Getting into a new rhythm

Having talked to K & M recently about how they want, not exactly more structure, but a bit more 'something', I asked them to write down in a 'brain splurge' what it is they would like to do.  K, taking me at my word when I said 'a page', wrote quite a lot, including quite a long list of specific science experiments from our big book of Science Experiments and recipes, mostly from Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes.  M's list was rather shorter, but like K's included my reading particular books to them.  Now that we're finally sorting out the kitchen, we've got more space back both in the playroom and in the kitchen (even though it's still not completely finished), so the plan is to get into a rhythm of doing a bit of the above mentioned 'something' (other than my reading to them, which generally happens anyway) each day.

One thing that was on M's list, was something that we tried for a month nearly 3 years ago, which was 10 minutes a day writing.  Then it was quite a lot of nonsense that M wrote, but today she told me that she'd decided to write a letter.  M wanted to me to join her, so I found the exercise book that I'd written in before, while she started on a letter and I took the opportunity to show her how to set a letter out.  It turned out though, that the letter she was writing was in a pictorial code, so not so much writing all after!  I suggested that she make sure that at least every other day the writing she does is in English, which she seemed to agree with, although I think she may want to finish the coded letter first, which may take a while.

M was quite keen for K to join us too, but she didn't want to (it wasn't on her list of things she wanted to do), she did however have workbooks on her list, so while M & I were doing some writing she started on a Grumpy Grammar workbook.  It is aimed at a year or two younger than her, as I bought it a year or two ago and it's been languishing in a drawer somewhere.  I was quite impressed with how much K's handwriting has improved and she is now forming her 'a's correctly, I've suggested that she work on writing on the line with the tails of letters such as g and p hanging below it.  She was aware herself that she had used capitals when she shouldn't have done in a couple of cases, but had clearly grasped the point of the exercises, there was just one exercise where I think she hadn't read the question properly, because it asked about what a character does in the morning and she had filled in the verbs as if it had been asked what the character did that morning.  She also off her own bat got out a maths workbook, and did some of that too.

As it's the last day of the month, today was also bedroom tidying time, something K & M have been gradually working on, with more or less good grace, for the past few days.  The quite frequently decide to work together on each of their bedrooms, rather than on their own, which mostly seems to work well for them.

In other news, it's been a while since I've blogged about what we have on regularly, so here it is:
Monday:  Asfordby twice a month and Brownies for M.
Tuesday:  Korfball and piano lessons weekly, Fun Club once a month (piano lessons move to Thursday for that week)
Wednesday:  Swimming lesson for both girls, French horn lesson for M and ice-skating once a month.
Thursday: Scouts for K and friends who come to Nottingham for maths often come to see us in the afternoon afterwards.
Friday: Cricket for M.
Saturday:  Ballet for K.
That sounds quite a lot, but as most of these are evening activities, we have plenty of time during the day to get up to other things.  M in particular has asked me to try and find a drama group for her to go to, although I'm not entirely sure how we're going to fit that in!  I'm looking into things that are on over the summer, when some of the activities they already do will stop, at the moment.

Back to Kentwell, this time to 1578.

K & M were very excited to be returning to Kentwell and this time we were bringing A too.  I hadn't realised that each year they choose a specific year during the Tudor period to re-enact, so this time there was anticipation of a visit from Queen Elizabeth in the year 1578.  The girls and I had our clothes from last year, but of course A needed an outfit too.  I had managed to turn an old pair of his trousers into breeches for him, but despite regular trawling of charity shops I hadn't managed to find anything that I thought I could butcher.  Very fortunately the lovely J dug out the shirt, hat and pouch that her husband D had worn last year, to lend him and they were just the job.

Ready to travel back to 1578.

We stayed just outside Ipswich and when it absolutely bucketed down in the car on the way to Kentwell.  We were really very fortunate with the weather in the end though, it rained briefly while we were having our lunch under a gazebo back in 2014 and then just started again as we were leaving at 5 o'clock with torrential rain on the journey back to Nottingham.

The time tunnel opened at 11 o'clock and we arrived about a quarter of an hour early, although we were far from the first there.  We had plenty of time to go and change our 'coin' for pennies and groats and we were ready and waiting when the time tunnel opened and were the first through it into 1578.

Last year we left the hall until later on and by the time we went it was quite quiet in there.  This time it was very different.  There were preparations going on in the kitchen.

In the kitchen.

