musings by sarah

maths and vegetables

2009-11-07T15:45:00.004Z

My two favourite topics come together again! Look at this gorgeous romanesco cauliflower. Its florets make a fractal pattern. Fractals are self-similar, which means that as you zoom in on any section, you see the same repeating pattern as in the larger view. Fractals are quite common in nature. For example, pine cones and ferns both have fractal growth patterns. Also, on a map of the coast you can see a lot of wiggly ins-and-outs, and when you look closer and closer at stretches of the coastline you see the same wiggling line.

visit to Guildford with Geta

2009-10-31T13:44:00.005Z

Geta and I went over to Guildford for the afternoon yesterday. I have never been there despite how close it is to London, but I have heard frequently how lovely the historic buildings are. Below is a building called Abbot's Hospital, which is assisted housing for the elderly and infirm that was founded (and has been in operation) since 1619.

The highlight for both of us was Guildford Castle, founded soon after 1066 and used for royal accommodation for hundreds of years thereafter. We went inside and looked through the spacious (and draughty) rooms. We climbed to the roof and saw some amazing views of the town.

Geta was so thrilled to be wandering around the Castle. And taking pictures!

Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodgson) lived (some of the time) in Guildford. This little statue of Alice through the looking glass is tucked away in a nice little park near the Castle grounds.

galleries and museums

2009-10-29T09:55:00.006Z

Over the past two days I have been wandering around London. Just as I so much enjoy, I have been popping into shops (mostly used book shops), finding museums to visit, and drinking tea in cafes. For example, on Tuesday I drank this delicious fresh mint and cinnamon tea. Such an easy idea--it's little wonder I suppose that fresh leaves give a really vibrant taste when steeped in boiling water. I was at a little vegetarian restaurant recommended by one of my guide books called Eat and Two Veg.

I visited the Wallace Collection on Tuesday. It's a small, free museum in Marylebone that is less well known. But the rooms were beautiful and there are lots of important and interesting paintings there. I wasn't allowed to take photos inside, unfortunately.

I was quite taken with the fabrics in the rooms. Each room had a single fabric that was used for the curtains, the upholstery on the chairs and sofas, and also for the wall covering. (You can see it a little bit in these small pictures.) I wonder how difficult it is to hang walls with fabric. It was really lovely.

Yesterday I was walking around in the City and saw something that I think is so typical of London. Next to a group of office buildings there was this ruin with a little plaque explaining the dates and uses of this fort. There were lots of men and women in suits rushing past as I took this photo.

I went into the Museum of London, another smaller, free museum. I wish I had learned from past experience, though, not to visit any family-friendly places in half term. The Museum was very interesting but thronged with families and running, yelling children. I'm sure they were all enjoying themselves and relatively well-behaved. I just want a break from them. Sigh. I saw a reconstruction of a Roman pantry.

And here is a Roman dining room. This one is the reconstruction from a merchant's house and has vibrant wall painting (since the rooms were quite dark owing to poor lighting and a very small window). There's a small fire for heating the room in the bottom left of the photo.

Here's a monument outside commemorating John Wesley's conversion on May 24, 1978.

I met up with Bree for coffee after that, and we had the most delicious hot chocolate I believe I have had the pleasure of tasting at Manon cafe. It came with a free chocolate!

Barbican

2009-10-27T08:07:00.004Z

Yesterday I went into the city to see my friend Dave. We had lunch at The Cloister Cafe in Great St Bart's Church. The food was delicious and it was enjoyable to catch up with Dave. We had a very relaxing lunch.

Then Dave walked me over to the Barbican Centre where he now lives. It's a big council housing estate unlike any other I have seen. It's built above the streets of the area with raised walkways and communal gardens.

There's a lake with a small waterfall and it is very quiet even though the busy streets are nearby. I walked through the Barbican Centre, an arts venue which is part of the estate.

My main plan over half term is to eat in cafes. Cafes with friends, or with a good book, or with marking.

birthday

2009-10-25T15:48:00.003Z

I never knew I had so many friends! Last night we had more than twenty people over to celebrate my birthday with me. We had some nibbles and drinks, and lots of chatting and relaxing.

One of my guests (a maths teacher, clearly) said that he estimated that the guest list was one third teachers, one third Canadians, and one third church-goers.

