with the basics for once and I am sure that he will pick it up really quickly (I am not going to ask him how to teach me break dancing however as that would be a no-hoper with me! i am renowned for having two left feet and cannot dance for toffees.)

Another meal out with Aimée and Craig tonight! We haven't seen each other so much recently after their flat burned down and they had to relocate. It shall be fun then, to just hang out and talk about all things unimportant. I don't plan to have one of the 'Candy mania' ice-creams today unless I get bullied into it by Aimz (she is quite good at that! she makes you think you need the ice-cream! I wish i knew her technique!) and then home to watch the 'America's Deadliest Season' which hopefully my V+ box recorded for me last night.

Bruises Galore!

2009-02-04T16:17:00.000Z

I dont really know what to put with these pictures today really. They speak for themselves! There was a beautiful colour in the sky when I woke up at 7:30 so I jumped out of bed and was out of the door, fully awake in under 10 minutes!

The air was Bitterly cold and I got an ice headache after being out there for five minutes which is not something that usually happens around here! Absolutely everything was covered in a thick covering of frost and even monty slipped and slid all over the frozen puddles that were left over from yesterdays thaw. There is still snow on the ground in places however which makes the world much brighter than it usually is, especially since the winter sun is so low in the sky. This means I have had to walk around in a baseball cap all day to shade my eyes and I look like a complete "youth"!

I'm hopefully seeing my cousin Jonathan tomorrow who wants to learn Poi (this should be fun). I shall show him a few of the ropes and hope that he doesnt hurt himself too badly. Getting bruises is quite easy when one is learning poi! I got quite a few myself today from my new poi which I am still learning to adjust to, so I might be feeling the pain tomorrow

The plan for tonight is to carry on my DC marathon (are you still timing Angel Girl?) and have a go at making a Glow Poi video. wish me luck!

Have a brilliant day all of you!

Whiteout

2009-02-02T18:59:00.000Z

So yesterday's Snow carried on as it had started. Blizzards into the night, turning the world orange from the glow of the sodium lights that line our streets. The Horse signpost strapped to the streetlight outside was starting to get coated in ice when I finally left my window to watch the superbowl at 11:30pm. I LOVED the superbowl! go Steelers!!! I have 3 favourite NFL teams. Seahawks, Ravens and Steelers and I am thrilled to have one of my teams do well! (usually when I support any sports team they loose miserably and I end up sad. Maybe judging by last night, the curse is broken!!!) Below you can see my main party food from the mini shindig my dad and I had. The essential M&Ms were there of course! I was also relying on copious amounts of Red Bull and coffee as the thought of sleep was getting quite attractive towards 03:00am. I finally got 4 hours of sleep and then woke up bright and early to start my day.

We got about 3 inches of snow today! I took this picture from the car as we drove into Ipswich (which was quite interesting as the car was slipping and the wheels were spinning. we made it into town safely however). Today just happened to be the day we were scheduled to stand for 3 hours in the highstreet collecting for a charity called 'Child Reach'. In August this year, my sister is going to climb mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and all the money she raises for the trip will be going towards Child Reach. This charity helps children in Africa to buy learning equipment and essentials like toilet blocks etc. Needless to say, the snow meant that we didnt raise too much money however. An hour of standing in the snow was all we could manage and we collected £27. My sister needs to raise £2,200 and so far has got £500. She has quite a way to go but hopefully we can make it.

so there we are!

the snow is now melting outide and rain is now beginning to fall, but we are expecting more snow later on in the week so maybe someone in my family will show me some pity and go sledging with me! I shall keep my fingers crossed!

Helly Hansens to keep me warm.

2009-02-01T15:33:00.000Z

~more snow on the way~

As I sit at my computer, I hear the tap tap tap of snow hitting the window. It is a rather comforting sound when one has just come out of the cold and gales.

As soon as the snow started to fall, I knew I was going to go out, as I cannot resist walking in the snow. My two sisters and Julia who is visitig from America were getting ready to go horse riding and proclaimed me mad when they realised I was going out in the weather by sheer choice!

