a walk in the woods

it was a beautiful spring day, the boys and I decided to take a stroll in the woods after working in the garden.

 the scent of wild garlic was everywhere

 bluebells about to burst into colour

 we made bubbles in the woods

 and I collected some of the wild garlic with a thought to quiche or pesto

 we greeted our neighbours

 and explored some nooks and crannies

 found that a second shop had opened along the path

it was lovely, how lucky we are to have these woods on our door step to pop in and out of as we please.

Buddies~ Blackberrying

***In September 2011 6 families got together and started Buddies Home School. Each week we meet in each other's home and follow a simple rhythm: movement and music, craft/ baking, snack time, free play and story time. Each part of the session is led by a different family. We are sharing this week's session with you here...***

Oh it is so good to be back at Buddies again. We all slipped with ease back into the groove. 

Actually, we did meet last week. The weather was glorious so we spent the session on the beach. We didn't have a structure and the children just played beautifully and at peace with themselves,each other and their surroundings. I didn't blog about it here because I have not been in the 'place' to want to blog and also all of the pictures would have contained nudey kids ;-P

So today was our first 'proper' Buddies session and our theme was Blackberries. After our welcome song we tugged on our shoes and headed off up the road to a quiet lane with a wild hedgerow.

 We walked down the lane in glorious September sunshine looking for blackberries ripe and ready for picking.

 There were some, but we were quite disappointed at how few were ready for us to pick.

 Still we did find some to put into our buckets and containers...

 but they didn't stay there long...

In fact most people's (some mummy's included aherm) buckets were rather on the empty side as we headed back to base.

We did come back with this meager little amount...

 but with gorgeously purple fingers to show that there had been some berries picked!...I wonder where they all went!

 Amanda lead our next activity and after washing the berries and adding a few chopped strawberries and blueberries to bulk out our lack of berry, she made the most gorgeous muffins with the kids...

 While the muffins baked then cooled the kids had their snack in the sun, out in the garden,

 Then settled down to a long and peaceful game together pouring gravel into cups and containers. I was too far away to hear what exactly their game was but it lasted for a long time and there was not a single row.

 I have to remark here on the amazing closeness all the Buddies have with each other. It is so wonderful to compare how they are a year on. They care deeply for each other and they play so peacefully and imaginatively together. I am so thankful time and time again that the boys and I are part of this wonderful group!

 All the girls were princesses for the story...which was a Milly Molly Mandy story all about blackberrying.

I was a little unsure if we would manage it as there are very few pictures, but they all sat through it beautifully and I think enjoyed it.
It was so good to be back at Buddies again and I am already looking forward to next week's session.

Benny's Big Bass and Lemon Wizzle

Today was pretty much a perfect day. Joa and I woke before dawn and had a quiet snuggle until everyone else awoke and we shared a lovely breakfast together followed by stories and play in the playroom. Joa had an early nap giving me time to clean the house, do three loads of washing and have a shower alone and in peace. After lunch Rebe and I went out with Joa in the sling and did 'my walk'. The sky was clear and blue and the sun brilliant and so warm we shed layers as we walked. We had a nice dinner, a calm bathtime and now the evening stretches ahead with another empty and free day stretching ahead of us tomorrow.

But today was not only perfect for me, it was for Benny too because Andy took him fishing. Rebe made him his favourite sandwiches (spam and cheese),

and packed them with a little flask of tea into his bag. Father and son set off to the harbour for a morning's busy fishing. It was one of those things that I would have loved to have witnessed but it was not my time or place to be there. This was a thing for men together ;-)

He described his experience to me in detail on return from my walk. How Andy helped him to put crab onto his little hook and lower his line down the side of the harbour. He described how his rod was dragged along the ground by the fish pulling at his bait, making daddy spill his coffee chasing after it. He told me (with full actions) how you 'tuuuuuug and reel, tuuuuuug and reel, tuuuuug and reel'. He described how hard and heavy it was to pull the fish up (out of the water infact) where Andy netted it. He told me how he didn't want to release it as they had done Andy's fish earlier, because he wanted to bring it home to show me, to cook it and eat it. He said that a group of men (also anglers) came over to admire his catch.

