The Spawn of KT plans to come out and see us on New Year's Eve, all being well. Hurrah!
I'm still in a slight state of shock having watched the little thing kicking and flailing on the monitor. We could see its face!
Monday, June 27, 2005
The Spawn of KT
Not a lot to say here. Anne's 13 weeks pregnant and we went for the "12 week" scan this morning and things are looking fine so far. Yay! Here are some pics:
The Spawn of KT plans to come out and see us on New Year's Eve, all being well. Hurrah!
I'm still in a slight state of shock having watched the little thing kicking and flailing on the monitor. We could see its face!
The Spawn of KT plans to come out and see us on New Year's Eve, all being well. Hurrah!
I'm still in a slight state of shock having watched the little thing kicking and flailing on the monitor. We could see its face!
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Cottaging in The Peak District
Yes, I know we've been a bit quiet of late. Here's another update though.
We've just come back from The Peak District. We hired a cottage in Butterton, a (very) small village in Staffordshire. It was a lovely little converted barn. Very cosy, and just what we needed. We did a lot of relaxing and slept late. We also did a fair amount of exploring.
On Friday we visited Chatsworth House, a bog ol' house with big ol' grounds. We didn't go in the house itself (we went to Wimpole Hall near where we live last week so figured we'd done stately homes for the week) but went round the gardens and had a baked potato with bean goulash (each!) in the cafe.
There was a maze in the gardens, so Anne and I split up and raced to the centre. I was there ages before Anne and could hear her grumbling about being lost as I sat on a bench feeling proud of myself and pretending to Anne I was eating both the chewey bars we'd brought with us. The first two photos in the diggy collage below are us celebrating in the centre of the maze (Anne did finally make it). We also had a good look round the kitchen garden. Their veggies are doing much better than ours. (In fact our fruits aren't doing great now either - we returned home to find our strawberry plants dying. We think they have a fungal infection. Grr!) Anyway, Chatsworth was quite good, but a bit expensive. We had to pay £1.50 to park, and also pay to go into the gardens. (Obviously we'd have also had to pay if we'd gone to the farm or house.) I can see why they charge for the car park, as I guess people go there and just sit on the grass and have picnics, but I reckon they should refund the cost of parking if you decide to pay to see the house, gardens etc. The Duke of Devonshire - take note.
Later on Friday we went to the nearby town of Bakewell and found ourselves surrounded by coachloads of old people. It's nice to feel young every now and then! We hunted down a Bakewell Tart to take home and have for pudding that evening, and also had a sneaky scone with cream and jam. Yup - it was THAT sort of break. The sort heavily punctuated with baked goods.
On Saturday we went to Matlock Baths and went by cable car the The Heights of Abraham. This was a couple of caves on a hill. There were good views of the surround area (from outside the caves) and we also had a baked potato there too. It was a good tourist attraction, and we got three hours' entertainment for our £9 (each).
That night we had an odd game of Jenga back in the cottage. It was odd because the tower refused to fall down and we eventually got the tower as high as we could with the blocks supplied. We tired of it and knocked it down, both winners. Or both losers, I suppose.
After a brief stop in the spa town of Buxton today, we drove home to Cambridge. I broke The First Rule of DIY when creosoting a fence when I didn't get changed into my DIY clothes and got creosote on my shorts and shirt. Grrr!
We've just come back from The Peak District. We hired a cottage in Butterton, a (very) small village in Staffordshire. It was a lovely little converted barn. Very cosy, and just what we needed. We did a lot of relaxing and slept late. We also did a fair amount of exploring.
On Friday we visited Chatsworth House, a bog ol' house with big ol' grounds. We didn't go in the house itself (we went to Wimpole Hall near where we live last week so figured we'd done stately homes for the week) but went round the gardens and had a baked potato with bean goulash (each!) in the cafe.
There was a maze in the gardens, so Anne and I split up and raced to the centre. I was there ages before Anne and could hear her grumbling about being lost as I sat on a bench feeling proud of myself and pretending to Anne I was eating both the chewey bars we'd brought with us. The first two photos in the diggy collage below are us celebrating in the centre of the maze (Anne did finally make it). We also had a good look round the kitchen garden. Their veggies are doing much better than ours. (In fact our fruits aren't doing great now either - we returned home to find our strawberry plants dying. We think they have a fungal infection. Grr!) Anyway, Chatsworth was quite good, but a bit expensive. We had to pay £1.50 to park, and also pay to go into the gardens. (Obviously we'd have also had to pay if we'd gone to the farm or house.) I can see why they charge for the car park, as I guess people go there and just sit on the grass and have picnics, but I reckon they should refund the cost of parking if you decide to pay to see the house, gardens etc. The Duke of Devonshire - take note.
