Conservation skills

Conservation: The understanding that something stays the same in quantity even though its appearance changes.  To be more technical (but you don’t have to be) conservation is the ability to understand that redistributing material does not affect its mass, number or volume.

Conservation refers to a logical thinking ability which, according to the psychologist Jean Piaget becomes evident in children aged 7–12 during the concrete operations stage of their development. It is part of Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

We did this in my year three class today. (that’s second grade to my US peeps) and I am sad to say that I still struggle with this. I *know* logically that the short fat container is 1 litre and so is the tall thin container (because they are both clearly marked 1000ml) and yet, I had to run a quick test as I was gathering the materials for the teacher because I had a lingering doubt that it would work. The short fat container seemed so small and the tall was really tall. I did a quick test of filling the small one with water and transferring the water to the tall one.  Needless to say, it worked and I was secretly amazed because I was sure it wouldn’t. I am sure all of the rest of you over the age of 7 probably figured that out, but somehow I am perpetually in that childhood category.

 

At home I cannot judge the container size when it comes to packing leftovers. I am forever pulling out one that is too small or much too big but unlike Goldilocks I can never get it “just right.”

 When I was doing my teacher training we had to run the conservation test on three groups of children. The youngest were about age 5 and were certain that both containers were different and the same water would not fill both. Even after you showed them they still maintained the containers were different capacities.

 The middle group were about 7 years old and at first believed that the containers did not show the same amount of water, but after you showed them they believed and it. This is where I am. With the 7 year olds.

 The last group were 10 or 11 years old. They looked at me like I was incredibly stupid when I asked them about the capacity of both containers. Of course they were the same. They both held the same number of ounces. It didn’t matter about the size or shape of the container. Did I not know that? they seemed to ask with their world weary gaze. I tried to explain that younger people believed that the size and shape of the container mattered, but they were having none of it. Every child swore they had never been so naïve.

 

So there we are. Conservation. A skill that has passed me by. Sigh…..it is a good thing I work in year three.

An interview with a Cultural Teddy Bear

I just found this weird and funny.

Fruit Slut

There. I’ve said it. My name is Spidergrrl and I am a fruit slut. My recent obsession has been figs. I despised them in my childhood--our neighbour Ruby Hall had a fig tree and always offered me one when I came by to visit. I am sure my words were polite, but my face said, “gag me with a spoon.”  It was the texture, it was all grainy and gooey. She was forever hoisting jars of homemade fig preserves on us and I never ate a spoonful. Ah, how times have changed.

 

Recently we went out to eat at my favourite London restaurant Tibits. One of the salads had fresh figs that had been quartered. I ate one and it was *love* and first taste. I would like to digress momentarily and say there are two things I love about Tibits--the delicious fresh vegan food and the flocked wallpaper.

just look at that texture, waiting to be caressed

 As a child I had a wallpaper sample book (do they even give those away any more?)  I loved to rub the flocked wallpaper so much that I rubbed all the fuzziness off of it. When we go to Tibits I like to sit where I can rub the wallpaper with one hand whilst I eat with the other. Spiderman just gives me that *look*, but I pretend I don’t see him.

Anyway, since then I have been obsessed with figs. I have bought some every week in the local market--big bruise coloured figs with an outer skin like a bat’s wing and a deep russet interior. There is no other way to eat a fig but sensually. I like to stand by the sink and rub the soft leathery skin against my lips and cheeks. Then I slice it open and use my tongue to scoop the lovely, honeyed interior away from the skin. I tend to moan a lot when I do it because the taste is so magical. This is a true transcription of something that happened in our house.

Spiderman: (walking through front door) *whistle* (special whistle he uses to tell me “I love you/ I’m home“)

Me: Mmmm…oh yes…oh God…

Spiderman: Where are you?

Me: In the kitchen..Oh yes…..mmmm…..Oh..Oh….Ohhhhhh

Spiderman: What the hell are you doing?

Me: (sheepishly) Um….eating a fig.

So there you have it. A confirmed fruit slut. Now if only we had flocked wallpaper….

The importance of art and friendship

Last week I got an email saying that a dear old friend named Ruth Buckley had died. She was 92 and died peacefully, without pain in her sleep. She had retired to Florida after the deaths of her best friend Adine and her husband Chuck some years before. I imagine that it is a glorious reunion for them.

