Ashdown weekend

This weekend was the long-awaited "Ashdown Weekend", which is held every other year at the recreation ground in Danehill. It had the feeling of a wedding without any bride or groom. That is to say, everyone dressed up in their nicest clothes, most feeling a bit awkward about that, but making the most of the occasion anyway.

"The Gaters": Sarah, Phil, Liz, Marc, Lucy, Rhods, Mac, Anne-Marie, Sasha, Gordon, me, Naresh, Jules, Adrian, Charlotte, Catherine, Vicky, Ed, Sharon, Rachel and Johnny.

 It was a self-catering event, meaning that you bring your own food and drink and pay for the privilege of doing so. Ha. I was lukewarm about going to this in the first place, but we figured we'd go this one time since a lot of our Chelwood Gate ("Gater") friends were going and had already arranged a nice meal.

Uninspiring view of the inside of the marquee

It started at 7:30pm and finished at 2am. We walked the mile+ back to our house and were in bed around 3. Fortunately Cat had suggested that I bring some other shoes to walk home in and I was so glad that I did this!

Poor Rhodri had to get up early to go help take down the marquee, and then we had stupidly volunteered to help out at the school fete this afternoon. It was a very long day today.

Revisiting the ol' hood

This past week I was in Asker, Norway for work and I made the most of this time to see as many of my close friends as possible. I arrived on Monday night and stayed with Michel in Oslo, then Tuesday went into Asker to stay at the Scandic Hotel for a couple nights. I surprised Hanne by showing up at her belly dancing class at Elixia.

Hanne and her class of belly dancers

 Then after having dinner with my manager Lyndsey at the hotel, I reunited with Beate for a few hours in the evening to catch up on our lives. It was fun to see "little" Max who is all grown up now,

Beate and Max

By coincidence, my long lost friend Elin and her family was staying in the same hotel even though they live in Asker. It turns out that they have moved to Houston for a couple of years but were back in Asker visiting their friends. I didn't get to see Sophie who was Rhiannon's bestest friend, but I saw Johanne (Tryfan's friend) and their new little sister Eva. It was really great to reconnect with Elin.

Elin with Johanne and Eva

 On Thursday night I moved out of the hotel and stayed at Monica & Helge's house just across the street from the house we used to live in. Monica had kindly arranged to have Phil and Emily and their brood over for supper so that I could see them too! Phil ended up taking the kids home while Helge put Kristoffer and Joachim to bed so that us three ladies could have a girly night staying up late.

Phil, Monica, William, Emily and Olivia

Friday morning I flew back to Gatwick and did a few hours in the office before heading home. It was a really great week in Asker and I felt so grateful to have been able to be go there.

Big one gone

Tryfs lost his first top front tooth this week right before I left for Norway.
He looks so cute with that big hole in front!

Taming of the Shrew

This weekend we had tickets to go see the production of Taming of the Shrew which was being performed inside a barn on a working farm near us.

We went on the Family Day and had a picnic and tour round the farm in the back of a cattle truck before the performance at 4:30pm.

There was a lot of discussion beforehand about rodent shrews vs. bad-tempered women shrews, and Tryfan was especially interested to find out what/ who the shrew was. The lady who played Katharina had terrific facial expressions and she was really fun to watch.

Rhiannon with "Minka" in the cattle truck

We had good seats in the back row (only 4 rows) and although the play was a bit confusing and long-winded to start with, it soon became entertaining for all.

View from our seats inside the barn

Rainbow loom crazy

All the kids around here are totally obsessed with these rainbow rubber band projects. Rhiannon talked me into buying 1800 bands and 75 clasps for a mere £2.70 from Amazon, and both she and Tryfan were SO happy when they arrived a few days later!

They mostly make bracelets, but they are now venturing into bigger projects like the jump rope they made above.

Lovely neighbors and sunshiney days

We have had a super weekend of neighbor friends coming over to play and just hang out chatting, and then also being invited over to other neighbors houses to do the same.

Classic Chalfonts scene in the late Saturday sunshine: food, wine, laundry, kids playing

We had a good match of soccer in the back garden and played until late in the evening.

On Sunday, Rhodri and Gordon went to Essex (~1 hr drive) to spend the day doing a rugby-coaching class so that they can become youth coaches in coming seasons. I called Anne Marie (Gordon's wife) around mid morning to see what they were up to, and it turns out they were on their way to her parent's house to spend the day swimming. She invited us along and we were absolutely thrilled to be able to spend this gorgeous day playing in the pool and lounging in the shade.

