Just Jo!

So yesterday we went blackberry picking with Lisa and the girls. The plan being to pick a few buckets full of ‘em, then heading back here to do all manner of things with them. Dyes, fruit leather, smoothies etc. I’d even spent most of the morning looking for ‘things to do with blackberries’ on the web. But the blackberry bushes most local to us weren’t playing fair, despite the rest of Exeter being inundated with the little bleeders.
So after the girls traipsed down the panny, we got home, chucked what we had managed to purloin in the smoothie maker and drank them all in one go (with water, sugar and maple syrup added). Grown ups preferred them sieved, little people liked the bits in.

Today we’ve…. d’you know what? I’m too tired for this…. too busy spending time with….for want of a better term…. ‘real’ people. Go see Olivia’s. She’s really chuffed with herself. My daughter, the mini-mogul.

And there’s photos on my Flickr. See? Over there…. A handy link that says “My Flickr photos!” How convenient is that?!
Toodle pip!

Ooh! Back again!
I’ve strict instructions to put these photos on right away….

She was very happy.
Me?
I just felt really itchy and in need of a good scratch.

And three dessert forks?
And one dinner fork?
Teaspoons I can understand, sort of, they’re little….actually, no I can’t. You wash ‘em up, you put ‘em in the drawer….What? There’s some kind of black hole in the four foot space between sink and drawer that sucks in stray cutlery??
But forks???? Wha….????
Yes, I’m ever so slightly perplexed. Ever so slightly. The cutlery drawer had broken it’s back (No idea how, so don’t even ask!), the cupboard it’s in has a false back. Again, don’t ask. Oh, go on then, it’ll give me another reason to moan about the council. It’s their fault entirely. Why, oh why, would any sane person put a false back in an already very shallow cupboard? Why?? And let’s ignore the fact that the kitchen was so obviously designed by a man in the first place. And a council man at that. Not that I’m grumbling. Much.

(Deep breath….calm down….)

Anyway, this morning I decided to do something about the drawer, instead of instructing various children to gently close the drawer, not slam it shut as hard as possible (which probably explains the broken back now I come to think of it) and then screaming at them like a banshee when they completely ignore me (no change there then).
I emptied the cupboard completely, with Olivia’s help, supposedly, but she took over an hour to change from pyjamas to jeans and a T-shirt. Not that I’m grumbling. Much.
I took out the shelf, took out the false back and anticipated locating all the lost and abandoned cutlery that had fallen down behind the false back. Because the false back doesn’t go all the way to the top.
And what did I find?
One soup spoon (Which I didn’t realise I’d lost so it made me go “Ooh!”).
A mezzaluna (Which prompted the dismantling exercise in the first place because I can’t live without my mezzaluna. Well, I can, but life’s less interesting without it).
And spiders.
Teaspoons? Nope!
Dessert forks? Nope!
Dinner fork? Nope!

So where do they go??? I really wanna know!!!

The cupboard has been cleaned out, the spiders ‘encouraged’ (ahem) to relocate, the false back propped up against the back door, and ooh, who’d have thought? The cupboard can now house lots more than before!
The drawer has a new back, a bodged (and that spelling doesn’t look right for some reason) up one made with cardboard and parcel tape. Yes, I know I could have cut the ex-false back to size and nailed it on, but I was seriously lacking motivation by that point. Shoot me.

Soooo…. the rest of this week?

Monday. Monday? Um….er….must have done a bit of shopping. And the stand out moment was undoubtedly getting accosted by a member of staff (waving a photo of me taken by a security camera) in the corner shop. I thought I was going to be accused of shoplifting and I was getting all set to be righteously indignant, but it turned out that another member of staff had forgotten to charge me for credit on my mobile. Would I kindly pay it? Please? Or the staff member in question would have to pay it herself. I was very, very, very tempted to say “Well if she’s daft enough not to have noticed it, let her pay then!” Which means I’m daft as well because I didn’t notice it either. We’d been in town, the schools had broken up so it was extra busy (’Nuff said!), and I was paying gas and electric and buying more stuff in the shop, so I was frazzled. What’s her excuse? Eh?

