Still going...

It's fortunate that there are no penalties for late starts in our 'school', because we didn't manage our agreed start time today, because M & I popped to the Co-op for some bits and pieces before we settled down to work this morning. 

We started off with looking at M's latest installment of our shared story, which was rather shorter than her first one, but very accurate with no spelling mistakes and just one random capital letter which M found herself when I suggested she check it.  She's still insisting on writing letters with tails above the line, so I got her to write a few g's, j's, p's, q's and y's, which she did a bit reluctantly.  I don't think there's a lot of point in persuing this for the moment, so we'll leave it for now.  I quickly added my installment, because M wanted to carry on and then she wrote some more while sitting in the garden while I hung the washing out. 

While we were doing this, K was continuing with her grammar workbook.  We talked a bit about it on the way to the park, while M was having her piano lesson.  She is still very reluctant to let me have a look, but did tell me about a mistake that she'd made, but spotted herself, when she initially filled in 'an owl' in the sentence 'As fierce as ______.', because the next sentence was 'As wise as ______'.  In the course of the conversation about the workbooks I explained that I wanted to see what she was doing as well as how she was doing and asked what topics came up.  So she pointed out that she'd already told me about one of them, 'smiles'.  I was initially slightly puzzled, but it clicked very quickly that she meant 'similes' and we both laughed about it, but she's insisting on continuing to call them smiles!  I also took the opportunity to talk about the difference between similes and metaphors. 

K at the park.

M turned her ankle yesterday, I'm not entirely sure how, as she was on her way to the bathroom at the time, so I bandaged it up for her today because she was still hobbling this morning.  I don't think it needed it, but it made her feel better.  She was very grumpy when I said it would be better to stay and play a game while K had her piano lesson though.

Before piano, we continued with our book and also read another section of the guidebook I bought at Kentwell, about Tudor gentry.

After lunch, the girls were helping with dry up, when our friends E, C, L & J arrived.  We often go to the park when the weather's nice, but unfortunately J has an unfunny broken humerus, so partly because he couldn't really go on things like the others we didn't today.  I was let into a secret today (which I had already worked out pretty much), that K, M, C and a couple of other plans are planning another play to perform at Asfordby.  M has been working on her costume over the past few days and that and some questions that the girls had asked me had given me clues as to what it might be.  While the girls shut themselves away to work on this, E, the boys and I had a game of Forbidden Island. 

After they'd left K & M told me a bit more about the plans for the play they're doing and how parts had been allocated, which didn't sound entirely fair.  We had a bit of a chat about friendships generally and standing up for themselves when someone insists on always getting their way.

Thursday evenings is Scouts for K, so she went off to that (we lift share with friends and neighbours).  Happily A was home at a reasonable time this evening, and at M's request, the two of them went to the park and played some cricket.  He's been ridiculously busy and stressed with work lately and that's not going to change for the next couple of weeks at least and he's going to be in Berlin for most of next week, so it was really good that he managed to find time for this, because M really struggles when she doesn't get quality time with him.  They both came home smiling and a bit hot and sweaty, which was really lovely to see.

Great minds...

Well we rearranged out meeting for 11 o'clock, but we did meet at the kitchen table, breakfasted, dressed, toothbrushed and in M's case having done some French horn practice and in mine having hung out a load of washing.  I hadn't anticipated that K would want to join in, in her own way.  That meant taking herself away and quietly getting on with her grammar workbook by herself, while I worked with M.  I asked her later if I could have a look, but she's most reluctant to let me, which is very K.  She told me she might let me in a few years but I think I will probably be able to persuade her to show me once she'd finished the workbook, which she has done about half of over the past two days.

M told me that she thought the first thing we should do was look at the writing that she had done the previous day, i.e. the start of the shared story, and see if there are any mistakes, which is just what I had been going to suggest to her, so that was a good start.  There were only a few spelling mistakes, which we looked at, including the word 'cupboard', which we'd come across at Tudor Kentwell, when it was a shelf or board for cups, so we could talk about the etymology.  The only mistake I considered needed looking at properly was her use of 'there' instead of 'their', so I got a new exercise book out and we talked about there, their and they're and I wrote some notes on their use in the book and a few sentences with gaps for her to choose the correct word and fill in, which she did without any problem.  The other thing that I asked her to think about was the handwriting itself, partly as she still does occasionally throw in random capital letters but also because when writing letters that have a 'tail' she writes so that the tail is on the line rather than the body of the letter.  Her reasoning for this was that it is *wrong* to have the tail hanging down because it would be like sitting above someone and resting your feet on their head!  I suggested we do a bit of dictation and I gave her a few simple sentences, making sure that there were some words with letters with tails.  She did write some of them with the tail beneath the line, but most reluctantly and she's really not convinced!

