Someone stop me

Now I've got the ability to post photos again I may run out of control for a post or two.  I'll work through it I'm sure.  But it's just been so nice out, I've been snapping away.

Thursday was the day of the teacher's strike, so we took the opportunity to go to Slimbridge in the sun.  It was utterly beautiful - warm, wonderfully lit and a kind of bonus day with the little people.

Today we had the usual morning of football.  The biggest boy was captain this week.  The team fought really hard, but lost by a goal in the final minute.  A good game though, so he's happy.

This afternoon we went to the country park.  As we wandered round I had a sudden urge to start a new knitting or crochet project.

Oh how I love wool.  Such a miraculous product of nature.  Warm, cool, fire retardant, water repellent, absorbent, elastic.  Clever, clever, clever.  Nothing matches natural products.  I just have to decide what to make.  I shall spend a happy hour or two on Ravelry I think.

Being as it's mid-October, we headed for The Conker Place after admiring the sheep and alpacas.  We go there every year.  For some reason the boys have an obsessive need to collect their own body weight in conkers.  Last year there weren't any.  This year, plenty.  Three carrier bags full are now in my kitchen.  We played conkers all evening.  Simple pleasures.

It's a lovely spot, overlooking the river, with beautiful views of the South Gloucestershire countryside.

As well as conkers, there were a few fungi.  Some really enormous ones.  I put some little feet in the shot, to give an idea of scale.  The biggest ones had been knocked off of the dead tree stump they'd grown on.  I don't know what type they are, unfortunately.  It would be nice to know what they all are and which ones are edible.

Despite a morning of football, there's always energy for more.  The biggest boy would play all day every day if he could.  It's in his genes I think, his dad was apparently the same.

I spotted this growing on an apple tree on the way out.  Mistletoe anyone?

We're not quite ready for that yet.  Still enjoying autumn.  Some of us haven't even stopped wearing shorts yet.

Have a good week all.  I'll be back before you know it with more photos...

Flying again

I've worked out how to get photos onto the computer again, after a fashion.  A lot of everything I do is "after a fashion".  Especially when it comes to technology.  But anyway, I have pictures.

My eldest, the birdwatcher, chose to go to Cotwold Falconry Centre as a birthday treat.  Last year we went to the International Centre for Birds of Prey, which we loved, so this year we thought we'd try something similar.

It was wonderful.  As soon as you enter the lovely rural premises you are surrounded by birds.  There are eagles, like the stunning sea eagle above and top, as well as owls, vultures, kites, caracaras and so many more.  Some are tethered in sheltered but outside display areas.  And some were in aviaries.

During the day there were four hour-long flying displays.  First up was a vast eagle owl.  The backdrop was beautiful.  The Centre is on an estate, and the land behind this fence was given over to deer.  Every so often the herd would drift into sight.

The birds were encouraged to fly as far away as possible.  The staff have no worries about them not coming back.  They are more concerned to make sure they are properly exercised.  The further they fly, the more they are rewarded.

Once they have eaten, all the birds want to do is preen for a while and then sleep and digest their meals.  So it was explained to us that they are quite happy in aviaries or tethered, as everything they require is provided.  They are not wild birds, but ones that have been bred in captivity, and several of them are rare birds that are being bred to preserve the species.  They did seem very well cared for, and many of them had the opportunity to fly freely in the countryside every day.

It was a fairly chilly day, but everyone had a pretty good time, even the littlest boy who was feeling a bit peaky.  He is such a trouper, he kept going the whole day, despite everything.

The Centre is at Batsford Park, near Moreton-in-Marsh, a beautiful part of the world - the north Cotswolds to be precise.  It's about an hour and a quarter at least from our house.  It would be nice to visit the area more often and do some exploring.  As it was, we only really had time to spend at the Centre.  But I'm not complaining, it was such a privilege to get so close to these amazing birds.

This weekend we're doing the usual morning football things.  We went to Stroud this afternoon and bought a few books for the children.  Bookshops are just right on wet days.  We ended up sheltering in a couple of them while there was a deluge.  I am enjoying autumn this year.  Things in the garden and allotment are not as pressing, and there is a little time to curl up on the sofa now the evenings are dark so early.  In fact I'm off to do that right now, with a little stitching and a dark, murderous DVD.  I'll be checking the doors are locked later.

All is safely gathered in

Technical problems here, so just a short post.

I've been collecting up my apples and pears from the five trees in the garden.  They're only young trees, and so the harvest has been small.  But they are delicious, particularly the apples.

I've got Cox's Orange Pippins - just a very small tree in a pot, Egremont Russets and Ribston Pippins, which taste superb.  Apples don't last long in this house though, so before long I'll be buying them from the supermarket again.  Our local greengrocer closed last week, which is a shame.  It would be nice if another one opened, but I don't hold out much hope.

We've had a week of birthday celebrations here as the biggest boy turned 10 on Thursday.  A whole decade!  There's been bowling and pizza, new books and a new memory card for his camera, and yesterday a much-anticipated visit to Cotswold Falconry Centre.  I have photos, but Photoshop has been wiped off of my laptop, and as I can't locate the disc, at the moment I can't transfer pictures onto the computer.  I had a bit of a technological meltdown mid-week.  It is so utterly frustrating when for no apparent reason it all goes wrong.  But no doubt it will all be sorted in the end, somehow.  In the meantime I might just have to rely on picture-free posts.  Yikes.  Hope a good week is had by all.  I shall be trotting up and down on school runs, doing all the normal weekly things and almost certainly grumbling about technology.  But I do love it really.

