And the Indian Summer is through...

To quote one of my favourite Waterboys songs, 'Now he's bought down the rain and the indian summer is through.'
Apparently this is now our lot for a few days, so the rubble will have to remain in situ.

However this is how we ended the day. What a wonderful rainbow it was, a full arc.

oh dear!

When we weren't dealing with sick children this weekend, this is what we were doing.  This was once a garage.  When we bought the house we put up an extension at the side of the house which blocked off this garage at the back.  So it has been turned into a workshop for my husband & the front half is being demolished to make more space in our tiny garden. Eventually it will be a pergola. Probably. Depending on how twitchy I get once the conservatory goes up that we have no space in the garden.

This project has been so long in the discussion that its hard to believe that this wall is finally down.  Its quite amazing how it opens up the garden visually.  And with the green roof that we have planted on the top of the workshop part, from upstairs at least, the garden looks really extended.

Now I just need to get out there with the sledge hammer and bash the rest of the remains up for hardcore

But wouldn't you know it, its raining cats and dogs out there.  Never been so grateful for a downpour!

Convalescing

At last she's not contagious & can snuggle close to her baby brother.  Bless her little heart, she read this to him over five times before she tired of it.

After a weekend of poorlyness, I didn't send my daughter to school as she was still just washed out after about 3 days of eating very little.  Convalescing required.

So we has some healing time down the allotment.  She took a bag of Barbies and clothes & just sat happily by the apple trees for ages.  Her little brother terrorised her somewhat so I had to redirect him to digging for a while.  The game involved dressing up the lovelies and parading them down the catwalk. Aka the plank seat between the two tractor-tyre apple trees.

Here are the girls trying to calm their pre-show nerves. 

I have managed to fall onto the Allotment Association committee.  Not sure how much that will entail, but our newly formed Association does offer us seed discount orders.  Hurrah!

This is apparently what I look like from a child's perspective.

Creative in the kitchen

As a sop to my lack of creation, I decided to make more effort and actually use a recipe for dinner.  Swimming lesson day always needs a slow cooker meal, usually soup, for hungry little mouths to come home to.  A recipe for borscht soup miraculously required all the veg waiting patiently in the fridge. Hurrah! I love it when a plan comes together.

Then Bini, my 8yr old daughter, comes home looking very peeky, Tintin also claims tummy ache and swimming lessons go by the by.  Hubby & I end up being the only ones eating much. It was quite nice I thought. Baby Roo was less than impressed.  Thank goodness for the freezer.  Hey ho.  It was a good plan while it lasted.

By Jove I think he's got it!

Well I never did!  My cunning plan appears to have worked!  A rather excited 6 year old was totally engaged in practicing his cursive handwriting.  Who knew?!  The actual adventures have so far only got as far as going on his skateboard. That took alot of effort in cursive!

His sister is now also writing the story of her recently made fleecie toy.

The baby also got in on the creative excitement.  I probably had better stop calling him that as he'll be 2 next month.  Is there a protocol on when to stop referring to a child as a baby?

Needless to say, I am still failing to get in on the creative department whilst fending off the next request for help. But I couldn't be prouder really!  I'll get in the sewing room tomorrow. 

The Adventures of Grinubud

Earlier this year, this little fellow came to join us, stealing my sweet 6 year old son's heart.

It all started with this book from the library.  For some reason he looked through the book with me.  The book starts with lots of staged photos of the sock creatures in poses & situations.  Tintin just loved it and we had to raid his sock box for some suitable materials.  Grinubud was our first.  The name was his choice. Many more sock creatures have followed.  And other sock doll books. Sock fish are the current favourite as he can almost do this on his own.

He is entering his sock dolls, primarily this one, into his class recycling competition where they have to make something useful that has been diverted from landfill.  Along with this he is writing about the Adventures of Grinubud, on my devious suggestion to get him practicing his handwriting (as requested by his teacher). So far he has got as far as the title page & we have printed off a couple of photos for illustration.  We'll see if he sticks with it.

Grinubud loves to ride his scooter & feel the wind in his ears...

Time for some autumn cleaning

I always get an urge to clean and scour as the days get cooler.  I think I am more inclined to spring clean in the autumn. Maybe its the awareness that I will be spending long hours inside in the coming months.

There is something deeply pleasurable about reclaiming the house from its summer grime once the children have gone back to school.  Summer is way too exciting to spend time cleaning! There is always somewhere to go, some fun to be had or the allotment to be loved.  But once the cooler days begin, its time to start drawing inward, and that needs order in the living space.  So it was with a simple joy that I made a cup of chai in my lovely new-to-me vintage tea cup & took the table covering outside for a thorough washing down.

And I think my little man enjoyed it too.

Spring cleaning is rarely a lonely occupation around here. 

A steep learning curve

This feels like such a massive learning curve.
My very own blog. No longer just looking at other people's beautiful postings. Time to join the party.
I feel like I know nothing!  So much to learn.  How exciting!
Just hope I still get time to do something creative...