Sunday, January 10, 2010
Not swearing at the kids
That's always a good thing to spend the day doing. Well, we didn't just do that: I took the girls to church, we went out to lunch (great quote from Moo to the girls: "if you want chocolate, you need to eat some chicken. One chocolate for one piece of chicken."), came home, made cake, had Richard around for cake, ate cake, put the kids to bed. That's about it.Labels: food
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
A seriously good day's work
(backposting) It all came together, I'm very pleased to say. We had a good supper to finish off the evening, but had one of those English moments where things really weren't perfect, but we clearly weren't going to complain. Oh, no.Labels: food
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Giraffe time
(backposting) Off to Giraffe in Cambridge with two very tired girls, after Jo's ballet in the morning. Moo had taken Kate and Mac to Cambridge for the Christmas shopping, and we met them for lunch. I took the girls to Waterstones to buy some nice books afterwards, and then we headed back home because they were just so knackered.Saturday, November 07, 2009
Going out to lunch - properly
(backposting) It's been a while since we went there, but we had lunch with the girls at Scutchers in Long Melford. It wasn't cheap (not helped by the fact that we bought some of their award-winning smoked salmon for Christmas), but what food. The girls did pretty well, and, for a really good restaurant, it's brilliantly child-friendly. I don't think we've visited for maybe 2 or more years, but they were pleased to have us back, and it was a great call.Went round to see some friends in the afternoon, and went for a walk. We'd promised the girls that we'd go out in the evening to a see a bonfire and fireworks, and we were both 90% certain that they'd completely freak, and we'd have to head home early as soon as the bangs started. But they did really well. We stood a way back, but had a good view, and they loved all the colours, and even quite liked the noise. So, a real win.
Got home, worked. Things are very, very busy, and I need to get some bits and pieces completed as soon as possible.
Labels: food, girls, walk, work
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Sauna
(backposting) A good, challenging day at work, but very fulfilling. In the evening, I went to the gym for 20 minutes or so, and then headed up to the 9th floor for the pool, intending to do a few lengths. Got changed, slipped my toe in, jumped out. 17 degrees Celsius, which is _cold_. So, decided to try the sauna, instead. Men only, no clothes, but that's fine. And after 15 minutes or so of great sweating, I decided to try the pool again (with trunks on). This time, though very cold, it was really refreshing. Not sure I could jump in a frozen lake, as some Finns do, but I can certainly see the point now.Off to a Lappish restaurant for supper. Lots of food, much of which was reindeer. Rather glad that we walked back to the restaurant, as we were all stuffed.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The house, the girls
It's really good how having children at school and pre-school starts integrating you better into the community. We need some insulation put in the roof (yes, I know I could technically do it, but I could also technically put my foot through several ceilings), so we got the dad of one of the other kids (who's a builder - the dad, not the kid) to come round and look at it. He was very helpful, pleasant, and seemed to know what he was talking about (there are some complicating factors, as we have a very old house). So we'll almost certainly get him to do the work. Oh, and it's so much nicer giving work to people in the local community. Good stuff.After the excitement of peering into our loft spaces (we have 3 different ones - see above about old houses), we took the girls swimming for about an hour and a half. They had a great time, and we were all very hungry afterwards, so headed down to one of our favourite local cafe-restaurants. They took 20 minutes to even take our order. And it took another 15 minutes for the first of our drinks to arrive (and that was after hassling), with the others arriving some 10 minutes later. Luckily we'd ordered some garlic bread (which came around the same time as the second set of drinks), and the girls were very, very patient. We ended up getting stuffed, and came back to "garden". Well, sit in the garden watching the girls putting on "Shows". You know the type: "Falling down show", "Bouncing Show", "Skipping Show", "Beach Show" (they stripped down to underwear and pranced around to music with pom-poms as microphones), "Rain Show" (they added umbrellas) and "Snow Show" (they pretended to shiver). I've got some of it on video, and intend to save it for when they have their first serious boyfriends. Oh, yes.
The Hobbit
(backposting) When I was young, I had a set of tapes of The Hobbit which I listened to again and again and again. I recently decided that Jo's probably just about old enough to enjoy it, in short snippets, so I ordered a copy, which arrived today, and have started reading it to her.
