Still Raising The Next Generation

All in a twist

2012-01-26T22:40:00.002Z

How difficult can it be? I decided to add a drop spindle to my roving order and had visions of producing breath taking yarns with the flick of my wrist. Well, after a frustrating evening of tangles and yet more YouTube demonstrations I'm now giving in.

Perhaps I should have chosen a different day - one when I hadn't taken the children to the dentist and a hen to the vet. I was in a spin before I even began!

Smile

2012-01-24T21:10:00.001Z

A lady shared this with me this evening. It made me smile so I'm sharing it with you.

A Smile costs nothing, but gives much.

It enriches those who receive, without making poorer those who give.

It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.

None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it, and none is so poor, but that he can be made rich by it.

A Smile creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in business, and is the countersign of friendship.

It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and it is nature’s best antidote for trouble.

Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone, until it is given away.

Some people are too tired to give you a smile;

Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.

Wasp!

2012-01-23T14:36:00.001Z

Perhaps it's just another sign of the mild winter, but having had the windows open for a while this morning, I discovered a huge, drowsy, wasp on the blinds!

Urrrghh, the Geordies of the insect world!

Coffee or ice cream?

2012-01-20T21:16:00.002Z

Have both!

I forgot to show you this when I posted about our trip to the ice cream parlor last weekend. I felt I needed a coffee afterwards to warm me up and it came with yet more, albeit dinky, ice cream! Cute.

YouTube

2012-01-18T20:39:00.001Z

Where would I be as a home educator without YouTube? I just don't know! I'm so thankful that there's a song for every occasion out there.

Chilly

2012-01-17T21:18:00.006Z

I'm not sure this is what I had in mind when I posted about needing snow for closure on 2011 and enforced rest. It's not snow; it's frost which is growing as deep as a light snow covering; building every day as the sun just can't seem to reach high enough to penetrate it.

Ah, flowers which a friend gave me this evening. Made me feel warm and fuzzy despite the sub zero temperatures!

What's on

2012-01-16T18:33:00.006Z

On the needles...

This has to be the funkiest wool I've ever knit with. It's undoubtedly the quickest to grow when I'm knitting it up! Only trouble is it has tiny fibers which seem to irritate my eyes. It's yet another scarf as I can only cope with 'mindless' knitting these days. A pattern would be overload and require my undivided attention. With this I can rattle off a quick row while directing the children to get their shoes and coats on!

On the Kindle...

I have been wanting to read this since reading this. I love to explore a women's perspective of a story you may (or may not) have already heard. Comparing, contrasting and generally figuring out the differences.

It's a long one and I need to crack to it as I have a couple of interesting looking books in waiting too.

On the MP3 player...

She's a bit mainstream and poppy in comparison to what I generally listen to, but I love her voice. Go girl! For once the X Factor seems to have done good for someone.

She's playing at a venue in the region soon and I was initially keen to go, but it's on a night I meditate with friends so have decided to pass. My bank balance will be appreciative of my choice.

On the floor..

Miles, learning to skip. more often on the floor than his feet!

Sundaes on a Sunday

2012-01-15T17:21:00.000Z

Mmmmmm

Fabric

2012-01-13T21:19:00.005Z

Some women think you can never have enough shoes. Personally I feel you can never have enough scatter cushions.

Changing season is something that often prompts me to buy new cushions; well I say buy new ones, I usually just recover the existing ones.

I love the selection at Fabric Rehab and have pulled together four of my top spring cushion choices, from which I'm going to pick three.

I think I may well forego the top one as it's a bit too orange for my kitchen. I'll make a final decision tomorrow but I suspect it will be the bottom three.

Hibernation

2012-01-12T19:05:00.009Z

Where is winter? Are we to have a winter this year? I feel like I've not had real closure on 2011 because we've not got to sit holed up in the living room, in front of a big open fire, drinking hot chocolate, reading stories and watching the snow fall.

I've enjoyed being rendered nigh on housebound for a couple of weeks each winter in recent years. I realise now that I really benefit from that enforced slower pace; at a time when we're programmed by nature to take it easy, rest deeply and think calmly. How is one to come even close to anything like deep rest and reflection without three feet of snow? If the snow doesn't materialize soon I think I need to give that one some real thought. I'm not quite ready to dance through the tulips with a spring in my step. I want my winter rest.

We wandered out to a local wooded area earlier in the week. It was scarcely coat weather - certainly not big hat and scarf weather! The plan was to find a tree we really liked and photograph it; which we did. Here it is below. Not a particularly large or striking tree, but it's the chosen one and who am I to argue?

The plan is to return each month and record it's progress, in words and pictures. I only hope we see it through. I'm so good at starting these projects which require sustained effort, yet not always so good at seeing them through. No staying power, or always looking for a new challenge? I'd prefer to think it's a case of the latter.

I was astounded to see these daffodils shooting away.

Yet more surprised to spot this clump coming into bud. A sharp frost could kill them and I guess that would be the end of those little daffs till next year. Oh, how I hate this topsy turviness!

Green bursting through here, there and everywhere!

There was lots of activity on the woodland floor with squirrels and small birds. I tried in vain to capture one squirrel with a particularly bushy tail, but alas he was camera shy and lead me quite a dance. Can you see him?

What a wonderful tail!

We can still see you!

We can still see you too Hermione. It's hard to hide in shocking pink wellies!

Perhaps I ought not to say this, but here's hoping to flurries of large flakes very soon.

Movies

2012-01-09T16:17:00.002Z

Now, I'm not a big fan of the movies, and have to say I wasn't hugely impressed with Chipwrecked which we went to see yesterday, although the children loved it. It was actually our first ever successful trip to the cinema in so far as we all stayed in till the end.

Anyway, I did make a mental note that a couple of the trailers showed films which may have educational potential.

Firstly there was War Horse which may well appeal to Hermione as she's a Morpurgo fan. Need to check out it's historical accuracy first though. I don't want to present it to her as history if it's not. Morpurgo's usually fairly accurate but you never know what the film makers may have done to it.

The second one, I'm hoping someone can help me with. It was an animation if I remember rightly, something to do with Atlantis. Does anyone know what it is called?

Lazy notice or memory board

2012-01-08T19:54:00.002Z

I've had a large notice board lying around for ages. I've loads of scrappy odds and ends of leaflets and things lying around too, and I can never find the one I want when I want it! So, I decided to do something about it.

I covered the board with a piece of fabric I had in my stash, and I have strung ribbons and raffia across which I received on wrapped gifts from friends this Christmas. A good way to remember special times and hopefully get a bit more organised.

I'm a lazy crafter these days. The other day it was fabric glue, this time it was an upholstery staple gun. It's great when you can see results quickly; I think this was less than half an hour from first thought to being on the wall!

Warm welcome up the patch

2012-01-07T21:36:00.006Z

Now that natural food is much more scarce, our beasties need extra food in the afternoon. We used to fill up the trough on a morning and that would last all day. That's not always so now. They know as soon as they see me coming that they're going to get tasty treats (they often get grains which are their favorite at this time). What a racket they make! I can't believe that I spent years worrying about the potential noise of a cockerel - cockerels have nothing on a bunch of ducks! I'm quite certain that they can be heard at the other end of the village sometimes!

Sometimes I'm cornered when I come to leave the greenhouse where the grain bins are stored. They block my way and jump up, often till I relent and put the bin lid down.

'It's mine' said the rabbit.

'It's mine' said the hen.

'It's mine!' said the duck.

It amazes me how, despite being domesticated in so far as we clean their houses and put in fresh bedding, they still follow the seasons. Here below you can see how they have dragged lots of fallen leaves into one of their houses, so much so you can't see their original bedding. Must be feeling chilly!

They've taken to laying in the warmth and comfort of the play house couch. Sheesh, the little tinkers!

Can you see the hidden face here? I can! Certainly two eyes and a nose at least. I can also see all the mud they've brought in on their feet!

Three Kings Day

2012-01-06T11:19:00.004Z

Yesterday we baked fairy cakes, and when cool, I hid a tiddly wink in one. The person to find the tiddly wink in their cake was to be crowned king with a crown the children made together.

The tiddly wink wasn't in Miles cake but he somehow came to be the one wearing the crown anyway.

It's not an occasion we usually mark, but did so as it was in our Little Acorn guide and it sounded interesting. I knew the children would find the cake part fun. Just to clarify, the guide didn't suggest tiddly winks in fairy cakes - I think it was a dried lima bean in bread. We improvised.

So, there you have it, so far as I know one of the final celebrations/notable days of the Christmas period. The three kings arrived at the stable. Time to well and truly return to the grind.

Jazzy

2012-01-04T21:47:00.007Z

Sitting at the poolside with my knitting this evening, waiting for Hermione and her mate to actually get out, I thought I was about to develop RSI. Thankfully I had a couple of magazines with me.

Now, I don't often read celeb type mags and it would be a huge fib to suggest for one minute that I'm 'in the groove' or whatever the term may be for hip people these days.

I guess what did surprise me is just how completely not in the groove I am!

Did you know that if someone offers to vajazzle you it probably won't involve being handed a packet of dinky chocolate buttons with colourful balls on?

Vajazzling seems to be the latest celeb trend which involves waxing and be-jeweling your lady garden.

Urgghhh that just looks like metalic shaving rash to me. Can't help but wonder if it could trigger store alarms too. How would you explain that?

Now, this one is better! Why the heck didn't someone tell me about these alternative greetings before I bought my Christmas cards?

Next time my arm starts to ache I'll keep on knitting. There are something I'd just rather not know.

Flowers, acorns, fungi and dreams

2012-01-03T21:21:00.006Z

Having woken to gale force winds and torrential rain, I didn't have huge hopes for fun excursions today. Add to that car issues and email troubles and I might as well have not bothered changing out of my nightie.

Did you know that if you spill a cup of coffee on your dashboard, in some makes of car it can make it's way into a fuse box, and cause all of the electrical functions in your car to take on a life of their own? No, neither did I. I do now though. What I need to know is who spilt the coffee. Answers on a postcard please. I didn't spill any and the children don't drink coffee. Should be a no brainer but some folks just won't put their hands up.

The other day Miles and I made this beautiful herb sachet. I had intended to hang it inside of the linen cupboard in the hope it would fragrance the bedding with restful aromas, but I decided we all needed to feel chilling vibes day to day, so hung it on the outside instead!

Here's what we put in; lemon balm, lavender and chamomile heads.

Today saw us (predominantly Miles and I) embark upon a program of Steiner style life enrichment with Little Acorn Learning. I must admit to having just 'jumped in' today without really pre reading or planning. Yet, we still enjoyed what we did very much. I look forward to being better prepared in future, but also relieved to have learned that when needs must, it is something you can just 'jump in' there and then.

I would like it so much if Hermione were willing to embrace more Steiner crafts and ways. I like it and it has always puzzled me why, my down to earth, outdoorsy, story loving, crafty girl, is so entirely anti Steiner. I think perhaps her first Steiner experiences were not the positive experience I would have liked them to have been, and that has maybe stayed with her? I don't know; all I do know is that she came over to me when I was looking through the materials this evening and said in all seriousness, but with a very cheeky grin on her face, 'Stand back from the acorns Mama. Stand back. Too many acorns and gnomes make you scary!'

Over the years it's never really bothered me that Hermione is openly anti Steiner, whereas Miles really embraces it. Horses for courses and all that, each to their own. After all, we don't do Steiner in a big way; her disdain shouldn't be a big deal for me. We don't follow Steiner principles as regards academia in any way whatsoever. For us it just provides some pattern and rhythm to the way we tend to live anyway - outdoorsy, crafting, storytelling, season watching type of people. Why does Hermione strongly resist something which in many respects is just a name for many of the things we do anyway? Perhaps she would rather not take what we do and try to fit it into an 'ideology' or 'philosophy' box? That would make sense as really that's only right - it's important to find a box that fits your shape as opposed to squeezing into a different shaped box.

I guess I'm just going to have to chill and accept that she does now goes online, has a mobile phone, texts friends, goes on sleepovers etc. and whats more, no amount of watercolors or felt gnomes will make my growing girl stay young, and nor would I want her to. I just desperately don't want her to become consumed by a fast paced society and throw away her earthiness (if such word exists!)

While Nana and Hermione set to work rustling up a pan of soup and some apple crumble, Miles and I played Fungi Top Trumps. Well, blow me, I was quite surprised at the entertainment value of a pile of mushroom cards!

After playing the game we laid them all out and then separated them into categories; poisonous, just a bit poisonous and not at all poisonous. I agreed to take pictures of his favorites from each category to share with the world.

