Some years ago now I picked up an odd little Penguin book, "Mandrake", by Susan Cooper. She's a kidlit author I really rate, though mostly for one specific series (quasi-Arthurian fantasy pentalogy "The Dark Is Rising").

"Mandrake" is labelled Science Fiction, has a slightly fantastical or magical premise (or at least is quite far away from being ( Read more... )

We went to Mum and Dad's this weekend. There was a show on by Tweedy the Clown, who is one of the acts in Gifford's Circus (an amazing circus and animal-friendly to boot). He also features in the pantomime near to them (Cheltenham) so we've seen him quite a lot and are in awe of his clowning skills. Sadly it wasn't really enough to sustain a two- ( Read more... )

Gratifying library trip with the kids just now: Kid B borrowed six books all which he can have a good chance of reading mostly by himself! He's got the hang of it and the reading bug to boot. Kid A borrowed two and is reading her way through Tony Robinson's historical funnies ( Read more... )

Cycling to and from work is a distinct pleasure in this sunny spring weather. Here is some beautiful bird-print cloth, made into a bag for my friend Mister P who sent me a lovely t-shirt with a bird on it.


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I worked on Monday and Tuesday of last week, so R had the kids for those two days (travelling back from my parents house on Monday, soft play with friends on Tuesday). On Wed we went to the Pendon Museum, meeting up with my parents again and with my nephew and niece. Well worth it! The museum is of a very impressive set of model villages and trains ( Read more... )

For Christmas I asked for some sewing-related stuff - a new pair of fabric scissors, money towards sewing courses. I got both of those and booked myself on a two-session course on dressmaking - well, skirt-making really. Yesterday was the first session, with the same person as I've previously been on courses with. It's well worth it - she is very ( Read more... )

The Christmas hols treated us well - we had plenty of family time, tasty food, nice wine, sociable times. The kids got plenty of presents that they really enjoyed playing with and haven't immediately broken, lost, or lost interest in, so that's not bad either! And my presents included some very interesting books plus some vouchers / money towards ( Read more... )

There's plenty to do at home - tidying, cleaning, making mince pies - but almost all of the Christmas present shopping has already been done and wrapped, and posted as necessary. Very relieved to have finished work for the year as it has been very full-on since the reorganization was announced back in June. The work year was encapsulated in a way ( Read more... )

Much enjoyed our brief foray to N London and motodraconis's house for an afternoon party, with added unusual bonus of having a go at a bit of VR! Just a drawing program rather than exploring yer actual virtual worlds or anything but interesting and good fun. There were nice touches like being able to turn your virtual brush into a wand dispensing snowflakes, ( Read more... )

But here are some of the things around the home that have been fun recently.

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