Having so many well wishers made me feel really valued and special. I was so happy that everyone was able to come over and enjoy my entrance into my thirties with me. Thanks, friends!

loving London

2009-10-14T21:03:00.005+01:00

A couple of weekends ago I had the pleasure of attending London Fashion Weekend for an afternoon. Kirbie was lucky to go on Saturday and she brought back some free entry tickets for Sunday afternoon. I went with Pari and we didn't see any fashion shows, but we did browse to our heart's content through all the designer stands. It was nice to feel as though we did not need to buy anything, and just to enjoy all the weird and wonderful things. There were some stunning handbags, and both Pari and I were seriously tempted. But a lot of the clothes were so "designer" that I couldn't imagine how they could fit in to any part of my life. Pari bought a gift for a friend, and I did too. Other than that we just took pictures and amused ourselves with giggling.

Thanksgiving

2009-10-09T21:52:00.005+01:00

Canadian Thanksgiving seems to sneak up on me each year. A few times I have missed it by forgetting until after it has passed. Since it's not marked on any calendar here, it can be easily overlooked. This year, though, I wanted to host a big meal and this I did! But I accidentally invited everyone over one week too early. Silly me! In my excitement and determination not to forget, I didn't actually check (or remember correctly) the date of Thanksgiving. No matter, we had a delicious and thankful day anyway.

In fact, I was so excited about having people over that I probably invited more than I should have. We had eleven eating in the end (with one more who popped over for dessert) and we had a really hard time getting them all in the kitchen to sit down. We had to put our large desk next to the kitchen table in an L shape and a few people were a bit cosy. But that family feeling is a bonus, in my mind!

The night before I roasted two small butternut squash and then pureed it to make a pumpkin cheesecake. I made it last year as well, and it is definitely my Thanksgiving dessert of choice. The crust is made from ginger biscuits and pecans, stuck together with butter.

The other item I prepared the night before was the nut bake. It's a vegetarian main dish that is often served at Christmas. It was so easy to make with the help of my new immersion blender, which also has two mini food processor attachments, as well as a whisk. The nut bake is a mixture of cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, and Brazil nuts, layered with breadcrumbs, onion, and fresh herbs.

Ant and Matt were both a huge help to me on Sunday. Ant peeled about 3 kg of potatoes and ironed the tablecloths. Matt hoovered and went to the small Sainsburys down the road twice for emergency supplies.

I'm really grateful for the friends who came over to celebrate with me and share with us all the things for which they are thankful. God has really blessed Ant and I this year with new ideas and opportunities, and continuing health and jobs that we enjoy. We've grown in faith together and we've enjoyed getting to know our friends better.

busy life

2009-10-05T23:27:00.005+01:00

The candle seems to be burning at both ends recently. Ant and I have been very busy both at work and at home. We have been flat hunting, and it is so much more involved than we thought. Hunting to buy is so much more stressful than when I did our previous lettings searches.

And work is all-go for both of us as well. I feel a bit as though I am struggling to keep up with the pace at work. I think I may need to tighten up on my productivity at my desk. But I am so tired that often I don't much feel like pushing myself; I putter around and then go home at "chucking-out time". Then work carries over into the next day and things spiral worse and worse. Sigh.

Sorry for wingeing. I have lots to be thankful for as well. I will write about those things after I get some rest.

extended family

2009-09-28T21:45:00.003+01:00

Here's a great picture of my grandparents with their five children. It's taken by Paul (my brother) and based on a much older photo of Grammie with her parents and siblings. I think this is my favourite recent picture of my paternal extended family, even more than this summer's photo.

childhood revisited

2009-09-27T18:16:00.000+01:00

I have only a very few of my childhood books with me here in the UK. One of them is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Jodi and Ron Barrett. My copy (which actually has Micah's name scrawled moving upwards on the title page) is published in 1978. It's a story about the tiny town of Chewandswallow. There are no food stores in the town since the weather comes at three times a day and feeds the citizens. There could be soup, burgers, pancakes, or any food at all. It's a beautifully illustrated story that captivated me as a child. I have it here in the UK because I used to take it with me when I would go primary supply teaching. It was a sure-fire hit with young kids, especially because there were never any who had seen the story before.

