I'm Back, I Have A Cold, And My Sons Have Discovered The Formula For Anti-Gravity

Sean says "Yes, well, Gravity plus Two Idiots equals Pain."

Or, G+2I=P. Anti-Gravity is within our grasp!

The discovery of that formula has spurred the scientists in this household to heights of formula-scribbling passion, and they feel that any day now a breakthrough will be announced. At least they're not doing insane things on the trampoline any more...

I am all stuffy-headed and sore throaty, which often happens when I've been on a plane, but I'm so happy to be home. Chas and Sam had a good big-boy week without their mummy, and Sean took them to see Avatar. Avatar gets six thumbs up from them.

Chas had his birthday, which I missed because my flight was delayed by a day. He is TWELVE years old! I can hardly believe it. I brought him a very cool microscope which has a USB cable for viewing on the computer screen. It's what he really wanted for Christmas, but it was way too expensive here in the U.K. We ordered after Christmas (sales!) to be shipped to Trinidad from the U.S, and saved lots. The Celestron 44320 Microscope Digital Kit MDKis an awesome tool. We've looked at everything from bread mold (eew) to reflective strips (cooool), and it's great to see it all on the laptop screen instead of taking turns peering into the eyepiece.

Max is more grown-up, and the visit to Trinidad did him much good. We got to hug the people that mean the most to us, and even fit in a rainforest hike in Brasso Seco. It was just what I needed to recharge my batteries. Pictures to come!

While I was away, Sean backed up my computer and re-installed vital stuff. I'm working now on a clean slate, and need to get Dell back into action and fix my bugs. And I need to catch up with everyone! Did I miss anything important?

My BABY SISTER is MARRIED!

Now I'll have to call her MRS Skin-And-Blister.

It was ...*sigh*... so beautiful. Ailis looked like a fairytale princess, Dan was the proudest husband ever, and I sobbed my mascara into my daddy's shirt collar. None of that genteel eye-wipey church-crying for me, no siree! I hope the photographers didn't notice.

Trinidad is as beautiful, chaotic and vibrant as ever. Today Max and I will head to our old house to finish packing, with the "help" of a bunch of friends who say they're bringing food and wine. It's one of those events that went from being a serious "Okay, here's the plan" to "Plan? What plan?" It's going to be another happy day... and if not much actual packing gets done, there's tomorrow as well. But I have a feeling that, in traditional fashion, the packing WILL get done, quickly, sensibly, with no stress for me, and much merriment, wine and laughter. It'll be good to have assistance to get the heavy books and records down from the attic, and lists written.

Max is having a great time. Everywhere he goes people say "How tall you've grown! And you're so grown-up!" which does a kid good. He's seen many of his friends, and he's done the Macarena on his uncle's shoulders and babysat his little cousin. He's said, "Uuurrrgh, I'd forgotten how bad the traffic is..." Hopefully he'll head back home re-charged and knowing that Trinidad will always be here, nothing ever changes, no-one's forgotten him, and he can always come back. A Remedy for Homesickness!

Co-Sleeping: All The Cool Kids Are Doing It!

Babies have been sleeping with their parents since time began, and over most of the world, the Family Bed is still the most popular choice for parents: A 2006 study in India found 93% of children aged 3-10 still co-sleeping, only moving to another bed (usually to share with a sibling or other family member) when the next baby comes along. The trend of putting baby to sleep in a separate bed, in a separate ROOM, is a modern and mainly Western phenomenon, opening up a whole new market for cribs, bedding, mobiles, and nursery-decorating merchandise...

Read the Full Article at GNM Parents! Full of good stuff, if I do say so myself.

Children's Book Reviews, Continued...

Well, there are some readers with suggestions out there! And our own list has been added to as well, as we remember our favourites from waaaay back:

Max and I were visiting my Granny Margo, and on the way there he held my hand and said, "Let's skip!" It's a line from one of the 'Little Bear' books by Else Homelund Minarik. These are such sweet stories, and perfect for "Read It Yourself"-ing. They are illustrated by Maurice Sendak, and make you feel all warm and snuggly. Beautiful, loving stories! (Of course, we skipped all the way to Margo's and arrived all out of breath. What must the neighbourhood think?) There are several 'Little Bear' books, all lovely.

The 'Curious George' stories are great... no matter what trouble he gets into, this endearing character has everything turn out okay in the end. So many commenters and emailers said "What about Curious George?" that I can't leave him out! I even like Curious George on TV, which for me, is saying something.

