You're going home in a beep beep ambulance

A still from a video I took yesterday

Beautiful sunshine. Very un-Tuesday weather thank goodness. Today I took Moo and the boys to work with me leaving Huffle working at the kitchen table. We started on the Dog Strangling Vine near the gate and cut loads and loads of it. Then we moved inside the gate and cut a whole load more. This is a real pest in this country and is filling the forests and killing huge trees by its strangling methods. As yet, there is nothing that is able to kill the horrible thing. Funny thing is, I know we had one growing in a pot that Grandad gave us and called it a clematis. It has tiny little brown/black flowers and climbs very easily. However, in England there are plants and pests that don't let it get out of control. I think they are working on something here to control it, in the meantime though, it's a nuisance!

Hungry frogs

Beautiful water lily

Smallest's treat from MrsM (who works in a British Shop)

Coffee break was a Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie in Cake form with Cream Cheese Frosting. Yum yum. The boys definitely liked it! Back out we went again and did weeding. Smallest completely cleared a path all by himself and him and Small picked off snails and slugs and threw them to the frogs in the pond. It was very warm so we left around midday. We had lunch with Huffle after we planted our bulbs we brought home.

The boys played on their tablets all afternoon with interruptions for putting away their clothes and clearing shoes. Moo and I swiffed and swept, read and played Skip-Bo (I won. Score now forgotten but I'm sure it's close, plus I don't cheat like Moo does!!).

After dinner we all went to Smallest's football game. It was very hot and Moo and I went for a walk before the game to try and get some shade and listen to the frog chorus. I made Small come with us as I didn't want him sitting on his IPad for the rest of the evening. The game was awful. They took two of our best players for the other team which incidentally won and left us with Smallest and a couple of other hard workers but it wasn't enough. They lost about 13-0. Poor Smallest was so down after the game and during it. He is not enjoying it much at the moment which is a shame. Hopefully it will get better.

Milkweed

This evening we watched Gardeners World. It was a lovely episode and cheered us all up after such a terrible game. Good old Monty.

Late evening we went out to look at the moon. It was very bright and clear. I tried to get a photo but it's not easy.

 

 

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Cherry hulk's search for Strawberries

Breakfast, followed by a quick get ready, containers found, ice blocks and cool box ready and off we went in search of Strawberries. We went to the same farm we have been to for the last three years. As it said it opened at 10am, we thought we would be there before the rush and before the hot heat of the midday sun. There were queues to park as soon as we got there and we were turned into a parking space, then moved and then walked probably a 1km to get our containers weighed. It was a beautiful day and would have been a nice walk had it not been for the awful driving and attempted parking by the millions turning up to do the same as us. We got our boxes weighed and then we saw the huge queue JUST to pay. Huffle thought it was possibly an hour's worth of queueing and we contemplated putting someone at the end of the queue before we even started picking but that seemed ridiculous. They just weren't coping with the amount of cars or pickers today. We decided to turn around and get back to the car as it was just silly. Driving back we saw that the queue to park had become 2km long and getting bigger by the minute. Plus an accident had happened while we were in there.

Our next stop was a farm slightly closer to home and was an Organic Farm I have always passed but never been in. We parked the car (again a busy place but not nearly as much as th previous one) and got our boxes weighed. We were asked if we had been there before. NO? Well this one charged $10 per person as a deposit so we had to pick a minimum of $50 worth of Strawberries. Well we hadn't even walked into the place yet and they were wanting to take $50 off us. We make enough jam to last us the year plus some for visiting family, friends and presents but still we don't pick that much! We said NO and turned around again.

Our last try was a farm we went to ages ago when were looking for a Maize Maze in the Autumn. This one was perfect. A small farm, not too many rows of strawbs, not too many people. We weighed (after first asking how they priced their pick your own. The lady was astonished at us being asked to pay $50 and she said she would give up farming before she would do that). They had raspberries which weren't ready yet but I think we will go there for them when it's time too. We ended up eating tons and brought home $31 worth. Possibly more than usual.

We came home, had lunch and then made a start on the jam making. Small and Smallest cut the fruit and counted the amount of cups we had. I measured the sugar and Moo stirred and explained to everyone a 'rolling boil'. We ran out of lemons and Small walked to the Beer Store for some but they didn't have any so Huffle went to the General Store for some. Smallest continued chopping and we ended up with three batches of jam making 21 jars, all different sizes. We also had some non jarred for ourselves for later. Once all the jarring and clearing up was done, we went off to the pool. The boys had already set up stuff up there and Small was already annoyed at Smallest for wetting him, not helping and generally being annoying!