 

She was a hugely important and influential individual in my formative years. She was an artist--a *real* artist who had a studio in her own house. She also had this amazing bust of Nefertiti that I always admired.


She was this interesting old lady who travelled with her best friend Adine seeing all the great art and architecture of the world. As a child I thought they were joined like one person. RuthandAdine. Like it was all one word.  And they probably were not nearly as old as they seemed to my young eyes.

 

Several times in my childhood, I was graciously invited over to Ruth and Chuck’s house when Ruth was trying out some new art technique she wanted to share. I felt in awe of her that she--a real artist--would allow me--a kid who liked art--into her studio. She always played classical music as she worked, Mozart was clearly her favourite but she always kindly indulged me when I brought my Beethoven cassette. She encouraged me to love instrumental music and  *feel* the music as I painted.

 

Once we did silk screen printing using torn paper and earthy toned paints to create interesting abstract geometric shapes on paper and another time we dyed silk scarves in a variety of ways--whooshing the paint around by blowing it through straws or dip dying. I am certain there were other times, but those are the two projects I remember the most clearly.

 

Our artistic sessions were always followed by lunch. I cannot recall what we ate except for her delicious home-made pickles and Welch’s white grape juice which was like nothing I had ever tasted and thereafter insisted--nay, demanded--that my family purchase the same ambrosia on our weekly shopping trip.

 

What I came to realize as an adult is the gift that she gave me was time and creativity. She let me come in to her world and shared it with me, teaching me some technique but also allowing me some free reign to create something new. She was older and took and interest in a squirt like me. These days I try to do the same. I am “Auntie Heather” to countless kids. All of my work colleagues with school age children have happily dropped their children off for “play dates” where we looked at the spiders, did some baking, made some lip balm and body scrub and just generally had a good old creative time. When one of our former students was diagnosed with cancer, I would pile all my card making supplies in my trolley and wheel it over to her house. We had several lovely creative sessions before she died.

 It is really important to pay back the debt I owe Ruth Buckley. She valued me as a creative soul when so many didn’t. I have lost count of the times I was beaten up by my peers for daring to dream and be different. Going to Ruth’s studio was a honour. I was very lucky to have her as an artistic mentor and friend.

 

May it carry on.

Tarantula Towers

Tarantula Towers in the name we give to the set of shelves that are the home to our eight lovely spiders--Lily Rose, Blanche Dubois, Rossetti, Pirouette, Pippi Longstocking, Tibia, Polychrome and Frida Kahlo. Spiders make fantastic pets as you only need to feed them about once a week and you only need to clean out their tanks about once a year unless you suspect they are ill or you get fungus on the substrate or something weird. We try to get everyone a clean out in the summer when we have more time. You have to get the tarantula into the travel box--which for scared-y cats like Tibia can take hours--and then give it a good old scrub and dry and then get the tarantula back out of the travel box--again Tibia took hours.

 Here is a view of the newly renovated Tarantula Towers--thanks to Spiderman for doing all the work. All I did was watch.

you can clearly see Lily Rose climbing the wall

We decided on a few changes this year. First we decided that Pippi and Pirouette deserved proper tanks not just sweet jars with holes punched in them. We bought a new tank for Pirouette (one that opened on the front not the top to make getting in easier) and one small one for Frida then shifted some about. Rossetti got a bigger tank and Pippi moved into her old one which was slightly smaller. Polychrome is still so small she is housed in a sprouting jar with a mesh lid. We’ll get her an open in the front tank like Pirouette has when she gets a bit bigger.

 

Secondly we agreed not to add any fake plastic plants because spiders don’t really care --that fake greenery is really for people as it makes the tank look nicer but all they every do is cover it in webbing and it is a bitch to clean. Rossetti took a real dislike to her fake tree--dug out all the substrate from under her half a log hidey-hole, uprooted the tree and shoved it under there. It was funny to watch, but we didn’t know what she found so objectionable.

