The weather has been atrocious today. Heavy rain, winds, thunder, lightning. Not really unseasonal. Unlike last week when it was quite mild. So to cheer myself up, here is a summer picture.

So whose idea was it to try and update two blogs every day? Not mine. Oh, yes, it was. Foolish woman.

I have no photos of today’s highlight, sadly. I can relate, however, that I enjoyed a quick and spontaneous cuppa with the lovely Bsouth, who lives close to where my girls go to school. Bsouth’s own lovely girl, The Girl, was disappointed that I didn’t have Rosie and Jenny with me, but cheered up when I suggested she walk down with me to the school playground to meet R and J from their classrooms. I’d already told her that children wouldn’t be in their usual uniforms, as it was dress-up day, based on the theme of Under the Sea. Rosie had a wig made by yours truly from silvery blue tinsel that made her look, frankly, quite wild. Jenny had adapted her comfy black cat all-in-one Halloween costume by adding strips of green crepe paper (seaweed) and went as a  . . . .  (drum roll) . . . .  a Catfish.

The Girl was good company and I managed not to lose her, allow her to be injured, or frighten her on this little expedition. She was a little flower.

I’m tired today. Stayed up late last night completing an online assessment for my photography course. I attended a funeral today, and this evening I had a school govenors’ meeting.

I’ll sleep well tonight.

Not a desperately productive day, as I’m feeling ropey, and trying to catch up on my photography reading. But the kids are tucked up in bed, I remembered to wash their school uniform and we have food in the house after I did a raid on Sainsburys, so I can’t complain.

Rosie was given her first mobile this week for her 11th birthday. It seemed appropriate timing – we had resisted up til now, even though “everyone else” had one.

She sent me a text after cross-country practice today: “I’m leaving”. Jenny and I were still down the road, having been to the GP, so I replied, asking if she had her keys.

The next response I got was “Rainbow”.  That made me smile. Even though Jenny and I weren’t in the right place to see it, Rosie was still sharing it.

I shared my sunset photos with her when we got home.

Most weekday mornings, Mr Angelfeet and I are turfed out of our cosy Kingsize bed by two little girls, still warm from their own beds, still sleepy and hoping to drift back into their slumbers. The cat waits impatiently to settle into the warmth of the spot where Mr Angelfeet has been sleeping, which is now occupied by one child or the other.

The cat has to wait, the girls cannot slip back into sleep, and instead they have the morning drinks and then I say, “Time to get dressed” seventeen hundred times, before I finally go purple and they get the idea that it’s time to get ready for school.

And then on special days, the days when we celebrate family birthdays, all that happens, but we also manage to fit in present giving, card opening, and lots of cuddles.

Happy Birthday, Rosie!

I don’t think I’ve ever made a pumpkin head for Halloween before. Despite growing some on the allotments specifically for this year’s festivities, I didn’t manage to get down there to harvest them and instead bought our tiny, overpriced vegetable from Sainsburys. Oh well, never mind. Much fun was had.

Oo, surprise! I’ve finally updated my original blog. There are words and everything. I may even try and post something there and here every day in November, a la NaBlopoMo. Oh lord, what have I said.