In unrelated news, from time to time my sweet tooth gets the better of me. When this happens, I tend to go to the shop next door, buy a tinned syrup sponge, heat it up, add milk and _extra_ golden syrup, and eat the entire thing. I know that this will make me feel ill, and guess what: it did. I'm not proud of myself.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
At home, and downtrodden
(backposting) Downtrodden in two ways, really. The first was that work didn't go well today. Not that it went badly - it was just that all the things I was trying to do, at least in the afternoon, took rather longer than I'd expected, and were more difficult. Rather disappointing, given that I'd had rather a productive morning when I managed work out a rather knotty problem and find a rather nice solution.The other was being accused, by my (lovely) wife, of "selective washing up". I think this was a suggestion that I'd not been bothering to do the more difficult or dirty pots and pans, but I was hurt by it, as I'm sure everyone will understand.
The day was improved by a) having a pub lunch with Moo and b) having lamb with baked beans for supper. There's something very special about the taste of lamb with baked beans, particularly warmed up roast lamb, and I think God must have known about baked beans when he made roast lamb so yummy. This caused some theological disagreement on my Facebook page, but I welcome controversy.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Words - and computer that talks
(backposting) There really was a party today, and after taking the girls to the 1000, Jo got to go to it. It was a family service, and there was lots of standing at the front, singing and doing actions. Much fun, particularly for the girls, but I enjoyed it, too.Miri and I had fun, listening to music, watching a DVD, cuddling, having lunch, while Moo and Jo went to the party. Afterwards, I introduced Jo to festival, an application for Linux/Unix that talks - well, which can be made to speak. Jo had said, a few days before, that of course computers can't talk, and I enjoyed getting it to say things to her. She's also played with lots of words and letters, and I got the my machine to say the words that she was reading. This was very amusing, apparently, and kept people amused for quite a while.
I cooked a lovely roast shoulder of lamb, which we had as a family supper. Well, I say _we_, but the girls had very little of the roast potato or carrot or gravy - or even lamb, in Miri's case. Oh well, we tried.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Oh, dear
(backposting) So, although Jo's ballet went well, there was something of a trauma afterwards. I was given the opportunity to take Jo to a party in the village at 1200. We headed off, with Jo in her Stephanie (Lazytown) outfit. And her silver shoes. Which don't fit her. They really don't. So she fell over and grazed her knee. Quite badly. So, a few tears. But she calmed down and we went into the Post Office. But as we came out, she realised that she was bleeding quite badly.Melt-down.
And then we made it to the party venue. It was very quiet. And locked. So I called Moo, and Moo'd got the wrong day for the party.
More melt-down.
I carried Jo back, and we cleared up the blood. And then we took them to the cinema, just as something to do with them. We watched the vaguely diverting G-Force. I don't think we'll be watching it again, but it used up an hour or so, and was quite enjoyed. And then we went to a local Frankie & Benny's, which also helped.
The girls are really, really tired, poor little things.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Home alone
The girls are away at Kate and Mac's this weekend, so I'm home alone. We started off the day driving to Sainsbury's, planning a lovely fry-up. We got there at 0735 - the shop opening time being 0730 - but the café wasn't open yet, so we did some shopping. And _then_ we went to the caf&ecacute;. No fry-ups. And no clue about anything else either, it seems. But I bought a pair of trousers and a shirt for work. And some food for the weekend.Got home, had a sleep, did all of the ironing whilst listening to the cricket. We've set them a good target, but, well, the pitch is holding up better than expected.
I've also updated my home laptop to karmic alpha 4, had an Indian take-away, and am watching Chain Reaction. Amusing and moderately diverting, but not High Art[tm].
Labels: cricket, films, food, geekery, girls
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Go out for a walk...
... end up having a haircut. Really needed to get my haircut, noticed that the hairdresser was open, walked in. They were just closing up, but I offered them extra money, and so they agreed. I needed a haircut before we headed off on holiday three and a half weeks ago.And then a Chinese take-away. Yum.
Labels: food
Sunday, August 09, 2009
39 today!
