Oooooo-ooh

It’s that ghoulish time of year again. The days seem shorter, the nights stretch longer and there are noises out there waiting to scare us witless. Yes, it’s Hallowe’en folks!

Well, we here at Decoder just love any excuse to celebrate even if, especially if, there is a chilly economic wind whistling round the front door. And to get you all in the mood for the upcoming Eve’ of All Hallows we’ve created some Hallowe’en Horrors Masks for you and your family and friends to use.

So with our ready-to-print masks, ready-to-play games and easy-to-make cake you should have plenty of time to get ghouling. You can download them as PDF files here.

Enjoy!

Traditional Hallowe’en Parlour Games

When we were young chislers in Ireland we all played family games at Hallowe’en. So why not try these ‘parlour’ games again that all ages can enjoy.

Bobbing for apples in a basin
Fill a basin or bucket with water and float apples of varying sizes in it. Place this on the floor. Now kneel down and try and catch an apple only using your mouth, no hands. Make sure there is plenty of protection first on the floor, it’s a very wet game!

Hanging apple
Tie an apple by a string to nail on an open door frame and, taking it in turns, try and eat it with hands held behind your backs. Make it an extra hard task by twisting the string first and try and catch it as it spins and swing. Or work in pairs, player one is blindfolded and spun around a few times before player two has to give instructions to player one how to find the hanging apple and get a bite. Allow a time limit before the players have to swap roles. After the time limit another pair plays. The team who succeeds to bite the apple with the quickest time wins.

What’s my fortune
Fill several saucers (or plates – who has saucers these days eh?) and place on a table in a darkened room. Fill one with water, one with a ring, one with a coin and one with coal or dust etc. Then take each player one at a time into the darkened room, blindfolded for extra measure, and choose a saucer by touch. Whichever saucer is touched first will be your future.

• coal or dust = poverty
• ring = true love and marriage
• money = riches
• water = travel overseas
• stick = hardship

Great fun and laughter (with some tears from the younger ones if they get a ‘bad’ reading).

Barm Brack
And if all of that seems fun then why not make a traditional the irish Hallowe’en cake, Barm Brack. Seriously easy to make you can get all the details here on Ailbhe’s food blog.

Paris Street art installation

I’ve just come back from a long weekend break in Paris where, apart from the usual eating, drinking and shopping, I managed to fit in some cultural activity. After my regular shot of impressionism from the Musée d’Orsay (I never tire of looking at works by Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec) and a visit to the Musée Carnavalet (a little gem of a museum in the heart of the Marais) we had almost used up all our cultural goodwill when we strolled to the Ile Saint-Louis. And, lo and behold, we chanced upon this open-air exhibition taking place during the month of October.

“Women are Heroes” is the current exhibition by the street artist JR on the walls of the Ile Saint-Louis in Paris. The artist travelled to 70 countries such as Kenya, Sierra Leone and Liberia to take portraits of women. He uses a 28mm wide-angle lens to take the portraits and this exhibition is the third phase of a series known as the 28 Millimetre Project. JR and his team pasted the photographic images onto the bridges and walls of the Ile Saint-Louis over a few days. Using a ‘street audio guide’ system, passers-by can dial a free number from their mobile phones, to hear interviews with these women and their life-stories. Unfortunately we only found out about the commentary availability till later that evening but if you are there over the remaining weeks of the exhibition I’d recommend a visit.

Women are Heroes can be found around the Ile Saint-Louis (Paris), 3 October – 2 November 2009. Metro : Pont Marie, Hôtel de Ville

Simply Splendiferous

For someone who likes her work to be orderly and timely I’ve only recently managed to get around to organising something I’ve talked about for some time. Namely setting up a blog to share some of my many, many recipes I’ve collected over the years. I love cooking. I love planning the dishes, imagining the flavours, textures and smells. I even like looking into a fridge and thinking “now what have I here to use?”. I find it all relaxing and creative. In fact it’s not too far removed from the day job. Recipes work out well with planning, imagination, attention to small details and a clear idea of what you want it to end up like!

What’s more I felt I needed a ‘project’ to encourage me to sketch more often. It’s not too surprising how, at the end of a long workday, I can think of a million reason why not to draw or paint. Having a reason to is half the battle so now that I’ve declared that I should at least produce one drawing a month for my site to supplement my photographs. Unfortunately I’m not as skilled with the camera as Mark (have a look at some of his images here) but to offset that I have invested in a fab digital camera, Canon 500D, to assist with work and blog needs (Yes, I know ‘bad workmen blame their tools’).

