Janys Hyde

Janys Hyde

Trying my hand with writing related courses, and not only ...

www.janyshyde.com

Location Venice, Italy

Achievements

Activity

  • It's certainly useful to be able to download the transcript in order to read all that information through -- and maybe absorb some of it too! Very useful, but it's becoming very clear to me that I need to dust down my 'proper' digital camera for this course. My mobile phone is just not up to scratch.

  • Many thanks -- a brilliant article. Very useful. The whole site is brimming over with great articles and advice.

  • Hi Everyone -- I'm a silver surfer still with lots of things waiting to be achieved. Improved photography is high on my 'to do' list so this course fits the bill. My father was a professional photography, but I was too stubborn to learn what he was eager to teach. Thought it was about time to put that wrong to right.

  • @MaryAnnUnger sounds a bit like my story -- Dad was a professional photographer and one of my biggest regrets is that I was too stubborn to learn when he was still around and willing to teach.

  • I live in a city which offers numerous photo opportunities -- I would like to know how to take the pictures the city deserves. I am also hoping that I will be able to use both a digital camera and my mobile phone to achieve this.

  • Looking forward to the course content -- sounds promising

  • I also blog, and agree that using my own photographs is one of the reasons I would like to up my skills. No copyright problems that way!

  • @MaryO'Leary I almost always find myself disappointed with my attempts at photographing nature. This sounds like a good way to put that right!

  • I would like to improve my skills with the digital camera

  • I have never liked flying, so it has not been a problem to 'give up' except for family emergencies. We purchased a small, economic car a couple of years ago -- very low fuel consumption. I do all those things that I consider to be basic PEB such as recycling, upcycling, mending, repurposing. I no longer use conditioner in the washing machine -- nor on my hair...

  • @RebeccaP many years ago, during an Open University course, I joined https://www.ispotnature.org/ which is basically a nature observation platform. I have noticed that there seems to be less action in there recently, but perhaps that has been a result of the pandemic period. Worth checking -- and all free

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    More green spaces -- incorporated in urbanised areas. I see there are buildings with trees on the roof to counteract pollution and over heating of cities. More of that would bring nature closer to many whose work requires them to live in cities and large towns.

  • I would like to see more old buildings recovered rather than always building new -- more interest in recycling old but usable building materials.

  • There is no doubt that a lot of thinking has gone into this whole project which seems to be well articulated at all levels. I still have doubts about which stakeholders are involved and whether the true roots have been reached and stimulated.

  • The aims of the movement are highly commendable, though I can't help feeling that it was launched at an inopportune moment. Personally I had never heard of it, and in view of the situations created during the pandemia -- I suspect that I'm not alone. So just how far reaching were all the initiatives for inclusion I ask? Probably limited to academics and well...

  • I see it as an all encompassing project on many levels, aimed at a cleaner, more sustainable future available to all -- a simplification of our current system to avoid waste and harmful technologies.

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    We certainly couldn't have to a better team to lead us.

  • Sincerely hope this course has piqued the interest of many more -- but meanwhile, I'm British, married to an Italian, living in Venice, Italy. My dream (one of many) is to build an 'eco-home', but for the time being, I am making every effort to simplify my life in many ways. Perhaps the course will provide me with some pointers...

  • Looking forward to discovering this course content.

  • Certainly that is also true -- but it was never clear to me whether Mum didn't want to 'put someone out' or truly didn't want to go out. I only know that on those occasions we did manage to take her out it seemed to please her. But when older people have lived a full and active life, I can well imagine how distressing it must be to rely on others -- and add...

  • Well there's something I had never heard of -- what an intereting substitute

  • Useful ideas there

  • For cooking -- virgin olive oil -- and condiment too. My husband is Italian-- it's going to be easy to get him off his parmesan cheese

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    We actually drink very little milk except in the form of yoghurt. I have tried several plant based 'milks' but the only ones I found pleasant were the rice milk, the coconut milk and the almond milk.

  • I can get hold of that milk readily enough, but I haven't heard of the yoghurts before.

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    As someone else has said -- following a tried and tested vegan recipe is my best bet until I gain confidence

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    That clarifies some of those terms on the packaging - thanks

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    Up until now I have not purchased specifically labelled Vegan products, but really on local produce in its untreated state

  • Oh dear -- Marmite is not for me! Not very easy to find here anyway, so I'm going to have to work on that one. As I said before -- the idea of substituting ingredients is on my learning curve right now

  • This is an area of veganism that I need to delve into more deeply. Much appreciated are all the suggestions made by fellow students.

