Project 52 - The Countdown to Christmas

More house decos up bit by bit - I enjoy taking xmas things out of their boxes.  They are kept in a storeroom which is a bit damp, so  not sure if I will keep them for next year.  I may recycle them to decorate the trees outside and then add them to the plastics waste centre nearby....

Below some decos of angels ( picture 2) I will keep forever, given to me by my sister as a Christmas present in  1999, 15 years ago. 

 

A watchful owl hanging on one one of the pine trees:

Freddy in the garden and a cone from one of the fir trees, sprayed with silver paint for decorative effect:

Another Christmas ornament chime hanging on one of the trees:  

The Christmas wreath has been placed high up next to the door this year, to stop the furbies from bringing it down in their mad scramble before their food trays are carried out of the door!

This week it has been a bit sad as  the one and only chicken we have seems to have suffered a stroke, or been severely traumatized by something, probably while we were out and about the last few days.  She literally seems to be on her last legs and can't walk any more and when she does, she is slow and painfully unsteady.  We have lifted her up and placed her in a more comfy position in an old bowl, under the very watchful eye of Freddy, who seems to be a bit lost.  

Chick News Update: 
Sadly this chicken is no more, and Freddy is on his own, very forlorn.  Last night he was up until very late, hovering round the poor chicken who was completely unable to move or even walk to her pen, so we put her in a special box with water and plenty of sawdust to keep her warm, but this morning, as we feared, she had given up the ghost.... This is the way of nature, and usually people don't get attached to their chickens, but we have and did, so now we need to think about Freddy and the fact that he is on his own, is not a good thing.  Do we buy new chicks, as soon as possible, but as he is much older than them, will this be a problem for the new chicks to settle down with him??  Lots of questions in our minds! This website seems to have some good tips :  

/http://rurallivingtoday.com/livestock/pros-cons-keeping-rooster/

Fluffy
Fluffy has disappeared....  It is now almost 3 weeks since he was last seen, after an almighty cat fight with one of the other Toms.  He once disappeaered for a whole month, and came back, a bit worse for wear.  We took him to the vet's and after a course of antibiotics, he recovered fully, thereby using up one of his 9 lives.  Hopefully he will suddenly re-appear, and we would be very relieved to see him again, so fingers crossed......

Only two more weeks til the end of 2014 - hardly seems possible how time has flown!

Week 46 - In Aura of New Technology.......

My wonderful mlearning course came to an end on Friday and I will miss being a student!!  I have always loved studying from when I was a child and just enjoy the process of learning something new.  This way, my life is always interesting and full of new experiences!!

I created an 'Aura' (interactive experience featuring an animation, video, or image) on Aurasma, an Augmented Reality site for the first time. I struggled a bit at first with this new cutting-edge technology.  I was an Augmented Reality newbie, and I tried my best, but it involved a little bit of determination and tenacity to get to grips with it. If you join the site and then follow JanetBianchini you can see my auras!!  An 'aura' is an overlay on a trigger = image. 

I learned that Aurasma is already being used in educational projects in schools and here is an interesting review of it by Edudemic.  

If you download the Argos catalogue app, you will be able to view some of its products in AR format. 





Link: http://www.aurasma.com/news/argos-launches-aurasma-powered-augmented-reality-in-app/

Early in the week, I created an action plan for implementing mlearning in my future teaching projects.

 

I had to create an Augmented Reality video farewell and below is the 'trigger' image I created with simple MS Word shapes.  I printed it out, put it on blue card, and then embellished the card with hearts, diamante buttons and pearls to make it something eye-catching and memorable!!

I even got Fluffy hooked on AR and this is his 'trigger' picture:

 

K was curious about the Aurasma site and promptly created an account and started playing around with it.  He has already created some amazing 3-D models, which move around, and the results in static pictures are below:

I was online quite a lot and I was checking that my webcam worked when I took this 'selfie' test screenshot.  I then edited it with Picasa tools!



