Saturday 27 November 2010

Snow!

Last night

 

Today



It's still really autumn, despite the snow.


:-)
Shame the flash went off on my camera. He just stood there and let me take it!

And we mixed up the Christmas pudding last night.

Tuesday 23 November 2010

John O'Groats

Dismal John O' Groats to receive 'fun' makeover.
"Project architect Neil McAllister" (aka my brother) is quoted in the article!

Pythagoras' Theorem is useful

I used it today! For buying material for a Christmas play costume in a triangular poncho style (It will be a tropical bird, and if you're wondering what that has to do with Christmas you'll just have to wait and see). I also needed algebra, and binary chop because I didn't have a calculator on me to work out the square root. Those maths lessons are still useful 15-20 years later! It would have been easier, however, if I was rather better at my times tables...

Btw, did you know that, not only is the square on the hypoteneuse the sum of the squares on the other two sides, but also the pentagon on the hypoteneuse is the sum of the pentagons on the other two sides, and the Mona Lisa on the hypoteneuse is the sum of the Mona Lisas on the other two sides? I found this truly useful info in a book I gave my dad for his birthday.

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Quote

From my perspective, when we Christians try too hard to resolve thorny Bible passages with a particular doctrine, we may be holding the doctrine too tightly. Sometimes I think we need to let the thorny issues stand. Sometimes we need to say, I’m sure God has it resolved, but from my perspective, these verses seem contradictory.

Monday 15 November 2010

The eye of the beholder

My brother was home at the weekend, and we talked of many things. One word that came up a number of times in conversation was 'beautiful' or 'beauty' - referring either to buildings or illustrations.

I just caught sight of a magazine which had the tagline 'Fashion Travel People Ideas Beauty'. I suspect they are using the word for something rather less interesting.

Quirsty's Quesadillas

You will need (serves 1):
Two wraps
Tomato pickle/chutney/salsa
Sweetcorn - you'll just need a little, so frozen is easiest.
Cream Cheese (I use Extra Light Philly - works just as well, and it's healthy too)
Large frying pan

Instructions:
  • Put sweetcorn in microwave for a minute to defrost - then dry off by heating in frying pan. 
  • Meanwhile, spread one wrap with the cheese and one with the tomato pickle. 
  • Sprinkle the sweetcorn over one of the wraps, and sandwich them together. 
  • Cook in frying pan over a high heat until brown and crispy. 
  • Cut in wedges with pizza cutter. 
  • Eat with a good book.

Thursday 11 November 2010

Yes, I am still alive.

With two deadlines a week apart, blogging was not really a priority. However, all done now. I have therefore spent chunks of my 'week off' making up my bill.

I try to base it roughly on time taken, as I'm not yet used to working it out any other way. But I record when I started work, and forget when I finished. Or vice versa. Or record that I was working, but not on what... So then I have to get the friendly microsoft doggy to do searches for me on the relevant dates, in the hopes that it will shed some light on the subject. Sometimes it does. Maybe one day I'll learn. Maybe.

However, while I was waiting on the searches, I thought I might as well do a quick picture, so here it is.
 

At this time of year, the silver birches look like they have showers of gold pieces hanging from them. A bit like the trees in Aladdin's cave. (The real life trees are much better than my picture, tho')