Its raining, it's pouring......

........and my children are sulking. Cabin fever abounds.

Rich woke at 5.45am this morning and decided to very quietly get on with things. The quiet, however, didn't quite happen, as he tripped on a cat on the landing and hit the deck with a crash, thus rousing every sleeping soul in the place. Ho Hum. Some of us managed to get some more sleep after breakfast though.......

I haven't actually acheived much yet today......been out to feed and chat to my chickens, also soggy and fed up, bless them. They don't like the wet. Done the breakfast dishes, put some bread dough on to rise and carried on with some more knitted geese. They are becoming increasingly frustrating as I haven't yet managed to finish one that's quite right. Can't work out what I'm doing wrong.....maybe this one will be better.

What does the rest of the day bring? I don't know really. Got to put some bread and a fruit cake in the oven, pop out and cut some more sweet peas to keep them in flower, and finish a doll thats been sitting around hair and faceless for over a week. Children are lounging, cat-like, in a variety of slightly abstract locations and all are reading. From subtle peering at their books, Iris has 'The Subtle Knife', Joe is in the middle of 'The Haunting of Azailabel Cray', Bobby has an usborne 'How Castles Were Built' and Jaya is grinning her way through the pictures in 'Hairy McClary and Zachary Quack' - also one of my favourites! They'll be busy for hours if they've got books, so I may, just may, be able to get on.

Rich is out in the workshop making some candlesticks ready for the christmas (am I allowed to say that word yet?!) craft markets. They're formed out out of one long, thin piece of metal, snaking into spiral shapes around a taper candle. His drawings are gorgeous, and I'm yet to see the finshed objects, but I know they'll be beautiful.

Anyway, had best get on now. Dough will have risen so I'd best heat the oven and then maybe find time for a cup of tea!

Well, hasn't it been a while?!

Heavens, it's been a long time since I posted, hasn't it? I knew I'd left it for a bit, but I'd lost track of just how long it's been. Well, we're back again now I suppose, so thats something!

It's been a frenetic 8 months or so. We've been here, there and everywhere and have been dealing with a family emergency, which happily has ended more or less ok, but not without a bucket-load of stress and travel to and from France that, in retrospect, could have been avoided. Also, at the tender age of 16, my eldest daughter left home to go to college. Alright, it's not that dramatic......she's 24 miles away, in Hereford, and living with a landlady in a student house, who keeps an eagle eye on her. But it's a big deal to her, as she's got her own little bedsit, she's studying for an ND in Fine Art at a big art college, and she's very very independent!!

However, in January, something very odd happened. My four and a half year old son ASKED (!!) to start school in a nearby village. Very odd.....this has never happened to me before! Rich and I talked it over, and decided that if it was what he really wanted, then to give it a try. So in January he enrolled in reception at a local state primary. Rich has been amazing throughout, as I have been deadset against the whole thing, but nonetheless, he convinced me to let Bobby give it a proper try, and not to pull him out 3 days in on the first day that wasn't great. So I've given it 6 months, which I think is a fair try. It's a funny thing, but my sweet, creative, loving little boy is entirely unrecognisable. His gentle nature and manners have entirely vanished, and, get this, he has FORGOTTON HOW TO PLAY unless he is 'told how to'. He is 'bored' for the first time, and his general attitude and demeanor is appalling. He has no attention span at all, and has learnt to solve problems by screaming and hitting (particularly his little sister, but thats been going on for a while and she's just as bad.......ah, bickering!!). Anyway, two weeks before the summer term finished, we had a horrible fluey, tummy bug, so I had Bobby at home. Dealing with this 'new' child isn't easy, but things started to very slightly, but still noticably, improve. So, my mind is made up, and Rich and I concur. We will be de-registering him on the first day of the autumn term, and now at least I am confident in my instincts again. I have often, when debating (defending?!) the merits of home education been hit with 'how do you know that the state school system is awful when you've never tried it?'. Well, now I have. And I do. So there. I'm sure it works just fine for a lot of people, just not for my family. And I've got so much work to do now to undo the damage thats been done. So autumn is going to be intense, I think. But it's the kind of work that life's all about.

I hope so much that everyone out there is well, and enjoying what you can of the often rainy summer. I'm hoping not to leave it so long before posting again this time!!

Love and blessings to you all, Rosa

Craftiness

Finally finished some knitted dollies for mine and other people's littlies. Get my very posey photography! Yay!

Flight of Self Indulgence

Its been a strange kind of a week, hence my neglect of the blog......some time ago our offer on a new house was accepted. £120K for a cottage that needed some modernisation. It would be a cash purchase on our part and we don't have anywhere to sell. So pretty easy you would think. No. We had a letter this morning from the Estate Agents saying that despite them saying they had taken the house off the market, they have still been taking people round to view it, and the vendors have accepted a 'substantially higher' offer. So they're not going to sell it to us. We've put so much money into doing it already, and I can't understand it. It is literally cash from us. As in, i'll be going to the bank and drawing out £120,000.00. These new buyers are apparantly stuck in a chain and reliant on a mortgage. I don't understand people sometimes. But maybe its just not meant to be. Who knows why these things happen. I've had a good cry, and have perked up enough to look at the property pages again, so all is well.