Tuesday. Tuesday? Um….er….we didn’t go to Di’s. I was wafting around the house and suddenly it was half past two. Wha? So that made it a bit late to be going over there. So we didn’t. We stayed home, cut back the russian vine, because it keeps ‘russian’ to block the alley. Boom boom!! Sorry.
We both got a sudden urge for some Ancient Greek studies, so we hunted down all things Greek, looked at them, Olivia decided what she wanted to make and then…. um….we sort of got distracted. By what exactly I have no recollection.
So now we have a Greek corner in the sitting room that keeps winking at us pathetically.

Wednesday. Now Wednesday’s memories aren’t nearly so vague.
We did go to Di’s. We met at her allotment via a trip to Poundland and Poundstretcher, because Olivia has managed to lose her gardening gloves. Poundland didn’t have any (but they did have some arty bits and pieces that Olivia fell in love with), so we got a double dose of cheap tat when we ventured into Poundstretcher too (who did have gloves).
Olivia spent ages picking and eating blackberries….found some raspberries…. “NO!!” we both yelled at her, “they’re on someone else’s allotment!!”

Handed over a card for Di’s son’s birthday….

And made the weekly trip to the library.
Once home, we hit the ‘puter. Not literally. I’m quite fond of my ‘puter and I’d never abuse it in such a manner.
Olivia wants to have a Victorian high tea at some point and invite some friends over. What’s that got to do with the ‘puter? We were looking at suitably Victorian cake stands on Ebay and Amazon. See? Educational! Ish. And I set herself up with a Flickr thingy. So she’ll be all set to go when she’s saved enough for her digital camera.

So that brings us up to yesterday. Which was damp in the extreme.
Such fun. ‘Specially as it was another one of the group activity thingys, wall climbing in the rain. But first we had to walk there (still haven’t sorted out my flat tyre). In the rain along the river. Olivia took a pic of crazy kayakers going over the weir.
Some pics from the wall….

And my personal favourite from the day….

Such an attractive look….seem to remember her saying something about not really wanting her photo taken…. “Shut up and smile!”
Olivia updated her blog (Go have a look!) once we got home, with a ‘few’ of my photos and the only two she’s uploaded to her Flickr. There’s four really, but I uploaded the other two to show her how to do it.
You can imagine how long it took her to put all those photos on….
But she’s very pleased with herself and keeps wanting to read it. And she’s got herself a new email account, so she sent out a few emails to friends (Lisa! Check the girls’!) and family. So I didn’t really get much of a chance to do my thing on the ‘puter at all yesterday.
And she’s nagging me to get off it now, because she wants to upload her photo prompt pics. She’s taking over those particular duties, which leaves me free to do all sorts of wondrous things like….um….er….wash my hair….read….nag Olivia for my turn on the ‘puter….

Oh, and Adam’s gone up to London for the weekend….his nephew’s christening….ahhh….

Yay!!
I got my phone back last week and my broadband back yesterday!!!
I would have blogged yesterday, but I had 505 emails to trawl through, some grotty e-mails to send off to BT and a hundred and thirty something photos to upload to Flickr. Which was more important, because if I’m honest, I’ve missed being able to Flickr seductively a whole lot more than waffling on me blog….
I also caught up with reading blogs, but only skimming over them, and then it got to gone one in the morning, and I thought I probably wouldn’t be able to comment sensibly by that point, so I didn’t, will try to today….maybe….
So…..what have we been up to???? A whole 20 days to catch up with!
I’ve got to think back to the beginning of the month….

I rebooked windsurfing, which meant we had a walk along the river and said “Wow!” a lot as we marvelled at the river rushing along….

Fell in love with a tree (although Olivia wasn’t equally as smitten….)

Olivia had a Guides trip to Bicton where they did canoeing, den building and other stuff. Lisa’s girls came back here after, so I put on a few DVDs (Monster House and Over The Hedge) and made a big bowl of popcorn. Think the microwave did most of the work though.

Went to Totnes for an Historical Visit, which included a visit to the castle (duh!) and a Treasure Trail around the town….

A very lovely day out with friends. About halfway round the trail, there was only the two of us and Hannah’s family left, which meant we got time for a proper good chat and half a shandy down on the Plains. More photos here.