This was his favorite 'poisonous' one. What's not to love about those fairy tale toadstools? Oh now I know - they're toxic!

This was his favorite 'just a bit poisonous' one.

This was my all round favorite - partly because of it's name and partly because I spot this growing in various places where we regularly meet with friends; I'll now be able to bore them with tales of how I know what this fungi is called!

Favorite 'not at all poisonous' one.

Just in case anyone is wondering, I got the cards from the BBC Nature Detectives Club. They're very flimsy. I must hunt out my laminator before Miles decides to take them out and about to play with friends.

I'm pleased to say that last night saw me have a good night's sleep. I think in part that was because I had finished my walk on The Progress and was no longer guessing what may happen next. The downside is I've just downloaded the next in the series onto my kindle and will have to make sure I don't get too drawn into it tonight!

Come what may with my bed time reading, I still think I'll sleep more soundly tonight. I think the beginning of the new academic term has been weighing very heavily on my mind. I've been having performance anxiety! Well, what can I say? It's only day one! However, it's been a good day with both of the children happily settling down to doing a fair chunk of academic stuff. It makes a change to start on a high and not have to be cajoling everyone out of holiday mode - and for that I'm very thankful!

Sleep well m'dears.

Tossing and turning

2012-01-02T02:17:00.008Z

It seems like an eternity since I went to bed. So darned long ago that I've given up and clambered out of it. Oh, when I think of all the hours I've spent in my lifetime, just wishing I was asleep; hours spent tossing and turning; listening to the hot water pipes cool and contract; roaming from window to window, looking out on deserted streets.

Oh, how I hate it! So wakeful while the world sleeps, and so sleepy while the world's awake. It's such an awful thing to suffer from, insomnia. I've suffered since being a child yet I still don't think the people around me really understand the impact it has upon my life.

I've read for what feels like the passage of an era. I'm reading this right now. I've traveled on horseback from York almost to Hull on Henry VIII Progress Through Yorkshire in the time since I retired.

I'd like to share something which has irritated my waking moments tonight, when not concentrating on The Progress that is. We went to the beach the other day and it was so good to get the cobwebs blown away.

Splashing in rock pools and looking for sea creatures who seemed insistent on not being spotted.

Collecting treasures.

Island in the stream.

Crashing waves.

Shopping trolley.

Worn aluminium cans and plastic bottle tops.

Overflowing bins.

Why? Can someone just tell me, why?

Good to go

2012-01-01T15:59:00.004Z

I'm hiding out in my hidey hole, trying to ignore the mayhem that is unfolding around me, as we try to clear out all the accumulated dross of the season, plus a whole load of plastic tat to make way for a new load of plastic tat.

I hate the whole plastic tattery which seems to be part and parcel of childhood these days. How great it would be if they did play incessantly with pine cones and sea smoothed glass. Back to reality however, they seem drawn to plastic, particularly cheap plastic which makes lots of noise.

Friends beware, I have filled the boot of my car and will be placing extreme pressure on you when I see you, to adopt some of our cast offs! Comes on ladies, you know you want it...

Right, my diary is ready. The new year can begin.

A lovely mama gave me a spare diary which she had for this year. It's very practical and just my thing, but it had a picture of the Taj Mahal on the front. So, for fear of getting itchy feet, or feeling the urge for a bhaji whenever I went to make a date, I have covered it in fabric.

I did it the easy way with fabric glue. I may come to regret that and end up stitching it into a 'proper' cover. I popped a sheet of wadding underneath too to make it feel snug in my bag.

Right, back to the chaos that is my home right now. Hermione's phone is beeping with texts at a rate that's driving me insane. Miles is really busy playing with his new toys - at least for the length of time it takes to remove all of the packaging before deciding he would like to play with something different. Arrrghhh, roll on summer!

What have I learned?

2011-12-31T15:15:00.008Z

It's been a funny old year 2011. Like all years, it's had it's highs, lows and downright ridiculous moments. I'm not going to wax lyrical about it. I'm not going to make any resolutions. It's taken time but I've finally accepted that the whole process of making resolutions feeds on the reality that before long they'll be broken - it's just part of a cycle, and not something I'm going to get hung up on. History tells me that regardless of my good intents, certain things usually happen in the course of a year; I get older, wiser and increasingly rotund. The bit that naffs me off is that they don't all happen in equal measure or what I could even consider a fair proportion!

One thing I am going to internalize and take with me into the coming year is the success of last night. Despite my having done nothing in terms of shopping or food prep, last night's dinner party was still a wonderful success.

The fact that the hand towels in the bathroom were not freshly laundered and folded on the towel warmer didn't seem to matter. I'll even go so far as to say that, given the company we were in (warm and loving), it didn't really matter when fifteen minutes after having finished our starter, Craig announced he was about to prepare, saute and then bake (!) the main course. Conversation flowed even faster than the wine, and before we knew it the Mixed Bean Enchiladas smothered in cheesy natural yoghurt were sizzling on the table.

Will this change how I feel next time people come to dinner? I hope so. Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to turn this place into Chez Waynetta, but then I quite liked watching Craig dance as he prepared dinner, laughing, relaxed and happy. Perhaps there is more to life than fluffy hand towels and a meal which is well punctuated with equal stops between courses.

My only input into prepping the evening was to add these little ditsy wine glass charms which I have made. Making wine glass charms is my creative craft of choice right now. I just thought on about buttons a couple of days ago and like them. I'm not entirely a beaded person and think these chunky colorful buttons ease onto my table much more graciously.

The purple dotty one, and a peach one which isn't here as I had camera shudder, are my favorites.

Well, all that remains is to wish you all a year full of growth, zest, love and laughter; and for those who know the year ahead will bring it's challenges, I just want to share this poem I've found, which for me really sums it all up.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

What can be said in New Year rhymes,
That's not been said a thousand times?
The new years come, the old years go,
We know we dream, we dream we know.
We rise up laughing with the light,
We lie down weeping with the night.
We hug the world until it stings,
We curse it then and sigh for wings.
We live, we love, we woo, we wed,
We wreathe our prides, we sheet our dead.
We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,
And that's the burden of a year.

2011-12-31T15:13:00.001Z

Rejuvenated

2011-12-30T15:33:00.009Z

I headed off into town with the children today, on a mission to wander, take deep breaths and to enjoy the sights, both new and old. No matter how long you live in a place, I think there are always new things to see.

Ducks and bridges.

Boat landings and rowers.

Pretty birdie amongst the tab ends.

Mountains to climb.

Rose window.

An interesting door.

A sculpture, hidden behind bars in what looked like someone's garden.

Pretty butterfly, spotted by Hermione, on the wall.

Big bell - the type I would like for summoning all to family meetings; yes, we do have family meetings, on much too often basis for the liking of some around here!

Carving of a judge beside the doorway of the University Law School building.

Ah, a welcome sight at the end of our wanderings.

Having busied myself as described above, and having watched the Christmas Special of Horrible Histories yet again, I'm pleased to report I have not ventured anywhere near Asda's olive aisle and my resolve to put Craig's hosting skills to the test has not weakened. Oh boy, I do hope I won't regret this!

Desire

2011-12-29T21:28:00.002Z

Sometimes it feels like there's no beginning and no end. Not enough to go round. No chance to replenish your own self before you need to dice it up and give it out.

I know, I've posted this clip here before, but it still brings me comfort at times when I feel demand is high and stocks are low. I don't know what it is, but there's something out there which, in the stillness, will bring me the warmth and openness to give freely to those small souls who need it so much sometimes.

I'm also hoping that while I'm trying hard to stock up on the rosy glow which makes mothering much easier, Craig will be stocking up on gastronomic tips as I have decided I don't have what it takes right now to prep a dinner party tomorrow evening.

It's all about choices I guess. I figure the scary option of delegating dinner party prep will, regardless of whatever may be dished up under the guise of food tomorrow, bring the greatest benefit to me and my peeps. Right, enough said on that front. The longer I linger on that thought the more likely I am to run out screaming all the way to the Asda's fancy stuffed olives aisle!

Thankful

2011-12-28T20:08:00.003Z

There's so much to be thankful for every day, and one of the many things I love about blogging as opposed to other online communication mediums, is that for me at least, it really helps me to focus my mind on the positive.

Today I was thankful that Miles and I got out to see friends again after the festive period. Our usual haunt was closed and unfortunately we didn't realize till we arrived, but we soon found somewhere else to hang our hats and drink coffee.

I got to play with playdoh, while it was still soft and colorful as opposed to grey/brown with crunchy bits in. Oooh, the smell oh 'real' playoh; I love it!

While playing with the said doh we listened to Kate Bush, Fifty Words For Snow, which my wonderful husband has put on my kitchen music thingy me jiggy. I need to get with the new technology, I'm lost since the death of cds.

I hadn't realized she was still recording to be honest, and was very thankful to learn that she is. I look back fondly on the days when I used to listen to her on my tape cassette walkman on the bus. Her new stuff still has her particular hallmark in my view, but her voice has matured and has new qualities. It's more of a grower though as opposed to something which will instantly grab you. You can hear some of her new stuff here.

I was exceptionally thankful that while cooking dinner this evening I happened to glance across the room and felt quite pleased to have blown my Christmas money on a fur throw to cover the sofa, which has fallen victim to the air hockey table which has knocked it out of it's 'proper' place.

It's not to my usual taste. I have to say I have thought back a few times today to the sage green chenille throw which I was hurrying to the check out with when Hermione spotted the fur one which we did buy. However, it's cosy, comfy and everyone else loves it. I think it's even helping Miles to fulfill his current Mowgli and Baloo aspirations!

I'm thankful that this little red robin has survived my Christmas decoration cull. The wind is howling again, blowing an absolute hooligan, and this little chap is still very de rigueur.

I'm thankful that I can sit here typing this post knowing one titch is tucked up in bed, sleeping soundly, while the other is happily whooping her father at Cluedo.

On my book shelf

2011-12-27T22:02:00.006Z

Or perhaps I should say on my new beautifully attired Kindle? Hermione bought me a bright pink jacket for my Kindle for Christmas, which I hope will help it roll with the knocks it inevitably takes.

Amazon describes this book as, 'The fascinating narrative of the fabulously wealthy Jewish Ephrussi family moves through the decades from commercial Odessa to the Paris of the Impressionists and artistic salons to the brutal destruction of the Anschluss of 1938 in Vienna and a familial diaspora over three continents. Parallel to this, we follow with the author his own emotive journey to reclaim the lives lived in the vanished rooms of his forbears'.

It has rave reviews and was recommended by a friend. It's fair to say I set out with high hopes. Sadly those hopes weren't realized. I struggled through the first half and was much more than half was through before I began to really enjoy it. It was interesting, and had huge potential, but I felt the writing style was lacking.

Dissolution is the first book I have ever read by C J Sansom and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's the first in a series about a lawyer called Shardlake. The subject matter is relatively dry, and as I was buying it I really did wonder if I wanted to read yet more about the dissolution of the monasteries, seeing as Hermione got stuck in the Tudor groove of history for suck a blinkin' long time.

I was surprised with how quickly I was drawn in. The style of writing was excellent, really descriptive with a good balance of narrative. I enjoyed it so much I quickly moved on to the next in the series, Dark Fire.

Again, what can I say, a real page turner! If some had said to me, 'Oh, go read this book about a lawyer in Tudor times searching for the secret of Greek Fire, a weapon used in Byzantine times' I would have thought they were mad! Had it not been recommended by friends I wouldn't have looked twice at it.

This is a beautiful collection of songs, stories and poems. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading these aloud during recent dark and windy days. You can buy it here amongst other places. I have the Spring one on my wish list.

Of all the above I think The Help is perhaps my overall favorite. Described as, 'An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960's decides to write a book detailing the African-American maid's point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis,' it had me hooked from the start.

All recommendations on what to pick up next gratefully received. I'm no fan of romance, sci-fi or gratuitous gore, although I don't mind gore which is part of the whole if you know what I mean.

Ahhh you know it's over..

2011-12-26T21:48:00.006Z

..when you just spotted your Christmas tree blowing down the drive in gale force winds!

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas; I love the build up to it, being in the midst of it, and also winding it down. Like all good things, it's not over till it's over, but having pulled yet another pine needle from my foot etc, and given I had a spare half hour, I decided to quickly drag it on down while everyone was otherwise occupied upstairs. He he, it feels smugly satisfying. Craig feels the need to have at least two formal meetings, a spreadsheet and a full written forecast before embarking on any task. I could see his shock and horror when he came down to see it had been done with no planning.

