Author Archives: HHaricot

this week we had a full house for weds4ed, and it was great it is lovely having a houseful, and the kids all seemed to like it, have fun, chat and interact and generally have a happy buzz [on the whole] . we started with the african art that i had trialled before and after some discussion we all got going. there was a bit of thought and a variety of approaches and some very different end pictures, all fab

small had also brought a craft to do – some minecraft nets to be cut out and joined together, and he was v pleased by how many of the other kids enjoyed doing this, and the chatting that went on around it. well done small

we grownups had some fun – peeling coring and prepping bags of apples which will make us pies and crumbles for a few weds groups to come – an delish apple crumble this time , and having a go at our 4 hands surprise symphony for christmas camp. em has baggsed left hand of player 1, think the babs is going for right hand of player 1, so jan you have whichever you fancy for player 2 .

the kids were very excited about animation, some planning out of who does what scene and starting on the drawings for it, and those who hadnt done their credits, doing those. again loads of talking, they clearly do love doing this as part of a group , here is BB’s.

I didn’t get a pic of Big and E playing guitars together and hanging out, nor did I get pics of the chess playing or the general musicianship. I did take a couple of science – we had a challenger disaster tho as our fuel chamber sprung a leak nd even quick set glue didn’t seem to improve things, so will try again with that one if anyone has film cannisters?

but we finished, as always, with games time – playing minecraft, playing outside or playing a boardgame, dependent on desire.

great day guys thankyou.

DH continuing with sorting out the plumbing in the loft and making it sensible so that can then support new bathroom properly. so soldering joins and a new cold water tank amongst other things.

bb spent sat at cub camp. she coudn’t quite bring herself to do the whole sleeping over thing this time. combination of having done it once and missing sb so not wanting to be away i think. she had a great day. they did go carts and races and had a campfire and singing at the end. she was very happy to have spent the day there, but also very happy not to be camping. lovely weather for it.

sunday she did a fair bit of being builders mate with DH and the plumbing she is rather fascinated by the soldering . SHe and I did some piano practice and also baked some cakes. a rich choc cake for her, and an apple cake for DH for all his hard work . and i did lots of being her bestmate and playmate, even if this has meant cheering minecraft as well as dinosaurs, silly rhymes and lots of tickles and cuddles

writing this, i am wondering whether to pollyanna, not sure. but i am hoping to look back from the future and see where we came from so i guess it is going to be honest . it is hard this en famille thing. i miss sb, particularly for the evening and day after our call. i worrit around the edges of conversations. but i can’t really alter anything. i believe that en famille are a good organisation and committed to matching well and making exchanges work. i think we have a lovely french family for SB to settle with. v also emailed us after the call this time to ensure we knew she was happy, which was lovely of her.

it is clear she gets on really we with her french sister which is excellent . but settling in at school is v hard for her, particularly as the 2 subjects she can understand – english and maths – she is ahead on, and she just doesnt understand the others. she is at the hard edge of the exchange, in that she is fed up of not really understanding, and desperate to make the transition into comprehension. so hoping that she uses that frustration to make a big push with french language. however, she has enjoyed orchestra again, only 2 clarinets but loads of saxophones, and played the tenor sax part. i’m not sure whether she has had a clarinet lesson out there yet, but is enjoying playing, and that is the main thing. she is still doing school choir taster, she thinks she has a head start as singing mama mia songs she also has been climbing at the club and playing wii just dance. she mostly sounded happy, and v said she was happy when she came off the phone so lots of positive too.

I remain proud of her for doing this, with not only the challenge of new language and new culture, but also school for the first time. V is hopefully going to send some photos to us, and when she does some will make it to the blog . unfortunately sb seems to be unable to connect with flickr and so can’t blog currently, so so is waiting for e to trouble shoot.
so there you go, a game of 2 halves

this week as a test go, we had weds4ed at the babs house, somewhat west of my own for us it turned out to be an easy uneventful drive there, even if BB wasn’t in the best of moods for a day out. We had a pretty relaxed day, chatting and looking around her side of the house and the shared garden.
When the deependers arrived all the children piled into the pool and had a very happy splash around whilst we observed from the lovely conservatory with a cup of tea and chatted about things such as en famille, music lessons and general stuff It is good to take the time to chat, and the kids certainly did lots of swimming as well as playing in the pool.

we had the regulation pasta and sauce for lunch as well as nachos brought by kfish which were yummy. Then the kids did some polar emergency signs [well not BB as being grumpy] before going on to young engineers rockets. TheBabs did a v successful bribe of bb, making me v relieved, with some gooey biscuits, and BB helped me get ready, which cheered her up. luckily there is a climbing tree, so she helped by climbing it . then we spent some considerable time considering how it actually worked, and what might be changing some of the outcomes of our rockets. finished with a bit of games playing together.

lovely day, thankyou

ok, so i am rubbish at being tidy and have already done some backsliding re the 40 days. But we are moving on in other directions. One of which [the most important] is to renovate our bathroom so it actually works! Panic not, we can wash in the house, we have an en suite. A MASSIVE en suite, which, when we have a functional bathroom, we will then turn into a bedroom for BB, as the girls would like their own room, it will work better with FrB here, and then we will hve 4 bedrooms – hooray

Of course, our house is old, bodged in places, significantly bodged in others. no straight lines or 90 degree angles, some lath and lime plaster to contend with – which is crumbly. so, getting the picture, it is not going to be easy. anyway, some before pics

first job is to drain down the radiator in there and replace with a towel rail, and add another small radiator. Winter is coming, and we don’t want to be heat free when it really bites – tho it has felt cold enough recently. typically, it was hard to get it to line nicely with the lathe and also not with a joist under the floor. we will need to strip off the current paper, and then will prob make good plaster and use lining paper.

here is the rough plan for the new bathroom

and we have moved the bath [tho will be freecycling it] into where the bath might go and to see space for loo and sink. look at that stunning wallpaper under those tiles! Have carefully taken them off so can freecycle too.

we have looked at a number of tiles, i would really like spanish or moroccan style, but a bit out of the budget! so currently considering mostly plain but some patterend to jazz up. need to get some samples . we are considering bamboo for flooring, and have had a brainstorm on bath, shower, loo and sink designs.

for our weds4ed we thought it might be good if we took turns/variably provided an arts activity that might be ‘arts award’ in style – ie teaching and concentrating on techniques or artists. here we have using different textures and styles to create 2 very different moods, tho clearly of the same region. the first creates movement and activity, the second more reflective and perhaps wistful.