Earlier this week I saw this amazing poster. They have made the book into a movie! I will have to go see it at some point. Hopefully it will be just as whimsical and captivating as I remember.

girls' night out

2009-09-26T15:03:00.003+01:00

Apologies for the dark photograph. All the photos on my blogs are taken with my mobile phone camera--I always have it to hand and it's easy to get the pictures onto my computer (via Bluetooth). It was dark in the pub when we were out last night, but we had a super time. It was really nice to be relaxing on a Friday night (though I was very tired) and out with friends. Bree is taking the picture. Next to me (doh--with my eyes closed!) are Helen, Holly, and Sarah. Nice food, interesting conversation, and a great evening with the girls!

like a boy in a chocolate factory

2009-09-18T23:11:00.002+01:00

Ant got a new phone this week and he is loving every minute of it. It's the HTC Hero (which runs Google's Android operating system) and he can't get enough of its big screen, web browsing, camera, music, games, etc, etc. He took this photo with his phone moments ago and emailed it to me from the phone! You can see me in the background, blogging, while he is grinning like a madman for the camera.

school routine

2009-09-16T21:37:00.003+01:00

It's amazing how little time it takes to get into the school routine again. Long days of teaching, lesson planning, marking, and cycling back and forth. I manage to make dinner, and usually do one household chore each evening (ironing, or doing a load of laundry, or tidying). Then Ant and I manage to watch one TV program or read one chapter/article or play online for a while. I do the dishes and then we are off to bed by 10 pm each evening, ready to wake up at 5:35 am the next day.

It's easy to think of the daily routine as boring or tedious. But it needn't be so, I am telling myself. At the Mennonite service a few months ago something struck me and I took notes from the printed prayer:

For the discipline of life,
for the tasks and trials which train us to know ourselves
and which bring us to accept one another,
we give you thanks, O God.

So I'm hoping to see my routine as useful discipline rather than drudgery. It's a chance to learn and develop my character. Thank you, Father, for all the ways you work in life, the quiet ones as well as the more obvious, loud circumstances.

tutor group

2009-09-13T21:20:00.003+01:00

I tutor a group of year nine students (fourteen year olds) and I've had them since year seven. They see me twice every day and I am meant to be their parents' first point of contact about all things school-related. I give advice and had out letters, keep communication between home and school open, and generally act as an advocate for my twenty-eight youngsters around the school. I try to solve their friendship and bullying issues and act as police for the school's policies and rules.

Do you think it would be crazy to read to them during tutor time? I thought of this last week when I was browsing on Green Metropolis, and I spontaneously bought a copy of the The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. There are lots of things we are supposed to be doing during tutor time, like checking everyone has all their equipment, all the socks are black or grey or white, all the skirts are of an appropriate length, etc, etc. But really I am re-thinking my strategy with them. I have been very businesslike for the two years I have had them as a tutor group and now I want to forge a bit more of a relationship with them. Ideas certainly welcome! I started off last term with a summer pizza party, where we ordered pizza from down the road and I brought in drinks (Coke Zero, to minimise the damage to afternoon lessons!) and treats. They enjoyed it... I think. I don't actually know them very well and I think I would enjoy them more if I got to know them a bit.

back to work

2009-09-12T14:32:00.004+01:00

Well, one week done! It was quite a tiring endeavour this week, to motivate myself and 155 students to get back down to some quality work. I am teaching a few new-to-me classes this year, for example, a bottom set of year 9s (fourteen year olds) that I am finding quite a challenge. I didn't realise how much detail I would need to go into when explaining how to round a number to the nearest ten, hundred, or thousand. Actually, I decided after the first lesson, that I'd better teach about the place value positions first. Because if you can't identify the hundreds digit, then you can't round to the nearest hundred. This was a hurdle I wasn't expecting! But now I know not to assume any knowledge in the future. We will be doing lots of times table tests this year, because if these students leave school with any functional numeracy at all it will be a benefit.

Organising my classroom, resources, and mind is always a challenge as well. I have made a lot of hands-on items over the last few years, and it is a collection I want to continue building. So over the summer I reorganised them by moving them all into stackable containers on a high window sill (more than two metres off the floor). The containers are from our favourite oriental take-away food restaurant, and I have been collecting them all year--now I have about fifty, I think. All the boxes are labelled on the front with large stickers; "rounding card sort" is new this week, and a class set of "digits 0 - 9" for use with my new place value mats (laminated 50 cm long grids which hopefully will help students see how to compute 236 x 100 in their heads).