By the time I got to the south fields, I was beginning to regret the fact that I have not bought a pair of gloves in about 4 years. As I had my camera in my hands, they had no protection from the wind which was blowing about 40mph and had a windchill probably of about -9'C (no joke). After 20 minutes of pointing a camera and shooting, they were beginning to be in serious pain from the cold. I have never felt actuall pain from the cold before and found it a very... odd experience.

After walking a little way, I remembered to look behind me (as you should always do when walking as usually, the most beautiful scenery is behind you). I saw a wall of white advancing on me and this next blizzard was so thick that it very almost blocked out the sun. The surrounding countryside went eerily dark and this was when I decided that since everything around me was dissappearing in snow and my fingers actually wouldnt work to press the camera shutter anymore, it was time to go home.

As I trudged back to the house, I glanced at the ground and saw that the puddles had frozen over in the last 10 minutes. there must have been quite a temperature drop. Even the hems of my jeans had frozen so therefore, I click-clacked my way home and after a bit of negotiating, got my fingers to turn the keys in the lock. Dad greeted me with a cry of "isnt it cold!" and handed me his pair of huge Helly Hansen mittens which warmed my fingers up enough that they were able to start hurting. I think I prefered numb fingers personally.

I leave you with the last picture I took. Just to prove that 40mph winds, minus temperatures and numb fingers do not necessarily mean you cant have a fun time!

Before the Blog was born...

2009-01-31T11:08:00.000Z

~Big Ben ~

~St. James's park and me. (in the background is Buckingham Palace!)~

~The view of Westminister from the top of the London Eye~

~A Routemaser bus that we hapened to pass on the motorway~

Here you are then Kim and everyone else, some British pictures from before I started my blog.

I look through my old photographs occasionally and have often wanted to post one or two. I have tried to stay away from 'old picture posting' however as I didnt think people would be too interested. Last autumn I spent a whole day walking around the lanes and fields near where I live, taking pictures for a Video that I entitled 'Autumn'. This was my first ever video so it is absolutely awful and at the end I did a kind of credits parody that just doesn't work but I keep it on You Tube because the pictures are actually quite nice. If you want, you can have a peek but please dont watch untill the very end. Turn off when you get to the end credits. *thinks: I really must re-do the video*

so there you are. For today this is all I shall do. Hopefully a picture of the tardis for you all tomorrow! http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AgxFcrE2e60&feature=channel_page

Elbow fights and village idiots.

2009-01-29T21:12:00.000Z

Darn.

What a couple of days. As you can see Mum, the sister and I did get out for a bit of excercise but among all the excitement of visiting my Grandmother, we all kind of forgot to do anything! So many things happened on wednesday!

Grandmother found mice in her understairs cupboard,
I found a TARDIS in one of her plate cupboards, and a musical cup in another cupboard! (what delights can be found in cupboards! I shall have to make a mental note to look in them more regularly!)
Mum and the Sister played a hilarious game of Scrabble in which the first word to be placed on the board by my sister was 'fart', which then became 'farty' later on (this kind of set the tone).
We were fed to within an inch of our lives,
And I got to read around half of my Time Bandit book! (an afternoon well spent I think!)

The best thing about the last couple of days however was how much quality time I got to spend with my sister. The fact that she lives in Scotland now makes 'sister time' an extreme rarity so when I get her to myself I make the most of it. We laughed lots and even had an elbow fight at the dinner table! (I dont think Grandmother was best pleased)

so that was my weekend! Sorry Kim, no pictures of inner London for you! the part of london in which my Grandmother lives is very rural so anyone who does where a huge big fluffy hats is generally called 'the village idiot'. I did seriously think of putting a very good picture of Big Ben on this post for you from when I went in December but I thought that since it was about a month ago, you might think you were being cheated a little bit. Next time I promise to get some nice London Pictures for you!

Jeg skal reise!

2009-01-27T21:04:00.000Z

I am once again making a trip to London tomorrow! Since 'the sister' is home for a couple of weeks, we thought we would take the opportunity and go and visit my maternal Grandmother who lives there there. It will be nice to visit somewhere different on my walks for a day or two. Somewhere for my camera to find new views and my boots, new places to tread. I shall also welcome the time for rest and an oppotunity to re-read my Time Bandit book. Having been born in the early 30s, My grandmother is not the best when it comes to technology. she does not have the internet or a DVD player and only just got a CD player a year ago! This means therefore that I shall have no access to the Northwestern Forums which I frequent so much or many of the blogs that I follow in this network. Maybe the point of going away for a few days however is that by depriving yourself of the things that you rely on so frequently, you appreciate them more when you have the opportunity to use them. Just a thought. (though I doubt this thought will comfort me when i crave a trawl through the forums!) Have a fun couple of days people!!!

