Currently playing Astral Projection - Solid Electronics

The computer music center is going in full swing and the roof and walls are absolutely coming down on me any second now. Or at least the neighbours will think we are having a full blast rave party going on. The only thing missing at the moment is the strobe painting the night sky!

I have a very diverse music taste. I can listen to opera one minute to swing completely and listen to Death Metal because there is this one song i like or like now trance music full blast. I enjoy serene music like Enya but also blue grass , blues, heavy metal, classical music, really you name it and I'll listen and i might find something i like and keep in my library.

It is such a shame it is illegal to download music. You really got so much to choose from on the Internet and there are chances you might find the next Britney Spears or Madonna by searching and listening and sending a good song on to your friends. You still do of course, download i mean, illegal or not but its such a shame that it couldn't be free. I know the artists have to get paid as well and it is right that they should be but looking at the price of a CD in the shop i cant but help feeling that we the customers are getting screwed big time by the big music labels. Thinking about what the prize for a new CD is at the moment , 225 Kr, I understand why people search and download.

I came across this one from my old entries and thought it worth being posted again.

On a British Airways flight from Johannesburg, a middle-aged, well-off white South African lady has found herself sitting next to a black man. She called the cabin crew attendant over to complain about her seating.
"What seems to be the problem Madam?" asked the attendant.
"Can't you see?" she said. "You've sat me next to a kaffir. I can't possibly sit next to this disgusting human. Find me another seat!"
"Please calm down Madam." the stewardess replied. "The flight is very full today, but I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll go and check to see if we have any seats available in club or first class."

The woman cocks a snooty look at the outraged black man beside her (not to mention many of the surrounding passengers). A few minutes later the stewardess returns with the good news, which she delivers to the lady, who cannot help but look at the people around her with a smug and self-satisfied grin.
"Madam, unfortunately, as I suspected, economy is full. I've spoken to the cabin services director, and club is also full. However, we do have one seat in first class." Before the lady has a chance to answer, the stewardess continues... "It is most extraordinary to make this kind of upgrade, however, I have had to get special permission from the captain. But, given the circumstances, the captain felt that it was outrageous that someone be forced to sit next to such an obnoxious person." With which, she turned to the black man sitting next to the woman, and said:
"So if you'd like to get your things, sir, I have your seat ready for you..." At which point, apparently the surrounding passengers stood and gave a standing ovation while the black man walks up to the front of the plane.

People will forget what you said...
People will forget what you did...
But people will never forget how you made them feel.

DIY time!

We did block off a doorway into our lounge earlier this autumn and now I'm finally getting round to plastering the joints and trying to make it blend in with the rest of the wall, still got the wallpaper to do on one side and painting the other side. Also James and his dad boxed in the chimney breast that was showing in the lounge and I am also trying to make that one look nice. But bugger it is hard getting the corners nice and sharp on that one! I've sanded it once and patched up were I missed so I'll just have to sand it down once more to see if that will do or if there is more to patch up. We also have to get around doing the skirting boards in the lounge and the frame for the attic fold down stair. All the doors need seeing to as well since most of them had been clad with plywood to hide the nice old frames and the paint is peeling on some of them We might even repaint the hall, still thinking about that one though... I just want everything finished! It has been lingering on for quite some time now but I suppose we'll have plenty of time this winter to get all things done..

If you ever feel like you got too much time on your hands and don't know what to do with it or if your just plain old bored go Grow something. I dare you to get it working at its maximum.

Currently playing Scissor Sisters - Ta-Dah (on repeat..)

Weird that, you know, sometimes you find a band that you like immediately. That is what happened when I found this one. I've heard the hit 'I don't feel like dancing' on the radio previous and thought hmmm might be good. So I decided to get the CD after a radio show featuring them and I got to hear a bit more of what they play. I think I might drive James round the bend though if I play it much more when he is at home...

The more it snows a tiddeli pom...

It has come about 20 cm of fresh new crisp white snow! I love winter, especially the snow and the clear dark nights when you can see the stars go on forever and ever. There is nothing that compares to a late evening walk in the moonlight and it is all quiet and the only sound is the crunch from the snow under your shoes.

I remember from when I was little that we always seemed to be out later in winter when the lake had iced over and the snow had come. You could play cops and robbers in the dark or more fun have snowball wars with your own castle made of snow to protect. If you were lucky dad piled all the snow into one big mound where you could bore holes and make little chambers inside and sit there with a candle lit eating your sandwich pack that mum used to prepare with that warm choco in a flask which always seemed to go cold just too quickly. We played we were astronauts at night walking around in the cold empty space(usually down by the lakeside) and used dads old binoculars as our telescope to see if we could spot any UFO's or alien invaders. We never got very close to the stars but it made it all much more magic when you could see them a bit closer to you. Sometimes we'd see the northern lights glimmer and flicker its band across the sky and there were shooting stars raining down on us. You don't see them in summer since the nights are too light and I do miss them. So I always welcome winter like a good old friend, a wee bit too cold at time but still the very best of friends.