Leaf Mulch
Now changing the subject completely (and getting back down to reality!), this week I have been collecting leaves, and leaves and even more leaves to make nice friable leaf mulch for spring!!  


I created a set of labels to add to old recycled compost bags and spent hours going round the garden with my tub and gloves.  We have an incredible amount of leaves all over the place, so I think I won't have to buy much compost next year!  I experimented with Word Art.

..and here are the labels on the compost sacks!!  I hope to add even more sacks full of leaves in the coming days.  They will then be left alone and forgotten until early spring 2015.  I will add the mulch around olive trees and my veggie plot.  This time I am cutting all the leaves up finely before adding them to the sacks, adding a bit of compost on top and then adding water to give them a great start.  This is something practical I learned from my 'Backyard Composting' book!

Also we have had a bumper crop of apples this year and I have been collecting them and will need to continue turning them into jams, purees, compotes, stews etc. to put in the freezer.

Finally, this week sees the end of my EVO Moderator Training session and it has been a great experience.  I have been commenting on some of the proposals for next year, and there is an impressive line-up in store, including Teaching Pronunciation, Using Minecraft and so on!!  All sessions need to be approved before they go 'live' in January.  I hope to attend the final webinar this afternoon.

That's it for now.  It's been an action-packed week, and I am ready for Week 47!!

Week 24 - Boots, Tyres, Toads and Land Work

Fluffy has been recovering from a few cat fights and he is now feeling a bit better.  Photo taken by K.

The kittens continue to have lots of fun and here's one with their mum.

 This one is very lively and mischievous!

...and is also known as the 'food sweeper' kitten!

It was very hot on Friday 13th and in this image, you can see 3 kittens and Olivia and Socks all having a cat nap.

That night I got a picture of the full moon but it looks a bit blurred....

Gardening..
One of the pot courgette plants in flower

K has given me some of his old CapoNord motorcycle tyres to recycle, and I have used them as a container for my Sedum plant below and more courgettes in the veggie plot!



K's old boots have been recycled and now they are unusual plant pots!

 
A very ugly toad caught in a dark corner of the garden.  He nearly scared the life out of me! He is so cleverly camoflaged, it was no wonder I didn't spot him.  He then proceeded to hop onto my pots, as seen below.  I have to confess I don't like toads at all, but recently the snails have not been visible, so that is a good thing a toad does, eats them all up!

 
This huge lizard was caught by one of the mummy cats to give to her kittens.  She is feeding them very well indeed!  I guess this is a lizard who had  an untimely exit.

The fields opposite are full of bales of hay, waiting to be collected by the local farmers.  The weather is very hot, in the 80s!!

Of course we can't afford a professional baler, so this is what my gathered hay looks like!  It was very hard work in the hot sunshine..

Only a third of the land has been worked on so far, but not bad in a day's work!  Before it used to take us a week or so to do the same amount without the cutter!

 My cap, garden sack and raker is all I have to do this sweeping-up job!!

Whilst out with K in our jungle, I came across thousands of cornflowers along the path K has created!  Their beautiful bright colour is so eyecatching. These are purple, as opposed to the usual bright blue, so I may be wrong calling them cornflowers....

 Naturally I picked some and added them to a vase!

You can read more in wikipedia about this flower-  Centaurea cyanus.

I have enjoyed working in the garden so much this week!  It was really high time I devoted myself fully to helping K out with keeping things in shape.  

I sometimes wonder at how life has changed, from being a city girl, to being a temporary land worker in 2014!!

Week 17

Nursing Fluffy back to health has taken up a lot of time this week.  He is getting so bored and he really wants to be let out, but his wounds really need to heal completely.  Even the vet said he was in a very bad state when he examined him, and we were worried he may have used up his proverbial 9 lives.  We were wrong, luckily, and now it is just a waiting game until we can let him out again.  

The weather has been very bad, lots of rain and again, my plants have had to be moved around a bit to avoid getting completely washed out....

We have booked a train trip next week and we are very excited!