'The Paper Bag Princess' is my all-time favourite Robert Munch book. Elizabeth's boyfriend, the handsome Prince Ronald,  is carried off by a dragon, and she rescues her Prince with great wit and bravery. He says "Your hair is full of ashes and you are WEARING A PAPER BAG! come back when you are dressed like a real princess!" She tells him that his clothes are very nice "but you are a toad", and goes off into the sunset. ALL little girls should have this storybook! Robert Munch's other books are great too, cunningly illustrated and totally original.

I really love 'Five Minutes Peace', by Jill Murphy. Mom goes to have a bath all by herself, with the newspaper and a cup of tea. EVENTUALLY, she gets three minutes and forty-seven seconds of peace, but not in the bath! A real giggle for us Mommies!



'Mister Magnolia', by Quentin Blake, with typical Quentin Blake illustrations... a classic! Mister Magnolia has only one boot, but it doesn't stop him in this fun rhyme!

We just re-read 'Alice In Wonderland', a version illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. I was not sure about having different illustrations, but now that we've read it we think we like Helen Oxenbury's pictures even better than the originals. They are a little more modern, which makes the story more meaningful for our littles.

Enid Blyton's 'Enchanted Wood' books were favourites when I was little: I was addicted. Sam and Max both adored them too. I was reading with a little girl at school last week, and she was reading 'The Enchanted Wood', so I interviewed her! She gave all of Enid Blyton's books two thumbs up, and I give them two, so that's four! Enid Blyton's appeal crosses generations.

'Two Frogs' by Chris Wormell has made us all, including Sean, roll on the floor with laughter. I love the illustrations, the expressions on the frogs' faces... very funny, and with a moral. Sort of.



I'm really enjoying revisiting our favourite books! We've been borrowing them again from the library, and remembering our favourite bits, and talking about them... It's been such fun. I've got more to re-read, and please keep your suggestions and reminders coming.

I've got a list for older kids too, when we've exhausted these!

Great Things Are Afoot

Great Things Are A Foot, so I've been painting my toenails red in reddiness. I am GOING TO TRINIDAD soon! My sister is there now, trying on her wedding dress and arranging tents and flowers. Max and I will jet there, away from the frozen wastes of Bournemouth, and spend a week decorating, partying, and packing our remaining possessions to be shipped here. Only a week, but hey, sleep is overrated. I can squeeze plenty of fun into a week! I have willing friends coming to help me pack: Sharon, who has just had a baby boy, and Kelli, who has injured her back. "What use are YOU guys going to be??" I asked, and they said that they'd make sure the wine kept flowing. I'm taking applications for able-bodied packing assistants!

Sean, Chas and Sam are jealous, and I'll miss them, but it's only a week my sweeties, and I promise I won't have time to loll on the beach!

We've had a great weekend. Sean's birthday, Beans visiting, had a babysitter come so that we could go to a pub where a couple of guitarists were strumming. Last night friends came over and we had a party, with great food and CAKE and candles, the works!

Today, after the dreariest week we've experienced so far in Bournemouth, the sun came out and shone like mad, so we dragged our hungover selves out of bed, cleaned up the party and headed out towards the beach via Boscombe Chine Gardens... a really nice walk in the sun. About a zillion people had the same idea as us! I love living walking distance from the beach.

I felt so HAPPPPPEEEE! with the sun shining on me. I'm like an iguana, when it's grey and cloudy I just go into a coma. It seems silly to let the weather get me down, but it really does. A re-charge of my solar cells in Trinidad will be just what I need to get me through to Spring! And Max needs to see that everything's the same in Trinidad and he hasn't missed out. I remember feeling homesick, and "Going Back" curing me. I hope it does the same for Max ... and doesn't backfire when it's time to leave again!

Favorite Books For Little Ones

(Especially for Theresa...)

The boys and I had such a lively discussion recently, remembering our favourite books from way back when. It's amazing what we started to remember when I asked the question, "What were your favourite books when you were really little?"

They started to recite: "The night Max wore his wolf suit..." It's no secret that our Max was named for the King of Maurice Sendak's Wild Things, which was Chas and Sam's favourite story when he was born. When he popped out looking JUST like Max, there was no hesitation. Poor feller. "Max" is a dubious literary character, especially now that the movie is out! We still know the whole story by heart, we've read it so many times.

"Oh, oh, 'The Runaway Bunny'!" I was always surprised at their love for this story. "Why did you like that one?" I asked. "The pictures. And his mummy ALWAYS came for him." A comforting tale for a little boy or girl who wants to prove their independence... but not really! 'Goodnight Moon', also by Margaret Wise Brown, has the same strange illustrations that the boys remember and is a sure putter-to-sleep of reluctant sleepers.

