Meta tags:
description=and should probably be doing something else.;

Headings (most frequently used words):

and, months, day, half, halfway, past, two, seven, contest, six, nath, knits, post, navigation, should, probably, be, doing, something, else, testing, history, bureaucracy, chips, wrap, up, granada, highlights, from, the, to, go, cambridge, winner, various, sundry, just, over, doodling, ish, bit, uk, vs, canada, mark, showdown, 186, posts,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (332), and (182), for (74), was (73), that (58), with (49), this (46), but (41), you (38), like (35), there (33), #canada (32), are (31), out (30), have (29), about (26), day (25), one (25), which (24), here (23), kids (22), been (21), some (21), back (21), from (21), not (20), all (20), last (20), get (18), they (18), around (18), can (18), 2014 (17), time (17), see (17), what (17), london (17), had (16), their (16), months (16), just (16), people (16), cambridge (16), were (15), has (15), another (15), good (15), very (15), too (14), them (14), she (14), thingo (14), march (13), post (13), than (13), make (13), much (13), who (13), may (12), 2009 (12), should (12), only (12), still (12), home (12), city (12), love (12), think (12), will (12), because (11), though (11), years (11), more (11), her (11), park (11), comments (10), 2008 (10), june (10), february (10), permalink (10), old (10), public (10), year (10), weather (10), even (10), also (10), before (10), ago (10), nathknits (10), july (9), weeks (9), lot (9), university (9), into (9), well (9), his (9), cross (9), two (9), college (9), over (9), few (9), alhambra (9), 2012 (8), found (8), both (8), walk (8), choir (8), half (8), kind (8), off (8), little (8), things (8), granada (8), trip (8), our (8), went (8), started (7), comment (7), view (7), now (7), 2011 (7), 2013 (7), when (7), your (7), any (7), other (7), going (7), outside (7), through (7), nice (7), then (7), come (7), coming (7), week (7), miss (7), doing (7), during (7), near (7), friends (7), apparently (7), river (7), blog (6), april (6), september (6), 2010 (6), number (6), queen (6), better (6), don (6), pretty (6), where (6), feeling (6), thing (6), coffee (6), again (6), tea (6), got (6), family (6), probably (6), built (6), really (6), want (6), after (6), made (6), message (6), need (6), could (6), stitch (6), down (6), never (6), how (6), looking (6), couple (6), open (6), abbey (6), feel (6), name (5), nath (5), knits (5), august (5), october (5), december (5), january (5), point (5), different (5), today (5), food (5), its (5), own (5), school (5), same (5), know (5), find (5), since (5), fences (5), say (5), everywhere (5), something (5), everything (5), first (5), note (5), called (5), until (5), while (5), water (5), every (5), would (5), remember (5), less (5), actually (5), six (5), halfway (5), give (5), these (5), many (5), happy (5), friend (5), kitchen (5), someday (5), keep (5), getting (5), pictures (5), asked (5), took (5), bit (5), along (5), great (5), salisbury (5), stuff (5), used (5), next (5), especially (5), does (5), street (5), bridge (5), zebula (5), most (5), lovely (5), days (5), door (5), cam (5), cathedral (5), usually (5), window (5), warm (5), design (4), wordpress (4), com (4), required (4), top (4), previous (4), why (4), summer (4), throughout (4), winter (4), way (4), telling (4), please (4), etc (4), english (4), didn (4), hot (4), take (4), right (4), high (4), dry (4), means (4), between (4), said (4), slowly (4), big (4), winner (4), end (4), work (4), being (4), ever (4), sunny (4), spring (4), talk (4), bristol (4), cardiff (4), country (4), square (4), doodling (4), usual (4), lesnes (4), ruins (4), feels (4), hard (4), invited (4), spotted (4), beautiful (4), century (4), vorlon (4), seen (4), fire (4), inside (4), non (4), managed (4), climbing (4), air (4), spanish (4), sign (3), free (3), november (3), past (3), posts (3), knitting (3), buildings (3), finally (3), buy (3), seven (3), contrast (3), working (3), full (3), blooming (3), might (3), given (3), fact (3), haven (3), lots (3), building (3), use (3), parts (3), stop (3), sure (3), learned (3), croche (3), whole (3), speak (3), breve (3), anyway (3), surprised (3), transit (3), fan (3), bureaucracy (3), roast (3), bad (3), wall (3), look (3), houses (3), letters (3), stitched (3), leave (3), nuts (3), starting (3), seeing (3), super (3), sorry (3), office (3), awesome (3), maybe (3), rain (3), contest (3), bath (3), brighton (3), ish (3), become (3), leftovers (3), decided (3), zillion (3), aforementioned (3), did (3), weekend (3), singing (3), workshop (3), afternoon (3), dinner (3), basically (3), short (3), course (3), rainy (3), let (3), long (3), running (3), talking (3), join (3), looks (3), east (3), sunday (3), heat (3), tree (3), ground (3), colleges (3), mathematical (3), town (3), felt (3), house (3), photo (3), encouraged (3), amazing (3), caves (3), roman (3), spain (3), bnb (3), oil (3), islamic (3), flat (3), pleasant (3), site (2), website (2), log (2), subscribed (2), subscribe (2), already (2), 2018 (2), older (2), numbers (2), wrong (2), thanks (2), requests (2), fish (2), diversity (2), laws (2), mountains (2), currency (2), dropped (2), however (2), turns (2), prints (2), money (2), littering (2), ability (2), alcohol (2), ridiculous (2), three (2), seems (2), often (2), museums (2), flowers (2), unfair (2), above (2), stopped (2), rules (2), fenced (2), impossible (2), hundreds (2), cows (2), speech (2), saying (2), pronunciation (2), rehearsal (2), hosanna (2), excelsis (2), notation (2), personal (2), music (2), french (2), double (2), despite (2), totally (2), semi (2), crotchet (2), north (2), products (2), access (2), black (2), haggis (2), mayors (2), unfortunate (2), lives (2), inexpensive (2), frequent (2), wasn (2), decent (2), cup (2), person (2), milk (2), milky (2), minute (2), fine (2), chip (2), cheese (2), others (2), none (2), sockets (2), current (2), central (2), random (2), completely (2), mark (2), blank (2), faded (2), text (2), away (2), posting (2), visit (2), figure (2), yes (2), profanity (2), doesn (2), via (2), deliver (2), put (2), either (2), thinking (2), idea (2), yet (2), roses (2), far (2), surface (2), admit (2), packed (2), further (2), carrie (2), picture (2), gets (2), wonder (2), dampness (2), changeable (2), system (2), groundhog (2), world (2), win (2), tourism (2), wise (2), tag (2), unfortunately (2), goodness (2), head (2), includes (2), dip (2), start (2), schools (2), pantry (2), spun (2), small (2), template (2), accumulated (2), sabbatical (2), yarn (2), balls (2), garter (2), watching (2), tudors (2), easy (2), concert (2), blackheath (2), speaking (2), saturday (2), pieces (2), classical (2), hours (2), fun (2), evening (2), reason (2), crocus (2), minutes (2), taken (2), lately (2), favourite (2), cardinal (2), new (2), wood (2), hello (2), terrible (2), england (2), happening (2), hopefully (2), soon (2), catch (2), mean (2), accent (2), south (2), live (2), case (2), mentioned (2), lady (2), drama (2), reminiscence (2), theatre (2), elderly (2), encourage (2), results (2), families (2), works (2), dementia (2), memories (2), must (2), session (2), sense (2), experience (2), myself (2), forced (2), activity (2), events (2), having (2), yellow (2), feet (2), plants (2), blitz (2), spot (2), couldn (2), 18th (2), tower (2), monument (2), christopher (2), wren (2), ventured (2), real (2), plan (2), plaque (2), attempt (2), closed (2), making (2), trying (2), stay (2), birthday (2), sleepover (2), flight (2), entrance (2), goes (2), centre (2), term (2), break (2), four (2), crappy (2), hang (2), chance (2), various (2), aem2 (2), middle (2), touch (2), photos (2), king (2), limbs (2), visited (2), pass (2), green (2), saw (2), side (2), wander (2), mostly (2), somehow (2), part (2), designed (2), newton (2), bolts (2), leibniz (2), outright (2), place (2), runs (2), church (2), grandparents (2), hyde (2), degrees (2), playground (2), night (2), fountain (2), makes (2), sun (2), ones (2), click (2), early (2), hill (2), series (2), came (2), rapeseed (2), fields (2), giant (2), rocks (2), month (2), available (2), shot (2), commons (2), surrounded (2), won (2), highlights (2), bread (2), heading (2), places (2), occupied (2), sierra (2), nevada (2), rio (2), darro (2), kitties (2), lunch (2), bedroom (2), restaurant (2), squares (2), hour (2), tomorrow (2), shower (2), unless (2), forward (2), history (2), chips (2), lasts (2), else (2), email, write, loading, collapse, bar, manage, subscriptions, reader, report, content, privacy, account, create, navigation, recalculated, children, refer, ages, change, unit, enough, indulging, donut, buns, sunshine, libraries, junk, literature, magazines, enforcement, poop, scoop, parliament, penny, bills, sizes, scotland, interchangeable, british, heads, acceptance, adherence, recycling, composting, programs, except, québec, such, sales, understand, overall, attitude, towards, healthy, eating, five, distribution, keeping, momentum, easier, harder, care, parents, progress, regarding, gender, stereotyping, superiority, winters, fuschias, consolation, dreariness, parks, within, unheard, yards, apartment, parking, shortcut, property, roads, tidy, grid, walking, annoying, countryside, rights, dating, pet, inclined, adventurous, casual, word, fuck, conversation, cell, phone, plans, netflix, television, radio, choral, latin, laughed, director, pronouncing, keeps, sounding, alan, rickman, canadian, equally, hilarious, musical, ronde, blanche, noire, quarter, eighth, minim, quaver, sounds, messing, hardly, breves, anywhere, america, dairy, pudding, anytime, cured, smoked, pork, cyclists, haircuts, postal, service, brainer, drinker, ordered, whim, revelation, comes, default, swish, squish, bag, decide, colour, knew, weak, cut, consumption, accordingly, blood, pressure, labels, indicating, provenance, produce, goods, packaging, ease, doctor, ridiculousness, fries, purchased, chippy, fry, damn, crisp, flavours, prawn, cocktail, onion, worcester, sauce, beef, horseradish, chicken, sausage, mustard, faces, compare, 240v, kettle, boils, stick, fork, socket, kill, switches, extensive, heating, insulation, ventilation, landed, honour, momentous, event, centric, subjective, statistically, invalid, utterly, meaningless, decisions, wins, george, carlin, unrelated, showdown, 186, white, stagnometer, shame, himself, raging, success, highlighting, archives, once, link, page, anew, abandoning, adventures, rocket, logo, horse, currently, undergoing, medical, treatment, warning, contains, send, coworkers, taking, background, lilies, rude, patriotic, zen, frisky, lovestruck, poetic, whatever, pick, list, generator, together, promise, issues, warned, reserve, veto, calling, hate, sexism, direction, rob, ford, fatalistic, misanthropic, canvas, shape, complicated, themed, life, pattern, needs, churning, combination, intended, wedding, sampler, hearts, initials, newlyweds, date, special, loving, tickles, inner, lurk, beneath, initially, wanted, flames, befitting, irony, wrinkles, framed, suitcase, schlepped, ironing, stitching, general, dislike, hand, sewing, painting, thread, artistically, challenged, pixelly, paint, messy, fix, mistakes, discovered, scroll, bookmarks, suggested, joking, labeled, folly, action, requested, stressed, settled, julie, promised, delay, groundhogs, badger, dumb, predict, solstice, equinox, neediest, cat, enjoying, rare, sunbeam, choice, sound, ramp, craig, tagging, giving, germany, swapping, dover, walks, book, ocean, psyched, registered, least, call, packages, updated, resume, decade, hire, dismay, eat, orchard, ply, undyed, bfl, woolen, souvenir, blanket, replace, afghan, gave, left, seattle, age, knitted, packs, rows, equals, geometrical, striper, cardigan, amy, herzog, rowan, pure, wool, felted, tweed, added, bust, darts, block, badly, blocking, happen, lets, mention, damp, finished, sweater, women, lambeth, symphony, orchestra, debussy, sirènes, berlioz, mort, ophélie, workshops, followed, potluck, party, branch, oratorio, leader, pop, man, studying, performing, balinese, gamelan, slower, several, choristers, performed, coincidentally, custard, dessert, gravy, soggy, trips, monuments, decommissioned, wolsey, henry, viii, reign, siphon, selling, land, oxford, topical, fourth, season, watch, seasons, asking, luckily, affected, flooding, southwest, windy, nothing, somerset, devon, breath, repairs, rainbows, bike, pump, cycling, superhighway, implemented, self, conscious, mouth, spirited, dismissive, conspicuous, particularly, heavy, accents, listen, closely, helping, teaching, retired, area, expertise, calls, act, done, plays, toured, europe, topics, range, remembering, mums, war, sex, healthcare, nhs, existed, interesting, groups, share, strongly, miracle, cure, draw, deal, frustration, isolation, surprising, willingly, enthusiastically, sharing, acting, training, holding, filmmakers, project, enthusiastic, accepted, experiences, fond, group, icebreaker, games, team, deeply, uncomfortable, morning, approach, natural, unforced, revealing, appreciate, patients, smells, fantastic, planet, bright, help, identify, following, bird, dunstan, bombed, converted, quiet, meditative, kilroy, style, 1670s, antsy, wandered, marking, location, shop, ended, included, coffeehouse, dunston, failed, hadn, assure, 311, steps, generously, offered, lego, movie, afterwards, cook, crowd, socialise, museum, squash, buddies, convince, move, wants, saved, allowance, fee, leaving, roots, guess, routine, planned, sick, housebound, canceled, postponed, burpees, knee, hurts, undignified, injury, suffered, proverbial, lion, beginning, complaining, bespoke, stitchy, heart, sundry, blogs, check, formal, cluttering, scheme, physics, girl, loose, announce, tossed, sided, die, personally, discuss, congratulations, whose, changed, set, cool, lower, touched, radius, those, covered, cousin, mine, moved, student, cambridgians, jesus, steam, patience, strong, desire, wears, thin, eventually, striking, lack, ethnic, cultures, mingling, shock, stereotypically, european, community