Yes, it's my birthday today, and I'm 39 years old. I woke up too late to make it to the 8 o'clock service, and decided that spending time with family was more important that the canon law requirement to receive Communion every Sunday. So, we headed off for brunch (I'd had pirate cake for breakfast, and had a knickerbocker glory. We then headed off to Freeport where I bought more shirts and a pair of trousers for work. The girls started to lose it, and Miri slept all the way home, and for 20-30 minutes even after we got back.And then, a birthday party. It turns ot that one of Jojo's pre-school friends, Amber, shares my birthday, so we went there for a children's party. I took the pirate cake (I'd just have ended up eating it all over the week), and everyone had a great time. However, towards the end, Miri put her elbow out again. It was pretty obvious, and _this_ time, I managed to put it back in, which was an enormous relief.
The girls just about managed to stay awake until bedtime, and then Moo and I did more Wii Fit work. It's really impressive, I have to say, and I'm really getting into it. I did some ironing as Moo did her work-out, and then barbecued some lovely steak with a lovely bottle of red wine from James and Ruth (thanks!).
Tomorrow, I start my first day in the new job on a customer site - in Huntingdon, as it happens. Exciting, with some trepidation. It'll be good, I think.
I've had a good birthday, even if Moo's not finished knitting my present (a pair of lovely socks)...
Labels: birthday, drink, food, knitting, party, work
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Necking
(backposting) Had a bit of a run-in with my mother-in-law when I lost my temper today. Silly on my part, and mainly because I'm a bit stressed about the new job starting so soon, etc., but it wasn't good.On the other hand, Moo and I went out for a lovely meal, just the two of us. This is an all-too-rare occurrence, but as the new job is definite, and we have (for a chance) got some money in the bank, we decided to take up the offer of some childcare, and headed out. By the time we got back at 2200, everyone was asleep!
One thing that's been fantastic is how supportive my clergy colleagues have been throughout the job process. They've prayed for me while I've been without a job, and they've been very, very accommodating about my needing to change services around as I'm going to be away for 2 Sundays (I'll be leaving home early this Sunday to catch a flight at noon). Many thanks to them for everything.
Ah, yes, and the necking thing? I sent a Twitter and Facebook update saying that I was going to take Moo for a really good neck. My phone decided that this was more likely than "meal" (what sort of guy does it take me for?), so I had to send a second one to retract...
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Not a new job
I'd hoped to hear today that someone was going to offer me a new job, but it turns out that they're not. Not desperately happy, obviously. Went for a knickerbocker glory with Moo, at a favourite café in Clare. She had a bacon and egg butty. This certainly helped.Spent a good deal of the day configuring a desktop machine that's been around for a while, but I'd not had the chance to set up. It's pretty much ready, and working well. Nice (though I'd prefer an nVidia card to an ATI one, as I can't get the dual head stuff to work properly with it).
Had a funeral visit this evening, which was just what I needed, to be honest. A chance to care for other people, rather than myself. And some humour, too.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Baptisms galore
Quite a day, really. I'm about to do the ironing, after a lovely 5.4km (3.34 mile) walk. That was after putting the girls to bed. We'd spent most of the after noon at Sally's post-ordination party. The girls met a 7 year old who they played with, so that was good, and it was nice to meet some of Sally's family and friends.But it was the morning which was most interesting. It was my first "lone" Sunday, and 5 minutes before the 0800 started, I was concerned that noone was going to turn up. Luckily, 4 people turned up, which was a relief. After a 40 minute or so service, I then had well over an hour to kill before the 1000. What to do? Well, I walked down the hill to the WH Smith at the bottom of town, and bought a copy of the Observer. And on the way up, I noticed that there was a caff open. Not a café: a caff. Yes, and open caff. So, was my eating there simply an excuse for a cooked breakfast, or an opportunity for expressing my ministry of presence with parishioners? You get to decide. At least I 'fessed up.
