Joining in with Amy for Five on Friday.
1. A random selection of photos. An acorn I picked up on one of my early morning runs. I keep it with my writing things on the shelf. I'm the only person the house without a desk. I have the dining table in between dining times. The acorn is quite a big fat chunky one and it sits nicely on its flat bottom. I roll it round in my hands sometimes when I'm
2. I took the biggest boy to the wetlands place yesterday because it was an INSET day. Made extra delicious for him because the littler boys had to go to school. It rained the whole time, but we loved it, sitting in hides watching the winter birds. There was a spoonbill and a bittern there today. Sometimes I think the more unusual birds deliberately turn up when we're not there.
3. A handful of beans from the garden. The autumn has been quite mild I think, the runners are still slowly runnering and the sugar snap peas are still slowly snapping. I feel the need to eat more green things. There have been a few too many packets of crisps this week. And nuts as well, chilli peanuts from Aldi. They're in a league of their own. Salty snacks are my downfall. One of them anyway.
4. More drama in the high street. Someone blew up an atm machine to get the cash out and accidentally set the whole bank on fire. It's right opposite the other place that went up in flames a couple of months ago. We were all abuzz with police, forensics and actual television cameras. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Christmas lights have been thoroughly checked.
5. Boys. Sigh. I'm not sure that nature intended them to live together. They fight! And I think that they actually like to fight. In the wild the youngest would probably have been eaten by the other two while he was tiny. In one species the mother actually eats the smallest chick and then regurgitates it for the others. Is that the blue-footed booby? I can't remember. And then later on the biggest one would probably drive the middle one out into the wilderness. I'm happy that doesn't happen of course. But I do feel we're flying in the face of nature.
Wishing you a top weekend. Maybe you'll find an acorn, eat some good nuts or spot a spoonbill. Enjoy.
I'm the only person in this house without a desk too, I have the same dining table arrangement as you. Your pictures are gorgeous. Oh that's very dramatic about your high street, I hope the Christmas lights have been checked too, don't they say these things come in threes? ;) I hope the boys go through a calmer stage soon, children and their phases eh? Hope you have a great weekend xxx
ReplyDeleteBoys will be boys is not a saying for no reason.LOL
ReplyDeleteWell. I think you need a desk of your own, young lady. I have a massive desk of my own.. in my newly organized studio. Ask your husband for one for your Christmas gift? Make one? Find one at a thrift store? And then you can make your own nest around it! With calligraphy pens and nice papers.. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely way to spend an INSET day and how nice to spot a spoonbill and a bittern - not sure I've ever seen either outside of wildlife programmes. I'm impressed that you go for early morning runs too. You made me chuckle about your boys; having 2 girls I have no words of wisdom to impart for this I'm afraid. Have a great weekend and I hope no-one gets eaten! xx
ReplyDeleteA lovely post and wonderful pictures. I don't have a desk either so use the living room table. Lucky you still getting runner beans. My downfall are biscuits.
ReplyDeleteThanks, and you too. It's very unlikely that find, eat or spot any of those! xx
I think there must be some inbuilt thing in boys, like a need to wrestle. E isn't allowed to wrestle with his sister, (she'd win for certain but.........) so he wrestles his dad as soon as he gets home from work......... which never seems to thrill his dad, having a nearly 6'3 teenager fling himself at you before you've taken your coat and shoes off.............
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to spend a day with just one of your boys, it's nice to have a special time together. Lidls chilli peanuts are also great. Enjoy your weekend. :-)
ReplyDeleteLove you humour, news and observation CJ.
ReplyDeleteI used to feel like a lioness...watching her cubs fight and only giving them a clip round the ear ( not literally) when things got out of hand. These days they generally get on ok. Well I can go out and leave them together without actual bodily harm occurring.
Jacquie x
I thought that first acorn was an apple until I read the text !! It looks so big in the picture. Wow, it sounds like your town is having some trouble, sometimes other people's actions really shock me, I mean I'm sure there are better ways to get some money without having to affect so many other people! I hope you have a lovely weekend xx
ReplyDeleteMy runner beans are very curious a the moment. All the leaves were gobbled by snails in the summer. Then the leaves regrew and now I have a very lush runner bean wigwam without any flowers or beans.....if it continues to stay mild I will be ahead of myself next spring. Good luck with your boys....they do get better I promise and in adulthood they are great...really. Have a good weekend. B x
ReplyDeleteSuch thrills on your High Street! A couple of weeks ago a gang tried to remove an atm from the wall of a garage just up the road from here. With a JCB and tractor. In the middle of the night. They had to scarper before they had the machine as people in neighbouring houses woke up and called the police! They did succeed in demolishing half the building though. Hope your boys give you an easier weekend. They will be best of friends in a few years, if you can hang on that long!
ReplyDelete1. Your acorn is so shiny! I do love an acorn or smooth conker to hold. I had a similar desk situation to you but about a year ago I had a major hissy fit and rearranged a room so I could squeeze a table in the corner. That's my lair now and woe betide anyone who messes with it. I highly recommend it if you have space. 2. Lovely to spend time with one child when you have three. It's a rare thing. And a bittern – that is great! They're notoriously hard to spot. 3. Our vet plot is looking rather sad after a few days of battering winds and rain. No beans here, just soggy raspberries. Yours look fab. 4. Crikey. Fingers crossed for the christmas lights. 5. Boys. Yes, well... My daughter was a complete revelation after 2 boys so I do understand. My two rub along quite well now they're 14 and almost 16 although the eldest knows which buttons to press to send the younger one into a fit of rage. The joys of parenthood... Hang in there CJ.
ReplyDeleteHave a good weekend, hope it's peaceful and relaxing. Sam x
Hmmm, brothers and sisters fight too, or they did when they were younger, sibling rivalry. Your beans are doing well still producing, mine were done a while ago, there's not much left around here now.