Recipe: 5cups of strawberries chopped

7 cups of fruit sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

Sachet of pectin

Heat strawbs lemon and pectin stir and mash till boil. Add sugar and stir till rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute.

(Sterilise jars and lids)

At the pool, there was a noodle war, bumper cars game and hide and seek. Huffle and I went in and made the fastest turnaround of homemade scones, jam and cream EVER which we all ate by the side of the pool. Then we went in again and forced Moo in too and we all played Hide and Seek. It was quite cool in there and the sun kept hiding behind clouds making it even cooler! We sat around for a bit while Smallest had his bath and Small played on his tablet.

Push her in!

We had a quick tea and then Huffle took Moo and Small to his practice where his team lost 12-3. They said the other team were horrible and laughing at Small's team for their lack of skill. Very naughty! Small got given his captain armband but it was too small to go over his shirt so it was hidden underneath! He played up front mainly today and got an assist.

Later in the evening we watched Life Swap. Very interesting.

 

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"Say Thank You!"

Definitely pancakes for breakfast this morning. Moo was on fruit duty but there were complaints of rustic cutting and not the usual thin slicing we are used to. No-one really knew what to do with themselves this morning and after Huffle and I went to check on the pool and consequently vacuumed it (first time it worked as it should), we all ended up round the pool and the boys all went in. Moo and I were not convinced it was quite warm enough (22*) and then the clouds came over and it spittled with rain so we abondoned it and came inside.

Noodle wars and Jumping in

Some LiloBanter and snorkelling

For dinner we drove to The Perry for Fish and Chips (seeing as we missed out yesterday). We had very nice chips and Huffle's mushy peas were excellent (he said) but the fish was a bit meh! It rained heavily while we were in there so we waited till it passed and then we had a wander around the town and by the lakeside. There were lots of curious people to watch today. Lots of fishermen/women too. It started to rain again so after sheltering under the canopies and a quick hello to MrsM who was working there today. We drove to the supermarkets looking for fruit sugar and pectin. (We are thinking about strawberry picking tomorrow) and we want to be prepared for jam making.

At home we played several games of Stop The Bus and had an ice cream. Moo and I sat on the porch enjoying the early evening sunshine. With no warning, we had huge crashes of thunder and fork lightning. We counted that it was about six miles away and I left Moo mesmerised by the storm. When Moo came in to tell me that DonNoQuotey was standing in his dressing gown, clapping at the lightning, we had to stop and watch him. What a Wally! It wasn't long before an intense storm happened. The wind suddenly picked up from nowhere, trees were bending and Moo ran upstairs to close the windows. Tap the photo below to see the video:-

 

The whooop in the background is Moo asking for help as the bathroom was swimming in water, the hail was hitting the windows so hard I thought they were going to break. Huffle and Smallest were in the basement, completely unaware of what was happening upstairs. Small's room was also swimming in water and his curtains were wringing wet and his floor was wet, even his walls and bed. It was horrendous. Once all the mopping up was done we set the washer going with wet yucky towels and bedding and anything else that got hit. All the cushions on the porch got soaked. The washing line had three things on it from the pool earlier and they just got thrown off onto the grass. It was over in about half an hour and the sun came back out. Then we had the severe storm warning which was a bit late really and we half expected another storm.

 

THROW BACK SUNDAY

 

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The red noses are in their satchels

HAPPY CANADA DAY. HAPPY CANADA 150. Today is Canada's 150th birthday. Wow, she's a baby!

When the house is hot from a lot of sun and not much air coming through the windows, it makes walking very noisy. Not sure if it's the floor or our hot feet but Huffle woke me getting up in the night and I woke him when I got up this morning. And there is nothing we can do about it.

When I got up Smallest was watching Tv and I went to sit outside with my cup of hot water. He joined me and we payed carcasonne online together. Then Moo joined us and everyone had breakfast. I asked if the boys wanted pancakes but they said no. A strange response but I soon realised that they didn't want to get up and help so we all had our own breakfast. Maybe pancakes tomorrow.

We had intended to have a slow morning and go out later to the Strawberry Festival but when we looked at the weather forecast, we chose to go out early to avoid the badness. The Strawberry Festival was in our local town and normally the Main Street is closed and the stalls line both sides. However this year they decided to only have the classic cars on the street and the rest of the stalls, food and fair was on the park. We normally come away with lots of freebies and today we managed two bird boxes to make (they ran out of nails so we had to bring it home unmade), several recycled shopping bags, two plastic slinkies, a seed (could be a bean or a radish), tattoos (temporary), magnets, sticky shopping list and bag clips plus a couple of sweets and popcorn. Huffle bought a Blueberry Struedel. It was quite hot and humid and we walked round for a couple of hours until we were ready for dinner. A man tried to sell a Medieval night to Smallest but got stuck in his speech when he said "do you like Knights" and Smallest shouted "NO!". We could have got a load of walking sticks but we walked away when we realised it came with a preach about religion.