'Guess How Much I Love You?' by Sam McBratney is another one that the kids remember fondly. I love this story, with its fun illustrations and giggles. The Margaret Wise Brown books and 'Guess How Much I Love You' are all available as board books, thank goodness! We have passed ours on to cousins who love them as much as we do. They are still going strong in spite of being chewed and used as bridges for trains.



'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle is another story that I read OVER and OVER and OVER... The board book version invites toddlers to put their finger into the mysterious holes and drive the reader mad with trying to turn pages. 'Rosie's Walk' by Pat  Hutchins is lovely, we recently borrowed it from the library again to laugh at the silly fox's misadventures! 'Rosie's Walk' is great for beginner readers to "pretend" to read: they will probably know its few words by heart!



'Winnie The Pooh', by A.A. Milne. Chas and Sam say "Make sure you say NOT the Disney Version!" The language in the original stories is lovely, the poems silly, and the characters loveable. Even if you do read the short Disney books, be sure to read the 'Winnie The Pooh', 'House At Pooh Corner' and all the rest. Even little ones who seem to have a small vocabulary love these comforting stories where everything turns out all right. "The atmospheric conditions have been rather unfavourable of late" says Owl. "What?" asks Christopher Robin. "It's raining," Owl replies. "Yes, it has!" The poetry of A.A. Milne is also fun, 'And Now We Are Six' being our favourite book of poetry by Milne. "But now that I'm six, I'm as clever as clever. I think I'll be six now for ever and ever!"



Some may find this a little old-fashioned, but the poems of Edward Lear have stuck with our family. 'The Pobble Who Has No Toes' is a literary classic (we think), and if you've got a quirky sense of humour you'd like to pass on to your kids, this is it. 

Reciting and learning poetry is the best way to exercise the memory muscle. Nursery Rhymes seem to be dying out these days, which is a shame. Learning a rhyme by heart, and singing it aloud, is the first step in rote-learning "more important" things like times tables. Every child should have a book of Nursery Rhymes, and have them read aloud regularly. I don't think kids learn nursery rhymes at school any more, alas! They fit in with day-to-day life, and can be sung while eating, bathing, putting the kettle on... I still sing nursery rhymes in the kitchen! 

The 'Charlie And Lola' books are relatively new on the scene... and I'm sorry they weren't around when Chas was little! They were a staple of Max's bedtime for ages. All of Lauren Child's books are great. My sister, who was a nanny at the time, sent the boys a pack of a dozen different Lauren Child books and we devoured them. 'That Pesky Rat' is our favourite of them all (so far), but the philosophy and collage-type illustrations are pretty much brilliant right through the lot. Charlie And Lola are both sweet and believable. 'Clarice Bean' is wonderful.

I'm going to stop here! Please leave suggestions if you think I've forgotten any favourites, because there is more! I have another list, books for primary school-age kids, percolating here. The boys are keen to share their best loved books with all the budding bookworms out there.

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

I was walking home today, thinking "Hmmmmm, what to cook for supper?" and when I opened the door I smelled the delicious aroma of Lamb and Barley Stew (my recipe is the best, just so you know), and remembered that I had thrown it together in the Crockpot in about three minutes before I left home. Brilliant! I underestimate even my own capacity for organization.

My yoga session yesterday has me STIFF everywhere! (but niiiice stiff, you know when your muscles say 'aaaahhhhh'?) I had taken a break because I hurt my elbow (overdoing the heavy lifting) and the acupuncture guy said "NO using the arm until it's better!" Well it's better, acupuncture being amazing, and I need to get yoga-fit again. Uuuurgh, my muscles! I was still careful with my arm, of course. I don't want ever to have elbow pain again. Not being able to lift things or push things is so annoying.

I have Happy News! Max and I are heading to Trinidad for a week soon, for my sister's wedding! (Ailis left earlier, and we've been texting. It's funny how we can't do without one another now!) I'm so looking forward to it. It's going to be a busy busy time: I get there just in time to DECORATE and have all of the last-minute panics with my nearest and dearest. My best-best friends are going to visit me and help me to decorate, and Max and I have a rainforest hike planned in Brasso Seco. I will also be doing our final packing of stuff to ship here to Bournemouth. I expect friends will help me to pack too! And yes, we only have a week. It's going to be mad.

I'm sitting here is lovely peace, listening to "Enya". Every five minutes, someone comes in and turns it off, to play guitar. Chas is learning Metallica- "One", it's the new craze around here. Then he wanders out again. So I turn my music back on. And Sam comes in, playing Darkness- "I Believe In A Thing Called Love". I say "Go away and play somewhere else!" and they say "But it's too NOISY everywhere else!" No, it's noisy where YOU are, I don't say.

