insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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Things that bring us joy
My work has released a happy holidays video where those of us who want to participate, hold up a sign of something that has brought us joy over the past 12 months. Lots of things have brought me joy this year and aside from the obvious one of my family, the one that comes top…
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The New Zealand betrayal of science
I follow Richard Dawkins on Twitter. I don’t read all his Tweets but one recently caught my attention because it mentioned the “New Zealand betrayal of science”. I naturally took a closer look and also stole his click-bate words for my title. It turns out he’s written a letter to the Royal Society of New…
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A sockcessful national dance exam
Elizabeth had her pre-bronze National Highland dance exam today. She performed The Lilt and she thinks it went well. I took this recording before the exam. She won’t get her results until next year. When she was getting ready this morning she informed me that the teachers told her last Monday her socks were too…
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Cat wheel
We got Victoria a cat wheel for exercise because she’s turning into a fat fatty. At first, she was a bit scared of the wheel and wouldn’t go near it. But slowly we’ve been training her to use it using food as an incentive since she loves her food. Yesterday for the first time and…
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Provost Skene’s House and the Christmas markets
We walked into town to check out the Christmas markets today. It’s nice to see them up and running again after the very quiet Christmas we had last year. Marischal College (the building in this next photo) was as stunning as always in the afternoon sun. The ice-skating rink is there again but we didn’t…
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Eosinophilic keratitis in cats
Poor Victoria has been diagnosed with an eye condition called eosinophilic keratitis. It apparently only affects cats and horses and the cause is unknown but they think it might be due to the feline herpes virus. I took her to the vet last Saturday after noticing cloudiness in her eyes. She didn’t seem bothered by…
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Snow and storm Arwen
The first snow of the season arrived last Friday. We didn’t get a huge amount in Aberdeen but enough for me to get excited and for it to look Christmassy. I went for a bike ride on Sunday and this was the scene. On Friday night we got hit by Storm Arwen which was fierce…
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Our animal friends
Several months ago I bought a lemongrass plant which I thought would be nice in curry. However, Victoria has taken a liking to the plant and has absolutely shredded it. It’s the first thing she goes to in the morning when she wakes up, even before her food bowl. Last weekend we made some birdfeeders…
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Coding in MC DiamondFire
Daniel has been discussing maths and physics with Ben but not for schoolwork, for Minecraft! He’s got really into coding in Minecraft and has developed a game within the game which involves, among other things, throwing special blocks called slime blocks and watching them bounce. For this he needed vectors. This is a great example…
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Women’s sports and the IOC
I was surprised this week by the new International Olympic Committee guidelines on transgender women in sport. They say there should be no presumption that transgender women (humans who were born male but identify as female) have a physical advantage over females. This is an odd thing to say. All my life I’ve observed male…
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A vegan menu
We had a superb meal at the restaurant in Dunblane last night. We ate at The Kailyard and their vegetarian menu is one of the best I’ve seen and tasted. I had the mushroom and cashew wellington which was delicious. For dessert, I had the chocolate and orange tart which was also superb. We went…
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Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries
We’ve come to Dunblane for the weekend, a picturesque Scottish village in Perthshire, about 110 miles southwest of Aberdeen. The village is beautiful with lots of quirky shops and an attractive river running through the middle called Allan Water. There’s also a cathedral that dates from the 12th century. There’s a fake Banksy outside one…
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Cancel culture
Daniel wanted to watch the Life of Brian last night, something he hadn’t seen before, so we all sat and watched it together. Ben and I have seen it several times and it’s a classic, timeless film that seems to get more funny with age. There was lots of laughing out loud so I think…
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I took the 1% pledge
Earlier this year I took the pledge to donate 1% of my salary to charity after being inspired by Peter Singer and The Life You Can Save. He has written a lot about our obligations to help others in need and I once read that he encourages people to publicly declare their donations as this…
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A zombie, Elizabeth Bennett, and Ada Lovelace
Every year Elizabeth pleads with us to go trick or treating for Halloween and every year I say no. We tell children all the time not to accept things from strangers and about stranger danger and yet on Halloween we encourage them to do the exact opposite. Yes, I’m a big fat party pooper. This…
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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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