Sunday:  We went to the Padstow Vintage Rally.  There were a few light showers, but nothing bad.  We knew our landlords were going, and as we turned in, I asked the kids if they would like to bump into Mike, Melanie and their sons.  We parked where we were directed, and getting out of the car in the row in front of us were Mike, Melanie and the boys!  We bumped into them several times during the day.  We saw a bit of an exhibition of strange things tractors can do, a sheep dog display and a birds of prey display.  One of the birds was a beautiful gyr/saker cross and he was most acrobatic, too.

We saw lots of vintage cars and steam tractors, even Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Hubby's parents arrived at the farm after we got back.  They were also staying on the farm in the main house, where they offer B&B.

Monday:  It dumped down repeatedly in the morning.  Later on we went to Crealy Adventure Park, as that was something MissyMousey really wanted to do.  We've done it the last two years, and it is a very good place for kids that age.  She was looking forward to the show with Swampy, but they've stopped doing it.

Tuesday: Took F1-Lad karting late in the morning, then went to Porthcothan beach.  It was a favorite place for the in-laws to take hubby and his brothers and sister.  I got a little too much sun on my feet and lower legs.

Wednesday:  In-laws left for home after breakfast and a little visit.  We then went to Padstow.  The car parks were very full, but we finally got a space right on the quayside.  We had a little walk around.  The speedboats weren't running until after 2:00 PM as it was low tide.  We went walking up over the hill past the war memorial and tried to go down to the beach.  We got to about 12 feet above the beach, but the rocks there were too slippery to get down.  It was a regular track down the side, so I don't know how people got up and down there.

Thursday: Took F1-Lad karting again at St. Eval.  Then went to the beach at Treyarnon.  Spent the evening cleaning up, feeding excess food to the guinea pigs, hens, turkeys, geese, ducks and pigs.  Good fun!  We also packed up and got organized for the morning.

Friday: finished tidying up and packing.  We were ready to go, but had to wait for the milkman to come so we could get and pay the bill.  We left just before 9:00 AM.  The trip to Oxfordshire was uneventful and we drove the 220 miles in almost exactly four hours.

The other day I noticed a wee advert in the Daily Telegraph.  They are looking for a witch to live in the Wookey Hole caves, be a witch and answer tourists questions.  I wonder if someone I know would be interested?  I suppose the living in a cave might be a slight drawback.

Tomorrow morning we're leaving for a week in Cornwall, followed by about a week in Oxfordshire/the Cotswolds.  The kids technically still have school tomorrow, but the cottage we want to rent in Cornwall is let from Fridays, so we don't want to miss an entire day.  They won't miss much.  F1-Lad's teacher said today they did hardly anything.  It is sunny and "hot" here, i.e. it is approaching 80F.  I have heat rash!  There were a few summers in a row when I was a kid when we regularly pushed and broke 100F and I never got a heat rash.  I don't get it.  Aloe gel helps a little, and a friend recommended Aveeno.  I bought some at lunch time and tried it.  It felt nice, but the rash is still there, and getting bigger.  I have a cool pad kept in the fridge in case the kids bump themselves on something.  It is resting on my left forearm, trying to cool it a bit.

Sunday I took the children to church.  As the Catholic Church has a rule about not eating for an entire hour before you go to communion, I usually get up, feed the cats and the children and eat my own breakfast, then shower and get dressed.  Because I now have an aversion to using the blow dryer, I often do not wash my hair on a Sunday.  This Sunday I needed to wash my hair, so I showered first.  It was a beautiful morning, so I decided to wear a skirt and a nice top.

It then started to rain, so we took the car.  :P

We got to church to see there was going to be a baptism.  F1-Lad has a little friend I've mentioned before.  His parents are from Africa, and they named him something like Uhchay.  I have no idea how it is spelt, that is how it sounds.  Uhchay has a little, baby brother.  It was his baptism.  The church was packed with families, friends of the family.  The children were dressed so smartly and looked gorgeous.  Some of the women wore traditional dress.  They were all stunning.  Maybe I should take more care in how I dress.  It might lift the spirits a little.

The baby was so quiet throughout and did not mind at all when Father poured water over his head.  His name is Tobenna.

