Off-kilter

Sorry for another huge gap in posting. Jenny was poorly last week with an up-and-down fever. I took her to school two days in a row, thinking that the down would stay down, only to be called by the school halfway through the morning to come and fetch her. We didn’t try school on Thursday and then she returned, finally free of the fever on Friday.

The weekend was manic – I suppose in a good way – as I went to a conference on the Saturday, and then there was the double-bonus of Father’s Day and Mr Angelfeet’s birthday on Sunday. After the busy cycle-ride weekend the previous weekened, I could have really done with spending a day in bed!

This week has been slightly less packed, although it has been difficult emotionally. Jenny had a wobble going into school on Tuesday. This is not the first time. It has been going on since shortly after Mum died. Some mornings she has been OK ish, but it has mostly been every day otherwise. She will cling to me, some mornings she will cry, sometimes she has to be prised off and taken into the classroom. Apparently she is alright once she’s in, and she comes out of class in the afternoon in a perfectly jolly mood.

I flipped a bit on Tuesday, partly because we had had a couple of days when going in had been fuss-free, and probably because I am feeling a bit wobbly myself. We sat outside the class and she wept in my arms, while I tried not to. Her lovely class teacher called us in and took us off to an empty room. Have you ever cried in front of a primary school teacher? Yes, probably when you were 6; less likely than you’re 44. Oh well. Lovely teacher suggested some incentives for Jenny to come into class fuss-free for the rest of the week, and fingers crossed, she seems to have responded to that, at least for the rest of this week.

The school are trying to organise some family counselling, and they have been very supportive. I feel a bit floored, because surely, as a therapist, I should be able to handle this differently. But, as a therapist, I know it doesn’t work like that.

And we’re completing the sale on Mum’s house next week. It will mean I have to spend this weekend, finalising decisions on contents and clearing out anything I want to keep. So there goes that weekend too.

It will be good to get it done.

Wildlife without legs

For another floral wonder, visit here.

A busy weekend

Gosh, I’ve been trying to post this for a couple of days.

It was a long, full weekend. Enjoyable, but exhausting.

On Saturday the Open Day at the allotment where I rent a plot was held. Julie ND and I tried to make our plot look presentable when we were down last weekend, aware that visitors would wandering around to have a nosey at what was growing, as well as taking part in the activities that had especially been laid on (barbecue, plant sale, tombola).

The weather was fab, the event well attended and the kids had a fabulous time. There was face painting:

(Yes, I know, that’s a hand, so not strictly face painting).

I bought a couple of plants (quite restrained for me) and spent a fortune on trying to win Jenny something exciting on the tombola. Unsurprisingly for a community event, I kept bumping into people I knew, including a client, my neighbour across the road, another neighbour and her daughter from up the road, and Ash.

On Sunday Mr Angelfeet did a sponsored bike ride. With very little training and an excited Jenny on the back in the childseat, they set off on a 60 mile round trip from Ashford, down to the Kent Coast and then back through the South of England Rare Breeds Trust and Farm, before returning to the start point.

Mr Angelfeet will admit it was slow going. I’m not sure why, although Mr A said there was quite a long way to the first rest point. The route took them down through the Romney marshes, which unsurprisingly, are flat and I guess a little uninspiring when you’re just trying to get from A to B. By the time they got the coast, Mr A reckons he was nearly 2 hours behind the rest of the riders. Jenny was shivery and I suspect, suffering from sunstroke. The marshalls convinced Mr A to accept a lift back to the near the start.  Mr A was reluctant but recognised it was best for both Jenbo and himself.

Meanwhile Rosie and I were exploring the Rare Breeds centre.

Here is the one of the strangest Rare Breeds I encountered.

Don’t you just love that hat. It matches her tongue.

We headed back to the start point and waited. And waited. And waited. The mobile phone coverage was very intermittent and unreliable (cough*rubbish Virgin media*cough), so we weren’t sure what was happening.

And then they arrived back.

Go here* to see the glorious homecoming. Forgive the terrible camera handling and the crazy woman cheering over the soundtrack (ahem).

I know he was disappointed not to have managed the whole 60 miles, but I’m proud of him. He was supposed to have been doing it with another (adult) friend, who had to pull out due to illness. He could have just opted for the short route (35 miles), but he felt it wasn’t honest to change the length of the route after people had started sponsoring him.

He’s a star.

* and isn’t it ridiculous that I had to resort to uploading the video clip in Blogger because WordPress charge for video enbedding and I wasted an hour and a half trying to get three other free video sharing services to work. Aaaargh!

Daisy Daisy

Gosh, it’s been a busy time. Multi-tasking worldwind. It was my birthday at the weekend and it was spent very pleasantly at my sister’s (as Mr Angelfeet had absconded on a baseball trip).

Do I have any photos from the weekend? No. None. Pah!

Meanwhile these marguerites are taking over the back garden, and I don’t mind one bit.

Mermaids

What a miserable weather the day has presented us. I was dithering about plans for the day, when I had a call from one of Jenny’s friend’s Mum, who needed some help with childcare for the day. I was happy to be able to help out.

Rosie begged for one of her friends to be invited round, and luckily her first choice of friend was free.

After lunch we went swimming and then raided the confectionary machine when we were dry (I fessed up to the parents).

The walk home was companiable and blissfully rain-free.

Minnis Bay (not Minnie’s Bay)

We went to the beach yesterday, in fact to a beach we’d never visited before. The weather was forecast to be iffy (technical term for unsettled), and I was a bit pouty about that. But we ventured out, and as soon as we arrived we knew we’d made the right decision.

I sat happily taking pictures and people-watching. My socks stayed on. Not so for Mr Angelfeet and the girls.

At the end of our stay, the heavens truly opened, and we were treated to a display of lightning, and the rumble of thunder. We travelled home, damp but happy.

The Charmer

Really bad photo, taken in muted light with the camera phone (Mr Angelfeet had the small Ixus for his baseball game, and  I didn’t want to take the bigger Powershot up to London), and please don’t mention the person’s head in the foreground.

But I have to post something to try to share the excitement and enjoyment of a night out to a gig with my friend Liz. We had a fantastic time at the Seth Lakeman gig, marvelling at the skills of the musicians and the slightly bizarre stomping dance that he does as he plays and sings. The venue is a beautiful converted chapel, still used for prayer as well as for live music.

Here is a link to a vid of him performing. It doesn’t really show too much of the stomping, but does show what a rather appealing young man he is.

Smokin’

Abandoned by Mr Angelfeet, who went out in yesterday morning to meet up with fellow band members*, the girls and I stewed in our own activities, until I decided what we needed was retail therapy.

After a hard days shopping, we came home to a lovely BBQ meal.

I know it looks like the garden’s on fire. but this is just the smoky phase of the process.

* band not yet named and no gigs booked, but that’s what they are aiming for.

Forgetful me

I seem to have started another photoblog over here. I had completely forgetten about it.

Surge

I realised I hadn’t posted any of these photos from a weekend away I enjoyed at the end of April. It had been planned for several months, a weekend with two friends who I have known since Secondary (high) school. That’s near enough 30 years ago. Oh my.

We saw the sea . . .

visited a vineyard . . .

and stayed in a converted Oast House.