Dodder diary 7 December 2009

Wonderful light this morning. My walking is taking longer and longer as I take more and more pictures. Got a nice one today that I will use for Christmas cards.

The moon in the morning sky.

Winter colour.

Inspiring sky.

Little light shines.

Green, green grass.

Dodder diary Friday 4 December 2009

It’s a dull day today and the colours and textures stand out more as a result.

This particular spot is one where the reflections often taken on a surreal quality.

The textures stand out more on a dull day.

Long-legged Italy kicked poor Siciliy into the Mediterranean Sea. This is an offcut of waste timber from a tree that came down in a storm.

Colour and texture are heightened by grey skies.

Dodder walkers mark the spot.

And the township marked another spot up beside the weir more than a hundred years ago.

Silken water is foil for filigree branches.

Leaves snuggle up to the main iron gate.

The key to the park - I don't remember ever seeing this gate closed.

One of the herons was under the footbridge this morning.

Dodder diary Wednesday 2 December 2009

I have to go for the dreaded NCT for the car next week, so left it in to be serviced this morning and then went on my Dodder walk. My camera is acting up a bit so I took some of these on the iPhone.

The autumn leaf-strewn path has turned to winter.

Golden sun warms the bare branches.

Sparse twigs pattern the water.

Evergreens remain constant.

One of the two herons settles in his morning spot.

The other heron is alert and watching out for breakfast.

Lacy lichen littered branches spread out across the water.

The heron and the shopping trolley. Ah me.

Two different worlds side by side.

Dodder diary 30 November

Last days of autumn

Dimples in the water at the weir.

Magical morning sky.

Autumn burns out in glorious orange.

The last few leaves linger on.

Dodder diary, Friday 27 November, 2009

Battle of will between the heron and the cormorant

By some freak of nature, while the rest of the country struggles against disastrous flooding, the Dodder isn’t even covering the path. My sympathies to all of those whose everyday life has been destroyed and who are still battling to deal with the fallout.

The heron and the cormorant were in battle today over a spot on the Dodder where some fish were there for the taking. At the start of my walk the heron was making its pre-historic cawking noises at the comorant. On my way back the heron had been ousted and was further down the river, while the cormorant was victoriously in the choice spot.

Meanwhile, a plastic bag seems to have sculpted itself into a heron form.

Battle of wills over fishing spot between heron and cormorant

Heron spots something tasty

Cormorant dives under water to sneak closer to heron

Cormorant braves the heron's wrath again

Cormorant has stolen the heron's fishing spot

Plastic bag sculpts itself into heron form

Kindle review

Review: Kindle 2 International

I live in Ireland and have had the Kindle for a few weeks now. Overall, I love it even though there are many things that I would change about it. Would I buy another one if this one went missing – definitely.
Please note that if you try any of the workarounds I describe below it is at your own risk!

The Kindle costs $259 from Amazon.com. In addition, there are charges for customs and postage.

Good points

• Easy to read – paper ink works very well and there is no noticeable eye strain.
• Easy to turn pages.
• Easy to download free sample chapter from Amazon.
• Easy to buy books from Amazon.
• Most books relatively cheap, about €7.
• Easily fits in handbag.
• Print size easy to change.
• Great having a selection of books to choose from.
• If someone else in your household has a Kindle, you can share your book library.
• You can email text, Word and PDFs to your personal account at Amazon and they will be converted into text for Kindle and emailed back to you, when you can drag and drop them onto your Kindle (when it is connected to your computer via the USB cable).
• Some other file formats can also be converted.
• You can now drag and drop PDF files directly onto the Kindle without converting them.

Bad points

• Many Amazon books are not available to readers outside the US.
• Whispernet internet connection to Amazon store is frequently unavailable – although that may be the recent stormy weather.
• No cover supplied.
• Shipped from US with US type plug – come on!
• Cries out for touch-screen. It would make the space used by the keyboard at the bottom available for the reading screen.
• Cannot lend books bought to other people unless they are one of your four nominated Kindle users.
• Because there is no backlight you need the same type of light that you do for a paperbook. But a clip-on light works very well.
• No free books available from Amazon outside the US.
• Some PDF files are difficult to read on the Kindle screen.

