Handmade paddleboard

Our friend Eli is so creative and resourceful, just like both of his parents.

He had built a sailboat out of a piece of driftwood, but it was a bit unstable so he decided to turn it into a paddleboard with a little help from his dad.

Bob removing some old nails from the paddleboard

Eli, Tryfan and Rhiannon on the paddleboard

Tryfan having a go while the rain started to fall

On Lake Chelan, looking downlake (south)

 We had a good time just hanging around and chatting while the kids paddled around. Nobody fell in or even got wet, except for a few raindrops.

Riding in the back of Bob's truck.. always a highlight of being in Stehekin. 

We hung around the Nielsen house playing ping-pong and chatting. We look forward to being with these guys all year and so when we are actually here, we just try to soak up as much as we can.

Lovely Tammy next to her beautiful garden sink

Video games

Grandma Bucky loves playing video games like Bejeweled, and her great-grandkids sure love to watch!

Us and Grandma Bucky

We visited with our longtime friend Wendy this morning and she took this happy photo of us all..

Bakery Girl

When I was 17, I worked in the Bakery (aka the Stehekin Pastry Company) for the whole summer after I graduated from high school. That is how I met Robbie (my employer as the owner of the Bakery) and Tammy (my co-worker). The Bakery is the Best Place in the Stehekin valley and probably the world.

So when Rhiannon asked Robbie if she could help do some baking and Robbie said YES and invited her to come early the next morning to help out, she was over the moon!

 I mostly stood around drinking coffee and chatting while Rhiannon did some actual work! Robbie let her make a blueberry pie from scratch, starting with adding water to a batch of flour and shortening to make the pie crust dough.

 She also got to make pizza and rolls with some wholegrain bread dough

Bread rolls before they went into the oven

Blueberry pie and baked rolls ready to eat! (And cinnamon rolls in the foreground)

This morning was definitely a highlight of the Stehekin trip for Rhiannon. Big huge thanks to Robbie for inviting us to come.

Friends in Stehekin

Stehekin is a really beautiful place, but the best thing about visiting is seeing the friends and family that live there.  We had dinner at Bob and Tammy's house this evening and they invited Robbie and Cragg to come along too. They have the best house in the world -- each and every detail has been deliberately crafted and it has such a delicious warm and playful atmosphere.

Rhodri, Grandma Bucky, Eli, Cragg and Andy

This winter they added a ping-pong table in the middle of their living space to join the climbing wall, swing, rope ladder, fireman's pole and hammock.

 

These pictures are mismatched but shows all the highlights of their fun space

Sussex to Stehekin in record time

We are off on a week+ holiday.
My cousin Annie is getting married in Tucson next weekend and the kids are in the wedding so obviously we have to go to it, even though school isn't out for the summer until July 24th! But I didn't want to go all the way to America just for a weekend and then realized that I really didn't want to spend too much time in Tucson either.. So I hatched a plan where we would fly to Seattle and then make our way to beloved Stehekin at the head of Lake Chelan for a few days before heading south to the wedding.
We had a great flight on BA from London to Seattle (everyone watching movies and trying to sleep a bit), then a short, pleasant transit through Immigration and Customs. I had reserved a charter flight with Northwest Seaplanes to take us from Seattle straight to Stehekin over the spine of the North Cascade mountains, but was warned this was highly weather dependent. The days preceding our travel day had been pretty grim - rain and mist and unsuitable for flying - but on Sat June 22nd, the weather was fair and gorgeous.


Jason from NW Seaplanes picked us up at Sea-Tac Intl airport and drove us across town to their seaplane terminal in Renton, where we weighed our bags, loaded the plane, and towed it down to the water so we could board for our flight.

Putting the plane in the water using a crazy homemade truck

Self-take in front the plane

We got into the plane with our pilot named Ted and everyone put on headphones so that we could talk to each other during the flight.

 We took off and started our 60 minute flight over the mountains.

