July scavenging - early homework

This month I am early - unheard of! I am away next week for a few days so thought I would get myself organised for a change.
I have also used a new format as I liked the way this worked on other blogs. Here we go:

Fields: complete with water sprinklers, taken from the car window.
Red, white and blue: a not-very-challenging game of twister!
Ice cream: not the most exciting one ever...
Stripes: a lovely bundle of chocolate gifts. It was nearly the thing that made me happy too!

Strawberries: on the lid of a cake cover, which was a fantastic birthday gift last month
Shellfish: the best I could do, we are not seafood fans and I haven't been near a beach this month (nor London, if I am honest!)
Flip flops: in with the birkenstocks
Something that makes me happy: a sunflower that grew and flowered of its own accord (probably assisted by the birds). It now greets me when I open the curtains in the morning.

A flag: pirate flags on one of my latest strings of bunting
Celebration: lighting a candle and making a wish for the naming of the beautiful Eowyn
Stars: 5 of them, for Spielberg's latest. Haven't seen it, have you?
Kites: again, the best I could do - the backs of kite shapes signs on the river at Whittlingham. They said 'Danger Submerged Cable' on the other side

Number 23: flash mobbing

Since joining the choir as one of the first 52s I have been part of one or two performances, including one at a street party for the royal wedding.

I haven't included any of them as additional 52s as I did lots of this kind of thing at school and while that's years ago, it does seem a bit fraudulent to conveniently forget it. But this weekend we assembled ready for our choir summer outing to the park and the plan was to do a 'flash mob' style concert at the station.

We rehearsed a song for the occasion with four parts, which we could start singing in rounds while milling about, before all assembling in one place to a rousing chorus. Or something like that anyway.

On the day (yesterday) I made my way to the station and found the choir party easily enough - a merry band all wearing straw hats do stand out a touch in quiet Norwich station on a Sunday morning! Plus everyone did seem a bit more nervous than at a normal performance, particularly as we started to move around to get ready to start the singing.

But once we got started it was great fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it. There was a round of applause too, although I have a feeling the vast majority of the people in the station were part of the choir group... It was one of the more unique things I'll be doing, and good fun!

Discovery of the day

...is Google Reader.
Doesn't it make it easy to read through blogs? Am I the last person in the world to discover it?!

Scavenging: the June list

Here it is:

This month I am more or less on time, but watch out, there are some dodgy shots in there!

The cutlery may as well be invisible (I was so delighted I even got the sign in shot at 60mph  it was almost embarrassing), the sheep is the best of 4 shots I took as we drove past it over the past couple of weeks (out of focus as I had to zoom in AND crop the pic for a hope of it being recognisable) and as a cheese lover I am ashamed that the best I could do was cheddar on a pimped up shop bought pizza.

But, it is done and dusted and I'm looking forward to the next one. And determined to do better. One of the points of this was to learn to use the SLR better and I'm not really demonstrating my skills!

Number 22: have a stand at a craft fair

This is another instance when I'm blogging an event twice, because this 52 is not just significant as a first for me, but also as a first for my little craft world, says alice.

I have had an online craft world for a while, and also sell through the Grapevine, an art gallery and  craft shop in Norwich. But I haven't got myself out there doing the selling by setting up a craft stall.

I was lucky enough to be offered an opportunity to do one for free, so I thought it would be a good time to get myself organised and have a go. I have a fair bit of stock of bunitng so that was fine, but I have only made pictures and bags to order so far, so I rustled up a few of those to have on display.

Then I set about getting a cash box, paper bags, blutac, highlighter pens, receipt books, a table cloth, picture frames, a blackboard and everything else you could possibly ever need for a day in a marquee selling bunting. Everything. I think the event cost me more than it made, but, as people keep pointing out, I now have everything I could possibly ever need to do it again. So that's good.

And I think I probably will, do it again that is. It was a really lovely event to be part of an great to chat with other exhibitors who do a few events like it. And I learned a lot too about the kind of people who do / don't buy. Or pick things up and show them to everyone then plonk them down again. Or leave empty crisp packets and drinks cartons on your stall. Yes, really!

Number 21ish: becoming a Thatter

I'm not sure which part of this one will qualify as a first exactly, but it is going in anyway because the utter exhaustion caused by this trip has directly impacted on the success of other 52s and because it was truly a one off.
I feel I should say this in a confessional whisper... I went to see Take That!

Having abjectly failed in the melee to get tickets online, despite going slightly cross-eyed staring at a constantly refreshing screen and watching progress loops go round and round and round, I gave up on Take That as a bad job. But then, months later, a friend (who is a Pet Shop Boys fan, not a Take That fan) spotted that there were still tickets available for Manchester through the main ticket seller. One small hit on a credit card later and we had booked.

The event itself was amazing - a truly massive production. There is something quite surreal about singing alongside 55,000 other people (menopausal ladies), at the top of your voice, for two and a half hours straight. I'm not a huge Take That fan (I listened to the album on my ipod for the first time on the coach on the way there) but I knew every single song. Robbie made us cry, they all made us laugh and the rain held off. It really was a great night out.

The other experience was the return coach trip which worked out to be 7 hours each way. We were collected at 11am and I walked back in through the front door at 6.45am. Message to the three ladies who decided to wander back to the coach via a bar - you'll make no friends that way...

RUNNING BEHIND!!

