Was a very relaxed weekend. I had written a poem about J and our relationship.
We went into town to the market and bought lovely flavoured oil and vinegar and a few other nice things, bumped into various friends, all very nice, and had lunch out - lots of lovely salady bits and fritters at LaPorte's.
Think it was late afternoon that Freya was picked up by C and L and M as she had been invited to go to Proms in the Paddock with them and for a sleepover afterwards. My first year of not going to Proms in the Paddock! The fireworks are good, it's one of those events I sort of enjoy but it's also nice not to have to go. Never entirely comfortable with the flag-waving Rule Britannia section either, though I like having a go at Jerusalem. Anyway, I didn't have to go, for the first year since 2008! (when I looked back in blog for that I found her first leap into reading by herself, shortly after her 7th birthday, very exciting)
Anyway, while she was having fun wandering the paddock at night and seeing the fireworks J and I had some nice food and watched some stuff we're currently watching - we were still on Utopia then, and we're now watching The Last Ship (which is a bit like Outbreak meets Space Above and Beyond but on a ship instead of in space - lots of military point of view stuff) and Extant and have started Outlander (think it's called that).
On Sunday I had a lovely long bath with a book and J made the best garlic focaccia ever, and we had it when Freya came home - she had also been to the cinema after the sleepover and seen How to Train Your Dragon 2 with sleepover friends plus a few others.
Week 4th to 8th
Monday was a relaxed home day, watched some Doctor Who and had nice snacky lunch, Freya did some of her Sequin Art kit.
Tuesday our guest Billie the dog arrived! Delivered by Kate and G from MMs. She is a sweet dog, very sociable, it was good to look after her for a fortnight and we were quite lucky that most of the weather was dry and sunny for walks. We walked her along our nearest lane quite a few times, and did the slightly longer loop sometimes, and most often of all took her to the park and wanged balls for her. She also quite liked the odd walk around the pavements of our residential area too. She was mostly very good, though she tended to get very excited and bark at anyone approaching the house, or even daring to get into their cars nearby! We got to meet a few regular dog walkers and other park users, including a sweet little girl, about 4, who really took to Billie, and we saw her several times, each time she came and threw a ball for her and gave her a stroke or a treat.
Thursday we met up with J's mum in town, taking Billie too - was a hot day but Costa always have a dog water bowl outside so we went there. Back home I think we went in the pool for a short while, or that might have been Wednesday, not sure now.
Weekend 9th and 10th
We had a quiet weekend, walking the dog, baking savoury scones (sundried tomato, red onion and herb) and sweet ones too, did maths (generally do maths every Sunday at the moment, making our way through a GCSE workbook) and watched things like Big Brother, Bake Off, Frasier, not sure
what else. Bit rainy on the Sunday. Made a Thai-style-ish stir fry with rice for dinner, was tasty.
Monday 11th to Friday 15th
We had L, M and G over on the Monday to play, think they did loom bands, we went to park and they played on the Wii and Bop-It amongst other things.
Tuesday was a worky day apart from dog walks.
Wednesday Freya and L went on an art workshop day, booked right at the last moment. Was good, they did sketching outside in the morning and then worked on them in the afternoon. J went to pick her up and they went shopping because of me having a big birthday on Thursday.
So far I am liking being 50! Had a day at home on my birthday apart from dog walks, had lovely presents to open - books, DVDs, wine, all sorts of nice things. And a chocolate cake with raspberries on top made by J and Freya!
Plans for Tremors on DVD (present) were changed as Freya was invited, just that morning, to a sleepover a train-ride away. So I spent some of my birthday on a train going along by the sea as the sun started to go down - one of my favourite things! All by chance. And I saw the Red Arrows, which isn't one of my favourite things, but still quite cool to spot from the train! Delivered Freya to her friend's house, where 2 more friends were coming later. Had a lovely chat with friend's mum N, who I never see, ever, so that was also a lovely part of my birthday.
And back home, a late walk for Billie and a nice curry with J, and watching some of the things we're currently watching.
Friday Freya was still out and went to circus with her friends, returning at teatime in the end, so I had a quiet day to myself, which was quite pleasant, though can't remember much about it now. In the evening we watched the BB final, about which there isn't much good to say perhaps. Never mind!
Weekend 16th and 17th
Had deferred birthday evening with J and Freya - Tremors, nice dinner, strudel and ice-cream afterwards, wine, etc. Luvverly.
Not sure what else - walking dog, maths, bit of watching stuff...
Discovered we can order pizza from Dominos in nearby village! Revelation!
18th to 22nd
Monday Billie's mum Kate came and took her home, she was so excited to see Kate and G, bounced and jumped and generally was madly crazy. We had packed up all her things after her last afternoon walk. By the end she and our cat Rorschach had just about started to tolerate each other in the same room.
In the evening Freya and I watched the first of Celebrity BB (!!!!).
We are also watching BB1 the original series on YouTube here and there. Dedicated, us. And you can't beat a bit of context. Awww Anna, and Darren and Marjorie! Those were the days.
Tuesday we went to Knockhatch Adventure Park - we had never been and neither had Lucy and the Rs, who we went with! It was great, would definitely go again, lots to do for all ages, and not too expensive for what it was. It was packed, but so much there that it didn't matter really - water slide, other slides, bungee trampoline, mine rail simulator, laser shooting and much more . Lucy and I had some good chatting time, it was good weather, the odd cloudy cooler moment but mostly sunny and warm.
Wednesday was a day at home, and we took delivery of a bike I had hired for Freya to see if she could learn (mainly with a view to taking part in a BMX session booked for her group at PGL, coming up).
Thursday I had tons of work and Freya had her friend K over and they walked to the leisure centre to swim and then went from there into town and had a drink and browse around the shops, and then came home. K stayed for tea, was nice.
Friday morning we met up with some other home-ed families in a local park, met some new faces and chatted with C, was very nice.
In the afternoon I took Freya for first proper go at riding bike in park - within 40 mins she was getting the basics, was quite impressed as had no idea howlong she would need the stage to last with me holding on. Very cool how she seemed to quite suddenly get the feel of the balance.
In the later afternoon she was picked up by C and went to a sleepover there with L, M and G, which was lovely.
J and I had curry (again) and I had more wine (I did get 6 bottles for birthday! has felt very luxurious having wine more often than I normally would, I haven't done any 'making them last' - so am already on my 5th as of tonight, which is quite a rate since 13th, ooops!), and we watched some episodes of The Last Ship and Extant (again).
Bank Holiday Weekend 23rd to 25th
I finished a poem (a song really) about/for Freya
- am pleased with it, took a bit of fiddling with, but I like how it went in the end. If you're reading this you have probably already read it, but I wanted to have a link here too.
Freya came back from the sleepover - they had then been swimming at a good not-so-local swimming pool, had a nice time.
She practiced riding in the park on Saturday and Sunday too.
Doctor Who was pretty good I thought, I was quite nervous to see how it went and it turned out well in my opinion. Hope this will be a good series, I didn't like some of the last series so much.
Sunday we did some maths - primes, multiples, factors.
Monday (today) - we went to Btn and saw Guardians of the Galaxy, which I really liked, all-round entertainment, good stuff.
And now we're going to have curry, I'm having wine, and we're going to watch Tremors 2!
