Project Pan 2019 - Update #4

January 2019

This was a quarter of nice surprises when it came to my project panning.  I thought that it would be a quarter where I was working my way through products with a plan to finishing them next year.  However, I actually managed to meet my targets for pretty much all of the items this year.

Starting with The Body Shop black liquid eyeliner.  I really had no idea how far along I was with this, but I actually managed to finished it in November.  By that point it was getting pretty difficult to get product out of the packaging and I needed to dip it in repeatedly to just do one line on my eyelid.   Once I had gotten used to using liquid eyeliner again I really liked this product and the look that it gave me.  It stayed on really well throughout the day even on my oily eyelids, was well pigmented, and the applicator was very easy to use.  The Body Shop is also cruelty free (at least at the moment) and so I would recommend this product it you're looking for a liquid eyeliner to try.  I won't be buying any more liquid eyeliner whilst I try to use up some other products, but I will look at this again once it's time to buy a new eye liner.

Unfortunately I can't say the same for The Body Shop Matte lip liquid in Tahiti Hibiscus.  I had got to the point with this product where it was also getting more difficult to get products out of the packaging, but not enough to really mean that you couldn't get a good lip coverage from it.  However, whilst I really liked the colour on my lips I didn't like the product itself.  This was mainly because I couldn't work out a way of stopping it from going on my teeth, and I tried a variety of things.  I put on very little, I smudged it in, I did the finger through the lips tactic, I licked the back of my lips...….and nothing worked.  It still got on my teeth.  So once it started to get difficult to use I was happy to call it quits.

And now for the product I am really surprised by, The Balm highlighter in Mary-Lou Manizer.  I really didn't expect to hit pan on this at all this year, but there it is a tiny little bit of the pan peaking through.  I've started using other areas of the product now to work through it evenly and I'm also still using it every time I put on my makeup as I do really like it.  It looks very bright in the pan and when you initially put it one, but once I've worked it in a little it actually looks surprisingly natural and pretty on my skin.  I don't think I'll put it in another project pan, but I am just going to keep using it until it's all gone.  The Balm is also cruelty free, however this highlighter does contain Mica in it so I don't think I'll buy it again once it's finished (unless the ingredients change or it can be guaranteed that the mica has been ethically sourced).

Lastly is the NYX Powder Blush in Taupe and it's still going strong.  I use this every time I put on makeup too, as a under cheek natural contour, as an eye crease colour, and under the eyes as a definition shadow.  However, there is still no pan.  I do still really love this product so I can't decided whether I want to roll this over to next year's pan or just put it back into my make up bag to use up like The Balm highlighter.  NYX is also cruelty free, but it also contains the problem Mica ingredient so I won't buy this again either.  I'm also wanting to streamline my makeup in the long run and contouring is probably a step that I will take out without really missing it.

December 2019

All in all this hasn't been too bad a year when it comes to using up my makeup.  It now all fits into my one make up bag, including one relatively big palette.  I'm happy with the progress, but I definitely want to keep reducing it more.  Now that wearing makeup is no longer part of my work life I'm really don't see myself wearing it much at all (apart from doing these project pans) and so even having this number of products seems silly to me.  At the moment I'm working out what I want to put in next year's project pan and I think that that project will probably be my last.

Goals for 2019 - Update #4

Okay, so my goal achieving this year has been a definite fail. Other than doing the drystone walling course I probably haven't achieved any of my aims for 2019. But then, it's just been one of those years where life happens and unfortunately the happens were rarely good. I also decided, pretty last minute, to travel to New Zealand for four months and most of this quarter has either been me here in New Zealand or getting myself ready to go. Here's how I did this quarter.

Healthy Eating

This one's been a little strange since I've moved to New Zealand as the heat here (especially after leaving Scotland mid-November) has been so hot I haven't been hungry. It fact I've been having to force myself to eat most of times and there have been many days were lunch hasn't even been a thing. This isn't great really, though I haven't actually been doing much strenuous activity to actually need all the energy I would get from recommended three meals and, on the plus, I have been drinking a lot more water. The main worry here is that I'm not getting enough of the nutrients I actually need from just the two meals and some snacks so I am going to really need to look at were I can improve just for my general health. I do take multivitamins (when I remember) but I really don't like relying on that for my nutritional intake. I'd much rather get it from my food and my main focus really is getting enough iron as that has always been a problem in the pass.

