"To do" list

This week's "to do" list seemed to stretch like gum, in the sense that I kept finding more and more things to add to it. I have managed to do everything but the ironing : )

# Sew colour identity marks in new socks
# Clean up three top patches in garden, weed and prepare for rotavator
# Bring ironing up to date
# Sort out woodshed, prepare for new load (order new load!)
# Clean lounge windows
# Clean and sort fruit drawer in fridge
# Hoover and tidy kitchen dresser shelves
# Sort out plastic bags bag
# Hoover, tidy and mop solarium floor, sort desks and wipe all surfaces
# Deep clean boys room, bleach mould on two outside walls : (

It is no secret - Stuart Hamblen

Stuart Hamblen was an American singer and songwriter who confessed once to be in danger of becoming an alcoholic. A friend asked him how he broke the habit, and Hamblen replied: "I didn't do it. The Lord did it. He can do the same for anybody who'll let Him. It's no secret what God can do."

 

The chimes of time ring out the news:

 Another day is through.

Someone slipped and fell.

Was that someone you?

You may have longed for added strength, 

Your courage to renew.

Do not be disheartened, 

For I have news for you:

It is no secret what God can do.

What He's done for others 

He'll do for you.

With arms wide open, 

He'll pardon you.

It is no secret what God can do.

There is no night, for in His light

You'll never walk alone.

Always feel at home, 

Wherever you may roam.

There is no power can conquer you

While God is on your side.

Just take Him at His promise,

Don't run away and hide.

It is no secret etc.

Munchy Monday #22: Cabbage and potato stir fry

I post this particular "munchy" out of popular request from the family. The other day I made it for supper and they enjoyed it soooo much.

You will need:

Smokey bacon pieces
Cooked boiled potato, chopped small
Cooked boiled cabbage, chopped small
Small clove garlic, crushed (or equivalent)*
Salt and pepper
Oil to fry

Method:

Gently fry the bacon pieces until they are beginning to crisp. Add crushed garlic, stir and then add the cabbage and potato. Gently fry for 5 to 7 minutes, turning regularly. Season to taste.

Serve on it's own as a starter or accompanied by meat or fish as a complete meal.
 

When I was small my Mum used to prepare something similar. It was called "bubble and squeak" for some reason, but it did not have the bacon or garlic. This dish should also include white haricot beans, but as we eat plenty of pulses already I did not include them in this recipe.

* I buy garlic in trays of frozen cubes, each cube represents one clove. You can also use garlic powder but this hardens very quickly here and so I tend to stay away from it.

Haiku

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry. It is supposed to have nature or emotions as a theme and should be 17 syllables long. These syllables are normally divided between three lines to a rhythm of 5 - 7 - 5. 

This is very easy in Japanese but can get a bit tricky when tried in different languages and so the rules tend to bend.

Some time ago I challenged the family to a haiku competition. Any theme, whatever came into their heads to write about. The results were amazing, to say the least, and haiku poetry took off. For some days it was all we used to communicate to each other. All instructions, news, anything, was given out in haiku form. It got our brains to work and we had such fun.

I thought I would publish some examples here on my blog (but I'm not going to publish who all the authors were!):

This is a haiku
It doesn't make any sense
Refrigerator.

P. saw his neighbour.
Guess, then, what he said to him.
He said, "Oh, hi Q".

Early one weekday morning...

Anna you must rise,
It's time for school, you realize,
Please, don't make us late.      

To which Anna replied:

No, no, no, no, no,
No, no, no, no, no, no, no,
No, no, no, no, no!

Onomatopoeia

What are onomatopoeic words? They are words which describe a noise. An internet definition put it this way: "onomatopoeia is when a word's pronunciation imitates the sound it is describing". Have you ever thought how many words there are which describe the noise of water moving in some way or other?

Last weekend with Monday included, it rained almost non - stop. Here, where we live, this is a real rarity and we enjoyed these three days so much. Rain is so soothing, so relaxing. I love to lie in bed at night and listen to it. One evening the children dressed up in their waterproofs and went out for a walk! It was just teeming down!

With last weekend and this home-schooling family's latest project also in mind, I thought I would put together some onomatopoeic words which have something to do with water. Here is my list, with a few photos included of the images which come to mind when I think or say these words:

bloop, bubble, burble,

dribble, drip, drizzle, drop,

gargle, glug, gurgle,

lap, murmur,

pling, plip - plop, pitter - patter,

ripple, rush,

slosh, slurp, splash, splat, splatter, splish,

splosh, spray, squelch, squirt, swish,

tinkle, trickle, whoosh.