Now it's Pearl Jam. At least they haven't got electric guitars. Yet. Or drums. I can't concentrate, so I'll admit defeat and go wash the dishes or something.

It's Just Not Faaaair!

So okay, it's my own fault. I came to England in the summer-berry (and double cream) season and ate huge fryups for weeks, only switching to muesli and healthy stuff when it was TOO LATE! I totally understand where the extra weight has come from. But WHYYYYY oh WHYYYYY couldn't some of it have gone to my boobs? My ass, even! Why the mid-section spread? I've always wanted boobs and an ass. No-one ever said "Oh me oh my, how I wish for a larger waist, as long as my boobs would just keep hanging there."

Anyway. On to more important things. (Not that my waistline isn't IMPORTANT, but I'm dealing with it. Today I did Karen's "Bliss Yoga" hour-and-a-half yoga CD, which is good for body AND soul.)

My computer needs a total factory re-thingy. It's had a problem since it was new, nothing serious, just "hmmmm...", and when I got in touch with Dell I ended up emailing back and forth with a Venezuelan technician. He emailed in Spanish, and I emailed in English, and we understood one another and got along okay. He talked me through dismantling the back of my machine and reseating things, and then we uploaded stuff, (all in Spanish) and the problem was much improved. Muchas Gracias, Dell Venezuela!

Anyway, the computer now refuses to charge at all, so I spoke to Dell again and living in a developed country is so awesome! They speak English, to begin with, and are raring to come and fix things. Sean reported his own Dell bugs, and a guy was here in a flash with new bits, advice and brilliance. So I'm going to have my own bugs sorted out, but first I have to back everything up. That should be fun!

Tomorrow, Preschool book review! All of the boys' old favourites. I've got a list going. Any suggestions/reminders?

Breastfeeding: Not Enough Milk?

I'm writing over on GNM Parenting about BREASTFEEDING! My favourite subject.


"We’ve all heard the good stuff about breastfeeding: It’s great for baby, great for Mom, better for the environment and the National Health Budget. Search the net for “Benefits of Breastfeeding” and there are zillions of helpful (and unhelpful) sites providing information (and misinformation) about breastfeeding. But the consensus: with the World Health Organization, The American Academy of Paediatrics, UNICEF, and Scientists and Doctors everywhere, is that breastfeeding is the best way to nourish your baby.


Some of the latest studies point out that:


* Exclusive breastfeeding at one month cut the risk of SIDS in half


* Breastfeeding Cuts Breast Cancer Risk


* Breastfeeding Boosts Kids’ IQ


* Easier weight loss after childbirth: breastfeeding burns up to 500 calories per day, and helps to return the uterus to it’s pre-pregnancy size and shape.


So if breastfeeding is SO WONDERFUL, why isn’t everyone doing it?"

Click to Read more at GNM Parents

grumblegrumblegrumble

I've had it up to here with the economy. I hate hanging, waiting for news... Can I get a crystal ball? And would the sun come out? Please?  My hormones are percolating, my belly is hanging out of my low-rise jeans, I have a constellation of zits on my chin, and I keep going to bed too late. My own fault, probably.

Send me some sunshine, internet. Tell me a joke, or something!

Going out, will try to get a grip by this afternoon.

The Boys Take A Meeeeelion Photos...

The boys rush out with the camera - a shockproof, waterproof Olympus Toughthat I totally recommend - and take a meeeeelion pictures and videos of themselves. They set up Lego stop-action shorts, jump off of things and then watch themselves in reverse, act out Jedi stunts, make silly faces... And then I try to upload photos from the camera and it takes ages, and I yell "WHAT IS ALL THIS CRAP ON THE CAMERA?!" But actually, many of their pictures (maybe one out of 12,857?) are classics.

They know all of the camera's special features, and have way more patience than I do, sitting in the cold and taking ninety-nine high-speed ramping photos. Their underwater pictures are classics, too.

I think I'll stop yelling at them. Maybe they are destined to be famous film producers? What they really need is a program for editing their videos, for cutting, reversing and so on. Any suggestions?

All Social And Political, My Apologies

I never do this here, but this report from the UN Small Arms Survey on Guns, Gangs and Governance in Trinidad is excellent. It's a PDF Download, sorry! But worth it.


The report states that "On a per capita basis, the eastern districts of Port of Spain are among the most dangerous places on the planet and, as a whole, the murder rate for Port of Spain is comparable to that of Baghdad" (Kukis, 2009).

