Thursday 26 January 2017

Seen it all before mate


Still no photos to show you. I've been quite busy during the day, and really there's not much going on round here to photograph. Even the sauerkraut, which has been SO exciting to watch as it occasionally releases a bubble of gas, doesn't translate well into a picture. It's hard to capture the thrill of that moment when the bubble escapes and jiggles its way to the surface. I know you'd love it if you could see it. Sometimes I just stand in the kitchen watching it. And no, I do not need to get out more, I am happy all alone watching the sauerkraut fermenting, it's just the way I am.

So anyway, I have a giraffe for you. I didn't feel I could do a post without a picture. I do love the expression on the face of a giraffe. They've seen it all before I think.

It's been a quiet evening here this evening. The bigger boys are deeply into all things magic at the moment. You can't enter a room without someone going "Pick a card, any card, pick a card". The tricks have varying degrees of impressiveness, but the middle boy did manage some actual baffling magic the other day. The littlest boy spent the evening curled up on a cushion and a sheepskin with a hotwater bottle and a pile of Roald Dahl books. He read two and a bit of them and didn't make a peep for the entire evening. He has a heavy cold, it's slowed him down a bit. But oh how sweet he was.

I've been spending my days plugging away at being a writer. Bits of this, bits of that. We shall see where it goes.

This weekend we shall no doubt be doing the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch. We don't have the best garden for birds here, not enough trees, but we get quite a few on and off. There are always plenty of blackbirds around, picking through the fallen leaves for the juicy things underneath and taking grapes from the bird table. We have a wren and robins too, also blue tits and great tits. From time to time a group of long-tailed tits will pass through. And on occasion we've seen black caps, a coal tit and redwings. Magpies, pigeons, starlings and gulls are always about as well. Not a bad list now that I've written it down.

The biggest boy came home from his football training earlier. You may recall he's really tall. Well, he came home crammed into a tiny skintight hoody with someone else's initials emblazoned on the front. It barely came down over his body and the sleeves didn't get anywhere near his wrists. He had no idea it was not his. How is that even possible. Sigh. I'm always suspecting my jeans have been swapped with those belonging to a smaller person, I'm constantly on the lookout for it. Maybe he just thought he'd grown.

Hope all are keeping warm in this chilly weather. I have commandeered the hot water bottle and I'm off to curl up on the sofa now. Bliss.

25 comments:

  1. oh, you do make me giggle. :)

    i know precisely what you mean about the gas bubble...last year, when i was brewing my dandelion wine, i could spend ages watching the yeast fizz and bubble. clearly we have similar excitement thresholds.

    i'm also beavering away at being a writer. visiting here was my reward for getting my words in for the day. if you're up for the accountability partner, i'm all yours. :)

    i think when you see your 'regular' birds, the familiarity makes them somehow 'not count'. except they do and yes, you have a lovely big collection.

    that visual of your littlest curled up with a stack of books makes my heart sing...and my eyes a tiny bit watery. neither of mine are what i would call Readers and it breaks my bookworm heart. *sniffle*

    i'm still giggling over the micro-hoodie. perhaps that's a new Thing in Fashion? :)

    xoxo

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  2. Oh I do love reading your blog as you always make me laugh. How lovely that smallest boy is a reader and can find relief in Roald Dahl when under the weather, so many boys don't seem to get the reading bug until much older if at all. Micro hoodie reminds me of many a 'changing after PE' incident with boys trying to squeeze themselves into too small clothes while others wandered around tripping over the bottom of too long trousers. It was always the boys while the girls shook their heads in despair. This was not limited to Reception but happened regular in Year 6 too. Happy days!

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  3. Our bird list is similar to yours and our garden is the site of bkackbird wars but no doubt they will all disappear at the weekend.




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  4. I understand CJ, I also find it very exciting growing things in the kitchen and/or airing cupboard. I remember that my son became very absentminded as a young teenager. I think it was connected to all the growing. I sorted some books for our National Trust secondhand bookshop the other day, but the Roald Dahl books survived for another cull. Whenever I think of RD I see him sitting in his writing shed on a very saggy sofa covered by a very colourful granny square crochet blanket and writing on a tea tray. Did you listen to Open Book today? In a section on collaboration Mariella interviewed one of my favourite authors, Esther Freud, who from the the beginning of her career has had a writing buddy called Kitty, which has worked out well for both of them. Hoping that your littlest boy is better soon and that you have lots of exciting garden bird visitors this weekend. I will be hoping that my wren and the pair of thrushes put in an appearance for my count.