 

Then we decided to turn their tanks width-wise not length-wise to get more spiders on a shelf and be able to share heat mats evenly between tanks. Spiderman arranged everyone’s “furniture” --their hidey and water dish--so we could get a better view when they were hiding. We went round to charity shops and found several cheap ceramic mugs and little shallow dishes so everyone could get new furniture.

 

Lastly, we decided to go back to water dishes. We have gone back and forth with this idea--we used them for a few years, but were convinced no one was using them. Several dumped all the water out and then sat in the empty dish. What was that about? Who knows what a tarantula’s thinking. We tried bug gel--which is like water flavoured jelly (jello to my American peeps)  for a while as someone said their spider’s loved it and it didn’t evaporate. But again no one seemed to use it. We tried just keeping the substrate moist as we read somewhere that spiders can get all the water they need from the soil.  But the reading of some new books on spider care indicated that they really did need a watering hole so we did (except for Polychrome--she is still too small and could drown in a dish) and all the girls immediately went over and had a drink or at least splashed about. We got a really good shot of Rossetti having a drink with her bum in the air. Spider’s mouthparts are on the underside of their body so they have to balance on the edge of the dish and lower themselves down.


she has a bald spot on her abdomen

 I am glad we did it as Blanche has been seen sucking it down as well. Now that everyone has a clean tank spiders have started to mess them up a bit. Tibia did a big poo right down the front of the glass (that may have been a dirty protest for making her go in and out of the travel box) and Blanche has just strung up some messy clothes lines of web. Pirouette and Polychrome have quite rightly made little hammocks between their sticks as they are arboreal tree climbing sorts. Everyone seems happy in their new homes.

 

Well that’s it. That’s all the stuff we got done on our summer holiday. We’ll probably never be this productive again.

Notice me

Scrappy bits of paper used to rule my life. There were lists here and there and everywhere and you never knew where the one you wanted was. Need to write down broccoli on the shopping list? Sorry--this scrappy bit of paper is a list of things to buy at the hardware store. So you start a new shopping list only for someone else to unearth the original one after you spent ages trying to remember and recreate the first list. Then the swearing commences. Do you live like this?

Well, live like this no longer. You, my friend, need a handy-dandy adorable notice board.  I am a bargain shopper at heart. We shop at several different shops all about town, 3 supermarkets, 2 health food shops, the Tuesday/Saturday market and the greengrocers. I know who sells what and who has the best prices on things. I watch for sales and then stock up on certain items I know we use. My recent best buy was boxes of Merchant Gourmet vacuum sealed chestnuts for £1 a box--normally around £2.50. Mmmm…chestnuts.

Because we shop at so many places there were always umpteen lists floating around and you could never quite lay your hand on the one you wanted. So I had a bit of a think and came up with a notice board to hang on the kitchen door. Something to organise our lives. Take a squinty at this.

click to see me up close

I used scrap booking paper and my tried and true “ransom note” font of cut out magazine letters to make several spots for designated lists. I even laminated them to keep them protected. There are places for Waitrose and  Sainsburys (our biggest supermarkets where we buy the most stuff) a space for the market/greengrocers and the Health Food Shop. An etc for anywhere else we need to shop (ASDA or Wilkinsons) There’s even a space for the weekly menu. Let’s see what we’re having this week:

There’s also a space for when my library books are due back (they don’t stamp your book anymore--they give you a fiddly bit of paper to keep up with)

I made a handy receptacle  for recycled paper cut into quarters  and sewed a little felt holder for a pen and pencil.

I also put a monthly calendar space called What’s On so we can see at a glance things we have coming up to do and nothing gets forgotten. 

I think we paid less than a tenner for the board and Spiderman figured out a way to hang it on the kitchen door. I made all the rest out of bits and bobs I had lying about in my craft room. It has made a HUGE difference in our lives as far as organisation. If you suffer from scrapophobia (that’s fear of scrappy lists taking over your house not fear of Scrappy Doo--although I can completely understand the latter--that annoying dog with a the huge head gives me the shivers) then what you need is a Notice Board.

Quit bitchin’ in the kitchen

I admit it. I have kitchen envy. Whenever I go to someone’s house the first thing I do is check out their kitchen and sigh. Our kitchen is small and narrow--so small that most of the stuff is stored on shelves in the hallway. There never seems to be enough counter space when you want to serve the food.  I am foodie who loves to cook and I lust after a bigger kitchen. Spiderman made some sarky remark  about it being all about size with women and I fully admit, when it comes to counter space, that’s true.