  • Looking to add to the basics

  • Lots of lessons learnt -- a challenge ahead

  • I am surprised, though it does make sense. As someone else has mentioned, it is a concern that so many foods appropriate to a vegan diet have to be sourced long distance.

  • I agree -- and that would also explain why the vegan diet has taken hold on those with a higher income -- at least amongst my personal acquaintances.

  • I am still very new to this so am quite happy to check out the suggestions of my fellow students.

  • Certainly I don't spoil the pleasure of cooking and eating with delving into details about these essential elements, but do hope that our varied diet covers them.

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    I understand that Vitamin A is not good for post menopausal women -- why is this?

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    I have contacted support about the broken link on this page.

  • I think we get adequate calcium in our diet from various sources, including those listed here

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    We eat plenty of nuts and we drink coffee which would be something very difficult for us to give up. Might have to work a way around that...

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    I use olive oil for all our cooking -- condiment on salads and on grilled vegetables such as courgettes or aubergines. On the rare occasions I use butter (except in baking) I use it uncooked. Margarine no longer has a place in our home. We also get fats from nuts -- walnuts I often add to salads.

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    We have a fairly high fibre content in our diet -- never actually measured it, but I'm pretty certain we get more than the minimum requirement. Our favourite during the winter months are the soups made with pulses. When fresh dates are available, we usually have those around the house for snacks and we also eat a fair amount of raw vegetables which I believe...

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    Whether in the right quantities or not, I'm not sure, but I'm pretty certain we get our carbohydrates from pasta, bread, breadsticks, the occasional slice of homemade cake, bean soups...

  • I was not aware that there are potential risks with the consumption of soya. However, we eat is so rarely I will probably continue to use it now and again. I was more aware of the arguments against growing so much soya which is apparently another cause of forest devastation. Soya is grown both for human and animal consumption. If anything, that would be a...

  • I have taken to occasionally adding hemp flour to cake and biscuit recipes -- as about 30% of the total flour quantity. Dried fruit is regularly on our menu -- either as a snack or as one of the ingredients in a recipe -- this goes for sesame seeds as well which are excellent for a simple pasta dish -- just gently heat sesame seeds in olive oil with chopped...

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    I have nowhere to grow my own, but look forward to a time when I will be able to.
    I occasionally buy organic, but for the main part try to buy local produce.
    Summer temperatures here in Italy do mean that some things I would have preferred to leave out of the fridge -- have to go in there as they deteriorate so very fast outside the fridge. I no longer have...

  • In Italy the recommendations are very similar to those listed here -- and in addition they suggest cereals/pulses 2 or 3 times per week. I have to say that whilst we eat more or less (my husband usually more) than the recommended quantities -- we eat less pulses during the summer, but make up for that during the winter months.

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    Most of them are unknown to me, and it looks as if most of the other students in here have drawn a blank too -- so I look forward to being illuminated!

  • @ChristeleRogers as Susan says -- copy and paste

  • Like with any diet, if the nutrients are lacking our health will inevitably suffer as a result

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    The content will help fill the gaps I have in my knowledge concerning a vegan diet

  • Some food for thought in the course so far, though I can't help feeling that if other problems were resolved, they would free me up for more connectedness with nature.

  • I now know that I suffer from eco-anxiety and will tell those who don't suffer from this that it is not a conscious reaction to the climate problem, but is rather a deepset sense of doom -- an underlying fear that cannot easily be expressed in words. It's back to that sense of not really being able to do anything about these events which are so much bigger...

  • That is often my philosophy about things that are so much greater than me that I can't change them -- but that seems to be working against me on climate change. I feel helpless -- but anxious, particularly when I come across people who blatantly flaunt behaviour which is harmful to the planet.

  • Well it looks as if I have found a word to describe my current 'state'.
    So does this now mean that I am too 'connected'?

  • I chose habitat loss since that is something which affects me directly. I live in a city built at water level -- the locals have come to terms with that, but in recent years I am feeling more and more the necessity to move to higher land.

