Wakefield

I was working yesterday in Wakefield again, at the Orangery

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2006/01/24/tall_stories_orangery_feature.shtml

which is an 18 century building nestling in Wakefield right next to the railway. It was a really good session. There are plans to make the Orangery even more interesting

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2006/04/13/wakefield_orangery_plans_feature.shtml
with a futuristic design. As it is, the building is host to lots of public art, including this wooden shape [photo]

Scary

The other week I was making a routine call to the tax office, and quoted my national insurance number - a number I have quoted a thousand times, and that I have had unchanged for 30 years or more. "No sir, that is not your NI number, that belongs to someone else, I will have to give you a new one". The panic, the fear, all my pension contributions gone to someone else, my identity wiped clean, someone else being me. Of course none of these things were true, after some very sympathetic handling from the tax call centre staff, I worked out that I had somehow mistakenly written down my NI number with 2 digets transposed. It was all my mistake, and was all sorted out. But just for a while the fear of idntity theft loomed large.
The photo is of the river derwent in the wolds, where we walked last weekend.

40 years ago

This picture was taken exactly 40 years ago. It is of my sister Rosemary and I the day before I was sent away to boarding school. Rowan is the same age now as I was then, so it is a pretty emotional day. Suffice to say that Rowan isn't going to boarding school.

Rowan Rides!

Rowan has always shown what I consider to be a healthy disinterest in horse riding and [most improtantly] ownership. On Saturday though she went to a birthday party that included an hour of riding over near Stamford Bridge [site of Harold's victory in 1066, not of Morinho's in 2006]

http://www.britainexpress.com/History/battles/stamford-bridge.htm

She enjoyed it quite a bit, but so far there have been no cries of "can I have a horse?"

Jazz

David and Gwen had a couple of spare tickets to see Gilad Atzmon http://www.gilad.co.uk/ at the shed in Hovingham http://www.theshed.co.uk/ which is a pretty amazing world music venue in the middle of the North Yorkshire countryside. It was kind of them to give us the tickets and we enjoyed the night out. Rowan was delighted to be babysat by Hannah.

Spring is finally greening the trees - the photo is in the Wolds

Welcome to York

There was a really good article in the Economist last week about the way media are changing with IT developements

http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6794156

I saw my friend Cathy on Thursday who was up for an ALMO conference in York, we met up over the buffet lunch at the end of the confrence, so I got to meet a few people as well - always useful.

The photo is of the welcoming York sign on the railway just beneath Rowan's school

Arnica Arnica

When I was on the Pennine Cycleway my back caved in just as we were approaching Skipton and Dave's in-laws. My back was so bad that I cried off going to the pub with Dave, Dave and Ted. I stayed in and watched a program about Gram Parsons with Karen. She also has a bad back, and just as I was going for an early night she gave me some Arnica cream for my back.

http://www.internethealthlibrary.com/hom-library/arnica.htm

Seeing as how I have had my bad back for 24 years and have tried everything [twice] I had no hopes, to say the least, as I put the cream on my back. No heat, no relief ... I fell asleep.
Next morning my back was fixed - meaning that my spine was back in vertical alignment as the muscles had gone out of spasm - this was the first time ever that it had been remedied over night like that.
So, I now have several kilos of arnica just waiting for the next lot of field trials - I am cautiously optimistic, and very grateful to Karen.
The photo is of the cobbled high street in Heptonstall, which I cycled up before the back problem

Le Blackcap est arrivee

Saw a blackcap today,

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/b/blackcap/index.asp

the first of the summer, on vacation from Africa. Saw a swallow on the moor on Tuesday, so slowly but surely summer arrives.

Butterflies seen so far are
Peacock
Red Admiral
Brimstone
Small Tortoiseshell

http://www.rspb.org.uk/gardens/guide/atoz/s/smalltortoiseshellbutterfly.asp

Picture is of Heptonstall Chruch Yard [where rests Sylvia Plath]

Wakefield

Had a good day working in Wakefield today. Went well and met some interesting people. At lunch I had a walk round St Johns Square [photo] which is speculative building from 1791 - very grand and unmatached by anything from that era in York - quite a surprise

Book Group

Book Group last night was a discussion of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Despite our best efforts we nearly all found it very hard work, and not very good. Thought we might be missing something, but we were glad to see the back of it.
The photo is of cousin Ned.

