13 years today, Stuart and I devoted our lives to each other. So much has happened in that time, and I am very much looking forward to growing older with him, and seeing what path our lives take together.
We are off out for a romantic meal for 6 tonight, so we'll see how that goes;)
Monday, 2 March 2009
Monday, 16 February 2009
A lovely weekend
It started off on Friday evening. Meeting up with some friends, old and new, to sit, eat homemade cake, knit and chat. It was definitely my kind of evening, and hopefully it will become a regular event.
Saturday was relaxed, with no tennis lessons first thing as it is half term. As much as Alec enjoys it, it is rather difficult getting up early at the weekend, especially when it is so cold... roll on the spring. Alec and Ethan, instead spent most of the day playing outside with the neighbours boys, whilst Luke and I went to a lego exhibition held by George (one of Jo's boys). He had been working very hard all week on his creations, and Luke was very impressed with Indy stuff!
Sunday we initially thought we would head to Malvern and take the children up the hills. But as ever, we weren't organised enough, and we ran out of time. Instead we headed to some local woods, about 2 miles away. I used to go there as a child, but there were always people riding motorbikes through it. I was very impressed with it now. No motorbikes for a start! But the woods were very well managed, and as parking was so difficult, there were very few people there.
There is something very spiritual about woods, a sense of calm, of age old knowledge. We could have walked for ages, but it was getting dark. We found a rabbit warren, trees on impossible cliffs with their roots exposed, but keeping them upright. Other trees that had fallen across ditches creating natural bridges (which Luke just had to traverse!), or other trees that had fallen or grown into natural shelters. We were all disappointed we had to cut our walk short, but I have a feeling we will be back there again soon. It really is a little treasure on our doorstep!
Saturday was relaxed, with no tennis lessons first thing as it is half term. As much as Alec enjoys it, it is rather difficult getting up early at the weekend, especially when it is so cold... roll on the spring. Alec and Ethan, instead spent most of the day playing outside with the neighbours boys, whilst Luke and I went to a lego exhibition held by George (one of Jo's boys). He had been working very hard all week on his creations, and Luke was very impressed with Indy stuff!
Sunday we initially thought we would head to Malvern and take the children up the hills. But as ever, we weren't organised enough, and we ran out of time. Instead we headed to some local woods, about 2 miles away. I used to go there as a child, but there were always people riding motorbikes through it. I was very impressed with it now. No motorbikes for a start! But the woods were very well managed, and as parking was so difficult, there were very few people there.
There is something very spiritual about woods, a sense of calm, of age old knowledge. We could have walked for ages, but it was getting dark. We found a rabbit warren, trees on impossible cliffs with their roots exposed, but keeping them upright. Other trees that had fallen across ditches creating natural bridges (which Luke just had to traverse!), or other trees that had fallen or grown into natural shelters. We were all disappointed we had to cut our walk short, but I have a feeling we will be back there again soon. It really is a little treasure on our doorstep!
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Catching up
My goodness, where does time go? It's nearly a month since my last post, apologies.
Betty has had us all worried, with her moping around the garden all this last week. Took her to the vets, and the vet was also a keeper of chickens, so did a heavily discounted rate (always worth knowing!). He drew up some anti-biotics for us to administer to her by injection. Now I'm only just getting used to handling the chickens, let alone injecting them! He reassured me it was easy, and with Stuarts help it went ok, but I didn't like the idea of wielding a hypodermic needle around! The good news is she seems to be on the mend, there were a few mornings when I opened the hen house and I thought I would find her perished, but she seems to be made of strong stuff. Still don't know what she was fighting off, the vet ruled out egg perotinitis, which is what I was worried about (a broken egg inside of her that gets infected).
Oh, and whilst on the subject of chickens, Hetty is now laying regularly, and the boys are thrilled to be eating "Hetty eggs".
What about the children, all I seem to have posted about recently is chickens. Well, Luke got a head teachers commendation for a mosque that he built for a presentation. Apparently he is the first boy in the school to have got one since Christmas! Sophie is tentatively trying her first solids ( a bit of a mish mash of BLW and spoon fed weaning, which she is definitely getting the hang of, but the faces she pulls are quite hilarious!) She is also beginning to get slightly mobile with a combination of rolling, wiggling and "swimming" across the floor. I am going to have to get sooooo organised to get all the little bits out of her way otherwise we may have some "interesting" nappies!! Alec and Ethan have been their usual happy selves, but found the recent snow a little too cold for their liking!
