Shimmering beasties

Lots of adventures over the last two weeks on our holiday to Scotland. Came across these beautiful beasties - I can assure you they are real sculptures, even though they look quite surreal. They are the Kelpies near Falkirk. Apparently kelpies are mythical horses with the strength of ten which reflects the industry that once dwelt in and around Falkirk. They rise out of the water near the river and the canal and are breathtaking.

Swimming cap torture

The children went to their swimming lesson yesterday. We were sat at the side waiting for it to start, calmly. There were two little girls on either side of us, both nearly in tears. It wasn't the anticipation of the swimming lesson nor the fear of the water that was upsetting these girls but the dreaded placing of a rubber swimming cap over a full head of hair by a parent who has absolutely no idea how to do it quickly and effectively. It was torture to watch. I couldn't even intervene as I have absolutely no idea how to do it either.

Two dads trying to pop a very small object over a very large surface. The hats popped off, caught the children's ears, trapped their hair, contorted their faces. It teased. Just as I thought they'd done it, it would spring up and off again. The girls were definitely not impressed with their Dads' efforts. There was thumping......one Dad by his daughter. There were raised voices.....the girls remonstrating their Dads to do it properly. And eventually the heads were covered after 10 minute Herculean efforts.

Eventually the swimming teacher (oh wise and wonderful cap fitter that she is) simply popped one hat over one little girl using the correct 'getting the bloody swimming hat on' technique. It was done in seconds. I was impressed. Perhaps the technique should be taught one week in the lesson.

I popped a ponytail in H's hair and off she jumped in, capless.

Engineering in sugar and chocolate

How do you eat your chocolate tea cake?

First comes the delicate removal of the red and silver foil from your Tunnock delicacy. Don't press too hard in the wrong place or it's all lost in a squashed crumple.


Do you eat it up in one or three big bites, savouring the biscuit crunch, cloud-like marshmellow and sumptuous milk chocolate almost in one glorious instance? Then having eaten it so quickly you have the chance to grab the remaining tea cake before anyone realises. My husband (who usually eats so slowly)

Do you, feeling very naughty, deliberately cover your lips and environs in the white sticky weightless sugar, creating a white moustache and goatee beard and await a reaction from those around you? My eight year old son.

Do you make a little doorway through the fragile chocolate into the white cloud and then twist your tongue around the marshmellow and empty the dome, leaving the chocolate roof balancing, hanging there with no support. Then destroy it while attacking the biscuit floor?  All a good exercise in teeth and tongue control. My seven year old daughter and sometimes me.

Do you deconstruct the delight. Carefully and skilfully chip away the delicate layer of milk chocolate over the white fluffy dome and then lick away the marsh mellow before chomping into the biscuit base? It takes time to do it right. Me (who usually eats so quickly).

God I love 'em.

Sock it to you

We have a windsock in the garden. A multi-coloured one. It's great because not only is it pleasant to see it fluttering in the breeze but I can tell how windy it is and from which direction it blows. I then know how many layers or hats to put on when I venture out.

Today: breezy, bit dull, wind from south-east: jacket needed and umbrella.

Shop small and local

We inherited a rather wonderful looking bow saw from my dad and the farm. We tried to use it at the weekend to saw a huge log - me on one side and David on the other. Alas we could never be professional lumberjacks as we got nowhere. Actually the blade was blunt. That is our excuse and have stuck with it.

Funny thing but none of the rather splendid
illustrations actually depict women working away!

After having no luck finding a replacement blade in the bigger famous DIY stores, David remembered a thrifty hardware store in a local town. No problem - he came away with the appropriate blade. The fascinating thing about it is that we estimate from the packaging that it must have been in the store, tucked away, waiting for our visit for 30 plus years. The graphics on the packaging must date from the 1970s and are quite splendid.

Shop local, shop small, shop interesting.

Introducing........

I used to do it with my hairbrush when I was a wee lass. I did it last week with the shower head.........I talk of course of pretend microphones. My little girl got a guitar and microphone with amplifier from her grandparents for her birthday and we have all had to have a go.

I can't help talking in an Elvis Presley voice as I introduce my daughter in front of an audience of 10,000, all chanting her name and wanting more. My husband is lead guitarist and my son is chief mad fan, jumping about to the song which my star daughter has made up...well...made up but sounds very much like the Scooby Do theme tune.

We may be appearing at a stadium near you soon.x

Wood 3

We all went to The Wood again this hols. The sun shone brilliantly. It's lovely and a little alarming too to see how much new growth has appeared since last we visited. There are lots of wild primroses and there appeared to be a lot of activity around the badger setts.