Bee Sting

Danielle was busy with her bees last week, and got stung on the nose - the wind was blowing so strong that it blew her net onto her face. The result was amazing - see photo - it was like she changed into another person. On the Dorking trip people were not sure that it was Danielle at all!

Cubit

We found this statue in Dorking of Thomas Cubit, a builder. We both liked it a lot, especially the bricks and the tarpaulin.
Rowan was back swimming today, then Meeting, then an idyllic afternoon in the garden, with all of us tidying stuff up and getting the veg and the bees ready for summer. Saw a beautiful Mistle Thrush in the garden (they are pretty infrequent visitors)

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/m/mistlethrush/index.asp

Dorking

Although Danielle works from home, her parent organsiation, Friends Provident, is based in Dorking in Surrey. Consequently she has to go down to Dorking quite often. So as it is still the Easter vacation, all three of us went down to Dorking this week so that Rowan and I could see where Danielle works. It was a good trip. We went a walk down to the river, and generally had a look around Dorking. Travel was courtesy of GNER (free tickets) and the hotel was an old coaching inn right in the centre.

Running Wild again

Rowan went on another Running Wild event. This one was at Moorlands with a big group of children and just one - much admired - woman in charge. http://www.yorkshire-wildlife-trust.org.uk/runningWildYork.htm#moorlandsNatureReserve On Monday I saw the first butterfly of the year in the garden, a Peacock http://www.rspb.org.uk/gardens/guide/atoz/p/peacockbutterfly.asp . On the Pennine cycle ride I saw a Little Owl, http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/l/littleowl/index.asp and we heard lots of Curlews http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/c/curlew/index.asp .
The photo is of gorse at Minsmere. It has a scent of coconut and is always in flower, hence "when gorse is out of flower, kissing is out of fashion"

Model Trains

Rowan and I went to the York Model Railway show which takes place at the racecourse. We cycled across Hob Moor on the cycle track, then spent a couple of hours looking at the layouts. They were very impressive, even if the event did have a bit of a hint of the day centre about it. We saw a couple of boys from Tregelles who had come with their dad on a tandem and trailer bike combination – made us feel quite normal. Rowan was keen to photo this set, as it was American, so she could show it to Danielle.

Nettle Soup

Danielle made her annual batch of nettle soup yesterday. You can only make it with fresh young nettles so it is just an April / May thing. Here is the recipe
Nettle Soup
Bag full of young nettles
2 onions
4 carrots
2 potatoes
Veg stock
salt and pepper
barley (optional)
>
wash nettles
peel and dice onions, carrots and potatoes
boil veg in stock, simmer for 25min
Remove from heat and add nettles
Cool and blend

The photo is of the enthralled audience at the Suffolk table tennis championships at the weekend

Town

On Saturday Rowan, Will, Sarah, Markus and I all went to see Ipswich Town play Brighton at Portman Road. The ground has been totally updated since I last went ten years or so ago. It looks like a real stadium now, and there was a big crowd of over 20,000 there. It was my third game of the season and it was another home defeat, three out of three. Brighton won 2-1 and looked really good. Ipswich had a great big bloke as centre forward who lumbered around and did nothing save swear at the linesman - reminded me of Arsenal in the early 80's. Good day out though.
The photo is another one from the beach - they just need to record the album now.

Minsmere

We all went down to sister Ro and Pete's in Suffolk for easter. Had a really good time. Cousin William was there [15 and Rowan's hero] as well as cousin Sarah and boyfriend Markus, then cousin Tom and Katherine with Ned their son came today. So a lot of family sloshing around, it was great.
Friday we went to the RSPB reserve at Minsmere http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/m/minsmere/index.asp where we saw Avocets http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/a/avocet/index.asp and had a good walk on the beach [photo]

Yorkshire Wheel

The Yorkshire wheel has finally gone up [on sacred ground - at the National Railway Museum]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/4901970.stm

we haven't been on it yet, but we wheel. Truth be told it looks less like the London Eye than a very big fairground wheel, but it is welcome nevertheless. It has been dubbed [allegedly] the Yorkshire Aye...
The photo is of Rowan and cousin Sarah at Minsmere

Kings Camp what shall we do?