He told me how he and daddy did a high five and cheered themselves and their superior angling skills (well not in so many words lol). Oh this little boy is so proud, and his mama is so proud as, of course, is his daddy.

Benny's first bass weighed 3lb,

and I know it will make oh so good eating :-)

Talking of eating....

I haven't posted you a recipe for a while and I want to share this one. It is a variation of a recipe from 'Cooking for Life' by Linda Banchek, it is an Ayurvedic recipe that is supposed to be calming for Vata and Kapha but aggrivating for Pitta, although I am pretty sure that anything this tasty can't be Kapha reducing ;-) and the lemon sauce for sure isn't Kapha reducing. It is the new family favourite and we call it

Ginger and Lemon Wizzle Cake

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cups maize flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 cup melted ghee/ unsalted butter

1/4 cup date syrup

1/2 cup buttermilk

3 tbsp plain yoghurt

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

pinch of salt

Mix dry ingredients together. Melt together butter/ghee, buttermilk, syrup and ginger. Add this and the yoghurt to the dry ingredients. Mix until well combined. Bake in a preheated hot oven for about 30 mins until cake is coming away from tin and you can do knife test.

Allow to cool a little then pour on lemon sauce.

Lemon sauce

Melt in a sauce pan 3 tbsp icing sugar, juice of half a lemon, tbsp ghee/ unsalted butter, a pinch of salt, the rind of 1 lemon and about a tbsp of hot water. Mix until bubbling then pour over cake allowing to wizzle all over it.

Enjoy :-)

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend too :-)

boat-fisher-woman-extraordinaire

Thanks to my mum, who minded all three of her grandchildren for us yesterday, Andy and I took the boat out together. look at me driving the boat!!!

woohoo whoop whoop

It was a gorgeous hot day. The sea was calm (so why did I get sea sick I want to know!). It was so incredibly quiet and peaceful. The scenery was amazing, we even saw what we think were a couple of dolphins!

We fished at a leisurely pace (and Andy wasn't grumpy once, not once I tell you).

ooooo what's this, something on the hook.... Och only yet another dog fish....but what is this, I have a bite...

yay yay a 5lb cod!! Caught by me which is now in the fridge awaiting eating :-)

It was a very lovely day x

Peter Pan dress

We're settling back into normal life after the whirlwind of the past couple of weeks. Andy's been fishing a couple of times, yesterday he took Benny (who was just in heaven). They brought home this wonderful 5lb bass :-)

Rebe's been listening to the Famous Five. I had given her a tape a few weeks ago and she has listened to it non-stop. Today we made a trip to the library where she asked the librarian to help her find some more tapes. To her delight they had loads and she chose 2 of them. She's up in her room now happily listening to their adventures and making things.

Joa's been doing lots of walking

and bringing.

I've been sewing.

It's Rebe's birthday in a couple of days and I have been working on a couple of things for her. She absolutely loves the patchwork dress I made (see sidebar for details), in fact she loves it so much I have to sneak it away to wash it, it is a 'she' and is called 'Patchy'. So I thought I would try and make her another dress she would love as much:

It's made from an upcycled t-shirt of Rebe's and an old cot sheet of Joa's. One of the things Rebe loves about Patchy is how comfortable she is (I do feel mental talking about a dress like this!) so I wanted to use cotton interlock/t-shirt material. I dyed the fabric dark green, sewed one bit to the other and added the Peter Pan and Tinker Bell motif.

I hope she'll love it, I'm pleased it came out so well.

I'm also just finishing off her Peter Pan doll.

This little Tinkerbell is just missing her knitted dress. I'll do a separate doll post when she's finished.

So far married life is pretty good :-)