Watson and Crick

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Hannah

I was listening to a programme on Radio 4 the other day about Watson and Crick discovering the structure of DNA. Along with Maurice Wilkins, they received a Nobel Prize for their work. It got me thinking about who I’d like to give a prize to. Quite high on my list would be whoever invented the needle-threader on sewing machines. That is the work of sheer genius. Chicken wire is pretty special too. Then those kitchen utensils that have a little wedge underneath so that they don’t make the work surface dirty. Very clever.

For those of you who don’t know this is called procrastinating…

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Hatchings

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Hannah

This week at Little Owl’s nursery they have had some eggs in an incubator and it has caused a major stir. Every day the children have been able to go and visit the eggs. Each morning Little Owl has been desperate to get back into nursery to check on their progress. First the eggs started wobbling, then they started cracking, and then…well, you can see! Little Owl was delighted that one tried to nibble her thumb when she’d been allowed to hold it.

Such a lovely thing to do with the children in the lead up to Easter. As you’d expect in the busy run up to final hand-in, Easter has sort of crept up on me and now it’s Good Friday. Happy Easter every one!

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Spinning plates

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Hannah

Near the beginning of this academic year I remember posting about how five weeks of the term had already flown past. Well now there are only five and half weeks until final hand in. I am just about keeping all my plates spinning. I’ve dropped a few but nothing too serious (yet!). The house needs a good scrub from top to bottom but that will have to wait. I’ve forgotten birthdays (sorry Jess!) but I’m hoping to be forgiven. My hair needs a good cut but I think I might be getting away with it by wearing it up all the time.

I’m probably being totally delusional about my plate spinning skills. It reminds me of the time just after Little Owl had been born and we made the epic journey up to Edinburgh for my interview at the College of Art. I thought I was doing so well. Everyone told me I looked so well. The photos tell a different story however. I was well and truly haggard. Yet I look back on it and I’m glad; glad we did it and have experienced all we have in the last three years. So tell me I look well and I’ll pretend I do and then we can all look back at the photos and say, “My goodness you looked haggard.”

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Singing wrens

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Hannah

Although the countryside around us is covered in piles of snow and the skies are thick with grey cloud a little wren has been singing joyfully outside my window this morning. I’m always amazed at the volume that comes out of such a tiny bird.

Here is an illustration from a children’s book I’m working on at the moment. This little bear is very particular about how he has his porridge. Sounds like a certain little girl I know!

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Birthday cake

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Hannah

I looked out of the window this morning to see several centimetres of snow on the ground and quite a few more falling from the sky. ‘I really don’t have time for this,’ is what I thought to myself. Things feel so pressured with the lead up to the end of my degree that most of the time I feel fit to pop. Of course, the weather paid no attention to me and my human anxieties. It just kept snowing.

Here is Little Owl’s birthday cake made by my mother-in-law extraordinaire. It is whale from The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson. Snail is a jelly sweet. Little Owl thought he and whale were marvellous and we thought they tasted delicious.

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Comet Pan-STARRS

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Hannah

We have been scanning the skies for comet Pan-STARRS over the last few evenings. It’s supposed to be particularly close to the sun just now, so very visible. Not if you live in Scotland however! Low lying snow clouds have obliterated the horizon every evening. However, it has served as a reminder of a magical experience from school.

Somehow I managed to get in to top set in Science after my SATS in secondary school. That just goes to show how useless SATS are! I spent the whole time completely confused. Anyway, we got to go on a trip to an observatory and it was totally wonderful. We crept out to the mini bus on a clear bright night. There’s a certain kind of feeling to those sort of nights. I can never explain it. They are dark and bright all at the same time. They smell damp but feel cold and dry all together. There’s the sharpness of the air in your nose as you breathe in and out. Then there’s the marvellous excitment of being up when you’re usually in bed; especially in a rural area where the darkness of the undergrowth must be the deepest darkness you can find, filled with ancient fireside tales of fairies and sprites.

We all got to look through the telescope then they projected the night sky onto the inside of the observatory roof and we talked of the moving stars and planets. It’s a precious memory that will stay with me forever, a moment when the wonder and magic of the universe was laid before me and I fell in love.

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Lambs

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Hannah

This weekend we climbed up the track to meet the first lot of lambs who have arrived on the farm. The snow swirled around us in gusts. Goodness only knows what happened to spring. The lambs were nice and comfy in a shed full of cosy straw and their mums to snuggle up to. They were full of beans too, leaping up onto bundles of hay and bleeting curiously at us.