Those are some of the areas where I worked (with SERVOL) as a Parenting Lecturer, in an effort to empower young men and make them more likely to hang around as Dads. I loved it. It was incredibly rewarding. No-one ever shot at me.

Non-Governmental Organizations like SERVOL need help from non-corrupt people if we are to make Trinidad safe and beautiful again. What can YOU do to help, Trini?


"Studies in T & T have identified punishment at home as more severe than
punishment at school (Deosaran, 2008, p. ix). According to Nils Kastberg, the
UN Children’s Fund regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean:
witnessing violence in the home or being physically or sexually abused, for instance,
may condition children or adolescents to become victims or perpetrators." (UNICEF, 2008)
Plainly put, the cycle is one of violence begetting violence.


And now I'll shut up, before people start pelting stones and saying "Yeah, Miz Gone-To-England!"

Packing Away Christmas

Have you packed Christmas away yet? We had no tree here, as we spent Christmas in London, and all of our decorations are in Trinidad still, so there were only ribbons of Christmas cards to take down, and the Nativity Crèche to put away.

I love packing Christmas away. It's one tradition that I enjoy all by myself, on a quiet day when the kids are back at school. I usually have crazy glue, contact cement, paints, brushes and glitter on hand, and every ornament is checked out, repaired, and prettied before it's wrapped in tissue paper and put away. It's good to have a fix-it day because things are bound to get broken (especially if you have a cat like Lulu) (and small boys) (and a small house with a huge tree squeezed in), and you can say "that's okay, honey" and put the broken treasure on a shelf till January 6th. Old Angels who've been around for years and years may need to have their cheeks re-pinked, and gold acrylic paint is great for brightening up the el cheapo decorations on the bottom branch which have been chewed on by your nephew.

So this year, I had nothing to mend. But, the nativity set needed serious attention! For many years we've had "O Sprawling Metropolis Of Bethlehem", a child-friendly, play-with-able Playmobil Set which we added to as the years went by. Our Bethlehem had a sweet stable, made by a friend, with the Holy Family and all of the animals, on a hill (cardboard box covered with green cloth). Around the base of the hill was the rest of Bethlehem, which was surprisingly diverse and covered the entire coffee table. Dinosaurs (because God loves ALL animals); the three wise men (porcelain, no-one ever broke them) with plastic camel, elephant and horse (the animals are from different parts of the "East"); Clay figures made by the boys; Little houses with other, porcelain pieces; Christmas trees made in school; a train track running around the base of the hill; a farm... the kids refused to let any soldiers into Bethlehem, and all was peace and togetherness. You get the idea. It actually looked great in spite of pieces not being to scale, and encouraged much discussion about baby Jesus and the whole Christmas thing. (I have to give them some Christianity to round off their rather varied religious education) (And you know how I feel about the Nativity!)

Now that the boys are older, I thought that we could have a more grown-up Crèche, so I looked online for one. Alas, the ones I really liked were horrendously expensive for this moment in my life, so I bought one that looked okay from Lakeland. I really liked it because it's got three Shepherd Boys, who look a lot like my boys! (Aaaaawwwww!) It arrived excitingly, in a box within a box full of padding and the boys unwrapped it and set it up.

And noticed that the Holy Family is very blonde. The shepherds too. How we laughed! We decided that it may not be historically correct, but that's okay. And my not buying a beautiful fragile handmade crèche turned out to be a good thing, when my smallest downstairs neighbours came up and noticed it. I put the crèche on the floor, and they played for an hour, acting out the whole story. A few Lego men got involved, too. Our new crèche isn't unbreakable, but nothing was broken. Kids are really careful, if you ask them to be. I am all for giving kids fragile stuff to touch, as long as it isn't really valuable.

So the Crèche is a success. And last night, I got out the paints and gave Mary, baby Jesus and two of the shepherd boys brown hair (Joseph is old and grey, and so are the Wise Men). I left one shepherd boy blonde, for Sam (they are SO cute). And then, I put them all away till next Christmas... and by then we'll have our other decorations here too!

Our Christmas holiday has been so good... much better than I had anticipated! The snow this week, and the resulting day-and-a-half off school, extended the party atmosphere for us. England is COVERED in snow! Look at the satellite picture! Yikes!

I hope you are warm wherever you are. I know that we have it easy, with our piddling inch or two of snow and ice. My heart goes out to everyone who's stuck indoors, waiting for the spring. Hang in there!

Inclement!

