Geological custard

It's been rather damp out so I have taken the time to catch up with some indoor things. I should probably now be launching forth with a run down of the housework chores I have completed but hmm, moving on...

I made a case for my dpns:

And have also done some more of the various knitting projects although I can't show them really; I should pixelate the photos of the hats and scarves and mitts like they do on Crimewatch so that it proves I have actually been doing something constructive with my needles not just indulging them with a more organised home.

I have found that getting up early and using the quiet time in the moring to study has helped me feel much more confident about tackling distance learning, which can be a lonely old business especially when I have no background in science at this level. I am taking the time to look things up and try and get my head around parts of the course that are problematical when they arise as I don't want to make the mistake I have in the past in assuming that I will be able to wing it! I really love the subject though and I have done this type of geology a number of times before so it is quite familiar. I decided to look at material properties this morning for the children's science lesson so we did about elastic and plastic deformation, and as an homage to my course text, I used a bowl of custard to demonstrate how earthquakes cause brittle failure of the Earth's crust:

Can you see the cracks on the cooled surface? - having simulated about a magnitude 15 earthquake by banging the bowl on the table. However the heat of the underneath layer keeps it sufficiently plastic to accommodate the stress. I do like science experiments that one can eat afterwards although a lack of forethought meant I didn't have a plutonic apple crumble or subduction zone jam roly-poly to go with it. I also helped Rose finish her lapbook about stars. The laminator then came out and she and Amber designed a range of characters for a show, with the usual Hollyoaks-inspired plot line. I had to sit through it but I was allowed to knit. The characters were quite sweet - I was rather sorry most of them ended up dying:

All the hens followed me through the garden this afternoon as they are being deprived of their evening corn ration in favour of their Flubenvet-spiked layers mash. Maud is still a bit blocked up but I'm hoping she'll be ok.