New Bed Frame

After managing to break the old double bed a couple of weeks ago it was time for a change in the bedroom and a new bed frame to replace the old one. Earlier in the week we looked around some bed shops and settled on a wooden frame to replace the old steel frame. 

All we need now is new mattress and some new bedding, but that will have to wait a while until a little more money is available and some other jobs that need some investment are done first. All the same it is going to be lovely sleeping on a bed that isn't falling apart agin.

Stunner

This year we have had some beautiful sunsets in Langham. Some of the best I have ever seen and tonight was no exception to this even although it was raining the sun managed produce this stunner.

With such a sunset it promises to be a lovely day tomorrow and a good one. I hope we get many more lovely sunsets before the year is out and more sunny days that follow to have fun in. There is nothing more heart warming to know the sun will be shining when you get up, other maybe a nice bacon and mushroom roll on a lazy sunday.

Trains and Planes

When I had planned to day over the weekend the weather forecast was a lot different than it turned out to be in reality, for the promised sun was gone and the day started dull and wet, however that wasn't going to stop me and I was all prepared as long as it didn't rain. Lucy was off to see the trains and I had already asked her mummy for her wellington boots.

One nice thing about this Tuesday was I managed to have a little bit of a lay in. Without Emily being here there was no need to drive into Oakham to take her to school, she was having a sleep over at her friends house. Catherine is very easy to get ready for school compared to Emily, she just does it and never needs reminding of the time, Emily on the other hand needs hurrying along if she is tired and doesn't want to get up. I'm sure she is a practicing to be a teenager in years and bits time. 

With Catherine gone to school there was time for a wash and brush up and a nice quiet cup of coffee before it was out to get Lucy from her mummies. Today when I picked her up she was extra colourful in a new striped cardigan and Peppa Pig trousers. She looked lovely and she was so proud of herself. It is just a shame I forgot to take picture to share on the blog, maybe next time she  is wearing them and I pick her up. As we walked to the car chatted about the things she had been doing and soon we were headed for the shops.

The goal at the shops was to get Lucy a toilet training seat as the night before I got a email saying she was using one at her mummies now. We had been working on using he potty for a while but we couldn't interest her in using it for more than a morning or a afternoon before she slipped back to using her pull-up. Hopefully this will work and we can get her out of pull-up's for good. When we were at the shop I let Lucy decide on the seat she wanted and what colour it was hoping that it would make her feel it was hers and she had ownership of it. We also got some sweets for everyone, which looking back on should have used Lucy's as an incentive for using her seat. It is something I going to use in future, just a bag of lollipops will do.

Once we got home she wanted to try out the seat, and when I asked if she need to use the toilet she was soon on it and then straight off it. She thought she was going to fall down the toilet. I remember that Catherine thought the same when she was first toilet training and I had a devil of job getting her to use the toilet rather than the potty. I tried to reassure her that she was going to fall, but although I got her back on the seat she was too unsure to stay there for long enough to use it. All day I kept asking her if she need the toilet and the only time she said yes was when we were in the car and miles from home. I'm sure if we all keep at this weekend we will make some ground, it is just going to take time to make her confident. I know she so wants to be like her sisters and wear pants.

Most of Lucy's morning to lunch time was spent around the house playing games and watching a bit of Peppa Pig on the computer for a few minutes at a time. All the time she just chatted and chatted. Her use of language is really coming on and she is starting construct more complex sentences now. I'm so proud of all she achieves and she is coming on leaps and bounds in every area.

For lunch we had a bacon, eggs, beens and potato wedges for a change, from the usual food we have for lunch. I must say that everyone seemed to enjoy it and Lucy loved her eggs as always. When we finished that, we did some bread making so we had fresh bread for dinner. Lucy helped again with putting in the ingredients, other than the flour and then took delight in watching the machine do it's magic before we went out for the afternoon.

Todays outing was to the Rutland Railway Museum which is on the road from Ashwell to Cottesmore. It is an open air museum and given the weather we have been having the reason why I ask Lucy's mummy for the wellington boots, I knew there would be plenty of mud about and I didn't want to ruin Lucy's Peppa Pig shoes. The museum is dedicated the now extinct iron ore industry of the the East Midlands and is themed accordingly with most of the exhibits being old engines used in the quarry's around the region. It is set out to recreate the essential elements of a quarry during hay day's of the industry back in the 1950's and as a living museum allows people to experience working practices at the time. It has wonderful plans for the future and it is entirely funded by donations for visitors and various grants. Of course all of this was lost on Lucy all she was interested in was the trains. 

