1000 Fields of Roses

Let There Be Cake!

I don’t usually do any study on Sundays (and I haven’t really today..) but I saw this “cell” cake on a failblog site yesterday…

How cool is that? 😀
There’s the nucleus in the middle, containing the nucleolus, and the chromatin, before it coils and condenses into chromosomes…. the organelles are “floating” around in the cytosol, including both rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, the golgi complex, and I think I can see ribosomes and lysosomes…

Perhaps I should complete all my anatomy/physiology assignments (from now on) by providing explanatory cake?

Sweet! 😀

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on May 5, 2013 at 10:10 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: anatomy, cake, cell

A Boy And His Atom

I’ve been seeing this around… the world’s smallest stop motion film..
.. IBM researchers used a scanning tunneling microscope to move thousands of carbon monoxide molecules..

Cute 😀

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on May 4, 2013 at 10:17 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: nanophysics, science, stop motion animation

Moving/Music

I was reading today about the way music moves us, and some of the research into “why”. Music touches deep emotions in us.. the study found that “musicians read emotions better than non-musicians”, and that “brain regions stimulated by food, sex and love also light up when we listen to music”…

I enjoy watching footage of various flash mobs – groups of people suddenly acting out some sort of musical at your local train station/food court/shopping centre. They often start in a seemingly random manner, but are usually highly choreographed and rehearsed..

This was the first one I saw – it was actually put together for a commercial – but wonderful!

There would have been a lot of work put into that…

I posted one here a while back… and here’s another.

The looks on the children’s faces! 😀 Music and community together – smoothing out the differences, even if just for a few moments..

This one is not the most cohesive of them all… but see that random bloke? He apparently wasn’t connected to the group at all. He just saw a mob of people dancing and decided it looked like so much fun, he just had to join in. He seems a bit bewildered that everyone else knows the steps and he doesn’t… but he perseveres. I think he does quite well, really..

I LOVE LUNCH!! 😀

.. of course, it’s not all music..

Why not finish with the Hallelujah Chorus? 😀

In amongst all of these, there are glimpses of people taken out of the expected routine of their “everyday”… inspired to just step past self consciousness, and sing, or dance – even if it’s just jiggling on the spot..

Lovely! 😀

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on May 3, 2013 at 10:31 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: flash mob

Time For Tea?

This is my new kettle..

IT”S PINK!!! 😀

Published in:

Simple life...

on May 3, 2013 at 8:07 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: kettle, pink

Festival

Went to the Ipswich Festival this afternoon, starting with the parade..

Littlest boy waiting for the parade to start.

Lots of people in town today..

The theme was Fairytales…

There were balloons..

..old bikes..

… and a dragon. Because, why not?

After the parade we caught up with some people we met last year, who happened to be in town and unexpectedly contacted us to meet up. They didn’t realise it was the festival.. we had an enjoyable evening, sharing pizza and catching up..
There were various attractions dotted about the mall, including “living statues”..

.. but this made my day!

ooooo-weee-oooooooo!

Another view. Just because.. 😀

Now, sometimes when I see the Tardis, there’s a little voice in my head that says, “THE ANGELS HAVE THE PHONE BOX!”
That’s OK, though, because there’s no sign of…

DON’T BLINK!!

Here’s the Angel in action…

There was a not-quite cyberwoman on a segway..

Because Ipswich is cool that way..

One of the friends we met up with bought a lightsaber, which gave me my last photo of the night.

There’s really nothing left to say..

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Adventure

on April 27, 2013 at 10:11 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: dOCTOR Who, festival, living statues, Tardis, weeping angel

Family Day

Anzac Day – not a celebration of war, but a remembrance.. when we remember and honour those who went to war, and never returned.. We also honour those who came back, broken and torn, those who could no longer navigate the world with peace of mind.. those who saw friends fall, and felt the guilt of still being alive. We honour the families who waited, and who sometimes waited in vain… and we remember and honour those who are in war zones right now, or who are training in readiness.

We didn’t get to the march today, and I feel a little guilty about that, but today we pulled the curtains, stayed in our pyjamas, made popcorn, and spent the morning snuggled on the sofa watching DVDs.. Today we just wanted to spend together as a family, enjoying time together, remembering the good that can still be found in this world.

We watched Prince Caspian, from C.S.Lewis’ Narnia series.. here’s a montage, with the final song from the movie..

Why do we love to watch such fantasies – why do they tug at our hearts? Perhaps they tap into a place deep within us – a place where we have been given a memory, or a glimpse of eternity – that there’s something more..

I believe in a Saviour, who made a way for us to get back to God – to the place we were always meant to be.. I believe that when we watch movies, or read books, where good overcomes evil and all is right in the end, that those stories sound an echo in our hearts, that all will be well, and there is a way home.Even in the greatest darkness, there is still the capacity for light..

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on April 25, 2013 at 7:00 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Anzac Day, C.S.Lewis, Eternity, Prince Caspian, Remembrance

Adrian – Ups And Downs

I’m procrastinating again, trying to find something interesting to while away the hours.. I googled Adrian Plass, who is a writer who makes me laugh… and sometimes cry. There were various YouTube clips, so I thought I’d share them..

This one is basically a reading from one of the books..

Have a giggle 😀

This is pretty much an ad for a DVD, but it shows the “flavour” of the books..

Adrian is a writer of Christian humour, funny in its own right, but also a vehicle to get more serious points across..
He writes as someone who has suffered a breakdown, and depression, and as someone who stumbles and falls…
Anyone who has experienced depression will recognise this ..

Over all, he knows that “God is nice – and He likes you!” 😀

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on April 22, 2013 at 11:59 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Adrian Plass, Depression, Humour

Afternoon Tea

It was my Mum’s birthday last week, so we had a Birthday Afternoon Tea today… invited some of the family round, sat around and talked, met my cute little cousin-once-removed (?) for the first time … a nice afternoon 🙂 I wanted it to be pretty, but easy to put together –

I put together the cupcake holders, but we didn’t have anything to put in them in the end.. My sister made cucumber sandwiches, to the most authentic recipe she could find..
Pink gingham seems to have been a theme..

Salmon and cream cheese little toast thingies, and macarons..

Dainty-ish scones and jam and cream..

We set the teapots up on the breakfast bench, each with a different tea.. we had Green tea and Jasmine, Organic black tea, Earl Grey, Masala Green Chai, and French Rose and Vanilla.. My Aunt brought extra teapots, complete with cosies..

What a hoot!

The Birthday Girl! (and my sister!)

Happy Birthday, Mum 😀

Published in:

Simple life...

on April 20, 2013 at 10:12 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Birthday Tea, Scones, teapot

Learn To Play Bass Today!

After years of trying, and not quite seeing it happen, Hubby has finally published his first e-book –

Check it out here!

😀

Published in:

on April 19, 2013 at 11:25 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: bass, Learn Music, music for the passionate

Friday Night Coffee

The boys were back at their Youth/Kids evenings tonight, so we had a coffee at Urban Pantry and enjoyed the start of the crisper weather… I love the cooler nights, when you just can’t decide whether to put a jacket on, or not 😀

There were herbs and heritage plants to hide the traffic..

.. and live music to listen to..

Yes, I know that’s a very fuzzy photo..
This is Rebecca O’Donnell – check out her music (downloadable from her site) here..

We had a longer time to savour our coffee/tea.. biggest boy walked to his group meeting. It was a lovely end to our evening, and we got to catch up with friends, as well as chatting to various people..