We talked to some women who were laundering ruffs and coifs, then moved on and spoke to the Steward in his room, where two pages were playing chess (although they weren't allowed to play with the real pieces, so used counters for pawns and pieces of paper with drawings on them for the other pieces).  We moved on and saw a scrivener (who can write and does so for those who cannot) and a woman making amazing creations out of marchpane (marzipan).

In the process of making a ship out of marchpane.

More marzipan creations.

We moved through to the great hall, where there was a consort of viols.  We listened to them playing and then had a look at the music, which looks quite different from what we're used to, but alike enough for me to be able to have a go at singing along with them and a lady who was also there.  The singing part was the same as one of the viol parts, although I must admit I couldn't read the words, due both to the script and the fact it was in Italian!  It was interesting (for me anyway!) to hear about the instruments, of which there were three different viols and seeing the differences and similarities between them and the modern violin family (as I play the viola) and modern guitars (I'm self-taught and can strum chords as an accompaniment if the chords aren't too tricky!).

We then moved through to the parlour and were given a brief history lesson by a lady there about some of the people in the portraits on the walls, including Mary Tudor, Henry VIII's sister, after whom the ship the Mary Rose was named.  We also spoke to a lady who was reading a book about strange beasts who told of us the beaver, which is apparently part mammal, part fish!

Next we went around the back to the dairy, bakery and brewhouse.  We had been trying to find some water to have a drink and were told that we might find some in the dairy, and indeed were offered some there.  K tasted it first and told me it tasted funny, M also had some before I tasted it and we discovered that it was the brine they use for wiping down the cheese!  We did get our drink of water afterwards though.  K & M each had a go at making little butter balls for the hall while we were there.

M went first...

....then K.

In the bakehouse there were making manchet bread from fine white flour for the people at the hall and they showed us how the 'sieved' it using a muslin cloth, which was very time consuming.

Manchet bread for the rich folk.

We then moved on to the alehouse, where A and I sampled two different ales, which were rather good!

Tasting the 'small beer' - a working man would get a ration 12 of pints each day!

We headed upstairs to find the women who the poorer folk who couldn't afford to see a doctor would go to to tend to their ills.  They were busy making poultices, rubs and more from herbs and they soon set K & M to work with pestle and mortars.

M pounding cleaver and K lavender.

Next we saw women working on a large embroidery to go on the wall in the hall, which they have been working on for 4-5 summers, which when you think that in each square inch there are about 400 stitches is understandable and of course they could work only when there is enough light and when not working on the day to day mending and making of coifs and the like.

Very fine work.

There was only one disappointment in the day and that was that this year we couldn't have a go ourselves at the archery as we did last year.

Demonstrating how archers shot in battle - at least 12 arrows/minute.

It was at this point that we went back down the time tunnel to have our picnic lunch.  The girls were keen to visit the hovel, but first we visited some of the other people in front of the hall.  There was a wood turner, making bobbins and his wife who was making a chord with different coloured threads.

The wood turner...

....and his wife.

We then talked to the wife of a spice merchant, who showed us and let us smell many of her wares, including cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise and a fairly new thing, vanilla!

Lots of things to hear about, see and smell!

We then returned briefly to the great hall to see what was going on there and found that they were in the middle of their meal; the fine gentlefolk at the high table and the some of the more lowly ones at the low table.  One of the men there called to M to fetch another flagon of ale, which after looking to me she decided she would do and was most put out when he said he was jesting and insisted on going round to the alehouse to try to get one anyway.

The high table...

...and the low table.

I was keen to see if the alchemist was around, as last year he wasn't, so we went in search of him and found him.  He had many strange things, including a rams skull, which he told us was worth around one and half times the worth of the manor, although we didn't entirely understand why!  He had a chameleon preserved in a jar (along with a hornet), eye balls similarly preserved (which he collected in order to cut them up to study them, although they need to be boiled first otherwise the pressure inside them causes them to explode when pierced with a knife), he also had the shed skin of a tarantula and a snake.  He was very keen on his chameleon and kept asking what was special about them, telling us of the length of their tongue (1 1/2 times it's body length), that they can lose a limb up to 9 times and grow it back, although shorter each time, that they change colour according to their mood, that they can move their eyes independently and have sticky feet so that they can walk upside down.

The alchemist with his chameleon in a jar.

Next we went to see the chandlers, who made both tallow and bees wax candles, the copper pots they use have turned the tallow candles green.  The bees wax candles cost 6 times more than the tallow ones, so only the rich could afford them, but they burn longer and smell sweet.

With the chandlers

K examining the honeycomb.

