52 Week Challenge - week by week through 2013

[wizzbang]

Full marks for giving it a bash. Lets hope its worked even though it was a bit runny.
Lynne x

[Tripmeup]

This week's task completed...

[Sheneval]

VC - Week 19

Here is the walk in greenhouse - Daughter's plot layout now complete with paths, beds and sitting/storage area. 4 Blackcurrant bushes planted.

I've changed my mind on about the strawberry plants - they are currently hardening off before planting out and I will let the grandkids put them in.


Week 19 challenge completed

[mothhawk]

That looks really good, Shen, the soil looks lovely and fine. What are the bottles on canes for?

[Sheneval]

Thanks Moth - the soil is pretty good and has been dug to a depth of about 2 feet to remove all the couch grass and docks. I got two of the latter more than 3 feet long and many more between 1 and 2.

The canes have the string/rope dividing the paths/beds - the bottles are a elf and safety requirement and under allotment rules all canes/sticks on the plots must be covered by plastic bottles to prevent eyes getting poked out. Once the compost has been worked in for planting/sowing, I will remove them all.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Week 18 Challenge

Swim in the Sea

Living smack bang right in the middle of England, I don't get to visit the seaside very often. If I want to go to the nearest beach, it's a toss-up between Western-super-Mare to the southwest, Prestatyn to the northwest or Hunstanton to the east - all a good couple of hours drive away.

Mind you, even if I was closer to the sea, I'm not sure how tempted I would be to dip more than a toe into the water - memories of our family holidays in the north of Scotland and the compulsory annual swim (a sort of ordeal-by-sibling) in the North Sea at Primrose Bay has put me off a bit.

More recent holidays abroad in warmer climes have therefore been somewhat of a revelation, and as a fairly confident swimmer, there is nothing that I like better than bobbin' about in the briny - provided that it is off a sandy beach, under hot blue skies, sheltered from too much breeze and with other swimmers not too far away.

And such an opportunity presented itself to me last week, and I enjoyed a great deal of splashing around here:



Bliss!

So, apologies for the delay, but here is my week 18 Challenge - done!

[veggiechicken]

Welcome back, Hazel! It looks beautiful - wherever you were!

[Hazel at the Hill]

And my challenges to date:

wk1 update blogs
wk2 sort out photos
wk3 sort out attic room
wk4 participate in a seed swap

wk5 visit a cathedral
wk6 complete a jigsaw
wk7 complete a quilt
wk8 buy a pair of glasses

wk9 make bath bombs
wk10 tidy fabric stash
wk11 paint the toolshed
wk12 go for a bra fitting
wk13 smarten up clothes/shoes

wk14 repair mini greenhouse
wk15 clean the windows
wk16 give credit where it is due
wk17 have a beauty treatment
wk18 swim in the sea

[bramble]

This week. plant all my tomatoes and peppers out in the greenhouse.
All have to be potted into their final containers.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Week 19 Challenge

Read a Classic Novel

Despite being brought up in a library (mum was the librarian at a local small branch library, so school holidays were often spent there) and consequently becoming an avid reader with thousands of books at my disposal; the Classics have more or less passed me by.

One reason for this being that our 'O' level Eng Lit book was Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge - a more turgid and depressing read for a teenage girl you could not hope to find. This has served to put me off anything that falls into the category of 'school set text', which many of the Classics fall into.

Another reason is that there are so many contemporary authors who write pacy thrillers/whodunnits; absorbing travelogues; sci fi/fantasy and block busting page-turners that I just don't always fancy having to concentrate hard on a style of writing from a couple of hundred years ago.

But with mum, my colleague (also a librarian) and my big sis collectively being appalled that I haven't read any Proper Books combined with a break in the sun to fill, and - the clincher - being able to download many Classic titles onto the Kindle for free, I thought I'd better give it a go.

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was suggested as a good yarn, so it came with me on holiday, and I took myself back two hundred years to Regency England to gossip with the Bennet sisters, visit the Netherfield ball, flirt coquettishly with the gentlemen and watch Elizabeth and Mr D finally get it together. Ahhhh!

I've not seen the adaptation on film/TV, so I was going in blind, so to speak, and it did take a little while to get my head around Ms Austen's looooooong sentences and slightly unfamiliar phrasing and vocabulary, but I must say that it was well worth the effort. An excellent tale!



So that's my week 19 Challenge: done!

[veggiechicken]

Its a long time since I read Pride and Prejudice but read this article recently BBC News - Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: Party like it?s 1813 . I've been thinking about reading Treasure Island again - just so that I can screw up my face and say "Aaahhh Jim lad" or pretend I'm a parrot and squawk "Pieces of Eight" ad nauseum.
Glad you enjoyed P&P

[Hazel at the Hill]

Its a long time since I read Pride and Prejudice but read this article recently BBC News - Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: Party like it?s 1813 . I've been thinking about reading Treasure Island again - just so that I can screw up my face and say "Aaahhh Jim lad" or pretend I'm a parrot and squawk "Pieces of Eight" ad nauseum.
Glad you enjoyed P&P

I saw the program on Fri night, VC - it was fabulous, and might mean I have to seek out the film (Keira Knightly, wasn't it, and Colin Firth?)

Big sis suggests Austen's 'Emma' as my next read, but Treasure Island sounds like a lot of fun! I'm not sure that the phrase 'Aaahhh Jim lad' actually was used in the book (could be wrong, though), but don't let me spoil your fun!

[Sheneval]

Big sis suggests Austen's 'Emma' as my next read, but Treasure Island sounds like a lot of fun! I'm not sure that the phrase 'Aaahhh Jim lad' actually was used in the book (could be wrong, though), but don't let me spoil your fun!

Hazel, that is as bad as saying there is no Santa Claus

[veggiechicken]

I didn't see the programme about the ball - may have to Iplayer it
Re Treasure Island, I'm well known for my spontaneous Long John Silver impersonations but I found out the other day that Miss Purity doesn't exist in the book - So I may have to stop saying " 'ow be ye, Miss Poority, ahaaah!""

[Hazel at the Hill]

Hazel, that is as bad as saying there is no Santa Claus

Oops!

I didn't see the programme about the ball - may have to Iplayer it
Re Treasure Island, I'm well known for my spontaneous Long John Silver impersonations but I found out the other day that Miss Purity doesn't exist in the book - So I may have to stop saying " 'ow be ye, Miss Poority, ahaaah!""

Are you sure that you're thinking of the right book, VC?

Oh - here's the link to the prog on iplayer:

BBC iPlayer - Pride and Prejudice: Having a Ball