So, after another trip to WH Smith's for some mints, I was back up to the church for our 1000 Eucharist. I do enjoy celebrating the Eucharist: it's great. And after that, we had a baptism. Well, I say _a_ baptism. I'd been told to expect 5 candidates (all children, from 4 families), and lots of family and friends. We god under way with a pretty full church, and it was only at the presentation of the candidates that I realised that there seemed to be 6 children dressed up for the occasion. I stopped and demanded a recount, and there were, in fact, 6 children, from 5 families. Luckily, we discovered the we had all the relevant paperwork, and were ready to proceed.
It was a blast. There were so many children, friends and family that half of the job was policing and traffic control. I had to restart the service and explain that the congregation needed to read out the bits in bold, or the service really wouldn't work. There was lot of children-noise, lots of adult noise, lots of photos, and lots of joy. The first candidate was a little boy who was asleep when it came to the actual baptism, but not when I poured the water over his forehead. He woke up, and cried, loudly. Which rather put the other children off. And I've never needed to raise my voice in a service whilst micced and amped up. I loved it, and had lots and lots of very positive feedback (and not from the mic-amp-speaker system). And about 270 people in the church.
Labels: baptism, curacy, eucharist, food
Friday, June 05, 2009
My folks
(backposting) My parents are still around, and it's lovely to see the girls getting to know them properly. It's partly that Miri is now old enough to get to know people other than her parents (that'll be us). And best of all, after the girls had gone to bed, they babysat while we headed off for a meal at The White Hart in Great Yeldham - and they stood us the meal. It's so good to spend time together, even if we were feeling too honest to let them forget to charge us for the wine.Wednesday, April 15, 2009
More walking
I'd be losing some serious weight if it weren't for all the food around from Easter and Miri's 2nd birthday...Labels: food
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Meeting for lunch
(backposting) I met a (clergy) friend for lunch, having gone into Cambridge in the morning, in the hopes of finding a good book about Tomcat. It wasn't just that I failed miserably to find a good book about Tomcat: I couldn't find a single on in the shops I traipsed round. So, I came back home and used the Internet, though it would have been more efficient if I'd managed to find something with it all in one place. I'd hoped to meet an old friend for coffee, but it turned out to be an almost completely wasted morning.Lunch, however, was good, and we chewed the fat, discussing this and that: it's good to see people you've not spent time with for a while, and just eat and spend time.
In the afternoon, I wrote up the work I've been doing for work: what Daemon noted I enjoyed not being able to talk about. We'll see what comes of it (if anything).
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Rabbit
I cooked a rabbit yesterday. Yum, though a little more dissect than I'd like. I made a nice stew or casserole. I wish I knew what the difference was. But I put in potato, broccoli, carrots, onions, beef stock, wine and my secret ingredient. And rabbit.Snaffle, snaffle, twitch, twitch, bubble, bubble, yum, yum.
Labels: food
Thursday, August 28, 2008
You _can_ eat porridge through a straw ...
... but not the lumpy bits. And it goes everywhere.Today's revelation brought to us by our sponsors: Jojo and Miri.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Vegas?
Looks like I'm off to Vegas for some training. Security and Linux, that's sort of thing. Then I'll head off to Mississauga for a few days, combining the two trips. 10-11 days away, but sometimes that's how it works, and I _have_ cleared it with Moo.My parents popped round this evening for supper - they're off from Stansted tomorrow morning - and I barbecued. Rain doesn't even begin to start to cover it. Torrents. Thunder. Lightning. Full wet-weather gear.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Daddy's squidgy ordination cake
Moo insisted that I take this picture and show it on my blog, simply because it looks like a cowpat. Things went wrong (separately) with not only the sponge, but also the icing. It tastes lovely, and meant that I had some fun Daddy-Jojo time, but it really looks pretty darn awful.
Things are taking off with SecondLife: more information to come, because nothing's official, but please keep an eye out.
Moo and I both took the day off today, which was lovely. We spent most of the morning together while Jo was at school and Mel looked after Miri, and after lunch at a pub we sent Mel home (with a bottle of wine which she probably _shouldn't_ have finished on her own this afternoon) to spend time together with the girls. It was a real holiday, and what we all needed, I think.
Although I get pretty upset at some of the Gafcon and anti-women bishops stuff, this is nothing compared to how riled Moo gets about it, so I've taken the step of inviting her to write piece for this blog. I'm not sure if she will, but I'm going to keep prodding. I've said she can write whatever she wants...
