Monday, October 30, 2006

Jemima crawls... well almost



Not content with rolling to the desired location Jemima has evolved her motion... she starts on all fours, either on her toes or more recently on her knees hands out before her... she shuffles her knees forward a little and then with all the balletic grace of Big Daddy [does that age me?] she belly flops forward arms up as if she is sky diving, this moves her all of 4-6 inches. No wonder she is always a little bit sick, the force on her stomach pushing the food out... might explain the hunger and the table eating....

It's Dark

It's 16.40 and it;s gloomy outside - winter will be here soon - roll on March!!

The extra hour

Well that time of year again when the clocks change... I managed to enjoy the benefit of the extra hour this year, pulling the duvet up over my head and falling asleep. We'd done our best to wear Elspeth out, there's little point wearing Jemima out as she is a law unto herself and would seem to be fitted with super duracels or some form of self perpetuating rechargable battery [like those Kinetic watches] the more she moves the more energy she seems to have.... are straight jackets for babies deemed inhuman and/or degrading treatment?

Elspeth woke, without the benefit of an alarm at what she thought was her normal hour - 6.30, but it was 5.30... singing for a while she eventually shouted "is it time to get up yet".... soon there were 4 in the bed -it's a king size, but really it's not THAT big.

Elspeth was full of beans and doing small jumps on our bed near the headboard, I asked her as politely as you can at nearly 7 o'clock on a Sunday morning to stop, in stepping away from the headboard she planted her size 9's and all her weight squarely where stars shot across my eyes. Doubled in pain I heard a little voice exclaim "that was a surprise"... too right it was a surprise!

Friday, October 27, 2006

Wild sunrise



After my derogatory comment I have to eat humble pie, I got up this morning to a beautiful sunrise, perhaps God's county is [South] Yorkshire afterall...

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

God's own county




My Dad, being a true Yorkshireman - I must get him to explain what that is - always told me that Yorkshire was God's own county, how did you know this - well because he sends his rainbows to shine over Yorkshire. Well to all the uninitiated - that'll be all the 1 to 6 year olds! There are so many rainbows - not because it's God's own county [that's another discussion], but because it's mostly RAINING! ok not mostly, just from September until February - still at least it's not 6 feet of snow!!

It's been a while

Well it is difficult to blog every day, I am also neglecting the birds, we're out of peanuts and the seeds are low.
On the up side... Sarah is bringing up our wonderful daughters wonderfully, work is fantastic and is really engaging and Christmas is fast approaching.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Farewell

Well tomorrow is the day when the Adlards leave these shores, a lump rises in my throat as I lament their departing. I am not one for great long standing lists of friends, I am discerning, at least that's what I tell myself, I guess I make friends very slowly, it takes time to mature and culture; as a consequence I have a handful of friends, most of whom [to my chagrin] I keep in touch with by email because I move away from them... something subliminal there then perhaps... an inability to forge very close friendships....? In James I found someone who had a similar sense of humour who tolerated me and my liking for real ale and single malt, a liking in which we indulged from time to time [not really enough though I fear].

It helped that we are similar ages and both experience the "joys of pregnancy" and the arrival of our respective first born children within a matter of weeks, I have fond memories of being sat outside at dusk on a sultry Summer evening, cigar in hand, enjoying the peace and tranquillity and the novel experience of a Romeo and Julietta... half of which is still in the tube in my sock drawer.

I know that we'll see them again and we'll trade mails and maybe phone calls, but in a world that is made so small by technology, nothing can really ever replace an evening sat around a table sharing a meal or a drink. I look forward to raising a glass or two in the Southern Hemisphere next we meet.

Taking a leaf from the Adlards, Sarah and I are exploring the possibility of working overseas before we're too old and decrepit to enjoy ourselves... we'll take the children of course.