Jigsaw Madness.

2009-01-26T13:19:00.000Z

Why is it that whenever Someone starts a Jigsaw puzzle (out of sheer boredom mostly) The rest of the surrounding inhabitants want to participate! The parents started a 1000 piece puzzle yesterday and once my sister and I decided we wanted to take part, and discovered that it was too hard, we had "Jigsaw madness" and had to start a second one! Now our two main Dining tables have jigsaws all over them and we have no-where to eat! Such is the pull of Jigsaw Puzzles. The truly odd part is that i dont even like Puzzles! I just cannot leave one un-finished.

The picture for today is of the gloomy dawn that greeted me this morning. The crows were just waking up and starting to fly off and there was fog on the ground which is a sight I just love. The whole world seems to have gone into hibernation today. No wind, rain, sunshine (or any weather to speak of at all) and all of the birds are still nestled on top of the trees. It is the kind of day that makes you stay indoors with a cup of cocoa. (or a jigsaw puzzle) right! back to work.......

Burns' Night (the noo!)

2009-01-25T13:02:00.000Z

Excellent sunset last night, and I am now beginning to realise what a handy resource my Mobile Phone is! It might be a little unpredictable and you have to hold it very still and not breath for about 20 seconds while you take the photo, but usually, the charming little thing takes quite good pictures! One must just treat it kindly.

Once the sun had set , there was a fantastic pinky glow in the sky and The last rays made the evening quite magical. Venus was bright tonight -or what I am thinking was Venus at any rate- and I got to watch it all the way home from the Grandparents house.

Tonight, family and friends are partying Scottish style! Tonight is Burns' night! (Robert Burns was a scottish poet who wrote hugely depressing poems and this year marks the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns' birth) Every year on Burns' night, we have Haggis, Potatoes, Leek, Swede (among other things) and Whiskey.

Beware the Scottish Whiskey. I only ever drink Whiskey on Burns' Night because it gives me an incredible headache! I am all for celebrating however. In fear of how my head shall feel later on therefore, I say: "why mess with tradition!".

So tonight shall be fun I think. If we can keep the book of Burns poetry out of Mum's hand, that is!

Yes we like celebrating Robert Burns night. but that doesn't mean we need to hear from him!!!

2009-01-24T13:36:00.000Z

Finally "America's Deadliest Season" aired in Britain on Thursday. Dad and I watched it (me with much excitement) and thought it was fantastic! It was the fist time it has been shown in Britain (though don't quote me on that). The only problem, was that ITV did not publicise it at all! So by the time any of us heard about it, two episodes had already shown! (and I have it on good authority that those were the two episodes with lots of footage of the Northwestern)

Dad was multitasking as usual. He was both watching "Deadliest Season" with me and reading an aircraft magazine! Halfway through the episode he showes me an article about the 'Midway' an Amerian aircraft carrier that has just been turned into a floating museum. His comment went something like this: "Look at this Fizz! think of how many crab pots you could fit on the back of that ship!" we both burst into laughter at the thought of a ship with about 4 and a half ACRES of deck space stacked high with crab pots. Dad's next comment was "the good thing is, there are catapults at the stern of the ship so you can just chuck the pots off the back of the boat!"

Now that would be a GREAT way of fishing on the Bering sea.

I made some new fishing rigs today for when Dad and I finally get to do our next fishing trip. I am getting quite good at them now I think and hardly injured myself on the hooks at all! though the table got a few holes in the varnish. *puts on innocent face. "I didn't do it! Daddy did!"*

Betrayal

2009-01-22T16:34:00.000Z

I decided to have fun today with my photograph. I have of course edited the colours a little. (Though I did once see the sky this colour so I guess its not that hard to believe.) I just had to take a picture of the one patch of clear sky we got as the sun went down. seeing as there are more banks of cloud rolling in, I firmly predict more rain tonight. The flooding shall continue I fear!

