The end of March

Last week the school term came to an end on Fri March 27th. There is so much going on at the school right now and I think every single person sighed a huge sigh of relief on Friday afternoon as the Easter holiday period kicked off! Rhodri has been away since March 19th and he returned late this evening as well. We had a very good weekend organizing our house and getting ready for the final stage of work on it, which involved sanding and then sealing the floor...

We have had to be verrrry careful on this floor and not walk on it. So in order to get to the kitchen, we have to walk around the outside, but at least we have a door to use over there!  Rhodri has been working really hard and even waking up at 6:30am on the weekend in order to get coats of tung oil down. Anyway, nearly there now!

Our first stall at the village market

We have been talking about selling our concrete art projects at the village market for a few months now, and today was the day we took action! Sophie spent the night last night, and meanwhile Tryfan went to their house to stay over with Oscar. It was a pretty good arrangement all around, cause the boys got to play Skylanders and the girls got to watch a film that the boys definitely would not have been allowed to watch (Pitch Perfect). All good!

In the morning, we packed up all the functional concrete artwork carefully into a roll-along suitcase, and we walked to the village hall to set up. I sent the girls on ahead to find someone to talk to, as we hadn't reserved any space to set up our wares ahead of time (despite trying quite hard to do so). The Lady-In-Charge was Not Impressed, although she reluctantly let us set up on this huge table near the entrance. The cost was £20 to pay for a table for the market which ran 10-2 on this day. This seemed pretty steep, but having gotten this far, I was willing to pay. However, as the day wore on and we received very little traffic to our table, the lady took pity on us and reduced the price to £10, then eventually waived it altogether.

In the end, we did manage to sell a single item which was our "Eggbox", retailing for £3. Our neighbor Susie bought it and we were so happy! So all in all, those were 4 hours that I'll never get back. But there are worse ways to spend a chilly, blustery Saturday - we got to chat with loads of neighbors and friends from the community, so that was pretty fun. Rhiannon managed to spend quite a bit of her money because she bought a grown-up-looking leather handbag from the stall across from us. She had been eyeing it all day, and eventually she just got out her money and bought it! It is really nice though - reversible pink and beige leather with a beige zip purse inside, and a shoulder strap that can go with either the big or the small bag. She was really stoked.

View from marquee entrance, our stall on the left

Tryfan, Oscar, and Rob showed up at the market in early afternoon and joined the herd of other kids (mainly boys) running wild in the forest at the edge of the green and playing soccer on the green itself. Rhiannon and Sophie soon joined the herd of feral kids and I was alone at the stall to see out the day, pack up and take the stuff home. It wasn't a bad day but I am not sure if we will be attempting another stall at the village market any time soon!

Solar eclipse 2015

There was a lot of drama surrounding this partial solar eclipse that came our way today.

http://www.solareclipse2015.org.uk/the-partial-eclipse/

There was a lot of publicity in the news ahead of this special event and people were really excited to see it, especially since the last one in 1999 was really spectacular. Thus we had several weeks of build up and anticipation, everyone very buoyant and so forth. But then a few days ago, a letter was sent out to all the parents at the school which was rather negatively worded and depressingly bureaucratic. The letter basically said "We are going to forbid all children from going outside during the period of the solar eclipse because of safety reasons. Hopefully they will see a solar eclipse during their adult lives." !!!!! Parents were a bit disgruntled to say the least! This led to a flurry of emails and phonecalls and threats to keep kids off school, etc.  It was quite a lot of drama! As this day turned out, there was such a thick layer of cloud you couldn't even see where the sun was supposed to be! Our household had put together several different gadgets to help us witness the eclipse - a projection box, a mirror with a cardboard hole cut out over it, blankets and tarps to be able to make a comfy viewing area in the middle of the Danehill village green.... but alas, none of it was to be used.