This was themed around a fab painting in SB’s french family house. They have visited north africa a number of times, and this is probably a keepsake from a journey there.

and the masai warrior picture. this seems to be a particularly evocative version. It says a bit about the artist ‘Born in 1960 in the Machakos District, Ndambuki was interested in art from an early age. He graduated from the Creative Arts Centre in Nairobi where he received a diploma in fine arts. He then went on to receive a diploma in Graphic Design at the Kenya Polytechnic. Ndambuki’s work is strongly influenced by the Masai people. His paintings, typically in warm, bright colors, depict simple scenes from everyday life, evoking that sunset, sunrise feeling. Ndambuki’s work has been exhibited in the United States, Germany and Japan. One painting is on permanent display at the Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. Local Kenyan exhibitions have been held at the French Cultural Centre, British Council, and Tazama Art.’

I plan to talk about about how this is views of africa, rather than ‘native art of africa’, and we might get to do some african style art too.

1. african women

I used watercolours, but think should have used acrylics for vibrancy, and quick drying! Could be in oils, but these give me migraine, so only used when I have too! the original picture built up layers, including a paper strip for the dress, so I have too, using some animal prints I have. Initially i used green as background, swirled a thick yellow, then some thin red and blue. i thought the blue wasnt right, but decided not to start again, and actually at the end I am fairly happy. I did a few lines in red, then splashed/dotted on some white, red and blue paint [as original] . whilst some of these were drying, I practiced my female forms. when dried, i placed my 2 animal print paper strips on, drew the women around them in thin black paint – a sharpie might work too. when dried, i did highlights in white – here acrylic or oil would def be better. These thumbprints show the stages.

Tho clearly not the same, I am happy this picture captures the essence of movement of the women picture.

2. masai warrior

ALthough the original is in oils, again, we will be using watercolours. this is the easier of the 2 pictures and most accessable for the younger/less confident as I think it will be hard to not look good at the end. Again I also used animal print strips of paper for clothing, though the original doesn’t. We start with a background yellow roughly put on so some paper shows through. cotton wool is used to dab on orange at top and bottom, and then a madder red to add a final depth, more at the bottom. this would be good for the clothes if not using paper. I practiced my warrior shapes, cut out some paper strips and stuck on. then with black paint added heads, arms, spears and legs. one spear is far to thick!

definately happy with the final picture

Its hard to believe we have lived without SB for a full month. I miss her every day, sometimes to a physical hurt. my chest feels heavier, my shoulders sag, and my dreams are unsettled. Why do we do this? because SB really wanted to, she wanted the chance and the opportunity to relish and fully immerse herself in another way of life, to learn to be french. So she is. I cant say it has been an easy ride, she has been homesick, had a few misunderstandings with french family, en famille sorted them out easily [as not that big, had just been worrying her] . but the french family, sb and us, as well as en famille, are all committed to making it work. I think it will.

today we had a few tears in the phone call, we all need a hug. it has been a month after all! however, things are carrying on, she lots her school card and wasnt let out – had to go to etude. she forgot her maths homework this weekend – etude again i reckon! but she is auditioning for the choir – chorale – they have 3 taster sessions. singing in french seems a tall order to me! she is enjoying scouts, she has friends. school is boring, but thinks civics might be ok if she understood it she is really happy with her french sister and has settled into life there. she really misses reading tho as she wakes up early and can’t think what to do. i wonder if french family could find audiobooks she might understand for those moments?? we put some simple ones on her kindle – not sure if she still is allowed to use it tho, as we forgot to ask. She was v excited to have bought some records – vinyl!!!! at a market stall. Her french dad [who she thinks is great, especially because he loves pasta so often buys that when he shops] says she is using more french and speaking to people SB says she mostly speak to otheer children/friends as her words are often in the wrong [ie english] order and need unmuddling still. but hey a start

miss you SB, but still proud of you for taking such a big step, and hoping you have a good week

more uneventful than planned! BB, due to good behaviour, got to go to a film sat morning. unfortunately, once it was booked she had a massve meltdown and the weekend has been… interesting. Anyway, glossing swiftly, we went to see despicable me 2, which we both really loved, made us laugh lots, and was v companiable. pretty much the high point of the weekend . She did manage to visit a tile shop [we didnt find what we wanted] and a bathroom shop – agreed principles for each item – before coming home. erm, fast forward…

Today i had hoped to take advantage of the lovely weather and go to brancaster beach to meet aunty m. unfortunately bb less keen, so a day at home. BB read some fact books to me and after some negotiation, we did a piano practice, which went well. we then did loads and loads of lego she is now happy to box things by colour/shape rather than by set – phew – as it helps her find the right thing when she wants to build a not-set. this is something of a breakthrough yippee :). our dining room table is covered.

we did some painting – mine as a practice run – post to follow! and hers she went wrong so no pic. she was happier on windows paint and then did a fair bit of play with her dinosaurs.

we had a phone call with SB. – blogged!

and ended the day with david attenborough hearing about the development of backbones and hip joints