Two Black Cats: March 2006

Catblogging

Check out the Friday Ark at The Modulator. This week’s Carnival of the Cats will be up at Pets Garden Blog.

Velvet - what a handsome cat I am in the sun! (even without a tail)

Friday Catblogging in the garden - Arty shows how a green backdrop with sun, works so well for a black fluffy cat.

My first seedlings are through. These are rocket, but the sorrel and little gem lettuce have also germinated.

Velvet with his favourite table leg "scratching post".

Velvet has spotted the camera and wants to play.

I love mediteranean roasted vegetables. After a winter of comforting root veg, it's a really nice change. (The dish looks a bit tatty though)

All food needs to be investigated by Velvet - even the remains of a chocolate muffin!

Home made paper plant pots

The link shows how to make the paper plant pots which I pictured earlier.

If you use The Times or a similar sized newspaper just omit the first step. Like all 'origami-type' projects the sharper the creases the more successful shape.

Good news.

In the last week I've had several pieces of good news. I have received 2 separate contracts for exam marking - Year 9 SATS in May, and A Level Statistics in June. I enjoyed both last year, although they are totally different experiences.

Also I applied for a position as an invigilator for the Chartered Accountants exams about 2 months ago. Its a maximum of 17 days per year (yes, per year), but is quite lucrative. Instead of an interview or job offer I received a letter inviting me to the invigilator's meeting on Thursday! I expect I'll get more info then.

And finally, I passed the Science short course on Climate Modelling which I did over the winter. Its fascinating stuff. You can see all the details here : Climate Modelling Experiment

Velvet is guarding the plant labels!

A list of all seeds sown so far....

Seeds Sown 24th - 26th March 2006

Vegetables
Beetroot Boltardy
Broadbean Express
Butternut Squash
Chilli Pepper
Chinese Pak Choi
Courgette Round Green
Courgette F1 Orellia Yellow
Courgette Jaguar
Lettuce Little Gem
Lettuce Salad Bowl
Pea Hurst
Rocket
Spring Onion White Lisbon
Sweetcorn Early Xtra F1
Swiss Chard Bright Lights
Tomato Tumbling Tom Yellow
Tomato Alicante
Tomato Garden Pearl

Herbs
Chervil
Coriander
Dill
Parsley Flat Leaf
Sorrel

Flowers
Canary Creeper
Canna Lucifer
Canna Louis Cotton
Ipomoea (morning glory) Blue
Ipomoea (morning glory) Red
Mixed Simplicity (behind the pond where its difficult to weed or plant)
Sunflower Titan

I know it looks like a lot, but they are all in small quantities

No more sunspots today - but velvet likes to watch the raindrops!

The current state of the conservatory!

12 geraniums and 24 gazania plug plants 'pricked-out' into individual cells.

Broad beans in homemade paper pots.

A nice Mother's day present - a white kalanchoe in a lovely jug.

Arty squeezes in beside the box of seeds!

Velvet is extra-comfy on the sheepskin rug on top of the fleece, on top of the chair!

Friday gardening.

A busy day in the garden and conservatory. The weather was much milder with patchy showers so I planted the Hellebore and lupins. I have made some plastic rings to put around the lupins from a drinks bottle, to protect from slugs, and used the base as a beer trap.

In the conservatory I planted a variety of seeds - red and yellow tomatoes, 3 types of courgettes, parsley, coriander, basil, 3 types of lettuce, peas and sunflowers. I then ran out of labels!

Also pictured are some mini-plants bought today. Pelargoniums and other bedding plants which I will pot on next week.

Friday catblogging - part 2!

This week, as every week, the Friday Ark will board any animal that shows up… but cats are always on top! On Sunday, the Carnival of the Cats will be at Scribblings.

Thursday Update

Yesterday was incredibly busy. R was working from home, and after a cold start the sun started to shine. We took the opportunity to start the brick edging to the veg plot, and although it's not perfect it will make a practical and aesthetic difference.

The cats, of course, joined in. Lots of exhuberance, but as always it ended in a play-fight!

I also dug up a small part of out rhubarb plant for my mum. We inherited the rhubarb when we moved in 10 years ago - and its probably the only plant we've kept! (the garden was sooooo boring and empty).

In the evening we went to see daughter, K, in her school's production of G&S's Princess Ida. Its a joint production with the local boy's school, and put on at the Town Hall over 5 nights. Absolutely amazing! All the cast and orchestra were so polished and tremendously enthusiastic. I laughed a lot, and had to restrain myself from joining in the choruses that K has been practising since November.