Merry Christmas

A very merry Christmas to every kind person who reads and comments on this erratic and neglected blog. And may 2013 be a peaceful and happy New Year for one and all.

Ali x

Compound Word Project

The Compound Word Project

If you haven't heard by now, get yourselves over to this blog and join in with a bit of fun.

We are halfway now and it has been a source of frustration and gasps of 'Oh I know what that is..'

The whole family is getting quite competitive and Ali's aim to get bloggers uniting is working really well. Many thanks for all your hard work and organising, Ali.

Chelsea Buns

On a damp,

blustery,

cold,

grey day,

what could be better than a Chelsea bun?

Overheard on the way to Cubs....

What do you call an igloo without a loo?

An ig.

Dahlias

Dahlias.
3 for £4.
Cambridge market.
Well, it would be rude not too...

A New Chapter

,

Today, this girl started school. Proper school. She is ready for it (I think we both are), very excited (again, we both are) and will make certain her teacher is in all the right places at all the right times. She will always have the right equipment on the right day and will be a good friend to those children who are not quite so sure about the whole thing. She will make friends and be a happy member of the class.

But what I don't understand is where the last four and a half years have vanished to. Poof. Gone. Like a whirlwind. She can't be starting school because in my head she is still two with soily hands. She is still crawling round the house eating crumbs (and lord knows what else) from the floor. She is still staggering around, lurching form table to sofa to door on her pudgy unsteady feet. She is not answering back or arguing in a mature logical way. She is not riding a bike without stabilisers. She is not making her own toast...

A strange day here.
Now I must go and bake a cake and find Puppy so she has the best welcome home at 3.30.

Snapshots...

 ... of another glorious week spent on the shores of Loch Fyne.

 A feast for the senses.

 New experiences.

 Holiday traditions.

New friends...

 Familiar sights.

 A bit of bravado.

 A lot of colour.

 

 Happy times.

Overheard by Loch Fyne

SmallerBean: I thought Aston Martins were the same size as a tiger.

Me: This is a pine marten.

Apologies for the dodgy picture but I cannot work out how to get good stills from my movies or crop on blogger...

Inspiration of a pencilly kind

The gold and silveriness of the last couple of days has inspired the SmallBeans to celebrate our success in an artistic way.

SmallBean did a sport medley, though in his enthusiasm he did reinvent the spelling of the games... I love the simplicity of these little stick sportsmen and cannot choose my fave.

Smaller focussed on the first gold, though why only one of our ladies has a medal is unknown.
She likes to concentrate on a bit more detail. Like sunshine. (It is always sunny when you are four...)

I want more pictures.
We need more golds...

Sometimes...

 When you have spent the last week living here,

 with views from your bedroom window like this,

 and the closest neighbours are these,

 sometimes

it is quite hard to come home.

Nabbing

I found a teeny dollies glass lurking at the back of the cupboard and had a sudden urge to fill it with flowers. I think the glass is quite old, it was nabbed* from a friend's grannie's house about twenty years ago and must have belonged to her or more likely, her daughter.

I was surprised at quite how many wee flowers were suitable.

There is a feeling that SmallerBean will take one look and nab it from me...

*the nabbing was done with full permission of the owner.

Wondering

Dare I wonder? Has spring arrived?

Cabin Fever

SmallerBean has been struck by a bug. Fluctuating high temperatures, good humour, earache and a sore throat. Interspersed with bad humour, clingyness and 'wobbly eyes'.

One minute she is up to high jinx with SmallBean, the next she is sobbing in a heap on the sofa. I, sorry, she has been suffering for three days.

It is trying my patience. Added to which, the weather can only be described as, well, wet.
Every opportunity to pop out for a breather is suddenly scuppered by more rain.

There is a serious case of cabin fever here.

Green

 Last night we returned from a week in the Borders. Long walks, days on the beach, eating breakfast outside and breathing in fresh spring air was much needed by all of us. We read, explored, chatted, played, laughed and relaxed. Looking through the photos last night I realised that the overwhelming colour of the week was green. Yes, there were huge blue skies, frothy white blossom (and lambs a plenty), angry grey hail clouds, rainbows and little red squirrels, but if I close my eyes now and think back on the week it is green that fills my head.

 The bluebells were just starting to flower. In the next couple of weeks I suspect that there will be little green in this wood...

 The huge spring tides flooded the Urr making it almost like a lake. (Perhaps I should say loch...)

 SmallBean and I took a hike up Screel. To reach the top you have to walk through dark pine forests. The lichen and moss on the trees were the sunlight managed to penetrate was amazing, dripping from the boughs.

 The chestnuts were ahead in the leaf race...

 ...but the lambs won the Ahhh Factor. And no, we can't have one as a pet.

Cambridge is looking greener than it was a week ago. On a much more controlled and smaller scale. What are your Easter colour memories?