The cat and his silhouette

It isn't a great quality photo, but it was taken with an iPhone 2G and then majorly played with in iPhoto...not bad I think!

The Pet Diaries

Excerpts from a Dog's Diary
* 8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
* 9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
* 9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
* 10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
* 12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
* 1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
* 3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
* 5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
* 7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
* 8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
* 11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!


Excerpts from a Cat's Diary

Day 983 of my captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.

They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.

In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Bastards!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow --but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches.

The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.

The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now . . .

Its been a while...

Hello bloggers...it's been quite a while since I updated this, so I thought I might try and sum up my life over the last few months!

First - my brother got married...

and then we had Hannah's hen party (in that order...another story, another blog)

The boys built a human pyramid...

Phil burnt like a lobster...

We had our 20 week scan...

...and at 30 weeks pregnant I'm starting to feel a bit like a beached whale. I can no longer bend over/roll over/sit up/get up without sounding like an OAP, but on the plus side I beat Phil at giant Snakes and Ladders last week!

At the moment I am trying to wrap up what I have done of my Thesis so I can go on Maternity leave in December...in between my new obsession with patchwork quilting...so...that's a little sum-up of my life from August-October!

Can you really catch more flies with honey?

Turns out - you can't if you have a cat like mine!

Quick scratch!

Pregnancy...and all that Jazz...

Ahh pregnancy symptoms...gotta love em! Thankfully I haven't had any Morning Sickness...just constant nausea, but reaching that 12 week milestone it's thankfully mostly gone! There are some things, however, that pregnant women just do best....much like the M&S adverts!

This isn't just any gas...this is pregnancy gas...
This isn't just any emotionally unstable woman...this is a pregnant emotionally unstable woman!

I could go on, but I won't, you can pretty much interchange the words; gas, constipation, cravings, migraines...

The 10 week scan was amazing - we got a wave and a little dance!!

Ok so Little Baby Orr is a small blob on the picture...the 20 week one will be more 'pronounced'!

Home Made Mango and Lime Frozen Yoghurt

This is really easy to make and is made of natural ingredients so not only does it taste good, but it's just fruit and yoghurt...

Ingredients:
1 Mango, nearly over ripe (very squishy)
2 small Limes
1 tub Greek Style Yoghurt

Method
Wizz together the lime and the mango in a small bowl (I used a huge mug) until smooth. Add the yoghurt to taste (don't add all at once, add a small amount and taste, if it needs more add more) and mix thoroughly. Pour into small tubs and put in the freezer until frozen...et voila!

Life and Death

I brought my pepper plants back to life today

Take that death!

Our Metronome

Ok, so not long after The Cat and The Metronome blog entry, my metronome stopped working. I had blamed myself for letting the cat play with it. Fast forward to present time, I recently reminded Phil that the metronome was broken and suggested getting a new one, but it turns out it just needed wound up again. Who knew? Certainly not me!

Today I feel like this...

But just a word of warning...stuffing quick handfulls of M&M's into your mouth might seem like the perfect therapy at the time but trust me, in 5 minutes time you will feel slightly sick...

My Little Red Teapot...

I'm sending you love and tea,
To warm your winter's day.
Think of me as you pour your cup
And all the good things we would say.
If we could be together now
Instead of miles apart,
We'd sip our teas and memories,
The sweet warmth fills the heart.
- Susan Young

I found my old Mickey Mouse tea pot in the back of the cupboard, and it has safely gotten me through the day!

With all the Lace Trimmings

While ambling lazily around town I re-discovered one of Belfast's treasures...In Shops. The dark and mystical mall that looks like it shut down years ago, but still seems to be thriving! I found a lovely little haberdashery shop and bought (quite a lot of) lace and ribbon

One of my previous entries described an attempt to make a bag or two (or three), so with the success of the bag and while my confidence was high I decided to add a lace trimming to it and some beads to make it a bit more interesting. Even if everyone else thinks it looks silly, I'm quite proud of it!

 

This last photo doesn't look pretty, but it shows the finished bag better!

Colour Association and Shirley Bassey

This is the kind of useless crap I tend to think about on a daily basis...why is  red seen as being a symbol of guilt, sin and anger? Why do we stop at a red light and go at a green light? Do all cultures see these colours the same way? But also - why is red also the colour of passion and love?

In China It carries a largely positive connotation, being associated with courage, loyalty, honor, success, fortune, fertility, happiness, passion, and summer.In Chinese cultural traditions, red is associated with weddings (where brides traditionally wear red dresses) and red paper is also frequently used to wrap gifts of money or other things.