Spent another Saturday afternoon with friends, but the weather was oh so much better, so we went to the park and watched the kids bashing each other with tennis rackets….

Adam helped a friend celebrate his 18th birthday in Exmouth and spent quite some time in the bathroom when he got home. Almost gave me heart failure when I came down for a wee in the early hours to find him sitting on the edge of the bath.
He felt somewhat sorry for himself the next day, as he went to the shop, he said “If I’m not back in ten minutes, call an ambulance….” Hee hee. I can laugh because it’s by far from a regular occurrence. Once every three or four months? If that. Which I think for an 18 year old isn’t bad at all.

We had a group trip to The Rock Centre, a climbing/abseiling/caving/camping wonderland. The kids only did the first two though, with a bit of zip wire and Tyrolean thrown in for good measure.

So much fun! We’re definitely going back, Olivia wants to go camping there too. I’d be up for that, ’specially as it’s so cheap. Oodles more pics here.

We didn’t go to pottery because I had a flat tyre. Which I didn’t realise ’til about 15 minutes into the ride. So we had to come back, and find out we didn’t have a pump at all (well, only a football one), by which time it wouldn’t have been worth going over there. so we didn’t.

We did, however, go to Exeter’s Green fair in the Bishop’s Palace garden….

We saw lots of friends there and joined the Devon Wildlife Trust. We had a long chat with the woman on the DWT stand, who was very impressed with Olivia’s knowledge of natural history (I was too, she sounded quite intelligent on more than one occasion!). The woman was so impressed she was going to ask which school Olivia went to that she knew so much, found out she’s home-educated and said “Ahh! That explains it then!” One up for home-ed methinks.
Oh yeah…. pics here.

We both cooed a lot at the sky that evening and kept snatching the camera off each other….

Hard to believe they were all taken over twenty minutes or so. We’ll conveniently forget the fact that all the wonderful colours and effects are due (more than likely) to pollution.

I had a horribly bad stomachache for a few days which meant I had to lie down and cuddle my froggy hot water bottle loads. Adam took Olivia to play tennis while I was being wimpy. He said she did OK for her first proper tennis. And Adam knows about these sporty type things, him being a fully qualified fitness instructor person.

Olivia had a birthday. Just the one. She’s 11 now. Last Wednesday (the 18th). We met her Nan in town, had lunch in La Tasca and did plenty of girly shopping for lots of clothes and shoes. Met Adam in town, who gave Olivia her birthday pressie, a very pink MP3 player. Managed to persuade her that Build A Bear is a complete rip off, and if she was just going to buy a bear would she really want to pay that much? “Um….no.”
And have you really got room for anymore cuddlies? “Um….no.”
And wouldn’t Ted get a teensy tiny bit upset and jealous if you ‘adopted’ (Adopted?! For crying out loud people! Get a life!!! Don’t even get me started on Cabbage Patch Dolls!)another teddy? “Um….yes.”
And isn’t there plenty more stuff you’d much rather have instead? “Um….yes.”

The three of us went bowling in the evening. And the two of them played lots of arcade games.

Home for trifle and National Treasure on DVD.

A very yummy trifle indeed! All vegan too. It even passed the Adam-who-won’t-eat-vegan-food-if-his-life-depended-on-it test. “‘Salright….” he mumbled.
The next day, we had the rest for breakfast, like you do. Lisa’s girls came over in the afternoon. They made cards for Brown Owl who was leaving. Two of them did. Olivia made one for herself which she is also going to post to herself. Just to see how long it takes.
They watched the rest of Over The Hedge, with the required amount of popcorn dutifully supplied. They all disappeared off for a barbecue, with the veggie and vegan having to take their own pre-cooked (by yours truly) burgers. Lisa brought them all back again for chocolate cake and “Happy Birthday to you”.

She’ll be having a proper party when the weather is slightly more predictable (just in time for her fiftieth then), because she wants to invite everyone. And my house is too small so they’d all have to be banished outside. With any luck she’ll forget she wants a party at all. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Almost caught up now….yay!