As for when I have been actually eating the meals have been pretty healthy and basically made from scratch. They've mostly been overnight oats for breakfast, nuts and corn gluten-free crackers with Marmite for snacks, and a big rainbow salad for dinner. Even before I travelled to New Zealand and was still working in the Scottish Highlands my meals were healthy and mostly made from scratch. I am, however, eating a lot less chocolate and weirdly less ice cream since moving to New Zealand. So that's been a plus a least and I am, of course, completely ignoring the blip of the couple of weeks we used to see family in the UK before heading south of the equator. There definitely wasn't a lot of healthy eating there and even some sneaking in of fast foods. Though my Mum's home cooked meals tend to be on the healthy side, we'll just ignore all the cream teas we had as we were in Devon......so it doesn't count.

The one very large polka dot elephant in the room is of course my consumption to the black, fizzy stuff. I would even call it an addiction. I'm not even sure I enjoy it when I do have it, but there it is calling to me. I think 2020 should be the year I just stop with it all together. Using it as a 'treat' just isn't working and I probably won't miss it when it's gone.

Having written this out I have to admit I am probably doing a little bit better than I initially thought. My diet is relatively healthy on the whole and I have gotten rid of most unhealthy snacking and eating habits. Treats now and then are not something I'm going to hold against myself or are something that are particularly bad for me when done in moderation. I just need to keep an eye on it so they don't sneak back in and I definitely need to break the lure of the black juice.

Reducing Waste

I had already managed to get my waste levels pretty low in the UK before travelling out to New Zealand, but with the life style we're living here at the moment (which is basically living in Airbnbs, camping, and house-sitting) we've managed to reduce the waste even more as we're basically living out of our car and don't really want to buy any more stuff than we really need. Every purchase has been really intentional, and that has led to much less waste. There is one thing I do really need to remember to do though, and that is to carry my usable mug with me everywhere as I have been caught out a couple of times now and, as I have the thing, I have no excuses for that.

As for Christmas presents, I did my best to reduce the packaging in this area as much as possible by buying items together buying from actual shops, and selecting as ethical products as I possible could. And when it came to wrapping the presents I used recycled brown paper which were then stamped with snow flakes stamps I had brought a few years ago, and finished with re-usable gardeners twine. I also made all my own Christmas cards this year using cross-stitch patterns, but this is an area I think I can improve on waste wise next year.

The one area where I am still struggling with waste reduction is groceries and the plastic they have wrapped around so many of the vegetables. I really don't understand it and I've found that even the grocers here still wrap things unnecessarily in the shiny stuff. It annoys me and I do try and make decisions on the food I buy based on whether or not the plant has plastic around it, but it's not possible to do all the time. I definitely don't bother putting multiples of the same loss item into a plastic bag myself. I really don't see the point in that. They'll find each other in the cooking pot.

As with healthy eating, I'm going to keep trying to reduce my waste and I think this is something that is never going to stop for me.

Learning Skills

Work

Since travelling over to New Zealand I have done a fair amount of walking, but in all these walks I haven't actually needed a map or a compass as all the paths are well marked and each junction is signed. This has meant that the opportunity to practise any orienteering skills hasn't really been there. I have, however, noticed that there are some orienteering groups in the area of New Zealand where I am based and I think I'm going to research what they are actually doing and whether or not it's worth me getting involved in the time I have left here.

Home

This is probably the area where I have failed the most this quarter. Since the beginning of November I haven't done any more of my British Sign Language lessons at all. Which is a real 'shame on me' and I'm a little worried that I've forgotten some of the signs I've already learnt. I have done four lessons out of the seven this year and I still have some time next year before my year's pass has run out. This gives me time to actually get the course finished and properly practise the signs until they become a little more instinctive.