, bikes, trinity, opening, chapels, psa, tourist, onto, students, carrying, sporting, equipment, tennis, racquets, rugby, wonderfully, cliché, shall, collection, separate, nearly, follow, large, riverfront, belongs, gates, prevent, entry, members, isaac, without, myth, invented, neither, nor, uses, plenty, walked, weren, grounds, towns, shops, bookstores, funky, underlying, main, geographical, feature, named, granta, saxons, became, known, later, renamed, match, wikipedia, martyrs, ceilings, tell, forget, selfie, noticed, eyes, nicest, soak, rays, obviously, lineup, playgrounds, capacity, britain, itself, lazy, exhausted, chocolate, freckles, chilly, camellia, mad, forsythias, bloomed, regular, stonehenge, links, flickr, albums, believe, barely, scratched, bloom, hasn, fallen, rose, itching, space, gainful, employment, conspicuously, absent, evidence, hampstead, heath, ponds, bathing, swim, fortnum, mason, eldest, daughter, popular, loved, pointy, gothicness, sarum, settlement, distance, famous, circle, heard, canola, americans, fails, convey, southeast, woods, fossil, bed, dig, teeth, unusual, arcelormittal, orbit, elizabeth, olympic, olympics, opened, complete, sandbox, supply, stadium, aquatic, globe, ready, titus, andronicus, gory, passing, audience, glamis, adventure, shadwell, reclaimed, material, supervisors, duty, times, wield, sledgehammers, smash, pallets, ziplines, injuries, grazing, housing, developments, allowed, bring, livestock, graze, chislehurst, flint, chalk, dug, 4000, bomb, shelter, 15000, understandably, photography, forbidden, 3000, calleva, figured, survive, wouldn, wrecked, moderately, busy, instead, offer, finding, travel, accommodations, highly, recommend, prices, facilities, excellent, details, crazy, cascade, successful, rewarded, fabulous, bottle, olive, consuming, berlin, type, 24th, flights, bullshit, answer, airlines, charge, almost, tickets, return, spend, visiting, ottawa, montreal, waterloo, gardens, topiary, research, ornate, busyness, huge, oppressive, garden, features, common, fed, pumps, remains, aqueducts, stunning, walled, 11th, sequence, monarchs, discount, holy, emperor, charles, fell, disrepair, sometimes, destruction, domination, napoleon, restoration, 19th, mohammed, ibn, nasr, almaicín, andalusia, snow, peaks, moors, reconquista, 16th, result, architecture, heavily, influenced, culture, wild, banks, pace, stores, close, reopen, supper, bakeries, earlier, condiments, stayed, salt, pepper, cooking, lunches, cold, cuts, sums, slow, obligatory, ceiling, wide, listening, terrace, performers, sing, songs, breeze, absolutely, realise, touristy, ourselves, lucky, base, sits, spices, sale, stall, class, seemed, distant, memory, read, rapid, spoken, lispy, miming, intentions, stonework, edges, wonderful, exactly, needed, lift, emotional, ride, notice, looked, displayed, temperature, shocked, breezy, always, sitting, shade, difference, due, low, humidity, cools, nights, southern, ontario, stray, dogs, roam, terraces, awfully, cute, bothersome, cheap, segue, dream, art, jumped, rest, shortest, orange, sorely, tempted, try, signs, forecast, melting, meteorologists, accuracy, 20s, bake, pond, balance, tourists, living, involved, types, activities, forever, outcome, hoped, 200g, baking, soda, bought, 3kg, asian, cash, carry, millennium, sadly, john, barrowman, nowhere, reclaiming, terribly, iconic, greenness, met, thames, train, pulling, charing, greengrocer, occasionally, samples, tesco, weird, ungrammatical, heft, coin, stove, vast, motto, realised, wept, goodbye, bittersweet, clifton, suspension, picturesque, indication, hilly, filled, rent, payment, oyster, dance, piano, classes, told, reasonable, substitute, plaza, scrub, wretched, glass, bone, daddies, castle, turned, gloss, baths, drank, disappointed, powers, sudden, typing, wait, load, towels, task, anxiety, dreams, missing, fly, wrap, test, ignore, kitty, testing, menu,

Text of the page (random words):
erra nevada mountains there was still snow on the peaks and was occupied by moors until the reconquista in the 16th century as a result the architecture and food are both heavily influenced by islamic culture in the almaicín the alhambra especially was stunning it started off as a walled town in the 11th century it was occupied and built up by a sequence of islamic monarchs the first was mohammed i ibn nasr i should have asked for the family discount and then the holy roman emperor charles v it fell into disrepair and sometimes outright destruction in the 18th century during the french domination way to go napoleon and restoration started in the 19th window in the alhambra a garden in the alhambra water features are common throughout they re fed by pumps now