Anyway, as for the day itself it was remarkably calm and peaceful (that is when the children weren't shooting at each other with nerf guns or hurling rudolph shaped splat toys around the place).

We all received many beautiful gifts. I must photograph some of the lovely home made ones to show you later.

Nana bought the children a stunt ramp for use with their scooters, bikes and skateboards. Miles, rather wisely I think, has decided to familiarize himself with it on a space hopper before venturing onto wheels!

The children also received a joint gift from Craig and I, an air hockey table. Miles in particular is very competitive and I can see lots of fun being had with this. Only trouble is that with a football table and an air hockey table in the playroom, it's becoming rather congested, and, I decided over dinner this evening that we needed to do a bit of furniture rearranging. I now have a sofa in my dining area and will have to see how that feels before I decide if it's staying - or if they will have to learn to work around it when playing table games.

Hermione decided that some of our chooks would have gifts under the tree this year and that they should come in to open them in the glow of the fairy lights too. Sheesh, sometimes I think life just gets nuttier by the day around here!

For me, one of the highlights of the day was being able to share with Nana all of the work I have being doing on her family tree. I have managed to trace one part of her family tree back to the 1500s and have discovered that my children are the thirteenth generation of a particular bloodline, to live within a twenty mile radius of those original relations. I find that fairly amazing!

I also discovered that we originate from a family of famous watchmakers and silversmiths. Their things can still be found in antique shops now and with some help from a friend I managed to find a sweet little silver brooch made in the 1800's by Nana's Great Great Great Great Uncle, to give to Nana along with a booklet I had made about her family in days gone by.

I was so excited to share it all with her after months of trawling through records and trying to piece it all together. Thankfully I think she is as delighted as I am to have discovered so much about our roots.

Well, so there you have it! It's been wonderful but now it's time to move on. I don't like to let the grass grow under my feet. Onwards and upwards - as Craig is fond of saying, nothing stands still, everything changes and if you're not changing with it you're actually going backwards.

Looking forward to easing back into a weekly rhythm with the children, friends and home. The spontaneity and celebration is great, but I love the comfort of my rhythm. Goodness, as it is only Boxing Day I shall leave it at that, perhaps I'm wrong, perhaps it's not really over till there's no more turkey or cold stuffing balls left in the fridge....

All set

2011-12-24T14:34:00.002Z

The Christmas preparations are almost complete here.

The presents are (almost all) wrapped. We have a turkey and a tin which it will fit in. Home made gifts are virtually complete, needing only minor attention. The beautiful crochet stockings made by a friend are hanging by the fire. The children are now relatively calm having just returned from a trip to the park to run off excess energy. Our Christmas night reading is sorted.

Phew, I may just pour myself a little tipple and do a bit festive baking to the sound of carols.

Wishing you all a time full of joy!

Yuletide Blessings

2011-12-21T20:06:00.001Z

Brightly burns the Yule log tonight
Magic dances in firelight
Hold my hand and join the song
Raise the Sun King bright and strong
Dark is giving way to light
As brightly burns the Yule log tonight!

Meringue Snowflakes, Marshmallow Snowmen

2011-12-20T17:20:00.002Z

Way hey! What a day! Lots of things to smile about today; we finished our 'work' for the holidays, we discovered that our hens haven't given up laying - they've just taken to laying in an obscure patch behind our water storage tanks (which I hope Craig can reach as I certainly can't) and Hermione has made yet more scrumptious things at her cookery class.

These meringue snowflakes taste every bit as good as they look. It's ordinary meringue, piped and dried slowly. So simple yet really effective.

The texture of these truffles she made is spot on. They're a bit of a strong hit for the children so I've felt obliged to polish off a fair few myself over the course of this afternoon. They're seriously strong and have revved me up for a festive night out and about with a great friend.

Last but certainly not least, marshmallow snowmen. Even toddlers could enjoy making these. They're just marshmallows held with a cocktail stick in the middle, then decorated.

I really enjoy the ideas Hermione brings back from cookery class. It's not all about technique and doing complex cordon bleu cookery. Sometimes its just nice to get new ideas.

Frosted Lanterns and Best Ever Mince Pies

2011-12-19T17:47:00.005Z

This morning Hermione went for a cookery lesson while I ran around town like a mad thing, trying (and largely succeeding) in not panic buying.

She arrived home with a dozen warm mince pies which were, without doubt, the best mince pies I have ever tasted. They were made with a special festive pastry containing ground almonds and orange rind in addition to all the usual ingredients.

This afternoon Miles and I made some frosted lanterns. We covered some jam jars in PVA glue and sprinkled epsom salts all over them. Voila!

I had planned on making them at Yule, or at least not placing them on our nature table till Yule. Ho hum, it's a good job there's always plenty of room for flexibility round here. It seems the darkest day has already passed and the sun is growing in strength in our hall!

Ho ho ho, what a wonderful afternoon!

2011-12-18T23:07:00.009Z

We decided to push the boat out and go see Santa somewhere a little different this year. I felt under pressure as we had a private audience at a set time, we hadn't been to the place before, I was unsure of where we were going and whats more we had to clean out the chook and duck houses before we went. Arghhhh!

I'm pleased to say we found it, in time, and having been accosted by a lovely lady with a big tray of steaming glasses of mulled wine, I was feeling much better. Oh dear, I think the weekend before Christmas is always a time of heightened tension for parents. There's so much pressure knowing there's so much to be done, yet also so busy ensuring there's festive fun to be had by all - or perhaps it's just me who feels that way?

We explored beautiful frost tinged gardens, hunting for treasure clues. The gardens were stunning, even in the depths of winter. I'm so pleased to have discovered them and will certainly return come spring; with Nana too as I think she'll appreciate their style of planting and design.

It doesn't look it in this picture but the lake was actually frozen, from edge to edge.

Sheesh, chilly!!

We visited the Magical Glitter Grotto where elves were dispensing magical oats to entice Rudolph onto our lawn come Christmas Eve.

Songs and stories by the fire.

Mock snowball fights with crumpled newspaper in the Jacobean Hall. With or without the help of Mr Frosty (at the back there) our team won hands down.

Whoops, that one was heading right for me.

Of course, last but not least, the main man, in the most magical grotto I have seen. He had gifts for us all - a book for Miles, a mug for Hermione, a jar candle for me and liqueur chocolates for Craig. Sadly Craig doesn't like liqueur chocolates but I was happy to relieve him of them while catching up on a bit of tv tonight.

To top off what was already a lovely day, Miles headed to bed at a reasonable time and Hermione headed on off to a carol service with Nana. This gave me the ideal opportunity to do gift wrapping, while catching up on TV and scoffing liqueur chocs. So now I can go on to enjoy all this weeks festivities knowing I'm probably more organised than ever. Yay!!!

Scarves and Coca Cola Cake

2011-12-17T20:27:00.005Z

Ah well, the log basket is stacked to overflowing, I'm all ready; yet there's still no sign of snow! It's been a damp and miserable day. The temperature has hovered just above freezing, there's been no sunshine as such, just cold grayness.

So, what's a family with seasonally hyped children to do on such a cold gray day? We hit the swimming baths! In our experience leisure centers are always quiet the week before Christmas. Thankfully it was quite quiet today and fun was had by all - those (all apart from me) who were in the pool, and, those who sat in the spectator area knitting (me).

I'm a novice knitter, or perhaps I should say a 'born again knitter' as I have knit in the past but hadn't done so for years, up until last week when I felt inspired by Hermione clicking away with her needles.

I knocked up a short green scarf for Miles with some wool we had lying around. The trouble with little ones and scarves is that in our experience they tend to hang out of the bottom of their jackets. So, here it is, holes and all! I know it's far from perfect - those darned stitches eluded me at times - but I did enjoy the process and Miles was wonderfully appreciative, even if he hasn't actually worn it as yet.

So, with one under my belt so to speak, I agreed to knit one for Hermione. We went into town to buy some yarn. There was very little choice in town, we'll probably have to shop on line or travel to a larger town next time. Anyway, she plumped for a pink eyelash yarn, which is knitting up quite nicely.

It took me a few rows to get to grips with this yarn. When you look at your needle it's not so easy to see the stitches for all the 'eyelashes'.

The other day I whisked up a Coca Cola Cake. I had spotted Coca Cola Cake in a retro diner when coffeeing with a friend a wee while ago. Having quite a Coke habit I thought it had to be the cake for me. I followed this recipe below.

Preheat oven to 350, and line your tins.

Mix:
2cups flour
2cups sugar
1/2tsp salt
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp cinnamon

In a saucepan over medium high heat stir this up good until it boils:
1 cup butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup coca-cola
1/2 cup milk
now take off heat and add that to the flour mix & whisk until combined.

Then add:
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
mix, put in pan, bake it for about 30minutes. Yes, it’s a quick bake. Don’t over-bake it!

Looking around on line most people add a frosting too but I figured there was already way too much fat and sugar in this one. I opted instead for sandwiching with strawberries, which of course won't negate the rest but won't add to it either!

Well, will I make it again? I don't even have to think about this one - no! It was good, but no better than a good chocolate cake and it had so much more sugar and fat in it. It was light and airy (you can see the big bubbles on the picture) and had a great flavor even if not entirely like Coke. If I do decide to do it again I think I'll tinker with the recipe.

Enchanted parks, bloomin' disasters and snow flutters

2011-12-16T20:13:00.008Z

Last weekend we went along to a local winter festival. As expected Miles was initially reluctant and reserved, probably not so surprising really as I think even familiar places can look different and quite bewitched in the dark; however he soon came round and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I have to say that in my view, some of the exhibits were not on par with previous years. The wooded dene is usually delightful but this year was just adorned with random illuminated brollies! Perhaps it's art? Who knows!

As ever the trees were spectacular. This pink one was ever so striking but I've lopped the picture with the trunk of a neighboring tree. Hey ho!

I think this was all of our favorite exhibit. It's an illuminated ice sculpture of the Rose Window in Durham Cathedral. It was beautiful and tactile. The light shone in different ways dependent upon the thickness of the ice in that segment.

Tea for two perhaps, in a rose themed, illuminated bandstand?

Our favorite climbing tree had been transformed into Medusa - and quite scary she was too with fire, sounds and lighting!

Rose Window ice exhibit in a different shade.

All in all a very pleasant evening. While there we got chatting to a gentleman who was involved in organizing the event. He was also involved in organizing Lumiere, another local winter festival. I was pleased to hear that Lumiere will probably never happen again as it did this year. It attracted thousands more visitors than anticipated it it turned into a logistical and security nightmare. People living in the city were unable to move around and people stood in lines for hours to see the Cathedral illuminated. Apparently if it is to ever happen again it will probably be ticketed. Personally I'm happy to hear that. we were unable to see most of the exhibits because of the crowds. I'd prefer to pay a reasonable price and actually enjoy a festival rather than it turning into some kind of endurance test!

The short snow flurries didn't lie long today; much to our disappointment. Any plans we may have hastily made for weekend sledging will have to be rethought.

You know how I boasted a couple of weeks ago about being so organised in making our contributions to the children's seasonal gift bags? Well, I transferred our chocolate stirrers from the fridge to a cupboard because they were taking up too much space - only to now discover that they have developed a bloom! Nightmare - they look moldy and rancid!

Last night I showed a couple of mums whose children will be the unfortunate recipients of our skanky looking offerings. They were very polite and said that bloom is okay and I shouldn't panic. I'm taking that on board and will resist the urge to re-do or try to somehow 'fix' them. What a bloomin' nightmare!

Pondering Social Media and Bone Broth

2011-12-14T22:49:00.005Z

I've had a pleasant day, filled with this and that, friends and festivities. This morning we did 'work' then this afternoon Miles and I headed to the Cathedral with some friends for a session with one of the education officers there. As ever, the staff were superb, the Cathedral was awe inspiring, and all the more enthralling for the throng of choirs practicing their carols!

Having heard a story of angels, made an angel and been on an angel hunt around the Cathedral, we wandered into town for a coffee, or in Miles' case a warm frothy soya milk with a splash of chocolate syrup. Chatting with a wise mama, who gives careful consideration to her children's nutrition, the subject came round to bone broth.

Was that an euuurgh I heard? That's how I initially felt. It reminded me of a replica tool I saw not long ago, which was used in the Crimean War to extract bone marrow from bones for nutritional purposes. I've not been able to look at a Crunchie bar since seeing that tool and now here was this learned mama telling me how she's taken to cooking up bone broth and feeding it to her family.