Looking back at the Seattle skyline with the Olympic mountains behind

Looking south towards Mt Rainier under cloud in far distance

Looking north towards Mt Baker

It was the most beautiful journey in the sea of snow-capped mountains, and I sat in the back seat alone studying the icy tarns ringed with pale blue melt water and searching for the familiar shapes of the mountains that I know.

Approximate route we flew, along north flank of Glacier Peak and over Ross Pass south of Dome Peak, then down the  south fork of the Agnes before turning into the Stehekin valley

R to L: Glory Mtn, Buckner and Booker with Horseshoe Basin under cloud.

 We circled over Grandma Bucky's house when we saw that Bruce the truck was still in her driveway, and Rhodri saw her come outside to the porch to wave at us.

Landing on the water

It was the most wonderful landing - like sinking slowly into a deep feather bed without a sound or awareness of which was the moment of contact. It was like a long sigh.

Beautiful light as we taxied to the dock to meet Grandma Bucky

We calculated that it took us 12.5 hours elapsed time from when our flight left London Heathrow to when we piled into the back of Bruce at the Stehekin Landing! That has got to be a world record! And we are so, so glad to be here.

Carmen, the opera

Last night we got Chloe to babysit so that Rhodri and I could go see a screening of the Metropolitan Opera's rendition of Carmen, starring Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna. Neither of us had seen this opera before but of course the music is familiar - Toreador and Love is a Wild Bird are the most well known songs. It was  an outstanding performance which I enjoyed so much. We should get out more often....

Sports Day 2013

Today was the school's Sports Day. Last year we got rained out but this year was fine. It was sort of cold and drizzly by mid-morning, but that didn't seem to bother anyone too much. They competed as classes, so we went back and forth between Rhiannon's class and Tryfan's class to see them compete in overarm throwing, standing long jump, egg-and-spoon race, beanbag targets, sack racing, and regular running.

Blythe and Tryfan running for their lives

Our friend Danni took this photo of Blythe and Tryfan. All the kids looked like they were having a lot of fun and we adults got to stand around chatting and cheering. Good times!

Our friend Laura

Last night we had an overnight guest - my friend Laura who works for the same company that I do, except that she works in the field on a 5 week on/ 5 week off rotation on one of the ships. I actually don't know her that well, but we have a close mutual friend (Michel). She lives on a sailboat that her Argentinian husband recently built and they have just returned from a 35-day trip to Antarctica on their sailboat. She is such a cool lady! It was fun to have her stay with us and hear her stories. Hope she comes again to visit.

Performers

T & R have been really into practicing acrobatics lately - mainly headstands, handstands and cartwheels. One day they came downstairs wearing Rhiannon's shiny fantastic leotards!

Father's Day

This morning I came down to the kitchen and encountered these two monkeys trying to make toast for their dad on Father's Day. We brought up toast, coffee and the Sunday paper and had a little party in bed with Rhodri opening his cards and a couple of small presents.

After the "Starter Breakfast", we had a real breakfast and then set off to ride bikes on the Cuckoo Trail. We have been talking about going on this for awhile but just hadn't really looked into what the logistics would involve. As it turned out, the logistics were very simple and we had a fantastic outing!  We parked in Hellingly and rode up to Horam, which is another village distance of 4.5 miles away. The trail was really lovely and very leafy. It was kind of a drizzly morning but not too cold and it felt good to be out in the fresh air riding bikes!

Self take on the Cuckoo Trail

Once we got to Horam, we were ready for some refreshment. We stumbled upon Wessons, a really cool biker and cyclist cafe in the middle of the village.

Father's Day at Wessons in Horam

After our leisurely and nourishing stop in Horam, we got back on the bikes and sped back down to the car in Hellingly. The return trip was slightly downhill so it was extra fun to ride fast.  We got home and by then the sun had come out so we lounged around and played in the back garden. I made a nice Sunday dinner of roast lamb and vegetables and the kids played lightsabers with Rhodri afterwards.

So all in all, it was a really nice Fathers Day.

