27/02/2009 by Aileen.

Well, it’s the last day of February and 6pm and I’ve just come in from sitting in the garden reading. Granted, it was only for a quarter of an hour and my bum was frozen, but a song thrush was serenading me, the sky and water was rosy pink, and there were evening sounds from the ducks and otherlittle creatures.

It’s been a good day. Creative Writing was excellent as usual. I intended to spend the afternoon gardening and the evening polishing up my TMA (it’s due in at midnight!) but I began working on my TMA while I was ’snoozling’ after lunch and sent it off. Then I remembered that JOhn needed a prescription collected, so while I was out I went to the garden centre and bought potatoes. Charlotte for salad, Maris Piper for chips, and Marvona for jackets. John is going to cut out the bottom of our two extraneous dustbins (we have wheelie bins now) and I will plant two types in them. The other type can go in the plot. I also bought a winter flowering jasmine for the bottom of the garden, and one of those portable (blow awayable) greenhouses.

I probably should have gardened when I came back, but we had a cuppa, I surfed the net, and sat outside.

The evening ahead is unexpectedly free. I was lazy and bought a pizza, and we’ll have wine. Oh life is good.

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27/02/2009 by Aileen.

Yesterday we had a great day at Potteric Carr. I love that place. Saw the bittern really near the hide, and got one photo, but was scrambling round for my battery as the one I was using was really low. Didn’t miss any better shot, as there were reeds in the way, but here is the one I got. Yes, I know it’s rubbish.

I also saw a Caspian Gull. I had been gazing idly at this large gull being mobbed by the black-headed gull. I thought it was a herring gull, but Michael identified it as the rarer Caspian gull. This was confirmed back in the Centre. I’m not sure if it’s worth putting up the photo, but I might as will. Just as a record shot.

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24/02/2009 by Aileen.

Yesterday - housework. Mooching around. In the evening I had Viewfinders and we were at a car place near Hull. Not really my cup of tea, and I left early. Here are some of my photos.

Then, today it was church cleaning, bit of washing, pancakes with strawberries, (which was novel) Can’t think of anything else. I’m about to start my 500 word commentary on my poems. I hope to write 500 words of rubbish in a minute, refine it tomorrow, and really polish it up on Thursday, when I’ll assign it to cyberspace a day early. Oh dear. When I plan things so carefully they have a habit of going wrong. Anyway. We shall see.

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24/02/2009 by Aileen.

Here it is. Last one to post on here, but first to be written. Now all I have to do is write a commentary on my creative process.

She sits and knits her lonely hours along,    

Or stitches pictures of a curling  world

Where ivy weaves and winds round swirling whorls

Of roses, and the humming birds just hang.

The cuckoo in his castle on the wall                          

Awaits his hour, then mockingly he springs

Into her hopeful dreaming, and she thinks,

For seconds, visitors have rung the bell.

 One day, she won’t feel well enough to wind

The cuckoo up. She’ll set the sewing down

And wait and listen to her heart beat strain

And tick her life away. She cannot mend.

And bottles on the doorstep in a row

Accuse the neighbours that it’s too late now.

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23/02/2009 by Aileen.

John had a really bad might last night - lots of ‘root’ pain. So I cancelled this morning’s opticians appointment. One good thing, it kept me awake so I made a cup of tea at 4am and wrote up the last poem for my TMA. I had been lying awake thinking round it, and getting it into OneNote helped me nod off eventually. I’ll probably revise it several times before sending it off but here it is. (I only had 14 lines left to do, so the structure is given. Ideally I’d like to put in a bit about MPs and PMs, and maybe Wordsworth’s Westminster Bridge, but there you go.)

Big Ben

I gaze north, south, up and down the river

With my four faces.

Grace that great wheel with a cursory glance.

But she’s an upstart. She won’t last.

I’m the icon.

And the London bus of course,

Though it used to be horses.

There was a girl once.

For seven years she traipsed beneath me

Rust uniform and hat, teeth in braces, head full of poems.

She’d be in her sixties now.

She’ll go when her time’s up.

I won’t.  Me and my chime we’ll go on for ever.

Barring bombs of course.

Plans for today. You’ve guessed it. More gardening!