Strawberry shaped cookie that he made into a Stoke cookie!

We had a vote and the majority wanted fish and chips so that's where we headed. The shop was shut (for Canada Day) and we didn't really know where to go as we weren't near anything we liked. So we went for our favourite pizza place and had Calzones. Yum yum (that's tomorrow's lunch sorted too as we always bring some home). As we were near the lake we parked up and went for a very small walk. We interrupted some celebrations but we think they were just finishing. We walked a bit but it was too humid and dark clouds were forming so we hurried back to the car (well Huffle hurried, Moo and I wanted to see the lightning on the CN tower but it was too misty). We saw a tent which boasted 'Isl@micCircus' and Huffle thought that might be amusing but it turned out to be an Isl@micCircle instead and we left quickly.

We came back home for a cuppa on the porch while the boys played on their tablets. Then we played Stop The Bus (card game) - I won. hurrah. Moo and the boys played badminton and Huffle got the telescope out to look at the moon. Despite it still being light we could see it faintly plus the craters.

YESTERDAYS BLOOMIN' LOVELIES (Moo included)

This evening when the boys were tucked up in bed, we watched Now you see me2. Very good. Better perhaps than the first one. There were huge firework displays going off around us which sounded like rumbles of thunder but we knew it was fireworks because of Canada Day. We got to look at the moon again and this time it was really clear, almost chalk looking and we could see the craters so clearly.

As we went to bed we could hear a party going on. I heard DepecheMode, Queen and BonyM. Wow, up-to-date for Canada!

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I shot a chipmunk (with water)

First day of the Summer holidays and what a beautiful day it turned out to be. It started out raining and looked really dull and we almost cancelled our gardening morning. I had a lovely lie-in and was the last up but Moo was only minutes behind me. After breakfast Huffle disappeared upstairs for a day of working and Moo, Smallest and I played Newmarket. Small watched and practiced a card trick. I made the decision to go gardening after all and we all piled into the car. I thought I would take us the scenic route but the road was closed half way down and we ended up going around in a huge circle until we got to Suffolks. Moo and the boys helped and we had weeded, jiggled the soil and did some tidying and cutting back all within less than an hour. What a fabulous team I have.

I rewarded them by taking us all to a Frozen Yoghurt place and letting Moo buy us FroYo's ( I forgot my money) and we sat and played Simpsons Sorry while we ate flavours such as Strawberry, Chocolate, Vanilla Bean, Red Velvet, Champagne Celebration, Maple. We came home for some lunch which the boys ate in front of the TV.

As the weather had turned into a hot sunny day and there were no signs of the storms forecast, we went to the local tennis courts. It was a bit too hot for tennis but we persevered. Moo hit Smallest even though she was on his side. Moo hit my hat off with a wild ball and Smallest fell over and then got hit by a ball from Small's racquet. We had water and a small chocolate bar each. It was fun but hot and sticky.

When we got back Smallest and I went in the pool. It was only 21* (70F). Very cold, like frozen water but it did cool us off. Small sat by the side and helped to vacuum. I swept the bottom of the pool and Huffle got in to his waist and cleaned inside. Then he Backwashed and Rinsed it so it is ready for chlorinating tomorrow morning.

I came in and made a quick reheat dinner and went and showered. All the boys went to football practice and Moo and I had dinner and wine by ourselves, followed by a game of Skip-Bo that I won (YES). The score is now 5-2. Moo went for her shower and I sat on the porch and watched Holby and had a visit from MIssMoll with a wild bunch of flowers she picked for me. ClownRose's husband said "ooh looks like you've caught the sun today" and ClownRose leant towards him and whispered something and he looked sheepish and she said "won't happen again". Very funny.

Moo and I sat on the porch listening to a scrabbling behind the fake shutter (we thought it was a mouse in the walls and later found out it was a spider. Eeuuugghhhh that's horrible. I think I would prefer a mouse). I sat with one of the kids water squirters and squirted the chipmunks when they tried to eat from the bird feeder that is only accessible to woodpeckers and nuthatches. The crows, squirrels and chipmunks all feed from it now the naughty little pests!

 

 

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Clap out

It rained during the night and it was raining when we got up. Honestly all this rain is ridiculous. Poor Moo has hardly seen any sunshine yet!