Having gotten over the initial distaste, at doing something which I guess has gradually become totally alien in modern day life, I'm now quite intrigued. A quick Google has come up with a million and one reasons why we should all be eating bone broth. It's packed full of bio available minerals - something our modern diet lacks. Save for the cost of cooking it (cooking times seem to vary from a suggested minimum of eight hours to two days) it's cheap.

I have to say I'm intrigued, but still pondering. There's some thing which tells me that animal bones are 'high risk' in terms of potential pathogens. I may well have to do more research before deciding whether there is a place for bone broth in my life!

Just to add, the picture above is not of bone broth I've made. I've just stuck up a picture of someone else's bone broth so I can get used to what it looks like.

I've also pondered today how I feel after reducing my Facebook usage by 90 or so percent. I feel good; darned good. I get the impression that as Facebook continues to grow, blogs seem in somewhat of a decline. Que cera, I guess that was inevitable. Surely people only have so many hours in a day to sit in front of a screen. They just can’t be doing it all!

Does it really matter though? Is there any real difference in putting yourself ‘out there’ on a social networking site as opposed to on a blog? Well, after a few weeks partial abstinence I have to say there is a difference, for me anyway. I think Facebook has a tendency to be more superficial than blogging. I think it’s set up in a way to encourage quick snippets of chatter, akin to what you may have to someone filling up at the next fuel pump. I don’t think it’s a great platform for airing controversial or emotive issues, unless of course you really don’t care whether or not you naff off a whole host of your friends (and I use the term ‘friends’ ever so loosely there). It’s struck me that one of the problems with Facebook and other social media sites, is that some users seem to forget that they’re on a social platform akin to standing next to someone at the filling station. They spout forth their controversial views about religion, health, childcare, food choices etc as if they were speaking to their nearest and dearest – who may well, unlike their Facebook friends, love them unconditionally.

Sure, Facebook has its place and I’m pleased to say it’s now found a comfortable place in my life. Apologies if this is becoming boring. I know this isn’t the first time I’ve used this space to ponder my relationship with Facebook. Probably won’t be the last either considering the huge part social media plays in modern day communications. I’m just pleased to be in a comfortable place with it, and having at least started to figure out what it is about it which used to make me feel so distinctly lacking joie de vivre.

Cupcake of the week

2011-12-13T14:34:00.003Z

Peanut butter with a smidgen of chocolate. I have only just discovered that you can substitute the fat in your cake mix with peanut butter or chocolate spread. Delish. Why have I not figured this out before now?

Crochet tree decorations

2011-12-12T16:53:00.007Z

Our living room tree is becoming increasingly minimalist; last year it featured just woolen baubles, orange slices and popcorn. This year we're down to just crochet baubles and orange slices!

This is our first hollow woolen bauble, made in two halves and stiffened with sugar solution. Casts lovely shadows as the fairy lights flicker through it.

Our crochet woolen star garland is now across the mantel.

This is our first crochet wire bauble. It's very sparkly!

One of our traditional stuffed woolen baubles.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2011-12-11T23:21:00.002Z

I've just arrived home from an evening of card making with friends and am feeling very festive. The festive quilts and cushions have come out from the chest.

Bowls of baubles and oranges, baskets of magazines and ribbons.

This snow elf is the latest addition to my seasonal decorations. Nana treated me to him after I admired him in a village store. I think he looks quite at home on this gingham tray cover I rattled up last night.

Off to bed now, having had perhaps a wee bit too much festive merriment for one night!

So wrong

2011-12-09T23:05:00.001Z

Really, what has happened to peace on earth and goodwill to all men? Guess some folks jut don't do peace.

Bouncing, tree biscuit making and more

2011-12-08T21:09:00.010Z

Christmas decorations always seem to start with the hearth around here. Today was the day we dusted off our Russian Doll style Santas which we picked up in a charity shop a while back. I like them, they're quaint.

Usually we have a large tree in our living room and a small tree in the hall. We're going for a change this year with the living room tree and a tree in the kitchen. We started icing goodies for the kitchen tree today. I want the icing to have dried out fully before we hang them.

I'd like to say I made the biscuits but that would be lying! I bought them at Ikea and we decorated them with shop bought icing tubes.

We were partying on down later today. I know the shot below is hopelessly out of focus, but I think it captured the mayhem and movement of the situation quite well! A great time was had by all.

I'm pleased to say the day hasn't been work free. We all sat together with hot chocolate and looked at this Curclick Fun Study about turkeys. It was lightweight but we all learned at least a few facts we didn't know and had a bit of a laugh at the same time. I quite like using some of these pre bought 'fun units' near holiday times when things are winding down anyway. They generally cost less than 50p (I think this one worked out about 36p) so they don't break the bank.

Hermione is continuing to explore various issues in connection with her ongoing art project about Bani Abidi. Today she made various clay models in skin shades to represent different concepts she has been exploring.

Emigration.

Segregation.

Integration.

Immigration.

She also spent some time this morning thinking about various man made barriers to movement. She looked at the Great Wall of China and Hadrian's Wall, both of which we have looked at in previous studies. However, she also looked at the Berlin Wall. None of our history studies have been so recent as to look at this time period in any depth. It was new ground for her. Lots of complex concepts involved there such as communism and cold war. I think we'll read around that in coming weeks - a bit of light reading for the Christmas season eh?!?

Looking at pictures online this one really jumped out at me. I wanted to feel a connection with the people there, the energy, excitement and hope. Once again I kicked myself, for having somehow over the years, misplaced the chunk of Berlin Wall which I personally demolished on a visit to Berlin. I do hope it appears in a box in the attic at some point in the future.

I'm off to get cosy in front of the fire again. The wind is so strong here right now that I feel quite alarmed. The noise is incredible and at times I have thought our doors were going to blow in. I hope that all who are out there now make their way back home safely.

Ice baubles and mince pies

2011-12-06T20:38:00.006Z

Miles and I had a lovely morning with friends today. We listened to the story of Romulus and Remus, followed by a mini toileting re enactment, Roman style! We had some replica items from a local museum loan scheme and the children were all very taken with the bottom wiping sponge on a stick!

When we arrived home Hermione had been busy with her 'work' and also baking mince pies. They were delicious and Craig has asked her to make some for him to take into work. He's not half so bah humbug as usual this year; must be getting soft in his old age!

Yesterday we made ice baubles. We filled small plastic containers with a hanging ribbon, feathers and leaves from the garden, glitter and hand felted woolen balls. Topped them up with water and put them in the freezer. This afternoon we took them out and hung them in the garden. Will they still be there tomorrow or will we just have pools of glitter under the trees?

The other day, when talking ducks and chooks, I mentioned our Muscovy ducks and what real sweeties they are. It occurred to me today that they haven't featured on here before, so, here they are, introducing Stella and Sarah.

Today's discovery

2011-12-05T22:56:00.002Z

Even in cold weather, it is still important to shave your legs. Failure to do so can result in random painfully 'waxed' patches should an ECG suddenly become necessary. I think all was well with my ECG (results to be confirmed but nurse made reassuring noises), but my legs are darned itchy.

Sparkly days

2011-12-04T19:25:00.008Z

Our needle felting stuff arrived the other day and we have taken to it with gusto. The day of it's arrival I feared that anything standing still may well have been felted! Even Miles could do it with minimal supervision.

It wasn't long till a forest of woolly trees sprung up in my poinsettia pot - closely followed by the big cheese plant pot.

Here's the Nutcracker which Nana made for Miles. He's been well admired and strategically placed in various places around the house. Having him has inspired Miles to try to crack nuts, with a proper nutcracker. He can now crack hazelnuts (and eats them) which is great. What's not so great is when you get sharp nutshell in your bare foot!

Yes, it's that time of year when the glitter is back out. After making shiny snowflakes today I've hidden it away. I don't want to turn my back at some point to discover unsupervised glitterings having happened!

I didn't want to have to scrub sticky marks off the windows at a later day so I stuck the snowflakes to string and weighted the string with baubles tied on with ribbon. Hey ho, you can never have too much ribbon or too many baubles!

It's been quite a busy weekend with various activities. Hermione is now a registered voluntary dog walker at a local rescue centre so Saturday morning saw us walking Storm, a lovely German Shepherd currently looking for a new home.

Saturday afternoon was Archaeology Club where from what I gather much fun was had exploring the Bronze Age and joining in a Bronze Age re enactment. This was the first time Craig had taken the kids there and I couldn't help but think he would come home full of moans. Let's just say he has no passion for museums, old things or generally anything which doesn't have a three point plug. Surprisingly he was impressed and dare I say may even have enjoyed himself!

Today saw Miles and Craig at a soccer skills workshop followed by a trip to a pub for some lunch! Hermione and I called into town, moaned bitterly at the lack of seats in Starbucks and did a bit of Christmas shopping.

This afternoon I pottered at home, cooking, crafting and thinking. I think the dark days are a really great time for introspection. I like to think that at some point I'll figure out what life is all about, in time to share that with my children and hopefully guide them towards choices which will bring them peace and happiness.

I attended an advent meditation this week with my old meditation group. It felt very different to usual but it is still helped to plant me firmly on a peaceful and positive path in the hurly burly that often can be the run up to Christmas. It set me thinking about Archangel Michael and how he fits into my spirituality. I've been scratching my head and trying to figure how an Archangel can figure in any way in my non Christian (but not anti) spirituality. I've read around the web and was surprised to learn how many heavenly deities are common to many different branches of faith and religion. Archangel Michael has apparently played a significant role in Judaism, Christianity, Paganism and Islam.

I like this image below of Archangel Michael. His blue cloak resonates with me.

Thankfully I can multitask and managed to rustle up roast dinner with home made cranberry sauce and seasonal cup cakes while pottering. I was feeling quite inspired to try something a little more artsy with my cupcakes after flicking through Pinterest. If you've not yet discovered that site then get yourself over there for some great recipes and household style tips.

This is the point at which I usually reflect on what work we have done this week. Well...that won't take long! Let's say things have been a bit slack around here, and I'd like to put forth good reason, but sadly the truth is I have been ever so lax in lesson planning because I've discovered the books of C J Sansom and have become hooked on his Mathew Shardlake series. Generally speaking I lesson plan from 9.00pm on wards when the house is calm and I'm not on call to respond to requests for goodness knows what! Unfortunately, the pull of Mathew Shardlake and the electric blanket has been too strong this week. Goodness what would the 'officials' say! I am determined to do more than maths and English this coming week. We will do exciting and engaging activities - assuming that is we have our electricity supply disconnected. No no, I will try harder, honestly.

Duck and chooks

2011-12-03T15:41:00.008Z

Oh dear, a few weeks back I was despairing. I love our ducks so dearly; it's fair to say I'm probably a convert, although I would never want to be without a few hens too. The trouble is that they puddle the place so badly. They have always lived partly on the redundant veg patch which is bare soil and out in the garden which is grass.

With all of the rain we have had in the past couple of months the patch became a quagmire. It was slippery, dangerous and looking like it would need a prolonged heat wave to bake it back into anything resembling normality again. Knowing a heat wave of any sort was most unlikely Craig decided to spring into action (not something which happens regularly) and ordered three tonnes of sand and gravel.

Now, as much as I love my birds, I still almost keeled over when he told me the price - over £100! To think of what I could have done with £100! Whats more, the three tonnes of sand and gravel had to be transported from the bottom to the top of the garden.

Thankfully Craig rolled his sleeves up and spent the whole weekend shoveling sand and gravel in and out of the wheelbarrow - oh and random combinations of children and hens. Our Welsummer Banty called Boo was always up for a ride but judging from the look on Hermione's face here, I wonder if perhaps she disgraced herself while on Hermione's knee. He he.

Worrying about the cost and whether or not the whole sand and gravel thing would even work, I just had to console myself with thoughts of the best eggs ever! Miles loves dippy duck eggs from one particular duck. She lays the most exquisite pale turquoise eggs with almost luminous orange yolks.

Thankfully so far so good. Craig well and truly put the new arrangement to the test when he went out one day having forgotten to switch off the hose pipe when filling their pond! Even still there was no surface water. I was worried that it would start to very quickly look like a poo splattered sand pit. Thankfully it's not. The poo all seems to wash away through the cracks. Back to having happy ducks and happy owners!