Stuart has found his firebowl to be a great excuse to buy marshmallows, and toasting them out in the garden, but the chickens straw has dwindled very quickly, as it apparently make very good tinder!!
I am owing some posts regarding being tagged by Jo, and a tree of happiness by Moon Mumma and Joxy. I will address all of these in the next post!
I also realise I owe you all some pictures of many things. I will ask Stuart to give me a tutorial on uploading them, as I've been taking loads of photos in anticipation of getting them blogged, so please be patient.
Betty has had us all worried, with her moping around the garden all this last week. Took her to the vets, and the vet was also a keeper of chickens, so did a heavily discounted rate (always worth knowing!). He drew up some anti-biotics for us to administer to her by injection. Now I'm only just getting used to handling the chickens, let alone injecting them! He reassured me it was easy, and with Stuarts help it went ok, but I didn't like the idea of wielding a hypodermic needle around! The good news is she seems to be on the mend, there were a few mornings when I opened the hen house and I thought I would find her perished, but she seems to be made of strong stuff. Still don't know what she was fighting off, the vet ruled out egg perotinitis, which is what I was worried about (a broken egg inside of her that gets infected).
Oh, and whilst on the subject of chickens, Hetty is now laying regularly, and the boys are thrilled to be eating "Hetty eggs".
What about the children, all I seem to have posted about recently is chickens. Well, Luke got a head teachers commendation for a mosque that he built for a presentation. Apparently he is the first boy in the school to have got one since Christmas! Sophie is tentatively trying her first solids ( a bit of a mish mash of BLW and spoon fed weaning, which she is definitely getting the hang of, but the faces she pulls are quite hilarious!) She is also beginning to get slightly mobile with a combination of rolling, wiggling and "swimming" across the floor. I am going to have to get sooooo organised to get all the little bits out of her way otherwise we may have some "interesting" nappies!! Alec and Ethan have been their usual happy selves, but found the recent snow a little too cold for their liking!
Stuart has found his firebowl to be a great excuse to buy marshmallows, and toasting them out in the garden, but the chickens straw has dwindled very quickly, as it apparently make very good tinder!!
I am owing some posts regarding being tagged by Jo, and a tree of happiness by Moon Mumma and Joxy. I will address all of these in the next post!
I also realise I owe you all some pictures of many things. I will ask Stuart to give me a tutorial on uploading them, as I've been taking loads of photos in anticipation of getting them blogged, so please be patient.
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
I've been tagged!
Jo has tagged me to find 8 random facts about me. So for anyone who is remotely interested, here goes...
- I spent many weeks, weekends etc on the canals as a youngster, and dreamed of living on a canal boat.
- I decided to grow my hair, at the age of 14, when someone asked my younger brother how old his older brother was (I was up a tree at the time!)
- I love my bed, but don't get to spend enough time in it!
- I would love to open a Fairtrade shop with a fairtrade cafe in it.
- I have fallen asleep in many strange places, including stood up at a concert!
- I would love to learn to play the cello
- I would love to visit Machu Pichu, Peru and Rotorua, New Zealand
- I find it very hard thinking of 8 things about myself!
What happens next?
1. Each blogger starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.3. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and to read your blog.5. For the recipients, leave a comment for the person who tagged you, so they can go and read your answers.
I am therefore tagging the people who follow my blog (except Jo who tagged me initially!)
So we have Shell, Uma, Joxy, Jacqui, Rachel, Michelle, and nocton4
Friday, 9 January 2009
An Egg!!!!!
Poor Betty, I bet she wondered what was happening to her today. She didn't come out the hen house at all this morning, and I was getting rather worried about her. She seemed perky enough inside, but I was worried about her, and started reading up on lots of nasty things that could be wrong with her (which scared me even more!) By the time I went out to Toddlers she was just poking her head out the door. I thought perhaps the terrorising that Little had been dealing out had got to her, but I was wrong.
When we returned from picking the boys up from school, she was strutting around with Hetty and Little, and I just took one look at her and thought there may have been some developments! Her comb and wattles were no longer pink and droopy, but red. So I went to the hen house, and sure enough there was an egg! Not in the nesting box, but between the roosting bars, and the shell was rather soft, and therefore had broken and spilled its contents. However, it was an egg none-the-less, and I am so proud of her! I just wish I could explain to each of them what is happening to them, although I am sure Mother Nature will step in and guide them.
