I know, I know,

I know I said I was snowed under and bottoms up but one of the most amazing minds you'll meet in the greater Belfast area, and indeed beyond, has just started writing a blog, and I really think you might want to have a little read.

Fearfully and Wordfully Made. Oh yes indeed.

Can't come out to play just now!

 Oh dear, we seem to be slightly en panne.

 It's not even anything particularly interesting or dramatic, but nonetheless,

les fraises will need a bit of regrouping, methinks! Enjoy the rest of your summer, bonne rentree- hoping to be back with you all soon x

Views from my Windows

Welcome to Northern Ireland's default summer weather setting! For those of you still in need of hot drinks on a sunny day, Ang has some lovely TMOT tips for pretty flavour, but for views from Belfast suburbs on this first day of August, survey the rain, rain, rain!

Empty, dripping washing line; sad and dripping parasol! We have cut back the jungle that was a climbing but increasingly rogue rose tree and two self-seeded mystery saplings from the middle of the back fence. I think the roots of all will need to come out. As will the bamboo that PC transferred from its pot to the ground, just right of shot. I went out to cut some sprigs of vaguely pretty things this morning and realised that the bamboo is starting its bid for world domination.

Abandoned and dripping badminton net. Seems our badminton days may well have to remain in sunny Surrey!

Drip, drip, drip. The boys are happily occupied at an activity week, so have a huge sports hall to run around with lots of friends. Thankfully! I do hope that August is bringing some sunshine in through your windows- we will continue to look back wistfully on a super July!

Catch up on Views from Windows and Escalators!

Two weeks ago we had views from the bank barn. If you have time to spend in the English Lake District and are unafeared of tiny bestioles, stay here!

 Door opening straight onto Brackenrigg Fell.

Barn. Idyllic, except for midges. Sigh. The winnowing window is the one on the left above the door to one of the lower studios. The owl perch is the top one on the right.

Last Thursday we were in an extremely hot London for the day, so had views from Harrods' Egyptian escalator...

Views from the Natural History Museum, though you can see why we didn't pay much attention to the windows...

And views from that escalator that takes you journeying to the centre of the earth and out again. Possibly my highlight there. I made them go through twice. It wasn't that scary.

And yes, once again, a solo respite stroll round Liberty's, where windows, balconies, woodwork and all within amount to a hugely spiritual experience in the midst of an action-packed holiday with mighty men!

We're home again, so normal and utterly monotonous Views from the Suburbs will hopefully join Jane on Thursdays. Ang is also running a Thursday feature- based on Edith Schaeffer's Hidden Art of Homemaking. She has kindly lent me her precious copy, and I have carefully already had to wipe jam off the back cover- don't tell her.... Inspired by Ang's exhortation to artful food presentation, I Shaefferized today's lunch to hide the fact that it was just a Mother Hubbard melee of left-over picnic from Tatton Park on Tuesday.

And so to today's view. Lots and lots of holiday laundry thankfully on the line to dry.  Jo repeats incessantly, "It's so good to be home!" I can't quite concur with the same enthusiasm. We had such a fabulous time away. Thank you, Ang and Bob, for looking after us on our last leg, and making that homeward haul so much easier. Pictures will follow- as will the BP experience!

IOU Views from my Windows

There will be photos when I can sort out the technology! This week our views are from a converted barn in a beautiful Cumbrian valley. From the front of our floor, which is actually the back of the barn, we can only see the sheer rise of a little garden that is the base of Brackenrigg. From the living area window (which is the winnowing window) we are looking across the field where the boys play with Tig the dog to the low summits of High Rigg and Low Rigg with the Helvellyn range behind. Yes, I know!

The barn dates from around 1850 and is a bank barn- built into the fell to allow level access to both floors. We're living very comfortably on the threshing floor, complete with slit windows and owl perch. The winnowing window's job was to allow a through draught to help with separating the wheat and the chaff. I think we're still working on that one.

When the photos come there will also be the view from the climbing wall- its huge doors open tonight because of the heat and revealing the Skiddaw range as you climb, or belay in my case! And then there's the view of sunset over Skiddaw from the car window. It's a good week for views in the Land of Potter!

Pool update

We took them to the Pool. It has a water slide and a wave machine, and we spent a long and happy time therein. We did walk them up and down round Causey Pikehttp://www.wainwrightroutes.co.uk/causeypike_r1.htm first, but there was Pool today!

Strawberry notes from The Land of Potter

Mum says that she gets to choose activities on her birthday so she smiled her way through a whole Beatrix Potter pilgrimage thing. She says we can go to the Pool tomorrow.

They gave us books of The Tale of Samuel Whiskers at her house, but we had to give them back at the end. We had to find real things in the house that she painted for the book. We saw the dresser from that book and from The Tailor of Gloucester, which Mum says was BP's favourite of all the books. We also saw the fireplaces that she put in the books, and the landing, and the mouse hole, and the dolls house. Mum says it wasn't the real house, because that belonged to niece of the man who made the books, but we're not so sure because it had the ham and the cot.

Lucinda and Jane were supposed to be in the bedroom, because Mum's book said so, but we couldn't find them. She asked the gentleman about them and he said that he didn't know where the dolls had gone. Mum and the gentleman were very sad.

It was very hot again today. Mum says we can go to the Pool tomorrow.

To get to the other Beatrix Potter place we crossed the longest lake on a small ferry. That was fun. It isn't the biggest lake. Mum says we have that at home and that's right because Finn McCool took a big lump of earth to throw at Benandonner in Scotland and that made Lough Neagh.

The Beatrix Potter place is really cool, and sometimes we listened to Mum telling us all the stories, but there was an awesome touch table where you could move maps of the Lake District all over the place. Mum did a puzzle with some random person's child. You can walk through lots of the stories and Jo had his picture taken in Mrs Tiggy-Winkle's kitchen. Matt says he has bumped his head there all two times before. He didn't bump his head today.

Then we had snack, and bought Lego Hero guys with our holiday money in the toy shop and went back to the barn and went for pizza and Mum and Dad took us on this street thing round Keswick. Lots of people dressed up and told stories about Keswick. Beatrix Potter was there but Mum thought the lady doing her made her seem too silly.

Mum says we can go to the Pool tomorrow.