but there are remains of aqueducts in a lot of places it s the most ornate place i ve ever seen i m not usually a fan of too much busyness in buildings but somehow this works maybe because everything is so huge it never looks oppressive dr thingo doing research one of the gardens i d never seen topiary roses before another successful trip dr thingo s talk apparently went well and he was rewarded with a fabulous bottle of spanish olive oil that we ve slowly been consuming as a bread dip since we got back granada was our last non uk trip as a family though dr thingo is heading to berlin as i type to deliver another talk we plan to go back to canada on or around july 24th if i can get decent flights someday i need to get a non bullshit answer as to why airlines charge almost as much or more for one way tickets as they do for return ones we ll spend a few days visiting grandparents in both ottawa and montreal before heading back to our waterloo house it s less than two months away cascade coming out of an alhambra city wall a lot more photos from this trip can be found here a lot especially of alhambra details i went a little crazy if you ve never used air bnb for finding travel accommodations before i highly recommend trying the prices are usually good and the facilities have been excellent permalink may 25 2014 by nathknits 2 comments highlights from the past two and a half months day two months to go yes we re still here it s been a beautiful and moderately busy spring i won t attempt to catch you up to everything but instead offer this photo series of the highlights since the last post we also went to granada spain a couple of weeks ago but i think that ll get its own post someday maybe my kids climbing a 3000 year old wall during a forced march i mean country walk in march this one surrounded the roman town of calleva i felt bad about them climbing it but figured if it had managed to survive this long it wouldn t be wrecked by my kids entrance to chislehurst caves these flint and chalk caves were dug about 4000 years ago and were used during the blitz as a bomb shelter for some 15000 people in south london this is the only photo i have as understandably photography inside the caves was forbidden cows grazing in the commons near some housing developments people are still allowed to bring their livestock to graze in any commons throughout england a terrible shot of glamis adventure park in shadwell east london it s all made from reclaimed material kids are encouraged to be dropped off you can just see a bit of it on the right but there s a big open fire there every day where the kids are encouraged to roast food there are a couple of supervisors on duty at all times it s free they let kids wield sledgehammers to smash old pallets for the fire there are ziplines and climbing things apparently there are very few injuries i love it globe theatre getting ready for titus andronicus which is apparently so gory people have been passing out in the audience arcelormittal orbit queen elizabeth olympic park the park built for the 2012 summer olympics just opened to the public about a month ago and includes an amazing playground for the kids complete with giant sandbox and water supply the stadium and aquatic centre are available for use as well abbey wood in southeast london as well as the ruins of lesnes abbey there s a woods and a fossil bed where people are encouraged to dig the kids both found teeth and unusual rocks there rapeseed or canola for north americans fields near salisbury the picture completely fails to convey just how yellow the flowers were a famous circle of giant rocks you may have heard of near salisbury view out from old sarum the ruins of an old settlement near salisbury cathedral ruins and rapeseed fields out in the distance inside salisbury cathedral i think it s my favourite english cathedral so far i loved the pointy gothicness of it my kids climbing an old tree in blackheath near where we live it s apparently a popular spot for kids to come hang out as many came and went during the time we were there high tea at fortnum mason with my friend r photo taken by zebula who also got to come as well as r s eldest daughter view of london from the top of the hill at hampstead heath this park has a series of ponds some of which are for bathing the kids really really want to come back here and go for a swim when the weather gets hot again conspicuously absent is evidence from carrie s visit in early april which was lovely it s hard to believe we re coming back in about two months i feel like we ve barely scratched the surface of stuff to see and the bloom hasn t fallen off the rose yet i m still in love with this city at the same time i m itching to get