Happy Birthday Ben!

Ben was born on 24 March 1976, making him 32 today.(I calculated back from today)
I do hope that he found his gift surprising; I bet that no-one else thought to buy him a model phone box containing a quartz timepiece, for his desk.
Heavy snow last night & again today.
You only have to suggest a walk & it starts again - Tim would love it.
We had breakfast, played & encouraged J to do high speed circuits of the house (indoors!).
We then ate a delicious lunch of everything in the fridge, played, read &then G & I ventured out & have done the length & breadth of Ringsted in one & a half hours.
The sun came out whilst we were out & it is now very pleasant.
K & J have gone to feed the ducks before dinner.
An early start tomorrow as everyone is back at work & we fly home.

Happy Easter!

A bright, beautiful morning starting at freezing butthen warming up nicely for a while.
We have exchanged eggs, eaten MK's home made hot cross buns & been to church - a long service with 3 baptisms & communion & little congregation participation (none actually, apart from wishing each other "Happy Easter"), whilst W prepared lunch & G played with J.
After a delicious lunch, with extra calories hidden in every mouthful, (cooked by W) joined by T & B, we went for an invigorating walk around Ringsted.
It was very cold!
J did twice the distance of the rest of us, all at high speed.
We have maintained the Easter tradition by eating a good deal of chocolate - very nice danish chocolate with scrummy fillings.
Diet next week!

Yesterday G & I went to Copenhagen on the train.
It was very cold, windy & snowing, in the main.
We overcame this by taking a long danish lunch until matters improved a little, & then did the expensive shops, looking for a birthday present for Ben!!

In the evening we went to T & B's to celebrate Tina's birthday with a wonderful meal that Bent claimed to have cooked. (but, we saw the caterers van leaving)
We arrived home late & relaxed.
J woke up & gave a running commentary all of the way home.

G has some great photos....later.

Springtime in Ringsted

Well, here are the photos from yesterday.
They have all been roundly criticised by both W & G, but please feel free to add your own criticism if you think that they may have missed something.
As for me, I´m pleased with them - they all have heads & feet, you can tell who they are & only the first one is distinctly blurred.

J waking from hibernation

G admiring William´s brand new, just finished bicycle.

William going for a trial ride on afformentioned bike.


J begging for more gruel, after the hibernation.
Really, G doesn't always scowl.
He does always scowl at me when I take a photo, so it does give this impression.
He has been caught smiling by the odd professional photographer with a quick action.

We woke to two inches of snow this morning.
It is now bright & sunny & I am about to take G for a walk, whilst he is awake & functioning!
We have been to Roskilde to see the Viking boats, which we enjoyed.
Apparently B & E went there long ago under similar climatic conditions.
The setting of the boat museum, on the edge of the water is beautiful & J thoroughly enjoyed rearranging the pebbles around the boats & kami kazi missions, hanging from all of the bridges!
W treated us to a lovely lunch, we visited the cathedral (11th century, red brick, containing the royal tombs) & then drove home whilst all but MK snoozed - it's liquid at lunchtime that does it!
We have had tea & simnel cake , W & MK are making hot cross buns, the sun is shining, all's well with the world!

Thermals not needed.

The anticipated foot of danish snow was a smattering in the vicinity of the airport.
It is chilly, but normal winter clothing suffices & the sun has shone almost all day.
This morning J exercised K & I in the park whilst W & G went for a 42 km bike ride.
J hibernated for the afternoon whilst W completed the bike-build & G read.
Presently, Ian Rankin, "The resurrection men"
W has just test ridden the "Salsa Mamasita" (sounds like it should have a wide saddle!)
It has now started to snow.
I withdraw previous comments regarding the weather.
I brought a Simnel cake, always keen to enlighten others regarding strange English customs
(In this case, fruit cake baked with marzipan in the middle & decorated with marzipan balls
representing Christ & 11 apostles. No Judas)
Photos to follow, when I have persuaded someone to load them onto "Daddie's computer"

Happy St Patrick's day.

I was very taken with the Google logo for today. This is the best I could manage:
I did a number of mundane jobs this morning before going to the gym & on to Bicester.
The family were on good form.
Only Rod Stewart fans need read the next funny "Tim" story:
On a quick car journey, Tim asked to hear "sailing" (He knows which CDs are in the car, 3/6 of them are Rod Stewart).
He then asked to hear "Wake up Maggie, I've got stuck".
I fast tracked through two CDs & Tim Tim picked out"Maggie" after only about three chords.
(Wake up Maggie, I've got something to say to you)
He can only have heard it two or three times, at most.
What a memory!

We had beef stew & dumplings when I got home.




Is any of this worth a comment?

Palm Sunday

A rather cold, blustery day which improved as it progressed, to the point that we went for a walk at tea-time - up to the church & back down Moat House lane.
G took his camera to polish his skills.
I got up at 7.00am to finish my sermon ready for 11.00am Mattins at Nether Whitacre.
We have really done little apart from reading the paper & having soup for lunch.
William phoned for a syrup sponge recipe this morning - no doubt this turned out as light as a feather, far better than my well practiced efforts.
A replay of the yorkshire pudding saga (a word I try to avoid nowadays, in deference to G!)
We may go out for a steak as we haven't eaten much & I haven't prepared anything.


Old fashioned double daffodils. These are growing on the verge.

Moley at it again - I shifted five barrow loads of soil from molehills yesterday. Did one little mole really shift all of that with his bare hands?

I do guided tours....

Moat House lane - I told you that it was wet.

This was also on the verge - one for aj.

Sunset across the field - it looked much redder in real life.

Science week, day 4.

Another great day at Kingsbury.
I spent the day in the hall supporting the team from the county, encouraging half of year 9 to build wind-turbines, test them in a wind-tunnel, build a pylon from paper tubes, to support a cable, then give a team presentation.
From looks of bewilderment at the start of the day, the kids worked together & did well.
I did get a rather painful paper cut on my finger whilst helping to make paper tubes. It still hurts, but I am being brave.
Tomorrow, a repeat with the other half of the year group.

After school I shopped a little & then went to the hairdressers.

G is going to be late tonight so I hope that we will have a takeaway (the usual) as I have done stirling work in the kitchen this week so far.

Can you match the images to my day?

All images are only approximate.

Terry Pratchet has alphzeimers disease & has donated £500,000 pounds to research.

His only symptom was that he couldn't find letters on his keyboard.

I have a problem with j, f & k, mainly.