We started out at the engine shed and had a look at the trains that are currently being restored. These included a break van, a diesel engine and a steam train. Of course Lucy was more interested in the steam train and was soon pointing at bits and asking what they were called and I was so explaining what they did as well. All that playing with trains and reading about trains as kid was paying off and I was able to answer her questions. From the engine shop we moved out into the main museum and had a look at the army engine they have there. Lucy noticed the engine pit under the train and I explained what it was for and that she had to be careful where she went and to stick with me. 

Next we head off to look at the rolling stock. They have a large collection of iorn ore trucks from various periods but what Lucy wanted to see more than anything was the large crane she had spotted. What I love about the place was the decay of some of the rolling stock awaiting restoration and how it blended into the nature that surrounded them. It was like nature was eating them and returning them to the earth as the weather and natural forces wore them away. When you look at the state that some of the rolling stock is in and you compare it to the renovated rolling stock you can see what a great job they are doing there. Lucy was keen to see all she could and was happy to match down the line side walk until we ran out of things to see.

Returning to the main museum we head off to look at all the engines they have there. Like the rolling stock they are in various states of repair. Some are in working order and look like they did when they were working in the quarries, while others are not more than rusting hunks of metal and are far from there former glory. All the staff there seems so dedicated that although there are years if not decades of work to be done, it will get done. Lucy loved the engines and was soon asking questions again about what bits are called and I was explaining again complete with the noises the trains make. 

The last area of the museum we went to was the platform which Lucy wanted to go and stand on. It was while we were standing on the platform that we got a free air display from the Harriers at RAF Cottesmore. I'm not sure what was going on at the base but while we were there we had seen a couple of Harriers coming into land very low. Now that isn't that unusual but what followed was. It wasn't just two coming back to the base but what appeared to be a whole squadron of twelve or more aircraft all with long range tanks. The most impressive sight of all was four coming into land in formation. It is a sight I had never seen before, two yes but never four. Lucy seemed impressed too, but I did have to cover her ears as much as possible as she found it far too noisy with her young sensitive ears. As we left one of the people at the museum told me where to watch them coming in, but later I couldn't find place. I will have to look on google maps and work it out.

Before heading home we set off for the supermarket. The idea for dinner was a simple pasta and tomato based sauce combined with warm homemade bread to clean the bowls. All we had to get was what we need to make dinner, the sauce and the pasta. It didn't take long, in fact Lucy probably spent more time on the rides outside the shop.

We got back home about five minutes after Langham School had finished for the day although it didn't matter as Catherine had already said she wanted to go out on her new bike after school for half an hour so we weren't expecting her home straight away. When Catherine did get home she got a royal Lucy welcome, a massive hug and a kiss and then Lucy started following Catherine everywhere as they played around the house. 

Soon the beep beep of the bread maker told us the bread was ready and off we went to see the results. It looked lovely and the bread turned out to be the best we have made yet and here is the recipe I used to make a 1kg loaf:

• 600g Strong white flour (Hovis)
• 28-30g Butter
• 7g Fast acting dried yeast (Tesco's)
• 330ml Semi skimmed milk
• 1 Tablespoon of salt
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons of sugar

On our bread maker we just used program 2 which makes standard white or brown loaf. As a guide it takes about 3 hours 20 minutes to make with a light crust. 

At about five Emily came home from her sleep over full of stories of what she had been doing. Lucy was so pleased to see her and went through same procedure of hugs and kisses before following up to her room while she got change back into her home clothes. 

Soon it was time for dinner and I cooked the pasta in a tomato sauce and served it with fresh bread. It something the girls haven't had in ages. For some reason I just hadn't thought of doing it as a meal. Lucy of course loved it and probably has it at her mummies, she use to cook it for lunch sometimes. With dinner out of the way there was just over an hour for the girls to play all together before Lucy went home. Of corse they made the most of it but it was soon time to take Lucy back to her mummies after a kiss and a cuddle from Emily and Catherine.

With Lucy back in Oakham the house fell quite as Emily got on with her homework in the bedroom and Catherine went into the family room to watch some television and the played on the computer. She really wanted to go out on her bike but it was just too dark. The nights are really drawing in now and at the end of next month there will be hardly any time to play out after the clocks change. All too soon it was bedtime for Emily and Catherine off they went to the land of nod as I settled down to relax.