Later on Friday we went to the nearby town of Bakewell and found ourselves surrounded by coachloads of old people. It's nice to feel young every now and then! We hunted down a Bakewell Tart to take home and have for pudding that evening, and also had a sneaky scone with cream and jam. Yup - it was THAT sort of break. The sort heavily punctuated with baked goods.
On Saturday we went to Matlock Baths and went by cable car the The Heights of Abraham. This was a couple of caves on a hill. There were good views of the surround area (from outside the caves) and we also had a baked potato there too. It was a good tourist attraction, and we got three hours' entertainment for our £9 (each).
That night we had an odd game of Jenga back in the cottage. It was odd because the tower refused to fall down and we eventually got the tower as high as we could with the blocks supplied. We tired of it and knocked it down, both winners. Or both losers, I suppose.
After a brief stop in the spa town of Buxton today, we drove home to Cambridge. I broke The First Rule of DIY when creosoting a fence when I didn't get changed into my DIY clothes and got creosote on my shorts and shirt. Grrr!
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Take me to the core of The Big Apple - I want to check out the pips
It's been a while since my last proper post. How've you been? I've been well thanks. We've been busy.
We went to the states for ten days, first to New York with our friend Tony from Uni. We went to visit another friend, Pete, who's working out there. He has an apartment in Manhattan, just south of Central Park. Skill-o!
We arrived late on the Saturday night, and endured the taxi ride from hell (well, Newark airport) to Pete's apartment. Then we went out to Greenwich Village for some drinks. Anne, Tony and me faded fast after midnight (especially me!) and had to go back to Pete's to sleep.
Sunday we spent in Central Park, mainly. Central Park is fantastic! I've been to NYC a couple of times, briefly, but have never had a chance to walk around it in a leisurely manner - I've always been there on a short stop-over. It was good to be able to relax and see the park. Despite that fact that walking down NY streets feels like walking through a deep valley, with buildings towering above you, it can be very picturesque, especially in the background of the views around the park.
We also took a walk to a diner which fans of Seinfeld might recognise. We tried to go in there for a chocolate milk, but they wanted to order food or pay a cover charge. Grrr.
A couple of nights we went out with friends of Pete to eat, and one night we stayed in and watched The Stepford Wives (remake) on DVD. The latter is an experience I wouldn't wish on anyone. I won't review it here - that can wait for the next film post - but I warn you it's awful and confused. Avoid.
We walked and walk. Walked for miles. Pete had previously posted on his blog about a piece of cake he'd eaten in Brooklyn. We all demanded he took us there. "Take us there Pete", we demanded. He did. We got the subway to Brooklyn and visited CakeMan Raven's shop (yes, Pete called it Mr Cake but he was mistaken). We ate the biggest bits of (red) cake in the whole world. Only Tony finished his piece and I got quite upset, having been convinced I could eat more than Tony. The cake was lovely and light, but the icing was too sweet. My cake had nuts on, and I think Tony's may not have, so that probably explains it.
Good to know that of all the photos we got, most of them were of us eating cake. It was good cake. We walked back to Manhattan, across the Brooklyn Bridge, and got some pretty spectacular views of the city.
I'm sure we did more. We did do more. We saw Ground Zero (a big sad building site) and did a bit of shopping for clothes (I got in a bad mood as I hate clothes shopping - I threw a small paddy). We ate lots of treats and went to Grand Central Station (an amazing place - worth a look).
After five days we said our goodbyes, and Anne and I hopped on a plane to Atlanta. We went there to meet up with some more friends and go to the wedding of a friend of mine from school, Lee. And his fiance (now wife) Mel.
Lots of photos from there, but I won't bore you with lots of pictures of people most of you don't know. Oh, OK then here are a few:
The wedding itself was in Clemson, a small town in South Carolina. It was very different to New York City. Obviously.
Well that's it for the moment. I think that's enough photos to keep you quiet. My thanks to Ian and Tony for the photos of theirs I've used without their permission.
We went to the states for ten days, first to New York with our friend Tony from Uni. We went to visit another friend, Pete, who's working out there. He has an apartment in Manhattan, just south of Central Park. Skill-o!
We arrived late on the Saturday night, and endured the taxi ride from hell (well, Newark airport) to Pete's apartment. Then we went out to Greenwich Village for some drinks. Anne, Tony and me faded fast after midnight (especially me!) and had to go back to Pete's to sleep.