We now have a lot more hens and ducks than when I last posted about them before my blog break. We agreed to allow Hermione to go into business selling eggs to friends. Thankfully there are no difficulties finding buyers. I think people taste the difference and our multicolored eggs are pretty even if I do say so myself. Just this week one lady put in an order for a particular kind of small blue egg because her little girl loves to cuddle them! Having said all that, I think Hermione's still just breaking even and will have to repay her big loan for sand and gravel in the spring time when everyone is back in full lay.

I don't think there will be any new additions to the flock within the next year and I'm trying to avert my eyes from various duck sites. A couple of our ducks which we rescued this summer are Muscovies. They're not known for being pretty but we have all fallen in love with them. They have no quack and communicate by dancing instead. Seeing is believing; they're such characters. Neither have laid an egg yet but I'm trying not to get too down about that - they provide lots of entertainment and having no quack, I don't have to worry about them disturbing the neighbors either!

Our winter table

2011-12-01T15:22:00.002Z

I'm very happy with our winter table this year. My poor photography skills just dont' do it justice. I'm particularly happy with King Winter who I rustled up last night between making a dozen chocolate stirrers for Miles' friends. Oh dear, I do hope there's no felting wool caught up in the chocolate. Urrrgggh, best not ponder that one. I think they were quite separate.

It looks especially magical by dusk with all the gnomes dancing in the flickering candle light. I found a tiny glass jar in the garage and have wedged it into my sad paper lantern effort.

Oh dear

2011-11-30T21:39:00.003Z

The children played happily around the woodland and the affectionately known 'Gruffalo Bridge' today..

...that is till Miles managed to somehow wedge his knee between the rails. What a carry on! Thankfully he was remarkably calm but after a few minutes with no progress I was becoming a wee bit stressy. He's such a slim chap his knee cap is the widest part of his knee, and it was as if any attempts to just pull his knee out would have pulled off his knee cap!

Talk began of one parent running for help and to try to get a saw to cut the wooden rail, but all of a sudden, he was free! One wonderful mama wiggled his trousers and it somehow just released his knee. It was amazing. Such a relief! Had it lasted much longer I may have had to vow never to leave the house again without a hack saw in my bag!

Chocolate spoons and stuff

2011-11-29T21:07:00.005Z

Well, it could have been a miserable day, but thankfully it all turned out rosy. We were to meet with friends for an advent spiral but gale force winds and rain put paid to that as it was to be an outdoor event. With exciting plans postponed for now, I thought I had best make an effort to do something a little out of the ordinary with the children. So, we made chocolate spoons.

First we melted some dark chocolate..

...then we placed a white chocolate button and a lollipop stick in each of our daisy moulds...

..filled the moulds with dark chocolate, placed them in the fridge, then voila!

They went down a treat in a cup of hot milk after dinner. This was the start of proceedings. In Miles' case it got a whole lot messier towards the end! The drink, even with rice milk which has a tendency to be watery, was delicious.

Since it was blowing an absolute hooligan I also relented and allowed them to bring Saffy in for a short while this afternoon. She doesn't cope well in rough weather. She's much stronger now but I doubt she'll ever fully recover from her harsh start in life.

Since we were unable to join in an advent spiral today we decided to start our advent read instead. We're reading a chapter of Mary's Little Donkey each day on the lead up to Christmas. We've only read one chapter, but so far so good!

Singing The North Wind to Miles this evening set me wondering when will our snow come this year? I love the snow and hope we do have a decent covering at some point. Would be nice if it didn't stay so long as last year though - we were all developing cabin fever!

The North wind shall blow and we shall have snow,

And what will poor robin do then?

He'll sit in the barn and keep himself warm,

With his head tucked under his wing.

Flat White

2011-11-28T18:38:00.000Z

Ooooh, it was good....

Work and chit chat round up

2011-11-27T19:49:00.005Z

Quick round up of some of our work achievements and interesting chats I've had this week.

Over the past three days I've got to chat with five lovely ladies, each for a good couple of hours or more, while the children have either slept tight in their beds, played, or as Hermione would say now 'hung out'. Its really lifted my spirits and helped me to clarify various things in my own mind. Not that I was questioning anything in particular though, if you know what I mean.

Sometimes, as a home educator, I think that perhaps I have become a bit removed from what may be 'the norm' in schools. Having chatted at length with a lady who has a child in school, I have to say that when the time comes for sex education, I'm pleased I will have some control. I didn't know that some schools have 'in house' facilities for contraceptive services; that older children are invited to enlighten younger children about sex; that condoms are given to children as young as thirteen, and so on and so forth. Crikey!! I think of myself as being very open minded, and I understand the desirability of youngsters being able to access contraceptive services, but blimey, when children who are of an age that without peer pressure would probably still be inclined to be playing with Lego, start lining up for chlamydia tests in order to bag the freebies offered as incentives, then something is going seriously wrong.

Hermione is coming to the end of her current Galore Park English Programme. We're Galore Park fans and I was tempted to steam straight ahead and buy the next in the series, but not before checking out a friend's new English resources. The choice was between Catherine Mooney and the next Galore Park series. Galore Park won and I'm excited about the arrival of new books next week. If you are a home educator in the market for English books right now, check out Galore Park as they have some special offers on.

On Friday night I went to a ladies pamper evening. I went along with friends, thinking it was a Traidcraft fund raiser but it wasn't. It was a ladies event in a local village hall where you paid £2.50 entrance and then circulated with others, enjoying wine and canapes, perusing home made items from local crafts people, spending money destined for a good cause and even having a massage! I opted not to have a massage, either hand or full body, even though they were available for just a £1 donation to the cause. I didn't like the thought of getting my kit off in the village hall, (even if in a screened off part), and allowed myself to just feel all warm and fuzzy in the knowledge that I 'could' have had a massage if I'd so desired.

The whole idea of the women of a community coming together to do something really positive and worthwhile really appeals to me. They deserve a huge pat on the back. Where else could I have done a reasonable amount of Christmas shopping, in a warm and welcoming space, topped up with wine and canapes, with a masseur on hand in case it all got too much? I suspect they will have raised a lot of money too, I know the atmosphere certainly loosened my purse strings!

Chatting with a different friend on Saturday afternoon, a midst jumping up to check the children weren't about to come through the ceiling they were making such a racket, we pondered the whole thing about status, the lack of status that many attach to home makers, and perhaps even more importantly, the lack of status which home makers attach to themselves. We tracked our status journeys and reflected upon how that affects us as mothers.

Pre children I worked in a profession which attracts status. Because of the job I did many people credited me with status, regardless of whether it was merited. Once I chose to be a full time mother I lost that status and sometimes I struggled with that. Why should other people have preconceived ideas about me and my worth, based upon the role I perform in society? I think I went through a process of mourning the loss of my status, and later, wondering if I would ever re enter the workplace and try to regain it. Thankfully I've come full circle. I feel very content now knowing that I attach great worth to my role. I'm no longer bothered by other's views in that respect. I take a pride in the job I do now - much more of a pride than I ever took in what I did in my working career.

But then what of women who yearned for status but hadn't quite reached their career goals before starting a family and becoming a full time mother? I think it must be much harder for them.

I think it's nigh time everyone took stock of what makes this world go round and re appraised the role of parents.

Hermione has worked very hard this week. She's still beavering away at her art project to do with segregation, immigration and emigration. Last week she looked at the mass exodus of Jews from Germany during the reign of Hitler. This week she moved on to look at the segregation of white and colored people throughout American history. She has chronicled in words and pictures the passage from slavery; to freedom; to the creation of Jim Crow; the Jim Crow laws; the abolition of those laws; white supremacists and in particular the Ku Klux Klan; civil rights activists and in particular Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, and more.

The thing which has really struck us this week in the course of her exploring all of this is the prominence of white supremacists on the web today. I'd like to think that this isn't indicative of 'reality' and that many of these sites are operated by sad and sick people who, although sick, would not actually carry out the acts of hatred which they can promote through the faceless media of the internet. It's worrying, very worrying and once again shows one of the numerous downsides on the age of technology. People can connect for truly positive purposes but also for vile reasons.

We've also been doing work in connection with the Frozen Planet series. I can honestly say that I now know why the North Pole is not a continent when the South Pole is. I also now know why the South Pole is much colder than the North Pole! Hey ho, I'm learning so much!

Miles is doing ever so well. His reading is improving all of the time but he's having a bit of a crisis of confidence at the moment, so I'm off now to make a visual representation, (involving an apple tree!) of what he knows, so that he can see for himself and hopefully feel good and bursting with enthusiasm.

Here's hoping that you too had a fabulous weekend.

Too much of a good thing

2011-11-24T20:26:00.004Z

Perhaps it's just as well I had a lantern malfunction. I wouldn't like to end up OD' ing on all things home made. Fear not my family; I won't do this to you, I promise.

Having said that I am very excited about the imminent arrival of some needle felting supplies. Like lantern making, I've fancied trying needle felting for a long time. Here's hoping it's a bit more successful. I having visions of beautifully felted robin red breasts chirping merrily on my tree this year.

On the subject of what not to do this Christmas, I sincerely hope Craig doesn't do what this bloke did below. Crikey, I know it's the season of peace on earth, but I think I'd still feel strong urges to chase with a stick any man who suggested to me that a babygro is suitable family photo attire.

Lantern challenge

2011-11-23T19:25:00.002Z

For the past few years I have looked at other folks blogs and coveted their paper lanterns. Last week I decided that this was the year that I would finally connect with my inner Rudolf and take the plunge into lantern making.

I took one of Miles' watercolour painting and lightly oiled the back. I used olive oil as it was all I had to hand, but later regretted that as I had no idea just how thirsty watercolour weight paper could be! Crikey, I could have roasted four trays of seasoned root veggies in that amount of oil!

I then waited a couple of days for it to dry out and then set about making a template and cutting out twelve pentagons. What followed was much tedious measuring, scoring, folding and sticking. Finally I had a beautiful star lantern, which if you disregard the fact I had cut off the wrong flaps and could only stand it upside down, it is nigh on perfect (in an upside down kinda way).

Since I can only stand it upside down I obviously couldn't place a real candle in it. Thankfully we live in the age of battery tea lights.

It's now gracing our nature table, surrounded by gnomes, and looking ever so pretty if I do say so myself. It's rather elusive and I've struggled to capture a half decent picture of it, but here it is none the less.

It was my plan to make one for all of my friends as an advent gift. A sort of little light on the dark days leading up to Christmas. I've since decided that we'd be well into spring before I managed to make enough so I'll just have to tell everyone I did at least have the thought, and should I practice really hard an actual lantern may materialize in time for advent 2012. If anyone has any good links to help me on my way they'd be graciously received.

On the question of law and order..

2011-11-22T18:24:00.001Z

Boys in Blue

2011-11-21T18:24:00.006Z

We went to visit the Police Station today with a few other home edding families.

What fun we had! The children enjoyed it and it took me right back to when I used to work; for money rather than love that is! It's taken all these years for the smell of the cells to truly leave my airways and now it's back in there. I stood at the custody desk, had a peek in the interview room and generally soaked up the unique ambiance that I miss so much - I think NOT!

The officers did a 'stranger danger' chat. It was the usual stuff about shouting for help, not taking sweets, getting into cars etc. Afterwards they asked for questions. My deep thinking baby raised his hand and asked, 'where do the strangers take children?' Judging by the look on the officer's face I don't think he'd been asked that one many times. Made my blood and I suspect that of other mothers in the room, run cold. The officer handled it well, thankfully.

It's strange really how attitudes and opinions change. When I worked I had a generally dim view of the police, despite the fact that Craig was a Special Constable! I don't know if that's because I was a defence solicitor or whether the view was a just response to the attitudes of many within the forces at that time. More recently my attitude has softened. I'm not sure if that's because I'm older and more philosophical now - after all everyone has a job to do. Or is it that standards have improved?

I read this book a short while ago. Like all things of this nature, you can't take it as gospel. It's the opinion of one person working within one force. However, it did make interesting reading and has helped me to see how, increasingly so, the police are doing an incredibly difficult job, facing greater hazards than ever whilst also being tied up in more red tape than ever. It's not good, not good at all. Having said that I'm not entirely sure what can be done to bring about positive change.

With the visit over it was time to hit the park and much fun was had till us poor mother's began to freeze to the spot. Oh, how the wheel's turning, it's certainly moving into winter now.

Nut cracking, choc blocking and illuminating

2011-11-19T22:28:00.006Z

Oh what a busy day it's been!

This morning Miles and I had a burst of much needed house blessing (mucking out) and did a little bit of academic 'work' stuff. Done and literally dusted, we headed off to see The Nutcracker ballet. This was Miles first trip to the ballet and I think he enjoyed it a lot. Despite having booked the seats months in advance and having paid about £26 per seat, they weren't a very good view at all. Hey ho, we still enjoyed it, particularly the wicked mice, brave soldiers and sugar plum fairies!