 

However, I have to live with what I have and so this summer I tried to pinpoint things that annoyed me and try to fix them. I store all my food in jars in the pantry so when I was reorganising the pantry I decided to put labels on every jar to make it to make it easier to find stuff. I heard Spiderman mutter something about in case I suddenly got amnesia and forgot what rice looks like, but I just ignored him remembering the time he couldn’t tell millet from quinoa. I could have brought it up and shamed him, but I chose not to.   I also  bought a few things--mostly second hand--to make organising easier.

 

Check out  this little ceramic container with a ventilated lid to store garlic bulbs I found at a charity shop. This replaces my stick- it- in- a- brown- paper- bag- and- then- forget- where- you- put- it previous technique.

This little window box was meant for plants but I have put all my baking things in it to make them easier to get to. Also second hand. It means no more knocking over (and spilling) the baking powder when I am reaching for something in the back.

I found some basic coat racks at Poundland for £1 each and Spiderman painted them with leftover green paint from the Key Box and hung them in the kitchen. I sewed some hanging storage bags to store (from left to right) plastic carrier bags, yellow duster cloths that you use like a washable paper towel, small micro fibre cloths for more heavy duty scrubbing. Since we went paper free in the kitchen all those cleaning cloths were just jammed in a drawer making me cross as a bear every time I went to find one. Now they can just be easily pulled out the bottom, used and tossed into the dirty clothes hamper. Genius. There is also a coat rack for hanging  tea towels that looks so much nicer than the mismatched plastic stick on hooks we had been using.  Lovely-jubley. Thank you Spiderman for painting and hanging them up.

 

You can also see my black and white apron cleverly made out of tea towels. I got the idea from this blog. http://thepickledweasel.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/christmas-making-tea-towel-apron.html It was easy-peasy to sew and keeps all manner of food and flour off my clothes. Here is me grinning inanely whilst wearing my pajamas about to cook us a lovely meal.

you can see my Oz tattoo if you look at my arm

 

I also bought these adorable bags for storing onions and potatoes from Poundland for £1 each. They have a draw string top but also a zippered side to make getting things out easier. They are lined with blackout cloth so they really keep things so much fresher and they have a designated place to go, not just forever rolling out of the cabinet onto the floor. I ended up with four bags--red onions, white onions, white potato, sweet potato. But how can you tell which is which? Easy. I tied a scrap of red ribbon on the red onion and sweet potato bag to differentiate. Who’s a clever girl?

 

 

I also rehoused all my loose recipes that I print off of the internet into a big D ring binder and made a decorative cover because a pretty cover makes it more fun to use. FACT. You can see I used my favourite “ransom note” technique for the letters. It is a great way to use old magazines and junk mail. You’ll see more of this tomorrow when I show off the kitchen notice board.

 I also laboriously made a recipe index by main ingredients by collating all my loose recipes and cookbooks. It took about a bajillion hours, but it was worth it because it now makes meal planning a snap. Sweet potatoes on sale this week? Check the index for 2 pages of  meals that use sweet potatoes so you can use the 4-6 that come in the bag. Want to cook enough chickpeas for 3 meals to save time? Look under chickpeas in the index and choose 3 meals. If the meal also contains sweet potatoes (such as roasted chickpeas and sweet potatoes, red onions and peppers in a teriyaki sauce)  it will be cross referenced. There is even a section for meals that look good but are untried from new cookbooks. As we try them I can either add them to the index or cross them out as not to be repeated. 

 

I also rehoused my cookbooks into this red box I bought at Wilkinsons for about £8. Now they are all easy to get to. I also like being able to utter the phrase “Over by the hedgehog of course” when people ask me where I keep them. Isn’t that where everyone keeps their cookbooks?

the hedgehog doorstop is on the left

 Lastly, I did a bit of arts and crafts (or farts and craps as Spiderman used to call it when he was a camp councillor) and  embroidered this lovely picture of the vegan society logo to remind me what it’s all about--being kind to yourself, the animals and the planet.

 

Stay tuned for the amazing notice board.