It's that time of year again

It's that time of year again where spring teases us with her possibilities. The snowdrops are blooming despite the frost and everywhere you look there are little bits of green poking up through the leaf litter and winter wastes.

I can't believe I haven't posted since New Year's Eve. I know it's no fun reading a blog that only complains about never having the time to update it properly, but the truth is that with my new job, I haven't had hardly a second to myself. I haven't even been making anything to show you lately.

I love teaching on the degree program more than I could have ever imagined. It's challenging and I'm stretched to my absolute limit for the first time (probably) ever. Certainly more than I have been in my flitting about hither and yon of the past few years and it feels really good to exercise my mind for once. It's great to read up on the current issues in conservation especially, since I've been out of the scene for so many years now.

I took a wildlife rehabilitation course here for the first three weekends in January. Effectively, that meant that not only was I working until 9 or 10 every night, I didn't have a weekend to unwind in. The course was really great and I'd recommend it to anybody interested in working with wildlife in Britain. They're sensible. My experience with wildlife rehabers in the past has been mixed - so many of them refuse to put anything down regardless of its chances of being ultimately re-released. Owls with amputated wings, for example, have no quality of life and it's good to see that this particular organization emphasizes this very basic but pivotal tenet.

So what did I do with my first weekend of 2009? Well, I went shopping of course! We've got a cold snap in the forecast and a down comforter was definitely on the agenda. Today, I spent most of the day in a coffee shop, marking essays on Livelihoods vs Wildlife Conservation and preparing for my Anatomy & Physiology class first thing tomorrow morning.

So, with so little of interest to report and nothing to show off or brag about in the domestic arts arena, I'll be signing off now. I don't think I'll be updating often over the coming weeks, I hope to have more time for fun stuff once I get my head around what I'm doing in my new post. No one else stays at work till 9:00 so it must get easier as time goes on!

What's new with you?

daydreaming

When the mail was slipped through the door yesterday afternoon, there was the regular junk mail and circulars and other useless crap and among them lay a catalogue from a fabric company I ordered online from once. This quilt was on the cover and my mind keeps wandering back to it.

I love the big blocks of fabric that show off the bold fabrics he designs. I love the contrast of aqua and red, and the interplay of the subtle and bright - like dappled sunlight on the forest floor - but blues and reds, hot and cold, fire and ice. With the onset of winter just around the corner, I can imagine nothing so comforting as to cuddle up under this with a lap cat, a good read and a steaming cup of hot cocoa. (speaking of good reads - have you read the Glass Castle? so good!)

Do I dare suggest that I might be capable of tackling a project of this magnitude? If ever there was a quilt that might encourage me to take the plunge it is this one.

And the local quilt shop is selling it as a kit! So I don't even have to sort out the fabrics' yardage or colours or patterns or anything, since I'm not yet savvy enough to venture that on my own. That is, without my quilitin' mama here to guide me! Tempting little Kaffe...

Did I mention that I was offered my dream job a couple weeks ago? I'm going to be teaching Animal Science full time at the local college starting winter term. My timetable looks to be the fun stuff like Animal Behaviour, Wildlife Conservation and Habitat Management, Ethics of Animals in Captivity, Wildlife Rehabilitation and the like.... How lucky am I? Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Having said that, I just don't know where I'll find the time to start a proper quilting project in the midst of all that preparation and assignment marking. But we'll have to wait and see.....

Remember me?

Just hangin out
Originally uploaded by TheQueenBean

I bet you're wondering if I fell off the face of the Earth. Man, life got busy for me over the past few weeks. School started three weeks ago and I've been wiped off my feet with lesson planning and photocopying. You know how it is.

The weather's been better the past couple of weeks and every waking second is spent trying to synthesize enough vitamin D to get through the long and impending winter months. I've made up my mind to live more and sleep less this winter.

I've even made myself a list of Things I Want To Do. I split it into a timeline of This Week, This Month, In Three Months, Before Next Year, In 3 to 5 Years, and In My Lifetime. Sounds ambitious, don't it? An excerpt:

In 3 to 5 years, I would like to:

• Have visited most of the countries in Europe
• Volunteer to help with the 2012 London Olympics
• Complete a Masters Degree in Education
• Return to North America to live
• Be credit-card-debt-free
• Have a better relationship with my mind-body - explore spirituality?
• Have and raise a child/children
• Complete a Triathlon
• Finally begin writing that novel that's been spinning round my head the past three years
• Finish a quilt.....

You get the idea.

I'm listening a lot to Sera Cahoone, Fleet Foxes and My Morning Jacket. Resurrecting Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch. Wanting to hit the road with Jeff Tweedy.

I'm taking The Life In The UK test this week and reading my handbook: A journey to citizenship to jump through the seemingly endless hoops that being an ex-pat requires.

I'm taking my Driving License test at the end of the month.

Bisbee has a gaping hole on his head - battle scars from The Cat Fight Kitchen. Feral cats have figured out how to get in to the house through the cat flap and our kitchen has been showdown central. Another round of antibiotics for the Bisbeast and live traps for the Ferals.

The G started his new job in public health this week. Yay! I interviewed and didn't get a full time job teaching here at the college, but try and try again.

That's about it from here. I'll load some more recent pics up soon. I promise. XO, Bee

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. -Mark Twain

I'll give you two guesses where you can find all of these wonderful titles. Have a good look at them. Did you spot the Biochemistry of Silage? Who among you found Horse-Shoeing in Your Right Mind? The Small-holder's Manual? Microbes and Man? Applied Dog Behavior and Training?

