this woman is amazing

Miina Äkkijyrkkä

sculptures of cows made of old cars - beautiful, magical.

love the paintings as well. make sure you check out the models page.

wow. just wow.

still crazy after all these...

pints? moves? hare-brained schemes? jobs?

jobs. oh yes. jobs.

i may have made a mistake today. ok let me re-phrase that. i undoubtedly made about a million mistakes today because i am so busy and so behind at work frankly it's amazing anyone gets moved at all but there you go. somehow it all gets done and we move on.

i have always been surfing for other jobs in a sort of well-you-never-know sort of vein - i love where i work but the job security is dicey and there is no holiday/sick pay so it leaves us a bit open should something nasty happen. it has been very quiet on the job front (ha ha - that must be one of the understatements of the year!), but, like buses, three showed up all at once. once was easily discounted, one has progressed to talking offers (no actual offer yet), and one was waiting for me to write a covering statement about why i was so fab for the role yada yada yada.

you know - i am actually so bored by this i can't even write about it. i can't imagine how bored you must be. suffice to say, i trashed one of them in before receiving a firm offer from another. perhaps this will come back to bite me, perhaps not. this afternoon, it was just a way of getting it off my to-do list. this evening, i am full of self doubt. how dull.

here's something that's not dull - ever since we went sailing last Sunday, my legs have been itchy, and they are coming up in weird hard lumps and welts that look just like some tiny sea parasite has laid dime-sized eggs under my skin and they are just waiting to hatch. i looked it up - there is a parasite like that, but it leaves wavy lines, and it's not in the sea. yet. what could it be? sand flies? wet-suit allergy? parasite in wetsuit? it's odd. and uncomfortable. and it's not getting any better.

by the way you wouldn't believe the google results you get from the search terms in the above paragraph. wow.

sailing pics

sailing day 2

wet suits - not so flattering actually...

we had our second day of sailing lessons today - and what a day for it! beautiful, crisp, sunny, and, in the morning at least, perfect wind. not too windy, not too calm. we headed out in the morning to practice tacking - turning the boat through the wind. the morning flew by - it was so beautiful out there - you could see the wind farm windmills turning lazily, and the old ww2 forts off in the distance.

in the afternoon, it was a different story all together - no wind! our instructor had to tow us out - "wait here" he commanded, to much laughter as there was no chance we were going anywhere! we learned how to gybe, and how to heel inside the boat, to the front, and make slight rudder adjustments to get movement - any movement. the wind did pick up, changed direction completely, and we got to sail into the wind to get back to shore.

i was nervous (ha ha - petrified!!) in the morning, but i did relax and i really enjoyed the day. you'd never guess it was the same thing - the morning we had a few weeks back in a high wind, and the lazy floating around buoys we did today. so many different faces to sailing. it's exhilarating being on the water, and this time, when the wind (finally) picked up, it was fun (mostly). and this time, i managed not to fall in.

we have another half day to complete for our level 1 certification, then we will want to complete our level two (another two days and more money than we have - but we will find it!). if we do that next spring, we can rent dinghies in the summer to practice.

when we got home i had what was probably the best, hottest bath ever, and now n is frying porkchops for our dinner. we are operating at about quarter speed - completely knackered, but happy.

drunk on trains

leaving do in london this evening - stayed longer than i ought - on the way home - fun with dark train windows and flash...





and horror of horrors - caught at the end by someone walking through the train - and the look if - what the hell are you doing? ummmm - taking pictures of myself in the dark window? erm.....

faversham hop festival

phew! what a weekend! here's a few pics from the hop festival to give you a flavour...

i love the hats of the morris dancers - such amazing feathers and costumes.


here's a traditional group dancing in front of the phoenix.


there are also not-so traditional groups - even biker and goth morris dancers! these guys have their faces in black to represent the coal mines (and probably for scary effect as well!)


the hop truck


the garden of the anchor. to the left is a large stage where great bands played. we were dancing here friday night and most of saturday afternoon.


yummy. hog roast at the railway.


this is the brewery stage, the band on the stage is sur les docks, an energetic french punk/folk band. the weather was beautiful all day saturday and the crowds were huge.


new year, new hops. we live in an oast house - hops are a requirement! this is our kitchen window. the old hops will be burned on the next fire. the smell of the new hops wafts through the whole house.

still summer

sitting outside in shorts and a tshirt - lanterns lit, bbq alight and salmon on the grill. feet dirty (filthy!) from dancing barefoot in the pub garden. you know it's september only because it's dark (that, and the underlying smell of fungi and the slight rotting of autumn). if it were july it would still be light.

but there's something about the lanterns and torches flickering in the warm night - the smell of good food in the dark.

we've spent a decadent, delicious day at the hop festival today. this is the icing on the cake.

sailing day 1

wow - sailing in a dinghy is a lot faster than i thought it would be! and exhausting - we are knackered. but fun. very very fun. the wind picked up while we were out and it got a little dicey - so much so they canceled this afternoon (we'll get a half day sailing later). tomorrow looks calmer so we should be good all day. we're not sorry - we need a rest after that!