It is raining

And I really mean RAINING! No little dripdrops, I mean full front on pouring! And I will have to go out in it later to go collect my car. It is at the moment at the garage for a long over due service. Me, I'm due for some serious sleep but cant really since there is a bit to do in the house and I have work later on. It has been three days with really early mornings since I've worked the weekend and today was just too much when I really should have been able to stay in my much cosy warm bed instead I had to get up and go. Thankfully I got a lift back home courtesy of the garage or else I would have been even more miserable getting back home in the rain on the bus, even more so since I forgot my umbrella at home...

Near miss

Just a bit north of us they are now covered in the white cold stuff. Apparently it has come around 10-20 cm of it. We just got the sideways rain.. But I am happy it missed us this time since we haven't put on our winter wheels on the car yet. That appointment isn't until tomorrow.

The garden is almost sleeping. Just got to get some rose cover and rake up the leafs and apples that are falling as soon as you turn your back. It was a lovely day yesterday so I thought I'd make the most of it and got the dahlias up and tucked in for drying. I also turned the flower bed over and moved some of the perennials that had got too big for the spot they were in and cleared of the last of the marigolds and petunias. Parsnips are now down in the cellar for winter storage all scrubbed up and tucked away. There are only a few summer flowers left in the garden and they are still so nice I don't have the heart to pull them up just yet. Especially since they have promised a bit warmer weather for next week. It will be a new record for me to still have flowering Margueritas in late October not to mention the lovely crawling and sprawling Nasturtium I have in front of the porch. I wish the frost would hold of just a bit longer so I can take a picture of it for you to see.

We've had the smell of snow in the air for 2 days now but nothing as of yet. But it is getting colder the longer the week wears on so I wouldn't be surprised if we did get some of the white cold stuff soon. It has been a weird autumn my dahlias are still in full bloom and the last of the marigolds are budding, my lovely dark pink roses are flowering again and got lots of small buds coming and we haven't had one night of hard frost yet! I am dithering about if I should cut my dahlias and bring them in for storage or let them flower until the frost gets them. Everything else is more or less tidied part from the parsnips that still are going and the late salad which is covered by some fleece anyway. James has kindly turned half of our vegetable patch and I need to find some fir tree branches to cover up our roses when it gets colder. Yes I know, how ironic that we did cut our fir trees down..

We've been busy over here. I am getting into this thing called eBay you see.. Am trying to sell some of my surplus postcards and have managed to sell two (2!) so far. I also managed to have my birthday and had a very nice gift from James, my own web site, which is in development. I had lots of other nice presents and a two day celebration as well! Is it silly wishing it would have gone on for another day? I have been a bit slack with everything online-ish but now when winter is setting in I will get back in the saddle and start writing more regular. There wont be much to do outside anyway when everything is covered with snow or it might just pour down with rain. You never know now a days.

Far too much is going on in real life to be able to fit any extra blog time in. It is a shame and I really shouldn't be able to call this a blog anymore. But I'll try and make it better soon.

I've been trying to sell some of the surplus junk we got in a car boot sale which went quite alright but it was really too little people to make for any good money. But what we got was alright. Shame though that you have to haul all the leftover junk back home, that wasn't intended you know! But maybe later in the year I'll try again and sell some more off. I've been trying to get my other enterprise off the ground with a bit of help from James, more on that later when I have something to show.

Gardening is slow and enjoyable. I have been making a few bargains at the plant nurseries when they have their end of season sales. James has been very nice and dug me a bit of a bigger flower border that we started off with two bushes and not complained too much to me for buying more plants and bushes. You do get into some sort of frenzy though when you have a blank canvas to fill up with plants. Because when we moved here it was just lawn, one old rosebush, a few apple trees and one, 1 !, tulip bulb. Next year I am going to try and grow some more perennial plants myself if the ones I did this year come back next spring..

Onward upward eh?

Btw..

Just a little brainteaser until i blog again... My score was a struggling 13.

Gardening is slowing down. We've picked all the potatoes, carrots and parsley, Still got some beet roots left and the parsnips aren't done yet but getting there. We might be getting some late salad if the warmth lingers a bit longer. But it is getting quite cool at night. Apples are getting there and we've had loads of plums that I've turned into the most lovely tasting jam I've done so far. Imagine ripe red-blue plums spiced up with a vanilla pod, yummie. Dead simple recipe too. You take 2kg of plums, halve them and take out the pips, boil with 2 dl of water until soft and mushy then add 1.2 liters of sugar and one big vanilla pod, you add both the scraped out black seeds and the whole remaining pod, boil for further 10-15 minutes to a nice consistency, de-foaming it if necessary then put in warm jars and seal.

We've had very rainy wet weather with sunny warm days in between perfect for growing but too late for the year I think. Today is a Change day. You know the kind, pelting rain one minute, sunny spots in between but also quite a fierce northern wind blowing. Definitely a Change day. Me, I'm home with the first cold I've had for ages. One by one got hit by it at work so I was just counting the days really until it was my turn. It isn't too bad, sore throat and fever and general tiredness but not really any running nose and coughing, yet I might add...