"Inclement" is a word used by Trinidadian politicians to mean "The flooding you are experiencing is not the fault of the Government". The word inclement in the dictionary indicates unusually severe conditions, not clogged drains, but we can't expect the government to know that, they are too busy pontificating and embarrassing us all.

In England they say "Dangerous ice on the roads!" and we get to stay home from school. Ice in Bournemouth is inclement, but with our ice yesterday came SNOW! Which is very seldom seen here. Yesterday our neighbourhood was blanketed in pure, sparkling white. Fat snowflakes flurried around. Sound was muffled and time seemed to stand still. It was beautiful.

At lunchtime the boys' schools texted to say that school would be let out early, and within fifteen minutes the neighbourhood was a mass of muddy slush, dotted with snowmen wearing plastic flowerpot hats and more children than I ever knew there were around here! We played in the snow, and when Sean came home he and the boys made a huuuuuge snowman, as tall as themselves, with a very Dr. Seuss look. It snowed on and off for the whole afternoon.

I retreated to the warmth of the kitchen, my favourite room in the house, to make a lasagne, and I read some of the recipe books I got for Christmas (thanks, Beans!):  Delia's How to cheat at cooking; and Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast.

Both books are supposed to make cooking easy and fast, but they come at it from different angles. Delia Smith's is a true cheat book, and reading it I got some great ideas. She has ways of avoiding work by simply buying the pre-made stuff and putting it together to make something wonderful. I agree with Delia's philosophy: Why make a roux when you can buy a very nice one chilled in a plastic pot? The cheese sauce for my lasagne nearly came to a sticky end yesterday, as I forgot all about it while hanging out of the kitchen window taking photos of the kids in the snow. You could say that it was roux-ined! But with my Restaurant Training from Hotel School days, and a childhood of helping out in the kitchen and learning from my Mum and Grandmothers, I knew how to rescue it. Not everyone is so lucky, and a sauce in a packet without the trauma of lumps and separation would make their lives much easier.

Think about it, most of our favourite recipes are time-consuming. I love mashed potatoes, but some days there is just no time. Delia argues that there are really good frozen mashed potatoes available, nothing like the icky dried stuff, so why not keep some in the freezer for those days when a shepherd's pie would just ROCK? She uses canned mince too, and adds herbs and veg for a "home made" shepherd's pie with no fuss.

Gordon Ramsay, in his "Cooking For Friends", says: "The phenomenal confidence that Delia gave people, the impact that she has had over thirty years, has to my mind been shattered in one book.... I was astonished when I saw her using canned mince. Where is the feel-good factor in that sort of compromise?" He goes on to say that he has given away his entire Delia Smith collection in horror.

I tend to disagree with Ramsay. While I am a decent cook, having been well taught, and nowadays I have the time to enjoy cooking from scratch, there have been many times in my working-mom past when a can of mince would have saved my sanity. Plus, less time in the kitchen is more time doing other stuff. And a  mini chopper, which Delia recommends, is a brilliant idea, I am so getting one. No more onion tears!

Nigella Lawson's Express book is more traditional. The recipes are mostly 'made from scratch', but really quick and easy. I particularly liked her "Quick-Quick-Slow" section, with some really delicious-looking food with hardly any prep time and a long slow cooking time, great for melt-in-your-mouth meats. There is also a Packed Lunch section with great lunchbox and picnic ideas, great for our next hike on the cliffs! (When the weather gets warmer, of course...)

Nigella has some very good vegetarian recipes, not in their own section but sprinkled throughout the book, and both books have ideas for speedy snacks for entertaining.

I love to curl up with a good cookbook during inclement weather. Gordon Ramsay's is a great read, and when I have a quiet afternoon I will make make a delicious supper out of "Cooking For Friends". Our kids love to eat, and we are all friends here! In the meanwhile, I'll let Nigella and Delia's philosophies speed me along in the kitchen, and I'll garnish everything with fresh basil for that Five Star look.

How to cheat at cooking; Delia Smith

The Tree That Grew To The Moon

This was one of Chas' favourite stories when he was very little. We read it so often together that we knew it by heart.

Lena finds an uprooted sapling on a very hot day, and takes it home. She would like to plant it in her bedroom, and Lena and her mother imagine what would happen if she does! Beautiful illustrations, quirky story. I wonder whatever became of our copy?

