Sounds like... (101 list # 29)

I have set myself the goal of listening to a new album each month. This gives me the opportunity to catch up on a few years of being totally useless in listening to anything other than the radio or already in my collection. Thinking back to my younger days, I would think nothing of buying a new album & playing it to death. Laying on my bed & eating up the album cover & all the little titbits inside as well as memorising the lyrics. So, here's to that revisited!

June 2013 - Stereophonics - Decade in the Sun
May 2013 -
April 2013 - Powederfinger - Odyssey Number 5
March 2013 - Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke
February 2013 - My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
January 2013 - Rebecca Ferguson - Heaven
December 2012 - Adele 21
November 2012 - Blondie - Atomic
October 2012 - The Kooks - Konk
September 2012 - Cee Lo Green - Ladykiller
August 2012 - Flo Rida - Mail On Sunday

The Silver Screen (101 List # 44)

Films watched at Cineworld:

October 2013
Filth - 4/5
Captain Phillips - 5/5
Prisoners - 5/5

September 2013
We're the Millers - 4/5
Pain & Gain - 3/5   (Chichester)
You're Next - 4/5   (Chichester)
Rush - 5/5
Mortal Instruments: The City of Bones - 4/5


August 2013
Elysium - fell asleep as v tired to attempt again!!!
About Time - 3.5/5
2 Guns - 3/5
The Lone Ranger - 3/5
Red 2 - rating 3/5


July 2013
Twelfth Night @ The Globe - rating 5/5
The World's End - rating 4/5
The Heat - rating 4/5


June 2013
The Great Gatsby - rating 4/5
The Hangover 3 - rating 3/5
After Earth - rating 3/5
The Purge - rating 4/5
Man of Steel - rating 3/5
Now You See Me - rating 5/5
World War Z - rating 4/5
This Is The End - rating 4/5

May 2013
Oblivion - rating 3/5
Star Trek Into Darkness - rating 4/5

April 2013
Evil Dead - rating 3/5
Olympus Has Fallen - rating 4/5
The Host - rating 3/5
The Place Beyond The Pines - Chichester - rating 4/5
Iron Man 3 - rating 4/5

March 2013
Broken City - rating 5/5
A Good Day To Die Hard - Chichester - rating 2/5
Jack The Giant Slayer - rating 2/5

February 2013

Cirque De Soleil (3D) - rating 4/5

Wreck It Ralph (3D) - rating 3/5

Flight - rating 4.5/5

Zero Dark Thirty - rating 4/5

Mama - rating 3/5

January 2013

Jack Reacher - rating 4/5

The Hobbit (3D) - An Unexpected Journey - rating 4/5

December 2012

Life of Pi (3D) - rating 4.5/5

Silver Linings Playbook - rating 5/5

November 2012

Twilight - Breaking Dawn part II - rating 4.5/5 - Yes, seen it twice!!!

Twilight - Breaking Dawn part II - rating 4.5/5

October 2012

Skyfall - rating 5/5

September 2012

Anna Karenina - (Chichester) rating 1/5

Untouchable - (Chichester) rating 5/5

Killing Them Softly - (Chichester) rating 1/5

Dredd - rating 3/5

Ted - rating 3/5

August 2012
The Watch - rating 5/5

Total Recall - rating 2/5

The Bourne Legacy - rating 5/5
The Inbetweeners Movie - rating 5/5

Food - Cakes, bakes and other challenges (101 List # 33)

Currently updating this page, so more pics to follow!!!

Cake give aways (one cake a month to be baked and given away) :

Oct 2013
Destination: Trading Team, Aviva - Southampton
Type: Lemon Chiffon cake
Made: 17/10/13
(picture to follow)

Destination: Trading Team, Aviva - Southampton
Type: Ginger & Cinnamon Sugar cake
Made: 17/10/13
(picture to follow)

Sep 2013
Destination: Trading Team, Aviva - Southampton
Type: Sour milk chocolate orange & vanilla cake (peaks & curls)
Made: 24/08/13
(picture to follow)

Destination: SIS Drawdown, Skandia - Southampton
Type: Sour milk chocolate orange & vanilla cake (smoth & curls)
Made: 29/09/13
(picture to follow)

Aug 2013
Destination: The Russell family - Staplehurst, Kent
Type: Sour milk chocolate cake
Made: 24/08/13