Just cant pass over a test can i.. It is pretty accurate as well.

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have medium neuroticism. You're generally cool and collected, but sometimes you do panic. Little worries or problems can consume you, draining your energy. Your life is pretty smooth, but there's a few emotional bumps you'd like to get rid of. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high. In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas. You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits. A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Do you ever get the feeling that there is a change even though nothing obvious has changed? I had that feeling today when i went outside. It just felt like the summer is ending, strange because it is still nice and warm outside, but you know there is a time when the garden turns. Lots of things are ripening and it looks like we will have a great year in the size of crops we are getting. Some of the summer flowers have ended though, surprisingly early but i think it has to do with the long dry spell we had earlier and now that there is rain it really doesnt help.

The garden has looked better this year and will do even better next year i hope. Our new hedge did suffer a bit from the dry weather but hopefully it will spring back next year and get going. We have to start pondering about the Big Dig next year. Considering the amount of downpours we have had it is time to do something about our damp foundation. So that is something we would like to do first thing next spring. Also there is this wast amount of space around the tree stumps that could need a bit of work and planning. I would like to make that part of the garden a bit of a wild spot, bushes, small trees, ferns and flowers of course. Like a little hideaway with paths around and in it. We'll just have to see.

What is keeping me busy...

Untill i get my writing skills back again i am doing a little photoblog. Feel free to visit.

Should i stay or should i go...?

At the present it seems i cant find the time to blog and when i do i get writers blog.. So, what should i do?

Summer has arrived with a BANG!

Lovely blue skies, temperature is hovering around +20, the Syringa hedge is in full bloom with lovely lilac flowers and all my summer flower seeds are growing like anything now, plus all the weeds of course.. Not to mention the lawn and there isn't anything we can do about it since our lawn mower decided it needed some service and was making this horrible sound when James was going to cut it last week. The damn mower is only 1 year old but James thought it might have to do with that he by accident drove it over a piece of rope that tied itself around the knife last time he cut the grass. Oh well, helpful neighbour let us borrow his mower once so it isn't a complete jungle out there. Hopefully we will get our own mower back soon. Anybody got some sheep we could lend?

We've been digging new flower beds as well as putting up a little willow fence to try and get people from cutting across to the Finn neighbours. Will see how much help it actually is later on. The new hedge is coming along, slowly. We've had loads of flowers on our plum tree this year and not so many on the big apple tree. But the huge old apple tree in the corner is covered in flowers so we'll see how much we'll end up with this year again of uneaten apples. I mean there is a limit to how much you can do and eat with apples in it before you get so tired of it you don't want to see another apple pie for as long as you shall live.

The vegetable patch is on the go, don't know how much will actually come up though due to a large flock of magpies. They are forever there picking at it so don't know how much spuds we got left or any other seeds. We did try to scare them off with dangling CD's but they soon learned that it wasn't scary. We did cover the seeds up with fleece but on closer examination there are now huge holes pecked in the fleece by them. Any suggestions to what to do about it? Part from shooting the buggers! Which isn't allowed anyway...

Flowers are going better this year but it has been nerve racking a couple of cold nights and I'm sure some of my climbers have been frost bitten because they look ever so sad so I've started a new batch just in case they don't pick up. Trying to organize the flowers and new shrubs in a way that is nice is fun but frustrating as well. It's sometimes a bit hard when you start off with a little little shrub that is supposed to grow as big as 2 meters and visualize how it will look in a year or two. I want instant BIG and bold plants. It is always easier as well to see how they will match each other when they are bigger and I wasn't planning on moving them in the near future but I might have to if I got it wrong.

Anyway it is nice that some plants survived the first year and are now coming back bigger and hopefully flowering better this year. I had some casualties that didn't make it through the winter. Sadly my big red poppy didn't like it where it was planted and was rotted away and also I don't have high hopes of my big, white, wonderfully smelling lilies coming back, no sign of life yet where they are but all other lilies are coming along nicely.. But surprise surprise all the tulips came out even though I did plant them way to late last autumn.

Currently playing Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush Dont give up

I've finaly got around to sort out all my mp3's and stumbled over some old favorites of mine. It has been sort of a night with music overload. Got rid of quite a lot of crap music as well. Everytime i hear this song i get goosebumps, i really dont know why, i just do.

It is still cold and wintery over here. The snow is slowly melting away but it is still a thick layer on the lawn and not a flower in sight. We have now finished our decorating inside and are preparing for the big push in getting the garden in shape whenever the frost has gone. First of all we have to get rid of all the fir tree branches that remained after we cut down the 3 big trees earlier. And then there is just a the question of what to do with all the space we now have.

It is snowing

Not just a little but a lot and it is wet and heavy and just plain old horrible! I am soon to do the last few strips of new wallpaper to our bedroom and hopefully that will be it until we have saved enough money to renovate the bathroom.

So onward getting all glued up it is. Back with pictures later