I love organising, but if only I had more time to do it! As the week went on, my desk became the resting place for piles of worksheets, incoming mail, items that my boss asked me to look at, slips of paper, and so on. This mess was compounded by the fact that I managed to run over the bell with almost every lesson this week (I must be out of practice!). So as students were leaving the room, the next set were streaming in, and I was still madly trying to find my next set of slides, worksheets, feedback slips, cards sorts, and mini whiteboards, while tidying away the ones I had finished with. Sigh.

The weekend is a welcome break. But in reality, I might be better served by going to work and trying to get back on top of things before the madness of another week begins.

recycling

2009-09-05T16:30:00.004+01:00

I recently rediscovered the joys of my local library. It is very close to me and there is really no excuse for not popping in there quite regularly. As well as loaning books, they also sell withdrawn books and I like to browse through the two trollies of odds and ends there. Every few visits, I pick something up for 40 pence. In the spring, I found a little city guide of Sydney, which came in handy when we were in Australia. I get Ant some of his spy thriller books there as well. I also love used book shops and charity shops where I browse for books. I have signed up to Green Metropolis, an excellent online UK-based book exchange website.

The photo shows my new-to-me books books over the last part of my holidays. The bottom two books are on loan from the library: The Kitchen Revolution and Julie & Julia (on which the current film is based). The top two books I bought from the library's withdrawn stock: Reading Lolita in Tehran (which Bree recommended) and Cryptic Crosswords and How to Solve Them. And the other three are from used book sales and shops: Homestead by Rosina Lippi, A Cook's Book of Cheese, and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

So these are going to keep my busy for quite some time! What are you reading (or hoping to read) at the moment?

Oh, and I also recycle the books away again after I've read them. My charity shop takes them from me. (Sometimes I've wanted to buy them back months later when I find them on the shelves!)

Munich

2009-09-01T06:47:00.008+01:00

Pari and I have just returned from a wonderful long weekend away in Munich. It's a very pretty, clean city. The people there were friendly and I got to practice my German quite a lot. I could have stayed in Munich.

One evening we happened upon this quartet busking along the side of the main square. Busking! With a baby grand piano!

One highlight for me was visiting the Residenz Museum, the palace where Bavarian kings lived. There are so many rooms to see that half are open in the morning and a different group are open in the afternoon. The audio guide was excellent and the historical rooms were fascinating.

Another highlight was all the interesting food I tried. Of course, there was some Bavarian food, for example on Monday when we went to the Englischer Garten and had lunch in the beer garden. I quite enjoyed my bratwurst and sauerkraut! I even managed to drink (and perhaps enjoy) a half litre of Hell Bier.

Pari enjoyed the pretzel that is bigger than your head.

But apart from the Bavarian food, we ate lots of other cuisines as well. I had a meal in a Japanese noodle bar with Sutapa (Pari's friend). Then we all went out for a tasty Tibetan meal. The next night Bipro (Sutapa's husband) cooked us a Bengali meal (which I ate with my hands, in the traditional style), and then we ate Ethiopian food another night (which I also managed to eat with my hands). Ethiopian honey wine was delicious (although very sweet, and I needed help finishing it).

Our visit to Schloss Neuschwanstein was excellent as well. It's a couple of hours outside Munich. First we travelled by coach to the base of the mountain and went for a cycle tour to Swan Lake (Schwan See).

Then we hiked up to the castle itself and took a tour inside.

Oh, how I enjoyed Munich! I feel newly inspired to continue working on my German. I brought home some children's books for language practice and Ant and I read a few pages last night--slow going but very rewarding! Our German lessons start up again in mid September.

Schloss Neuschwanstein

2009-08-30T12:53:00.002+01:00

Here are Pari and I during our day trip to Schloss Neuschwanstein yesterday. It was beautiful. (More pictures and details later!)

new food blog!

2009-08-26T09:48:00.002+01:00

I have been reading and writing about cooking so much recently. It has become a real passion. So I have decided to start a second blog, a blog devoted to cooking at http://www.simplycooked.blogspot.com/ called meals with sarah.

