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Wot, no global warming!

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If someone has time today, can they give Extinction Rebellion a call and ask them when the global warming is arriving because when I got up this morning my car was covered in something that looked suspiciously like frost AND the gritter was on the road when I was coming home last night!

Not to mention the fact that it was cold and wet all through May and June and the allotment didn't get going until July and we were decimated with slugs this year: we planted 40 cabbages and got about 12. My French Marigolds didn't grow at all this year and the nasturtiums only started to appear in September.

And it rained again for most of August and September, and now frost, and it's not even Halloween yet!!! It's going to be a looonnnnnnggg winter! Bbrrrrr!

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Weddin

Saving lives

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I managed to save about 80 lives yesterday with nothing more than a discarded cup from McDonalds.  I was up around the river in Sion with the dog and was checking out the tadpoles, there hasn't been much rain and most of the pools of water in the fields had disappeared.  I was going to go home and get a bucket but found the cup in a ditch so filled it instead, took it home and put the tadpoles in the tub in the backyard with the ones I had brought home a couple of weeks ago.  I may go back up in the morning with a bucket of rainwater and see if that helps those who were left behind.  It gives rain for later in the week but I don't think they'll last until then without a top up.

So, they're happy now feeding on cucumber and swimming around.  I'm going to hold on to them until they get a bit bigger then move them to the allotment.  They should help keep some of the pests at bay and are a better solution than chemicals.  

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Weddin

Allotments and Serial Killers

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Edited by Aideen Devine, Wednesday, 18 Aug 2021, 10:25

With the spring equinox, we're back in growing season.  I just spent this morning planting potatoes on the allotment.  We're off to a good start this year and have peas, garlic and broad beans already planted.  I'm still not up to full strength since the op so I have to be careful lifting and moving around.  But since we're doing the Charles Dowling, No Dig, the demands aren't too great. I also noticed when I was over there, how much better our soil looks compared to those around us.  There is definitely something in the 'feed the soil, not the plant' method, and we've only been at it for 10 months.

Then, I finished the short course, From Brexit to the Break-up of Britain. There are still a few others I might try over the summer, there are a few Forensic Psychology courses that look interesting and there is one on Art and the Mexican Revolution which also looks good.  

I always say if I had been born in America, I would have become a forensic psychologist.  When I was a teenager, I read a great book called The Michigan Murders, it was actually one of the first books I ever read.  I was fascinated by how the FBI Forensic Psychologists were able to profile and help catch the killer and I had a deep interest in the psychology of serial killers for many years.  I've read several books on the subject and used to buy a monthly magazine which detailed individual cases..  My interest may have been triggered by the fact that I was growing up in the middle of a conflict where there were many mentally, questionable individuals running about with guns!  I always felt that the 'Troubles' provided an outlet for those with psychopathic tendencies.  Psychology is a fascinating subject, delving into the psyche and finding out what shapes and drives us.  I must see if I can find the book again.

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Weddin

Autumn and Allotments

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So, Autumn returns, even if it feels like we just skipped from summer to winter.  The heating has been back on for several weeks and the sandals have been packed away and the coats on again.  We did ok with the allotment too, considering it was our first year.  I had intended sharing some photos but I lost the iphone my sister gave me so that put an end to that.  I've never lost a phone, ever, and I cannot understand how I lost this one.  I had it in my bag and it is a fairly deep bag, and I had gone to the allotment with the express purpose of taking a few photos and when I looked for it, it was gone.  I've come to the conclusion that smart phones turn into drones, the minute your back is turned, and fly back to the factory, forcing you to buy a new one!  

But we had good crops of potatoes, peas, kale, cabbage, beets, brocolli and various types of beans.  Our carrots didn't do as well but we seem to have done better with our second sowing.  We also have a second sowing of peas in.  The brussels sprouts are looking good and we'll definitely have home grown for the Christmas dinner this year.  Our corn doesn't look as if it is going to have much but we didn't get anything planted until May so it was more of an experiment as we didn't know you could grow corm here in our climate.  Our neighbours had a good crop so we'll get ours in earlier next year.  The tomatoes were late too but have started to ripen now.

Overall, it was a busy summer, we had a couple of new arrivals in the family too, both girls, so I was also busy crocheting blankets for them.  