Lots of contact over the past 24 hours from friends around the ordination, which is great. Some good pictures up on Chris Newlands' pages on Facebook, if you can see them.
Oh, yes: this morning, Jo had asked if I'd take her to pre-school in my "priest's clothes", to which I'd agreed. It turned out that she meant my cassock, but I did consent to clerical shirt and collar. With it I wore what I'd have worn anyway: sandals, cut-off jeans, and mirror shades. "TV Comedy vicar" is how Moo labelled the look, somewhat hurtfully, I thought. I had to dash to the kennels to pick Buster up immediately after, and got accosted by someone there: "Ah, a vicar!" he said. I explained that I'm but a deacon, and it turns out that he's the vicar of Balsham, across the border in the Ely diocese. I'm going to have to get used to being stopped in odd places when I'm collared-up.
Last, but not least, my good friend Sally published a lovely post for me yesterday, to which I promised to link. Thank you, my friend.
Labels: church, food, ordination, secondlife, women
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Vietnamese and Brazilian
No, not new waxings, but the two meals I had today. Vietnamese for lunch, and Brazilian for supper. Preferred the latter, to be honest.Work still not good.
Back home tomorrow.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
I give in
Yup, I've done it. The new barbecue arrived today, and it's a gas one. It's just going to be so much quicker to have barbecues, particularly for the girls, who aren't great at waiting for food. Tried it out for Moo and my supper, and it worked very well. Put it together all on my own, as well.Started on my final ERMC essay tonight. 6,000 words. I've got the first 1,000 or so done, which I was dreading. The next 3,000 or so shouldn't be too hard, and we'll see after that.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Barbecue
(backposting) Not only did we barbecue today, we barbecued last night as well. In the drizzle. Kate and Mac have a thing about this. Didn't bother me - I wrapped up warm - but it is a _little_ odd, don't you think?Wales were knocked out of the Rugby World Cup by Fiji. This is huge, and won't easy for Lee, my brother-in-law. After the match, which Jo had watched some of, we went outside to play some football (not having a rugby ball with us), and she kept picking up the ball and trying to spin pass it out. _Go_ girl.
Labels: family, food, Jo, rugby
Friday, August 31, 2007
Down to Cornwall
(backposting) We noticed today that Miriam has started taking a great interest in the food that other people are eating. This was a big sign for Jo that she was ready to start on solid foods, rather than just breast-milk, so we'll keep an eye on it for Miriam.The trip down to Cornwall was pretty good, actually, and the cottage lovely. A 20 minute poo stop isn't as bad as it might seem.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Gardening, barbecue
(backposting) In a somewhat desperate attempt to make the garden habitable, I cleared lots of brambles today. It's nice to have blackberries, but I prefer them not actually to grow in the garden. The other reason was that Victoria and Grenville came over for a lovely barbecue this evening. They waited until Jo was asleep, brought Sennon around, put him to bed, and then we had a lovely time. Grenville headed off around 2200 to do some work (!), so the rest of us stayed up. Moo went to bed around 0000, but came down at 0100 to tell me to sort the dog out, as he was still barking. This saved Victoria and me from drinking even more of the Scotch/Irish whisk(e)y that we'd been consuming, and was generally a good plan.Today's toddler quote is "I got some in!". Jo had said that she'd get herself some milk, and had gone to the fridge to do so. I'd told Moo not to worry, because Jo's milk (full fat) wasn't opened, so she wouldn't have a chance. The sounds of "glug, glug, splash" made us realise that the other milk _was_ open, and being a resourceful young person, Jo'd gone with that. The cry "I got some in!" was accurate, but the stress would have been better placed on the word "some". Well, Buster got to lick lots of milk from the floor, and Jojo felt pleased with herself.
We prepared Miri's room today. Soon, we'll put her in there overnight, but Moo didn't think that today was a plan.
Labels: children, food, friends, Jo
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Two important lessons
(backposting) These lessons are:- don't take a pushchair to the beach unless you're _sure_ there are no rocks to clamber over, and the sand will be firm;
- don't try to change a baby only a couple of metres from the shoreline if the tide's coming in.