My Dad

This weekend I was digging through boxes in the attic and came across this photo of my handsome Daddy which was taken when he was 40 years old (I know this because of the date printed on the photo). Its strange to think that I am nearly the age now that he was then.  I remember taking this photo of him - it was the night before I went back to school at Principia in St Louis and our family had gone out to dinner at the Red Lion Inn in Santa Barbara - my favorite place to sneak in and use the hotel swimming pool back in the day. I have another photo somewhere which has all 6 of us in it but I don't know where it is. I guess I need to get my ancient photos in order someday. Anyway, since it was Father's Day weekend I felt extra happy to see a photo of him standing and smiling at me.

Swiss Family Robinson

This evening our friends Bruno and Cat came over and we had a screening of the fabulous 1960 film "Swiss Family Robinson".  It is nonstop action and adventure without the fancy CGI effects of today's movies. All three kids thought it was an awesome film and we had a superb evening of entertainment watching this and enjoying together. Highly recommended!

Fledglings

A few days ago (Tuesday, 11 June) I witnessed such a special event while I was at work in Gatwick!
In previous days I had been appreciatively listening to the chirping of baby birds who had apparently hatched into a nest in the eaves just above my desk. I could see 1 or both parents flying to and from the nest throughout the days, so I wasn't that surprised to hear the chirping of baby chicks! And it was ever so pleasant to work underneath this busy and excited scene. But then today around 10:30am I all of a sudden realized that I couldn't hear the chirps anymore! What the...??

I looked outside and saw this: two baby blue tits with their fuzzy heads clinging to the bricks on the side of the building, looking back and forth and seeming to talk to each other.... "Let's go together!" "No, you go first and I'll follow." "No, lets go on the count of three!"... and their little fuzzy heads twitching to and fro. Then Mama bird (I'm assuming Mama, but could have been Papa) did a fly-by and must have shouted something at them "Come on kids, its FUN!!!" and then a few seconds later one of the birds got brave and flew off towards the massive oak tree about 100 feet away. "But what about meeeee?", I could just imagine the lone chick saying. She was all alone, still clinging to the brickwork. After about 2 minutes, she too flew off but quickly came back as if panicked that she couldn't make it all the way to the tree. She struggled to find a brick to land on but eventually found one to rest on for a few more minutes before giving it another try. This time she made it to the tree and that was the last I have seen or heard from either of the fledglings or their parents. They have truly flown the nest.

I've thought so much about these fledglings and what their Tuesday must have been like. Did they spend the entire day flying and exploring the wide wide world with their parent(s)? Did they start building their own nests to move into? Had the parents already built them nests to move into before today? Did they learn how to fly AND how to catch worms on the same day? What a big day for these little blue tits! You'd think on such a landmark occasion, they would long to go back to the nest they grew up in to get a good night's sleep. I realize how little I know about birds. I would not have even known these were blue tits except that my colleague recognized them.

Summer evening

It is so nice to have daylight until pretty late at night now. I took this photo of Bentley watching over the back garden just after 9pm and it is still so light outside!

Tryfan asked early this week if we could have this for dinner on Saturday and he was so excited during this whole week.  Our friends Sophie, Oscar and Emma came over to go on a walk through the fire-damaged area in the forest and then we had the long-awaited delicious meal of Bird's Eye fish fingers.

Forest Fire!

Yesterday was the first day of the new Forest School program with Rhiannon's class, which was in the afternoon. When I got back to the school to take the kids home for the day, a neighbor told me that there was a forest fire across the road from our house!

Here is an article about it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22793133

We resisted the temptation to go across the road in the late afternoon when billows of smoke were overhead, fire engines were racing down our street, and helicopters were hovering overhead! It was actually a beautiful evening and we were relaxing by playing cricket in the back garden. But the next day after school was finished for the day, we went on a family walk to survey the scene.

Sure enough, a big swath of heathland had burned. Not too many trees got burned - it was mainly gorse and heather out in the burned area. But it was impressive to see.