In the end I dropped the kids off as normal for the day and hung around the village green hoping that the skies would clear a bit, but they didn't so I drove to work. I stopped at a car park along part of the Ashdown Forest and just spent the 10 minutes either side of the actual event (due at 09:35) laying alone in some dead bracken looking up at the sky and listening for changes in the birdsong. This was the view from my patch of bracken - fairly uninspiring! But it was really really nice to just lay on the earth and tune into my senses. When I got to work about 20 minutes later, I was really chilled out and relaxed. I should stop for a little 15-20 minute lie down on the earth more often!

Rhodri, however, was in Norway and he apparently got to see the whole thing under spectacular clear skies! Lucky dog.

Nice to be back

It was a good trip to California, but it is so nice to be back home!

We went out for dinner at La Casa the night I got home and this was a special treat.  My two little cuties got dressed up for the occasion - well, Rhiannon did anyway. Tryfan needed some convincing to change out of his "cozy trousers" (aka sweatpants or tracksuit bottoms) but he got there in the end.

When we sat down at the table, Rhiannon excused herself to the ladies room.  Some minutes later she emerged wearing some blingy clip-on earrings and eye shadow to go with her outfit. Such a little miss!

A brief dose of California

I had an opportunity to nip over to southern California for a few days, so I took it and flew off by myself! My Mom picked me up at LAX and we drove 2 hours across LA traffic to see my Grandma Linda who is in a nursing center. I hadn't seen her for awhile and she looked really well, I thought. We had a happy reunion, however brief, before driving another 2 hours up to Santa Barbara. The sun was setting as we drove the back way (sort of) from Pasadena to SB, and we passed Six Flags Magic Mountain, which looked rather romantic in the sunset sky.

 

On Saturday I got to go to water aerobics with my Mom, then a bit of grocery shopping and then home to hang out with Eric, Kristin and baby Billy. After a couple of hours, we headed downtown to the beach and then to their house. It was the most glorious afternoon - really warm for SB, about 80 deg F (25 C) - and there was a strange optical illusion out at sea which was weirding us out a bit.  I was soooo happy to be at this very spot at this particular moment. Bliss. It would have been better if the kids and Rhods were there, too, of course.

Billy, Kristin, and Eric

On Sunday night we had the weekly family dinner over at Grandma Bucky's house.  Plenty of people were missing, but it is always a great crowd over at "G-Buck's" house, not to mention the consistently wonderful food that she prepares. Tonight it was meatloaf, and this was one extraordinary loaf!

Libby, Corinne, Kristin, Billy, Eric, Grandma Bucky, Mom, Heidi, and Molly

On Tuesday, Heidi went back up north to her family and I hung around SB for a couple more days. I met Mom and Grandma Bucky to see a matinee movie (2nd Exotic Marigold Hotel), which was really fun.

 On Wednesday morning, I spent a couple of hours at G-Buck's house and we dug through some of the genealogy work she has done over the years as well as looking through old photographs. It was really great to be able to sit at her breakfast table and dig through all these fascinating archives.

Thursday (today) I tied up some loose ends and then will take the SB Airbus back down to LAX and fly back to London. It was a short trip but very full and VERY worthwhile. I'm so grateful that I got to spend these days with my precious family.

Headtorch outing with the Beavers

Tonight I took Tryfan and his little Beaver buddies to the field next to Sheffield Park National Trust site so that they could go on a headtorch (aka headlamp) expedition. It was still pretty light when we set out, but on the way back it was spectacular due to the full moon rising over the rolling landscape.

We also saw a murmuration of starlings, which I was very excited about. I had only ever seen videos of this phenomena but never in real life! I don't have any of my own footage because I was too engrossed in the moment, but here is a website that looks like it has good photos and video of murmuration: http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/s/starling/roosting.aspx

This gorgeous evening followed a really good day as well, since at Forest School today we built dragon lairs which turned out to be far more creative and interesting than even I had anticipated. Good times.

Guitar Girl

This girl has been very diligent about practicing guitar. Sometimes she still rolls her eyes when we remind her about practicing, but she is getting really good at playing!

Pancake Girl

Here is Rhiannon making pancakes on a Tuesday morning before school.
Love this girl !!