We came out and let the Church of Scotland people into the main church and went to the lounge for refreshments.  They had decorated it so well, with banners and centerpieces for each table.  There were two beautiful cakes, too.  One was in the shape of a cross and wonderfully decorated in white and pale blue.  The other was square and pale blue, with "God Bless Tobenna" written on it.  Lovely.  I had some of the square cake, and it was an orange cake, tasty, light, moist.  Ogo, Tobenna's mother came around later and asked how it was.  When we sang it's praises, she said how relieved she was, as she had made it herself!  I could never make something so nice.  She could open her own cake shop.  I don't think she will, as I believe she is an engineer and can probably earn much more money that way.

The lounge was overflowing, there were so many people there.  We didn't stay too long, to make room for the guests who had come out special for Tobenna.

Since I've been on BookCrossing, I came to learn about a simply wonderful woman, bumma.  She and her daughter, bookczuk, are also BookCrossers.  Most of what I read about bumma came from her daughter, but other BookCrossers had met bumma or corresponded with her.  By every single account, she is a most delightful person.

For some time bumma had been receiving treatment for breast cancer.  bookczuk took care of her every step of the way and shared delightful stories.  bumma's cancer came back and spread, but bookczuk shared the rest of bumma's story with the world, and she did it in a most loving, wonderful, respectful way.

bumma died Sunday evening.  May she rest in peace, together with her beloved husband who passed away several years ago.

May her family also be granted strength and peace in this difficult time, but rejoice in a life well lived.

PS: I have discovered that Matt was born on bumma's birthday.  These strange little conincidences make life interesting.

Lytteltonwitch had posted a couple of times about a tree sweater she made.  I then saw a brief report on the BBC, I believe it was their Breakfast program, about yarn bombing.  They showed a group of young women who would knit bits then take them to some "street funriture" and put the bits on that furniture, brightening up the surroundings.  Quite often they would put it on signposts, etc.  When they were filmed, they were going around Covent Gardens in London.

So, I asked Lytteltonwitch if this was yarn bombing.  It isn't the same, but similar.  She sent me a link of a nice blog, really charming.  It was written by the woman who created the first tree sweater.  Here is a quote which I just love:

Those of you who have been mocked for making your own tree couture, be strong. Some people just don’t get it. Pity them, for they lack whimsy, and are forever doomed to lead lives of unspeakable dullness.

Here is the link for the blog:  http://erika.fisherking.org/?page_id=271

Thank you, Lytteltonwitch, for that link!

The news circus has begun, we'll have it for days.  Michael Jackson died last night.  Yeah, I liked some of his music, but he got too weird the last couple of decades.  I couldn't stand to look at him, either.  He looked like Death with that distorted face.

I really can not stand the fans who rushed to the hospital, much less the ones who stood there sobbing.  The BBC had one woman on who was sobbing and said she didn't know what to believe.  She'd heard that he had a heart attack, that they revived him, they couldn't revive him.  She was obviously distraught, but over a singer whom she never met?  Who did bizarre things with his children?  Who was put on trial (and found not guilty) for doing inappropriate things with a minor?

As soon as hubby mentioned the news to me this morning, I knew we'd be in for it.  I hate these public, unending floggings of a dead horse.

I cut my first lettuce from my vegetable experiment today.  It was yummy.  :')

Something has eaten the pumpkin, the beans and the tomatoes I'd planted out.  The baby onions and carrots are still growing though.  I still have a couple of bean and  a few tomato plants in the house.  One of the beans has a little blossom forming.  I have to get them in the vegetable troughs outside.  The last ones I put out were suffering from night frosts before they got eaten.  I have some anti-bird netting I can use, so will put that out when I plant out the plants.  I'll probably manage this weekend as it is meant to be nice-ish.

Because I haven't switched them off, I get emails from amazon.co.uk recommending this and that based on what I've looked up and what I've bought.  Just a couple of months ago I bought a new iron from them.  This morning I got an email, advising that several irons are now 50% off.  What?  I just bought one from them, why would I want another one?  Even if it were 50% off?  If my iron had already stopped working, I would be returning it to them for an exchange or a refund!