Now as I peer through the gathering gloom, I can see the seagulls and crows going off to roost for the night. It is a fantastic sight if one is up early enough when they all wake up. Before sunrise they depart to their daily haunts and sometimes a cloud of crows can be so dark, it seems quite ominous. especially with that racket they make.

So... Betrayal.

Today I registered at the Phil Harris Forums. Nothing much wrong with that as I happen to like Captain Phil. I was hit however, with the most peculiar feeling! I felt like I was betraying the Northwestern forums that I adore so much! The NW forum is the benchmark for all future forums now, and in my mind, nothing will ever beat them.

please don't all egg me for moonlighting at another forum!

Coffeeeeeeee!

2009-01-21T10:22:00.000Z

As this year progresses, I am beginning to realise how addictive coffee is.

Without a morning cup of STRONG black coffee, I am pretty much useless. My eyes refuse to open more than half way, I have no balance and I am moody.

Poor Monty this morning had a walk with an "un-caffinated" Fizz and he had a hard time of it I think. (I am much better now, Coffee was brewed! )

Here is my warning then: Do not rely on caffene! I have no choice now as I am hooked. Save yourselves however people!

A gorgeous freezing morning today! (from what I saw of it through the haze of "no coffee syndrome), as soon as Monty and I got to North Field, I realised I had forgotten both my Mobile Phone and my camera! I could not therefore take any pictures of the winter scene that Met my eyes. The air was clear and crisp, there was frost on everything and some people were having a bonfire in their field. They looked as if they were having alot of fun. (funny thing to do at 8:00 on a wednesday morning really but there you are. they were doing it. )

The Ice was deceptive this morning. Just when you thought you were safe from slipping over, you found another patch! Monty was even having trouble staying on his feet (me being a daring "try everything once" kind of person even tried skating on the ice! not a good idea for future referance lol! -maybe "daring" should be changed to "stupid")

So here, is that present for Kim that I mentioned. I suddenly remembered that I took this picture for you and you never got to see it! so, for the lover of dragons, is a photo of the dragon statue that lives down the road from me.

Be happy in whatever you do today guys!

Forgotten Farm

2009-01-20T21:42:00.000Z

Monty and I strolled down to the tumbledown barn this morning! This is not a place we visit very often as the weather has to be perfect. the slightest breath of wind makes the structure groan in the most threatening way. The picture above is of one of the best preserved of the buildings. It used to be a pigsty (but to be honest, it could have been anything. there is too much Ivy now to tell what it was). The funny thing is however, it still looks quite cosy in a funny sort of way and I am sure that some creature or another will have made it "home". The weather in Ipswich has been stormy for the last few days. Cold aswell! I was in danger of "making ice" this morning. At the duck pond, every time a car went through the puddle that is ALWAYS there, the spray stuck to everything and froze! seeing a coating of ice on a chainlink fence made me think of the Bering Sea and how bad the ice is reported to be up there. our ice is nothing compared to that! This morning Monty and I came across the tell-tale signs of the gales that we have been experiencing. A combination of dead hedges and high winds is not a good thing (though i think Monty definately enjoyed the novelty of a new bush that needed good investigation)

Next, we took a peek at the stables field that has about 5 horses in it.

The horses actually wanted to say hello to me today!

(well. one of them did.)

So that was my day! I wonder what fun things you guys did!

Tomorrow there is a present for Kim Braun! untill then, have wonderfull evenings, all of you!

Busy days calming down... hopefully.

2009-01-19T16:00:00.000Z

This weekend went in a blur. a flurry. nay, a WHIRLWIND of excitement.

I awoke on Saturday with my friend Aimée telling me her flat had had a fire but saying her birthday party was still going ahead and asking would I still come! So at 6 last on saturday night, various people and partygoers invaded her boyfriends parent's house for the evening (his parents wisely vacated the premesis).

The party was fantastic. (even when the chocolate fountain decided it didnt like us and proceeded to spit chocolate at us!- we all ended up on the floor cowering for dear life from chocolate! not something one would usually do!).