Friday we went on a Natural History trip to Staverton to do a bit of pond and stream dipping. Ooh looky….photos….who’da thunk??

And ooh looky again….more here.

Whizzed back to Totnes to catch the train home, only to find out it had been delayed due to ‘adverse weather conditions in other parts of the country’. Then finding out on the train just how adverse the weather had truly been. Not nice.
That evening was spent at a cocktail party. Ahem. Which gave rise to a classic quote, “I love watching Supernatural when I’m drunk, ‘cos there’s three Jensen Ackles.” I won’t say who said it, just that it wasn’t me. And there’s no photographic evidence because I purposefully left my camera at home.

So….in between all that lot, Olivia has been doing tons of workbooks, finishing her last maths one the day before her birthday. Which meant we just had to buy another one on her birthday. Because I’m evil like that. And yes, I made her carry it home too!!
We’ve got through about half the library. Olivia finally discovering the joys of Swallows and Amazons.
Olivia finished her unicorn picture at Di’s.
We’ve both had haircuts, Olivia’s built a den out in the back garden (that’ll be Swallows and Amazons then), of which I have yet to take a photo. Bad mummy moment. Oh well.
We’ve been enjoying some of Olivia’s produce from the garden, sharing carrots with Lisa and the girls, a few broadbeans, onions and peas today. I’ve got a funny feeling we won’t actually be getting an entire meal all in one go, because Olivia is eating things as soon as they’re ready straight off the plant. Hmmm…..

Yesterday was obviously spent in gleeful enjoyment of broadband (and completely ignoring anything Harry related, sorry, the more the fuss and hype about something, the more I dig my heels in and resist, I’m perverse like that) and now I have to go. Olivia is desperate for Adam to show her how to put/download/upload (whatever!) music onto her MP3 player. It’s pink don’t you know.

Ummm…..trying to think what we’ve been up to…..apart from not doing the photo prompts….
Saturday morning was art club for Olivia. She’d missed the first one because we were acquiring the subtle odour of basic camping the weekend before. Did I say how much fun we had? Must have….
Anderson had told me about a Refugee Week coffee morning, so I popped in there while Olivia was being arty. A bit of shopping, then collected Olivia to go to the Respect Playday in the park. We went last year and had a lot of fun, spent ages there and didn’t really want to leave. This year was wet. Very wet. And very muddy….

So I totally wimped out and begged to go home. On the bus. There was a lot of wet falling from the sky. Bumped into a friend who was going to meet another friend, so we tagged along too.
Spent a lovely afternoon chatting in a local pub, they had a family room so it was quite civilised. Olivia incredibly chuffed because she beat a 16 year old and an 18 year old at pool, and found another fiver in the garden.

The weather was somewhat brighter when we left to go home, amazing how a few hours in a pub can improve the weather so much!
Sunday was just general schooly type, workbooky type stuff of an English, maths and science nature. Checking on the garden in the rain, we’d rescued some poppies from the community garden (they were ambushing onions and had to be moved), so we had to see how they were settling in. Lots of reading (both of us), and writing book reviews (just Olivia).

Yesterday morning was supposed to be windsurfing. Notice I said “supposed to be”. One of the dad’s had phoned the centre to see if it was still going ahead.
“No,” they said. The river was too swollen and fast and dangerous. Apparently there was lots of frantic calling trying to get hold of me to let me know, I eventually got the call while we were dripping at the bus stop and all ready to go. I personally thought that as they were going to get wet anyway, a bit of rain wouldn’t hurt.
So….slight change of plan yesterday morning….
As we were all set for the rain, and Olivia didn’t fancy a morning of being stuck indoors with the jolly old workbooks for company, we headed down to the river anyway….

In the rain. Lots of it. And, ooh…. wasn’t the river high. And muddy. And actually quite scarily fast….
Hmmm….perhaps the professionals at the activity centre know what they’re talking about after all!
So we chatted with some swans and their fluffly wuffly babies (Sorry, I appear to have been possessed by some pink glittery girly type person for a second….). Then ran away quick when they hissed at a dog that they thought got too close.

I thought we just weren’t quite wet enough, so we walked up to the Cathedral and had a wander round in a bit more of the wet stuff. Taking photos of the trees that aren’t there anymore….

