Clare's Rebel Badge Blog

This week started with a weekend in the New Forest helping a friend. We managed to squeeze in some clauses for the Nature Lover badge between jobs by visiting a small nature reserve on the edge of the New Forest and immediately afterwards going for a walk in the New Forest for an hour. The nature reserve had a large pond that had frozen over, and we had a splendid time throwing stones on it and listening to the fantastic 'booooiiiiing' noise that happened as the impact of the stone reverberated through the ice. The walk in the New Forest provided frozen puddles for us to slide on, and magnificent views across the heathland as the sun was setting. There were also many more frozen ponds. The countryside was glorious and we appeared to be the only humans about! I must go back and explore further when I can. We also visited a wool shop and a craft shop and I have spent the rest of the week learning to knit on the round and create a cosy cowl to wear in the winter. This ...

vecteezy.com Well this was a nice badge to do! Any excuse to watch TV is good, and this pushed me to watch a few things that I wouldn't usually watch. Sally Phillips talks about Christmas I turned this on by accident, but as I like Sally Phillips and Richard Cole, who she was interviewing, I stayed tuned. This was a gentle interview about what Christmas meant to the Reverend Richard, and ranged in topic from his days in the Communards to his life as a Vicar, with anecdotes along the way ranging from the AIDS pandemic of the 1980s, communal Christmasses in New York, his conversion to Christianity and subsequent theological studies and training as a Vicar, his civil partnership, and the alcoholism and subsequent death of his life partner. The interview was gently and sympathetically done, with a good mix of pathos and humour. I am sadly, really rather jealous of the reverend's book collection and armchairs! I shall endeavour to watch the rest of the series. Wednesday There was a ...

This has been rather a quiet Rebel week for me as it was the first week back at work after Christmas and it has been somewhat full on. However, I have been pootling along with a few badges. 'Exercise Every Day' has continued with some walks with my daughter; these last for about half an hour and give us a lovely, relaxed opportunity to catch up and have an uninterrupted natter. There are always distractions at home, so hopefully we can make this a habit. We haven't managed every day due to tiredness, work shifts and weather, so I have interspersed these walks with a bit of yoga and some solitary strolls. I have finished a clause of the Foodie Badge by having a third meal out - I just have to review them now! Here goes: Chesil Rectory, Winchester I went here for a memorial lunch with family in November; The Chesil Rectory is an OLD building at the bottom of Winchester not far from the Cathedral or Kind Alfred's statue. The restaurant is spread over two floors...

I have been somewhat under the weather this Christmas; due to that I spent a day on the sofa watching Gilmore Girls and making a macrame wreath for the Christmas badge, and also Advanced Crafter. I was reasonably pleased with the result, but mostly glad that I had finally finished it. My daughter and I attempted to build a gingerbread house too, from a kit. The icing wasn't very good and didn't stick the sides together well, so it quickly became a gingerbread shack instead. Ah well, it tasted nice. On my weekend away for the Maverick Award I bought a weather station kit, so that I could have a rain gauge and anemometer for the Observer badge. My nephew put it together and wouldn't put it down again for ages as he was having so much fun with the twiddly bits! We sacrificed a large bottle of cheap cola to make the base, and we have had lots of rain since so that I can take daily measurements alongside the temperature readings I am already doing. The ane...

Work on the Christmas Badge continues, and I have completed making the origami Advent calendar: a set of 24 origami boxes each large enough to hold at least two sweets, and individually numbered. This is to replace one I made for my daughter 15 years ago, which is now a bit small. The important thing about an Advent Calendar for her is that it holds plenty of sweets! I have worked on my Maverick Award by participating in the latest lesson of my online Islamic geometry course for the My Skills section, and made a lovely pattern, although I need to rethink how I colour it. There are many ways of varying this pattern, so that will be an exercise to do when I have a little more time. This weekend is being spent having an off-Island adventure with a friend for the My Adventure part of Maverick. We have had a lovely time visiting a big Christmas market, driving through the New Forest, and buying things that make us go 'OOOH! Shiny!'. And cheese. Lots of cheese...

This week started with work towards the December Christmas Challenge Badge. Saturday afternoon was spent visiting a Christmas Craft Market at the local Arts Centre (all rather lovely) followed by another market on a local street (not so lovely). I then spent the evening watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' as it was on the telly and I had never seen it before. I rather enjoyed it.  The creation of greetings cards has begun. I am using my geometry skills to create a series of baubles! Much to my dismay, I got Whammed this morning; despite loving the song I didn't zone into it until about 10 seconds before the end and then stood in the shop in dismay. My kind friend realised before I did but didn't let on. Two of my local rebels and I collected everything on the list of the Reverse Advent Calendar for our local foodbank. They run it during November and early December so that they have time to organise and distribute the goodies before Christmas. The...

Work, and life in general, is a bit busy at the moment so haven't had time to do much this week. However I did finish off clause 5 of the Stargazer badge by drawing another five constellations in my notebook, as well as popping into the garden to stare at the skies again. The moon is lovely. All that is left is to visit an observatory or science centre, and to complete my logbook for December.  A fellow Rebel and I have started planning an adventure as part of our Maverick Awards, and this will include a trip to the Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium later this month. We may also visit the Christmas Market for our Christmas badges! It will be lovely to have a change of scene. I continue to work on my Linguist badge, by practicing German on Duolingo every day, and currently have a streak of 69 days - I am pretty impressed with this as I usually give up after about 5 days. I keep meaning to try and have a conversation with my sister who is as close to a native Ger...