Both boys went to school on the bus this morning armed with their teacher gifts. Moo and I followed shortly after to get to the year end assembly and slide show. One of the teachers takes photos throughout the whole year and then puts a 30 minute slide show on for all to see. Because the Grade 8's were leaving, they had photos of them from babies through to very recent. Very funny and cute. Then we had the clap out. All the Grade 8's went to one end of the school and the rest of the students, teachers as parents lined the corridors to clap them out of the school. We had to wait for Small to collect his report, say his goodbyes and then we were gone.

I was supposed to be gardening today but as it continued to rain with storms threatening, Moo and I decided to leave Small at home (much to his delight) resting and go and visit IKEA. We wanted towels but we were unlucky. We did purchase a few things though including a muffin and a coffee each. A curious thing I have noticed more here than back home, is that when people try to park, they will sit and wait (not caring how long it takes) for you to move from your spot so they can get it. I have seen people wait for shopping to be loaded, kids to be buckled in and phone calls made and still they wait. We had one such waiter today as we were leaving so we out our stuff in the boot, locked the car and walked around the car park giggling like schoolgirls. We think their passenger was watching us too. When they drove away we got back in and drove home. So childish but very funny.

On the way home we popped to the pet shop to buy the fish new filter cartridges (maybe that's why the algae is forming) and a top for me and some wrapping paper for Moo. I also bought a small Christmas present - well its close!

We came home and Small insisted we play badminton. The rain came and went and it was really muggy. Smallest came home with a pile of work books, some thank you notes from his teachers and a few pieces of flapjack. Moo and I sat outside and dodged the rain before going in and making dinner.

After dinner Smallest went off to bed with a sore throat. He looked a bit leaky and tired. The rest of us played Newmarket and Smallest eventually joined us. Huffle and I did a bit of painting and when Small went to bed we played Skip-Bo twice. Huffle won both games. Moo and my games are now 5-1 to her. I'm not playing with either of them now. I'm mardy (fabulous Leicestershire word).

 

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You'd let him eat out of a whatsit!

I forgot to mention yesterday an incident that happened in the kitchen. Completely all my fault but I set a silicone cake case on fire. I burnt my hand taking them out of the oven and dropped one. The cake fell on the floor and the case fell into the flame of the gas ring. It burst into flames and Moo threw a tea towel onto it. It went out eventually but not before the case disintegrated into a pile to white ash. Weird. I thought silicone would melt. Seems not!

This morning Smallest went off to school on his own. He better get used to this now as he has another four years of going to school by himself. Huffle worked at the kitchen table and in the loft and repaired the leak in the pool. Today was a really hot day and the sun room got to 30*. Moo and I went to the last aerobics of Summer. There is a long break before I go back again in September. I will miss it though she has given me a challenge of 3 minutes of arms circles, a one minute plank and 10 press ups (push ups) a day. Phew not sure but I will try. She gave us all a little thank you for being so flexible when she had to move things around when her Mum was ill. Silly billy, but lovely thought.

We put two full lines of washing out to take full advantage of the sunshine and went out to do a food shop. Moo had a very squeaky trolley today. I was starving and bought far too much. Huffle and Moo put it away when we got home and we had lunch together. No watching Gotham today as Moo and I had to get to school in order to take Smallest and two of his classmates to the golf. As it was a lovely day we stayed and watched. Smallest had his new clubs and he did really well. The first half was driving and the man showed them how to stand, how to hold their clubs and how to swing. The second half was putting. The boys did much better than the girls at the putting but the girls were better at the targets. They stopped for snacks in the clubhouse and Moo and I sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine but in the shade before we took them back to school.

We had just enough time for a cup of tea on the porch before Smallest came home with his school report. All excellents and a lovely paragraph from his teacher. Seven A's. Six A-'s. Four B+'s. One B and two B-'s. Super proud. Well done Smallest. We get Small's back tomorrow.

Smallest had asked if his friend Ew could come round and we tried to call him but there was no answer so after Smallest and I made flapjack for his class tomorrow, we drove to his house and picked him up. He was only going to stay for an hour but he ended up staying for dinner and I took him home around 7pm.

Small called us from the coach to say he would be home a couple of hours earlier than expected. Huffle picked him up from school and he instantly wanted to go and play Football. I guess being on a coach for four and a half hours he would want some fresh air and a run around. He had a fabulous time, loved the museums, took lots of photos and came home with change from the money Moo and I gave him. After dinner Huffle took him to his practice and Moo, Smallest and I finished off the teacher presents, Cleaned up the ktichen and played badminton.

A few photos from his trip

 

 

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