And a couple more pics as well….

We still weren’t quite wet enough, so we joined a 90 minute Redcoat tour of Medieval Exeter. Like you do. Whereupon, we did get wet enough, thank you very much.
Which obviously meant that afterwards we needed a big cup of hot chocolate (with lots of frothy soya milk!) at Caffe Nero’s. ‘Cos you do, don’t you?

And laughed at the pigeons all lined up neatly on a church roof…. until one went and flew off to spoil the line-up….

Finally got home well and truly drenched, Olivia jumped straight in the bath for an hour and a half, I messed about on Flickr for the duration. Suppose I could have used that time more profitably by catching up with the photo prompts…. but I didn’t. Shoot me.
We then spent what was left of the day cuddled up in bed watching ‘Ice Age 2′ and ‘Me, You and Dupree’.

I woke up late this morning. Because Adam very kindly phoned at two in the morning to ask me to make sure the chain wasn’t on the door. So he wouldn’t wake me when he came home. At half past two.

Another pleasant afternoon at Di’s making collage pictures of horses and unicorns out of grasses, flowers, leaves, crepe paper and nail varnish. We liberated the pretend chicken from Di’s fridge. (Yay! We can have lunch tomorrow!!) And got home about an hour ago. So now it’s dinner and a bath. Night night.

The pretend chicken has taken up residency in Di’s fridge for the next few days….
We do have hot water again….yay!!!
But the phone is still kaput….

So Wednesday…. at group…. a somewhat eye-opening chat with friends there, sort of following on from a chat over the weekend. I’m not one for gossip and I stay out of feuds and such like, so if I’ve got a problem with someone I keep it to myself, it’s not really anyone else’s business is the way I see it. But some had noticed ‘things’ and asked me about it, which led to the eye-opening chats. This is all sounding incredibly mysterious, which is not like me at all. What you see, is pretty much what you get…. Anyway, having had the chats, I’m feeling better about the situation as a whole. Let’s just say I really do have a huge problem with people lying to me and about me. And that’s all you’re getting from me on the subject!
Still managed to upset someone else at group though….
I hadn’t heard from her as to whether her boys would be doing windsurfing, one of the activities I’ve been organising, and as per my rules (quite clearly stated on posters I put up each week at group), I gave their places to the next kids on the list, bumped into her in the High Street and told her. She got annoyed, stomped off saying she couldn’t talk about it then. Then kicked up a fuss at group….
Upshot is that the substitute boys felt uncomfortable taking the others’ places and stepped down. Which is fine, I have no problem with that. But….gnnnhhh….can feel the need for a chat with her coming up….such fun….

Anyway, after upsetting her, we went and checked on Olivia’s community garden….

And had time for a snack on the Cathedral Green before drama, I also got to play with some B&W photography….

Needless to say there’s a few more on Flickr.

Yesterday, we had the pleasurable company of Lisa’s girls in the morning. Lots of sticking bits of old magazines to bits of paper, and playing with cuddly toys. Must be a girl thing, Adam was way past cuddlies by this age. So was I actually, but then I was a total tomboy….
A quiet afternoon for me ‘cos Lisa took Olivia home with her, before taking her to Guides in the evening. I had my long awaited mega bath with huge amounts of Lush thrown in for good measure.
Adam came home, perfectly timed for about ten minutes after I’d got out of the bath. He wanted to look at my book of quotations. I thought he was getting all erudite….a thought which had a lifespan of….ooh….about five seconds. He was looking for inspiration for his next tattoo. He made the mistake of asking my opinion on what he should get. He is fully aware of my opinion on tattoos, so I suppose it’s quite touching that he still asks. I suppose….
He said he wanted another one because he really wanted to be a yob….
“You’re already one” I said.
“What? What did you say?? I’ll show you!!” And off he ran upstairs….
Coming back down with this….

Can you see what it says? He’s very proud…. yes, so am I!
I had a meeting in the evening about the grant we got for the outdoor activities. A few other groups turned up and we all showed what we’d been spending our/their money on. They had laptops and power point presentations, I had a bit of paper I waved about with great enthusiasm….