It will go from Chieti, and then into the National Park to Cocullo for the Serpent Festival Parade, an age-old Abruzzo custom.  You can read more about this strange festival on Life in Abruzzo.
I am not sure I like the idea of snakes all over the place, but I am hoping to take some interesting photos and then I can add them here.  

I have learned a new word: ophidiophiliacs (snake-lovers)!

The grass has been growing lush and below is the freshly mown lawn with resident feline ambling across......

The figs are developing nicely...

The rosemary bushes dotted around the garden are also getitng bigger...

I throw lots of it into everything I cook!

Some of my containers below, I have to check them every night for snails, which I remove and throw back into nature... the slugs are added into the blue pot and then emptied out later.....

Some of my seedlings and young cuttings are getting ravaged by snails as seen below...... The many sticks are to deter the cats from using the area as a litter tray!  They seem to be able to squeeze themselves into such tiny spaces!

Below some more tubs, with Mini Me loitering in a suspicious fashion ......  You can see some cherry tomato plants right at the front.

We currently have ant invasions on a large scale, so I am dealing with this problem, again at night, when they are most active......

It is all go here, nature wise, and I am enjoying this chance to settle back into the gentle and peaceful way of living here in Abruzzo..... 

Below you can see Freddy and chick hovering in front of the door whilst it is pouring with rain outside. 

 
I have not attended nor presented at the 7th Virtual Round Table e-conference this year, but I hope to catch up with some of the talks as soon as I have a spare moment :-)

Week Eleven

Freddy 
......continues to follow me around every time he sees me.  I wouldn't mind if that is all he does, but unfortunately he seems to have something against me because he flies at me, whenever he can.  This means I have to be a bit vigilant when I go out to my cold frame, as he almost got inside the other day!!
He in fact did chase me and attacked me on Friday, and drew blood.  He caught me on my finger and it really hurt!!  Thankfully, K came to my rescue and managed to shoo Freddy politely away...

The Garden
A lovely few days spent moderating online and out in the garden inbetween. The weather has been beautiful and quite warm at times.

Below some form of weed, or is it a kind of ivy???  It is growing all over the place, and not sure if I like it too much..

I am converting an area into a rockery / shrubbery and this is the initial stage below:

 

Everything is taken from cuttings, and also plants I already have in pots, succulent offshoots etc, so let's hope they all start to blend in together.  The 3 aloe vera cuttings might grow big, so I will rearrange things later if necessary.

Another area below which I hope will be a rockery.  It is full of rosemary at the moment, but I'd like to introduce a few more plants.  I have added a tub full of bulbs my sisters bought me for my Christmas present and I love seeing them bloom in this spot.

Cats
I have found evidence of suspicious cat activity in this concrete tub, which contains my friend Sue's plant gift.  I am going to have to make it anti-cat proof by adding netting ALL around it to prevent them from doing their business....
I simply threw some old olive tree branches across it to stop them gaining access overnight...

My Cold Frame
.... is my new best friend and I am making it very cosy inside.  I am using egg containers to put compost in and add seeds, so let's see what happens...The top closes so it acts like a mini greenhouse.

An old shelf has now been converted into a simple etagere, so I can put 3 tiers of pots on it.  

The egg containers are going across the old wooden posts in the ground, so no space is wasted! 

Old cat and dog tins are now being used as seed containers.

The veggie plot at dusk. I have started to use bamboo canes to demarcate the different areas ready for planting next month.

Fluffy.......
... has been in the wars recently and has been fighting to keep his Alpha Male title. Below a rather atmospheric pose by Fluffy as he quietly contemplates life....

Other poses below with the jungle area in the background:

 He could be a fim star in the making, lol!!

Apart from all the gardening, and being online, I have also been attending a few excellent webinars in the Spring Blog Festival and have really enjoyed each of the sessions, including Marisa's, Shelly's and Sylvia's.  It is always nice to support fellow bloggers and members of my PLN, whenever I can.

Week 11 has been a lovely week, doing what I enjoy most of all...

Roll on Week 12!