ReplyDeleteWe're past the fighting stage here (hold on in there it does arrive) and into the playing together on xbox and comparing notes on women stage. I say no more.
ReplyDeleteLovely acorn :o) XX
Beautiful photos CJ. Your acorn is particularly beautiful. It is not just boys that fight, my daughter Annie is a prime fighter. Sigh. I am determined to get a desk one day. I am confined to the dining room table also. I have been dropping hints about student halls of residence and how exiting this surely must be. Alternatively, I have been tinkering with the idea of extending the house to accommodate my desk. Drastic I know but I am worth it, yes? I hope the excitement in your town is temporary only! Have a lovely Sunday. Lets hope it is a dry one. xx
ReplyDeleteMy brothers used to fight like that too, my sisters and I, we always made sure we are out of their way when they started WW III in the living room. It used to drive my Mum crazy :) I like your pictures. Have a nice weekend! xx
ReplyDeleteNice acorn. I quite often have a conker, pebble or sweet chestnut in my jacket pocket to roll around as I'm walking.
ReplyDeleteAh, shame about the bittern and spoonbill, nice to know they're there though, and to have a special day.
That really is a beautiful acorn isn't it! Ours are all thin and skinny, but that is a great fat round one! A treasure for sure. I hope that the boys don't keep at it too much. I hope that no one was hurt in the bank robbery. Thank you for joining Five On Friday. I hope that you are having a great weekend! xx
ReplyDeleteEarlier this week I carried a horse chestnut through the woods with me, just because it felt so nice in my hand. (The inside nut part, not the prickly shell!) I think it is wonderful that you sit in a bird blind with your son - it does not sound like the most comfortable place to sit for an extended period of time. That is motherly love.
ReplyDeleteMy two fight cat and dog all the time, but there are moments where they look out for each other and I think that it might not be as bad as I make out. Two different personalities, two different ages, but it evens out in the end! Bless their hearts xx
ReplyDeleteUm, not sure fighting is entirely restricted to brothers, brothers and sisters can have a good go too! I do like that conker, very tactile. I have stone I like to caress too. Have a good weekend.
ReplyDeleteCaz xx
Well, boys may fight, but girls bicker. And manipulate their younger brother. Sometimes I want to hibernate untill everybody is 25. Then I remember that one day they will be parents and I'll be a doting granny who spoils grandkids, let them eat candy all the time and buys drums and water guns. Vengeance is mine :)
ReplyDeleteWhile it is perhaps unkind of me to laugh, on the other hand I think I am smiling and laughing when you hoped I would while you typed your account :) Mercy! Life is fraught with quarreling and calamity...but then there is the seed of hope in a gorgeous acorn that when planted might grow into a solid towering oak which you could then harvest to make the desk you need.... xx
ReplyDeleteThis made me smile! Brilliantly observations, I would love to take a trip to the wetlands, with a thermos to keep me cosy! http://long-may-she-rain.blogspot.co.uk
ReplyDeleteSomeone tried to steal an ATM here too. Loved your bit about the boys. We had an only child and she said I liked the cat better than her.
ReplyDeleteHey CJ,
ReplyDeleteDining table for me too. Or sat up in bed. Boys do enjoy a good scrap, don't they? Olly and Alfie have been like caged animals lately. The age difference means nothing. Lidl do a good line in chilli crisps. Unfortunately.
Leanne x
Oh and Lemony Snickett is one of my faces. I have them all, picked up from charity shops over the years. Good book choice!
Delete*faces. Sausage fingers.
Delete*faves. god dam predictive text!
DeleteI know exactly what you mean about the rarer birds. They avoid us too.
ReplyDeleteIs it awful that I feel some relief to know people try to/succeed at blowing up ATM's in 'first world' countries too? I thought it might be particular to our crazy corner of the world.
ReplyDeleteDo you also get cash vans re-stocking the ATM's under guard of men armed with semi-automatics? Just us? Sigh
ANd we also get spoonbills! The world is too small.
I have no runner beans though, or boys.
Hope you had a lovely weekend.
Amazing to think you're still harvesting goodies from your garden in November! My desk is also the dining room table. We do have an office but the internet connection is so crap in there it's basically the room we keep the proper desk and filing cabinet in.
ReplyDeleteAs the eldest of three girls, let me reassure you that fighting is not mutually exclusive to boys.... I think boys do like to have a bit of a fight perhaps - Angus love to play fight with John, it's his way of bonding and showing affection with his Dad. He comes to me for cuddles. I'm happy with that arrangement.:-) xx
A wonderful selection of images from your week. It's not only boys that fight my son and daughter used to fight or wind each other up all the time. It will get better when they are older! Sarah x
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your descriptions. I've noticed lately I have been enjoying the ones of bird watching. I think I appreciate the birds the most when I get a chance to walk a trail or just be somewhere closer to nature. It's surprising, I am not as much of a calm and quiet person as I should be. (I think it's this feeling that I should be doing ... something else. It's a personal problem) Anyhow, I think that this is a patient outside quiet activity I could do, more so than the fishing (which I've actually done.)
ReplyDeleteAlso as far as boys go. You're my hero. I have ONE. One 12 year old, brushing up very closely to 13 and it's ... challenging to say the least, not to mention his father makes it more like having TWO 12 year old boys at the same time. sigh.
Boys! With three of my own, it's amazing we come out the other side with any hint of sanity, they do make me laugh though. Not tonight, the youngest at 14 had the tantrum from hell this evening, which is quite unlike them, unfortunatly he was cooking dinner at the time and threw passata everywhere, hey ho, pass the wine and chocolate! I love your acorn photos. Have a great week :)
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