Allotment wandering

I paid my allotment rent this week.  Despite worrying constantly about where I will ever find the time to keep my plot, I found myself writing a cheque for £12 (brilliant value no?) and taking it round to the clerk's house.  The next day I went to the site and had a wander with my camera on the way to my plot.  As I closed the gate behind myself and looked down at all the productive little gardens the thought came into my head, "Of course I must keep it".

Will you come for a stroll too?

My plot is in the far corner of the site, so to get down there I try to take a different path each time I visit.  So I get to have a look at all of the different plots, to see what people are growing and what is working and what isn't.  Some plots are utterly immaculate, some overgrown.  There is always inspiration in one form or another.

Halfway down one of the paths to the bottom I found a fig tree.  I'm not sure if they'd had any ripe figs, but it did give me an idea of what to do with one of my little pot bound trees.

These plots are near mine.  The one with the green shed is a thing of beauty, it really is.  It won the best allotment prize for three years in a row, before withdrawing to allow other people a chance.

Down at the bottom there's a hedge (running behind the green shed) and a stream.  In the hedge are all sorts of signs of autumn, some planted, some wild.

At my plot the cosmos are still flowering like mad, and at any given time there are bees frantically collecting nectar.

I removed the tomatoes, cucumbers and squashes and did some weeding.  As I worked leaves drifted down from the tree at the bottom by the stream.

Birds were singing, as always, and it occurred to me that one of the things I love about having an allotment is just being there amongst all of the growing things.  I'd happily spend an hour just wandering about and looking.

The shed next to me has had a break-in.

Such a shame, there have been a few lately.  My shed doesn't have a window, so I escaped this time.  As I said, we're in the corner furthest from the gate.  Sad to think that people have walked all this way down through the allotments to destroy and steal.  How could they not see the magic all around them?  There is so little of value to a thief to be taken - just a few tools maybe.

I've made a decision of sorts about the allotment I think.  I'll keep it for as long as I can, and try not to lie awake at night worrying about it.  If I can't hang on to it, and it gets weedy and is taken away from me by the lady with the clipboard, then so be it.  But the boys and I do love our little piece of land, and we are so very lucky to have it.  And besides, I have all sorts of plans, and things I want to grow, and a big old shoebox full of seed packets.  Come February, there'll be no stopping me.

What Superman does on his day off

This little man and I dropped everyone off at football and golf this morning, then had a wander round the golf club.  We found some autumn colour.

And a view of the river.

And at the start of the small golf course the first thing I noticed was this fantastic apple tree.

It was huge, and covered with apples.  Underneath there were literally hundreds of windfalls.  Me and Superman filled a couple of carrier bags.  Well, no-one else seemed to want any.  The golfers are all too busy concentrating on being in the zone and comparing their equipment to notice free fruit lying about the place.

On our way back again to pick up the golfer Superman managed a little mischief.

Not only did he climb into a buggy, he managed (at the top of a slope which leads down to the car park) to take off the brake.  They're surprisingly heavy, so once he'd leapt clear, out of the way of any possible attachment of guilt, I struggled to hold it at the top of the slope.  So I climbed on.  It wasn't immediately obvious whether there was a handbrake.  After a moment it was clear there wasn't.  I slammed on the footbrake and spent about five minutes sat there saying things like, "I don't know how to stop this running away" and "Is there an off button?"  No-one came and helped.  In the end I worked it out myself.  I did keep checking it as we nonchalantly walked away.  Last I saw, it hadn't moved...

After lunch Superman headed for the coast for climbing and cycling.

I'm sure it does, but we didn't have any.  Not today anyway.

Scanning the horizon for enemies of superheroes and pirates.

Superman's having a lie down now.  It's hard work being a superhero.  Total breeze being a superhero mum though...

Birthday conversations

A conversation with the middle boy, a couple days ago, during a brief passing phase of kangaroo interest.

Him:  Mum, what do you like doing best?

Me:    Spending time with you baby.    Pause

Him:   What's your favourite hobby?  Well, it doesn't have to be your favourite, but what do you like to do?

Me:    Hmm.  Well I quite like taking photos.    Pause

Him:   What's your favourite animal?

Me:    I think it's a pony.  No, no it's a horse.  I'm picking horse.   Pause

Him:   Do you like kangaroos?

Me:    I do as it happens, I really like kangaroos.

To be fair, he did put a picture of me with a camera on the back of the card.

After school today I had the following conversation with the biggest boy.

Him:  What did you do today on your birthday?

Me:   Well after I took you to school, I washed up, did some washing and hung it out to dry, I hoovered, dusted and washed the kitchen floor, I fed the guinea pigs, did some cooking, changed a bed or two, cleaned out the guinea pigs and put the washing away.  It was a really special day.  Long pause.

Him:   Are you being sarcastic?

Well, maybe a little.  But I did have a wonderful long phone conversation with a friend who lives in Jamaica now.  The kind of conversation with the kind of friend that makes you feel that everything will be okay, that there is someone on your side, someone who understands, who makes you feel that you can take on the world, and that the world is a wonderful place.

One year older.  Probably none the wiser.  Pressing on regardless.