Rowan was at Kings Camp all this week. This was her fourth time, and she gets on really well there. They run a pretty American style camp with lots of positivity and yelling - I like it. Both Danielle and I were able to go to the Final Event, when the kids show what they have learned over the week. Rowan has got into football a lot this time.... and yelling for her team. There was also an elaborate mime, which was pretty indecipherable but looked impressive.

Mary Poppins

Whilst I was cycling Danielle and Rowan went down to London to stay with Carl and Jill and Cecilia. There were two highlights of the trip. Firstly Mary Poppins at the theatre http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/shows/display?contentId=78993 which they both loved. And secondly using a cycle rickshaw from the theatre to Carl and Jill's [they live off Baker Street.]

Pennine CycleWay 3

On the third day we rode in beautiful still sunshine across from Skipton to Settle. Dave, our host from Skipton, came with us on his mountain bike. It was a really good route, climbing up on an unfenced road with great views of the Dales. At Settle the two Dave's got the train back to Skipton whilst Ted and I cycled onto Clapham [not that one] where we caught the train back to York via Leeds.
It is a fantastic route and it continues over the Dales to Appleby and then across the borders to Berwick upon Tweed. I am looking forward to doing that next bit.
The photo is of Widdup reservoir which is between Hebden Bridge and Colne.

Pennine CycleWay 2

Day two took us from Holmfirth over the grim millstone grit south pennines. I love it. The route involved a dark narrow tunnel under the M62, and some fantastic riding above Hebden Bridge [where we had a great organic lunch in the Camden Lock of the north]. The sun came out as we crested the col and looked down on East Lancashire. There was then a perfectly located tea rooms for us, and we arrived just ten minutes before closing time - things were going well. I had never been to Colne before - it is the end of Lancashire, the last mill town up the valley, and feeling pretty much like it is at the end of the world. We made it to Skipton and stayed at Dave's brother and sister in law (Dave and Karen). They were incredibly welcoming, gave us a great meal and company.
The photo is from day one, when the hail and sleet played strange tricks.

Pennine CycleWay 1

Just back from a three day cycle ride with Ted and Dave. We used the Pennine Cycle Way

http://www.cycle-routes.org/penninecycleway/
which is a Sustrans route that goes up the Pennine Chain. We started off at Ashbourne in Derbyshire and followed old rail lines to Buxton. This was through the lush and hilly Peak District

http://www.highpeak.co.uk/hp/h_tistbd.htm

we then enjoyed wind, sleet and some great hills to take us to Holmfirth in Yorkshire. To get to it we cycled over Holme Moss [highest road over the Pennines] and reached our B&B at Holmfirth at 7.30 pm. I think it is fair to say that I enjoyed it more than Dave and Ted. Holmfirth is where "The last of the summer wine" is filmed - this is a British sit-com that I have never seen. When I asked Dave what it was about he said "Oh just three old blokes..." it took us a while to realise it was quite an appropriate stop for us.

Tree Climb

I cycled with Rowan and her friend Douglas to the tree-climbing tree on the Planets cycle route. They had a good climb, then we went to SlideShops for lunch [slimey fish and chips]
Still cold here, looking forward to spring.
Each year I mark First Shorts day, the day when I wear shorts for the first time. It has always been in March - until this year. Must be global cooling.

Family Tree

One of our distant and dead relatives, Peter Palmour [nee Dawkins, and not a real Palmour at all, but that's another story] did an amazing amount of pre-internet work on the Palmour family tree. Despite [or perhaps because of] Peter being not well thought of by my father, I made contact with him and was shown around the Palmour sights in Pembrokeshire in West Wales, from whence we came. These included two churches where Palmour's were vicars, and a lot of gravestones, including Peter's which he had prepared in advance [I guess he was a bit odd..].
I have recently been contacted by an Georgian Palmour, and this prompted me to dig out the old family trees and try and make sense of it. So far I have transposed it onto software and started digging around for other Palmours. So far I have found a char-lady who strangely never appears on the official Palmour list, where there are lots of sea captains, vicars and honoured gentlemen. It should be an interesting journey. As things stand the name will die with the current generation of 3 female Palmours [Rowan is one, with two other Essex girls]
A family tree is attached, if you click on it you should be able to read it.

MultiTasking

Real multi-tasking today. Looking after Rowan and Danielle [both sick, Rowan on the mend] processing all the photos from yesterday's shoot, going to a work meeting in Wakefield. Trying to set up another shoot in Caldervale. Feeding Rowan. Phew.

