Landlocked Mermaid

Final Friday Top Five Books Set At Sea How is it the end of February already? When did that happen? Well, we could get lost down the spiral of discussing time and how quickly it passes or we could look at a top five. I'm going to vote for the top five! I've recently read a really good nautical book so I thought I'd have a look at it and a few others which I have read. 5. Pirates! by Celia Rees Yes, with that level of enthusiasm. I believe this book was given to me for my birthday by my good friend Chloe. Or her sister. Or both. (Sorry Norman ladies!) In any case, I was about fifteen, so please forgive the foggy memory. It's a story of two girls, Nancy and Minerva, who - while coming from two very different standings in society - find common ground and common disgust with the way they are treated as property. Nancy is a daughter of a plantation owner whose brother is planning to marry her off and Minerva is slave from said plantation. Rather than le...

Recently, I've been feeling like my efforts to reduce plastic consumption have plateaued. Is this a good thing? Have I found my threshold or am I just getting lazy and complacent? Honestly, it is more likely the latter. Hence why I have made it a goal of mine this year to get back into action! Now, I have reduced a lot of plastic use across my life: I have more reusable cups than one person needs, I use shampoo bars, I buy loose fruit and veg, etc etc etc. So I had to look at what plastic I am still using. There are still items in my food shop which contain plastic - pasta, rice, bread, etc - I recycle what I can but I honestly feel like I cannot change this until the alternative is readily available. Our closest packaging free store is in Shrewsbury and it feels counter intuitive to drive forty minutes each way for our weekly food shop. All the good I'd do with no packaging would be undone by our carbon footprint! So that is another mission for another time, I feel. (Unle...

Marine Creature of the Month Famous Fish Piranha 3D (2010). Photo from Syfy Red Bellied Piranha: Piranha Ok, so not technically "marine" but these Amazonian toothy delights are iconic, don't you agree? Kingdom: Animalia Class: Actinopterygii Conservation Status: Not Evaluated (NE) WHAT ARE THEY? To put it bluntly, they are a fish. A freshwater fish with a laterally compressed body. They grow up to 50cm (20in) in length, but the average is closer to 35cm (14in). As the name would suggest, the adults sport a lovely red tinged belly. As juveniles, they are grey with dark spots which develop into a more silvery colour as they mature. Like with a lot of fish, they show sexual dimorphism - the ladies have redder bellies than the men. Their fins are black or red to orange across both genders. Of course, when we think of piranhas we think of lots of razor sharp teeth! (And that it's a difficult word to spell!) They do have a mouthful of teet...

A few weeks ago, my favourite YouTube channel SortedFood posted a video where two of the presenters cooked a Swiss roll without a recipe. As usual, it was all very hilarious and sparked an idea which had been mooching around my head for a while. I love Arctic roll. It was always a treat my grandparents would have in the freezer for when we visited. While living on my own I definitely demolished an entire roll to myself on more than one occasion. (Don't judge, you'd do it too!) Presently, it is a treat I deny myself because of the unnecessary plastic packaging and it is so rarely on offer. But watching the Sorted boys flail about the kitchen gave me an idea. I can make ice cream. They just provided me with a recipe for Swiss roll. Why not put the two together?! That's a good looking forkful! Was it genius or just plain crazy? Well, after the fact, I can tell you it was a mix of the two! I used this recipe as a base for my sponge and the ice cre...

Final Friday Top Five Mermaid Representations 5. The Mermaids from Peter Pan Picture from YouTube When picturing mermaids I, for one, always pictured a serene half fish lady with long flowing hair and a clam shell bra. (Thank you, Disney, for that one.) However, the mermaids from Peter Pan  are the exact opposite. While they have the look, they are jealous, vicious, and even attempt to drown Wendy. I think this has something more to do with Peter than with mermaids as they are basically fishy versions of Tinkerbell - the original sassy bitch. I mean, I was totally in love with Peter Pan as a kid too, sooo, move over Wendy Darling?   4. Ariel from Once Upon a Time The one with the tail. Picture from OUAT Wiki Once upon a time is one of my favourite TV shows. It's fairy tales gone wrong but sooo right. Robert Carlisle as Rumplestiltskin is incredible, Lana Parilla as the Evil Queen is a babe, and don't get me started on Colin O'Donoghue as ...

I am not the biggest girly-girl out there. I would rather sit in my jammies and play Final Fantasy than go for a mani-pedi. You know, that construct of femininity that society shoves down our throats. No thank you. Having said that, I do enjoy glamming up every now and then. I have some lovely make-up I've collected over the years. (I'm sure anyone who knows anything about make shelf life just cringed then!) At University, part of the going out ritual was getting glam; doing my hair, putting on my make-up, picking out a pair of ridiculous heels. Nowadays, I get glammed up for weddings and meals out. Because I don't do it that often, I have not owned a make-up remover since the last one ran out and I do not even remember when that was! However, in doing research for making my own beauty products I found out that aloe vera can be used in make-up removers. Praise be the holy, multi-purpose aloe! Mama Aloe before she got floppy Looking into it, there are make-u...

Last year, we expanded on the inflatable aquarium by introducing real fish. Not just flopping about in the living room, I assure you. But real, live fish in a tank. We started with a small tank and the few fish that came free with it. You may remember them from the tour I did of the tank. But my partner likes to think big and he had plans for something more epic. Change is staring you down! The plan: Make an aquarium with a land mass full of plants. Add toy sharks and dinosaurs, because why the hell not. Complete with running river. The land mass frame Adding the foam Testing it fits Painting it to look like rock It has taken him the better part of a year to make the land mass. It might have gone quicker if I helped, like I was supposed to. But a combination of struggling with mental health and an aversion to CDT made me more than useless. Just being in the garage stressed me out! And when asked on which would be the best materials and the ho...