March reading

The Third Policeman by Brian O'Nolan is one weird book. Dream like plot with bicycle obsessed policeman. Funny in places, bizarre in others. The ending is a twist, a big twist. Was featured in lost. 4/4.

Cats cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. About a writer who researches the inventor of the atom bomb (Felix Hoenikker in this universe) and falls in with his children, interviews them and learns of ice-nine, a weapon deadlier than the bomb. It's basically arms race satire with exploration of religion. Brilliantly written 4/4.     

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Was expecting run of the mill standard best seller dribble but was surprised. The plot wasn't tight and as suspenseful as it should have been. The characters though are brilliant. Mikael Blomkvist is a casual sex-egotistical-liberal journalist. At first, I thought he was an excessive parody of an economic journalist. Lisbeth Salander is the more interesting character, a hacker misfit with Asperger syndrome. The book will also have you believe that the Swedish drown themselves in coffee. So much coffee making! Hard to down 4/4.

Lots of 4's.

Allotment update march week 4

Put down a weed barrier ready for courgettes, melons and cucumbers. 

Sowed my first line of peas and carrots.

Tomatoes, sprouts and cabbage have sprouted in the greenhouse. 

Greenhouse hop cutting has a sprouted a leaf, though tiny. 

Have another woodpile for the bonfire, been cleaning up. 

Everything is go.

Gimp Scripts

via sites.google.com

A lot of awesome gimp scripts.
If you hadn't noticed, Lomo script is my favourite gimp script. Vintage look script is also worth a play.

Crumpets

We made some crumpets, way better than rubbery store ones. Recipe from 'The Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best' www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/crumpets_93122.shtml.

Allotment update march week 3

I started putting potatoes in. A patch of pink fir apple (weird salad potato) and a patch of rocket. I'm using compost from the old compost bin to give them a kick.

Seeds sowed:

• Cabbage
• Lettuce
• Sprouts
• Cape gooseberries - whatever they are
• Onion sets
• Sunflowers

Made a small fire and made someone fetch their washing in. (Wind kept changing direction.)

A second bean pole fence is up on the other side, enclosing the plot. Built by my sister and I, it needs more poles to finish. 

A hop frame is up -its not tall enough so might add something. Still no sign of hops however, a small rhizome from last years cutting experiments is starting to grow in the greenhouse (picture included).

A large carpet now sits on the plot. All I need now is the kitchen sink and I'm sorted.

Still not sure where everything is going. I have a small reclusive patch behind a shed and runner bean fence for maybe huge pumpkins or melons or corn. Not sure which.

Sunday morning coming down

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP67H4qfe5w?wmode=transparent]

On a Sunday morning sidewalk,
I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone.

Urgh Sundays.

Allotment update march week 2

My ragged collection of strawberries are now mulched and sorted with fine wood chip. Since last year they have multiplied amongst themselves.

A runner bean fence/frame is up, a mix of rotten wood, posts, and canes. I have a lot of beans to sow, a whole tub. I might build another fence to enclose the plot more.

The broad beans are getting there. I think, considering they survived all the snow since December, Thoreau himself would be proud.

No sign of hops starting yet, but I have put an 8 foot plank of wood in the ground to start a climbing frame for one set of hops.

Allotment update march

Yesterday I dug a patch, and sowed tomatoes directly into a cold frame I built from a shelving unit (and stuck any old glass over it). The wood isn't that great so I put soil directly into the three compartments it has. It will rot but it should last for this year. Today I planted more broad beans, more than I will probably need together with ones I planted before Christmas.

The picture of the fence is one that was put in by idiots. They took down a boundary fence that sits along the allotments and a space of waste land. They damaged my apple tree, took all my corrugated iron by the fence and spread topsoil all over into my plot, pretty much took or damaged everything by the fence. The council, surprise surprise, doesn't care but they are inquiring whether the fence is stealing land. The sign is for passes-by lol.

Things to do this month-

• plant potatoes
• plant onions
• sow cabbage, sprouts, carrots
• make a start on digging soil where the runner bean frame is going

 

February reading

A lot of lostie books this month, prepare for lost geekness.

The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky. A book featured on lost, and is claimed to contain "everything there was to know about life" in slaughterhouse five. It has a lot of philosophy, parricide, and religion. It's a story of a feuding family including a mad father, his three sons, and one illegitimate son. The characters are realistic and the human insight Dostoevsky has is brilliant. One of the events that most intrigued me is when Liza Khokhlakov slams her finger in the door. There is no explanation given, only a short comment by Ivan a few pages later on, but it is left to the reader to make his or her mind up. The obvious connection to lost is the parricide theme, where John Locke is has to kill his father in episode 'The Brig'. I give it 4.5/5.????

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I read this at school and have always associated 'George' with the book. I bought a cheap copy and the next day on lost Sawyer is claiming it be his favourite.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ9NSFGO4hM?wmode=transparent]
For a little book it has a lot of weight. I give it 4/5.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. This is one of those books that is constantly referred to on lost to the point where white rabbits show up and even episode titles referrer to it. In many ways, I guess, the island of lost is the modern equivalent of wonderland, especially when it first started when we had no clue what was going on. Overall it's a surreal tale of nonsense held together by Alice, a bright little moody girl. I'll give it 3/5.??

I've also been reading Vonnegut short stories, Welcome to the Monkeyhouse, but I think I'll save a lot of them for a rainy day.

Reading next: Aesop's Fables, Third Police man, and Cats cradle. ??