Chief's Day

Today is Chief's Day, as it would have been Dad's birthday and just feels right to celebrate it. He would have so enjoyed today in our household and I loved carrying with me in thought all day. It made me - well, all of us because we kept talking about him - smile.

We had a pretty busy morning and have now started a new project brewing ginger beer, so we were in the thick of this today as well. But the real excitement came at 2:30 pm when all the electricity went out in the village and with just 30 minutes until the England v Sweden quarter final! Oh dear! We phoned around and found that actually the Social Club in Danehill was showing the game and they still had power so we headed down there.

Leigh and Aggie met us there as well, and we also saw the DFs and the Coldbreaths in the club, so that was fun. It is more fun watching games with a big audience anyway! Anyway, Rhiannon and Aggie peeled off to go to the park across the road, but they found Zoey to join them first. After the game we all convened back at Zoey's house since they have a pool and the kids all went swimming.

It was an eventful day and quite exciting that England won the game. Dad would have enjoyed watching with us.

World Cup 2018

We've all been enjoying the football/ soccer games that have been going on as part of the World Cup in Russia. They are on telly at very civilized times of 3 pm and 7 pm, so we've been watching as much as we can. Some of the games have been thrilling, especially the Germany v Korea one that ended up indirectly sending Mexico to the next round. Love it.

Tomorrow is the England v Sweden game which should be good, and after the nail-biting victory over Colombia on Tuesday this week, everyone in the country is pretty amped. Of course, Dad's birthday, "Chief's Day", is also tomorrow and he would have been so enjoying this World Cup tournament as well. 

Heat wave

We've had at least two weeks now of warmth and sunshine - such a novelty!
The lawn is going brown, the potted plants are dry and needy, bedroom fans are running all night long, and we are all soaking it up. One day the rain will return, but until then we are enjoying it.

Pool Party

It has been so hot lately and we are really wishing that we had a pool to jump in. The neighbors we have who DO have pools have NOT invited us to come over! Boo. But then today I had a brilliant idea which is to go up into the Vachery forest to the natural pools and bring tools to drag all the leaves and dirt out. My own family was Not Impressed At All with this idea, so I called Cat. As it turns out, Sasha and her boys were on their way over to Cat's house and then they were all going to go down to the Jubilee Green to play football. So! We made a bit of a session out of that and turned it into an advertised 'Pool Party'.  In fact, we invited Rhiannon's friend Evie to come over and join us as well. So then it really was a party actually. 

Here we are all working... ok, not ALL of us working! The girls were perched up on the rock refusing to pitch in but adding to the ambiance of the occasion by playing music through the wireless speaker and looking stylish.


We had to rush off towards the end of it in order to be able to get Evie home, make dinner and watch the World Cup game tonight, but it was a fantastic afternoon.

Gordon's 50th

Our friends are turning 50! That is a bit crazy.
Anyway, today was Gordon's turn and he had a big shin dig at the Haywards Heath Rugby Club with loads of other rugby families.  I was a designated driver and that was fine with me. When events like this kick off at 2pm and go late into the night, they can get a bit dodgey. But all these guys are sensible and it was a family affair. Rhiannon was Very Happy to be invited elsewhere to a friend's house and sleepover, so that was perfect.

Summer concert at UCTC

Rhiannon is part of the Yr 7 choir, and tonight was the big 'Summer Concert' which she performed in alongside several other musical ensembles.

Actually this has been a special week so far, since Tryfan is on a school residential trip to Kingswood.  So tonight we 3 went to dinner in Uckfield at the Picture House Restaurant and then on to UCTC for the performance. She doesn't look too happy in this photo, but I guess she was just concentrating. 

