i love juice

Its very mild for this time of year and I'm desperate for the frost to really start as it always gives that winter feel and a sense that Christmas is approaching. Myself and Thud racked off the first of our cider this weekend with quite a few little surprises. the clarity and the difference in taste between the different batches. Anyone would have thought we knew what we were doing as we discussed the readings from our scientific specific gravity reading. Later i took a little wander around the garden taking the last of the apples from the trees and just taking in the immense rich colour of the garden. with some trees keeping a firm hold of their leaves the change from green to deep red then brown is striking and even though no frost or deep cold this some how makes me feel festive. After this mild sense of contemplation is was time for the long task of scooping them up and burning.

I have recently been dabbling in out of date film both colour and black and white. Iv kind of got to grips with developing my own film but found printing to paper costly and time consuming so i recently got a negative scanner for ones birthday which cuts out both those factors and fits into what i want to do. I had My first attempt at processing colour film, something that most people seem to think complicated and yet its nearly the same at processing B+W with only a little more care time and temperature. I love using this out of date stuff has your never to sure as to what your going to get from it when you process it. the results have been great so far like taking your images back in time, saturating the colour and giving small imperfections which i really like. I love my digital camera but my film cameras have personality and their own style which some presets cant beat. These images were not touched or altered in any way and taken on my Rollie xf35, processed in my kitchen.

Yesterday the Stone Roses announced their getting back together, never actually seeing them perform when they were together this has made me very excited and will definitely be looking for tickets to go see them. I just hope they don't fall out in the mean time.

Iv been to San Francisco quite a few times and feel like i know the city reasonable well, and every time i return home and talk to people about the city and the Bay the first thing i mention is the Fog. The Bay has with out doubt some of the most amazing fog that you could ever imagine, and it is literally like a tidal wave hitting the bay stretching out in land as far as the cool air will allow before the Californian sun burns it away. My mother saw the bay recently and she finally understood why i go on so much about the fog.

The Unseen Sea from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

After a stressful couple of weeks I took Mrs Monkey out to our favourite Scouse Italian. What you can see there is an empty plate where my favourite pizza with an egg on once lay, no in the bottom of my tummy I feel complete. Roll on the weekend.
Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media

First Sunday roast since being back from the States but what makes it even more special is that every thing that is on the plate with exception to the chicken has been grown by myself and Thud. The carrots, parsnips, runner beans and King Edwards even the onion in the gravy all from the veggie patch. Although i say veggie patch it was more like a weed patch when we got to it this weekend, but after a couple of hours labour we finally found our crop.
I got my annual dose of fruit while walking round the garden as the apples, plums, damsons and pears all seem to be coming on nicely and i just cant help but sample as i walk. I do love England even though it was windy and rained most of the day i cant help but be outside looking at nature do what it does best.

Spending the day with family celebrating and getting to know each other, some things we take for granted and some things we let pass by easily. I stopped to think of the poor souls lost 10 years ago to the day and thank my blessings. They will never be forgotten and I'm thankful to all those since that have put their lives forward so that i can be free to live mine.

In a couple of hours we will be on our way back to sunny England, which means our epic summer is over. After a christening, wedding, birthday and anniversaries I'm all partied out but we have both had chance to sit back and relax in between all that. Thank God. So its back to England and back to work, yet again Thud and Family OTW have been great hosts and looked after us well with a little help from vinogirl and vinomaker supplying great BBQ and Excellent Wine. We have great memories of this summer to be told for years to come.

Alot of people back home in the UK have this things about American cars, they are too big, slow, drink too much fuels and generally don't go round corners. However we have been to the US a few times now and every car we have had or been in has been more than if not better than the cars in the British market. We have mostly been driving around in whats probably the largest SUV's on the American market the Ford Exhibition. this has taken a family of 8 around California and further for the past 4 weeks with no problems at all and sitting right in the very back is just as comfy as the front. However my praise has to go to the Chevy HHR, this stylish station wagon has taken me and Mrs Monkey and plenty of long drives up and down and around California with trips to Vegas to boot and although its not as luxurious as the Ford its sure left a craving impression on me. just hope with the growing market of Chevy's in the UK they decide to bring this beauty over.