M also told me that part of what's bothering her is that she wants to learn but gets too easily distracted by other things at home, which is why she's thought about the idea of school because she wouldn't have those things there, but that she doesn't really want to go.  I suggested that we could work in the local library if she thought it would help (she didn't like that idea), but by having more defined times of what we do when, she might find that makes it easier to focus.

M told me that she wanted to do more maths too, so I suggested we have a game of Vapoosh, which she thought was a good idea.  It's a game to help learn times tables, but it's also rather fun.  K came in while we were playing and wanted to play too, so afterwards I had a game with her.  We also continued with the book I'm reading to them, which is going down very well. 

This afternoon we went to the park for a bit of fresh air and exercise and also because M in particular was hoping that we might bump into friends there after they'd finished school.  We didn't, but we still had fun.  While there and also near the swimming pool where the girls have there lesson we had a look at the cherry trees that were so bountiful last year, but sadly it's clear that there will be no cherry jam this year, it looks unlikely that we'll manage so much as a pie, which is very disappointing.

We've got a bit more on tomorrow, including piano lessons (which are usually on Tuesday but move to a Thursday when we have Fun Club on the Tuesday) and friends coming after lunch, so we're meeting at the kitchen table at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning.  I wonder if we'll get as much done as we did today!

Sports Day and rethinking things.

The first Tuesday of July is Fun Club Sports Day at the park, so that's what we were up to for most of the day today.  While I was timing children from about 3 to teenagers doing the obstacle course, there were various races and a welly wanging competition going on.  The 'littlies' (under 7s) did their own thing with some fun races and parachute games, while the older ones were split up into 7-9 year olds and 10+ and were a bit more competitive.  It can be a bit tricky getting the balance between genuine competition for those who want it and fun participation for those who aren't so sporty, but I think we generally get it right.  There's no obligation to take part, so there are a few, like K, who prefer to watch or help out, others who like to join in with everthing, and some, like M, who join in some things but not others.  It all went pretty smoothly, I think and we were fortunate with the weather, which is always a help!  M won the 7-9 years old sack race (something of a speciality as she has very good technique!) and when she missed the 7-9s 100m sprint, joined in with the 10+ instead and came 3rd, which she was very pleased with.  There was also a relay race with mixed age group teams, which M took part in with the team that won.

M with her certificates.

There was a frantic writing of certificates, of participation for the littlies and 1st, 2nd, 3rd for the older ones plus participation for any non-winners in the 7-9 age group.  There was a certificate for K, but since she hadn't taken part in anything she didn't want it!  I did have a word with her about remembering that people do things trying to be kind (like at Granny's bowls club last month) and she needs to work on declining things politely.  We all had our picnic lunches and then there was a big game of rounders for those who wanted to join in, again K didn't but was happy watching, M & I both did and I scored a rounder!

Once home K & M were listening to as much of the Harry Potter cd they've got from the library at the moment (The Order of the Phoenix), because it was due back today and somebody else had requested it, so we couldn't renew it.  I reminded them that we had talked about doing either writing or workbooks regularly and K got her maths workbook out and got on with that, while M did some Lego and then decided to start on a shared story with me.  This was something we have done in the past, but not for quite some time.  She started off a story, writing about half a page and I need to continue with my turn.  It's about a blibble-mandank called Fred (in case you're wondering a blibble-mandank looks like a spider but has nine legs and two horns on the tip of their tail).

This evening it was korfball for the girls, so after dropping the cd off at the library, I had a peaceful half hour at home on my own before picking them and A & J (who we lift share with) up.  A is away at the moment, he went to Amsterdam yesterday and is coming home tomorrow, but going to Lichfield first.  This means that I'm missing my choir for the second of three weeks in a row, as he was in Paris last week, Amsterdam/Lichfield this week and Berlin next.  Ho hum.

For the first time ever one of my girls mooted the idea of going to school this evening.  M told me that she thinks she isn't doing enough learning and basically that she needs more structure, possibly to the point of some sort of timetable from what she said.  I told her that of course we can do more and that I'm lead by what she (and K) wants or needs.  She was a little bit teary, although that's probably not surprising given how emotional she's been generally lately.  Anyway, tomorrow we have an appointment to meet at the kitchen table at 10.30am and she's supposed to be breakfasted, dressed and have done some piano and French horn practice.  We'll see how it goes!

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.