It has been a lovely day and I was glad that little Lucy said she wanted to go to the museum again. It just gives something else we can do and given it is free other than what you can afford it is ideal. Personally I wonder how you get involved. If I had the time then doing something for them would be a worth while thing to do. It is like someone needs to take care of the museum and add extra enthusiasm and energy to the place and I could do that!

Artist of the Week - Blue October

I was looking through my itunes collection for music to go to work to and I noticed I had 168 artists and over twelve and half days of music to chose from. The problem is, who to choose to listen to and rediscover when you are not in the mood for particular songs. Give that last week I mainly listened to one band, Linkin Park, I thought it would be a idea to do the same again. This time it is the turn of Blue October. 

I came across Blue October about 18 months ago, around the time I started working again, and fell in love with some of their tracks that have become firm favourites of mine, however there are still a lot of tracks I still haven't really listened to and are there waiting to be discovered. They are don't often write the happiest of songs but it is the type of music which has a lot of meaning in all our lives in some kind of way.

Probably the first song I came across was a track called "Calling You" from their third studio album "History for Sale". I heard the acoustic version of the song on the radio and fell in love with it and although the meaning it had back then for me is now gone from my life I still like the song an awful lot. It is one of those songs that just sums something up about life and the feelings we all have.

It's interesting when reading up about the band before I started this blog entry that the name of the band comes from the mood of the band members when they formed back in 1995. This might go a long way to explaining the themes behind their music and the nature of the songs. Songs like "X-Amount of Words" deal with mental illness, something the lead singer is well aware of after his break up with his girlfriend years before the band formed. This aside, their music is more than that and touches a lot of what is at our core, the humanity and the feelings we all have.

Music is very personal to me and posting a selection of songs does concern me in that it can be misinterpreted. All I hope is you enjoy them as much as I do. I'm looking forward to hearing the tracks between the tracks I always listen to and getting to know the bands music a little more than I do now. 

If this works as an idea then expect to see other bands of the moment in later blog posts, if not it will just disappear into cyberspace never to be seen again. Please feel free to leave comments, although they are monderatated anyone can post now. 

The Swans

If anyone has followed this blog for a while they will remember the swans on the finishing lake near Langham that at one point disappeared. 

Well I'm glad to say they are all fine and well. The pair of swans had six signets and all of them have survived to adolescence and they are still at the fishing lake. I'm sure it won't before they are all gone, but I do wonder if the breeding pair will return again next year to breed again. I guess we will find out next spring.

Out and About Again

With the girls away there was the chance to enjoy a cool but sunny day and continue to explore the villages of Rutland and the surrounding area, that we started a couple of weeks ago.

We started out by going to Upper Hambleton which is on the peninsular which sticks out into Rutland Water. It is were I use to take George to have him clipped when he was a puppy, many moons ago. It is a lovely unspoiled village that time seems to have forgot which I guess is partly due to the fact that there is nowhere to go from there accept back the way you came. Some of the buildings in the village date back to the 16th and 17th Century. Although there is not much to do there is enough to see to make a visit worth the trip just soak in the atmosphere. 

From the centre of the village there is a sign which in every direction but one, says "no through road" setting out on the longest of these roads takes you towards Rutland Water and that is where I headed today. From the end of the road there was a lovely view across the water to Normanton and the sailing boats that were on the water. A few cars were parked there and a lot of people seemed to be enjoying walking along the footpaths.

On the way back to Oakham form Hambleton is the village of Egleton, which is close to the western shore of Rutland Water. That was our next port of call. Like many of the villages in Rutland, Egleton dates back to the time before the Domeday Book of 1086 when it was part of the land held by the lords of Oakham Castle. Nearly all the Churches in Rutland have a open door policy so while we were there we popped into the 12th Century Church. It has some lovely craved woodwork and an fragment of a wall painting from years gone by. What I loved was the small village school that was so small it looks like it was just a single school room. It really summed up the community nature and feel of the villages in the county. 

From Egleton we headed along the south shore of Rutland Water passed Manton and onto Edith Weston. I have passed through the village many times but I have never ventured into the heart of the village before. On the edges it looks quite modern with it's ex council houses and the near by ex RAF base now used by the army, but when you head into it's centre it is just as lovely as all the other villages in Rutland. Again we popped into to the Church to take a peek at this lovely building that dates back to the 12th Century. It is a real jewel of a Church with a lovely simple side chapel with a small blue stain glass window. the building is so beautiful and well worth a visit. Interesting the the village is named after Edith the queen of Edward the Confessor and like Egleton dates back before the Domesday Book. 