To keep all my recipes in the same place and as a complete, searchable database, I copied all my cooking posts from this blog across to meals with sarah. This blog has not changed at all, but on the new blog I have edited the posts to be more food focused. Also I have made a new set of post labels, for example, desserts, bread, veggies, holidays, and so on, to make finding a recipe you remember easier and quicker.

I'm so excited to be starting this new blog. Please add it to your reading list and pass it on to anyone you think might be interested. As always, I value your feedback. Thanks for reading!

trip to Hong Kong

2009-08-23T16:49:00.009+01:00

We had a short stopover in Hong Kong on our way back from Australia. What a good idea! It turns out that our friend Pari has an aunt and uncle there, so we were really blessed to be able to stay with them. We loved talking and eating with them, so we actually ended up doing less sightseeing than planned and spent our evenings with them.

The weather was hot and humid, quite a change from Australia's moderate winter weather. It was between 30 and 32 degrees while we were there and mostly raining, or on the verge of raining. It was hot, steamy weather. How did Ant survive? you ask. All the buses, taxis, and buildings are air conditioned. So we walked a bit, then stepped inside for a bit, all the time we were there. Our stopover was two days and three nights in total.

One of our main plans in Hong Kong was to have suits tailored for us. We got these from Sam's Tailors, quite a famous shop in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong. Ant got a navy pinstripe suit with two pairs of trousers and I got a charcoal suit with a skirt and trousers. This was Ant's first fitting (only six hours after we ordered the suits and were measured). They were complete the next day by the close of business!

Sam's keep your measurements on file for ten years and so if we ever want another suit in the same style (perhaps in a different fabric) was can just contact them and they will make it up and send it to us! I reckon we will get Ant another at some point because his suit just fit so well. He could really use a new suit each year so that he starts to build up a collection for work. But I doubt I will ever need more than one bespoke tailored suit since my work is a little more relaxed. I often wear a blazer with any dress trousers or skirt. But this will be my best suit and I will wear it for interviews and parents' evenings. The suits have our names and reference numbers stitched into the inside of the jackets. Wow, that made me feel so special! Ant says he likes the way I look like I am breezing out of Sam's like a natural!

We had a great journey on a traditional Chinese junk boat.

The views of the Hong Kong skylines were wonderful. The city is bustling, but from the water everything seemed much more calm.

Ant and I discovered over the course of this holiday that our favourite parts were all the things we did that involved being on the water. We loved travelling by ferry in Sydney, and especially kayaking in the Sydney harbour. Last summer we kayaked in Halifax as well. We have decided to keep doing water things, and to try to sea kayak any time it is an option.

On one of our two days we walked around the flower market and the bird market. I loved the flower market. There are several streets of flower and plant shops. I wanted to buy so many things! (But of course, flying with plants is not really an option.) There was one flower and plant store that had four levels!

Down the road is the bird market. Since space is at a premium in Hong Kong and almost everyone lives in a small apartment, birds are a common pet. They are more valuable when they have a delicate voice. The rows of bird salesmen were lined up over several streets. (Pari's uncle said that since bird flu the bird market has become much smaller.) The bird market was very noisy.

The birds on sale were mostly very small and pretty. There were lots of vibrant colours. The stalls also sold dry bird food and live crickets to be fed to the birds.

This mosaic was on a wall between the bird and flower markets.

By this time Ant and I were tired and hungry, so we came upon a conveniently placed cake shop. Ant opted for the mini chocolate mousse, no surprise there.

I chose the mango coconut mousse, also not unusual since I always choose fruit over chocolate.

This was my favourite plant. It reminded me of one I saw at Kew Gardens with Mum and Dad a couple of years ago. The leaves are green on the upper side and purple on the underside. The little plant cost about £1!

There was lots more to Hong Kong we would have liked to see. But we tired easily due to the weather and our time there was really short. It was such a natural stopover between here and Australia and we would definitely go there again. A lot of people spoke English due to the ties with the UK (and the vast number of tourists and business people), so my main fear of being stuck and incomprehensible was avoided.

Blue Mountains

2009-08-23T16:27:00.004+01:00

Here are a few photographs from our weekend away (a couple of weeks ago) with Chris and Tamra. We drove out of Sydney to the Blue Mountains and stayed overnight in a cottage in a small village called Leura.