Though I did take my camera, There is only one solitary picture from that evening. (most of the evening was spent too tipsy to take pictures). I think you might like this picture however...

a big BIG bowl of melted chocolate! (which... ehem... then got fired at us by the Evilness of the chocolate fountain.)

The rest of the evening was spent playing Hilarious party games such as Outburst and I havent laughed so much in years I dont think!

One of the most exciting events of the weekend though was the American Football AFC and NFC championships. I was supporting the Ravens, and as usuall with all teams that I support, they lost. (I am seriously thinking that i am bad Juju for sports teams!)

By the time the games finished last night, it was about 4 in the morning! This means therefore, that I got about 3 and a half hours of downtime in... 44 hours. Not alot. I should be more tired, but for some reason I am still bouncing! (this means it might catch up with me tomorrow)

This is how I stayed awake then during my fun night watching fotball:

Smarties and a few cups of the strongest coffee known to man!

(and i have just noticed the Deadliest Catch DVDs in the top, left hand Corner! Edgar Hansen on the front cover looking at me. I cant tell you how much I wanted to watch some DC last night!)

My sister from Scotland comes home for a bit on friday! bringing lots of friends from Uni. we shall have a housefull so it may be fun!

Busy Days aplenty

2009-01-17T15:45:00.000Z

Busy day today, in about 2 hours i am going out to celebrate Aimée's birthday (again), this time it is an actual party so i have bought a nice bottle of Vodka to take along with me. (what is the betting that we shall be swamped with vodka? i was going to take Tequila but the co-op seems not to sell it.)

I shall be taking my camera with me so hopefully tomorrow will be some pictures of some shiny happy people having a very happy time!

As if a party wasn't enough to keep me going today, I also waded through as many posts on the NW forums as i could (there are so many!) and i am also attempting to find DC clips for an Edgar Hansen video.

wish me luck!!!

My fingers Froze!

2009-01-15T14:51:00.000Z

I thought I would start my blog today with one of my favourite pictures of the year so far. Mum and I went for a walk today at Felixtowe and I am so glad I took my camera!

This little boat was coming back from fishing but it was taking the dangerous route of the Shipping lanes to and from The Port of Felixtowe. To give you an idea of how small this plucky little boat was, when she passed a buoy in the shipping channel, the buoy was as tall as the wheelhouse!

You can't tell from this picture but the wind was about 25mph and the windchill must have gone into the minuses. Enough to make your eyes water! I love compasses. I love the fact that they will always point you in the right direction and they do not lie (unless you are using a magetic compass in a car! Compasses have a tendancy to lie under those circumstances). deadliest catch fan moment: I happened to notice that the NW pointer was pointing NW! (shock horror!) and actually was pointing in the direction of where Dutch Harbour would be from here! so to Sum up, Northwest was pointing to the F/V Northwestern! I just thought I would show you guys from America the hilarity of hazard signs in England. This person does not seem even the slightest bit concerned that he has just walked off the edge of the dock! The HS Discoverer was in port today! I cannot tell you how much I wanted a bucket of paint so I could change it to HS Discovery! some of the Port of Felixtowe "svitzer" tugboats. My favourite is the larger one on the left called "Svitzer Melton"

And here is one of the wierder sights of the day! Aparrently this boat is helping to build a new dock terminal, and the four posts standing upright on the boat are actually legs so that the boat can use its crane to lift heavy things without rocking too much! ---

This was such a cold walk that 3 hours after getting home, my fingers are only just beginning to unfreeze! I think I can now cradle a cup of coffee without giving myself chillblains. So! off to the kitchen for Coffee I go!

Skål!

(that is "cheers" in Norwegian!)

aaand for all the chocolate fans out there, "Candy-mania!" from our meal out last night. The super sickly pudding that got half eaten, then some was added to Craig's coke, then Budwiser was poured into the last little bit. (actually quite nice!), The funniest bit though, was when Craig found Space dust in his Coke!

Smoke on the... ground?

2009-01-14T12:17:00.001Z

Today is a good day! I have accomplished lots. I have spent the morning studying Norwegian (I am now getting the hang of dependant, subordinate and main clauses), and taking care of certain small Guinea-pigs that live in my bedroom. I also had a go at helping to tidy the kitchen but failed miserably. there is only so much i know about re-hanging curtains.