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  5. I would also stand and watch the bubbles rise!

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  6. I guess watching the fermenting bubbles rise is a bit like watching a 1970's lava lamp, very soothing. Have a lovely weekend. x

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  7. As usual a post that has made me smile. Happy writing and I hope that you have a good Big Garden Birdwatch.
    Enjoy the weekend. xx

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  8. Perhaps you could film the fermenting sauerkraut? I'd watch it. Enjoy the Birdwatch! I honestly think it's the best hour of the year - sitting and staring and no one can stop us!

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  9. Sadly someone has swapped my jeans for one of the 7 dwarves... despite vicious rumours I can categorically say this has nothing to do with a new biscuit recipe that I have been trying to perfect...nothing at all, honest!

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  10. CJ, I don't find your sauerkraut watching odd at all. I love looking at my kefir grains - what amazing strange little blobs - and my foaming and frothing apple cider vinegar is fascinating!

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  11. I can imagine you looking at your sauerkraut doing your own version of pick a card, but pick a bubble and seeing which one reaches the top first!!

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  12. Whatever it is you will be writing I am sure you will succeeed. You write an excellent blog, often making me smile. I especially liked your comment on your son coming home with the wrong top on - hilarious! Xx

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  13. Your son in the wrong top had me smiling as all your boys do. Hope little boy gets better soon.xxx

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  14. I hope your little guy gets better. Have you told us how tall your eldest is? I sure would love to see all three of them in a photo but I can see you don't do that.. but it does leave me curious! I imagine them being very handsome.. like their mum. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  15. Boys... I do think they're generally far less observant than girls. Hope your littlest boy is feeling better. RD books are fabulous - among the better ones to read out loud, too. I'm glad you are continuing with the writing :-) Have a lovely weekend. Sam x

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  16. Liking the sound of the writing and hope we get to read more. Can well understand the fascination with the bubbling sauerkraut. We have a new washing machine and I can't help but watch it do its spin-y thing without sounding like its got a load of hammers. And our dog would fit in beautifully with your crew. Only the other day he made a piece of shortbread disappear. Hope you're enjoying lots of sofa time.

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  17. The giraffe made me smile! Hoping your son is feeling better and hasn't spread his germs to the rest of you! I wish we had that man birds visiting our garden. Sarah x

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  18. hot water bottle and a book, I like his style x

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  19. Hello CJ,
    You have more birds swooping in than I do - we only get to see magpies these days. I think it's all the neighbours cats putting them off. Shame as I really love seeing the birds. I like photographing them as well. Although, as you probably know, it can be very tricky.

    Are you going to tell us what you've been writing? I'm curious if you've gone for flash fiction, a short story, or the beginnings of a novel? I started with short stories but once introduced to flash fiction, I found I loved writing tight, and 200 words or so made me feel good that I had achieved something too.

    By the way, I've responded to your last comment on my blog, if you want to nip back and take a look it might give you some 'writerly' ideas.

    Have a great week CJ, we all love hearing about you and your boys, and we love seeing your images too. However mundane you think they may be, to us, they tell a story. And now I'm thinking what that giraffe's story might be...

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  20. I asked L if he wanted me to make him some lunch today. He said, I've had some already....haven't I? He hadn't, of course. I wondered at what point he would have realised on his own. Marvellous creatures, our sons, eh? Happy bubble and bird watching, my friend. Don't get them confused and enter the wrong thing on the RSPB website XX

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  21. I cannot stop laughing at the thought of your big boy not realising he was in something that was obviously not his

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  22. I'm still waiting for a growth spurt of that magnitude around here, but you made me laugh thinking about how such a thing could happen. I've never grown vertically fast enough for it to happen to me (I've been the same height since I was 11 or 12) but I can definitely see where it would happen to a boy. How funny. I hope the birdwatching went well. Your sauerkraut sounds like it's coming along marvelously.

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  23. Love the random giraffe pic, Claire, that's so funny! I'm so glad that you're making the most of a cold and grey January by writing and being a home-body - things will get busy enough soon when the seed sowing starts in the allotment. Hope the littlest is feeling better, nothing beats Roald Dahl for a good read to take your mind off feeling full of cold. Cxx

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  24. Olá, Prazer em conhecer seu blog.
    janicce.

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  25. Olá, Prazer em conhecer seu blog.
    janicce.

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