Some random things and an idea or two.

My corset is finished!  Many thanks to K for her invaluable knowledge, and willingness to teach me!  There will be pictures after Thursday when I will hopefully wear it out for the first time :D

I've started Beowulf, which is a lot easier to read than I was expecting (I'm reading a prose translation first and then I might try a poetry version if I feel like it.)

I'm hardly wearing black at all these days, so I think I can safely say that I've changed my style to a somewhat more Steampunk one, so I'm going to cross that one off my list when I next update it.

I didn't get to the Lit & Phil or the Toy Museum last week, but they're still on the calendar for sometime soon, so I will definitely visit them.

One of the things I have been intending to do is a 'money diet'.  On Wednesday, it became more urgent, when I checked my bank account & realised that I was in the redder-than-red :(  So I've been doing some sums, with the help of a couple of very useful websites, and starting on Monday, I'll be tightening the purse strings considerably.  Apart from bus-fares and any necessary food shopping, I'm going to try to spend no money next week, no coffees in town, no random clothes shopping (not even Charity Shops!) no nothin'.  I'll see how it goes...

I held a tortoise for the first time today... pretty random, but I guess it counts!

Don't worry, I put her back down right after I'd taken the pictures!

Michelle trying to make a break for it on my lap

Smile for the camera!

New Updated List

Done:
1   Thames river cruise (18th April 2012)
2   Visit Stonehenge (17th April 2012)
3   See the Northern Lights (2nd March 2012)

4   Visit Thackray museum in Leeds (12th November 2011)

5   Have a Belly dancing lesson (8th January 2012)
6   Do a day of Falconry (24th April 2012)
7   Handbell ringing (16th December 2011)

8   1:1 Barre class (3rd November 2011)
9   Hold a tarantula(!) (25 February12)
10 Try at least 5 new foods (Finished March 2012)*
11 Do something completely spontaneous (Shoeshine) (26th October 2011)
12 Rode the Brighton Wheel (26th October 2011)
13 Visit Mother Shipton's Cave (5th June)
14 Visited parts of Yorkshire Sculpture Park I hadn't been to before. (4th June)
15 Tried Lavender & Lemon Scones (5th June)
16 Visit Lindisfarne (7th June 2012)
17 Go to the Hoppings (26th June 2012)
18 Thai Food (11th June 2012)

In Progress:
19 Read at least 3 classics**
20 Make a corset (K.) (Nearly Finished!)
21 Wear more colours, at least half the time! (Steampunk colours, admittedly!)


Definite:
22 Visit the Lit & Phil
23 Visit the Tynemouth Toy Museum
24 Edinburgh: Spend a night in the Library room at the Witchery, take a tour of St Mary's Close (Edinburgh under-city) and visit Jekyll & Hyde pub!
25 Tour the Victoria Tunnels (Newcastle)
26 Make a leather masquerade mask (Jo)
27 Have a 4-hand massage
28 Horse-ride along a beach, in the surf :)
29 Rock climbing (indoor!)
30 Take a course in Bookbinding & bind a book. (If course is running in Sept.)

31 Learn to use a Spinning Wheel (K.)
32 Money-diet for a month (July?)
33 Watch at least 5 'must-see' classic films****
34 Try at least 3 new (possibly SteamPunk) bands***
35 Return to my ideal weight (8st7lbs ish)
36 Break myself of the habit of picking at my skin

The following are money/opportunity dependent.

37 Take a Millinery course & make a hat
38 Have a Capoeira lesson
39 Take a Fan Dancing class

40 Box Brownie photography (J)
41 Make Ginger Beer
42 Make a Dragon sculpture, since it is Chinese Year of the Dragon!



*Bilberries (what blueberries aspire to being!)
  Figs (nice)
  Turkish sweets (too sweet!)
  Samphire (too salty)
  Kiwi Berries (just like a mini kiwi fruit)
  Dragon Fruit (like a cross between a melon & a kiwi fruit)
  Avocado (not overly keen!)
  Lychee (nice but odd texture)

**Old - Beowulf
   Classic - Frankenstein
   Modern - Brave New World, Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

*** Vernian Process, Abney Park, TMWWNBBFN etc.

**** Suggestions Welcome!

A couple of other things

I've tried Thai food for the first time properly, and it was lovely :D  (I had Thai food once before, but I couldn't really eat much as I was hungover, and couldn't appreciate it!) This time I had vegetarian Phad-Thai in a kind of omlette at At Bangkok Cafe in Newcastle.  We were there celebrating a friend's birthday, and I'd definitely go back again.

THE HOPPINGS!

I've lived here for 20 years, and never been.  And I'm never likely to go again!

All I can say of it is that there are a lot of fortune tellers with the surname Lee, and that the Hoppings itself stinks. Literally. Of manure. And other less savoury things. I spent a lot of time afterwards trying to get the mud, and the smell, out of my boots. Dammit I should have remembered my wellies!

However, here's a nice picture I took of it a couple of days before I went. 

The Hoppings, as seen from the flats up on Westgate Road

I've got a couple of other ideas for things to do for the Challenge; visit the Lit & Phil, which I hope to do tomorrow, and visit the Toy Museum in Tynemouth, as a friend has told me it is worth a look.  I might try to do that on Saturday, as well as a trip to the Market :)


Righty-ho, time to update the list itself!

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

At last I've visited Lindisfarne.  Mum wanted to visit, and I haven't been, despite living in the North East for over 20 years, so I thought it was about time I rectified the situation.