The only real issue for me at the moment is not being able to practise signing with someone else as this is a really important part of learning a new language. One option would be to practise here in New Zealand as I've read that their sign language actually stems from the British sign language, so there is bound to be some real overlap. I think this one is definitely going to be a roll over goal for 2020. I want to get it done before my holiday ends in March.

As I said earlier, this year has been a bit of disaster when it comes to achieving my goals. But you know what that's fine. It happens sometimes and this year is coming to a close with a new one about to begin. I just need to look at where this year went wrong, learn, draw and nice line under it and move onto the next. I have an idea of what I want my goals to be for next year but I want to really flesh them out and make sure that they're what I want for myself moving forward as I think one of the problems for 2019 was I didn't really see how the goals fitted into my long term plans. So bring on 2020, I'm going to work on making it a much better year than 2019.

Paperless Productivity

I'm going to have to admit something. I am definitely one of those people that, if I don't write it down, I will probably forget it. That includes to dos, things I need to buy (yes I have walked into a store, brought a whole load of things I probably didn't need, and then left without the things I actually needed to get......so many times), and appointments. They just don't stay in my brain. And I'd love to say it's because I'm just so busy, busy, busy, but that would a lie. I'm not busy, that information just doesn't want to stay in my brain. I do, however, seem to be able to remember odd things like how bumble bees are able to fly in colder conditions than most other bees can. [If you're wondering it's by detaching their flight muscles from their wings and then vibrating them as if flying. It warms up their body so they can survive in the cold and they then reattach the muscles to the wings and fly off. But I digress, back to to dos and appointments.]

The strange thing is, of course, that when I do write things down and plan out my day I can be super productive. Getting a large number of my to dos ticked off and feeling very pleased with myself. I also find that by writing it down I can more efficiently spread tasks out throughout the week, increasing the chance of them actually getting done and reducing the chance of me feeling overwhelmed. Overwhelmed usually leads to me giving up and not actually getting any of them done. So writing down my to dos and appointments is definitely a must when it comes to being productive and just functioning like a normal human being.

But of course, writing everything down does come with a cost. An environmental one. There's a lot of paper and ink being used to keep up with all the things that need to go on in my life and it doesn't just include what goes on in my diary. I still make notes in paper form. Writing everything down when I'm researching and working out how I want to write things, either on this blog or doing initial scribbling for things like covering letters. All of it goes down in a notebook to be looked at later. I know that theoretically it would probably be better to do everything digitally, but it's been difficult to make the switch. And there is a sense of security by writing these things down on paper rather than using a digital format. I don't have to worry about it running out of batteries, it won't just malfunction and stop me being able to look at things (though I might loss it of course), there's no worry of me accidentally deleting everything or forgetting to hit save, and then there is, of course, the feeling that if I write it down it'll go into my head. I suppose there is also the counter argument that by using digital formats you are using up electricity which mostly uses fossil fuels to run. However, that's pretty easy to get around and make more green.

I have dipped my toe in a couple of times and already use Google calendar, which is linked to my mobile and laptop and which contains all my events like birthdays, doctors appointments, and working hours (all with reminders set for different times). And, to be, honest I've found Google calendar really easy to use and I don't feel the need to have a paper equivalent of this at all. But I haven't really taken the plunge into making all my daily activities digital and I figure it's probably time I do.

Before I had thought about this properly I had already brought a beautiful paper diary by Mairi Hedderwick for next year and I am still going to keep using this throughout 2020 to keep myself organised whilst I test out some of the digital options there are out there. And there are a few. To begin with there's the task option on the Google calendar (which will hopefully show up on the calendar on my mobile as well) and Microsoft To-Do, there's also well known software like Evernote, Todoist, Wunderlist, Habitica, and Toodledo. But I've also heard that Moleskine has brought out a popular app called Actions by Moleskine and one I've come across whilst doing my research called Any.do. The reason I want to look at these other forms of software over just the Google calendar task is that I would also like to keep my notes on there as well as they are usually connected to the to dos.  It would just make sense to have them both together.  That being said I will also test out programs like One Note and Google Keep to go with their counterparts and see if that works to.  I also still have a couple of notebooks that I will also finish before I go completely digital as I've already started using them and it seems silly to just throw them in the recycling half used.

