http://life-in-the-green-lane.blogspot.com/

new blog. sweeet.

plants

So. I am working at the Oxford University Botanical Gardens. I have a 15 month traineeship. I am about to start week 4. Getting the job was a bit epic. I applied last year but didnt hear back, so this year I volunteered four mornings a week for a month or two before the interviews. Result. 101 people applied and I got one of the two positions. stoked.
I am working outside until November. I'll then be in the glasshouses for 3 months. Most of the work I do would best be described as labouring. There is a bit of a mantra for those who work outside. EDGE WEED HOE. and that is what we spend a lot of time doing. I dont learn a whole lot doing this work but it is still fun and a chance to learn the plants you are working closest to at the time.
We also collect seed,plant, propagate, plant out, stake, water, cut back, pull out, compost, mulch. I am learning a whole lot about a lot of different plants.

Some highlights since I started working are the yellow orchid Calanthe striata
The next one is a Sisyrinchium macrocarpum. It is in the iris family but is not an iris (like fresias, and gladiolis).
Next up is a Celmisia from home. It is the first time it has flowered in the gardens (pehaps because the winter was so cold?) so I made sure everyone had seen it. 5 flowers in the end. Grandma would have been chuffed.
Next up is Canabis sativa. THC free (and grown under license from the home office) - the buds will probably be picked by school groups later in the year. We have a good crop on the go at the moment.
The next one never made it out to public view for some reason. It is my favourite at the moment and has been flowering for a month at least. The flowers are tiny but gorgeous. It is a Tulbaghia sp. but I didn't write down which one. I must do that.
Anyway. Hope you enjoy the first blog post for a long time. There will be more (of a botanical nature)

Helloooo
We are settling into live in Cuddesdon. It feels like home now which is good. I now have 5 students and have started teaching geography which is fun. The photography lessons are going well and my students are producing some decent results. I have been spending my spare time being enterprising. I have some kakapo cards for sale on ETSY. There is a link here, and I also have a photo for sale on Ebay. No takers yet, but we'll see.
SO I have decided to give half the profits on these to the kakapo recovery program.
I am also thinking about putting some other cards together so watch that space.

We have started the Cuddesdon Brewing Co-operative. Amanda and I co-operate and brew stuff in Cuddesdon. We have an excess of apples here so Cider is on the go. There were copious quantities of elderberries a while ago, so elderberry wine is in the bottle too. And Amanda is refining her skills at making Ginger beer. We have a 100% safety record with no exploding bottles or other associated injuries. The cider tastes rubbish but might improve. the wine which is meant to be left for 6 months also tastes pretty bad and the ginger beer is fantastic. We harvested some grapes so have got them brewing away too. Briliant.

This is obviously all part of the learning process for the oil free smallholding "the good life" life style we will be end up living when we come home and get our slice of turf before heading to papua new guinea (it could happen).

So. it's been a while.
We dont have internet in the place we are staying yet, but we should have on Monday.
Amanda and I are living in Cuddesdon, near Oxford in the UK. It is where Ripon training college is based. THe college is a training ground for the church of England. That's right - I am going to be a vicar.... Just kidding. Our friend Lucy is training to be a vicar. Her husband (also called malcolm) works in London and they have 2 kids. So, Amanda is live in nanny for their kids, and I am there too. We live in a 3 bedroom apartment with the family, in a block of about 15 apartments.

Finding work in the UK was meant to be really difficult, but a week after arriving here I had an interview for a position as a photography tutor, and started 2 days later. Brilliant. I have 3 students and have about 12 hours work a week. It is fairly enjoyable and great pay.

Amanda has just enrolled to do a 2 year diploma in clinical and pastoral counselling through the glasgow based institute for counselling. She is doing the course through distance learning so can study from home.

We have had a few weekends away alead. The first, just after we arrived was to Skipsea, near Bridlington in yorkshire where we stayed in a caravan park with 700 caravans in it.

We have also been to Liverpool and Chester. We had a great time there.

So - I have been taking photos, and teaching about taking photos, and working on photos on my computer. I even bought a box brownie 2 from 1907 today. It cost all of 4 pounds so I am going to try a film through that and see how we go. It has 3 aperture settings and one shutter speed.

I think I have established pretty well that I can take photos of nature things up close with some decent composition, but that is a bit boring after a few years.. So I am stretching myself a bit. I have been learning about Henri cartier bresson. He is a bit of a legend in the world of photography and has a concept called the decisive moment. I have gone in search of such moments with my students and feel like I am getting the feel for it. These photos are a the two best. I have never been much of one for taking photos of people, but it is fun to try and try to improve.

Enough... Good bye for now.

So.
Amanda and I made it to Switzerland. We had a look at the grossmunster church where reformer Ulrich Zwingly did his thing back in the day. It was between 25-30 degrees all day - which was loverly. we felt like we had earned some summer weather. We took the train to Luzerne and through to interlaken, then on to Spiez on the Lake of Thun (Thunersee). It was an amazing rail journey. gto
We didnt have any luggage as it was left in London. So we are now at Le Rudli and it is a hive of activity. There are B&B guests, and 2 groups from YWAM staying here while they take part in courses (not run by the folks here). There are also 26 teenages and their leaders from the US of A who are on a YWAM work/training/camp kinda thing. they are scraping, sanding and repainting the outside of the Schossli. This is a huge job.
In order to get in to Switzerland I had to have proof of a return airfare or British Airways wasn't going to let me on the plane. So I got a fully refundable ticket at the princely sum of 800 pounds. Wow. Lets hope it refunds ok.
We are both delighted to be in summer weather and are loving being back in the northern hemisphere.
Anyway. I must get on with getting my 800 pounds back.