Ice-cream, doughnuts (don't start - we're on holiday).
We'd started off in Boscastle, and then headed off to Trebarwith, which is a lovely beach. We were there around 1400, which was a little late, as the tide was coming in very quickly, but we'll know better next time. May well return on another occasion. Without pushchair.
Poor Jo's being very good about not scratching, and she's been better in herself today. Had a lovely hour or so running around in the cottage's garden, pretending to be various animals, hiding, chasing, playing with a beachball: all that sort of thing. She really gets play with other people now, and it was a real joy: _she_ was a real joy to be with. No spots on Miri so far.
Labels: food, holiday, illness, Jo
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Yes, there _was_...
... something wrong with the freezer in the cat kitchen. (A moment of explanation: we knocked through to the next door cottage - which we bought! - 18 months or so after we moved into the house, and the original kitchen is used (among other things) for feeding cats, so is known as "the cat kitchen"). It's dead. Light on, nobody at home. Well, it's not keeping things cold, anyway.So, after ordering a new one online, we had a full cooked breakfast with Mel in an attempt to use up some of the food in there.
Ice-cream for lunch, methinks...
Labels: food
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
I spy
Jo's beginning to get "I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with ...". Obviously, we make the letter sound, rather than the letter, but she loves it, and wants to play as well. This morning Moo, Jo and I were sitting downstairs, and Jo and I were looking at a book. We started playing "I spy", and I did a few.Then Jo piped up with "I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with ... cake!" Moo's immediate comment was "well, she's certainly a Bursell". Compounded by her saying, a few minutes later, "I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with ... pie!" OK, OK, embarassed.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Freising
I was doing an audit today, for which we'd scheduled two days, but in the end - for various reasons - we got what we could do finished by around 1330 local, so Ian (a colleague) and I went back to the hotel in Freising, did some work, and then wandered around the town (had a beer and an icecream, that sort of thing). The town's lovely, and we had a good meal at what bills itself as "the oldest brewery in the world": Weihenstephan.To bed early, as my flight leaves at 0625 local.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Supervision
While I remember, I said that I'd blog about a very nice place that we've been going to recently for coffee, brunch, lunch, etc.. If you're ever in the area, I heartily recommend Café Clare. Lovely people, lovely food, lovely atmosphere.I had a supervision today with Keith. It was to cover topics that we were down to deal with in late February:
- Eucharist in the local context;
- denominational identity;
- denominational organisation.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Oslo, Copenhagen
A useful day, workwise, followed up by a lovely French meal. Escargots. Trou normand (1984 Calvados), Tournedos, St Emilion (2000), Muscat (lost the plot as to years by then), chocolate mousse with passionfruit icecream. All by a French chef. In Copenhagen. Oh, yes.Labels: food
Monday, January 01, 2007
A day out at Felixstowe
Visited the FBI today (not that FBI) for lunch. Then a walk along Felixstowe beach. Didn't go very far, partly because Jo didn't fancy walking much (why would you bother when you can sit on the sand or throw shells and pebbles in the sea?), and becuase Moo was finding it heavy going (she _said_ it was because she was having a stretchy tummy day, but I think that the enormous helping of haddock at chips may have had something to do with it). A lovely day out, though.Friday, December 29, 2006
A day with Jo
(backposting) In an attempt to give Moo a day to improve somewhat, I decided to take Jo out and spend as much time with her as possible. We went out of the (unavoidable) "coffee and cakes" to Freeport, and then to Crazy Kids, an indoor play centre not that far away. We walked there from Freeport, and it hadn't occurred to me that after around 45 minutes of (hectic) fun, it might be raining. But it was, and it didn't help that I left the change bag. Didn't go back for it, but on to lunch at a Chinese place.Jo's first try at Chinese food. Good thing they do chips and mince pies as well. I had a good meal, though, and then we picked up the car and drove back to Crazy Kids to get the change bag ("silly Daddy!"). Back to Moo, who had benefited from sleep and rest, and then off to swimming. Jo loves her swimming, and it's become a little thing for us to enjoy together.
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