Workarounds

Free books

You can get free books from Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page). They provide downloads to books that are out of copyright.  I have installed the free Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/) software that is genius at converting these books and uploading them to the Kindle. The format to look for is mobipocket.

There are also lots of DRM free books available at www.smashwords.co.uk where you can download the mobipocket version and use Calibre to convert them.

Free Irish Times, Guardian, New Yorker, Wired

You can subscribe to newspapers for a hefty monthly fee from Amazon. But with Calibre you can create your own newspapers for the Kindle using the newspapers RSS feeds. This does take a while to set up the first time, but after that they are delivered automatically to your Kindle from Calibre every time you connect the Kindle to your computer with the USB cable.

For example, I created a Kindle Irish Times by using the Irish Times RSS feeds for: Frontpage & News Digest, Ireland, Finance, Features and Weekend. And of the Guardian by using its RSS feeds for: G2, Features, Fashion and Technology

I have also subscribed to parts of the New Yorker and Wired.

Even if you can’t be bothered creating your own News links, Calibre has many of them already tagged and you just click and pick which ones you want.

I don’t read these every day, but when I have an unexpected half-hour free or at the weekend, it’s great to have them easily available all in the same place.
Calibre instructions are easy to follow.

Christmas cake: step-by-step in pictures

Step-by-step Christmas cake

I have made many different types of Christmas cake but this is the most reliable. I made three cakes yesterday and this is how I did it.

It is a fairly simple recipe and contains no mixed peel or cherries because most of my family don’t like them. However, there is lots of grated orange and lemon zest and some marmalade (without peel – I promise I’m not sneaking it in!).
This amount is for a 20cm square tin or a 23cm round tin. I usually use a sqare tin because it makes the cake easier to cut.  The fruit needs to be soaked overnight, so the cake needs to be done over two days.

Cook cake until it is light golden brown on top and all the mixture is set. If you put in a cake tester or skewer it should come out without sticking.

I’ll do the icing in a few weeks.

You will need:

• A 20cm square or 23cm round tin
• Greaseproof paper
• Tinfoil
• An electric beater – handheld or standalone.

In theory you could cream the butter and sugar by hand but I’ve never done it. It is the creaming of the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy that stops the fruit from sinking. I use a Kenwood chef for this.

Ingredients

• 770g sultanas
• 300g raisins
• 180g currants
• 150ml brandy or sherry
• 225g butter at room temperature (or 10 seconds in microwave)
• 195g Light golden brown sugar
• Finely grated zest of 2 medium oranges
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon (preferably unwaxed)
• 4 large freerange eggs
• 3 tablespoons of orange marmalade with no peel
• 350g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of mixed spice
• ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
• A pinch of salt

Method

• Put the sultanas, raisins and currants in a large bowl. Stir in the brandy or sherry and cover. Leave overnight.

• Preheat your oven to 150C/gas mark 2 (text only version of instructions below). Please note, at low temperatures ovens vary considerably. So make sure your cake is light golden brown and skewer comes out clean before you remove it from the oven.
  

Line the tin with a double layer of brown paper and then with greaseproof paper so that the papers comes up about 8cm above the rim of your tin.

Put greaseproof paper over the brown paper.

Cream the butter and sugar in a standalone mixer or with an electric beater until light and fluffy. This will take 4-5 minutes.

Use an electric mixer to beat butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy.

Beat in the orange and lemon rind.

While the mixer is running, crack an egg into a cup and add it to the mixture. When it is well mixed in, add the other eggs one at a time in the same way.

Beat in the marmalade.

If you have used an electric mixer it probably won't be big enough for the next step, so move mixture to a large mixing bowl. Gently fold in fruit, flour and spices – about a quarter at a time.

Put the mixture into the tin.