View of the Castle from the Priory

View of part of the Priory through another part of the Priory

View of the Gertrude Jekyll Garden from the Castle

View of sheep and the Castle from the Garden

Distant Sheep Stand on the Horizon

Mother Shipton's Cave

Another place that Mum wanted to visit was Mother Shipton's Cave & the Petrifying Well.


We had a lovely day, although it would have probably been better if we'd known in advance that all of the attractions were at the far end of the Beech Walk, as Mum wasn't really up to the long walk.

The Petrifying Well

The Wishing Well

I loved seeing the waterfall of the mineral rich water, as well as the 'Wishing Well', although the Cave itself seemed to be a trifle over-touristy for my liking.  I bought a few trinkets in the gift shop, before we went for tea at the Lavender Room in "Ye Oldest Chymists Shoppe In England" where I had Lavender & Lemon Scones (I kid you not!) which were lovely :)

See, Lemon & Lavender Scones :D

Especially for Liz!
They had a Print Tray with things in from when the shop had been a Chemists, and the proprietor let me take some photos of it; here's the best one :D

A lovely display.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

I haven't been keeping up with what I've done; I seem to have been so busy lately, but I can't quite work out where the time has gone!

I've done several new things since my last post, some of them were on the list, some weren't, so the list will get an(other!) overhaul in a while, so I can keep track of how I'm doing.

Anyway, NEW THINGS!

While Mum and Leah & James were up visiting us, we did a variety of things, including a visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park; a treat for Leah, who has wanted to visit it for a long time.

Leah & I went exploring & discovered some areas of the Park that I had never been to before, so for the sake of the numbers on my Challenge, I'm including it here ;)
 

I don't think this was a deliberate sculpture ;) 

A shot through a crook in a tree branch

The Source

The view across the lake

Books for solitary Bees to build their nests

A nice view

The shell grotto; a lovely peaceful place

View from within the grotto

A rabbit near one of the sculptures

Updated list

One of the things I've learned so far in this Challenge is that some of the things on my list were over- ambitious.  I have had to be a bit more realistic of what I can do, mostly due to financial constraints.  Also, a realisation I have had, not just in terms of my Challenge & Blog, but in other aspects of my life, is that just because I can do something, it does not mean that I have to do it.  This applies mostly to all the ideas I have for making things; Steampunk creations, jewellery, clothing, whatever.

I also realised that some of the items on my list were things that I didn't really want to do; they were there because I thought I should do them; for instance, having colourful flowers in the garden.  I know that my Mum would like it if I had a nicer garden, but I'm simply not green fingered.  I tried to plant some things, but I don't think they're flourishing.  I have tried it, but since it wasn't really there for me, I have removed it.

Anyway, here is my re-arranged list, with items completed at the top, then remaining things below, so that I can see how far along my Challenge I am.


Done:
1   Thames river cruise (18th April 2012)
2   Visit Stonehenge (17th April 2012)
3   See the Northern Lights (2nd March 2012)

4   Visit Thackray museum in Leeds (12th November 2011)

5   Have a Belly dancing lesson (8th January 2012)
6   Do a day of Falconry (24th April 2012)
7   Handbell ringing (16th December 2011)

8   1:1 Barre class (3rd November 2011)
9   Hold a tarantula(!) (25/02/12)
10 Try at least 5 new foods (Finished March 2012)*
11 Do something completely spontaneous (26th October 2011)

In Progress:
12 Read at least 3 classics**
13 Make a corset (K.)
14 Wear more colours, at least half the time! (Steampunk colours, admittedly!)


Definite:
15 Edinburgh: Spend a night in the Library room at the Witchery, take a tour of St Mary's Close (Edinburgh under-city) and visit Jekyll & Hyde pub!
16 Tour the Victoria Tunnels (Newcastle)
17 Visit Lindisfarne (when Mum comes to visit me)
18 Make a leather masquerade mask (Jo)
19 Have a 4-hand massage
20 Horse-ride along a beach, in the surf :)
21 Rock climbing (indoor!)
22 Take a course in Bookbinding & bind a book. (applying for course starting Sept.)

23 Learn to use a Spinning Wheel (K.)
24 Money-diet for a month (July?)
25 Watch at least 5 'must-see' classic films****
26 Try at least 3 new (possibly SteamPunk) bands***
27 Return to my idea weight (8st7lbs ish)
28 Break myself of the habit of picking at my skin

The following are money/opportunity dependent.

29 Carriage Driving
30 Side-saddle riding
31 Hang-gliding or similar
32 Ride in a hot air balloon
33 Upholstery or Stained Glass making
34 Take a Millinery course & make a hat
35 Have a Capoeira lesson
36 Take a Fan Dancing class

37 Perform at a Burlesque show!
38 Box Brownie photography (J)
39 Make Ginger Beer
40 Make a Dragon sculpture, since it is Chinese Year of the Dragon!



*Bilberries (what blueberries aspire to being!)
  Figs (nice)
  Turkish sweets (too sweet!)
  Samphire (too salty)
  Kiwi Berries (just like a mini kiwi fruit)
  Dragon Fruit (like a cross between a melon & a kiwi fruit)
  Avocado (not overly keen!)
  Lychee (nice but odd texture)

**Old - Beowulf
   Classic - Frankenstein
   Modern - Brave New World, Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

*** Vernian Process, Abney Park, TMWWNBBFN etc.

**** ???? Suggestions welcome!