It's such a shame that theatre is so prohibitively expensive these days. When Hermione said she wasn't bothered about going, having seen The Nutcracker a couple of times before, I certainly wasn't about to place any pressure upon her!

While we were preparing for our afternoon at the ballet, Hermione and Craig went to a lecture by a Doctor from Durham University about seeing nature in a different light. This was organised as part of the Lumiere event which is currently happening in and around Durham.

We all braved the crowds to see the opening lantern procession on Thursday evening. I didn't have my camera and the only picture I can find (above) doesn't do it justice. It was magical, the children were both open mouthed.

This evening we retired with what I can only describe as a block of chocolate on a stick, to stir in our hot milk. A lady from nana's church had made them and apparently they were a Jamie Oliver recipe. I'm not sure that they need a recipe and perhaps what she meant to say was they were inspired by these Jamie creations.

It was very tasty, despite looking like something one might use to knock a carpet tack in! A nice, simple gift idea.

The Turner Prize

2011-11-18T21:23:00.002Z

We went to see the Turner Prize finalists the other day. I was quite excited having heard great things about thumb prints in blue tack and messy beds; both of which had been finalists if not winners in previous years.

Don't get me wrong, we had a wonderful day out. We went with friends and the day was punctuated with regular coffee stops and chatter. But, as for the art, well, I was a tad underwhelmed.

Karla Black's creation just left me feeling envious, not of her artistic abilities, but of the fact that apparently she visits galleries with her technician, seals a room off and then gets to work for a few days with lining paper and stuff like squashed up chalk and smashed bath bombs. That just takes the concept of junk modelling to another level in my view. I'd love the opportunity to play like that. Who is getting most enjoyment out of this art? I can't help but feel she's having all the fun.

All in all, three out of the four finalists left me with a distinct 'Emperor's New Clothes' feeling. Is it that great or is it just that we say it is for the fear of being judged as unable to appreciate art?

George Shaw by stark contrast oozed talent and I sincerely hope he wins. I was shocked to learn that his painting were actually enamel paints and not photographs. He captures everyday change, growth and decay perfectly.

Made me laugh

2011-11-16T18:38:00.003Z

I overheard a funny conversation when out with friends today.

Mummy, what does that sign mean?

I don't know *looks deep in thought*

But what does it mean mummy?

It means, no citrus fruit allowed!

Hey, home educators sure know how to think out of the box! Here's hoping there are no people round there daring to eat citrus fruit - or ride bicycles for that matter. Or perhaps, it just applies to unicycles?

Truly blessed

2011-11-15T18:33:00.006Z

I'm feeling truly blessed today. We met with friends and I was given a beautiful bunch of flowers from a lovely mama who had noted I've been a bit out of sorts of late.

While Miles and I were learning and crafting with friends, Hermione and Nana were working hard. We returned home with our gnome (the short guy in brown below) .......

...to find the table set and dinner prepared - cottage pie and the most amazing devil's food cake with strawberries!

To top it off Hermione had also done some of her maths off her own bat, read some history of the American Civil War and typed a further chapter of her project upon the latest works of Bani Abidi.

Wow! Can it get any better? I'm sure it can with a dose of advent planning, an episode of Holby and an early night with the electric blanket on 'boil your bottom' setting. Have I told you about my water bottle/wheat bag deliberations - followed by the leaking of my own water bottle? Well, that's one for another time.

Edited to add the day can get even better!!! Hermione has had a personal email from the artist Bani about the inspiration and motivation for creating her latest piece. Oh, isn't that wonderful that she has taken the time to email my ten year old and give quite detailed insights into her inspiration?

Handmade toys

2011-11-14T19:15:00.003Z

I've a couple of crafty toy projects to mention tonight.

Firstly Nana is currently knitting Miles a Nutcracker with one of the wonderful Alan Dart patterns. His toy and seasonal patterns are the best I have seen. Watch out for pictures, hopefully by next week.

Also, over at Bridget's blog, there's a link to this toy project, which promotes the anonymous gifting of handmade toys. A lovely act of random kindness. Something I will certainly think about doing this season. We have already taken part in a shoe box appeal but this is something different and equally worthwhile I think.

Penguin knocks dog off top spot

2011-11-13T20:44:00.002Z

Forget the dog, today Craig decided that penguins are a man's best friend!

The Lady with the Lamp

2011-11-12T21:30:00.004Z

Our local museum group allow home educators to borrow 'handling boxes' linked to certain periods and people in history.

The last one we looked at with friends was one relating to Florence Nightingale. We prepared by reading this wonderful Ladybird book which I had picked up in a charity shop. I love Ladybird books!

There was some odd things and fascinating facts in the box. Did you know that when Florence packed up and headed off to the Crimean War, she took her tortoise with her? I wonder if that was de rigueur or if she was a bit nutty?

Apparently this is the kind of trinket box she would have taken with her. I photographed it because it reminded me of a special trinket box my Nana had on her dressing table. I didn't know till now that those shell trinkets were quite fashionable in Victorian times.

Of course, no Florence box would be complete without a lantern! This is the kind she would have used. It's fabric and struck me as being highly flammable. Apparently when we see pictures of her painted with what we would think of as a traditional lantern, they are wrong and just represent what artists imagined she would carry.

There was a whole host of weird stuff in her trunk which she took to the Crimean, to include a sachet of rose petals, a tool for scooping bone marrow out, a tea pot to drink from while lying down, carbolic soap and more.

Here's Hermione in a replica of her fetching head gear. Snazzy eh?

Martinmas Celebration

2011-11-10T19:25:00.007Z

I go with my bright little lantern,

my lantern is going with me.

In heaven the stars are shining

on earth shines my lantern with me.

We joined with five other families to walk with our lanterns, sing and hear songs of St Martin. I like Martinmas. We don't acknowledge all of the Steiner festivals, but I do think this one is quite special.

That time of year again..

2011-11-09T16:50:00.000Z

Grab a cup of tea, it's a long one...

2011-11-08T09:56:00.002Z

I’m harking back now, to that tricky issue of how best to maintain my values with my children, in a culture that doesn’t share many of my values.

I guess this is an issue for all families who interact with others, unless of course you make a conscious choice to interact only with those who share your values. I understand that there are people out there who do interact only with those who share like religious or political views. I’m not sure how the heck they manage that – or perhaps, more importantly, if it’s ever desirable to live in that way. I’d hate to think of all the lost possibilities if I defined my community too closely and restrictively. After all, in my experience, people rarely come with a label. It’s just not so simple case as, ‘Oh, there goes Daisy the peaceful parenting, eco friendly, Liberal voting, green tea drinker’. The point I’m making is that even were it possible to live a compartmentalized life, in an existence surrounded by those with identical values, how on earth would you know who they were? Is it not always necessary to take the plunge and risk having your values challenged?

I’ve concluded, that for me, I must take that risk. What’s more, perhaps there’s much to be gained by occasionally having our values challenged. It’s been a long summer in many respects. Holidays started early, routine has been late in returning. There’s been plenty of opportunity on my part to shine bright lights in the nooks and crannies. There have also been various happenings which have highlighted ways in which I feel differently to others.

Personally, I always feel a bit of a wrench deep inside when I realize that my values are different to those who I previously assumed shared the same values as me. It’s not so much the feeling of being a square peg in a round hole; believe me, I’m no stranger to that feeling. I’m happy to be that square peg, providing I am at peace with myself.

But am I at peace with myself? Do my values still hold strong in the face of change, growth and the ongoing maturity of my children? Few things ever stay the same and perhaps it follows that our values should be responsive to our ever changing lives.

This summer I have taken a whole heap of things which I consider to make up much of my core. I’ve dissected them, remodeled them, shaken them up and finally retried them all for size, ditching those that no longer fit.

So, what do you do when having identified your values, and lived life in accordance with those values, someone then comes along and challenges them? I don’t have the definitive answer to this, but perhaps you could learn from my mistakes and ensure your values are still a good fit before doing anything.

I’ve acquired a few little gadgets during my blog break – it’s that darned Facebook – it lured me into rampant consumerism! Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! I am now the very happy owner of a Kindle. Despite being initially skeptic, I was quickly won over. Not only is it lighter to hold and easier to turn the pages when lying in an awkward position with a sleeping child on one of your limbs, there are also lots of books on there at bargain basement prices. I love being able to flick through and snap up titles for less than a pound, delivered straight into my lap! This is how a nice girl like me came to be reading Bullies, Bitches and Bastards. I assure you I’m much more your usual cookery and crafting kinda girl. Honest.

This book details many scenarios, and advances various suggestions, for dealing with those who could be on a mission to annihilate your values.

Perhaps, next time you see someone approaching who you know to hold considerably different values to you, you could raise a hand and tell them, ‘Do you know what. Let’s not bother. You don’t like me and I sure as hell don’t like you.’

Hmmm, I see the merit in that approach. I’m sure it would provide instant gratification, but possibly not much more of note.

There’s another approach in the book that I thought I’d mention – spadism. Spadism differs from sadism in that a spadist doesn’t just call a spade a spade, they call it a JCB. I think I’ve met a few spadists in my time – I just didn’t know their generic name before. Haven’t we all entered into what we hoped to be positive dialogue just to be blown out with blunt (although not always accurate) blows?

I don’t want to be a spadist. It’s not helpful and could be dangerous. As it says in Bullies, Bitches and Bastards, ‘what she doesn’t realize is that while she’s extolling the virtues of spadism, most people around are thinking, ‘What I’d give for a spade right now. I’d cleave her bloody bonce in.’

So, where does this leaves me when tricky situations arise? I don’t want to change other people’s values, I just want my values to be afforded respect, as I respect others. One of the main difficulties as I see it is that the issue can become circular. If I am troubled because I believe that someone is not respecting my need for peace or honesty, then will any discussions which I instigate about the problem be positive, if that person has no regard for peace and honesty and responds in a dishonest or aggressive way?

Sometimes there doesn’t really seem to be a solution, other than to walk away. That saddens me and I would like to think it could be different. Why do I sometimes feel there is no option other than to step back from the rim? I believe that all beliefs are valid, in space and time. Perhaps it follows that although I can fully understand and respect an opposing view (as I place it in the context of the time and space in which it arose), there will be times and places in which that will not play any positive role in my personal world. That’s not to say that it doesn’t deserve respect – it does. It’s just to say that it plays no part in the here and now for me.

I guess this is one I’ll go on pondering for ever and a day, but in the meantime, I’d like to point out that having finished Bullies, Bitches and Bastards I’m now thoroughly enjoying The Help. I’m less than half way through it but it’s turning out to be a real page turner.

Would anyone else care to share how they maintain the values which are dear to them?

A further conundrum

2011-11-07T16:24:00.002Z

Here’s another conundrum; when is a poo not a poo? Now, this is a tricky one, full of conjecture. I suspect I could ask a thousand people and receive a thousand different answers! However, for today, I’m going to answer this one as follows.

A poo is not a poo when it is actually of Betty Crocker origin and masquerading as Neolithic faeces!

How, you may well ask, did I encounter a mutated Betty Crocker creation masquerading as Neolithic faeces? Good question!

The children both attend a fabulous Archaeology Club, where the education officers work ever so hard to make what I would think of as a very dry subject, really exciting and interactive for children. At our last session we learned that one point of great significance when looking at the Neolithic period is the shift from hunter/gatherer to farming.

I’m not certain I would have thought of this, but I take my hat off to whoever did. The children donned special rubber gloves, picked up their tools and magnifiers and dug into their assigned ‘sample’ to see if they had the poo of a hunter/gatherer (rich in small pieces of nut and fruit seeds) or that of a farmer (bit more dense but with small fragments of bone and fewer nut/seed particles).

I truly hope that this aspect of the Neolithic period will now be etched on the children’s brains. It certainly will stick with me. Who needs to pore over books when you can dissect mutant poo? I do so value all the people out there who bring life and laughter to the learning process – it need not all be tedious.

A conundrum

2011-11-06T18:01:00.003Z

I know I’ve not been around in a long while. I’ve been drawn into Facebook and try as I might I just couldn’t shake it. I’ve known all along it wasn’t the best medium for me to communicate, but ho hum, it’s so popular these days that it seems almost difficult to avoid it. Finally I’ve seen the light and totally redefined my Facebook existence. Hallelujah!!