The scenery was beautiful as you can see. It was quite a bit colder there than in Sydney, especially when we went down to the valley floor, where there is a rainforest ecosystem.

We visited a beautiful historic house in Leura called the Everglades. The gardens there were stunning, from formal lawns and lines of trees to a waterfall and swimming hole, and also beautiful views off into the Blue Mountains.

The Everglades house is a beautiful art deco building with some rooms open for tea and others furnished in an original style.

We spent quite a lot of time just relaxing and walking around the village. We had cream tea at a little shop that also houses the largest private collection of teapots in the world. This is just one of the six or seven rooms lined with teapots.

Chris and Tam's son Ethan is now three months old and absolutely adorable. Ant and I were very impressed with his expressive face. Chris and Tam are such relaxed and comfortable parents; we think this has rubbed off on Ethan because he is a very relaxed and predictable baby.

kayaking

2009-08-10T04:21:00.004+01:00

Kayaking on the Sydney harbour was a fantastic experience. Ant and I would completely recommend it. We had a private tour that started at 6:30 am with Patrick from Natural Wanders. Our paddle took us from Lavender Bay, under the Harbour Bridge (avoiding the ferries) and along the shoreline of Kirribilli then around Kirribilli Point opposite the Opera House.

We paddled past Admiralty House (the Governor General's residence) and Kirribilli House (Prime Minister's residence) the along to Neutral Bay. In Neutral Bay we looked at some famous racing yachts and followed the shoreline around Kurabba Point into Shell Cove then along Cremorne Peninsula and around the lighthouse at Robertson Point into Mosman Bay.

After our paddle around Mosman Bay we took a more direct route across the harbour back to Lavender Bay. In total we paddled 12 km. Here we are, tired and happy, returning under the bridge.

the zoo

2009-08-06T12:10:00.007+01:00

Ant, Micah, Anna, and I went to the Taronga Zoo today. Micah's favourite were the giraffes. See how the two giraffes (above) both have their back legs crossed? I am not sure why they do this, but we saw that they all did this while standing still. They are so elegant in the way they walk as well.

The giraffe has one more leg joint than we do and this means they can bend over their front legs. This one is doing the splits to reach something on the ground!

These stately sheep were completely motionless.

Micah says it is a differential equations problem to explain the formation of the stripes on the zebra. Even the hair running down their necks fits in with the stripes.

Ant took a break with this huge seal (statue).

There was an Australian habitat, where you could walk right alongside the kangaroos and wallabies. They were very docile.

We also saw lots of animals that were much more difficult to photograph, like the echidnas, my favourite. They are little balls of spikes with a snuffling snout.

the Sydney harbour

2009-08-05T11:36:00.007+01:00

A lot of the sight seeing we have been doing centres on the harbour; it is so beautiful! On Saturday Micah and Anna took us to Manly Beach. We went there on the ferry and then we bought some fish and chips and walked along the beach. It is not really warm enough for swimming but there were quite a few people surfing. When we were coming home on the ferry the sun was setting.

Today Ant and I went out for a walk; first we took the train to Circular Quay, where all the ferry wharfs are. The best view of the harbour, Micah says, is to be had from the train station. The view here is from across the platform.

We then took a ferry to Cremorne Point and started to walk along the point. We saw some stunning buildings and very lovely gardens. We saw these beautiful flowers.

And we also saw lots of sailing boats.

And to finish, here is a photo unrelated to the harbour. On Saturday evening we went for a very enjoyable game of Australian rules football at the Sydney cricket ground. It was so much fun! I was astounded. The game was very close and we all lost our voices from cheering and hooting.

Sydney sight seeing

2009-08-03T12:51:00.003+01:00

Ant and I have been out several times now to the city. Last week we went into the city and stopped at David Jones foodhall (a posh department store) for a picnic, which we took to the Botanic Gardens near the Opera House. We really enjoyed walking around the Opera House and the harbour and seeing the bridge nearby. Then we walked around the Rocks area of Sydney and then over the bridge. From the bridge we got this great view of the Opera House.

The bridge walk was really excellent--a nice brisk walk with great views. We felt pleasantly energetic afterwards. (We have not been sight seeing every day. On other days we have been relaxed and not doing too much at home with Micah and Anna!)