Holiday musing..............1

There is a steady pattering sound on the roof, streaks have formed on the windows and the distant views have been veiled in grey. Sheep huddle against walls and there is no bird song.

Wintry rain can be very suppressing - if you let it....... 

A good antidote to such weather is a noisy game. 

Jenga! 

The tension, the giggles, 

the teetering and the tottering. 

The tactical subtraction of a key piece 

then the bated breath anticipation of the fall 

and when the rickety tower reaches the point of no return - 

the subsequent crashing and shrieking of laughter or howls of defeat.

Excellent!

And noisy.

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Thank you every one who sent birthday wishes to Eldest, he was quite touched and quietly pleased.  

I am proud of him, as is his Dad, for he has grown into a gentle (unless you are speaking to his lil brov) thoughtful person with a quick humour and a slow temper. He is loving and kind and occasionally (ok - more frequently) learning to be a teenage slob. He devours books and disregards food.  He wears a cheeky grin beneath a huge floppy fringe and wears the same clothes all week with pride           (sigh)

Well, must go now, there is knit and natter here tonight and I need to whizzzzz around with the vacuum cleaner,  speak soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tomatoes are still an issue...........**

A Picture says more than a thousand words...............

I love you

**And the title? well, follow this link to last year's post to explain all.

Scenes through my life and holiday hearts

Scene one Act one


me: I really really feel the need to walk on a rocky beach in a blustery day with a rough sea (wistful sigh)


Himself: Sounds nice


me: where's our nearest rocky beach? (hopeful note in voice)


Himself thinks, with a thoughtful face, thinks a bit more and then says.
On the east coast


me: Really? How long would it take me to get there? (getting rather excited)

(Thinking that as it is half term, I could chuck the dog and boys in the car, grab a flask and spend a blustery wet morning on a rocky beach with a rough sea)


Himself: Hmm about 3 hours drive


me: (hopes dashed ) so not really a quick fix, if I'm going to drive that far, I'd rather you were with us and we spent some time there, not just a day visit. (mental note to self - shelve that idea until we can all have some time off together)


Himself: We could go up for the weekend, after I finish work and camp for the weekend


me: Really? Could we? (ooh ooh getting hopes up again!)


Himself: I'll see, I'll ask at work and see if I can get off early on Friday


me: Please!! (heart happy skip skip, face smiley smiley and packing plans forming)

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Act two Scene One

Himself: I've got Friday off and.........

me: Yay!! and? and? and?

Himself: ...........and Thursday afternoon!

me: woooo hoooo!

boys and dog (in a chorus) Woo Hooooo!

Curtains close for intermission

ie - packing

Act Three Scene One

It is early Thursday morning, Himself has gone to work, boys are still sleeping and I, still dressed in jarmies and dressing gown, nursing the first coffee of the morning hear a tap at the window

Big J: Mornin', don't you answer your texts?

me: Uh oh, morning J, do you know how early this is! What you doing here at this time? - (knowing exactly why Big J is here)

Big J: I've got your order of wood chip as promised........... where can I tip it?

me: erm - on the lane, as near to the garage as possible please, then the neighbours can get passed as they go to work, thanks

Big J (more cheerfully than anyone has a right to be at this early hour!) right ho - just get me tipper truck   

As he disappears to get his truck, I race off-stage for a quick costume change - from sleepy ruffled haired baggy eyed slob to a (I hope) ready-to-work in jeans and boots labourer. All the time, at the back of my mind was the fact, at lunch time Himself was coming home from work, ready to set off for our holiday!

Act three Scene two - Scenery change

On stage right - the three of us - my boys and me, in boots and work clothes, clutching spades and pushing wheel barrows.

A constant flow of lifting wood chip, loading wheel barrows and delivering it to the hen pen, the vegetable garden paths, the front garden, the path to the compost heap, the woodland area at the wood shed and the wild jungle area around the pond, then bagging and storing the remaining chip for use through out the year.

.................FIVE HOURS LATER.............

Youngest: I am tired

Eldest:  me too

me: me three

Wood chip nearly all loaded away and the un-loaded caravan

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Act Four Scene One

Later, much much later, the four of us, are sitting around the table, in the caravan, nursing mugs of tea, musing at our heavy duty activities. Himself declares his admiration with our efforts, while us three, although feeling rather stiff are definitely chuffed with the fruits of our labours. 

Tomorrow, we go for our walk, 

on the rocky beach, 

next to the sea - just what I needed.

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 Hearts on gates found in villages and on walks

Hearts on doors and chocolate hearts on guitars (posed by Youngest moments before he scoffed his choc!)

Hearts drawn in the sand

Heart shaped cake boxes from a wickedly delicious chocolate shop 

with heavenly chocolaty treats inside

Hearts on a man hole cover - who'da thought it? workmen with a softer side :)

And my favourite?

Found on that rocky beach

on that blustery day

with a choppy grey sea

this 

carved in a rock

Bob loves Mabel 

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Well, as it is the last day of February  this collection ends this year's heartathon,

I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did,

 thank you as always for taking time to meander by and visit me,

and thank you so much  for all your wonderful comments

I love reading them :)

And just in case you still have the heart for more!! here are the links to last years heart-stoppers

• From Himself
• Heartfelt lunch and a hearty laugh
• Holiday hearts
• Hearty birthday plans

Heartfelt apologies!

Sorry for my lack of comms these last few days, but I been away!! 

At short notice, in a fit of spontaneity , in a devil may care, almost rebel like move - we went away!

to a rocky coast line

we walked with dinosaurs

we flew with gulls

we wandered through fields of snowdrops

we relaxed

we breathed

But, now with only a few minutes to spare before I have to trudge my way to work, I can only leave this hint of our escape. Tonight, when I am home, I will share pictures, hearts and stories!! 