Oooh, I've had such fun composing this post! I like water. There's something about it that I find very... uuuhhmm,well... wet  ; )

(All photos are taken from Google images)

Lunch maths - fractals

My daughter and I were eating our lunch together one day at the end of last week, when suddenly I noticed that A. had stopped eating and was looking intensely at her food.
"Is everything all right, dear?" I asked.
"Mama, this is amazing," she replied.
"Well, I'm glad you like it" I said, pleased.
"No, well yes it IS delicious, but look, there's a fractal on my pickled cabbage!"

So what are fractals, you may be asking. This is how my daughter described them in her research project:

A fractal is a mathematical object of great complexity defined by simple algorithms (a collection of instructions or steps used to solve a problem or carry out a task.) It’s a semi geometrical object of which the basic structure repeats itself on different scales, partially or irregularly.

She continues to explain a little history:

Fractals first appeared because of the need to find a geometry which could describe natural objects.

The mathematics behind fractals was first studied during the 17th century by Gottfried Leibniz, who considered the recursive self-similarity. He was followed by Karl Weierstrass in 1872, who gave an example of a function which was everywhere continuous but nowhere differentiable; Helge von Koch, who in 1904 gave a more accurate geometric definition of a resembling function (the Koch curve or snowflake, a mathematical curve and one of the first fractal curves to have been described); in 1915 Waclaw Sierpinski constructed his triangle (one of the basic examples of self-similar sets, that is, a pattern that can be reproducible at any magnification or reduction) and one year later his carpet; Paul Pierre Lévy took the idea of self-similar curves further in 1938 with the Lévy C curve; and Georg Cantor explained the Cantor sets (constructed in the unit interval [0, 1] by deleting successive middle thirds of intervals) which are also now recognized as fractals.

In the 1960s, Benoît Mandelbrot, a mathematician born in Poland to a Jewish family who later went to live in France, started investigating self-similarity and studied fractals thoroughly. He illustrated the mathematical definition of fractal with striking computer-constructed visualizations. The term fractal comes from the Latin word “fractus,” which means “torn,” “fractured,” “irregular.”

Even today, in 2013, there is still no exact and generally accepted mathematical definition for the fractal concept.

Here are some of my favourite fractals, taken from Google images:

Here is a  link to a maths web which simplifies pretty much the whole concept, and if you have a look here, you will find 17 more fractals which appear in nature. Interesting stuff.

Munchy Monday #21: Rainy day biscuits

This biscuit recipe comes from a book we borrowed once from the library. The books' title was something like "101 rainy day activities" - hence the name of the biscuits. We only make them when it rains and as it has been doing so practically all weekend (and still is) I thought it would be a good moment to post the recipe.
The recipe makes about 20 biscuits so usually I make two batches.

You will need:

300 g plain (all purpose) flour
200 g margarine
100 g sugar
Decorations ad. lib.*

Method:

Mix all three ingredients together to form a pliable dough. Grease an oven tray. Start heating oven to 190 º C. Form little balls, a little smaller than a table tennis ball and place each ball on the oven tray. Gently press dough with your fingers, making sure you keep the round shape, until about 5mm in thickness. Decorate however you fancy and bake for 12 - 15 mins. Remove from tray after 2 or 3 mins. of cooling (they have a tendency to stick on) and place flat on a clean tea towel or cooling rack.

The chocolate ones

When I make these biscuits with children I let them indulge their artistic talents, but this time I kept away from food colourings just to show that the possibilities of decoration are practically endless.

The nutty ones

Here I have used walnut quarters, toasted almond chips, pine nuts and candied orange. The more rectangular shaped ones are made with desiccated coconut, already added to a little of the dough. To distinguish them from the others I press them with a fork instead of using finger tips.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Nuts can cause choking. Children should be under complete supervision both whilst making these biscuits and again when eating them.

Poem time

Autumn fires

In the other gardens

And all up the vale,

From the autumn bonfires

See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over

And all the summer flowers,

The red fire blazes,

The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!

Something bright in all!

Flowers in the summer,

Fires in the fall!

Robert Louis Stevenson

Lob alob

Today is my big sister's birthday so I thought I would post something that especially reminds me of her.

Relax and enjoy this fun video about Bill and Ben the flowerpot men having an adventure with their friend Weed, straight from the 1950's.

These past days...

...in photos!

Still warmer than usual (10.00 am)

Firey sunset

Strong winds brought piles of autumn leaves...

...and lovely waves

"Panallets"

Garden goodies (and toes)

Two pots of olives already in brine

Thanks to my sister for the first two photos  :)