All of these intriguing titles and more (much more!) can be found at my new place of employment. Did I mention I'm now a librarian? Okay, Library Assistant. And not just any library, mind you, but one of the UK's only colleges devoted entirely to the Land-based studies. What are land-based studies, the Americans are grumbling. Well, I'll tell you. You got your agriculture, forestry, and countryside management. Your floristry, landscape architecture and design, and your sensory gardening. Somebody's got to fix your tractor, so we've got training for farm mechanics as well. Then there's the equine unit in which you can get your Master's in Stable Business Management (horse racing or riding school specializations, of course) or else train to be a riding instructor, a groom/stable hand, or in something mysteriously called equitation and maybe someone horsey out there can explain to me what that means. There's also the Veterinary Nursing department where you can train to be a vet nurse, or get your Bachelors in Veterinary Business studies. You can learn to work with lab animals, train guide dogs, become a farrier, a blacksmith, or if construction or joinery's your bag there's courses for you too.

All the girls wear their jodhpurs and riding boots and I have to admit I feel a little out of sorts in my boring old office wear. Truth be told however, so far I'm quite enjoying my new job. Being a librarian is a fiddly sort of profession that suits my selectively perfectionist persuasion. I especially like talking with the students, it's a good mix of kids - the farm machinery boys are only there for 12 weeks and are a bit rough and rowdy and I'm always a little surprised when one of them checks out a book. On the other end of the spectrum are the oh-so-serious Equine Science majors who never leave the library and beg you to let them check out just one more book when they've already gone 4 or 5 over their 10 book allowance.
Speaking of equines, who's that out my office window? We haven't been formally introduced but I hear he's called William. Or was it Harry? I'm quite certain it was one of the princes anyway. All of this horse business has finally prompted me to read the Horse Whisperer. Why didn't you tell me it was so good? It's about time I read the damn thing and now I can't put it down. I'm even seriously considering riding again since I'm so surrounded by the horseys day in and day out. I inhale the alluring aroma of horseshit all day and listen to the clip clopping of their shoes out my window and occasionally Prince Charles here gives me a hearty ole whinny.

I haven't ridden in years. My family had quarter horses and paints when I was a teenager though I'm ashamed to admit how quickly I lost interest once I turned 16 and got a car and discovered boys. It didn't help that every time I got in trouble for something involving the newfound cars or boys, the punishment was always the same: The entire weekend up at dawn stripping stalls and hauling manure out back in a wobbly wheel barrow in the pouring down rain. It sort of killed the romance of horses for me. Particularly when my parents went through their 'we're going to be horse breeders' phase and would have as many as 17 or 18 horses at any one time.

If I'm honest, I'm a bit intimidated by dressage and equitation and show jumping and the like. I've only ever ridden Western and I was hardly disciplined about it. My favorite thing to do (nevermind that I once paid dearly for it with a torn Achilles tendon and a plaster cast on my ankle for 6 weeks when I was 12) was to just plain hop on the horses while they were out at pasture. Even better if I was barefoot. There was something so wildly free and exhilaratingly sensual, even at 11 years old, about riding bareback and barefoot with nothing but a halter and lead for a bridle, or sometimes less. Plainly at the mercy of whatever whim the horse I was riding would take. Which mostly meant my holding on for dear life as they tried desperately to buck me off or hoped that if they ran fast and hard enough under the one tree on the edge of the field with the low branch they might just be rid of me and get back to munching on that fine, green grass. Damn, I had balls back then. (What happened to those, anyway?) Somehow I find the English approach so aristocratic and antiquated - though I know plenty of riders who themselves are neither of these things! Somebody talk me into it, I dare you.

I saved the best for last here's my favorite shelf of all. I especially like the way cheesemaking, trapping, squirrel control and beekeeping are all in one convenient place. Truly one stop shopping.

Update: Jam Jar Lanterns

Well, we finally had a warmish night to put out the lanterns and enjoy the last barbeque of the summer. After a proper feast of chived cheese stuffed mushrooms and Angus cheeseburgers, we ended up huddled like hobos over the flaming Q as the night wore on. All the more determined as ever to make the most of one last evening out in the garden before winter takes it over. It was a clear, clear night and we could count the stars and broke out the bat detector to see if anyone was about. That's right, we have a bat detector. Dorks! I still haven't worked out how you figure out what species is which but our bats are of the high frequency variety. Does anyone know what that means? I hope they're fruit bats since the plum trees have made a big mess at the back of the property and I haven't got round to cleaning up the latest windfall of purple fruits after the storm we had earlier in the week.

As far as the lanterns are concerned, I'm having second thoughts about the glue dots I used. I think when I make more, I'll use a hot glue gun. As the jars warmed up from the candle flame, all of my hard work slithered to the ground. Another consideration is lighting the tea lights. Sure, I should just get some of those long handled matches or punks I think they're called. I've been thinking about actually filling them with wax and making my own candles instead, but perhaps that defeats the purpose of all the bedazzling.....To see the original post and if you're wondering how or why I made them click here.

Have I mentioned that I found out today that I got that job I wanted so badly? Okay, time to congratulate me - I got the job! I can now add librarian to my long list of occupations. And not just any librarian, but an academic librarian! Okay, Assistant Librarian. I'll be working for a local community college that specializes in the 'land based' studies, that's British for anything forestry, agriculture, aboriculture, landscape architecture, gardening, animal husbandry, equine studies including horse training and shoeing and ferriering, blacksmithing, or last, but not least, veterinary nursing related. I could spend years in that library just exploring considering it specializes in just about everything I've ever been interested in. In fact, I did stay for an hour or more after my interview just going through some of the books and journals. There's this one title on the Arts and Crafts Garden that really got my wheels turning. My husband insisted this was an interview faux pas and I should have left gracefully and immediately after the humiliation of talking about how I'm a team player in front of a panel of five heavies from the Dean's office. I think it may just have won me the gig. I start the first week of November, updates to follow, I'm sure.