Category: Journal
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A Diane Von Furstenberg dress, blackberries, vegan shortbread, and autumn
I went to the charity shop today and got this great dress: a red Diane Von Furstenberg dress. It’s soft, stretchy, and made from a wool mix fabric. What an amazing find! Diane Von Furstenberg dresses usually cost £400-£500 new. Bramble season is over, sadly. We’ve been eating bramble (blackberry) crumble several times a week…
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Knitting trail in Braemar
It has been a while since we last went out to the countryside and I was starting to feel the pull of forests and hills today so we drove out to Braemar for lunch and a hill walk. Braemar was looking beautiful dressed in autumn colours. We were also lucky to see a space-themed knitting…
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COP 26 climate rally Aberdeen 2021
We went to a COP 26 climate rally outside Marischal College today as part of the Aberdeen Cycle Forum contingent. Gavin Clark who is chair of the forum gave a very good talk about the importance of active travel in solving the crises and the depressing lack of infrastructure in Aberdeen. Will politicians act or…
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Banned from the photo for my views on helmets
Yesterday we were invited to Duthie Park for a COP26 photoshoot. My contact with Aberdeen Climate Action invited me along as a representative of Aberdeen Cycle Forum so I took my cargo bike because it always looks good in photos. When we got there the photographer took exception to the fact that I wasn’t wearing…
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Hamster TV
Victoria likes watching the hamsters. Unfortunately, Victoria’s taken to tapping the outside of Daisy’s home when she can see Daisy sleeping in her burrow so we’ve had to put the burrow against a wall or put something in front of it. We don’t see the hamsters very often because they’re always down in one of…
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On silencing academics
In his book, Practical Ethics, Peter Singer writes in the appendix about his experiences of being silenced in Germany. I’m going to copy and paste some of what he says because although this was 30 years ago academics are still threatened and silenced today and we should all be concerned about that. I was invited…
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Hamster house video tour
UPDATE: This is not a suitable house for a hamster. Syrian hamsters need a minimum of 100cm x 50cm of uninterrupted floor space. Are the hamster blog posts getting a bit boring? I’m sorry. I’ve just given Bella’s house an extension and I want to give you a tour. Her house now has a third…
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Hamster house
UPDATE: this is not an appropriate hamster home and we no longer use it other than as a travel cage or when the main cage is getting cleaned. It’s too small with insufficient floor space. We finally upgraded Daisy’s house. It’s surprisingly difficult to find good houses for hamsters. Pet shops don’t provide cages with…
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Hamster pics
Victoria thinks the hamsters are getting too much attention. “What about me?” I took this video of Bella taking a walnut into her house. Bella is a bit on the chubby side. I’m hoping that with a bigger cage she’ll get more exercise and slim down bit.
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Starstruck
We did something a little bit different today. We went to the ballet. The Scottish Ballet is performing Starstruck and they’re visiting Aberdeen this weekend. It’s the first time we’ve been to the theatre since the pandemic began and it was so nice to go out again. It’s also nice to support the arts which…
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Bella’s home
UPDATE: This is not an appropriate hamster cage. It is too small with insufficient floor space. We no longer have this cage and do not recommend it. Bella has a new environment. It’s quite a unique-looking hamster habitat by Omlet. Omlet has put a lot of thought into the design and the bottom level is…
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New furry friends
A friend gave us their old hamster cage on the weekend so we decided to adopt a hamster. We found one looking for a new home and when we went to meet her we ended up leaving with two hamsters so we are now the proud adoptive parents – or Daniel and Elizabeth are –…
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Adventure cat
I put the cat backpack on this morning, crouched down on the floor, and Victoria jumped in! I decided to take her for another wee walk along the bike path. This time I kept the top flap open but because it was not a planned walk I hadn’t put her harness on. She seemed to…
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Cat walk
Victoria jumps into her new carry backpack quite often and yesterday when she did that we decided to take her out for a walk just to give it a try. We did one lap of Duthie Park and she seemed to enjoy it. At least, she didn’t display any objections like meowing or trying to…
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Some courgettes
I didn’t go to the allotment last weekend and this is what happened. The kids were devastated (they hate courgettes). So we kept a small selection and put the rest on the street to giveaway. Daniel made the sign. I felt “Take them” was a bit demanding so added “Free help yourself” to the bottom.…
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Cambus O’May Suspension Bridge
The kids and I went to the Cambus O’May suspension bridge today. Ben is snowed under with work and couldn’t join us unfortunately. The bridge reopened in April this year following major repair works after Storm Frank nearly washed it away back in 2015. It’s a beautiful Edwardian suspension bridge built in 1905 across the…
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Cat in a backpack
This week we got a cat backpack for Victoria. I’ve had a carry case for her since she was a kitten but it’s quite flimsy and difficult to carry any great distance. I always walk when I take her to the vet and so I wanted something more comfortable for both of us. Plus it…
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Gazpacho
I still have lots of tomatoes from the greenhouse as well as cucumbers so tonight for dinner I blitzed them all up into gazpacho. The kids were not impressed when I told them we were having cold soup – I’m obviously a bad parent for not introducing them to it sooner – but they both…
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Blackberry crumble
Wild blackberries are ripe for the picking all over the place right now. Locally they’re known as brambles. Ben went for a walk yesterday along the river and came home with several cups of them. I turned them into blackberry crumble. This crumble was particularly delicious because I did something different. Crumble is just fruit…
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Online schooling
The kids have been attending a 100% online school now for about 18 months and overall it has been great. They go to My Online Schooling which is based in Edinburgh and teaches the English school curriculum. I feel they’ve had a more consistent education than many other pupils in the UK who’ve had a…
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