Claire's blog

I’ve moved to Ireland now, but haven’t been posting as I don’t yet have internet access in my apartment – lovely though it is in every other way. But I’ve come back to England for the last few days for my viva (which was on Thursday). It was scary and nervewracking, and took 2 and 3/4 hours before they asked me to step out of the room while they considered their verdict, but I PASSED. So once I’ve made a few corrections, and been to the graduation ceremony in December, I get to put Dr. in front of my name!

I popped by my old lab after the viva to let them know the good news, but it had gone on too long and there were only a couple of people still at work. But a card and present had been left for me from everyone in the lab, along with an invite to meet them for lunch the next day, and my supervisor had a bottle of wine for me. Once I got home Mum and Dad had cooked a lovely meal (with chips!!!), and had a bottle of champagne waiting for me. The next day Rob was a little angel, and drove me back to Manchester so that I could have a drink with my meal. It was great to see everyone, and catch up with what they’ve been up to since June when I submitted my thesis.

Once we got back from Manchester we went out to the cinema last night to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I wondered what I’d think of it, but I loved the film.

Finally, I’m off out tonight with a few of the Notts Goddesses to celebrate new job and finishing PhD (although it’s lashing it down at the moment, and we’re supposed to meet in Market Square in about 40 min!), before getting on a plane back to Galway tomorrow.

I should have an internet connection in a couple of weeks, so I’ll be able to post some of the pictures of the beautiful beaches I’ve been revising my thesis while sitting on 😀

Blimey. Almost a month since my last post! Over the last month I’ve….

Finally finished, printed, bound and submitted my thesis!!!!!! That’s one thing less to worry about, at least until my viva on August 11th. Wish me luck.

Been to Galway for my second interview. They flew me out one night and put me up in the Westwood House Hotel (which was 4 star, very nice, and had a little bottle of wine waiting in the room), then picked me up the next morning for a day of giving a talk, discussions, interviews, and tours of the centre. Everyone seemed very nice, and the job is basically what I was doing for my PhD, but taken on a stage. And, I was offered the job! So I’ve now left the ranks of the unemployed, and have my first post-doc job at the NCBES at NUI Galway.

This meant going on a jolly to Galway with Mum to look for an apartment. We flew into Shannon airport, picked up a hire car, and drove up to Galway, which gave us a chance to see the countryside a little. We took the N18 most of the way, which is apparently a primary national road. It started off that way, but quickly became a little single lane road taking us through a succession of villages and towns. We were in no hurry though, so we sat back and enjoyed the ride. We ended up with an upgrade of car from the one we’d booked, but we were so grateful as the new one had air-con, and it was baking hot. Really meant we got to see that part of Ireland at it’s best. We stayed at the Forster Court Hotel this time, which wasn’t bad, but not quite as good as the Westwood House 🙂

We saw three apartments, and I choose the first one we visited, in Knocknacarra, and only 10-15 min drive from the university.

My windows are the top right and middle.

As well as the kitchen/dining/living room, I’ve got two double bedrooms (one ensuite), a bathroom, hallway and box room. The master bedroom also has a little balcony!!

The view is a bit spoiled by the building site at the moment, but in the distance you can see Galway Bay.

The weather was gorgeous, and the centre of Galway is very colourful!

We were able to look around Galway a little, and of course we had to take Willbeary with us when we went to sample the Guinness.

and they start the buskers very young here!

After visiting the letting agents to sign the contract, we enjoyed an ice cream on the promenade looking over the bay

So I’m finally posting about all the things I’ve been doing recently (postdating them so it looks like I’ve been updating regularly) while watching the Murray/Nalbandian match at Wimbledon. Currently Murray leads 2 sets to 1, and 3 games to 1 😯

Edit: 2 sets all!!! And Murray’s looking tired…

Edit: It’s all over, Andrew Murray lost, but he played superbly considering his age and experience. Now I’m looking out for Richard Gasquet, who I saw win in Nottingham.

I had a wonderful time in New York – shopped, did some sight-seeing, ate lots of wonderful food, walked MILES, went to museums, met some new people…. and I took tons of photos. I’ve not been through them yet, I think what I’m going to have to do is write posts and back date them to fit when I was in New York. It’s just that it’s kind of hectic at the moment – my thesis is this close to being finished, and I want to submit as soon as possible; I’m still applying for jobs, and I’ve got a second stage interview at the National University of Ireland, which means I’ve got a trip to Galway coming up; and it’s the Patchings Festival next week, so I’m prepping for that, not to mention all the other odds and ends I need to do (write to various people, sort out the black hole that is my room, etc). Hectic, hectic, hectic. Will post properly soon, promise.

