17 years and counting

Today was our 17th wedding anniversary, and it turned out to be a very good day!

We headed out mid-morning to go for a walk on Conwy Mountain. It was really hazy and cloudy when we set out, but the sky brightened quite dramatically as we were up there and soon we were basking in sunshine.

We spotted some wild ponies on a bluff below us, and so first Tryfan and then Rhiannon went down to stake them out. They very quietly and slowly crept close to them and soon they were only a few centimeters away!

 By the time we were starting to head back to the car, the sun was really shining and so we just sat and laid down in the heather and soft ground to enjoy the moment.

Dreaming of a trampoline

The kids and I have been trying to convince Rhodri that we should get a trampoline.
Now the "middle earth" part of the back garden has been transformed, it is a perfect place for a trampoline! In order to try and convince him that we should get one, they wrote this song and performed for him while I held up a photo of the 12 ft diameter one that we want to get...

Good times in the back garden

Not! It is like pulling teeth to get these kids to work. Reminds me of my childhood spent pulling weeds before I was allowed to do anything fun.
Today was a public holiday (Easter Monday) and it was great to have the day to just get stuff done. As it turns out I spent a lot of the day catching up on my work stuff, but I did spend some time out carrying branches and raking.

We got it done in the end and the back garden is starting to shape up!

Easter gathering

Last night we had a couple of boys from the village stay with us so their parents could go out for the night. Max and Ollie are in Rhiannon and Tryfan's classes respectively at school, and of course we know them quite well. It was unusual to have visitor on Easter Eve, but we rolled with it. 

In fact, we invited Bruno, Sophie and Oscar over as well and made a bit of an event out of it.

The E.B. did make an appearance and left clues around the house for the 4 kids to search for their Easter chocolate bunnies. Then the other guests arrived around 10am, we had the big hunt outside in the back garden, and then everyone came in for some brunch.

I made huevos rancheros using the trusted and true recipe from Uncle Phil and Aunt Libby, and it was quite a success. Our kids loved it, but others were a bit more skeptical. That's ok.

 Everyone left around 12:30pm and then we got to work in the back garden clearing the branches and so forth. We had a lovely supper and talked to Grandma back in California, then called it a day. 

Football, frogs and fun on Good Friday

Today was such a gift.
This morning dawned bright, sunny, vivid, and best of all - a public holiday! No school or work or anything mandatory! I went for a run on my favorite loop through the heathland, and on my way I spotted something that I wanted to show others later today (...frog spawn!).  Then we all did some work in the back garden moving branches of the mutant tree down to the very bottom of the garden. 

Rhods chainsawing logs

 We aren't done working down here yet, but we did make some progress.

View from the bottom of the garden, looking up towards the house

Later we had a picnic lunch at the Jubilee Green, played some football with friends, and then explored by the creek. This is when I showed everyone the frog spawn I had seen earlier! This photo of the spawn even shows the eyes and nose of a frog looking at us.

 

We will be checking back here at the creek every day if we can to see the progress of the frog spawn! So exciting! Then we all went back to our house for cups of tea and more football and rugby in our own back garden.

 

It was a beautiful, wonderful day in so many ways and we all savored it!  Would be nice to have more days like this, but today will keep us going for awhile. Reminds me of this song by Elbow... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7El5ZKP3LnM

Racing through the pastures

Tryfan and the rest of his cub scout pack (Fletching #1) were asked to compete in a running race against some of the other local cub scout packs. They did pretty well and it was a semi dramatic setting for running. And at least it wasn't raining, and also I got to hang out with Anne Marie who was there with her 3 boys.

Ready to run, Tryfan in the foreground

The funniest part was actually at the end when the "officials" read out the results and gave the medals and trophies. 

 These ladies sure take the role of "Assistant Deputy County Scout Commissioner" seriously! They had name badges and their scarves and woggles, and I found the whole thing quite funny. I could just about hear my Dad chortling next to me - he used to love scenes like this. So it was nice to have a little chuckle to myself and feel close to him for a few minutes today.

Burning stuff

This week flew by! All of a sudden it is the weekend again. So lovely. Today we worked in the back garden all day. Rhodri was chainsawing things up and I was tending the bonfire. It was a chilly day but the wind direction was perfect (blowing southeast) so we made the most of it.

