Sunday 22 March 2015

Spectacular inelegance













The second photo is a misty shot taken at the time of the eclipse on Friday.  I didn't quite know how to view it, not having any eclipse glasses, so I just watched the shadows and the dimming of the sunlight.  Two of the boys watched it at school, but the middle boy wasn't allowed to.  I was a bit annoyed about it, he would have so loved to have seen it, he'd been reading his stargazing book all week.  It would have been a good memory to have.

Yesterday we headed down the motorway to Taunton for a music festival.  Not the Glastonbury kind, more the sort with groups of schoolchildren playing things and singing and in one or two memorable cases, dancing as well.  On the way we passed Willow Man, not to be confused with the Wicker Man, although he has been burnt to the ground on one occasion.

After a morning of sitting still listening quietly to music we took a picnic to lovely Vivary Park to let off some steam.  The weather was glorious, and the ice-cream man was out.  The park has a very English feel to it, with a bandstand, some lovely houses round the edge, a stream and plenty of paths for promenading.  There's a little golf course beyond the stream that adds to the green views.

Today was a football free day.  I spent an hour at a birthday party with dozens of hyped up six and seven year olds.  Then we went to the wildfowl and wetlands place after lunch.  There was another bore this weekend - the wave that runs up the river as the sea water from a very high tide is funnelled along the channel.  You can see the resultant water on the flood plain in the penultimate picture.  Hopefully it will force lapwings and other ground nesting birds to find drier sites away from the flood plain.  So if there should be more big tides their chicks will be safe.

The biggest boy went to look round the hides, and I took the other two to the play area.  The littlest boy shinned up the log climbing thing, and then fell off in dramatic style, scraping off a load of skin on the ropes on his way down, and landing horizontally.  Again.  I went to rescue him and brought him back to the bench I'd been sitting on. He was making quite a lot of noise, and what with the spectacular fall, everyone in the crowded play area was watching by this time.  I was facing him, trying to assess the damage (blood or chocolate round the face?), and to get down to his level I flopped down on the bench that I'd been on.   Imagine my surprise when the bench wasn't actually there any more and I flew backwards and hit the ground with an inelegant thump.  I leapt up in an instant and pretended to that it hadn't hurt at all.  The littlest boy was crying and laughing all at the same time.  Oh my, between us we are so clumsy and accident prone.  It turned out that the bench hadn't actually moved, it was fixed to the ground.  It must have been my faulty sense of direction.  Combined with the clumsy thing, well, let's just say it's never dull round here.

32 comments:

  1. Ouch, the two of you with your injuries. I hope you're both recovered soon. I think your weekend sounds very nice, a children's musical performance festival is just my speed. We have a "man" that gets burned here, called Zozobra, he represents Old Man Winter and they burn him to ward off winter, I guess. I've never been to see it in person, apparently it gets very wild and people fight and so forth. Very much not my speed. :)

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  2. I thought I recognised that park ... I went to school in Taunton!

    I hope you and the littlest boy are quite over your bumps.

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  3. Hahahahahaha I hope your littlest is okay! And you!

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  4. Having face planted myself in a flower bed outside the gym a few months ago, I feel sympathy for you and your son, CJ. [adding insult to injury my first name is Grace :-) ] Your photos are lovely and I enjoyed learning about the world around you...and your ups and downs. Wishing you well xx

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  5. Well.. welcome to the "fall club"! I took a big fall in the gym shower and was laying there blubbering on the tile floor, face down. I hope you don't have any lingering pains.. my shoulder is still out of whack. That park is simply stunning! I hope you have a accident free week ahead. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  6. As always, your pictures are beautiful. Hope little guy is okay and that you have recovered from your bit of a sit down.

    Willow Man is SO cool!

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  7. I'm sorry both you and the little one had scrapes but I had to giggle at the mental picture of you missing the bench. I totally understand, I can fall down on flat ground. I'm glad you both are okay. Love the photos.
    Hugs,
    Sharon

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  8. I love the fact that you jumped up again pretending it didn't hurt - I did exactly the same thing recently when I went sprawling in a shop having missed a step! Why do we do that? Beautiful photos, as always. I especially love the misty one - fog always makes me feel cosy. Have a great week. x

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  9. ouch. x apart from that bit it sounds like a lovely weekend x

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  10. I quite fancy spending a weekend with you guys, you always do nice things for starters and also, I would -for once- maybe not be the clumsiest of all... I hope you have no bruises and scratches CJ! I did exactly the same last year, pretending not to be hurt and hiding that growing bump on my head was a ginormous effort. As a fellow clumsy, I applaud and admire your swift response. I do hope the brown around the little ones mouth was chocolate only. To an accident free week! Cxx

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  11. Oh you poor thing! Not nice to fall off or miss anything, I hope that you are both alright today. Sounds like a busy but fun weekend, glad that you had a (mostly!) good time. xx

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  12. Are they clumps of mistletoe in the trees? Or - ? It really is a wonderful, eery image.
    I hope you are not too bruised after your tumble.