This is, of course, all a test and it may be that I just don't do well going completely digital when it comes to organising my life. If that's the case I'll have to try and come up with a different way of reducing my waste, but it should be interesting to see how this goes. I guess going digitally organised will be one of my goals for 2020.

Visiting Tiritiri Matangi Island

So if you're not following me on Instagram you might not know that I'm in New Zealand at the moment being a bit of a tourist.  I have a few months here and I am, as you would expect, will be attempting to visit as many of their beautiful nature reserves and parks as I possibly can.  One of the first ones was the Tiritiri Matangi Island just 30km north east of Auckland.  

Tiritiri Matangi Island is a wildlife sanctuary which is managed by New Zealand's Department of Conservation with Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi Incorporated, and, as with most good conservation projects, works mostly because of the amount of work and time volunteers have put into it.  They replanted the trees (more on that later), run the shop, offer the free tea and coffee (always good), and run the tours you can take around the island.

The island is roughly 220 hectares and had been lived on by the Maori until western settlers turned it into farmland that they worked for 120 years.  This had led to most of the forest being chopped down and, by the time it was being turned into a sanctuary, only 6% of the native bush was left.  Then in 1984 and 1994 volunteers planted native trees until 60% of the island had been reforested, with the remaining being left for species that prefer grasslands.  Mammalian predators, and other invasive species, where removed and native species were reintroduced.

The only way to the island is by boats and we took the ferry from Auckland, after checking that all our food was in sealed containers, we didn't have any stowaways like mice and rats in our bag, and that our shoes had been scrubbed and didn't have any seeds trapped in the grooves.  We had decided to not take tour that was offered and instead wandered around the island on our own with the map you could buy on the ferry (all proceeds going towards the conservation work being done on the island).  

We started with the Wattle Track which meandered up from the wharf and through the replanted forest.  This offered amazing views of birds very up close and personal.  Most really didn't appear to have much fear of humans (though there was still a healthy wariness) and were happy to get pretty close to us, giving us time to take photos and watch them sing. 

The North Island Robin was particularly friendly, bouncing hopefully around our feet.  But I guess this is to be expected from a robin.  I had, out of habit, taken out my binoculars, but then felt like a bit of a wolly because they really weren't needed at all.  

Dotted around the island are feeding stations and water troughs, with conveniently placed seats near by, which allow you to sit and watch the birds as they feed, drink and preen, and generally interact with each other.  It was actually quite relaxing just sitting there whilst they did their own thing around us.  

There were also Weta houses on the Wattle Track which we could open to have a look at these little beasties, the Tree Weta.  Unfortunately I didn't see any actually on the trees or the wooden fences that were on part of the trail, but it was still interesting to get to have a look at them through the Perspex cover.  I couldn't get any photos that weren't full of glare, but I'm expecting to see many more of these on my travels.

Then, after lunch and a quick nosy around the shop, we carried on up to the lighthouse to have a look at the amazing sea views back over to the mainland before heading north up the island along Ridge Track. 

After our Wattle Track wandering we didn't really have a lot of time left before the one ferry back to Auckland set off at 3pm.  This meant we couldn't go all the way to the northern tip of the island, so instead we cut off west along Hobbs Track to Hobbs Beach.  We didn't actually see as many birds along this track as the Wattle Track, which is much more densely forested, but I still managed to increase the number of new birds I had seen that day. 

After doing a bit of rock pool searching at the beach we realised that we still had quite a bit of time before we had to be at the wharf for the ferry.  

So we decided to do a loop on the Kawerau Track where we got a nice little treat of seeing a couple of North Island Kokakos on the ground, before heading back to Hobbs Beach and then across to the wharf.  Perhaps the most amazing part of the trip was being able to see some Little Blue Penguins in the artificial nesting boxes that had been built for them and were designed so that we could lift a lid to see them through a peak hole.  Amazing little creatures!

So, the birds I got to see on this trip were Bellbirds, Brown Teal, Red-crowned Parakeets, Whiteheads, North Island Robins, Stitchbirds (the Maori name is hihi which is a much better name), Pukeko, North Island Saddlebacks, New Zealand Pigeons, Tuis, Quail (non-native), North Island Kokakos, Little Blue Penguins, Variable Oystercatchers (such a terrible name - variable), Southern Black Backed Gulls, and Red Billed Gulls.