How To Train Your Dragon, by Cressida Cowell

"How to Train Your Dragon" by Cressida Cowell is one of the all-time favourite books in this household, and whenever another book in the series is released we do a dance of joy! We love dragons, and this series is excellent on many levels.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is son and heir to Stoic the Vast,chief of the tribe of Hairy Hooligans. Small, skinny and entirely un-heroic, he is a keen naturalist and "Dragon Watcher" who, when he comes of age and gets his own dragon along with all of the other boys in his village, cannot train his dragon by the traditional method of 'Yelling At It' because he lacks that violent Viking touch. The other boys (and their dragons) taunt and torment Hiccup and his tiny green dragon, but Hiccup and his best friend Fishlegs decide to try other training methods in hopes of getting their dragons to obey.

Hiccup's research into Dragon Psychology, and his nerdy ability to speak Dragonese, make him uniquely qualified to save the day when an enormous Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus washes up on the beach and threatens to devastate the village and eat all its inhabitants. Brute force and Yelling would be useless against this massive predator. Hiccup leads the boys from his own and the neighbouring village, and all their dragons (except for Hiccup's tiny, stubborn and naughty Toothless, who is too scared to help), in a brilliant and desperate plan to defeat the wicked mountain-sized dragon.

How To Train Your Dragon is also available as an audiobook. The audiobook version we had was read by David Tennant and his voice really suits the characters. That version is available on www.amazon.ca.

"How To Be A Pirate", book two in the series, introduces Hiccup's evil nemesis, Alvin the Treacherous. Hiccup has to make a difficult decision: To win fame and glory for himself, of do what's truly best for his tribe? A great story.

Later books introduce Camacazi, a sword-fighting virtuosa, daughter of the Bog-Burglar leader Big Boobied Bertha. Together Hiccup, Fishlegs and Camicazi save the day.

These books are recommended for 'reluctant readers', and the frequent funny illustrations make them page-turners for boys and girls. Even I await the next book with bated breath! There seems to be a movie coming out, but from what I've seen of the trailer it is completely different from the original story, and I cannot recommend it.

The Books In (sort of) Order:

1. How to Train Your Dragon Book 1
2. How to Be a Pirate (Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III)
3. How to Speak Dragonese (Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III)
4. How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse (The Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup the Viking)
5. How to Twist a Dragon's Tale (Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III)
6. A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons (Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III)
7. How to Ride a Dragon's Storm: Bk. 6 (Hiccup)
   
8. How to Break a Dragon's Heart (Hiccup)
   
9. How to Train Your Viking, by Toothless: Translated from the Dragonese by Cressida Cowell
   

Poem On A Wintry Day

When I went out this morning, every leaf was edged in frost. And on my way home, a few flakes began to fall. Made me feel quite poetic! Schmutzie posted this poem a while ago on her blog, and I think it's really apt, so I'm sharing it with you all.

Bananas in Pajamas

Yesterday, we spent ALL DAY in our jammies. I know that some of you have done this before, but it's a new thing for our family. When you live in the tropics, you really don't want to keep your stinky jammies on your stinky body for so long, but here in Jolly Olde Freezing Cold England, there is no stinky. Only snuggly warmness inside, lolling about. Fuzzy socks and all.

After supper, we said "Have a shower and put on your jammies", and the boys said "Ha HA! We have our jammies on already!"

So what did we DO all day, in our jammies?

We played Videogames, and online games.
We played chess.
We ate.
We coloured pictures.
We played CDs and guitars.
We drank 247 cups of tea.
We read our way through the heaps of BOOKS we got for Christmas and from the library.

Beginning with the youngest appeal: "Stories of Dragons" by Gillian Doherty is beautifully illustrated (a different style to match each story) by Linda Edwards. A well-researched collection of twelve stories from around the world. I recognize tales from Chinese and Persian Myths, English and European Folklore and The Vedas. The boys really enjoyed these stories, especially Max. Dragons are such a popular theme around here! We were all sorry when we got to the end of this book.

"Paddington", England's favourite Bear, used to be a bit of a mystery for Max, who had never been to England before. The stories are so very English, but now that we are here the adventures of Paddington Bear speak to all the boys.

"My Family And Other Animals" by Gerald Durrell is a long-time family favourite. Young Gerald moves with his family to the Mediterranean and finds a vast new world of flora and fauna to discover. This is a book which you have to stop reading aloud to gasp for air and wipe your eyes, it's so hilarious. Any child who has ever collected bugs, looked at moss or had a pet lizard must have this book. It is good therapy for the parents of those budding naturalists, too. Easily readable-aloud to little ones with good vocabularies, each chapter is a story, and older kids will be entranced. One of Chas' best books of all time. The Chapter "Scorpions In A Matchbox" is so Chas.

"Boy", Roald Dahl's childhood and youth, another good one for older kids. Fans of Dahl's stories for young kids will enjoy moving on to these tales. A great book for grownups, too. Chas and Sam are both enjoying this autobiography.