Just the coals on the fire now... perfect for cooking

There was also the first village market of the year just down the road, so Rhiannon and I took a break and went down there to see what (and who) was around. We ended up buying some sausages from the Bates whose pig farm is nearby, and then cooking them on the fire and inviting the Denslows around to join the fun. Love spontaneous gatherings!

C2C 2016

Cat and I went to the Country 2 Country (C2C) music festival today at the O2 arena in downtown London. Yeehaw!

We got there around 3:30 pm and the doors opened at 5pm so we had time to wander around and have some food before venturing into the main arena and finding our seats.

We were waaaay up near the top. 3rd row from the top, actually. There wasn't a heck of a lot of yeehawing and dancing in our part of the arena, which was a shame, but the bands were really good and we enjoyed ourselves!

View from our seats (yes, that is the ceiling in the foreground)

Next year I think I will need to be down on the main floor section. We ended up leaving before the very end. Carrie Underwood was the big name for the night, and neither of us are really "into" her music, so it was a good excuse to start making our way back home before the other 30,000 or so people joined us. As it turned out, this was a great move because actually we would have missed the last train back to East Grinstead and that would have been a bummer.

I was stoked to hear Maren Morris perform on the small stage here. Her song "My Church" is a favorite here at Chalfonts and Rhiannon can even play it on the guitar and sing along!

Timberrrrr

Those two trees came down today, and what a difference this will make!

From the bottom of the garden looking towards the house at the dead tree (on the right) and the overgrown mutant bush (taking up the rest of the photo)

I can't express strongly enough how much I hate this mutant bush, It is as big as a tree, and from a distance it looks like a tree. And actually up close it looks like a tree also, but it doesn't deserve to be called a tree. Its a big hairy smelly monster that seems to have been growing out of control for the past 20 years or something. 

Michel comes to town

Our good friend Michel came to see us this week, and it has been so great to spend time with him.
We were very close when we all lived in Norway, and when Rhodri was out traveling then Michel would often help me out or even babysit for us. So the kids remember him from when they were very small.
On this occasion, he was attending a conference in London so flew into Gatwick, stayed with us 2 nights, and then flew back to Oslo. We didn't take very many photos at all but this morning before we left the house, Rhiannon was a little early bird so we took a couple with her.

We do love it when people come to visit us!
Thanks Michel :-)

Mothering Sunday

Today was the British Mother's Day and it was indeed a lovely one for me.
I was treated to coffee and toast and fruit (pre-breakfast) in bed, along with the Sunday paper. That is always a nice way to start. Rhiannon and I hung out in the morning and Rhodri & Tryfan went to their rugby practice, as normal. In the afternoon we went for a walk in a place that none of us had been before. Actually we were hoping to see some birds, as we have been sort of into bird watching lately, but we didn't see many at all in this section of the Ashdown Forest. Still it was nice to explore somewhere new.

Look how big these kids are getting!! They are nearly the size of me!
We didn't go for a special meal anywhere - I'd rather just bung something roasty in the oven and relax at home than get dressed to go to a pub or restaurant which is crowded with other families doing the Mother's Day dinner type thing. So it was a great day in the end. I'm so grateful for my sweet family.

Big storm on a Wednesday

Today a big crazy (ok, crazy by British standards rather than by American standards and thus relatively mild) storm swept through Sussex. The day started gorgeous and clear, very bright. Then just after lunch it got suddenly very cold and started snowing.

I was working from home today so got to enjoy the view from my bedroom-based desk.

Note the big dead looking tree in the center (and it is actually dead). This guy is coming down in a couple of weeks along with the big weird overgrown bush that is to the right of it.

Anyway, the storm came and went and then it was a normal Wednesday afternoon again.

Leap Day 2016

Happy Leap Day!
I've really enjoyed this day and we have tried to make the most of it. On Radio 4 they have been talking about people who made some kind of "leap" in their lives on the last Leap Day in 2012, and I have been really enjoying hearing these inspirational stories. There was one about a man who had been suffering for years of depression and panic attacks (just like Bob in "What about Bob?"), and on the last Leap Day he made the brave move to take a bus ride. Its amazing the things that seem small to one person are such a big deal to another.

Anyway, this Leap Day we all wrote letters to our future selves which we then sealed up and put into safe keeping until Feb 29th, 2020. I found it very difficult and strange to write to my future self, and i kept messing up the tenses between 1st and 2nd person. But it is so interesting to imagine what life will be like 4 years from now.

