you have to...

read Dooce's blog. its brilliantly written, roll on the floor funny , poignant in the right places . Most times I am either crying with laughter or crying at the touching sentiment.

read it!

my garden

I have recently become totally entranced by my garden. I have grown tomatoes and sweet peas and geraniums. Lavender , petunias and a sunflower. I have a lovely pot full of herbs which I use daily. Its giving me such joy seeing everything grow and flourish. I love standing there watering everything in the early morning.

so in my first installment of new house pictures I present.....

My Garden

keep calm...

here's my birthday present. I have of course hung it , very aptly, in my kitchen. Its a WW2 poster that was in Aldwick station in the war years. I just love its vintage feel and its message. you can see them at the keep calm gallery

a whole bunch of stuff

Movies

Lily is into them in a big way. I find the way Children grow and advance an absolute wonder and this little age is just adorable. At our house we are Dr Suess fans. Kristian is a bit kooky and all the kooky language and themes suit him and lily down to the ground. The first film she really loved was The Grinch. its actually mine and one of my favorite Christmas movies. She sits transfixed living every scary and funny moment. her face is a picture and I spend most of my time watching her reactions. Over the weekend we bought the cat in the hat with Mike Myers. She is just in love with it. We have watched it 3 times already but the first time we sat down and put it on I made us all a nice pizza to share and we sat eating it while the film played. She stayed up a little later than usual and it felt so good that she is old enough to do all of this now. At the end the children shout at the cat in the hat and tell him to leave and before I knew it the little things lip was quivering and she had tears rolling down her face. I quickly explained that he would come back and they had learned a lesson and she felt better but it was like a milestone in a way. she cried in a movie (note to lily; If you are anything like your mummy darling this will not be the last time this happens) she is now emotionally advanced enough to know what is touching and what is sad. it was quite a day

Books

as we are talking about kids books I thought I would give a few recommendations. I always like to hear of good books. so do comment with some names if you know of some.

the Winnie the witch series is brilliant. the illustrations are really magical and the stories are fun and just long enough for a toddlers bedtime story. We have Winnie in winter , Winnie's new computer , happy birthday Winnie and I hear father Christmas has purchased Winnie at the seaside.

I love all Julia Donaldson's books but my favorite is the gruffalo and room on the broom. Her books all have a variety of illustrators and all are enchanting.

You cant go wrong with Winnie the pooh. Always enchanting

Aliens love underpants- hilarious

Mr peek and the misunderstanding at the zoo was something we picked up at waterstones and its very amusing and keeps the attention

there was an old lady who swallowed a fly. If you are like my husband you can remove all the dies's from it but its not half as much fun.

lastly, on her recent visit my Mum bought Lily a south African book called fussy Freya about fussy little eater . she loves it and its great to see SA children's books.

Holidays

I have booked 3 tickets aboard an aeroplane for us to Visit Cape Town in November and December (Kristian) to say I am excited is an understatement...

Birthdays

Lily is 3 next month and I am busy planning a little party for her. how I love all the planning. I have decided on a teddy bears picnic because soon enough she will want hannah montana or something equally awful and I love all the innocence of bringing your teddy to a birthday party. I have a plan to put blankets on the ground and set my table with little sandwiches , sausages , cupcakes and maybe some ice cream to end. I thought a little game of pass the parcel might be a goood introduction to games. I will put the same gift in every layer. I will let you in on a secret..I hate party games. As a kid I was so shy and i would pluck up all the courage to go to a party and then you have to spend the whole bloody thing racing with a bloody egg on a spoon or being blindfolded and in the spotlight whilst stumbling around with a donkeys tail on a sharp pin. Not my bag.

Anyhow I digress, I am having great fun with this party even though a lot of the people who I would love to have there are not around but I know she will love it, she is just entering that age where party's and birthdays are ever so exciting.

Babies

My darling Friend Veronica has performed yet another miracle by conceiving (with Stevens help) another little baby. I am so happy for them that it has happened this way. It gives everyone hope that sometimes things work out just as they should.

I am now of course doubly broody as any mention of a pregnancy and my ovary jumps a foot. I really would love another baby, but I really would love to concentrate on moving back to Cape Town and settling ourselves with the one toddler we already have. but if I leave it it might be too late or too big a gap? Oh what to do.....

lastly, do check out the gourmet goddesses blog as we have had some fab nights out. those girls are a lifeline for me. I have the best time out and about London with them. the things we see....

heatwaves, strawberries and cream and summer

Yes its Wimbledon time again and I was lucky enough to go again this year. I always go with my good friend Jenny who is a tennis bof and she tells me all this interesting info. We queued from about 8;30 and were in fairly quickly. We had a wonderful day watching a veterans match with Martina Navratilova and were in the front row before going to Henman hill (or is it Murrays mound now?) to watch one of the Williams sisters get through to the final (again). I do find them annoying , I don't know why , perhaps that arrogance that is often on display does it for me.

From there we decided to take our chances in the queue for tickets into centre court which we got quickly as well and it was one of the most thrilling tings ever to be in there. Its so big and imposing and to be sitting there after watching Wimbledon since I was a child was such a treat.

Before we embark on the photos please let it be noted that it has been heatwave conditions in England and on this day it reached 38 degrees on centre court hence the glow I have..oh and the flat hair...