Life plods on, time is ticking and so only 9 or so months left for us here! Getting towards winter when the migratory penguins and sea lions depart the shores and chickens are having moulting episodes ready for the cold. Having a grey spell of weather right now but fairly mild temperature-wise and less wind so quite helpful for getting about the daily business.
Dug a bumper crop of potatoes out of the polytunnel yesterday. And the fact that the sprouting potatoes I planted were given to us free gave us a warm and fuzzy feeling. And they are tasty too! They were grown in previously used swimming pool lockers His Nibs had salvaged and, once laid flat, the compartments formed ideal spaces for potatoes and carrots. I am possibly becoming the Queen of 'make do and mend' (to use a more flattering description than has been used in the past!) and despite his previous retail compulsion, so is Big Man! He sourced a suitably deep container for a water butt too, oh the joy. It is very distressing living somewhere that still practises rampant landfilling having been used to decent recycling services, so we try and do our bit by taking bottles to Stanley to be ground up for building work (when we are going anyway of course - and boy does it make for resounding rattling throughout 35 bumpy miles but that's another tale) and reusing containers for whatever purpose springs to mind.
Back in the kitchen, those who know me well will understand how thrilled I was this evening to hear the words 'Mummy can I do the washing up?'. Well that was a long wait but totally worth it!!! We are getting one egg a day at the moment so her Highness is often pleading with me to make cupcakes. This is great except that the carbohydrate-rich diet of cake, bread, tea and booze out here (with red meat thrown in for good measure)is not having a positive impact on my waistline so measures are being taken at the moment so that I can still fit into an aeroplane seat.
Overall the domestics are pretty harmonious, but unfortunately, it has been 7 months since I last saw all my nearest and dearest and with no penguins to photograph and provide a distraction I am getting restless... consequently it is not long til we go north! Shops, roads, trees in springtime, fruit, friends and family here we come!!!
Monday 26 March 2012
Wednesday 7 March 2012
Not even a catchy title ...
Sorry for the uninspiring heading but it has not been a particularly exciting month. Perhaps after all the frenzy of late that is actually a good thing!
The young lady turned 3 in February and had a party with lots of thoughtful gifts. She is developing a fine sense of humour and regularly impresses me with her irony. She even impersonated another girl during register time at preschool, which had us all in stitches!
Last month I was lucky enough to go on a whale watching trip from Stanley. We saw fins and blows from sei whale, as well as a load of other marine life including penguins, sea lions, gulls, shags, petrels, dolphins and so on. The boat ride was great fun but a little choppier than I had anticipated, and coming on the back of a girls' night out in Stanley where Bacardi featured pretty large, it was a struggle to keep my insides from making an appearance. If I remained stood up on the outside deck clutching onto the rail, with my nose tilted away from the diesel fumes and focused on my breathing I could just about keep a lid on it. Unlike my poor friend who regularly fed the fish throughout the tour. Sadly I have no amazing photos of whales to show as although I did capture a fin or two on record, my retarded reaction speed from the alcohol intake, plus lack of sleep, coupled with the boat movements, sea spray and general inability to use my camera properly meant they were not worth sharing.
This was my first encounter with whales but now I know what I am looking for, I have since seen them again from a helicopter, when visiting Volunteer Point last week. This is a site I have been keen to go to for over a year but what with various mishaps, wasn't able to. Finally on Wednesday I got to see the large colony of King Penguins and the warden who recently featured in the Sunday Times magazine. In my opinion, the kings are the most aesthetically pleasing of the penguins found here, although without the bustling and bumbling charm of the Rockhoppers.
After a two week stay Granny B has now departed back to the UK and so life is back to a rather jaded normality. Over recent weeks the weather has been mostly shocking with more rain to make up for the drought of December and only a glimmer of sunshine over the last week.
We did have a quick trip to Bertha's beach on Tuesday to make the most of the warmth, during which time the young lady was totally engaged with sand castle building and when I insisted on at least having a quick look at the water's edge, she then lost a welly and started moaning.
Lots of our friends on base here are leaving over the next 6 months so there are plenty of goodbyes and farewells coming up. It can seem like a never ending rotation of families coming in and going out, some changing schools and jobs for only a 1 year posting. As for the short touring personnel on 6 week, 4 or 6 month contracts, the blur of faces and names is such it seems like I change my underwear less often!
The young lady turned 3 in February and had a party with lots of thoughtful gifts. She is developing a fine sense of humour and regularly impresses me with her irony. She even impersonated another girl during register time at preschool, which had us all in stitches!
Last month I was lucky enough to go on a whale watching trip from Stanley. We saw fins and blows from sei whale, as well as a load of other marine life including penguins, sea lions, gulls, shags, petrels, dolphins and so on. The boat ride was great fun but a little choppier than I had anticipated, and coming on the back of a girls' night out in Stanley where Bacardi featured pretty large, it was a struggle to keep my insides from making an appearance. If I remained stood up on the outside deck clutching onto the rail, with my nose tilted away from the diesel fumes and focused on my breathing I could just about keep a lid on it. Unlike my poor friend who regularly fed the fish throughout the tour. Sadly I have no amazing photos of whales to show as although I did capture a fin or two on record, my retarded reaction speed from the alcohol intake, plus lack of sleep, coupled with the boat movements, sea spray and general inability to use my camera properly meant they were not worth sharing.
This was my first encounter with whales but now I know what I am looking for, I have since seen them again from a helicopter, when visiting Volunteer Point last week. This is a site I have been keen to go to for over a year but what with various mishaps, wasn't able to. Finally on Wednesday I got to see the large colony of King Penguins and the warden who recently featured in the Sunday Times magazine. In my opinion, the kings are the most aesthetically pleasing of the penguins found here, although without the bustling and bumbling charm of the Rockhoppers.
After a two week stay Granny B has now departed back to the UK and so life is back to a rather jaded normality. Over recent weeks the weather has been mostly shocking with more rain to make up for the drought of December and only a glimmer of sunshine over the last week.
We did have a quick trip to Bertha's beach on Tuesday to make the most of the warmth, during which time the young lady was totally engaged with sand castle building and when I insisted on at least having a quick look at the water's edge, she then lost a welly and started moaning.
Lots of our friends on base here are leaving over the next 6 months so there are plenty of goodbyes and farewells coming up. It can seem like a never ending rotation of families coming in and going out, some changing schools and jobs for only a 1 year posting. As for the short touring personnel on 6 week, 4 or 6 month contracts, the blur of faces and names is such it seems like I change my underwear less often!
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