When we returned from picking the boys up from school, she was strutting around with Hetty and Little, and I just took one look at her and thought there may have been some developments! Her comb and wattles were no longer pink and droopy, but red. So I went to the hen house, and sure enough there was an egg! Not in the nesting box, but between the roosting bars, and the shell was rather soft, and therefore had broken and spilled its contents. However, it was an egg none-the-less, and I am so proud of her! I just wish I could explain to each of them what is happening to them, although I am sure Mother Nature will step in and guide them.
Resolutions
A bit late in the day, but thought I ought to write down my plans for improvement for this coming year! The one that is always on my list, and always falls by the wayside fairly quickly is to be more organised. By that I mean keep on top of the housework, not just when it gets desperate, spend more time with the boys not just when they demand it, and to generally achieve things rather than just think about doing things!!
Having read through some other blogs, I'm also going to borrow some ideas too. To use things we already have before going to buy more, sounds as if it should suit us to the ground, as the house still seems to be brimming over with "stuff" which has no real use at present. Along with spending more time at home (or down the allotment!), as I really do have more than enough stuff to keep me busy, without going to groups etc.
And a personal one for me, which I had started on prior to New Year, is to eat less meat. Not necessarily for health reasons, but because I want to think carefully about what has gone into my food, and so will try to only eat free range/organic meat, but to have non meat days too.
Ethan has decided he wants to be able to ride his bike up the hill, so a fair bit of practising will be needed as it is a pretty steep hill!
Having read through some other blogs, I'm also going to borrow some ideas too. To use things we already have before going to buy more, sounds as if it should suit us to the ground, as the house still seems to be brimming over with "stuff" which has no real use at present. Along with spending more time at home (or down the allotment!), as I really do have more than enough stuff to keep me busy, without going to groups etc.
And a personal one for me, which I had started on prior to New Year, is to eat less meat. Not necessarily for health reasons, but because I want to think carefully about what has gone into my food, and so will try to only eat free range/organic meat, but to have non meat days too.
Ethan has decided he wants to be able to ride his bike up the hill, so a fair bit of practising will be needed as it is a pretty steep hill!
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Chickens
My long awaited ladies have arrived today. I was so excited and nervous all at the same time, I really was like a child at Christmas! They are housed in an eglu, which seems perfect for our garden, though I think we may have to find a permanent site for it as our garden is just way too slopey for me to be able to move it around at will, as was my original plan. So some garden design is now the call if the day!
We have 3 chickens. 2 are known as Miss Pepperpot's which are Rhode Island Red/Maran hybrids, and a gingernut ranger, another hybrid I think. The Miss Pepperpots are very different looking, one being black with irridescent green feathers, and the other black with lots of gold neck feathers. They are known as Betty and Hetty respectively. The other hen seems to have established the pecking order, and is ironically known as Little, as in Chicken Little (courtesy of the boys!) Little is a big brown hen, and certainly seems to be ruling the roost so far! However, when they went to roost this evening, there was gentle coo-ing coming from inside the eglu, so peace for now!
The boys were so excited when I picked them up from school, and raced through the house to the back garden where they spent ages watching them, asking questions, and imitating them. They were particularly intrigued with the pecking order scuffles! Some of the neighbourhood children came to look too, but didn't seem quite so excited, although one did suggest his brother kept one on his bedroom!
I am really looking forward to this new adventure for us as a family, especially as the days stay lighter, and we get to spend more time in the garden with our feathered friends.
We have 3 chickens. 2 are known as Miss Pepperpot's which are Rhode Island Red/Maran hybrids, and a gingernut ranger, another hybrid I think. The Miss Pepperpots are very different looking, one being black with irridescent green feathers, and the other black with lots of gold neck feathers. They are known as Betty and Hetty respectively. The other hen seems to have established the pecking order, and is ironically known as Little, as in Chicken Little (courtesy of the boys!) Little is a big brown hen, and certainly seems to be ruling the roost so far! However, when they went to roost this evening, there was gentle coo-ing coming from inside the eglu, so peace for now!
The boys were so excited when I picked them up from school, and raced through the house to the back garden where they spent ages watching them, asking questions, and imitating them. They were particularly intrigued with the pecking order scuffles! Some of the neighbourhood children came to look too, but didn't seem quite so excited, although one did suggest his brother kept one on his bedroom!
I am really looking forward to this new adventure for us as a family, especially as the days stay lighter, and we get to spend more time in the garden with our feathered friends.
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