In wildlife terms this reserve is pretty new, and you can see how young the trees are when you wonder around, but the amount of regrowth is pretty incredible and the birds definitely seem to be flourishing there.  It was a really enjoyable visit and I would actually like to return to have a wonder around the tracks I haven't done yet.  Maybe even stay the night so I can try and see some kiwis as well.  But that will be a future trip, maybe just before I head back to the UK.   Definitely worth a visit if you happen to be in the Auckland area, you won't regret it.

Mini Book Review: Feral

Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life by George Monbiot was published in 2013, so I'm a little late to the game but it was a very appreciated gift earlier this year.  The focus of this book is on rewilding projects around the world, but particularly in the UK, and how the latest scientific discoveries have changed our understanding of how natural systems work, as well as just how damaging our interference with them have been.

Monbiot talks about his 'ecological boredom' and his realisation that the areas he had originally thought were wild, and had moved to for those reasons, are actually ecological wastelands.  We see him seeking out places he feels contains the untamed spirit he wants to bring back to our shores, in the hills of Britain, the forests of Europe, and the coasts of Wales, and meeting people working towards the restoration of lost forests and bringing back lost species.

The main argument of this book (and the one that got him in the most trouble) is that Britain has an overgrazing problem, especially in the uplands, and that sheep numbers need to be greatly reduced for wildlife to he able to properly come back.  This is especially evident in supposed nature reserves here grazing is continued as an apparent way of maintaining an ecosystem, but which are in fact keeping an area species poor and in a post agricultural state.  I have to admit that I entirely agree with his stance on this and that grazing should be greatly reduced in most of these areas to allow nature to come back in a much more varied and stable manner.  

I also agreed with his idea that we should manage these areas, in general, a lot less, allowing nature to do what it has done pretty well for the last few billion years, and that is to fit the right type amd variety of species to the environment and habitat at hand.  The only caveat I would add to that is the removal of non-native species and the reintroduction of native species to an area, otherwise I would leave it alone.  

There are two things that I don't necessarily agree with Monbiot on in this book.  The first is the idea of introducing similar species to the UK to replace the species we can no longer reintroduce back due to extinction.  Having studied enough introduction case of non-native species to areas which we thought would fix an ecological problem, fill the same niche, help fill a gap we had caused......you get the picture, and it gone horribly, horribly wrong.  Despite our understanding of the natural world being so much better than it was a decade ago, we're still pretty clueless and I think introducing species that have not evolved here no matter how similar they are, would be a mistake.

The second thing is the way he talks about fishing and hunting being an integral part to our connection with the natural world, stemming it seems from his love of fishing.  Whilst they might resonate with a number of people, the concept is completely alien to me.  I have no interest in any type of predatory behaviour towards the animals that I watch and I don't feel that this has any negative impact on the connection I feel towards the natural environment around me or that my experience with it is any less immersive.

Apart from those two things I did really enjoy the book and thought it was a very interesting read.  It definitely helped solidify ideas I already had about the next stage that conservation work needs to take, especially with climate change looming.  I particularly appreciated Monbiot making clear that any rewilding can only really be done with the local communities consent and involvement.  There have been many examples were local communities have been railroaded in the name of conservation, and this has not only been bad for the humans but bad for the habitat this was meant to protect as well.  Would definitely recommend this book.

Path Work - October (Glencoe)

October is the last month in which I carried out maintenance work in Scotland for 2019 as I'm travelling to the other side of the world for 4.5 months (of which the preparation for is !y excuse for the total lack of blog posts over the last few weeks).  We were supposed to spend most of this month on the Lost Valley (Coire Gabhail), but, as with most of this year, the weather was not on our side and we spend a little more time on Coire nan Lochan than was originally thought.

The start of October saw us finishing off work we had started in September.  Including adding some more steps rises......

.......and finishing off the landscaping and surfacing on the path I  had directed further into the hillside as the path was disappearing down the hillside.  This included landscaping the last obvious part of the old path line to ensure walkers only used the new path.