Mother told me about a photo-sharing website [now there's a sentence I never thought I'd write] which I have signed up to [free],

http://www.fotolog.com/palmour/

The photo is of the Merchant Adventurers Hall in York. A medieval guild hall that gets used for weddings etc [we have been to a couple], it is next to the River Foss

Photo Work

I took photos at another playgroup yesterday. Once again I enjoyed it a lot. Despite the potential pitfalls I only had one real terror who refused to make any face that was not goofy. I am learning each time I do these mass shoots, gradually getting more able to deal with the pressures of numbers and time.
Rowan and Danielle are both now ill, so I have a house full of coughs and snoozes.
The photo is of grass and tree stumps we saw at Bootham School at the weekend.

Still Ill

Rowan is still ill, so she is staying in all day. I went to meeting, and Danielle has gone to the Jazz with Jed a friend over from America and in York for the day.
The ground is still wet, we are all waiting here to get started on working the vegetable patch. The nest box that Rowan and I made has been attracting a lot of attention from a pair of great tits http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/g/greattit/index.asp
The photo is of the Minster peeping over Petergate which is a medevil street on the course of the old Roman road through the city.

Art

Rowan has a virus, but is determined [and I mean determined] not to let it stop her doing anything. Nevertheless we have had a quieter day today than planned. We all went into town and met Heather [photo] and went to some of the artists who are exhibiting as part of Open Studios weekend http://www.yorkopenstudios.co.uk/
Some really good work.

Poetry in Motion

Last night we went to see Rowan and school-mates do a poetry show. It was really good. The school has definitely moved on from the a-rhytmic twitching of a few years ago.

I found this drawing of Rowan's in her room. She had quietly done it on her own. Nice to know that she is supporting the right team.

Bird News

I am finding pilates pretty good for my back. It seems the best sort of exercise for me - so far.
Quite a lot of bird activity in the garden. A siskin was back on the nuts today [first time for a while]

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/s/siskin/index.asp

and a pair of carrion crows are busy building a nest in a tall and very wind-affected birch tree.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/c/carrioncrow/index.asp

Another flood photo.

47 Days and 47 Nights

Further on the 4o days and 40 nights of lent [see previous posts]. I was thinking that lent seemed awful long [no chocolate, no cookies etc] and so I counted out the days - 47. So there you go.
As we cycled over the Ouse today we noticed it was in flood. Everyone is York gets a bit blase about it all, floods are just part of the scene, but they still make for pretty spectacular scenes

Twist Her

Beverley, a friend from meeting, and I went to a seminar that inducted us onto a bank of consultants to work with local organisations. It was a good event, although I am doubtful that much work will come from it, but it gave us some good contacts.
We discovered at the weekend that our living room carpet is ideal for Twister. This went down well with Jessie and Rowan, not sure how pleased Danielle was...

House Guests

Friends David, Cathy and daughter Jessie came up for the weekend. Had a really good time. Rowan and Jessie laid elaborate plans for mother's day which all went off to plan. Visited the National Railway Museum then had lunch at Cafe Uno [this is on Rowan's approved list at the momenr] which wasn't too bad.
Watched Ray

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009HJCJ4/qid=1143391715/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_11_1/026-9855388-9059609

the movie about Ray Charles which I had seen on a plane last year. It is really good and doesn't gloss over the bad bits.

Science week

Rowan and I went to a lecture on science for children - the science of everyday objects. It was brilliantly done and all the children loved it. It involved hot air ballons made from bin liners and powered by toasters and so on.
Earlier we had made mother's day chocolate for Danielle [very messy and a test of true devotion bearing in mind my giving up chocolate for lent]
Planted out the onion sets today. Saw an A4 pacific pulling a train - a great sight to have at the bottom of your garden http://www.gresley.org.uk/mainpage.htm

Owl

We had Heather around for dinner last night. She is an American child-care expert brought over here by North Yorkshire social services, and grappling with strange customs, people and expectations. We all got on really well - Rowan rather sad she was not staying over.
There was a tawny owl around last night, we checked what it was by listening to the bird-call CD.
Here's Mark at the jazz

Mounting Block

One of the other historic things we pass on our way to school on the bike is the Mounting Block by the cycle track - there is a plaque stating "This stone mounting block was formerly used as the first milestone from York measured from the Ouse Bridge."
The frogs are getting active in the pond again, lots of guilty sploshing around when disturbed, and the first dollop of frog spawn. Spring soon.

