Tuesday 24 November 2020

Of dormice and oven gloves









I fell over in the woods trying to photograph fungi. I was exiting the undergrowth when my feet got stuck and the rest of me kept going out onto the path. I landed splat in the mud, with my camera plunging in deep. Sigh. The dog was bemused. The camera wasn't happy before the mud, it's even sorrier for itself now. But I have a mushroom photo, so I am happy. I LOVE all things fungi. Utterly fascinating, and something I wish I knew more about. One day...

I am pressing on with NaNoWriMo. At around 42,000 words for the month as we speak. It's amazing how much I can get done in November. Why not in all the other months???

I even found the time to eat a chilli the other evening. The middle boy and I were hanging out in the biggest boy's room, which is the nicest bedroom out of the boys' rooms, with a good view and a lovely big south-facing window with a chilli plant on it and space and no annoying sloping ceiling on which to bang your head, and he said, shall I eat a chilli? I said no, oh go on then. So he did. And he seemed quite calm afterwards, so I ate one too. It really wasn't too bad for the first minute or two. And then it was excruciating. Then the biggest boy came in to see what all the fuss was about. He can't stand spicy food, but you know boys and a challenge, so he ate one as well. Honestly, I think we are all barking sometimes. We have just about recovered now, but it might be a while before I make a curry.

I did tofu and roasted vegetables tonight and managed to set the oven gloves on fire. I left them on a hot plate and didn't notice. Then I put my hand inside. I noticed at that point. My finger will probably be okay in a few days. But I fear the gloves are ruined. To be fair, they were already slightly charred, from the day when I washed them, then decided to pop them in the warm oven after I'd finished baking something to dry them off because they're so thick. It turned out the oven was warmer than I'd anticipated and oven gloves are surprisingly not entirely resistant to heat. So they had a slightly toasted look to them before today. Now they are black. There was smoke coming out of the inside bit where I put my hand. Any recommendations for eco-friendly or charity contributing oven gloves gratefully received.

Did anyone see the dormouse story this week? Apparently a dormouse climbed inside of a clear plastic bird feeder tube, stuffed his face with bird food and was so fat that climbing back out was tricky, so he just went to sleep. When the people went outside, there he was, like some latterday Winnie the Pooh, snoozing, with his little furry face against the plastic. The birds carried on eating around him, although no doubt they were outraged.

The people rang the dormice specialists who said to gently release him somewhere safe. Afterwards I was listening to a podcast about how good positive news is for us. We should apparently pollute our brains with it. And I wondered what it would be like if the main news channels led with stories like this. An in-depth twenty-minute segment on the story. No aspect left unexamined. They could slot all of the other stuff into short 15-second announcements at the end, but the thing that would occupy our thoughts for the rest of the day would be all of the cheery dormouse news. Story here if you missed it.

Hope all is well at your end. Any good news stories we should know about? Feel free to share. CJ xx

17 comments:

  1. I loved the Dormouse story and even clicked through to see the photos.. and showed Dayle.. as he had read your blog hours before I read it. We're both your fans. :-) You are brave to eat the hot pepper.. I'm not a fan of super hot peppers, either. Have a good week, my friend! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  2. I too loved the dormouse story and agree news like that should be the main feature. We’re still having fun with mr raticus who likes making many holes in our flower bed just under the bird feeder. I could stop feeding the birds but that wouldn’t be fair.
    My family like to burn tea towels. They use them like oven gloves and are then bemused when they dangle into the gas flame and catch alight. Always very dramatic ;) Well done on the word count although not too sure about the chilli eating 🙀. B x

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  3. So muddy mishap, mouth and oven gloves on fire, and a fat dormouse- what more could I want from a post? Stay safe!

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  4. I agree that fungi are fascinating, but perhaps not really worth falling over in the mud for. Well done on NaNoWriMo, I'm sure that you'll finish with a flourish so to speak. I can't eat chillies, even mild ones. Your tale of the oven gloves had me smiling, and when I read the dormouse story earlier in the week it had me laughing.
    All is okay here thankfully. Take care. xx

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  5. I missed the dormouse story, so thank you - perfectly delightful and a wonderful antidote to the grim news that fills the headlines.

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  6. i really needed that dormouse story today....thank you <3 xo

    ps. gorgeous fungi photos and bloody well done on the nano front. xoxoxo

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  7. Beautiful autumnal photos - well worth a mud bath! I missed the dormouse story too, so thank you for that. Did you see the puppy being dragged into the lake by a croc the other day? Luckily its owner took it all in his stride, leapt into the water and wrestled with the croc prising its jaws open until the puppy escaped! We definitely need more feel good news. Well done on both NaNoWriMo and the chilli gobbling contest! Shame about the oven gloves though. I suppose it's a bit of a sad item to put on your Christmas list, but you might get a deluxe pair! Happy fungi foraging. xx

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  8. I stay clear of chillies now after having a bad experience where my hands burned for a couple of days. It made me wonder what they did to one’s insides.

    As for the dormouse - several years ago we had a similar experience with a field mouse.

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  9. So that made me laugh quite hard: the falling over to get photos of fungi (yes, done that!), the dare to eat a raw chilli (not done that yet) and the burning of the oven gloves (a family trait)! I can recommend Emma Waugh Creative (on etsy) for nice oven gloves and such.
    Loved the story of the dormouse. I agree - all news programs should have to start with something like that. When I rule the world, it will be law that they have to.

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  10. Lovely fungi and woodland photos. Sorry about your hand, your oven glove and your camera! Christmas list..? 😊

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  11. Wonderful photos, I hope you're ok (camera too) after the fall, I've done the same trying to get a photo. I also hope your hand is ok!

    I adore the dormouse story....looks a bit like me after scoffing a box of chocs x

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  12. Isn't that dormouse cute, all tucked up in the bird feeder? I think I'd like that myself if I was a dormouse. You guys are even more crazy than us, daring each other to eat hot chillies. I am a wimp with spicy food and would be disqualified for not trying. Our oven gloves are always a bit singed on the edges. We had a great aunt who used a silicon type oven glove equivalent, this never burned. We had one of those in our lab, too. Quite fabulous really but not so pretty. Have a wonderful weekend xx

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  13. The dormouse story has made my day! Yes, you are crazy but my sort of crazy, although I’m not sure I have ever eaten a chilli raw... I have boys who would though. My older two boys were always getting their younger their to eat awful things for the promise of 10p or some other measly sum... dog treats, earthworms, and cornflour to name but a few. The last one I wouldn’t recommend... it took a lot of water to flush out. I hope your hand is okay now... and your camera!

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  14. I had to pop over to the door mouse story as my children had a picture book story like that when they were little but the door mouse int he story used getting fat as a way to lift the plant pot a cat had put over him! Oven mitts from Santa then?

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  15. Eating chillies for dares? Sounds like something my crazy family would do. You should check out @goodnews_movement on instagram. It's full of wonderful stories.

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  16. Hi there, you might be interested to know that THE book about fungi, Entangled Lives, was serialised on Radio4 every day last week and can be now found on BBC sounds, absolutely fascinating and so informative.

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  17. Thank you for the dormouse story CJ. I think good news stories should be essential. If they had to make sure there was at least one for every depressing piece of news that would be great for balance.
    Jacquie x

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