Category: Family

Jeremy Clarkson remarked recently that gardening was a pursuit of the old who are waiting to die, well I suppose that means I am now old.  Over the last few weeks we have been building our raised beds and tidying up the garden to suite our needs.

This bank holiday weekend we have been concentrating on the raised beds which we built over the last few weeks.  Its been hard work but they are nearly finished and we have been digging over the soil, and sorting out are seed trays in anticipation.

Despite the the hard physical work its been very satisfying.

We have now been in our new home for about six months.  Both myself and Caroline have celebrated birthdays here and its really starting to feel like home.

Caroline’s sewing room is coming along nicely as is my office or digital darkroom as I call it.

We have also had the workers in and now all windows and doors have been replaced, but its the garden we have also been concentrating on.

Now with the lighter evenings and warmer days the garden has been bursting into life.  A new compost area has been built behind the garage and a garden shredder and new mower has also had to be bought.

The main building work for the raised beds where we intend to grow our vegetables has also been completed.  Caroline has also chopped down two trees that were far to close to the building and blocking a lot of light.  I say Caroline chopped down the trees, as I had a bad cold one recently weekend and while I was asleep in bed she got stuck in.

We have also built a brood box for our bee hives, we still have the supers and frames to complete so we are a bit behind schedule on that front.  There is an old wooden shed at the bottom of the garden and that is being torn down and a hen coop and run built.  It would be lovely to have the veg plot, bees and chickens all in for this year but this is a marathon not a sprint.

So we are counting down again. How many days till Christmas?

On the Biking Blog “Ride it like you stole it!” which is sadly no more by Dave Dragon, there was a poem “The Biker’s Night Before Christmas”.

I have posted this before but as it is Christmas Eve I thought I was worth posting again.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the pad,

There was nada happenin’, now that’s pretty bad.

The woodstove was hung up in that stocking routine,

In hopes that the Fat Boy would soon make the scene.

With our stomachs packed with tacos and beer,

My girl and I crashed on the couch for some cheer.

When out in the yard there arose such a racket,

I ran for the door and pulled on my jacket.

I saw a large bro’ on a ’56 Pan

Wearin’ black leathers, a cap, and boots (cool biker, man).

He hauled up the bars on that bikeful of sacks,

And that Pan hit the roof like it was running on tracks.

I couldn’t help gawking, the old guy had class.

But I had to go in — I was freezing my ass.

Down through the stovepipe he fell with a crash,

And out of the stove he came dragging his stash.

With a smile and some glee he passed out the loot,

A new jacket for her and some parts for my scoot.

He patted her fanny and shook my right hand,

Spun on his heel and up the stovepipe he ran.

From up on the roof came a great deal of thunder,

As that massive V-twin ripped the silence asunder.

With beard in the wind, he roared off in the night,

Shouting, “Have a cool Yule, and to all a good ride!”

One of the reasons for moving into the country side was to enable us to have Bees, Chickens, and to grow our own vegetables.

Today we made our first step as we purchased the parts necessary to build our bee hives.

Friday was our Christmas Lunch at work.  So it was a very lazy final day.  I am taking the week off, a first in many years.

Enjoy the Christmas Holiday, we have a little more shopping to do and family and friends coming round over the following days so no more photography until the new year, but I need to find a few spare hours as I have some final post processing to do.

What ever your religion or even none, enjoy the holiday.

 

Bodhi Day

December 8th – On Bodhi day some Buddhists celebrate Gautama’s attainment of enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodhgaya, India.

Hanukkah

December 9th – Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights and marks the restoration of the temple by the Maccabees in 164 BCE. Hanukkah is celebrated at roughly the same time as Christmas, but there is no connection at all between the festivals.

Yule

December 21st – Yule is the time of the winter solstice, when the sun child is reborn, an image of the return of all new life born through the love of the Gods. Within the Northern Tradition Yule is regarded as the New Year.

Christmas

December 25th – The day when Western Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Oshogatsu

January 1st – Shinto New Year, one of the most popular occasions for shrine visits.

Guru Gobind Singh

January 5th – Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) was the tenth and last of the Sikh Gurus. He instituted the Five Ks and established the Order of the Khalsa.

Orthodox Christmas

January 7th – Most Orthodox churches use the Julian rather than the Gregorian version of the Western calendar. As a result, they celebrate Christmas 13 days later than other Christian churches.

Makar Sankranti

January 14th – Makar Sankranti is one of the most important festivals of the Hindu calendar and celebrates the sun’s journey into the northern hemisphere.