Sunday we spent in Central Park, mainly. Central Park is fantastic! I've been to NYC a couple of times, briefly, but have never had a chance to walk around it in a leisurely manner - I've always been there on a short stop-over. It was good to be able to relax and see the park. Despite that fact that walking down NY streets feels like walking through a deep valley, with buildings towering above you, it can be very picturesque, especially in the background of the views around the park.
We also took a walk to a diner which fans of Seinfeld might recognise. We tried to go in there for a chocolate milk, but they wanted to order food or pay a cover charge. Grrr.
A couple of nights we went out with friends of Pete to eat, and one night we stayed in and watched The Stepford Wives (remake) on DVD. The latter is an experience I wouldn't wish on anyone. I won't review it here - that can wait for the next film post - but I warn you it's awful and confused. Avoid.
We walked and walk. Walked for miles. Pete had previously posted on his blog about a piece of cake he'd eaten in Brooklyn. We all demanded he took us there. "Take us there Pete", we demanded. He did. We got the subway to Brooklyn and visited CakeMan Raven's shop (yes, Pete called it Mr Cake but he was mistaken). We ate the biggest bits of (red) cake in the whole world. Only Tony finished his piece and I got quite upset, having been convinced I could eat more than Tony. The cake was lovely and light, but the icing was too sweet. My cake had nuts on, and I think Tony's may not have, so that probably explains it.
Good to know that of all the photos we got, most of them were of us eating cake. It was good cake. We walked back to Manhattan, across the Brooklyn Bridge, and got some pretty spectacular views of the city.
I'm sure we did more. We did do more. We saw Ground Zero (a big sad building site) and did a bit of shopping for clothes (I got in a bad mood as I hate clothes shopping - I threw a small paddy). We ate lots of treats and went to Grand Central Station (an amazing place - worth a look).
After five days we said our goodbyes, and Anne and I hopped on a plane to Atlanta. We went there to meet up with some more friends and go to the wedding of a friend of mine from school, Lee. And his fiance (now wife) Mel.
Lots of photos from there, but I won't bore you with lots of pictures of people most of you don't know. Oh, OK then here are a few:
The wedding itself was in Clemson, a small town in South Carolina. It was very different to New York City. Obviously.
Well that's it for the moment. I think that's enough photos to keep you quiet. My thanks to Ian and Tony for the photos of theirs I've used without their permission.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Take a walk!
Anne and I are doing a sponsored walk in a few weeks. It's 13 miles for Oxfam. For your convenience Anne's set up a website so you can sponsort us online. Here's the link.
Throwing money at a good cause has never been so easy.
Throwing money at a good cause has never been so easy.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Finding Nematode
Our new wormery arrived yesterday. There were some raised eyebows at "Goods In" at my office when a package arrived for me containing live worms. My office closed at lunchtime, it being Good Thursday, so I popped home to set up our new garden feature.
The wormery is a compost bin, which turns organic waste into liquid fetilizer and compost using lots of special worms.
It was fun to set up, and though I was initially a little squemish about handling the little funny fellows (the worms) I soon overcame that.
Aren't they adorable? After they've had time to settle down they should be able to eat all our kitchen waste, and help us feed the garden. Job Done!
Today, Easter Friday, we spent in the garden. We did loads of digging and got exhausted. We sowed some grass seed on the large area of wasteland we've been preparing. I think we put too much down, but we'll see. The birds are already eating it so maybe it's a good thing that we've put too much down. A few weeks ago we planted some strawberry plants, some blackcurrants, raspberries and rhubarb. Today we planted the first of our veggies: carrots and parsnips. We're on our way to becoming Tom and Barbara. Anne's even begining to look like Felicity Kendall!
We then went out to Homebase and bought some garden furniture. Now all we need is some nice weather (like last weekend which was glorious!) We sat out in cloudy weather and had some hot cross buns.
The wormery is a compost bin, which turns organic waste into liquid fetilizer and compost using lots of special worms.
It was fun to set up, and though I was initially a little squemish about handling the little funny fellows (the worms) I soon overcame that.
Aren't they adorable? After they've had time to settle down they should be able to eat all our kitchen waste, and help us feed the garden. Job Done!
Today, Easter Friday, we spent in the garden. We did loads of digging and got exhausted. We sowed some grass seed on the large area of wasteland we've been preparing. I think we put too much down, but we'll see. The birds are already eating it so maybe it's a good thing that we've put too much down. A few weeks ago we planted some strawberry plants, some blackcurrants, raspberries and rhubarb. Today we planted the first of our veggies: carrots and parsnips. We're on our way to becoming Tom and Barbara. Anne's even begining to look like Felicity Kendall!
We then went out to Homebase and bought some garden furniture. Now all we need is some nice weather (like last weekend which was glorious!) We sat out in cloudy weather and had some hot cross buns.
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