As a child I used to enjoy building, painting and playing with scale models. Airfix, Revell, Matchbox. Those were the brands that made the kits that would provide hours of fun and frustration. I mostly built planes. I think the first one I ever built was a Tiger Moth. It was a biplane, which was cool, but didn't have any weapons, as it's a trainer. Scale was 1:72, which is … [Read more...] about Trying my Hand at Scale Models Again
Storing and Preserving Surplus Fruit and Vegetables
My greenhouse has proven to be a success overall. I have made plenty of mistakes and I will be adjusting how I do things for next year, though I'm also working on making sure that I make full use of it during the "off" period as well. Over the past few weeks I've been able to harvest a growing number of fruit and vegetable from the greenhouse. Some, like the strawberries, … [Read more...] about Storing and Preserving Surplus Fruit and Vegetables
Making Bread With a Bread Machine
Last year during the peak of the pandemic with lockdowns and restrictions in most places the world started baking. Oddly I didn't. I did quite a few things during the various lockdowns, including developing an obsession with all things barbecue, as well as doing quite a bit of "grow your own" gardening. But no baking. One of the things I wanted to do was to get a bread … [Read more...] about Making Bread With a Bread Machine
Helmets Make Sense
This advert from the Danish road safety authority is masterful. Unlike the doom and gloom ads we get this one uses humour and is also just plain excellent: Very nicely done! … [Read more...] about Helmets Make Sense
Castles, so Many Castles
This year's July break is being spent in County Galway, close to Mayo. The cottage I rented via AirBnB is surrounded by fields and most of our neighbours are of the wooly variety. While I have spent a lot of time in County Clare since I was very young I've never really spent time in this part of the country so there's plenty of things to see that are new to me. One … [Read more...] about Castles, so Many Castles