As Titiana has her own Blog now I haven’t written much about Second Life in here. However, I just ought to post a recent picture of me. I haven’t put up a picture for a few days. Tonight at Viewfinders we’re going ‘on location’ to a garage (new cars) so hopefully I’ll have some gleaming snaps to post soon.

Anyway, here’s Titiana.

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22/02/2009 by Aileen.

Over two hours in the garden this afternoon. Quite a warm springlike day. There are 5 red rose bushes at the bottom of the garden, and over the 5 years we’ve been here they have got strangled with grass and weeds. I decided if I don’t start looking after them I’ll lose them. And they have such a lovely deep red flower. So I cleared four of them, then cleared some new-growing nettles from another area. I need to go to the tip with three big plastic containers of weeds (don’t want to compost them) so today’s weeds are all over the path and grass. Never mind.

I still have to do another poem for TMA on Friday. Think I’ll do a ‘nature’ one as I’ve done two on clocks.

Tomorrow - J and I have optician appointments in Hull. Probably lunch out, but only Starbucks or something.

Here’s one of my TMA poems.

Although my clock can tick and tock

It isn’t metronomic.

It’s out of tune with sun and moon

And matters astronomic.

When I am waiting for my date

Its ticking is pathetic.

But when I’m late and in a state

It’s much more energetic.

I think I’ll shock my heartless clock

And put it in the attic,

For out of mind and out of wind

Its ticking would be static.

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20/02/2009 by Aileen.

I’m getting keen on gardening again. I’ve spent a few hours this week getting the veg plot back to a good condition. With John in hospital last year the garden went to pot even more than usual, although I did pay for someone to sort out the front garden.

Anyway, the veg plot is almost ready - been digging up the nettles - so this evening I updated my veggie plan based on rotational sowing/planting. Last year the tomatoes were rubbish, and we had very few green beans. Even less chillies, and they’re meant to be easy. OH well. As I said, I’m getting keen again, and hope to have a better year this year. Here is my plan.

vegplot091.pdf

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20/02/2009 by Aileen.

I haven’t posted since Monday. What have I been thinking of! One thing, I started another blog. Well, not me exactly, Titiana, my Second Life avatar. All you avid followers who want to read it will find it at

http://titihaystack.wordpress.com/

On Wednesday I went to Normanby Hall with my fellow birders. Saw my first nuthatch for more than five years. We also saw the G.S. Woodpecker and the Green Woodpecker. Snowdrops everywhere.

 There were also red deer and fallow deer at the Hall. We only saw the fallow deer in the distance, so no photos. I took several photos of the red deer when they were being fed (sugar beet) but it was such a dark day I had to use something like 1200 iso and the photos are very grainy. Here’s the only one I have changed from raw to jpeg.

I spent yesterday working on a sonnet for my TMA which is due in next week, and today I am going to spend the afternoon gardening. I bought a new bird table this morning as the one on the top lawn was knackered. Its been up an hou, and the birds aren’t biting yet!

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16/02/2009 by Aileen.

We had a really lovely weekend in Scotland with Ali. We nearly didn’t go because of the bad weather (snow) but the journey was no problem there or back. We went to Kieran’s birthday party on the Saturday, and thoroughly enjoyed it. He had an hour on a BOuncy Castle, then another hour with disco and food. And he’s only 5. It was mostly boys, but there were 2 little girls. It was refreshing that I was allowed to take photos.

The following day I went to see Liam play in a football match. (Too early for John!) Liam’s team won, 4-0, and Liam got two of the goals. No photos allowed there.

I haven’t uploaded the party photos yet, but will do so.

I left the house in quite a mess before we went, so spent this morning getting straight, and did an hour’s gardening this afternoon. I was puffing and panting, getting rid of nettles from the veg patch. Found some lovely little potatoes too!

Off to Viewfinders Club in a minute. We are developing black and white photos.

Bye.

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11/02/2009 by Aileen.

Just a bit ‘can’t be bothered at the moment. Had pleasant coffee with OU associates yesterday, and had good birding session this morning, but feel a bit odd. For several days I’ve been really tired and cold, and also ravenous so eating like a pig. So I put on 2lbs at Slimming World tonight. And I put on half a pound last week.

We’re going to Scotland for the weekend, so maybe that will help me snap out of my lethargy.

Oh well!

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