This morning was fairly bright and sunny, this evening is turning out the same. This afternoon it was grotty and raining. Which is why we decided to choose that particular time to wander round the Continental Market in town…. Like you do….
All these photos taken by Olivia.

But not this one, ‘cos I had to stand on a chair in the kitchen.

A scary amount of money spent.

I think we have about a weeks worth of photo prompts to catch up with. Safe to say, it’s not gonna happen tomorrow. We’ll be going on another cycling scavenger hunt somewhere, so if it’s grotty weather on Sunday (which no doubt it will be), it won’t be happening then either. Monday’s out as well, as is Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Looks like it’ll be Thursday then.
(Or should that be…. )
In which case, it’ll be nearly two weeks worth, which is definitely worth a

Too tired yesterday to post. This getting up early business is no good for me at all! I got to group, and realised I’d forgotten my diary, not usually essential, but it is on Wednesdays so I don’t forget anything. Especially as yesterday was also the AGM. And I’d forgotten my luvverly posters reminding everyone about the outdoor activities, and to put my rings on, and food to share at the party in the afternoon, and the birthday card and pressie for the child in question.
Anyways, the AGM went the way of most AGMs, kids playing outside and occasionally running screaming through the middle of the meeting. Olivia got her photo prompt while we were there.

Hand
The end of an arm. Show us a hand in your space today.
She borrowed a friend’s hands holding a borrowed umbrella in the rain. Mine was taken after we’d left the park and were walking along the High Street in the rain.

Today’s prompt….
Boat
A small vessel propelled by water. Find one in your space today.
We’ve both cheated and used old photos, Olivia’s is one she took at Dartmouth last week, mine is one I took at Teignmouth last month. Mine doesn’t have much chance of being propelled by water though….

Back to yesterday, after the wondrous AGM, it was party time! One of the boys had reached the grand old age of 10, so it was balloons, pass the parcel, food, (I had remembered marmite sandwiches for our two selves!) and Elfic the Jester. Yay! We like Elfic. We get to see him at least twice each year.

We’ve not seen him in an indoor setting before, the rain got rid of all notions of outdoor shenanigans. He coped admirably well though.
After group, it was still raining, so I did my usual humiliating Olivia by walking barefoot into town. Flipflops are dangerous!
Wander round shops before drama, then home.
Adam was on the ‘puter finishing his last assignments for college. His very last assignments. So he has absolutely no more work to do now. He’s a happy boy. Except last night he wasn’t. His girlfriend wanted to go out for a run. So he did. Must be love.

Now for the rest of today….
We could do lots of housework…. Olivia could finish off some more workbooks, she got through quite a few pages on Tuesday (we didn’t go to Di’s, Tavis was very ill in bed)….. We could finish cutting the teeny tiny last bit of hedge…. Or we could make some choc chip muffins and stuff our faces all afternoon…. Hmmm…. decisions, decisions….

Adam became a fully qualified fitness instructor today!!
Yay!!

Very pleased with himself. Can you tell??! A true master of self control.
He’s also looking forward to taking his Level 3, because then he can start making big money in the cut-throat world of sports and fitness.
I’m pleased for him too of course…. My little baby boy. All growed up. And still focussed on sports after the dream began 10 years ago.

Oh….and Olivia’s been planting more things in her vegetable plot today….

And cuddling Adam….sort of….

Proper catch up of our goings on, news and photo prompts on Sunday….maybe…. I dunno yet. We’ve got a couple of long days ahead, so I may very well spend Sunday in reading blogs. Which I haven’t done since….um….Monday? Tuesday? Seems so long ago, I can’t remember….

….and neglecting my blog.

Wednesday was group day, so all fairly normal there. Apart from the rippling muscles on display, but I digress….
I handed over the cheque for the outdoor activities and had apologies from the absentees on Monday. One of the teenagers asked me to do a henna pattern on her, which I very skillfully managed to delegate to others to take care of.
Well, it was getting late and we had things to do. Like Olivia’s community garden bed. And a bit of shopping, flipflops for me, almond oil for Olivia. Got the oil (will explain later), but no flipflops.
Photos of Olivia’s bed, as in community garden bed, not her actual bed. That would be too awful to contemplate….