  • Almost every day -- or evening during the warmer months. An evening boat ride gives me the chance to feel the force of nature riding on the waves -- feel the wind.
    Just a month ago I was in the midst of green nature for a couple of days -- the hills made me connect more with my body -- the rarefied air made my lungs work harder and the clean fresh air allowed...

  • Sadly, being outside the UK -- and being in July anyway, this means that the 30 Days Wild Campaign has been and gone. But I will make an effort to go Wild every time I am in the sort of place where that would be possible.

  • I can connect with this comment remembering my dear old Mum and her disability which kept her indoors for some 20 years. And that was in her own home. The carers just didn't have the time to take her outdoors -- even into her own garden.

  • Not all aspects of nature make me feel good -- as I explained in my last comment -- but luckily the good feelings seem, generally speaking, to outweigh the negative ones.

  • So my engagement with natural beauty seems to be limited within the scope of those things I can touch, smell. I know those things give me a great sense of wellbeing. Natural beauty on a universal scale tends to make me feel helpless, and often fearful.

  • It's odd -- this example of the motorbike and the storm. To begin with, my connectedness with storms is very negative. My father was struck by lightning (and survived), and this has influenced my emotions when a storm is in the offing. I have to escape. But my point is that when my husband and I crossed Europe on a motorbike a few years ago, I became aware of...

  • I have the good fortune to live in a home with all my windows directly overlooking water -- we sleep with our windows open at night and can hear the water lapping agains the foundations. All the advantages of a boat without the bilge pump.
    I like to listen to birds, though I have to say the early morning seagulls make a riot and are not really conducive to...

  • I actually find it very sad to read those figures. Certainly the tv these days -- both national and private channels (at least, here in Italy) -- offer such a vast selection of programmes I can well believe that nature documentaries are low on the list of personal choice for many. Now in 2023, the rising costs in petrol have certainly limited many people's...

  • Don't forget that the course is open to a very mixed age-group, so what mature students might see as obvious, thanks to life experience -- it might not necessarily be so to other ages.

  • A lot of information to take in here -- the linked resources will certainly come in handy. Thanks also to the other students who have posted alternative resources covering the subject

  • Interesting additional resources -- thank you

  • Let me add 'pocio' in Venetian -- sludge applied to snow and to muddy terrain; nevischio (Italian) -- sleet; valanga -- avalanche; tempesta di neve -- snowstorm; palla di neve -- snowball. I'm sure there are others, but they don't come to mind.

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    Had to return to the temperatures, but the rest was not too bad

  • I was just saying...
    My experience of artificial manufactured snow is precisely in skiing resorts where in recent years the natural snowfall has not been sufficient for snow activities.
    Quite apart from what the mechanics might be for skiing on manufactured snow, the environmental issues are hot. In the area where we have our mountain bolthole, there is a...

  • My experience of artificial manufactured snow is precisely in skiing resorts where in recent years the natural snowfall has not been sufficient for snow activities.

  • I have seen and experienced these various types of snow, but it is very interesting to learn why there are these differences.

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    Very interesting -- I had always been told that they were all different, but learning how they are formed is a bonus

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    My relationship with snow is quite good. Quite apart from the beauty of snow and the silence it offers, we are fortunate that where we spend our winters there is an efficient snow clearing apparatus in place which rarely leaves us blocked in. The roads are always cleaned efficiently and frequently so with few exceptions, we manage to get around the local area...

  • Reading other folk's comments I can fully understand the loves and the hates. My experience of snow goes back to my childhood in the UK when I can remember my Mum having to get up at dawn with Dad to see him off to work in the thick snow -- our little car was blocked in the driveway and she'd be out there in her nightwear helping Dad to clear the snow and push...

  • Forgot to mention in my last comment the importance of melting snow for our water resources.

  • @LeeScott if only I could find someone in here to discuss with... your comment was made in March 2022, and here I am in August 2023 rattling round all by myself it seems :(

  • Snow offers numerous opportunities for leisure activities -- sledding, skiing, trekking with snowshoes, excursions with dog sleds, plus the less formal activities such as snow fights etc. For the hospitality sector it is often a boom as visitors flock to snow covered areas to enjoy these sports. For those who actually live in the areas which enjoy a snowy...

  • Looking forward to the next information block.

  • As usual, it looks as if I must set aside all hopes of finding fellow students in here doing the course at the same time as me -- but just in case, let me introduce myself.
    I'm British, living in Venice, Italy but over the past couple of years have been able to spend a couple of months each winter up in the Dolomites, often snowed in -- hence the course.