I am reading Gerald Martin's "Officially Tolerated" Biography of Gabriel García Márquez, and I will write a review soon. This book should not have to share a review with anything else.



I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.  ~Anna Quindlen

Ice Skating! Where Normal People Fall Over Spectacularly!

It’s coooold out there, and there’s ice on the roads. Some of us stay close to home drinking hot chocolate and reading our way through the heaps of books we got for Christmas, and when we must go out we go slooowly. Others of us complain bitterly that the icy roads and pavements has to be someone’s fault, and pontificate at length. To each his own. This family felt that it would be great to begin the new year by trying something new, and since falling over on the ice is foremost in everyone’s minds, we decided ice skating at the BIC would be just the thing.

Read More, at The Bournemouth Echo.

A Resolution, Sadly

This blog was originally started in the summer of 2007, as a series of emails. I took pictures of the boys with my Blackberry, wrote a little something, and then sent it to my sister, my cousins, some aunts and close friends. At the end of the Summer Holidays I wrote "The Last Update" and clicked "send".

From that "Last" one, I got heaps of replies, some from people I'd never heard of, friends of friends, saying "Don't stop!" and so, this Blog was born. I was writing for family at first, but soon I began writing for myself. My first post was one of the emails I had sent. I got hardly any comments in the early days, and only the occasional email, so I figured that since no-one was reading, I could write anything!!

But since I am a Mama, I tended to write about my kids, who were at the time young and completely oblivious. If they lost a snake in the car or injured their balls leaping into the water from heights, I wrote about it. If I wrote a drunken poem to Sharon about her toilet, it went on the blog. I wrote about my less than stellar parenting. Notes on Repellent Toddlers won international acclaim, and set me up for a life of famous blogging. Or not. Even Christmas Snot On The Ham got a write-up.

I documented the introduction of Digital Media into our previously Visual-Media-Free home and, a year later, the Report on how our computer impacted our lives and helped the boys to learn how to use expletives effectively courtesy of YouTube.

I've mused about unschooling and homeschooling adventures, written hundreds of book reviews and shared recipes and housework non-wisdom. I talked about how dreadful my children were, several times, and claimed that Debs cheats at Scrabble.

I got commenters! People were reading my blog and they were thoughtful, wise and friendly. I count some of them as Real Friends now, and value their advice with all my heart. I got MORE commenters, and was asked to write for other publications. Suddenly I was meeting strangers in my small island home who would say in the checkout line, "Ooooh, you're that writer!"

I suddenly started being slightly more careful about what I write, but not very. I managed to sell the Pardon-My-French Car, despite the terrible things I had said about it. Life moved on, and I began to realise that I love to write.

I love to write, but suddenly I find that there is less that I can say about my children. Chas and Sam are online more now, and they have friends who are web-savvy with facebook pages and unsupervised computer time. Many have phones with internet. The boys can go online at school, at the library, at friends' houses. My kids know about my blog. They know what it's called. I've often asked them for opinions on books they have read for my book reviews. I've asked them what they think about my writing, recently, and they like what they've seen. But one day soon, they will sit down and really read this blog.

I hope they don't notice the... I mean, *ahem* I hope they are not offended by, you know, embarrassing stuff that I may have written in the past. If they want anything removed, I will delete the offending articles. But for now, I'm going to leave everything as it is.

I can't write embarrassing stuff (or any stuff?) about the big boys here any more. They are getting all grown-up, and are no longer an extension of me, an orbiting moon. They are off into their own lives now, and future employers may not be as impressed to hear about their adventures in Homework Avoidance as the blogosphere was. Perhaps I can still squeeze a few articles out of Max, but not for long.

So where is this blog going to go? Well, it's been evolving for some time, as my life becomes less about 'My Children Need Me' and more about 'Me'. I'm allowed to embarrass myself on the internet, as long as it doesn't make my sons look uncool. I can continue to write about books, and share recipes, and I can certainly write about life in general.

So I resolve... I don't know what! We'll see, okay? I love the evolution, I'll just let it keep happening and watch what happens. And since this IS an interactive experience, my readers can have a say too. Do readers really want to hear my review on Gerald Martin's biography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez? (Ooooh, I'm excited to start reading this one!) Do you love the children's book reviews? Recipes? Musings on Life? Rants? Parenting Advice? England News? My readers have helped to encourage me to be a better writer, a better mother, and a better person. They have held my hand and let me rant, and they have told me that I am wonderful. Everyone needs to hear that! Thank you my friends! As the New Year begins, I want to say thank you.