1831 Day

The Mount School where Rowan goes is 175 years old this year. So today all staff and children have to dress up in1831 style. Any excuse basically. Rowan was suitably excited about this, wearing Danielles shirt and skirt for the day. The school is a Quaker school, which is why Rowan goes there. Danielle is on the board of govenors, trying to ensure that the quaker bit doesn't get lost.

More Jazz

Mark and I walked round the city walls

http://www.york.gov.uk/walls/index.html

whilst Danielle took Rowan swimming. Then we all went to see Adrian at his sunday lunch jazz gig which was great again. In the afternoon Danielle was discussing "I know why the caged bird sings" by Maya Angelou at her other bookgroup.

Darlo

Friend Mark came up to stay, so that he could go and watch Carlisle at Darlington. I met him up there and we made our way to the Darlington Stadium http://www.darlington-fc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Stadium/0,,10339,00.html
which is a bizzare grey elephant that stands magnificent amongst fields on the edge of town - capacity 25,000, average home gate 5,000. Met up with a couple of Mark's mates, one of whom I hadn't seen for 20 odd years. And Carlisle won - five nil http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_div_3/4796120.stm
back home for a curry I made, then watched Brighton Rock http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/458657/
what a great movie it is, fantastic lighting and sound.

Premium Bonds

Went to the last BMS concert of the season yesterday evening. It was a piano trio [that's cello and violin and piano - not 3 pianos] http://www.concert-diary.com/home/concert_details.asp?id=60618&ref=13&back=true the program included a piece by SImon Parkin [never heard of him] which was really good. There were comedy moments provided by the couple behind us who kept talking in the quiet bits - you have to laugh, no point getting uppity.
Today I got a £50 prize from my premium bonds - forgot I had them [about 4 in number]. Cheers

Hidden

Since Rowan was born we have managed to see about one movie a year. Today was this years film. We saw Cache http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2006/01/17/hidden_2006_review.shtml at the City Screen in York. It is a brilliant french film, really good.
Got home to find a roost of 300 or so starlings in our trees - a bit too like The Birds - but they soon moved on.

Orion

The photo I took of that author before Christmas has made it onto the Orion books website - scroll down until you come to Dianne Setterfield http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/news.aspx that's her next to the text.

I am reading the Adam the Gardener book that was my father's - waiting for the weather to be dry enough to get into garden action. It is a great book http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/archive/index.php?t-118.html and is kept by the loo for thoughtful reading.

Do The Math

Had a good 2 inches of snow this morning, which incredibley disapeared by 2 this afternoon. The weather is all over the place. This evening at Tregelles [Rowan's school] I attended a session designed to let parents know how our children are taught maths these days. It was very interesting and challenging [we had to do some tests] and made a lot of sense.
Here is Ted in that typical Californian weather.

News of Ted

Well he got the command he needed, but he didn't win, but Derwood is convinced he will trophy one day. [One of my favorite quotes is "there ain't a word yet that can't be verbed"]

Rowan went to see Mrs Jessop and the Maths Lesson of Doom today at the Opera House in York

http://www.quantumtheatre.co.uk/ourshows15.html

which she loved. Her friend Francis came to play after school, whilst we got ready for book group when we will be discussing Saturday by Ian MCewan

Fuzzy

Dave and I got a bike ride in this morning before the snow came - mainly it is not sticking but is just cold and horrible. So this afternoon we are having a stay in time. Quilt making, watching Scrapheap Challenge, that sort of thing.
The ghost story walk was a great success - Rowan retold it to us on the way back pretty much word for word. http://www.ghosthunt.co.uk/
After 8 years Rowan has finally got a favorite teddy - seeing as he came from Swindon I was hoping he would be called Swindon, but alas it is Fuzzy.

Ghostly Dal

Danielle was all day at the school committee. Rowan went to her Running Wild session in Acomb Wood, which she really enjoyed http://www.yorkshire-wildlife-trust.org.uk/runningWildYork.htm unlike the publicity on the web, this session was just Rowan and the teacher - which Rowan loved. They were busy planting wild flower seeds. I have just cooked dal for tea using these ingredients DAL
1 cup lentils
1 onion
garlic
green chilli
fresh root ginger
1/2 tumeric
2 ground cumin
2 ground coriander
2 salt
1 lemon juice

it works well.