I had a go at a new pie recipe this weekend and it’s definitely worth a share. It’s a Cheese, Onion and Apple pie and is from an issue of Country Living but with my usual alterations! The pastry was made with oatmeal using 175g plain flour, 110g butter and a good handful of oatmeal. The recipe recommended using 2 tablespoons of water to make up the pastry but to my mind that wasn’t nearly enough so I added quite a lot more. I’d up the onion content too and go for 4 onions rather than 2. The recipe said to slice up the onions and boil them. Ugh, horrible – boiled onions! Reminds me of watery stews at school. I sauteed them in butter…much nicer. The recipe called for 3 Bramley apples, peeled and sliced, but I thought that was too much. I’d go with one, or two at the most. So, you layer up the onion and apple with crumbled Wensleydale cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg and sage, then put the top on the pie and put it in the oven. We LOVE cheese so I put in the whole 250g pack of Wensleydale rather than the 150g it said in the recipe. Hats off to all you vegans out there. I’d never have the will power.

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Flower girl duties

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Hannah


This is a wedding invitation I designed for my lovely brother-in-law and his fiancee. I can put it up here for you to see as the invitations have just been sent out to the guests. It doesn’t have the green border, that’s just there to show where the edges are. Little Owl is going to be a flower girl. She considers herself semi-professional now, after being my sister’s bridesmaid last summer, so she has specific requirements. On being asked if she would be flower girl she nodded thoughtfully and pronounced, “I need dress. I need shoes.”

Little Owl was given the choice of three beautiful dresses. We were sent links to view them online and, one being sold through Amazon, had a selection of other dresses in thumbnails at the bottom. It took Little Owl seconds to pick out the most disgusting, bright pink blancmange that she was just desperate to have instead. My brother-in-law’s fiancee has excellent taste but the same cannot be said for Little Owl.

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Firefly Magazine

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Hannah

It is with much excitement that I can post about my little children’s magazine. We’re nearly finished with the first issue, which will be out on 1st May. It’s called Firefly and it’s all about nature, the seasons, being outdoors and being creative. It’s aimed at children between 5 and 10 years of age. I have been working very hard on this for absolutely ages so it’s wonderful to finally be able to share a bit about it with you.

Here is a screen shot of the website, which is now live. I think I’d mentioned before that I’d been fortunate to be able to work with a great guy called John Truesdale from Heriot Watt University on the design. Now I’m working with possibly the most patient man on earth, Nick Cook, to get it all up and running. There’s still lots for us to do but it’s coming together slowly.

The website is located around an oak tree and as the seasons change the oak tree does too. Different animals and creatures come to visit the tree according to the timings of the year.  You’ll see it’s quite snowy just now and there are some snowdrops out. Please ignore that there’s a swallow there in early March! It also changes according to the time of day. The sun moves across the sky in real time and in the evening it is darker to reflect the night.

It would be great to have your support on this project as it’s a pretty big thing to be trying to do. If you like what you see please do tell your friends and family about it. If you do social media any tweets and Facebook likes would be most welcome! Visit the Firefly website here. Check out our Twitter page here. Like us on Facebook here.

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Fairy woods

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Hannah

Today was another glorious day in Scotland (sorry Dad, I know it’s still gloomy down with you). We headed out to a brilliant place called Pressmennan Wood, which is owned by the Woodland Trust. It’s not an easy place to find. We were well on our way to Eyemouth over the Lammermuir Hills the first time we went wrong. The second time the track got gradually narrower and rougher and narrower and rougher until we eventually bumped our way into a farmyard. Hmmm, not that way either then. We decided to ask for directions at the village of Stenton from two ladies sat on a bench in the sun. “Oh yes, it’s up that road there,” they nodded, “but good luck!” With such classic Scottish optimism ringing in our ears we did at last pull into the car park, only half an hour late for a picnic with our friends.

Pressmennan Wood is supposed to be one of the last traces of the native ancient woodland that used to cover Scotland. It is also one of only four true lakes in Scotland, the rest being lochs. I was teased for spouting this fact today because they all thought that loch was Scottish for lake. I can find nothing to contradict them on google so if anyone has the answer do shout up.

Pressmennan is also home to the fantastical Glingbobs and Tootflits. Their little houses are dotted all over the wood and the kids were absolutely delighted by them. I have to say that with snowdrops dotting the verges, and sunlight pouring in shafts through breaks in the trees I was pretty delighted with Pressmennan wood too. There was definitely a bit of magic about the place. The magic didn’t seem to work on Big Dreamer however who wondered if enough money had been left at the front door of this little house for him to buy a pint with later – honestly!

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