Mixed Bag

It been one of those days of highs and lows where the high were surprising and the lows where just frustrating. It was an odd a sort of mixed bag and very confusing as well. I guess sometimes life is never simple and that was to day a complex day in many ways. So I will concentrate of on the highs, even if it means a shorter post.

The day started normally enough. Emily and Catherine both got off to school on time. It was the second time I had taken Emily to her new school. I must admit it is a lot easier dropping her off there than it was at the old school. Now there is no getting stuck getting there that use to happen because of the level crossing in Oakham. As usual I popped to the supermarket on the way home and then relaxed for the morning until noon.

Just before noon I headed out to pick up Lucy from nursery only to get stopped at the level crossing just outside Langham. It was all I wanted and it made me late, but thankfully the staff at the nursery were very understanding and said it didn't matter. Lucy was delighted to see me and came running to the gate and once opened she ran into my arms and gave me the biggest cuddle and told me she had missed me. It was all rather sweet. When we got to the car she got me to put her new lovely teddy into the car seat. He is a wonderfully smiley teddy and you could tell she loves him, she even carried him all the way to the car.

Before going home we had to pop into the supermarket to get some food. As we travelled there we chatted as usual, however some of the things Lucy said were quiet surprising, but I take it all with a pitch of salt. You can't read to much into things especially when they are so confusing about what you thought, anyway we had fun in the supermarket as usual although we were only picking up a few things before going home.

When we got home George gave Lucy his usual welcome and I got straight on with cooking some lunch for everyone. Lucy, meanwhile headed straight to the family room and her toys and was soon whizzing around on her tricycle and her toy car. She loves being able to ride them round the house and having stone floors makes this easy to do.

After lunch, Lucy went back to playing in the family room. She played all kinds of games and between them she kept popping in to see me for a cuddle. This carried on all the afternoon until Emily and Catherine came home from school when they both joined in with her games. The only thing of note was when I popped to the supermarket and Lucy saw her cousin Katie, which really made her smile. I must say it is a long time I had seen her and she certainly has grown. 

After dinner the girls settled down to watch television together. Lucy cuddled up with Emily complete with soft toys. It was nice to see them all enjoying something together. Often it is hard to find programmes that they all like. This they did until it was time for Lucy to go to bed and after some stories and hugs and kiss she was soon in the land of nod. A hour or so later she was joined in the land of dreams by her big sisters as they went off to sleep.

All I want is a happy family, and although I know there is no such thing as a perfect family or for that matter relationship, I do want a family that can laugh and play together and doesn't fall apart when the going gets tough. It is that dream, or desire, that keeps me going. I know it is achievable and for that reason I don't give up. I will get there, I know I will.

Blog Published

I can now revealed that part of this blog has been published in the Rutland Times this week on the letter page. It was rather nice to get a email from the paper saying they accepted my letter last week. I should imagine in due course it will be on the letters page of the Rutland Times. It might not be the Times of London but it is nice to know you can make your voice heard if only locally.

Film - Sweeney Todd

The last of the film theme that continues the film theme of the Blog this week. Once again it is a film that makes excellent use of music, but not only that like yesterdays film it is directed by a great and film director that has his own distinct style of film making and direction the one and only Tim Burton.

The look and the fell of the film make it unique and once you combine this with an excellent sound track you have something that is truly original. It is both well acted and directed and really is the work of a team of incredibly talented individuals who made one of the best films of recent times. It that sort of film you can watch again and again and never really tire of. It is that good and I urge you all to watch it at least once and if you do I know many of you will be hooked on mastery of Tim Burton's works.

Unfortunately I don't have a copy of this film any more, which is great shame because after writing this post I would love to see it.  I will have to look out for cheap copy or borrow a friends, and maybe onday I can sit down and watch it again and delight in it dark world.

Film - Moulin Rouge

Continuing the film that started with Artist of the Week I thought I would continue the theme in films with great scores or which make wonderful use of music. The first of two films I want to cover is Moulin Rouge.

This particular clip shows all the artistry and genius of the director Baz Luhrmann who combines the skill of film making and theatrical direction with such skill. He takes the vision, style and artistry of the theatre and combines that with freedom of film to create the most spectacular and memorable works. In the clip you have the narrative threads linked by a three songs, performed by different actors as they travel though their individual stories interlinking the main plot of the film. This is then punctuated by the dancing and the strong beat of the song making the whole piece a audio and visual feast. This type of scene is the hallmark of Baz Luhrmann.