Rhiannon, Joe, Tryfan and Sam

The men came back in the late afternoon and we all played in the pool for a bit before heading back home for dinner and bedtime. Great day all around, except that Rhiannon got a little bit sunburnt. Actually, the whole weekend was absolutely ideal. More of this, please!

This year's batch of Elderflower Champagne

It is elderflower season again, and so it's time to brew up some champagne using this trusty recipe that has worked well in past years! Rhiannon and I made a really good team mixing the ingredients together, sterilising the bottles, and then 24 hours later pouring the precious liquid into the clean bottles, ready to sit and ferment for a week.

Bedgebury outing

This morning we celebrated the last day of the month by going to Bedgebury Pinetum to meet some of Rhodri's other cycling buddies for a family mountain bike outing. 

Rhiannon, Sam and Tryfs with their ice creams after the ride.

It was pretty fun but also hard work encouraging the little guys on the uphill sections. Rhodri and the men split off to do the difficult single track routes while another Mum and I took all the kids on a "family circuit".

What is this monstrosity?

Rhodri has started building a shed from scratch in the back garden. I've been teasing him about it because work is very slow going and it might be a long time until we have a functioning shed. Anyway, it is good to be making some use of the space that is overgrown back there. Right in the middle of the back garden is the ugliest plant in the world. I don't want to call it a tree because it is more like a ridiculously overgrown and dense, dark bush. 

Monstrous bush-tree dominating the back garden with Rhiannon for scale

I think we are going to try and remove this monstrosity. Rhodri has started cutting off some of the lower limbs and chopping them up, but this "thing" is absolutely enormous and ugly. We'll have to get some professional help to remove it.

Joy in Kristiansund

After our lovely weekend in Copenhagen, Rhodri and I said goodbye at the airport on Sunday night - he flew home and I flew to Kristiansund, Norway for a few days of work. I was there to work with our "small boats" instructors on some computer stuff, but they took me out in a small boat to show me what they use the them for (mainly zooming around the mother ship, transferring people from one place to another or else practicing man overboard drills by throwing dummies in the water). It was apparently the most beautiful day of the whole year, and I felt so lucky to have a chance to zoom around the islands for a few hours.

Kitted out in work suit, life vest, gloves and helmet

Looking back to the downtown Kristiansund waterfront

I even got to drive for a little bit!

Kristiansund and the tour I went on with my colleagues

It was a really great and short trip, and it was made extra special because one of the instructors (Stanley) used to work with Rhodri back in 1996-1999 when Rhodri used to work on seismic ships. Always fun to hear stories about the old days...

Me and Stanley

I flew back last night and then have a busy rest of the week lined up to see us through the end of May. What a fantastic month this has been!

The Pen License

Rhiannon has been working very hard at her penmanship so that she could earn her Pen License at school. This is an actual license card that is given, along with a brand new pen, to someone who has demonstrated through their school work that they use tidy, neat, legible handwriting all the time. Sophie is the only other Year 3 student who has one as of yet, and there are some Year 6 students who don't have theirs yet! So Rhiannon has been working really hard to prove that she deserves her pen license. Finally the day came!

Rhiannon receiving the Pen License from the Head Mistress of the school.

Copenhagen

Rhodri and I escaped for a weekend in Copenhagen! Sioned offered (or was persuaded) to come babysit the kids all weekend while we gallivanted.

Walking down Nyhavn on Fri night

We flew on Fri afternoon, checked into the hotel and then took the metro into the city (10 min ride away). We just explored on foot and eventually found a place to stop for an aperitif (Amadeus Music Cafe) and then it started pouring with rain so we moved inside, then found a sushi place to have dinner, then made our way back to the hotel for dessert.

On Saturday, we had breakfast in the Sky Bar at the hotel and then rented bicycles from the hotel and rode into the downtown area to spend the day pedaling around exploring stuff.

Exploring by bicycle

 It was really fun to just pedal around with all the other people on bikes without any stress or fear of getting hit by a car. We stumbled upon the famous Noma restaurant and tried to have a drink and snack there, but they have a waiting list that is several months long so we just loitered outside for a bit and then pedaled away.

Me in front of the world famous "Noma" restaurant - notice the beehives on the grass behind!

Beer and nachos stop near Nyhavn on Saturday afternoon

 It was a beautiful day and we were so grateful to have a chance to be out together in the wide world exploring a new and interesting place that neither of us had ever been to.