So if you have a few minutes to spare please feel free to visit my blog Simply Splendiferous. If you have any comments or questions please use the links provided as I’d love to read them (good or bad). But remember I’m a sensitive creative at heart, we have peachy egos (bruise easily!).

Tales from the apiary

For many years now, I’ve really wanted to keep bees.

They are a fascinating insect with a complex social structure which ensures that colonies function very effectively. Recently, and not before time, bees have had a lot of press highlighting their plight in this damaged environment we’ve created. This has raised awareness and will hopefully encourage people to give them the help they deserve. Apart from anything else, these little pollinators are essential to our food production. In the US we have seen widespread cases of colony collapse disorder where entire colonies have disappeared. In Europe it’s not quite as bad, but they still need to contend with various diseases that have all but wiped out wild colonies.

However, beekeeping is a very rewarding hobby but not one to be taken up lightly. So last year I joined the Enfield Beekeepers in an attempt to learn the basics of this age-old craft. Much has changed (and continues to do so) since the early days of beekeeping and they’ve been fantastic in passing on their skills and knowledge to us novices. Where to put the bees has always been the problem, so this summer the club arranged the siting of an apiary in a North London allotment where a few of us could set-up our hives – small gardens, children and bees are not an ideal mix.

I ordered my hive and spent a few hours assembling it and weather proofing the exterior, then last weekend introduced the bees to their new home. They were transferred using the shook swarm method and despite them insisting on flying back to their nucleus box we finally got them settled. To help them pull out new comb and build up the colony they were given a candy feed (sugar fondant), then the hive was closed up and we left them in peace.

They seem to be progressing well and we’ll know what needs doing next in a couple of weeks time when we check that the Queen is present and laying. Having made it this far, and gotten that first sting out of the way, I’m now looking forward to my first season of beekeeping.

And the honey too, of course.

Out in Africa

Habari za leo. I’ve been back in London for a week and still feel upbeat from my first visit to Africa. I went to Tanzania with my better half and we spent 9 days travelling across from Arusha to the Serengeti followed by 5 days relaxing in Zanzibar. Honestly, it was one of the best experiences of my life and we have loads of photographs of animals, buildings and people to prove it (although I do regret not being quick enough to stop and photograph a small makeshift stall by the roadside, in the middle of nowhere, named “Barack Obama Store”!).

One of the many things that impressed me was the creativeness of the people. Hollowed out logs were hung from trees as hives for local bees, sisel plants lined the roadsides and were later used in basket weaving, stunning beaded jewellery was created by numerous groups of women’s co-ops, fascinating wood carved statues abounded and beautiful wooden bowls and platters were decorated with carved animals or simply oiled. None of which would have looked out of place in any of our city centre ‘designer’ stores. As for the fashion, well, did I feel dull compared to the highly decorated kanga’s favoured by the local ladies. (A kanga is a two piece length of material, one used as a headscarf, one as a skirt, usually in a light, printed cotton). Our first day on the road was a Sunday and the Tanzanian womenfolk were out in force looking fabulous as they made their way to church. Our Tanzanian guide Chamillus told us his mother had warned him never pick a lady on a Sunday “as you don’t get the true picture”!

The highlights of our trip were a sighting of leopard preparing to hunt by sitting up on his hind legs to get a better view of his prey (“never seen that before” said all the guides) and a 16km walk we did with two Maasai warriors, Mateyo and Kisanil. All the many Maasai we met were friendly, looked beautiful in all their decorations and were greatly amused by our very limited Swahili (we didn’t attempt speaking Maa – the maasai language – in fact, nearly all Tanzanians speak at least 3 languages which puts most of us here to shame). We came across the most elegant ladies with fabulous beaded necklaces and bangles and large dangling earring who were just doing their daily housework or carrying water. And the ‘morani’ (warriors) were even more brightly decorated with spears and knives thrown in as well.

