Friday 23 January 2015

Willpower

So ... if I have enough willpower to stop my arm from reaching down to my foot to scratch the almost overwhelming itch from five mosquito bites on one foot, why can't I use the same willpower to stop my arm from reaching into the fridge or cupboard to get the delicious food that tempts my taste buds when I'm not even hungry?

Any answers?  Thought not. 

Thursday 22 January 2015

Lift off

When the Russians put the first satellite in space -Sputnik - my father was very excited because he knew it was the beginning of space exploration. . My grandfather was very excited because it was launched by the Russians, and he was a Communist!  I was excited because my father took me outside in the dark after bedtime, to see this tiny light floating across the sky. 

When the Russians put the first man in space, my grandfather's excitement knew no bounds. And some time after that he and I went somewhere (where??) and actually MET Yuri Gagarin. I remember staring at him and thinking how clever he must be. The first man in space and the first Russian I had ever met and here I was holding his hand!! And he looked quite normal. 

Move on twelve years and once again my father and I were in the dark late at night, this time indoors in front of the television, to watch Neil Armstrong step onto the moon. It was such an exciting time. And I was hooked. 

Move on another twenty something years and there I was shaking hands and chatting with the first British woman in space. In daylight this time!  

Then yesterday we went to the Kannedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral. I sat in a Gemini capsule;  I sat in a replica of the capsule that housed the Apollo astronauts; I watched a film of space walks outside the International Space Station; and I was a mere three feet away from the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Then .... Oh my goodness. We were bussed to the VIP viewing space to sit and watch the launch of a Navy communications satellite using the second most powerful rocket there is. 

As they kept putting back the launch time and the tension mounted. I thought, "If this DOES go up, the whole crowd here will explode."  In the event, I was deaf and blind to everything but the smoke, the light (like daylight), and the NOISE. It was one of the most exciting things I have seen. And I wished my father could have been there to share the experience. It's all because of him that I cared!  

My favourite movie is 'Apollo 13'. 


Friday 16 January 2015

Tractors

It may seem odd for me to be writing about tractors.  We can't help stereotyping the different interests that are supposedly driven by gender.  And interest in tractors is, let's face it, not really considered to be a feminine attribute.  I kind of agree. Except that I am married to a retired farmer who restores tractors for fun.

I had to learn.  At the beginning of our life together, I went on three courses: farm management, sheep handling ( that's a whole other story), and tractor maintenance.  And I had to learn how to plough a field. That was really a fine example of practice making perfect.  How satisfying to look back and see row upon row of straight furrows.  Mostly.  

I had to learn the hard way (but is there an easy way, I wonder) how to reverse a tractor and trailer.  I really found it difficult.  And eventually I quietly gave up, thinking I would never need that skill anyway.  Then one day my husband rang me to say he was having some mechanical difficulty in a field some way from our house.  He needed me to bring the tractor and trailer.  "It's okay," he said.  "They are already hooked up, so,it'll be fine."  (His favourite phrase is "it'll be fine."). "You won't have to do anything." (Well, wasn't that lucky?). What he didn't tell me was that the tractor and trailer, all hooked up and ready for work, were parked in such a way that I would have to reverse them out of the farmyard.

There was no-one else.  The children were at school.  No-one was around.  It would have to be me.  I girded my loins ( I really need to look up the origin of that phrase) and walked down to the farm buildings.  By the time I got to the dreaded machines I was in a bit of a state.  

And yet.  Tears streaming down my face, I did it.  I did it.  

So when I was outside a tractor dealership in central Florida today, husband inside talking incomprehensibly about bits of machinery for an old Fordson Major, I wasn't really surprised to find myself inspecting the old tractors.  In fact it was a pleasant distraction on the road to the tax office.  To pay our property taxes.  On the first day of our holiday.

Welcome to Florida. 


Airborne

Twilight zone

Don't you just love airports?  The excitement of travel - you've built up to it, planned the holiday, thought about where you're going, got your foreign money (which always feels like the toy money you played with when you were a child);  you've told all your friends, you've daydreamed about it, you're packed and ready to go.  One more day and you'll be at the airport, ready to fly.