Rowan is now at a party which includes a ghost walk around York - she can't wait.

Last snow photo from this week

Tree update

My sister Rosemary informs me that the Redwood tree that featured last week is a Dawn Redwood http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/DawnRed.htm . Meanwhile here is a picture of the Birch trees that stand at the front of the garden - there are three of them which were planted after the house was built [40 years ago this year].
Great excitement for Rowan and I yesterday, as we saw a body being carried off of the moor past the garden by four yellow jacketed ambulance people. Dead or not, we do not know. I am trying to convince Rowan that we want it to be the latter "but it's so exciting..." Nothing in the paper yet.

BoomTown Frog

Here is an article

http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/york/news/YORK_NEWS_LOCAL10.html

about booming York. Saw the first frog of the year last night. It looked a bit bemused, and thought about coming into the warm kitche, but settled for the freezing pond.
The photo is on the planets cycle track, I took a spin down it before all the snow last week.

Tyburn

On our cycle route to school we pass Tyburn: one of the things about living in York is that history is never far away. The photo is of Tyburn where a board informs you:

"TYBURN
York Gallows stood on this site commonly called Tyburn after those in London.
The Gallows were said to have been built in 1379 to replace an existing gibbet standing on the Knavesmire.A number of Roman Catholic priests were executed here in the 16th and 17th centuries and the highwayman Richard Palmer [no known relation] aka Dick Turpin was hanged in 1739. The public executions attracted large crowds. The last hanging took place in 1801 and the gallows were dismantled in 1812. Executions moved to a new site at York Castle and continued to attract large crowds until the last public hanging in 1868.

Tree News

Our redwood is strangely deciduous. The first year when all its needles fell in the autumn we thought it was something we had done to it; but come the spring and it revived. This is what it looks like now.

Jazz

After Quaker meeting on Sunday we went to see friend Adrian playing a new jazz gig at a wine bar in town. It is every other Sunday lunchtime. The music was great and it was pretty packed [mostly friends of the band of course]. Some friends with triplets were there, so there were plenty of children around as well.

Going Local

We had a good local evening. First we dropped Rowan off at Heather and Johns for the night: her beaming smile on going round to their house was a joy to behold. Then we went round to David and Emma's for a meal: three other people invited, we had a great evening. Finally got to bed at 1 - very late for us. It felt good to be able to enjoy ourselves without going far, the snow and ice was such that a trip into town was not an attractive proposition.

Snow Time

We had a fall of lovely soft snow yesterday, only a couple of inches but covering everything. We are about to walk into town, sloshing through the snow in wellies. The thing with snow in the UK is that it never hangs around too long, so we can enjoy it and then it will be gone tomorrow ........... famous last words.

Ted

Spoke to friend Derwood in California last night. Great to catch up as ever. He is entering his dog Ted into his first dog competition on Mar 11th at Palm Springs. He asks
"if you put him on the blog and everyone could pray for a 'Sit' rather than a 'Down' on the day, that would be great. As always it's up to the judges what they call. If it's a down we're screwed! He just won't do it."

Quilt 2

Here is the Family Quilt, incorporating amongst other things bits of old Rowan t shirts, pyjamas, and my old pants. Next stage is to sew the back on to it.
It has been a beautiful crisp day today. The ice has stayed frozen all day, but the sun has felt almost hot. I cycled to badminton in my shorts [must be why I lost]. The crocus and daisies are now out as well as the snowdrops and daffodils. Spring is on the way.

Lent

Two years ago I gave up chocolate for Lent, which was fine until we visited Turin just before Easter. Turin goes chocolate egg crazy at Eastertime - it is their big thing - every shop has a huge display of lovely dark chocolate. It wasn't easy... but I managed it. This year I am giving up biscuits and chocolate ... we'll see.

I do ask people why is Lent the length it is, and have never really got a good reply. Is it something to do with 40 days and 40 nights? Anyway it seems a good idea to give something up, so the challenge starts here.

We had pancakes yesterday, Rowan feeling a little poorly couldn't finish hers [that is a first]