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  13. Oh dear, it's bad enough taking a tumble, but to do it in front of a park load of people. I hope both you and the littlest boy are ok. We always watch out for Willow Man when we're travelling down to Cornwall and I saw a shot of him on Broadchurch recently too. That's such a shame that the middle boy missed the eclipse. I think different schools had different ideas about whether to let the children watch. To my way of thinking, what can be more educational than learning something about the world in which we live? Madness that they didn't allow them out to watch.

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  14. Oh no ! At least it made him laugh :-)
    Kate xx

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  15. Lovely photos! When we go past the willow man on the motorway it amuses me that his field has changed so much in recent years, once a lone figure and now surrounded with buildings. I expect he doesn't understand what's happened all around him!
    We went to see the bore on Saturday night at my son's house in Newnham. Their garden is the edge of the river so we were very close. I've never seen it before and I must say I was very worried for the two men who sat on their surf boards in the water waiting for the bore to catch up with them! It did and it was spectacular! I wonder how far up the river Severn they were pushed? :)
    Jess xx

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  16. What a shame that the middle boy wasn't allowed to view the eclipse. Was someone being over protective? I'm glad someone is looking out for the lapwings.

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  17. Such a shame he wasn't allowed to watch it, I must admit it was extremely cloudy here so we didn't get to see any of it, just a slight darkness! Mike drove past the Willow man last week when he was out & about, I've never seen it so close apart from on the TV. Oh dear, the two of you taking a tumble, your tumble sounds like it cheered your little one up!

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  18. I am trying to figure out why they wouldn't let your son's class out to see the eclipse. They would have remembered it for the rest of their lives. I doubt very much they will remember whatever tidbit of information was being given them at that time in the classroom. And I'm sorry, but I did laugh when I read about your mishap at the park. I hope both of you are okay.

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  19. Oh, there's nothing more mortifying than falling over in public, is there?
    I hope your boy's OK and didn't do too much damage.
    What a shame your middle one wasn't allowed to watch the eclipse. We saw it and took some photos. Joe insisted on staring right at it and shouting, 'What's dat?' so I ended up closing the curtains before he burnt his eyeballs out.
    Have a great week. Hope you don't have any more Frank Spencer moments!
    S x

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  20. I take it that despite your mishaps that you're both okay. It was overcast here so the eclipse wasn't visible.
    I like the pictures, especially the gates and the bench by the stream. Flighty xx

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  21. Hope you are both not too battered and bruised today.
    I used to love children music festivals - then Matt got all self conscious about playing in front of people, and now just plays in a jazz band. x

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  22. Well, at least you two had each other! Wicker Man - oh, that was a very creepy and disturbing movie indeed! I should never have listened to my brother who said it wasn't that bad.

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  23. What a beautiful traditional park and I love the bandstand. Not too many bruises I hope!

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  24. You had me at your last bit with your little guy and missing the bench!!!! I hope he is feeling better now...nothing worse than being scraped up! You are awesome! Life just throws those moments in to keep us on our toes I'm sure! On another note I can not get over how green it looks already by you all! My goodness your photos just yell spring to me! Did I mention that we got blasted with snow today! UGH! Wishing you a fall free week full of outstanding beauty!!!!! Nic xoxo

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  25. I hope you and your boy are over your bumps and painful scrapes CJ. Love your pics of the trees - is that mistletoe in amongst? No eclipse here in the Weald of Kent, too much thick cloud, but it was gloomy for a bit, there was a drop in temperature and a strange stillness - it seemed to spook the birds a bit. Have a good week. Jane xx

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  26. Hey CJ,
    The wicker man is one of the landmarks I use when driving to Bristol with Olly. He used to stand all alone, but is slowly being swallowed up by development. Olly's favourite landmark is the 'Lego building' which is actually a huge Morrisons distribution depot. I think it' quite close to the wicker man. As for falling over, I remember being heavily pregnant and falling over outside the co-op in town. I rolled around on my back like a beetle, until a kind lady helped me up. I was mortified. I do laugh at my family when they trip up though. It always seems so funny to me.
    Leanne xx

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  27. Lovely photos and sounds like a great weekend, appart from the falls, bumps and scrapes bit........ life with boys, I have 3 of my own, never a dull moment even when they get older.

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  28. Oh dear, you poor things! It's not funny really but at least you made littlest boy laugh. I can sympathise with you as I'm a clumsy thing. I fell over on Sunday coming out of the station when my suitcase wheel got stuck in between two paving slabs. And yes, I did look behind me to check if anyone saw!
    That park looks a lovely place to have a picnic xx

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  29. What a good mother you are, making your child laugh and cry at the same time. You are bonded in more ways than one :) The photos are lovely, and I can feel your spring. I hope it's the beginning of many enjoyable days outdoors with the minions.

    Photo favorite: you know i always love your photos, but today I am all about the happy feelings that ice cream van is giving me.

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  30. Well they do say laughter is the best medicine and that sure cured your little ones pain, ah bless you I am the same way. I knock into everything and have had my fair share of falls. Hope everyone is healing up nicely and your behind is not to sore.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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  31. Such a shame not to be allowed to watch the eclipse, sadly I missed it due to chatting to visitors. Hope you are not to bruised from your mishap...

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  32. Vivary Park looks a very nice place to go to.

    And excuse me for laughing at your end paragraph, but I did as I pictured the scene in my mind ..........

    All's well that ends well.

    Take Care and .....

    All the best Jan

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