There was still lots more to see, including the forge where the smiths were making a chandelier for the hall.  At the potters we talked about making an ocarina, as the potter had had a request for one.  M was particularly interested in this as she has one that she likes to play occasionally.  Each of the girls made a little thing from the clay that they dig up for the nearby riverbed, M made a bead and K a die.

At the potters.

We talked to the dyer, who told us what must have been used to dye our clothes, comparing them to the colours of wool she had hanging up to dry and telling us about the plants that they use.

A rainbow of colours all dyed using different plants.

We then went inside and saw the process of getting from fleece to cloth.

Teasing out the wool from the washed fleece.

Carding the wool...

....watched by K, A & M.

And spinning the wool.

And another method of spinning.

Then weaving cloth on a loom.

At various points we spent some of our coin on things to eat, including sticky oats (flapjack), men of ginger, biscotts and marchpane, all very tasty.

We had a maths lesson of adding up in roman numerals, which were used then.  It was very clever, first we identified what all of the different letters stood for and why, which was new to me.  For example L is 50 because a Legion had 50 men.  Then using pottery letters a sum was set out and to add them up, all that was needed was to set them in order of size and where there were for example six I's, exchange five of them for a V until it was completely simplified and there you have your answer.

Doing sums.

We were also told the story of the Tower of Babel, which is what the carved tree next to the hall is depicting.


Both K & M were keen to visit the hovel, but I hadn't realised why.  It was because last year there had been a rope swing inside it and they were slightly disappointed that it wasn't there this year.  We chatted for a while to the people there, who were all busy with various tasks such as making a paddle for a coracle, making new legs for a stool, knitting or making cord.

Making new legs for a stool.

By this time we had seen pretty much everything, I think and there was about an hour left of the day.  We asked K & M what they would most like to return to and they agreed they'd like to go back to the butts to see the archers and return to the dairy and bakery and the hall if there was time.  We went to see the archers first and saw some of the different types of arrows and heard about what they were used for.  We also heard about an archery competition that the Tudors had had the day before and learned that a 15 year had won and that there was a toddler of 18 months there who could shoot as far as the first target that they have set out, which K & M had just about managed to reach when they tried last year!

We didn't get as far as the bakery or the hall, but we did return to the dairy, where the dairy maid recognised us and told us that her mistress had been telling people about her having given us brine to drink!  K & M didn't want to have a go, but I had a go at churning the cream to make butter, which many of the visitors had helped with and after a while it did indeed turn to butter.  It's amazing how quickly (sometimes after churning for hours though!) it changes from cream to butter.

Churning the cream.

Three minutes later - butter!

Having bid the dairy maid farewell, we walked around to the front of the hall, where we were told it was time to leave sadly, but we did have time to have a look at the little market of wares, although we didn't buy anything this time.  We did get a guidebook in the modern shop which was now open though, before returning through the time tunnel, changing what was left of our Tudor coin back into modern money and using their facilities before getting in the car and heading home.  We stopped to eat on the way home and while we were waiting for our food to arrive, I started reading the new book to K & M.  M has decided that she would really very much like to see if she can be a re-enactor next year, so we have started looking into this.  I'm not sure how the logistics would work, but it would certainly be interesting if we can manage it.  I'm not quite sure how it would work if a 10 year old modern girl (as she will be then) wants to be a Tudor boy, as she does, though.

I asked A for his thoughts, as it was his first time there and this is a summary of them.

He was very surprised at just how many volunteers there were and at the range of ages of them, as well as how much space there was and how spread out they were.  He wondered how the Tudor roles are allocated, how it's decided who gets to be the rich gentry and who has to live in the hovel.  He was impressed by the authenticity of the dress, which although he admitted he doesn't know much about, he was very convinced by it.  He thought that the re-enactors were very good at staying Tudor, although you did hear the occasional slip with the language.  He wondered if they have a practice day or two before they open to the public, so they have a chance to get properly into character and whether they stay in character and continue like this when the public leave.  Finally, he found the alchemist very challenging and he wondered if he's an academic in 2014!

If anyone can answer any of these questions, we would both be very interested to find out.

Writing, music, crochet and sheer loveliness.

This morning both K & M were doing some writing.  M wrote up the letter she'd drafted last week, to go with the picture of Ironbridge that she'd drawn to try to get a Blue Peter badge to replace the one she lost.  K has started what we're calling a 'brain splurge' of what she'd like to do in the coming weeks and months, something I've asked M to do too, but she hasn't started yet.  Both girls have said that they'd like to do a bit more 'learny stuff', by which I think they mean have a bit more structure and direction.  The building work/new kitchen has disrupted things more (and for longer) than I'd anticipated, but it's getting there now and the things that were spread all over the house, making the space we'd usually use for doing things cramped and crowded, are gradually making there were back to the kitchen and hopefully at the weekend we'll have the PC back up and running.