The Picture above is of Bridelveil Fall in theYosemite Valley. Mrs Monkey and i took the long drive back to Walnut Creek from our Honeymoon in Malibu, up the through 178 on to the 395 passing by the sierrras and then acrosss west on the 120 through Yosemite. An epic drive it was and even though we only had a couple of hours in yosemite ( no where near enough time to experience the beauty of yosemite) we got to see sights that will stick in our memories forever. This is such a beautiful country and so very large it kind of upsets me knowing that i will never see all of it in my life time but i will do my very best in seeing the most possible.

Wooo whooo its been fun and very hectic but we finally did it and on the 10th of August 2011 Tenbellies became Mrs Monkey and made me the happiest man on the planet. After getting all the family and a few special friends out to Sin City we tied the knot and celebrated in style. As a new major part of my life begins I'm blessed with great family, awesome friends and a beautiful amazing wife.
cheers "clink clink" people.....



That's the champagne glasses not the links on my ball and chain.

A trip to San Francisco today, the weather was really good for the city as it can sometimes be a little nippy. I got a little camera happy as i just love looking at all the side streets and the hills as there is always something to look at. The girls enjoyed the shopping where i just enjoyed looking up at the parts of the city that most people walk by unnoticed every day. A beautiful city even with its tramps. i will be going back a couple more times before we leave.

Im a little slack on the posts since leaving the UK on Monday but then i have been getting use to a little thing called summer sun. yes unlike the UK, California definitely has a real summer with hot weather and sun shine instead of the usual cold damp dark summer back in the UK. Sitting in starbucks having breakfast watching the world go by and driving down to Danville for lunch is enough to keep thoughts of blighty at bay. This weekend my new nephews christening in St Helena what better way to spend a day with great family.....ah American life.

this is only part of a post that i will pick up when i get back from my hols but i had to get this posted as im just pleased as punch with my outcome. im really getting into my photography at late and starting to play a little bit more with film rather than digital, this is time consuming and unpredictable but its also very rewarding and being someone who loves processes i get a buzz out figuring out how things work and having a go. So i built a camera, it is in a sense a pinhole camera but after finding the P90 on the net i have adapted it to take medium format film. at this point i have mostly been testing it with photopaper to get the exposure times and work out the fstop on the camera, once i have this down perfect i will start to put in the film.

8 days left at work, 13 days until we fly off on our holidays and boy am i ready. i cant wait to to wake up and not have anything really to do apart from sit in the sun and relax. all the work over the past year will all be soon worth it and we will both be starting a new chapter in our life (cheeeeese). i just have to get through the next 8 day and ill be rocking.

I’ve had relaxing couple of days and took some time to go and see the Paul Trevor exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery. Those who don’t know who Paul Trevor is, he is a Photographer who in 1975 came to the city to document the deprivation of post war Liverpool instead what he captured was something quite different. There backdrop may be the dereliction of post-war Liverpool. But these images go beyond this bleak cityscape and get close to his real subject: families and children.
His honest street photography shows life as it was lived in a community defiant in the face of poverty, unemployment and the state of their surroundings. He depicts a place where the streets and wastelands became playgrounds, the family was a constant, and where children seem fun-loving and free.
Now we live in a city which has changed dramatically since these times, on the surface it looks rich and affluent but I’m pretty sure underneath its quite different a once safe place for children to play is now a secured monitored playground and high walled back gardens and our streets are silent from the sounds of children playing. If anything these photos are priceless as never again will people let alone a young man take photos of innocent children playing and being. Oh how things have changed, look at how we have evolved.