I did get a chance to do some sketching, all in the fantastic campsites that we stayed at. The campsites were isolated in very beautiful locations. The ‘tents’ we had were walk-in affairs often with a thatched roof and canvas sides. The biggest surprise was the flushing toilets in each one! And a shower (even if that was dependant on someone filling up a bladder bag with warm water) so we couldn’t claim to be roughing it too much. Anyway here are a couple of the sketches and some of the photos. And I haven’t even mentioned our time in Zanzibar and the carved doorways. Another posting needed methinks…

Decoder weekend in Paris

Decoder celebrated the end of 2007 by upgrading the annual Paris Christmas visit. Whereas in previous years we nipped under ‘La Manche’ / ‘The English Channel’ on lovely, lovely Eurostar, mixing a bit of Christmas shopping with lunch in a fine Parisian eatery, grabbing a swift pastis before and stocking up with some edible goodies before finally boarding an evening train back to London, all in one exciting day, this year we went for a whole weekend in December.

Setting off on the Friday from the new terminal at St Pancras meant we had time to look at the recently renovated station and fabulous it looked too. However, we had one wee designer gripe. The signage system directing passengers from the Underground was poor and little groups of disorientated travellers gathered at every turn causing chaos. Perhaps there is new signage on the way as not all construction work was completed on the terminal at the time, we hope so. You’ll be glad to know that in spite of ‘tourist traffic’ we all managed to find our ways to the rendez-vous point before boarding as one happy band. A little over 2 hours later we exited Gare du Nord and then leapt aboard a No. 36 bus to Blvd Saint-Germain. Our little hotel in the Latin quarter was perfect in every sense. Perfect location, perfectly clean and perfectly priced! Definitely one to revisit.

Friday evening was the Decoder Christmas party night. It was, as ever, a civilised affair with our party of six taking apperitifs in a bar on Blvd Saint-Germain before heading off to Le Petit Pontoise for a really lovely evening. A small restaurant with good traditional french food, very friendly staff and a buzzy atmosphere. What more could you wish for? Saturday and Sunday we all went on our separate shopping ways, occasionally bumping into each other as we all tackled our Christmas present lists.

While in Paris we also managed to fit in a bit of packaging research and to that end a few happy hours were spent in Le Grand Epicerie, which is a must for any foodie visiting Paris. Have a look at some of the photographs here and marvel how only the French could make a box of little chocolate breasts ‘tasteful’ in every sense – the painting featured is Gabrielle d’Estrées et une de ses soeurs. Somehow you just know that here they’d be made of cheap chocolate and smuttily packaged.

All in all the weekend was a success and by the time we were seated on Eurostar for the return journey on the Sunday evening we were already planning the 2008 visit. Vive la Paris, vive l’Eurostar!

Christmas Card designs

This year I put together some personal Christmas cards, it’s a good excuse to dust off the camera and get some shooting done. A big thanks to my daughter who helped create the ‘sparkler’ star.

Photographic Exhibition

During this summer’s Wexford Festival Opera held at Johnstown Castle, I was invited to show some of my photography alongside four other Wexford artists. Having spent my youth in Ireland’s most south-easterly county, I always find it fascinating to revisit favourite locations with a camera by my side. Growing up in the countryside had it’s ups and downs, but the one aspect I really miss is being so close to the coastline and it’s this that inspires many of my images.

The opening night was very interesting, if I hovered close by I could just catch people’s critiquing the work – it was even more nerve-wracking than a design presentation! However, by the end of the exhibition I had sold five photographs, so I would definitely consider doing it again.

Our very own bag lady

Ailbhe writes: I was really excited recently to come across www.reusablebags.com We like to think of ourselves as ‘green’ – and that’s just not because of the Irish members of the team – and this site seems to provide the answer to the perennial ‘plastic bag’ dilemma. You know how it is: you care about the environment and are obsessive about recycling. But do you really want to be seen out shopping with a fading recycled plastic carrier bag? Just how many outings can you get from your lovely eau-de-nil Fortnum & Mason bag? Well, quite a lot actually (they’re good quality bags) but once it’s gone, your Morrisons carrier just isn’t the same. Yes, I know that is sooo ‘designer-thinking’ but hey, we care about how everything looks and works. After all, that’s our bag, if you pardon the pun…

This site sells the most wonderful recyclable bags and I’ve already ordered and received some ACME Workhorse Style 1500 bags, which roll up to a teeny weeny size and are as light as a feather. My favourite is the Burnt Orange but for the purists among you the Black looks pretty good too. What’s more, the handle is very comfortable to use and it’s designed to fit over supermarket checkout frames. Anyway, who wouldn’t want a bag with a label which has ‘ACME’ written on it? (Images of Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote flash in my head). Brilliant.

Check it out for yourself.

St Patrick's Day in London

Of course this weekend saw London celebrate St Patrick’s Day, and on Sunday we went along to sample the atmosphere. It was cold, and at times wet, but everyone was in high spirits.