M's Blue Peter letter and picture.

The middle of the day was filled by music lessons (both girls also did some practice this morning).  So I took M to her French horn lesson (usually Wednesday, but Tuesday just for this week) and dropped her off there, then came home for K, took her most of the way to her piano lesson, then returned to pick M up and take her for her piano lesson, during which K & I played Phase 10.

On the way home the conversation turned to bikes, since the girls went to the park on theirs at the weekend and M was bemoaning the fact that hers is getting rather small for her and she's not finding it comfortable to ride because the handle bars are too low, even though they're as high as they can go.  Since she's only just had a birthday, I suggested that she could ask for a new one for Christmas.  K is a long way from growing out of hers and M usually gets a hand-me-down from her, so it would mean her first new bike.  At this point K suggested that we (A & I) could get M a bike for K's birthday (in October), since there isn't really anything that she wants or needs at the moment.  I asked if she was serious and she absolutely was, at which point M said that if we did do this, then she would get K 'something big' for her birthday.

Korfball wasn't on this evening due to the England football match, something that the girls were rather indignant about, particularly since we already know they are already going home.  I texted S, to see if A & J would like to meet up at the park instead, but unfortunately J is poorly, so that was a no-go.  Having heard this M decided to make J a get well present, so she and K (who was doing word-searches) shut themselves in the playroom and listened to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on cd.

While they were doing that, I did some more kitchen sorting and started a new crochet project (another basket, as my friend saw the one I had nearly finished and requested one for her birthday).  I later discovered that M had been crocheting too (using her own made up stitch, stuffing and sewing up square-ish shapes) and made J a very colourful giraffe-y creation.

M's crochet creation.

Ups and downs.

We had hoped that the kitchen and most of the building work (we're waiting on Severn Trent to do their thing) would be done by this weekend.  Unfortunately, a botch by the makers of the worktops, mean that we're waiting for a replacement for one of the pieces - they made one of the pieces from a different batch from the others and it's really rather noticeable.

The two sections.

We're also waiting for the part where the sink is, as the kitchen bloke for that part got the measurements wrong, so we're using the utility room sink for the moment, which is a bit of a pain in the bum, but ho hum.

Most of the kitchen is, however, finished enough to use, so I spent quite a lot of Friday moving things into cupboards and drawers.  I also did my first lot of baking in the new oven, for a cake sale to raise money for LLL Nottingham on Saturday morning.  One of the local churches, which has ballet lessons in various of their rooms, offers charities the chance to do the teas and coffees from 9am-12, with the option to make cakes to sell (and have other stalls if they want).  They ask for £15 (they provide the tea, coffee and squash, as well as the hall), and we get to keep the rest.  There were five of us who made cakes and four of us who were there on the day, along with some children to help, including K & M, and we made over £100!  We think that we can do this every six months or so and will definitely ben doing it again.

First cakes.

K & M helped out selling the cakes along with another of the Leaders' daughter, and K found another bit of maths in the kitchen, which had a sign on the cupboard door saying that they all opened only to 90 degrees and she established that actually they opened to slightly more than that.

I am feeling rather proud of myself, having finished another crochet project, and M has continued with her crocheting too.  She has done a few things with a made up stitch not dissimilar to a double crochet and also been having a go at doing some actually double crochet.

My sort of basket.

Today we had a trip into town, as M managed to get the mouthpiece of her French horn stuck in the instrument.  Fortunately Windblowers has a handy gadget that can get them out without damaging the instrument and while we were there we also bought a music stand and a bob strap (something to help support the horn so she's not taking so much weight on her little finger).  We also popped to see an old friend of ours who used to work in the now sadly closed local bookshop, in Staples where she now works and to get me some more yarn and some stitch markers (much easier to work with than the safety pin I had been using).

It was also Asfordby with a bring and swap session.  Both K & M have been having a big sort out of their bedrooms and had found a lot of stuff that they were willing to part with.  This is a new development and I had been anticipating that we'd end up bringing quite a lot of things to replace it back home with us, but I'm happy to say that that wasn't the case at all.  They did choose one arm puppet to share and someone was getting rid of a couple of photo albums, something that we'd been planning on buying anyway, but that was it!  We had planned to go back to E, C, L & J's as we've been doing regularly after Asfordby lately, but unfortunately L was sick on the way back to theirs, so we didn't stop today.