F1-Lad's football team had a family funday on Saturday.  It was 1-6 PM, and that clashes with cricket.  Hubby didn't come, but I took both the kids.  All but one family was there, so that was pretty good.  One of the moms organized everything, including a burger van and a cook.  Everyone was asked to bring something specific to share.   We were to bring sweeties, others brought salads, buns, sauces (i.e. BBQ, mayo, ketchup).  Someone brought a cake from Costco, does as a football pitch and the team's name on top.  An ice cream van was supposed to come by, but didn't.  We hadn't told the children that, so they weren't disappointed.

About 1:30 there was a football match, moms vs. dads.  Thankfully it was just five minutes each way.  I've never played football (soccer) before, so was rather clueless.  The ground was rather boggy, and I ended up falling over when all I was trying to run!  I got a little bit dirty, but was fine. 

Here's a photo before the fall: 

And a photo of me on the ground:


One of the moms got the football in her face, which wasn't so nice.  She bravely played on, though.  The dads won, but we expected that.  I said before we started we should kind of mill around and squeal a lot.  Well, we actually did do a fair amount of squealing!

The dads then played against the kids.  There were something like eight dads, but thirty children.  Nobody wanted to be left out!  Of course, the kids won.  F1-Lad got a goal!  Then it was kids vs moms.  We were similarly outnumbered.  The moms were all very cautious so as not to injure a kid or knock one over.  The dads were not so delicate!  It was kind of funny, being able to just lift your arms and run past a little one trying to block you.

This was followed by the food.  Quite yummy, but it turned out there was too much.  As the Germans say: better too much than too little.

There was then a presentation of trophys.  The coaches said something then a representative from the sponsor (Pom Print) handed out the trophys.  Every child got one, not just the gala boys.  They said something in praise of every kid, too.  Then there were some extra trophies.  There was on separate one for the child voted best player by the other teammates.  Then there were five with a football boot on the top.  These were for things like best goal of the season, most goals of the season, most consistent player.  F1-Lad won the one for most improved player!  Yippeeee!!  Can you tell I'm proud?  Unfortunately, my battery was dead in my camera.  I managed to squeeze out one or two photos, but that was it.

After the funday one of the families asked everyone back to their house.  They live the other end of our street.  I said I wanted to take my car home first, see if hubby was there, then walk down with the kids.  There was a heavy rain shower, so someone asked me if I could drive the kids up the road.  I agreed, and went to set the car up for extra kids.  I found the cool box I took wouldn't fit in the very back with the extra two seats being used.  I'd miscounted kids and offered the front seat to one of the moms.  Then as we got to the car, I realized there wasn't enough room.  She said she would be happy to have the coolbox on her lap to avoid walking up the hill!  So, that is how we got up the hill.  I took all the children straight to the family's house.  I saw hubby's car in our drive, so didn't stay long.  I took my car back home as I wanted to have some wine.  Hubby had won the cricket, but didn't feel like coming out to the party.  His knee was hurting.  So, he stayed home and I walked back over.

The kids were happy to play indoors, outdoors, on the trampoline, at the computer, watch a video.  None of them were much bothered about the grownups.  Nobody wanted to eat anything.  Some snacks were put out, so they were eventually enjoyed.  With the very long days, it gets dark very late here now.  It was a pleasant evening in good company, but we all drank a bit too much.  We didn't leave until about 1:00 AM, so very, very late for my kids.  I was able to walk home just fine.  Hubby was still up when we got in, and helped put the kids to bed.  We both went straight to bed, but I didn't stay there too long.  I had enjoyed myself a bit too much at the party.  :(  It was quite some time before I was able to go back to bed.

Yesterday was spent doing not a lot.  I don't get a headache from too much alcohol, but I do get a dodgy tummy and just generally feel weak.  That's how I felt yesterday.  Hubby went to the driving range for a bit, and the kids and I lazed.  We had a simple dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and peas.  The kids went to bed early.  They hadn't been all that fussy, considering how little sleep they'd had.  I, too, went to bed early, just after 9:00.  I never noticed when hubby came to bed.