back to my house to see all my friends and family and to be in my own space with my own stuff and hopefully with gainful employment but i will miss london so much in case you need to see a zillion pictures of stonehenge click the links to my flickr albums for march april and may permalink march 11 2014 by nathknits 7 comments cambridge day seven and a half months i think they re forsythias but double bloomed there are regular ones around too it s spring in london we ve had a few days of beautiful weather my freckles are back i m not chilly the sun is out and the ground might actually dry there s a camellia outside my kitchen door blooming like mad this makes me pretty happy sunday was the nicest day at a sunny 16 degrees so we decided to go to hyde park to soak up some rays half of london obviously got the same idea it was packed there was a lineup to get into one of the playgrounds with a sign playground at capacity have i mentioned britain s great love of fences that s a whole blog post by itself it was a lovely lazy day even for zebula who was exhausted from the previous night she was at a birthday sleepover there was a chocolate fountain selfie by dr thingo in hyde park i only just now noticed that his eyes are closed this one s for the grandparents so we went to cambridge over two weeks ago i should tell you about it before i forget church of our lady and the english martyrs cambridge i like church ceilings apparently cambridge was lovely it is very much a university town and the parts we walked through that weren t outright university grounds felt like university towns everywhere but much much older coffee shops bookstores kind of funky but with an underlying feeling of we ve been here for hundreds of years it s a nice place the main geographical feature is of course the river cam which runs through the city cambridge was called cambridge before the river cam was called the river cam for real the river was named granta by the saxons and the city became known as cambridge a little later the river was renamed cam to match the name thanks wikipedia the mathematical bridge over the cam queen s college said to be designed and built by isaac newton without nuts or bolts which it turns out is a myth leibniz invented it the week before ok that s wrong too it was designed by neither newton nor leibniz and uses plenty of nuts and bolts it s called mathematical because of the design little door inside a big door queen s college queen s college the university is really a collection of colleges separate but somehow not it s nearly impossible to follow the river as a large part of the riverfront in the city belongs to the various colleges and there are fences and gates everywhere to prevent entry to non members you shall not pass still it was nice to walk around we managed to miss opening hours for most of the colleges and their chapels psa don t be a tourist in cambridge on a sunday though we did get to wander around queen s college a bit mostly to get onto the mathematical bridge we even saw lots of students carrying around sporting equipment like tennis racquets and rugby balls it was so wonderfully cliché king s college trinity college i can t remember which college events bikes it was hard to get a sense of what the lives of non student cambridgians are like we only really visited the university parts we ventured out to a park jesus green for the kids to let off steam their patience for my strong desire to see old things and walk around wears pretty thin eventually and saw lots of families there and their houses on the other side of the park the most striking thing was the lack of ethnic diversity there i ve become so used to all the different cultures mingling in london that it was a shock to see a very stereotypically european looking community even at the university just another nice building we ll probably go back a cousin of mine moved there a few days after we visited and i d love to go say hello and pass on some kitchen stuff i ve accumulated though time is starting to feel like it s running out only about four months until we re back home cool old tree outside king s college the lower limbs touched the ground and inside the radius of those limbs the ground was covered in crocus full set of cambridge photos here permalink march 2 2014 by nathknits 2 comments halfway contest winner time to announce the winner of the contest whose name changed every few days i tossed my one sided die and the lovely aem2 is the winner i ll get in touch personally and we ll discuss design etc congratulations aem2 blogs at physics girl on the loose go check it out she s in the middle of a formal de cluttering scheme that i like very much next post cambridge permalink february 