Virgin Atlantic has an evening check-in at Gatwick airport.  You can check in your luggage and collect your boarding pass to escape any hassle on the following morning.  We've always used that facility.   Until this time.  This time, with only hand laugh age, I thought I'd check us in online.  It's so simple.  Forms to complete.  It went swimmingly.  Finish and press 'enter' and wait....   .......

"We are sorry, but we cannot check you at this time.    Perhaps your visa is out of date."  

You know how it is when you can't find something?  You look in the same place over and over even though you know it's not there.  Well, I checked our visas.    Seven times.  They are in date.  Even after looking seven times, they are still in date.  

When I phoned Virgin, the very nice lady (interestingly from my home town of Swansea) could only say that we would have to check in at the airport in the morning and to be there before ten o'clock.   Well, let's get priorities right here.  It was impossible.  I had a hair appointment at nine!  So, we had to go to the airport for the twilight check-in.  I checked my computer again, only to find that I had been checked in but that John hadn't and was being security-checked!  Now, those who know me know that I am a worrier.   I ponder things.  I imagine things.  I work out how I'd behave in different scenarios.  Suffice to say that by the time we had parked the car at the airport I had convinced myself that John would be arrested and I'd be flying alone.  

Needless to say everything don't smoothly.  John was safe.  We got our boarding passes.  We went home. 

I texted the friends waiting in the US - "John's been arrested."  I hope I'm not tempting fate.  We are still on the plane!  



Twilight zone

Don't you just love airports?  The excitement of travel - you've built up to it, planned the holiday, thought about where you're going, got your foreign money (which always feels like the toy money you played with when you were a child);  you've told all your friends, you've daydreamed about it, you're packed and ready to go.  One more day and you'll be at the airport, ready to fly.

Virgin Atlantic has an evening check-in at Gatwick airport.  You can check in your luggage and collect your boarding pass to escape any hassle on the following morning.  We've always used that facility.   Until this time.  This time, with only hand laugh age, I thought I'd check us in online.  It's so simple.  Forms to complete.  It went swimmingly.  Finish and press 'enter' and wait....   .......

"We are sorry, but we cannot check you at this time.    Perhaps your visa is out of date."  

You know how it is when you can't find something?  You look in the same place over and over even though you know it's not there.  Well, I checked our visas.    Seven times.  They are in date.  Even after looking seven times, they are still in date.  

When I phoned Virgin, the very nice lady (interestingly from my home town of Swansea) could only say that we would have to check in at the airport in the morning and to be there before ten o'clock.   Well, let's get priorities right here.  It was impossible.  I had a hair appointment at nine!  So, we had to go to the airport for the twilight check-in.  I checked my computer again, only to find that I had been checked in but that John hadn't and was being security-checked!  Now, those who know me know that I am a worrier.   I ponder things.  I imagine things.  I work out how I'd behave in different scenarios.  Suffice to say that by the time we had parked the car at the airport I had convinced myself that John would be arrested and I'd be flying alone.  

Needless to say everything don't smoothly.  John was safe.  We got our boarding passes.  We went home. 

I texted the friends waiting in the US - "John's been arrested."  I hope I'm not tempting fate.  We are still on the plane!  



Friday 2 January 2015

Something new


Decision time. I have a number of unfinished projects - quilts, wall-hangings, crochet, embroidery. But they are all big projects. And in my state of mind at the moment, they are all too much to concentrate on. So I'm going to start something small, and I'm going to finish it. With evidence on this blog.  I've rummaged around in my cabin, my den, my escape from reality, my studio! 

A small quilt? Maybe. 


A small blanket?  No. 
 

A small embroidery?  No. 

 
A small watercolour?  Maybe. 



Notice the common denominator here?  Yep. "SMALL"

Rummage rummage..

iPad photo3


When you're feeling unwell, and it's dark and dreary inside and out, you need a spot of colour. 



Sometimes husbands get it just right :-)