I was grateful this morning on my walk for a frost. This meant the south field was less muddy than it has been most of this week. (for the past few days it has resembled the Glastonbury Festival, with mud about 4 inches deep!) I suspected there would be a good amount of mist this morning because whilst driving to the shops last night, we passed a small valley in a field which was filled with cloud! It really looked like someone was having fun with a smoke machine!

We are realising slowly that Ipswich is a town that has very localised weather. For example, Dad was telling me the other day of occasions in the past when he has gone to his car in the evening, to find one half of his car frozen and the other half not frozen! if that isnt localised i dont know what is.

Tonight I am going out with my friends for a meal to celebrate Aimée's birthday at our favourite haunt (brilliant restaurant with TVs on the walls showing fun stuff like NASCAR etc.) There is a brilliant desert at this particular restaurant. A very naughty bowl of ice cream and chocolates that is big enough to feed about 5! I think there is a good chance of a photo of that tomorrow :D

--- I leave you with an update of the Dalmation balloon. It would appear it has learned how to climb hedges! It was actually sitting on top of the Hedge looking very regal today! Dog balloons do the funniest things!

A Dalmation???

2009-01-13T19:50:00.000Z

I saw the wierdest thing today on my morning walk! I was just strolling through "South Field" and suddenly, beside me, I saw a dog! I had to do a double take though, as this was an inflatible dog! A Dalmation balloon just stuck there in the hedge! I couldn't help myself. Instantly, my mobile phone was in my hand and a photo opportunity was not missed! Someone must have had a great time leaving that there for me to find. The Apaches were doing their training routines today so we were being buzzed all day by scary looking millitary helicopters. These are the scariest looking things in the world, with huge guns strapped onto them so watching them is always fun. They must be going off to Iraq or Afganistan I reckon, so hopefully most of them will make it back. Today was a day of change for me. After years of having long hair, down to my waist, hair almost able to sit upon, I figured I wanted a new look. So I telephoned a hairdressers shop in Ipswich and within an hour I was sitting in a swivel chair, sipping a cup of coffee whilst 'Abbie' snipped away. I love the new look and thought you might all enjoy seeing it. To quote U.S. president elect Barack Obama, "Yes, we can change. Yes, we can." Change is good. I love it! :D

Oh and I believe Happy Birthday greetings are in order for my wonderful friend Aimée and Edgar Hansen! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Men with bells on!

2009-01-12T11:58:00.000Z

The picture you see above, is the product of two days of searching. I knew i had it somewhere! It is a scan of a picture that was taken in 2000, on one of the funnest mornings that can be had in the year! Picture the scene. It is the first day of May. You get woken up by your alarm at 4:30 a.m., stumble bleary eyed from your bed and head for the nearest source of coffee. by 5:00 o'clock you are in the car heading for the coast. As the sky in the East gets slowly lighter, a growing sense of excitement finds you. In half an hour, you are on a beach gazing at a bright spot on the horizon that is beginning to turn a wonderful pink/red colour. The band in the carpark at the top of the cliff starts up and you climb the steps from the beach to join in the fun. This is what i shall be doing on May day this year. We travel to Felixtowe and watch the sun rise over the sea and then have lots of fun dancing with the Folk band and Morris Men! (if you have never come across Morris Men you have missed out on real treat. Grown men dancing about waving handkerchiefs, with bells strapped to their legs and waving sticks! I love Morris men they are a traditional form of English dancing but I have geat trouble not breaking into giggles!). After watching the sun rise at 5:35, dancing and chatting to a man dressed as "the green man" (the green man was a Celtic god of spring who dissappears and returns year after year), everyone bundles into their cars and goes off to have a full english breakfast at the many cafe's that dot the Felixtowe coastline (I am sure May day is how these cafe's stay in business. within a few minutes of people leaving the cliff tops, all the cafe's are packed to standing room only!). This year I promise to take my camera and take lots of pictures for you guys. Especially of the Morris Men and the Green Man! --- whilst I was searching for the picture of May Day sunrise 2000, I stumbled across a picture that I had forgotten about! It was taken a couple of years ago from my bedroom window. I thought I would put it in my post today as it was kinda appropriate (being a sunrise-ish sort of post today).