Here are some shots from the day…

A February in New York

At last, the long promised trip to New York materialized. New York was all it promised to be and much more. I am a great advocator for quiet and secluded holidays, New York certainly was not that, but I am still on a high two weeks after returning. Once we surfaced from Penn Station, took our lives in our hands by taking the obligatory ride in a yellow cab, it was non-stop from there on in.

Each morning armed with hats, scarves, gloves (-10ºC needs those additional layers of insulation) and of course Mark’s camera we started our day at ‘Burger Heaven’, the local diner recommended by our friendly doorman. In true american style the portions were anything but stingy. Thank God we tackled New York on foot, otherwise, there certainly would have been some excess baggage charges on our return flights.

Once you get your bearings and work-out that avenues run north-south and streets east-west it was so easy to get around and see all that is iconic to New York. We took The Staten Island Ferry out to see ‘The Lady’, the views of Lower Manhattan and The Statue of Liberty are amazing. From there we went on to Ground Zero and The New York Stock Exchange. For more loftier pursuits we took to the top of The Empire State and Top of the Rock (Rockerfeller Centre). The 360º panoramic views over the city both by day and night were, as the Americans would say, ‘awesome’. Broadway at night was all you expected it to be, lively and bright. Times Square (not aptly named) was a let down, it is just a dingy crossroads. For the child within us check out M&M World and the life size ferris wheel in Toys“R“Us at Times Square.

There was a few cultural interludes when we checked out the entrance halls and cafe in the Guggenheim and The Natural History Museum. The Museum of Modern Art is definitely on our to-do-list when we next pay a visit. We only had a brief amount of time there as we left it until the last day to visit. Central Park was a great place to escape the hustle and bustle but skip the horse and carriage ride (unless you like cute and twee) the best way to see it is on foot.

I had a few happy moments too when I got to flex my flexible friend at Bloomingdales, Saks, Macys and all those nice shops along Fifth Avenue. Mind you, the department stores were a bit of a disappointment. Not a patch on Selfridges or John Lewis. Sunday night was Super Bowl, so, we visited a bar and tried to blend in with the locals. The atmosphere was great but I have to admit the game soon put me to sleep.

We left New York with sore feet, cricks in our necks, tired but happy and already planning our next trip.

My Australian visit

I can’t believe it is less than a month since I returned from my visit to Perth, Western Australia. We’ve been so busy at Decoder since I got back that I never got around to posting some of the photos and sketches I made while out there for my long holiday – nearly 4 sun-filled weeks!

At last I’ve gathered some images of the fantastic food we had to eat out there but strangely enough it seems I never got around to snapping the many bottles of lovely wines we sampled (or rather, those I did photograph ended up a bit blurred, ahem). Needless to say there was lots of seafood eaten and a few of those famous australian meat pies which have to be eaten with ‘red sauce’. One of the best was the emu pie we had from a road cafe on State Route One while travelling down to Margaret River.

I spent a week in Margaret River, a vineyard area south of Perth, and while there managed to get in some sketching which I hadn’t done for a long time. This year I’ve resolved to get back to sketching regularly and hope to be able to post some of my efforts every now and then. In the meantime I offer two little sketches here.

Early Decoder Christmas

Saturday 25th November saw the Decodees start off the Christmas season in style by heading off to Paris on Eurostar for the annual visit.

This year our numbers were drastically reduced at the last minute when Nick called in sick (and very sad not be coming). So Mark, Catherine, Ailbhe and her husband, Tony, had to face the rigours of a day in Paris ‘Nick-less’.

Lunch was at ‘Le Reminet’ a little restaurant hidden down a winding street in the Latin Quarter, a mere stone’s throw from the Seine. Delicious course followed delicious course interspersed with some heady and fragrant wines. After three hours of gourmet gorging we walked off the excess calories by a spot of light Christmas Shopping. Then, laden with goodies, we rested our sore feet at a bar near Nore du Gard before settling into the our Eurostar seats for the journey home.

Our first class return journey ensured even more wining and dining and we arrived in Waterloo with plenty of time to dash off home in time for cricket highlights and cocoa.

Another successful ‘Decoder Christmas Lunch in Gay Paris’. Roll on next year!

Photographic

Nick and I have an interest in photography and will post examples of our individual efforts on the site from time to time. For the technically minded, images are captured on Canon digital SLRs with a sprinkling of Photoshop when required.