insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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A merry vegan atheist Christmas
Things that make me happy: A green landscape. Old furniture. Victorian buildings. Snow. A good pale ale. Vegan food. Music. My family. I got all these things for Christmas except for number 4: snow. However snow and a green landscape are mutually exclusive so I’ll accept that I can’t have both. How does a vegan…
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Brussels sprouts, ceilidhs, and ethical clothing
I went to the allotment yesterday after an absence of almost a month due to treacherous ice on the bike path. It was just as well I went as most of my netting had been blown off and was no longer protecting plants. Something has been having a good nibble of this: I wasn’t even…
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Be kind to living things
I’ve haven’t written much lately because I’ve been busy. Everyone is busy, I know. All the snow has melted here but it hung around for a long time. Usually when we get snow it’s all gone within a couple of days. The chances of a white Christmas now are very remote. It looks like we’ll…
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Ice-skating at the Christmas markets
Sometimes life feels like Groundhog Day. Has it really been a year since we went ice-skating at the Christmas markets? We went again today and it felt like we just did this yesterday but it has been a full year. I love ice-skating. What I like most is the physical activity without all the sweating.…
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Sledging bloopers
We had a fun time sledging today. Snow turns every hill into a playground. I took a short video of some of the fun, including a bit at around 30 seconds where Elizabeth careens into a tree. Ben also falls off at one point and he gets up afterwards with the speed of someone who…
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Winter wonderland
We’ve been so lucky with the snow so far this winter. It’s another winter wonderland outside this morning. Elizabeth told me that when she sees all the snow outside it makes her feel good. I know exactly what she means because I feel happy when I see it too. Here’s the bike path today: There…
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Tidal and wind power in Scotland, and adapting to a post-oil future
Originally posted on Sustainable Living: The second climate cafè last Tuesday evening was a great success. We heard two terrific talks. The first was on the future of tidal power in Scotland and was delivered by Dr Ian Davies of Marine Scotland Science. Then we heard from Dr Leslie Mabon from Robert Gordon University talking…
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Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen
I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with Daniel. I never had to take insulin and it went away after his birth. Oddly, I didn’t have it during my pregnancy with Elizabeth and I say oddly because usually it gets worse as you get older. Most women who have the disease during one pregnancy…
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How to pick a lock
One of my talents, it seems, is picking locks. I must have inherited this from my convict great, great, great, great grandfather, Michael Burns, who was sent to Australia on the 14th April 1827 on the Marquis of Hastings. He was convicted of stealing jewellery and tried and sentenced in Manchester in 1826 at the…
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Snow in Aberdeen!
Yesterday there was lots of snow in Aberdeen and the Martin household was jumping with joy! It’s very pretty when it snows. There was much excitement in the school playground with snowballs flying in all directions. Somehow I managed to avoid getting hit. Today was a different story. It rained on the snow yesterday afternoon…
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Living without a family car
It has been three years since we dispensed with the family car and I don’t regret it, not even a little bit. Car ownership is governed by the same law that rules chocolate: when there’s chocolate in the fridge it will be eaten and when there’s a car in the garage it will be driven,…
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Snow, castles, and a squirrel mug
Snow or castle? That was the question we asked ourselves yesterday when deciding what to do today. Fortuitously, we got both at Castle Fraser. The snow we had this week hasn’t completely melted at Castle Fraser and we got a taste of it on our walk around the estate. Here’s the family portrait. And the…
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The Christmas markets and some new boots
The Christmas markets have opened in Aberdeen already. I’m sure they start it earlier and earlier each year. This year it’s a little bit special because it’s on the newly pedestrianised Broad Street. The Aberdeen City Council has been promising pedestrianisation of the city centre for about a decade now and finally they’ve managed to…
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Congratulations to Australia on same-sex marriage vote!
It’s not often that I read news coming out of Australia and feel proud to be Australian. Mostly, I cringe. But not this week. The results of the same-sex marriage vote were released a couple of days ago and it’s a 61.6% majority vote for YES. Yay, Australia! What does this mean now? Unfortunately it…
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Aberdeen’s Climate Café Series
About 6 months ago I started volunteering for a local community organisation dedicated to inspiring real action on climate change. The organisation is called Aberdeen Climate Action and my first task has been to build them a website which promotes sustainable living. It’s still a work in progress but it’s looking good so far. Feedback is…
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Standing stones, pool, horses, and friends
These are the standing stones at Belwade Horse Farm which is a charity for neglected, abused, and/or unwanted horses. It’s near Aboyne which is about an hour south-west of Aberdeen, in the Cairngorms. We visited the place today with some friends. I’m fascinated by these stone circles which are all over Scotland. This particular one…
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Recipe: Vegan Protein Balls
I made some more protein balls and this time I made a note of the ingredients. These make a really nice mid-morning or late-afternoon snack when you’re hungry but don’t want to spoil the next meal. The coconut condensed milk is something I’ve discovered recently and it’s available at Ocado. If you’re in Aberdeen you can…
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View from the cycle path
It has been a while since I’ve posted a pic of the view from the cycle path but it’s time to make amends because the colours were so pretty on my ride this morning. There’s a lovely patchy blue/grey sky today and the landscape is full of autumn colours. I was at my plot this…
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I’m not rational
I took the How Rational Are You, Really? quiz on clearerthinking.org and it turns out I’m not very rational. This will explain why I recently bought a pair of shoes for looks rather than comfort. Although to be fair, I later returned the uncomfortable, impractical shoes and got a pair of comfortable, outrageous shoes instead. Apparently…
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Findhorn, Scotland
We spent the weekend in Findhorn which is a small, coastal village about a couple of hours north-west of Aberdeen. Findhorn is an interesting place because since 1957 it has been home to the Findhorn Foundation which is a spiritual, eco-community of several hundred people. Visitors from all over the world come to Findhorn to…
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