But until then my lovelies - be patient, xxxxxxxxxx 

Concrete slump heart

Today's heart 

was found by Youngest

whilst out walking

with friends yesterday.

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We went  walking yesterday as the cloud poured over our hill in a dramatic candy-floss waterfall. We were with friends and their dogs, so giddy dog was, well, extra giddy. The three of them ran around in ever increasingly muddy circles.

The rain held off although it did menace us all the way round. The mud glooped and squelched under our boots as we tramped along the moor bottom road.  A farmer, with a protective arm around his dog, trundled along on his ATV checking his in-lamb sheep. They  looked  'fit-to-burst' as they grazed the straggly winter grass only pausing briefly to watch us go by.  Highland cows and Belted Galloways, looking like they were wearing their heaviest winter coats, showed very little interest as they chewed the cud with their typical bovine myopic stare.

Youngest and his little friend kept up a constant chatter nearly all the way around whilst Eldest seemed to show a subtle but natural progression towards being adult, preferring to chat with the adults. He is growing up no matter how hard he denies it to himself. Part of me loves the maturity of discussion and rational that he shows while the rest of me is gently sad for the loss of his passing childhood as he reaches his 13th birthday.

Must stop now, I'm off now to bake a gluten free cake for a friend, we've got our knit and natter this evening and we all take turns to bring something rather yummy so I thought I'd try baking a cake with stone ground rice flour - fingers crossed!! Will let you know how it goes :)

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I keep forgetting to add the links for last year's hearticles, so in case you are interested they are here: -

 23rd Feb 2010 Ice Cold heart
22nd Feb 2010 Origami heart

Heart felt sorrow for New Zealand

Before I waffle on about today's heart,
I just want to say my heart has gone out to the people of
Christchurch, New Zealand
- my thoughts are with them
I am sure they are in your thoughts too.

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Today's hearts are really sweet

no - really,

they're sweets!

We'd popped down to our local village post office to buy some sugar and flour (yes our post office doubles up as a mini shop too) because the boys have got so into their baking that our supplies had run out.  Whilst queuing to pay we spotted a basket filled with valentine's sweets at half price and I - being ever ready for a bargain AND the sweets being heart shaped - bought a bag. 

The boys eyes lit up - they know I won't eat them.

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I mentioned baking, the boys had invited my Mom and Dad for afternoon tea so they could have a reason to take over the kitchen.  We discussed what we could make with the ingredients we had (which is when I discovered a distinct lack of flour and sugar) and the boys decided on some chocolate biscuits from Gwnïo's Adventures and some flapjacks from Bunny Mummy .

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Baking as seen through the eyes of Youngest.................... be careful, gentle reader, that you are not given palpitations and begin to feel faint at the zeal and flair this little chef exudes.....

1. Carefully weigh the sugar ...twice.... once when the sugar is first placed in the scale, the second time when too much is poured in. Chuck in the margarine and marvel at how the sugar flips out onto the counter.
2. Add the flour and cocoa mix - to be done at a GREAT HEIGHT to add air and drama to the baking session
3. knead gently - with both hands pummeling and kneading with gusto and enthusiasm, don't forget to taste at this point because you can't help it, the yummy mix is all over your fingers.....and your hands....up one arm....down your teeshirt....on the kitchen counter....
4. savagely stab a fork into each biscuit after you have carefully rolled them and splattered them into rounds (rounds? I say this lightly - lets just say - a flattened shape rather than "round")
5. bake on a greased tray and watch in impressed amazement at your biscuits gently melt into one HUGE biscuit that requires a pizza cutter.......... giggle at the crackly edges and marvel at the soft and gooey middle and deny that the oven was probably far too hot! It doesn't matter they still taste good!!

Then feeling justly satisfied with yourself, retire to the lounge with a rather fetching pizza triangle shaped delish biscuit, a cup of tea and your grandparents and spend a happy afternoon telling long and winding shaggy dog stories..........I want to be 10 years old again

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Biscuit making as seen through the eyes of Eldest.

1. Spoon out syrup, lick spoon...put it to the wash, spoon out butter, check syrup (by tasting it) get told to wash your hands by your mom, measure out sugar and pop all three into the microwave to gently melt, quickly sneak teaspoon into syrup tin before your mom notices and puts the tin away.
2. weigh out oats and stir into the now melted and incredibly tasty (you should know, a finger was used to test) buttery/syrupy/sugar mix.
3. turn biscuit mix into the silicone tray, lick out bowl, first by spoon then by finger, then lick the spoon, have to put that one to the wash too, get another one out, flatten the biscuit mix firmly into the tray, lick that spoon for good measure.
4. bake for suitable length of time and place next to younger brother's HUGE biscuit and feel suitably chuffed with one's 12 year old self as you sample the bits that fall when you break the flapjack mix into bite size pieces, and you know that they are bite sized, coz they just popped into your mouth and what do you know ...they fitted perfectly!!!

Then retire, with a mug of tea, sit next to your Granddad and chat about flying aeroplanes - a good afternoon's baking!

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Holiday traditions and a surprise heart

Today's heart

was discovered unexpectedly 

during an essential holiday ritual...........

the visit to the village tearooms

We'd planned a day out but with the weather being as fickle and cold as she is

 we decided to have a 'do-things-at-home' day 

which usually includes visiting our local tearoom

So we wrapped up and ran out in between the snow showers,

over the bridge being rebuilt,

passed the ducks as they sheltered under the hedge,

up the lane

and into a kettle-steamy,

teacup-clinking little room,

filled with murmuring folk,

filling their tums.

We managed to find a table

and ordered

ginger parkin,

chocolate cake

and tea for three

and, 

when I lifted my cup, 

look what I saw.........................

How delightful!

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And if you are still following in last year's hearticles - follow this link