Weekend of triple action

This was a big weekend, where many events were planned to take place all at the same time...
The Ashdown Weekend, which happens only every other year and always requires a lot of involvement from the school community; Summer solstice; the junior squash tournament; the village mens trip to climb the highest mountain in Ireland (organized by Rhodri); and a ladies trip to visit the Barker family in Germany (which I organized)! We needed to call for reinforcements, so Nain and Taid came down on Wednesday night to overlap for a day before Rhod and I went separate ways for the weekend.
Cat, Sasha and I flew from Gatwick to Stuttgart and met our dear friend Chris. She met us at the airport and drove us back to her house. We had a lovely time together riding bikes, going out to dinner, exploring the town she grew up in, watching Germany beat Sweden in the World Cup, lounging around in conversation, sipping the occasional glass of prosecco, and just purely enjoying the quality girl time!

 Meanwhile, Rhodri and the 'Gaters' (men from Chelwood Gate) enjoyed a stunning day on which to climb the highest peak in Ireland, called Carrauntoohil. Despite some tricky logistics, they all managed to get there and hike up and down together without any incident.

Meanwhile, the troops and their grandparents lived it up with lots of special treats, plenty of badminton games, and shuttling between the local events going on. To top it all off, Tryfan won the 'Under 12s' division of the squash tournament by defeating his two nemeses one after another. Nice!

The traveling Foxes

We've had a wonderful visit from the Fox family this weekend! What a treat to have members of my California family come and stay with us. And the even better news is that my baby cousin Rachel is going to be studying in London for a year starting in September, so we will get to see more of her than we ever have before. 
I met them at the train station on Saturday at 1pm and took them back to the house (which Rhodri and the kids had kindly tidied and made presentable for guests!). We settled in for awhile, then took a long walk around to the Coach pub where we had beverages and snacks, then walked the short way home.

Today was Father's Day so we had a nice leisurely morning with suitable appreciation shown for the fathers in the house, and then we took a walk to the Cat Center (through the forest). We decided not to go to the Red Lion for refreshments but instead to our house for some lunch and a siesta period. Later in the afternoon we went to the Griffin Inn in Fletching for Sunday dinner.

It has been so relaxing and enjoyable to spend time with these people! Amazing. We can't wait to have Rachel around more often. Tomorrow they are all heading off on various onward adventures, and of course the kids have school and I have work, but its been a fantastic weekend all around. The only bummer has been the weather, which has been a bit grey and chilly compared to some of the days we have had recently.

Bit of local culture

I joined Cat, Sasha, Lara and Joelle to go see a play at Tablehurst Farm
How exotic! It was called 'The Seagull' and written by Anton Chekhov. It wasn't a very uplifting play, but it was really enjoyable. I loved the super small stage inside the same barn where we once caroled to the cows on Christmas Eve.  And we enjoyed a nice BBQ dinner beforehand on the farm as well.

The backstage was just a plank of wood with chalk written on the floor indicating who should sit where for the 4 scenes. We 5 were on a similar plank of wood in the front row - very close to the action!

In fact, we even walked through fields and climbed over gates to get to the farm in the first place, which was made all the more enjoyable with these long June evenings of light and warmth. It was delicious.

Oil and soil

We ran out of heating oil today so no hot water in da house!
Good thing we have the Squash club down the road. We all went down there for our Sunday evening washing and scrubbing duties tonight. It was kind of an adventure actually.
We should get the oil delivered on Tuesday, same day that we are getting two big bags of soil dumped on our driveway so we can repair the lawn. It was kind of funny. At least it is warm right now and not a great hardship to be without hot water.

Not your normal church service

This is a favorite song right now, and they went on to sing it in church but not with quite as much gusto. Actually, Tryfs was giving it loads and jumping around but the older kids were a lot less enthusiastic about it. Too cool, you see.

May Camp

Rhiannon is at May Camp this weekend. They got so lucky with the weather!
May Camp is basically the church youth group that goes camping at the Plumpton Racecourse for the long weekend and they have loads of things going on. It is the Big Event of the year for the TNT (Teen Night Together) youth group here.