July 2013
Destination: Trading Team, Aviva - Southampton
Type: Chocolate & cheesecake marble cake
Made: 12/07/13

June 2013
Destination: 2nd floor, Aviva - Southampton
Type: Dark chocolate & jaffa muffins
Made:
picture to follow


May 2013 TBA
Destination:
Type:
Made:

Destination: Red & Blue pods, Aviva - Southampton
Type: Cherry Bakewell Muffins
Made: 21/04/13

April 2013
Destination: Thomas Chambers (dad's 71st birthday) - Southampton
Type: Banudge Muffins
Made: 09/04/13

                                    

March 2013 - penalty cake required
Destination:
Type:
Made:

March 2013 Destination:
Type:
Made:



My cake making assistance. Purchased by my parents circa 1978. Still going strong...
Pic to follow..

February 2013
Destination: Ladies night at the Buckley's (Sara, Charlie, Jaynie & Kirstie) - Southampton
Type: Spiced apple cake
Made: 28/02/13

January 2013 penalty cake
Destination: SIS Drawdown, Skandia - Southampton
Type: Greek honey & lemon squares
Made: 18/02/13

January 2013 (deadline missed - penalty cake required)
Destination: SIS Drawdown, Skandia - Southampton
Type: Banana & chocolate cake
Made: 18/02/13

December 2012
Destination: Tom & Gill Chambers, Southampton
Type: Bakewell Mincepies
Made:

November 2012
Destination: 2nd Floor, Alan & Thomas Insurance Group - Southampton
Type: Spiced apple & pear cake
Made:



October 2012

Destination: TBA

Type:

Made:

September 2012

Destination: David Chambers - Brixton, London, England

Type: Chilli, chocolate & orange drizzle

Made:

August 2012

Destination: Andrew & Gillsy Cowell - Bonnybridge nr Falkirk, Scotland

Type: Chocolate, raisin & beetroot

Made:

Literary tall order - a book challenge (101 List # 19)

I love reading but recently have not spent enough time doing so. This may have been a combination of time, motivation of a good book or just laziness! So, as part of my challenge, I aim to read my height in books, 20 of which must be suggested by friends.

Objective - to read my height in books during my 1001 days challenge. I am just under 5' 3" (160 cm).

Books read:

Sourcery by Terry Pratchett - completed Oct 2012 - "   cm   ( achieved   to go)

The Mask by Dean Koontz - completed Oct 2012 -  "   cm   ( achieved   to go)

The Thread by Victoria Hislop - completed Nov 2012 - " cm (achieved to go)
Dean Koontz By the Light of the Moon – Dec 2012 - " cm (achieved to go)
Daphne du Marier – Rebecca - Mar 2013 - " cm (achieved to go)
Simon Clark - Lucifer's Ark - April 2013 - " cm (achieved to go)
Deant Koontz - Frankenstein: The Dead Town - May 2013 - " cm (achieved to go)
Simon Brett - Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King's Daughter - June 2013 - " cm (achieved to go)
E M Forster - A Passage to India -


Current book:

Deant Koontz - Strangers (in progress)

Suggested reads (in order of reply on Facebook):

Vicki Fenley Gilbert

Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier.

Jo Wren

One Day by David Nicolls,

Tim Holmes                           

East of Eden - John Steinbeck
jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins
The Awakenings - Oliver Sacks
Tales of the city - Armistead Maupin

Kieran Cowell

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

Steve Chandler

HHG2TG

the hobbit

LOTR

K-Pax

The Amulet of Saurand

Artemis Fowl series

Garth Nix trilogy - Lireal, the Abhorsen and .... Can't remember the other one

David Gemmell

Hayley Webb

Room, A thousand splendid suns, green mile....

Ben Holland

Neutral Buoyancy, adventures in a liquid world, Tim ecott

The Fall of Yugolsavia, Misha Glenny.

Andrew Cowell

Anything by David Mitchell - not the comedian.

Rebecca Bryett

A fortunate life - AB Facey
Rowing it Alone - Debra Veal
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway

Rebecca Wright

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.