I can't do more than highly recommend this film to you even if it isn't the sort of film you would watch normally. Forget the story line and just immerse  yourself in the visual and audio splendour that is Moulin Rouge and take yourself back in history to the hight of Fin de siècle Paris.

Finally there is something strange about this film. Ever copy I have brought or owed have either been taken or borrowed by other people. I don't what it is about but they all want to own it and for some reason they end up owning my copy. I think I will keep the current copy I have under lock and key.

Signs of Spring

It was lovely to see the first signs that spring is just around the corner. We I went out into the garden first thing I notice that one of the budding daffodils had in fact budded over night. Soon the village will be covered in daffodils especially the church yard that had an amazing display last year. It was just a shame that the warm spring sunshine wasn't just to complete the picture, it was cold and damp as it had been the day before.

With Emily at home for a few days while they move everything from her old school to the new school there was only Catherine to get off to school this morning. Out of the two of them she is the easiest, she is always up on time and ready to go with time to spare, unlike Emily who seems to take an age to get ready. With Catherine gone there was little to do this morning other than work, although in the end that came to nothing for a number of reasons. All the same it was nice to have Emily around the house this morning trying to make everyone smile like she does. 

Just before noon, Emily and myself headed into Oakham to pick up Lucy from nursery. It was the first time I had been their with one of her sisters so I wondered how Lucy would react and I was surprised when she went all shy. She just ran up to me as normal and gave me a big hug and when Emily talked to her she hide herself in my shoulder. Emily wasn't one to give up and carried on chatting to her an eventually got her to talk. This all changed as soon as we got outside and as we headed to the car she was holding Emily's hand and they were talking away as normal. 

Soon we set off to the post office at Cottesmore via the recycling site to drop off a could of bags of excess rubbish that had been cleaned out of the bedrooms and the family rooms in the big tidy up. Once this was out the way it was back to Oakham to the supermarket to get some food for lunch and dinner. Still not having a fully working fridge is still being a pain but I guess it means we always have fresh food  and there is little wastage. Emily and Lucy had a grand time shopping together and even managed to get some extra sweets out of me along the way. Not a easy thing to do these days, given the budget we live on. 

When we got home I got straight on with cooking lunch. It was everyone favourite bacon rolls, some with mushrooms and others with eggs. There is nothing better for making the house smell lovely and get those hunger buds going. Everyone loved their lunch, although Emily is really growing fast now and even after two rolls was looking for more food within an hour. It is amazing how much they can eat when they are growing.

A lot of the afternoon, that was left before Catherine came home, saw Emily and Lucy either watching television or playing together. Emily kept commenting on the programmes on the programmes she use to watch at when she was the same age as Lucy. They had a great time together. At one point they both disappeared upstairs and when I went up I found them both playing with the people from Lucy's dollhouse. They were playing doctors, with Lucy being the doctor and Emily pretending to be the patients. I think Emily loved it because it  brought out Emily natural ability to act and that made it fun. It was lovely to see.

When Catherine came home Lucy was delighted to see her. The girls hadn't been together for a while and I know Catherine misses Lucy. Catherine soon took over the role of playing with Lucy from Emily and they played together until dinner, while Emily went off to chat with her friends on Facebook in her bedroom on the netbook and let them get on with it. It worked really well. Lucy got to spend some quality time with the both of them.

After dinner Lucy need a rest from the play and settled to watch a DVD on the computer and it she was so enjoying it, that it was hard to drag her away to get her ready to go back to Oakham. As we left I took a picture of Lucy and when I saw it on he camera I was reminded of her sister Mary, sometimes the two of them look so alike and then at other times she reminds me of Emily. It so strange, poor Catherine doesn't get much of a look in the look like side of things.  

All too soon I was in Oakham with Lucy. We had chatted all the way there as usual. I picked Lucy up and she knocked on the door. Normally it opens quickly and she is gone, but for some reason today it took a while. It was rather nice though because not only did I get one kiss and hug I got lots and as the door open she told me she loved me and gave me one extra big hug, and off she went inside and I said good bye to her mummy. It was a lovely way to end my day with her.

It been a lovely day with everyone and I just hope those signs of spring mean that some lovely weather is around the corner. It will be great to get out and about again and visit the parks and playgrounds and give the girls some space to play in.  Not long to my weekend with them all and I always look forward to that.