And now that September is here, art class has started again, yaaayyy!, and Culture Night is on this Friday.  I'll be heading to Letterkenny for it as North West Words are having an open mike night, and there is also a comedy gala in An Grianan.  I was out last week to see the Ulster Orchestra.  They were playing in the stunning Guild Hall in Derry, they played Richard Strauss's Don Quixote and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, two beautiful pieces of music, and a thoroughly enjoyable night was had by all!  They're coming back in December to do Handel's Messiah and a Christmas show of favourite tunes.  They have also a Vienna night of Strauss waltzes planned for the New Year and I will definitely not be missing that!

The God of Rock returns in October but to Dublin this time, headlining with Van Morrison in the 3Arena or as I still call it, the Point Depot.  I don't have a ticket yet as I'm still debating whether to go as I'm going to England the following weekend for Bonfire Night, All the standing tickets are gone and I'm not a fan of the tiered seating in the Point and the Hotels prices are ridiculous.  It's going to cost the guts of €300 and that's just for the room and the ticket!  Decisions! Decisions!

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Weddin

Potting and plotting!

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Edited by Aideen Devine, Friday, 25 Oct 2019, 15:19

Another day, another interview or 2, and another 'we regret to inform you'.  Not that I really mind, I'm in no hurry back to the daily drudge and I'm enjoying my time out especially now that I have achieved, or rather acquired, something that I have wanted for some time now, an allotment!  I got it on Monday and had a great day out in the sunshine, I met so many people I know and hadn't seen for years but unfortunately, the weather has turned again and now it's back to the wind and rain. 

I was surprised how fit I was, it's a bit overgrown so I got stuck in clearing beds on Monday, I was there for a several hours and thought I would be wrecked on Tuesday but I was fine, a few aches in some muscles but that was it.  I was back over today as the persistent rain has given way to more showers but the ground is still too wet to do much and it gives rain for tomorrow again so that's another write-off.  But I'm crocheting a blanket at the moment and doing an oil painting, both presents for friends so that'll keep me occupied on wet days, in between job-hunting and interviews, of course!

Had the dog out for a walk up around the river on Sunday, it's amazing how everything has bloomed within the space of a week and fishing season is open again.  There are a few pools of water is some of the fields and they are full of tadpoles so the rain is needed as some of them were quite shallow and could dry out before they are fully grown.  I'm going to take a jam jar up this week and collect some.  I have a water trough in my back yard and might put a few in there, thought it would be interesting to show the grand-daughter how frogs grow, takes me right back to childhood too!

I am sharing the allotment with my nephew, I was visiting him and he was telling me he has started growing his own veg and showed me his trays of seedlings so as the conversation developed I suggested we get an allotment as it was something I always wanted but thought it would be too much to take on myself.  We initially agreed to take on a half plot but we're going to go for a full plot now as we want to get some chickens too and the half plot would be too small. 

We're going to follow the Charles Dowding organic, no-dig, method but we have to dig first to clear the ground of weeds and no chemicals are allowed anyway in the plots.  I got his book a few years ago and have been making my own compost with a view to improving the soil in my own garden which isn't great.  Once you get the garden planted, you just keep adding compost and nutrients to the soil and weeding regularly, and that's it, not too much hard work involved.  There's a lot of talk and interest now around the link between gardening and mental health and one of our other allotments has just signed up Paul Brady to help raise awareness around how gardening can help with things like depression.

Election day tomorrow too, another round of 1690 vs 1916!  This one could be interesting, it's a fairly safe Sinn Fein seat but people are fed up with the lack of government in Stormont so they might not get the result they're expecting, and why should they, when they're getting paid for a job they're not doing?  Not that the line-up of candidates is inspiring, no new ideas, same old parties and the same old claptrap and a serious lack of vision all round.  It's quite depressing because several of the candidates are in their twenties but still churning out the same old rhetoric their predecessors did and all the old self-righteous grandstanding, it's hard to listen to - I'm between a rock and a hard place!  There are several countries around the world which include the option None of the Above on their ballot papers and there is an online petition to have it included as a viable option on ballot papers in the UK too, just follow the link below if you're interested in adding your name to it.  I just did!

https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/3603?via=inclusion-of-an-official-none-of-the-above-option-for-all-uk-elections-2,

Ah well, sun's out again, back to some potting and plotting!

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