It might seem like I'm having a bit of a 52 holiday, despite lagging behind.

But I am going for an Andy Murray late finish and am keeping you all in suspense. That doesn't mean I'm not behind (I clearly am) but I will get there eventually!

The observant among you may notice that's not Andy Murray playing, but it is the best I can do from our Wimbledon trip several years ago!

Number 20: listography

This might take a couple of days to put together so it might move down the lists. But I'm nothing if not committed (and lagging behind in my 52) so here I go...
There is a blog called Kate Takes 5 which is a mix of lovely bloggishness and weekly challenges to write 'a list of 5'. The list of challenges varies widely, but most recently has included top 5 albums by a band and top 5 products you can't live without. This week it is 'top 5 decisions you are glad you have made'. So here goes.

1 - buying a Mini
I always classify this as the most expensive flirting I have ever done. The order of events went something like this: decide to buy new car, ask people for recommendations, get introduced to a friend-of-a-friend who has a Mini, flirt outrageously, find myself committed to buying a car, get together with aforementioned friend-of-a-friend, move in together (achieving a 2 Mini household), get married, the end. Expensive, but effective!
Postscript - we still have a Mini. We love 'em.

2 - present my research at a conference
Having managed to get through school and sixth form with the minimum level of commitment and correspondingly tragic level of pass rate, I found myself somewhat bemused to be actually good at higher education. More than that, I actually enjoyed it.
At the end of my first degree I was offered the opportunity to present my work at an academic conference. The entire experience was so extremely terrifying that I have blanked most of it out. I just have one clear memory of someone asking me a question no human being in the world knew the answer to and stammering that I would do my best to find out. Cue polite laughter. Yet not as catastrophic as it might sound.
The transcript went on to be published in an actual real book. Furthermore, I was offered a place at Cambridge to continue the research, which I never took up as I had to go to the States to look at primary research. I got a job to save the money to make the trip and never went back to uni. One day, I just might start again.
I could have said no to that conference as too much like hard work, but I am really pleased that I didn't.

3 - lig about for a year in Wales
When my academic career was looking its most shaky, I chose (was forced) to take a year off to recoup my losses (retake my exams). I did the minimum necessary, then looked about for something to do to fill the remaining 11 months.
I saw an advert for kitchen staff in a childrens activity centre in Wales, applied, got the job and caught a train to nowhere. Followed by another train, a couple of buses, a bit of walking, a mini-bus and a paddle through a flooded field to my caravan.
The year that followed was unike any before or since. I spent all day and every day outside, rain or shine, walked every hill in sight, made some amazing friends, drank, ate, chatted and learned tons, not least how to go orienteering using a blind horse as a landmark. I might have smelled a bit (mainly because I stopped washing my hair) but I had a ball.

4 - bring home the Muppet
With no disloyalty intended to Jester, the bestest cat in catland, I have to chalk up the decision to take the little scrap that was Muppet home as one that's right up at the top of the list.
He was the only one of a litter of kittens that could be caught, which turned out to be because he was so ill. The litter was from a very troubled home with animals everywhere, so pretty much all of them had injuries, pests and diseases. Mups had a sizable dose of the lot.
I took him straight to the vet who told me to keep him in isolation from Jester until he was two weeks free of symptoms and I almost decided to find another home for him, to keep Jester safe. I didn't, and took him home armed with a truck load of medicines.
I am pretty sure the first dose of wormer nearly killed him. However he battled through and slowly but surely grew up to become the stupidest, fattest, scardiest, most lovable cat ever. He could only process one thought at a time and all of them were in capital letters.
FOOD! RUN! SLEEP!
He was our best friend and we were very very sad when he fell ill and died six years later.

5 - getting my other ear pierced.
There was no reason just to have one done at all. But once one was done, I stubbornly refused to have the other done. For TEN YEARS. What was that all about?
Now I have both and can wear a whole pair of earrings at a one time.

And that's my five. I quite enjoyed it and might pay Kate a visit again :-)

Scavenging: the May list

Was it me, or was everything moving too fast to take a picture of this week?
Bicycles, emergency vehicles, butterflies - I spent half my month chasing things that won't stand still! The butterfly is the worst example, but I scared everything for miles aroound by jumping up and down and cheering when I finally got one in the frame. However blurry it was! Do they never land??

It has also been a ridiculously busy couple of weeks, meaning that this update is almost a whole week late. I'm about to scan through all the other entries to see how everyone else has done - looking forward to better butterflies than mine!

Number 19: spin a roulette wheel

Not the best picture, but we were trying not to be caught playing with someone else's casino!

This is the morning after a wedding (the one with the cake), as we had a first look at the disco lights that we needed to disassemble and pack up. While slightly worse for wear.

The fake money casino people had left all their kit behind and it already bore the signs of the hotel staff having a few rounds of betting the night before (unless one of the guests had a chewing gum habit and was gambling with wrappers).

I found the ball, spun the wheel, and discovered two things:
- firstly that you can spin the wheel too fast and bounce the ball out of it
- secondly that it is loud when you are trying to be quiet

As one of the very few gambling games I understand I have played roulette once or twice, indeed we had a similar set up at our own wedding. Tim has left small amounts of money in casinos around the world having been unable to resist having a go (most memorably going out with a 'top budget' to a casino in Austria only to return 5 minutes later with a slice of pizza which he bought with the one euro he had left).

So I couldn't resist having a go. It's fun!