Arrived in New York on the 13th, after a journey that was hassle-free but fairly complicated – I managed to travel by road, rail, monorail, air, rail again, boat, and finally I walked the last stretch from the Hoboken Ferry terminal to the apartment! The journey was easy, but I did manage to drop and break a bottle of whiskey that Dad had asked me to bring out from British duty-free at immigration on the American end. That’s going to be smelling nice for a while! Too tired to do anything much that evening, so I just settled into, and admired the apartment, and we sent out for food. Start sightseeing tomorrow.

I finally finished all 6 chapters of my thesis and got them sent off to my supervisor for a final read through. I’ve still got to make any changes she suggests, and I think she’s going to suggest quite a lot for the discussion, but I get to have a little break for a week or so now while she reads it all. Which is good as I LEAVE FOR NEW YORK TOMORROW. Can you tell I’m excited?

Last night the internet and TV connection went down, so I ended up watching Babylon 5 DVDs and working on the rug. This is an enormous latchhook rug we’ve been working on for years. Once a year or so we get it out and get another foot or so finished, before getting fed up of tripping over it and putting it away again, but last night I finished it!

As you can see, it’s a lovely day over here, and the cat is taking full advantage of it. I think she knows how good she looks against the grass in the sunshine

Finally, I was in Patchings yesterday, and got some pictures of the blue-tit sitting on the eggs.

The eggs will probably hatch while we’re gone, which means I’m going to miss seeing the newly hatched chicks :cry:, but they should still be in the nest when we come back.

I’ve been away the last few days at the Great British Bead Show in Daventry, where I’ve had a fantastic time. On Friday I did a course in chain maille with Jean Power…

Then on Saturday I made a wirework loom vessel with Sandra Wallace…

I haven’t quite finished it – I still need to make a base for it, and finish off all the wire ends. Then today I enjoyed a chance to look around the bead fair, where I was VERY restrained and only bought

and I DIDN’T buy any of the other lampwork beads I wanted, or the books.
And of course on Saturday night was the most exciting thing that happened to me this weekend. Each year I enter the BWG challenge. This year the theme was ‘In Full Bloom’ and I entered a flower fairy doll, using the doll I made way back in January – and SHE WON THE MEMBERS CHOICE. This is where the people who attended the GBBS on the Friday and Saturday got to vote for their favourite entry in the competition.

I won a rosette, a certificate, and Jane’s case from the Craft Kit Company

Before I left for Daventry, I had a quick look at the nest box, and we’re up to eight eggs

Rob’s been manning the fort at Patching’s this weekend, and he tells me that there are still eight eggs, and she’s spending a lot of time in the nest box now, so it seems she’s started sitting.

After being very good, and only working on my thesis for a while, I took a day off today, and finally finished Mopsy

He needs some embellishment – earrings, and I might dress him – but for now he’s all done.

At the same time as I’ve been working on Mopsy, Mum’s been working on Norman. She actually worked a bit quicker than me, and finished him before she went back to NY, but I’ve only just got around to putting up a photo of him.

The blue tit’s been busy – we now have five eggs!

Ages since I did a nest-cam update, so here are my latest photos…

These were taken on 10th April, and the nest is still growing.

On 17th April she’d filled up the nest-box so much that she looked much bigger on the TV screen. She also seems to have become aware of the camera, and occasionally hangs on the inside of the entrance so she can have a really good look at the camera.

By the 23rd she was largely happy with the nest, although she still brings in odd bits of moss and feathers, and throws out pieces that don’t match the decor

And today I was really excited to see that she’d laid her first egg (just to her right) She’s still in and out of the box throughout the day, and when she leaves she tucks the egg into the nest to keep it warm – which made it difficult for me to get a photo! At one point I looked up from my work to see that the male blue-tit had joined her in the box and was offering a titbit, but he was gone before I could grab my camera 🙁

Then later in the day I looked up and I think I can see two eggs in the nest now!!

So lesson 2 for Mopsy was released yesterday, and today I made the body, arms, legs, and tail. He’s only held together by pins at the moment – we don’t put him together and finish the face until the lesson next week.

