Getting There

Blimey what a right going on I'm having getting my Uni application sorted out. I'm having to apply through clearing because I missed the UCAS deadline so this seems to have confused matters. Rang the Uni up and was offered a place and was told I would receive written confirmation within 2 weeks which would prompt me to send in my Clearing Passport. Two weeks plus go by and still no letter so I emailed the department asking what to do. Turns out I should have sent my Clearing Passport in two weeks ago!! Mis-informed or what! So I hastily bung it into an envelope and rush down to the post office before the last post gets collected. Hopefully I have got it in in time. Now I have to sit back and wait. Bloody bloody hell!!

The pleasures of trying to improve oneself.

Going headlong into the great unknown

Wow. What a difference nearly 6 months has made. I'm still pretty fragile and feel vulnerable but the old me is starting to reappear again to some extent. I've been accepted verbally on a degree course at Leeds Met to train as an Environmental Health Practitioner. Hopefully I should get written confirmation soon. I'm feeling confident but nervous. This is a big step for me to take in a completely new direction. The course lasts four years ( 3 in school and 1 in work placement) so at least I'll still be on the 'right' side of 50 when I qualify.

Went to a Friarage Re-Union last night in Northallerton. Its unreal to think that it is 25 years since I started my SRN training. Most of the group were there and everyone looks the same, just a few shades older. The next one will be in 5 years time so I'll be able to talk about my new career and life then as well. It was great to see everyone.

Ivy's Messier Marathon

I have created a new page on my website that will log the progress of my attempts to observe the objects listed in the Messier Marathon named after Charles Messier (1730 - 1817). Obviously these and other deep sky objects have been logged in other catalogues, NGC's for example. So to might things even more interesting I shall be including these as well.

February

February fill dyke

Be it black or be it white

This month derives its name from the word februare, to purify; or from Februa the Roman festival of expiation, which was celebrated through out the latter part of the month.

Herbs: Hyssop, sage

Colours: Light blue and violet.

Flowers: Primrose

Scents: Wisteria and heliotrope

Crystals: Amethyst, jasper, quartz.

Birds: Eagle

Animals: Otter

Deities: Brigit, Juno, Diana, Demeter, Persephone and Aphrodite.

Time to: Work energy towards the surface. Purification, growth and healing. Accept responsibility for past errors, forgive yourself and make future plans.

Ice Moon

So named as this is the deepest part of winter in the northern hemisphere, when the likelihood of snow and ice is much greater than other months of the year. This is a cold, dark month when spring seems a long way off, yet look closely about yourself - see the maids of February growing in your garden or along the hedgerow and woodland bottoms. Hazel catkins also start to appear towards the end of this month.

Hello 2008

January is here, with eyes that keenly glow,
A frost-mailed warrior
striding a shadowy steed of snow.

Christmas has gone and a new year has begun, thank god. Hopefully this year will be a bit less disastrous than last year. One can hope I suppose. Anyway a new year means a fresh start. Time to assess what a balls up you have been making of your life for the past twelve months and do something about it. Usual stuff - improve diet, take more exercise, give up the demon drink and try and use time more effectively.

The name, given to the month of 'January', is derived from the ancient Roman name 'Janus' who presided over the gate to the new year. He was revered as the 'God of Gateways', 'of Doorways' and 'of the Journey', later known as 'St. Januarius'. Janus protected the 'Gate of Heaven', known as the 'Lord of Beginnings', is associated with the 'Goddess Juno-Janus', and often symbolised by an image of a face that looks forwards and backwards at the same time. (Excerpt from Mystical World Wide Web)

Herbs: Marjoram

Colours: Brilliant white, blue-violet, black

Flowers: Snowdrop, crocus

Scents: Musk, mimosa

Crystals: Garnet and jet

Birds: Pheasant

Animals: Fox

Deities: Freya

Time to: Conserve energy. Work protection and reversing spells.

Wolf Moon

This is an old Anglo Saxon name that came about due to this being an extremely lean time of year. Wolves that roamed the British countryside at this time would have been so hungry as to overcome their instinctive fear of man and would enter the outskirts of settlements looking for food.

January Folklore

If a blackbird and thrush sing before February they will cry before May.

It is said that if you look through a silk handkerchief at the new moon, which has never been washed, the number of moons you see will be the number of years which will pass until you're married. But it is unlucky to see the new moon through a window.

Mistletoe was attached to the first cow to give birth in the New Year, so that all cows shared the same luck.

The first Monday of the year is known as Handsel Monday. On this day it is lucky to receive something: especially money, a new baby or new lamb, calf, foal etc. It is extra lucky to keep for a year any money received.

Fog in January makes a wet Spring

Rain in January - full graveyards.

Jack Frost in Janiveer
Nips the nose of the nascent year.

If Janiveer's calends be summerly gay,

Twill be winterly weather to the calends of May.

The grass that grows in Janiveer

Grows no more all the year.

As the days lengthen,

So does the cold strengthen.