From Edith Weston we head through Empingham and passed the 13th Century parish church of St Peter on our way to Exton. It is a very pretty village and of note is The White Horse public house which serves a tasty meal and a nice pint of John Smiths. It also has a real village shop in every sense of the word that sells almost everything.

Soon we arrived at Exton. It is one of the few villages in Rutland that never lost it's village green and it is a real mixture of of old and new. Thankfully all the new building is around the edges of the village and old village is unspoiled. The village it self is very old and dates back as a settlement well before the Norman Conquest. 

The Church in Exton is a real gem and it came as quite a surprise at the amount of history that it contains. One family name that crops up a lot when you read about Rutland is the Gainsborough family. It would seem that most of them are buried there. The Church is full of elaborate monuments to the family as well as some of the older wealthy families, such as the Haringtons that have lived in the village back in the 16th Century. Clearly the village was once a major settlement in the county.

The final place we visited was Cottesmore before heading home. Like Empingham it also has a pub of note, in this case the The Sun Inn which again serves good food and a great pint, but when we arrived it was a bit late in the afternoon for a meal. The Church there is steeped in military history which you would expect from a village that has a RAF base. What was a surprise was that history went back before the base itself. In the Church hanging from the walls are a pair of battle honors for some long forgotten regiments from the area. Although they are badly faded you can make out on one of the flag's the word "Waterloo" which would date them at least from the last Century. It seems from talking to someone in the Church how they got there and what they are is unknown. Maybe if I go back there I will get some photographs of them and see if I can date them and find out more of their history.

It might not be the most exciting thing to but it has been a lovely way to send an afternoon. A lot better than just sitting around watching television, reading a book or being stuck on the computer. It is nice to get out in the fresh air and see what out there to look at.

I was never one for history at school, but maybe there is more around us than what is on television and in film if we bother to take a interest in our surroundings. Rutland is a lovely place if you look rather than pass things by and reject them for what they seem at first sight, but maybe that is true of life in general. Things of beauty easily go unnoticed if we never care to look for them and don't fight for them once we see them.

A Grey Autumnal Friday

What a contrast to the warmth of last few days. The weather started changing yesterday and today the wind is blowing the leaves from the trees and the rain is falling. A completely different day from when Lucy was last here at home with me and about ten degrees colder too. Clearly the coming of the Harvest Moon truly has brought autumn along with it.

Emily and Catherine got up at seven thirty and got themselves ready for school. All to soon breakfast were made and eaten, pack lunches made and in the case of Emily extensive hair grooming was done, as today is the day of the school photograph. The pupils at Catherine's school is having their photographs done early next week. With hair done and her bag packed Emily and myself set off for Oakham to get her to school. The traffic was light again and I was soon home to wish Catherine well as she headed down the walk to school.

After a coffee and a wash and brush up it was soon time to get Lucy, something I had been looking forward to all morning. I just love having her with me and I'm sure she loves being here with us too. I think anyone who reads this blog knows how much I care for her and love her. When I got her mummies she was the first thing I heard through the door. You could tell it was her from the excitement in her voice. The pick up went really well and soon I was walking down the street with Lucy chatting away before heading back to our home in Langham.

When we got home we were rushed by George who is always pleased to see Lucy. I just love the way she orders him about now and tells him to get down and sit. Catherine had forgot to feed him so it was the first thing we did. I got the food ready and Lucy gave him the bowl. With the dog fed we set about playing for a bit. Today she wanted to play with her push chair and her dolls and babies, so I got them down for her bedroom and off she went to play with them in the living room as I watched and joined in with her game. Towards lunch she seemed to flag a bit and brought me the Pinocchio DVD to watch with her and soon we were sitting down and watching it together with Lucy cuddled in my arms.

For lunch Lucy had a sausage roll, some baked mini cheddars and a red shinny apple for her pudding. She loved it and after eating most of it she as soon on my lap again and we watched the rest of the film together while she drank some ice cold milk. The last two times she has been here she has really been into milk and now I'm having to buy extra just for Lucy.