errrrrr not really, as much as i understand that it’s going to be crap working till I’m 65 having a miserable pension and being paid a not so great wage for the enormous hours we both put in, i am also young enough to make changes in my life to compensate. Too many people look to the past for answers for modern day problems and it’s this that is more often than not the cause of future problems. I opted out of the union a few months ago when i came to my senses; being bullied and scared into joining a union from when I was a student reminds me of films such as goodfellas and protection rackets. Taking money off me each month to keep union bosses in pork pies and flat caps and after attending my very first union meeting and being stuck in room full of people I despise I realized then this was not for me. And it was not something I was brought to believe in especially when our union boss Christine Blower takes a pay rise straight after telling us that our pay will not rise, her pay would pay for 4 new teachers and 4 teaching assistants. Something is not quite right there but hey that’s unions and they come hand in hand with corruption and back hand deals.
Today I will have the day of work and why not, ill put my feet up go out for lunch and enjoy myself with tenbellies but not out of protest more out of my selfish need to take a day off.

After the past three or four weeks I’m more than ready to take a break. The weekends are my relief and coming over the water to spend time in the garden usually on the veggie patch is kind of therapeutic in weeding out the stress of work. The veggies are coming on well and the potatoes as you can see are full and flowering. Thud says we have planted them a little too close together and I’m starting to think he is right, its like one huge potato bush but it promises a fine yield. Getting outside is important to me as I think good English fresh air is good for the soul and mind, although the weather doesn’t bother me as much as others I would like a bit more sun and some of the veggies could do with it too.

After a reasonable attempt at making elderberry wine last year i have decicded to give elderflower champagne a go (not supposed to call it champagne though). The edlderberry came out reasonable well and got slightly more alcoholic as time went on, the plum wine that i did off the cuff turned out to be rocket fuel and undrinkable so im sure to give that one a miss this year. Anyway the elderflower is sure on its way and unlike the the berry the flower smells alot nicer and less intrusive to have in the house. Thud and i will be making an attempt at cider this year once we return from our hols so there will be plenty of the home brew floating about come christmas. the recipe for the the elderflower champagne is below which i got off the internet, i wanted to use the simplest method as this was what i did for the berry.

•35 elderflower heads – pick the ones with the strongest scent
•2.5kg granulated sugar
•2 proper tablespoons of white wine vinegar
•5 litres boiling water & some cold water
•Juice and grated skin (zest) of 5 lemons – unwaxed if possible
•Juice and grated skin (zest) of 1 lime – also unwaxed

Read more: http://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/blog/elderflower-champagne-recipe/#ixzz1PrEgEV1N

i dont blog about technology very often but because of my job a regularly read several design sites, some daily to keep myself on the ball and my mind fresh with new concepts and ideas. working with students you find that they are very much about whats new and what come out in the future so its important to try and be on the same wave length even if i do listen music older than them and smell of old spice.
reading through one of the sites today i dropped on this little gem, as it seems as smartphones are the way forward these days, all the kids have them, i have one and the internet is even more accessable. mobile devices are becoming even more compatible with everyday life and i can see how they could easily do away with thing we take for granted like cash and keys.
what is a little unrealistic in the video is this device being compatible with such tech like Apple, apple only likes apple.

Rimino - A Human Touch on Mobile Experience from Amid Moradganjeh on Vimeo.

As i have said before its busy busy right now but yesterday we (the cool gang) took time out during the day to go and have lunch up by the ship canal. the weather was good, nice and hot so sitting on the jetti with our sarnies we made a small fire and had tea. im lucky in my job to on rare occassions get times like these (the boss was away on this day) and we make the most of it afer an hour or so it was back to the hectic asylum that is my job. five more weeks to go and away it is for the summer.

Its back to the train for me as a regular lift to work is moving from a very convienient next door to chester. As much as i enjoy getting a lift to work and it saves alot of hassle and money i kind of like the train journey too. Im not really a huge morning person and i often just need to sit in my own little bubble until i get to work where i have to be socialble as soon as i walk through the door, i like to sit on the train and feel i dont have to speak to anyone or listen to anyone and that can make a huge difference to my day, its just unfortunate that i have to pay extra for these simple things.