In the sports news, Andy Murray won the tournament at Queens, the first Brit in 71 years to have done so.  England beat India in the cricket Twenty/20 world cup.  I haven't followed it much, but I think that should put them into the next round, but don't quote me on that!

Just yesterday, to make myself feel better after the frustration of the P&R meeting, I put on Don McLean once I had a F1-Lad home from school (MissyMousey went home with friends).

Then this morning on BC FancyHorse posted a link to a slideshow on YouTube.  It is for McLean's song Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) and has Vincent van Gogh's paintings flashing through to the song.  I love this song and can never listen to it just once.  I had already seen the video FancyHorse mentioned, but it was well worth another viewing.  When it finished, I saw a link for a video of McLean singing this song again in spring 2007.  It seemed to have been made at a rather intimate concert.  Although his voice has changed quite a lot, and the presentation was very different, it was still beautiful.  This time it seemed a lot more personal, if you will.

Have a go, if you like:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00shaEWlDzU&feature=related

Thank you, Fancy!  This made me stop and relax for a few minutes.  I needed that!

My daughter will very soon be six years old.  Quite early she - of her own volition - wanted to start using the toilet.  It went quite well and was much easier than with F1-Lad.  However, she still isn't dry at night.  Clean, yes.  Dry, no.

Some time ago we made an effort, but it was of the carrot variety.  If she stayed dry for 14 nights in a row, she could have something special.  We discussed the something, and it was agreed to be a lovely dressing up outfit.  I bought it and it has been in the cupboard in the spare bedroom ever since.  That's probably been a year.  Every few weeks we go through a bout of trying going through the night without pull-ups, but after about a week I know it isn't working and we give up.  The thing is, I'll check her before I go to bed, and sometimes she's wet then, but sleeps right through it.  It can be really difficult getting her out of the wet bed to clean her up and change her and the bed, she's that sound asleep.  I don't get upset with her or run her down about it; if she isn't waking up once she is wet, it is out of her real control.

Last night I decided to give it another go.  This morning she was up and about as usual.  I put on pink and red washing before breakfast.  After she had breakfast, she went up to get dressed.  Once dressed she came down with her panties from yesterday and wanted to know if she should put them in the washing machine.  I asked if they were wet, she said "no".  I asked if her bed was dry; she said it was.  I told her to put her panties into the hamper.  They were pink, but the washing machine had been on for quite some time already.

I was just upstairs hanging up the washing to dry and putting away some dry clothes.  I went into MissyMousey's bedroom to hang up some clothes and there was "that" smell.  I checked her bed.  Wet.  She'd made the bed, so the duvet cover was wet, too.  I stripped it down and am waiting for the washing machine to finish something else to put it on.  I can maybe understand sleeping so soundly that you don't wake up when you wet yourself, but surely she noticed once she woke up?  She was wearing a nightgown, so maybe it wasn't as clingy as wet pj's might be.  Can she really not have noticed this morning that her clothes and bed were wet?  If she did notice, why wouldn't she tell me, especially when asked?  Certainly she didn't think it would dry out by bedtime?

When discussing something about F1-Lad with the health visitor, I mentioned the nighttime troubles, and she said not to worry until MissyMousey was six.  That was some months ago.  I guess I'll have to be meeting up with her to discuss this soon.

Channel 4 have a small series on about the supermarket chain, Sainsbury's.  The idea is they pick some small people with big ideas and trial them.  If the idea were to work, Sainsbury's would spread it throughout the chain.

Tonight's idea was by a woman who had worked in sales all her life: selling insurance to football clubs, selling WeightWatchers.  There was something else, too, but I've forgotten.  She was hired just a couple weeks before the cameras started following her.  Her idea was to walk around the store, pounce on unsuspecting customers and talk them into buying something they weren't shopping for, but Sainsbury's desparately wants to sell.  On her first outing she put on some clothes from their own-brand clothing line, slapped some signs on a shopping trolley and went around picking on women, modelling the clothes.  She'd force a pair of gloves (this was just before Christmas) into someone's hand and tell them how soft the leather was (like they can't feel that themselves).  She'd then ask how much they thought the gloves would cost.  They'd guess more so she could gleefully tell them what a great buy it was.  *gack*

They then gave her a portable microphone so she could wander around the store.  She'd select a customer and do her sell.  Once the poor soul was completely cowed, she'd then ask them to say a few words over the tannoy and shove the microphone in their face.

