beagling

As part of my dissertation research I went out beagling with someone a friend put me in touch with. I never saw myself in a million years going out 'hunting' but I actually had a great day - the hounds track an artificial scent rather than an animal. The Hunt Masters (the ones in the incredibly English-looking green jackets) and Whips keep up with the hounds on foot, so my day turned out to be 4 hours of chasing a pack of beagles up and down a field. I didn't get many great pictures because I didn't want to take my nice camera anywhere near this weather & mud so I've only got a few shoddy phone pictures but they give a pretty good depiction of what the day was like. The dogs were so cute - I met a couple called Pebble and Pembroke who stayed back with us most of the day - when I asked if it was because they were tired I was told it was actually because they're puppies and they don't really know what they're doing yet - so they just think they're running about in a field for the day for the hell of it. Fantastic.

mermaid mirror

This is my latest acquisition. I was having the most horrific morning on Tuesday - the 9am lecture made it horrific anyway but the puncture on the way back was the cherry on top. After dropping my bike off at the shop I was walking back to college (probably cursing under my breath) and came across this mirror in front of a skip. It had "FREE" written on it, so naturally I took it. I carried it all the way back to college and up 2 flights of stairs, and my arms felt it the next day. I've given it a clean up and now currently deciding where to put it. I LOVE IT. Friends think it's unbelievably ugly but I think it's cute. It looks like it was made by mermaids.

oops

Quite aware that EVERYONE has found this now due to a Facebook mishap (I normally just post this to family!!). Sorry for hiding it from you if you do actually enjoy my mindless posts and feeble attempts at pretty photos. I just started it when I moved to London for the summer to work and thought it would be a good way to keep my family up to date - they're spread across 3 different continents and it's difficult to catch them at the right time for skype/phonecalls. Speaking of family, this is my favourite photo:

From top left: Uncle Kevin, Papa, Dad (Craig), Cousins Iain & Heather and baby Megan.

scones

These were all taken at The Orchard in Grantchester. I felt very sick all afternoon after that mother-of-all scone.

Scone 1 - 0 Megan

santa clause

In an 1897 editorial in New York’s Sun, journalist Francis Pharcellus Church (anonymously) replied to a concerned eight-year-old, who had written to ask whether Santa Claus exists. This letter has rightly become famous—and inescapable during the holidays, when it’s printed and posted every year.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. […]The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. […]Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

From the TED Blog 'Great moments in letter writing'

I wish there were more people who got as excited about Christmas as I do.

βουκολικος

Who would have known that 800 acres of parkland lay 10min out of Leicester city centre? This had the potential to be a lovely & elegant Sunday afternoon walk in exquisite settings, if only I didn't fall on my bottom and then have to cut the walk short because I needed a wee. It was still magical though (real Bambi's and a park full of dogs) - and I still can't get over these Autumn colours. 

This misalignment is doing my nut in - can anyone help?

βουκολικος - 'rustic, pastoral' 

boom

We went down to Midsummer Common on bonfire night to see the fireworks - which were pretty damned decent - and then went crazy in the fun fair. Well, crazy was our initial intention but after deciding it was too cold to stick out the queues we didn't go on any rides and headed to the pub pretty quickly. 

Nearly-headless Nina..

The man taking the duck I 'caught' off my 'fishing rod'. Sadly I didn't win the enormous Buzz Lightyear in the picture but I am now the proud owner of a large inflatable Sonic Boom hammer.

And my phone did a pretty good job of snapping the fireworks too: