Wordless Wednesday

See more pictures without words by clicking on Wordless Wednesday and Sunnydaytodaymama.  Shhhh!

On a Saturday afternoon.

Papa was up in his loft and dug out the old Hornby train set.  It certainly made a little boy very happy.

And both boys were soon lost in the game.

A fresh warm batch of pancakes for the train drivers' tea break.

and then dinner cooked by K, home for the weekend

helped by his lovely girlfriend L.

Joined by John and daughter Kristine - a  fuzzy but warm family meal. 

Still here Santa?

One of the many things I love about having a 3 year old again, is being there when his imagination soars. Today - just an ordinary day around the house and garden, James was just so engrossed in his play. I was making the evening meal at this point and when I tuned round to see what he was doing he called out - I'm Santa, Mum - and so he was!   He'd put on a red play silk and found a hat left over from the holidays and it was Christmas again!  Ho ho ho :)

More holiday snaps

James had a great time on holiday. He played in the park,

watched some interesting construction work going on (while Dad pretended he had a Toyota crew cab - lol,)

spent a lot of time gazing into puddles,

played on the beach,

watched the boats in the harbour,

and played on the beach some more.
Just his sort of trip, really :)

Shadow Shot Sunday - Car boot bargains

James and his Dad went to the market on Friday morning - one of their favourite places. At the car boot section they saw a man selling this Bob the Builder trike - just what James needed, as he is beginning to outgrow his push along one. It was only £2! He loves it.

And a boy really needs a trailer for all those little essentials.

They also found a rather wonderful Caterpillar bulldozer (£1) to add to his huge stash. But you know - boys just can never have too many construction vehicles can they?
Go window shopping for more shadow shots at Hey Harriet - Shadow Shot Sunday.

Harvest Feast

On Saturday we went to a Harvest Feast organised by Linlithgrow - a local climate challenge project which aims to get people buying and eating local food as well as encouraging growing your own. It was a very well attended event and the food was delicious. The event was held at Bonnytoun Farm, a fantastic estalishment producing local organic and free range meat, fruit vegetables and flowers. Here are some shots from the day.

Preparations for the feast.

James and John having a go in the Welly Throwing competition!

The band played all afternoon. Great stuff!

And the food? Well 3 clean plates and bowls says it all really. John is holding tightly to that glass of farm brewed beer :)

Lots of local apples - James said this was his favourite - he even ate the core!

Time to go home.

Freedom at last!

The new term began last week for the Scottish schools. For the first time in 25 years, I have nothing whatsoever to do with schools, or schooling - I am free from living according to a dictated timetable! It feels good.

I was asked at the weekend when James would be starting nursery. It was the first time I have really been asked that question by someone outside the family. It seems to be a given that all children need to go to some kind of 'preschool' education to ensure they should have the 'right start' and and early 'advantage'. It all seems so negative, this jostling for advantage - making sure they are ready etc.
Yesterday, James and I were at a local country park. There was a group of older teenagers from one of the nearby secondary schools there on a field trip with a couple of teachers. They were all on bikes and were involved in some sort of map reading challenge, in the style of something out of the TV programme The Apprentice. Now, I have never seen this programme, but I understand it to be very competitive and aggressive. They had to navigate round the park, carrying out various challenges on the way. Point s were given for these achievements and deducted for transgressing the rules. They wheeled up to me and asked me if my name started with J (one of their challenges). I was happy to oblige them, and allowed them to take my picture for their evidence. They were excited to have completed this, but minutes later, their faces fell when their teacher, in a very loud and patronising voice, deducted the 5 points because one of the bikes was left in the wrong place. This scene troubled me all day. While I recognise that there were some team building skills involved in this challenge, I do not think that this type of conditional training is what our children deserve. In the future, they will face many real challenges - most of them the result of the mistakes and greed of previous generations. They will need to live and work in a different way - radical free thinkers will be needed, and I fear there will not be too many of those who survive such negative experiences.James and I went on to complete our own challenge - we got lost! Well, that can happen when you let a 2.5 year old lead the way. We weren't that lost, but we did end up taking a much longer walk than we meant to. It was a lot of fun though - pretending to be dogs in the long (wet) grass, sitting by the river, close encounters with butterflies, and finding our first conkers. James also walked up a fairly steep hill on his own. Given that 6 months ago he was lying with his leg in traction, that was certainly an achievement. We looked at the different leaves on the trees growing around and talked about where the river was going - he sat for ages waving goodbye to the water :) Yes - I guess he knew what direction he wanted to go in today!

So - James will not be going to preschool or nursery - he is in charge of his own learning, and while that may mean he will choose to attend school at some point, he will make that decision. For now, every day is a new challenge, and one he meets with eagerness and joy - I will do my best to ensure he always feels like that.

Play dough fun

On Sunday we made play dough. Nothing special in that as things go, but James asked to do it, and so we did. Wanting to try something different from the usual food colouring thing, I boiled up a couple of beetroot that were going a bit soft in the 'fridge, and we used the water from that in our usual recipe.


The result was a beautiful deep reddish pink colour - well no surprises there - beetroot is red after all. It also has that nice earthy smell. I was a bit worried that it would stain, but it doesn't seem to.
James has really enjoyed this batch and has played with it A LOT! He started of with the usual play dough things, rolling and patting and then getting me to make things - a choo-choo, a cup, a cat, a digger (challenging one) and then squashing them as soon as they were ready. Then he started to cut it up into slices, and later discovered it cut very nicely with scissors - woohoo! - he cut and cut for ages. After supper he doggedly started again and he didn't want to stop cutting until quite late in the evening, despite being so tired he could hardly keep his eyes open. Finally he melted into a pool of exhausted tears, but not wanting to stop having fun. He cuddled in and then remembered something else he like better than play dough, so off to bed for milk and sleep.
I loved watching him do this - his own ideas from beginning to end - and the learning process unfolding before my eyes. It was an ordinary thing to do, but full of wonder.

The Giraffes who came for tea.

Along with Pooh Bear and the neenaw car - it was quite a party :)

Season Table and toys

This is our Summer seasonal table - still has that big old sun there and a couple of gorgeous fans I found in the fair trade shop in Linlithgow for £2 each! They have been used quite a bit already, as the conservatory gets really warm during the day. Wooden bowl full of shells, flower heads, seed pods etc, a couple of bug and butterfly spotter guides for easy access, James's gardening gloves and his watering can which he allowed me to use as a vase - containing some roses, hydrangea and lavender from the garden. Hanging above is a bee mobile with willow hives and paper flowers. The bees are made from pine cones with yellow wool wrapped around them and greaseproof paper wings. I first saw this idea on Mama4's blog - A Smile a Day. Mama's were much better than these, because she had used alder cones, which are more bee-like. Mine are far more blowsy.

I am going to be changing the location of our table soon, as this space is right by the side door - the family and friends door. As a consequence, my seasonal display often feature items such as car keys, the dog's lead, handbags, soft drink cans, and once (shock) a fag packet :0. Just to make the point - here is a picture I took yesterday just after the organic box was delivered. James immediately made for the punnet of raspberries, and i couldn't resist snapping the moment. Later on when I downloaded the days shots I noticed my 'seasonal display' lol. I have a space in mind, but it needs a lot of decluttering and some shelf building.

Now shelf building is not a problem for my clever husband. He has just constructed this masterpiece to hold James's toys and books. These were previously stored in various boxes and in different places around the house. This did not work as chucking everything into one box means that the toys at the bottom are rarely played with,and play can be limited. I felt it was important that his toys were in the family living space, as that is where we spend our time. I don't like the idea of him having to go to his room to play - he doesn't have a room anyway as we co-sleep and his older brother and sister have the other bedrooms. This is a really small house - a bit like the Tardis in reverse, it looks like a sizeable bungalow from the outside, but inside it is a typical 1930s design. Of course we didn't really expect to have such a wonderful addition to our family when we first moved here!

Anyway, I am really pleased - no - thrilled with how this has turned out. All the toys are now accessible and together; cars in one basket, blocks in another, dressing up clothes - you get the idea. James has already played such imaginative games with toys he had forgotten about, and his creativity seems to have taken a huge leap. Happy, happy happy me!

A few days away

We had a couple of days away in the campervan last week. Just back down to South Ayrshire to a great wee site we had come across the other week. With John's fast approaching early retirement, we have been looking at various options regarding property and self-sufficiency, so we were back down to have a more detailed viewing of one we had previously looked at. Not sure though. Now that the dream is about to come true we are beginning to feel quite confused as to what our ideal place actually is. When it was still a dream it was fine - we had no shortage of ideas and plans. Now - well - when we are looking at land we are going to be making our living from, it seems quite different, and very daunting.
As I sit here typing this in my sunny conservatory, looking out at my garden, listening to the birds singing, I wonder why we want to move - what is wrong with this house? Surely the most important space is inside my head, anyway? Then I notice the background hum of steady traffic passing right outside the front gate, and remember.
The right place will come to us at the right time.
Anyway, here are a few pictures of our very wet holiday. James seemed to live in his Muddy Puddles suit and wellies, but it meant he could still have fun in the rain.


We even managed some fairly strenuous hiking, although James has now decided that he will never go in the sling again.

This little lamb adopted us for part of our walk. James said she was Uan, The Little Lamb.

It was so windy at Girvan beach, I thought James was going to take off like a balloon in his rain-suit!


But he managed to stay on land and played with all the seaweed that had been washed up.




Then he and Dad climbed up onto a rock in the middle of the sea!

Despite the strong winds on the beach, the harbour was very still and calm. I suppose that's the point of a harbour.

In between the showers.

We draw chalk pictures on the doorstep. Then the rain comes and washes them away - and we can start all over again. Brilliant!

I love dirt!

And I love little dirty feet too :)

Shadow Shot Sunday - after the shopping

We have to travel about 10 miles to get to our nearest wholefoods shop, but we don't mind because it is in the lovely historical town of Linlithgow. After our shopping we did some touristy things, so come and join us.

First stop is our favourite organic cafe next door to the shop. James always has an apple juice and a giant freshly baked chocolate chip shortcake, while I just have a plain water (haha). I love how someone's shadow is reflected in the back of the perspex chair.

Then we head up to the Palace - birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots.

A rather blurred shot of the Palace entrance, but I liked the shadow here.

Down to the lochside to visit the swans.

And then a good run around under the trees.

Window shop for more shadows at Shadow Shot Sunday.