Well, now turning to a much more significant conundrum I’ve been facing; how do I maintain my values with my children, in a culture that doesn’t share many of my values?

I’m inclined to wade in and say that this is an issue which has grown as the children have grown older and have formed more numerous and influential relationships outside of the immediate family, however, I don’t really think this is so. I’ve noticed stark differences in my values and those of others since becoming aware of having values – and certainly much more so since I joined the world of parents, and started to wrestle with what seems to be almost continuous challenges to my values.

What are these values that are causing me so much stress? I value peace, respect and openness. I want my children to grow in their hearts and minds as well as their brains. I value solutions not problems – and particularly those solutions brought about through honest dialogue with regard for all concerned. I value togetherness, love, laughter, dancing and just being. Being alone, being with my children, being with my family, being with my friends.

I'll be back later this week, hopefully with more thoughts on my conundrum.

Getting back in the swing

2011-06-06T11:42:00.003+01:00

I've been a bit disillusioned with blogging of late. I don't understand why pictures aren't displaying correctly. I don't have the technical 'know how' to trouble shoot either. Ho hum, I'm here having another attempt, upon Hermione's orders. She's heading off on her transatlantic travels soon and plans upon becoming one of my readers!

Testing, testing...

Our first attempt at decoupage

2011-04-07T20:33:00.002+01:00

We all joined in doing this - nana cutting, me gluing and the children arranging the paper on the cupboard. It was fun and we now have a new place for our 'work' type books.

2011-04-05T18:35:00.001+01:00

Textile Exhibition

2011-04-03T09:49:00.002+01:00

Yesterday we went to the Metro Radio Arena to a needle and pins textile exhibition and sale. There were some amazing works of art, to include a beautiful quilt which Hermione had worked on. It features all kinds of different air transport in support of the Air Ambulance Service.

There were some amazing creations and interpretations of works of famous artists.

Well I don't want to sound like a prude, but...

2011-04-01T08:57:00.002+01:00

...since when has it become acceptable for toilet doors to be made of glass and without a lock? We spent a couple of nights at the Premier Inn at Trentham Gardens, Stoke, earlier this week. The place was great, but why the glass bathroom door? Sure, it had a slight frosting, but that didn't make it much better in my view. No lock and didn't even fit right to the walls, so in addition to the sight you could also hear and smell everything going on.. Too much information perhaps? I'm sorry. Oh, I don't care, call me a prude but I prefer wooden toilet doors with bolts!

Baileys Bomb

2011-03-18T17:30:00.002Z

Take a packet of meringues and three crunchie bars. Smash into small pieces.

Whisk two pots of double cream till thick. Add half a cup of Baileys type liquer plus the smashed merignue and crunchies. Place in bowl and freeze. There you have it!

Wheels and wings

2011-03-17T18:53:00.003Z

Today was the day that Miles grew big wheels and and Olga grew heavenly wings.

We also attended a bridge building workshop at the Discovery Museum. Miles enjoyed it and was pleased to know most of the answers having done a very similar workshop not long ago with Hermione. Oh, it's good to get value out of local museum services! I don't want to be unduly pessimistic, but one must question how long things such as museums and museum education services will last in the current climate.....

Boys, bantams and beautiful stones

2011-03-15T22:20:00.002Z

Here are the eggs we collected from our girls today - to include our very first bantam egg thanks to this wee girl below. She's a Black Pekin Bantam with amazingly fluffy feet. Her name is Rocket and her friend, a golden Welsummer Bantam, is called Boost. Miles masterminded the names.

Despite the mist and fog we still had great fun outdoors today. Here is Miles and a friend in a den which had been sturdily constructed last autumn, but which had since been compacted by the snow. Cosy.

A gallery of stones collected from the riverbed and decorated with paints and chalks.

World Book Night

2011-03-14T21:40:00.000Z

By the time I'd heard about World Book Night it seemed too late to become involved and that's a shame as I'm an avid reader. So, I was delighted today when out of the blue I received a book as part of the event. It's Lee Child Killing Floor and I have Jenny to thank for this. Thanks Jenny!

Right, off to bed with a new book and clean sheets - two of my favourite pleasures in life.

Anyone else get involved in World Book Night? I'm forever thinking that I would like to join a regular book club, nothing too heavy but perhaps slightly more challenging than the book club down Albert Square where everyone seems to have a good moan about their husband while discussing the latest Jackie Collins.

Spring wishes

2011-03-13T21:56:00.000Z

Blowing in the breeze.

Science Festival

2011-03-12T18:49:00.000Z

What fun we had at the Science Festival today. After a rather bizarre space puppet show in the library, we headed up to the Great North Museum for Dino Alive.

Miles (red trousers in the picture above) was chosen to help train and feed a baby stegosaurus. The model was extremely life like and it was like a dream come true for him!

Ducks, dodgems, pancakes and gamelan

2011-03-10T22:48:00.000Z

It's no secret that Craig has wanted ducks for a long time. I eventually relented upon the basis we were to get Indian Runners which have a low food to egg ratio and don't need much water. We ran into difficulties straight away in so far as we couldn't find any for sale within the county. Eventually we came across somewhere that had some eggs incubating and our names were put down for some of the ducklings. Sadly none of the eggs hatched. The upshot was that I spent ages online trawling through Bird Trader and other such places, (gone are the days of Cosmopolitan) trying o find more Indian Runners. By last weekend I felt I had spent enough time trying to source ducks, called a local place with a variety (all except Indian Runners) for sale, and off we went. We returned with these two beauties above - Olga and Jemima - our very own Puddle Ducks a la Beatrix Potter!

Actually they're Aylesburies - very large, very messy eating machines who lay relatively few eggs. Their saving grace is that they're incredibly cute and the one egg we have had so far was huge. It was like nothing I had seen before outside of a museum. We weighed a large hen egg but the duck egg weighed three times more than that! Miles had it as a dippy egg and I could scarcely find an egg cup to put it in. It was bigger than a large lemon!

Aww, I think they like those snowdrops! Craig loves them and brought one up to say goodnight to Miles when I was getting him ready for bed the other evening. I think she wanted to get in the bath too!

I didn't get in to our usual home ed gathering on Monday as Miles had guests. My mum went with Hermione and brought home a very interesting poultry magazine. Helen, if you are reading this I would like to say a big 'thank you'. There are lots of handy tips in there. I'm really looking forward to meeting you and perhaps we can get together to talk home ed and hens some day?

We've also been ten pin bowling and playing on dodgem cars of late. The children love that sort of thing but I find it all too noisy - another sign of growing old I suspect!

We've also been to a family workshop to learn to play the gamelan. That was a very interesting experience but sadly one which I think the adults appreciated slightly more than the children. The children enjoyed it but aren't so keen as us to repeat it. Ho hum, it's irritating when your children won't tag along to enable you to go to interesting 'family' things.

We celebrated pancake day in style with our Forest School friends. We cut long strips of crepe paper to draw upon and then tied them to a tree with our spring messages blowing in the breeze. We paddled in the stream and then built a wood fire on which to cook our pancakes. It took a wee while to get the fire under way, but once it was away, the pancakes just kept coming. They were delicious, out in the breeze, a far way from anywhere, sun beating down and great company. Wonderful. The only downside was arriving home to discover I had had a bit of a diary malfunction and was, by that time, supposed to be in two different places, arrrghhh! I must start to embrace technology and carry my mobile phone. I struggle with all that sort of thing. I don't even have a watch. Time to invest I guess.

What's better, sex or revenge?

2011-02-25T19:20:00.000Z

That's the question Hermione asked me when I suggested that we switch off her Katy Perry CD in the car, due to foul language and sexually evocative lyrics.

Note to Craig - listen to albums before downloading them for the children!!!

Apparently Katy Perry has much greater moral standing than Andrew Lloyd Webber because the music to Phantom of the Opera incites vengeful actions! Hmmm, I'm still pondering that one...

Flat Travelling

2011-02-22T16:42:00.000Z

Miles' flat, complete with passport, set out on his travels today. He's headed for California and we're all ever so excited. For those not familiar with flat travelling you can read about it here. Looking forward to receiving our flat guest and showing him the sights.

Gotta go. Miles is busy defacing a picture of David Cameron on our 'news bulletin board', which may not be so bad (it being David Cameron and all) but I don't want him to mark the wall too!.

When daddy fell into the pond..

2011-02-21T17:32:00.000Z

Well, to be honest he didn't so much fall in the pond as waded into the pond. I just like to say that, having been a fan of this poem since I was wee.

After much debating Craig decided to spend his birthday money on a remote control boat. He scoured Ebay for a few evenings until he had found the exact one. I suspect at the time he was looking he had in mind sunny weekend afternoons with the boat and the children, all playing merrily and having great fun. Well, on a grey afternoon we set out for the maiden voyage.

The children and I had to assist in carrying out technical tests of range on dry land so as we would know how far out into the (large) lake it could go. We figured it had about a forty foot range. Quite impressive I thought. All was looking good - that is until we put it into the water. Having gone about ten feet it stalled and refused to start again. It began to drift and was soon marooned amongst some reeds and it became apparent that any attempts with the controller would be futile.

There was nothing else for it, Craig tucked his socks in his boots and rolled up his jeans to go and retrieve the boat.

It wasn't long till he was out of the lake. Apparently the water was deeper than he had thought and he needed to take off his coat, tuck his shirt into his jeans and roll the trousers yet further.

Sadly they weren't rolled high enough.

After about twenty minutes, during which time dozens of people passed making all sorts of interesting comments (my favourite was, 'take care, things drop off at those temperatures'), he staggered triumphantly out of the lake.

Wet. Very wet and very smelly.

'It's my turn! My turn now!' shouted Miles, who seemingly couldn't appreciate daddy's predicament. So, here they are, one very wet smelly father and one dry toasty son, sailing their boat on a much smaller enclosed wet area. Bless his wet, stinky socks - I guess he's one of the few who would have done. It was so cold.

As we wandered back to the car I suggested that he email the seller and ask for a refund. 'No, it just takes practice' he said.

Round up

2011-02-18T21:42:00.000Z

Miles seems to have developed a caring streak and has spent prolonged periods this week breaking peanut shells, with a wooden spoon, to remove the nut for the new hens. Awww bless.

I was so pleased that they didn't make it to the very top of this structure. It looks high as it is, but it was actually on top of a climbing frame which was already much higher than I am tall!

we were recently invited to join in a very exciting exploration of fibonacci numbers. I have to say that I'm still nigh on as clueless as I was beforehand, although I can honestly say that there are certain fruits and vegetables (particularly pineapples and cauliflowers) which will never look the same again. I will aways be seeking the hidden depth.

Is it normal for a cat to allow itself to be dressed in a balaclava? She even seems to enjoy it!

Bon Bon and Waka Waka

2011-02-16T21:31:00.001Z

Missed my zumba class this week but having found this track on Youtube I'm happier than I was. Also found this track with people dancing the exact same routine we do - although only the instructor looks as these people do. Goodness, no excuses for slacking now! I shall pop on Youtube and go for it tomorrow.

Red Velvet Cup Cakes

2011-02-16T10:37:00.000Z

Not the best of pictures but the vibrant red of the cake still shines through. They were nice, although no tastier for being red in my view. Sorry Nigella, but I think we'll be sticking to our usual wholesome cup cakes with the yellowy tint of garden fresh eggs.

Love on the worktop

2011-02-15T19:44:00.000Z

Oh, and promises of Red Velvet Cup Cakes too!

Sad update on the rescue hens

2011-02-12T17:54:00.000Z

Sadly, Sally, the smallest of the three rescue girls, passed away peacefully this morning. It wasn't until she had actually passed that I had a really good luck at her. I knew she was in very poor condition but hadn't realised just how skeletal she was. Why do people do it? No one pressures you to have animals. There's no need to take them on and just not look after them. I have notified the RSPCA and hopefully they will act. It would be nice to think that Sally's very short life wasn't in vain and that through her others may come to know much better conditions.

We have never washed a hen before. We've never had need. It was however becoming apparent that the caked on faeces was no going to come off easily by rain and preening. We took what I considered to be the brave step of bathing them. Actually they really liked it. Hens love warmth and the warmth of the water really soothed them. It was important to dry them thoroughly afterwards (with a towel and hairdryer). Here's Sapphire enjoying her wash - as did Splash after her.

Here's hoping that Splash and Sapphire make it. I've spent much of today on the telephone to vets trying to get help and advice. The trouble is that none of them round here treat poultry. I'm giving them poultry spice and citracidal. Hopefully they will be fine. It was always the little one, Sally, that I feared wouldn't make it.