Also, another odd one this week. On Monday I had a Court Summons to let me know that I am being prosecuted for driving without due care and attention. I was in quite a serious accident back in april, whereby I bought a second hand VW Golf GTi from a chap on EBay. Anyway, it panned out that he sold it to me knowing that the brakes were faulty and went to some lengths to conceal the fact. I'd had the car a couple of hours, and whilst driving home tried to corner, the brakes failed and the rear began to drift from side to side. There was a gravel lorry up ahead and I was heading straight into someones front room, so I took a chance and pulled the handbrake on to try to spin into the hedge. I didn't know there was a tree stump in the hedge, which acted as a lever and flipped the car over four times, nose to tail bouncing on the roof each flip, and barrel-rolled accross the road, landing on the roof. The front of the car was utterly crushed, and I had to be cut out by a fire crew some hours later, trapped while I could feel and smell petrol dripping onto my face and see the engine sparking. My life really did flash before me and I honestly thought I was going to die. So 8 months on, I am being prosecuted, and apparantly the man who sold me the car has committed no offence. Strange world, isn't it?

Anyway, this makes me want to think about all the things I am grateful for. And it will take a pictorial form. Firstly....spooning porridge into my tiny girl's mouth every morning, and her enormous smile thats just for me. Secondly, the other four, who I love dearly even though they drive me crazy. Thirdly, my darling other half, who has the patience of a saint to put up with me. Fourth, silly things that mean such a lot, like a fruit St Nicholas that Bobby and his friends made at playgroup. Fab, isn't it? Rich laughed his head off, but he's not as sentimental as me! Lastly, that I live in such a beautiful part of the world, and sadly that my photography never does it justice.

Busy Weekend

Well, it's been a jam packed weekend. I don't seem to have stopped. We're thick and white with frost in this part of the world, bu it doesn't seem to have stopped Rich, who has been up and working at 6.30 the past two mornings. As a consequence, it doesn't really feel as though I've seen him much, but the productivity does make up for that. The bus is having its off peak tlc session....this year with a few new panels, a new braking system and a fresh coat of paint. She looks so sad, sitting on the drive dressed in her grey primer.....a far cry from her former purple glory. But the purple started to flake, so it must be done, I suppose.

I've spent the weekend chained to the kitchen, which I must say has been a pleasure. Nothing better than baking next to a warm oven when its cold outside. So the Christmas Cake, Pudding, 2 dozen mince pies, a lemon madeira, a dozen scones, and a tinful of little almond biscuits are all done. The winter broad beans are sown on the windowsill, washing is done, floors are swept and the stove top has been cleaned. And about time on the last count!! So I can finally sit down with a cuppa and my knitting. Little cardigan for Jaya, and a pair of handwarmers for Rich. Even next to the furnace, his hands are still frozen blue. Gloves aren't any good, as he needs as much dexterity with his fingers as possible. He made the most beautiful candle sconce for the hall today, steel, with copper oak leaves and acorns. I can't decide where to put it yet though.

Last night we went to the Ludlow Castle Mediaeval Fayre. And fabulous night out it was too, as always. They make such an effort, and particularly for the little ones. We saw a wonderful puppet show, themed around the turning of the seasons for a mediaeval man. It was accompanied by a girl playing a hurdy gurdy and 'narrated' by a Green Man, that was an amazing moving mask (manipulated from the inside) made of green leather leaves. It was both hilarious and very poignant. We also saw the Plantagenet Knights doing their weapons demo's and melee. My boys LOVED it, and have spent the day today bashing at each other with wooden swords and shields. One of the men let Bobby try on some of his mail, gauntlets and armour. There was one happy little boy. I managed to pick up a few Christmas presents and a brilliant night was had by all, albeit evocatively cold and frosty.

I am going to retire to my knitting now, as the little ones are safe in bed, Iris is drawing and Rowan and Joe are outside enamelling some jewellery Rich has been making. that said I've got a sack of fleece to card. Oh well, looks as though Jaya's cardi will have to wait.......

Oh yes and we had the most beautiful sunset as I was walking home this evening, although the photo doesn't do it justice

hello and good evening

Well, it seem that peace has descended for a while here. The littlest ones are bathed, milked and storied and now tucked up safe and warm in bed. Joe and the girls are outside in the workshop doing something secret. I haven't asked this time due to the upcoming event of around a months time. They've become cagey and secretive and cunning of late, and its leading us to think they must be making something very exciting indeed. It surprises me that I don't really have a lot to say.....it hasn't been a busy day today. I've repotted some houseplants, made a cherry cake and made a dolly for Jaya's Yule stocking. I'm about to settle down and carry on with some dollies for the lovely Spica (Em) of the Green Parent Forum, which is both my solace and frequent hidey-hole when I need reassurance.

I'll stick a few photos onto this post and I think hold off until I have something to say! They are a few of my children, Jaya today being a diver, and our new land, bought recently at auction, and a glowing beacon of light and hope for us all!