seventy-seven

stereotypes

We went to the Tate Modern on Saturday.  It was a glorious sunny day - perfect for a stroll along the Southbank and a visit to the Tate.   It's a great place for children - lots of activities for them to do and some great pictures too.   The children chose their favourite picture from what we had seen that day.   My sweet, gentle sensitive son choose Andy Warhol's Gun 1981.   Boys do seem naturally attracted to such things.   I grew up in Northern Ireland  in the 1970s and so not surprisingly am anti-gun.   I was keen to not to have toy guns introduced to my children but it does seem that boys can turn anything into a weapon - a stick found in the woods, the floor brush or a wooden spoon.   I have become less anxious about the whole gun as toy thing and I think that's partly because the children are old enough to talk to about my childhood and my views on guns.  

 I still feel uncomfortable about J's choice though.

exhale

We are well and truly in holiday mode now.   The end of term was to be honest completely exhausting.  This was the first year I'd had two schools worth of sports day, concerts, parents evenings and the rest.  Both schools seemed to have lots going on at the end of term and that combined with being ill made it all very hard work.   I usually try to make something simple and handmade for the teachers but this year it simply wasn't possible.  But every cloud has a silver lining and it meant that I found these beautiful mugs from a great charity called ARTHOUSE Meath.

I did manage at least to make personalized cards for the teachers.  A good lesson not to leave things to the last minute.  

Do teachers drink green tea?   By the end of term some of them look in need of something a little stronger. 

  

we love books

 I saw a fabulous post over at quilt while you're ahead.  Monica, another book lover, has given up a meticulous system of book organisation and sorted her books by colour.  The effect is beautiful.  I would love to be so brave.  In our house we have organised the books by subject and/or author.  The system and it's in-built idiosyncrasies have evolved over fourteen years of marriage and three house moves.   

 

My husband loves his books and I fear if he came home to find I had re-arranged everything by colour we might not make that fifteenth anniversary.  (I am kidding about the divorce but he would not be happy).  So for now when I want to gaze at a beautiful bookcase organised according to colour I shall have to go elsewhere.

PS - I will show him the second photo as evidence that he doesn't always put the books where they should be.  I mean to say The Spanish Civil War smack in the middle of American political autobiographies tsk tsk. 

those magnificent men in their flying machines

We had a lovely day on Sunday in Victoria Park in East London.  My favorite steam fair Carter's was there as part of a bigger shindig called Paradise Gardens.  However the best part of the day was a show we caught just by chance from a theatre company called Hoodwink.  The show was called Leap of Faith and was (in their own words) a celebration of the human aspiration to fly: paper wings, balloons, feathers, and flying monks.   The children from aged 2 to 12 and all the grown-ups were engaged for the full 45 minutes.  There was a even a monk fired from a cannon - honest!

I couldn't write about the day without a picture of the merry-go-round.  

P.S.  The title of the post comes from a song I remember from my childhood but I must point out for the sake of vanity that the film from whence the song came was made BEFORE I was born.

the best of times and worst of times

 

There came a point sometime ago when any inquiry about how the the school day was greeted with a single OK from my beloved eldest daughter.   Overtime I came up with a strategy.  I asked her to say what the best and worst thing about the day were.  It's something I've continued with all the children and it's been a great way to get the children to talk about their day.  

However there are some days when the answers are hard to hear.  It's an evening when I have to take a deep breath and prepare to send my dear boy back to school because as I know from the answers to my daily questions this will pass and there will be days soon when I'm overwhelmed with a list of all great things that happened that day. 

 

happy feet

Our half term holiday was a great success and the garden largely survived my absence.  (There was one exception but I will save that moan for another time.)  The sun came out and N announced that her feet were happy feet now they were back in her crocs.  We had lots of lovely days on the beach but managed to drag ourselves away to visit the magnificent Forde Abbey.  

  

The house was originally a Cistercian monastery and has been added to by the families who have lived there in the hundreds of years since the dissolution of the monastery in 1539. It's a lovely house to look round.  There is a wonderful sense of it still being a family home unlike some of those houses which seem to have picked a point in history and preserved it behind heavy red ropes and no entry signs.  

There are also 30 acres of beautiful gardens with three huge ponds - one of then dating back to monastic times,  and a great letterbox trail which the children really enjoyed.  A is nearly 12 now and it's great to see her still enjoying chasing round and rolling down hills with her younger siblings.

 

I also came away with some serious greenhouse envy.  Mr W is worried.

 

 

chocolate chip

The weekend here was blissful.  The new trampoline arrived and after Mr W and I assembled it - with the children shouting out instructions - the weekend was spent alternating between the trampoline and the paddling pool.  Somewhere in between it all I did get round to making chocolate chip cookies.   It has to be said though that the recipe is so simple these yummy biscuits are mixed up and out of the oven in no time.   They are a great thing to make with children.

You will need

125g/5oz unsalted butter - melted

100g/4oz caster sugar

75g/3oz soft brown sugar

1  egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

150g/6oz plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

100g/4oz chocolate chips.

Pre-heat the oven to 170 C / 325 F / gas mark 3 and line 2-3 baking sheets with greaseproof paper.  In a bowl whisk together the two sugars and melted butter.  When these are well combined whisk in the egg and vanilla extract.  Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the mixture and add the chocolate chips.  Fold the flour and chocolate chips into the mixture until well combined.  Spoon dollops of the mixture on to the greaseproof paper leaving a generous space between each spoonful.  Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes.   Allow to cool slightly before transferring to a cooling tray.  if there are any left they will keep for 2 or 3 days in an air tight container.

that friday feeling

The sun is out and school is over for another week. Hip hip hooray.  We wandered home slowly stopping for refreshments and making plans for the weekend.  The plan is to do as little as possible save make chocolate chip biscuits, play swing ball and eat good food in good company.  We love the weekend.  Hope you have good one too.

 

mummy what have you done?

We had this large expanse of white wall in the kitchen and  for as long as anyone can remember I've been talking about turning it into a giant chalk board but I never felt like I had the time. Then I read this.  If this woman can prep, paint and clear up a whole room in 24 hours then I can paint a single wall in a morning.  And boy was it worth it the children were so pleased that it made my day.    I had visions of a weekly calender, shopping lists and weekly menus on the board but I think there maybe just lots of drawing - and that's just fine by me.