Malcolm

It's been a while

So. it seems I forgot you all. Actually I came to visit most of you. Last post paris in the spring. This post - Codfish Island in the winter. We went from paris to Switzerland, and had a great time. worked pretty hard and had a few days off. We then headed home to NZ with a stop in Bangkok on the way. Bangkok was fantastic and it was great to be somewhere warm. We had to go home as we intended to work int he UK and in order to do that I neded a visa. Luckily Amanda has a UK passport, so I am able to get a spouse visa. We got the relevant paperwork together, paid over $1000 and sent it off. why could I not do this from overseas you ask. I had to give finger prints so they could be digitally be sent to the UK, and I had to post things from within nz so they could be sent to aussie.
So back home it was. Now... we assumed that it would take a bit longer than the minimum time they said we should allow, but it wouldnt take the maximum time. It did. It took 12 weeks to work out we were married and were legit. we rushed around the country going to dunedin, Woodlands, Codfish, Steart island, Wanaka, west coast, chch, wellington, havelock north, palmy, new plymouth, back to wellington. Instead of flying out we changed our tickets and went back to havelock north, then back to wellington, then to christchurch., still no visa. we went to waikuku beach and lived in my sisters husbands familys crib and didn't have to explain our circumstances to anyone for a week. It was great. we then walked the st james walkway for 5 days, then rang the visa people - still no visa. we went and sat in hot pools at maruia for a few hours. Then back through christchurch, dunedin, and back home. We finally got an email saying the visa was on its way, then we were offered a months work on Codfish, and couldnt really turn it down - that being the place we met, and us loving it, and it being the biggest kakapo breeding season in recorded history, and us being a bit broke. So here we are. tickets are booked and we fly out of christchurch on the afternoon of the 14th of july then after a few days to recover from the epic flight, we head to switzerland. yay. I am in the process of working through some photos from the last 6 months so might get some of them up soonish.
That is a big list of what we've done - none of the fantastic times or dramas along the way, but maybe you already know about some of those. It is so great to be here with Amanda. enough said.
Yay

So
we went on a tour of paris. well.. some of it anyway. I didnt think the tour was as good as the berlin tour we did, but the tour guide had a more difficult job as paris has history which goes back lots further, and is a lot more complex than berlin. Interesting place though. it is just a great city. we have packed a lot in to this week. louvre monday, tour tuesday (and a sneaky wee museum in there too), Musee d'orssay on wednesday. It covers 1850 - 1914, bascially when stuff looked good, but was going a bit crazy. Then thursday we went to 4 churches. Listed in order of how much I like them - st severin, st eustache, then the sacrecoure, and last and least, the notre dame. sorry. I just dont really like it. I like the garden out the back. and I like the flying butresses (but st eustaches are much smoother looking). I guess I find it odd when a church seems to have little to do with Christianity. That seems to have determined the order in which i placed the churches. St severin is a small dark church that is quiet and has amazing stained glass windows . notre dame on the opposite end of the spectrum is just jam packed with kinda noise making tourists.
sacre coure is an amazing building.
I love cloisters. actually i love the gardens in the middle of cloisters. they are a better place to meet with God than in a church if you are me. problem is most churches dont have them. They should be in light coloured stone, have an ordered but messy garden, and simple gothic arches. The st severin has a cloister with sooo much potential. it has a graveled area and is missing one wall meaning people can look in and that if you are in the cloister you are not cut off in a little world of peace and tranquility. My favourite so far was at salisbury cathedral, but it had too much lawn and was a little too well kept for my liking. Utrecht was great too, but the church cafe looked out into the garden, which is great if you are in the cafe, but you feel a little too watched in the garden. Maybe it'd be different in summer when plants are growing.

i think gardens are great, and I am applying for a badly paid very exciting job in oxford as a trainee horticulturist at the oxford botanical gardens - which could be amazing.
anyway.. i got distracted. that was thursday... churches..
friday we went to the pompidou centre which covers 1914 - present day. some of it is terrific, and some is horrific. The dumbest thing there was the retrospective display on voids.....
In 1958 a fulla had an empty white room as part of an exhibition. he was making a statement similar to people who painted a white canvas.... ok I can handle that. Since then at least 7 other people have done the same thing for various reasons.... That is way less original, but ok....
The pompidou decided to exhibit all these works of art together....... 8 rooms which were empty (except for the legal obligations ... a fire exit sign)... That is just dumb but gives people something to talk about. inthat artical they refer to john cages musical piece where the pianist does not play for four and half minutes. good on john cage for doing that, but i bet it doesnt get not played very often. and no smart music school would put on a performance of all their students playing 4'33" one after another.... maybe i need to go back and experience the space on a deeper level. enough ranting.


Switzerland tomorrow..... very exciting. (and we go on a super duper fast train)