In Japan it is associated with a heroic figure. In Central Africa it is seen as a symbol of life and health.

What about Green? 

It pains me to do this - but Wikipedia says:

In some cultures, green symbolizes hope and growth, while in others, it is associated with death, sickness, envy, or the devil. The most common associations, however, are found in its ties to nature. For example, Islam venerates the color, as it expects paradise to be full of lush greenery. Green is also associated with regeneration, fertility and rebirth for its connections to nature. 

It can represent love, jealously, envy and even witchcraft, devilry, decay toxicity and superstition. It denotes wealth through the American Dollar. In our culture it is a symbol of safety and life 


Also - has anyone ever watched Shirley Bassey singing? She seems to have a twitch at the end of every phase she sings....I wouldn't mind having a twitch like that if I could sing like that

At this rate I could open my own bag shop by the time my Thesis is done...

Every so often I take a notion to try something, like knitting, sewing, needlework etc. Most of the time I half make something and get irritated that I'm not any good and give up. I'm currently in the middle of knitting a triangle shawl, complete with fancy lacy holes in it. When I get bored of that, instead of casting off because I can't wait to see what it looks like, this time I got my sewing machine out.

I got it out to make some props for a stag do that my husband is organising, but while it was out and while I saw some unused materials lying about the house I took a notion in my coffee breaks and lunch break to make a bag out of some of Phils old jeans.

Turns out that bag looks crap, but the next two I made actually aren't that bad! I took the pattern from here and after making a few mistakes on the first one (and one or two on the second) I'm pretty happy with the results of the first two half decent things I've ever made on my sewing machine!

One uses some bright material I think I bought in Nigeria, lined with a flannelette old sheet. The other is made from two pillow cases!

It's a sad day for birds and mice...

Nature can be a cruel mistress. I have come to terms with an occasional dead animal brought to me by my ever proud feline friend, made all the more amazing by his conspicuous nature. I have made my peace with Mother Nature over this. In a cruel twist of fate today was a particularly sad day for mice and birds. 

As I drank my tea this morning, waiting for inspiration as I stared at my thesis outline, I noticed that my black and while friend was furiously playing with something in the garden. Usually before he mames and dismembers the rodent I usually receive it as an offering, but this time he was joyfully tossing it about the garden. I thought nothing of it and went about my day (...of staring at my computer screen...) and noticed at about 6pm that His Majesty was still playing with some kind of animal, and weirder than that there seemed to be a rather irate bird hopping around him screaming bloody murder.

Going out to investigate, I discovered the mouse nearly completely mutilated on the steps but not far from it a bird lying on the grass, very much alive, but not able to stand or fly, in complete shock and bleeding from its rear end slightly. Trying our best to keep the cat indoors and away from birds reach, I tried to place it in proximity to where I guessed its nest would be. When it neither it made any signs of moving, nor its mother made any signs of knowing what to do I gave in, let nature take its cruel course and let the cat have it...

...turns out the cat didn't want it, though I suspect mainly because every time he went near the baby bird the mother screamed like a banshee.

Anyways the story ends with my Dear Husband having to break its neck and put it out of its misery.

Sad times

Things that make me feel better...

All who are thirsty...

I did this when I was in school for my mum as a gift I think, but I thought I might share it here and see what people think. 

How I wish most of my maths was...

 

OK, so his maths is a little bit wrong at the bottom...I think it should actually read 

Y = 1/X - Galdalf

...but anyways!!

Taken from here

Great Expectations...

Swan Lake...

Ice Cream Anyone?

Its raining/snowing/hailing/winding and the ice cream truck arrives. All three customers are male between the age of 15 and 25....

Dreams

This is a post I wrote ages ago but somehow didn't get round to posting it up...so I thought I might share it with you all

Dreams are interesting things, there are so many different ways of interpreting dreams and so many different meanings. My dreams boarder on insane, they're usually extremely vivid and extremely weird.

I dreamt the Triffids attacked Earth, as in "Day of the Triffids" by John Wyndham, using Lakeland Plastics as a means for infiltrating every home in the UK. They've attacked Earth before, in my other dreams (weird huh?) but this time instead of hiding, or trying to knit lots of blankets for everyone to keep them safe (!) I decided to visit my friend Debbie, where I swapped gardening tips and tomato plants before narrowly escaping the power-hungry Army, who had turned and were taking other humans hostage. I then, with the help of who I think might have been Michael McIntyre, snuck into the Army base and started snooping about. Armed with disguises, we walked among the army effortlessly and just before I woke we were given an assignment. We were to play every Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 game ever written, because the secret of the triffids was hidden in one of the games.