Lewis girls go to Lewes

This morning I had a hair cutting appointment in Lewes at 9:30am, so Rhiannon came with me and we made a bit of a day of it! I got my hair cut, then we walked down the high street going into loads of charity shops (thrift stores). Rhiannon got a really great jacket and I got a couple of shirts, and it was really nice to just be out in the world with my beautiful girl. We had lunch at the Riverside Marketplace, which I've always wanted to go into but its normally so busy I've stayed away.

But today we had a perfect table right by the window in the back corner, and we ordered yummy food and enjoyed our time together.
Later this evening, we had Lauren coming round to babysit so that Rhodri and I could ride bikes to a dinner party down the road. Good times!

Rhodri's adventure

We came back to England to go back to school and work, but Rhodri stayed in Norway with Petter, Geir, and Darren and helped lead another course of arctic expedition skills.

There was a film crew out with them on a couple of days, and then this little video clip was on NRK television channel in Norway earlier today

http://www.nrk.no/trondelag/ekstremturister-trener-i-trondelag-1.12819925

PS. My little sister has a birthday today and we have been thinking of her all day, knowing she is having a fabulous time in Hawaii with her family!

Old friends reunited

Today we had kind of a girls reunion over at the Scotland house. Leigh and her family invited Rhiannon and I over for a walk and lunch, and it was so lovely.

The dogs got really wet and muddy, and we had a great time walking and talking. By the time we got back to the house, lunch was ready and it was a delicious roast lamb meal. 

Pony Morning

After getting home on Wed night, we took it real easy on Thurs, especially since Rhiannon wasn't quite 100% yet. We had signed her up for "Pony Mornings" at Tremaines Riding Stables nearby, but we had to cancel for Thursday. Fortunately the rest did her well and she was good to go today.

The Pony Morning lasted from 9:45 - 12:30, and each person got assigned a pony to groom, then ride, then feed. I think Rhiannon was in heaven when she got to spend all morning with her favorite horse Della.

Next week is back to school, and these Pony Mornings only happen during the school holidays, but now we know about it, we'll sign her up again.

Sweden to Sussex

This morning was windy and Rhiannon felt poorly. In fact, she woke up several times in the night to throw up in the toilet. Poor thing! Tryfan wasn't all that great either, but he was feeling better than last night. It was sad to say goodbye to Rhodri and Geir, but we needed to give ourselves plenty of time to drive down to Trondheim, return the car, and check in for our flight at 3pm. 

It was all going fairly well except that Rhiannon felt really dodgy the whole day. On the flight from Trondheim to Oslo, she threw up before we could get the sick bag out of the pocket and ended up getting her whole outfit covered. Poor thing! So as soon as we landed in Oslo, we went in search of new clothes for her. Although Tryfan was sitting right next to us, he was totally oblivious that his sister had just puked all over herself. Typical! 

So anyway, we managed to find some new clothes for our girl and hung out in Oslo until our flight to Gatwick. My friend (and former manager) Lyndsey was on the same flight as us so it was nice to see her. The only bummer was that it took awhile to get through immigration, and then we discovered that our bags had been lost along the way. But it was pouring rain so it was actually a blessing to not have to drag the bags from the terminal to the car park (15 min walk). We were pretty tired by the time we got home, but we made it safe and sound.

Now we will have Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun to recover before going back to school on Mon 22 Feb.

Final night in Sweden

Tonight was our last night here before the kids and I head back home and Rhodri stays on through the weekend. Tryfan wasn't feeling 100% so he spent all of dinnertime (at Flamman, again!, for our 3rd time this trip) laying on a couch upstairs. Rhiannon kept going up to check on him and keep him company, and Danny the waiter from Majorca also looked after him. Such service!

Rhiannon doing a self-take with Tryfs on the couch

Darren, Geir and Rhodri

It was really cool to be able to have dinner and chat with Darren and Geir - they are both such interesting people.

Danny the waiter and Lena the owner/ chef

We really actually don't want to leave tomorrow!

A day in Åre

We left first thing this morning after breakfast (well, 09:23 we were on the road, which was pretty good for us) and drove 1+ hour to Åre to visit Klattermusen (for Rhodri) and go skiing in Sweden's main ski resort. The kids and I spent about 30 seconds inside Klattermusen before wandering off to explore the village.

Pufferfishes

We bought afternoon ski passes that started at 12, and we got on the slopes about 12:10 so pretty good going. We skiied in the Åre Bjornen part of the mountain, which is mainly for children and families. Perfect for us!

We had loads of fun and nobody got hurt.