Sunday 30 April 2017

Postcard from Paris.

Easter Holidays. sadly not so many holidays this year (Saving for something special) So We decided as a Family Paris was on the list to see. We used a holiday caravan camp that was reduced to £150 for the week and on sale Eurostar tickets £500 (could have been cheaper if we had , had more planning) We ate picnics every day , once we found the on site shop was 3x times dearer than the local supermarket 20 minute walk away. SO picnics , where we woke up each morning decided where to go. We went into Paris central twice and the rest of the day we hung about the area, walking along the river. My French is fairly basic about 50% fluent , enough to get by, ask for tickets , drinks etc. Not Enough for a conversation anyway, but enough to get what help I was after. I found the metro confusing until the last day when it clicked! Children under 10 are half price of adults. A Paris ticket will take you anywhere in Paris but only one journey, one way but you can get other types of tickets one day travel ones I think. But It was 11.50 euros for a day trip for 3 over 10s and 2 unders. We used Birthday and Christmas money and went Up the Eiffel Tower, Although I only went half way up! We also walked and ate the Champes Elyesse, Arc de triumph. We had a fab time. Disneyland was not even on the agenda. The place we stayed was Eurocamp , Paris Est. Bus 101 goes right from Gaurde de nord to the camp site . The train ticket covers it, although sometimes not, so just ask! The lads practised French a lot.






















Tuesday 28 February 2017

Sunshine, and lollypops..Rainbows in the sky.

I can't believe it is Almost March. This year has gone so quickly. We have been having great fun. My mental health has improved dramatically so I really hope this is it for me, over and done with and i can get on with my life once more. I have been keeping things simple. Reading , knitting, gardening and enjoying Home ed workshops.
We achieved Our RHS gardening level one certificate. We are currently (as well as the normal things we do day to day) Working on Level 2 of the certificate, Tim Peakes Space diaries and also The Royal Mails Design a Christmas stamp. We have a lot of Home ed workshops coming up as well As having Joined Properly The YACS (Young Archaeology club) . We also submitted work to the Turner contemporary museum.
Herb planting

Pruning our Apple Tree

"Babies" first snow




Working on Bodies project ..again

Squares for the Guinness book of records largest blanket (50)

One of our Turner contemporary entrance exhibits

A year long Kal sampler scarf

January block

February block

Beautiful February day

Turning the compost over..we made compost yay!
A normal Sunday afternoon 

Monday 20 February 2017

Self improvement.

I really need to get back into a simpler , more productive, less procrastination life. Slowly I am deleting social media and just using it for contact for Home school groups...and also the games 😁. I also see since my last blog post that There has been an upgrade in blogville. I quiet like it. I recently discovered or rather a friend mentioned it, Habitica https://habitica.com Which is yes on line, But it's a site that also games. The more tasks (could be anything housework, research etc) and habits , such as taking your vitamins, creativeness etc, you complete the more coins you get to build your virtual world, Get pets and feed them. You can also join Guilds and Party's (although only one party) A guild is where you can chat and take up challenges. I am currently working on a Learn for 30 days challenge. Which is perfect as I have a stack of Future learn courses I signed up for and never really bothered with. Hey If the boys are learning why am I not pushing myself?  Anyway here is my learning list.
Currently Future learn lessons are Agincort, Archaeology, Facial forensics and the power of colour.
Ted talks are very educational and thought provoking, They also do a child's version which is in my opinion just as worthy of a mention. https://www.ted.com/  https://ed.ted.com/
Oh and found this interesting colour visualisation test. Mine came out just on the of slight issues, but then I have light sensitivity issues so no big deal really! http://www.color-blindness.com/farnsworth-munsell-100-hue-color-vision-test/#prettyPhoto
Happy learning all.

Finished courses Foresnics facial reconctructions, The Battle of Agincourt , Archeology.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-qR46DA_2JbILwA-9EfIN6Q6Z_7saaa6Cn92wacwVMo/edit#gid=0

I have only noted learning notes from the 21/01 but have been undertaking the task since the 19th.

Today's learning..21/02 Marden Henge Near the river Avon, may have been place there, because the river  and may have been important in rituals.  Looked at colour illusions, Mediation practises and how to decide if a skull is Asian, African or European.
Today's learning.22/02 Marden Henge is the largest henge in the UK, larger than stone Henge. The stones from stone henge can from wales and would have taken a massive effort and a great many people to move, and the lifestyle for such grand scale feasting, and rituals was unsustainable,  and very destructive. For example The West Kennet Palisade enclosures, would have used an entire wood.
Today's learning. 23/02 A hue is a fully saturated non diluted colour. Adding black to a colour makes and shade, adding white to it creates a tint
Today's learning. 24/02When making a facial reconstruction one of the first muscles applied is the Temporalis (the Muscle on the side of you face near your temples.  The Risouris Is the last. Some experts omit the Occiptio frontlalis , because it is very thin and they do not feel it contributes enough to the final contours of the finished face.
Today's Learning  25/02There are Five main book binding styles in Japanese books, they are

I. kansusō (scroll binding)
II. orihon (concertina or accordion-style binding)
III. detchōsō (“oriental style” or “pasted paper leaf” binding)
V. tetsuyōsō (“multisection” binding)
V. fukurotoji (“bound-pocket” or “pouch” binding)
Todays learning 26th feb Orihon bound books are often double sided, Turn the book upside down and you have more writing, perhaps a whole different storey on the reverse side of the paper.
Today's learning 27th Han christian Anderson died the same year Alexander Graham bell invented the telephone.Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and Lewis Carroll's Alice in wonderland was written in his life time as was Beethoven's fifth symphony
Today's learning 28th Feb . Hans christian Anderson also loved to draw and make paper cut pictures. Tetsuyoso Binding is the closest Chinese/Japanese method of minding to our traditionally bound books.
Today's Learning 1st March medieval apprentices (around 14 years old) had to live for 7 years under very strict rules (although often broken) They could not marry, go to ale houses, Get married , Grow their hair long, from Dancing , or wearing expensive wigs and clothes
Today's learning 2nd March. Ad 1313-1317 unusual wet weather, leads to  1315-1318 the crop failure and subsequent famine 10-15% of the population perish (Mostly rural peasants) from starvation and Egotism posing (eating crop with mould spores)
Today's learning 3rd of March ..A link to a wonderful free tool that allows you to upload images , to extract colours, which can then be converted into paint codes for you to purchase. http://www.colorexplorer.com/
Today's learning 6th March (two days off for illness) The tip of Cornwall and North Africa share similar geology making it harder to tell if someone was local or a migrant if using isotope analysis to identify remains
Today's learning..Not much winding up a course.
Today's learning 8th  Japanese books where often rebound from originally format due to expense and rarity of paper. Ie scroll Binding to accordion bound book.
Today's learning . The earliest color chart manual was a handpainted book from 1692 with color swatches and how to obtain them.
Today's learning 13th History of some colour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eoq0rUwk6NU
Today's learning The first World Humanitairian summit was only in 2016
Today's learning 14th ..I Japan sometimes women have a dowry when they marry which can include Beautifully bound books
Todays learning 15th Colour mood prediction books are produced every year but so very expensive and not available to view until the following year. A highly guarded secret
Todays learning 16th the number of illustrated scrolls (known today as emaki, or, “picture scrolls”) produced since the 12th century is such that Japan is sometimes called “the country of picture scrolls” (emaki no kuni).
Todays learning 17th . The placement of book title plate in Japanese books depends what is in the book,