Smooth mixture down with the back of a spoon making sure to fill all the corners. If the paper is flopping down crease it back towards the cake - it will stop the cake burning.

Cook cake until it is light golden brown on top and all the mixture is set (don't unwrap until cold). If you put in a cake tester or skewer it should come out without sticking. Wrap cake in tin in foil and leave until completely cold. Remove all paper, then rewrap in fresh foil and clinfilm. Store in plastic bag, cake tin or plastic box.

1. Line the tin with a double layer of brown paper and then with greaseproof paper so that the papers comes up about 8cm above the rim of your tin.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a standalone mixer or with an electric beater until light and fluffy. This will take 4-5 minutes.
3. Beat in the orange and lemon rind.
4. While the mixer is running, crack one of the eggs into a cup and add it to the mixture. When it is well mixed in add the other eggs one a time in the same way.
5. Beat in the marmalade.
6. After this there is no more beating but the ingredients are gently folded in. Your mixer bowl will probably not be large enough for the next step, so transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl.
   
7. Weigh out the flour. To it add the mixed spice, cinnamon and grated nutmeg.
8. With a large spoon, fold in about 1/4 of the flour and spices, together with the fruit, into the cake mixture. Repeat until all is mixed in.
9. Bake for 3-31/2 hours until a cake tester comes out clean and without sticking. The cake should be light golden brown and all of the mixture on top should be set.
10. Wrap the cake in the tin with tinfoil – tricky with a hot tin, but the idea is to keep the steam in until the cake is cold.
11. When the cake is completely cold, remove all the papers and foil and rewrap in a double thickness of tinfoil, then clingfilm and then put it inside a plastic bag or in a cake tin or plastic food box.

Dodder diary 29 October 2009

Hi again. I have been out walking and snapping the last few days but didn’t get a chance to update the blog. Here are the pics.

I'm getting that bit too close and heron is about to take flight.

Too close for comfort and Heron takes off.

Heron mid-flight heading towards Rathfarnham bridge.

Heron further away on down the river.

Heron lands and gets comfortable on the opposite bank.

The heron on another day at rest in a tree.

Barrell perched on the waterfall between the two Dodder parks.

A solitary balloon floats against the current (not sure why must be something to do with surface tension).

Sun blazing yesterday – late October!

Trees reflect their graceful majesty yesterday.

Ducks gather in social mode – no chasing today.

Dodder diary 23 October 2009

Nice river, shame about the rubbish

The swirling water brings with it the rubbish from upstream. Not quite as bad as it used to be when there were plastic bags, still dampens down the pleasure of the beautiful river bank.

The ducks are beginning to think about the next generation and the females are doing their best to out-swim the males as they bounce down through the waves of the still agitated river. Every now and then they call off the chase and nestle in among the foliage and reeds at the edge.

One of the herons took to a much higher perch than usual in the trees, while the other one got right down to the edge of the rough water to catch the next meal.

Sun glinting through the leaves at the weir beside the footbridge on Lower Dodder Road.

Rubbish spoils the pure pleasure at the weir up at Rathfarnham Bridge.

This is the path that yesterday was covered in water.

Not so many people in the park today.

So that's where the idea for three ducks flying up a wall came from...

A foil bag takes hold of a branch.

Autumn colours spread at our feet.

Leaf still damp from the rain.

The heron perching higher up than usual;

While the other heron gets right down to the water's edge.

Dodder diary 22 October 2009

What a difference a day makes

The river path on Lower Dodder Road is almost totally submerged as it will be on and off all winter.

The willow stands patiently while its hair is washed by the galloping water.

Most of the river path on Lower Dodder Road is under water today as it will be on and off all winter.

The angry water makes an incredible noise as it roars through the weirs and any obstacles.

The tremendous waterfall is beautifully scary on a day like today.

Plastic bottles are the most common obeject among the flotsam and jetsam to be transported down stream.

The water pushes its way through every physical opening available to it.

Land and water, side by side.

The autumn colours are still here and the trees are unperturbed by likely flooding.

In the distance.