After tea it was Brownies for M at the local country park rather than the usual church social centre, so rather than dropping her off, coming home and then having to leave about 3/4 hour later, K & I stayed there too.  We spent some of the time just the two of us, but met up with the Brownies at times too.  It really was a beautiful evening.

K in the country park.

Music, clothes and crochet.

The past couple of days have involved quite a bit of music.  There have been piano lessons for both girls and a French horn one for M.  There has been a distinct lack of piano practice lately, so I've been encouraging both girls on that front, reminding them that they don't have to continue with lessons, but if they want to that they'll get much more out of them if they practice regularly, so both girls have done a bit at least and M has practised her French horn too, with very little encouragement.

We have also been having our spring clothes trying on sessions (rather later than usual and even more unusually without Granny), and consequently have had quite a big pile of clothes, some to hand down to a friend and some to take to the bring and swap session at the Asfordby HE group on Monday.  M really didn't want to get rid of a few favourites, particularly a dinosaur t-shirt & shorts set that I think is age 5-6 (she's just turned 9!).  When she found the baptism dress in her wardrobe (which a friend of the family made from the skirt of my wedding dress), and I told her I wasn't getting rid of it even though it doesn't fit anyone, because she or K might like it if they have children one day, she seized on this idea and is now keeping the dinosaur t-shirt & shorts for her possible future children too.

This afternoon we watched the final episode on the first dvd of The Human Body, which was about puberty, which is quite timely for K, as she's just embarking on it herself. 

Having seen me doing quite a bit of crochet M has decided that she would like to learn too.  So today I suggested she try to do chain stitch and work on getting the stitches regular and not too loose or tight.  Regular she got pretty quickly, it took a bit longer with the tension but she seemed to get that cracked too by bedtime.  I anticipated that we'd continue with other stitches tomorrow or Friday, but M dug out a present that she was given, probably a couple of years ago now, a crochet kit for beginners and took it upstairs with her.  About an hour later, she presented me with some crochet which is definitely not just chain stitch!

M's crochet.

In other news, we've started reading a new book together, which we're reviewing for my friend T, who set up an independent small publishing company, Mother's Milk Books.  (Do check out the fantastic Musings on Mothering which was her first venture, the royalties of which all go to La Leche League GB).  I think I'll save up our thoughts on that for its own post though, but I think it's looking very promising.

Rich Man, Poor Man at Shakespeare's Birthplace.

Yesterday, K & M gave A his Father's Day cards and we took him out for Sunday lunch, before dropping at Birmingham airport to go to Berlin (for work, he's back late tonight, so a flying visit in more ways than one) on our way down to Granny and Big Grandad's.

K's card.

M's puzzle card/present - it says The Best Daddy in the World.

We had a specific reason for going down to Granny & Big Grandad's this time, the third time in four weeks, other than just escaping the mess here.  Back in January the Shakespeare Trust offered a couple of workshops for home educators at Shakespeare's Birthplace, which we signed up for, but due to lack of interest, which in turn was due to the lack of notice they gave, it was cancelled.  They learned from this though and rescheduled giving plenty of notice and consequently had plenty of interest this time.

We went to a session called Rich Man, Poor Man, aimed at around 7-11 year olds (Key Stage 2 for schools).  The session started off with some general talk about Tudor times and about how we know a lot about rich and powerful people generally, but very little about ordinary and poor people from the time.  Then we were introduced to a man called Thomas Lett.  We know about him because of a particular document that was put into a box, locked away in a cupboard and forgotten about for around 150 years, when the previously lost key was found.  The document was a beggar's license and from that it was learned that Thomas Lett was a weaver, with a wife and daughter, in Shipston, about 10 miles from Stratford, who's house burned down not once but three times.  The first two times the townspeople helped him but after the third time they'd had enough, so he applied to the town council for a license to beg, which was granted.  The license allowed him to beg for a grand total of nine days during the year 1762 and since Stratford was the nearest market town, it's likely that it was there that he begged.  We also know, from looking at the register deaths, that Thomas Lett died two years later, the year Shakespeare was born, and also the year that plague came to Stratford, so although we don't know that he died of the plague it does seem likely.  His daughter also died then, but his wife went on to remarry and, since neither she nor her new husband feature in the local register of deaths, probably move away.

Photo of the Beggar's License.

