Petits Haricots

i am not sure exactly what! but i know on thurs there was a bit of ‘normals’

fri they went to a fab session at one of the not very local groups all about dyeing. they made their own natural dye with paprika to take with them [i have no idea if it worked] and whilst there did some tie dyeing, which they enjoyed.

mon, picking up SB’s glasses – which look great on her, except she looks older…  she notices a difference in vision. i cam home and we used some photochromic paper to make pictures – which was great fun, and she made a raindetector kit -like the einos but with a different badge. again it totally failed to work. has anyone had the burglar, rain or any of the ones with piezo electrics work? tempted to write to makers and complain. she made the circuits all by herself perfectly.

we played games, BB loving memory pairs at the mo. SB fed some of my endagered animals in the reserve – i am losing money hand over fist!!

we were all a bit out of sorts to start with – prob something to do with the nightly merry go rounds for sleeping thats been happening recently. so SB and i read some brainwaves how nearly everything was invented, and BB played. SB then made a family invitation card – over and over again! BB and i played and then watched some how things work altogether.

some magic school bus later and we were all outside topping up bird feeders and playing on swings and slides. we put up the paddling pool [yet another one] and some splashing fun – girls decided the water cold enough to wear wetsuits – rofl! watcheda prog about earth, read a bit more, and that was about it i think. manic week ahead. deep breath!

chris is wondering how to shape this one. i thought he had…

i think, on the whole, that i am going to pretend there was no other day than that which started at 4 – it would be much better remembered that way!

we went to a fab party, which started as a kids party, and then since the host and hostess are in a molly group, ended with v lovely live music. there were crafts to do, people to chat to, and kids to play with, lovely food and lovely company and lovely weather. in fact all lovely. yep that is what i will remember about today!

she is 87 now, and i guess that visits can be bittersweet. i remember the vibrant active nanny of my youth, and see the proud and determined to be self sufficient nan of the present, who TBH, i just want to kidnap and bring home to live. she can manage, that is for sure, but she is lonely, her friends have died, and she lives in a house of the past. even i half expect to hear my grandad whistle as he goes down the passageway. she has lived there ever since homes for heroes after ww2. they were the first tenants into that new council development, and she will be the last of that group to leave. but i am sure she would actually enjoy what time we have left alltogether more if she actually lived close to me, my mum or aunt. please, when i get to ‘that age’ if my children or grandchildren suggest i move closer, i should pack up my memories and go for it. every time i see her, she seems to be preparing more to leave. she is gradually getting rid of lots of her ‘unneccesary belongings’ to ‘save us the trouble’.

and i feel guilty [something i am v good at!] for not going more often, and not prioritising her. because when i am there, i can see how much good it does her, how she loves to see the children. it is knackering for me, because i drive, prepare lunch, make teas, wash up, cook, do odd jobs, listen and talk with her as she is desperate for all that conversation and interaction, but also chivvy children, get them to be on best, and also interact, and not point out she repeats, forgets, and always calls SB by my name and often BB by niece and my nephew by my cousins name. and all this solitariness isn’t activating brain, so games [and she was a real sharp games player] take a bit of starting if they are new [so we took hisss rather than castle keep].

but i love her desperately, and always hate to leave. and the girls were good, loving and adorable. can you kidnap grandparents?

i think the girls spent the WHOLE day doing a card or note each for chloe!! l actually wonder what the post office will make of the lovingly decorated envelope…

i got home to some ebay parcels – well, SB said science was the way to go, so i have been bidding on the cheapy ones – as an aside i rofl when things are priced with the plus postage making them more than rrp? do you really think i’ll bid? [this is private sellers]. anyway, so bargains about. they were both excited by the cosmic rocket. yet another way to play with bicarb and vinegar! we had fun and were a tad inept at the mixing – used nearly a whole bottle of vinegar where can we buy catering quantities of vinegar and bicarb??

we had a lovely walk today with the manor born as our monthly nature walk. SB had been strongly encouraged to try walking with some weightbearing yesterday, and on seeing chloe really got stuck into it! arriving after a small rainshower meant that the birds were plentiful – we even saw 3 woodpeckers this time. we did a far more ambling walk than normal to accommodate SB and so went into the formal gardens.

both girls fell asleep on the way home – unsurprising as bb tried to get us all up at 4.30. we had a realxed evening with house on the prairie and dinotopia. sb did some katanimo . earlier in the day bb surprised me by counting the sheep in french [7] so although a bit poxy i imagine by most peoples standards, our regular reading of v easy french books may at least be planting a seed [that can grow into a tall tree in due course!]

we got a science kit from ebay – totally ancient electronic one, that has one but missing [bound to find it is the key thing!] but we may have a good look at it tomorrow, or do some of the horrible science explosive experiments, you never know!

i am going to give it a smith to see if it is good to eat. m-n probs and f/th’s!