It’s snowing! In Nottingham!!! I mean, we rarely see snow even in the middle of winter, but here we are with snow in April 🙄
Well, I guess it’s not that unusual, British weather being what it is…

So, I’ve just found out how to upload a new theme, which gives me a chance to get rid of the blue and white, and try something new. I’m also having a good look at the source as part of my quest to figure out how to write my own layout. So, I’m having a play, and trying out a few new layouts in the meantime.

Hooray!! I’ve finally updated my web site. It’s not as good an update as I’d like – I’ve got loads of content I still want to put up there (photos of my other crafty stuff, book shop, tutorials) – but that’s just going to have to wait until the thesis is out of the way. As it is it’s taken me all evening to give the thing a spring facelift, add a few more links, and update the ‘about’ page. It wouldn’t have taken that long if I hadn’t taken a strong dislike to the new colour scheme and background image I’d been working on over the last few weeks, and decided to completely redo them 😕 I’m still not totally happy with the colours for the menu and title, but I’ll work on them…

Thanks to those who have said nice things about Mopsy’s head :-D. It’s (not sure if it’s a he or she yet) a lot of fun to do so far, and I’m getting what I wanted from the course, which is to learn more about needlesculpting (and make a really good-looking doll!). I’ve done some needlesculpting with making bears, but nothing on this scale.

So, as I mentioned before, I’m taking an online dollmaking class with Ute Vasina, and the first lesson began on Friday. I wasn’t able to make a start on Friday, but on Saturday I sat down and made the head and needlesculpted it!

It’s been a while since I’ve put up any photos from the nest-cam, but I am still taking them. So here’s the update on our blue-tits…

These photos were taken on the 20th March, when the blue tit was still working hard on altering the shape of the entrance hole to the nest box. There wasn’t much nesting material being added to the box, but she was a regular visitor to the nest box, and spent her nights sleeping there.

Here she is a week later, on 28th March (Easter Monday, same day as the bear fair) – and she’s starting building up the nest in earnest now. What we find funniest is that she periodically settles the nest by spreading her wings and tail and wriggling hard – shake those tail feathers! 😀

And this is the most recent image I’ve taken. This is from 2nd April (last Saturday), and the nest is growing quickly. You could still see the bottom of the box when she wasn’t there, but yesterday that all changed when she brought in so much moss she bounced when she landed in the box! Watching out for the eggs now…

Young rabbits are already bouncing all over the place, and don’t seem to be too afraid of people, coming out during the day and only running off when they think you’ve got too close, or if you have a camera in your hand. You would not believe how long it took me to get this photo…

…on Easter Sunday. He would sit beautifully still for me, right up until I got the camera focused, and then he’d run away *sigh*

I know, I know. It’s been a while since I added to the blog, and even longer since I updated my website. In my defence I will say that I’ve been giving the site a spring face-lift, so won’t be updating until that’s finished, but I’ve been working on that for the last 3 or 4 weeks! I’m trying to push through and get my thesis FINISHED so that the jobs I’ve been applying for take me seriously, and to get it DONE, so I’ve been tending to put other non-urgent stuff on the back burner for now (of course, I consider my BWG challenge entry urgent, and the doll making class I’m taking :-))

Mum and Dad are back from NY along with Willbeary, and we’ve had the Easter Monday Bear Fair (which went very well, thanks. We may be expanding for the next one), and we’ve got them here for a few weeks before they turn around and go right back. Dad’s going to India as well in the near future, so Willbeary may become an even more travelled bear! They’re in New York for 5 weeks next, and I’m going to join them for the last week of it. It’s set me a deadline for getting my thesis done, as I would really like to get the thesis submitted before I leave. That way I can relax in New York and have some fun (all the bead shops!!!).

It’s definately spring in England – it’s been raining the last few days 🙁 But the blue-tit’s been filling up his nest box, and there were tiny rabbits hopping all over Patchings for the Easter weekend. I did get pictures, but my camera’s downstairs, and I’m upstairs, so they’re going to have to wait until next post.

Right. Back to work.

So it turns out that when blue-tits go to sleep, they turn into balls of fluff with a tail sticking out. Who knew?

It being Red Nose Day, Rob went to work today wearing a red shirt and with his hair sprayed red.

It’s a bit dark, and you can’t really see how bright it is, as I got up at SIX O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING to spray his hair before he set off for work. How he does that every day I do not know.