Hermione has been extremely distressed and that has made me wonder if I did the right thing. Should I bring home animals that I know are likely to die? It's a tough call - but then death is part of life and I hope that she can see that on balance, despite the tears we have both shed today, what we have done is worthwhile.

Awww, poor skanky rescue hens

2011-02-08T19:19:00.000Z

Having sold some spare eggs to friends Hermione had finally saved enough to go and buy an Orprington hen today. We went along to a place we hadn't been to before. I must say I was shocked by the conditions - so much so that I felt compelled to rescue all I could and we came away with three not one. Just look at them, feathers matted with poo and stuff. I could cry for them and only wish we could help more. They're now tucked up in their new digs - a roomy hen house all of their own, and tomorrow they will hopefully enjoy strutting their stuff round the garden. Poor little things were really wary of the grass when we brought them home - never seen it before. Hopefully I'll be able to update with pictures of happy fluffy hens within a few weeks. Just a point to note, these hens are not battery rescue, they actually came from what many would consider to be 'free range' conditions. So sad.

Little Salkeld Watermill

2011-02-06T10:08:00.000Z

What fun we had here! We stumbled across it by chance. Tempers were becoming frayed as we were lost and had spent what felt like an age driving around the fells of Penrith. We were hungry, frazzled and in need of sustenance. Thankfully we pulled in here and were in for a treat.

The cafe sold the most delicious bread and cakes I have come across - using flour they had milled and baked on the premises. It was ever so small and quaint with a large log burner in the corner and lovely views over the stream driving the watermill. The only downside was the price, although having said that it was a high price for very high quality grub - sometimes you pay top notch and the food is horrid.

As well as exploring the outer workings of the mill we had really enjoyed checking out their various poultry breeds which were wandering about the place. Hermione fell in love with their big Buff Orprington and is now waiting for our local poultry breeder to be able to sex her last clutch of Buff Orps before one heads our way. Apparently they are more difficult to sex than many breeds so we probably won't take one till it is about twenty weeks - I'm not chancing a cockerel!

We also stumbled across an earthen oven outside. I would love to be there in summer when they bake bread in it. I suspect it has a very distinct flavour. It made me think back to when we joined in a clay oven baking day a couple of years ago. It was fab.

For me, the rather steep prices of the cafe were off set by the beauty of the place and also the friendly miller who showed us around free of charge. He was very patient with the children as he guided us through his flour covered milling area. Look at the steps and tops of the handrail below!

We got to see the water wheel being started up, the grain going in, the flour coming out and the area where it would be bagged. The children got to mill some flour by hand and marvel at how rough the hand ground stuff was in comparison to the stuff that came out of the watermill.

Certainly worth a visit.

Long Meg and her Daughters

2011-02-04T08:52:00.000Z

Made me smile....

2011-01-29T09:46:00.000Z

It's been an uncomfortably busy week but I've still had to

pause and smile at the hen doorstop nana made.....

...beautiful hyacinths in the dining room...

...crystal tree grown by Hermione and generally interfered with by Miles....

....splat poos stuck on the ceiling .

Come on, own up

2011-01-25T16:55:00.000Z

Who was it who slept in the boiler room at

Whinfell Forest Centre Parcs?

Done roamin' ..

2011-01-24T22:05:00.001Z

.. for the time being!

Just got back from a fun but exhausting break to celebrate Craig's 40th. One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to see Long Meg and her Daughters. I was quite blown away by the place and look forward to sharing pictures once I get round to unpacking the camera.

Tea for Two

2011-01-20T18:59:00.000Z

I'm loving the cute new tray cover Nana has made. I'm also loving my candelabra, which I have probably already told you about, but I am going to tell you again. I'm amazed with transformation from the nasty £3 silver electric tat Nana bought at a car boot sale.

Whilst on the subject of things I'm loving right now, I'm loving the fact that when it suits we can opt into formal learning experiences. Hermione is at her third science lecture this week, specially adapted for younger audiences, at a nearby university. She's loving them - lots of bangs, flashes and smells apparently. Must make my science experiments look incredibly dull!

Escomb Saxon Church

2011-01-19T08:44:00.000Z

We have been revisiting the Norman Conquest in our history lessons. We're lucky to have Durham Cathedral, a great example of Norman architecture nearby. But what could we compare it to? Durham was a place of pilgrimage before the Normans built a huge Cathedral there. What may the place of worship looked like prior to the Normans?

We visited Escomb Saxon Church yesterday to give us some inclinations. It was beautiful and a stark contrast to the Cathedral. Even Miles was amazed by the size, the roof timbers and the 'devil door'. Apparently suspicion surrounded the north door because the north wall was usually in shade. Consequently it was generally blocked off and termed the 'devil door'.

The cemetery was very interesting too, with some of the most unusual grave stones I have ever seen.

As promised...

2011-01-18T21:26:00.000Z

....pictures of the handmade 'old man slippers' card and a couple of gifts he received from friends the other day.

Please help me to choose

2011-01-16T15:48:00.000Z

Thanks to everyone who wished me well for last night. Thankfully there were no culinary disasters - just lots of fun and laughter. Craig is coming up to the big four zero and one of the couples who came brought lots of amazing home made gifts for him. I'll have to take some pictures and show you. There was a huge cookie with a message on (which disappeared this morning with a cup of coffee), a birthday card made out of a pair of slippers (!!), a specially designed and painted t shirt, an executive sock organiser, personal chill pills which involved squares of bubble warp, designer jewellery to keep his screws and nails safe and more...

Conversation focused very much upon syphilitic llamas and whether such things can be bought on Ebay. We also discussed, amongst other things, what to do for the best when you notice a naked man doing star jumps in your front garden during a dinner party - thankfully this didn't occur last night! I've not laughed so much in ages and my sides are still aching.

Anyway, nursing aching ribs and a rather sore head, I decided that I would take it easy today and try to choose a fabric to recover an old stool which I have found and would like to put in my bathroom. My bathroom is a pale blue colour with a grey floor. I like the idea of a black and white print (preferably newspaper print but I can't find this) but the white background may soon look grubby with littlies in the house. I also quite like the whole retro brown/blue/pink thing that's sometimes going on these days too. The dark background may look smart a bit longer too. What do you think? Opinions please?

Worth the wait

2011-01-14T22:22:00.000Z

What a nightmare! The man at Tescos had trouble with his pricing gun tonight. He couldn't get the reduction stickers to print. Much to Craig and Hermione's irritation, I was patient and managed to snap up organic veg at a fraction of the price, two pots of hyacinths for 30p each and £31 worth of flowers for £2.60! So, perhaps there are other things I could have done with that half hour, but what the heck!

I love flowers but won't usually splash out. I'm feeling very blessed to have a home full of blooming colour right now - at a sensible price too. It's certainly worth finding out when your supermarket marks everything down.

So, my house is looking lovely, all I have to do now is make sure the food is equally good when friends come to dinner tomorrow night. I'm making a few things I've not made before, Loaded Nachos to start, Texan Beef (a la Nigella) and Cashew Roast for veggies, followed by Key Lime Pie. Wish me luck!

Networking not working.

2011-01-12T22:17:00.000Z

As regular readers will know, when it comes to Facebook I'm a hypocrite. I hate the ethos. I hate the commercial exploitation. I hate the way it accentuates some users vulnerabilities. I hate the impact it can have on 'real life' friendships. I hate lots of things about it, but I use it - not a lot, but I do. It's a social disease and I've got it.

I would like not to be on Facebook but there are groups there which I feel I need to be part of - things to do with home education and such like - things I need to find out for the benefit of my children, but otherwise would not be able to find out.

I felt physically sick upon reading about this lady. Sadly I doubt she will be the only one too. Really it's made me wonder why the hell it's called Facebook. Surely to call it Faceless would be more appropriate - a place where people can go, without a face and therefore without responsibility for their social interactions. I know of course that there are millions of users who despite being faceless are perfectly good and decent. I'm just saddened that some use it in a way so as to take social interaction to such a base level, totally lacking in humanity.

Yeah, so it's great for many, but what of those who use it as a way to debase societal decency and degrade humanity? What of those who make mega million bucks out of it - be it used as intended or not? Sheeesh, I wish I could kick it....and in the meantime I apologise profusely to all my Facebook friends for my gross hypocrisy, I'm working on it.

Keeping me up all night

2011-01-11T21:35:00.000Z

I love it when Freecycle works - as opposed to being a pain in the backside when people start seeking designer clothing. Our three best gerbil boys acquired a fabulous new three storey gerbilarium courtesy of one kind Freecycler at the weekend. They appear to be loving it and are extremely active at night. They're noisy little devils and I've not slept well since they went into their new home. I'll need to adjust to their new sounds.

Souldering

2011-01-10T22:16:00.001Z

'Hey son, this is how you join two pieces of metal together.'

'Awww, cool daddy!'

RSPB visit

2011-01-09T09:41:00.000Z

We visited the RSPB centre at Saltburn yesterday following the recommendation by a friend. We enjoyed it, despite the bracing chill.

Most of the ponds were frozen with the reeds and rushes encased in ice. Pretty.

We travelled home via the Transporter Bridge. None of us had actually been on it before. We thoroughly enjoyed the ride although Hermione was concerned that the cables may snap at any moment. Thankfully they didn't!

The wild and the not so wild

2011-01-07T20:35:00.000Z

It's taken much longer than I would like but I think we're finally shaking our lurgy and getting back on top. Still feeling very much like I've been wrung out but I've an appointment with my reflexologist next week so hopefully that will see a vast improvement.

We have had friends to stay. Sadly they came to stay for a funeral. I've so many friends having hard times of late. I really do hope 2011 will bring much happiness. There are many folks I know who could do with a large dollop. Anyway, the circumstances could have been better but it was lovely to see them all the same. It was good to have their house bunny stay too. Here's Flick. Hermione willed her to eat the science book, but alas, it's still there.

Moving on from the 'not so wild', to the decidedly 'verging on wild', I must tell you about our brief trip to the museum today. 'Come and see mummy! Come and see Mummy!' shouted Miles. 'It's even more exciting than the dinosaur exhibition - it's a wild rumpus!!' The wild rumpus turned out to be a small group of school children and when their teacher eventually stopped texting on her mobile she looked decidedly unimpressed with his comment. Hmmm, perhaps she hasn't read Where the Wild Things Are? Or perhaps she thought the shame should be mine not hers? Miles was actually being quite charitable when he called it a wild rumpus - it's certainly not what I would have called it. I hope it was her supervision and not Miles' observations which were the cause of concern.

Moving on, for anyone out there who ends up buying lots of bits and pieces for children throughout the year, it may be worth having a look at the Hawkin's Bazaar sale at the moment. Many things have 75% off. Delivery is £3.95 but if you spend a reasonable amount it still works out a bargain. I've stocked up on gifts for my own children throughout the year and also for friend's children.

Miles' first 'proper' workbooks arrived today. He's starting some Singapore Maths. Sadly I think I'm much more excited about it than him. Hermione did Singapore Maths at his age before we moved to Horizon and more latterly Galore Park.

Hamlet the Comedy

2011-01-05T13:04:00.000Z

So traumatised was I by the event, that I forgot to tell you about an interesting night out which Hermione and I had the week before Christmas.

We made a rather long journey, (about an eighty mile round trip), to spend time with special friends and go to see Hamlet the Comedy performed by Odd Socks Theatre Company.

Unfortunately, my windscreen wipers started doing strange things on the way there and by the time we arrived, (very late) I felt I'd driven most of the way blind. I was shaking like a leaf and had to be assisted by the theatre manager in making necessary telephone calls to ensure our journey back was safer.

Friends who live close by offered us a bed for the night and I sat down to watch the performance, resigned to the fact that I would probably spend the whole time trying to decide whether to accept the offer of a bed or whether to try to make it back home that night. How wrong I was! Within a few moments into the performance I had forgotten about our hair raising journey and the dilemma as to what I would do when the performance ended. It was hilarious!

I have seen many versions of Hamlet to include contemporary and those aimed at specifically for younger audiences. This one was different. I think it would appeal to all ages - even the Lady Ga Ga style Ophelia. Wonderful, wonderful show. I would certainly recommend it to you. Apparently they are touring with Macbeth the Comedy this year and I sincerely hope they come up north.

Oh, and incidentally, I felt so calm following the performance I decide to drive home that night. The only problem was that by the time we got back Craig had assumed all was not well and as out looking for us. Ahhh, bless his stinky socks.