The whole thing made me feel so uncomfortable.  I'd run a mile from Sainsbury's if I were approached in this way.  I don't need their employees to tell me what I need to buy.  I used to work in a self-serve store and loved it.  I would have hated being told that I now had to go out and push sales to people who were not expecting it.  I mean, this isn't a car dealership.  I felt perfectly fine making my own announcements over the public address back then, but as a customer I'm not going to be doing their advertising for them.  Not for 15 seconds of fame.

So, the next step was doing a trial in two other stores, one near Manchester and the other near Buckingham.  This woman was sent up to select one employee in each store.  In the Manchester store the empolyee lasted one day, and even then she didn't sell as the first woman did.  She parked herself with a trolley full of food in an aisle, and that was it.  The next day she "called in sick".  They didn't even say she was sick, they said she called in sick.  The other woman near Buckingham did better.  The original woman did quite well.

Sainsbury's also did some exit surveys of customers as they wanted to make sure they weren't driving customers away.  The results of that were "mixed".  In the end, they decided to try it out at 20 stores.  I believe they said at the beginning that there are 800 stores.  It will be tested in those 20 stores from the autumn.

I don't shop much at Sainsbury's anymore.  I used to shop there at least once a week, but then Tesco opened a store in my town.  Also, Sainsbury's has slipped badly at the tills.  There are always long queues these days, and loads of unmanned tills.  My Tesco has four self-service tills, but the closest Sainsbury's doesn't.  If queues are long, I'd rather use a self-serve till and get out of there quicker.  If they introduce one of those horrible "store hosts" here, I will not shop there more than necessary.  I'll speak with my feet.

Well, that's the jabs for a year.  The vet recommended some dietary changes for Ash, just to try, because she still has some problems with constipation.  BUT, both cats need dental treatment.  Ash definitely needs a scale and polish, but just might need a tooth removing.  Willow would benefit from a scale, too, and it looks like she might have broken a tooth.  I need to give them the dental dry food more often.

As well as the normal jabs, I got them a six month injection for fleas.  She really recommended regular deworming and gave me some Profender.  You put a drop on the back of the neck every three months.  On the outside of the packet, it says that you should read the insert before using.  Well, there was no insert.  :(  I've gone ahead and put a drop on the back of each cat's neck, but I don't know how to store the stuff.  Guess I'd better call the vet and ask.

Ash has some more Katalax that I must remember to give her every day.

Sunday morning I awoke at 8:20.  I decided if I rushed and didn't shower (could do that later), I could just make it to church.  I was going to leave the children be, just go on my own.  I went downstairs, and the cats had made a right mess in the hallway.  I knew right then the game was up.  There was no way I could clean all that up, get dressed and still make it to church.  Because it is a shared church, we're on a very tight schedule, so there isn't any point in turning up late.

Yuck, yuck, yuck.  Times like that make me feel that I'll never have indoor cats again after these two.

The kids showed up while I was cleaning, so after that I fed them and had some breakfast myself.  The rest of the day was rather lazy.  I'd bitten off a lot last week, and just needed to veg.  We watched the Turkish Grand Prix and Jenson Button won again.  I am still very fond of Lewis Hamilton and feel very sorry for him.  I am extremely happy for Jenson, though.  I was certain that he was much better than the cars he'd been driving.  He'd done very, very well the first part of a season he drove in F1, but after that never had a decent car.  His time has come and he, teammate Barrichello and Brawn GP have turned the entire season on their heads.  Pay off for all that hard work the team put in under Honda, before they bailed.

I'm quite intererested to see which new teams will join F1 next year.  It seems suddenly something like ten new teams are interested in joining.  I don't like the plan to not allow any refueling, though.  I think that will make things rather boring as the pitstops have a big influence on the races, depending upon how well they go, how long the teams fuel the cars, how many stops they decide to make.  Also, last year there were quite a few incidents in the pit lane that really mixed things up.

We didn't know what we wanted for dinner.  In the end I made a pizza.  It was a bit late, so the kids got to bed later than usual.