The Sunday Muse!

Small "Panther" in the sun flecks!

Looking forward to spring!

 +Philip Spalding

This week has been the darkest of the year so far in the UK.  Dark  during the day because of the cloud.  Dark at night because of the cycle of the moon which ha made it apparently the best viewing conditions of the night sky.  We have had our astronomy "festival" on BBC TV Stargazing Live (may not open outside UK) with the comedian Dara O Briain (a comedian with a degree in Cosmology and Maths) and Professor Brian Cox current successor to the great Sir Patrick Moore.  As a nation we are captivated by these great televisual experiences.  We have even had Professor Brian Cox commentating on what to see in the Sun Newspaper (a British tabloid or red top) as I discovered while having a coffee in Deja Vu , local coffee shop that is run by local people.  Was almost tempted to get my telescope out (a Sky-watcher Reflector) but must be getting old as was a little too cold!

Looking forward to spring and the sun flecks starting to come through the leaves of the apple tree has started me thinking about vegetable gardening.  I have touched on this in previous years when blogging about micro-farms  or square foot gardening and green thumbs.  At the moment with snow predicted for tomorrow will probably have to make do with making vegetable soup.

The planning of the veg patch can start now.  The experiences I will relate in this blog as in previous years.  I have started an online learning community for Haverhill (Haverhill Online Learning Community or HOLC).  We have specifically marked in  a week for Urban Gardening on the Calendar of events starting the 11 th February 2013.  The Urban Gardening  page link will soon be available on the Projects Page.  There is a great increase in interest  in the UK in growing your own, with demand for allotments up in these times of austerity.  If everybody was to turn even one square metre of their back or front lawn  into a veg growing area we would not only reduce air-miles (and that's just the start) but also gain that satisfaction of producing our own food.  It does not even have to be a square metre even growing lettuce and salad leaves in plastic bottles tied like a terrace to a balcony wall can yield good results!

To finish off for this post then the new year's resolutions have been written.  One was to eat more Cretan/Greek food which I will do so once I have found my Cretan Cookbook.  Certainly I will be blogging more about the county that I love to be part of, Suffolk and it's great food and culture.  Will have to wait a bit for some more ducks to become available I think but you never know!      

New Year for the 2 point five age of man

Resolution time

Time of the year when thoughts are turning to the new year of 2013.  We have survived the Mayan Calendar predictions.  Saw a good pic on Facebook "If the Mayans were so good at predicting the future, where are they now?" or words to that effect.  The continuing austerity imposed in 2012  is according to the UK politicians starting to work. So here's to a more affluent time for 2013.

Top five Key "moments" for the UK in my opinion in 2012

1. Queens' Diamond Jubilee celebrations.  Not just for UK but for the whole of the Commonwealth
2. London Olympics and Paralympics
3. Signing of Better Broadband agreements across the UK
4. UK not getting involved or "taking the lead" in Syrian Civil war by sending troops
5. Continuing Bank misconduct exposure (not really one key event)

Top Five Tech moments for 2012 again  IMO

1. Rise of Android as the leading mobile OS
2. Google Plus Communities feature launched 
3. Start of first Online Universities such as edX and Coursera
4. Apple not winning all it's legal cases
5. Rise of Phablets and Tablets over Desktop PCs

Obviously there are a myriad of other events that have shaped 2012.  The defining  moments may change through time as their impacts are felt. 

The major personal milestone for 2012 has been the setting  up of Haverhill Online Learning Community. This is going to occupy quite a bit of time through 2013.  Have look and if interested join or copy the idea for you own local community!

Will resume normal content of blog from now on based on good food, well being and stories about my home county Suffolk.

Blogging through 2012

A year of Change!

The year 2012 is almost over.  One of the advantages of writing a blog is you start to record those defining moments.  At the time they may appear trivial or monumental but as you get past them and look back they become just what they actually are a series of events.  

In 2012 I have undergone some major changes in circumstances. I have sold home, undergone severe financial hardship, and managed to career change.  Both of which are up there with the top events in life of being stress inducing.  The major ones I haven't yet had in 2012 are bereavement (fingers crossed not to happen in next week), divorce (not had the marriage yet) and imprisonment (do not intend or am not aware of criminal activity).  So far then we are hitting the level playing field and cross country skiing rather than skiing uphill.

Blogs we have written in 2012 have included

• The 2pointfiveageofman blog (http://2pointfiveageofman.blogspot.co.uk/) which has now been going since the 2nd December 2010.  This was set up as reflective journal as a self administered attempt at CBT.   Good call to do this as we are in the position of going forward positively.  And there have been over 5000 page views.  Not too bad considering there have been times when I have abandoned the blog for months at a time!
• The KritiRecharge 2012 Life Long Learning Blog (http://kritirecharge2012lifelonglearning.blogspot.co.uk/),  a blog that has been the basis of my professional realignment to a sustainable work situation.  Along the way I have met some very interesting people via Google Hangouts from the Bank Street College of Education's Online Learning Collective.  Nearly 850 page views since it's inception on the 27th August 2012
• In the course of professional development I have set up the  the Haverhill Online Learning Community and the ukonlinelearningcommunities.org.  The uk online learning communities blog (http://ukonlinelearningcommunities.blogspot.co.uk/) has received about 350 views from 4 posts.

In total when you consider that most blog posts have averaged about 650 words and we have about 6200 page views for 196 posts, there has been  127,400 words posted and 4,030,000 words read.  At approximately 300 words per printed A4 page that is 13400 pages read and 424 A4 pages written. 

So onwards into 2013 and more blogging.  The only  intentions to create blogs being one for the  Haverhill Online Learning Community and one for my own personal business KritiRecharge 2012.  The name KritiRecharge coming from some thinking time on Rhodes http://2pointfiveageofman.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/2pointfiveageofman.html  and later Crete.  The idea of being able to Telework almost achieved!

Christmas is coming, is the Goose Getting Fat?

Almost another year over!

The last time I blogged about food was over a month ago!  A bit a year of change since the last Christmas since I no longer live in the house to the right.  Many things have moved on from January.  What will 2013 bring?  Probably more change! Will do my end of analysis a little later.

Been a really busy last month have been setting up some Online Learning Communities.  Trying to do some study with edX.  Oh and teaching a bit in the Isle of Ely!  Also taking on a  new role as an online tutor!  So really taking the bit between the teeth.  

Career change has now been effected.  The system we had in Suffolk Schools 2 years ago has changed whether for the better I will let the reader judge (a good article being http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/suffolk_don_t_blame_the_headteachers_over_poor_results_say_nut_1_1743219   ).  The school outside the control of the education authority to have made the most progress is Samuel Ward, my old school, named outstanding academy  for the year (http://www.samuelward.co.uk/2012/12/national-outstanding-academy-award/).    A little bit of pride for Haverhill since we have not had the best of press over the years, even the "great" BBC made the mistake (http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Jonathan-Dimblebys-downbeat-description-of-Haverhill-provokes-complaints-26112012.htm).

So Online Learning Communities, I have set up the Haverhill Online Learning Community  and ukonlinelearningcommunities.org .  Come along and have look for ideas for Life Long Learning!

Well have been working on the said communities since about 4 am this morning so will update the food blog later in the week!  Trying to figure out who has the best advice for cooking Turkeys, Jamie Oliver or the Poultry advisory board.  My money is on the producers board!