I woke up with a headache

Other dreams I have had have included major arguments with friends where I've woken up angry at them and spent most of the morning wondering why!

Am I the only person who experiences weird dreams like this?

Oh and Facebook-ers...

I can't see the comments you write on my facebook page, people keep asking if I can, so here is the link to this blog...so you can happily entertain me while I work...click below...

photostorybooking

See you in a few weeks!

Hello again!

I've been absent from this for a while now, but I'm back, with nothing much to say except that when making Chicken in Red Wine sauce, careful how much sugar and paprika you add. Too much can lead to a really sweet, really "zingy" red wine sauce, which can not be the happiest of parties on the taste buds.

Oh, and a note to any other weird men who want to call at my door, don't just say "Hi" and expect me to know who you are. Especially if you're at the wrong door.

Identity Crisis' and Giant Rabbits!

As I'm sure I've previously mentioned - we have a cat called Einstein. Problem is he thinks he's a dog, and actually I think he has ADHD, though I'm hoping its cos he's still 8 months old just.

Every morning I am woken by him with the same two demands. The first demand is "feed me". Our cat seems completely controlled by his stomach and could eat all day if let! The second is "play with me!" and starts with him nosing my hand until I wake enough to stroke him, he then continues the waking process with a light nip, instructing my pain receptors to wake the rest of me. Upon opening my eyes its clear to see that he has actually brought his small soft ball up with him and deposited it on the bed in between Phil and myself. Ears back and body low to the floor he dares me to throw it for him.

One of the earliest signs was that he will actually play fetch, to the point where he is panting (like a dog)!

On Friday night we left the house to walk over to Friends house, they live very close to us, and decided to leave the cat out for the evening. He followed us from a distance, and when he realized we had spotted him gave in a walked beside us to the front door where he let himself in.

There is already a cat residing at this house, and so we held our breath to see how the encounter would turn out. Phoebe (friends cat) sat watching carefully from the arm of the sofa while Einstein wandered about the living room for a good 10 minutes checking things out, it wasn't until he turned to walk out again that he suddenly noticed the other cat watching him. Well noticed Einstein, well noticed.

Problem is that our friends cat is slightly scared of other cats, and while Einstein is only 8 months old, he is much bigger than Phoebe is and she's over 4 years old. The fact that he's half fluff makes him seem even bigger...

So we let Einstein out and thought that he's bound to find his way home again. Two hours later we hear a sound at the window and discover that he's been waiting outside for us to leave and wants back in again to see us.

OK so thats probably not anywhere near as interesting to you as it is to me, but I really want to check Facebook and Phil suggested I write a blog to distract myself. So there you go, a very uninteresting story about my cat.

Oh - my sister told me today that her and her friend (whom she lives with) decided to buy a rabbit one day on the way home to their student house from somewhere (impulsive student-type decision) and got it home and, after a few days of growing and poo-ing everywhere, and having doubled in size in a week they very reluctantly decided to take it back to the shop, where the owner asked them did they know it was a giant rabbit they had bought...and that the fact that it was bigger than an adult rabbit at 2 months old should have given that away slightly...logic kicked in and my clever sister decided that she definitely wanted to keep it now...

I'm pleased to say that she does not own a giant rabbit anymore.

No Facebook for lent

Lent 1 - 0 Productivity

I miss facebook. Yes, its true. Skype and iChat are pathetic replacements, even though I still sign in to them. The only people likely to be on them are my sister and my dad. This blog has provied an excellent distraction at times, though no one seems to read it!!

MATLAB and my PhD

Don't worry...I won't bore you with the details, the easiest way to describe it is to say that my PhD is on Physical Modeling of the Harp. I did an undergraduate degree in Maths first, followed by a masters in Sonic Art, and on to my PhD (which, interestingly enough is officially in Engineering, I get around).

MATLAB is a handy tool for engineers and mathematicians torture technique developed by mathematicians years ago, where you can learn the proper use of the phrase 'Grace and Patience' and develop your skills in deep breathing. She is tempermental (yes, she - men are too simple  to need this much attention ... simple-er), she requires a lot of coaxing and sweet talking. If she were a real girl, she would require chocolate to function properly, as she is prone to mood swings. MATLAB senses my frustration and laughs in my face, because she knows that I rely on her to complete my PhD, and while at the moment she has the absolute power, she knows our affair is due to end soon and so she relishes in making my life a living hell while she still can.

One piece of advice for anyone thinking of using MATLAB...play nice, and don't p*ss her off...

How's the PhD going today?

How to blow your head off with one bagel...