After we finished our film we set off to do some shopping. Lucy insisted in riding her little red car down to the car from the house. There was no way she was going to leave it behind without a big fuss. I just made it clear she could take it as long as it remained in the car until we got home and she said that was ok. She was very careful going down the paths to the car. I'm proud of how her road sense is coming along. Her mummy is doing a good job.

Instead of going to Tesco's in Oakham we headed out to the Tesco's in Melton for a drive and to get out of the house for a bit. I don't think there is much to choose between the two stores. Melton seems a bit bigger but then again it's freezer section doesn't have the same range as the Oakham branch where as the Melton store has a bigger fresh meat range. Lucy loves rides outside the store and with fifty pence her hand that is where she headed when we arrived. She beamed for ear to ear as she had her ride before we headed inside to do the shopping. In the shop Lucy picked what she wanted for dinner from some choices I gave her and then we went to get some small sweets for later before paying and leaving for home. As always she was as good as gold in the shop and made the checkout person smile with her cheerful thank you and goodbye.

When we got home there was enough time to put the shopping away before Catherine came home. Lucy tried her best to help by passing me things to put away and soon the job was done. As we sat down Catherine came home and after a hug and kiss we were off out to get Emily from School in Oakham. Emily was so pleased to see Lucy and Lucy to see her. They had a quick cuddle and kiss in the car and then we all headed home to play.

When we got home they all headed off to Emily and Catherine bedroom and all you could hear was them chatting and laughing as the girls got changed back in to their home clothes. Soon Catherine came down hand in hand with Lucy and head for the family room, while Emily stayed in the bedroom to do her homework so she had the weekend free. In family room Catherine stated to play the Simpsons on the X-Box with Lucy who wanted to play the game earlier in the day. This took them through with a few other games thrown in until dinner. 

When I put the cutlery out Lucy went to round everyone up from around the house for dinner and soon they were all at the table sitting down to burgers, beans and one of Lucy's favorites smily potato faces. She loves them so much she even had the two that Catherine left on her plate. With dinner done and pudding eaten they set off to play again.

After dinner Lucy mainly played with Catherine. Catherine really loves young children and at one point they were playing a dressing up game where Lucy was a princess. It was nice see Lucy in some of the clothes I have for her that she has never really got round to wearing and probably never will. They are mainly summer clothes that will be to small for her by the time the next summer comes along. As part of the dressing up game Catherine put on her old cat outfit to become the princesses pussy cat. Lucy loved ordering her about and telling her what to do. Of course not to be out done Lucy wanted a turn at being a cat too. It is lovely to see them playing like that together. 

Time soon got the better of us and it was time to get Lucy changed and on her way back to her mummies. As we drove to Oakham we chatted away to each other while music played on the car radio. As we arrived she said she loved me and I said I love her too. We had our parting cuddle after she got out of the car and we started the short walk down the road to take her back. Soon we arrived and the door was open and closed again and she was gone.

With Lucy safely home at her mummies we returned to Langham to pick up Emily and Catherine and take them down the A1 to met their mum. Thankfully for a Friday the drive wasn't to bad and they were soon dropped off and I was on my way home to a much quieter and more empty house.

Even though the weather was bad and we didn't do as much as we normally do on a friday it was still a lovely day and full of fun and giggles. It such a pleasure to spend so much time with some of the people I love so much even if it does mean that money is tight at times. I'm hoping we can have a family reunion some time in the future.

Harvest Moon

Tonight is the first time in nearly twenty years that there has been a true harvest moon. For tonight there is a full moon at the time of the autumnal equinox and in some parts of the world there will be a super harvest moon as the sun sets and the moon rises both at the same time. It is such an event that major news sources have commented on it and for me it is fascinating.

Traditionally the light of the Harvest Moon was used by farmers to allow them to harvest the crops late into the night and it is often seems bigger and brighter than other full moons, although this is really an illusion. In many cultures it has a special place and a lot of folklore has grown up about it, for example Witches believe that it symbolizes the Goddess at her most fertile and so becomes a good time for creating change, while in China it's arrival is a time for a mid autumn festival that represents the reunion of families. Examples like this can be found from all around the world.

Since I was young the moon, especially the full moon, has fascinated me.  For some reason really unknown to me I have always thought of the full moon as special in some way. I see it as uniting people who are distant in some way, so maybe the idea of Chinese festival is not to far off the mark. You could say it is fanciful thinking but who knows what is possible in this world that we live in. There is still so much mystery in the world that maybe the old festivals and beliefs have some greater meaning.