Saturday 29 June 2013

A white rose, a spivvy hat and some particularly bad parenting


I managed to find this lovely rose in the garden, white as requested by Lou in her Nature in the Home series.  Not much else is white, so I popped in the first of the sweet peas.  Hope that's not cheating.


I've been enjoying sitting outside lately.  The plants are doing the whole green June thing, and it's still new enough that I always stop to look.


I'm reading Bob Flowerdew's "Gourmet Gardener" and checking a few veg growing details.  When should I stop picking the asparagus?  When to pinch out the tops of the broad beans?  Should I pinch out aubergines and peppers?  I rely on Bob and Sarah Raven for most of my information; between them they have most things covered.


I've also got these books in my reading pile.


You can see that six of them are from the library.  We're huge library users.  It's one of the first places we go in the school holidays, and as soon as we get home there is a long blissful silence as everyone disappears into the books of their choice.  Although I usually have to go and make the tea.  And on a good day a cherry cake from Harry Eastwood's "Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache", which is without doubt the very best cherry cake to be had.

Yesterday was an INSET day - no school and a fistful of Tesco vouchers = a day out at beautiful Longleat.


Oh how I love giraffes.  We did the safari bit first.


We were slightly lost for words when this divine camel sashayed past.


It's not a look everyone can pull off.

The house is truly magnificent. 


Maybe one day I'll even get to look inside.  But in the meantime we do all the things that small boys love.  Adventure park, Deadly 60 challenge, the maze and a falconry display, which we nearly missed because of being lost in the maze.


I went up high and tried shouting directions.  It didn't help.


We got to the falconry by the skin of our teeth and saw some fantastic birds.  This is a tiny burrowing owl that runs around on the ground and lives in a hole.

On the way home there was a glimpse of Bath from the car.  Bath is one of my favourite places in the world.  We used to go there all the time Before Children, and spend hours exploring the beautiful streets.  It's further away now, and we go much less, but every time is special.


Despite a long day and a late night, everyone was up early this morning.  The biggest boy had a sports event to attend.  I attempted to arrange a lift share, but a friend's father offered to take him and bring him back.  I also attempted to give him fruit to take, but at the last minute he decided that carrying anything other than water was far too much of a trial so he put it back.  When he got home, some five hours later, it transpired that everyone else's parents had not only taken them, but had waited through the entire thing to help out and cheer on, everyone else had a packed lunch and everyone else was also bought a hot dog.  Biggest boy was starving, having had nothing but water since breakfast and having been given no money by his mother.  Oh yes, and I forgot to put sunscreen on him, so he also has sunburn.  It was, as he would say, an epic fail.  Must do better.

Spent the afternoon at Slimbridge, splashing about and burning off much energy.  The littlest boy has a very spivvy hat which he had for his birthday.  He is not afraid of bold accessories, so he hoppity skipped his way around in it all afternoon and was happy as a clam.  I'm kind of wishing I had the chutzpah to wear a statement hat.  Maybe I could start with a little hairband and work my way up.


Hope the rest of the weekend is good for all, hat or no hat.

18 comments:

  1. I am growing out my hair. Take it from me, the camel is looking good.

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    1. You have made me laugh. Growing out hair is always a tricky time.

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  2. That's a lovely rose, and as you know white is one of my favourite flower colours.
    Good for you being avid library users and readers, I am too. The camel might look good but they really are horrible as they bite, kick, spite and smell at both ends. I find owls fascinating birds but don't think that I've ever seen a burrowing owl.
    I'm sure that you'll make up for your epic fail and soon be in his good books again. I like the hat, very spiffy and spivvy!
    Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Flighty xx

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    1. I've heard that about camels, and llamas and alpacas too, I shall give them a wide berth. The biggest boy stood up for me earlier after I epicly failed the littlest boy, so I may be forgiven. Of course, now I am in the littlest boy's bad books though...

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  3. What a beautiful rose, I love it's creamy white colour. Your day out at Longleat looks fabulous, somewhere I must put on my places to go list. The giraffe photo is my favourite. My daughter collects giraffes, she's got quite a collection now, all sort of things. It's so hard to get things right as a parent sometimes, though I did feel bad for your son reading that. Why on Earth didn't one of the other parents buy him a hot dog? I couldn't see a kid go without because he didn't have any money with him. Hope his sunburn isn't too painful.

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    1. I liked the giraffe too, he made me laugh. The biggest boy has recovered from it all just about - I discovered today that one of his friends had sunburn too. His mum had put sunscreen and a hat in his bag, but he didn't use them. Apparently no-one else was wearing a hat!

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  4. A Rasta camel! That stuff makes lovely yarn :)

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    1. Bet I could get one to come over to the car with a carrot or something and tug a bit off.

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  5. Hi, I'm a new follower.

    Gorgeous flowers.. and I love your photos of your visit to Longleat.
    Julie :o)

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    1. Hi Julie, and thank you for following and for your kind comments. It's great to have you.

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  6. Lovely flower.

    Beleive me, I score a big fat parent zero at least once a week!

    I loved seeing the photos of Bath - it's where Marc and I met, many years ago!

    Leanne xx

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    1. Thanks Leanne, that makes me feel better! Bath is so wonderful, I never get tired of it.

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  7. Oh what a lovely weekend indeed! The flowers and your yard are beautiful.

    I always seem to be flailing and failing as a parent, several times a week at least. I think I have done the sports faux-pas several times. I am no superwoman.

    hope your week is starting off well! xo

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    1. Thank you Rebecca. The littlest boy told me I'm hopeless today, but the biggest boy said, "You're not hopeless and you never will be hopeless". Oh how I live for these moments! Of course that still means that one out of three thinks I am hopeless.

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  8. I love your backyard space! So beautiful and relaxing. It looks like you found some good books to read, and the trip to see the animals looks like so much fun! Beautiful pictures and great memories:) Hope you're having a great day!

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    1. Thanks Kari. Now I just need to find a moment to sit down there and read the books! Hope you're having a good day too.

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  9. Wonderful photos - I love the camel. I've a large pile of library books too - all non-fiction, though and because I just dip in and out of them I'm always renewing until I eventually read cover to cover. Love the spivvy hat - very stylish!

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    1. Thank you Wendy. I renew my books all the time too, I've had the Chocolate Heartache one for ages. I probably ought to take it back now that I think about it. But I'll have to write out the good recipes first.

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