More double meanings

Had the sitting room plastered yesterday......now there's a whole new set of verbal misunderstandings.........I promise by the end of the day of being plastered I was still standing upright and quite sober.

Decorating double entendres

Oh how the English language can get you into trouble. We have finally succumbed to a decorator coming in to do his best on the sitting room. It's not been touched since we moved in seven years ago. We have lived with orangey browney walls below the dado, a dirty cream above and a green ceiling. We don't even notice now that the chimney breast has been half denuded of its anaglypta since we put a wood burning stove in six long years ago.

Anyway it couldn't go on as it is now directly juxtaposed with a brand newly decorated, spick and span dining room. I procrastinate as it is about decorating my daughter's bedroom so the sitting room wasn't going to get transformed by my clumsy hand any time during this century.

Anyway back to the fun of the English language. My friend rang up at lunch time and asked what was happening in my life to which I replied "Well there's a man stripping in the front room." Wails of laughter followed and a confirmation that it was wall paper being stripped and nothing else. My friend's joy seemed slightly tinged with disappointment.

Later I popped into the sitting room to ask if coffee was required. The decorator had resorted to a steamer to strip the awkward bits. "Gosh it's hot and steamy in here," I ventured with windows condensing and a wall of heat hitting me. I rest my case.

Liverpool Library Lives

How refreshing to be excited by a library...at least architecturally when all around me are closing. Liverpool Central Library has been transformed. Let's hope the Council can afford to continue to stock it. How fabulous to have a roof garden from which to view the Liverpool skyline and a dome  to look up to that took my breath away.

The dome of the new library

Older folks enjoying themselves - how dare they!

Lots of trips out this last week. C, H and I went to Rode Hall to view the lovely snowdrops. It's an old hall with beautiful grounds, a café and a walled garden. The kind of place that retired people with lots of time go to look round.

We got out of the car, walked down to the gardens and my 6 year old daughter piped up "They are all old people, Mummy." And there were quite a few older folks come to see the delightful snowdrops and have a coffee in the café but quite a few of the younger types too. But for the first five minutes H was quite fascinated and a little self-conscious about the prevalence of older folks, stating her dismay in quite a loud voice. Her brother on the other hand couldn't have cared less as he flung himself down the grassy manicured sloping lawns and I mean flung himself. H soon forgot about the 'older folks' and joined in too.

Wood 2

It's been half term which means a trip out to The Wood. We collected my friend and her daughter - more manpower and a playing mate for the children and met my brother and his partner at the wood. This was my third trip but no more walking through the wood and admiring it but working this time. We cleared undergrowth away from some new oak and silver birch saplings. Quite hazardous at times with branches poking in eyes and brambles drawing blood.

The children found a likely place for a den and constructed a bridge across a damp patch. C fell in the bog but was undaunted.

However, we will have to get our act together for next time. In previous journeys we have treated ourselves to lunch at a deli in the local town but this time we plumped for a campfire and a stew: cheaper and more in the spirit of wood dwelling. But we weren't very organised. What's the expression....too many cooks.... we discovered that we had no kettle in which to boil water for our morning coffee nor cups from which to drink the reviving brew. But we channelled Ray Mears and boiled water in a wok and drank French style from bowls. First hurdle crossed.

Still there was the stew to look forward to except we soon discovered we had no spoons with which to devour the stew. Well actually we had one spoon and although we are all friends together we did think it might take rather too long for seven of us to eat our delicious fish stew with one spoon no matter how bonding it might be. So one of us was dispatched to the local town and charity shop to procure 7 forks for the grand sum of 10p each. Henceforth they will be known as The Woodcraft Forks ( a gentle pun on Woodcraft Folk which my brother's daughters and his partner's son used to go to when they were children). The stew was delicious and consumed with extra appreciation with our charity forks although Ray might be a tad disappointed that we didn't hewn our own spoons from the twigs surrounding us.

Just as the rain started we packed up, all satisfied of a great day spent in The Wood.

Wildlife spotted: buzzard and evidence of badgers