Seems a bit overgrown, but she wanted to keep lots of the wild flowers growing there.
Drama as usual, then home to bed.

Yesterday was lazing around the garden. I did, Olivia had work to do, of the educational workbook variety. But at least she got to do it all out in the fresh air. Wearing her new swimsuit. Like you do.

I did do some washing and a bit of tidying up, I also managed to cram some reading into my hectic schedule. Then we took a gentle stroll along the river to meet up with some of Olivia’s guide pack for a swimming session.
Look what we saw….
A river. Fancy that. All wet it was….

We saw a heron too….

Ooh!! Looky!! Sweeeeeeet!!!

So sweet and cute, they nearly made us late for meeting everyone. All three of them, plus two guiders. Lisa and I ran away quickly, dragging R with us round T.K.Maxx. I bought six side plates, a huge great serving plate and a muffin tin.
We had to pick the girls up again at half six….
So all six of us descended on Subway for nourishment. Then wended our weary way home.
Adam came home later, I gleefully showed him my new plates.
“They’re ugly!”
“They’re not!”
“They’re probably the ugliest plates I have ever seen in my life!”
“They’re not”
“They look all old and Victorian. Ugly”
“Bohemian.”
“Ugly!”
“Bohemian!”
“Ugly!”
“Bohemian!”
Methinks he wasn’t too keen on them.
He then proceeded to show me some defensive moves he’s learnt in his new kickboxing thingy on a Wednesday night. He asked me to try strangling him…. so, so tempting!
He then even invited me along.
“You should come. It’s mental. It’s ‘bring a buddy week’ soon. You should come.”
“I’m your buddy am I?!”
“No! But you should come anyway.”

We have spent the whole day today with Di. She was showing Olivia how to make an elderflower face and body cream. It usually takes a few days to make, but Di showed Olivia a cold compress way that is much quicker. We met at the community centre to pinch pick some elderflowers.

After picking enough flowers, we went to Di’s house. Olivia giddy with excitement because she found a fiver on the pavement. Di introduced us to the blackbird chicks nesting in the back garden.

We had lunch, which may possibly have involved tasting some home-made elderflower wine. Di thought it tasted a bit like sake, and as she happened to have a bottle, we did a comparison tasting. Relax, it was only a sip. Enough to say, “Nope, completely different.” Then we had to taste some home-made blackberry and apple wine. Just to compare.
It was all very low alcohol, and very, very nice.
So on with the actual task of making elderflower cream (which is why Olivia needed the almond oil)….
A lesson in photos….
(It contains a tiny amount of beeswax, so not strictly vegan.)

After it had been poured into jars, we had to wait for it to set. Olivia kept herself busy with flower arranging.

We said our goodbyes, Olivia acquiring an old scooter that Tavis had picked up from somewhere else. We walked into town (I walked, she scootered), I got my flipflops…. two pairs!! Olivia was desperate to spend her fiver, so Hawkins Bazaar it was. She got herself a mini bedlam cube. Very, very frustrated with it already.
“Can I take it back and get my money back?”
“No.”
“Why not???”
“Because it’s not back in the box!”
“But they can do that in the shop!”
“No!”
Not a happy bunny.

And before I forget, I saw this on Prydwen yesterday……
Very creepy!

David Blaine - this is great*

This is creepy!

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*Think of a letter between A and W. (now scroll down the page)*

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*Repeat it out loud as you scroll down.

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*Keep going ………………………. .*

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*Don’t stop . . .*

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*Think of an animal that begins with that letter.*

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*Repeat it out loud as you scroll down.*

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*Think of either a man’s/woman’s name that begins with the last
letter in the animals name.*

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*Almost there……..*

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*Now count out the letters in that name on the fingers of the
hand you are not using to scroll down.*
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*Take the hand you counted with and hold it out in front of you at
face level*
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*Look at your palm very closely and notice the lines in your hand*

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*Do the lines take the form of the first letter in the persons name?

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*Of course they b****y dont…….*

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*Now use your outstretched hand to smack yourself on the head, get a
life, and quit playing stupid e-mail games!