October 3

It's been sunny and autumnal here this week which has been very lovely.

Ian decided that it was too cold and so went to Greece to bask in 24°. This is his view from a taxi.

We had homework to do so Nathaniel researched the constellation of Orion and then we made a 3D model using beads hanging from a piece of card. The idea is that when you view it from below at the right distance (53cm!), the beads can be seen in the same pattern as the stars that make up Orion. But if you move your viewpoint, you discover that because they are all different distances from the sun, the pattern changes very quickly.

Don't do this demonstration. It's rubbish! Who can get the stupid beads to hand still enough to see any resemblance of Orion?!!!!

The view from Earth (approximately):

The view from elsewhere (lost the will to find an appropriate star to view from):

Thea rejoiced in being able to be goalie at hockey practice on Friday. The kit was a bit big for her.....

Ian played hockey on Saturday morning and Thea and I enjoyed York in the sun while Nathaniel was at choir. This week's York-appreciation photos are of Constantine and that nice building near some traffic lights (!).

In the afternoon was Nathaniel's first ever violin concert. He played O Come Little Children very passably (I messed up the piano part - I am blaming Daddy and I don't remember him ever playing the phrase right either!). We enjoyed (again), the fact that a concert of suzuki string players (all younger than Nathaniel) means that you only hear pleasant violin tone!

Then both kids had sleep-overs. Thea went to a friend's to celebrate her birthday and Nathaniel and a friend slept in dens in our living room!

On Sunday Nathaniel played for the boys U10 B team in much more reasonable weather than last week's tournament. His team did great! They played together really well and were well ahead until their last match where they met an amazing team. They really pulled together, but in the end lost 2-1.

We were mighty impressed though, and the kids seemed happy with their playing.

October 2

This week Ian was in Brussels, and I was in Manchester. Turns out that Manchester is rather nice when the sun shines! Here the view from the Museum of Science and Industry as the sun set.

This is Ian's stage in Brussels and a very big piece of Comté which he didn't half-inch for us (he did go to the supermarket for Tomme, Reblochon and some rather nice goat though):

The raspberries have made it entirely clear that they are autumn fruiting and are insisting on fruiting with enthusiasm. We are picking a small bowl every other day still, which isn't bad for the £4 I spent on two canes from Tesco!

Thea and I have discovered graphic novels and spent a happy hour while Nathaniel was in choir being hip in Travelling Man - demonstrating our superior knowledge of cool contemporary board games and reading books. Here is the obligatory Minster photo. Today is is autumnal.

We braved the torrential rain for Thea to play hockey for the U10's B team in Leeds. It was very, very, very wet and she got very, very, very cold. But she managed to play all four matches despite running like she was made out of hinged metal by the end!

She is the little one with number 15 on her back. She looked very small against the 9 and 10 year olds! Those flood lights are on for a reason - we wouldn't have been able to see anything without them!

The hockey went on all morning (5 matches) and their team did well. They were all newbies, so the fact that they won one of their matches was great.

Simultaneously, Thea was supposed to be playing a concert in Bury with the rest of the Northern Suzuki group to celebrate her graduating from level 1 (we think that's approx ABSRM Grade 2.5). But you can't do everything!

October 1

It's been a quiet week - just school and work and music and things, finished with a surprisingly empty weekend, devoid of any of the usual choir rehearsals or music lessons. So we took the opportunity to do exactly what we fancied.

For Ian this meant chasing a hockey ball around a pitch in the freezing cold.

For Nathaniel this meant acting on his inspiration from seeing his friend's newly made model railway board to create something on which to play a game that he has invented based on Red Alert (an ancient computer game) and Risk (a popular board game) involving many lego buildings and armoured vehicles (all currently rendered in rather fetching pastel bricks). It started with a piece of plywood (and a very early morning visit to B&Q) and progressed to several layers of painting.

I'll show you the finished item in action another time.

For me it meant persuading everyone up Ilkley Moor in the cold for a bracing walk. We were all wearing a lot of layers apart from Ian who was a bit chilly! But Thea declared that she liked this walk and wanted to do it again, so I guess it was a success.

There were many people at the Cow and Calf, so we took the paths less followed and tramped our own way across the moor, which gave the kids lots of opportunities to bound through the springy heather.

There was LOTS of jumping into the heather.

We surprised sheep (spot Thea) and enjoyed the sunshine;

and then headed back by via Ilkley Crags and the Rocky Valley which we climbed down the side of. The second picture is Ian pointing up to where the first picture was taken.

And I enjoyed my favourite sign. This road goes everywhere!

Thea seemed to be happy with all our ideas for this weekend, which is a good thing because the title of next weekend is "The Weekend Based around Thea's Many Interests". In the meantime, she is toothless.

September 3

This week the Barberellas had a gig to sing, and in anticipation of our tour of Orkney next summer (!) had a bit of a photo shoot!

We had the annual sausage sizzle at school. I was too busy manning the barbecue to take photos but here are D and some friends setting up the most popular area - the sweet stall!

We opened the park gates on Thursday (they are locked over night) and got a good sunrise.

Ian and I checked out some new co-working space in town. I like the view.

There was choir (no obligatory picture of the Minster in the sun this week) and Thea had a group cello lesson which was suitably entertaining!

We were OD and presided over short races in the morning and a very close pursuit race in the afternoon.

It was a perfectly timed pursuit race - this is the situation 20 seconds after the end (all three boats neck and neck):

There was a hot air balloon festival which resulted in balloons over our house day and night and some pretty good fireworks (but only pretty good - the explosions themselves were pretty, but I don't think that the choreography was that impressive. I think I've been spoilt by San Sebastian)

And Ian came home from Lisbon and went to Paris.

Ten

Nathaniel had a lovely birthday - thank you for all his cards and gifts. He is a very happy 10 year old!

He had pancakes for breakfast (with figs and yogurt and home-grown raspberries);

And a friend over after school for cake and playing. 

And then on Sunday he and Thea had a joint hockey birthday party. It was fun and despite a truly epically awful forecast, the sun shone!

There was bouncy-hopper hockey!

And more cake.

A good time was had by all!