The group split into three smaller ones for some activities.  We got to see and handle (with gloves on) some real Tudor sixpences and then have a look at a price list of some things that Tudors might have bought and 'go shopping' with sixpence.

Elizabethan sixpence.

At the Tudor shop.

K & M were both particularly taken with the shoes, even though they'd have cost more than sixpence and asked if they could try them on.

The Tudor shoes!

K with Tudor shoes, belt & boys' hat.

M, who went in her Tudor costume, completing the look.

Next it was our turn to visit the archive, which isn't open to the public, so rather special.  We got to see the original Beggar's License that was granted to Thomas Lett, as well as a signature of Elizabeth I.

Finally, we had a go at writing using quills and 'Tudor' ink and using a seal in some sealing wax before we got back together as with the others.

K writing with a quill.

We finished off talking about what people might have own in Tudor times and we were shown an inventory, which people had to have along with a will, of everything a particular woman who lived in one of the almshouses in Stratford owned.  It included such things as a cooking pot and skillet, which we were shown examples of.  This woman's inventory fitted very easily on one piece of paper, which one of the children was asked to hold up for people to see.  This was then contrasted with the inventory of the owner of an inn, as child after child was asked to hold up pages which ran to about 10 pages.

After this we had some of our packed lunch and were given information to follow a guided walk to the other properties that are in the town, as the cost of the workshop also included entrance to the Birthplace, Hall's Croft and Nash's House & New Place.  Since we have the annual pass for all the Shakespeare Trust properties anyway and the girls were very keen to return to Mary Arden's Farm, we've kept the information for another time we went into the Birthplace gardens where we chatted to Rich, one of the actors for a while, before moving on.

We had a chat with various people at Mary Arden's Farm and caught the tail end of the falconry display.

Tudor falconer with an eagle owl.

Common buzzard.

We didn't stay very long, mainly because we needed to get back for M to go to Brownies, but on the way home we did spot a buzzard, which was being mobbed by a lone bird, which having just seen one close up was very good timing!

Once home we just had time for some food before we needed to drop M off at Brownies, however, when we got to the usual place there was nobody around.  After dashing home and checking emails, there was one sent on Sunday afternoon (rather short notice!) that said they were going for a walk with a meeting place elsewhere and managed to catch up to leave M with them, phew!

Variety - the spice of life!

We've had quite a varied couple of days lately.  Wednesday was a very busy one, starting off with a French horn lesson for M.  This was followed by a bus trip into town, where we did some shopping.  I bought M some new trainers, some trousers for Granny (which she has been trying to find but not managed in various other M&S shops) and some wool.  The girls bought books; K bought the latest Worst Witch book - a series that she's currently reading to M at bedtime, I recently found out, and M bought The Curse of the Chocolate Phoenix, the sequel to a book she was given for her birthday and is half way through.  M also bought some wool and a notebook (she collects them), with her birthday money.  Both girls also considered buying more Lego, but decided not to at the moment.  In the middle of the shopping we had lunch and went ice-skating, before coming home briefly before heading out again for the girls' swimming lesson.

Thursday was quite a contrast.  Apart from M popping to the Co-op to buy an onion and a couple of other bits so I could get tea into the slower cooker, we didn't go out in the morning.  In the afternoon however, our friends E, C, L & J came round and we headed out to the park.  E & I chatted while the children headed into up onto the old railway embankment and played on the slope in the trees there and got (more in the case of C, L & J rather than K & M) delightfully grubby.  Once they'd headed home, I continued reading Ruby Redfort and also started on the next of the Usborne History of Britain series; Tudors and Stuarts.  In the evening K had Scouts, which she's still enjoying very much.

Friday was a bit stressy.  A was working from home in the morning, to do with the building work, which never works particularly well either for him or us.  As a result the girls and I went out, we went to the library and also trawled the charity shops in an attempt to find a shirt that I could turn into something vaguely Tudor for A.  We thought that we'd found something but unfortunately when he came to try it on it was clearly mis-labelled and too small.  In the afternoon we got back to the Ruby Redfort book, then M had cricket, after which we had a take-away while watching a recorded Springwatch.

Today was an unusual day.  For one thing I was out for the whole of it, on my own!  I went to the fantastic Blow the Dust Off Your Instrument with my viola and had a lovely time.  Meanwhile, A as is not so unusual on a Saturday afternoon at in the spring/summer was playing cricket.  This meant that K & M spent the afternoon with their childsitter (they are *not* babies!), Am, who they adore, and had a great time.

The viola that I blew the dust off!