Robin Redbreast

Without a doubt my favourite British bird is the robin. They are cheeky, territorial and often very tame. Gardeners all over the country have their robin stories, and in many cases, their own robin. John often gets followed around the flower beds by one here who will sit on the blade of the spade when John is only feet away. It's on the lookout for worms, and sounds as if it's getting cross if it has to wait too long for food.

Last week we saw a pair of them on the back fence, they nest in a tree in the neighbours garden and come here to feed. I am hoping we see the young this year.

some weather

Winter is cold in the UK, so too is the summer, both tend to be wet and for the last two years we have experienced more rain than we could imagine. Then this year we had snow. Lots of deep, fluffy, quiet snow. The heaviest falls in 18 years. Schools were closed for two days, trains were not running to London, so all kids and John were at home and I plodded into work with my wellingtons on and had to leave early before ice formed and the footpaths became dangerous. Locals organised a mass snowball fight on the green and Bosley the cat was delighted, he jumped in it and played and when Em went into the garden to build a giant snowman he spent the entire time outside with her. We were all sad when it turned to rain. Despite the impact on the economy it was a hoot. The girls, Adam, his friend and I got into a big snowball fight near the railway track with some boys from the high school. What a laugh. People were talking and friendly, kids played outside and there was a real feeling of peace!

2009

This is the first entry for 2009, hello all and Happy New Year. Back to blogging after a strenuous end to 2008. One by one we fell ill, John was in bed for a full week, then the girls, and finally in fits and starts me. Adam is the only one who did not succumb.

We did two Christmas dinners, one with Adam cooked by me, and one without him cooked by John. What bliss it was to be out of the kitchen all day. But how lucky we are to have 2 bashes at Christmas dinner.

I had a few short days at work and then we drove NORTH for the year's end. It was action packed. In typical Whitley Bay fashion, Nancy cooked for England and fed us wonderful food. The cousins got along, John and I caught up with friends and had a 'date' in Newcastle, such a beautiful town. New Year's Eve we all danced at the rugby club and Adam by this time had joined us from Manchester. On January 2nd John turned 50 and there was more food, family and drink to celebrate with him.

We got back to EG on January 4th and preparations started for John's 50th party. Held here, we cooked for and entertained 27 people, many friends that John has only been able to catch up with since he got back to the UK. It was, I say modestly, a great day, but I was still not well and while the last of the guests lingered in the conservatory, I snoozed in the living room while the remaining children played on the Wii!!

December update

Here we are at the darkest part of the year, cold too. I have not written since October because things were piling up.

The kitchen was finished....it is fantastic and we have done so much great cooking in it.

The Japanese grandparents came for a week and we had fairish weather. We did not get to do all that much as I was ill and in bed for part of the week. A day trip to London, a trip to Standen and lots of trips to Wickendens in town (the very old sweet shop).

In November Adam turned 17, we celebrated with a meal out at his favourite eatery in town. The girls bought him a beautiful blue Saimese fighting fish, which very distressingly for all, died only two weeks later. He was spotty, therefore ill.

I too, turned a year older and had a great day. John gave me perfume and a frozen (dead) rabbit that he bought from the Farmer's Market for me to cook. I love the idea of game and have wanted to cook rabbit for some time now. The kids are not convinced.

We had dinner at home on my birthday after dropping in to a Dutch friend's house where they were celebrating Saint Nicolas and Black Peter's arrival. John had been asked to pound on the front door, which made all the kids inside scream, while they were trying to see who was at the door, my job was to sneak around to the back of the house and throw handfuls of ginger cookies and chocolate mice in through the window. The confectionary missiles caused even more screaming, but they loved it.....
Now we are in the middle of Christmas planning, and we are having a big party for John's 50th in January, at home, so that too is very much on my mind. I am going to take a day off work next week to start cooking. First of all, pork and chestnut stuffing balls....they are divine!
Hope you are all well.

Polly the Mexican Red Knee

We took Emily to the London Zoo for her birthday out...http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo//

The weather was great and we enjoyed the whole day. Highlights were the Okapi (significant memories for the girls as the first Okapi came to Yokohama when we lived there), the poison dart frogs, (blue, red, yellow and green, gorgeous.), the aquarium and the meerkats. Emily was keen to see the Spider Show and I forced myself to join in as I have a well ingrained fear of them, the bigger they are the more scary, and hoped to overcome it in some small way. After 20 minutes I was converted...well almost!

Polly, the Mexican red knee tarantula was the star, she sat completely still on her keepers hand while we were told all about her habitat, life cycle and her character. There was a question and answer session and I got close enough to take a lovely photo of her. There is no way I would want a spider as a pet, nor would I encourage Em to keep one, but I was reassured that some spiders are quite good at just keeping to themselves and that they mean us no harm!

Stars - some wearing very little!

Adam has been assigned to his band, they are classmates, not friends and between them have to learn to play together, set up practise time, work out travel and other costs to get around and all in all be just like a band that is out there playing gigs. We are looking forward to the first performances!

The girls both auditioned for West Side Story as Hispanic chorus girls, but were not selected this time. What cool! Neither of them were phased, they just want to try for the next performance!

John's choir is planning a Calendar Girls type spread to raise funds.....tastefully naked choristers! Mmmmmmm.

Life with no kitchen

Well, week three and we are now at the thrilling stage where we can COOK on the new stove and wash dishes in the new sink, with extreme care as the silicon has not been put around the joints yet! There is light, the walls are painted, there are however, no handles, no tiles and the wiring is not finished. It has been a huge disturbance in the lives of this very busy family, but we have learned to cope and I am very proud of everyone. I do not miss washing dishes at the tap outside, but realised that this is how millions wash their food, clothes, bodies and dishes everyday, so it important to appreciate all we have.
I have not blogged much as we have had limited phone and internet coverage lately.