 There were some fire fighters still out there who actually got their Land Rover stuck in the boggy heathland. We figured that our standing around heckling them wasn't helping them get unstuck, so we headed home. By then we had run into several neighbors and friends so it was quite a community event!

Fire fighters trying to get their Land Rover unstuck

My new companion for work

When I go into the office for work, I drive through lovely rural English countryside for awhile and then get on the motorway for just one junction before arriving at Gatwick. This commute means that I don't actually go into the public at all - just home, into car, drive to work, park the car, walk into the office, and then the reverse at the end of the day. So I've been carrying the most naff, tacky briefcase bag ever - a company freebie from a meeting a few years ago. It is totally cheap quality and embarrassing to carry, but it does the job. And since I never venture into public space in my work life, it doesn't matter. But the other week when I met Macha in London straight from work to go see "A Chorus Line", I had to go into the public! And obviously I couldn't bring my naff bag, so had to borrow Rhodri's for the occasion. This really made me become determined to find a suitable replacement bag that I would enjoy carrying around.

And then Sioned came to visit...
She was carrying a really cool tote bag made by Freitag and I knew the moment I saw it that this was the company I wanted to buy a laptop bag from! So the weekend she was visiting, we spent hours looking at their website trawling through the various options and colors until I decided on this little beauty.

      

The wonderful thing about the bags made by Freitag (in case you haven't seen their website by now) is that all their stuff is made from used truck tarpaulins and seatbelts. How cool is that!? I would love to go visit their factory in Zurich. Anyway, today was a happy day because my bag finally arrived. It took exactly a week from when I ordered it to when it was delivered. And along the way, I had such fabulous emails from them! I was really tickled when I received this confirmation email:

It’s ready! The traditional two-hour packing ritual has been successfully completed and in just a few moments we will hand over the finished package to our trusted courier.

The courier, full of enthusiasm at being a part of this experience, will hurry through the fresh spring weather to personally deliver your new recycled accessory. 

Although rare, it sometimes happens that when he arrives, excitement and breathlessness result in the courier being somewhat out of sorts and unable to express the cordiality that is welling up within his heart. Please forgive him and break the ice yourself – preferably with a hearty clap on the shoulder, a quick hug or a kiss on the cheek. He will thank you for it and who knows, you might even end up celebrating the momentous arrival of your bag together. 

Thanks again for your purchase and all the best from Zurich,
The FREITAG Online Team 

PS: We found the perfect soundtrack to accompany the celebratory bag delivery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5FfJ89rGPc

Insect Day

R & T joining appendages to become an insect

Today would have been the first day back to school after the Half Term, but it was an Inset Day (called In-service in the USA) for just the teachers to do their stuff without kids around. Tryfan thought everyone had been saying "Insect Day" and that everyone had to dress up like an insect. We laughed about that one.

As it turned out, today was another lovely day so the troops and Rhodri got to play a lot of cricket in the back garden. Rhiannon spends a lot of her time practicing handstands and cartwheels when she is not at bat.

Sunny weekend with friends

We try not to plan too much for the weekends - actually, we usually plan nothing at all for the weekends - but my favorite thing is when we get together with friends spontaneously. On Saturday, after playing for part of the day with Mark and Toby at their house, the whole family came over in the early evening so we adults could sit outside enjoying the spring weather and the kids could watch a movie in their jammies. Look how cute they all are!!

Tryfan, Mark, Toby and Rhiannon in their jammies with their cuddly toys

Looking out the window to where we adults were sitting around drinking wine

Then this morning, Rhodri went for his normal 8 am cycle ride and the rest of us headed over to my friend Corinne's house since her husband Simon was out riding with Rhodri. We had a lovely breakfast and then played in the back garden until it was time to go home. Oriel is in the year above Rhiannon and Arthur is a year below Tryfan. They are both kind of afraid of dogs, so Corinne wanted us to bring Bentley so that they could see that dogs aren't really so scary! Corinne has a very inspiring vegetable garden that she grows from seed, and I loved getting a tour around it.