28 2014 by nathknits 6 comments various and sundry day just over seven months take heart canada spring will come for you too last day to say it with cross stitch comment on this post for a chance to win some bespoke cross stitchy goodness happy last day of february it s been an especially crappy winter for both canada and the uk march despite its proverbial coming in like a lion is the beginning of the end hang in there summer is coming we ll be complaining about the heat in just a few months i put my back out today doing burpees my knee hurts from an undignified injury i suffered about four years ago so i ve stopped running i feel like i m about 80 years old we re back to the usual routine this week we had a last week off half term break for the kids and had planned a day trip to cambridge as well as another country walk however vorlon was sick and housebound for most of the week so the walk was canceled and the trip to cambridge was postponed to the last sunday of the break we had some friends over for dinner the first weekend they d generously offered to take the kids to see the lego movie with their kids so i invited them all over for dinner afterwards it was nice to cook for a crowd and to socialise i m slowly making friends at choir and the museum and dr thingo has found some squash buddies zebula had a friend the other day who was trying to convince her to stay what if all your canada friends could move here too and was invited to a birthday sleepover next weekend vorlon wants to stay for another year so that he can go up the o2 centre apparently you have to be 10 i said if he saved his allowance for the next 10 years both for the flight and for the ridiculous entrance fee he could come back we re leaving in less than 5 months and finally starting to feel like we re making roots that s how it goes i guess only 311 steps to go we ventured out into the city last saturday it was a beautiful sunny day and vorlon was feeling better and we were all pretty antsy we wandered around with no real plan other than for dr thingo to find the plaque marking the location of london s first coffee shop and ended up having a nice afternoon included were the aforementioned coffeehouse plaque christopher wren s monument to the great fire of london the park at st dunston in the east and a failed attempt to go to this park which i hadn t seen before but which the kids had been to with dr thingo and which they assure me is awesome unfortunately it was closed the monument built by christopher wren in the 1670s view from the top that s the tower bridge and you can see the tower of london too kilroy was here 18th century style st dunstan in the east it was bombed out during the blitz and has been converted to a park it s a beautiful quiet meditative spot so of course we couldn t be there with the kids for more than 5 minutes please help me identify the following bird and plants spotted in cambridge also spotted in cambridge it has bright yellow feet spotted on my street looks like it should be from another planet spotted on my street smells fantastic i think i ve mentioned before that i ve started helping out a lady in my choir who has been teaching drama for a long time she retired 8 years ago her area of expertise is in what she calls reminiscence theatre where you speak with elderly people and encourage them to remember their past and act it out she s had great results and has done many plays over the years and has toured them all over europe topics range from people remembering what their mums did to keep their families running during world war ii to talking about how they found out about sex to talking about what healthcare was like before the nhs existed it s very interesting she still works with the elderly especially groups with dementia to encourage them to share their memories she feels strongly that while what she does is by no means a miracle cure it does draw people out of what must be a great deal of frustration and isolation and they keep surprising her by willingly and enthusiastically sharing their memories with her and acting them out she invited me to join in a training session she was holding for filmmakers who are working on the same kind of reminiscence project both to get a sense for what she does and to experience it for myself i admit that i wasn t that enthusiastic about going but accepted anyway this sabbatical is all about new experiences right i m not that fond of this kind of forced group activity icebreaker games at so called team building events make me deeply uncomfortable the workshop was this morning and i was surprised to find myself having a very good time her approach feels very natural and unforced it was revealing and made me appr...