Neil Barton

Lord of The Rings

Rick Geal

Pillars of the Earth and any other book written by Ken Follett X

Chris Tipping

David Gemmel

Dora Anderton

The kite runner

The book thief
Random Acts of Heroic Love - Danny Scheinmann

Gillian Cowell

A Room With a View, A Passage to India - EM Forster

Stasiland - Anna Funder

A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters - Julian Barnes

Snow Country - Yasunari Kawabata

Alec Al Al Alec

Life of Pi

Day of the triffids

Ender's game

Sven Gleeson

Try the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan

Linz Stokes

Erica James - the Holiday

Weaveworld - Clive Barker

Thomas Anthony Chambers

The Golden Age of Censorship by Paul Hoffman

K-Pax by Gene Brewer

Your mum recommends: A Death Divided by Claire Francis

any by Jessica Blair (Whitby tales).

All Creatures Great & Small (101 List # 34)

I love all the different creatures I come across in my garden, even those that I'm not fond of such as the spiders who serve a purpose and make beautiful webs (just not keen on them near me or in my house) and snails and slugs, whilst eating most of my tender plants go on to feed birds and hedgehogs. So, I have decided to make a concerted effort to increase the number and types of wildlife that visit my garden.

At present, I have a Gardman feeding station but previously I only had the standard seed and peanut tube types, fat ball holders and a feeding platform. It also has a bird bath but sadly, the plastic dish that holds the water has perished over the last few years and I am trying to find a suitable replacement. The new feeder I have added has a cage round it to allow smaller birds in and prevent larger animals snacking on its contents. I'm happy to feed the big guys just that I have some very greedy wood pigeons that scoff everything and a cunning squirrel (Steven) who is equally hungry.

I am also trying different types of seed mixes to attract different types of bird such as robins & songbirds. A friend has also posted a recipe for homemade suet cake which I will try in the cooler months.

Next project will probably be to make my own hedgehog house. I need to get it in and positioned in advance of autumn so my current Mr or Mrs Tiggiwinkle (who's been visiting for a while now) can actually find it before they need to use it so will be doing some internet research on how to & best spot for it in my garden.

Oh, and in addition, I’m feeding a hoard of mice in the shed where I store the nuts, seed & mealworms. They’re very partial to the peanuts and the plastic tubs they’re stored in so will have to invest in some metal containers or find some old sweet/biscuit tins!

I would love any suggestions on bringing more wildlife in.

Here is a picture of my station with the new caged feeder at the front.

Tunes & Toe Tapping (101 List # 14)

8th June - Stone Roses @ Finsbury Park, London

EVENT COMING SOON!!!

***

4th Feb 2013 - The Cavern Club, Matthew Street, Liverpool

On a trip up to Liverpool for Uncle Gerry's 65th/retirement party, we did the tourist thing - open top buss rides, LiverpoolEye and so forth. A trip had to include a session at the Cavern Club where we were lucky enough to get front row seats (mainly as it was about 2 in the afternoon) and catch Tony McCaldon a solo artist doing Beatles & contemporary songs(Tony Mac) http://www.cavernclub.org/whats-on/event/12024-tony-mac-thursday and The Two of Us, two brothers' tribute to Lennon & McCartney http://www.cavernclub.org/whats-on/event/11457-two-of-us

If you haven't been, go (even if you're not a fan of the Beatles - worth it for the great atmosphere - they have decent beer too). Oh, The Cavern pub nearby serves food but not tried it,

 

***

Last Friday, I went to the Wickham Festival in Hampshire following an an invite from my cousin & his fiancee.

The line up was something different from what I'd normally go to but thought it was still a good chance to catch up with everyone and have a few ciders!

I only caught the last 2 acts but I was amazed at how good they were and the fact that they got the crowd really joining in. Despite all the ageing hippies with their chairs in the tent (evil tripping devices) everyone really got into it!

Top: L & R - K T Tunstall
Bottom: L & R - The Proclaimers

I don't think I've danced that much in a long time without having to have a lot of Dutch courage before hand!

Shame I missed tribute band The red Hot Chilli Pipers as I'm a huge fan of the originals and would've been good to see I think.

A great night with great people and must be done again.

Blogging Buffoon (reposted)

Ha ha! I've done it.

I had a link from a friend to help me set this blog site up, and still managed to mess it up! He even said it was simple (possibly talking about me). I have now realised that I set up my header for it but didn't actually put a post on it and in fact only managed half a job!

As to whether this was due to my lack of experience or eagerness to get my 101 list up, I'm unsure. It is however, a true sign that I need to make a regular effort to expand my knowledge in the world of technology and blogging. A little every day should go a long way. Practice as they say, makes perfect (or in my case just a little less useless)!

Guides' honour to make a concerted effort from here on in!