These photos don't do it justice at all, and hopefully i can get some more photos from another source. But anyway, she had a great time and came home absolutely exhausted.

 

Our own outing

Rhods and I went on our own little adventure today while Rhiannon was at May Camp and Tryfs was at a sleepover. Such luxury!
We went on a nice walk over the crest of the South Downs and then headed to The Bull pub in Ditchling that we had never been to.

We had considered doing other exotic things like going into Brighton, going to the opera in London, etc, but our own backyard with just us turned out to be just the ticket.

House specialities

This week I brought home 4 blue plant pots that I found in the bushes at work! They are so beautiful. I discovered them while I was playing soccer (football) during lunchtime outside in the car park and spied these on the other side of the pitch in the bushes. So I got the facilities guy at work to help me get them into my car and I brought them home! Here they are with some new plants in them...

 Another great happiness has been my healthy rhubarb plant colony. They are so prolific and happy. Cat and I created a cocktail called "the Chalfonts" which is equal parts rhubarb cordial and gin, with half a lemon squeezed in and a third of a tiny can of tonic water. Here we are in the shade with the first round of Chalfonts...

 Meanwhile, Rhiannon hung out in the tent reading and Bruno & Tryfan played football

Happy days indeed!

Fun Run

This morning the kids did the Ashdown Fun Run while I was one of the volunteer staffers.

It was a beautiful morning and I was happy to be out in the fresh air cheering on the runners.

May Camp preparations

Rhiannon is going to the big 'May Camp' weekend at the end of the month, and she will be sharing a tent with Sophie, Zoey and Izzy. In fact, they will be sharing our tent so Rhiannon and Sophie spent some time practicing putting up the tent in the backyard.

 It took them a few hours to do it, and Rhodri helped them out a bit, but they got there in the end.

Royal wedding

It has been gorgeous weather lately, and what a gift! This is truly the most beautiful place when the sun comes out and all the spring flowers are in bloom. Today was another stunning day and the most perfect weather for a royal wedding. Our neighbor Jane and friend Emma both came over so we could watch the event live on telly from 12 noon to 1pm.

 I do hate being inside on days like this, but for an hour today it was worth it, especially to hear Bishop Michael Curry give an animated sermon about the power of love. Rhodri was working outside but partially listening in, and then eventually came inside to hear the gospel singers perform as part of the wedding. Fabulous!

Later in the afternoon a bunch of us rallied at the Danehill Rec to commemorate the occasion.

 In this particular photo, one of the little girls had just lost her first tooth and then had LOST that first tooth in the grass so we were all searching for it.

Eurovision 2018!

Rhods and I went to a fancy dress Eurovision party at Leigh and Stuart's house tonight.
The kids had a sleepover with Sophie and Oscar, so all good!

Israel won with the crazy 'chicken song'... I was hoping she would win because how fabulous is this?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CziHrYYSyPc

Art exhibition

Tonight was our friend (& neighbor) Mary Grant's exhibition opening at a gallery in Forest Row. Emma picked me up and we went together to join a whole bunch of other familiar faces!

It was a rather sophisticated evening actually, quite exotic for a Thursday night!

Special visit

Aunt Mary and Uncle Harvey stopped by this afternoon. I happened to be working from home today, so I was able to take an hour out to have tea and cakes with them on the back deck. It was a really nice visit and we are grateful that they were able to make time to stop by with us.

Bluebells and baby lambs

It has been so gorgeous the past couple weeks. From about April 20th through May 10th or so, the bluebells are out and the trees are this beautiful light green color and the fields are filled with ewes and their baby lambs.  So anyone who is reading this, I recommend this time of year to come visit! 

Rugby boys

While Rhiannon and I were in London and hanging around home, the boys were in Devon playing loads of rugby and doing other manly rugby-related things. By all accounts, they had a great time and also played really well in their matches against other clubs.

They arrived back home tonight and we had a happy reunion exchanging stories!