View of our crazy-looking hotel "Bella Sky Copwell"

We didn't go see the Little Mermaid statue, and we didn't go on a canal tour, but we did think of coming back with the kids to ride bikes around town and possibly rent a canoe to explore all the canals next time!

Canal where we had coffee (left).

On Sunday we took the metro back into the city to go to the Naval Museum, which was very interesting. We spent a good couple of hours there and even found these clothes that we could try on!

At the end of the day, we went back to the hotel to get our bags and then headed to the airport. Rhodri flew back home and I went on to Kristiansund, Norway for a few days of work. It was a really great weekend and we are so grateful to Sioned for making it possible!

Village Fun Day

Today was the long-awaited Village Fun Day on the "Jubilee Green" next to the village hall. It was a perfectly mild and slightly overcast but bright day. We hadn't planned to staying at this thing all day, but that is what happened in the end.

The three amigos: Rhodri, Gordon and Mark

View of the whole scene from the main road

Rhiannon looking after William

After the village day finished around 5pm, Gordon and Anne-Marie came over with their tribe of boys and we sat outside enjoying the good company and fair weather. Sunday rose clear as anything and it was such a treat to simply appreciate the sunshine and blooming flowers.

View of the back garden early Sunday morning

Eurovision 2014

Rhodri and I watched nearly the entire Eurovision Song Contest tonight, and it was really great! There is no equivalent for the mixture of different cultures in one place. This year it was in Copenhagen, Denmark where I happened to be a few days ago (by pure coincidence!) and the hosts put together this video that explains a little about the contest. I love how random this "12 Point Song" is!

There were some truly entertaining performances - among them, the Polish entry "We are Slavic" which featured some busty ladies churning butter and handwashing some clothes; the Russian entry with twin girls that had their hair tied together and then ended up on a see-saw (after hair separated); the Greek entry featuring someone doing fancy trampoline moves in the background and then the whole band got on to jump as well; the Swiss entry featuring some dazzling whistling talent, and then the French entry "I want a moustache"

Quick visit to Denmark

I took a very quick business trip to Fredrikshavn, Denmark this week. I flew Gatwick - Aalborg but had to transit through Copenhagen (where Rhodri and I will be visiting in a couple of weekends time) on the way there. I didn't recognize her at the time, but I actually walked straight past this very strange looking person who went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest (Conchita Wurst).

Sunset stroll along the beach in Fredrikshavn

View of the stern of the vessel "Columbus" from the quayside.

View from the stern of the Columbus back to the quayside

Spectacular colors on the way back to the airport Thurs night

Funny sign at Aalborg airport

It was a short but great trip, and I had an especially enjoyable taxi ride with a Palestinian guy who has lived in Denmark for the past 28 years (moved when he was 2 yrs old), married to a Serbian lady with 2 kids who are magazine models! I felt so lucky to be out in the wide world meeting interesting people.

Camping in Dorset

This weekend we went camping in Dorset with our friends Chris & Roland and their kids Max, Nicky and Phillip. We got up early on Saturday morning and were on the road by 6am to arrive at the campsite just before 10am. We were camping at a place called Brig's Farm, and it was a fantastic place to camp.

Breakfast time with the troops

We set out for the beach in Lyme Regis first before heading over to the closer beach of Charmouth.

Picnic on the beach in Lyme Regis

It wasn't all that warm (as you can see from the clothes we are wearing), but the sun was shining and we were all so happy to be in this part of the country that none of us had ever been to.

We found some lovely ammonite fossils

The kids enjoyed hunting for sea glass - they are easier to find than fossils but just as fun!

Great times on the beach

It was a super weekend: the kids had a great time together jumping on the trampoline at the campsite, hunting for sea glass, playing with Bentley and the farm dog Aggie, and generally being kids out in the fresh air; we adults had a great time staying up late talking by the campfire while the kids slept.

Actually, the weekend started out terribly because within 5 minutes of arriving to the campsite on Saturday morning, Bentley had found a patch of badger poo to cover every inch of his fur coat with brown smelly nastiness. Bad Dog. So on Saturday afternoon before our friends arrived, we went to the beach in Charmouth and Bentley spent about half and hour in the waves chasing rocks that Rhodri threw for him. Bentley also got a sand and seaweed bath to try and scrub out some of the remaining poo. On the way back to camp later, we stopped to buy some dog shampoo and then Rhodri took a shower with Bentley to make him smell decent again. Anyway, after this episode the rest of the weekend was fantastic! We drove back to Chalfonts yesterday (Monday) morning because this was a public holiday.