OK, so anyone who knows me knows that I love anything spicy, hot, chili, etc etc. Today I made the worlds best spicy bagel for lunch, the idea sprang out of the leftover contents of my fridge:

1. A Bagel (this was actually not in the fridge but was leftover
2. Bacon (streaky!)
3. Cheese 
4. Philadelphia Cheese
5. Jalapeno Peppers

Toast your bagel lightly

Put the Phili Cheese on first, this acts as a sort of buffer for the burn

Then chop up your Jalapeno Peppers but do not de-seed them unless you're a big girl's blouse, spread them evenly across the bagels, so that you have a complete layer of them

Chop up the bacon and put it on next. You want it to have a taste, don't you?

Then add a bit of sweet chili sauce, and some hot sauce. I have one I brought back from Malawi, but tabasco can also be used

Grate the cheese and put it on top and grill

Enjoy!!

Optional Extras:

Add a layer of red chilis after the bacon and before the cheese topping

Put chili seed layer on

Life

Dear Facebook Users...

Dear Facebook users...stop telling me that I've broken lent. I've linked this blog to my Facebook profile.

So there.

Photography From a Moving Car!

I've discovered my new favourite hobby: Taking photos from a moving car. Its not as dangerous as it sound. I simply tie the camera to my arm with the strap and click. I have set some rules, in order to achieve the most surprising results.

1.  The camera must be a point-and-click with no shutter speed options on it, or any other manual camera options for that matter. That would be cheating, and completely stupid - I mean what fun is it when you can get your shutter speed to be as fast as the car is moving? 
2. The car must be moving at least 30 mph
3. The heating in the car must be turned on (this is to prevent the driver getting narked off at your open window)
4. For safety reasons, you cannot be the driver, thats just stupid. Unless you were to tape the camera to the wing mirror with a timer/remote control (hmmm...)

Photography Rant

Ok, I know I seem a little young to be ranting about this, but I've been doing photography (at a very amateur level) since I was about 14, and I'm twenty-something now (I haven't forgotten my age, yet, I'm just not telling you!)

Photography has become lazy, laazzeeeee, now its point aaaaaand... click ... point aaaaaand ... click, whereas when I was younger, I took my SLR (a very generous birthday gift from my parents) and took my tripod and my extra rolls of film (for anyone younger than me - thats what the picture was "saved" on in those days) and went out on location. The camera was set up; aperture, shutter speed, etc, and photography began. Now I know that people still use tripods etc etc but the digital era has erased that learning experience I gained from taking 3 rolls of truly terrible photos before I learnt exactly what settings my camera should be on. I must admit to loving being able to take 500 photos and choose my favourite - mainly because I have given in slightly to this lazy generation where everyone gets everything now!

The best part of photography back then was the Dark Room (I did exclusively Black and White photography), and my school had one sitting vacant, calling out my name. There really is no other feeling like being in a B&W dark room developing rolls of film, the sense of achievement you gain is incomparable, especially as a teenager. The smell of developer, the infra-red light, the sense that you have lost all time are experiences that are lost to everyone but those who cling on to the nostalgia and the experience. Opening and editing on iPhoto can send you into a place where time stands still, but sitting in front of the computer will never replace the real experience, don't be fooled into thinking that it can!

In saying that, I do quite like the digital age, I can create pieces of art using my computer (which is what I started getting into years ago at A-Level Art, along side my developing in the Darkroom)

I love being able to "tweak" them on the computer, make them look more abstract, more intense, more "arty", softer, whatever it might need.

Ahh...and here comes potentially another rant....the "Photoshop" effect that leaves us with this empty feeling that we could never take a photo like that, when all we need to learn is how to take a ordinary, bland photo and transform it into a piece of art, because it can no longer be called a real  photo, it has been altered, its now art. The same goes with those magazines that show photos (ha!) of models, real life captures (ha!) and front covers where the same message screams out and you're left feeling ultimately inadequate and rejected for not quite reaching that level of, what, normality?

No Facebook For Lent: Day 1

So far so good....its been 9 hours and 8 mins since I gave up Facebook for lent, and 8 hours and 30 mins of that have been spent asleep. I feel the need to aimlessly wander about the internet, and I have a feeling I may turn to the BBC website.

Part of the reason I am off Facebook for lent is part of a general growing problem where talking online replaces real-life meeting up, instead of providing a means for keeping in touch with people you no longer see/live near. That's not to say its not fun to update my status and have some fun exchanging comments on other people's status.

The Cat and The Metronome

This was on my other blog, but I thought I'd add it here...

 Hey...what's this thing....

 

Wait...it's stopped moving...

O.K I'm bored now...

 Hey...what's this thing....

 

O.K...I'm bored now...

Curiosity killed the cat, eh?