  • Spend part of my winter up in the Italian Dolomites where we have occasionally found ourselves snowed in. Thought learning more about snow would add a new dimension to the experience.

  • Luckily I get to spend part of the winter in an area of Italy where we can normally expect snow -- but not always!

  • Looks as if you're in a part of Essex where my disabled mother lived and had frequent dealings with the local hospital. My biggest regret in her later years was not living closer to her to ensure that she got out (or was taken out) in her wheelchair -- even just to her own back garden in order to enjoy at least a limited contact with nature. But as is the case...

  • Although I agree for the main part with all the considerations concerning wellbeing, I find it unnecessary to separate body image from the other terms used to describe that state. Would it not be a consequence of all those feelings of wellbeing that our relation with our body image improves also? Or perhaps I am not fully understanding what is intended by body...

  • Ok -- last chapter coming up...
    Feeling good/hedonic words:
    Peaceful -- I will relate peaceful to silence. I fall asleep at night in the mountain retreat and hear nothing, except perhaps the wind. Daytime is not quite so quiet at weekends, but all that silence does me good.

    Happy -- I find happy difficult to define, but when I am in my green...

  • contd.
    Personal growth -- for me, this links very much in with the previous point I made -- difficult to look forward to personal growth when you get past 70.

    In conclusion, I have not felt that any of these points have had a great deal to do with my connectedness with nature, which possibly came about too late in my life. Only over the past 4 years have I...

  • So let me look at these eudaimonic words (that term had never crossed my path before)
    Autonomy -- strangely enough, I only really began to feel a sense of autonomy (as a woman) with the arrival of my pension. That in itself has given me an increased sense of autonomy and has nothing to do with nature.

    Self-acceptance -- yet again, without the help...

  • @SheenaghH I can see your point -- I live somewhere where flooding is a regular, though dramatic, event -- where earthquakes occur with disturbing frequency -- where winds devastate forests and agricultural land -- but none of that stops me from being in awe of or from admiring nature. I am beginning to learn that so much of all these events are just a part of...

  • We had an old crab apple tree at the bottom of the garden and my Mum could always find me somewhere up in the branches daydreaming

  • Those terms are not easy on the ears of the uninitiated -- so I'll allow them into my head for the time being and hope I never need to use them again. First time in 72 years -- so there's hope.
    I'll limit myself to saying that I feel good when I am surrounded by nature -- I feel good on more levels.

  • Once this bits over, you'll probably never to think of those terms ever again -- so hang in there

  • Janys Hyde made a comment

    My daughter has just sent me a little video clip from her garden of an ant carrying another insect, at least 10 times his size... Perhaps all is not lost if there are others out there noticing these things.
    I will use her as an example. Like her mother, she is imperfect and unpredictable in so many ways, but since having her own home (with her companion) she...

  • I would just be happy to find active students on all the courses I join -- so perhaps having fresh start dates occasionally would be a good idea.

  • A good week -- lots of thought provoking information and resources. And best of all for me has been to find myself on a course where there are active participants. Sadly I feel as if I'm talking to myself in an empty room on some of the courses! Enjoyable just the same, but with no students and lots of broken links, they aren't quite so satisfying.

  • But while the Greta Thunbergs of this world travel in airplanes and drink water from plastic bottles, we obviously and sadly still have a long way to go.

  • I wonder what the alternatives/equivalent might be in the rest of the world and if anyone has proposed to include it in national education.

  • I was very surprised to learn that the green spaces did not have a positive influence. On the other hand, the point about a youngster's parents being influential didn't surprise me, and reminds me of how my own parents were very keyed into nature -- possibly because both of them spent their childhood in less urbanised areas. This same point is encouraging...

  • Certainly interesting to see that all this information has been 'measured' but I'm pretty certain that almost every adult in here can relate to those figures. As kids we have a heightened sense of curiosity about the world surronding us -- when school begins suddenly our innocent curiosity has to be 'classified' and for many, this removes the simple curiosity...

  • My conclusion (and experience) exactly

  • With few exceptions, it is not easy to connect with nature where I live. There are not many green areas -- and when there are, they are often privately owned behind walls. Luckily the city is close to water and some people are able to get out in rowing boats. Many have small motor boats, but the connection is not the same. There is less need to 'know' the...