Raspberries

Even though the weather hasn't been condusive to the growing and picking of soft fruit, it would be a crime not to stock up the freezer with raspberries. Especially as picking them is so much fun.

There is basket carrying to be done:

Though that gets harder work as you go on.

Its a good thing that there is a ready supply of sustinence on the way.

Good thing they didn't weigh him in and out!

Auntie Nimmy is always game for picking

And then there are broad bean jungles to explore.

It's so exhausting that lunch in the pub is the only way to go afterwards. And where there is a pub, there are swings!

Its a good thing that there is always someone around to lean on!

Friends

Who cares about Newton?

Nathaniel and I got out cornflour and water for the first time. I was looking forward to introducing it to him and watching him play with it. It never ceases to amaze and sadden me, how many of my friends have never played with this goo and found out how wierd it is.

Nathaniel may well turn out to be one of those friends.

He wasn't in the slightest bit interested in the bizarre physical qualities that it exhibited. He enjoyed colouring it pink and adding glitter, but then found that it irritatingly wouldn't easily be shovelled up by his construction vehicles, so he added more water until it would. And then he played saving vehicles from flooded fields.

Oh well, you can't say I didn't try!

And at least Dorothea enjoyed herself:

Movement

All of a sudden, Dorothea has decided that it would be nice to be able to move around by herself and she is trying her hardest to make this happen.

She rolls and swivels and pulls herself up and really wants you to sit and hold her hands while she stands for hours on end.

And nothing is safe

Summer

Thea has been sleeping a little better this week, and coupled with the fact that we have been in bed by 9pm most nights, we almost felt refreshed when we got to Saturday! So as it was sunny for the first time since 2011, and everyone had woken up late, we decided to take a chance on the Pig and Pastry for breakfast.

The Pig and Pastry is the most amazing place, but it is so hard to get a table, that we hardly ever go these days. We need more seats now, and it is harder to hang around patiently waiting when you have two children. But 10 minutes before it opened we were there, waiting for our table. Along with the other people who had had the same idea! Yes, people now queue at the P&P at 8:45 in the morning!

But we were in luck and got the last seats which made us all very happy.

And we ate tasty bacon and eggs and drank apple juice out of co-op bottles which made us even more happy!

Then we did a bit of shopping on Bishopthorpe Road and ran into Jim and Vicki, so headed to the park for some trampolining, swinging and trying out the new park "reading cafe" which is just code for a tiny little library with a cafe selling good coffee. And just when we thought Rowntree park couldn't get any better!

A fine morning!

Food

Thea's enthusiasm for food has not wained, and she has now added using a sippy cup to her list of skills. Some how she managed to work out how to do it before offered the cup, so there was no learning curve noticed at all - she picked it up and drank from it! Here she is with some recent favourites:
Lasagne and broad beans


Lentil and spring greens jalfrezi and for simultaneous desert, gingerbread babies.

How they are now

Nathaniel at 3 years and 8 months

Dorothea at 7 months

Elderflowers

We have been eagerly waiting for the elderflowers since about April. I promised Nathaniel that they would appear in late spring or early summer, but that assumed we got either of those seasons instead of the perpetual autumn that we seem to have been having. Then, as they appeared, it kept raining, and everyone knows that you collect elderflowers on a sunny day. So we waited and waited and when we prepared to go away for two weeks it became apparent that we were probably not going to get the harvest that we had hoped for. Finally, today it seemed okay to go picking and we were concerned that we wouldn't find any at all. But after a short walk (and bicycle - Nathaniel doesn't normally wear a helmet for harvesting!), we found some remaining on elderflower alley, though they were quite high up..... That evening we made a bottle of elderflower cordial and a vat of elderflower champaine and we now have 9 litres of the stuff maturing quitely under the stairs. And the left over elderflowers didn't go to waste either:

Hiding

It doesn't matter where you put her down, within seconds, Thea will have found some sort of material to put over her head. Its a bit disconcerting when you turn around to see a pillow on her face.

But straight away her legs start wiggling and her face pops out with a big smile. If she could say "boo", she would. Then she recovers herself and does it all over again. And again. And again.

Summer

The packet suggests that sunflowers really need to be planted in April/May, but as this weather in no way resembles June, I figure we might get away with a late start.....

Updates

I've done some updating backwards (Thanks Dorothea for the long nap!). The earliest "new" post is now 19th May. Enjoy.

Playing

Its impossible to get them both in focus at the same time - they move around a lot!

Just because

Some photos for no particular reason:

Camping

As the weather suddenly realised that it should be summer, we decided to go camping and make the most of it. we spent some time finding a new campsite in the hope of not having to camp in a field with hedges round it that feels like someone's garden. We thought that we had ht the jackpot with Willow Garth which looked like it was in a wood, but when we got there we discovered that the wood was in fact Dagobahian!




However, our camping spot in the orchard was pretty ace:




We set up camp and got everyone acclimatised to their new sleeping quarters. Dorothea was highly pleased!




Supper was taken amongst the daisies and Dorothea had her first taste of melon which she was incredibly impressed with.



She ate and ate and ate and ate, and I had pretty much got Nathaniel ready for bed when we decided that she had got too tired to wrestle with it any more and declared supper over.

Everyone slept well and after waking up at 7:30, everyone was jolly!




We decided to spend the morning at a stream on the moors just outside Hutton-le-Hole and due to an early start, we had the place to ourselves for playing the the stream (Nathaniel), climbing hills (everyone), reading books (Tassy) and napping (Dorothea).






Then to Helmsley for a tasty lunch of fish and chips from the second best fish and chip shop in the country in a deserted and sunny church yard. Everyone was then rather sleepy so we headed back to the campsite and hung out there for the rest of the afternoon. It was hot with very little breeze so we were very thankful for the cool bell tent!










 

Next day, Nathaniel sucessfully negotiated a return to the stream, but actually spent the whole time scooty biking through the heather. I discovered a fine swimming hole (to be returned to when everyone is a bit bigger) and we had a very tasty lunch in a purpose built tent.




Roll on some more good weather!