There was also a section with an unintended junction where climbers take a path off the main route to get to the near by rock face.  The junction was causing that part of the path to erode, so we added a couple of steps and some stone work into the path to help hold it and surfacing into place.

The plan was then to do some work on Lost Valley whilst there was three of us to do the winching, but the weather was not on our side and the sheer amount of rain raised the burn too high for us to cross safely with all the tools.  So we headed back to Coire nan Lochan and worked on a lower section of the path where erosion was undercutting some of the steps put in during previous work.  Whilst my colleagues worked directly on the fallen steps, I added a couple of rows of step rises and a little bit of revetments to help reduce future erosion which might produce further undercutting.

Before, looking uphill

Before, looking down hill

After, looking up hill

After, looking downhill

We also started work on a section further down the path which we had planned to keep as our end of week job.  However, the continued bad weather meant we ended up working a lot more in it as we were kept off the Lost Valley.  In this section the existing water bar needed to be turned into a double water bar to prevent the further loss of path surfacing that was disappearing down the bar, and some stone pitching to help deroughen the path and raise the path in a much more consistent manner making it easier to walk on.  Stones were particularly difficult to find in this area, which meant this work required all of our best jigsaw skills to make it work.

I also added another step where erosion below a step riser had increased the depth of the step, making it uncomfortable to use.  This had led to people walking around this step and causing erosion on slope side of the path.  The angle and bedrock meant that I needed to use an interesting, triangular shaped stone to fit into the space.  Once the step was finished, the erosion section was landscaped to ensure that walkers line of sight, and therefore direction of walking, stayed on the path.

Then the weather actually came on our side for a couple of weeks (it still rained pretty much everyday, just not enough to prevent us getting to the site) and we were able to get a few days on the Lost Valley.  We had been asked to work on a scree section where the path disappears into an area of bed rock and a lot of loose rocks which are difficult to walk on.  Most of the days were spent winching heavy stones across as these were needed for the type of work this section required.  This is safer tondo with three people, and then the stone work could be put into place with just only two in the team. Winching is definitely a lot easier and quicker when there is three of you.  

Before

After

Once we had winched over all all the stones we felt we needed, but before we started the work they were intended for, we did some work on the lower section just as the path disappears into the scree.  I added two steps to the start of the scree section and then built a revetment on the slope side of the path to try and prevent anymore of it from sliding down the slope and to define the line of the path.  This normally requires finding the largest stones we could to bury into the scree, using the weight of the stones themselves to hold them into place as the surrounding ground wasn't stable enough on its own.  However, as it was difficult to find a number of large stones here the revetment had to be made up of multiple smaller stones placed vertically against each other and then sandwiched between larger stones, using the combined weights to hold them in place.  Using the revetment, the path was curved towards the hill side with the idea that it would snake back a little more before hitting the first section bedrock.  Once on the bedrock no path line was needed until the next scree section.  Another step was added to the start of the bend and a large anchor stone placed on the right to hold the step in place. 

This was as far as we got in this section before the weather, this time quite a lot of snow, forced us back to Coire nan Lochan.  Unfortunately that has meant I didn't get to finish this part of the path and it's always a shame to have to leave some work incomplete.

Before

During

During

After

The last work that I did for the year was on a section of the path where the path's steepness and the erosion caused by path users and water was causing the surfacing of the path to disappear forming a gully.  To fix this a number of rows of stone pitching was needing to be added, along with a small revetment to reduce any further erosion and produce an easier walk up the gradient.  The stones here were more abundant, but only just and the interesting shapes definitely made for more head scratching decisions.  Getting it all landscaped and packed was very satisfying and I was happy to end the year with this piece of work.

Perhaps what was the most amazing part of this year predictably happened on the last day.  As we were walking back down Coire nan Lochan at the end of the day we were hit by a very strong distinctive smell.  Then, as we came round a corner in the path we saw, about 20m away on our right, a mixed group of deer, including stags, hinds, and this year's fawns.  Some of them watched us, but for the most part they carried on as if we weren't around.  We even got to see one of the fawns suckle.  An absolutely amazing way to end the year.